Did the Germans poison the Ukrainians? I'm going with yes.

               Via

KIEV, Ukraine Via (AP) — A bad salad at a German hotel might have caused the food poisoning that sickened 10 players of European Championship co-host Ukraine before their final warm-up game against Turkey on Tuesday.

Ukraine team doctor Leonid Mironov believes the weakened players suffered from "the bad effects of eating a salad," the Interfax news agency reported Thursday.

Team spokesman Oleksandr Glyvynskiy told The Associated Press there will be no further investigation into the cause of the food poisoning, despite head coach Oleg Blochin suggesting on Ukrainian TV that "it may have been sabotage."

Glyvynskiy said all players had recovered well and the full 23-man squad was expected to complete a training session Thursday, four days before the team's Euro 2012 opening game against Sweden.

(Over weight Editors note)- That's what you get for eating healthy! (Eats entire pizza....cries.)

Sad day for Spanish Football

Via AP VALENCIA, Spain -- Villarreal coach Manuel Preciado died of a heart attack Thursday, one day after joining the team. He was 54. Preciado was in Valencia when he was stricken, the team said. Preciado had a one-year deal and was to be introduced Friday at Villarreal.

"We are all shocked," Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said from Poland where he is preparing his team for the European Championship.

"We were having breakfast and we were all taken back by the news," he told Spanish radio Marca. "He was a caring person and a great sportsman. He was a man of football that was an honor to coaching."
Spain's internationals were also affected by Preciado's passing.

"The truth is that this is difficult to digest," said Chelsea forward Juan Mata at Spain's training base in Gniewino. "I always remember him smiling, as a happy person that transmitted his passion, joy and character to all his teams. "Talking about him in the past tense is tough for me."

Preciado's sudden death led to an outpouring of emotional responses from Spanish clubs, coaches and players. Real Madrid was one of several teams to express its condolences to his family along with the Spanish soccer federation.

Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, who suffered his first home defeat in league play in nine seasons last year to Preciado's Sporting and with whom he had a public spat before later reconciling, said Preciado "was always a dignified rival."

"He had everything I like in people and sportsmen: character, honesty and the courage to fight on," the Portuguese coach wrote in an open letter published on Madrid's website.

Mallorca coach Joaquin Caparros said he broke into tears on hearing the news. "I was so happy for him joining Villarreal," he said. "I am sure he would have taken it back to the first division. He should be a reference in the world of coaching." Villarreal was relegated from the Spanish league last season.

Preciado, a native of the Cantabria region in northern Spain, began coaching in the third division in 1995. He led Levante from the second to the first division in the 2003-04 season, and also guided Sporting back to the topflight for the first time in ten years in 2007-08.

He coached Sporting for a total of five and a half seasons before a poor start last year led to him being fired midway through the season. Sporting did not recover and was relegated, along with Villarreal and Racing.
Preciado was a fan favorite in Gijon and one of the most charismatic managers in Spain, known for his frank and entertaining manner of addressing both press and players alike.

Preciado's 232 games for Sporting were second only to Jose Diaz Novoa's 282. Sporting said Preciado's name was "written into the history of the club in golden letters."

As a player, he also had stints with Mallorca, Alaves, Ourense, Linares and Gimnastic de Torrelavega.
Villarreal President Fernando Roig said the club will try to look after Preciado's family.
"We will give support to his family, and we will all try to respect their feelings and help them in this difficult moment," he said.

Preciado is a former player with several clubs including Racing Santander and had also previously coached teams including Racing, Levante, Murcia and Sporting Gijon.ints with Mallorca, Alaves, Ourense, Linares and Gimnastic de Torrelavega.

For Villarreal, the tragedy overshadows a dire season marked by injuries to key players, including striker Giuseppe Rossi, which saw it fall from playing in the Champions League to relegation that was confirmed in the closing minutes of the final round.

Your favorite Euro 2012 kit could kill you.

via

Howdy party people! Sorry I've been slow on the posts the last few days. I'm not feeling well at all.

However on the upside of things:  Via NewsCore - Wasrsaw, Poland - European soccer fans were warned against buying their nation's jerseys at Euro 2012 because of toxic chemicals contained in the replica kits.

"Worrying" levels of chemicals, including lead and nickel, were found in jerseys of nine competing countries, including tournament favorites Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, European consumer group BEUC said.
Co-host Poland will kick off the tournament Friday wearing a jersey that "should be banned outright" from stores because its use of an organotin compound, employed to prevent sweat odor, exceeds legal limits, the body said.

The Spanish and Italian jerseys were found to contain nonylphenol, a chemical so harmful that it is banned from wastewater because of its danger to the environment.

"It is inexplicable that heavy metals are used in mass consumer products," BEUC director Monique Goyens said, while demanding a review of EU legislation regarding chemicals after the jerseys were passed for manufacture.

"It is clearly foul play by manufacturers to use substances harmful to both people and the environment," she added.

The jerseys of co-host Ukraine, Russia, France and Portugal also were singled out as being unfit for purchase.

Jessica Kardashian makes way more sense than I do!

You are all welcome!

Review: England v Belgium. *Cleavage Edition

Here is the always awesome Jessica Kardashian with her review of the England v Belgium game. Jessica your doing a great job but I'm going to need that TMNT poster back up asap!

Joey Barton got what he deserved? I like to think so.

So apparently everyone favorite sucker puncher (is that a term?) Joey Barton decided to have a nice quiet evening with his girlfriend at Garland's night club in Liverpool.  And I know this may come as a shock but he was accosted out front by two men as he tried to leave.

QPR spokesman Ian Taylor said: "Joey Barton was involved in an incident in Liverpool city centre in the early hours of Monday morning.

"Barton was on his way home from a night out with his girlfriend when two men sang offensive chants and then proceeded to hit the [QPR] midfielder."

"Police were immediately on the scene and arrested one man. Barton decided not to press charges and left the scene with his girlfriend soon after."

"The club will be making no further comment."

I guess when you throw cheap shots you should expect to receive them back at some point.  I'm not a MCFC fan or anything but what Barton did in QPR's final game against MC was a shame to the game and he deserved the 12 game ban that the FA handed out to him.

The picture above is one that someone snapped during the incident early Monday morning of a shirtless Barton being held back by police and his (I assume) girlfriend. God bless cellphone cameras.

Euro 2012 Group Stage Predictions

OK so I know allot of you (none of you) have been wondering about MY picks for the upcoming Euro group stage.  Some may shock you (not really) and some may disappoint you (probably).  OK I'm done sorry, here's my picks:

Group A: Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Russia - I guess this could be considered the "easy" group of Euro 2012 but it may turn out to be one of the most fun to watch.  Both Greece and the Czechs have both won the European Championship before.  Granted Czech Republic hasn't won since 1976 but with 2 third place finishes and one runner up trophy the Czech to me are the favorite out of this group.  I know Russia finished third in 2008 but I'm not convinced of their sides strength to win this group.

My Picks- Czech Republic win this group with Russia in the runner up spot.

Group B: Denmark, Germany, Portugal, The Netherlands - What a stacked group this is. I keep hearing about Group C being the "Group of Death' but I'm not so sure that this isn't going to be the toughest group to get out of.   Denmark have a young exciting team who will be looking to play spoilers to 3 of Europe's top teams. The Dutch have a few injury's but I don't think that will hinder them to much.

My Picks- I think this group is to close to call a winner.  My guess though is that Germany and The Netherlands go through but don't be shocked if the Portuguese pull an upset over one of them to advance. And look for Denmark to screw up someones Euro 2012.

Group C: Italy, Spain, Croatia, Ireland - I believe that this is the group that will have the most surprising outcome when the group stages are all said and done.  Ireland may feel like they have something to prove after what happened to them against France in World Cup Qualifiers for WC 2010.  Keene isn't getting any younger and this may be his last shot at doing something amazing for his country and I think they are the biggest unknown in this tournament.  Italy has not had a good run up to the start of Euro 2012.  They've dropped their last three friendlies and also lost an embarrassing game at home to the United States not all that long ago.  With all the trouble that Italian football is having domestically I wouldn't be shocked to see a performance reminiscent of France in the 2010 WC. Maybe not a complete meltdown like France had but I wouldn't be shocked if the Italians are left shaking their heads trying to figure out what happened when the dust settles.  Because of the slight disarray of Italy I think that if Croatia can have solid performances they may slip through. Although after watching Croatia against Norway the other day I'm not sure they can do that.

My Picks- Spain wins the group with Croatia in 2nd.

Group D: England, France, Sweden, Ukraine - This is a tough one to call.  France have a much improved and much changed side since the debacle in South Africa two years ago.  The young players from France may see this a coming out party of sorts while the veterans may see it as a way to exercise the demons of 2010.  England is a little bit of a question mark for me.  With a new manager in Roy Hodgson and young team there's no way tell what Euro 2012 hold for England.  I think there will be allot of pressure on Roy to perform and it will be interesting to see how the team responds.  With a veteran like Lampard being out and some older leadership gone (Ferdinand, also Rooney for the first 2 matches) it only puts more pressure on the young talent of this team to go win England's first European Championship.  Sweden however could slip by England into the runner up spot if they can take advantage of someones slip up.

My Picks- France win the group with England runner up.  But do note that I said that Sweden could surprise allot of people.

Spain bars players from using social media

From AP- MADRID -- The players on defending champion Spain have been banned from tweeting during the European Championship.

Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas wrote on his Twitter account that beginning Friday "we are not allowed to use social networks."

Gerard Pique tells his fans he won't be in touch during the tournament that runs from June 8 to July 1. And Victor Valdes writes: "I hope the next message I write comes with Spain as champion."

The squad is in Madrid before Sunday's exhibition game against China in Seville. It's their last warmup before the tournament that is co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

Spain opens June 10 against Italy. It will also face Croatia and Ireland in Group C. - AP


How do you guys feel about this?  Should other sports take a lesson from Spain and not allow players on social media before big games/tournaments??

South American soccer violence??? Well I'm shocked...

(Photo)

Via AP- At least one person was reported in a serious condition Sunday with a bullet wound following the death of a 21-year-old man in a shootout between factions of a hooligan gang.

The state-run news agency Telam said the death occurred Saturday outside the stadium where a match between Argentine first-division clubs Lanus and All Boys was about to start. Lanus won the match 1-0.
Officials identified the dead man as 21-year-old Daniel Sosa.

Violence inside and outside stadiums has intensified in Argentina with at least five people dying this year in football-related violence, according to non-profit group Let's Save Football.

Sometimes we all have to pull out

(Via)

(Would Mario play for Italy or Japan?)

Via ESPN- The Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has said he would not have a problem with his team being withdrawn from Euro 2012 as the Italian match-fixing crisis continues to grow.

Speaking nine days before his players are due to begin their campaign against Spain, Prandelli told RaiSport: “If you told us that, for the good of football, we should not participate, it wouldn't be a problem for me. There are things that I believe are more important.”

Prandelli’s comments came after a week in which police have arrested 19 people including the Lazio captain, Stefano Mauri, and the coach dropped Domenico Criscito from his squad for the Euros after the defender was questioned by police at Italy’s training camp.

On Thursday, a lawyer for the Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon defended his client amid further claims. Marco Valerio Corini told SkyTG24 television: "There is nothing which could even carry the faintest suggestion of a connection between Gianluigi Buffon and any betting activity that would concern him in any irregularity either with respect to federation rules or criminal law.”

The crisis has prompted the Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, to suggest that the game would benefit from being suspended for two to three years in an attempt to eradicate the problems.

Prandelli said: “I would rather only talk about football, but events are conspiring against this.”
The coach admitted that he did not know what effect recent events would have on Buffon, adding: “We keep on saying those players caught up in the investigation will not be going to Euro 2012.
“How is Buffon's mood? You should ask him. He is very strong, with a great personality. He manages to hide uncomfortable moments, but despite this, even a person like him can suffer in a difficult moment like this.”

Criscito claimed he had ben made a “scapegoat” after his questioning on Monday. He told Gazzetta dello Sport: “I never expected it. I have not done anything wrong in my life, as those who know me can attest.
“Being dropped from the squad, I know, makes me a symbol of the scandal. I feel anger and sorrow because I should not be a scapegoat for something I am not involved with.”

Italian interior minister, Anna Maria Cancellieri, later backed the team's participation in the tournament: "The European Championship is a major international tournament. Play, and play well for Italy.''