Chelsea and England for Pride : HELP PLEASE

[Ollie_H]

Jeez thats a lot of money! Is he really worth it? Maybe we will have to wait and see!

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Drogba , Wright Phillips and Ferreira depart

1st August 2006

Chelsea have sold three of their top players for a total fee of £31m . Didier Drogba has joined Liverpool for £9.75m while Paulo Ferreira and Shaun Wright Phillips have joined Spanish Giants FC Barcelona for £11m each .

Didier Drogba, who only had a year left on his contract, has been transfer to Liverpool for £9.76m. After Chelsea put Didier Drogba up for sale, the 29 year old attracted interest only Liverpool who were ready to offer Chelsea £9.75m . Scolari had told Drogba he had no future plans at Chelsea after having a poor pre-season and internal rivalries withe players . Drogba who once was the lethal weapon of the London club is now sold to Liverpool .

Shaun Wright Phillips, who only made a switch to Chelsea in 2005 for 13 million pounds, has left the club on loan to FC Barcelona, yet a future fee of 11 million pounds has been agreed between the two clubs. FC Barcelona will pay Wright Phillips' wages in full, but after also being told he had no future at the club, only loan offers came in, and Scolari had to let him go if he didn't want Wright Phillips to be sitting in the reserves yet still picking up his £50,000 a week wages.

Paulo Ferreira, who joined the club during the Mourinho era for a transfer fee of £1.5 million pounds from FC Porto, has also left the club and will join up with Spanish Giants FC Barcelona, for a fee believe to be around £11m. Ferreira , who didn't feature regularly last season for Chelsea, didn't feature in Scolari's plans at Stamford Bridge, and after being transfer-listed, Barcelona and West Ham agreed the fee of £11m, which could rise to £12.5m depending on appearances.

John Obi Mikel, Chelsea midfielder, has also left the club on loan for one-season. The 21 year old, who currently has two years left on his contract, has moved to Manchester City on a season long contract, and is "delighted to be able to gain some first team experience."

 

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

Drogba left us only 9.75 mil for him. Pretty bargain i say. I really now wanted to see Kaka steps in. Nice presentation Shantanu

 

[Pak_cricketer]

$9.25M is a bit too low for Drogba. You should've got atleast $20M for him.

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Chelsea vs Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge

3rd August 2006

Chelsea were denied a second successive win after Robinho scored in the 92nd minute to grab Real Madrid a draw.

Chelsea got a two goal cushion thanks to goals from Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko but in a thrilling last ten minutes Wesley Sneijder pulled a goal back on 87 minutes before Robinho?s late strike.

Chelsea started the game brightly and Real Madrid struggled to kick into gear in the opening exchanges. Deco pulled the ball back to Joe COle in the ninth minute and after he dragged his shot across the box Fabio Cannavaro blocked Coles? follow-up attempt.

Chelsea took the lead on 20 minutes when Michael Ballack, was given far too much room 25 yards from goal.The Chelsea player took a pass from Anelka, moved it out of his feet and fizzed in superb, low strike that gathered pace as it skipped off the rain-soaked surface. Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas got a hand to it but was deceived by the pace on the shot, only succeeding in pushing the ball in off the far post.

Chelsea doubled the lead after 40 minutes through Andriy Shevchenko. Collecting a firm, low cross from Ballack, Shevchenko's first touch was a poor one and was tackled by the defender. When the ball ricocheted up off the defender, the striker showed fantastic technique to spin and strike the ball home on the volley from eight yards.

Madrid pushed on after the break for the goal but were denied by some good defending by Chelsea.

Wesley Sneijder grabbed his goal with only three minutes left after a ball over the top evaded the Chelsea back four as Sneijder crept in to poke the ball home past Cech.

Real Madrid got their equaliser two minutes into injury time. With Madrid winning a corner it ended up with 22 men in the box including Madrid Goalkeeper Iker Casillas coming up from the back. Sneijder whipped in the cross which wasn?t dealt with by Chelsea and Robinho leapt highest to head home past the dive of Cech.

Chelsea play Liverpool next at Wembley.

---

Teams

Chelsea(4-3-3):Cech ; Belletti , Carvalho(Alex 79') , Terry(c) , A.Cole ; Deco , Ballack , Lampard ; J.Cole(Essien H-T) , Anelka , Shevchenko ;

Unused Subs : Hilario , Bosingwa , Pizarro

Scorers : Ballack 20 ' & Shevchenko 40'

Real Madrid(4-5-1):Casillas(c) ; Sergio Ramos(Metzelder 53') , Pepe , Cannavaro , Heinze ; Robinho , Sneijder , Higuain(Diarra 63') , Gago(Van Der Vaart 72') , Guti(Saviloa 52') ; Van Nistelrooy ;

Unused Subs : Raul , Dudek , Baptista

Scorers : Sneijder 87' & Robinho 90'

Match Stats

12-Shots-11
7-On Target-4
50%-Possession-50%
7-Corners-12
17-Free Kicks-8
0-Penalties-0
8-Fouls-17
0-Offsides-3
0-Yellow Cards-0
0-Red Cards-0

 

[Arko]

great presentation mate really liking the story so-far

 

[freddiw]

awesome story, cannot believe you sold those 3 so cheap

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Kaka signs for Chelsea

Kaka' has joined Chelsea, signing a four year contract for a fee of 52.5 million pounds from AC Milan, after speculation surrounded his future since the arrival of Luis Felipe Scolari at Chelsea.

Kaka, who made his debut for Milan in September 2003 after a 8.5 million dollars move, has been one of the players that have impressed the most in Carlo Ancelotti's peroid at Milan, but also one of Luis Scolari's best players at his time at Brazil, proving to be a big part in Brazil's Wrold Cup winning team. Ever since the beginning of the new season, Kaka was linked with the likes of Chelsea and Real Madrid. However, it seems that ever since Scolari became Chelsea manager, the Brazilian playermaker became his top target, and after 39 days of the transfer window, Kaka has made the switch to the Stamford Bridge.

The Brazilian international, who has made over 45 appearances for his national team, tipped Scolari to receive a top job in English football, and at Brazil the pair shared a good relationship. With speculation surrounding his Milan future and Scolari becoming Chelsea manager, ever since Chelsea contacted Milan about the playmaker, Kaka admitted that he was adamant that he had to leave the club, and asked Carlo Ancelotti privately to let him have talks with Chelsea, as he had to leave.

"For me, this is a fantastic move. I've always tipped Luis for a top job in the game, and once he become manager of a top, ambitious club, and made contact with Milan regarding me, I told Carlo I had to leave. Milan is such great club, that have reached many heights, in winning the Champions League , Serie A , however, I think that I have gone as far as I can with Milan, and Chelsea is a club where I think can get to where I want to be." said Kaka.

"Luis is one of the best managers in football, and to be able to join up with him at Chelsea, who are such a fabulous team is brilliant, and I just cannot wait to play under Scolari again."

Luis Scolari, speaking to chelseafc.com, said that Kaka is one of the best talented players in Brazilian football, and the European game at the moment: "Kaka for me is an absolute gem of a player. After working with him before at Brazil, he was one of the first players I asked to sign. Milan didn't want to let him go, but as Kaka wanted to leave, they let him have talks. He didn't even worry about the money he'd be earning, he just wanted to sign for me as quickly as possible, and for me, I feel very proud that a player would like to join my club that much, and for a player who I think is one of the best player in not only Brazilian but World football at the moment, is very exciting indeed."

AC Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti, in a statement confirming the deal on Milan's official website, was deeply upset Kaka wanted to leave the club so much: "Everyone knows what a talented player Ricardo is, and I don't need to go into that. In saying that, to have him want to leave the club is very disappointing indeed. After two successful seasons, in which we have won the Champions League, I felt that Ricardo would of seen this as a good chance to achieve something more. However, he was very close to Luis at Chelsea, and told me he had to go, and I couldn't stand in his way -- it is deeply upsetting -- but we must move on."

Kaka doesn't seem to be the only Brazilian heading to Stamford Bridge, as speculation is further coming out that Robinho and Pato are all heading to Stamford Bridge.

 

[ansariaamir_leo]

Nice to see Kaka... :happy
Would be fun now

 

[ajay.bhat]

great squad with a lot of expectations

 

[m_vaughan]

Real Madrid must have been over the moon with those two late late goals! Robinho is King!!

Great to see Kaka finally make the move to London, but will Drogba's absence going to hurt the blues?

 

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

Drogba out Kaka in :happy

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Match Report : Chelsea 0 Liverpool 0 (5-4 pens)

Holders Chelsea have retain the Community Shield at the Wembley Stadium after the match was decided by penalties against Premier League side Liverpool .

Captain John Terry scored the decisive spot kick after Petr Cech had saved from Phillip Cocu. Terry penalty completed a perfect set of spot-kicks to win and retain the FA Community Shield.

Chelsea out-played Liverpool throughout and should have won the game in normal time but were thwarted a more than one occasion by Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina.

Andriy Shevchenko and Kaka both went close and Frank Lampard also hit the bar from long range.

However Liverpool also went close as Torres just failed to get on the end of an Steven Gerrard corner and then lobbed wastefully over Cech's bar when clean through, though a boot in the face from Bosingwa went some way to impairing his sight of goal.

Chelsea have retained and defended their FA Community Shield title .

---

Teams

Chelsea(4-4-4);Cech ; Bosingwa , Alex , Terry(c) , A.Cole ; Ballack , Deco , Lampard , Joe Cole(Pizarro 76') ; Kaka , Shevchenko ;

Unused Subs : Anelka , Cudicini , Belletti , Sinclair

Liverpool(4-4-2):Reina ; Finnan , Carrager , Agger , Fabio Aurellio ; Pennant(Kuyt 63') , Gerrard(c) , Xab Alonso(Babel 56'); , Cocu ; Keane , Torres ;

Unused Subs : Martin , Skrtel , Hyypia

Match Stats

7-Shots-4
4-On Target-2
51%-Possession-49%
8-Corners-3
12-Free Kicks-4
0-Penalties-0
4-Fouls-12
0-Offsides-1
0-Yellow Cards-0
0-Red Cards-0

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Capello Announces First Squad

Capello has announced his 23 man squad to take on Turkey in a friendly at the Wembley Stadium . The Italian has selected United keeper Ben Foster as the new no 1 of the country . Capello has a lot of high hopes from the 23 year old . While Manchester City defender Micah Richards was also selected due to the retirement of Jamie Carragher . Tottenham 24 year old defender Michael Dawson will also gets his chance in the England jersey . Capello has not yet called up David Beckham who currently is playing for LA Galaxy . But Capello said that Becks is still in his pans . Everton inform striker Andy Johnson was handed his call due to an injury sustain by Newcastle striker Michael Owen at the last minute . England will be lead out of the tunnel by current skipper John Terry .

Goalkeepers:Ben Foster(Manchester United) , Paul Robinson(Blackburn Rovers) , Chris Kirklan(Wigan Athletic)

Defenders:John Terry(c)(Chelsea) , Ashely Cole(Chelsea) , Gary Neville(Manchester United) , Rio Ferdinand(Manchester United) , Phil Neville(Everton) , Wes Brown(Manchester United) , Micah Richards(Manchester City) , Michael Dawson(Tottenham Hotspurs)

Midfielders:Owen Hargreaves(Manchester United) , Steven Gerrard(Liverpool) , Michael Carrick(Manchester United) , Shaun Wright Phillips(FC Barcelona) , Joe Cole(Chelsea) , Frank Lampard(Chelsea) , Jermain Jenas(Tottenham Hotspurs) , Stewart Downing(Middlesborough)

Strikers:Wayne Rooney(Manchester United) , Andy Johnson(Everton) , Jermaine Defoe(Portsmouth) , Peter Crouch(Portsmouth)

 

[m_vaughan]

Looks like Capello feels Foster is ready to be his country's number one goalkeeper. I think he isnt.

England have had rubbish goalkeepers for as long as I can remember, so it should not be too hard for Foster to impress.