Soccer

Nike’s Barcelona home and away kits for 2013/14 - originally posted on Soccerlens.comNike have unveiled the new 2013-14 Barcelona kits and it turns out that the images leaked in April were indeed of the final Barcelona kit. #galleria img{display:none} As the leaked images suggested, the home kit is striped and it carries four red and three blue stripes. The shirt has a yellow collar and blue sleeves that descend into red. The Nike Swoosh is in yellow while the new sponsor is in white. The away 2013-14 Barcelona kits are a big improvement on the current Barca away kit – although it is still a combination of yellow and red. This time the two colours combine to form the red and yellow stripes of the Catalan flag. The away shirt has four red and five yellow stripes. The collar and sleeves are also yellow but the sleeves descend to turn into red. The sponsor logo and the Nike logo are in black. There is no official news on the colour or design of the third 2013-14 Barcelona kit but the leaked images suggested another black third kit this season. The Catalan giants reclaimed the La Liga trophy this season but the manner by which their march towards Champions League glory ended, Barcelona will surely been looking to regroup and find reinforcements for their current team. If the reports in the press are to be believed, David Villa and Victor Valdes are set to leave the club this summer and both could very well end up in England. Barca are said to be interested in the young prodigy of Neymar and his Brazil national teammate Thiago Silva who won Ligue 1 with PSG this season. Also on the club’s books, is the Borussia Monchengladbach goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen – a 21-year-old Germany international who is touted to be as good as, if not better than, Bayern Munich shot-stopper Manuel Neuer. How do you think the 2013-14 Barcelona kits compare with their current kits? Which of the above players do you think will be donning the 2013-14 Barcelona kits next summer? Let us know with a comment below. Follow this link for more news on 2013/14 kits or head over to the Soccerlens Store to purchase the latest kits of any of the biggest clubs in Europe or international teams. From Soccerlens.com - Football News

This weekend sees two German sides, in the form of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, line up against one another in a fixture, which ever year, the whole world stops to watch, the Champions League Final. In what will be a first for Europe’s premier competition, the meeting of two Bundesliga sides in the final signals just how strong football is in Germany right now. For so long, people’s opinion on football in Europe was quite simple. The English and Spanish leagues rule, while the rest just sit in their dominant shadow. However, when the yellow and black of Dortmund take on the red of Bayern this weekend in Wembley, people’s opinions, if they haven’t already, ought to change. The English game has been in decline for a number of years, a fall which came in conjunction with the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United in 2009. Meanwhile, Spanish football was somewhat shown up in the semi-finals of this years Champions League as Borussia and Bayern recorded an emphatic 11-3 aggregate victory over Real Madrid and Barcelona. When looking at the two sides march to this stage of the competition, it’s hard to oppose either club in terms of the betting. However, if you were to base your bet on the Bundesliga table, it’s pretty easy. As you can see from the above image, Bayern finished a whole 25 points clear of their nearest rivals Dortmund and just take a look at the difference in goal difference! The fact of the matter is, when you compare the two, Bayern have far more experience when it comes to European competition. This weekend’s game will be their 3rd final in the last 4 seasons and despite the fact they’ve lost their last 2, you’d have to believe that they’ve learned a number of things from their recent experiences on Europes biggest stage. Dortmund have only ever once been to the final of the Champions League, back in 1997 when they beat Juventus. However, given how long ago it was, it goes without saying that very few of the players in the current Dortmund setup will remember that famous in Munich, incidentally. Both clubs have players who can win a game of this magnitude on their own. However, we firmly believe that Bayern have more players who can do just that and we really, strongly fancy them to get the business done on Saturday night and we suggest backing them at a price of 3/4! When getting your bet on Bayern for the weekend, it’s worth taking a punt on the 3 strikes bet.

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DeAndre Yedlin has been getting a lot of minutes early this season for Seattle. (Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports) Everything remained status quo for the rookies of Major League Soccer in Week 12. Four players went the full 90 in their weekend games, two of them were usual suspects to do so. Andrew Farrell of New England is now at 900 minutes for the season with Seattle Homegrown defender DeAndre Yedlin just right behind him. It appears that defenders are getting the bulk of the minutes here so far this season with guys like Yedlin and Farrell. Real Salt Lake Homegrown defender Carlos Salcedo is also starting to earn his keep, as he had made two straight starts in the center of the RSL defense lately. D.C. United rookie Taylor Kemp was recalled from his loan to Richmond this past weekend, and he made his MLS debut in the process during the 1-1 draw to Sporting KC. One last interesting note, as you’ll see below in the post, is that there are three players from the first round of the SuperDraft that haven’t made their debut yet with their respective clubs. Sporting KC midfielder Mikey Lopez has and will see more time with the US U-20s this summer than he will with Sporting, probably not a bad thing to bring him along slowly there in KC if you ask me. Elsewhere, San Jose defender Tommy Muller and Montreal midfielder Fernando Monge have yet to debut. I believe Monge however was let go earlier this year by the Impact. Here is how the rest of the rookies did in Week 12. Week 12 Minutes: 90  Andrew Farrell (New England) 90 Deshorn Brown (Colorado) 90 Carlos Salcedo (Real Salt Lake) 90 DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle) 85 London Woodberry (FC Dallas) 83 Erik Hurtado (Vancouver) 63 Devon Sandoval (Real Salt Lake) 48 Adam Jahn (San Jose) 45* Taylor Kemp (DC) 33 Jonathan Osorio (Toronto) 27 Scott Caldwell (New England) 29 Gyasi Zardes (LA) 16 Greg Cochrane (LA) 5 Walker Zimmerman (FC Dallas) 1* Leonardo Fernandes (Philadelphia) *Made MLS Debut Total minutes for the season: Homegrown Players: DeAndre Yedlin (Seattle) 809 minutes, 1 assist Scott Caldwell (New England) 343 minutes Armando Moreno (New York) 2 minutes Jonathan Osorio (Toronto) 178 minutes, 2 goal London Woodberry (FC Dallas) 326 minutes Maxim Tissot (Montreal) 92 minutes Wandrille Lefevre (Montreal) 36 minutes Gyasi Zardes (LA Galaxy) 124 minutes – 1 goal Carlos Salcedo (Real Salt Lake) 181 minutes SuperDraft picks: #1 Andrew Farrell (New England) 900 minutes #2 Carlos Alvarez (Chivas) 530, 1 goal #3 Kyle Bekker (Toronto  FC) 123 minutes #4 Kekuta Manneh (Vancouver) 142 minutes, 1 goal, 1 assist #5 Erik Hurtado (Vancouver) 394 minutes, 1 assist #6 Deshorn Brown (Colorado) 723 minutes, 2 goals, 1 assist #7 Walker Zimmerman (FC Dallas) 6 minutes #8 Blake Smith (Montreal) 46 minutes #9 Ryan Finley (Columbus) 38 minutes #10 Eriq Zavaleta (Seattle) 6 minutes #11 Dillon Powers (Colorado) 930 minutes, 2 goal, 1 assist #12 John Stertzer (Real Salt Lake) 33 minutes #13 Jason Johnson (Houston) 13 minutes #16 Emery Welshman (Toronto FC) 5 minutes #17 Taylor Kemp (DC United) 45 minutes #19 Charlie Rugg (LA Galaxy) 126 minutes, 1 goal #21 Donnie Smith (New England) 53 minutes #29 Devon Sandoval (Real Salt Lake) 515 minutes – 1 goal #30 Yazid Atouba (Chicago Fire) 55 minutes #38 Greg Cochrane (LA Galaxy) 398 minutes Supplemental Picks: Adam Jahn (San Jose) 524 minutes, 4 goals Taylor Morgan (Toronto FC) 15 minutes Leonardo Fernandes (Philadelphia) 1 minute The post 2013 Rookie Watch: Defenders Getting More Minutes appeared first on WVHooligan.com - MLS Blog.

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The Dortmund boss has claimed that he would not even speak to his wife after the 20-year-old informed him of his decision to join Bayern Munich Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he was so shocked at Mario Gotze’s decision to leave Borussia Dortmund for Bayern Munich that he couldn’t speak to anyone, including his own wife. The 20-year-old will make a €37 million move to the Allianz Arena in the summer after coming through the ranks at BVB and will play his final game for his boyhood club in the Champions League final against the Bavarians on Saturday. “It was like a heart attack. It was one day after [the 3-2 victory over Malaga," he told The Guardian. "I had one day to celebrate and then somebody thought: 'Enough, go back down on the floor'. At our training ground Michael Zorc [general manager] walked in like somebody had died. “Michael asked if I wanted to talk and I said: ‘No, I have to go’. That evening my wife was waiting because there’s a very good German actor, and a good friend, Wotan Wilke Mohring, in a new film in Essen and we were invited to the premiere. But I walked in and told her: ‘No chance. I cannot speak. It’s not possible to take me out tonight’. “Bayern told Mario: ‘It’s now or never’. I told him they will come next year. They will come in two years, and then three years. But he is 20 and he thought: ‘I must go’.” He added: “I know how difficult it will be to find a player to replace Gotze but, next year, we will play differently. It just takes time.” Gotze is one of a number of key players that have left the club in recent years and Klopp is disappointed that individuals feel the need to seek moves elsewhere despite the club’s recent success. “Shinji Kagawa is one of the best players in the world and he now plays 20 minutes at Manchester United– on the left wing! My heart breaks. Really, I have tears in my eyes. Central midfield is Shinji’s best role. “He’s an offensive midfielder with one of the best noses for goal I ever saw. But for most Japanese people it means more to play for Man United than Dortmund. We cried for 20 minutes in each others’ arms, when he left. “One year before that Nuri Sahin went because Real Madrid are the biggest club in the world. If players are patient enough we can develop the team into one of the biggest in the world.”

Matthew Glazier of Bettingpro.com explains why Arsenal were able to pip their arch-rivals to a place in the Champions League. On 3 March 2013, goals from Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon helped Tottenham to win the north London derby and go seven points clear of Arsenal. After the match, Arsene Wenger admitted that finishing in the top four of the Premier League looked a difficult prospect, with Ladbrokes offering 3/1 about the Gunners making the Champions League places. The Frenchman said: “We have to fight and it will be difficult now, because we dropped points that we couldn’t afford to drop. But we will fight and we will keep our spirit.” Wenger was true to his word, with Arsenal galvanising and edging out Tottenham by a single point to claim fourth spot on Sunday. But what were the main reasons why the Gunners were celebrating at St James’ Park last weekend. 1) The central defence partnership of Koscielny and Mertesacker At the start of the season, it would have been hard to imagine Thomas Vermaelen playing second fiddle to Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker, although that is exactly what has happened over the past few weeks. It was fitting that Koscielny scored the winner against Newcastle as the Frenchman’s performances have been excellent, with just two goals conceded in Arsenal’s last six matches. Mertesacker bagged the only goal at Craven Cottage and the pair are directly responsible for fourth place. 2) Arsenal’s win against Bayern Munich So the defensive horror show at home to Bayern seemed to indicate that the Gunners were leagues apart from the cream of Europe, although Arsenal then went to the Allianz Arena and claimed a 2-0 win. This was just ten days after losing at White Hart Lane and essentially sparked the team’s unbeaten run which lasted all the way to the end of the season. 3) Tottenham’s participation in the Europa League Andre Villas-Boas declared at the start of the season that Spurs would be trying to win the Europa League and he was as good as his word. Unfortunately, you have to say that fielding a first-team from the word go backfired, especially towards the end of the season when Spurs lost 3-2 at Liverpool just days after beating Inter Milan. Similarly, extra-time in the San Siro the following week then led to a lacklustre performance against Fulham which saw the Cottagers win 1-0 at White Hart Lane. A 2-2 draw with Basel was followed by another 2-2 draw at home to Everton and the damage was done.

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