Soccer

Qingdao Jonoon ( 0 – 0 ) Shanghai Shenxin F.C. , CHN on The 18th of May, 2013 at half past ten Podcast:

Shaanxi Zhong.Chanba ( 3 – 2 ) Changsha Ginde , CHN on The 18th of May, 2013 at twenty five past ten Podcast:

David Beckham's advisors hold talks with US Major League Soccer over the former England captain buying a franchise.

Yokohama F. Marinos ( 0 – 0 ) Sendai , Japan on The 18th of May, 2013 at five to ten Podcast:

The 27-year-old is convinced he has no role under the incoming Scot and is looking to force through a move away from Old Trafford this summer, with Arsenal and Chelsea interested Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson insists David Moyes will be the person to decide Wayne Rooney’s future this summer. The 27-year-old is convinced he no longer has a part to play under Moyes’ regime and is prepared to force through a move away from Old Trafford at the end of the season. With Arsenal and Chelsea keeping tabs on Rooney’s situation, the England international is also attracting interest from Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid. But Sir Alex claims that Moyes, who will officially take charge of United on July 1, is keen to address Rooney’s position at the club. “I have spoken to David a few times,” Sir Alex told reporters. “I would imagine he would want to come in quite soon when the season finishes and speak to staff and things like that. “But I have not spoken to David about Wayne. I’m sure he will address it when he gets here. “I have no idea why Wayne wants to leave, it is not my department. I am no longer interested in that. “David is going to deal with that and, quite rightly, he wants to deal with it.”

There are  just two games with any real significance taking place this weekend in the Premier League. They are Newcastle v Arsenal and Tottenham  v Sunderland. Both London clubs are battling to secure fourth spot in the league and thus Champions League football next season. Tottenham v Sunderland Sunderland manager Di Canio has washed away any ideas that his players had of jetting off into the sunset immediately after their  game with Spurs. He and only he will decide when they can indeed go on holiday and will partly base his decision on their level of performance on Sunday. It was reported that some of the players had planned to fly away directly after the game from an airport in London with flights apparently already booked. No chance. So, no easy game in store for Villas-Boas then. Well lets face it, it was never going to be easy anyway under the pressure. And besides, even a win might not be enough if their London neighbours manage to beat Newcastle. Form wise, when you exclude the Black Cats’ 6-1 drubbing at the hands of Aston Villa, they are unbeaten in four matches and have lost by more than one goal only once in their last 14 matches. Extraordinary stat! There is no doubting that Tottenham are in great form but I feel that they will face tough opposition on Sunday and won’t have everything their own way. In the end, I reckon it will be a close match. So, here is what I am thinking. I believe that Spurs are massively under-priced at odds of 3/10 so that leaves me with two options. I don’t think Sunderland will win. Do I be brave and suggest backing Sunderland or Draw’ at odds of 11/4 or do I opt for the safer option of backing them to not lose by more than one goal at odds of 20/21? I think both offer really good value but the later edges it for me. Bet Selection: Sunderland (+2) @20/21 with Boylesports (Sunderland can win, draw or be beaten by one goal) Newcastle v Arsenal Arsenal know what is required. 3 points and they will be in the Champions League for the 17th consecutive season. A remarkable achievement. They face a Newcastle side who have been conceding plenty of goal lately and are finding difficult to hit the net themselves. Arsenal have the best away form in the league at the moment. They have the experience required for this type of game. Besides pride, I see little to motivate Alan Pardew’s men in this match and I’m not sure they will be ready for the battle. I expect Arsenal to leave nothing to chance and attempt to take the lead in the first half. With that in mind, the half-time/full-time market looks the bet to be on. Bet Selection: Arsenal to win (Half-time/Full-time) @ 6/4 with 888Sport

The irony of any rows between the Premier League and the Football League concerning the way in which money be paid in parachute payments should be paid out of the vast reserves of cash that the Premier League now accumulates from the sale of television rights is that the very reason for the formation of the Premier League in the first place is was to avoid a great deal of “solidarity” in the first place. Times, however, have changed a considerable amount over the course of the last two decades, and the financial gap has grown to such an extent that parachute payments to the clubs that were relegated from the Premier League became a necessity in order to save them from themselves. The level of these payments, however, has become a cause for concern. In March, a letter from the chairman of the Football League, Greg Clarke, revealed that from next season, clubs relegated from the Premier League will receive £23m in the first year after the drop (a £7m increase on the current levels), £18m in the second year(a £5m increase) and £9m in the third. By way of comparison, clubs in the Championship who do not get parachute payments currently receive £2.3m a season, League One sides £325,000 and League Two sides £250,000 in what are known as “solidarity” payments. It has been proposed that those payments are increased by just five per cent under the new offer, meaning that clubs relegated from the Premier League would be receiving ten times as much as those that hadn’t been fortunate enough to have as little as one season in the sun. That the Football League should be jittery about this sort of increase in funding at this particular time is understandable. All three divisions of their competition had a degree of competition running through them that the Premier League, which finishes its season this weekend with practically all of its matches meaning little to nothing, cannot offer. Indeed, the more cynical amongst us might even pause to consider whether there might be some sort of deep-rooted – quite possibly subconscious – desire to make the League as uncompetitive as theirs is. The evidence, over the last few years in the Premier League at least, has been that there is a clear correlation between the amount of money that a football club has to spend on wages and transfer fees. The Football League has, in comparison, been less predictable and more egalitarian. The result of this has been acres of good publicity for the Football League in recent weeks, and this hasn’t reflected particularly positively on the Premier League. Recent events off the pitch – the retirement of Alex Fergsuon, the sacking of Roberto Mancini and the apparently interminable stories concerning the future of Wayne Rooney – may have papered over a few cracks, but the truth of the matter is that the Premier League has been a stultifying place this season. It is highly likely that the four clubs that will assume the Champions League places for next season will be the four that most would have predicted for most of the season, whilst the three clubs relegated don’t contain any names that would have caused anybody to raise their eyebrows either. As a business, the Premier League is ruthlessly efficient. It seldom resembles a sporting event these days, though, and if people start seriously start asking the question of whether it is still offering the level of entertainment that they might reasonably be entitled to expect from a product that is now priced very much in the “premium” bracket, then that mask of ruthless efficiency might just start to slip a little. None of this, however, has prevented Richard Scudamore, the Premier League’s all seeing I, from getting involved in the small matter of how the Football League manages its own financial affairs. The League proposed two ways in which the financial gap between those clubs relegated from the Premier League and the rest in the Champion

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson criticises City rivals over 'amazing' decision to sack boss Roberto Mancini.

Kashiwa ( 1 – 3 ) Cerezo Osaka , Japan on The 18th of May, 2013 at five to nine Podcast:

The Argentine has no intention to leave his current club any time soon and has stressed that he has a good relationship with Andrea Stramaccioni Rodrigo Palacio has insisted that he is very happy with life at Inter and would never leave the Nerazzurri for arch-rivals AC Milan. The 31-year-old joined the Giuseppe Meazza side from Genoa at the start of the campaign and has since developed into a key player at the club, netting 12 goals in 25 Serie A appearances. “I would not even consider joining AC Milan if they made me an offer,” Palacio told Inter Channel. “I signed a three-year contract at Inter and I’m very happy here. I like this club a lot. “I found it easy to settle in right from the very start: there’s a great group of down-to-earth lads and of course lots of other Argentines too.” The striker then went on to discuss his relationship with head coach Andrea Stramaccioni and stressed there are no problems between the two. “Our relationship is very good. We got on right from the beginning.”