Sir Alex Ferguson says US football is taking off

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Sir Alex Ferguson says US football is taking off Sir Alex Ferguson believes that football is starting to get popular in the United States with the Manchester United manager expecting a competitive edge on their upcoming matches as they leave Monday for their Chicago training base.

The US was able to hold England to a World Cup draw and Ferguson is convinced that the Major League Soccer standard is better than ever.

Ferguson stated that American soccer is starting to make an impact and that he had commented before the World Cup that the US team were going to play like the athletes that top football players in England are.

He continued to say that this is also the way that American football players are, athletic and fit with a good feel for the pitch.  Ferguson explained that he can see the improvement throughout the MLS and has spoken to many people over the last few months about this fact and seen an upsurge in the excitement around it.

Darren Fletcher, Edwin van der Sar, and Dimitar Berbatov will be travelling to the United States along with many youngsters which include Fulham’s former defender Chris Smalling.

Ferguson added that winning is the challenge in front of the team but at the same time the idea is to get everyone a chance to play so that when they come back they are prepared for the season.

United will play against Philadelphia Union on July 21st at the Lincoln Financial Field followed by a match in four days at Arrowhead Stadium against the Kansas City Wizards.  They will finish out their United States tour in Houston playing the MLS All-Stars on July 28th.

Facebook rumoured to be new England sponsor

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Facebook rumoured to be new England sponsor Facebook has denied rumours that it is talking to the Football Association about taking over the England team as its major sponsor. The landmark social networking website is one of four companies reportedly looking for the available contract as the English football body is hoping to find a replacement for Nationwide, which it lost, valued at £20m.

The building society will discontinue its sponsorship at the close of July, after withdrawing the effort that they made to the Football Association prior to the World Cup.  Santander the banking group and telecommunication giants Orange and O2 all made the shortlist.

Facebook however had continued to deny that they have considered the sponsorship or met with the FA stating that any rumours are ‘bizarre.’  In an official statement they said that they are not speaking to the FA, and that they are not sure where the rumours started, but it’s not true.

The statement also acknowledged that they do work with many brands and the FA has made use of the Facebook platform thus they have spoken to them about these matters but in no way different than any other brand.

Facebook is just one of many blue-chip companies that have spoken out against rumours that they may become the new sponsor of the England team.

Wrapped Up: World Cup 2010 | 4: The Semi Finals

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Ben Shires and the Wrapped Up team are back to wrap up the round in which four teams became two – the 2010 FIFA World Cup semi finals. There’s a trippy recreation of the Van Bronckhorst goal with commentary from a couple of Dutch stoners, PLUS we see why nobody would refuse an offer from Fabio Capello…

Serbia beat Brazil in final of World Cup Fittest Fans!

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Although Brazil were disappointing on the pitch during the World Cup. they did at least have the consolation of reaching the World Cup final when it came to a competition to find the fittest World Cup fans run by PartyBets.

Serbia beat Brazil in final of World Cup Fittest Fans!

Throughout the competition visitors to the PartyBets World Cup portal have been making their choices –and almost three-quarters of the final votes went to a brown-eyed blonde with a cheeky smile from Serbia.

England also did better than Fabio Capello’s World Cup squad managed in South Africa. They got through to the semi-finals, before eventually being beaten by the runner-up from Brazil.

Full details of the Fittest Fans competition can be found here http://worldcup.partybets.com/category/world-cup-news/fittes…

Teenage football fan shot dead for blowing vuvuzela

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Teenage football fan shot dead for blowing vuvuzela A teenage football fan was shot dead by his neighbour who was irritated at listening to him play the vuvuzela horn. Police stated that Asanda Cele, aged 14, was shot twice in the head and one time in the arm and left in the neighbour’s back garden until he was found and rushed to the hospital.

The teen’s father, Sandile Cele, claimed that Asanda was on his way home to Durban when he was shot by a resident that was known to hate the horns since they have become popular alongside the World Cup.

The boy was viewing the Bafana Bafana game from two weeks ago on video when he was killed.

His father said that his son loved watching soccer and his favourite teams were Bafana Bafana and Manchester United.

He continued to explain that he always blew his vuvuzela regardless of whether his team was winning or not.  He added that the neighbour had just moved in and was known not to like the horn which is why he thought his son was killed.

Captain Thulani Zwane the police spokesman from KwaZulu Natal force stated that the suspect was arrested on the day of the murder and formally charged.

He was then released on bail and will appear next month in front of the magistrates.

Zwane said that the man stated he thought the teen was a robber and shot at him.

The boy’s father stated that he did not believe the claim given it was not dark and the neighbour would have clearly known who he was shooting at.