Kick It! Volume 591

Some of my thoughts on current affairs in soccer

The Good - Liverpool came in second in the Premiership. While, of course, it's not a first place finish it is still a damn strong performance from a damn strong team. Next year who knows what will happen. Especially since Man Utd is being torn apart. Which brings me to...
Cristiano Ronaldo moves to Real Madrid! Great excitement! The world's "best" player leaves England for Spain, which leaves a giant dent in the Man Utd squad. Couple this with Tevez leaving and you've got a United team in turmoil. Which means very good things for a strong Liverpool.
Three-ish weeks out from seeing AC Milan vs Inter at Gillette! This will not only be my first soccer game, but my first pro sports game. At the age of 25... yeah I haven't been in that much of a rush to see pro sports. The Milan Derby, however, gets me off my ass to see two of the best teams in the world in America.

The Bad - United States suffers defeat in the Confederations Cup final. After besting an on fire Spain team they got trumped by a tricky Brazilian squad. They put up a helluva fight, though. Goals from Dempsey and Donovan had the US leading 2-0 at the half. A weasely fightback from the Brazilians saw them get 3 goals in the second to win it 3-2. It was a FIFA final for the US team, a first for them. Yet, it could've been so much more had they been able to just hold on to that lead. It's a sad disappointment, a hard loss to take. Second place is hardly enough after beating best in the world Spain 2-0.

The Whatever - Real Madrid is buying players left and right with millions upon millions of dollars. They came in second in Spain, which for some reason seems to have made them go loony. Ronaldo, Kaka and Benzema have been bought so far and who knows who the next player will be bought. Where'd this money come from? Even giants are struggling in these economic times, but Real has money to shatter transfer fees TWICE?!