John Terry Is Still A Piece Of Trash

In case you forgot, John Terry would like to remind you that he is one of the biggest scumbags in all of professional soccer.

The Chelsea defender and mainstay of England's national team was stripped of his captaincy today with his country due to allegations of racism against Queens Park defender Anton Ferdinand.

I used to love Chelsea and Terry was my favorite player along with Frank Lampard but I have a hard time rooting for them and him while he's still a Blue.

England head coach Fabio Capello will reportedly try a rotation of captains, including Steven Gerrard of Liverpool, Lampard, Manchester City's Gareth Barry, Liverpool's Glen Johnson and Tottenham's Scott Parker.

The source says the Italian tactician will implement a system of rotating captains for England's games leading up to Euro2012. He will start with the current vice-captain, Gerrard, when England plays the Netherlands on Feb. 29.

"An England squad will be selected next week and is sure to include Steven Gerrard, which means he is most likely to be named captain for that game but, of course, there is no guarantee that he will be fit at the end of the month when the game is played," the report says.

Gerrard has played 89 times for England, and served as its captain at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He has been left out of the England squad since Nov. 2010, as he battled injuries for much of the next 13 months.

Capello re-installed Terry as captain in March 2011 -- he had been stripped of the role in Feb. 2010 after his alleged affair with a teammate's made headlines -- to lead England through Euro2012 qualification.

As we said when the first drama with Terry sprung up in 2010, before the World Cup, nobody does soap operas like England. The team is always supremely talented but either through bad management, chemistry or poor performance, they routinely come up short in international competitions. I expect Euro 2012 to be no different with the Three Lions doing down in flames well before the final.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Steven Gerrard Will Apparently Be On Liverpool For The Rest Of His Career

I have always been a proponent of keeping legends on your club for their entire careers, if that's possible and also assuming that they don't become a distraction or unruly as their skills diminish.

Liverpool midfielder and captain Steven Gerrard has always been one of my favorite players so I was psyched today when I read that he'll be there for the foreseeable future after signing a new contract.

Premier League side Liverpool confirmed the news on Thursday, stating Gerrard, 31, has "committed his long-term future" to the Reds, while he will also take up an ambassadorial role when he retires.

The deal caps an excellent 24 hours for the midfielder after he scored from the penalty spot on Wednesday night to help his side to a 1-0 Carling Cup semi-final first leg with over Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

After emerging through the youth ranks at Anfield, Gerrard has gone on to make 561 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool, winning both the FA Cup and League Cup twice as well as claiming Champions League glory in 2005.

The England international has recently endured a torrid time with injuries, but he made his comeback in September and has since steadily returned to form and fitness.

Of his contract extension, Gerrard told the club's official website: "I'm very happy. It's a very proud day for myself and my family.

"It comes on the back of a fantastic team performance last night when we got the result we were looking for. Hopefully we can finish the job off in two weeks time and take all of our magnificent fans down to Wembley for a day out.

"The contract extension coming the day after has been the icing on the cake so it has been a perfect 24 hours. This is the club I love and is the club I have supported since I was a young boy. I am living the dream as the captain of one of the biggest clubs in the world.

"I love coming to work every day and the experiences I have had since I was eight years of age and first signed for the club, I wouldn't change them for the world. To extend that and to hopefully have some more good times in a red shirt is what I want.

"There will be more highs and lows, there's no doubt about it as that's part and parcel of being a football player at a top club. The important thing is that you react well to the lows and experience more of the highs.

"I'm confident moving forward that the club is going in the right direction. We've got a fantastic team, we've got the right owners in place and the right team behind our team, so I'm really confident we'll have more good experiences in the future."

Reading those quotes from Gerrard, what more can you ask for? It's not just smart PR, you can tell the guy truly loves his club and playing professional soccer for a living. Plus, he's still energized and looking forward to the future rather than sitting back and resting on his laurels and impressive resume. This all makes me love him even more and root for the Reds to do well for the rest of his career.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Gerrard done for the rest of the season

Liverpool star and English national team standout Steven Gerrard will be shelved for the res of the English Premier League season with a groin injury.

It was confirmed on Friday that the midfielder would not play again this term after suffering a setback in his recovery from the problem that has kept him out since early March, and tests revealed that the 30-year-old required an operation.

The procedure has been declared a success and Liverpool expect their talismanic leader to be available for pre-season training.

A statement on the Liverpool website read: "Liverpool FC today [Saturday] confirmed that Steven Gerrard has undergone successful surgery on his groin.

"The decision was taken after consultation with leading specialists. The player will now begin a rehabilitation programme and is expected to return for pre-season training.''

Currently in sixth place with 45 points (10 points behind Chelsea in fourth place), this injury doesn't really mean that Liverpool will miss out on the Champions League. Even with Gerrard, they probably wouldn't have made it. Similarly, they are nowhere near the relegation zone (West Ham in 18th with 32 points). Still, you never want to see a great player hurt in his prime and this is one of those cases. Get well soon Gerrard, you have always been one of our favorites.

Torres and Gerrard want to stay at Liverpool, Mascherano not so much

One of the most persistent rumors since Liverpool crapped out last season in the EPL and failed to qualify for the Champions League was that they would have a massive overhaul.

For now, I'm happy to say that Fernando Torres was quoted as saying he's happy to be "stay at the best club in the world." The Spanish striker was back at training after winning the 2010 World Cup with Spain and he said all the right things.

"My commitment and loyalty to the club and to the fans is the same as it was on my first day when I signed. I am looking forward to the challenge ahead," Torres said. "I am really happy to be back, really happy to stay with all my team-mates.

"This is the best club in the country so the targets and expectations are always high. At Liverpool the aim is to fight for every title. It was difficult last season, but we are sure we can improve this season."

New Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson always maintained that he wanted to keep the Reds' record-signing at the club and Torres said he was impressed to have been paid a personal visit.

"I really appreciated the fact that Roy came out to see me while I was on my holidays," Torres said. "He told me about his plans for the club and what he wanted from me and I appreciated that.

"I hope he will be the right man to reach the targets of Liverpool Football Club and I am really looking forward to working with him. At the moment I am training just on my own but as soon as I can I will train with the team and with the new manager."

Coach Rafael Benitez left after last season but his time was up anyways and that was expected. Hodgson has replaced him (from Fulham) and he also has captain Steven Gerrard back in the fold after Captain Fantastic pledged his commitment to Liverpool after the World Cup with England.

The only player looking to get out of Anfield is midfielder Javier Mascherano, who wants to get back with Benitez at Inter Milan. However, Hodgson won't let the Argentine leave without receiving around 25 million pounds in return.

Great run by Gerrard but no goal

Wonderful run by Steven Gerrard into the box but his shot is tipped wide by Neuer. Glen Johnson picked up a yellow card for tripping Ozil.

Schweinsteiger was the last German sub, coming out for Stefan Kiebling.

4-1 Germany in the 84th minute.

Good luck with the hooligans Robert Green

Well we didn't end up live-blogging from the House of Blues but Shimer and I, along with a huge crowd, took in the U.S.-England game and I'd say that it lived up to the hype.

It ended in a 1-1 tie and that's probably the way it should be; the U.S. had the run of play in the first half and England had a bunch of nice chances in the second half that they couldn't put in the goal.

The biggest things to take out of this are a) how bad England's goaltending situation must be and b) conversely how Tim Howard is on the short-list of the top keepers in the world.

It was a dream start for the Three Lions as captain Steven Gerrard (Liverpool stud, one of my biggest man-crushes so I ain't mad at him) scored in the fourth minute. He blew by midfielder Ricardo Clark and took a nice slotted ball by washed up striker Emile Heskey before hitting it with the outside of his right foot. It was a cool finish by one of the best midfielders in the world.

After the goal, the U.S. defense tightened up and it paid off when they scored what will go down as one of the biggest blunders not only of the 2010 World Cup but also in World Cup history.

Robert Green, West Ham's goalkeeper, was the top choice of coach Fabio Capello. You can blame Capello but when your other options are David James and Joe Hart, it's like trying to fit 20 pounds of shit into a 10 pound bag.

Clint Dempsey hit a pretty innocent left footed shot from outside the box but Green fumbled it and then somehow it squirted over the line. Tie game in the fortieth minute.

Howard made a couple Grade A stops although he was helped out by English players who couldn't have hit it in worse spots. In the second half, Aaron Lennon got a partial breakaway but fired low and hard right into Howard's chest.

Later, Shaun Wright-Phillips got an opening but put it right in Howard's hands.

It was a rough game with both teams picking up three yellow cards: James Milner (who was subbed out in the first half), Jamie Carragher (who was a second half substitute) and Gerrard for England and Robbie Findley, Cherundolo and Jay DeMerit.

The US had some counterattacking chances but they only really did much with one of them: Jozy Altidore blew by his defender on the left side, cut to give himself a better angle then hit a shot that was saved by Green then deflected off the crossbar.

Bob Bradley's boys did exactly what they needed to do in the first game and most importantly, all the pressure will continue to build on England and Green.

Algeria and Slovenia, the other much lesser known teams in Group C, play tomorrow morning (7:30 a.m.) so it'll be interesting to see how those teams play.

Next Friday, in their next matches, the U.S. plays Slovenia at 10 a.m. and England meets Algeria at 2:30 p.m.


England United States
18(6) Shots (on Goal) 12(4)
12 Fouls 14
8 Corner Kicks 4
5 Offsides 2
57% Time of Possession 43%
3 Yellow Cards 3
0 Red Cards 0
3 Saves 5