Soccer By Ives

Szetela to sign with Spanish Club Racing Santander

Danny Szetela is heading to Spain.

After Nearly two months of transfer speculation and negotiations, the Columbus Crew midfielder has passed up offers from Roma and Newcastle (among others) to play for Spanish First Division side Racing de Santander.

The Herald News has learned that Szetela has signed a three-year deal with the Northern Spain-based club, which began the La Liga season in solid fashion by tying Barcelona last weekend. Racing de Santander finished in 10th place in La Liga last season.

Szetela's days with the Crew are over

Danny Szetela has played his last game for the Columbus Crew.

No, he hasn't made a decision yet on which European offer he is accepting but all the teams in line to sign Szetela have agreed to the $150,000 transfer fee for his services, a fee that will send him to Europe by this weekend.

It's Q & A Time

Okay folks, it is Friday before Labor Day, which seems like as good a time as any to have a Question & Answer session.

I know I set a new personal record for taking longer than ever to answer the last pile of questions but this time around I will be looking to cap the questions more quickly. Get your soccer questions in and try to make them clear and not too broad. No meaning of life questions (No "How can US Soccer create more true No. 10s" questions. I'm looking to answer questions, not write essays.)

The last round of questions were very good so let's keep that going. I will look to have them all answered by Tuesday morning (So you can read them as you sit at work wishing you were still at the beach).

Fire away.

TGIF: Beckham is out. Now what?

Good morning folks. It is the final day of the European transfer window, which means we should be hearing about transfer news throughout the day. I'm still waiting on word of Danny Szetela's decision, which will be revealed today.

For today's first post I wanted to offer up one last discussion on David Beckham. As you have heard by now, an MRI revealed that Beckham will in fact miss six weeks with a sprained MCL in his right knee. It is a nightmare development for the Galaxy and MLS, which will watch the Galaxy go on a handful of road games to venues that were set to be sold out for Beckham. Now, the Golden Goose is down and fans from Salt Lake City to Columbus are left with tickets that aren't worth as much now.

Szetela's decision imminent

   

Danny Szetela has not signed with Roma, Brescia or even new player Newcastle United. At least not yet.

Conflicting reports have the Clifton-born midfielder headed to everywhere from Rome to England but as of early this evening Szetela has yet to sign a deal with anybody. Sources close to Szetela insist that the Columbus Crew midfielder has yet to decide where he will move to next, but will decide by early tomorrow.

Champions League Groups Drawn

The Groups for the 2007/2008 UEFA Champions League were drawn on Thursday and the draw is offering up some juicy match-ups as usual.

Here is the group rundown (With a skinny on each group):

Beckham likely out six weeks

You knew David Beckham was finished as soon as the challenge happened.

Beckham will be sidelined for up to six weeks with a sprained ligament in his right knee suffered during the LA Galaxy's SuperLiga final loss to Pachuca on Wednesday night. It is an injury that will force Beckham to miss England's upcoming European Championship qualifiers as well as most of the remainder of the MLS season.

The injury means fans in Salt Lake City, Kansas City and Columbus will likely miss out on seeing the Golden Boy work his magic. It also ends whatever faint hopes Los Angeles may have had about making a run at the MLS playoffs.

What is your take on the Beckham situation? Share your thoughts below.

Szetela to Brescia?

Word is trickling down early this morning that Clifton native and Columbus Crew midfielder Danny Szetela is set to sign with Italian Serie B side Brescia. There are conflicting accounts about this situation, with sources placing Szetela in Italy while other sources say no deal is done yet. What is clear at this point is that Szetela's transfer future will be determined in the next 24 hours.

A source close to Szetela still insists that no deal has been agreed to yet and that Szetela is still considering options from England, Italy and Spain. With just one more European business day to make a deal during the summer transfer window, Szetela doesn't have much time left to make a decision.

SuperLiga Final (Running Commentary)

Good evening folks. We have the Los Angeles Galaxy and Pachuca facing off in the inaugural SuperLiga final.

The match is on Telefutura so for those of you who can't see it I will try to provide you with some commentary on the match. Fellow SBI readers can also chime in on the match.

Share your comments and thoughts on the match below.

A little soccer for breakfast

For those of you who are morning people there is some soccer for you to watch.

The U.S. Under-17 national team will face Germany on Thursday morning (7am Eastern Time) in the second round of the U-17 World Cup. The game will be shown live on ESPNU.

The young Americans reached the secound round of the World Cup after a 2-0 win against Belgium. They'll be without New Jersey native Billy Schuyler, who is out on yellow cards.

I'll be awake at this time but will watch it on TIVO (SBI Junior has the living room TV on lockdown in the morning). I'll put up a post in the morning for folks to share thoughts on the match and try to follow along.