Thunderball

Results of games played last night (5/17)
1. England League One Play-Off
Charlton 2-1 Swindon   (agg 3-3)  pk 4-5
Comment --Swindon will meet the winner of Rotherham/Aldershot
   in the Final at Wembly.

2. Germany D2/D3 Play-Off
Rostock 0-2 Ingolstadt  (agg 0-3)
Comment --Ingolstadt will be playing in D2 next season,
  and Rostock will be relegated to D3.
   --- End of Update ---

Thunderball

Correction to Post#131 -- Swindon will meet the winner of
  Millwall/Huddersfield (5/18) in the League One Play-Off Final
   at Wembly.
   --- End of Update ---

Thunderball

Transfer News
1. Ben Foster is set to have a medical at Birmingham this week.
  Man Utd and Birmingham have agreed a fee (around GBP6M).

2. Lokomotiv Moscow (Russian club) has renewed their bid
  to chase Pavlyuchenko. Harry Reddknapp has been reluctant
  to entertain any bid for the striker.
   --- End of Update --

Thunderball

Results of games played last night (5/18)
1. Eng League One Play-Off
Millwall 2-0 Huddersfield  (agg 2-0)
Comment -- Millwall will meet Swindon at Wembly on 5/29.
  The Winner will join Norwich and Leeds to play in
  League Championship next season.

2. Czech Cup Final
Jablonec 1-2 Plzen
Comment -- Plzen will join Ostrava (3) and Teplice (4)
  to play in Europa Lg next season, while Sparta Prague (Ch)
  and Jablonec (2) play in Champ Lg.
   --- End of Update ---

Thunderball

Transfer News
1. West Ham have rejected an GBP8M bid for Charlton Cole from
  Birmingham.  They are holding out for their own valuation of around
  GBP15M.

2. Sol Cambell wants to sign new contract under discussion with
  Arsenal, but he has been flattered by approaches from Celtic.
   --- End of Update ---

Thunderball

Results of games played last night (5/19)
1. Eng Leasgue Two Play-Off Semi-Final Leg2
Rothreham 2-0 Aldershot  (agg 3-0)
Comment -- Rotherham will meet the winner of
  Morecambe/Dag & Red at Wembly on 5/30.
  The Winner will be playing in League One next season.

2. Spanish Cup (also called King's Cup)
Atl Madrid 0-2 Sevilla

3. UEFA U21 Championship Qualifier (Gp 7)
Croatia U21 1-1 Slovakia U21

4. Toulon Youth Festival
5/18  Gp A   Ivory U21 3-0 Japan U21
                  France U21 2-0 Colombia U21
5/19  Gp B   Chile U21 4-2 Qatar U21
                  Denmark U21 3-1 Russia U21

News bits
1. Aston Villa have rejected GBP20M bid from Man C
  for midfielder James Milner.

2. Juventus have confirmed Luigi De Neri as their
   new coach.
   --- End of Update ---

Thunderball

News bits
1. Eintracht Frankfurt have signed Greek striker Theofanis Gekas
  from Leverkusen for a fee of Euro1Mil on a 2-year contract.

2. Dourmund have completed the signing of Lukasz Piszczek
  and Mitchell Langerack.
  Piszczek has signed a 3-yr contract and arrives on a free transfer
  after Hertha Berlin released him at the end of the season.
  Australian goalkeeper Langerack has arrived from Melbourne Victory.
  He will provide backup to number one Roman Weidenfeller.
  Robert Lewandowski has reportedly agreed terms with Dortmund.
  Dortmund are now in negotiation with Lech Poznan (Poland)
  over a transfer fee.

3. France Football Federation has finalized terms with Bordeaux
   on the fee of releasing  their manager Laurent Blanc.
  Laurent Blanc will become head coach of Fance national team
  after the World Cup.

4. R.Madrid are closing in to sign David Silva from Valencia.  
  Rumours have it R.Madrid will signed Silva next week, before
  the Spain national team fly off to S.Africa.
  Meanwhile, Valencia are busy building their team for the new
  season.  Valencia have reached agreement to sign Sofiane Feghouli
  from Grenoble.
  Valencia have also signed Turk Mehmet Topal and Portuguese
  defender Ricardo Costa.
   --- End of Update ---

Thunderball

Results of games played last night (5/20)
1. England League Two Play-Off SF Leg2
Morecambe 2-1 Dag & R  (agg 2-7)
Comment -- Dag & R will meet Rotherham at Wembly on 5/30.
  The winner will join Notts C, Bournemouth, and Rochdale
  playing in League One next season.

2. Copa Libertadores (S.America Liberation Cup) SF Leg2
Estuiantes (Arg) 2-1 Internacional (Bra) *   (agg 2-2)
  Note -- Internacional win by Away Goal rule.

U. de Chile (Chi) * 1-2 Flamengo (Bra)   (agg 4-4)
  Note -- U.de Chile win by Away Goal rule.

3. USA MLS  (Major League Socceer)
New York Red Bull 1-3 Coumbus Crew
FC Dallas 0-1 LA Galaxy

4. Argentina Primera/National B Play-Off SF Leg1
All Boys (Nat B) 1-1 Rosario (Prim)
Atl Rafaela (Nat B) 1-0 Gimnasia Lp (Prim)
Comment -- Leg2 will be played on 5/23.
   --- End of Update ---

Thunderball

News bits (5/21)
1. Avram Grant has resigned as manager of Portsmouth.
  It is reported he has offers from six clubs (including two
  from the Premier Lg) around Europe for his services.

2. Birmingham has been fined GBP10K by England FA after
  being found guilty of failing to control the players in
  last month's (Apr 2010) 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa.

3. Coventry have confirmed Aidy Boothroyd as their new
  manager on a 3-year contract.  Colchester have given
  permission for Aidy to talk to Coventry after both clubs
  reached an agreement on compensation.

4. Former Germany and Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann
  has made a surprise return to football as a player-coach
  with MK Dons.

5. B.Munich playmaker Franck Ribery has committed to
  the German club for another 4 years according to
  German newspaper Bild.
  The new deal will keep Ribery at the club until 2015.

6. Bradford City youngster Callum Pilkington is poised
  to complete a switch to Premier League side Liverpool.
    The 14-year-old striker is reportedly set to move to
  Anfield for an undisclosed fee with add-on clauses set
  to follow.
    --- End of Update ---

Thunderball

It's time to review Italian Serie B (D2).
1. Weekend fixtures -- This is the pen-ultimatum round.
   All games start at the same time.
5/23 (Sun)
Triestina vs Ancona
Cittadella vs Crotone
sassuolo vs Empoli
Ascoli vs Frosinone
Vicenza vs Lecce
Cesena vs Modena
Albinoleffe vs Padova
Gallipoli vs Piacenza
Grosseto vs Reggina
Brescia vs Salernitana
Mantova vs Torino

2. Standings -- All played 40 games.  Two rounds to go.
                            Pts
1. Lecce                 73
2. Brescia               69
   --- Direct Promotion line ---
3. Cesena               68
4. Sassuolo             65
5. Torino                 64
6. Cittadella            63
   --- Play-Off line ---
7. Crotone              60
8. Grosseto             59

16. Vicenza             49
17. Frosinone           49
   --- Relegation Play-Off line ---
18. Triestina            47
19. Mantova             46
   --- Direct Relegation line ---
20. Padova               45
21. Gallipoli              40
22. Salernitana          17  --> Relegated

3. Comment
3.1 Lecce need two more pts to confirm promotion.
  They should beat Vicenza. On the other hand, Vicenza
  must get something (a draw or a win) from this game
  to avoid being dragged into relegation battles.
3.2 Brescia and Cesena are battling out for the Runner-up spot.
Brescia have no difficulty in dispatching Salernitana.
Cesena are facing Modena who have nothing to play for.
3.3 The battle of this round is Cittadella hosting Crotone.
  Both sides are chasing the last Play-Off spot.
  If Cittadella beat Crotone, it will end Crotone interest
  in Play-Off. If Crotone beat Cittadella, the race
  (for the last Play_off spot) will be blown wide open.
  Crotone, Grosseto and Cittadella will fight it out
  on the last day (round).

3.4Relegation battles
3.4.1 Vicenza -- On 49pts, they are not safe yet. See also
  Item 3.1.
3.4.2 Like Vicenza, Frosinone must get something
when they visit Ascoli.
3.4.3 Triestina are in better positon than Mantova.
  They are hosting Ancona who have nothing to play for.
  They must beat Ancona to lift themselves into safety.
  Mantova are hosting Play-Off chasing Torino.
3.4.4 Padova must beat Albinoleffe to retain hope
  for survival (or Relegation Play-Off).
  Otherwise they must prepare life in Serie C (D3).
3.4.5 Salernitana are already relegasted.
   -- End of Update ---