Despite their mediocre performance during the World Cup, many of Serbian players will start the season playing for Premier League clubs. Nikola Zigic left Valencia and will continue his career in Birmingham, Milan Jovanovic has finally, after many speculations, joined Liverpool, while the most recent news is that Lazio has agreed to sell their left defender Kolarov for 17 million GBP ($26 million). And the buyer is? Well, guess? What team has so much money that they can afford to gamble with 17 million GBP by bringing a player who still has to prove himself capable of playing against top class players? Manchester City, of course, who else.

But there’s no doubt that Kolarov has a great potential and the Premier League is perfect for his play-style. He is very strong, likes to help in offence and his kick is so powerful that during one game in Serie A he managed to knock down two players. He is often compared to Sinisa Mihajlovic, another famous Serbian free kicker. For a long, Kolarov was one of the main wishes of coach Jose Mourinho, but it seems that Manchester City has won the transfer battle. Although the news still has to be officially confirmed by both clubs, the reports from England say that Kolarov will undergo medical tests next week and might even join Manchester City for their U.S. tour.

Serbia coach Radomir Antic received a four-game ban from FIFA, a news that will have a significant influence on the team’s chances of qualifying for the Euro Cup. After the game Australia – Serbia, Antic verbally attacked referee Jorge Larrionda for denying Serbia a late penalty that could have helped the team to progress into the second round.
Feeling that the punishment was too harsh, The Football Association of Serbia appealed today against FIFA’s decision, but considering that Antic admitted to the Serbian media that he had cursed Larrionda in Spanish, it is very likely that FIFA officials will not change their minds.
In Antic’s response to the four game ban, the coach stated that FIFA’s punishment is a direct attack not only at him, but at Serbian soccer too. He said that the final score of the match was a result of Larrionda’s wrong decisions. In Antic’s opinion, it is unusual that some countries receive an apology from FIFA for bad referring (Mexico and England) while others get punished.
This was not the only controversial decision that Larrionda made during the World Cup. He was sent home by FIFA after denying England a clear goal in the second round match against Germany.

When Thierry Henry officially announced that he will be joining New York Red Bulls, the U.S. media described the news as the most significant thing that has happened to M.L.S. since David Beckham signed for the Los Angeles Galaxy three years ago. The expectations from the French striker go much further than just playing well for his team – he is supposed to be the breaking point that will mark the new era for soccer in the U.S.
But is it realistic to expect that Henry will succeed in showing to millions of Americans why soccer is fun to watch, a task that his predecessors like Pele and Beckham failed to accomplish? The answer is very simply: NO. Anyone who follows European soccer on a regular basis knows that Henry is yesterday’s story. Three, four, five years ago, he was one of the best strikers in the world, a super fast player for whom it was harder to miss than to score, a guy who knocked out Brazil in the 2006 World Cup, and led his club Arsenal to the Champions League final. But that’s not the Henry that we will have a chance to see.
The Henry that we will see is a 32 year old striker who spent last season playing as a substitute for Barcelona and who lost his captaincy and his place in the first eleven of the France national team. The Henry that we will see is a player who disgraced himself when he cheated in order to take France to the World Cup (type “Henry handball” on YouTube and you’ll know what I mean). The Henry that we will see is a player who didn’t start a single game in South Africa. The Henry that we will see is not what M.L.S. needs right now.
New York Red Bulls are making the same mistake that the L.A. Galaxy made three years ago when they brought David Beckham. They rely on Henry’s celebrity status to attract people to come to stadiums. That might work for a first few games, but once the hype is over, the U.S. soccer fans will be left with another old, overrated player. What M.L.S. needs are stars like Asamoah Gyan, Luis Suarez or Giovanni dos Santos, young (and still relatively cheap) guys eager to perform who can bring so much energy on the pitch that their sole presence can make the whole team play better.
Stop relying on old players to develop soccer in the U.S. Let the young ones write the future.