YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Brooks Peck

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    Brooks Peck is the award-winning editor and co-founder of Yahoo! Sports soccer blog Dirty Tackle. He has also written for World Cup Blog, BT Life's a Pitch and Howler Magazine.

    • Zidane recently invested in his wife's hometown club — French fourth division side Rodez, which was in dire financial trouble before he agreed to help. In addition to his monetary support, Zidane has already made the whole experience even more surreal for Rodez by going to the trouble of reuniting members his 1998 World Cup winning France team to play a friendly at the club's modest ground to raise money both for Rodez and a children's charity.

      Rodez's usual crowd of 800 people at a home match swelled to 8,000 for the occasion and the match ended in a 5-5 draw because, well, 1998 was a long time ago. The reunited 1998 team included: Fabien Barthez, Robert Pires, Bizente Lizarazu, Laurent Blanc, Christophe Dugarry, Vincent Candela and manager Aime Jacquet.

      Read More »from Zidane reunites members of France’s 1998 World Cup winning team to play fourth division club
    • Less than 24 hours after playing a friendly against England in Brazil, Neymar was in a Barcelona kit and waving to his new supporters at his Camp Nou unveiling. In addition to the rather large crowd that showed up to see a person not do a whole lot for a few minutes, 334 accredited members of the press from 15 countries showed up as well, according to Barcelona's official website.

      "I'm here to help and to help [Lionel] Messi to continue to be the best player in the world," the 21-year-old said, throwing a wrench in Pele's assertion that he is actually the best player in the world instead of Messi. Somewhere, Maradona is feeling vindicated.

      It's an interesting comment from a player who has grown accustomed to being the center of attention during his time with Santos and one he was probably urged to make in order to try and kill any rivalry claims before they start. For now, Neymar is toeing the company line, which will serve him well as Messi will certainly be diverting some of the

      Read More »from Neymar unveiled at Camp Nou, says he wants to help Messi ‘continue to be best in the world’
    • This is Sir Alex Ferguson doing the wave

      As a manager, Sir Alex Ferguson was known for his menacing glare, barking at referees and violent gum chewing during matches. Now that he's retired, he must find activities to keep him busy during games and at a charity match between the Man United legends and Real Madrid legends, he might've found one: doing the wave.

      During the first half at Old Trafford, Ferguson gleefully joined in as the wave went around the stadium. He might've even been a little quick on the draw since he was one of the first ones out of their seats in his section. And as an added bonus, Sir Bobby Charlton (sitting on the aisle in the row in front of Ferguson) also joined in (with one arm). When's the last time you saw two Commanders of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire do the wave at a charity football match?

      The Real Madrid legends, featuring Zidane, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Claude Makelele and Luis Figo, beat The Man United legends, featuring Paul Scholes, Dwight Yorke, Edwin van der Sar and Ruud van Nistelrooy (he played a half for each side and scored for Man United) 2-1.

      Read More »from This is Sir Alex Ferguson doing the wave
    • Playing without a lot of first-choice players from Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, Germany took part in a friendly in United States to commemorate their host federation's 100th anniversary. And to celebrate the occasion, they seemed to be in a charitable mood.

      Jozy Altidore opened the scoring by recording his first international goal from the run of play in two years with an excellent volley to put the USA up 1-0 in the 13th minute. Then, just three minutes later, 21-year-old German goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who is reportedly holding out for a move to Barcelona, was credited with an own goal when he let a slow, simple backpass trickle right by him and into the net.

      It's hard to say how it happened, but Ter Stegen seemed to change his mind on what he wanted to do with the ball just before he went to kick it. After his hesitation, he still got a toe on the ball, which is why he was credited with the own goal.

      Though Germany had a number good early

      Read More »from German keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen gifts the USA a 2-0 lead with a bizarre own goal
    • DTotD: Alessandro Nesta sent off for headbutting opponent

      Injuries have limited 37-year-old Alessandro Nesta to just 15 appearances for Montreal since he joined the MLS side last summer and in a match against Kansas City, he unleashed his frustration with a headbutt on Claudio Bieler.

      In the 73rd minute of Montreal's 2-1 win, Nesta and Bieler got tangled up as they fought for the ball. Nesta went down and Bieler stepped on his hand, prompting the Italian to quickly pop back up and try to use his head as a torpedo while Bieler backed away. Nesta was shown his first red card in MLS and that was the end of his night.

      Earlier in the match, Bieler was awarded a penalty just before halftime when Nesta tugged him down by the shirt at the edge of the box. Nesta wasn't booked, but Bieler converted the penalty in the fourth minute of injury time. Montreal then scored twice early in the second half and even without Nesta for the final 15 minutes, they still held their lead for the win.

      This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of

      Read More »from DTotD: Alessandro Nesta sent off for headbutting opponent
    • It's been a foregone conclusion for weeks now, but just to make sure the game's worst kept secret isn't a secret at all, the Premier League's official website prematurely published the announcement that Jose Mourinho will return to Chelsea. The story is dated Monday, June 3 and was published more than 24 hours early, with x's as place holders for the length of his contract.

      The announcement reads:

      Jose Mourinho has returned to Stamford Bridge after agreeing to take over as Chelsea manager for the second time.

      The 50-year-old Portuguese, who guided Chelsea to back-to-back Barclays Premier League titles in his first two seasons in charge, returns to the west London club after an absence of almost six-years.

      It then goes on to list his accomplishments both at Chelsea and in the six years since he left. As of this writing, the story is still live on the Premier League's site.

      Mourinho led Real Madrid to a 4-2 win in their last match of the season on Saturday and was expected to fly out to

      Read More »from Premier League website posts Jose Mourinho to Chelsea announcement early
    • (Getty)

      Bayern Munich beat Stuttgart 3-2 to win the DFB Pokal and become the first German club to win the treble.

      A week after Bayern beat Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final at Wembley, they built up a 3-0 lead in the DFB Pokal final, only for Stuttgart to score twice in nine minutes. Bayern held them off over the final 10 minutes of the match with Thomas Muller's penalty and a Mario Gomez's brace (press button twice) proving to be enough to win the cup for a record 15th time.

      Here's the updated list of UEFA clubs that have won the treble (domestic league, domestic cup, European cup):

      Bayern Munich (Germany) 2012/13
      Inter (Italy) 2009/10
      Barcelona (Spain) 2008/09
      Manchester United (England) 1998/99
      PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) 1987/88
      Ajax (Netherlands) 1971/72
      Celtic (Scotland) 1966/67

      So manager Jupp Heynckes ends his time at Bayern with a third trophy, which he pretended to drink out of before getting drenched in beer by his players. Jose Mourinho left Inter, the last club to win the treble, immediately after achieving the feat and they have slipped further down the table each year since. Of course, replacing Heynckes at Bayern is another treble winner, Pep Guardiola, who will have a team that could be even stronger than this one (shiver) with summer additions like Mario Gotze.

      Still, the bar has been set insanely high. And Jupp Heynckes is guzzling the imaginary nectar of his success. Your move, Pep.

      Read More »from Bayern Munich win DFB Pokal, become first German club to complete the treble
    • Jose Mourinho gets mixed farewell at his final Real Madrid match

      Mourinho waves goodbye. (Getty)

      Jose Mourinho won his final match with Real Madrid, beating Osasuna 4-2 to a mixed reception at the Bernabeu. With his final act of vengeance against Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas coming in the form of leaving him out of the squad completely and starting fourth-choice keeper Jesus Fernandez from the B team, Mourinho waited until the last possible moment to emerge from the tunnel before the match.

      When he did reveal himself, the referee had to momentarily halt play just after the opening kickoff because Mourinho was being hounded by a swarm of photographers on the touchline.

      Read More »from Jose Mourinho gets mixed farewell at his final Real Madrid match
    • With the England team in Rio to play Brazil on Sunday, FA TV met a Chelsea fan who brought his one-year-old son to see members of the squad at an appearance on Friday. So far so normal, but the unusual part is that the man named his son Leandro Lampard Martins Guedes.

      The man said that he doesn't support any club in Brazil and decided to name his son after Chelsea's all-time leading scorer Frank Lampard since he was born the day Chelsea knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League semifinals on their way to becoming champions of Europe last year. He also calls his backyard Stamford Bridge.

      And now, here's Roy Hodgson, Theo Walcott and Joe Hart pumping out some sweet samba sounds...

      Read More »from This is a Brazilian Chelsea fan who named his son ‘Leandro Lampard’
    • Andrea Pirlo scores with a free kick as perfect as his beard

      Italy beat San Marino 4-0 because that's what happens when Italy play San Marino. Coincidentally, all four goals were scored by players whose first names start with the letter a — Andrea Poli, Alberto Gilardino, Andrea Pirlo and, as a grand finale to the alliterative theme, Alberto Aquilani.

      Andrea Pirlo's goal was especially delightful since it was a free kick that curled perfectly into the top corner. Like nature sounds or a tub of whiskey, it's the kind of thing that can relax you at the end of a hard day.

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