MARSEILLA CHASING OCHOA

Marseille have been linked with a move for goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who will be available on a free transfer in the summer. His contract with Ajaccio runs out at the end of the season. After managing to impress with Ajaccio during the season, the 28-year-old has been linked with moves to several big names over the last few weeks. Since he will be of no cost to potential clubs in terms of transfer fees, even big clubs like Marseille have shown tremendous interest in him. This is also beneficial for the player, as it would allow him to play in the Champions League and other such major competitions.

As a result, the player has stated that he would be willing to talk terms with Marseille should they make an official approach. Marseille are set to lose their number one goalkeeper, Steve Mandanda in the summer. This is expected to open the door for a new keeper and the availability of Ochoa on a free makes him extremely desirable. Marseille are one of the top clubs in French football even after the arrival of new owners to Monaco and PSG. Despite the riches of the two teams, Marseille are expected to qualify for Champions League next season.

“Of course I would like to go there. They’re a big team with great ambitions. I like the football here. It’s improved. You can see more and more good players. I like this country a lot. It makes me dream every time I see the Champions League. I hope one day to be able to play matches at that level. My priority is to stay in France. My agent is busying himself with that,” said the goalkeeper. Ajaccio are looking unlikely to even get out of the bottom of the table. They, however, managed a 1-1 draw with Bordeaux during the weekend.

DONOVAN EXCELS

Landon Donovan has played over 350 matches throughout his entire professional career which sees him performing for Bayer Leverkusen, Everton, Los Angeles Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes just to name a few.

Despite having played for a wide variety of clubs and has scored goals in every club he has joined, the contributions he has made for the United States men’s national team is where his career can be highlighted as he is widely considered to be the best player to ever come out of the United States and this upcoming World Cup is the last chance he has to play for his country as the 32 years old player revealed.

“It’s hard for me to imagine, sitting here, that I’ll be able to walk in four years, much less play soccer. So I would guess that this is my last chance of making a World Cup.” Donovan said.

After playing in 3 World Cups for USA, the veteran forward has scored 57 international goals as he is the national team’s all time- scorer and when he was asked if there was any possibility of him playing  at the 2018 World Cup when he will be 36 years old he replied by saying:

“You never know. We’ll see, but if it is my last World Cup, I want to make sure that it’s very enjoyable and I take advantage of it.” Donovan said.

A few days ago USA played a friendly match against Ukraine and suffered a 2-0 loss as they played at the Antonis Papadopulos Stadium.  The side of Jurgen Klinsmann was pitted in a group alongside Portugal, Ghana and Germany, which means that they will need to perform better if they want to get into the next stages of the 2014 World Cup.

ZIDANE BACKS RONALDO

Zinedine Zidane has said that Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo deserved to beat Franck Ribery and Lionel Messi for the FIFA Ballon d’Or award this season. Ronaldo managed using this coveted award for the second time in his career after having previously done so back in 2008. Since then, he has been beaten by Lionel Messi in the past four seasons. It has developed into one of the infamous rivalries in modern football. The Portuguese managed to win the award by beating Messi and also Ribery, who won three major trophies with Bayern Munich last season.

This has been seen as a better achievement in the eyes of many since football is a team sport, but Ronaldo managed to beat Ribery in every regard according to Zidane. The former French international says that Ronaldo has scored an incredible amount of goals (more than 60) and he has also been responsible for Real Madrid running very close to the league title. Zidane has been working with Ronaldo in close quarters and he says that the Portuguese with the best footballer in the world right now.

Zidane is no stranger to winning the coveted award himself after having done so in 1998. The former French international has confirmed that he wants to get into football management after being roped in as the assistant coach under Carlo Ancelotti.

“We’re not going to cry out that it was a scandal, even if Franck undoubtedly deserved something given the season he had. The difference is certainly the 69 goals Cristiano scored. There are three criteria: what has been done with your club, what you do individually, and the player’s image. For the next time, all of that needs to be clarified, because I think it’s an individual award and it’s above all what the player does on the pitch. Even if Franck has been exceptional, the other scored 69 goals,” Zidane said.