Weekly news blitz, 17-23 December

It’s Sunday, therefore roundup time for all (English-language, for now) things Czech football.

Firstly, let’s talk transfers. Without further ado (cuz the mass media guys manufacture enough of their own anyway), let the factual fictions and fictitious facts begin!

From BBC Sport’s comprehensive gossip ‘n’ rumors page Wednesday: “West Brom boss Tony Mowbray wants to sign goalkeeper Michal Danek form (sic, certainly) Czech side Viktoria Plzen.”

And what do Chelsea Pies fear? Apparently, an Arsenal signing of Petr Cech, “the best keeper in the world right now.” (Yes, they really talked that talk.)

From Football365.com comes the non-story that “Tomáš Ujfaluši’s agent claims Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have shown an interest in the Fiorentina defender.” (But it’s his job to say things like that, isn’t it?)

Sky Sports reported Friday that Fenin won’t be playing in England, but rather in Deutschland. Leads the piece:

“Eintracht Frankfurt have won the race to sign FK Teplice’s Czech international striker Martin Fenin ahead of Serie A giants Juventus.

“While the Old Lady offered a reported 4 million euros (£2.9 million) for Fenin’s services, Frankfurt made an improved 6 million euros (£4.3 million) bid.

“Fenin, who has also reportedly been interesting Arsenal and Chelsea, is expected to pen a five-year deal with the Bundesliga outfit next week.”

Elsewhere in Europe, Stanislav Vlcek claims he “know[s] what pressure is” and is “convinced [he has] what it takes” vis-à-vis his move to Anderlecht.

And the Daily Mail utterly disses Libor Sionko, leading and headlining with “Rangers reject.” The “story” itself has Sionko proclaiming “he has nothing to prove to Scottish football fans as he vowed to dump Aberdeen from the UEFA Cup” with Copenhagen. He’s also “looking forward to playing for the Czech national team at Euro 2008.” No kidding.

It seems Chelsea coach Avrum Grant is “backing [Petr] Cech to bounce back” after allowing Arsenal’s sole goal – an easy one – last week. Well, that’s positive. Check the link for a swell shot of Cech’s goofy headgear, too.

In Soweto, some are already future-nostalgic for the 11 June Czech Republic-Portugal in Geneva, one that “will revive memories of their encounter at Euro 96 when Karel Poborsky’s famous lobbed winner booked his side’s semi-final ticket.”

According to this Milanista blog, Marek Jankulovski seems “to have overcome” his injury problem. Wow, well that’s incredibly lukewarm information indeed. “The Czech International will be warmly welcomed as Serginho has returned to the doctor’s room and after 40 days on the sidelines the fullback will be bustling to get back onto the field.”

On the actual pitch itself, Mlada Boleslav bowed 2-1 to Fiorentina, another victim of Vieri. The link to The Worldwide Leader in [American] Sports is not coincidental; a rant on sports’ own CNN is soon to come to these pages. See if you can figure out some of the problem: It has to do with those excellent Mlada Boleslav player bios.

Sporting Life calls Tottenham’s matchup in the UEFA Cup knockouts “good news” and a New Zealand outfit called Sportal reckons it “favorable.” The latter’s verdict:

“In the last 32 Spurs will face Slavia Prague, the Czech Republic side already thrashed 7-0 by north London rivals Arsenal in the Champions’ League group stage before finishing third to claim a UEFA Cup place.

“Slavia was also beaten 4-2 in October by a Sevilla side coached by Ramos when he was still in charge of the Spanish club that he led to UEFA Cup glory in the past two seasons.”

Ouch.

Cheers, kellemes ünnepeket, Veselé Vánoce, and Hauoli Makahiki Hou.