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Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor was born in the city of Lome in Togo or the Togloese Republic (located in North West Africa, a small French speaking country though many other languages are spoken). Football is the most popular sport in Togo. During the last World Cup Emmanuel Adebayor and two other players were dismissed from the national team over a dispute concerning financial pay for the players. He helped Togo qualify for the World Cup by scoring 11 goals in the qualifiers.

Adebayor began playing at a football training camp in Loume; he made it to the U-15 level and was soon signed on by French FC Metz in 1999. For two years he developed on the U-17 team until he advanced to the starting lineup. During the first season he scored 2 goals out of 9 games that he played. However, in his 2^nd year (2002/03) he scored 17 goals out of 35 games. As a result AS Monaco signed him in 2003; he reportedly had strained relationship with Monaco’s manager Francesco Guidolin. He continued to score goals and helped Monaco reach the Champions League finals.

In 2006 Arsenal signed Adebayor for an unknown fee (supposedly about 7€ million).When he started to play he had little style and was scrappy. Towards the end of the 2007/2008 season it was rumored that he could leave Arsenal. However he said, “I am very happy here. Reports which suggest I have threatened to quit are rubbish. I love the club and the fans. We have a great set of players here with a fantastic team spirit. We have had a good season, but next year we want to go one better by winning a trophy.” Adebayor scored a total of 30 goals for Arsenal in all competitions (with 26 in the EPL) suring the 07/08 season and refined his technical abilities. Wenger described Emmanuel as a great acquisition: “Adebayor is a great addition to our squad. He has shown in his performances with Monaco and Togo that he will add great quality to our offensive game. He is tall, good in the air and makes good runs.”

Upon arrival to Arsenal Adebayor said “This is a great day for me, I am looking forward to working very hard for the team and I hope I can give the Arsenal fans a lot of enjoyment in the future.”

Manchester City has a total of 8 appearances in the final with 4 FA Cup wins. The last FA Cup win for Manchester City was in 1969 against Leicester City. Their most recent FA Cup final appearance was against Tottenham in 1981.

Manchester City FA Cup Appearances and Wins:

English International Peter Crouch has been unsatisfied with the minute role he’s been allowed to play at Liverpool. “When all is said and done, I don’t think I can have another season like this year where I’ve started nine Premier League games. Out of a 38-game league season, nine games is not the amount you want to be playing.”

In the most recent game against Fulham Benitez didn’t even play Crouch though he made 5 changes on the starting lineup making one think that he’s trying to discourage Crouch from staying. “I’ll have to speak to the manager and see what his plans are. I need to see him and sort things out. I have to find out what he wants from me next season and whether or not I can continue with that. In some ways, I want to feel wanted. So I’d like to speak to the manager and the club before I commit to anything and know whether or not I’ll be here next year. It’s always nice to know that if things did go completely wrong for me at Liverpool, I’d have options to go somewhere else and it’s not the end of the world if things don’t work out for me there.”

Eriksson, the current manager of Manchester City has been informed by City owner Shinawatra that he will be sacked at the end of the season. He met with Benfica to discuss working for them; however, according to Benfica, “No details of the contract, namely salaries and timing, have been discussed”. Eriksson met with the Benfica director of football and the Benfica President Luis Felipe Vieira in Manchester this past Wednesday. The preliminary meetings with Benfica indicate that Eriksson believes that his chance of remaining at the club is slim. But it seems that Eriksson is not inclined to speed into a decision. In the 1980’s Eriksson led Benfica to a domestic cup and 2 championships. Eriksson then worked in Italy for a span before returning to Benfica in 1989; Benfica went to the European Cup final in 1990 (they lost to AC Milan) and won the Portuguese Title in 1991. “I’ve had a meeting with the Benfica people. I’m considering the offer and it could be a step forward in my career. Let’s see what happens” said Eriksson.

Benfica is currently 4^th in the SuperLiga, 3 points behind Sporting Lisbon; as a result, they may miss qualifying for the next Champions League. Shinawatra refused to state who would be City’s next manager only mentioning who would be considered, “They all - Sven, Scolari, Mourinho - they are great coaches, great managers”. Scolari has supposedly been offered a €3.2 million year deal which is waiting for his signature. 59 year old Scolari is reportedly interested in managing City but wished to wait until after the Euro 2008. He has often been concerned with uprooting his family from Portugal which is why he refused to take over Erikssons job as the England coach in 2006. City fans and players have been behind Eriksson since Shinawatra announced the decision. As a result, Shinawatra would love to have a quick take over with the former Coach of Brazil (Scolari managed Brazil during the 2002 World Cup, which they won). “There will be an evaluation at the end of the season of what needs to be changed, what needs to be added to the success of the club” said Shinawatra.

French International Mathieu Flamini has agreed to sign a contract to stay at AC Milan until 2012. For over 3 seasons Flamini has been drifting in and out of the starting lineup until this season where he started consistently over Gilberto Silva. Arsene Wenger will be disappointed with the loss but isn’t the first manager to be disappointed with Flamini leaving abruptly. Marseille coach Jose Anigo described Flamini as “He’s a traitor - this is a beautiful treason” when Flamini left Marseille for Arsenal despite agreeing to initial terms at Marseille for a contract renewal.

The 24 year old had been playing at Arsenal in midfield with 39 starts this season and 3 goals. The switch is somewhat intriguing since Flamini will have to battle with Kaka, Gattuso, Massimo Ambrosini, and Andrea Pirlo for a midfield position. In the meantime Wenger will have to look for a replacement who can work well with Hleb. Why Flamini would leave now that he has finally beat Gilberto out as a starting player is interesting. If Hleb leaves, which is a possibility, since Inter Milan has reportedly been interested in him then Wenger will really be scrambling. Arsenal is really turning into a new team with the old timers disappearing; Jens Lehman made his last appearance at Arsenal against Everton. “I had one or two tears in my eyes at the end. The club and the supporters will always stay in my heart.”

Fernando Torres has once again demonstrated his ability as a striker as Liverpool played Manchester City. Torres had obtained a goal in 15 of the past 17 games with 32 goals in all competitions combined. He has also scored in the 8 consecutive home games equaling a home record. He ran past 2 City defenders and sprinted on diagonally across the box to score with a hard drive.

Benitez made 5 starting lineup changes with Xabi Alonso, Martin Skrtel, Yossi Benayoun, Alvaro Arbeloa and John Arne Riise coming out from the Champions League came game Wednesday and Steve Finnan, Lucas, Sami Hyypia, Ryan Babel and youngster Emiliano coming in. Despite the starting variability between the games Peter Crouch was not played, nor did he make the bench. It makes one wonder if Benitez is almost encouraging him to leave. While Liverpool had little to win from the game except pride, Manchester City fans and players have (from all accounts) been behind their Swedish manager Sven-Goran Eriksson (who has recently been informed by City owner Thaksin Shinawatra that he will be sacked at the end of the season). While Manchester City was in 3rd place in November, they have now fallen to 9th place.

“The support for me was fantastic, of course it is. It makes me stand up from the bench a lot but I can do that, no problem. It was fantastic, of course I am thankful. They have been fantastic all season, incredible. Maybe it will not affect things, I don’t know. But we have one week to go until the season is finished. But I would appreciate it if people would accept that we will start talking after that. We will not be talking tomorrow, more so next month.” said Eriksson.

Eriksson has been informed by Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra that he is “not the right man for the job”. Shinawatra is the former President of Thailand; he was President until 2006 when a military coup ousted him from power. While he is said to have reduced the amount of corruption in Thailand he was still accused of embezzling money and engaging in corruption.

Ever since the turn of the year Manchester City has lost their form; when Eriksson informed his players about the decision the players were outraged. “I think it is crazy that his job is even being talked about as being in danger - he has been good for everyone at City” said City defender Micah Richards. Thai billionaire Shinawatra decided upon the move when City lost to Fulham 3-2 after having a 2 goal lead. After the game Shinawatra told Eriksson who “Reacted calmly, as usual, but he was very surprised and disappointed. He doesn’t want to leave the club and will not resign. He loves working with the players and his work at Manchester City has only just begun.” He will be in charge of the last 2 away games against Liverpool (which they just lost 1-0) and Middlesbrough according to a City spokesman though no comment was made about what would happen during the summer.

Erikson’s assistant Tord Grip said: “We will be here for the two last matches. They probably think that we haven’t done a good enough job. Sven will receive new offers soon I’m sure.” Erickson took over City 5 weeks before the season; in November they held 3rd place; however, since Christmas they have failed to produce results and have fallen to 9th having won only 4 of their past 15 games. “The team has not been playing as well as it should have or getting the right results since Christmas. But overall it has been a good season. Thaksin agreed a five-year plan with Sven in the summer and the target for the first year was to finish in the top 10.”

Thaksin signed 8 new player during the summer for £46m shortly after buying the club. However, he has had little contact with Eriskon. They met several times personally at the start of the season and then nothing. Sven has had a list of players he wants to sign next summer for several weeks, but he hasn’t been able to get the go-ahead to get them. He talks to Alistair Macintosh (City chief executive), but things break down when he then goes to the chairman”. With Eriksson going out the door City will have to get a new manager; as of now, Portugese Luiz Felipe Scolari may in serious consideration. We can expect the new manager to be able to buy a lot of new players with Thaksin determined to have Manchester City playing in the Champions League in the next two years. The Thai billionaire is currently involved in a lawsuit in Thailand with hundreds of millions of pounds currently frozen; however, he expects to be able to use them by the summer.

Rooney and Vidic were both out with injuries from the previous encounter with Barcelona last week, as a result Nani was on for Rooney but playing as a right midfielder, Ronaldo and JS Park started this time for United. Puyol returned in this game after being suspended, Marquez however was out. The game started very quickly with the Barcelona players attacking quickly and being cut down multiple times. But soon after that the game swung to and fro with both teams struggling to string passes together. However, in the 14^th minute Ronaldo threatened Barcelona about 5 yards outside of the box, with 2 defenders around him one of the defenders stole the ball but passed it right into the path of Scholes who rocketed the ball with the outside of his foot and into the top right of the Barcelona goal.In the 18^th minute Messi threatened against Brown with Scholes chasing behind; he ran towards the box and darted between them and shot a nice curling shot which could have easily gone in had Van der Saar not been paying attention. Deco threatened a couple times with hard shots missing which missed each time by a foot. Nani had a great chance in the 40^th minute when JS Park crossed the ball a few yards away from Valdez, Nani jumped up high and headed the ball; with the entire goal open to him he headed it wide. The 2^nd half was not remarkable and showed a few yellow cards but the end of the game was flawed by Patrice Evra’s injury. United won with 1-0 aggregate and moves on.

In a thrilling, potentially League Title deciding game, Chelsea succeeded in winning against Manchester United 2-1. Chelsea managed to stay unbeaten at Stamford Bridge (home) for 101 domestic games. “I know that they haven’t lost at Stamford Bridge for 100 games, but records are there to be broken. We will be going there to try to win the match” said Ferguson. United would have been able to lay claim to the League Title if they had won this game, but with their goal differential advantage they can be tied to Chelsea in points and still win the Title. But Ferguson would love nothing better than to defeat Chelsea at home and win the League Title. “We can’t afford to think that we can lose at Chelsea and still win it. We’ve got to think of winning there.”

Vidic got injured in the 14th minute when Drogba caught him in the face with his knee and Hargreaves came on for him. Chelsea should have grabbed the lead in the 20th minute when Joe Cole slipped away from the United defense and smashed the ball against the cross bar. But Michael Ballack produced a goal for Chelsea in the 45th minute when he was unmarked and headed in the ball from a Drogba cross. But Ricardo Carvalho gave away a free point when he passed the ball back right into Rooney’s path who ran around John Terry to score (55th minute). He seemed to injure himself in the process so Ferguson replaced him with Ronaldo. However, in the 84th minute Essien cross the ball into the United penalty box and Carrick handed the ball. Ballack took the PK and neatly put it in. Chelsea and United are now tied at 81 points though United has a much higher goal differential. Chelsea now needs to win their last 2 games and hope that United will tie or lose one of theirs.

Before the game Tevez described what he thought would be the biggest danger to Manchester United, fellow Argentinian: Lionel Messi. “Barcelona are one team with Messi but completely different without him. He is from another planet. He is very quick out of the blocks, he is a fantastic player. He is the main point of reference and the key man in the whole Barca team.” His prediction proved to be true throughout the entire game as Messi created a plethora of opportunities for Barcelona stringing 1-2’s around the United defense.

Massimo Busacca regulated this game at Camp Nou in Barcelona; which was full of fans and noise in this historic game. United started the game without Vidic who had a stomach flu. Wes Brown was a center defender with Ferdinand, Hargreaves played right fullback. Ronaldinho was still out with an injury.

It started off really exciting with a cross coming into the Barcelona box. Ronaldo jumped in to head the ball but missed slightly, Barcelona defender Milito jumped in awkwardly to head it out but the ball hit his upraised hands. A penalty kick was awarded in the 1st minute; Ronaldo took the PK but incredibly missed the goal by a foot to the right.

Lionel Messi continued to evade the United defenders darting quickly around and past them distributing the ball into and around the United Penalty area with multiple passes going a couple yards in front of the United goal. Milito consistently fouled people including Wes Brown on a corner and Cristiano Ronaldo in the midfield though the Referee didn’t call them. Barcelona dominated the first half of the game with the most possession and opportunities; United were unable to control in the midfield.

In the 28th minute Iniesta played the ball back, but Ronaldo intercepted it with a stretching touch of his foot. He raced towards it as it rolled into the penalty box, Marquez, the Barcelona defender who was on the receiving end of the pass tried to make up for Iniesta’s bad pass and got away with it. He ran towards the ball and cut off Ronaldo obstructing him and pushing him over in the box; it should have been a penalty kick especially since Marquez was the last defender but their was no call.

Ronaldo got a long pass from JS Park and ran on the Barcelona goal and was fouled by Marquez who got a yellow card in the 44th minute resulting in his temporary suspension for next game. At the end of the 1st half Barcelona had 66% possession; by the end of the game possession remained the same. With the high possession that Barcelona enjoyed they should have scored. Some speculate that it was actually Ferguson’s plan to lay back and defend against Barcelona in this game. Barcelona’s lack of goals was largely due to their inability to complete the last pass leading up to a shot. The final score was a tie at 0-0 with both teams wishing they had played better.