Former Kansas City Wizard, Chivas USA and Hollywood United striker Matt Taylor has signed with 2. Bundesliga side TuS Koblenz, who last year finished in 10th place.

Koblenz is the 3rd largest city in the western Rhineland province behind Mainz and has a population of 106k.

Taylor’s first match of the season will be at home this weekend against Rot-Weiss Oberhausen at the Stadion Oberwerth, and will line up with goalie and fellow American David Yelldell.

image via TuS Koblenz 

Isn’t there supposed to be a net behind the goal?

Everybody is getting into the foosball design game…

“The formal idiom of the Audi Design soccer table reflects the Audi design philosophy without incorporating any individual elements or shapes from specific vehicle models.

The styling is entirely new for a soccer table: its futuristic, progressive appearance affords a glimpse into future trends in design. “When you’re playing a game on the Audi Design soccer table, its dynamic character conjures up the atmosphere of a modern, architecturally appealing soccer stadium”, added Monnerjan…”

Image via TheAutoChannel

It’s been an amazingly difficult end to a very long season for the Little Kaiser, one that saw his start to Chelsea’s Premiership campaign derailed early due to injury.

After undergoing an ankle surgery that took place in Munich last April 28th, 2007, Ballack was subsequently left of Chelsea’s FA Cup Final (which Chelsea won 1-nil through a Drogba goal in overtime) as well as their Champions League Qualifier Roster and was a major doubt, although he recovered in time for the February Champions Roster deadline.

The season ended on a low note for Ballack as Chelsea finished runners up in both Premiership and Uefa Champions League to Manchester United, thus completing a Treble horror for Chelsea and Ballack.

Just when you thought Ballack would have the chance to redeem himself and his trophy cabinet on the International Stage (after missing out on the Finals of the 2002 World Cup due to Suspension and taking third place at the 2006 World Cup), it was not to be even though Ballack had recovered in time from a calf injury many thought would keep him out of the 2008 Euro Finals against Spain, falling 1-nil.

We’ve already seen David Villa hit the shelf with a thigh strain in Spain’s Semi-Final win and now it looks as if Germany’s midfield engine might miss out as well.

Chelsea’s Micheal Ballack has been unable to train since Friday with what Head Coach Joachim Low has described as a calf injury.

It’s really no surprise that you’re starting to see players breaking down physically (look at Turkey as a great example) as more and more games are heading into extra time to decide the winner and the further you go, the more games you play without a great amount of recovery time in between matches.

German Captain Micheal Ballack has admitted to the press that the German players had a private, no coaches team meeting that they felt was necessary to “clear the air”.

After putting in a good 2-nil win over Poland in their opening match, Germany fell to Croatia 2-1 in a match that left them in trouble and fighting to get out of Group B.

Anytime a team decides to have this type of meeting I can tell you there’s trouble brewing.  If the team felt confident about where they were in the big scheme of things, a loss to Croatia wouldn’t be the straw broken to force themselves into a meeting like that ahead of their final game against Austria.

And why would Ballack admit this to the press at this point in the campaign?

image via Msnbc 

Everyone knew that the Poland/Germany match up at the 2008 Euros was going to ignite tension between supporter groups of the two nations. And it didn’t help when the Polish Tabloid Super Express had a front page picture of Polish head coach Leo Beenhakker holding the severed heads of Michael Ballack and German head coach Joachim Low.

Yesterday Austrian Police officially arrested 206 people during the tournaments first day in the country.

But the true ugliness lied with an official 157 arrests (detainments) in the city of Klagenfurt, where the Poland vs Germany game was held.

Nazi slogan chants were ringing not only inside the stadium, but outside in the city center as police had to separate Polish and German fans from clashing throughout the day.

With just over 2,500 police on site, the Austrian police had their hands full with over 80,000 fans on site.

Of the 157 detained, 144 came from Germany, 10 from Poland, two from Austria and one from Slovenia.

image via RforP

 Joachim Loew has named his 26 man provisional roster for the 2008 European Championships on Friday.  He’ll have to be down to 23 on May 28th.

Group B Germany are set to face what might be the easiest pool play in the group stages in Austria, Croatia and Poland.

German Squad:

Goalkeepers: Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Robert Enke (Hanover 96), Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen)

Defenders: Christoph Metzelder (Real Madrid), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Marcell Jansen (Bayern Munich), Clemens Fritz (Werder Bremen), Heiko Westermann (Schalke 04)

Midfielders: Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Simon Rolfes (Bayer Leverkusen), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg SV), Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), David Odonkor (Real Betis), Marko Marin (Borussia Moenchengladbach)

Forwards: Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Bayern Munich), Mario Gomez (VfB Stuttgart), Kevin Kuranyi (Schalke 04), Oliver Neuville (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Patrick Helmes (Cologne)

Image via Conti-Online

Remember this guy?  Yes, that’s Robert Huth back in the German kit that he hasn’t worn since the 2006 World Cup under Jurgen Klinsmann.

After beginning in 2001 with Chelsea and a subsequent 41 appearances, Huth failed a physical before finally getting the necessary clearance to sign with Middlesbrough in 2006.  With injuries limiting Huth to only 25 appearances since (and a disappointing non-partnership with Jonathan Woodgate), his latest form has earned him a call back into the Full Team ahead of Germany’s match in Switzerland on Thursday under Joachim Loew.

Question is, can Huth stay healthy enough and continue the form that once saw him as the future of Stamford Bridge?

image via Stern

This is by far one of my favorite sneakers in recent times, the Nike x St. Pauli Dunk. As many of you know, St. Pauli isn’t the most successful team in German football, but they do have one hell of a story and an interesting fan base.

For this Dunk, Nike tapped into that rebellious spirit that defines St. Pauli, and the result is ridiculous. These Dunks come in two colorways and a high and low top. Unfortunately it seems that these will only be made available in Europe which is disappointing to say the least.

If anyone is lucky enough to get your hands on these, send us some pics.