The English national team are facing a goalkeeper crisis this summer as David James joined the injured, Ben Foster, on the sidelines after Portsmouth’s 3-1 over Sunderland last night. James has held the number one position for a long time and has become the regular man between the posts for Fabio Capello so far in his reign as England coach.

James has often been criticised for his temperament during big games but has so often kept out vital goals for his national and club sides. The news means that England will now probably have to go for a much less experienced international keeper for big games that are coming up this summer.

Foster and James will miss the games against Kazakhstan and Andorra in early June, with Rob Green or Chris Kirkland the most likely candidates to fill in. Manuel Almunia of Arsenal may even consider it if the Italian gives him a call before hand.

Ironically it would have been Manchester United’s Foster that would have stepped in if James were to get injured. However, he picked up a knock in a recent United training session that looks set to keep him out of all competition for at least nine weeks. He had recently been given the nod in a couple of games for both club and country and is starting to show the promise he has always had.

It will be a bitter setback to him after he suffered a bad knee injury just a season before after he had just gone back to United, having spent a season on loan at Watford. However, Foster looks a very classy player in goal and will no doubt be given another chance at some point in the near future.

The problem for James is that he is a lot older than many other English keepers being talked about. A bad injury for him now could virtually see the end of his England career. Portsmouth boss, Tony Hart, said last night: “He has been playing with a niggling injury for a long time. If he goes now then we have a chance of him being back for next season.”

It could be a long summer ahead for both players, sitting and watching the England games and trying to hold themselves back from running down onto the pitch to help out their side.

Whoever now gets the nod will have to take the chance with both hands and give Capello one hell of a headache. This is an opportunity that another keeper would never have thought was coming so they have it all to play for and very little to lose. It could very well be the chance for a Robert Green to cement his place in the side and make it very difficult for James or Foster to get back in.

Who Capello picks remains to be seen but it will be a blow to the national side because this was one of the very few positions that required little thought over who would fill it. The number one spot had been made a relative easy option for the manager but now it has been split wide open.

Today’s Champions League semi final was basically over before everybody made it to their seats as Manchester United had a 2-0 lead over Arsenal at Emirates Stadium after just 11 minutes. Combined with a 1-0 win last week at Old Trafford, United had a stranglehold on the cup tie and Arsenal whimpered out of the game after that.

Park Ji-Sung opened the scoring in the eighth minute after 18-year-old Englishman Kieran Gibbs slipped in his own penalty area and Park was gifted with a chance that he couldn’t miss. Barely three minutes later, Cristiano Ronaldo hammered home a 40-yard free kick which Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia couldn’t reach, and of course there were no defenders covering the posts to help him out.

Ronaldo added his second of the night in the 61st minute after a fantastic counter attack. Wayne Rooney darted up the left wing and slid a perfect pass over to the oncoming Ronaldo who promptly buried it into the roof of the net.

Arsenal pulled one back in the 76th minute and the fans who stayed around to stick it out saw Robin Van Persie slam it home from the penalty spot after the referee ruled that Darren Fletcher had pulled down Cesc Fabregas in the box. To make matters worse, Fletcher was red carded and will now miss the final on May 27th in Rome against Chelsea or Barcelona. After watching television replays though, it was evident that Fletcher clearly played the ball before Fabregas was upended.

It wasn’t a bad game, but Arsenal didn’t really have much to offer and their fans soon realized this. Perhaps they will also come to realize that it’s about time manager Arsene Wenger actually won something for the team or he should be replaced by somebody who knows how to manage the abundance of talent at his disposal.

The 35-year-old Almunia made a few good saves to keep the score down, but the talk of him becoming England’s goalie after he gets his British passport are ludicrous. The guy pulls off some decent saves once a while, but he’s not a world class keeper by any stretch of the imagination.

While up 3-0, Ferguson played with fire for awhile as Evra and Rooney were already on yellow cards and another one for either of them would have meant they’d be out of the final. Ferguson finally pulled Evra off in the 65th minute and then Rooney 60 seconds later.

United have an amazing run going in the Champions league now as they haven’t been beaten in a record 25 straight games. This is actually pretty impressive when you consider that Ferguson often employs the wrong tactics in Europe and plays too defensive. United are built for attacking and that’s the way they should play and they way they have to play in the final. If they can stretch their streak to 26 games in Rome, they’ll walk away as Champions League winners again, for the second year in a row.

Manchester United really believe in doing it the hard way.

In front of a crowd of 75,000, the Red Devils could have wrapped up the first leg of their Champions League semi-final clash against Arsenal by slotting at least four goals past Spaniard, Manuel Almunia.
But despite playing some superb passing football at a hectic pace, their only reward was a one nil advantage going into the return match at the Emirates on Tuesday, May 5.

An upbeat Sir Alex Ferguson shrugged his shoulders and admitted that the fans had been frustrated. Yes, Manchester United could have booked their place in the final there and then but he had every confidence they would score against Arsenal and win the day.

“We do tend to do things the hard way,” he said afterwards.

What an under-statement. Manchester United might well rue the night after having 52 per cent of possession and seven shots on target, compared with just one by Arsenal. The game also saw 20 fouls but only one yellow card.

So what was the problem? Just bad luck, nerves or one of those things? Certainly, before the game, Sir Alex said he would be happy to see a good performance and a win. Losing was just not an option.

“We’ve got that so we move on,” he told a press conference.

Over the last few weeks, Ferguson and Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger have been showing each other an awful lot of respect and have refused to get into a war of words. Following the first leg of their semi-final clash, there have been no insults or accusations but more of a psychological approach. Sir Alex firmly believes Manchester United can and will score at Arsenal and Wenger insists his team will score those all-important goals.

It’s undoubtedly going to be a tough match and who would bet against Arsenal levelling the score at 1-0 in normal time to take the match into an extra 30 minutes and then penalties?

Manchester United are likely to be without Rio Ferdinand who was substituted with just three minutes to go and was taken to hospital for an X-ray on a suspected fractured rib. Unless he makes a remarkable recovery, he could be out for the rest of the season.

Ferdinand did sterling work as usual but it was John O’Shea who went on the score sheet when he slotted home a deflected cross from a corner on 17 minutes. It’s his 18th goal for United and he does tend to pop up now and again and especially when needed.

PFA Player of the Year, Ryan Giggs could have been in the headlines again but his goal was disallowed after being judged off-side. This was his 800th appearance for the reds. Another incredible achievement.

Manchester United dominated most of the match as expected at home but those extra goals just would not materialise. Arsenal goal-keeper Almunia was undoubtedly superb, denying both Rooney and Tevez before finally being beaten by O’Shea. He later blocked a point blank header from Cristiano Ronaldo who also rattled the crossbar with a vicious 30-yarder.

Sir Alex was more than happy with the team’s passing and movement and says they will have the edge over Arsenal who will struggle to stop them scoring in the second leg. But Wenger believes home advantage will count and is pleased they only conceded the one goal.

As Sir Alex Ferguson rightly says, this one is going to go right down to the wire.

Manchester United got a good start to retaining their Champions League Title with a 1-0 win over Arsenal at Old Trafford on April 29th.  United came out with guns blazing and should have had a 3-0 lead by halftime, but John O’Shea was the only one who wasn’t firing blanks and scored the winner in the 17th minute.  If it wasn’t for Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia’s great saves in the first half, especially on Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney, and Cristiano Ronaldo, then the second leg of this semi final might just have been a formality.

Thanks to Almunia, Arsenal are still in with a shout in the second leg next Tuesday. Ryan Giggs finally came on in the 67th minute in his 800th appearance for United and then promptly scored a beautiful goal, only to be ruled offside. United may regret not burying the Gunners when they had the chance. Things could be a little trickier down in London at the Emirates Stadium.

Not much else happening on the pitch until the weekend, so of course the biggest topic off the pitch is of course money. It seems the taxman in England is up to his old tricks again and is trying to soak more money out of the top moneymakers, such as footballers.

Chancellor Alistair Darling has recently revealed plans to jack the top rate of income tax up to 50 per cent for those who make over £150,000 a year.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes that any changes to the British tax system might stop foreign players from heading over to the English Premier League. And the fact the value of the English pound is sinking against the euro is also another concern as each club’s spending power has been significantly reduced.

When Wenger was asked if the English football leagues depended too much on foreign players, he said: “Don’t worry, that time will soon be over because with the new taxation system and with the collapse of sterling… the domination of the Premier League will end. The pound was at 1.45 or 1.60 (euros) at one stage…from one day to the next it will be a financial problem for all the English clubs.”

Birmingham City co-owner David Sullivan chirped in and told the Sunday Times he agreed with Wenger and predicted that England may soon suffer in the transfer market because of the low pound and tax situation. Sullivan added that players will likely seek higher salaries than they’re already making if they’re going to be losing more to the taxman.

Over in Spain, Real Madrid defender Pepe was force fed a 10-game suspension on the weekend for going berserk and kicking out at two Getafe players in a league match on April 21st. Pepe pushed Javier Casquero to the deck in the 88th minute and conceded a penalty. He then proceeded to kick him in the back and stamp on him a few times for good measure, just in case the ref missed anything. But he still wasn’t finished. Pepe then decided to drill Juan Angel Albin in the head with his fist and then insulted the fourth official while finally leaving the pitch.

Pepe got one game for the original foul, four for going bananas on Casquero, four more for the shot to the head of Albin and one for hurling insults at the official.

Pepe said he lost the plot because he thought giving away the penalty would cost his team a chance of winning their third straight league championship. Of course, to add a twist to the story, Casquero missed the penalty and Real’s Gonzalo Higuain scored in injury time to pull a 3-2 win. If only Pepe would have known.