FanHouse DidierDrogba

Sad news out of the Ivory Coast today, as nearly two dozen fans were killed during a World Cup qualifier against Malawi. According to reports, there was a crush of fans inside the Felix Houphouet-Boigny arena in Abidjan and a wall collapsed, leading to over 100 injuries.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of Sunday's news is that this seems to happen with semi-regularity in stadiums around the world, and Africa especially. Simply, when you put too many people in a small space in older stadia, something bad can happen.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is one week away from the biggest match of his club career -- the UEFA Champions League final against Premier League champs Manchester United. So of course, this is the perfect time for Drogba to inform the world that he dreams of playing for some other club.

"All footballers dream of signing for AC Milan," he wrote, before revealing that in 2006, he secretly traveled by private jet to meet with Milan royalty Paolo Maldini and Adrian Galliani. "I explained to Paolo Maldini that Milan is a club I would love to join."

Galliani then allegedly asked him pointblank when he would like to play for Milan, to which he responded: "Whenever you want, it's all up to you. Get the money ready and go see Chelsea."

We've known for a while that Drogba wanted out of Chelsea the moment Jose Mourinho was sacked. Watching him sulk on the sidelines while listening to his iPod should have been enough of a hint.

In a similar case to Didier Drogba's adventures with opposing fans' lazer pens, Sir Alex Ferguson is asking UEFA to investigate similar offenses affecting Cristiano Ronaldo in yesterday's Champions League match. Lyon fans are being accused of attempting to blind, distract, and bedazzle the phenom with pointers they purchased at the French equivalent of Office Depot. While it would likely take a minute of direct eye contact with the weak presentation lazers to do any real harm, Manchester United is still asking for UEFA to look into the matter. While the lazers themselves may not cause a health risk, the distractions they create may be very dangerous. We can't have world-class players running into each other half-blinded by PowerPointers.

The complaint is expected to be filed at UEFA HQ within 48 hours. No word yet on whether Sir Alex blames the rogue pointers for Lyon's scrappy performance.

(HT: Guardian Unlimited)

So let me get this straight.

Chelsea and Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba was voted the African Player of the Year for the second consecutive year by the Confederation of African Football. They planned a nice big awards ceremony last Friday in Togo for Drogba.

There was only one problem -- Drogba was in Ghana competing in the African Cup of Nations, where his Ivory Coast team was scheduled to play a quarterfinal match against Guinea on Sunday. So he informed the CAF organizers that he could not attend the awards ceremony.

So what does CAF do? They tell Drogba that if he didn't show up for the ceremony, he would forfeit the award. It was promptly given to Fredi Kanoute, whose Mali side was eliminated from the African Cup of Nations in the group stage. Are you kidding?

Drogba's response was to withdraw himself from any further CAF voting consideration. I don't blame him. What kind of confederation makes it mandatory to go to an awards ceremony when the award winner's team is still competing in that confederation's major tournament in another country? CAF punished Drogba for putting his team ahead of an individual award. Does that seem right to you?

(H/T: The Offside)

For weeks, Didier Drogba has been telling anyone who will listen that "something is broken with Chelsea" and he wants to move to another club as soon as possible. That, however, was before Chelsea went out and spent £15 million on Nicolas Anelka. All of the sudden, Drogba can't wait to get back to London and begin ... *cue dramatic music* ... HIS REIGN OF TERROR!!!!

"Anelka is a good forward - but he will only complement me rather than fighting for the position with me. I want to see a great Chelsea attack and his inclusion only makes us stronger. ... I'll love to play alongside Anelka and form a terrifying partnership."

Oh, yes, a terrifying partnership. Cower in fear of their might, all ye Fulhams and Newcastles, for you never know when they will strike! Build your defenses! Make everyone take their shoes off at your airports! Confiscate their water bottles, too, for terror is coming, and it wears blue!!!

For a man who brings nations together, "terrify" is an odd choice of words. Then again, maybe Manchester United and Arsenal should be scared. Chelsea's just five points behind them in the Premier League title race. If they're still that close when Drogba returns from the African Nations Cup, it will be awfully hard to count them out. It might even be enough to make Avram Grant break out in song.

(H/T: The Offside)

Despite their 2-0 win over Liverpool in yesterday's Carling Cup quarterfinal, Chelsea seems to be in a fairly precarious position these days. They're 6 points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal, who beat them 1-0 last Sunday, they're stuck playing slow-footed Andriy Shevchenko up front because Didier Drogba is recovering from knee surgery, they've lost John Terry to a broken foot for six weeks, and they're going to lose four players -- Drogba, Michael Essien, Saloman Kalou, John Obi Mikel -- for a month because of the African Cup of Nations.

Now it seems Drogba may not figure in Chelsea's future plans at all. Reports are emerging today that AC Milan will make Chelsea a £21 million transfer bid for Drogba in an attempt to save its Serie A season.

The timing of this offer is curious for a number of reasons. If Drogba transfers in January, he won't be able to play in the Champions League for Milan, because he's cup-tied to Chelsea. Plus, he wouldn't start for Milan until February anyway because of his Ivory Coast duties. There's no telling how well his knee would be after the African Cup of Nations, either.

However, Chelsea might benefit from moving Drogba now.