Cannon Fodder: Wednesday

ENGLAND:

Liverpool just paid £29 million for Roberto Firmino.

Grain of Salt: Barcelona may pay £60 million for Angel di Maria.

Chelsea will not pay £40,000,001 for Raheem Sterling.

Samir Nasri still considers Arsene Wenger his "football father".

EUROPE/WORLD:

Arsenal target Jackson Martinez is, according to his agent, going to sign with Atletico Madrid.

The Women's World Cup is into the knockouts now, with the US beating Colombia 2-0 in very unconvincing fashion, England winning their first-ever WWC knockout round game over Norway 2-1, and Japan beating the Netherlands by the same scoreline. Up next: the quarterfinals, featuring the US vs. China and Germany vs. France on Friday, and Australia vs. Japan and England vs. Canada on Saturday.

Sports Illustrated publishes an issue every year devoted to women in bikinis, which is apparently a sport. A Sports Illustrated writer tweeted out something about how women's sports aren't worth watching. At the same time, while not in direct response to the troglodytes at SI, The Norwegian women's team came out with an amazing (and well-timed) bit of banter.

Meanwhile, on the men's side, Jurgen Klinsmann has announced his 23-man roster for the Gold Cup, which starts July 7.

MLS:

Andrea Pirlo is on holiday. His holiday took him to NYC, where he took in some sights, like walking through SoHo, taking in a Yankee game, and probably getting ripped off by a dude selling tickets to the Staten Island Ferry. Andrea - it's free! Don't fall for the scam! Reportedly, his next stop on his Big Bus Tour of NYC is the home offices of Manchester City West, where he will sign a deal to form a midfield combo with Frank Lampard that is 73 years old.