Bayern Munich has sent Netherlands defender Edson Braafheid on loan to Celtic of Scotland for the rest of the season.
The 26-year-old Braafheid arrived at Bayern from FC Twente in the offseason but struggled to establish himself in the team.
Captain Mark van Bommel said Monday that Braafheid “had bad luck” at Bayern and “wasn’t able to show what he can do.”
Braafheid was the fifth player to leave Bayern during the January transfer window.
Italy striker Luca Toni was loaned to AS Roma and midfielder Alexander Baumjohann went to Schalke, while Brazilian defender Breno and defensive midfielder Andreas Ottl were sent on loan to Nuremberg.

The FIFA World Cup 2014 will be held in Brazil. This was finalized during FIFA Congress 2008.

Five times world cup soccer champion Brazil is lucky to host the World Cup event for a second time. It hosted the event earlier in 1950.

When FIFA Congress nominated South America to host FIFA World Cup 2014, all nine football federation countries of South America backed Brazil to be the host nation. There were some doubts when Brazil President expressed inability to host the grand event due to lack of world class stadia that can host the event.

Putting end to all confusion World Cup returns to the land of Pele. The last time a South American nation hosted was in 1978 by Argentina.

Although there were many speculations with regards to the logistics and infrastructure to support an event of that magnitude and also about the conditions that could pose difficulty to European playing sides as regards climate, the football loving nation has started its efforts of gearing up for the big event and looking forward to prove to the rest of the world that it is capable of hosting the event.

From a list of 17 cities, 12 cities were confirmed to host the world cup matches in Brazil. These cities include: Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Fortaleza, Cuiabá, Manaus, Curitiba, Natal, Salvador and Recife.

West Ham has signed South Africa striker Benni McCarthy from Premier League rival Blackburn on a 2 1/2 -year contract.
The Hammers paid an undisclosed fee for a player keen to win a place in his country’s squad for this year’s World Cup.
West Ham failed with moves for Ruud van Nistelrooy and Eidur Gudjohnsen before moving for McCarthy, who says he almost joined West Ham five years ago when he was at Portuguese club FC Porto.
McCarthy says he “would have loved this to be my first Premier League club.”
McCarthy is South Africa’s record scorer with 32 goals in 77 matches.
He scored 37 goals in 109 Premier League matches for Blackburn.