August 2006 Archives

Neville is due to play his first competitive international since the Euro 2004 finals in the opening qualifier for the 2008 tournament, against Andorra at Old Trafford on Saturday.
So amidst all the confusion of the last day of transfer madness he said he had never given up hope of getting an England recall and encourages Beckham to do the same.

However getting replaced by Robinho after 76 goal less minutes in the Real Madrid game against Villareal wouldn't have helped Beckham's cause with Steve McClaren very much .
Calderon has said that Real Madrid, which has not won a trophy in three years,were keeping Beckham mainly for his athletic value, not his marketing allure.

Italy will parade the World Cup Trophy around Naples' San Paolo stadium on Saturday before its first competitive match since winning the title last month.
The Azzurri also will unveil a fourth star on their jerseys to honor their latest World Cup victory when they play Lithuania to open 2008 European Championship qualifying.
Italy haven't won the European Championship in quite a while - the last vicory was in 1968
"After a World Cup victory it's understandable for a bit of a letdown, but we're already thinking about our next objective," captain Fabio Cannavaro said. "We want to win the 2008 European Championship. We haven't won it in a long time."
More on their preparations here

Trainers like these, who needs 'em?

Ballack's debut with Chelsea was anything but impressive. He kept crowding Lampard and vice-versa. Maybe Chelsea isn't going to win it all this time around.

Here's a glimpse at the first half - watch Ballack get hammered:

This video proves that even without Klinsi, the New Deutschland is on the right track:

We simply picked up where we left off in the World Cup.

Stop the presses. I think we are witnessing some last minute negotiations before the transfer window closes, but the bottom line is this: Hargreaves is going to ManU!

Mark van Bommel is the key. Now that Bayern has him signed, they're going to make some money. And the money man (cash-cow) is Hargreaves.

They're making sure they get the highest price- £17million, £20 million, £25 million?!

Meanwhile, Hargreaves sits on the bench at Bayern...

X-rays seem to have revealed yesterday that Rio Ferdinand had not broken any of his toes after all in Saturday's 2-1 win against Watford.Despite what Ferguson said the injury does not seem to be more severe than a badly bruised little toe.

Will England never get lucky?

Rio Ferdinand is likely to miss England's opening two Euro 2008 qualifiers after suffering a suspected broken toe... Apparently he sustained the injury in the closing stages of United's 2-1 win at Watford.

Scan on Sunday.

The Guardian's Rob Smyth blogs on about Keano at Sunderland: "Roy Keane could well become the most intriguing manager in English football since Brian Clough..."

The part that got to me was this:

Keane likes his footballers cool and clinical. This devil is obsessed with the detail, the minutiae of football matches. "They say God is in the detail; in football that's true," he wrote in his autobiography. "Sometimes games are won by a magical goal - that's what people remember. But the essence of the game is more mundane. Detail. Wearing down the opposition. Winning the psychological battles - man on man - from the moment the ref blows the whistle for the first time." To many Keane is a law unto himself, but to him all that matters is what he calls the Law Of Cumulation. "First tackle, first pass, first touch, everything counts. A lot of little things add up to the thing that matters: breaking the opposition's hearts - but first their minds, their collective mind."

It was Clough who taught Keane these principles. "If you weren't doing your stuff, Clough would spot it," he said. "A seemingly innocuous mistake that resulted in a goal conceded three or four minutes later, a tackle missed, or a failure to make the right run, or pass, would be correctly identified as the cause of the goal. It was no use pointing the finger at someone else - which is second nature to most players. He knew; you knew he knew. Every football match consists of a thousand little things which, added together, amount the final score. The game is full of bluffers, banging on about 'rolling your sleeves up', 'having the right attitude' and 'taking some pride in the shirt'. Brian Clough dealt in facts, specific incidents, and invariably he got it right."

It is all in the details. And if Keano is going to focus on the little things, big things will happen. Can't wait!

How else do you describe this?

One word, to quote John McEnroe: "Moron!"

Manchester City has suspended the moron pending an internal investigation. The FA and Greater Manchester police are also investigating the incident.

Mendes spent a night in Manchester Royal Infirmary after suffering a fit after Thatcher's elbow caught him across the jaw and sent him crashing into advertising hoardings by the side of the pitch at Eastlands. Mendes lost consciousness while he was being treated and, after a brain scan and other treatment, will continue under medical and neurological supervision for the next several days.

It's time to come down hard on the morons of the game... all Thatcher got on the pitch was a yellow card.

Zidane would've flattened him w/ a headbutt... :-)

Manchester United's volatile striker, Wayne Rooney, is allegedly threatening to refuse to co-operate with England sponsors if the Football Association do not squash his three-match ban for a sending-off in a pre-season friendly.

What a guy!

Will Ruud van Nistelrooy send Ronaldo packing?

The striker's performance led some papers to conclude that the club would now find it easier to sell Ronaldo to AC Milan, whose representatives were in Madrid in an attempt to secure the services of the three-times World Player of the Year.

Says the Guardian >>

Maybe Ronaldo will play for Bruce Arena after all...

Watch these moves and weep. Reminds me of that summer day in my teens when I realized I was never going to play real soccer. I had just seen Zico playing for Udinese... :-)

Robinho's first appearance for Real Madrid vs. Cadiz on August 28, 2005:

The tragedy of this World Cup was the benching of Robinho... what a different team Brazil was everytime he was on the pitch.

A glimpse at the genius of Di Stefano. He scored 428 goals for Real Madrid in 510 appearances- 49 of them in 58 European Cup games. He won 5 European Cups, one World Club championship, and eight Spanish League medals.

Curiously, he played internationally for both Argentina and Spain (his adopted country).

I remember someone telling me that he was complete jerk. Isn't that the way it is with so many brilliant players? One wonders where he'd rank today if he'd been a nice guy...

"Once Keano walks into the Stadium of Light, life will never be the same again for Sunderland." That's the way the Phil McNulty at the Beeb puts it.

This is going to be fun. Watch the heads roll!

My other question: How long before Quinn and Keano get at each others' throats?

Nice little video put together of Zamora's goals.

Bobby Zamora is in fine fettle. The West Ham striker seems to have taken the added responsibility on his shoulders, with Dean Ashton out with that broken ankle. In the two matches that the Hammers have played Zamora has scored 3 goals. He has been the difference between a draw and a loss. Instead the Hammers beat Charlton Athletic and today came off with a face saving draw against Watford, 1-1. All because of a Zamora strike in the final minutes.

Steven Gerrard learned a lot from the Italians this World Cup and put it to good use against the Blades. A dubious penalty that Robbie Fowler converts.

Kanu scored two goals in Portsmouth's very impressive win against Balckburn Rovers. The number 16 club beating the number 6 club. That is a very impressive win. Kanu also missed a hat trick when Friedel saved his penalty and missed the rebound sending the header wide.

Portsmouth's attack of Nwankwo Kanu, Benjari Mwaruwari, and Svetoslav Todorov were the best amongst the Premiership teams. Porstmouth's defence was better than Chelsea's defence with David James keeping a clean sheet and with stout defending from Sol Campbell, Linvoy Primus, and Glen Johnson.

On the other hand Blackburn Rovers defence was awful, with Lucas Neill and Andt Todd being sent off.

Reading, Bolton Wanderers, Portsmouth, all overthrew their more fancied opponents.

Reading came from 2 goals behind to go past Middlesborough, 3-2, through Leroy Lita's match winner. Portsmouth blanked Balckburn, 3-0 and Bolton overcame Tottenham, 2-0.

Sheffield United almost became giant slayers with their draw 1-1, with Liverpool. A draw that the Reds were fortunate to get away with, scoring of dubious penalty given to Gerrard, when he was brought down in the penalty box. Replays showed minimum contact. Aston Vllla signaled that it had come to play with Martin O'Neill at the helm holding Arsenal to a draw, 1-1. The Gunners began their history at Emirates stadium with less than an illustrous start.

Overall, only the Blues, amongst the powerhouse clubs looked comfortable. Their second XI beating a disjointed Manchester City, 3-0 the last goal off a perfectly place header by Drogba off a perfectly centered cross by Bridge. The Blues did not play Gallas, Cole, Makelele, and Ballack. Sheva had a quiet game although he should have got a penalty when Dunne blocked his shot with his hand.

Manchester United slaughtered Fulham, 5-1, exposing Fulham's weakness in defence and strengthening the pserception that Fulham would probably be relegated by the end of the season.

Premisership recap:

Arsenal drew Aston Villa 1-1
Bolton Wanderers beat Tottenham 2-0
Portsmouth beat Blackburn Rovers 3-0
West Ham beat Charlton Athletic 3-1
Reading FC beat Middlesborough 3-2
Everton beat Watford 2-1
Sheffield Utd drew Liverpool 1-1
Reading beat Middlesborough 3-2
Newcastle United beat Wigan 2-1.

The promoted clubs started off with an impressive draw (Sheffield United), a well fought loss (Watford), and a come from behind win (Reading).

Remember the name Leroy Lita. You will be hearing this gentleman's name a lot this season.

Owen Hargreaves's asking price - £34m. A jawdropping figure for someone that no English club would have paid a couple of million for a year ago. However, Man U is so keen to have him and with Hargreaves eager to make a heroe's welcome to a country that detested him, I don't see what can stop him now.

So here is Bayern losing another quality player, it must make the Bundesliga despair of attracting overseas talent. With Hargreaves, those pundits (including me, wink wink), will have to rethink their prediction that Man U would slide down the table.

Chelsea just signed Khalid Bouhlarouz, one of those dour Dutch defenders with a reputation for tough tackles and not averse to playing a bit dirty now and then. Remember Bouhlarouz's open spike tackle of Ronaldo, that led him writhing on the ground, with a deep thigh wound. He could not continue the game. Ronaldo was questionable for Portugal's game against England. Jose Mourinho is not waiting for Cole anymore. Arsenal's encounter with Chelsea promises to be bitter with the Cole saga. Look for the Gunners to beat up on the Blues, deservedly so.

Arsenal have to go for Curtis Davies, woo him, dangle fruit baskets, treat him to a year's supply of unlimited Belgian chocolates, promise him a personal brewery. They should just jettison Ashley Cole as soon as possible and let that disgruntled player go to whichever club in the Serie wants him.

Little Sheffield Utd gave an opening day shocker by battling huge favourites Liverpool to a draw, 1-1. A result that must have made Rafa go through the roof.

Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa meet Arsenal. A great way to begin Villa's campaign going up against one of the best clubs. O'Neill will get a good sense of what his club needs to do to beat the best. Knowing O'Neill, it won't take him too long to figure out.

Tottenham meet pesky Bolton. We will get to see new boys, Dimitar Berbatov and Didier Zokora. Bolton have virtually no name players but they have a great coach in Sam Allardyce.

The new management of Portsmouth make their debut with big guns Sol Campbell, Kanu, and David James and they go up against tough Blackburn.

More scores and fixtures >>

The Beeb says to squeeze the midfield and stop those creative Chelsea midfielders from getting any real estate and to shut of the supply to Sheva. Looks like the Beeb is going with a 4-1-4-1 (or a 4-5-1) and finds no space for an Essien or Drogba. Easier said then done. It will take a tough and speedy defence/ midfield to squeeze these guys. My bet is Liverpool. Or overwhelm the tough Chelsea defence with some great firepower. Again Liverpool.

Robert Plant, Wolves fan reunites with Jimmy Page and then Eric Clapton, Baggies fan with Cream play Robert Johnsons's "Crossroads." Wolves vs Baggies.

Life long gooner Roger Daltrey sees Highbury off, "My generation". Tomorrow Arsenal plays its first League game at the new Emirates stadium. Nick Hornby will be there to take notes.

Arsene is extracting his punishment. He is benching Cole for the opener against Aston Villa but Cole said he is ready for some humble pie. I think Arsene is really going to rub Cole's nose in the mud and see if he can hack it. If Jose Mourinho is balking at Arsenal's price then the reason is that Wenger does not want Chelsea to have Cole. After all, Chelsea was quite sneaky on the Cole deal with the 'tapping' business and then Cole's vitriol was directed towards Wenger. Cole has poisoned the atmosphere permanently.

I think Arsenal will settle for less and sell of Cole to another club. Naturally they want to get as much for him and apart from Chelsea, there is no other English club that can afford (22 - 25 mil) him. It will be the Serie and most likely Inter, that has the kind of cash for Cole.

As for Cole, even his good friend Thierry Henry has stopped pleading for him to continue playing at Arsenal and Jens Lehmann has said that the club can cope without him. All this starts of rumours that Curtis Davies will be a frantic last day signing for Arsenal from the Baggies. If that happens then Wenger does not have to tinker with the left back position.

Apparently Jose Mourinho did not want Sheva as much as Roman Abramovich did. As for Sheva he really did not mind going either to Manchester United or to Chelsea. It was left to Kristen Pazik, Sheva's wife, and a well known American model, to decide that Chelsea , or more to the point, West London was a better deal.

But it was not easy, Abramovich's wife, Irina had to befriend her, host her at their Belgravia mansion and squire her around town. As a result of her five-star guided tour Kristen was, apparently, ready to "confirm her approval of the lifestyle change". Fuddy duddy Manchester was dropped for swinging West London.

I have no idea what Pazik models but here are some pictures and they are ummmm..... a bit risque

Carrie Fisher who feels that she got roughed up by her insensitive mother, Debbie Reynolds, during those confusing days of puberty wrote her cathartic Postcards from the Edge, that shows Reynolds in an unflattering light. However, it is not just parents or siblings nowadays who are fair game, it is coaches. Ashley Cole has written a book on how Arsenal and Arsene Wenger ill treated him in his stay at the club, which sent him weeping to find solace in the arms of Jose Mourinho, to find out that those feelings scould be assuaged by some more quid.

Vikash Dhorasoo has gone one better. He is bringing out a documentary called Substitute, that gives us the scabrous details on coach Raymond Domenech, another coach that got his fair share of lumps before the World Cup began. The PSG midfielder spent most of his time on the bench except for the last couple of minutes against Switzerland in the World Cup. He has since retired but wants to keep the spotlight on Domenech. Unlike Cole on whom we rely on in his own word, Dhorasoo, who is nowhere to be seen without his handycam has actual footage of Domenech saying and doing things, that well he probably should'nt be doing. But then Dhorasoo is also violating the sanctity of locker room talk. It has got Domenech and captain Patrick Vieira in arms.

And now it is Steven Gerrard's turn to spill the beans on Svennie in his book in which he describes himself as "gutted" when he was asked to take the No9 shirt for the pre-World Cup game against Hungary, and says of Eriksson: "Get real - I'm an attacking midfield player, not an emergency striker."

Looking at the confessionals that are coming out of the woodwork, only Gerrard's book is worthy of consideration. He has criticized Sven for his coaching choices and not personally smeared him. This is a book written by a professional footballer unhappy with the decisions that his coach made. There is also the fact that Sven is no longer the England coach, so one can discuss his legacy.The rest of the books and now the documentary are little more than vilifications. Personally, there should be a gag order on players writing about their coaches, and not just in a tournament, but when they are still active in the game, like Wenger and Domenech. It just does not bode well for the game, if player and coach both tippytoe around each other carrying mikes strapped on their bodies. Of course, one does not want to encourage players choking their coaches either.

Ken Bates has gone over the top again. And the reason is clear - he's frustrated. Chelsea's Roman Abramovich and Eugene Tenenbaum, his right-hand man, have taken Chelsea to new heights, and all he can do at Leeds is watch.

But that's no excuse for anti-semitism.

Crossing the Atlantic, we have our own version of this kind of stupidity - exhibit A: George Allen.

Not everyone is impressed by Dunga's managerial style, or his style when he was a player for that matter.

Next game - Argentina in London. Kaka and Ronaldinho have already been called up for that one. But the fat-boys - Ronaldo and Adriano - are still not invited to the party.

Wake up, Brazil!

Goalkeeper:

D James (Portsmouth, England)

Defenders:


S Ramos (Real Madrid, Spain) G Zambrotta (Barcelona, Italy)
A Cole (Arsenal, England), R Ferdinand (Man United, England)

Midfielders:


C Ronaldo,(Man Utd, Portugal), F Ljungberg (Arsenal, Sweden)
Kaka (AC Milan, Brazil), H Nakata (Bolton Wanderers, Japan)

Forwards:

D Cisse (Marseille, France), A Shevchenko (Chelsea, Ukraine)

We did not choose this XI just on the basis of their metrosexuality; these guys don't just smell or look good, they play a decent game of football. On that account Becks does not make it to the team. Sorry.

Yep! Down Under the Socceroos have maintained their momentum and are turning some great performances in the Asian Cup qualifying tourney under new coach Graham Arnold. There was no Brett Emerton, Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill, or Mark Viduka. The Socceroos played with a bunch of local understudies. They beat Kuwait and Bahrain. Lebanon pulled out because of the ME conflict.

Meanwhile India continue their struggles with new coach Bob Hiughton getting beaten by Saudi Arabia, 3-0. So far, they have lost to Japan, 6-0, and Yemen, 3-0.

Japan, South Korea, Qatar, continue their unbeaten streak. More on the Asian Cup

The same gruesome injury to Dean Ashton will keep him out for 3 months >>

First Sol Campbell and now Nwankwo Kanu have moved to Portsmouth. Both Kanu and Campbell were in the double winning 2002 Arsenal squad and then again winning the 2004 Prem. Looks like Moneybags Gaydamak's ownership is paying off, Chelsea style. David James has moved to Pompey too and he should be pretty good in goal, other than the fact that he sometimes fancies himself as a midfielder.

So what is this the Prem title being divvied up by the Blues and Pompey in a few years time? A few years ago, these teams were in the doghouse. This year, Portsmouth is going to climb out of the cesspool.

Pompey has been taken over by the son of a well-known gun runner. It makes for very sleazy reading. I think it is time the Medellin cartel made a play for Sunderland.

For Kanu fans, as I am, go to the must see video >>

Joachim Löw, Germany's new coach, on a winning note

Germany left off, with the Swedes in the World Cup, beating them again, 3-0. Miroslav Klose scored two and Bernd Schneider one. Sweden were without Freddie Ljungberg and Zlatan Ibrahamovic.

Great start by new coach Joachim Löw, who feels the pressure to perform to the standards set by Jürgen Klinsmann >>

Btw, I absolutely agree with Shourin that Sepp Blatter has to go. He is a known crook and a political animal, who is ignorant about football.

Hold your horses. It is that rubbish Rupert Murdoch mouthpiece the Sun that is reporting this. I have gone to the German sources and there is nothing on this transfer. Here and here

Uli Hoeness says no go >>

That should settle the matter.

The post Beckham era pays off immediately

It was not too long ago that The Sun compared Owen Hargreaves to "a mass murderer" and Hargreaves was the most reviled player in England. Was it because he could not play? No, errrrr........ because he was Canadian, and you know those Canucks can only play ice hockey. Worse still, he played for Bayern Munich, a Kraut club. You know how those guys can raise the hackles of the mildest mannered Briton. So he was a Canadian- German or a Canuck Kraut, or whatever you might want to call him, pretending to play football, the game that England invented, just because his parents were British.

Now, after his display at the World Cup, where he was the only English player to show up and play the game, he has now become the future of the England squad. With Beckham mercifully out of the play and the papperazzi taking a break from following the Posh couple, he is indispensable to McLaren, who described Hargreaves performance as 'phenomenal' in England's bashing of the Greeks, 4-0. Not only is Hargreaves now a given in the squad, he has become the center of a bitter controversy between a desperate Man U with a dinged up midfield on life support who are ready to throw everything and the kitchen sink to have him join, and an equally deperate Ballackless Bayern Munich, that wants to keep him, since he is the one of the three people that the Bundesliga can claim as being an international league. Plus, he is good.

Owen Hargreaves was political fodder too. During the World Cup, Tony Blair whose keen observations on football parallel his keen observations on world politics, named David Miliband as the Cabinet's Wayne Rooney, and Tessa Jowell as his Owen Hargreaves (getting a lo' of undeserved flak).

Now everybody is falling all over themselves issuing apologies to Hargreaves led by the Sun. The same Sun reports that Owen has been sold to Man U for £13m from Bayern. Fergie switched his attentions to the England star after his World Cup heroics when Hargreaves was the only one of Sven Goran Eriksson’s squad to emerge from the finals with any credit.

Redemption they say is sweet because from what you read about Hargreaves, a soft spoken guy, revenge is probably a word not in his vocabulary.

Richard Williams writes in the Guardian: "Hargreaves inherited the former captain's No7 shirt and went on to match the kind of industry Beckham showed the last time Greece visited Old Trafford."

Redemption.

Now let's see if Manchester United and Sir Alex can pry Hargreaves free from a dour Bayern Munich. After losing Ballack, Bayern doesn't want to lose Hargreaves as well. Maybe £17m will do the talking.

Liverpool strengthened its position in the Premiership and further imperiled Chelsea's lock on the Prem title by signing Dutch sharpshooter Dirk Kuyt, in the process ending speculation that he would go to the Owen-less Magpies.

Kuyt scored a phenomenal 71 goals in 101 matches. He is primarily a poacher in the likes of Crespo, adept at using any body part, to put the ball into the net, including the ear lobe. Kuyt had a disappointing World Cup, but the scouting report was that Van Basten did not utilize him well, having him drop back, because of the out of sorts Dutch midfield.

He is a great addition to Craig Bellamy. Liverpool should score more than 70 goals this time and with a stingy defence, it will be the team to beat.

No sympathy for the devil this time!

Joseph Blatter is standing for re-election to be president of FIFA in 2007. It would be the worst thing that would befall the world of football if Blatter is re-elected. Joseph Blatter is not a football visionary, he is a quintessential politician. The reason that South Africa was blessed by Sepp Blatter as the next host for the World Cup, is not because he believes that Africa is where the future of football is, or if this is a chance to showcase the new Africa, with its new democracies in the post-colonial world. It is a cheap ploy to get votes. The magnanimous Sepp Blatter will be on display till the elections of 2007, where he will praise the federations of the Asian and African till the heavens fall, because these countries count for 57 votes. Once Blatter gets elected, if South Africa runs into problems hosting the 2010 World Cup, and the the whispering campaigns begin, look for Blatter to pull the plug on South Africa, all the while looking for the best deal that will benefit him politically and financially.

This is the real Sepp Blatter, in an interview with the Brazilian magazine Placar, in 1995, when he was still Joao Havelange's protege. On being asked by the journalist on the formation of an international players union, Blatter responded, " FIFA does not deal with players.They are employees of the club." Or when Diego Maradona asked why international labor rights did not apply to football players, Blatter contemptuously replied, " The last star from Argentina was Di Stefano." Blatter himself was the center of controvery when he became the president in 2002 with direct accusations of bribery made in the press by the Somali FA member Farra Ado, who claimed to have been offered $100,000 to vote for Blatter. This is nothing compared to what Blatter did when he lied that the collapse of sports marketing giants ISL, FIFA's partner, amounted to nothing more than a loss of £22million. In fact, it is now more than likely that the losses were closer to to £230m. Swiss authorities are now investigating to see whether the ISL liquidator Thomas Bauer, was bribed for not pursuing black money trails of FIFA officials. The 2.5 million Swiss francs bribe seems to have originated from the office of Jean Marie Weber, ISL official, and close confidante of Sepp Blatter.

A little story of how Sepp Blatter solicits votes. In the 2002 elections, Blatter's head was on the chopping block. The European and Asian counties were ready to fire him from the post of president because of the ISl fiasco. Enter, Jack Warner, the powerful Trinidadian president of the Caribbean and North American council, that accounts for 37 votes in FIFA. Warner was a Blatter loyalist, and those 37 votes were usually reliable Blatter votes. However, this time he was very unhappy because his previous arrangement with FIFA where he was awarded TV rights for a nominal $1 and then selling them for hundreds and thusands of dollars as a perk for his votes had come to an end because ISL had acquired those TV rights and had sold them to Trini entrepreneur Selby Brown and the Caribbean Sports TV Network. Jack Warner was livid and threatened to withhold his 37 votes that were crucial to the beleaguered Baltter. In a secret e-mail, disclosed by Soccernet, Warner threatened his president: 'Enough is enough... this will be the last time.'

Blatter denies that he did anything to help Warner. But soon after the angry e-mail the German media group Kirch took over ISL's TV rights. The rights were renegotiated and shortly after Buenos Aires, Brown was stripped of his contract and Warner was awarded it instead.

This is the Blatter that we should know about. In fact, there is so much more, that it seems that Blatter runs not an organization called FIFA, it is a fifa-dom (pun absolutely and implacably intended). Sepp Blatter in his years had made very little effort to improve the game and every effort to consolidate his power.

Why you will be hearing more about Leroy Lita. And why Reading FC will escape relegation.

Nuri Sahin is just about 18, and plays for Borussia Dortmund. He has been denied German citizenship like millions of other Turkish immigrants who have lived in Germany for years, and has opted to play for Turkey instead. As they say what is one's loss is another's gain. When you see him play, he makes Podolksi look ordinary.

Michael Essien played in the Ghana-Togo friendly, that the Black Stars won 2-0, largely due to the efforts of captain Stephen Appiah. What is suprising is that Essien played with a broken wrist sustained in the Blues loss to Liverpool in the FA Community Shield, a few days ago. A non season ending injury but one that could get worse as the season progresses with the number of collisions. A micro-managing coach like Jose Mourinho so concerned about the health of his players that he sat Claude Makelele and Joe Cole out, means one thing, these two are more important to Mourinho's scheme. It was a friendly that Ghana played, not a qualifying match for the Africa Cup or World Cup! Adebayor did not even show up for this match for Togo. Mourinho wants his boys sharp for the Premiership by letting an injured player play a friendly! Would you do that if you were serious about your player? It is because you have a wealth of riches.

Lets face it. Chelsea has Michael Ballack, Claude Makelele, and now Obi John Mikel, who can all play holding midfielder. Claude Makelele is the one holding anchor essential to Mourinho, so he won't see time on the bench. Frank Lampard and Arjen Robben, will be right behind Drogba and Shevchenko, to provide the ammo. You can see Mourinho's need for speed. Consider this, Mourinho has jettisoned players of the caliber of Duff, Crespo, Del Horno, Gudjohnsen, and Jarosik all in one season. Players that would be considered indispensable to other clubs. If Mourinho rethinks his 4-5-1 to a 4-4-2, to accomodate both Sheva and Drogba, then Essien's chances at first team virtually become nil.

Either way, Michael Essien will have to be prepared to spend a lot more time on the bench than the four games last season. It depends on how much he is willing to put up as a utility player. I think he is far too good for that and he should be reading rightly that he is less essential to Mourinho. I think the Magpies would love to have him.

My picks for the top 5 performers

1) Bobby Convey: Club: Reading Position: Midfielder

Bobby Convey will be the best US player in the Premiership this season. He was a big reason for Reading getting to the Premiership. However, his club is expected to get relegated or at best just escape relegation. Whatever it is, expect Convey to give his best and fly down the left flank with that impressive speed and those nifty passes. Bobby Convey with Clint Dempsey were the two best players in the otherwise dismal performance of the US team in this World Cup.

2) Jay DeMerit: Club: Watford: Position: Defender

He was the giant killer in the final match that pipped Watford past Leeds United scoring the goal that put them to the Premiership. DeMerit is the center back and he has been one big reason that Watford has toughenend its defence. Look for him to turn some heads. DeMerit is a supremely fit athlete and strong in the air.

3) Jonathan Spector: Club: West Ham United: Position: Defender

Spector had a very good season at Charlton Athletic last year before dislocating his shoulder. He is now with the Hammers. He is an attacking defender who loves to push up front and a very strong tackler. His abilities are sometimes marred by some poor choices when passing but this seems to be improving.

4) Tim Howard: Club: Everton: Position: Goalkeeper

The future goalkeeper of the US team. Playing for Everton after his loan from Manchester United. Howard has had an up and down career with Man U, posting 11 clean sheets in his first year, but then fell foul of Sir Alex when he let in a last minute goal against Jose Mourinho's Porto in the Champions League in 2004. He spent a lot of the 2005 season on the bench. Howard is a strong presence in the goal, with great reflexes, and gathers well off the air. He sometimes gets in trouble coming off the line. He was not used in this World Cup because the US is traditionally strong in this position, and had Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel ahead of him. Howard will have to compete for the starting line up Richard Wright.

5) Brad Friedel: Club: Blackburn Rovers: Position: Goalkeeper

In my opinion still the USA's best goalkeeper, and the best US player in the Premiership. Friedel has been an automatic for the Rovers ever since he joined them in 2000. He has helped the club improve its standing each year. In 2003 he was voted the goalkeeper of the Premiership and is the captain of the club. Last year, he led them to a sixth place finish, earning them a spot in the UEFA cup. This year the Rovers are expected to do just as well and Freidel is a big part of that expectation.

The other players in the Prem are Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, defender), Claudio Reyna (Manchester City, midfielder), Brian McBride (Fulham, forward), Johann Smith (Bolton, forward), Jemal Johnson (Blackburn, forward), Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, goalkeeper), and Cory Gibbs (Charlton Athletic, defender).

Correction: Tim Howard was the second choice behind Kasey Keller but before Marcus Hahnemann. Thanks Paddy Cass !

For more Yanks abroad >>

Club Injuries

Portsmouth
Player Condition Expected Return* Next Match**

D Kiely thigh 9th Sep 06
D Stefanovic Achilles 19th Aug 06
I Mornar hamstring 19th Aug 06
B Mwaruwari thigh 19th Aug 06
P Mendes groin 19th Aug 06
L Lua-Lua ankle 9th Sep 06
J Ashdown broken thumb 13th Sep 06

Bolton Wanderers
J O'Brien knee 19th Aug 06
K Davies ankle 19th Aug 06
A Faye knee 9th Sep 06
H Pedersen Achilles no return date
Q Fortune groin 19th Aug 06
R Gardner ACL 7th Oct 06

Manchester United
W Rooney groin 20th Aug 06
N Vidic knee 26th Aug 06
G Neville calf 16th Aug 06
M Carrick ankle 9th Sep 06
R Ferdinand ankle 16th Aug 06
A Smith broken leg 20th Aug 06

West Ham United
D Ashton broken ankle no return date
G McCartney knee Oct 06
J Spector shoulder 9th Sep 06
Y Benayoun ankle 19th Aug 06
D Gabbidon groin 19th Aug 06
M Etherington knee 10th Sep 06

Arsenal
G Clichy fractured metatarsal Oct 06
F Ljungberg ankle 26th Aug 06
P Senderos shoulder Oct 06
V Diaby fractured ankle Oct 06
B Lauren knee Oct 06

Chelsea
M Essien broken wrist 20th Aug 06
C Makelele groin 20th Aug 06
M Ballack hip 20th Aug 06
J Cole knee 27th Aug 06
P Cech shoulder(s) surgery 27th Aug 06

Manchester City
S Ireland hamstring 20th Aug 06
T Sinclair neck 20th Aug 06
R Dunne hamstring 26th Aug 06
D Hamann foot no return date
S Jihai hamstring 20th Aug 06

Everton
A van der Meyde medical problem 19th Aug 06
N Valente knee 19th Aug 06
D Weir groin 19th Aug 06
T Hibbert cryptosporidium parasite no return date

Middlesbrough
E Pogatetz calf 19th Aug 06
U Ehiogu Achilles 19th Aug 06
R Parlour groin 19th Aug 06
G Mendieta fractured metatarsal 26th Aug 06

Reading
I Sonko groin 19th Aug 06
A Brown broken leg Jan 07
B Gunnarsson groin 19th Aug 06
G Little hamstring 19th Aug 06

Tottenham Hotspur
R Keane thigh 26th Aug 06
T Tainio ankle 19th Aug 06
A Reid foot 19th Aug 06
L King knee 16th Sep 06

Charlton Athletic
C Gibbs knee Nov 06
J Walker gashed ankle 19th Aug 06
J Thomas fractured metatarsal Oct 06

Newcastle United
S Given back strain 19th Aug 06
M Owen ACL no return date
K Dyer hamstring 9th Sep 06

Watford
J DeMerit ankle 19th Aug 06
S Kamara knee 26th Aug 06
C Carlisle knee 19th Aug 06

Aston Villa
M Baros foot no return date
W Bouma hamstring 19th Aug 06

Blackburn Rovers
B Emerton calf 19th Aug 06
R Nelson hamstring 19th Aug 06

Fulham
S Malbranque groin no return date
S Elliott calf 26th Aug 06

Liverpool
R Fowler knee 19th Aug 06
H Kewell septic arthritis 2nd Sep 06

Sheffield United
D Webber knee 19th Aug 06
C Davis knee 20th Sep 06

Wigan Athletic
G Teale ankle 16th Sep 06
R Taylor broken leg Jan 07

* Estimated return to full training.
** Likelihood of making team selection for next first team match.

Keep updated on the injuries of the Premiership clubs at this excellent site >>

Dean Ashton out: Blow to England and Hammers

Is it just me but just when England makes the right moves, appointing John Terry as captain, getting rid of David Beckham, up comes the X factor and upends all plans; the football injury. Yes, Deam Ashton broke his ankle colliding with Shaun Wright Phillips in training for the match against Greece. Worse, he is probably gone for at least three months, just when I had picked West Ham to finish 7th. Alan Pardew says it won't be a problem because he has Zamora, Cole, Shearingham, and Harewood to do duty. Pardew knows better, this is a big loss for the Hammers. The bookies have placed 350:1 odds on West Ham to finish first >>

England squad against Greece

England Defoe, Crouch, Downing, Gerrard, Lampard, Hargreaves, Ferdinand, Terry, A Cole, G Neville, Robinson.

Substitutes (from) Foster, Kirkland, Bridge, Brown, Carragher, Dawson, P Neville, Young, Jenas, Lennon, Richardson, Wright-Phillips, Bent.

Greece Charisteas, Samaras, Karagounis, Giannakopoulos, Zagorakis, Basinas, Fyssas, Anatolakis, Kyrgiakos, Dellas, Nikolopidis.

Substitutes (from) Chalkias, Antzas, Vintra, Kafes, Katsouranis, Lagos, Amanatidis, Gekas, Papadopoulos, Salpigidis.

Head to head

England won 6 drawn 2 lost 0

Stewart Downing starts on the left with Joe Cole out with an knee injury. Steven Gerrard plays his natural position down the right as he does for Liverpool. Steve McLaren and Terry Venables are sticking to the 4-4-2. I don't see any space for Lennon in this line up. Unless McLaren experiments with a 3-5-2, an improvised 4-4-2, with Hargreaves dropping back in defence. Then we could see Lennon move out to the right flank, Gerrard move in, Hargreaves as the holding midfielder, Lampard, and Joe Cole on his natural left flank, when he gets back from injury.

McLaren and Venables can afford to tinker around a bit before all the Euro 2008 hype begins.

Arsenal
Ins

Tomas Rosicky B Dortmund, £6.8m; Alexandre Song Billong Bastia, undisclosed

Outs

Robert Pires Villarreal, free; Sol Campbell Portsmouth, free; Michael Jordan Chesterfield, free; Ryan Smith Derby, undisclosed; Kerrea Gilbert Cardiff, loan; Fabrice Muamba Birmingham, loan; Nicklas Bendtner Birmingham, loan; Sebastian Larsson Birmingham, loan; Dennis Bergkamp retired

1 Jens Lehmann, 3 Ashley Cole, 4 Cesc Fabregas, 5 Kolo Touré, 6 Philippe Senderos, 7 Tomas Rosicky, 8 Fredrik Ljungberg, 9 José Antonio Reyes, 11 Robin Van Persie, 12 Lauren, 13 Alexander Hleb, 14 Thierry Henry, 16 Mathieu Flamini, 17 Alexandre Song, 18 Pascal Cygan, 19 Gilberto Silva, 22 Gael Clichy, 24 Manuel Almunia, 25 Emmanuel Adebayor, 27 Emmanuel Eboué, 29 Sebastian Larsson, 30 Jérémie Aliadière, 31 Justin Hoyte, 32 Theo Walcott, 41 Arturo Lupoli

Chelsea

Ins

Andriy Shevchenko Milan, £30m; Michael Ballack Bayern Munich, free; Salomon Kalou Feyenoord, undisclosed; John Obi Mikel Lyn Oslo, £16m

Outs

Eidur Gudjohnsen Barcelona, £8m; Damien Duff Newcastle, £5m; Asier Del Horno Valencia, £4.8m; Carlton Cole West Ham, £2m; Jiri Jarosik Celtic, undisclosed; Lenny Pidgeley Millwall, free; Dean Smith Aldershot, free; Filipe Morais Millwall, free; Danny Hollands Bournemouth, free; Hernán Crespo Internazionale, loan; Glen Johnson Portsmouth. loan; Anthony Grant Wycombe, loan; Joe Keenan released; James Younghusband released; Jack Watkins released

1 Petr Cech, 3 William Gallas, 4 Claude Makélélé, 5 Michael Essien, 6 Ricardo Carvalho, 7 Andriy Shevchenko, 8 Frank Lampard, 10 Joe Cole, 11 Didier Drogba, 12 John Obi Mikel, 13 Michael Ballack, 14 Geremi, 16 Arjen Robben, 18 Wayne Bridge, 19 Lassana Diarra, 20 Paulo Ferriera, 21 Salomon Kalou, 23 Carlo Cudicini, 24 Shaun Wright-Phillips, 26 John Terry, 29 Robert Huth

Liverpool

Ins

Craig Bellamy Blackburn, £6m; Gabriel Paletta Banfield, £2m; Fabiano Aurelio Valencia, free; Jermaine Pennant Birmingham, £6.7m

Outs

Djimi Traore Charlton, £2m; Antonio Barragán Deportivo La Coruna, £680,000; Dietmar Hamann Manchester City, £400,000; Bruno Cheyrou Rennes, free; David Raven Carlisle, free; Ramon Calliste Scunthorpe, free; Carl Medjani Lorient, free; Chris Kirkland Wigan, loan; Djibril Cissé Marseille, loan; Danny O'Donnell Crewe, loan; Scott Carson Charlton, loan; Salif Diao released; Robbie Foy released; Paul Willis released

1 Jerzy Dudek, 2 Jan Kromkamp, 3 Steve Finnan, 4 Sami Hyypia, 5 Daniel Agger, 6 John Arne Riise, 7 Harry Kewell, 8 Steven Gerrard, 9 Robbie Fowler, 10 Luis García, 11 Mark González, 12 Fábio Aurélio, 14 Xabi Alonso, 15 Peter Crouch, 16 Jermaine Pennant, 17 Craig Bellamy, 22 Momo Sissoko, 23 Jamie Carragher, 24 Florent Sinama Pongolle, 25 Pepe Reina, 26 Paul Anderson, 28 Stephen Warnock, 29 Gabriel Paletta, 32 Boudewijn Zenden, 33 Neil Mellor, 34 Darren Potter

Manchester Utd

Ins

Michael Carrick Tottenham, £18.6m; Tomasz Kuszczak West Brom, loan

Outs

Ruud van Nistelrooy Real Madrid, £10.3m; Jonathan Spector West Ham, £500,000; Sylvain Ebanks-Blake Plymouth, £200,000; Luke Steele West Brom, undisclosed; Quinton Fortune Bolton, free; Phil Picken Chesterfield, free; Tommy Lee Macclesfield, free; Eddie Johnson Bradford, free; Tim Howard Everton, loan; Gerard Piqué Real Zaragoza, loan; Ben Foster Watford, loan; Lee Martin Rangers, loan

2 Gary Neville, 3 Patrice Evra, 4 Gabriel Heinze, 5 Rio Ferdinand, 6 Wes Brown, 7 Cristiano Ronaldo, 8 Wayne Rooney, 9 Louis Saha, 11 Ryan Giggs, 13 Ji-Sung Park, 14 Alan Smith, 15 Nemanja Vidic, 16 Michael Carrick, 17 Liam Miller, 18 Paul Scholes, 19 Edwin Van der Sar, 20 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, 22 John O'Shea, 23 Kieron Richardson, 24 Darren Fletcher, 26 Phil Bardsley, 27 Mikael Silvestre, 28 Gerard Piqué, 29 Tomasz Kuszczak, 42 Giuseppe Rossi

More Premiership rosters >>

Two of Egypt's best strikers in this clip. If they play together they will be phenomenal, but they have to get an understanding coach who can bring these two temperamental players together. Enjoy their amazing skills!

Mido and Sheheta get a bit emotional!

The soap opera that is Hassan Shehata and his relationship with Egyptian strikers, Mohamed Zidan and Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam shows no sign of abating. Now Shehata has made up with Zidan but has fallen out with Mido after the slanging incident in the Africa Cup of Nations that Egypt won this year. Previously it was Zidan who was banned from the national team and never played in the World Cup qualifiers in which Egypt was pipped by Cote D"Ivoire.

Egypt with the strength and talent of its team, made all the more admirable by the fact that unlike other African countries, it only has a handful of players playing in the European leagues. If they can get Shahata, Mido and Zidan, together, then qualifying for World Cup 2010 should be easy. Egypt firing on all cylinders, with this duo of strikers should make it out of the first round and even the quarterfinals. Tottenham fans would love to have Mido back. And Mohamed Zidan has become a fan favourite at Werder Bremen.

Hassan Shahata's squad against Uruguay.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Essam Al Hadari (Ahly), Sherif Ekramy (Feyenoord, Netherlands), Ali Hegazi (Suez Cement), Mostafa Kamal (ENPPI)

Defenders: Tamer Abdelwahab (Zamalek), Abdulzaher El Saqqa (Konyaspor, Turkey), Mahmoud Fathallah (Ghazl Mahalla), Ahmed Fathi (Ismaili), Wael Gomaa (Ahly), Amir Azmi Megahed (PAOK Salonika, Greece), Ahmed Abou Mosalem (Racing Strasbourg, France), Hani Said (Ismaili)

Midfielders: Hosni Abd Rabou (Ismaili), Sherif Al Beyalli (Arab Contractors), Ahmed Al Muhammadi (ENPPI), Mohamed Geddo (Al Ittihad), Ahmed Hassan (Anderlecht, Belgium), Abdelsalam Nagah (Harras Al Hodoud), El Moataz Bellah Mohamed Salama (Zamalek), Mohamed Shawki (Ahly)

Forwards: Abdelhalim Ali (Zamalek), Ahmed Eid Abdelmalek (Harras Al Hodoud), Mostafa Gaafar, Gamal Hamza (both Zamalek), Emad Moteab (Ahly), Amr Zaki (Zamalek), Mohamed Zidan (Werder Bremen, Germany)

Franck Ribery changed his mind and has renewed his contract with Marseilles. "It's true that I said I wanted to leave," Ribery said. "But I have not forgotten that Marseille is my club, and I love this jersey."

I think he will leave. Ribery's agent will be negotiating somewhere midseason with Arsenal and next year he becomes a Gunner. Meanwhile, Dirk Kuyt is where? He was linked to Liverpool and now it is the Magpies. Is it the ferry ride from Newcastle to Rotterdam? I think he will stay on at Feyenoord.

Sissoko's talent is immense and he is fast becoming one of the Kop's favourite. Read on why Momo's performance against Chelsea had everyone raving about him as the next Patrick Vieira.

Riise's goal, Crouchy's goal!

Robbie's return, 5 goals in 14 appearances. This man is capable of much much more when healthy. So what is the status on Robbie's knee?

Top goal scorers: 2005- 2006 season

Scorer Goals Team
Thierry Henry 27 Arsenal F.C.
Ruud van Nistelrooy 21 Manchester United F.C.
Darren Bent 18 Charlton Athletic F.C.
Robbie Keane 16 Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Frank Lampard 16 Chelsea F.C.
Wayne Rooney 16 Manchester United F.C.
Marlon Harewood 14 West Ham United F.C.
Craig Bellamy 13 Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Yakubu Aiyegbeni 13 Middlesbrough F.C.
Henri Camara 12 Wigan Athletic F.C.
Didier Drogba 12 Chelsea F.C.

Craig Bellamy's 13 goals at Blackburn will help the Reds immensely add more to their 57 goals, the least amongst the top four. The Liverpool midfield provided the bulk of the goals. Strikers, Peter Crouch chipped in with 7 and Robbie Fowler's return to Anfield netted them 5. Compare this to Thierry Henry's league leading 27 goals. Chelsea and Man U were tops with 72 goals and Arsenal followed with 68. When this season is over I would be surprised with the Reds scoring anything less than 70 goals. Bellamy, Crouch, and Fowler should get that done. That should be enough for them to claim the title.

Today's FA Community Shield Championship should have gone someways in answering who will contend for the top title. Liverpool played Chelsea, defeating them 2-1 through goals by Riise and Crouch. We had heard that Chelsea was going to play with about 50% of their players sitting this one out but that was one of Jose Mourinho's headgames. He played everybody in the first XI except the injured Joe Cole and Petr Cech. New boys Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko got their first look in, and Shevchenko delivered a goal. The embarrasing part was that Liverpool's best player Steven Gerrard sat this one out, otherwise this match would have been over a long time ago for the Blues.

So here goes:2006-2007 season predictions

Liverpool: 1st, Odds: 6:1

Not much can stop this team. They have Steven Gerrard, one of the world's best midfielder. Excellent midfield support in Xabi Alonso, Luis Garcia, Zenden, Momo Sissoko. A tough and attacking defense in John Arne Riise, Stephen Warnock, and Jamie Carragher. They have new additions Craig Bellamy and the extremely talented Jermaine Pennant who'll settle down under the watchful eye of Rafa and become an even better player. On goal you have a tough choice with both Pepe Reina and Jerzy Dudek, top notch. Looking at the line up, you realize why Liverpool does not really need a striker of the caliber of Thierry Henry. They have a midfield which can do all of that with less sweat.

Tottenham Hotspurs: 2nd, Odds: 50:1

The team with the best possible attack, a combination of strikers and an attacking midfield. Robbie Keane, Dimitar Berbatov, Jermaine Defoe, Jermaine Jenas, and Aaron Lennon. This team should top the table in goal scoring. With Martin Jol, the Spurs have improved with every season, and this year will be no exception. Edgar Davids should make life miserable for everyone of those opposing teams trying to get past midfield. Teemu Taino and new addition, Didier Zokora play as holding midfielders. The absence of captain Ledley King for another month should be taken care of very well by defenders Michael Dawson, Anthony Gardner, and Calum Davenport. Paul Robinson should prove to be his steady self at goal. Berbatov and Zokora have already impressed in their debut, with a recent 2-1 win against Real Sociedad. Michael Dawson was called up for England duty in Steve McLaren's new look squad.

Arsenal: 3rd, Odds: 7:1

With a striker like Thierry Henry you cannot go wrong. And then there is the dangerous Robin Van Persie, who manages to do everything as the striker in the slot, with his left foot. Cesc Fabregas holds the midfield line and Tomas Rosicky chases the ball with his exceptional speed. The only question mark is the defence with Sol Campbell gone off to Portsmouth and Ashley Cole's future held up in some bitter wrangling between Arsenal and Chelsea, deciding on his price. The biggest reason why Arsenal should do well, is to create some history in the new Emirates Stadium, and make the Gunner fans feel at home. A top four finish will be a nice way to begin the new chapter in the Arsenal book. Nick Hornby should be on hand to record this moment.

Chelsea: 4th, Odds: 4:9

This year Jose Mourinho's boys are not going to do as well. Reason: The pressure of trying to capture a third title. Not many clubs in the history of sport have been able to do win three times consecutively. Only four clubs have managed it, Huddersfield, Arsenal, Liverpool, and most recently Manchester United. Michael Ballack will fade, finding the pace of the English League much faster and the scheduling of matches far more intense than the Bundesliga, where the season is smaller. Joe Cole is playing hurt and will be dogged by niggling injuries through the season. Andriy Shevchenko, will be dangerous, but he remains isolated up front, and as seen in this World Cup gets caught offside a lot, with more disciplined defences. Hernan Crespo will be missed. Chelsea is still too good a team to tumble off the top four but John Terry will have to summon all his leadership skills in a team that has a few selfish and disgruntled players like Arjen Robben, William Gallas and Frank Lampard.

Manchester United: 5th, Odds: 6:1

Sir Alex's waning years. Ruud Van Nistelrooy, their most lethal striker, has gone to Real. Louis Saha will take uo the slack but can he sustain it? Michael Carrick is a solid player but unspectacular. The midfield is a rejiggered line with Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, and Soljskaer. Cristiano Ronaldo, has his moments of sublime skills which mostly turn out to be unproductive. Man U also does not have leadership like that in the Roy Keane days. Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand are experienced but hardly leadership material. Sir Alex's didactic nature has infantilized most of the players and those who disagree do it at their peril. Another problem area is goalkeeping. Van Der Saar had a forgettable World Cup venture and is aging. Man U has signed on Tomacz Kuczscak, a talented goalkeeper but with very little experience.

Everton: 6th, Odds: 350:1

The Toffees after Tottenham have one of the most explosive attacks with Andy Johnson, prolific striker for Crystal Palace signing on, he should pair up well with James Beattie, the steadily improving James McFadden, and Nigerian born striker Victor Anichebe. Johnson is already in the English senior squad. The midfield is anchored by attacking midfielders Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta. The defence is stout with Nuno Valente, who seems to have finally got his legs in the gruelling English league, Tony Hibbert, and David Weir. Lee Carsley is back for an Everton morale booster this season. David Moyes squad should score many more than their anaemic 34 goals last season.

West Ham: 7th, Odds: 350:1

The Hammers probably have the nucleus of the future England attack. Nigel Reo Coker, the captain of the U-21 England squad (captain of the Hammers at 21 years of age), Dean Ashton (22 years, and called up to the England squad), Marlon Harewood (26 years, frequently mentioned as a possibility), and Matthew Etherington (24 years, another left sided midfielder). There is also Bobby Zamora and Carlton Cole, who have not lived upto expectations but are still dangerous. John Pantsil, Ghana defender who along with Emmanuel Pappoe gave a stouthearted display at the World Cup, joins up a defence that is considered to be amongst the best, with Anton Ferdinand, Paul Konchesky, and Daniel Gabbidon. Alan Pardew has gelled this team nicely.

Blackburn Rovers: 8th, Odds: 200:1

The Rovers strength is their defence. Lucas Neil (of Fabio Grosso fame), Brett Emerton, Andy Todd, Zurab Khishnavilli, and Ryan Nelsen, gave up 42 goals keeping a GD of +9. Now with Benni McCarthy, one of the few well known South African stars and a bonafide striker, they should be able to add to their goal tally. Andy Reid and Tugay Kerimoglu anchor the midfield. Blackburn made a turnaround with Mark Hughes, former Wales international, and have kept up the improvement.

Aston Villa: 9th, Odds:750:1

What we have seen with the likes of underperforming clubs like Tottenham, Blackburn, and West Ham, is that under a new coach you can get immediate results. Martin O'Neill is the type of coach you can expect to see results that get Villa back in the top 10. Villa has some good players who did not respond to David O'Leary. Prospects like Jjloyd Samuels and Luke Moore will flourish under O'Neill. Veteran defender and Swedish stalwart, Olof Mellberg, and the striker duo Milan Baros and Juan Pablo Angel will prove to be productive. The hardest working midfielder in England, Steven Davis, anchors the midfield. Martin O'Neill brings the best out in this struggling club and the reason that Villa vaults to the top 10. The way Villa does it will make football look less mercenary. A feel good story of a club that does not know who finally owns it.

Wigan Athletic: 10th, Odds: 750:1

The club that everyone loves to hate. The Latics did well last season. And they look like they will do just as well this season. The big reason is Luis Valencia, the Ecuadorian midfielder who was the only bright spot in the otherwise somnolent Ecuadorian attack against England in the World Cup. Valencia's speed is blazing and he posesses excellent technical skills. He lost out to Lukas Podolksi in the Best Young Player award for this year's World Cup. Henri Camara, had a good season with Wigan, scoring 14 goals. Crystal Place signees, Fitz Hall and Emmersoin Boyce, should strengthen the defence. Denny Landzaat, the Dutch midfielder, a regular substitute for Wesley Sneijder this World Cup, is an excellent holding midfielder. The question marks are Emile Heskey, Birmigham City striker, slow and overweight, for which Wigan paid over 5m pounds and Pascal Chimbonda, French defender, who is unhappy in Wigan but whose asking price is too high for most clubs.

Newcastle United: 11th, Odds:150:1

Steady improvement under Glenn Roeder, after that disastrous beginning in the 2005-2006 season. The Magpies were in danger of relegation with Michael Owen injured since December 2005, with a broken foot, and Alan Shearer playing with injured knee ligaments, preceding his retirement. Graeme Souness was given the boot and that was when Newcastle started it's climb back up the table. The signing of Damien Duff, another Chelsea discard, arguably the most versatile midfielder who has blistering pace, and playing down the left, and defends against the counterattack is further proof that Newcastle keeps the momentum going. The Magpies have shown an improvement in their finances which keeps the door open for more signings.

Bolton Wanderers: 12th, Odds: 350:1

Bolton Wanderers have benefited from great coaching by Sam Allardyce, considered a front runner for the England job, at one time before Steve McLaren were chosen. You look at the roster of players and wonder what is that has actually changed their fortunes? Allardyce has taken temperamental players like El Hadji Diouf and Kevin Davies and ultilized their talents to win games. The midfield looks solid with Kevin Nolan and Ivan Campo bolstered by new signing, Quinton Fortune, a long time favourite of Sir Alex when he played at Man U.

Middlesborough: 13th, Odds: 500:1

Middlesborough should improve on their 16th place finish with their signing of Sunderland defender Julio Arca. The rest of the club looks solid with striker Yakubu and England midfielder Stewart Downing and Brazilian Fabio Rochemback. Goalie Mark Schwarzer looked good in the Socceroo games in the World Cup.

Portsmouth: 14th, Odds: 500:1

Portsmouth's defence was terrible all of last year and they just escaped relegation. It should improve with the arrival of Sol Campbell and goalkeeper David James. . Paolo Mendes, Noe Pamarot, and Sean Davis will improve on Portsmouth's 37 goals scored last season. This looks like a club that wiil be going Chelsea's way with the amount of money that the new club owner, Russian tycoon Alexandre Gaydamak, is willing to throw on new players.

Charlton Athletic: 15th, Odds: 1000:1

Darren Bent, the best striker that England did not take to the World Cup. Finished with 18 goals out of Charton's 41 goals scored last season. Some other bright spots include Luke Young, right back and on England's call up list for the World Cup and Thomas Myhre, Charlton goalie. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who had some phenomenally productive years for Chelsea is a big name player, who might be capable of some big moments. However, this team looks disjointed which showed last year. There won't be much of an improvement this season.

Manchester City: 16th, Odds: 750:1

It seems Stuart Pearce's club will survive a relegation scare. The only reason why Manchester City will prevent relegation is because of Hatem Trabelsi, the Tunisian defender, who showed excellent tackling and initiating counter attacks in this World Cup. Dietmar Hamann, is another signing and everybody acknowledges his contribution to Liverpool while he was there but he is getting on in years. However, experience does count and Didi should bring bolster an otherwise perfunctory midfield.

Reading: 17th, Odds: 1500:1

The Royals will escape relegation because they actually have two good US players. Bobby Convey, fleet footed midfielder, who loves to fly down the left, and outstanding goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann. They were both voted as players of the season, responsible for getting Reading promoted to the Premiership. Reading established the most points in a single season in any English professional league: 106 points (2005-06). Reading also has Leroy Lita, one of the most exciting future prospects for the English squad. This should be enough to escape relegation.

Relegated teams:

Fulham FC: 18th, Odds: 1000:1

Terrible defence that gave up 58 goals. There does not seem to be any improvement in that department. Some good individual strikers in Luis Boa Morte and Heldar Helguson. But that is about it.

Sheffield United: 19th, Odds: 2500:1

Great manager of a hard luck team. But it will be much too much not to get relegated.

Watford: 20th, Odds: 2500:1

Elton John's former club will have to contend with "I am still standing."

On the present odds, go to Ladbrokes >>

Soccerblog readers what do you think? Please comment as long as they are civilized and abuse free.

The number of players that Chelsea has given away at a loss to the club is obscene. It is only Roman's money that is keeping them afloat. For any other club it would be the death knell.

" For 19 Premiership clubs, £100m equates to almost six years of TV money - a lifeline in the modern game on an annual basis. Any other club who haemorrhaged a similar sum would be, at best, looking to sack their entire board, or at worst, liquidated. To fritter away £100 million really is something else. If it wasn't so grotesque it would be admirable in its audacity. "

Read on for the grim perspective >>

The same thing happens in the USA with baseball with no restrictions on the salary cap. The NY Yankees spend money obscenely on players. Alex Rodriguez has cost them $250 million dollars for his contract and since he came in the Yankees have not won a World Series. That is why there is so much to cheer when smaller clubs like the Florida Marlins and the Arizona Diamonbacks win the World Series over the Yankees. And that Chelsea is soon going to find out the same through its revolving door policy for players. If Mourniho does not win, look for that same revolving door.

Stock markets crashed on the announcement that Steve McLaren had dropped David Beckham from the English squad and his possible departure from international soccer. Companies specializing in cosmetics, accessories, and clothes all reacted with shock and disbelief at the news. Even cell phone and paper product company stocks took a steep dive.

A spokesman for Oakley, a company specializing in the manufacture of top of the line sunglasses, in a hushed voice announced that profit projections would have to be drastically lowered in the third and fourth quarter. Armani's top executives convened an emergency meeting of skittish insititutional shareholders and assured them that one man does not represent a movement. However, there were many who felt, that the man is the movement. They did not want to be identified for good purposes but expressed their profound skepticism at the optimism shown by the company.

The unprecedented growth in the mens grooming business translating into a multi billion dollar business in the last 14 years since metrosexuality was declared a phenomenon with David Beckham as the founder spokesman of this movement, led to the belief that this sector was an omnipotent one. This is not to say that the sector was living in a fools paradise because David Beckham was going to retire on his own terms eventually but the torch would have been passed down to Freddie Ljungberg, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Kaka, in a more unambiguous way. With the unceremonious way that Beckham has been dropped this has raised deep consternation and furrowed brows. There is a great deal of doubt whether Ljungberg is really the hier apparent. He does appeal to a large male audience but not particularly the straight ones. Cristiano Ronaldo has been hurt by the Rooney affair, and the fear is that if he takes over, then sales will drop in Britain. Of course, they might rise in Portugal but it is a smaller market then the British one. And Kaka does not know the language, and companies are not going to wait for him to take ESL classes. The clincher that all is not well, is that none of them are married, or if they are nobody knows who the are married too. The young married men earning bags of money demographic that Beckham appealed to, might drop out if any of these three become the next icon of metrosexuality.

The recent uncovering by British police of the plot to bomb 12 planes has led to further anxiety. An ordinary chapstick cannot be carried on board. Forget those bottles of perfume. And tweezers to pluck your eyebrows in mid air while staring into the toilet mirror. Do not even go there. Not since the publication of The Feminine Mystique has such a series of events, so roiled the beauty business. Will they recover?

Well, the pragmatic part of me said that there are parts of the world that don't really care too much about David Beckham. We can always get by in those new emerging markets. Sell cheap, sell more. What about Iraqi metrosexuals? "They first have to live, " said a spokesman for Neutrogena, grimly but pointedly. But surely, Donald Rumsfeld realizes their plight being a 'merk' himself? "I haven't seen him in ages. Plus, we don't understand what he says anymore" said he rolling his eyes. Does this become an election year issue? "I think it does, we were promised new markets in Syria and Iran by Dick Cheney, and now with Beckham's retirement we are going to hold him to it. Otherwise....... " He scrawled a picture of a donkey. Not a very good likeness, but given his trembling hands, the intention was clear. It was going to be Ned Lamont all the way.

Meanwhile the public is now divided between 'the man is the movement' and 'the movement is larger than the man' camps. The divide is being reflected in academic circles too in the departments of culture studies and anthropology, and human sexuality. The fact remains that metrosexuality is a colossal business phenomenon. In a survey, 62% of Brit teens hated the way they looked and 25% were considering plastic surgery. 72% wanted makeovers and 90% used hair products. The results have cosmetic, accessory, clothing, and pretty much nigh, anyone remotely to do with the beauty enhancement business, licking their lips, which in turn has chapstick companies, like Wyeth Healthcare, drooling. Cosmetic surgery is now a $20 billion business, largely fueled by a new wave of young male professionals who want to look more like Marcus Schenkenberg or the newer metrosexual icons.

As Chiza's article notes, there is nothing that a Speed stick and a clean shirt won't solve but I am afraid it has gone beyond that. David Beckham's demise has its least echo in the football world but the future in the other spheres of human existence, the ones that distinguish us from primates, (apart from that opposable thumb), looks very dark. We have to wait for Mark Simpson to cut through this swath, to pronounce whether this is really the end or just an uncertain transition into a post Beckham era.

Chelsea's Mikel John Obi in action. The Blues were not very impressive and the MLS showed nice bits of scrappiness. The MLS would be in the bottom tier of the Premiership (a bit over relegation) which is a great improvement but then not much should be read into this victory, except a moral one.

Middlesborough striker Yakubu scores and the Blues suffer again. Just get all these Nigerian strikers together and Chelsea will never win another Prem.

Arsenal's Kanu scoring his hat trick over Chelsea and much much more!

Without doubt the finest player in recent times never to have played the World Cup, joining Tony Yeboah and Abedi Pele. Incredible ball skills and the consummate showman. And he played for Bolton.

Piledriver!

Roy Makaay, Bayern Munich striker

Not really. The Bundesliga season began with Bayern shutting out Dortmund 2-0, with Roy Makaay (another player that Van Basten spurned in the Dutch squad) scoring the first goal and then Bastian Schweinsteiger, who is our Michael Ballack for the moment finishing off Dortmund with the second goal.

We might not miss Michael Ballack but Dortmund looked like it was missing Jan Koller and Tomas Rosicky.

The Bundesliga has had a hard time attracting overseas talent in the last few seasons. Big signings include, Rafael Van Der Vaart, and more recently Alexander Frei. The Bundesliga was hoping to get Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Milan Baros but the deals fell through and Ruud signed with Real while Baros remains with Aston Villa. It is too early to tell but the positive changes of the World Cup will probably be felt next season in the Bundesliga. Meanwhile, Beckham's retirement from international football is being viewed with great interest. Many see him not lasting long in the top drawer La Liga. Speculation that he might land up in Germany, Japan, or the USA, and finish of his career there grows.

Ballack, who should make his official debut for Chelsea in the FA Community Shield against Liverpool tomorrow at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, is Germany's best footballer, but he also represents a dead state, the German Democratic Republic. That may be why Chelsea signed him.

Simon Kuper explains why Michael Ballack remains the most tangible benefit that reunification has brought to many west Germans >>

Steve McLaren has already shown that he is ready to take outsized chances. He has booted out Beckham in a clear and diplomatic way. An impressive part of McLaren's choices and that which already sets him apart from Sven is that he is making it clear that the beneficiary in all of this is the betterment of English football. With Sven it was never clear who the beneficiary was. Sven's favorite players, Sven himself, the FA league?

So let the debate begin. We see the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. The press and media coverage on the English team overwhelms that of the Brazilian squad but with their results, they really should get as much space as Togo. Lets hope the hype matches up in the Steve McLaren years. But at this point the man means business. With Beckham gone, the media coverage, should come down to Togo levels (well, the Brit tabloids will disagree). We will take that.

Funny, funny, funny! Becks was a good sport but you could see Posh was struggling a bit. She looked good though!

I hope it is over. Can I go and wallow in my body odour without feeling like I have committed the basest of violations of the tenets of human civilization? Rather than snuff it out with the most liberal application of L'essence Dans Seus le Fleur (available for $75 a whiff). Let my unruly hair escape through my baseball cap and all the crevices in between, without having to spend a whole lube of gel, trying to teach it manners. Lay still! Rollover! Down boy! Can I go to the bathroom and with one imperious sweep of my hand knock all the hair products down to the floor, now that I won't need all those revitalizing mudpacks for my hair? Just imagine how much I'll save without the massage oils, aromatherapy, blackhead extractions, defoliation, hair depilation, and 15 headed Medusa type electric razors that take off the whole dermis?

A simple Speed stick and a $5 Jergens shampoo, please. Can we all go back to those ways? A shirt that I can flog and do not having to get framed on the wall because it cost me my paycheck? The buyer nowadays is only concerned whether his body is good enough for a shirt, not the other way around. It was enough that you were clad. And I am sick of those Calvin Klein undie ads because the only people who can wear it and look like Freddie Ljungberg and David Beckham, are Freddie Ljungberg and David Beckham. The last time I bought some, I checked and I still looked like me. All this costs a pretty packet.

The big deal is that the metrosexual is the ultimate consumer. We get gift certificates to tanning salons and hair depilation centres because of this obsession with looking well groomed. Metrosexuality has very little to do with pleasing your partner and everything to do with an acceptable form of narcissism. Actually, Narcissus was the first practising metrosexual, to whom looking good was everything. He drowned trying to see his reflection in the water but nowadays we have vanity mirrors. Otherwise we would have had an epidemic on our hands. Plus, you can't trust the water. M Night Shyamalan has made sure of that. Even cell phones are part of the phenomenon.

Mark Simpson on David Beckham

"Beckham is the uber-metrosexual, not just because he rams metrosexuality down the throats of those men churlish enough to remain retrosexual and refuse to pluck their eyebrows, but also because he is a sportsman, a man of substance—a "real" man—who wishes to disappear into surfaceness in order to become ubiquitous—to become media."

"The typical metrosexual is a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis -- because that's where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference. Particular professions, such as modelling, waiting tables, media, pop music and, nowadays, sport, seem to attract them but, truth be told, like male vanity products and herpes, they're pretty much everywhere."

So David please do us a favour. Don't just retire, but when you do, make an announcement that these are the last days of metro and set us all free. Merks, disband and we will think the better of you. Or better still just retire from football and let the people who care nothing for sweaty jerseys play. There is nothing a Speed stick and a clean shirt cannot solve. But tweezer our eyebrows in the process! Did anyone tell Michael Musto about that part? Lets just get over: Yeah, we lost but we still smell good. Yaaaaaarrrrghhhh!!

David Beckham and Tom Cruise are good buddies

"Having my baby." Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have unveiled their child, Suri after 4 months. And amongst the many celebrities invited, were the Beckhams.

A source told Britain's Daily Star newspaper: "David and Victoria are honoured that Tom and Katie have asked them along.

"However they were a little shocked by the list of rules they?ll have to follow.

"Apparently they can't take any photographic equipment, they're banned from touching Suri and they're not allowed to do any baby-talk around her.

"It will be very difficult for Victoria, because she just loves babies and is trying for a daughter with David at the moment."

The Top Gun star is a devout follower of Scientology which does not allow cooing over babies as they believe it may effect their development. Tom and Katie befriended the Beckhams at a football match last year. Former Spice Girl Victoria - who has three sons with soccer star David - reportedly gave Katie advice while she was pregnant.

Now does not this say that Beckham would be better off playing for a MLS club. Posh can give parenting advice to Katie Holmes, while Tom Cruise can give Scientology tips to Beckham.

For more funny photshops go to Worth1000

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For all those Beckham wellwishers!

There was no way a sane manager was going to take David Beckham back into the team to play a full 90 minutes of football. The issue was whether to play a limited number of minutes or to play him at all. Steve McLaren chose reason. David Beckham is gone and the World Cup match against Portugal was his last in his international career. This might shorten his club career at Real too, since it is the sort of club that boasts of a number of players that they have playing in the national squads. Beckham did not have afruitful 2005- 2006 season because he was hurt a lot and was sent off in three games, and when he played was not productive. One goal and 26 crosses is not very much when you have paid about €35 million. I am sure being dropped from the squad is not going to go down too well with Fabio Capello, Real's manager who has got loads of goodies from the Juventus fire sale. I think he will look for a transfer where he can recoup some of the money or just grit out the reamining contract and send a message to Beckham by not playing him. But which club can take such damaged goods? I am not saying that Beckham cannot be productive, he still proved that he can be the best in set pieces. It is just such a risk. You are always left second guessing when you don't win whether Beckham should have been in the game.

So does Beckham return to England? Not very likely. He has burned his bridges with Man U. The other top Premiership teams are pretty much settled on their choices. i really don't see Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Newcastle, and Liverpool falling over themselves to get him. What about Aston Villa or Fulham? Too much money for these cash strapped clubs. Teh there is too much baggage with English fans.

The Bundesliga? Maybe. Set pieces count for a lot there. It is slower paced. The German press needs a player with glamour because the World Cup has gone and now they only have Lukas Podolski to gossip about. A few trips by Posh to a Bayern game will increase You Tube downloads of the Bundesliga games.

However, the best bet is the USA. He already has a coaching academy in LA. He can join the LA Galaxy and get 90, 000 people to see him. No one in the US can score a free kick like him. Hire a casting agent who can then squire him around for film roles that he will get in plenty. And of course, all that modeling for Giorgio Armani clothes and perfumes. Gatorade commercials with Kobe, Michael, Bonds. Plus, Posh can launch her singing career again. Beckham's days are just beginning.

Anyways, to tell you the truth, I have never been a fan of Beckham and I think most of the Soccerblog people are also of the same mind. This should be a great relief for English football fans all over the world. We can get on the task of putting together a squad that comes to play football. So simple, yet so difficult. It has been a long time but we have had talented players who just did not want to play the game or hard working but untalented players who played the game. After 16 years this is a chance to get it right.

John Terry or Steven Gerrard, both would be great captains but Steve McLaren has this to say about Terry:

"John has all the attributes an international captain needs: leadership, authority, courage, ability, tactical awareness and a total refusal to accept second-best. He has been an inspiration for Chelsea and is at his best in adversity."

I think John Terry will make a fine captain and should see England live upto its potential. He has a team that has a mix of veterans and some wide eyed youngsters. On defence he can count on veterans Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville to steady the ship. He has Steven Gerrard who will be the driving force behind the attack. England's attack is its weakest link. It has gone through too many line up changes through injury and indecisiveness. Steve McLaren has to figure that out. It is a young attack. Wayne Rooney has great speed and is a great runner between defenders. Peter Crouch is good in the air but don't expect him to get the ball from the midfield. Aaron Lennon is the complete package. Joe Cole and Ashley Cole on the left and Gary Neville and Aaron Lennon on the right. I wish McLaren would repose some faith in Darren Bent, he was the best thing for Charlton Athletic and he was also the top scorer in the Premiership this year. However Bent joins Theo Walcott and Nigel Reo Coker, in the U-21 squad.

The first XI looks like this (Wayne Rooney has been suspended for two games. Joe Cole has an ankle injury that will see him sidelined for at least two weeks or so, Michael Carrick is also out with an injury)

Paul Robinson- Ashley Cole- John Terry (Captain)- Rio Ferdinand- Gary Neville- Joe Cole- Frank Lampard- Steven Gerrard- Aaron Lennon- Wayne Rooney- Peter Crouch.

Ledley King and Michael Owen are out with fairly serious injuries. King should be back next month, with Owen expected back later, maybe in a couple of months. I can see King in the first XI but not Michael Owen.

Pele, Garrincha, Eusebio, Puskas, Boniek, Maradona, Cruyff, Platini, Bergkamp, Ronaldinho, have some pretty amazing ball dribbling skills, you'll agree. They make it look so easy. In fact, football skills are one of the hardest things to do. Much harder than the dribbling skills that we see in basketball players. That is because our legs and feet have neuroanatomical and musculoskeletal connections that are far less numerous and well developed than that to our arms and hands. In other words we have far less muscles, nerves, blood vessels, devoted to our lower body. That is because for the finer manipulative and dexterous work that hands do, we need more input. The legs assist us in the cruder work of locomotion. In short we have better control over our hands than we do over our feet.

Simple exercise: Flap both your hands up and down, alternating. Try and do the same with your feet. See how fast you can go with your hands and vary your speed more comfortably. At some point the feet will get locked in phase, i.e., is move up or down simultaneously. This gives an idea of the difference in movement control that we have over our hands and feet and how independent the hands are compared to the feet. Our fingers have much more movement than our toes, and that movement is much more independent of the adjacent finger than it is with our toes. The differential control over each of our fingers and thumb is what gives the hand its versatility.

Sensory homunculus: Size of the brain area occupied by the hands compared to the feet

The brain area occupied to the control of the hands is at least four times larger than the area of the brain given to the legs and feet. Just look at the picture of the homunculus. See how much area is given to the arms and legs, and to facial expression. We need an immense amount of control to rearrange our face to reflect the various expressions, from quizzical to fear. Most of them require minute adjustments because the facial muscles are very small and are richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels. That is why people all over the world despite cultural differences recognize the universality of emotion. The same way, our hands are in constant use typing, reaching and picking up objects, doing precise work like threading a needle. An hour of trying to thread needles will exhaust you more than just swinging your legs back and forth because there are so many more blood vessels going to the arm than to the legs, it takes more out of you cardio-vascularly. That is why arm activities (e.g., picking up heavy loads, gardening) are restricted after coronary artery bypass graft surgeries. The size of representation varies in people, depending on what they do. This is because of the brain's amazing property of neural plasticity. Professional football players will have a bigger amount of brain area occupied to the control over legs and feet over the average sedentary Joe, while the cigar rollers in Cuba will have bigger hand and finger areas. The point to be noted is that we all start off with much smaller areas to the legs and feet then we do with the arms and hands but because of our occupation the proportion might change. An amputee or a stroke patient who loses the use of his arm but is able to walk will have a smaller brain area representing arms and fingers as compared to his legs. Similarly, a bilateral knee amputee who can use his hands to manipulate a wheelchair or a specialized car ore ven walk with the help of prosthetic legs will have a diminished area of representation of his feet in the brain. In fact, the arm and hand area envelop the feet area, taking over.

Somewhere down the line in our evolution (loaded term nowadays!!), from our quadruped position to the bipedal one, our focus shifted to our hands, making them more dexterous than our legs. A phenomenon that is reversed in chimpanzees who are equally good at doing things with their hands and legs, i.e., the lack of an opposable thumb.
Our world is much more weighted towards our hands. It is after all our most interactive part of our body. We can get paralyzed in our face but we can draw out the emotion we feel or write what we want. That is why robotic engineers have been stymied for years to come up with a robotic hand as dexterous as the human hand. We will have a robotic football team before we have a basketball team. The World Cup 2050 Finals might see the Brazilian team play India, manned entirely by robots, made in the Indian Institute of Technologies (IIT, made famous by Dilbert)because that is the only way India is going to qualify for the World Cup.

Simple exercise: Close your eyes and move your hand up and down and estimate how much you have moved in angles. You will be more precise in your estimation than when you move your feet up and down. That is because our hands have better positional control, richer in receptors that calculate joint position sense. We use this sense to shape our hand when we reach out and pick up our cup of coffee or play tiddlywinks. The same position is used in a grosser way by our feet when we slip on our sandals.

This sense is very important in fast moving situations where vision is fleeting at best and you have to come up with a basket. Those skilled basketball players still come up with some amazing shots.It is easier to adjust a mismatch between hand position and the net, to come up with a more accurate trajectory. Not too many airballs there. With a superior joint position sense in the hands, most basketball players can can driblle the ball ahead without having to look down at their hands. Eye-hand coordination is getting better with all the Nintendo and X-Box games. On the other hand, eye-foot co-ordination is much poorer, with little scope for quick or 'online' adjusments. That is why the skills shown by Maradona are phenomenal, a player that rarely looked down when running with the ball. And that is also why the most skilled players in football still have problems putting the ball into the goal though. Not all their fault because of the lag in co-ordination although Frank Lampard still can't escape with that one.

In conclusion, the next time you see a crossover dribble by Kobe Bryant and then see a nutmeg done by Franck Ribery, please refer to this gobbledygook that I have written, and you will appreciate how much more difficult it was for Ribery to do this given the fact that in the neuronanatomical and musculoskeletal scheme, the leg and the foot have a lot less going for them than the arm and the hand. You can also shoot down the critics of football this way. Fully informed is fully armed (pun intended).

For a more detailed look at the neuro and musculoskeletal anatomy of the body parts >>

The only good thing that came out of the Margaret Thatcher and Ronnie Raygun lovefest in the 1970's across the pond was some great punk music. For the first time there was a musical genre that Brits and the Yanks could go head to head. The Ramones vs The Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop vs the MC 5, The Dead Kennedys vs Buzzcocks, the New York Dolls vs The Stranglers. A stiff middle fingerup to fascism; great stage histrionics (Iggy Pop); some memorable lyrics (Sex Pistols, Anarchy in the UK), driving guitar sound, lovely leather gear, and hairdo's.

Meanwhile, after seeing a glorious period of football with the English squad winning at Wembley in the 1966 World Cup, with Jimmy Greaves hurt, and Geoff Hurst replacing him and scoring a hat trick, and Gordon Banks, proving to be the best goalkeeper, with names made immortal in English folklore like Alfred Ramsey, Bobby Moore, and Bobby Charlton, during the Harold Wilson era, The 1970's saw a decline with the Ayn Randian type of 'me first' politics, Maggie Thatcher decided that the working class could not afford their football. The 70's and 80's saw unprecedented union busting, a reduction in social services, increase in taxation and unemployment, the first push to privatization of the NHS, increased xenophobia, a tremendous increase in armament expenses and rhetoric towards the Soviet Bloc. It is no coincidence that her best friendship was with Ronald Reagan, whose conservative policies was in the USA as polarizing as hers was in the UK , and whose most rabid followers believe that he single handedly brought down Communism. AIDS was not even acknowledged and football was not even on the radar, as sweeping cuts to health, education, and sports were made by both governments

The World Cup squad made the quarterfinals in the 1970 World Cup losing to Brazil, the eventual winners, in what is considered the best World Cup team of all times with Pele, Rivelino, Jarizinho, Tostao, and Gerson. That was the year that the Conservatives came to power and Maggie Thatcher took over as the State Secretary of Education and Science. By the time she became the Prime Minister after the Conservatives won again in 1978, the English squad failed to qualify for the '74 and '78 World Cup. They also exited in the second round in '82, before improving to the quarterfinals in '86 and then 4th place in the 1990 World Cup. By that time Margaret Thatcher was on her way out. It is also no coincidence that English hooliganism was at its zenith during this time brought on by an increase in the nationalism during the Falklands war in 1982 and sentiment against the IRA, taking away from the national squad's performance and focusing on the more unsavory part of English football. The lack of success at the world stage was mirrored in the European stage with England failing to qualify for the 1972, 1976, 1984, and 1988 European Championships.

The 1990's has seen some success both in the national squad's fortunes as well as in combating hooliganism. However the 1970's and 1980's of Thatcherism was a dark and forgettable period in the history of English football.

Melancholy is a big part of the Russian nature. It is a theme that runs deep in Russian literature, music, and films. Whether it is Dostoeyevsky's Crime and Punishment, Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker or Sergei Rachmaninoff's Third Symphony. In ice skating and gymnastics, melancholy outscores vivaciousness. Hence, the Irina Slutskaya and Yevgeni Plyshenko's will win.

This melancholy is evident in the Russian feeling towards their national team. Russian football has not done very much in the international stage since the breakup of the USSR in 1992. The team qualified for two World Cups (1994, 2002) and two European Championships (1996, 2004), but failed to get out of the first round each time.

Guus Hiddink has to overcome this mealncholy to the Russian team and make it a team that the people believe in. This is not so much as teaching skills or strategy to a team. The USSR team was used to winning its fair share of accolades. The Russian Football League is very competitive and has good clubs in CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, and Zenit St. Petersburg. CSKA Moscow won the UEFA Cup in 2005 beating Sprting Lisbon 3-1. Stalwarts for their national teams like Nuno Maniche, Ivica Olic, Maksym Kalinichenko, Nemanja Vidic, Lee Ho, Vagner Love, Martin Jiranek, and Fernando Kavenaghi, are or have been part of the Russian league.

As the RIA Novosti opines "the community should assume a different approach to football. How can Russia dream of becoming a football empire if the performance of the national team leaves everyone indifferent, and the public, who cannot expect the team to win after the notorious draw with Slovakia, crack jokes and return to their daily routines as if nothing happened? Or when mediocre TV shows leave World Cup broadcasts far behind, according to TV ratings? Or when football pitches are used for any purpose except sport? Hopefully, the PR move to appoint Hiddink will pay off, and people will be more interested in the performance of our team and truly support it. "

Russia starts its campaign in the Hiddink era against Latvia, August 16th

This is the squad for the match against Latvia on 16 August 2006.

Goalkeepers: Igor Akinfeev, Dmitry Borodin, Aleksandr Makarov
Defenders: Aleksei Berezutski, Vassili Berezutski, Sergey Ignashevich, Denis Kolodin, Aleksandr Anyukov, Yevgeny Aldonin
Midfielders: Vladislav Radimov, Igor Semshov, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Marat Izmaylov, Dmitri Loskov, Andrey Arshavin
Forwards: Aleksandr Kerzhakov, Dmitri Sychev, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Pavel Pogrebnyak

Dmitri Sychev is also called the Russian "Michael Owen" and Igor Akinfeev is one of the best talents in goal at a world level.

There seems to be a gradual consensus that Steven Gerrard is the better candidate for the captain's job than John Terry. It comes down to the small nuts and bolts: Although John Terry is the captain of the Blues, winning two consecutive Premierships, he is a star amongst many stars, a phenomenon enjoyed by the amount of money that Chelsea throws on players. Gerrard, in contrast, has done more with far less. His strength seems to be that he seems to be able to rally his men in the most difficult of situations. Would Jose Mourinho like to trade in the Premiership titles for the European Championship? Absolutely! I don't think anyone seeing Gerrard play that day could have walked away, not wishing that this guy should be on my team, whether a manager, player, or a fan. He proved that again in the FA Cup. Gerrard seems to be the sort of player who steps up his level of play a notch or two everytime you need it. With some extrapolation that is what inspires other players too. John Terry is a steadier sort. However England need less defence and more attack at this point. Gerrard provides that.

Both are deserving of the job. Remember it has been a long time that England has had the luxury of so much wealth. We really need to see this as the post- Beckham era, the end of the boy toy squad.

But don't take my word Peter Beardsley breaks it down very nicely for us, as to why Gerrard would be a better captain. See if you agree >>

Steve McLaren makes his decision this Friday.

More reasons why we should not waste anymore time on Beckham. This guy is England's and Tottenham's future.

I am sure Steve McLaren remembers this moment and so does John Terry. Seriously, you would have to be unhinged not to start Lennon.

Steve McLaren and Terry Venables should be unsentimental: Bring Aaron Lennon in. He deserves a full 90 minutes.

Lets all get behind this: David Beckham has to go. He is a waste of space at this point. He is neither a player nor a captain. There are so many more talented players (Enter, Aaron Lennon!), who are out there who did more in their 15 minutes then Beckham did in the 90+ minutes in the matches he played this World Cup. Just one beautiful free kick would be good enough if it won the game all the time but when those are not the answer then you have to do more than that and the occasional pretty pass. The reason that Beckham could not be in the game more than he was is that he just does not have any other skills.

Beckham's supply of passes was easy to cut off with his lack of speed since defenders would go straight to the source, and easily dispossess him. He was not a good tackler of the ball, so there was little chances of him winning it back. With Lennon's speed, you could see defenders backpedaling giving him wider looks, to go straight at goal, or to create a pass. He proved to be extremely disruptive. I thought England had its best chance when he was in the game.

The other part is that England has to quietly start winning games. With Becks everything is a distraction. The World Cup for one where every other pundit is either talking about his prowess as a freekick expert (fair enough) but then it gets irritating when he repeats. "bend it like Beckham" for the thousandth time. But besides that is the besottment with, he is also the richest and most well known football player in the world, the most famous metrosexual, has a trophy wife, has a thousand products he endorses, has a clothing and perfume line, blah blah blah. But in all of that static, the obvious question is, where does the man go for the rest of the 89 minutes? He must be the most well paid player for the amount of minutes that he actually contributes on the field. Again all this would be whistleass stuff if England won. After all football is a game, where all it needs is a free kick and we can sing "We're the Champions of the World" till we are blue in the face.

But England does not win and has not been winning for a longtime. This was supposed to be the year. The part that really bothers me is how did Beckham ever get to be captain for so many years. His shortcomings as a player would be made more palatable if Beckham could but provide the crucial captaincy when needed, i.e., Wayne 'Wildman' Rooney blew his top in the Portugal game. It was clear enough for a anyone to see that Rooney was turning dangerously purple with rage and was going to do something brainless but where was Beckham to lead him off and say, "This is important. England needs you?" It was left to Gerrard and Terry who to pick up the dregs of the game because Becks was preoccupied with his lack of hydration and the heaves.

In which Beckham breaks down

He finally left when he got injured and was left weeping on the stands. That was what his World Cup amounted to really. The most famous player in the world left bitterly alone in the stands, nursing his thigh, and weeping because he could not play the game. I am sorry but seeing him like that did not inspire any awe. That moment I would not have traded any part of my life for his lifetime of fame. It was a very sad moment and I really felt terrible for Beckham.

I think David Beckham's contribution to the game can be debated. He is not a Dennis Bergkamp whose contribution to the game is beyond debate and the only thing that you wonder is what if it had not been for that crippling fear of flying..... Alan Shearer is not the best TV pundit but no one can take anything away from him as a player and captain for England. The man had no knees by the time he retired. It is time for David Beckham to retire from international soccer and pay a visit across the pond to see if he wants to buy a football franchise or play his last days out in the relative comfort of a MLS club. There will be thousands who would love to see him in the USA. He will be sought after by everyone from the football pundits to Hollywood. Those are the distractions we can handle.

So bring Aaron Lennon in and make Steven Gerrard captain, Steve McLaren. Then you are truly on your way to proving that you are no Sven. And England can get back to winning again.

Is the United States starting to enjoy the beautiful game? I believe so. I’ve never heard so many Letterman jokes about it and that must be a good sign, mainly for the professionals involved in it. Just look at the size of the marketing potential. Look at the baseball, football and basketball figures and you will find out that the Formula 1 superstar Michael Schumacher still makes more money than everyone while in the US people prefer Indy and Nascar. Well… only golf superstars worth more than that. So what will happen the day soccer grasp Americans for good?

It will be a money banquet! Look at the Barcelona pre-season matches in the US. After letting 180 million Brazilians down displaying a mediocre performance at the World Cup Ronaldinho is making 180 million Euros for Barcelona on American soil. Of course that the money amount is just a figurative hunch but the fact is that the Barça games are incredibly valuable these days. Against Chivas the crowd was huge in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum reaching a record number of 92,650 people, more than the maximum official capacity of the stadium (92,516).

Of course Ronaldinho is not alone. The team is the European Champions League champions and has many other superstars like Eto’o, Messi and Deco. Anyway, the money I’m talking about is not from the venues’ box offices but from the marketing value that the brand is conquering in the US. There is still a strong prejudice about it at the same time. The other day I was watching the David Letterman’s Late Show and his ‘top 10’ sketch was “Signs You Have World Cup Fever”. The #1 sign was “You’re not American”. In another soccer moment they were asking people in the streets if they could eat a nacho ‘without using their hands’. The humor is nice but it is revealing at the same time. Soccer is growing.

Right in the American fashion, teams with company’s brand names will lead the way. The Austrian Red Bull, after heavy investments in Formula 1 (not with just 1 team but 2: Red Bull and Toro Rosso) is now investing in American soccer. Bruce Arena is already in the team and (fat) Ronaldo is another possible acquisition to their cast. But why are the Americans surrendering their attention to the beautiful game after all? Low scores and questionable refereeing only works against the cause, I know. Even so we can foresee Letterman running out of anti-soccer jokes and being replaced by some soccer loving comedian in the (not so) near future.

Barcelona is thinking about having a team in the NBA… think about it. More selling products and brand value all the time: natural order of things on this earth. A life saving doctor will never earn as much as a worldwide performer. I hope you don’t call me a communist, I’m just saying.

Arsenal stayed on course for the European Championship beating Dinamo Zagreb through Van Persie's goal, and a pair by Cesc Fabregas. Good news coupled with Ribery's impending arrival at Ashburton Grove >>

Sol Campbell finally lands up in Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth and he should be able to help with their flagging fortunes. Portsmouth just escaped relegation by bagging the final spot in the Premiership. They have a Mr Moneybags, billionare Alexandre Gaydamak who is throwing money on a future championship team. Alexandre is the son of tycoon Arcadi Gaydamak, who owns Israeli football team, Beytar Jerusalem.

More Zebda >>

He could be wearing England's armband

I think it is a step closer. The news that we are waiting for. Steven Gerrard is going to be anointed captain of the English team tomorrow. John Terry is as deserving but I don't see how Steve McLaren can ignore Gerrard as the better choice.

Former Reds who have been captain of the national squad.
Kevin Keegan 31 caps as captain.
Emlyn Hughes 23 caps as captain.

Keegan's career as a player was stellar. Keegan was one of the best strikers of the ball in the 70's and 80's and Liverpool was the best club in those days winning 1 European Cup, 2 UEFA cups, 3 League championships, and 2 Charity Shields. Keegan was the English captain from 1973 to 1982 but his career as captain was quite unremarkable and coincided with a period of time when English football went through a decline. He was also England's manager for a brief period of time for less than tear in 1999. .He resigned when England did not make it to Euro 2000. Keegan was never the smartest of people, quite bone-headed actually, and extremely sentimental.

Steven Gerrard is sharp and absolutely the opposite in temperament >>

I think the present squad is the best to come out of England for a long, long time. It is just unfortunate that they got Sven to manage them, Beckham to lead, and a host of injuries. Gerrard just might be the one to turn things around. He has done that for Liverpool consistently for the last 5 years.

Ribery feast from his days at OM and Galtasaray! Ljungberg, Henry, Rosicky, Walcott, and now Ribery. Arsenal's speed kings!

Check this piece of fancy footwork by Ribery. This is the year Arsenal gets it all back from the pretenders.

This is a great bit of news for the Gunners. Ribery has been snapped up by Wenger for £13.5m and a deal for William Gallas is in the works now that Ashley Cole is closer to being signed on by Chelsea.

Franck Ribery: Extremely fast with the ball at his feet, good ball control, tireless down the flanks, and feeds the ball. His one-two with Vieira in the Togo match was a little gem. Will be great in tandem with Ljungberg, another speedster. Hopefully he settles down to his new club and lets go off that attention deficit disorder that seems to have plagued his earlier career. I see nothing but good stuff for this kid in Arsenal. The Gunner line has plenty of pace ahead with Henry, Ribery, Walcott, and Ljungberg.

Gallas was brought to Chelsea from Olympique Marseille for £6.2m. If Cole is worth £25m, Gallas is easily about £20m. If this deal goes through then Arsenal have made a profit of £5 m and found the perfect replacement for Sol.
He is a physically intimidating presence with great pace, good off the air, and comes far up the field. However his preference seems to be for a La Liga club, possibly Real Madrid.

With Franck Ribery and William Gallas at Emirates, it is not too difficult seeing Arsenal taking the top spot in the Premiership this season.

Why owning a football club should be a red flag for voters electing politicians?

Silvio Berlusconi, owner of AC Milan and ex-Italian PM. One of the most corrupt politicians, facing charges of tax fraud and embezzlement. Out of power in the 2006 Italian elections.
Bernard Tapie, owner of Olympique Marseille, and minister of city affairs. Implicated in tax fraud and match fixing, Sentenced to jail in 1995.
Jesus Gil, chairman of Atletico Madrid, and former mayor of Marabella, Spain, indicted on charges of defrauding the city and jailed. He passed away in 2004.
Zeljko Raznatovic, aka Arkan, owner of Obilic FC, and notorious Serbian warlord, founder of the political party Serbians for Political Unity. Indicted by the ICJ for war crimes. Assassinated in January, 2000.

Of course, it is not just football club owners that make corrupt or bad politicians. The gold standard has been set by George W Bush, the ex-owner of the baseball club, the Texas Rangers. He owes the city of Arlington, $7.5 million dollars for land for the baseball stadium but never paid up. If we had all payed careful attention to this red flag, we would not have had Mess-o-potamia.

The only exception seems to be Ghana's president, John Kufour, the ex-chairman of Asante Kotoko, one of Ghana's top clubs. Kufour is widely regarded as one of the most honest and disciplined of Africa's leaders and a champion of social justice and economic reform.

The corollary is also true and more relevant: Never agree to a politician trying to buy out a football club.

These were the '70s before there were cards for the sort of stuff you'll see on this video. The pendulum has swung all the way, seen this year with card happy referees and all those cheats. Do take a moment and sign the petition >>

Jaw dropping stuff! As Eduardo Galeano writes, "There never was a right winger like him. In the '58 World Cup he was the best in his position, in '62 the best player in the championship. But throughout his many years on the field, Garrincha was more: in his entire history of soccer no one made more people happy. " Garrincha played for Botafago, which means "firelighter" and he was their botafago. Garrincha died, poor, lonely, and drunk. As Galeano puts it, " As they say in Brazil, if s**t was worth anything, the poor would be born without asses. "

Spurs legend Greavesie gets dribbled on by a dog, an incident that so amuses Garrincha, that he takes it home as a pet. England vs Brazil, 1962 World Cup.

What is with these football players? All of them seem to be in self confessional mode. A book by Ashley Cole where he spills the beans on Arsenal and Arsene's obscene behaviour towards him and had him running off to find solace in Roman Abramovich's bottomless coffers. Then Wayne Rooney writes a book about how he really is a sensitive, retiring type interested in the fine arts and that the Rooney you saw stomping Ricardo Carvalho's jewels was an aberration.

A sample of Rooney's literary talent, "My own England debut, yeah, that was good. I'll always remember it. And my Everton debut, that was good too. . ." He does have a way with words.

The latest to jump on the bandwagon, Frank Lampard. His book describes how he really is not that rich, not in the Abramovichesque way, and that really sucks. He came to this conclusion after spending a fortnight on Abramovich's yacht. "I suppose people imagine that as a Premiership footballer, my life is quite special," he hazards. "I would agree, but those two weeks opened my eyes to another world."

I am glad that we see these guys on the field and not in a writing class. That would be really painful. These books don't come cheap. Lampard's effort costs £18.99, Rooney's ruminations £17.99, and Cole's expose, £18.99, as listed prices.

It has been a busy season for Marina Hyde >>

Yeah, the Keano and Mido show! We still want him back. So let the rumours fly.

Writing the article about Liverpool's finances reminded me of those days when everyone was going nuts about the reported Reds buyout by the Thai government in 2004. The Moores were planning to sell 30% of their stake to Thaksin Shinawatra, the billionaire PM of Thailand. OK, he is not right now their PM because he did some naughty things like not pay the income tax on selling off his billion dollar holdings and the Thais righteously refused to let that one go. So it was off with him and his ill gotten gains.

Yep, at this point having the Reds as his team would have been good for Thaksin's fortunes and the Reds would have some fancy money to throw at those Serie players. According to sources there are more than a million Liverpool supporters in Thailand. That is a lot of votes.

But the Kops are probably saying, " We are doing quite alright, thank you very much."

It's all that testesterone, Brandi!

Scientific studies have shown that competitive sports increase testesterone levels in men. This is an undisputed fact since the day organized sport began in Mt Olympus in the ancient Olympics in 776 BC.

Success as seen in the FIFA World Cup was all about having a strong squad and good coaching but it also is due to that the X factor, team spirit and machismo. We all know that men produce testesterone in large quantities during a sporting event. It provides us with that surge that we need to win. Floyd Landis, the TdF winner was stripped off his title because he had 11 times the amount of testesterone in his sample as compared to the Tour's allowable limit of 4. The synthetic testesterone he used allowed him to roar back from a dismal 11th place to 3rd place in Stage 17. But this is all a male thing having too much testesterone?

No. Recent studies have shown that female soccer players also secrete excessive testesterone before a competitive soccer game. Saliva samples collected from players in the Portugese Womens League showed that testesterone levels increased before a match day as compared to a non-match day. Levels remained increased in the samples of the winning team much after the match was over and returned to baseline in the losers. Increase in testesterone was also associated with positive changes in mood that came with winning. Having home field advantage is all chemical and not a factor of the tiredness or stresses of being the travelling team. Having home field advantage increases the 'defend your territory at all costs' feeling that is correlated with increases in testesterone.

So watch out for those intensely competitive women soccer games in the Womens World Cup in China 2007. Qualifying matches have already begun. In the Asian Zone, China as the host have already qualified along with North Korea and Australia. The defending champs are Germany.

Now I understand Brandi Chastain's display when the US women won in 1999.

Liverpool is the most storied English football club there is with 18 League titles and 5 European Championships. Of late, Chelsea has been getting its share of thunder in the English League but it is a Johnny come lately by international standards. This explains Jose Mourinho's neurosis trying to succeed in the international arena and his frantic deal making with so many football players. They still rank below Liverpool, Arsenal, and Man U in the international rankings (Chelsea is 7th).

Liverpool declined in the 90's with its financial debacles, giving Man Utd, the push that it needed to overtake Liverpool and since then Sir Alex Ferguson assured Man U of its dominance in the 90's and early 2000s.

The 2000s saw Liverpool return to form and and in the last couple of years, Liverpool has manged to turn things around for seemingly good with Rafael Benitez at the helm, and has won the European Championships in 2005 and the FA Cup in 2006. They finished third in the Premier League in the 2005-2006 season.

Liverpool signed on some exciting new players for about £55 million. Players like Djibril Cisse, Xabi Alonso, Luis Garcia, Peter Crouch, Fernando Morientes, Daniel Agga paid off immediately except for Fernando Morientes (since transfered to Valencia). The 2004- 2005 season saw Liverpool win the UEFA Champions Cup, and finish 5th in the Premier League. The next year was very succesful and saw Liverpool win the UEFA Super Cup, the FA Cup, and come 3rd in the Premier League with an impressive 82 points.

In the same period of time, Chelsea paid up £ 145 million in new signings with Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Shaun Wright Philips, Ricardo Carvalho, Paolo Ferriera, Petr Cech, and Arjen Robben. In the 2004-2005 season, Chelsea won the Premiership and the Carling Cup. In 2005-2006, they again won the Premiership and the FA Community Shield. But both years they failed to make an impression on an international level in the UEFA Cup. Man Utd, ended up 3rd in 2005 and 2nd in 2006 in the Premiership, and won the Carling Cup with £ 47 million spent on transfers. Arsenal won the FA cup and the FA Community Shield in 2005 and became this year's runner up in the UEFA Champions Cup. In the Premiership , they came 2nd in 2005 and 4th in 2006. Arsene Wenger was typically tight fisted and paid only about £ 18 million in new players, Alexander Hleb, Adebayor, and Theo Walcott.

What makes Liverpool's surge in performace all the more impressive is that it has come at a time when Liverpool is actually on financially shaky ground. Amongst the big four, Liverpool is the only club that saw its financial worth decrease, from £ 441 million to £ 370 million ( a drop of 16%), from the 2005 to the 2006 season. Its operating income shrank from £ 57 million into the red to - £2.9 million, the largest drop compared to the other clubs. Arsenal showed the biggest gain of 37% and its current valuation is £841 million. Man Utd and Chelsea also showed smaller gains and are presently valued at £1373 million and £528 million, respectively.

Revenues are increasing slowly and Rafael Benitez has not made any outlandishly expensive purchases with the two most expensive signings being Craig Bellamy and Jermaine Pennant for a total spent of £17 million in new signings. He has let go on loan, transfer, or released 12 players from the roster. He has trimmed the player wage bill significantly.

However, Liverpool unlike Arsenal does not have a new stadium with a larger capacity and hence, increased revenue through future ticket sales. Chelsea can coast on Roman Abramovich's bottomless finances and can afford £30 million signings of players like Andriy Shevchenko. Man Utd has the largest attendence averaging about 60,000 or more and they have a new AIG sponsorship. The Glazers are trying to restructure their debt so that in the future it becomes easier to float bonds, to raise more capital.

Liverpool's success will continue because it has a great team led by Steven Gerrard and quality players and a canny coach in Rafa Benitez but the financial equation is also going to factor in sometime or the other. Liverpool right now is consistently outperforming other teams given its financial constraints.

For football club valuations >>

Marina Zenovich finally meets Tapie

Soccer as with every professional sport has its share of crooks and swindlers. The recent indictment of Luciano 'Lucky' Moggi, the former chairman of Italian club Juventus in the recent Serie scandal for match fixing, bribing referees, and financial improprieties for which Juventus was relegated to the Serie B and clubs like AC Milan, Lazio, and Fiorentino focused on the unsavory aspects of E Jogo Bonito. However, even before Moggi was the French businessman Bernard Tapie, a folk hero to many in socialist circles and an ordinary crook to the French elite, indicted for match fixing for his club Olympique Marseille, which was relegated to the second division of the French League in 1993 and stripped of its French league title, just like in Juventus case.

Moggi and Tapie could not be more dissimilar. Whereas, Moggi is the dour faced and low key person, rarely seen, whose mode of operating was to pick up the phone and shake things up, Tapie is the exact opposite. He is a former minister of city affairs in the French government, a TV host, singer, actor, rapper, and award winning yachtsman. As a businessman he owns, La Vie Claire, sponsors of one of the strongest Tour De France cycling team including champions like Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond.

Bernard Tapie was accused of match fixing between Olympique Marseille and second division club Valenciennes, in order to save his top players for the important first division matches and save their energy. OM went on to win the French title in 1993 and also the European Championships. Tapie was indicted for match fixing, financial irregularities, witness tampering and OM was relegated to the second division. He was sentenced to 2 years in jail in 1997 and 3 years of civil right deprivation. He served 6 months of that sentence.

Bernard Tapie acted in Claude Lelouch's 'Man, Woman: A users manual." and collaborated with French rapper, Doc Gyneco, in his album Liaisones Dangereuses, in a song called, " C'est beau La Vie." Tapie has been described as a man of ineffable charm, a folk hero, a counterfoil to right wing blowhards like Jean Marie Le Pen, a man with many talents, and one of the most public faces in the Mitterand government and in French TV media.

He is also the object of fascination in a documentary film, "Who is Bernard Tapie?" directed by an infatuated American film-maker, Marina Zenovich, who followed him around for three years hoping to meet him. In the end she got to meet his son, Laurent Tapie.

Franck Ribery is not happy at Olympique Marseille joing a long list of disillusioned players in this very active transfer season. He wants to play for a European championship club. As is the wont with every rumoured transfer, this too has been linked to Manchester United. He might be just what Man U need, another speedy attacking midfielder, who can attack down any flank. Rumours have him interested in Arsenal except that Arsenal's first priority should be a back, like William Gallas.

Ribery will probably land up at Lyons. But Ribery should be a success wherever he goes, he is a ubiquitous ball of energy. The problem is that Ribery also has itchy feet and usually does not end up playing too long for any one club. This will be his eighth transfer and he is just 23 years old.

Perusing the list of largest countries in the world, one is struck by the fact that very few of them can be considered soccer powerhouses. Sure, you have Brazil and Argentina but on the other hand you also have Canada, China, India, Mongolia, Niger, and Mauritania whose accomplishments in soccer can be counted on the fingertips.

In the list of 30 largest countries (~ 1 miilion square kms or more), there are only 6 that are ranked in FIFA's top 30 (I know, I know, not the best rating system), but it happens to be the most quoted one (unless Dr Statto comes up with a better one).

Here is the list of largest countries with their current (FIFA rankings)

1) Russia (34)
2) Canada (54)
3) USA (16)
4) China (89)
5) Brazil (1)
6) Australia (33)
7) India (130)
8) Argentina (3)
9) Kazakhstan (140)
10) Sudan (113)
11) Algeria (93)
12) DR Congo (67)
13) Saudi Arabia (81)
14) Mexcio (18)
15) Indonesia (139)
16) Libya (79)
17) Iran (47)
18) Mongolia (181)
19) Peru (42)
20) Chad (128)
21) Niger (169)
22) Angola (55)
23) Mali (63)
24) South Africa (72)
25) Colombia (21)
26) Ethiopia (101)
27) Bolivia (85)
28) Mauritania (166)
29) Egypt (29)
30) Tanzania (143)

These 30 countries account for approximately 83 million sq kms of territory, about 70% of the landmass, the other 200 countries make do with 30%. However when we compare the soccer power rankings, the big real estate countries take a backseat.

List of top FIFA soccer countries with their (size ranking)
1) Brazil (5)
2) Italy (71)
3) Argentina (8)
4) France (48)
5) England (79)
6) Netherlands (134)
7) Spain (51)
8) Portugal (110)
9) Germany (63)
10) Czech Republic (117)
11) Nigeria (32)
12) Cameroun (53)
13) Switzerland (135)
14) Uruguay (90)
15) Ukraine (44)
16) USA (3)
17) Denmark (133)
18) Mexico (15)
19) Paraguay (59)
20) Cote D'Ivoire (68)
21) Colombia (26)
22) Sweden (55)
23) Croatia (126)
24) Guinea (78)
25) Ghana (81)
26) Romania (82)
27) Turkey (37)
28) Ecuador (73)
29) Egypt (29)
30) Poland (69)

Running statistical (two tailed T Tests, p= .05), we get a significance value of .005173.
The interpretation is that there is a significant discrepancy between performance in soccer and landmass.

In fact, if we go down the FIFA list and breakdown the list further into large countries (~ 1 million sq kms or more ), moderate (500,000 - 1,000,000 sq kms), small (100, 000- 500, 000 sq kms), and very small (< 100, 000 sq kms), we see that there are 6 large , 5 moderate, 13 small, and 6 very small countries in the FIFA top 30. In the internatiuonal scene, the largest countries have won 8 World Cups (Brazil, Argentina, and France) with 10 going to the smaller countries (Italy, Germany, Uruguay, and England). If we add regional supremacy, then the large countries do better in the weaker conferences, like the CONCACAF, AFC, and the Oceanic Conference. The smaller countries are extremely good in the tougher conferences like the CAF, Copa America, and the UEFA.

There is a suggestion that smaller countries do better than larger countries. This not just true of countries in Europe which are usually smaller in size (Russia and Kazakhstan are the largest European countries) but the cluster of small West African countries. In the 19 top small soccer playing countries, 12 are from Europe (8 Western Europea, 4 Eastern Europe), 4 from Africa (all West Africa), and 3 from South America.

The European- West Africa link is interesting. There are 4 big leagues (England, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands), with smaller sized but active leagues in Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, and Switzerland that attract foreign players. The big name West African players from Ghana and Nigeria land up in the EL, the Serie, and Bundesliga, the players from Cote D'Ivoire, Cameroun, Guinea, go to the French league first and then transfer to the wealthier EL, Serie, and La Liga. Other players go to the Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Swiss, and Portugese league. It seems this link, historically a colonial one, and now strengthened through soccer, builds a reciprocity, the foreign players encourage a stronger, more competitive league through their level of play, benefits the host national team, and the foreign players benefit from that tough league exposure their national teams. Pretty simple so far. However my point is that, with this linkage, soccer supremacy is perpetuated. With other teams that do not have these strong supply and demand lines with such leagues you get more variations in performance. That is why countries like Paraguay, Ecuador, and Uruguay, slip up and down the table.

The performance of Egypt becomes all the more impressive. In the African continent it happens to be the only country that does not have strong colonial or soccer ties with any European country, with only a few of its players playing in the foreign leagues, and mostly reliant on players from its domestic league, which again attracts just a handful of players outside of Egypt. Egypt has won 5 Africa Cup of Nations, the most in the CAF, which is one of the most competitive of conferences. It is 30th in the FIFA rankings and 6th in the CAF. Egypt won the last Africa Cup this year in February 2006 beating Cote D'Ivoire.

The performance of South Africa is a cause for concern and for a large country (24th, 1,221, 037 sq kms) and the host of the 2010 World Cup, it is 72nd in the FIFA rankings, and is ranked 15th in the CAF (behind Zambia, Mali, and DR Congo). The importance of building a strong Bfana Bfana cannot be stressed, otherwise South African fans will soon be picking the usual favorites. Hopefully, Carlos Alberto Parriera can work wonders. The 2008 Africa Cup will become extremely important as South Africa as the World Cup host will have no opportunities to test their mettle in qualifiers.

Wigan just paid £5.5 m pounds for Emile Heskey and now they want to recoup that by dangling Pascal Chimbonda to the Spurs for £6m. Wigan just shot themselves in the foot by asking that much. An underperforming, overweight, and chronically injured striker and an unhappy defender. The cup runneth over.

Chimbonda's value has appreciated 12 times since joining WIgan but he is unhappy in the club and wants to leave for a top flight club. He would do very well in White Hart Lane. But £6m is a bit much. Chimbonda had made his departure an issue since January.

Meanwhile William Gallas is on the chopping block and he may part company with Chelsea. Gallas's first priority is to join the French league but this could be Arsenal's big moment. Gallas did not report for the American tour and Mourinho had some strong words, ""It's not only me that is upset - we're all upset," Mourinho said. "Everybody is upset because we had a strong family and a strong group and this has shown a lack of respect to everybody and I don't like that."

Aston Villa has settled on its new manager, and it is Martin O'Neill, former Celtics coach but the consortium taking over the club still seems to be very much up in the air >>

I read Franklin Foer's afterword in the The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup. In it he discusses what sort of government is most likely to produce a World Cup winner. Foer is the editor at large of the The New Republic, a war hawkish, neo-liberal embracing publication that was extremely rah-rah about war on Iraq (they love Joe Lieberman endorsing him as their presidential candidate in the Democratic primary in the 2004 elections and now over Ned Lamont in the CT senatorial race). Of course, now that the situation in Iraq has deterioriated to the point that nobody expects the US to pull troops out for the next five years (the pulling out will be done between Anbar and Baghdad), the TNR is now denying its previous enthusiasm about the war. A convenient memory lapse indeed!

Foer does not discuss the fortunes of the Iraqi soccer team. You would expect with his paean on democracies producing soccer winning teams, that the Iraq team would have vaulted its way to the top tier. But somehow it is hard to do that when bombs are going off in stadiums killing the fans, and the soccer federation president and its officials are kidnapped or killed. Foer does not have a category for democracies forced at gunpoint and their success rate in the World Cup. I have a feeling that the success rate is going to be very low. So in his hierarchy of success, lets add the new category. Social Democracies > Military Juntas > Fascism > Communists > Democracies forced at gunpoint.

Even more glaring is the omission of the US team. Foer does not discuss its lack of success. But he cautions against laying a bet on the oil producing countries, like Nigeria, Iran, Russia, the Gulf states, Venezuela, and Norway. This is also the 'paradox of plenty', with only a small percentage of the population benefiting from the oil money. Maybe he would be better off including a category of oil guzzling states, like the USA, China, and India who also do not seem to do well in the World Cup. These are the 'environmentally unfriendly' countries because driving an SUV saps them off the strength to run up and down a field for 90 minutes. No environmentally unfriendly country has made it past the quarterfinals in the World Cup.

Neo-liberal policies are a buzzkill in the short AND long term for success. Look at England. The last time they won the World Cup was when Harold Wilson's Labour Party was in power. With Tony Blair's neo-liberal New Democrats, the English squad has not won anything of note in his 12 years. Indian soccer has languished since opening up its economy in the early 90's. South Africa has moved towards neo-liberalism for the last 10 years but after winning the 1996 Africa Cup has done little in the African continent itself. Clinton's centrist neo-liberal policies were a boon for Wall Street and Silicon Valley, but in the last 12 years, has that translated into meaningful gains for US soccer? Highly debatable. In fact, countries with GINI coefficients that are high tend to do far worse in soccer.

Countries that practice pre-emptive wars? A definite category specially after September 11, 2001, the event that changed the world between 'freedom and terror loving nations.' (GW Bush, the decider). The USA and Israel. Will you bet on them winning the World Cup? Not really. Although Israel does take far better care of its economically disadvantaged citizens and it does have a better soccer league than the MLS. Emmanuel Pappoe and John Pantsil of Ghana are part of it.

So what are the chances of a country that practises the policy of pre-emption, is environmentally unfriendly, and has the highest GINI coefficient in the world (.83), doing well in the World Cup? Virtually nil.

However Foer manages to salvage some of his reputation at the end by mentioning The Caveat.
"There is one iron law that overrides all others. The political reality most likely to produce a Jules Rimet trophy at any given moment history: whatever form of government has taken up residence in Brasilia that week."

I agree.

(The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup, edited by Matt Wieland and Sean Wilsey, Harper Perennial, 2006)

Jacob Zuma, ANC deputy president (L); Thabo Mbeki, SA's president (R)

The ongoing trial of Jacob Zuma, former deputy president of South Africa and present ANC deputy president, and a clear frontrunner to the ANC presidency after Thabo Mbeki's retirement, on corruption charges brought on him in a multimillion dollars arms deal that involves a close associate Schabir Sheikh and SA company, Thint, a subsidary of French arms manufacturer, Thomson ASV, has exposed the increasing polarization between the ANC's drift towards neo-liberal policies as championed by president Thabo Mbeki, corporate structures, and the minority of SA bourgeouise, and the traditional ANC philosophy of socialism represented by the SACP (South African Communist Party) and the COSATU (Congress of South African Trade Unions). The ANC, SACP, and the COSATU maintain an alliance in South African politics that is increasingly coming under strain.

Jacob Zuma was a charismatic leader and very popular leader of the ANC struggle against apartheid, spending 10 years in jail at Robben Island with Nelson Mandela. He is from the KwaZulu province and rose to become the chairman of the KwaZulu Congress Party. As the chairman and a Zulu, he was responsible for bringing together Zulus represented by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), eschewing tribal politics, to forge a relationship with the ANC. He is the champion of many leftist causes, and is revered by the poor and the workers and supported by the SACP, COSATU, and various South African human rights organizations.

In the years that the ANC with Thabo Mbeki in power, the policies have shifted gradually but inexorably towards neo-liberal goals favoring a more free trade, open market economy. Inevitably as seen in countries like India and Brazil, where these policies are force fed to the polity, in the garb of improving the standard of living for everyone, it has accomplished just the opposite, benefiting a small minority of the populace in becoming enormously wealthy with the larger majority being left untouched. This was not the vision the ANC fought for or on for all South Africans to redress decades old social and economic hegemonism under apartheid. The COSATU have voiced their concerns by saying " it is disturbing to note that the black elite has bought into neo-liberalism, despite the fact that this ideology and its application is to the detriment of the poor." The GINI coefficient (an index that measures the gap between the poor and the rich) has shot up from .595 in 1995 to .635 in 2001.

Jacob Zuma and the trade unions are at odds with the pro-business Thabo Mbeki lobby of the ANC. It is feared by many in the lobby that this system of big business patronage will come to an end with Zuma assuming the ANC presidency as popularly predicted. The corruption charges are believed by many on the left to be politically motivated. In addition to the corruption charges, Zuma was recently acquitted of rape charges bought on him by the daughter of an acquaintance. It is believed that the plaintiff was encouraged by Thabo Mbeki to lodge the case to diminish Zuma's standing amongst his many allies. Initially it led to a split in the trade unions with many refusing to support him on the grounds of his immorality but many rallied to his defence convinced that it was politically motivated, and they were vindicated when the case was dismissed as one of consensual sex. The trial was attended by thousands of his supporters who sang Lethu Mshini Wami with him.

The corruption charges are much more serious but the SACP and COSATU have demanded that Zuma if acquitted, should have his post as deputy president restored to him. At this stage the SACP and COSATU are throwing their support behind Zuma because he is their best hope in resisting being marginalized in the new South Africa. The KwaZulu National Congress also showed up in a strong show of support before Zuma's trial began this Monday. Students from KwaZulu province bunked classes to demand that Zuma be reinstated as the deputy president and take up his rightful appointment as ANC president.

COSATU's concerns are well founded as Thabo Mbeki chose to overlook the trade unions in the planning of the World Cup. COSATU objected strongly by giving the South African Football Association (SAFA) an ultimatum to be included immediately in the organizing committee. "Failure of SAFA to do so will lead to an unprecedented confrontation between SAFA and COSATU."

Many in South Africa are skeptical of the benefits that the World Cup will bring, as they were promised the same when the World Cricket and Rugby Championships were held. COSATU is determined this time that the SA government and the organizers do not renege on their promise of hiring labor for new stadium construction and transportation hubs. It is feared that delays will lead the organizers to go in for machinery or outsource the work to foreign contractors. The trade unions are also concerned about ticket costs and the accreditation of food vendors, fearing that this will benefit SAFA partners and business associates. There are questions that the amount of money the government is pumping into new stadiums, local transportation, roads, hotels, and airports is undercutting ino essential services like sanitation, drinking water, health, and housing for the poor.

Zuma has not been inimical to the idea of South Africa hosting the World Cup. In fact when Sepp Blatter expressed doubts about SA, he was the emergency convenor of a World Cup preparatory committee put together to answer Blatter's concerns. But all this was before he was accused of rape charges and ousted from his post. The corruption case has far reaching consequences in South African politics, the future policies of the ANC, and consequently, the shape and structure of a showpiece like the World Cup. A Jacob Zuma restored to his past power and influence as ANC president could ensure that the benefit that the World Cup brings to South Africa is maximized in a utilitarian way benefiting everyone especially the most vulnerable. However if many fear that justice is not done in this corruption case and that Zuma is perceived to be a victim of South Africa's increasingly neo-liberal policies, then the faultlines will sharpen further with demonstrations and disruptions to South Africa's preparation towards the World Cup and even during the tournament.

Thanks to ems we have the translated song of the summer hit "Coup De Boule". Who said the French have no sense of humor?

Watch out, it's the headbutt dance!
(Headbutt, headbutt)
Headbutt to the right
(Headbutt, headbutt)
Headbutt to the left
(Headbutt, headbutt)

And Trezeguet...and Trezeguet...and Trezeguet-guet-guet
Trezeguet
(Headbutt, headbutt)
and Trezeguet
(Headbutt, headbutt)
and Trezeguet
(Headbutt, headbutt)
and Trezeguet
(Headbutt, headbutt)

(Hat tip to ems)

Hear the song >>

Timo Hildebrand: vfB Stuttgart's goalie and Germany's future

Joachim Low our new national coach will not have the services of stalwart, Oliver Kahn who retired recently from international soccer. However he still has Jens Lehmann and the young hearthrob, Timo Hildebrand to work with. Hildebrand is most likely to take over as the no 1 goalie once Lehmann retires.

Olli Kahn was an establishment favorite who Klinsi used, to position himself, as an independent operator, not kowtowing to Der Kaiser and Uli Hoeness's diktat. Kahn saw his role decreased during Klinsi's time. He was stripped of captaincy and then he lost his starting position to Jens Lehmann for this World Cup. To Kahn's credit he swallowed these painful insults and during the PK shootout with Argentina was seen encouraging Lehmann.

We will miss him because not only was he a great goalkeeper, he was also an entertaining fellow. Olli Kahn will continue playing for Bayern for another two years till the end of his contract.

After all Man U's huffing and puffing and reported interest in Patrick Vieira, finally Inter bags him. I don't think there was a shot in hell that Vieira would try and vend his way back to the English League.

Meanwhile it is not only Ashley Cole who is the only player that Chelsea is being accused of 'tapping up' . Ken Bates, Leeds Utd chairman is accusing Chelsea of approaching three of his players without the knowledge of his club. He is furious and wants Chelsea to face Serie type of punishments, including deduction of points, disbarment from European championships, and the banning of registration of new players. He knows the money that Chelsea has, any fines will be considered a mild slap on the wrist.

Jose Mourinho has issued his" Liverpool, watch out we don't consider you as good as Man U and Arsenal", thereby signalling that he is deeply worried that Chelsea will come a cropper this year and the Reds are going to do them in. I wish Chelsea is relegated this year. Won't happen but I hope Watford pounds them.

Meanwhile Fergie's ready to blow millions of quid on a Roy Keane fantasy continues >>

Steve McLaren has to decide on who is the best to lead England. John Terry or Steven Gerrard. This after years of having someone like Becks who was invisible on the field and never was much of a captain. You can argue his utility as a player but I have a feeling that England has forgotten how valuable a captain can be. England's best captain; Bobby Moore, in 1966, the last time they won the World Cup.

Steven Gerrard: The best English midfielder and possibly the best in the business. Even Jose Mourinho recognizes that. Gerrard has been outstanding and has scored in all four Cup finals that he has played in. None more so than the 2005 Champions final between AC and Liverpool. The greatest comeback with Liverpool down 3-0. Gerrard started it all with that great first goal. Liverpool beat AC on PKs. Then there was the FA Cup final this year in which West Ham found out that no lead is safe when there is a Gerrard on the field. Gerrard's missile at the end of extra time was measured at approximately 70 miles an hour and it took a second to travel that distance. West Ham fell on PKs. He scored 2 goals in this World Cup where he victimized Shaka Hislop again when the T&T goalie looked like he was going to pull off another miracle draw all by himself. I don't know how best to describe his character but unrelenting is a good start.

John Terry: The one player that Chelsea probably will hold onto for dear life. Chelsea has won two successive English titles with Terry at the helm. He is a tough, no nonsense guy, great tackler, and not afraid to have a go at goal too. His strength must be his extra-ordinary presence of mind. The football world cannot get enough of that goal line save that Terry pulled off when Stern John's header was all but in. Terry was the only English player to make the FIFA World Cup team. One of the matches I saw was the Chelsea vs West Ham game this year in which Maniche was sent off and Chelsea were down by a goal within the first 10 minutes. Terry marshalled his players and had Drogba coming back all the way on defence. By the time the match was over, the Hammers were on life support. John Terry has a blue collar mentality in a team built on oil money.

John Terry or Steven Gerrard as captain? England will be well served with both. The problem is we can only pick one.

Dunga begins working without many players from the World Cup team. Some big names like Ronaldinho, Kaká, Roberto Carlos, Cafú, Adriano and Ronaldo are out. It is very nice that he called some of the players that were really interested in playing for real in Germany as you can notice in the list below.

GOALKEEPERS:
Gomes from PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Fábio from Cruzeiro (Brazil)

DEFENDERS:
Juan from Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
Lúcio from Bayern Munich (Germany)
Luisão from Benfica (Portugal)
Alex from PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)

WINGERS:
Cicinho from Real Madrid (Spain)
Maicon from Internazionale Milan (Italy)
Gilberto from Hertha Berlim (Germany)
Marcelo from Fluminense (Brazil)

MIDFIELDERS:
Gilberto Silva from Arsenal (England)
Edmílson from Barcelona (Spain)
Elano from Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
Julio Baptista from Real Madrid
Jônatas from Flamengo (Brazil)
Morais from Vasco (Brazil)
Dudu Cearense from CSKA (Russia)
Wagner from Cruzeiro (Brazil)

FORWARDS:
Robinho from Real Madrid (Spain)
Fred from Lyon (France)
Vagner Love from CSKA (Russia)
Daniel Carvalho from CSKA (Russia)

Many strange choices can be found here like Vagner Love who scored only 5 goals in the last 21 matches, a lower average than Rogério Ceni’s (the São Paulo goalkeeper). I don’t know if the Russian championship is as strong as the French or the Spanish but as I mentioned before many experiments will be made during the Dunga administration.

Players from São Paulo FC and Internacional (Brazil) were avoided because of the Libertadores da América semi-finals. Among the Brazilian-based players, 3 are from clubs from Rio: Morais (Vasco), Marcelo (Fluminense) and Jônatas from my beloved Flamengo. At last! After Flamengo conquered the Copa do Brasil they got some attention but they are still doing very bad in the National Championship (Brasileirão).

Brazil will face Norway on the next 16th in Oslo, a team that Brazil has never beaten. In the 3 times they played, Norway won twice in 1997 (friendly) and 1998 (France WC) and they tied once in 1988 (friendly). After that Brazil will play against archrival Argentina in September the 2nd at the Arsenal’s new stadium in London.

I hope Dunga’s team display a good performance, especially showing a strong will and teamwork from the players. The wound is still deep from watching that match against France. A special good luck for Jônatas from Flamengo: may his performance with the canary uniform inspire his teammates here in Rio.

The FIFA holds its youth World Cup every two years (U-20) and most of the talent on display form the nucleus of the national teams that we see in the World Cup. Usually there is a good correlation between successful youth squads and the mens national team. The Youth teams have produced legends like Diego Maradona, Jorge Burruchaga, Gary Lineker, Gerson, Bebeto, Marco Van Basten, Figo, and many others.

Since the first tournament hosted in Tunisia, in 1977, the Argentinians have won three titles under Jose Pekerman (before he took over the Albiceleste), and the last one in 2005, for a total of five titles. The Brazilians have won four, Portugal 2, Spain 1, Yugoslavia 1, Germany 1, and USSR 1. The Italians, French, and English youth squads have not done as well but the break up of the youth squad titles are a reflection of how of the World Cup has gone with all titles divided between the South American and the European countries.

The USA, in the U-20 World Championships have done exceedingly well. In 15 championship editions, the US team has appeared in 10 of them. They have made the semifinals once in 1989 and the quarterfinals twice, in 2003 and the 1993. They have made the round of 16 four times.

Compare this to the 18 times the Mens World Cup has been held. The US qualified in 8. The US achieved a third place finish in the first World Cup, in 1930, the quarterfinals in 2002 and made a first round exit in 1934, 1950, 1990, 1998, and 2006. The US did not participate in the 1938 World Cup.

The players in the US youth squads have done outstandingly well, with Eddie Johnson picking up the Adidas Golden Shoe award in 2003 for the highest scoring player with 4 goals. Taylor Twellman scored 4 also in 1999, Chris Falklaris and Steven Snow with 3. The 2003 squad had three players in the FIFA youth all stars with Bobby Convey, Clint Dempsey, and Steve Cronin. In the other squads Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Kasey Keller, Tony Meola, Tab Ramos, Jeff Agoos, have all been mentioned as all star players. The only player to make the FIFA all star list is Claudio Reyna in 2002.

Lets look at the individual trajectories of Eddie Johnson, Golden shoe winner in 2003 and Lionel Messi, 2005's winner. Johnson played in this World Cup sparingly, almost as an afterthought, a victim of Bruce Arena's ultra conservative effort on attack with the 4-5-1. Johnson played well but was ineffective. He was largely forgotten with some muted criticism of his limited playing time. Lionel Messi, of Argentina, also played sparingly but was brought invariably as a partner to Carlos Tevez when Hernan Crespo and Javiier Saviola had run out of gas. He scored one goal and contributed to another. In the game against Germany that was decided on penalty kicks, the coach Jose Pekerman had to endure a storm of criticism for leaving Messi on the bench.

Eddie Johnson is back with his MLS club, Kansas City Rapids, with very little chance that any outside club in Europe is going to go after him to sign him on after his World Cup performance and his current form does not seem very encouraging either. His club is not doing well. In a few years, if nothing happens, Eddie Johnson might be a forgotten man and fade away from the world of soccer. Lionel Messi on the other hand is already signed up with Barca and plays with superstars Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o, Deco, and Gianluca Zambrotta. This is what is being foretold about his future:

"Messi is the future of Argentine football" - Diego Maradona
"I have seen the player who will inherit my place in Argentine football and his name is Messi" - Diego Maradona
"He's playing at the level of Diego in 1979 and a bit more" - Julio Grondona
"I have never seen a player with such quality at his age, not even Pele' or Maradona were that good at his age" - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
"The best way to stop Messi is when you play with 11 men and then you can double mark him, one player to stay on him and the other to help out. If it is 11 against 10 then you have almost no chance of stopping him." - José Mourinho

Has the MLS closed the gap between the overachieving youth squads and the underachieving US Mens team?

Since the advent of the MLS in 1996, the youth squad have finished in the round of 16, in 1997, 1999, 2001, and 2005. In 2003, they made the Quarterfinals. In the sametime period, the US mens squad has become a fairly fixed feature in the World Cup, qualifying in 1998, 2002, and 2006. They have made the second round in 1998 and the QFs in 2002 before failing miserably in the 2006 WC. Overall, there seems to be a suggestion that the success at the youth squads seems to be rubbing off on the MNT too.

However, the MLS lacks the competitiveness and the quality that international players bring to the leagues elsewhere. There is one big reason for this and that is that the MLS is a single entity organization (a paradox in a country that prizes lassez faire capitalism). Internationally, the Swiss club FC Basel posesses as much clout as the entire MLS.

This World Cup saw the MLS contribute four international players to their country squads. Cornell Glen and Avery John (Trinidad and Tobago), Douglas Sequiera of Costa Rica, and Claudio Sanchez of Mexico. FC Basel provided Scott Chipperfield and Mile Sterjovski to the Socceroos, Koji Nakata of Japan, and Ivan Ergic of Serbia.

1) The MLS imposes a strict salary cap ($ 2 milllion ) that limits the amount of money that can be paid to bring a quality international stars. The league (rather than individual teams) contracts directly with the players, in an effort to control spending and labor costs, share revenue, promote parity and maximize exposure.

2) MLS senior rosters are limited to four international players and the total strength cannot exceed 18.

3) MLS is considered attractive to international players at their twilight of their careers, or slowed by significant injuries, journeymen, dysfunctional players, or as way stations to better European clubs.

In the past the MLS has managed to attract players like Branco, Roberto Donadoni, Walter Zenga, Lothar Matthaus, Luis Fernandez, Carlos Valderrama, Anders Limpar, Thomas Ravelli, Hristo Stoichkov, Mauricio Solis, and Youri Djorkaeff all in their waning years. The MLS has seen some international talent like Stern John and Jean Phillipe Peguero, come to the US in their early years but after their success, they are spirited away to European clubs . The MLS has also seen journeymen players like Mamadou Diallo and Diego Serna who impressed in their careers in the MLS but never made it their home.

Till these issues are taken care of the MLS will prove inadequate in translating the success at the youth level to the MNT.

Keano played his best football the second part of the season for the Spurs. He is one of the best finishers in football and is absolutely lethal in the box. Keano is like an octopus with his legs everywhere when he gets the ball. Its hard for defenders to disposess him of the ball. He finished as one of the top four strikers in the EPL with sixteen goals overtaking Mido. Keano leads by example and his upbeat personality made it easier for players and fans to accept him as the captain since Ledley King got injured. Tottenham also have the services of Dimitar Berbatov, acquired from Bayer Leverkausen for £ 10.9 million. Berbatov had some great years with Leverkausen and has already made an impact scoring two goals in two minutes in a friendly against Birmingham.

Edgar Davids was spurned by Marco Van Basten because of his emphasis on youth but Davids is one of the most untiring of midfielders and is just a pitbull on the prowl. He is incensed that Van Basten overlooked him and is dying to prove he is not over the hill. Personally, I think Van Basten made one of his biggest mistakes by not taking Davids. He would have been all over Maniche and Figo in that Netherlands - Portugal match. He makes Gennaro Gattuso, another ferocious midfielder look amateurish.

Tottenham has a great bunch of midfielders whose talent get drowned out because there is so much focus on the likes of Lampard, Gerrard, Cole, and Ljungberg. Tottenham have the services of Teemu Taino who is a better player than Michael Carrick when healthy. Didier Zokora is the new kid on the block and he impressed in the Cote D'Ivoire campaign in the World Cup. Zokora is a strong tackler of the ball and as a midfielder sits back deep in the field starting counterattacks. Aaron Lennon, small and swift made such a great impression at the World Cup, in his all too brief appearances. He should make a great impact this season too.

Tottenham looks soild in goal with Paul Robinson who was a bit off with his keeping in the World Cup but should regain his form for this year's EPL season. The only question mark is defence with Ledley King almost out for six months with his recent knee injury. Tottenham have good talent in Frenchmen Dorian Dervitte and Calum Davenport. Martin Jol will have to bring them out and give them extended minutes.

Tottenham's strength is its toughness as a team with great team spirit and having a natural leader like Robbie Keane, brings on and off the field. They have a pugnacious and outspoken coach in Martin Jol, who has managed to change the fortunes of the Spurs in the last two seasons that he has coached them.

All they have to do is keep away from the notorious norovirus that led them to lose the fourth spot to Arsenal, who gained the last Champions league spot, when 10 players were struck down by food poisoning and led them to lose to their final game to the Hammers, 2-1.

My prediction: Tottenham will be in the top four.

Enjoy the brilliance of Keano! No matter your club affiliation, this man is top notch.