March 2009 Archives

Looks like US Soccer is putting together a pretty star studded cast to bring the 2018 World Cup stateside. Barack Obama's election was hailed by US Soccer chief Sunil Gulati as a positive development in persuading FIFA to award the World Cup. Obama has been sighted attending his daughter's soccer games and is said to be a Hammers fan.

Now they have Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State under Richard Nixon joining their bid. Kissinger is a lifelong soccer fan and was instrumental in the US successfully hosting the 1994 World Cup. He is a favourite of Sepp Blatter who awarded the diplomat with the Order of Merit for his services to the sport.

Kissinger is a controversial figure in political history, particularly from a South American standpoint. Many recent investigations and lawsuits have opened up in a number of countries like Chile, Argentina, and Brazil questioning his involvement in Operation Condor, a covert military intelligence operation carried out in the Southern Cone countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile) in the 1970s where left wing opponents of regimes like that of Auguste Pinochet, Juan Rafael Videla, and Alfredo Stroessner were targeted in a wave of kidnappings and extrajudicial murders.

These investigations and lawsuits have come up as evidence pieced together show US complicity. Kissinger himself has been sued by the family of an Argentinian general who was murdered for his refusal to oust Salvador Allende, President of Chile. It is an ongoing lawsuit and there are other active investigations against Kissinger including an arrest warrant by the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, the same man responsible for issuing the arrest of Auguste Pinochet.

These developments are very recent and come much after Kissinger's successful lobbying of the 1994 World Cup. Many of these South American countries have begun to piece together their versions of a truth and reconciliation process which sheds light on a dark era in their history. Kissinger is a central figure as recent declassified information reveal. These issues could become very relevant as the Southern Cone countries are a very powerful voting force within FIFA and Kissinger's appointment may become a potential stumbling block in the US World Cup bid.

Just as Arsenal seemed to be settling down with Eduardo and Arshavin playing longer minutes and with the expected return of Adebayor and Fabregas from protracted injury spells, it appears RVP, Diaby, and Bendtner have picked up significant knocks during the World Cup qualifiers which might see them sidelined for the next 2-3 weeks.

Lots of crucial matches coming up with Man City coming up and then we have the CL quarterfinals first and second legs with Villareal. The FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea takes place on April 18th. We need a full side to keep our chances intact of getting some meaningful silverware.

Liverpool's ownership has settled down with Tom Hicks on a long term investment plan at Anfield which includes buying out George Gillett's stake. Chelsea and Man Utd have long had single entity ownerships.

In contrast, the Arsenal ownership is a group of competing camps with carefully titrated share holdings, as one goes up the other goes down. These fluctuations are market driven. Hanging in balance is Arsenal's future vision and commitments. The old guard with Danny Fiszman and PHW are on board with Wenger's long term philosophy of providing Arsenal a base of homegrown talent and careful transfer spending.

Stan Kroenke's stealth acquisition might raise hackles but the recent buying out of part of Fiszman's stake only strengthens the Kroenke- Fiszman axis which acts as a countervail to the unsavoury Alisher Usmanov, the Uzbeki born oligarch whose loyalty to the club is questionable. The X factor in all this is the 15% stake of ousted board director Nina Bracewell Smith whose sell off can make her the kingmaker. It is left to Ivan Gazidis, Arsenal's chief executive in an unofficial capacity as liaison between her and the Kroenke- Fiszman camp to prevent Usmanov from seizing control. One positive aspect the financial meltdown is that Usmanov's personal wealth has plummeted and he may not be in a position to put up more money.

All these behind the scenes moves remind one of why Arsenal never seems reactive enough. Achieving consensus sometimes means moving a step backward and two steps to the side. That is why these minute adjustments in share holdings seemingly mundane are yet so crucial to the club's future.

Something to restore your faith in the human race.A magnificent piece of fair play from debutant midfielder Costin Lazar of Romania.He did the unbelievable.When awarded a penalty in last week’s win over Otelul Galati in the 63rd minute he refused and told the ref that the challenge by the defender was fair.
Rare moments like these make me wonder where we lost this - the ability to just play a game fairly.Something very precious is lost and Costin Lazar just reminded us about it.

"Football is nothing. You are talking about the deaths of 19 people. When things like that happen it makes you realise how much people care about their country and their team.Peace to them,it is sad" Rest of that story here..

Just like the liquidity crunch has frozen financial markets worldwide, the goal crunch has hit the Premiership hard. 33 goal less draws and counting. In both cases it would appear to be brought on by the excesses of deregulated capitalism. One is fact, the other theory. In fact, there is this and other theories being bandied about and novel suggestions to fix this sudden bane confronting the EPL.

Clubs are hunkering down because there is a financial windfall if they remain promoted, as the richest league keeps getting richer from TV subscriptions, sponsorships, and merchandising which allows them to spend astronomical sums on transfers and wages.

It may have to do with the 4-5-1 formation favoured by many teams which clogs up the passing lanes and forces teams to take the more difficult wide route. Pepe Reina might have succeeded in showing us a way out through the thicket.

The problem is that the Premiership was already overheated with enough money to stuff everyone and their aunt. The 4-5-1 is nothing new. An influx of pragmatic foreign coaches? We have had Houllier and then Mourinho in the past who could never be accused of profligacy but even they seem to draw the line on goalless draws while betting everything on unappealing 1-0 victories. So why now?

It comes on the heels of unprecedented CL supremacy.

Lets put it this way, this season has been particularly unsettling for the usual suspects. In fact, the top clubs might be paying a price for overexposure, physical exhaustion from a glut of matches, escalated expectations, and ennui.

Off season transfer distractions, diva like behaviour, changes in coaching, and injuries. This is all part and parcel. But the CL seems to have exacerbated the situation and dramatically curtailed production. Cristiano Ronaldo was involved in a bitter feud between Man Utd and Real in the off season. Drogba came unhinged in the coin toss incident and was sidelined by Scolari. Torres has missed more than third of the season already. Adebayor did not make any new friends with his wishy washy Arsenal commitment and has been wanting in effort. Anelka has cooled off considerably from his bright start. The top four teams have been involved in 14 goalless encounters, a very high number.

These players provide insurance against drawing blanks, in fact, they are there to break the backs of teams like Fulham and Wigan with a stoppage time strike. Nothing should be taken away from the Cottagers impeccable defense but they have had to deal with a misfiring upper echelon finding goal scoring elusive in general.

In comparison, Barca is running a virtual jailbreak with 84 goals coming thick and fast. Samuel Eto'o has 25, Messi 19. Second placed Real has 66. The top four teams have 4 goalless draws. In the Serie and the Bundesliga the number is 7 and 2, respectively. In fact, the Bundesliga provides an interesting story. The top team Hertha Berlin has scored only 39 goals. But there have been no goalless draws. Instead they have had any number of 1-0 wins. The attack in these leagues are doing what they are supposed to be doing, scoring, breaking goalless deadlocks. There maybe an association with these developments and the European leagues having to deal with the new reality of perennial English CL contention. Call it transference but they look a lot fresher and more focused in their domestic season.

Amidst all this Mark Hughes is probably scratching his head at suggestions like widening the goals. With 5 draws, none goalless and 14 losses he is really going for broke. A bit more of Fulham like obduracy and Man City would be competing for an UEFA berth.

Maradona's Argentina destroys Venezuela. Argentina are looking like champions once again:

That last run by Messi reminded me of Maradona's immortal goal against England.

Wouldn't it be great to see Coach Maradona vs. Coach Zico in South Africa?

Dunga's boys look lame as they scrape by. Brazil was lucky, period.

I'm ready to see Coach Zico take over.

Brazil only managed a draw against Ecuador in their latest World Cup qualifier. They now have 18 points from 11 games in the qualifiers and stand third, five points behind leader Paraguay and a point behind arch-rival Argentina. Moreover, they might yet drop to fourth place if Chile win their game in Peru later Sunday. Ecuador are seventh, with 13 points.In the absence of Kaka Dunga was relying on Ronaldinho to come up with something but he failed to deliver the goods.So its back to the drawing board....

22 people killed and 132 injured as ticketless fans tried to stampede the stadium before kickoff.

I have no idea how this match was allowed to go on. Next month is the 10 year anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster which led to far reaching reforms in crowd control and soccer ground safety. At the very least this match should have been rescheduled by FIFA and stricter rules instituted.

Check out what is happening in Vancouver, the venue for the 2010 Winter Olympics. This will only get worse.

I am fabregasted. All this while I thought he loved Arsenal. Relax, this news is not worth a spit.

This could be the new logo on Man Utd's jerseys after AIG's sponsorship ran into trouble with the US government proof of yet more wasteful expenditure. Yes, its Tata which was recently in the news for introducing Nano, the cheapest car in the world.

Can't wait for Cristiano Ronaldo to model for the Nano when they introduce it in the UK. Well, he might be gone to Real by then.

Looks like the Czech players could use some AC/ DC to restore some mojo to their team. They lag behind Northern Ireland and Slovakia in the World Cup qualifiers.

The Czech Republic has been responsible for AC/ DC's recent transformation from ageing rockers whose anthems celebrate testesterone and booze to a political force.

Bon Scott is a modern day Jonathan Mayhew and his song Highway to Hell was used by the Czech prime minister in his fiery retort to the US stimulus plan akin to Mayhew's "no taxation without representation." The Czechs have long had a love affair with rock n' roll and used its energy to stage the Velvet Revolution.

Energy their soccer players could use in their match against Slovenia which resulted in an insipid draw.

The late Bon Scott mesmerizes the crowd with Highway to Hell >>

Good news for Arsenal fans. Ade seems to have played all 90+ minutes without discomfort and scored the only goal that gave Togo a win over Cameroon in a World Cup qualifier.

It is almost certain that Maradona will not be taking part in a gay pride parade anytime soon and Pele will not be in the forefront asking for a repeal of Rockefeller era drug laws.

The latest edition of Celebrity deathmatch features Maradona vs Pele as each outdo the other for the title of the most consequential sportsperson of the world. Pele's aspirations included running for president of Brazil when Maradona's was keeping his mind from getting addled through booze and drugs in sun drenched Napoli. An effort he had as much success at as Titus Bramble from scoring an own goal. Maradona's road to recovery is a well documented hell with near death situations and many hospitalizations. It is a story with many endings. Unfortunately, it has also left Maradona vulnerable to moral adjudication, the type Pele just engaged in.

Comparisons are odious. It was a cheap shot on Pele's part bringing up Maradona's drug history and then name Beckenbauer, Kaka, and Platini as ideal role models. Pele might have been projecting as his son Edinho faces charges of drug trafficking and addiction.

It must stick Pele in his craw that he remains largely (pun unintended) in the news peddling erectile dysfunction drugs. His rival revels in the attention and adulation of millions who look to him to carry Argentina to a place they have not been in for more than two decades. Maradona responded with an old debunked bath house slur.

Pele needs to take a chill pill.

The absence of a quality forward and goalie leads the English team to resort to smoke and mirrors and the result has the pundits in awe.

David Beckham broke England's appearance record for a nongoalkeeper by playing 109 times for England.Rooney celebrated Beckham's big day by scoring 2 out of the four goals in the exhibition game against Slovakia.And he must have figured out how to count to ten cos he didn't lose his temper even once.

The first of four goals that Germany would score against Liechtenstein in a world cup qualifier.

The new era of Maradona pragmatism begins.

"He let the tortoise get away with some of the things he said about me, he let it get away badly, very badly. That's why it's now an issue with no solutions." (From Maradona: The Autobiography of Soccer's Greatest and Most Controversial Soccer Star).

Maradona does not hold back when asked his personal opinion of Juan Sebastian Veron. However, he has also been an long standing admirer and champion of the former Lazio player who was named South American player last season for his standout role in Estudiantes revitalization.

Maradona's first meaningful match was an outstanding success. Argentina thoroughly outclassed Argentina and kept pace with rivals Brazil and Paraguay in the World Cup qualifiers. Once the match was in the bag, Maradona trotted out Veron in the 70th minute eschewing any bitter feelings that he might have and showing a pragmatism that Argentina will need if they have to get back to the heady days of the 1986 World Cup.

In Riquelme's absence the attacking midfield lacks a deep threat which relies on plays mostly developed by Messi around the 30 meter mark. Veron's vision opens up the game and his experience in set pieces gives the Argentine attack another dimension.

Whether Veron can shoulder this responsibility on a national level is questionable. He is a veteran of two World Cups and his insipid performance was singled out in Argentina's shocking early exit in 2002. He has a long history of untimely injuries and problems dealing with a more physical style of soccer. English fans know him as a highly paid clunker from his days at Chelsea and Man Utd.

Aston Villa's Brad Friedel and Sunderland's George McCartney have had their red card decisions overturned in their favour.Graham Poll had not received the news favourably and is - pardon the ghastly pun - seeing red...
The bottom line from his point of view is"If you really want to restore some respect into this beautiful game, why not follow FIFA and back your referees?After all, the Laws state the referee's decision is final."
Fair enough I suppose.And what would the FA do if they had to deal with a case like this from the Argentinian 3rd division.The ref gave an entire team and 7 substitutes red cards.

Becks has some sage advice on the matter...
The video gives a slow motion demo of Dempsey getting on the wrong side of Rooney's anger management strategy.

Ronaldo scores two more goals for Corinthians.That takes his comeback tally to four.But he doesn't make a pretty picture anymore. Take a look at him running around.The grace of the past has been replaced by something paunchy,wobbly and uncertain.

Having bludgeoned the front runner and chief bogeyman Man U and then used CL hopefuls Aston Villa as target practice within a week of each other, Liverpool might be excused for believing in its immortality. An impressive 9 goals scored and just the solitary spoiler in Reina's clean sheets will do just that. Even better, they are building a full head of steam to seriously challenge for the top title in almost two decades even as Man U and Chelsea have seen some serious stumbles.

The answer lies somewhere in between Fabio Aurelio's delectable free kick and Nemanja Vidic's defensive meltdowns. Yes, Liverpool is playing great attacking soccer and their success has much to do with its stepped up set piece capability and opportunism but much of it has to do with examples of defending vulnerabilities of opposing teams. Liverpool has proved adept at making them pay.

A makeshift Villa defense struggling with injuries was left to cope with Steven Gerrard and Albert Reira (surely the best player in the match) and it showed. An unprepared Reo-Coker was forced into defensive duties contributing to an error prone performance and Luke Young for all his speed and aggression came unglued with his tackles and erratic ball supply. Reira's magnificent goal came from a complete miscalculation of Reina's kick which was a bit of Andrea Dossena deja vu from the previous game. So did the clumsy challenges that led to the PKs inflating Gerrard's goal total. But there was almost a half hour where Villa looked the better team just like Man U did in large parts in their game which does not reflect in the final score. It also deflects from the fact that the midfield and Torres were not on the same page with their connections throughout the match.

Where Liverpool really elevated its game was in Gerrard's clever opportunism that took advantage of an out of position defense and an unsighted Friedel to squeeze a perfectly placed free kick into the left hand corner of goal. That moment revealed a fine soccer brain that no team can protect against.

Enzo Zidane having lived for 8 out of the 14 years of his young life in Madrid is going to play for the Spain under 15 team.
Give France a chance or be Spain's gain ?
That's a tough choice to make at 14.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has warned that soccer faces "consequences" if its officials resist a new rule on testing procedures, saying the sport's Olympic status could be on the line.

Blatter took his head out of the sand to say "pooh" and "bah humbug"

The secret formula for the perfect penalty - discovered at last.A discovery that has got to rank way up there with the major scientific breakthroughs of all time like the unravelling of the genetic code and the invention of sliced bread etc.Here it is in layman terms.
The SHOT should be 65mph or more. This requires a RUN-UP of five to six paces, commencing from the edge of the 18-yard line — approaching the ball at an ANGLE of 20 to 30 degrees.
It must CROSS the goal line at exactly 0.5m below crossbar and 0.5m inside either post.
That's it.
You can take a look at the diagrams and things here..
Meanwhile you can take a look at this video to see Robinho demostrating how a perfect penalty should not be taken - about 1 min 19 seconds into the video.

What if Platini and Blatter and the gang actually got off their prehistoric high horses and actually considered letting soccer catch up with technology?Imagine a ref using a variation of this gadget instead of a whistle ?????????!!

Messi scored a wonderful goal in Barcelona's 6 - 0 mauling of Malaga. Video of all 6 goals here

Manchester United's self destruct against Fulham and Liverpool's 5 - 0 win over Aston Villa make the title race a whole new ball game.There's just one point separating the top two and so it looks like its not going to be over until the fat lady sings.

You will require a reasonable knowledge of economics to make sense of the following post.Just as the recession has caused less money to be in circulation in world economies the recession has also caused a terribly less number of goals to be in circulation in the current season of the english premier league.You may be amazed to know that the goalless draw between West Ham and West Brom last monday was the 33rd such goalless draw this season.
And that's the highest tally of goalless draws at this stage of the season since 1998 - 1999.Now what have Manchester United been doing recently to make sure that things don't get worse?
They have been making sure that none of their recent games end in goalless draws - thereby keeping the recession at bay.All we need now is a reasonably respectable economist to make some kind of a theory out of this analysis ,slip in a few graphs and stuff,stay well clear of Sir Alex Ferguson - and we're well on our way to a Nobel prize...!

Zoltan Gera twists in mid air to score Fulham's second goal.Rooney's reaction resulted in his getting a red card and Man U were down to nine men.Scholes had been sent off earlier because the ref caught him doing a reverse hand of god foul - it involves using your hands to keep the ball out of your own goal.This is Man U's second beating in as many games and Fergie must be thinking some dark thoughts.Match report.Video highlights of the game here..

Wenger was seen grinning like the chesire cat after Arsenal took Newcastle one step closer to relegation with a 3 -2 victory...

On average, 7,000 referees quit football every year at because of the abuse they receive from players and from the sidelines.
Hollywood tough guy Ray Winstone is supporting The FA’s Respect for Refs programme by starring in an online film that aims to improve parental behaviour on the subject of referees so that the kids may learn from them and thus make things better. Watch..

Breaking news........................The quarter final line up is as follows
Villa Real vs Arsenal
Man U vs Porto
Liverpool vs Chelsea
Bayern Munich vs Barcelona.
C Ron will be relieved.He was not looking forward to being pitted against Bayern.

On Manchester United apparently.AIG will give $28 million to Manchester United to complete its sponsorship deal through 2010, according to CityFile.

Soccer of course.It's not AIG's bonuses,or the war in Iraq or the recession.It's simply because Americans are playing soccer.The creator of this remarkable piece of insanity is a Mr. Webb - a professor of religion and philosophy at Wabash College.His theory can be read here..
A quote : "..soccer is clearly an important means by which American energy, drive and competitiveness are being undermined to the point of no return."
Well the man is allowed to have an opinion I guess and thankfully he hasn't blamed aliens - yet.He just says that things are going to be fine if everyone in America stops playing soccer.
So now you know what to do.........!

There really was no need but he's gone and done it again anyway.A fitting response to his latest dithering inanities about the English Premier League can be read here..

....with a bit of Irish luck.A not co convincing win over Hull City which takes them nevertheless into the FA Cup semis.William Gallas scored the winner in the 2 -1 game - a goal which was more offside than not.Take a look at the video while I go check on Wikipedia if Gallas is Irish or not.

He's not.

Watch how he keels over when the linesman's flag brushes against him.That's an unmistakeable family resemblance...!
That's his twin brother alright..!

With friends like these who needs enemies is what the goalkeeper is saying.Defender Emre Toraman scored not once but twice to gift Bursaspor a 2-1 victory over Eskisehirspor in the Turkish super league.

It's been done before however so Emre is not going to get his name in the record books.Done better in fact.In 2003 Sunderland scored a hat trick of self goals against Charlton.Stephen Wright scored one and midfielder Michael Proctor scored the other two - all in the space of seven first-half minutes.Video of that incredible performance below...

...Iniesta and Dani Alves.Barcelona maintain their La Liga lead.

Like this - beating Athletic Bilbao in a game featuring seven goals, eleven yellow cards and two red cards.It was a classic case of an irresistable object meeting an immoveable force or words to that effect.Such was the pace of the game that Ion Velez managed to get his red card without even being on the field - he got his marching orders for protesting too vehemently from the sidelines.Which naturally brings to mind the question "How can someone who is already out of the field be asked to leave the field?" We'll leave that one for the philosophers to figure out.Meanwhile the goals...

His first goal for Arsenal as they bulldozed Blackburn by four goals to nothing.

As my old teacher used to say "Well,well,well,well,well" He could keep going for a while when he got started.That's more or less what Liverpool did today.They just kept going.Goals from Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena completed the sacking of Old Trafford. Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, after briefly going ahead through a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty,then fell behind as an unstoppable red tide overwhelmed them.
Videos of the goals as they happened.
1.Ronaldo's penalty (video)
2.Torres (Video
3.Gerrard (Video)
4. Aurelio(video)
5.Dossena (video)
And another look at the goal of the game - Aurelio's wonderful free kick

The second goal in the saga of the returning Ronaldo took place in Corinthians' 2-1 win over Sao Caetano. His second goal in four days by the way:

Not many fat bloke jokes being cracked at the moment. If rumours are to be believed Dunga is pondering his return to the Brazilian national side.

And since it is not really polite to talk about Ronaldo without also mentioning the other one the etymology of the Ronaldo bit in Cristiano Ronaldo has apparently got something to do with his parents’ admiration for Ronald Reagan — and that come to think of it- might well explain the theatrical nature of his personality..!

While Litte Zizou is a recently released movie about life as seen through the eyes of 11-year old Parsi boy Xerxes (Jahan Bativala), who loves football and dreams to meet his icon Zinedine Zidane,Big Zizou is the great man himself and he is saying these days that Steven Gerrard is the best football player in the world.

Not the Ronaldo who can't seem to go into a tunnel without hitting something or the other. The other one. Ronaldo scored his first goal since returning to football more than a year after knee surgery, heading a late equalizer for Corinthians in a 1-1 draw against rival Palmeiras in the Sao Paulo state championship on Sunday. Ronaldo hadn't scored a goal in official matches since Jan. 13, 2008, when he scored in AC Milan's 5-2 victory over Napoli. Now how about that...

and that goal and the others in Barcelona's stellar 5 - 2 demolition of Lyon below

That was a goal. Buffon collected Drogba's free kick from behind the line.More food for thought for Platini - how many refs does one place behind the line to stop errors like this from happening again and again? Elsewhere that disallowed goal has been described as the "cheekiest bit of thieving in Turin since Michael Caine and his boys carried out their Italian Job"

More Champion's League massacres.Bayern Munich bashed the daylights out of Sporting Lisbon again.The score in the last leg was 5 - 0 so the 12 -1 aggregate is a record breaker.

Madrid succumb to a cataclysmic 4 - 0 mauling from the rampaging reds.

Fortuna Dusseldorf goalie Michael Melka collected the ball wonderfully and then intitiated a fast break for his team by booting the ball out as fast as he could.Unfortunately it didn't travel too far.It bounced off the player nearest to him and went into the goal.Michael spent the rest of the game looking at the diagrams of the plays the coach had given him trying to figure out how he made a bags of a simple thing called a clearance.Watch...

As Everton sent Middlesbrough crashing out of the FA Cup on Sunday the ref failed to spot this dive.Cahill - wearing his number 17 shirt caught on camera doing a blatant dive.......!
Watch.

Wenger called Eduardo's instinctive heelpunch goal 'a beach goal'. Owen Coyle said "It was an exquisite finish of real quality." The goal is described in words as follows...
"Alex Song's chipped centre floated over the Burnley defence, but fell behind Eduardo's run, meaning he was unable to connect with a conventional, first-time volley.
But instead of taking the ball down and allowing the goalkeeper to advance, Eduardo instinctively punched the ball with his heel, sending it soaring past Brian Jensen into the top corner."..and then you can take a look at the video to see exactly what is being talked about.

Hat Trick Hero Filippo Inzaghi dedicated the goals to his mom and girlfriend.So if they get a goal each then that still leaves one goal left to dedicate.That would be his 108th goal for AC Milan.

Real Madrid's title dreams went up in smoke a bit as they only managed a 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid (video)
Meanwhile in the serie A Mourinho is a bit more cheerful after Inter Milan beat Genoa 2 - 0.
Mario Balotelli's second goal will give Platini more food for thought about exactly how many extra referees he needs to put on the goal line to decide if the ball really crossed the line or not.(video)
In the FA cup Drogba continued to let everyone know that he has woken up and means business - scoring the first goal in Chelsea's 2 - 0 win over Coventry.

Well some say that it was Uriah Rennie but Stuart Atwell is the latest pretender to that throne.

While his namesake was left speechless when Steven Taylor called him ugly the other Ronaldo ,who has been out of action for the last 13 months, made a quiet comeback - playing 22 minutes in his first game for Corinthians in a 2-0 win at Itumbiara in a Copa Brasil match.The comeback was quiet and uneventful but the post match press interview was a bit traumatic.Ronaldo got poked in the eye and hit on the head by overenthusiastic reporters covering the event.

Watch Inter Milan go down by 3 goals to nothing against Sampdoria in the first leg of the Italian Cup Semifinal.

What is it with this man and tunnels?
The following crisp exchange took place between Cristiano Ronaldo and Steven Taylor in the players’ tunnel at half-time last night,shortly after the Newcastle United defender had been cautioned for a rugged challenge on Ronaldo
Ronaldo: “You’re a rubbish footballer.”
Taylor: “At least I’m not ugly.”
Ronaldo: “But you’re a rubbish footballer.”
Taylor: “I know, but you’re still ugly.”
Rio Ferdinand and Steve Bennett, the ref then stepped in and stopped things because Ronaldo was clearly running out of things to say.Fortunate for C Ron because the last time he lost control in a tunnel things didn't turn out so well for him.

The moody brooding magnificent Drogba struck again and made it four out of four wins for Hiddink's Chelsea.

And in another case of four being a significant number Arsenal finally won a game after going four games without scoring. They also happen to be scrapping with Aston Villa for fourth place in the standings.Video of the long awaited win below.


ارسنال 3 - 1 ويست بروميتش - video powered by Metacafe

...Pakistan ponders a future that looks increasingly bleak.In a first ever incident of its kind the Sri Lankan cricket team came under fire from terrorists that took the lives of at least 8 policemen.More such gloomy thoughts on why things don't seem to be getting any better and the relationship between sports and terrorism and brave attempts to explain/understand the unreasonable here.

Even a team from Turkey would find this hard to beat.Coming back from 2 - 0 down to win 4 -3.The race to the spanish title is wide open.

If you've seen this video of Bentley kicking a ball into a skip from a rooftop to win a bet you'll know why he missed his penalty against Man U yesterday.The goal is just too darn close.

All Lehmann had were some bits of paper stuck in his socks that told him which way he should dive.Foster has taken cheat sheets to a new level.He had an ipod stuck in his socks and on it he was watching footage of Tottenham Hotspur’s penalty-takers shortly before the fateful penalty shootout between the two teams that decided the winner of the Carling Cup.The video had been prepared by Eric Steele, United’s goalkeeping coach.
“I had been told that if O’Hara took a kick from the spot then I should stand up and be strong and that he would probably put the ball to my left,” Foster said. The evidence had been presented on video only seconds earlier and, sure enough, O’Hara put the ball exactly where Foster had been shown that he would.Lehmann's method has been rendered obsolete by the relentless march of technology.No wonder he is throwing shoes at his goalpost..!
Details..

Michel Platini's controversial plan to use two extra assistants to rule on disputed goals could be in place by the 2012 European Championship.
His basic idea is this.
Putting more humans on to the field is going to decrease human error.
No need to put in technology that will decrease the number of errors without raising the number of officials on the field beyond the the traditional one referee and two linesmen.
It doesn't make a lot of sense.
Perhaps it's a devious way of providing unemployment to out of work refs till as long as the recession lasts.
If he keeps this up we may eventually get to see one ref per player.20 players running around with 20 chaps dressed in black running around behind them armed with whistles making sure they keep the law.Two more chaps dressed in black standing in each goal to make sure the goalies don't get up to any monkey tricks........!

The Hiddink effect on Chelsea involves some of these things - players have to turn up on time for training.They have to chant a 'fitness first' mantra and live up to it.Their mobile phones are in danger of being confiscated if the usage on club grounds goes beyond permitted limits.Fines for those who break the rules.Then there is the Hiddink dress code.Players have to wear the club's Armani suits when travelling for home or away games and when leaving stadiums after matches.No more slouching around in old T shirts.Hiddink, who is never seen on the sideline out of a suit, has also given the chaps some definite instructions on how they should knot their ties.All this has woken Drogba up from his hibernation and he is doing his "the surly bear gets the goals " impersonation again.[For those who didn't get it - that's subtle word play on "the early bird gets the worm"] Anyway all this has resulted in Chelsea moving into second place in the EPL something even their most ardent fans might have considered an implausible dream just a week or so ago.Their latest is this 2 -1 win over Wigan.Lampard was the hero of the game scoring the injury time winner.