May 2010 Archives

The Spanish national team with Vicente Del Bosque was at hand to see their junior counterparts take on England in a losing effort.

The English were able to overcome the Spanish brand of short, sharp passes as the game progressed even after going down a goal. They showed some nice bits of passing themselves and it is all down to the fact that John Peacock, the U17 coach has been consciously changing the England game to resemble more the Spanish one. Short passing game with English qualities of grit and physicality- sounds like a recipe for future success.

The USA's final lap at Philadelphia before departing for SA

Danny Jordaan, the CEO of South Africa's World Cup Committee had a message for the US on their arrival at Oliver Tambo International Airport.

"The USA won the hearts of many South Africans when they made it to the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup last year and we welcome them back to South Africa. With over 136,000 tickets already sold to their fans, the USA will be followed by many passionate fans in the coming weeks," said Jordaan

The US is back to the country where they achieved their greatest international success a year ago. Bob Bradley talks about the advantage of being in familiar surroundings.

As for success, Sir Alex Ferguson is picking the USA to be the second team behind England of course, to progress to the round of 16. He got a look at both Donovan and Dempsey when Everton and Fulham recorded memorable victories against Man Utd.

Meanwhile, each US player when arriving at the hotel in Pretoria got a brightly coloured vuvuzela as a gift. Hope they have enough breath left for their first training session.

The USA meet Slovenia on June 18th in what could be a very crucial match. One of the players to watch out for: Milivoje Novakovic

At 6' 4" the FC Koln striker is a physically imposing striker with undoubted aerial abilities and for a man of his height, exceptionally quick with very good ball control. He is as tall as Peter Crouch with a bit more muscle and better skill.

Novakovic is also one of the better examples of a striker whose club record matches his international output. He has been a mainstay of FC Koln and his 2008 record of 20 goals propelled Christoph Daum's team from the second tier to the Bundesliga 1. He followed that up with 16 goals in the top tier. Following these performances, he was given the sobriquet "Novagol" by adoring fans. Daum promoted him to the captaincy which he subsequently lost after a dispute with new coach Zvonimir Soldo.

2009 also proved productive internationally as Novakovic scored both goals in Slovenia's critical win over Slovakia to keep up their World Cup qualifying momentum. In all he top scored with five goals in 12 qualifiers and proved to be a constant threat in the box as Robert Koren, Valter Birsa, Necj Pecnik, and Andraž Kirm provided him enough service.

Novakovic is somewhat of a late bloomer when it comes to scoring goals and at the age of 31 he might be approaching his peak just in time for the World Cup. Slovenia's greatest moment came when they beat the heavily favoured Russians at Maribor in the playoffs to win a spot the 2010 World Cup. Novakovic along with captain Robert Koren, and goalkeeper Samir Handanovic provide the backbone to this Slovenian squad.

However, as the Slovenians themselves clearly point out, they stress their success to playing as a collective rather than on any individual. Which makes Novakovic all the more dangerous.

Novakovic stats: 37 caps/ 14 goals.

Novakovic scoring for Slovenia against Slovakia >>

Every four years the World Cup provides a forum to condemn a "rogue nation."

In 2006, Senator John McCain introduced a Senate resolution advocating a World Cup ban on Iran, one of the original " Axis of Evil". Fortunately, FIFA held firm in its policy to disregard such politically loaded demands and McCain's resolution went nowhere.

This time it is North Korea, part of the same "Axis of Evil". The North Koreans arrive at the World Cup following accusations by the South Koreans of causing the unprovoked sinking of one of their naval ships that claimed the lives of 46 sailors this March.

The incident has sparked an international crisis with war a real threat between the two neighbours with the North Koreans in possession of an undisclosed arsenal of nuclear weapons in their possession. It has led to a flurry of diplomatic activity with the premiers of China, Japan, and South Korea recently meeting to sort out the best way to deal with the crisis.

South Korea has already cut off most of its trade ties. Japan has also followed suit but it is China, the country with the most sway with the reclusive Kim Jong Il who have refused to commit to condemn or to sanction the North Koreans. Without Chinese intervention, these sanctions have very little actual meaning, other than symbolic ones.

So here come the alternatives. An article in the LA Times by Paul Stares opines that the World Cup is the best forum to publicly rebuke the North Koreans who qualified after 44 years. Millions of viewers will tune in to see their matches in the Group of Death with Brazil, Portugal, and Ivory Coast. Players could be encouraged in those squads to wear the number 46 emblazoned on armbands or wristbands in solidarity with the bereaved South Korean sailors.

Stares mentions that similar symbols of protest were employed by some Iranian players in last years Confederation Cup when they wore green wristbands in support of the Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reformist candidate of the Green movement, who contested the presidential elections against the authoritarian Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

The rigged election which led to Ahmedinejad retaining his presidency sparked a wave of protests which engulfed Iran for days with the police and the Basij, the para military thugs used by the government resorting to brutal methods to quell the nascent movement to democracy.

The murder of Neda Agha- Soltan captured on camera went viral around the world as millions tuned onto it through the internet and Twitter. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians marched through the streets chanting, "Where is my vote?"

It led to a brief but exhilarating hope that in the face of such populist anger, the hold of the Muslim clerics on every facet of Iranian life would finally yield to the more progressive and reformist vision first initiated by Mohammed Khatami, whose election in 1997 as president of Iran brought a temporary end to the Iranian revolution which brought to power Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the installation of an Islamic Republic.

The Iranian players who wore those green armbands during the Confederations Cup were were forced to retire by the Iranian Football Federation. FIFA on hearing the news wrote a letter to the Federation demanding an explanation which led to denials that the players were punished.

So will such symbols of protest work in the case of North Korea? In Iran's case, beyond these gestures: the pro reform, pro democracy movement is now a nascent aspect of the political landscape in Iran. Such symbols have power only when they signify a broader change in socio-political parameters within the existing hierarchy, or a complete breakaway. The Vietnam peace sign worked because the US public wanted an end to the 20 year war. They had had enough.

The Iranian players wore armbands because they were part of a vanguard heralding that change which the world witnessed through the instant access of social network sites and cell phone cameras. The revolution was televised. Much of the intense interest came from the awareness that a change to a more progressive Iran also impacts viscerally the prospects of Middle East peace, earth's most intractable geopolitical puzzle.

In North Korea's case, the public's feelings towards that country are defined by Dear Leader's quixotic cult of personality. The international ramifications of a dispute between the world's most politically isolated country and its southern neighbour is less well understood or even followed by anyone other than a political junkie. Even South Koreans despite this most grievous provocation are ambivalent in their feelings. They see an enemy but they also see a badly behaved brother.

With this context in mind, armbands with 46 emblazoned or spectators bearing placards will resonate less with a viewing public robbing it of meaning and potency as a way of shaming North Korea. The potential meeting of both countries on the pitch might be the subject of intense political debate but beyond that little else.

The video unfortunately is not in English.Some of the things he said were ...

"I am not an anti-Barcelona plan. I am Real Madrid's coach and I am not worried about Barcelona. What is important to me is building a great Madrid. Barca are a great rival in the Champions League and domestically, but I don't want to think of Barca right now. If I am hated in Barcelona, that is not my problem."
and also

"Football is more than a tactic or a training session. Football is played with a group of men who work together and form a family. The club is our second family. To achieve this, we need to have a lot of empathy and after that they are my players forever."

...etc etc

The Ipswich Town striker was on target as England beat Spain, 2-1 to lift the U17 Euro title through his second half goal. England came back from an own goal on the same day the senior squad benefited from a pair against Japan.

Wickham is already being touted as the next Steven Gerrard with Fabio Capello following his career with great interest as are about half a dozen Premiership coaches.

He also fired England into the finals with a two goal display against the French side in the semi-finals.

This was England's first international success of any magnitude since 1993 when they won the U19 Euro final with Paul Scholes, Sol Campbell, and Robbie Fowler in that squad.

There are huge implications to the development of this U17 side which has been touted as the best group of young footballing talent to come out of England in the last two decades. If all goes to plan, we shall see them peak for the 2018 World Cup which could be held in England, notwithstanding the recent kerfuffle, to revive memories of a 1966 repeat.

Wickham is looked on as integral to the fortunes of the Tractor Boys as they struggle in the Championship. Roy Keane reportedly turned down a £5 million offer for him from Spurs saying he would get "lynched" if he let Wickham leave. The young striker's idol is Fernando Torres and if he continues this way, England have their own "El Nino" in hand.

Capello looks increasingly like he won't do this to the FA

The odds of Fabio Capello taking over from Jose Mourinho at Inter seem to be growing each passing day. Massimo Moratti has ruled out the return of Roberto Mancini and Rafa Benitez and seems to have targeted the return of Capello to the Serie.

Capello himself did not rule out a life other than England's coach after the World Cup in his press interview before the Japan match.

The FA with the resignations of Lord Triesman, its chairman, and Ian Watmore, the CEO could not have come at a worse time. The sudden departures seems to have left Capello wondering about leadership in England's footballing affairs.

These have been a distracting last few weeks for the normally sure footed England manager with the revelation of the Capello Index, a rating tool that could be used against his own players while lining his pockets, the phone calls to Paul Scholes and Jamie Carragher, and now the equivocation to a post World Cup future.

England's squad has proved no less problematic. There are questions in every area of the field. The choice of Rooney's partner is a vexed one - it would be Peter Crouch's purely on statistics, he has scored the most international goals. But Capello has always liked Emile Heskey as seen in that little cameo against Japan.

Michael Carrick could have been part of the midfield but his wheels seem to have come off with the resulting experimentation with James Milner. On right back, Glen Johnson has show such great liabilities that it must outweigh the consideration for his undoubted attacking talent.

The new FA chairman, Sir Dave Roberts is set to meet with the Italian in a signal that the house needs to be in order before the World Cup begins and to cement his future commitment to the national job.

As this article points out, two clauses in Capello's contract are to be reviewed and it is understood that both parties want to remove them. One states that Capello can be sacked after the World Cup for a set compensation and the other allows the England manager to enter into discussions with clubs for future employment.

The dismissals of these clauses were set into motion under Lord Triesman and Capello's anxiety might have been compounded by the change in leadership throwing these agreements into jeopardy. But this does not seem to be the case anymore as Sir Dave Roberts appears eager not to upset the status quo.

Capello also signed on as England's manager while the FA restructured the national team to be run more like a club. He is familiar with the changes sought and his continuation is important to its timely implementation. It is increasingly likely that he will commit to a 2012 deadline and we should see words to that effect before the England team departs for SA.

Japan scored all three goals, unfortunately for them, two happened to be own goals, gifting England an ill deserved victory. This England team is unrecognizable from the self assured version that coasted to World Cup qualification.

Marcus Tulio Tanaka made Glen Johnson look like a rank amateur putting Japan ahead in the first half as early as the 6th minute.

Johnson was terrible and so was Rio Ferdinand who was muscled of the ball by Shinji Okazaki and then complained to the referee. England did very little of note as Japan controlled the ball better and created a number of chances. This despite the Japanese showing enough signs of fragility at the back.

Capello made a number of half time changes taking out David James, Glem Johnson, Theo Walcott, Tom Huddlestone, and Darren Bent. He brought on Joe Hart, Jamie Carragher, Shawn Wright Phillips, Steven Gerrard, and Joe Cole.

Japan almost went up another goal as Keisuke Honda lashed a shot which Hart was just able to tip over. An interesting little spat took place on the sideline as Capello and the normally impassive Japanese manager Takeshi Okada exchanged words.

England improved perceptibly with Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, and Wayne Rooney pushing the England attack. In the 54th minute, Lampard was brought down just beyond the box and in a bizarre event that presaged Japan's self destruction, Honda handballed Lampard's free kick resulting in a spot kick. Japan however escaped as Lampard's weak effort was read correctly by Eiji Kawashima.

Kawashima was called into action again bringing of a spectacular save to deny Rooney. Japan finally pushed the self destruct button in the 72nd minute as Tanaka hurled himself into the path of Joe Cole's cross with the ball sizzling past Kawashima for the first own goal. In the 83rd minute, Ashley Cole gliding down the left cut in and cut out lashing a cross that was deflected into goal by Yuji Nakazawa.

It was eerily reminiscent of an own goal scored by Thomas Vermaelen from one of Ashley Cole's crosses in Arsenal's defeat at the Emirates last season. A great reminder that Cole's crosses can result in unwanted consequences. USA be warned.

England had one more chance of finally scoring a goal of their own as Gerrard's cross came free to Rooney and Heskey in the box with both off by a fraction.

Shane Smeltz scored the winner as NZ scored their most impressive victory in their footballing history by beating Serbia.

Winston Reid floated a long ball which Rory Fallon was able to win over Nemanja Vidic, turning the ball to Smeltz who caused Antonio Rukavina all kinds of trouble before tucking the ball past Anđelko Đuričić in the 22nd minute.

The Serbs ranked 63 places above the All Whites in the recently released FIFA rankings and in their midst were stalwarts of the Premiership, Serie, and the Bundesliga, including recent Birmingham City arrival, Nikola Zigic.

The Serbian performance led to angry fans rioting in the second half bringing the match to a halt. Serbian captain Nemanja Vidic had to appeal for calm before the match resumed.

The result is in keeping with a number of recent performances that have not exactly cast the leading contenders in a good light. Serbia is in a very tough group with Ghana, Germany, and Australia. All the teams in Group D are capable of inflicting the worst possible misery on each other.

Luis Fabiano is ready to embrace ugly football as long as it gets them back the World Cup. The illusion of beautiful Brazilian football is over.

"If it is necessary to play dirty to win, we will do it, what counts at the World Cup is to win," said Fabiano at Brazil's training camp.

The irony of a Brazilian striker talking about winning ugly should not be lost to anyone.

This is true because there are no more new You Tube clips of Ronaldinho dribbling the ball through airports, toilets, and locker rooms. The icons of the new Brazil generation under Dunga are goalies like Julio Cesar, goal scoring defenders like Maicon and Lucio, and tough holding midfielders like Felipe Melo.

It is left to the Argentinians to cling to magic realism. They will live and die through Leo Messi. That makes them beautifully doomed figures in a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel.

Rigobert Song returns to the Cameroon line up 16 years after making his debut in the 1994 World Cup. Paul Le Guen named his 23 man roster and included the veteran journeyman who is now out of contract at Trabzanspor.

Rigobert has always been described as the uncle of Arsenal's Alex Song, who was also selected. More recently, an interview establishes him as Song's cousin. Which sort of better explains the 11 year age gap between the two men.

The uncle's idol is Roger Milla, the man who emblazoned the Indomitable Lions to an unforgettable 1994 World Cup campaign. He was Milla's team mate in that squad. The 42 year old veteran was a role model to the 17 year old at the time. In that same interview, Rigobert named Milla as the best Cameroon player of all time.

It is almost too tempting to believe that Le Guen picked Rigobert Song to motivate Samuel Eto'o to greater effort to claim that mantle. Milla's influence is still overwhelming enough for a recent dust up between him and Eto'o, who threatened to walk out of the squad following criticism by the Cameroonian talisman that he still had to prove himself.

Arsenal target Stephane Mbia, part of L'OM's stingy back four finds himself on the squad. Also selected - Spurs defenders Benoit Assou Ekotto if believed, has no teary eyed illusions about football being a patriotic endeavour, and Sebastian Bassong. Jean Makoun the long distance bomber from Lyon will anchor the midfield with Alex Song.

Cameroon are in Group E with Netherlands as overwhelming favourites to progress. They will fight with Denmark and Japan for that coveted second spot.

Goalkeepers: Hamidou Souleymanou (Kayserispor), Carlos Kameni (Espanyol), Guy Roland Ndy Assembe (Valenciennes)

Defenders: Benoit Assou-Ekotto (Tottenham), Sebastien Bassong (Tottenham), Gaetan Bong (Valenciennes), Aurelien Chedjou (Lille), Geremi (Ankaragucu), Stephane Mbia (Marseille), Nicolas Nkoulou (Monaco), Rigobert Song (Trabzonspor)

Midfielders: Eyong Enoh (Ajax), Jean II Makoun (Lyon), Georges Mandjeck (Kaiserslautern), Joel Matip (Schalke), Landry Nguemo (Celtic), Alexandre Song (Arsenal)

Forwards: Vincent Aboubakar (Coton Sport), Eric Choupo-Moting (Nurnberg), Achille Emana (Real Betis), Samuel Eto'o (Inter Milan), Mohamadou Idrissou (Freiburg), Achille Webo (Mallorca).

Jose Mourinho has a clause in his four year Real Madrid contract that gives him a free hand to talk to any club after two years.

Naturally, that gets every speculation primed for a Premiership return, this time to Man Utd.

Gives all those stories of draining Premiership talent some context. With Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, and Ashley Cole ensconced in the Bernabeu, the Premiership title will be a walkover. Clever Jose, thinking long term.

England's unconvincing win over Mexico was partly put down to the absence of the Chelsea trio of Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, and John Terry.

They return in the friendly against Japan and we get to test that hypothesis. Fabio Capello also includes Tom Huddlestone and Darren Bent.

The Portuguese Soccer Federation have released this photograph showing C Ron covered with warpaint doing what looks like a pretty good Rambo impersonation.

However the glum look he is sporting cannot be because he has to head off to Vietnam armed with a collection of lethal free kicks.It must be something else that is making him look so gloomy.The warpaint was just part of a special training session given by the Portuguese Air Force in Covilha, central Portugal, Friday. The Portuguese team is training in the Estrela mountains in preparation for the World Cup soccer tournament taking place in June and July in South Africa.
More pics here..

It took 91 minutes for Spain to find the winning goal. Fernando Llorente struck that late goal to help them eke out a 3-2 victory over Saudi Arabia in the first of their three pre-World Cup friendlies in Innsbruck on Saturday evening.
They also had to come from behind - conceding the first goal.Not a good omen if you believe in omens.

By now the US needed shock therapy. Bradley brought in Steve Cherundolo, Oguchi Onyewu, Jose Torres, and Robbie Findley on resumption of the second half. Out went Spector, Goodson, Clark, and Benny Feilhaber. The moribund attack received an instant lift.

46 minutes +: Michael Bradley almost gave the USA the equalizer on the onset as Bocanegra floats in a long cross into the box, nicely controlled by Donovan, who cuts the ball back but Bradley has his shot blocked by Servet Cetin in the nick of time.

Findley was a revelation as he showed serious attacking purpose. Altidore by now had dropped back deep into ball retrieval mode.

54 minutes+: Altidore lays a pass to Findley who curls his shot with his left foot just wide of the goalpost.

57 minutes +:The breakthrough came in breathtaking fashion in the 57th minute. Jay De Merit punts a ball down the field finding Findley who controls it nicely, turns, and cheekily chips it over to a streaking Donovan who swipes it past Volkan Demirel at the first touch and cuts the ball across goalmouth. Altidore is at hand to guide it into goal. The 55,000 fans at Financial Field erupt in joy.

58 minutes+ :Findley a minute later after contributing to the goal, combines with Donovan again, to run the ball on the right but his curling cross goes just wide.

61 minutes +: A goalmouth scramble finds Emre whose drilled shot is saved by a diving Onyewu to save a likely goal. A defensive gem.

67 minutes+: Donovan shows some great pace to outhustle the Turkish defense but his grounder just flashes wide off the goal.

74 minutes+: The Turkish citadel falls as Deuce latches onto a pass by Donovan and using his strength fights off Sabri Sarioglu's challenge while maintaining his balance to slip the ball underneath the outstretched hands of Demirel. The USA are up finally.

The Turks mount a furious campaign to find a equalizer but the US weather the storm well.

86th minutes+: Stuart Holden finds Michael Bradley surging into the box. Instead of taking the shot at goal, the midfielder cuts to the ball to Dempsey. The Fulham striker's effort goes wide to the left.

88th minute+: Torres free kick curls and strikes the side netting taking everybody by surprise.

Torres improved the midfield controlling the ball, showing flashes of creativity, while Findley combined well with Donovan down the wing to shake things up with his speed. Carlos Bocanegra and Steve Cherundolo provided good service into the danger area. Clint Dempsey kept his reputation as a big time scorer intact.

Jozy Altidore in a great bit of improvisation and sacrifice dropped down. The Hull City forward showed some neat touches while assisting on attack. The US created a good deal of unpredictability with no obvious target man in the second half. There was a much better flow to the US game.

Tim Howard looked ready to burst into flames as his defense crumbled at the slightest hint of pressure.

2 minutes +: Benny Feilhaber in a momentary lapse of reason plays a perfect cross to Semih Senturk with the game barely 2 minutes old. Senturk flashes a beautiful cross that Howard manages with fingertips to keep away from Tuncay Sanli.

4 minutes +: The US defense backpedals as Tuncay gets the ball in midfield and the Stoke City forward has acres of space to lay a pass to Senturk. The winger lurking on the left runs forward and then passes the ball across the goalmouth to the arriving Tuncay in perfect position to score but he is off by inches.

9 minutes +: Hamit Altintop gets the ball from Tuncay's backheel as the US defense backpedals again allowing the Bayern Munich midfielder to come to the edge of the box, as five US defenders close down on him. Altintop tries to finesse a shot past Howard which to the relief of every US supporter flashes wide.

With every defender drawn to him like flies Altintop went for a low percentage shot as Tuncay and Kazim Kazim were open because no one was left to mark them. Howard went ballistic and rightly so. It was shambolic.

13 minutes +: The indefatigable Tuncay, now a many headed Hydra receives a short pass from Emre and then threads a beautiful pass past Jonathan Spector to Arda Turan who cuts in as Spector tries to recover. Turan's shot flashes over Howard. Another close call.

25 minutes +: Jonathan Spector is the beneficiary of a Turkish mishit into midfield. The West Ham defender takes off Emmanuel Eboue fashion pushing the ball deeper into Turkish territory as the US pour in men. He gets picked off the ball at the edge of the box and the Turks mount a counterattack.

The US are caught in disarray with virtually no one in the backfield as Turan gets the ball. Spector smelling danger chugs back almost 70 yards in vain with Bradley in tow. Turan, quick as a flash positions himself before the two players converge on him and slides the ball past Howard to give Turkey the lead. The four actors have differing emotions. Turan's face festooned with joy, Spector looking nonplussed, Michael Bradley tight lipped, and Howard shaking his head in disbelief.

38 minutes +: Spector whiffs on a long ball with Turan once again getting better of the US right back and cutting in. Luckily, there is no one to latch onto his cross. The Turks are now smelling blood and Spector is offal.

39 minutes +: Tuncay the magnificent fronts Bradley and takes off on the right with the coach's son trailing him and then lays a shot which gets a tiny deflection of a diving Goodson. The ball looks dangerously like going in before ballooning over to the roof of the goal.

42 minutes +: The US has its best chance as Altidore picks up the ball on the right flank and in a nifty display of ball skill and spatial awareness lays a cross that is just beyond the reach of the sliding Dempsey.

44 minutes +: The Turks in a familiar routine by now attack through Altintop as the backpedaling US get caught again. Turan goes for glory but shoots straight to Howard.

Spector was woeful. Bocanegra was a non factor. Michael Bradley had a granite visage and nothing else. It was a forgettable display. One wishes there was a Men in Black erasure of memory.

The USA will face Guus Hiddink and his men at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia today at 2 PM. The final match before the squad departs for the World Cup.

A chance to experiment with the new faces in the squad or does Bob Bradley stick to the familiar figures. Oguchi Onyewu's performance will be keenly watched to see whether the AC Milan central defender's return to match fitness is going as planned.

Does Bob Bradley put in Edson Buddle as partner to Jozy Altidore?

Clint Dempsey plays down the right, Landon Donovan on the left with Ricardo Clark and Michael Bradley occupying the central midfield positions.

Carlos Bocanegra occupies left back with Oguchi Onyewu and Jay De Merit at center and Steve Cherundolo at right.

Or he could get more experimental and put in Jose Francisco Torres and Maurice Edu in central midfield. Replace Cherundolo with Jonathan Spector and pair Herculez Gomez with Altidore up top. Dempsey could also move to the top if Bradley wants to play DaMarcus Beasley/ Stuart Holden to the left and shift Donovan to the right.

The sight of Bocanegra at left back might be a bit jarring. He's been employed in that position at Rennes but he does not fit the wingback prototype, in comparison to the opposition in Group C- Nadir Belhadj and Ashley Cole are relatively short and quick. They are known for their attacking forays and crosses.

Bocanegra's relative inertness might be beneficial for defensive reasons but the winger whether it is DaMarcus Beasley, Holden or Donovan will have to cover a wide swath of territory.

The left back position marred by poor performances and the central spots with injury concerns are areas that the Turkish attack will look to exploit. They are a relentless team with a fine record in international competition. The 2008 Euro campaign still rings loud.

Bayern Munich's Hamit Altintop recently seen taking over Franck Ribery's position down the left in the Champions League final. He can play on either flank. Veteran Emre Belozoglu, of Toon fame- the Maradona of the Bosporus is the creative trust. Up top the Turks have a trio of fine strikers. Workhorse Tuncay Sanli of Stoke City, Besiktas's Nihat Kahveci, and pint sized Semih Senturk of Fenerbahce.

Hiddink just took over Turkish duties so it will be too early to judge whether his tactics are in place but these players have enough international experience and knowledge to know what it takes to control the ball and score when needed. They are a very good gauge of USA's readiness for the World Cup.

Peter Shilton and Graeme Le Saux go head-to-head 200ft. above London to shoot start the biggest single prize in sports betting history - $100 million.

The All Blacks fearsome Ka Mate turns opposition legs to jelly

How about Ryan Nelsen and the All Whites coming with their version of the Ka Mate, the ritualistic dance that the All Blacks do before every rugby game.

A spectacle complete with intimidatory thigh slapping, chest puffing, foot stomping, bending the hips and knees, while the team exhorts itself with an ever building crescendo of fierce chants and staring down the opponents. Never fails to set off butterflies in the stomach. The Ka Mate adds to the mythic status of the All Blacks as the most powerful rugby team on the planet.

Fancy some Slovakian legs turning a bit wobbly with an All White version of the Ka Mate. Giorgio Chiellini thinking twice about a tackle. Oscar Cardozo giving up on a header. Hey, any edge that New Zealand gets will be a bonus. Maybe the All Blacks help their football brethren by bringing their act on the pitch before kick off?

Here is a video of the Ka Mate accompanied with the explanation of the words >>

Jogi Low announced that Bayern right back Phillipp Lahm would take over as German captain with Bayern team mate Bastian Schweinsteiger his deputy.

Low explained his decision to choose Lahm over Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose. He went with Lahm's more cerebral demeanour.

"He expresses his opinion clearly and precisely to his circle in the team. And even outside of the field. He is a player who thinks about the composition of the team. For me, Philipp Lahm is an important partner. I know that his feedback is always open and honest."

Michael Neuer was also chosen as the number one goalkeeper over Tim Weise and Hans Jorg Butt.

Philipp Lahm is the first full back to be honored as German captain and arguably the first defender too as Franz Beckenbauer technically speaking was a 'sweeper', a position created from midfield to patrol the field behind the man marking back four.

German captains since 1954:

Michael Ballack (2006), Oliver Kahn (2002), Jürgen Klinsmann (1998), Lothar Matthäus (1990,1994), Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (1982, 1986), Berti Vogts (1978), Franz Beckenbauer (1974), Uwe Seeler (1966, 1970), Hans Schäfer (1958, 1962), Fritz Walter (1954).

The good old style leather ball: safe and predictable

Brazil's goalkeeper joins the chorus of Jabulani critics calling it something that you would find in a "grocery store."

Cesar also called the Adidas ball "horrible" and "terrible."

Looks like the goalkeepers in the World Cup will be subjected to '"fastballs", "sliders", "change ups", "reverse swingers", "googlies", "knuckleballs" and all manner of trickery from the Jabulani. Makes one wonder how Lev Yashin would have fared.

Faouzi Chaouchi, the Algerian goalkeeper was woeful.

Check out the first goal where Chaouchi was late coming out to challenge Philip Green who bravely headed the ball down for Ireland's first goal and got kicked in the act. He had to leave to the pitch to receive medical attention.

The second goal was even more of a blunder as Chaouchi weakly punches Damien Duff's cross straight to Robbie Keane who makes no mistake curling the ball over the stranded goalkeeper.

Ireland added a third when Djamel Mesbah brought down Keane in the 83rd minute, which looked like a clean tackle missed by the referee. The upshot of it was Keane converting the resulting spot kick.

Rabah Saadane rested some of his stars like Majid Bougherra, Hassan Yebda, Antar Yahia and Karim Matmour because of injury concerns.

On display was highly rated Adlene Guediora recently signed on by Wolverhampton on a three year contract after impressing Mick McCarthy in his role holding midfielder. Ryad Boudebouz, Mbolhi Rais Wahab, Habib Bellaid, Djamel Mesbah, and Kadir Fouad also earned their debuts.

Chaouchi's goalkeeping and the defensive effort of the back four will be of grave concern to Saadane if Algeria wants to stop the likes of Wayne Rooney, Jozy Altidore, and Milivoje Novakovič. He maybe better off starting the more experienced Lounès Gaouaoui in goal.

Franco Baldini, one of the assistants to Fabio Capello was there to witness the match and must have seen enough for England to fancy their chances.

They beat Turkey by one vote. Can't blame the Turks if they feel unwanted in Europe.

Technical glitches forced SA to put about half a million tickets on hold initially when they were put on sale in April. Police had to be called to quell angry crowds who had come from all over SA to buy tickets in person.

The same glitches cropped up when the last batch of 160,000 tickets were released. Of these 90,000 were additional tickets, including seats for both semifinals and more than 800 for the July 11 final, were added to the main batch.

FIFA said ticket service provider Match was experiencing "significant delays" due to technical problems across all sales channels, which include FIFA's own ticket centers as well as local bank branches.

No tickets were sold on Friday, two hours after ticket sales opened.

The Socceroos became the first team to arrive in SA, signaling the World Cup is on. They will train at Johannesburg before taking on Germany on June 13th, in their first match.

Pim Verbeek was not very impressed by Tim Cahill and Vince Grella's tackles that forced Leo Bertos out of the pitch in a recent friendly with the All Whites. They were chewed out by the tough talking Dutch coach. He also has injury concerns with Harry Kewell not a 100% fit which could mean an opportunity for Ukrainian born Nikita Rukavytsya to take over.

Colombia not only lost the match but players had money stolen from the rooms of the Johannesburg's Hyde Park Southern Sun Hotel where they were staying.

Two female housekeepers were arrested for stealing 21,000 rand ($2,767).

Amidst the hum of the ever incessant vuvuzelas, Bafana Bafana was able to overcome Colombia through Katlego Mphela's 58' minute penalty.

That was actually how the match played out, three controversial decisions and three penalties. Check them out. In each case, the referee Langat Samwel might have got it wrong.

Tiko Modise's first penalty was saved by David Ospina but it was retaken because the Colombian goalie was adjudged to have moved before the shot. Mario Yepes and Ospina protesting the decision vociferously.

This time Modise did not miss. Colombia equalized when Gustavo Ramos was brought down in the box and Giovanni Moreno converted the resulting spot kick. Bafana Bafana went ahead for good with Mphela's penalty. Then they saw out a Colombian comeback through some good goalkeeping by Moneeb Joseph.

Steven Pienaar and Benni McCarthy, the Premiership big stars made their appearances to raucous applause from the 70,000 strong crowd.

France beat the Ticos, 2-1 in a friendly that saw flowing, attacking football.

Les Bleus looked sharp with Franck Ribery providing most of the attacking thrust down the left, cutting in with speed and foot skills. Jeremy Toulalan anchored the midfield with his holding duties while setting free Yoann Gourcuff who is looking to take over Zidane's creative role, peppering the Ticos with his set pieces and long distance bombs.

The defense looked like a mini subset of Arsenal with Bakar Sagna and William Gallas. The Arsenal central defender sought to allay injury concerns as Raymond Domenech played him for a half before replacing him with Sebastian Squillaci.

Costa Rica took the lead as Carlos Hernandez struck a rasping shot across goal that beat Steve Mandanda in the 11'. France struck back with Toulalan taking possession of the ball before releasing the fleet footed Ribery who was able to beat a very game Keylor Navas.

Bryan Ruiz, the FC Twente sensation then tested Mandanda with a fiercely struck left footed drive that the L'OM custodian was just able to tip over. France had a series of good chances through Gourcuff, Squillaci, and Henry but Navas was able to see them off.

In the 83' minute, Abou Diaby dazzled with some very nifty footwork before laying of a pass to substitute Mathie Valbuena, making his French debut. The L'OM midfielder who has had one of his most successful domestic seasons, made a dream start by finishing off emphatically.

Raymond Domenech employed an attacking 4-3-3 which yielded impressive dividends on attack but there are questions at the back. France are in Group A with Mexico, Uruguay, and hosts South Africa. Their biggest rivals are the Celeste brimming with firepower with Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez, the Eredivisie's top scorer by a mile. Mexico has an outside chance while SA has made some positive impact with a series of impressive results and will be counting on home support to spring a shock.

Maybe that should have read Obama and Bill Clinton wish the US Team.Protocol is everything when it comes to getting a presidential sendoff...

"I just want to say how incredibly proud we are of the team. Everybody's going to be rooting for you. And although sometimes we don't remember it here in the United States, this is going to be the biggest world stage there is. And you're going to be representing all of us... We're going to be proud of what you do when you get to South Africa, and you will have somebody in the Oval Office who's going to be watching ESPN to make sure that things are going OK." - President Barack Obama.

UEFA today announced sweeping reforms that ensure clubs fiscal prudence and financial parity. Michel Platini after these resolutions were adopted unanimously:

"This approval today is the start of an important journey for European football's club finances as we begin to put stability and economic common sense back into football. I thank all the stakeholders who have supported this along the way."

Most of these measures are built around stopping rich owners from underwriting losses by "bailing out" the club with borrowed money. Since these are not frontloaded transfer or salary caps, UEFA has introduced 'carrot and stick' measures- strict auditing and financial transparency requirements which they hope will rein in bloated transfer fees and salaries.

Clubs who pass these financial litmus tests will be rewarded with participation in the lucrative Champions League. Those who do not pass muster, will be disbarred.

• Break-even requirement - clubs must not spend more than they generate over a period of time.

• No overdues payable during the season - towards other clubs, employees and/or social/tax authorities.

• Provision of future financial information - to ensure clubs can meet their future obligations.

UEFA wants to gradually wean the clubs away from owner underwritten debt. In hard numbers:

• Owners will be allowed to cover losses of up to a maximum of $55 million over an initial three-year period starting in 2012.

• In the three years from 2015, just $37 million in losses can be covered.

• The bailouts would only be allowed with "committed funds" of capital and not by borrowing.

• Clubs without a wealthy patron would be allowed $6.1 million in losses over three years.

• Clubs should aim to spend no more than 75 percent of revenue on player costs.

The writing is clear for clubs like Man City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, and even Barcelona. This year should see record setting amounts paid out in transfers as these clubs scramble to beat the deadline before the plug on unchecked spending is pulled.

Michael Essien, the rock of Ghana's midfield will not make it to South Africa.

He has been unable to recover sufficiently from a tear to his medial collateral ligament sustained in January while training for the Africa Cup of Nations.

How big will his loss be? He is an undoubted star but there are positive signs that he may not be indispensable. In this year's ACN both Essien and Sulley Muntari were unavailable. The former because of his knee injury, the latter dropped for disciplinary issues.

In their absence a trio of 20 year old midfielders, Kwadwo Asamoah, André Ayew, and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu stepped up admirably to guide them to the ACN finals, losing narrowly to Egypt, 1-0.

Chelsea were also able to win the Premiership without Essien's presence mainly because of the steady influence of John Obi Mikel in the holding role and Frank Lampard coming alive in the second half of the season.

Much will depend on Sulley Muntari who has had a long standing contentious relationship with the Ghana national team over disciplinary issues. He was dropped by Milan Rajovac for the ACN but was reinstated in the national squad after he apologized.

Muntari is one player who can match Essien in the spectacular shot department plus he brings a tough tackling presence to the midfield.

Essien is a tough loss but Ghana has shown that it can weather his absence. So which Chelsea midfielder will be missed more in the Group D encounter between Ghana and Germany? Essien or Michael Ballack? Another interesting sub plot in a match already full of them.

A few more lines and wrinkles since he joined Real

Florentino Perez had written off Manuel Pellegrini a long time ago.

Pellegrini opened up about his relationship with the imperious Real Madrid president, revealing that the only contact he had with Florentino Perez was in August. It was a conversation of no great significance.

Before the season began Pellegrini had significant differences with Perez's decision to offload players, especially Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder. He said, "He was wrong in many ways to let them go."

Pellegrini felt that their fortunes would have been enhanced by the presence of Robben.

"The winger would have improved the scoring in a major way. With him this season we would have won 19 games at the Bernabeu and scored 120 goals. Without the winger we scored 102 ..... "

He also confessed he felt undervalued and unappreciated, often overlooked in meetings about football matters where his opinion as the coach would have mattered. In fact, his input was altogether brief.

Real Madrid in the Ramon Calderon and Florention Perez era have always been brutal to successful coaches who have given them glory but lacked star power. Vicente Del Bosque and Bernd Schuster come to mind. Pellegrini channels history when he feels he would have been sacked even if they had won the Liga. Despite the coaching staff and the players who were behind him every step of the way.

The Champions League loss to Lyon and the Copa Del Rey crash and burn to Alcorcon were frustrating and Pellegrini accepted full responsibility for the losses. There was no justification, no excuses, especially when it came to Alcorcon.

In the end one feels sympathy for a very good coach and an introspective soul out of depth and insufficiently ruthless for the giant vampire squid of the football world. He was let down by a number of players who never showed up. Kaka, Karim Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo were hugely disappointing in matches that really mattered. But even if they did, it would not have been enough to save Pellegrini. He was an interruption to their real goal: getting Mourinho.

Florentino Perez called a press conference yesterday to announce the termination of Manuel Pellegrini and the hiring of Jose Mourinho.

Mou was supposed to be presented at the Bernabeu tomorrow but it is not happening.

There is a small problem of €16 million Inter is demanding for his release. Oops!

The clause was actually inserted by Mourinho last year when he renewed his contract with Inter and Massimo Moratti, extending it to 2012. Mourinho for all the fanfare of leaving the San Siro, is still an employee of Inter and bound by its contractual obligations.

The funny part is that Mourinho believed that Inter was going to waive that payment of his release clause in gratitude for winning the Champions League. Oops again!

In fact, both clubs seem to have dug their heels on this issue.

"We won't be paying any part of the release clause, it has nothing to do with us," Perez said. "There's not much we can do, it's down to Mourinho and Inter to work things out."

The two clubs conducted meetings all day long between Jorge Mendez, Mourinho's agent; Jose Angel Sanchez, Real's representative; Rinaldo Ghelfi, Inter's VP of financial affairs; and Marco Branca, Inter's sporting director but they proved unsuccessful.

Branca was of the opinion that these negotiations between all concerned parties were going to drag on.

"Inter are in no hurry" and that his club "will not yield on the payment of the clause."

Mourinho will either show up at the Bernabeu €16 million lighter unless he gets Real to pay off his release or Inter relents. That coronation at the Bernabeu will have to wait. But add one more story to the tone deaf Perez era.

Rafa Benitez made a surprise guest appearance during a performance of One Night In Istanbul at the Liverpool Empire.

Mexico's midfield is impressive with its ball control- it is superior to the USA but their composure in front of goal is what lets them down. A depleted Dutch team took on El Tri and on the strength of a Van Persie brace emerged victors.

By the way, Telemundo credited the first goal to a Rafael Van Persie, an obvious tip to his Mexican roots.

The experiment of bringing Cesc Fabregas to Barca to complete Joan Laporta's Catalunyan legacy seems to have taken another twist.

The Spanish midfield maestro has his version of "In Wenger we trust" after meeting with Arsenal's gaffer.

"He told me to concentrate on my football, he told me to concentrate on the World Cup, and he told me to leave it in his hands: [that] he will deal with whatever happens in my future. That's what I am doing - just concentrating on football."

The more wishy washy statement is a far cry from a more definitive, " I am packing my bags to return home and no one can stop me" situation that was prevalent two weeks ago. What did Wenger say to him to drop the hardball? It was the greatest meeting according to Fabregas which could not have helped Laporta's blood pressure.

Spanish clubs like Barca and Real Madrid operate on elections which are legacy driven. Eveyone wants to outdo Joan Gamper or Alfredo Di Stefano. Every time this happens, it leads to the unseemly sort of rows as witnessed between Man Utd and Real Madrid over Ronaldo, and now Arsenal over Fabregas.

What angered the Arsenal management were the tactics used by Barca, putting the media up first as a front for the Fabregas return without the courtesy of a direct approach.

In fact, there has been no contact between the two clubs. Meanwhile, all the stories are how this transfer should be wrapped up before the World Cup and the Barcelona elections so that Laporta can have his Barca Hall of Fame moment. Fabregas is a pawn in all these electoral manipulations. Some more reality based commentators are already telling Barca to layoff the Arsenal player - to let him concentrate on the World Cup. They need his mind and legs, distraction free.

Is a talisman bigger than a club? One would say, never. But in Arsenal's case it is not so simple. You only become talismanic if you stay long enough.

The battle will be resumed over the summer after the World Cup is over. I think at this point Arsenal have the upper hand. An exorbitant price tag on Fabregas and Barca will balk. The calm calculus of reason takes over as critics point to the full deck of players in the club's possession. It seems more likely that Arsenal will retain the services of Fabregas at least for another season.

I have said it repeatedly, Fabregas gives the impression of a grim faced lone ranger on the pitch doing battle in Arsenal colours. Bring back his joy by giving him a crew that believes in the club.

In case you have not already seen the video clip showing the Special One has feelings - here it is. I am surprised Materazzi did not headbutt him.

Warning: The content is extremely graphic and could alter your opinions about him for ever.

Fabio Capello said his focus was on England.

"I have a contract with the Football Association and the only way it will finish is if they decide to sack me."

With Roberto Mancini out of the running. Rafa Benitez whose unsettled status at Anfield led to rumours of an UAE job, could be the next in line.

Quite a shocker. The CW was that Ching would partner Jozy Altidore. Every pundit in the land predicted that the Houston Dynamo forward would make the final 23.

Ching suffered a hamstring injury on April 1 in the Dynamo's opener but he had recovered by the time he was called to training camp.

In his place Bradley picked Robbie Findley, who has not scored a goal in 4 national appearances.

In fact between Buddle, Findley, and Gomez the trio have managed 9 caps and 1 goal. Compare that to Ching's 45 caps and 11 goals.

Adding Altidore's contribution, the duo have 69 caps and 19 goals.

Bradley's selection of forwards show a thin resume in relation to their World Cup opposition. All other teams in Group C have far more experience.

Wayne Rooney and Peter Crouch lead the way with 95 caps and 45 goals. Algeria's Rafik Saifi and Rafik Djebbour have combined for 72 appearances and 21 goals. Slovenia's Milivoje Novakovič and Zlatan Ljubijankič add 53 caps and 18 goals. Altidore and Ching's record is quite comparable to the Algerian and Slovenian forwards.

However it is not just Ching's experience, it is the way he plays the game. Clearly his strength is with his back to the goal. He is like Mark Viduka in that respect. Holds the ball well, good on the turn, and a nice finisher of crosses. You know where Ching is on the field. He is a tireless worker.

Findley's speed makes him better suited for a wide game as a winger on the right. But he also tends to disappear in matches. Which is a bit worrying because we also have Donovan and Dempsey who share that trait. Too many X factors on attack is not good for the mind and soul of US fans.

Bradley's explanation for Ching's exclusion:

" Brian has been such an important player but it's tough when you have an injury at an inopportune time."

"It was extremely hard with the respect that we all have for Brian. As a person, for the way he plays on the field, his commitment to the team--it's always hard whenever you make these types of decisions, but it's particularly difficult when it's a player that has contributed so much to the national team over the years."

Bradley's thinking is Ching's hamstring injury took him out of the running and it worked to the advantage of Buddle and Gomez. But it does not explain Findley who has remained healthy and done very little in the MLS season. One goal and one assist so far.

Here he is on Findley:

"What he's shown is that his movement along the front line is good, his speed, his ability to try to get behind the defense. Now in those situations he needs the ability to make those count a little bit more. Part of that is confidence, and now when he gives himself a little advantage, he needs to be the type of player that defenders worry about and who can ultimately take his chances and start to make a little more happen in those moments."

The World Cup really should not be a place for such experiments. I can see Buddle make his case, he is a player brimming with confidence right now with his MLS exploits. Gomez just finished a great season with Puebla and gave a great boost of the bench against the Czech Republic.

Ching is really a hard luck story because he made it to the last World Cup but Bruce Arena never played him. This World Cup, he was completely overlooked and the mystery is why.

Goalkeepers (3): Brad Guzan (2010), Marcus Hahnemann (2006, 2010), Tim Howard (2006, 2010)

Defenders (7): Carlos Bocanegra (2006, 2010), Jonathan Bornstein (2010), Steve Cherundolo (2002, 2006, 2010), Jay DeMerit (2010), Clarence Goodson (2010), Oguchi Onyewu (2006, 2010), Jonathan Spector (2010)

Midfielders (9): DaMarcus Beasley (2002, 2006, 2010), Michael Bradley (2010), Ricardo Clark (2010), Clint Dempsey (2006, 2010), Landon Donovan (2002, 2006, 2010), Maurice Edu (2010), Benny Feilhaber (2010), Stuart Holden (2010), José Torres (2010)

Forwards (4): Jozy Altidore (2010), Edson Buddle (2010), Robbie Findley (2010), Herculez Gomez (2010)

The new World Cup ball has been given the traditional vote of no confidence by goalies.
U.S. backup goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann had the following discouraging things to say about it.
"It's horse[crap]," he said. "It's the worst soccer ball I've ever played with because it's plastic and feels like [crap] when it comes off your foot. It moves like crazy. Like a cross. You go up and jump to catch it and then it drops like three feet. You're not going to see any headed goals, probably. Forwards are going to get deceived as well. It's just ridiculous. There has to be a standard of what the ball should be like. Imagine baseball all of sudden you came out, 'Oh, we're playing at this place now and a new ball.' The pitches would look totally different. You can't do it. There's no standard."
When asked how to cope with the new ball, he replied, "Just train as much as you can. Everyone has to deal with it. It's not making the game any better. It's making the game worse.These things, you try to bend them, they don't bend, they go straight. It's like those little kids' plastic balls you play with at the beach. You go to bend them and they go the wrong way. They bend exactly opposite. That's exactly what these things do. You can't tell what it's going to do."

French keeper Hugo Lloris added the following despairing comments..

"This ball is a disaster. We played with it in the Coupe de France this winter. We must get used to it.All goalkeepers will be well under pressure. We will each share of madness. In fact, I don't ask myself this question. I just know that with this kind of ball they can score from anywhere.What is strange is that these balls, when they are in the air, may very well never come down, or they could descend very quickly.Goalkeepers must be constantly alert, constantly analyzing. This position requires it, but we will have to be even more concentrated.Prior to the late 1990s, the balls were very heavy and goalkeepers could block them. Now, we can only be as effective as possible, be in opposition, because they are too fast and are constantly changing direction."

And finally the opinions of Oguchi Onyewu, Jozy Altidore, Stuart Holden, and Tim Howard on the new World Cup ball.

Herculez Gomez should be on that plane

U.S. head coach Bob Bradley will announce the 23-man U.S. World Cup roster today live on ESPN during SportsCenter's 1 p.m. ET hour.

I fully anticipate that Herculez Gomez will be on that final list. His 66th minute goal showed his usefulness as a super sub. DaMarcus Beasley had a good game and so did Alejandro Bedoya. Heath Pearce was as poor as Jonathan Bornstein.

Strikers: Edson Buddle and Gomez will join Jozy Altidore and Brian Ching.

Midfielders: Jose Francisco Torres and DaMarcus Beasley should make the cut. Alejando Bedoya or Robbie Rogers should pick up the final spot joining Landon Donovan, Stuart Holden, Ricardo Clark, Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, and Benny Feilhaber.

Defenders: Clarence Goodson will be selected. In my reckoning Goodson should be higher on the depth chart than Onyewu. Jonathan Bornstein will also retain his spot despite reassuring no one. Steve Cherundolo, Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Spector, Jay DeMerit make up the rest of the defensive brigade.

Muller fell from a mountain bike as part of the team's training and was left with a cut knee and a gash on his chin, the German Football Federation confirmed...

Clarence Goodson over Oguchi Onyewu: Look at this man's elevation

On the face of it, an unthinkable proposition. Gooch has been part of the US team for nigh on four years and with over 50 caps is one of it's most experienced players.

But he is struggling to overcome an injury that destroyed his patellar tendon. Seven months off the field - post reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation, and there are moments like the one witnessed against the Czech Republic which surely worry Bob Bradley. A purer gauge of where Onyewu lies in his progression to full match fitness would be difficult to find.

Without the elevation and the reaction time up to par, he will be a defensive liability. These assets also play a big part in Gooch's threat on set pieces. The US can ill afford a drop of at both ends.

With Carlos Bocanegra having injury concerns too - torn muscle fibers stitched together is not reassuring, a healthy, fully functioning central partnership will be essential in a group that has its share of big crossers and big bodies in the box. Aaron Lennon to Peter Crouch, Nadir Belhadj to Rafik Djebbour, Andraz Kirm to Milivoje Novakovič. Not to mention the set piece abilities of Steven Gerrard, Karim Ziani, and Robert Koren that need to be dealt with.

At this point Clarence Goodson looks far more assured. He might have a few question marks on his marking - he was taken to the cleaners by Martin Fenin and then failed to deal with Libor Sionko's pass effectively but there are no illusions when it comes to his set piece threat. He is the real deal. Both goals against the Czechs were due to his goalmouth hustle, especially the second one. He will more than offset the occasional defensive deficiency with his giant abilities in the box.

There were a number of glaring defensive breakdowns:

As a group: (77')

77th minute, a slashing Libor Sionko gets past an over committed Heath Pearce and lays a cross past the goal mouth which Clarence Goodson fails to deal with effectively. The US defenders are caught ball watching.

Tomas Necid's first touch is not the best but in the scramble his shot comes off Bedoya and springs free to the unmarked Martin Fenin who hits a clanger. There was no one culprit in that complete breakdown in defense beginning with the amount of ground ceded to Sionko to Fenin's finish.

The USA was also let down on the one on one situations.

Oguchi Onyewu: (44')

Does Bradley risk taking Oguchi Onyewu to SA? Seven months of injury time off can lead to situations like in the 44' minute when the AC Milan defender on a one on one with Tomas Sivok, completely failed to elevate to head off Jaroslav Plaisil's free kick, leaving Sivok unimpeded to score the Czech Republic's second goal.

Two factors go into successfully clearing a cross like that - reaction time and an explosive standing jump.

Gooch lacked both which shows that he is yet to attain complete match fitness. Peter Crouch will be relishing his prospects. Ditto Antar Yahia. Ditto Milivoje Novakovič.

Maurice Edu: (90+2')

The Rangers right back was guilty of misjudging a long ball in stoppage time which Tomas Necid was able to get to as the ball bounced of Edu's back. The Czech striker took off with Edu and Cherundolo giving up the pursuit.

If Bob Bradley was looking for some closure on his SA hopefuls on the defensive end, he was in for a letdown.

A report on how FIFA has outsourced most of the World Cup paraphernalia to places like China,and on how local businesses and small traders are being bullied...

The shock of conceding the Turkish Super Lig to Bursaspor, not exactly a powerhouse proved too much for Fenerbahce supporters. This is a week old but the message never gets old.

We have passion but in Turkey, football is life and death.

For the record Bursaspor won the Lig for the first time. In all, it was the first time in 26 years that a club outside of Istanbul had won the title. The last club to do so was Trabzonspor.

The current champions were a point above Bursaspor when they went into the final week. Ironically, it was Trabzonspor holding Fenerbahce to a 1-1 draw while Bursaspor won against Besiktas 2-1 to make history.

For 5 minutes Fener fans erroneously believed that they had won the title as the stadium announcer reported that Besiktas had equalized sending the stadium into a delirium of joy. But once the correction was made, the five stages of grief emerged quickly.

For Bursaspor's manager Ertugul Salam, it was dream debut and a club living on a fraction of a budget of the big three had defied the odds like they had done throughout the season before faltering. Leaving the last week for their true heroics. We leave also with a thought for Trabzonspor. They too have a big share in this historical season.

Makes sense. According to the Sun we are.

The only central defender who is a lock is Thomas Vermaelen.

We have William Gallas, in the throes of a contract wrangle, Mikel Silvestre, who ... ummmm..... errr.... is Mikel Silvestre, Johan Djorou who has been incapacitated for over a year and in the midst of a tentative comeback, Phillipe Senderos, caught in a strange career limbo, and Sol Campbell, an admirable return to the Premiership but limited to off the bench.

Young. 24 years of age. Check.
Fair bit of height at 6' 2" . Check.
Possesses outstanding tackling abilities. Check.
Shows true mental grit. I saw him take on Drogba and frustrate him to the point of tantrum. Check.
Can score the odd goal when needed. 5 in 29 appearances. Check.
Has not broken any Arsenal bones. Check.

Cahill pushed his national claims quite hard with his performance. It was touch and go with Capello.

He is Owen Coyle's poster boy on defense and that is frankly the best endorsement. We need the best of British steel, not another import. He is also ready to move on. And Coyle is resigned to losing him.

"If a big team wanted me to come and play for them, then you have got to be realistic and look at the fact it may be a right decision for both sides."

Can we pry £14 million from Arsenal's treasury? It might be worth it.

Rooney and 31 other portraits of World Cup footballers will be
on display at the Offside Gallery, Islington

Illustrator Eliott Quince has created 32 portraits of footballers representing each national team in the 2010 World Cup. He takes playground stickers or panini, supersizes them, and paints them onto a canvas.

The result is eye catching portraits of iconic football figures like Wayne Rooney, Michael Essien, Kaka, Roque Santa Cruz, Shunsuke Nakamura, Tim Cahill, Karim Ziani, and Landon Donovan, embodying the hopes of their nations in the World Cup. The list of footballers is available on his website.

Eliott will be adding a new portrait each day to his website till launch night on June 12th, when the whole collection will be on display at the Offside Gallery, Islington. The exhibit will be on till the end of the World Cup. So if you happen to be in that neck of the woods, please check it out.

The proceeds from the sale of these portraits go to the very worthy cause of helping the babies at Luton and Dunstable Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. There is a very personal note to Eliott's appeal.

Go to Eliott's website: Got, got, got, need! to learn more details on why, which, when and where, and how to buy these portraits.

A good read by Piers Edwards on the Algerian team, in the same group as USA, England, and Slovenia.

Algeria regularly provided exceptional players to France before the independence struggle began in the 1950s. That was when many of the Algerians like Monaco's Mustapha Zitouni and St Etienne's Rachid Mekloufi, considered sure prospects for the 1958 World Cup gave up playing for France to join the FLN, (Front de Liberation National) immortalized in Gilles Pontecorvo's classic "The Battle of Algiers".

More recently, a number of Algerians having risen up through the youth ranks in French clubs have returned to their country of origin with Raymond Domenech filling his squad with players from French overseas territories and West African Francophone countries.

Madjid Bougherra, Nadir Belhadj, Mourad Meghni and Hassan Yebda have strengthened Les Fennecs with Yebda and Meghni even winning the U17 World Cup title representing France.

Antar Yahia, the central defender who was Algeria's hero in the tense battle against Egypt at Khartoum by scoring the only goal became the first beneficiary of FIFA's rule change allowing a player with dual nationality and under the age of 21 years to switch his national allegiance. Yahia a former U18 French international was able to play for Algeria in the 2004 Olympics and scored a goal for a 1-0 win over Ghana.

With Samir Nasri, Karim Benzema, and Hatem Ben Arfa being left out, the nationalists would say that there will be no divided loyalties and no more embarrassing moments when Les Marseillaise is played. However, when opportunities close, others open up elsewhere. Les Fennecs are benefiting from these reverse migrations.

Will Buddle make the final 23 to the World Cup?

23 will be dressed for the match against Czech Republic tomorrow.

The absentees might be the ones with injury concerns like Carlos Bocanegra and Oguchi Onyewu, who are a lock for the World Cup, so those who don't suit up are not necessarily in danger of losing their place. But those healthy and not named in the 23 could be in danger.

In particular, the strikers are going to be a big story. Jozy Altidore is already a shoo in. Brian Ching is going to be his strike partner.

There are two other spots that need to be filled and they are being contested by LA Galaxy's Edson Buddle, who leads the MLS in most scoring statistics including goals scored and shots on goal, RSL's Robbie Findley, an impressive speed merchant who seems to have fallen of the pace from last season, Eddie Johnson nursing a strained hamstring now in the Greek league with Aris Thessaloniki, and Hercules Gomez who scored 10 goals for Puebla in the Mexican Clausura, the most by a US player.

The front runners are Buddle, with his scoring consistency and familiarity with Donovan on attack. Gomez has given good minutes off the bench and could be looked on as a super sub should the US need a goal.

The midfield with 12 right now need to be pruned down to eight or nine. Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, Maurice Edu, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Stuart Holden, Benny Feilhaber are sureties.

Jose Francisco Torres, Sacha Kljestan, DaMarcus Beasley, Alejandro Bedoya, and Robbie Rogers are the five midfielders in the mix for what should be one to two more spots.

Out of the group, Torres stands head above shoulders in talent level. He is a genuine creator with an eye for a pass and dazzling technical skills. He gives a different look to the US midfield and part of the transition has been integrating that different style.

If Torres is selected, then Bedoya and Kljestan are redundant. Bradley might choose to play someone on the wings having completed his complement of central midfielders. Beasley's lack of playing time at Rangers might go against him. Robbie Rogers is versatile and can play down either flank which might give him the nod.

In defense who will join Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit, Carlos Bocanegra, Jonathan Spector, Steve Cherundolo and Jonathan Bornstein?

The defense sports the most injury concerns with Onyewu, DeMerit and Bocanegra all coming back from time off. Bocanegra recently underwent a surgery to repair some torn muscle fibers in the front of the thigh which were restricting knee movement. Gooch is just coming back from a patellar tendon tear that kept him out for seven months. De Merit has an abdominal strain and prior to that a scratched cornea that has kept him away from the pitch.

The choices are Chad Marshall and Clarence Goodson. Both have been impressive on set pieces with Goodson edging out Marshall in his effectiveness. Heath Pearce is the other question mark.

The goalkeepers have little to worry about with Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, and Marcus Hahnemann taking the three spots.

The match against the Czech Republic should evoke some unhappy memories as the USA crashed to a 3-0 loss against them in their first group match in the 2006 World Cup. Many of their stalwarts like Jan Koller, Pavel Nedved, and Karel Poborsky have retired but the present team still boasts Petr Cech, Bordeaux's Jaroslav Plaisil and two dangerous forwards in Martin Fenin and Tomas Necid. An improved performance against them will be a good gauge of World Cup readiness.

Juve's horrible Serie season did not end there. They were humiliated by a Red Bulls side which is playing decent football after a long time.

Jeremy Hall, Conor Chinn and Juan Pablo Angel all scored in the second half with Amauri pulling one back for the visitors. The Old Lady controlled the first half through the efforts of Diego but was unable to score.

An important point: The attendances have picked up and are averaging about 14,000 which is about 60%- 70% of capacity. Wins against giants like Juventus will improve attendances further. Results like these also change perception of the MLS amongst players in leagues like the Serie when they are contemplating options.

Real Mallorca who did so well in the Liga almost qualifying for the Champions League are heading to bankruptcy. The club has run up debt amounting to 60-70 million euros and are struggling to pay the tax bill and the salaries of the players and the coaching staff.

Mallorca's owner Mateo Alemany, is confident that this is a temporary situation and called voluntary administration, a solution not a problem.

Other clubs who are in danger are Valencia and Villareal who are offloading their most expensive players in order to reduce the wage bill and pay off the debt. Valencia sold David Villa to Barcelona for 42 million euros and David Silva maybe the next to go to Real. Villareal may get rid of Giuseppe Rossi and Diego Lopez.

In the 63 minute Fabio Coentrao sends in a cross and CR7 engineers a blatant "Hand of God" look alike. The Real Madrid striker's ruse earned him a yellow card and plenty of sheepish looks.

The match is not what you would call a morale booster. The number 3 FIFA ranked team taking on 117th ranked Cape Verde in a friendly and failing to score a goal.

The match was dogged by the familiar sight of CR7 doing too much, trying to take on everybody, and generally trying to smash the goal down. Some good approach work by Nani on the right and a very accomplished Coentrao down the left was undone by poor finishing. Carlos Quieroz also had injury concerns with Tiago Mendes to undergo an MRI to determine the extent of his knee injury.

Aerial superiority and a great bit of individual skill by Glen Johnson were the highlights of England's 3-1 win over Mexico in a friendly. A World Cup curtain raiser which was also an opportunity for some players to state their case for selection in the final 23.

Fabio Capello might be relieved by Robert Green's performance but the defense looked ragged with Guillermo Franco turning Ledley King inside out creating an opportunity to score. King did better on the attacking end nodding the ball past Perez in goal to open the scoring after Spurs team mate Peter Crouch had headed the ball across the goalmouth.

But El Tri took possession of the game thereafter. England survived two very good attempts. Robert Green denying Carlos Vela after a neat pass from Dos Santos found the Arsenal forward and then a few minutes later Salcido's curling shot luckily struck the upright after beating the West Ham custodian. England went ahead against the run of play when another set piece let to Rooney's header striking the crossbar and off the rebound Crouch elongating his body deflected the ball into goal in what appeared to be an offside position.

England's defense then let them down, Leighton Baines making a meal out of a simple clearance and Franco pounced to pull one back for Mexico. The stage was set for Glen Johnson's spectacular bit of individualistic skill. Rooney was somewhat subdued but showed no ill effects of the groin and ankle injury that saw him take time off in the last part of the season.

Mexico faded in the second half but there are still questions for Fabio Capello before he submits his final 23. He has the Japan game to come to a decision.

The England line up was missing the Chelsea faction of Terry, Cole, and Lampard but the presence of Milner and Carrick failed to get the midfield going. Theo Walcott did little of note. Ledley King played all 90 minutes but it was not an assured defensive performance. Jamie Carragher played his first international in three years but did not have much to do. Leighton Baines showed he is not quite ready.

It is becoming clear that England need to keep their first XI healthy because their bench strength particularly on central defense does not look up to the mark. In midfield, Michael Carrick might have just ended his chances. Scott Parker in central midfield looks like a better option.

On the day Inter won the top European title, 45 years after its last win, the Tangerines were creating their bit of history at Wembley as they beat Cardiff, 3-2 with all the goals scored in the first half. Their Championship playoff win ensured passage into the Premiership as they finally return to the top echelon after 39 years. They defied overwhelming conventional wisdom doing so.

Brett Ormerod scored the all important winner. The veteran forward if he returns to Blackpool next season will have played in all four leagues with the club since he began his career 13 years ago.

Michael Chopra got the Bluebirds of to a brilliant start but it was Charlie Adams with a free kick that had class stamped all over it to restore parity. It was end to end stuff as in 6 breathless minutes, three goals were struck. For Cardiff, Joe Ledley ran a fine one- two with Peter Whittington, to get Cardiff's pulse racing when he smacked his shot past Matthew Gilks.

Three minutes later, a frantic goalmouth scramble which had everything including a goalmouth save results in Gary Taylor -Fletcher heading the ball, almost getting decapitated in the process to bring the Tangerine back on level terms.

While the temperature soared to 41 C, there was no let up as exactly three minutes later, Ormerod taking advantage of some mind numbingly bad defending to toe poke a goal past David Marshall. The Bluebirds must have had at least three occasions to clear the ball with DJ Campbell attracting all the traffic, in the end slipping but still managing to push the ball out to Ormerod.

The second half saw Cardiff pushing hard to get back into the game with Chopra again coming close, in one instance the shot smacking the upright but Blackpool held on for a memorable Wembley Saturday afternoon. Blackpool was the lowest placed of the playoff teams, overcoming Nottingham Forest, the top placed team over two legs and then taking on Cardiff with two of the top goalscorers in Peter Whittingham and Chopra.

We shall get to see Joe Holloway, the colourful Blackpool coach who has his own book of oddball quotes. He will be on a larger stage and we can hope to add some more to the list of Ollie'isms.

Here is his classic describing an ugly win over QPR:

"To put it in gentleman's terms if you've been out for a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, some weeks they're good looking and some weeks they're not the best. Our performance today would have been not the best looking bird but at least we got her in the taxi. She weren't the best looking lady we ended up taking home but she was very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much, let's have a coffee."

Lady Nina Bracewell's Smith's 16% stake in Arsenal up for sale and Blackstone, the investor group hired to find a buyer has found someone who can pay the $145 million, or at least has the financial clout to do so.

Aliko Dangote is listed as number 463 on the Forbes rich list and is Nigeria's wealthiest man having amassed a fortune with his Dangote group, a business consortium that deals in commodities trading from sugar to oil. His personal worth is $2.1 billion, down from an estimated $2.5 billion, a year ago.

He is a self made man with little education who started his road to success from a small loan given by his uncle. Dangote made his mark in the sugar trade, of which he now controls 70% of the market, later branching out into cement, fueled by the massive growth in Nigeria's housing and construction business.

This being Nigeria, the rise to the top has been paved by a cozy system of patronage and kickbacks. Dangote especially benefited from his close friendship with former Nigerian president Olusegun Obesanjo lavishing him with exorbitant gifts including a Bombardier jet purchased by a former associate. The quid pro quo: Dangote saved billions of dollars in import duty waivers. The import duty scam revealed the complicity of Nigeria's top customs officials and as alleged even Obasanjo himself.

Dangote like many other Nigerian elite also benefited from banks who issued billions of dollars in loans without any credit checks. This cozy system of patronage led to the banking crisis which the government was able to averte with a $7.2 billion bailout.

The EEFC, the anti-crime agency established in 2003 following the advance fee scandal, are now targeting 200 of the most egregious offenders, the so called "debt cabal" in their debt recovery, amongst them Dangote who is said to owe as much as $67 million to various banks.

How much of this will stick because Dangote has kept the system of patronage alive with ruling party leaders including Obesanjo's hand picked successors, the late Umaru Yar'Adua and the present incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.

Dangote was recently elected as president of the Nigerian stock exchange, ironically after a share manipulation scandal brought down share prices of Africa Petroleum, a company owned by chief rival Femi Otedola. There are allegations that he paid off the members of the council for their "vote." The Dangote group has six companies listed on the NSE, which of course brings up the issue of a conflict of interest and the potential for insider trading.

However part of Dangote's cache is that he has managed to keep afloat in this financial downturn with fewer repercussions. He has profited from the durability of the commodities that made him wealthy. The healthy demand for sugar and cement has more than offset his losses in other sectors. He also made peace with Otedola, who is Nigeria's other billionaire, after a bitter turf war threatened to bring down their financial empires. Dangote's resume is also helped by sheer moral relativity - when you compare his trespasses to the pantheon of legendary Nigerian cut throats like Sani Abacha, he comes off as a saint.

Lady Bracewell's determination to sell off her stake whether it goes to Dangote or to someone else new, is muddy an already divided Arsenal investor group with competing blocs in Alisher Usmanov and Stan Kroenke, the two largest shareholders.

Her decision to go to Blackstone, and not sell to either one of them, may reflect her unhappiness with the decision to oust her from the Arsenal boardroom or the more practical consideration of whether they could afford to pay her. Whatever the decision, the club could be subjected to the destabilizing move of a new stakeholder's decision to launch a takeover by himself or the more realistic partnership with either Usmanov or Kroenke. What emerges is an ownership structure with older ties, parallel leadership, and less motivation for change.

Tom Hicks and George Gilett's decision to sell off has led to the search for new investors, the Glazers have managed to fend off the Red Knights at Old Trafford, the signal given by Roman Abramovich to buy again at Chelsea, City's reliance on the deep pockets of the Al Nahyan family, and Spurs benefiting from the ENIC group's investment. In each case, unitary ownership with little historicity have forged rapid responses to the changing situation.

Update: Aliko Dangote denies bidding for a stake in Arsenal

William Gallas gave the french team an injury scare on Sunday,when he crashed his dune buggy during a race at a 2010 World Cup training camp.Gallas emerged unscathed from the wreckage and lived to tell the tale..

In the Mourinho coached years, the best Premiership player was unable to score a goal against Chelsea.

This was what Mourinho had to say when Ronaldo had his best season scoring 38 goals for United in 2008.

"The player of the year must be the best of the year but he must also be a winner," Mourinho said. "I don't think he can be a player without a big trophy. Clearly what Ronaldo did in the season was magnificent. I think by far, or by some distance, he has been the best player in the Premiership but for me the best is always a winner because football is a collective sport. If Man United do something important by winning the Premiership or by winning the Champions League I would say - and not just me, the whole football world - give the trophy to him."

Man Utd won the Premiership and the CL as Chelsea came unglued in the last days of the season. But Mourinho's point is still valid.

Individual records and accolades count for little unless they are backed up by the ultimate prize. At the very least, that means winning the Liga.

" I own you"

17 titles in hand with Porto, Chelsea, and Inter. The protege schooled his old master at the Bernabeu on Saturday.

Jose Mourinho's agent arrived at the Bernabeu today to negotiate on behalf of his client. Mourinho is set to sign a four year contract that will net him 10 millions euros annually. Real will also pay Inter 16 million euros for the final year of his contract. They will get back 3 million of that amount because of a clause in Wesley Sneijder's contract in the event the Dutchman won the Champions League.

As per plan, Mourinho will be presented to Real Madrid fans next week.

Every year in South Africa, about10,000 people are killed because of injuries from gunshot wounds.Personal firearms are going to be banned from stadiums during the tournament but only for the duration of the World Cup.Premier League footballers have launched a campaign to banish guns from South Africa .....

During Jose Mourinho's post Champion's League winning press conference one adoring journalist presented him with a golden crown.Mourinho gave the journalist his Inter jacket in exchange.He did not wear the crown though.He said "Not today,maybe tomorrow".....!

Beckham dropped into Camp Bastion in south Afghanistan.
"These guys are the bravest people that I've ever met and it really is, it truly is, an honour to be here.It's scary, it really is scary, you feel it.Just yesterday one of the troops was killed, and you feel it and you see the flags at half-mast and you feel the tension there.I've represented my country many times on the field, but what these guys do representing our country is really amazing."" More...

Jose Mourinho proves his speciallness.Inter Milan win the Champion's League title after 45 years of waiting.Mourinho is only the third manager to have taken two different clubs to Champion's League glory.Only 6 clubs have ever achieved the treble that Inter achieved.
The goals of the game were scored by Diego Milito....

English players are concerned that the new world cup ball will move and swerve and make crosses and shots unpredictable.
Now if they had only practiced on Rasenreich Corpus I and II the Jabulani would have been child's play.As you can see they are oddly shaped ball like objects which are not very badly made footballs but training devices used in Austria to improve players ball control abilities.Video evidence below ...

productvideo from Rasenreich on Vimeo.

A referee familiar to Premiership audiences will take centerstage at the Bernabeu today. Howard Webb will proceed to the World Cup in less than three weeks and officiating this most important match establishes his reputation as one of the top referees in the world.

He has had his share of clashes with Jose Mourinho while at Chelsea including the 2007 Carling Cup which ended in a brawl between the Blues and Arsenal, with John Terry leaving with a broken jaw. Then again, in September 2007 disallowing a Salomon Kalou goal for offside against Blackburn which led to a Mourinho tirade, demanding an apology from the Englishman.

Webb is a former police officer who bears a resemblance to the far more controversial and recently retired Tom Hennings Ovrebo. It the past is any indication, a free flowing match could be impeded by Webb's micromanagement. There will be a smattering of yellow cards and Thiago Motta and Martin Demichelis will be closely watched.

Diego Milito, Maicon, and Wesley Sneijder are all capable of scoring goals but the only one who has scored in a Champions League final out of that group is Samuel Eto'o.

Eto'o's made Arsenal blue in the 2006 final and then again repeated the feat three years later against Man Utd. When Eto'o left for Inter, switched for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, many saw it as a epitaph of a player past his prime, hamstrung with injuries and ego problems. But Mourinho brought him for his ability to deliver big. In that battle he has had the last laugh over Ibrahimovic and Pep Guardiola. The Swede has been overshadowed by the contributions of Pedro and Bojan, who previously came off the bench.

Eto'o's Serie goalscoring output has been ordinary, 12 in 32 appearances well off his Barca pace but there have been some very important goals against Roma, Fiorentina, and Juventus that kept Inter in the Serie challenge against their rivals. And so far he has lived up his European reputation bringing Chelsea down in the second leg to progress Inter into the Champions League quarterfinals.

He will be in the illustrious company of Alfredo Di Stefano if he scores in today's CL finals and the first one in its modern version, to score in three separate finals.

Eto'o's biggest strength is that he lies under the radar, the man left unmarked, lurking in the corners, or suddenly breaking free. Bayern will focus on Milito, Maicon, or Sneijder but they would be naive to overlook this man's record.

Go Bayern! Bring the sweetness and light to football over the dark forces of Jose Mourinho.

Rinus Michels the legendary coach who refined Totaalvoetbal or Total Football

Ruud Krol, the left back in the 1974 Dutch team summarized it best:

"Our system was also a solution to a physical problem. How can you play for 90 minutes and remain strong? If I as a left back run 70 meters up the wing it's not good if I immediately have to run back 70 to my starting place. So if the left midfielder takes my place and left winger takes the midfield position, then it shortens the distance. That was the philosophy."

If there is one country that knows the importance of space, it is the Dutch. With land at a premium, they came up with innovative ways to increase acreage to accommodate one of the highest population densities in Europe. They are masters of land reclamation.

Pushing those boundaries of space was a huge feature of those legendary Ajax teams in the 1960s which took European football by storm. There was nothing like it seen before. Rinus Michels who came to Ajax in 1964 after Vic Buckingham was sacked initiated a radical breakaway from the traditional norms associated with football.

As a player you could be anything, a striker, a midfielder, or a defender. The exigencies of that moment dictated your nomenclature. Krol points out above, you were supposed to fill in the space left behind by the wingback, whether it was the left midfielder or the striker.

David Goldblatt in his masterful opus " The Ball Is Round" writes, "alongside this display of positional flexibility and position switching, Ajax attempted to change the space in which the game was being played. "

Wingers and attacking full backs stretched the field to the utmost, hugging the touchlines. While in defense they collapsed the playing area. Crowding the ball carrier and the opposition, playing a high defensive line including the goalkeeper, and using the offside trap.

"When they attacked they attacked with eleven, when they defended they defended with eleven."

The hierarchical sense of football was turned on its head. In its place was what they would call in cybernetic parlance, a parallel distributed process. It allowed for speedier responses to changes in spatial demands, i.e., the expansion and collapse of space. The continuum of the game was dictated by which player would have the best access to that space, either by a pass, or an intercept. It made no difference in the division of labour whether he was a striker, a full back, or a midfielder. There was a constant switching of positions.

Barry Hulshoff, the Ajax defender on this new approach, " It was about making space, coming into space, and organizing space-like architecture on the football pitch. "

Playing the sort of high intensity, high energy football demanded extra-ordinary levels of fitness and discipline. Michels completely changed the club culture. Under him, players trained full time, upto four training sessions a day. Carlos Tevez would have never hacked it under this system. Players eschewed ego for complete professionalism and a commitment to win.

Elements of total football were already in place before Michels showed up at Ajax, by his predecessors, Jack Reynolds and Buckingham. However, their ideas although radical, could not be implemented with success because of a number of reasons, but one major factor was the lack of like minded players.

Michels made a number of changes getting rid of the players who he believed could not be part of this new philosophy. He brought in Velibor Vasovic, a tough minded defender from Partizan Belgrade with an unremitting desire to win. From the Ajax youth ranks rose names that would go down in history including Krol, Neeskens, Suurbier, Hulshoff, Muhrens, and Johann Cruyff , the future poster boy of Totalvoetbal. Cruyff and then Stefan Kovacs, the coach installed in place when Michels left for Barca, guided Ajax to its finest hour.

Two antithetical philosophies clashed in the 1972 European Cup final. The suffocating nihilism of Catenaccio embodied by Helenio Herrera and Inter and the free flowing Totaalvoetbal of Michels and Ajax. It was Ajax winning the final, 2-0, heralding the death of Catenaccio.

The legacy of Totaalvoetbal is not just preserved in the Dutch teams that so many love but it has been propagated outside its shores. In fact, that might be the singular achievement of this philosophy. Michels left in 1971 for Barcelona orchestrating a rash of Dutch coaches who have burnished that club with indelible elements of Totaalvoetbal. Cruyff was to follow and then Van Gaal. The number fours in Barca's cantera provide a unique counterpoint to Barca's high possession, high pressure game.

Van Gaal acknowledges his debt to Michels. But he sees himself as different too.

"My idol, my father was Rinus Michels, who was runner-up with Holland in 1974 and the 1988 European champions. It is the same way in Munich. Only Michels was too defensive, I'm more attacking. It has made us popular and successful."

Jose Mourinho can claim some revenge on Totaalvoetball, 38 years later with his version of Catenaccio proving to be successful in overcoming Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals. Can he do it again today?

TERRY VENABLES made history at London's O2 Arena yesterday when he joined up with the London Philharmonic Orchestra to produce this rendition of Elvis Presley's If I Can Dream - England's World Cup Song.

Thaksin Shinawatra is making news again.

His supporters, the Red Shirts are in a violent standoff with government forces over the demand for elections.

The business tycoon has been living in exile after the military staged a coup and removed him from power in September 2006. Since then he has been the target of the military installed government on trumped up charges of corruption, bribery, and real estate deals favouring his wife.

Shinawatra was forced to sell City to the Abu Dhabi oil magnate Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan after the Thai government froze his overseas assets in 2008. He had been City's owner for two years and was responsible for bringing Mark Hughes and renewed optimism to City with his deep pockets.

Now, he stands accused by the government of bankrolling the UDD (National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship), the anti government forces most popularly known as the "Red Shirts" who have are embroiled in an increasingly violent confrontation with the Abhisit Vejjajiva government. The UDD claim that the Vejjajiva government is illegitimate and is propped up by the military, the judiciary, and the Thai monarchy. The government has in turn issued a terrorism warrant against Shinawatra.

Shinawatra's humble background before he became a telecom tycoon resonates with the poor and the rural peasantry, who support him in massive numbers. The Thai government's dogged pursuit of him has stoked populist anger, mostly expressed in peaceful demonstrations till recently.

A state of emergency has been in place since early April with the military resorting to shoot to kill to quell the protests. On 10th April, twenty five Red Shirt supporters were shot and 800 wounded in a Bangkok public square. Anti-government forces and military have clashed repeatedly since then with more casualties on both sides. In the most recent episode 27 buildings were set ablaze in Bangkok.

Shinawatra speaking from an undisclosed location said:

"There is a theory saying a military crackdown can spread resentment and these resentful people will become guerrillas."

There are now increasing calls to the Thai government to seek rapprochement with Shinawatra and break the impasse. Meanwhile, the stunning descent into violence has many Thais worrying about their future as a united country.

Sandro Rosell has cautioned Barca over expensive transfers

The amount of debt has become an election issue as Sandro Rosell, one of the presidential candidates, is campaigning on a platform of financial austerity and in a recent interview drew attention to Barca's reported €489 million deficit.

He has said that the transfers of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Dmytro Chrygrynskiy, and now David Villa have added substantial debt to already stratospheric levels. Rosell cautioned that Barca should improve its squad but it should also spend prudently in order to ensure survival.

Interestingly, after that AS.com article, Arsenal dug in its heels and said Cesc would be off limits despite the player stating privately to Wenger that he wanted to leave. Barca responded by asking Cesc to go public with his wish to return to Barca. Now, Arsenal reports he can leave and set the price tag at €92 million for his freedom which appears to be about €50 million more than Barca's best offer.

Laporta is in a hurry to wrap up the Cesc deal before the June 13th electoral vote and before the World Cup starts. Consider this his legacy move as he is not in the running for president. But the price has to be right.

" We are not going to pay more than we think is normal and logical,' said Laporta. 'You have to take into account what he has won and the needs of both clubs. There are various ways of coming to the right price for a player who was raised by Barcelona."

The unseemly haste is at odds with what Laporta had to say about transfers a week ago:

"We do not want to close transfer deals in a hurry, we just try to fulfil the demands of the technical staff. But a transfer can become more expensive when there are interferences from people who want to claim that transfer."

At this stage there is a lot of gamesmanship going on between Laporta and Rosell which accounts for the shifting narrative. Rosell's claim to fame was the man behind bringing Ronaldinho to Barca for €32 million. So he knows a thing or two about expensive transfers. He was also a former adviser and running mate of Laporta.

That was before they fell out over a tell all book that Rosell wrote after his resignation which was critical of the present Barca president. Since the 2006 presidential elections, Rosell has become Laporta's chief critic accusing him of being "undemocratic" and claiming that there is "absolute anarchy" at how things are run in the club.

The price tag has become a problem. Barcelona so far has largely escaped Real Madrid's image of the giant vampire squid in the transfer market. But that could change if this deal goes through.

To pre-empt Arsenal's negotiating power, Laporta wants Cesc to go public with his desire to return to Barca. Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol's statements that they would like to see Cesc back. It is worth noting in the midst of all this clamour, the most noticeable silence is that of Pep Guardiola.

If he knows anything it is this, he will be held responsible as the man sitting Cesc on the bench, while Xavi and Iniesta take to the field. The Barca midfield is the national midfield and we saw Cesc coming off the bench at Euro 2008, a situation that will mirror itself in this World Cup. Strip away the emotion of a Catalunyan re-union and in reality, Cesc, we see, is actually surplus to their requirements at this stage. Arsenal might relent but Pep Guardiola could be holding onto an expensive boondoggle and a player whose homecoming may not be as planned.

See how the Rooney Ads fit into the big picture.A Brilliant star studded ad starring Rooney,Ronaldo,Ribery,Ronaldinho and even Homer Simpson ...!

Arsene Wenger really might want to hang outside the Bernabeu and waylay the Real Madrid rejects because all indications are that they have proven to be a goldmine for their new clubs.

These players had no place in Florentino Perez's Galacticos 2.0 version and were cast aside almost contemptuously to make way for record breaking signings like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso, and Raul Albiol.

So in retrospect, with Real's trophy cupboard bare this season- losing out on the Liga, crashing out of the Copa Del Rey, and bombing in the Champions League, will the departures of any of these players cause Perez heartburn?

Without ado:

Arjen Robben: Grade: A+

If Bayern needed shock therapy, they could not have asked for a better player than Robben. He defines clutch. He defines spectacular. When they wanted a goal, there was Robben. He sank Man Utd in the Champions League and silenced Old Trafford in an iconic moment

With Ribery in tow, the two have electrified the stale Bayern attack making it a club that everyone wants to watch. He has become a fan favourite with his familiar jinking style bringing the ball to his preferred left foot and then lashing spectacular long range shots.

16 goals in 24 matches is the first time in seven years that Robben hit two digits and more than what he scored combined in the two seasons at Real. He has won the Bundesliga, the German Cup, and in a shining moment will return to the Bernabeu on Saturday to contest the Champions League final against Inter. The 25 million euros spent were worth every penny.

You bet Florentino Perez will feel a dagger of intense regret ripping through his chest.

Wesley Sneijder: Grade A +

Two Real Madrid rejects stand against each other on Saturday, vying with one another to wear the mantle of the reject that causes Florentino Perez most regret. Yes, Wesley Sneijder too returns to the Bernabeu as Inter take on Bayern and he will meet Robben, his former team mate.

Mourinho had correctly identified the midfield lacuna in Inter's game before this season. Their premature European exits were attributable to a lack of link up between the midfield and the attack. He got his man when Real walked Sneijder out of the Bernabeu through the back door. It cost Inter 15 million euros but that has proved to be a bargain.

With Sneijder, there was someone who finally controlled the pace and flow of the game leaving Eto'o, Pandev, and Milito with less to do individually. Sneijder could pull of a sublime pass and sink the opposition with his wickedly curling free kicks. Sneijder's set pieces brought Inter back from the brink against Siena. With him at the helm, Inter team has won the Serie, the Coppa Italia, and now stands on the brink of adding the Champions League.



Gabriel Heinze: Grade A+

Gabriel Heinze is one of those players who have reinvented themselves. After some great seasons he was slowed down by injury and loss of form, eventually losing out to Patrice Evra at Man Utd. He then left Old Trafford in disgrace because of his declared intention to join Liverpool. He was picked up by Real and although he did decently in his two seasons, he was again edged out by Brazil's U21 standout, Marcelo. His old club, PSG spurned his services as they were more interested in developing Mamadou Sakho.

Heinze was finally picked by Marseille for an undisclosed fee. Since joining L'OM he has become an integral part of the back line scoring a number of important goals, none more memorable than the one scored against Rennes on May 5th, a win which gave them the Championnat after 16 years. Heinze was one of the top scoring defenders in the Ligue and with Taye Taiwo, Souleymane Diawara, and Laurent Bonnart gave away just 36 goals, the second best in the Ligue.

Javier Saviola: Grade A+

The former U20 World Cup phenomenon was a Real Madrid failure. His appearances were severely curtailed to cup appearances and an occasional Liga match. With the arrival of Klaas Jan Huntelaar, his appearances dried up further in his second year. In two seasons, he managed a total of 28 appearances scoring 5 goals.

He was transferred without ceremony to Benfica for 5 millions euros. At SLB, he formed a potent attacking partnership with Paraguayan Oscar Cardozo, playing just behind him as the slot striker. With his pace and ball control, El Conejo scored 11 goals, complementing Cardozo's top scoring 26 goals very nicely and leading Benfica to their first Portugese title in five years. Everton fans will remember him when he scored two goals in a 5-0 thrashing at Benfica in the Europa Cup. In all, he scored 19 goals and established himself as a fan favourite.

Javier Garcia: Grade A

A product of the Real Madrid cantera, Garcia never settled down in the senior squad being sent off to Osasuna where he established himself as a tough holding midfielder. He came back to Real for another two years from 2007 to 2009, and was Mahamadou Diarra's understudy, getting enough appearances but once again not cracking the starting spot.

He was sold to Benfica for 7 million euros and since then has become an integral part of the Benfica midfield diamond with Angel Di Maria out on the left, playmaker Pablo Aimar sitting on top, Brazilian workhorse Ramires down the right, and Garcia sitting deep.

Alvaro Negredo: Grade B

Negredo rose up from the ranks in Real Madrid B and caught the eye of Fabio Capello but never played a match for Real, staying on the bench. Negredo is another example of Real Madrid's famed cantera providing diminishing returns for their own homegrown talent as the club trolls for more expensive talent outside Spain's shores. He was given out to Almeria where he did very well and then returned back to Real. He was rumoured to join Hull City or Real Zaragoza but the deals fell through.

Once again, he was shipped off this time to Sevilla on a two year contract worth 15 million euros. Negredo eventually supplanted Frederic Kanoute but his form was erratic going through spells of not scoring. But his best two games were against Valencia and Altletico Madrid, scoring a brace each which helped propel the club to an eventual fourth place in the Liga and the final CL spot. Negredo ended the season with 11 goals in 25 appearances and with Luis Fabiano and Kanoute managed to score 65 goals, third best in the Liga but streets behind Real and Barcelona.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar: Grade D

The career of Huntelaar has been a story of a downward spiral since leaving Ajax where his exploits were legend.

He was a scoring machine when he came to Real in January 2009 on a hefty signing fee potentially worth 27 million euros with its clauses. By all accounts he did well enough, scoring 8 goals in 20 appearances but well off his Ajax pace with 76 goals scored in just 92 appearances.

He became surplus with the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema and was then transferred out to Milan for 15 million euros. Huntelaar was to bolster Alexandre Pato and with Ronaldinho give the Milan attack teeth after losing Kaka. However, those killer instincts in front of goal deserted him in a big way. The first half of the season was especially brutal- rumours were that Huntelaar would not last a season.

None hurt more than the night when Man Utd beat Milan for the first time at the San Siro in the Champions League. Huntelaar left to a chorus of boos as he was subbed by Inzaghi. It was left to Marco Van Basten to defend him.

In 24 appearances, Huntelaar has scored 7 goals. With his failure to make an impact, Pato also struggling, it has been Marco Boriello, an aging journeyman striker filling the void. Not what Milan needed.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy: Grade B

Which brings us back to the Real Madrid player who had the most impact at the club of the whole transfer group, winning the Pichichi with 25 goals in his first year and guiding Real and Bernd Schuster to the 2007 Liga title, in one of the tightest races. Despite ankle surgery and then knee ligament surgery curtailing his next two seasons, Nistelrooy kept up his phenomenal output.

It is a testimony to his prodigious goalscoring, that a club like Real with few qualms waited for him to get better and even tried accommodating him even as Kaka, Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo landed up. By now Van Nistelrooy was already desirous for a transfer.

He became Real's 15th transfer, joining Hamburg on a free in the winter transfer and in this brief spell managed to score 5 goals in 10 appearances. This includes a brace against Stuttgart in the 75th and 77th minute of a 3-1 win. At that time Hamburg seemed to be holding firm to the final CL spot before falling off to the 7th place. A good solid start for RVN.

There are other transfers.

Getafe rebuilt its defense with goalkeeper Jorge Codina, central defender Miguel Torres, and highly rated holding midfielder Daniel Parejo. They finished sixth in the Liga and booked a passage to the Europa Cup. Grade B

Blackburn got Michel Salgado, who appears to be a perfect fit for a club known for its aggressive style of defending. He played an important part in intimidating Lukasz Fabianski in Blackburn's demoralizing defeat of Arsenal. Boss Sam Allardyce is reported to be satisfied with the performance of Salgado, a player who built a reputation in the Liga for his robust tackling. Salgado has indicated that the Premiership will be his last stop. Grade B

There were some flashes of Alberto Bueno when Real Valladolid got hammered into relegation by Barca on the last day. Overall, he seems to have made little impact. Grade C-

Fabio Cannavaro got the ball rolling on the players leaving, as Juventus wanted him back after three seasons at Real. He is not the force that he was four years ago when he won the FIFA World Cup player of the year with his stint at Juventus and Real. But Cannavaro has built a decent central partnership with Giorgio Cheillini while the rest of Juve fell off the perch. Grade B

Julien Faubert had quite a siesta at Real Madrid, virtually nodding off to sleep on the bench while Real waged a comeback against Villareal which they ultimately lost, conceding the 2009 Liga title to Barca. Two appearances is all he had to show for his surprise arrival in January 2009. Back again at West Ham and it could not have been more different as Faubert had some excellent performances. If there was a highlight it was his perfect whipping cross finding Ilan for the equalizer against Everton. Grade B

In all, most clubs benefited from Real Madrid's rejects. Nine titles is quite an impressive tally.

Jerome Boateng, Kevin Prince Boateng's half brother, has been playing diplomat, meeting with Michael Ballack and apologizing on his brother's behalf.

When Kevin Prince takes the field in the Ghana vs Germany encounter in the World Cup, there will be tension on the field and a good chance that these could translate into extra-curricular activities.

Jerome has already said that his brother deserved a red for his tackle on Ballack. But he defends him in an interview with Bild when asked if it was intentional:

"Many people are certain that this was the case. But this is far-fetched. Kevin-Prince does not have the best reputation. He would like to undo it. "

When asked why they were so different:

"Other brothers are too! We did not grow up together. He also had it harder than me. No matter what happens: He's my brother! "

Kevin Prince should be thankful that his brother is his best spokesperson and a visible one at that. When Germans think of the Boateng brothers, the one that they should remember is the sane one.

Arjen Robben on his former mentor at Chelsea:

"Mourinho is only interested in winning and not playing good football"

Should add a nice bit of edge to that Champions League final. Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho also share a common history at Barcelona.

Vincent De Bosque announces Spain's 23 man World Cup squad.

Pedro, Victor Valdes, Javi Martinez, and Fernando Llorente are the surprise inclusions. The biggest absentees are Marcos Senna and Santi Cazorla. A huge part of Spain's Euro 2008 winning squad has been torn out by these two exclusions.

Pedro gets the call. He has been a killer in front of goal and he is just getting better. He is one of eight Barca players, as the club dominates the selection in all areas. In a bit of a twist, Real Madrid's selections are all in defense which has been the club's soft spot this season.

Cesc Fabregas in the spotlight after a supposed emotional meeting with Arsene Wenger over his desire to return to Barca, will play second fiddle to Xavi and Iniesta in the midfield.

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Jose Manuel Reina (Liverpool), Víctor Valdés (Barcelona).

Defenders: Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Álvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Carlos Marchena (Valencia).

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Javi Martínez (Athletic Bilbao).

Forwards: Jesus Navas (Sevilla), David Silva (Valencia), Juan Manuel Mata (Valencia), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), David Villa (Barcelona), Pedro Rodriguez (Barcelona), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao).

Marca.com is reporting that David Silva, the silky smooth left winger will become Real Madrid's first high powered signing in the off season by the end of the week. The Valencia midfielder has also been linked to Arsenal and Man City.

This is Real Madrid's shot across the bow to Barca that has hogged all the transfer headlines this week. Silva's team mate David Villa was signed on by the Blaugrana on a 42 million euros transfer. Manuel Llorente, the Valencia chairman is offloading his players to stave off the huge mountain of debt his club faces.

Maradona hit a journalist on the way to the press conference to announce his 23 man squad and as the man fell to the ground, ran over his leg. To add insult to injury, he called him an a**hole.

"What an a**hole you are," Maradona shouted from the car. "How can you put your leg there where it can get run over, man?"

Since Argentina qualified, Maradona has been slapped with a 2 month ban on match attendances after going live on TV and telling the media to "suck it and keep on sucking." His dog bit him last month causing facial injuries and now he runs over a man's leg. By the time, he gets to SA, he may have taken up all the oxygen, leaving none for his team.

The new Argentina or is it the old? Palermo is Maradona's choice

Jesus Datolo of Olympiakos always dangerous down the left was dropped providing another talking point. Maradona drained the squad of the Argentine Liga and now the 23 man squad sports a very distinct European look.

Maradona is telegraphing his priorities, with six inclusions on his strike force rather than the usual four. It is shootout at the fantasy factory.

Diego Milito's call up is vindication of his outstanding season. Martin Palermo is one exception. The veteran Boca striker is the beneficiary it appears of Maradona's inability to break from the past. At 36 years, with bad knees, and tainted with the history of three missed penalties, the most in an international match, this will be his first World Cup.

The midfield looks a bit rag tag with Javier Pastore minus a single cap alongside the experienced Juan Sebastian Veron. A trio of Premiership players, the hardworking Maxi Rodriguez, Maradona's favourite Jonas Gutierrez, and tackler in chief Javier Mascherano have been included.

Argentina's defense is its Achilles heel.

Gabriel Heinze at left back for Javier Zanetti is hard to swallow. Heinze just concluded a good season at Marseille but when you match both head to head, he is a poor second. over the years, Maradona has kept faith in him. Walter Samuel pairs up with an error prone Martin Demichelis on central defense. Nicholas Burdisso will be the first choice at right back. The back ups are all from the Liga and with 20 caps between them, have relatively little experience. Compared to their northern neighbours, the Argentine defense is undersized and lightweight in talent.

Apart from Javier Zanetti, Maradona also excluded Esteban Cambiasso. Both will be present in the Inter vs Bayern Champions League final and if they shine, their exclusion from the national squad will be subjected to even more debate. Daniel Diaz, Fernando Gago, Ever Banega, Pablo Aimar, Lucho Gonzalez, and Lisandro Lopez are also notable absentees.

23 man Argentina squad:

Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar/NED), Mariano Andujar (Catania/ITA), Diego Pozo (Colon/ ARG)

Defenders: Nicolas Otamendi (Velez Sarsfield/ARG), Gabriel Heinze (Marseille/FRA), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich/GER), Walter Samuel (Inter/ITA), Ariel Garce (Colon/ARG), Nicolas Burdisso (Roma/ITA), Clemente Rodríguez (Estudiantes/ARG)

Midfielders: Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes/ARG), Javier Mascherano Liverpool (ENG), Jonas Gutierrez Newcastle (ENG), Angel Di Maria Benfica (POR), Maximiliano Rodriguez Liverpool (ENG), Javier Pastore Palermo (ITA), Mario Bolatti Fiorentina (TA)

Forwards : Lionel Messi (Barcelona/ESP), Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid/ESP), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City/ENG), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Diego Milito (Inter/ITA), Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors/ARG)

Apparently jousting with the Glazers is not going as well as planned. I never understood how a group of rich investors who've made billions in the secretive derivatives market could be trusted by MUST to make Man Utd debt free and introduce transparency.

" Another high-level source has said the problems arise from bringing together so many different investors, many of whom have contrasting visions for the future, particularly when it comes to the possibility of giving the club's supporters a substantial percentage of the ownership."

These investors want it for themselves. If that is not plain by now, then Man Utd deserves to be taken over by the next set of barbarians.

Diego Capel lashes a shot past David De Gea after the ball rebounds back to him in the 4' minute and then in the 90' minute, Jesus Navas steals the ball and runs towards goal as Antonio Lopez fails in his attempt to tackle him. De Gea is beaten on Navas's sidestep, and Lopez, by now back in goal tries a futile attempt to keep the ball out but it is too late.

Atletico failed in its bid to add the Copa Del Rey to its historic Europa Cup win. Sevilla meanwhile ended its season on a high note having already secured the final Champions League spot last weekend after beating Almeria in a pulsating match with one man down.

The Andalusian club then dedicated the win to Antonio Puerta, the full back who tragically died on the field three years ago of a massive heart attack. Antonio Alvarez, the Sevilla coach also prepared the team before the match by having them watch a video of Puerta score a stunning goal against Schalke in the 2006 UEFA Cup, which led them to the final, and an impressive set of titles thereafter. The attempt to fire up the team obviously worked.

Athletic Bilbao played a charity game against 100 spanish schoolkids to bid farewell to forward Joseba Etxeberria who is leaving the Basque club after 15 years.The 20,000 crowd, and most of the players, struggled to keep track of the ball as the La Liga superstars' rigid 4-4-2 diamond formation was swamped by the youngsters' 20-60-19 headless chicken system. ...!
The kids,despite their slight numerical advantage,lost the game 5 -3.
The referees were also seen having quite a bit of problem correctly interpreting the offside rule. Most of the linesmen gave up in despair and went home and watched the game on telly....!
More on that here..

A majestic 45 yard free kick by Brazilian midfielder Inca gives Olimpia a win over Sol de America in the Paraguayan first division. Jaw dropping velocity and movement. Even the goalkeeper looked like he enjoyed it.

From Dirty Tackle >>

Joan Laporta firmly says Xavi is not up for sale. Arsenal says firmly Fabregas is not for sale. Xavi is not going, Fabregas is not leaving. Simple really.

It would be a Utopian dream to bring Cesc but the fact is that without Xavi leaving Barca, the Arsenal captain will play tiddlywinks on the bench. Which is what he does not want.

So after all that Fabregas wants to leave for Barca which maybe all true but it is a coronation in waiting, not now. The Guardian fell for it, I fell for it, but there are those who did not. I am glad some live in the reality based community otherwise the world would be a very, very dark place.

Arsenal has denied any approach and Txiki Beguiristian, Barca's sports director had to check his words.

" It's great news that he wants to come here and I think that one day Cesc will have to come to Barca. But what matters is Arsenal and what their decision is. They think he is a very important player for them. We have to respect that. At times the wishes of players do not come true because they are under contract."

Its seductive because Barca has become the undisputed Mecca of football. Cesc spent his time recuperating there and the sight of those players going berserk and wearing jerseys which said, "No penses en una temporada, penses en la historia" must have made him stir crazy. Its been a long time since he saw those celebrations. And he is at a stage where these things make so much more difference.

2014 maybe inked on paper but it is not etched in the heart. This is where Wenger needs to step in. To stop this cognitive dissonance nonsense. He has to make serious good faith efforts that he is serious about winning a title. This rationalization about third place being good enough or making the Champions League quarter finals. Arsenal fans have had the patience of Job.

He has to give Cesc a reason to hope that he is not fighting 100 years of solitude on the pitch, carrying the game all by himself. At 23 years, Cesc has experiential progeria because of the responsibilities he has undertaken.

Give him a team that lightens this load. Get him a trustworthy midfield partner. A goalkeeper that stops goals. A striker that scores goals. Above all get him a team that believes rolling up their sleeves and scrapping for every ball in every match is one way to win a title. Five years of deja vu is too much and Cesc has seen every one of them.

It's your move, Arsene.

He maybe rail thin but his stats are phat

Pep Guardiola has made winning his middle name.

"The win against Valladolid last Sunday which confirmed the league title, was Guardiola's 87th victory in charge out of a total of just 121 games, which represents a 72% winning record, with 19% of the games ending in a draw and just 9% lost. "

Only Helenio Herrera in his first installment as Barca's coach from April 1958 to May 1960 enjoys a better winning percentage. 71 won out of 94 matches in two years for an impressive 75.53% and two Liga, a Copa Del Rey, and a UEFA Fairs title.

Guardiola has actually improved upon his winning percentage from his first season. With 42 matches won in his first season to 45 in the next, an increase from 68% to 76%. It has happened because Barca under him is a scoring machine, with 296 goals scored in these 121 matches- an average of 2.5 goals/ match. The defense has done its job too, conceding only 96 for an average of less than a goal. A gaudy + 202 differential.

Leo Messi is the biggest beneficiary of Guardiola's scoring largesse. In his two seasons under the coach, the maestro increased his goal tally from 38 to 47 goals. In all, 85 goals and he is already Barca's seventh highest scorer. Even Thierry Henry has scored 30, not shabby and yet in the face of such overwhelming power, he is being written off. Under Guardiola's golden touch, Pedro and Bojan, the two most improved players have 23 and 22, respectively. No wonder David Villa is champing at the bits. He might be at the 30 goal average at Barca.

Guardiola's record will be measured against Johan Cruyff, the longest serving Barca coach- 430 matches played over eight seasons, winning 250 of them for a shade under 60%. Cruyff is Barca's most successful coach when it comes to winning the Liga. Four of them in his eight years. But Guardiola achieved the sextuplet in his first season. No one can top that.

Guardiola is on a pace to becoming the most storied coach in Barcelona history and he is just 39 years old. One can only dream of the mind boggling numbers he will have run up in the next ten years if he stays on and becomes the kingmaker of another generation of players.

Interesting that Sir Alex weighs in on Thierry Henry's reported move to the MLS, saying he will be a Red Bulls success. Almost makes you wonder whether Man Utd's coach is a wee bit worried that he might be contemplating a Premiership move, maybe back to Arsenal. If Sol Campbell can return, all bets are off.

Henry maybe off a gear from top speed but there are at least 2-3 years of good football left. Which is why there is so much, will he won't he? After the US media made very definitive announcements of an MLS arrival, the player is denying any such move saying he still has a year left on his Barca contract.

But the 13 minute cameo at the Camp Nou was a farewell move if ever there was one. With the arrival of David Villa, he will be even more of a bench warmer. So he is leaving.

Joan Laporta on Titi.

"He is very popular in the MLS and there's a lot of interest in him. We are working on this and will try and reach an agreement that suits both the club and the player".

Is a loan move being considered? With an option to buy at the end of the season? Its far from a definite. One factor in Titi Henry's consideration, like Beckham, may center around continued national appearances. He is 32 years and France's top scorer beating Michel Platini's record. The relative anonymity of MLS and the travel logistics could weigh in on this decision.

Titi contemplated international retirement after the Ireland match, an emotional reaction to all the negative press about his ball handling skills. Which makes his performance at the coming World Cup hugely significant. If he shows he can score like his former self, then offers from European leagues will come a plenty. Something tells me that AC Milan could become his destination. A club very much still a European force but with a soft spot for older players.

A forgettable World Cup will pave the way for international retirement with an end of career MLS move, a more attractive option.

La Liga is moving rapidly. In the case of Barca, there are presidential elections which are a huge consideration and Joan Laporta is making some lightning moves before the 13 June election day.

David Villa is on the verge of joining Barcelona on a 40 million euro transfer from Valencia. A further 7 million euros has been set aside for the Valencia striker as a pre-contract amount in last year's negotiations. Joan Laporta, Barca's president indicated that the present negotiations are in an advanced stage and could Villa could be officially part of the club as early as Wednesday.

"We have begun negotiations with Valencia and continue the process because he is a player we are interested in. The two sides are now finalizing the agreement. We are missing a few details that we need to take care of and hopefully it would all be sorted out soon. "

The striker will undergo a medical on Friday. Villa will become the first signing after the barely concluded season.

For Valencia, a club in considerable financial difficulties, half that transfer amount will directly to to repay a businessman who had given loans to the club in its hour of need.

Villa was on Man Utd's radar for a long time but his age came in the way. The club's policy of not paying big bucks for talent over 26 years with less promise of a big resale value was a key consideration. It is hard to see how Barca's attack can be further improved but someone who scores an average of 20 goals per season can't be overlooked. Laporta was at pains to state that this did not mean the end of Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Barca career but it sure looks like it.

This time it maybe for real

Its mind numbing to think that Arsenal's next season may not have its talisman. Previous articles of mine have reflected a strong state of denial. Unfortunately this time around there is a kernel of truth to all these Cesc will leave for Barca rumours.

After seven years, a stripling of a lad from La Masia who grew before our eyes to achieve the status of one of the most sought after talents in Arsenal's history will return to his roots.

There will be no bad feeling as Cesc Fabregas gave his all for the club.

Fabregas is supposed to have met with Wenger and conveyed his decision to leave for Barcelona. The manager is supposed to meet with him again this week to try and persuade him to stay on but to all purposes Fabregas mind is made up. This comes on the heels of his AS interview in Spain where he first publicly declared his intention. Rafael Yuste, Barca's vice president made it clear that the signing of Fabregas was made easier by his desire to return:

"The situation with Cesc is different because even if you have the will of the player it is very important to talk to his club and, if you can, find an agreement. But what makes it easier is that both players want to come to Barça."

The sticking point will be the price. It is reported that the Catalans will submit a bid for 35 million euros whereas Arsenal is asking in the region of 50 million. Fabregas is understood to have made it clear that he would like this settled before the World Cup begins.

The Catalans are of the feeling that Arsenal should not be too stuck on the price because in politically incorrect parlance Fabregas was poached for a pittance. They were furious about it when it happened but over the years, his development has been of the magnitude that they could have done little better. It represents an even more phenomenal ROI than Nicholas Anelka.

Wenger has indicated in the past that he is in no hurry to sell any player but a good price and some other sweeteners could be hard to pass up.

Barca could offer Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Yaya Toure, both players who have fallen down the order. In the Swede's case the impending arrival of David Villa will make his task for starting minutes even harder. Toure has been sidelined by Sergio Busquets, now Pep Guadiola's first choice as holding midfielder. Personally, Ibrahimovic would be a bad move - the Swede has shown some very Bendtner like goalscoring proclivities, an indifferent work ethic, and a petulant attitude.

The first priority would be to find someone to fill the creative lacuna left by Fabregas. Everton's Mikel Arteta is probably the best choice but others who Arsenal could consider are Wolfsburg's Zvjezdan Misimović, Benfica's Pablo Aimar, Bordeaux's Yoann Gourcuff, and Roma's Daniele De Rossi. It should not be another one of Wenger's creative projects - we are looking at a finished product, a creative playmaker with credentials.

Bordeaux's president Jean-Louis Triaud is not very happy. Triaud brings up Sylvain Wiltord and now Maroaune Chamakh, who is set all set for an Arsenal departure as evidence of the club's dirty tricks.

In Chamakh's case, there seems to be a black hole as to who approached the Bordeaux striker. He states that Wenger never approached him, so Triaud is a bit bewildered as to Arsenal going ahead signing Chamakh without the coach's knowledge.

"He said he had never spoken to Arsene Wenger. But I find it strange that he could be recruited by Arsenal without talking to the coach."

He said that they had done everything to try and keep him at Bordeaux including proposing extensions as far back as early 2009. But he blamed Chamakh's advisors:

"I think he was surrounded and badly misguided. I did not appreciate at all how it went. As president, I resent it. Personally, I owe him all my affection. He is a lovely boy."

I don't really see what the problem is. Chamakh had always indicated his interest in playing for Arsenal and there was an anointment in waiting quality to the saga. Wenger delayed bringing him because Bordeaux's asking price was too much at that time and by biding his time, Chamakh would be available as a free transfer pick up. Smart business tactics nothing more.

Maybe if Bordeaux had won the Championnat and turned in a winning performance against Lyon in the Champions League, Triaud would have been a far more content man. He also stands to lose Laurent Blanc, the force behind Bordeaux's turnaround. The coach departs after the World Cup to takeover Les Bleus. The future of Les Girondins looks unsettled. Obviously, the loss of Chamakh comes at this moment of angst.

Two extremely weird ads that are possibly meant to encourage Rooney to just do it at at the World Cup or else end up a becoming
(A) a bearded bleary eyed washed out kind of person ??

(B) end up becoming a less bearded but equally washed out looking line marker ??

There must be a subliminal message in there somewhere that I'm missing.

A very interesting and heart rending plea to Joachim to give them hope.They've even got the pope to join in.

Lyrics partly translated as...

The Portuguese have the best players; The Brazilians are pretty fast; The Spaniards have not lost in three years; But we have the most beautiful hotel.

Gimme hope, Joachim gimme, hope, Joachim!; Gimme hope, Joachim, for the World Cup!; Gimme hope, Joachim gimme, hope, Joachim!; Hope for South Africa ...

Bad boy, Bad boy: An image that could spur on Germany in the World Cup?

South Africa could not have asked for a better controversy. Nothing like an moment of on field madness to get the World Cup party started.

Michael Ballack is out of the World Cup but the Ghana vs Germany game will probably be one of the most closely watched group games.

An olive branch:

"All I can do is apologise," said Boateng, the half-brother of Germany international Jerome Boateng. "I was just too late and I hit him straight on. It looked stupid. I apologised to him twice on the field and now for a third time. I am sorry. It was not intentional."

Legal Consequences:

Meanwhile, Boateng has been threatened with a lawsuit by Ballack's lawyer, Michael Becker. He said that the former German national player faces "civil and criminal consequences" for his actions.

"Every spectator could see what Boateng has done and that was clearly a premeditated foul."

" The football field is not above the law. Although Boateng believes that. "

The victimizer as victim:

Boateng's father also entered the fray. He said Boateng is always portrayed as the bogeyman. According to him there is a history between the two players and there is some justification for the foul.

"I remember an incident from his Berlin days. Kevin had just scored his first goal for Hertha a week before the Bayern game. During the match Ballack stepped on Kevin's foot. When Kevin asked what he was doing, Ballack said to him, 'Shut up! Just because you shot a goal against Frankfurt, do not think you're the greatest. "

Ballack has a reputation for trash talking but this is hardly an excuse for Boateng's actions. Former Hertha manager Dieter Hoeness who knew Boateng well remembers the striker had serious issues with impulse control. To portray him as the victim in this case is laughable.

Media and internet warfare:

A Facebook group "82 million against Boateng" has seen a rapidly growing membership targeting Germany's public enemy number one. Meanwhile, Boateng is getting no love on either side of the Channel with German and English broadsheets delving into every sordid detail of his past. Including a horrific kung fu style leg chop on Wolfsburg's Makoto Hasebe a year ago that left the Japanese bleeding profusely in the face.

Torsten Frings as replacement:

Frings has been virtually ruled out by team manager Oliver Bierhoff. "Torsten has done an incredible amount for the national team, but after the analysis of this year, the coaching team reached the conclusion that he does not belong in our national team squad."

But the chorus to replace Ballack with the Werder captain is growing. In a Bild poll 60% of Germans want him to play with a distant 21% for Sami Khedira, the first alternate. Frings had a very strong second half of the season with vital goals against Koln and Wolfsburg, to guide Werder to the third spot.

With 78 caps, an international reputation for hard, uncompromising tackles, blistering free kicks, and a young midfield that could be bolstered by his experience, the DFB might have no choice but to include Frings.

The Boateng factor:

Upto now all the talk has been Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, and England with the Germans as a less talented afterthought. But the Boateng factor could be a worrying sign for the rest of the competition. The German squad can look to this moment to spur them on in the World Cup. We have seen what happens when that Teutonic spirit is invoked.

Those who are going to miss or are in grave danger of missing, next month's World Cup due to injury. The list of walking wounded includes......

Michael Ballack (Germany)......... Ankle

David Beckham (England)......... Achilles

Jose Bosingwa (Portugal)......... Knee

Michael Essien (Ghana)......... Knee

William Gallas (France)......... Calf

Harry Kewell (Australia)......... Knee

Ruud van Nistelrooy (Neth'lds)......... Knee

Fernando Torres (Spain)......... Knee

News that rarely hears in these days of million dollar player salaries.

Oguchi Onyewu whose patellar tendon injury resulted in only one appearance for the Rossoneri has asked for a extension of a year following the two year contract he signed with the club. He has said he will play that additional time for free. Milan has accepted and acknowledged his gesture:

"Onyewu has requested and obtained a contract extension from 30 June 2012 until 30 June 2013. With respect to that year, as was his wish, which has been appreciated by the club, Onyewu has asked not to receive any type of wages. This is an exemplary gesture that deserves our sincere congratulations."

Good for him.

Marca's influential editor in chief has never been a big fan of Real Madrid's hiring of Manuel Pellegrini. He has regularly assailed the Chilean coach in his daily videoblogs.

With the Malaga failure, Eduardo Inda has called on Real to hire a new coach.

Meanwhile, Real is gauging Jose Mourinho mood.

The Special One after winning the Scudetto, continued a familiar theme of alienation. Reiterating Italy is not "home" and said it was "a difficult place to work". He also said that he would decide his future after the Champions League finals to be played at the Bernabeu. You can be sure Eduardo Inda, Florentino Perez and Jorge Valdano will not spare any hyperbole in welcoming him.

For what it is worth, the commentators on Marca's message board have no love for Inda either.

Les Bleus return to sanity through Blanc's appointment. Too bad that they will have to wait after the World Cup for it.

The German captain, a recipient of a nasty tackle on his right ankle by Kevin Prince Boateng during the FA Cup final over the weekendwill not be participating in the World Cup. MRI scans showed partially torn ankle ligaments which require strict immobilization for the next four weeks. He will be given a CAM boot to wear for the next four weeks to progress to the next level in his rehabilitation. We are looking at a three to four month layoff.

Probably the last World Cup we would have seen Michael Ballack in action. His experience and set piece expertise will be missed. 42 goals in 98 caps is a very good return rate.

Ballack established his credentials in the 2002 World Cup leading Germany to the finals which he did not play due to suspension. He made the All Star team. Ballack made it again to the All Star in the 2006 World Cup with highlight performances against Ecuador and Argentina.

Who will be his replacement?

Sami Khedira as first alternate playing alongside Bastian Schweinsteiger. Joachim Low could be tempted to call up Torsten Frings, who is not part of the provisional squad but this injury could force a call up for the Werder Bremen captain. Frings is one of the most experienced national players having seen duty in the 2006 World Cup where he gained a reputation for tough tackling.

Germany's next captain could be either Schweinsteiger or Philip Lahm, both have been important members of Bayern's outstanding season and have considerable national experience.

What a difference a day makes!

Lord Triesman's resignation which could irrevocably damage England's chances are a small price to pay for lame disclosures like 'Big Kisses All Over'. This was the Daily Mail's great return on investment. Paying Melissa Jacobs for entrapping the man entrusted with bringing the 2018 World Cup to England.

That the Daily Mail chose to run the story after NOTW and other tabloids turned her down shows that they really care little about those chances. Triesman's unguarded statements about Spainish and Russian officials bribing referees left him with no wiggle room and the FA was forced to go into damage control mode. Maybe it was all about an old man trying to get a foolish rise out of a younger woman.

All appearances are that it was a far more mundane story of spurned love. Yep, that Tiger Woods thing really let the genie out of the bottle.

But one can't think of a more perfect revenge plot by Vladimir Putin after the polonium scandal soured ties between both countries. England's embarrassment could be to Russia's benefit.

Who would you pay to see? The dude with the pink motifs or the guy with the colourless togs.

The French national rugby team is the strongest in Europe having won the most Six Nations titles including the most recent one earlier this year. Unlike their footballing counterparts they have seen few controversies while achieving such success.

With Thierry Henry's scandalous reenactment of Maradona taking them to the World Cup, a coach that is a figure of derision for most of his countrymen and players too, and now a sex scandal engulfing some of the team's top players, it comes as no surprise that the public might be a bit blase about the national game.

Les Bleus is also a politically polarizing team with its multi-ethnic hue raising the question of national identity during election time. A political firestorm was set off when an performer singing Le Marseillaise before a match against Tunisia got booed for singing the national anthem. Such potentially divisive moments could arise in the event France meets one of its former colonies on the playing field.

The French Ligue also regularly loses its top talent to the bigger and more lucrative European leagues. Richer clubs regularly poach young players, offering bribes to them and their parents, which has led to UEFA's president Michel Platini calling for protectionist measures. Other factors include declining match attendances and fan violence seen regularly at clubs like PSG and L'OM.

The LNR, the French rugby league has in contrast effected a remarkable turnaround. In the past, French standouts like Frederic Michalak, Thierry Lacroix, and Phillipe Sella would move to the more lucrative South African and English leagues. But all that has changed.

The Top 14, LNR's top divisions is now one of the richest leagues eclipsing the English Rugby Premiership in player wages. On average the Top 14 player is paid $153,700 versus $123,000 in England. The bullish environment is helped further by no salary caps and a weaker pound. The French clubs have raided English clubs like Saracens, Sale, and Wasps leading to an across the channel exodus.

Moreover, France is the beneficiary of the breakdown of the traditional North- South divide between Europe and SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia). In the past northern contracts were only allowed when the player called time on their international career. But the huge differences in payer wages have left little patience for pension benefits. France has become the preferred destination of this northbound winter flight.

A look at Perpignan's roster, the top club in the 14, includes 12 players from other countries. Their notable players include Dan Carter, an All Black fly half who helped them win the title and Percy Montgomery, the Springboks all time leader in appearances. John Smit the Springbok captain signed for Clermont Auvergne. Byron Kelleher, one of the best half back prospects to come out of New Zealand signed on for Agen, and then transferred to top titled Toulouse.

The increasing popularity of rugby is reflected in the steady rise in matchday attendances and TV viewership. The final between US Perpignan and Clermont Auvergne attracted 79,205 fans at the Stade de France. This is far in excess of top football attendances including national appearances. A 700,000 viewership compares very favourably to football's 1.7 million on weekends and the number of TV subscriptions continues to grow. Clubs confronted with overflowing stadiums are looking to building larger ones or moving to the bigger municipal stadiums.

A major factor in such a surge is that the Top 14 clubs are amongst the elites in European top flight. The Heineken Cup, the rugby counterpart to the Champions League is regularly contested between French clubs. This year three time winner Stade Toulousain takes on Olympique Biarritz. In all, French clubs have won four titles and been eight times runners up. An impressive record for a 15 year old competition.

L'OM's 1993 Champions League title remains the Ligue's singular European achievement.

The Top 14 have their Roman Abramovich's and Glazers. Comic book publisher, Mourad Boudjellad, bankrolls Toulon as does real estate magnate Jacky Lorenzetti with Racing Metro. But the culture of the bottomless bank accounts began with radio entrepreneur Max Guazzini when he bought Stade Francaise in 1992. He was soon accused of buying his way to the top. Guazzini seems to be part owner, part impresario bringing a sense of theatrics and a penchant for pink kits to the game that is part of the growing attraction for rugby. Filling the Stade de France on discounted tickets as cheap as €5 to €10 might give rise to a pretense but regular 80,000 attendances are ensured.

Top 14 clubs are located in small towns spread mostly over the more southern and coastal part of France with strong regional affiliations with the Basque and Catalan communities. Although they are sometimes at odds with Paris over their autonomous aspirations, for most part rugby retains a strong Gallic quality. Fan violence erupting in the Algerian section in Marseille after the Fennecs played Egypt in Cairo are indicative of a schism. Rugby stands to gain from football's divided loyalties.

When Marcelo Lippi announces his 23 man squad, Gianpaolo Pazzini will be in it because of what he did today against Napoli.

Pazzini scored his 18th goal and a never more important one as Sampdoria heads back to the Champions League for the first time since 1992, when they played the European Cup finals against Barca losing in extra time to a Ronald Koeman goal.

The Napoli match also saw Pazzini's rival, Fabio Quagliarella severely test Marco Storari who again showed outstanding reflexes to keep the ball away. He then survived a scare from Stefano Lucchini who headed the ball for a near own goal. Luckily for him and Sampdoria it drifted out.

So read the words on the back of the celebratory jerseys donned by Barca. It was a historical win. 99 points, the most by a Liga team to win. One loss in the entire season, none at home.

Barca's win over Valladolid was deemed necessary after a disappointing Champions League and Copa Del Rey exit. Some amount of nerves could be seen initially. But as the match wore on there appeared one last exposition of the finest football. We were all beneficiaries.

A season that saw repeated editions of Leo Messi's masterclasses in total football annihilation. Again witnessed today against Real Vallodolid. The Pichichi was a foregone conclusion, the real interest was whether he would break El Fenomeno's record.

Xavi was in street clothes. No matter. Messi commandeered a vast swath using the services of Yaya Toure, Seydou Keita, Bojan, and Pedro to transform a gentle swell to a roiling surge breaking at Valladolid's shores. An own goal got it moving. Messi then set up Pedro before he came up on his brace. No Drogba like pouts or sulks.

Javier Clemente who had said that they "would come like pitbulls" could not save his club from relegation.

So we come up on the end of a remarkable season. And as we look to the future, many will ask the same question- can Barca be stopped?

Pedro, Bojan, and Messi- the three up front have few annual rings. Their youth ensures many seasons. Behind them Iniesta and Xavi, fuel the creative cauldron with their tight interlocking game and vision. Some injury concerns of late may introduce a sense of vulnerability but there is no real alarm at least for the next two seasons.

One big reason for their success is the defense giving up the least number of goals. Sergio Busquets who brings his theatrical abilities to the holding midfielder role has consolidated his position. Yaya Toure might be looking elsewhere. But Pique and Puyol are the pillars on central defense while Dani Alves always rates a shade less than Maicon as the world's best right back. Gael Clichy is linked as a possible answer to their left back problems as Maxwell is considered lightweight.

It is frightening to contemplate Barca's lock on the Liga might be set in stone for some years. A vast gulf separates Barca from the rest of the Liga. Even Real's individual talent which is exceptional cannot compare in the face of the system put into place at Barca. Real's mistake of putting too much investment on expensive hired guns might be enough to overcome the rest of the Liga. But as proven in both Clasicos, it is not enough.

The name that shall not be mentioned is the antidote. The Special One will remind Barca as he did so well with Inter, their fear of the "other". But first the Clive Barker of football will make sure that the Merengues give up their self consciousness and engage in calculated anti football. Someone like Raul Albiol will not survive.

A difference of 30 points between these two teams and the rest of the Liga is not a statistical anomaly, it speaks of a structural difference in terms of talent and money. Introduction of a more even handed distribution of TV revenues will be essential in restoring parity to the Liga.

A horrible own goal by Luis Prieto and an emphatic finish by Pedro put the defending champions up. But it was a nervy beginning as Victor Valdes almost gifted Manucho a goal.

If Real Madrid have a semblance of hope, it lies in the hands of Javier Clemente, Real Valladolid's manager whose team meets Barca at Camp Nou today.

He was a coach of the legendary Atletico Bilbao teams of the 1980s that put Basque pride to the fore winning the Liga in 1983 and a double in 1984 adding the Copa Del Rey. The pugnacious Clemente has a history of polarizing both rivals.

He did it by installing the hardest tackling team in the Liga personified by Andoni Goikoetxea, the Butcher of Bilbao, whose moniker was exemplified by an infamous tackle on Diego Maradona whilst at Barcelona. The Argentinian had to sit the season out with torn ankle ligaments. Goikoetxea also sent out Bernd Schuster with a damaged knee.

Clemente's intimidatory tactics were anathema to the Blaugrana leading to a constant war of words between him and the patrician César Luis Menotti. Things came to a head as both clubs engaged in a no holds barred brawl in the 1984 Copa Del Rey final. Clemente caused further angst when he joined crosstown rivals Espanyol as coach in 1986 and led them to considerable success.

He did not spare Real Madrid also as he brought the Quinta Del Buitre era to a crashing halt when he snatched the Liga from the Merengues in the 1982- 1983 season. The matches were framed as an attack by the independent minded Basques on Spain's nationalistic identity emanating from Madrid, the seat of power.

Clemente engenders the most vicious of reactions in fans. They regularly chant, "Clemente, muérete" when he visits the Bernabeu.

"The people behind the bench at the Bernabeu are very uneducated," said Clemente recently.

Both teams have their fate in the hands of a coach that they despise. What would happen if Valladolid crashes Barca's party and gives the title to Real Madrid in a shock? Will Javier Clemente be welcomed back to the Bernabeu as a hero? It will all unfold in a few hours.

Inter's Argentinian connection came up big as Estaban Cambiasso wins the ball and swings it wide to Javier Zanetti running down the left. The wing back feeds Milito who scampers past the Siena defense and side foots the ball into goal. A beaming Massimo Moratti greets the goal.

Inter win their fifth Scudetto in a row. Can we say Diego Milito has been Jose Mourinho's pick of the season? Relegated Siena were game but they could not provide Roma the result that they craved. As it turned out Roma's match against Chievo is academic.

Jose Mourinho is on track for the triple. So is his Bayern Munich counterpart, Louis Van Gaal. Who will blink in their perfect season when these two meet for the Champions League final on May 22nd?

A fascinating battle for the last and final CL spot unfolded yesterday as Real Mallorca took on Espanyol. Sevilla met Almeria. A battle that will be remembered for a long, long time.

Mallorca did their part by beating Espanyol, 2-0 through goals scored by Victor Casadesus and Mario Suarez. Check out Suarez's goal. It has spectacular written all over it.

The players then turned their attention to watched the Sevilla match for the last few minutes. At that time Sevilla and Almeria were tied, 2-2 each. A draw would mean Los Nervionenses would be stuck at 61 points, one behind Mallorca. Enough for the last CL spot.

But Jordi's 91st minute strike shattered those dreams. It was a fascinating match as a tough Almeria team refused to go away. Kanoute's header was answered in brilliant fashion by Fernando Soriano's volley. Los Nervionenses again went ahead again when Jesus Navas's curling cross was steered into goal by Chico. A fateful own goal.

Another twist was added to the heated subplot as Alvaro Negredo was sent off the field after exchanging heated words with the match officials.

Almeria did not lie down coming back through Juan Ortiz's tremendous strike from open field 25 yards away. An absolute beauty that had both force and width. It should make the top ten Liga goals. 11 minutes before match close and it looked as if Sevilla would be done for. Almeria were really pressing by now.

But then came the fateful moment in added time, as Navas centered the ball into the Almeria goal and it was Sebastian Squillaci pulling it down. The ball bounced to Rodri, an 82nd minute substitute lurking at the far right corner of goal, to cartwheel acrobatically and lash past Esteban Suarez.

Euphoria engulfed the Sevilla players and fans. Real Mallorca players watched with hands over their heads. Cruel sport this football. But the Balearics can be proud because their club beset with many problems and a tiny budget, till the last minute fought for a Champions League spot with the best. They will return to Europe after six years.

Goals from the one sided battle for the German Cup.The latest Bundesliga title was their 22nd.The champion's league title will make it a historic treble.

The fleet footed Bayern winger was on the wings of Mercury today in the German Cup as the Bavarian giants thrashed Werder Bremen, 4-0. Maybe it was his new F 50 AdiZero's. They are super lightweight. Made of a single layer of polyurethane weighing just 165 grams or about 5.8 ounces. So watch out in that CL final, Javier Zanetti and Walter Samuel!

Michael Ballack is now an official injury worry for Germany as he is has been declared out for an unspecified amount of time following an ankle injury after Kevin Prince Boateng's rather nasty tackle on him in today's FA Cup final. Ballack had to be substituted because he was unable to play through the pain.

There is less than a month left before the start of the World Cup, so this is high anxiety for Joachim Low.

In a Machiavellian twist, Boateng will most likely be in the Ghana squad should FIFA accept his change in national allegiance from Germany to Ghana, the country of his origin. Ghana meet Germany on June 23rdf in a group encounter. In fact, the inflicted injury to Ballack is Boateng's perfect initiation into the Black Stars.

There is a context to the Ballack incident as three minutes before the German captain and Chelsea midfielder had slapped Boateng in the face. An event that Chris Foy, the referee completely missed or chose to ignore. Boateng exacted his revenge with just a yellow card to show although it could be argued his real punishment came later, missing that penalty which could have put Pompey ahead.

Whatever the spin, the Ghana vs Germany game assumes an edge and if Ballack and Boateng are on the pitch there might be extra mustard on those tackles.

Kevin Prince Boateng could have become a Pompey hero but he squandered a spot kick in the 56' minute. Petr Cech saving a shot inanely struck right to him.

You knew what was coming after that. Didier Drogba scoring from a wickedly wobbling free kick in the 59' minute which struck the upright but went in. Five times previously the woodwork kept the Blues out.

Boateng's miss assumed gargantuan proportions because Frank Lampard went one better in the 84' minute by missing the goal altogether with his penalty kick. The first time in an FA Cup final.

We would have been in extra time but it was not to be. Just as well because the pitch looked more appropriate for a mudfight.

Carlo Ancelotti gets his Lotti. The Double.

The first time in FA Cup history the top team meets the bottom team in top flight competition. Chelsea hope to do the double for the first time since Arsenal in 2002.

Rob Smyth on the live feed >>

The last day of the Liga might have very little drama on the field as Barca face Vallaodolid. Minions entrusted with stopping the giants from winning their appointment with the title. Stranger things have happened and Real Madrid could end up victors. Improbable yes, impossible no.

Whatever the outcome this might be Manuel Pellegrini's last match. Yesterday's news conference was hued with a farewell like quality. Real play Malaga.

" But for me the most important is the response of the players, when asked have shown support for their coach. I also feel supported by the fans, since 80 or 85% fully support me and that they have seen a different Madrid, ambitious and fun. What happens in the future is not my problem. "

He seems to suspect that his time is up.

"I know it's bad not to win a title but the final assessment would not differ greatly depending on whether we win or not."

Some "Exclusives" to further the notion of a club in crisis.

"Exclusive" screams the Goal.com headline which states that eight Arsenal players could be heading out the door led by Andrei Arshavin and Gael Clichy.

Funny thing is that with the focus fixed on Cesc Fabregas supposed Barca departure, you would think that the Spaniard would be at the top of that class. I guess Goal.com has a different list or maybe more to the point, they have to compete with some equally shrill story, since The Sun bagged all the headlines with Fabregas.

When you look for attributable sources, there are none. Interviews with player agents, a third party source? None. Is Goal.com being exclusive in the sense of being the first to compile this post? But that is being disingenuous. One can make an exclusive story out of anything then. Exclusive: The ten Premiership players who might like to eat haggis.

Now, some of it is quite obvious. There will be departures. William Gallas will be heading out the door unless he drops his demand for more money. Philippe Senderos is out of contract and has not played for more than a year. Mikael Silvestre too faces the same issue with the added disadvantage of being the poster boy for Arsenal's defensive meltdowns.

Fran Merida has no incentive to perform because he is head back to the Liga. Eduardo's injuries have taken a psychic toll.

Wage considerations, contract expirations, performance let downs, and lack of playing time will contribute to squad attrition. But it might be a different list.

Carlos Vela is a player who did not even come back from the cold. Abou Diaby and Armando Traore could also find new homes.

The more dubious. Andrei Arshavin has been linked with Barca but even the Spanish media is not touching this one. And that says a lot. Gael Clichy has just about returned to match form after a long injury layoff. He has been linked with Barca in the same breath as Arshavin. But unless they get rid of Maxwell, one cannot see it happen. Plus, Armando Traore does not inspire confidence as Kieran Gibbs back up. Tomas Rosicky has come back to his first season from an even longer injury layoff. The Czech probably needs another season to get back to speed. It is hard to see Wenger giving up on this group.

Goal.com's hyperbolic "Exclusive" is nothing compared to Mirror Football's "Exclusive" on Wenger begging with Cesc Fabregas to stay on for two years more. Are they installing bugs in the boardroom or offices? The player's agent talking? This is nothing but manufacturing out of whole cloth. Wenger has never stopped a player from leaving and even if he is concerned about a future without Fabregas, the club comes first, and they will look for a suitable replacement.

Thanks to BSD for pointing out this video which has been launched in anticipation of the USA Bid Committee's submission of the official United States Bid Book to FIFA at a formal ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland.
Thanks also for the link to the gousabid website where you can sign a petition to bring the World Cup back to USA (which at least 345,915 people have already signed by the time you are reading this.)

And then ....the inside story of how the 1994 World Cup came to USA.

David Beckham's World Cup appearances as a player have been nothing to write home about. The negatives have far outshadowed the fewer positive notes.

Now, he is being taken to the World Cup as a full time member of Fabio Capello's coaching staff. I wonder if Diego Simeone might have a few thoughts on this move. The Argentinian defender after retirement has had a fairly fruitful career as a coach in his county's domestic league. He is also the nemesis forever associated with Beckham's World Cup appearances.

One of Beckham's functions would be to assist Capello in communication. The Italian has never had the best command of the English language and he would entrust the former Milan player with the task of making his tactics known to the players, especially the younger ones.

Now, there would be some merit in this proposal if Capello had come on board two months ago as national coach.

At this stage, one would think if communication were indeed a problem for Capello, then there would be a glitch in England's dramatic comeback from Euro 2008 disaster. After two years as coach to Theo Walcott, Aaron Lennon, and Wayne Rooney, Capello did not give the impression that there was a letdown in information dissemination. And if Beckham is his choice of chief communicator, he could definitely do better.

Beckham will also assist on the training ground. Could Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott benefit from coaching tips to better service the ball? Maybe. Beckham whose career has been built around such endeavours could be useful in solving these problem areas for both players. However, there is a distinct static quality to Beckham's service. Making such adjustments to the known pace and acceleration of both wingers will be a challenging task. Speed and accuracy are usually inversely proportional to each other.

Still, it does represent a step up from cheerleader in chief.

"It's a big decision for David because he is still getting over the fact that he can't play in South Africa," a source close to Beckham said last night. "But he's always keen to help England in any way he can."

Could be a move fraught with danger. The media circus will be a distraction as will all the less salubrious details of wife in tow.

The Seattle Sounders are now the Seattle Flounders. They were shown up by their West Coast counterparts, the LA Galaxy last weekend. Yes, the 4-0 loss was in front of a record number of fans at home. An embarrassing loss no doubt to the team that they so fondly hope to usurp but made ludicrous by the fact that their GM wants to refund the fans their money.

Lets put this in perspective. It does not speak well for MLS goalscoring, when results such as this lead to instant mortification. If this was the case then teams like Wigan, Blackburn, Stoke, Burnley, and even Everton would never get up in the morning. Or would be without serious gate money.

It also does not speak well for the MLS when an expansion team with barely a year in the league entertains title aspirations. Getting spoiled so quickly after such a debut season is never good. But having an egalitarian pool of talent spread over the league has the effect of creating a uniformity in expectations.

If Andre Hanauer is driven by declining attendances then he is best rid of the hail fellow, well met type of fan that he is concerned about. The Toon army support their club no matter what. And there is a lot of no matter what as far as that club is concerned.

Lets hope Hanauer's is a one off aberration. Penalizing the club's players is not smart. In reality, a league is best served by mythic losses and victories.

Fabregas and Wenger: Dire Straits is still a name of an English rock group

Cesc Fabregas's media grabbing statement about leaving for Barcelona is proof for The Sun that Arsenal is a sinking ship.

The Sun omits out this very important part:

" I don't know when this will happen though. I'm very happy at Arsenal. I'm in no hurry to leave the club."

You see without these words, this actually is a non story. The Sun knows this but that is why when we rank journalistic probity, a Murdoch rag usually sinks to the bottom. But it makes for good copy.

Here is The Sun:

"If I ever leave Arsenal it will be to play for Barcelona.

"I am 23 years old and I have a long career in front of me. I've never hidden the fact that playing for Barcelona is a dream that I would like to fulfil."

Say what you will. Fabregas scored a penalty on a broken leg against Barca. He tore that ball out of the net to celebrate drawing level. He wasn't Adebayor looking over his shoulder. He was captain Arsenal. In him beat an Arsenal heart.

"I have a long career in front of me"

When the time comes he may leave. There is Xavi and Iniesta in front of him at Barca for now. Biding his time makes sense. Plus, who is to say that these words do not have an implicit purpose: to put Wenger under pressure to make some quality signings this summer.

The Sun's conjecture that Wenger too will leave putting Arsenal in dire straits. A lack of transfer funds is a major factor usually when managers leave of their own accord. Wenger is the exception. He is in the forefront of Arsenal's debt reduction by making bargain basement deals and capitalizing on their resale value. Wenger's reaction following Arsenal's disastrous end of season run reveal that there will be no volte-face from that philosophy. They show a manager very much invested in the club's future.

From their heroes of speed website
"In collaboration with the unique talents of Croatian artist, Danijel Zezelj, 10 memorable moments are recreated, bringing an unexpected dimension to football history. Sport illustrator Paolo Sabelluccis talents are showcased through the diagramming and construction of 10 goals that have made these Mercurial men Mercurial Heroes........ see Ronaldo, Ribery, Dani Alves, Drogba, Ibrahimovic, Arshavin, Ozil, Robinho, Pato and Cristiano Ronaldo as never before... "

A Hugh Grant sighting. A big hug for Hodgson from Michel Platini. A pensive Danny Murphy. The skies over the Hamburg Arena raining confetti. The ecstatic Los Colchoneros.

The city that had fondly hoped that their team would be the one contesting the final had one connection. Tomáš Ujfaluši, a former Hamburg player.

Fulham failed to keep the predatory Forlan away from goal.

Sergio "Kun" Agueo's mishit falls fortuitously at Diego Forlan's feet in the 32' minute and the Uruguayan makes it look easy for Atletico's first goal. But 5 minutes later Zoltan Gera's cross was deflected towards Scott Davies who volleyed it past David De Gea for Fulham's equalizer.

The match drifted along to full time with few clear scoring chances for both teams although Atletico looked far more enterprising in attack with the tireless and talented Kun Aguero operating on the left. There were flashes of some delectable ball skills by the little Argentinian.

Heartbreak for Fulham in extra time as Aguero in a great piece of hustle chases down a ball, turns around and crosses to Forlan cutting in from the right. The Atletico striker glances the ball with his right leg past Mark Schwarzer. A 115' minute strike. Schwarzer lays on the ground in utter dejection. Paul Konchesky walks off shaking his head. It was this close to a penalty shootout where Fulham might have felt they had an edge.

The celebrations begin for Quique Sanchez Flores and his men. They end a 48 year old European drought. Full marks to them.

But Roy Hodgson deserves equal praise. He got an everyday squad, rolled up their sleeves, and got them to work. Along the way they stunned Juventus, laid waste to Wolfsburg, and ended Hamburg's fairy tale hopes of capturing the Europa Cup at home. For a club unaccustomed to the klieg lights of top flight competition, that is one heck of an impressive resume. Hodgson's heroes deserve a standing ovation.

A letter takes the French media by storm as Zahia Dehar, the underage escort caught in L'affaire Ribery turns to Raymond Domenech, the coach of Les Bleus for salvation.

She pleads with Domenech not to punish those players who might have broken the law. Zahia accepts full responsibility by saying that she did not disclose her age and the players had no knowledge. She says at no stage did she imply that she was the victim of these players.

" I ask that you respect what the judges, lawyers, called the "presumption of innocence" and take into account at the time of your choice, what has happened between some of your players and I."

She is a heroine. For someone 18 years of age, she has shown a remarkable sense of maturity and introspection and turned something sleazy and worth less than a titter to the level of altruism. Les Bleus should play its heart out for a woman with a Gallic heart of gold. She has paid a price, become a recluse in her own country, all for the presumption of innocence.

Goals by Miguel Jones, Jose Alberto Mendonça, and Joaquín Peiró give the Colchoneros a famous victory over Fiorentina.

Messrs Diego Forlan, Simao Sabroso, Sergio Aguero, and Jose Antonio Reyes have been entrusted with Los Colchoneros quest to end their 48 year old drought. That was the last time they won a major European title, the Cup Winners Cup in 1962.

The match between Atletico and Fiorentina was contested as a one off final after UEFA abolished the two leg format that they had established for the competition its inaugural year. But the match played on 5 May, 1962 at Hampden Park, Glasgow was a tied affair as both teams battled to a 1-1 draw. The final was replayed 4 months later at the Neckarstadion, Stuttgart. This time there was no doubt. Atletico won, 3-0.

If Roy Hodgson is reviving Fulham's fortunes, his Atletico Madrid counterpart, Quique Sanchez Flores is doing the same. Sanchez Flores has like Hodgson achieved his success away from the Liga, in other domestic formats like the Copa Del Rey where they will contest the final against Sevilla and now this year's Europa Cup.

In fact, Atletico has dropped from a top four finish in last season's Liga to a current ninth place. Likewise, Fulham ended its Premiership in 12th position, a five place drop from last season. These competitions have far more significance for both managers.

Fulham's defense vs Atletico's attack:

Sanchez Flores tactics will include stopping big man Bobby Zamora, who with Danny Murphy, and Brede Hangeland are the spine of the Fulham team. The key they believe is to keep out Zamora where he can do most damage, in the goal mouth. If they can starve him of supply, they have a chance of winning. Which might just be a tall order because their defense has been quite porous.

At the other end, Jose Antonio Reyes is having a great season plundering down the right and feeding Diego Forlan. The watertight Fulham defense will have to mark the potent Atletico attack well. The Cottagers have built their success on giving up fewer goals.

Good news for the good ship Fulham in its voyage to dizzying never before glory. Bobby Zamora, the driving force in their Europa Cup campaign with 8 goals is likely to take the field. All indications are that he has recuperated very well from his Achilles tendon injury.

"He trained on Monday and that was very, very positive," said manager Roy Hodgson. "I've been given no indication that he's suffering from a reaction so my hope is that he'll be available."

Zamora's exclusion from England's World Cup squad might give extra impetus to score goals. He will have Damien Duff who also comes back from injury.

The English Parliament might be in for a fractious time with political parties that have very different and competing philosophies forming a coalition but there is no doubt that all of England is behind the Cottagers. A wave of goodwill bathes the club. Danny Murphy, the captain:

"This is probably the first time the whole of England want an English club to win in Europe." declared Murphy.

In Roy Hodgson we trust. The manager of the year is in sight of unique company - the first Englishman since Bobby Robson to win a European trophy, the Cup Winners' Cup with Barcelona 13 years ago.

Javier Zanetti with 136 international caps has been excluded by Maradona

Diego Maradona's selection was marked by delay and mystery. The journalists and press who were called in at 3 PM to Ezeiza, the AFA's training grounds were kept waiting as Maradona who arrived shortly said he would talk to them after he called his players and then the AFA would publish the list.

However, the AFA website stopped functioning after 3 PM. There was no word on the team and anxiety mounted amongst the media and the waiting fans.

Rumours were floating around on social networking sites. Meanwhile, Maradona gave an interview to a journalist on the AFA payoll and ignored the other hundreds milling around the facilities. Finally, after hours of waiting, the AFA website came on a little after 7PM.

There were a number of eyebrows raised. No Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso, two leading lights in Inter's success this season. Real Madrid's Fernando Gago was also notably not included. But Gabriel Heinze whose defending has been quite erratic found a place. So did three players from the Argentine league, who are highly regarded within it but relatively unknown outside. They featured in a recent 4-0 victory over Haiti. Veterans Juan Sebastian Veron who led to Estudiantes to the Copa Libertadores last year and Martin Palermo, a Boca perennial also find themselves in the squad.

Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar), Mariano Andújar (Catania) and Diego Pozo (Colon).

Defenders: Nicolas Burdisso (Roma), Ariel Garcé (Colon), Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich), Gabriel Heinze (Olympique Marseille), Juan Manuel Insaurralde (Newell's), Nicholas Otamendi (Velez), Clemente Rodriguez (Estudiantes), Walter Samuel (Inter).

Midfielders: Sebastián Blanco (Lanús), Mario Bolatti (Fiorentina), Jesus Dátolo (Napoli), Angel Di Maria (Benfica), Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle), Javier Macherano (Liverpool), Juan Mercier (Argentinos Juniors), Javier Pastore (Huracan ), Maxi Rodriguez (Liverpool), Jose Sosa (Estudiantes), Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes).

Forwards: Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Diego Milito (Inter), Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid).

Dunga's 23 includes no Ronaldinho, Adriano, Pato, Neymar, Diego, or Ganso

After 16 years, there will be no Ronaldo.

But 31 year old journeyman Grafite, having scored 50 goals in three sensational seasons at Wolfsburg is in. And Grafite acknowledged his selection:

" Without a doubt this is the biggest thrill of my life."

So is Sevilla's Luis Fabiano boosting his club's attack with 21 goals. Robinho who has settled down at Santos where he delights the crowd with his delicate chip shots finds favour too.

Dunga has gone for experience as ex- Arsenal man Gilberto Silva, Man City reject Elano, and Kleberson are in the roster. The average age is 29 years with Ramires the youngest at 23.

The defense also has a set of enforcers in Lucio, Luisao, and Felipe Melo. The talent at wingback is palpable as Maicon's understudy is the redoubtable Dani Alves. Dunga's emphasis on work rate is also underlined in the selection of Ramires, a tireless winger at Benfica, part of their successful midfield diamond.

Which all brings us back to the question of the ever smiling Ronaldinho. With 11 goals and 17 assists for Milan, Ronaldinho would have seemingly turned the corner with his productivity, if not his work ethic. His form did not entirely convince Dunga who excluded him from the 23 man roster.

But the CBF submitted a separate list of seven reserves to FIFA which includes Ronaldinho's name. Which means that the only way Ronaldinho can get to play is through an injury replacement. Maybe Kaka?

Diego Tardelli (Atlético Mineiro)
Ganso (Santos)
Carlos Eduardo (Hoffenheim)
Marcelo (Real Madrid)
Alex (Chelsea)
Ronaldinho Gaúcho (AC Milan)
Sandro (Internacional)

Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Doni (AS Roma), Gomes (Tottenham Hotspur)

Defenders: Maicon (Inter Milan), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Michel Bastos (Olympique Lyon), Gilberto (Cruzeiro), Lucio (Inter Milan), Juan (AS Roma), Luisao (Benfica), Thiago Silva (AC Milan)

Midfielders: Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Felipe Melo (Fiorentina), Ramires (Benfica), Elano (Galatasaray), Kaka (Real Madrid), Julio Baptista (Roma), Kleberson (Flamengo), Josue (VfL Wolfsburg).

Forwards: Robinho (Santos), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Nilmar (Villarreal), Grafite (VfL Wolfsburg).

Not all that surprising. Given the fact that central defense was going to be a problem area, with all those injuries and worrying lack of form. Fabio Capello induced Jamie Carragher to comeback from retirement. He loaded up on central defense. There is John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Matthew Upson, and as anticipated, Ledley King and Michael Dawson.

King's return to form was tempered with caution because of his long standing knee problems. But he has so far suffered no ill effects.

"Ledley King is one of the best England defenders," Capello told BBC Radio 5 live. "He played four games in the last 15 days and told us he had no problems with his knee."

In fact, Harry Redknapp will be full of glee. Six Spurs were named to the roster. Apart from King and Dawson, the midfield was boosted by Aaron Lennon and Tom Huddlestone, just finished with his best season. Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe are also in, giving a very well balanced representation in all areas.

The big story was Paul Scholes who was being courted by Capello to reconsider retirement and there were some indication that the Man Utd veteran would be amenable to those entreaties. Scholes last international was way back in the 2004 Euro.

"We had been monitoring him for the second part of the season when he's played very well," Capello said. "We tried to convince him to come back, but he said 'no'. He preferred to stay with his family."

The inclusion of Crouch and Emile Heskey gives an indication as to who will complement Wayne Rooney. This goes with Capello's choice of pairing up a more physically imposing striker bringing a threat on set pieces with someone smaller and speedier. Bobby Zamora ruled himself out with his Achilles injury.

Scott Parker gets a nod because he has been the best player for the Hammers. Owen Hargreaves might have been the only England player with a consistent work ethic in the 2006 World Cup. However, his lack of playing minutes stretched for a year and a half, making him a huge risk.

Michael Carrick has struggled with form and Gareth Barry is an injury concern. In fact, his inclusion seems to have arisen from a misunderstanding. Capello believing that it would be the end of the month for an injury re-evaluation only to be informed that the date had been moved forward by a week.

Joe Cole makes it back. Ancelotti might have used him sparingly but Capello would have been foolish to exclude him. At his best, Cole's sudden shifts in acceleration and tight ball control make him elusive and difficult to tackle.

The surfeit on the right also reflects concerns over injury and form. Theo Walcott who had made the position his to lose a year ago, has been one of Arsenal's frustrations. Lennon returns after a long injury layoff. Shaun Wright-Phillips has not done enough to convince that he can start. Adam Johnson, who has yet to be capped, showed glimpses of his potential and was rewarded by Capello. His versatility is a plus as he can be used on either flank.

England's goalkeepers have also proven difficult to nail down but Joe Hart's form on loan to Birmingham has been outstanding.

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), David James (Portsmouth), Robert Green (West Ham).

Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Michael Dawson (Tottenham), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Ledley King (Tottenham), John Terry (Chelsea), Matthew Upson (West Ham), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa).

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), James Milner (Aston Villa), Scott Parker (West Ham), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City).

Forwards: Darren Bent (Sunderland), Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

Thanks to Igor Martinovic for the video.

DREAM from Igor Martinovic on Vimeo.

A familiar face from last summer will be missing. Charlie Davies who captured the imagination of US fans with his Confederations Cup performance did not make Bob Bradley's 30 man roster. He is still recuperating from the injuries sustained in that horrific car injury in August last year. We had hoped that there would be an outside chance that he would make the cut.

Ultimately it came down to the US medical team and his club, FC Sochaux to make the determination as to his fitness. However as Bradley explained:

" FC Sochaux notified us that at this point Charlie has not been given medical clearance, and that they would not grant his full release to join the camp. Given that status and our own evaluation of his progress, we feel it is Charlie's best interest to continue his rehabilitation and focus on getting fully prepared to resume his professional and international career."

Davies was part of Bradley's consideration right up till Monday but the coach took the long term view in his rehabilitation. Correctly so but one cannot but feel a huge emotional let down. Sadly, for Davies the World Cup came just too soon. I am sure bummed about this as must be thousands of US fans but it probably does not compare to what Davies must be feeling- who must be devastated.

Other injury returnees include Oguchi Onyewu and Stuart Holden who are back with their teams. Holden put in 25 minutes with Bolton and Gooch was on the bubble with the 18 man AC Milan squad. Their progress will be keenly monitored especially Gooch's whose injury layoff was much longer because of a torn patellar tendon.

Jozy Altidore's strike partner will be either LA Galaxy's Edson Buddle or Hercules Gomez of Puebla. Both are having standout seasons. Hardworking Brian Ching gets a call. Robbie Findley so impressive for RSL last season has failed to find form in his national appearances. One can say the same for Eddie Johnson.

The Galaxy builds its high scoring around Buddle and his counterattacking qualities in tandem with team mate Landon Donovan. Their familiarity with one another should work to the USA's advantage in the World Cup.

DaMarcus Beasley's pace is attractive but he is a lightweight on the ball. Plus, he is now surplus to Rangers and has not played since early March. Alejandro Bedoya is probably the better option. Stuart Holden should be a lock on the right. He is also versatile enough to play on either wing and in central midfield too, giving the US attack a protean quality.

The inability to retain the ball has been a weak spot in the US game, so the addition of Maurice Edu, at Rangers, introduces a bit more holding capability. He should be a bit higher in the pecking order over Ricardo Clark because of his European experience. Michael Bradley should share center midfield duties and his understudy will be Benny Feilhaber bringing in a super sub reputation. The X factor as always is Clint Dempsey. Just when you count him out, Deuce comes up with a stunner.

The left back position remains problematic because Jonathan Bornstein, Bradley's nepotistic first choice has had some real problems stopping players. A better option would be to move Carlos Bocanegra into that spot. The former Fulham man has grown into his role as left back at Rennes. Nationally, he is Onyewu's regular partner at central defense.

Bradley can think about reintroducing Jay DeMerit as Gooch's partner on central defense, a combination that worked very well at the Confed Cup with DeMerit's performance coming in for praise. If Gooch struggles at training camp, then I can't think of anyone better than Chad Marshall who brings a threat on set pieces too. Steve Cherundolo should get the nod over Jonathan Spector at right back.

Freddie Adu did not make it but the former DC United player's European sojourn has been dogged with few appearances. Not a surprising omission. Conor Casey, Frankie Hejduk, Jermaine Jones, and Jimmy Conrad did not make the roster too.

Tim Howard, Oguchi Onyewu, Carlos Bocanegra, Steve Cherundolo, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Brian Ching, and Eddie Johnson are the repeats from the 2006 World Cup squad. Brian McBride whose heroic, bloody visage was one of the iconic images of that World Cup will not be there as he retired from the international arena. There are many who I am sure would love to have him back.

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Michael Bradley (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), José Torres (Pachuca)

Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla), Eddie Johnson (Aris Thessaloniki)

" I was in the past twenty years, probably one of the most entertaining players in Germany, with my mistakes, escapades, special antics, and also with my performances, I made a lot of people laugh, cry, happy, offering wonderment. "

So begins Lehmann's new book. And it has a lot of Ollie Kahn.

" It is Friday, 7th April 2006. For almost a year the smoldering question who should be at the World Cup in Germany as goalkeeper of the national team - Oliver Kahn or me."

Lehmann gets a fateful call from Andy Kopke, the goalkeeping coach.

"It's not been easy for us, we have sat together since yesterday evening. But we have decided its you."

A number of ways he could celebrate cross his mind. But in the end he allows himself a small smile of satisfaction. It took 35 years for Lehmann but here he was, finally, the goalkeeper of the Mannschaft.

That paper he had which he kept looking at after each penalty kick in the match between Germany and Argentina and shoving back into his socks. In it all the vital information on the penalty takers written by Kopke. In pencil.

By the time it came to Esteban Cambiasso, the note was smudged. Lehmann looked for his name frantically but it was not there. Suddenly, in a split second he remembered the quarterfinal match in the Champions League: Inter vs Villareal. Cambiasso firing in a free kick into the left hand corner of goal.

The moment was nigh as the player had already begun his run to the ball and about to strike the ball when Lehmann centered himself and jumped to the left. It was the right decision. Germany were through to the semi-finals thanks to Lehmann's preternatural goalkeeping.

He also acknowledges Kahn's words wishing him well before the penalty shootout. Something that he was not able to to do at that time caught up with his preparations.

Shteve McLaren is beaming a lot more these days: Happy days at FC Twente

Steve McLaren is moving onto a bigger stage. The Bundesliga. He is Wolfsburg's new gaffer signing a two year contract that will pay him an annual salary of 3 million euros.

From the despondent man under the brolly run out of England two years ago to a hotshot manager now. The transformation appears complete. The icing will be if he comes back to the England job or to manage Liverpool if Roy Hodgson does not get to it first.

I frankly did not peg Capello to have anything to do with bookies. He seemed to be too high minded for that.

But this is what his new Capello index will accomplish in association with a betting company. Place bets against his own players right during the World Cup by analyzing and assigning scores to their performances after every match.

Call it an online perp walk and maybe Capello can spin it by saying that it was a way of motivating players to do better. But there are other perceptions including a more sinister Gordon Gekko style greed. Which is why he is walking back on this one.

Call it what you will. The timing is just awful and if the scores are anything to go by then Capello is betting against John Terry and Rio Ferdinand not going. Owen Hargreaves is.

But here is a point.

The only reason this venture has a chance of succeeding as a betting tool is because the composition of the England squad has so many question marks. The only given is Wayne Rooney. We can place an over and under on the other selections till the cows come home.

West Ham's coaches after Gold and Sullivan do their number

So Gianfranco Zola departs after doing due diligence keeping the Hammers in the Premiership. There is a tiny bit of being used here. Zola was a player's favourite and I sometimes think that he felt he was one of them. Maybe that was the problem. He was not objective enough. But injuries and a small squad played no mean part in the Hammer's performance this season.

However, the owners David Gold and especially David Sullivan have not exactly covered themselves with glory.

Sullivan was way above this one in his arrogance.

"Mr Sullivan should have a bit more composure when he talks to the press to hammer the players, it's not helping anyone," Boa Morte said. "The fact you have money doesn't mean you can say and do whatever you want. Everyone [in the squad] feels the same."

Putting up all the players for sale except for Scott Parker, going behind Zola's back to make a bid for Graham Dorrans. It is not a pretty sight cutting off the legs of the coach like that. The next incumbent will have to be strong enough to tell Sullivan to take a hike with his micromanaging. Then there is Karren Brady, who has not seen a line that she would not like to cross. In fact, it was her and not Sullivan who had the meeting with Zola, informing him of his dismissal. Sullivan was not even there. This was the lowest of the lows. Zola deserves far more respect and honesty.

With David Gold stepping in with his good cop routine, the club suffers from dissociated neuroses. It maybe just as well that Zola is gone considering he would have to have his shrink on speed dial if he spent anymore time at Upton Park. Maybe that will be the first chore that the new coach will have to do. Candidates being considered: Avram Grant, Mark Hughes, Croatia's coach Slaven Bilic, Ajax's Martin Jol and Real Mallorca's Gregorio Manzano. But it's more likely Gold and Sullivan will continue to be the featured burlesque in the Premiership with their antics.

Drogba's hat trick helped him beat Rooney to the golden boot but old Rooney hasn't done too badly all the same.He claimed another kind of hat trick -a hat-trick of personal awards when he was named Barclays Player of the Season.The other two titles in the series being the Professional Footballers' Association and Football Writers' prizes which he had bagged last month.

John Terry talked up the Chelsea win and assured a domestic dominance for years to come.

But can they beat the Arsenal women who won against Everton, 4-2 for their 7th successive Premiership title? Now that is dominance.

The AC Milan legend has a bad ankle

Van Basten mentioned fondly by the AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi rejected a move to AC Milan. He said it was a nice idea but he had other priorities.

He has a bad ankle that he needs to take care off and limping into a training camp as coach would set a bad example. Plus, he seems to enjoys retirement. However, he made a big plug for Mauro Tassotti, the long time Rossoneri coach.

" Tassotti? I think he is a great coach, a man with long experience who knows the people and culture of Milan, would surely be able to coach a team like that and the same applies to other names that I read, such as Filippo Galli."

Can't really say that says much. Maybe its my imagination but working under Silvio Berlusconi, is shall we say, interesting. There are many who still remember how he undermined Carlo Ancelotti's authority last season, questioning personnel moves, transfers, and generally exhibited all round clueless and bad form in public. So while a Milan coaching job is highly attractive, the candidates should come with the knowledge that the owner is highly combustible.

Rafa Benitez insists that he would like to stay at Liverpool and that he is still in talks with the club. There are a series of important meetings this week including one on Wednesday with new chairman Martin Broughton.

"I wanted to stay and would like to stay if everything is fine. It would not be easy to leave," he said.

These public announcements fly in the face of what Gazzetto Dello Sport is reporting. They already have Benitez working with Juve on their club transfers through his closest associates. On the list Edin Dzeko, the Wolfsburg striker. And a trio of Liverpool players including Torres, Kuyt, and Mascherano.

Andrea Agnelli, will be announced as Juve's new chairman and they hope to announce Beppe Marotta, as GM and Rafa as the new coach. A potential stumbling block was avoided as Rafa gave up his insistence on technical affairs and concentrate on coaching. He has however been assured of enough money for transfers.

Till then there maybe this public charade of deflection and reading between the lines. Rafa maybe working both ends. His agent, Manuel Garcia Quilon was non-committal.

"My client has four years left of his contract and he intends to respect it." But could it be wound up early? "Who can predict the future?"

Liverpool's immediate future looks vulnerable. Debt ridden to the hilt. Even Steven Gerrard maybe on sale to raise money to reduce the debt. Unless new owners with serious cash are found this summer. Which maybe why Benitez is biding his time. But Juve makes a heck of a backup plan. And the Old Lady seems confident that the situation in Liverpool may not improve drastically this summer.

Roma must have had a half dozen chances to score in the first half. The upright, crossbar, and Federico Marchetti in goal conspired to keep Roma out. Simone Perotta had an offside goal turned down. Roma doubled down in the second half as they went looking for the elusive goal but Marchetti proved to be a tough nut to crack.

These missed chances became critical as Cagliari against the run of play went ahead through Andrea Lazzari's free kick which skimmed past Julio Sergio. It was only in the 78th minute after an number of close shaves that Totti was fortuitously able to squeeze a ball past Marchetti. Five minutes later, there was an even bigger stroke of luck as David Biondani handled the ball in the box and Totti, an automatic in these penalty situations duly converted. The Romanistas could afford to breathe finally.

For Totti, it was an eventful week where he was vilified by the media for the Balotelli kicking incident which led to his expulsion from the Coppa Italia. The incident prompted Marcelo Lippi to drop him from consideration for the national team after Totti had announced he would come back from international retirement.

Check out Diego Milito's beautifully chipped shot over Paul Sorrentino for Inter's third goal. The Argentinian striker is clearly having the season of his life. What a huge pick up he is turning out to be for Mourinho. 21 goals in the Serie.

A bizarre set of own goals by both teams neutralized each other at the start. Thaigo Motta deflecting Michele Marcolini's free kick to give Chievo the lead. At the other end, Samuel Eto'o's fiercely struck cross hits Andrea Mantovani's hip and deflects past Sorrentino. Inter goes ahead with Esteban Cambiasso and adds Diego Milito's goal to end the first half comfortably ahead, 3-1. On resumption Balotelli outruns the Chievo defense and Sorrentino and lifts the ball into an empty net.

But Cheivo through another deflection by Pablo Granoche and then an interception by Sergio Pellissier make things very interesting at the San Siro. A nervy crowd gets quiet all of a sudden with the news that Francesco Totti has scored to take the lead against Cagliari. But Inter sees the remaining minutes through without further damage.

Inter face Siena and Roma take on Chievo as the race for the Scudetto goes to the last day. In Calcio, goal differential is not a factor and Roma enjoys a head to head advantage. Inter need to win at Siena as a draw will not be enough if Roma wins. Both teams would be even on points and the head to head rule would give the Giallorossi the title.

Gazzetto Dello Sport has a nicely chalked out primer Monopoly board on Calciopoli including recent developments. In an ideal world, the perpetrators would be facing considerable amounts of time in jail without bail.

The Calciopoli scandal which engulfed the Serie in May 2006 exposed the web of match fixing and rigged refereeing in the Italian league. It led to Juventus losing the Scudetto and relegated to Serie B. Fiorentina, Lazio, and AC Milan were the other clubs docked points.

However, four years later, the reverberations of Calciopoli are still being felt with the revelation that more clubs were involved.

The disgraced Juve general manager, Luciano Moggi has come up with 74 such phone taps that implicate not just Inter but the presidents of Palermo, Reggina, Cagliari, and Bologna who were in contact with FIGC referee designators. The biggest fish obviously is Inter because they benefited most from Juve's fall by being awarded the 2005 Scudetto.

Lawyer Paolo Trofino, defending Moggi, manager dropped that bombshell last month.

He read part of what he called "the mother of all phone calls." Giacinto Facchetti, Inter's president at that time talking on the phone to Paolo Bergamo and saying, "Put in Collina, into the grid for the draw." Bergamo is one of the referee designators.

The Collina reference is the most obvious one in a series of phone calls between Fachetti had with Bergamo and Pierluigi Pairetto, another designator. But there are others to Gennaro Mazzei in charge of assistants, Massimo De Santis, a former referee, Francisco Ghirelli, the FIGC secretary, and Tullio Lanese, the former president of the Italian Referee Association. The phone calls took place between 2004 and 2005. All the above mentioned except Pierluigi Collina were charged following Calciopoli and given varying sentences.

In one call Bergamo refers to Nicola Ayroldi, a linesman recently in the news for officiating a recent Fiorentina vs Inter match and then engaging in a small celebration after the match ended in a draw. The gesture did not escape the eagle eyed Jose Mourinho who instantly surrounded the linesman and demanded an explanation. It is commonly believed that Ayroldi is a Rossoneri fan.

Another call states that Paparesta was well prepared. Gianluigi Paparesta was a referee implicated in Calciopoli in 2006 and stripped off refereeing duties. So was Silvio Gemignani and Salvatore Racalbuto, two other referees named in the phone calls. In yet another call, "Trefeloni is calm and available." Matteo Trefoloni was the referee who caused quite a stir sending off Michael Beauchamp, instead of Mikael Jacobsen, for a foul on Rangers striker Georgios Samaras, in a Champions League match against Aalborg last season.

Facchetti talks to Mazzei asking him to," choose well the assistants for the Saturday game." With Pairetto, "In the message, did you inform Trefoloni these are private matters."

These are indications that Calciopoli was not just a scandal, it was a way of life in Italian football with its cozy connections with referee arbitrators and match officials. After all it is only a scandal, if a few get away with it. What if the whole system is rigged to benefit all. That might be what Moggi is telling us this with these new revelations. He most obviously took the fall. But still one would be dismayed at the prospect of the great Giacinto Facchetti, a player as clean as a whistle in his Inter career, being exposed as yet another idol with feet of clay. Where have you gone Joe Di Maggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes at you.

The expansion of the investigation takes place just a month before the World Cup in the same way Calciopoli hit a month before the 2006 edition. It led to the alleged suicide attempt of Gianluca Pessotto, Juve's vice president causing turmoil amongst the Juve members of the squad. Captain Fabio Cannavaro, a close friend of Pessotto returned for a brief time in the midst of the campaign to offer solace.

The Gazzetta primer is a great read. It is in Italian but hopefully the website might carry an English translation soon.

Oscar Cardozo fittingly scored the winning goal against Rio Ave, his 26th of the season. He was the top scorer in the Liga. His Argentinian compatriot Javier Saviola, a U20 World Cup sensation in 2001, chipped in with 11.

Benfica won back the trophy after 5 years after the club slipped in strength to FC Porto and Sporting Clube.

The midfield diamond boasts Angel Di Maria linked to Real (although he issued a denial) playing on the left, Brazilian international Ramires on the right, the very talented Pablo Aimar as playmaker sitting just behind the two strikers, Javi Garcia as holding midfielder.

Both Saviola and Garcia were signed in the summer of 2009 after Real Madrid deemed both surplus. Chalk them up as successes.

Undoubtedly, the strength of the Benfica team is their midfield. They have some impressive understudies in Ruben Amorim, Carlos Martins, and Airton. In attack, they have Brazil U20 striker, Alan Kardec groomed for the future.

The back line is anchored by Luisao, who regularly features with Inter's Lucio, as Brazil's preferred center back options. The Benfica back line has seen some reconfiguration with David Luiz at center back relocating to left back on occasion, Fabio Contreao who can normally plays at left back has shared duty with César Peixoto, while Maxi Pereira plays on the right.

If Jorge Jesus can hold onto this nucleus of players then the future lies bright for Portugal's preeminent club to regain its dominance for a long time to come.

Fulham and Atletico Madrid could again face the possibility of long, arduous journeys to get to Hamburg for the Europa Cup final on Wednesday.

That is because fresh eruptions of volcanic ash have been drifting over Northern Europe and shutting down airspace. Air travel between Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Ireland were affected as airlines operated fewer flights. Many others were delayed. Flight time were longer as airlines had to re-route to avoid the ash.

Roy Hodgson pleaded with UEFA honchos to consider postponing the finals.

"I do not think it is quite that simple to say, 'The game is Wednesday, you have to get there' if [Atlético] Madrid are facing a 20-hour journey and we are facing a 30-hour journey, because I do not think this is what the finals are about -- they are a great occasion," Hodgson said. "You would be playing the game with thousands and thousands of English and Spanish fans not able to go, which I would say is another reason for Uefa to reconsider."

Atletico Madrid had to travel to Sporting Gijon by bus, a four hour ride as ash forced closures in Spain's northern airports over the weekend.

Chelsea's season was redeemed by the fact that there was no player whose absence or loss of form really hindered their progress.

Unlike Man Utd or Arsenal. One would have thought Michael Essien's absence was to be felt deeply. Nix. Ashley Cole. Nix. Jose Bosingwa. Nix. Ricardo Carvalho. Nix. John Terry's loss of form. Nix. Joe Cole's loss of form. Nix.

They found players to step up. Florent Malouda was magnificent. Ditto Salomon Kalou. Frank Lampard caught fire. Didier Drogba was Didier Drogba. I look at his first half sulk and say, my how unseemly. Many feel the same way when denied our morning coffee. He wanted to do what he does best, score goals. It's chemical. It's oxygen. It's genes. It's who he is. It wins titles. I can't tell you how much I would love to have him at Arsenal.

One can't make that leap to Arsenal or Man Utd. Without Van Persie, and more specifically Van Persie and Fabregas, Arsenal were never going to challenge for the title. We just did not have the players to step up. Even Man Utd, with Wayne Rooney's bravura, coming into his own finally. Would Cristiano Ronaldo have made the difference? In the light of Dimitar Berbatov's underwhelming performance for a second season maybe it would have.

Meanwhile, take a look at the obligatory Chelsea video clip against a hapless Wigan. If I were to look for a positive, Victor Moses should already be a transfer target.

Three reasons why you wanted to see this match. A stirring comeback by relegated Burnley who fought for nothing but pride and £800,000 extra, a sublime Luka Modric goal, and Ledley King's form which is now front and center in Fabio Capello's defensive deliberations.

It seemed a walkover by Spurs who put in an early goal by Gareth Bale. But it was Modric's goal that really captured the imagination as the Croatian put in a beautiful stepover that caught out the Burnley defense and then lashed in a supersonic shot with his left foot. All around brilliance. Burnley answered magnificently just before the break as Wade Eliott the hero in Burnley's promotion scored the first goal by a nice little flick by Stephen Fletcher a la Xavi to signal a fightback. It was 2-1 at halftime.

The second half was Burnley, as a tiring Spurs team made a number of mental mistakes. Jack Cork making the most of a Martin Patterson cross, heading the ball emphatically past Ben Alnwick for the equalizer. More was to follow as Fletcher swung the ball across the box for Patterson to finish. By this time Harry Redknapp had rediscovered his nervous head tic.

Burnley buried Spurs as Robbie Blake found Eliott whose shot skimmed over the pitch and was deflected into goal by Stephen Thompson.

Burnley go down with their heads held high. But Fabio Capello would not be too impressed by Ledley King and especially Michael Dawson who were caught out of position on a number of occasions. Central defense is turning out to be England's Achilles heel. No one looks impressive.

Luis Suarez's 35 goals in the Eredivisie helped bloat Ajax's total to 106 goals was in equally rampant form in the Dutch Cup final scoring a brace including a cracking first goal. Check it out. He was accompanied in his endeavour by Siem De Jong as the two ran rings around Feyenoord.

Suarez and Diego Forlan would be at the head of a dangerous Uruguayan attack, while Siem De Jong should be on Bert van Marwijk's radar to be picked for Netherlands World Cup squad.

A 4-0 thrashing of Fulham and a Carlos Vela goal! Lukasz Fabianski not giving up a goal! And some style too. Where were they the last two weeks?

In some style too. An 8-0 thrashing of Wigan on the last day. Goals from Anelka, Kalou, Lampard, Ashley Cole, and of course Drogba.

103 goals, +71 goal differential, and the Golden boot for Didier Drogba. And Petr Cech with 16 clean sheets as goalkeeper of the year along with Pepe Reina. This will be hard to top.

"King Carlo more than Special."

Ancelotti did it in the most open ended Premiership season. The top four tumbled to regular upsets by the lower ranked clubs. 22 changes at the top. Till three weeks ago, it was anyone's guess who would be champions. Comparisons to the Special One, aided and abetted by Mourinho himself and constantly harped to by the Guardian writers who were scathing in their critique. The CL semi-final exit was a big thorn.

One can argue that Ancelotti just built on the nucleus left by Mourinho. But full marks to Ancelotti who took a squad in a bit of a midlife crisis and kept them going though moments of adversity, injury, and huge off field distractions. He is on track to achieving the double. A distinction that eluded Mourinho.

27th goal for Drogba as Wigan is getting thumped, 5-0. Chelsea broke the record of 97 goals by Man Utd and has gone ahead and set a new bar for the most goals. There are still 25 minutes left.

Goals by Arshavin, Van Persie and an own goal by Chris Baird. Why weren't the Gunners playing like this in their previous matches?

Anyways, it looks as if third spot is locked up but then this is Arsenal. Nothing is certain.

Didier Drogba is one big spoilsport. He still has not gotten over Frank Lampard taking the penalty and is throwing one hissy fit. Fans are booing him. Will he take the podium?

No matter.

Chelsea are two up and Wigan are down to ten man. Rather harsh decision to eject Gary Caldwell.

Meanwhile, Man Utd are up two against Stoke but all that is academic as long as Chelsea are up.

Castrol have created something that looks like a combination of Frankenstein's monster and the incredible hulk.No not Sven-Goran Eriksson.The thing behind him.
It is being called The Ultimate Performing Player and it is made up of the following ................

The height of Peter Crouch

The hair of Carlos Puyol

The eyes of Xavi Hernandez

The chin of Paulo Maldini

The chest of Michael Ballack

The arms of Rory Delap

The hands of Julio Cesar

The legs of Cristiano Ronaldo

The left foot of Lionel Messi

The right foot of Thierry Henry
He has been created to demonstrate the winning formula of Castrol EDGE range of high performance oils. He has a transfer value of over £270 million and is all set to go on a world-wide tour where he will meet football fans in South America, the Middle East, India and South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.More...

Enthusiastic attendances boost Bundesliga economic activity. Cheaper tickets help too.

A recent study by McKinsey, the financial analysts shows what the Bundesliga brings to the German economy. The numbers are impressive.

The Bundesliga "added value of 5.1 billion euro on a yearly basis, secured employment for 110,000, and provided for 1.5 billion euro net in taxes and fees."

It adds a whopping 5% to the German GDP, the fifth largest economy in the world. One in every 500 euros come from Bundesliga related economic activity. The taxes and fees generated would be enough to fund the public spending on the five largest German universities. The effect is cumulative as 100 euros added value in professional football generates another 240 euros in other sectors of the German economy.

The Bundesliga (1 and 2) pull in 18 million annual spectators and 15 million on the TV every weekend. Surpassing any other form of leisure activity. The enthusiastic matchday response is the best in the European big leagues with the cheapest priced tickets. Attendances too in comparison to the other big leagues are on the rise.

The FA/ Premiership might possibly be a larger economic force because of the larger TV audience and the largest amount earned in TV and merchandising revenues. However, the amount that of public spending on the Bundesliga, i.e., policing, transport, and stadium infrastructure which amounts to 200 million euros is probably a lot less than what is spent on the FA. The tightly run Bundesliga may in fact be more profitable.

A Jose Mourinho sighting - no doubt to size up the opposition. Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Ivica Olic, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and Hans Jorg Butt did not disappoint. Inter have a fight on their hands in this month's CL final.

Hertha were beaten 3-1 through an Olic goal and a brace by Robben who would have been a great tennis player. Think about passing shots and volleys. The Olympiastadion was a festoon of red with fans wearing Bayern colours and sporting flags and banners. The party had begun.

Franck Ribery was hugged rather forcibly by Louis Van Gaal at the end but looked like he had his mind somewhere else. And then began the stalking of Van Gaal by the Bayern players clutching steins filled to the brim with beer. You know it was good stuff not Coors Lite. The portly Van Gaal waddled off to the goalmouth in a comically choreographed escape. He escaped with a light drenching but Mark Van Bommel gave him a very good beer bath in the end.

A note: Hertha although relegated showed some very creative sparks going out on a high note. Hans Jorg Butt was quite busy just about fending of Levan Kobiashvili's excellent free kick. Raffaele was denied again by Butt. Hertha's South American contingent got back a goal as Cicero got past Van Buyten with a nice fake and cut back his pass to find Adrian Ramos who finished superbly.

Congratulations to Louis Van Gaal on his first season success and Bayern's 22nd title. He is also the first Dutch manager to win the Bundesliga. With Arjen Robben and Mark Van Bommel integral to that success, it should provide for some form of social commentary.

It was not a clean sheet for Lehmann as he faced Hoffenheim for his last match.

The Stuttgart defense gave up a goal to Boris Vukcevic and Lehmann let them have it in true Jens Lehmann style.

"Very annoying that this happens in my last game!"

22 years in all. His goalkeeping was impressive in his debut season at Arsenal as the Invincibles went unbeaten in 2003-2004. He had a poorer second season competing with Manuel Almunia but came back at the end with some very important saves in the FA Cup final which saw the Gunners beat Man Utd, 5-4 in the penalty shootout. The highlight was when Lehmann stopped Scholes. It was the last Arsenal title.

2005-2006 was his year. He was voted as CL goalkeeper of the year with 10 clean sheets and went 853 minutes without conceding a goal and breaking Van Der Saar's record. The crowning glory when he stopped Juan Roman Riquelme's penalty in the 89th minute in the semi-final against Villareal. It set up that final against Barca where he gained notoriety as the only player sent off in a final. But it was all part of being Jens.

It was also the year when Lehmann and Ollie Kahn, two irascible personalities vied for primacy as best goalkeeper for the German World Cup squad. It was the topic of endless media fascination as the race bordered on the bizarre and surreal.

By 2006-2007 he was once again competing with Almunia as Arsenal slipped to fourth place in the Premiership. It was rumoured that he would leave at the end of the season on a free transfer.

He was back in 2007-2008 and not in a good way. Making two consecutive blunders that led to goals by David Healy and David Dunn as Arsenal made a shaky start to their season. Wenger had him benched and Almunia was promoted from his back up role. Lehmann was left fuming for the next four months at his lack of appearances. With Fabianski being groomed as back up to Almunia, his days at Arsenal were numbered. But he came back in early 2008 after Almunia injured himself and saw intermittent appearances till his final appearance against Everton on May 4th. He was given a standing ovation, clapping and bowing as he exited the field.

Lehmann was a brilliant shotstopper. He was decisive on open field shots and from the penalty spot. He was less sure on set pieces but his combative nature ensured plenty of space for himself to deal with corners and free kicks with the occasional lapse in judgment. He was a personality and there are enough You Tube clips for a favourite Jens Lehmann moment. Drogba and Lehmann taking turns flopping.

But one misses him because he was a leader, not afraid to show his emotions and displeasure at a faltering defense. Even more now. I cannot imagine for one moment, Blackburn getting away with what they did with Fabianski. They would have been the recipient of some very special attention from Lehmann. Thanks Jens for all those Arsenal memories. I will kick a hoarding in your honour!

José María Gutiérrez Hernández aka Guti played his last match at the Bernabeu as a Merengue today.

He spent his entire career in that club training in its famed cantera and entering the senior squad in 1995 after the halycon days of the legendary Quinta del Buitre were over. Only Manolo Sanchis remained, a reminder of the glorious 80s decade for the Madrid club.

Guti appeared in 385 matches, scored 45 goals, and his career spanned 15 years. With Real he won three Champions League and five La Liga titles. But all those years and appearances were spent in constant invention as the club sought to supplant him with the roles of their departed ranks.

Initially brought up as a striker though the youth ranks he was through neccessity transformed into an attacking midfielder to fill up the lacuna created by Martin Vasquez and then later on Clarence Seedorf. With Fernando Morientes sidelined with injuries, Guti returned to his striker roots and had a very productive 2001 season. He returned to midfield duties when Ronaldo came to Real in 2002 and his scoring productivity suffered as a result.

By that time Zinedine Zidane had arrived to take over as creative midfielder which meant that Guti was relegated to an understudy. He had a brief recovery after Zidane retired in 2006 and took over the midfield duties. It was a brilliant but brief cameo for the understated Guti as he proved himself adept at the short passing game.

However in the past, his future came under a cloud as Ramon Calderon targeted Kaka for his next purchase. He kept playing an influential role in midfield as the Brazilian's arrival at the Bernabeu dragged. But the writing was very much on the wall as Kaka finally arrived in 2009. It led to tensions between Guti and new coach Manuel Pellegrini but once again Guti played a major part in this year's Liga run as Kaka was stricken with a groin injury.

Guti would have been an starter in any other club and those glimpses of brilliant talent brought to fruition but it was never enough for a club constantly looking past him. With Real, Guti kept re-inventing himself to remain relevant and it it is testimony to his versatility that he did it successfully. He is moving to Galtasaray, a club that has seen its share of aging and still viable stars who have found success. The Turkish club managed by Frank Rijkaard has offered him a two year deal with a transfer offer that is supposedly too good for Real to pass up.

Here is to Guti, the ultimate survivor!

No club has been mathematically eliminated. Even bottom dwellers Xerez who beat Zaragoza today have a chance of saving themselves if they beat Osasuna on the last day and three of the four teams ahead of them lose.

Vallodolid who beat Racing today are actually in pole position having the best head to head record with their competitors, i.e., Racing, Malaga, and Tenerife. And if you consider the subset of Racing, Malaga, and Tenerife then Racing comes out best.

It all comes down to the last day - the title, the last CL spot, the relegation and promotions. This has been the year of the Liga. Even when you factor in the European disappointments.

In the 20' minute Amorebeita was red carded by referee Muñiz Fernández as he handballed a shot by Gonzalo Higauin inside the Atletico Bilbao goal area. An extremely harsh decision. A very upset Joaquin Caparros, Bilabo's manager vociferously protested the decision and was sent off by Fernandez.

It broke the stalemate as Cristiano Ronaldo converted the spot kick. In the 40' minute Francisco Yeste controlling the ball entirely with his left foot took on the Real defense and fired in a shot from the top of the box that left Casillas with no answer.

Both teams entered the second half tied and it remained so till the 72nd minute when Higuain nodded a ball past Moreno from a Xabi Alonso corner. The floodgates opened as Sergio Ramos with a solo run and a bit of luck scored the third goal. Karim Benzema executed superbly from Kaka's approach work. Marcelo completed the tally as a defensive error left him with an open goal and the easiest of tasks.

Real are still in the race by a fingernail if on the remote chance Valladolid beat Barca at Camp Nou. But first they have to overcome Malaga who will also be fighting to stave of relegation.

One of the most anticipated matches in the Liga turned out to be as exciting as promised.

Earlier it seemed as if Barca would walk right through Sevilla in their home ground of Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán as the trio of Messi, Bojan, and Pedro put Barca 3-0. Messi's first goal just beats being offside by a hair but that was enough for the maestro. Check out Xavi's gem of a pass that isolates Bojan for his goal. Just genius. Each goal was sublime.

Sevilla played a man down as Konko brought down Bojan 10' minutes into the second half for his second booking and was sent off. It looked grim for Los Nervionenses but Barca slackened their defensive intensity and payed the price after Puyol making another egregious mistake let in Frederic Kanoute for Sevilla's first goal. Pep Guardiola's reaction was instantaneous.

In the 71st minute the Barca defense went to sleep as a quickly taken free kick arrived at the doorstep of Luis Fabiano who had the easy task of beating Victor Valdes. It was 3-2 and the Barca fans were breathing a bit heavier.

In the 78th minute Kanoute was pushed by Pique while going for a header and fell but Alberto Mallenco, the referee denied his appeals for a penalty. In between Andres Palop did a yeoman's job limiting the damage. In the end it was all a bit too late.

Messi scored his 32nd goal and cannot be denied the Pichichi. He has 45 in total for this season. At this rate, he could carry Argentina to the World Cup title on his shoulders.

Barca meet relegation threatened Real Valladolid at home in what promises to be an easy win. Sevilla will duke it out with Mallorca for the last CL spot. So there is plenty to play for.

In May 2000, Juventus were shocked by lowly Perugia on the last day. Alessandro Calori scoring the most consequential goal of his career. The defeat bequeathed second place Lazio the Serie title.

A decade later, Carlo Ancelotti Juve's manager at that time, hopes to avoid that 'tragedy' against Wigan. The defeat established Ancelotti's 'loser mentality', a tag he struggled to shrug off till AC Milan beat Juve in the 2003 CL final on penalties.

Of course, defeat or a draw against Wigan on Sunday still does not mean that Chelsea have lost the title but it puts their destiny out of their hands and entirely on Man Utd's match against Stoke on the same day.

Sir Alex is pulling for a Wigan upset.

"I wouldn't say it's a sealed result against Wigan by any shadow of a doubt," said Ferguson.

"They're a good team, they'll have a go and you never know. It's a crazy game."

Chelsea strides into Sunday with all the confidence in the world but Ancelotti's words still betray the scars of that fateful day ten years ago.

One of the potential highlights of this World Cup is the Boateng brothers story. Kevin Prince Boateng and Jerome Boateng could meet each other when Ghana and Germany take to the field on June 23 in Johannesburg's Soccer City. A match that should be keenly followed by not just national supporters but those who care about why football is truly the sport of the world.

The brothers were raised in Germany by a common father, a Ghanian emigre who came to that country in the 1970s. The 2010 World Cup presented both brothers with a choice. Kevin Prince decided to switch allegiance to the country of his origin while Jerome was attached to his country of domicile.

Jogi Low's provisional World Cup squad included the Borussia Dortmund defender which keeps the story on track.

He is however not the only player of different origin who gets a call up. Cacau, the Brazilian born striker for VfB Stuttgart has been included. His team mates, midfielder Sami Khedira and defender Serdar Tasci, have Tunisian and Turkish parents, respectively. Werder Bremen's midfielder Mesut Özil is also Turkish in origin.

Dennis Aogo, of Hamburg, a U21 standout included for the first time has Nigerian parents and for a considerable period of time was courted by Shaibu Amodu to play for Nigeria in the World Cup but Aogo turned him down.

Then there are others like Lukas Podolksi, Piotr Trochowski, Mario Gomez, and Marko Marin who are not Germans by birth but have other European origins.

Both Podolski and Klose have made it on reputation although their domestic form has been horribly off this season. Low also included Thomas Mueller having a dream debut at Bayern, including a recent hat trick against VfL Bochum that all but assured them of the title.

Mueller's team mate, defender Holger Badstuber another young gun gives the German squad a balance of youth and experience. Per Mertesacker, Werder Bremen's giant central defender was retained but his regular partner Christoph Metzelder suffering the consequence of very little representation at Real Madrid was left out. Michael Ballack, whose East German roots are well known is also set to make it to South Africa for his third World Cup. With all the players home picked, he remains the only exception. In fact, it highlights how little Germany is represented outside the Bundesliga.

The squad also shows a top heavy Bayern representation with seven current players and three alumni.

A big disappointment was Rene Adler, the highly regarded Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper whose rib injury sidelined him as he failed to make the cut.

Goalkeepers: Joerg Butt (Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Schalke), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen)

Defenders: Dennis Aogo (Hamburger SV), Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich), Andreas Beck (Hoffenheim), Jerome Boateng (Hamburger SV), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Marcell Jansen (Hamburger SV), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Serdar Tasci (Stuttgart), Heiko Westermann (Schalke)

Midfielders: Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Sami Khedira (Stuttgart), Toni Kroos (Bayer Leverkusen), Marko Marin (Werder Bremen), Mesut Oezil (Werder Bremen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Christian Traesch (Stuttgart), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburger SV)

Forwards: Cacau (Stuttgart), Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Stefan Kiessling (Bayer Leverkusen), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Lukas Podolski (Cologne)

Black Stars coach Milovan Rajevac announced his provisional World Cup squad.

Amongst them, Pompey's Kevin Prince Boateng whose switch to Ghana is still to be approved by FIFA because of his U21 representation for Germany.

Michael Essien also gets a call up even as he has been missing in action for Chelsea since December after a hamstring tear playing APOEL in the Champions League and then sustaining a knee injury at the Africa Cup of Nations in January. Joining him and Kevin Prince Boateng are fellow Premiership players John Mensah (Sunderland), John Pantsil (Fulham), and Richard Kingston (Wigan).

Also included Lokomtiv Moscow's Haminu Dramani, who stole the ball from Claudio Reyna to score Ghana's first goal in their 2-1 victory over the USA and end their 2006 World Cup campaign.

Goalkeepers: Richard Kingston (Wigan, England) Daniel Adjei (Liberty Professionals), Stephen Ahorlu (Hearts of Lions) , Stephen Adams (Aduana Stars)

Defenders: Samuel Inkoom (Basle, Switzerland), Hans Sarpei (Bayer Leverkusen, Germnay), Lee Addy (Bechem Chelsea), John Mensah (Sunderland, England), Rahim Ayew (Zamalek, Egypt), Isaac Vorsah (Hoffenheim, Germany), John Pantsil (Fulham, England), Jonathan Mensah (Granada, Spain) Eric Addo (Roda JC, Holland)

Midfielders: Dede Ayew (Arlese Avignon, France) Michael Essien (Chelsea, England) Kwadwo Asamoah (Udinese, Italy) Agyemang Badu (Udinese, Italy) Stephen Appiah (Bologna, Italy) Anthony Annan (Rosenborg, Norway) Haminu Dramani (Lokomotiv Moscow, Russia), Sulley Muntari (Inter Milan, Italy) Quincy Owusu-Abeyie (Al Sadd, Qatar), Derek Boateng (Getafe, Spain) Bernard Kumordzi (Panionios, Greece) , Laryea Kingston (Hearts, Scotland), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Portsmouth, England)

Strikers: Prince Tagoe (Hoffenheim, Germany) Asamoah Gyan (Rennes, France), Dominic Adiyiah (AC Milan, Italy), Matthew Amoah (NAC Breda, Holland)

Louis Vuittonis is in the process of creating a new case for the World Cup trophy which will no doubt be much better than the case that is currently being used to carry it around.
A google search for a picture of the old case has proved fruitless and the new case will only be unveiled at the World Cup next month.
So while we wait for that they have given us something to do to keep the suspense from driving people crazy.A campaign featuring Pele, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane.The ad portrays the three legends meeting up in a bar in Madrid, and then playing a game of table football.You can vote for your player here...

Bad news for City's Gareth Barry. He has been diagnosed with a bad ankle sprain that could sideline him up to a month. It throws his World Cup participation into jeopardy.

Roberto Mancini's statement following the news:

"I'm very sorry for Gareth Barry," said the Manchester City boss. "Gareth is a fantastic guy and a fantastic player. I hope he can play in the World Cup, but I think that's a decision for the England medical staff and Fabio Capello."

Capello's options are Michael Carrick, struggling with form in Man Utd. Owen Hagreaves who has just about returned from injury after an 18 month injury layoff and woefully short of match practice.

But the best second choice is Scott Parker who has had quite a season at West Ham. He is fast box to box, a ferocious tackler, and possesses an unerring eye for a good pass. He is being linked to Arsenal who are keen to inject some midfield mettle.

Wanted striker with a healthy contempt for Arsenal's passing game.

Someone who takes matters into their own hands like Arjen Robben. I hope Marouane Chamkah is the answer.

A great video reminder that the World Cup is going to be in Africa.There's a leopard at 23 seconds that looks very much like Cristiano Ronaldo.

After 18 long years. Their last title in 1990-1991. They beat Rennes, 3-1 and with two matches to spare won their ninth domestic title. It sparked mad celebrations with fans diving in the sea at the Vieux Port. Key moments in their season:

Jan 30: Marseille slump to a 2-0 defeat at promoted Montpellier and drop 12 points off the pace.

"We realised we could not go on like this," said winger Mathieu Valbuena. "The 'old ones' reminded us that Marseille was a great club, a club like no other one."

Feb 28: Marseille beat arch-rivals Paris St Germain at the Parc des Princes with goals by Hatem Ben Arfa, Lucho Gonzalez and Benoit Cheyrou.

March 27: They thrash Girondins Bordeaux 3-1 in the League Cup final, winning the club's first title since the 1993 Champions League.

"It was a huge boost for us. We were also much calmer after this victory," said forward Hatem Ben Arfa.

April 17: Marseille clinch a 2-1 victory at Boulogne with Taye Taiwo scoring the winner from the penalty spot four minutes into added time. The result came three days after Stephane Mbia's 88th-minute goal secured a 1-0 win at Sochaux.

Mamadou Niang continues to be spectacular and this evergreen player scored 16 goals to become the joint top scorer of the Ligue. Didier Deschamps famously derided as a water carrier by Eric Cantona turned this club's fortunes around when he joined in the summer of 2009 as manager.

L'OM at one point 6th in the table in the 27th week looked like falling off the pace but they won nine out of ten to roar back to first position.

Keith Harris: One Orville for Man Utd?

Looks like the Red Knights have to up their ante considerably if they want to wrest Man Utd from the Glazers.

Why would anyone give the Red Knights control over Man Utd? It would be like replacing one Barbarian at the gate with another. And do the 150,000 who form the MUST, the group supporting the Red Knights think that they will get any better transparency or reduce debt when the Glazers are ousted?

The notion of returning to Newton Heath is noble but outmoded. It's like every election ploy. "Washington is broken, vote me in because I will fight the special interests and bring back accountability." The reality is the world of football business has moved on to the point of no return. There is now and next.

What do the 150,000 get? This is not a one share, one vote situation like they have in Barcelona. This is 40 men investing their own money. The supporters recruited through MUST are useful foot soldiers in whipping up discontent against the Glazers and buying gold and green scarves for a club of rich and well connected men staging a coup. If you read Keith Harris's profile, he is the quintessential insider, double dipping in the football world and the world of finance. "Incapable of running a kebab shop" is not exactly inspiring.

One would think that the fact many in the Red Knights work in the same sort of financial sphere as Goldman Sachs would be cause for pause. GS faces a plethora of investigations for securities fraud. Selling and profiting from CDOs consisting of mortgage securities in a market that GS knew was risky through their inside source in ratings companies. They bought insurance against their own products and when the housing market collapsed in a mountain of debt, they enriched themselves with billions from AIG payments.

Many in the Red Knights work for similar banking enterprises and hedge funds who deal in the unregulated derivatives market that is worth an estimated $600 trillion. A lack of transparency is essential to its success.

Lets put it this way. A hypothetical. If GS owned a football club and if derivatives included football securities and they knew that the football market was swimming in debt, they would bet against the club and make off with the payoff. Perfectly legal avarice. Transparency? Debt reduction? In New York, they would say fuggedaboutit.

The highest scoring game in SPL history but more relevantly the most amazing comeback staged by Motherwell down, 6-2 as they stun Hibs.

In fact, they could have won the game when Lukas Jutkiewic was brought down by goalkeeper Graeme Smith. But Ross Forbes missed the penalty which would have made the scores level.

As it turned out it was Jutkiewic in the 93' minute lashing an absolute beauty past Smith at a incredibly tight angle to the right upper corner of goal. And to think Craig Brown, Motherwell's manager was about to substitute him because of his knee injury.

Graeme Smith had some very uncanny Lukasz Fabianski moments. Check goals 4 and 5 scored by Motherwell. It undid the hat trick by striker Colin Nish, the first Hibs player to score so many in an away game in five years.

Fir Park was also the venue for the previous SPL record of the highest scoring match on August 20th, 2005 and on that occasion Motherwell lost to Aberdeen, 5-6 as they tried overcoming a 6-3 deficit in the last minutes and very nearly pulled it off.

An Arsenal connection: Anthony Stokes who scored two goals for Hibs was an Arsenal reserve in 2005 - 2007, and made his first team debut on 25 October 2005 in a Carling Cup tie against Sunderland. He was then loaned to Falkirk before joining Sunderland on a £2 million fee in 2007. He soon fell out with both Roy Keane and thereafter Steve Bruce because of his indiscipline and was loaned out to Sheffield United and Crystal Palace. In August 2009, he left for Hibs on a transfer fee of £500,000 and was reunited with his old Falkirk boss, John Hughes who had taken over the Hibs job.

It is now estimated at £135 million.

This on a day when the Greece was wracked by violent protests against their Parliament approving of austerity measures that would slash pensions and the pay of government workers to meet an IMF imposed pre-condition to secure a £95 billion bailout. Greece has been living beyond their means and is in essence, bankrupt.

Pompey however has taken its first few steps out of administration. First in line to receive their share of money are the secured creditors like the clubs still owed transfer money and former players who have not been paid their wages. Balram Chainrai will also receive back all his money.

The problem lies with the unsecured creditors who will receive reduced amounts that are settled on through a CVA (Company Voluntary Arrangement). 75% of those unsecured creditors need to agree to the CVA before it is implemented. Amongst them Sacha Gaydamak, Pompey's original owner before their slide into administration began and the HMRC.

The present holding company, the Portsmouth City Football Club will be dissolved in time and the CVA and club assets will be transferred to a new company. The funding for the CVA will come from player transfers, reduced player wages, club revenues, and parachute payments.

88th minute after Rodrigo Taddei brings down Thiago Motta. The Inter midfielder then takes the free kick and passes the ball to Balotelli who runs down the left flank with Totti and Taddei in hot pursuit. See what happens after Balotelli rounds the corner heading towards the Roma goal. Simply shocking.

Totti sought to defend his action a la Zidane claiming it came after an evening of systematic provocation tarnishing the city and people of Rome. He did not name Balotelli. Whether this provocation actually happened on the pitch is subject to conjecture. Whatever the circumstances, his actions reflect poorly on him. One can argue given the stature he enjoys as a talisman of the people and the city of Rome that he and not Balotelli, tarnished the good name of the Romanistas.

At the Stadio Olimpico. For Jose Mourinho, one down, two to go. Diego Milito put on the afterburners fighting off a trio of Roma defenders after a great through ball by Motta isolated him.

Sweet victory. The game had its moment of controversy as Mario Balotelli was the recipient of a kick by Francesco Totti for which the AS Roma was ejected. The Inter bad boy repaid Mourinho's faith in him by having a good game. There were no sulks or thrown jerseys and Mourinho and Inter fans applauded his good work ethic and discipline.

"The club and its supporters have demonstrated that when Mario does well, he gets the respect he deserves. Balotelli came good in the game tonight and did everything that he had to do help in coverage to break up the attack. I am satisfied with his game. "

Shoe I mean.....or the European Golden Shoe to be more precise - the one formerly known as the European Golden Boot which is presented each season to the leading goalscorer in league matches from the top division of every European national league.The one that was originally called Soulier d'Or, which the french speaking tell us means Golden Shoe or Boot.
Anyway it has eluded Messi for 22 years and now he is almost there.
31 goals in La Liga this season after his double for Barcelona against Tenerife on Tuesday, give him 62 points with two matches still to play.

Algeria's coach Rabah Saadane announced his preliminary roster of 25 players for the World Cup. The USA is one of their Group C rivals along with England and Slovenia. The Fennecs will get to test their World Cup squad in friendlies against Ireland and the UAE before departing for South Africa.

Goalkeepers: Fawzi Chaouchi (Entente Setif), Lounes Gaouaoui (ASO Chlef), Mbohi Rais Ouheb (Slavia Sofia/Bulgaria), Mohamed Amine Zemmamouche (Mouloudia Algiers)

Defenders: Habib Belaid (Boulogne-sur-Mer/France), Nadir Belhadj (Portsmouth/England), Madjid Bougherra (Rangers/Scotland), Rafik Halliche (Nacional/Portugal), Abdelkader Laifaoui (Entente Setif), Carl Medjani (Ajaccio/France), Djamel Mesbah (Lecce/Italy), Antar Yahia (VfL Bochum/Germany)

Midfielders: Djamel Abdoun (Nantes/France), Riad Boudebouz (Sochaux/France), Adlane Guedioura (Wolverhampton Wanderers/England), Fouad Kadir (Valenciennes/France), Medhi Lacen (Racing Santander/Spain), Yazid Mansouri (FC Lorient/France), Mourad Meghni (Lazio/Italy), Hassan Yebda (Portsmouth/England), Karim Ziani (VfL Wolfsburg/Germany)

Forwards: Rafik Djebbour (AEK Athens/Greece), Abdelkader Ghezzal (Siena/Italy), Karim Matmour (Borussia Mönchengladbach/Germany), Rafik Saifi (Istres/France).

Saadane has kept his faith in the back four that saw duty in the recently concluded 2010 ACN, where in the semi-final they were pounded by Egypt in a humiliating loss, 4-0.

Wingback Nadir Belhadj whose attacking forays have helped Pompey score some important goals. Ranger stand out Madjid Bougherra, whose impressive performances as central defender has made him a fan favourite and a Liverpool target. He is also a team mate of Maurice Edu who could find himself in the USA line up. The hero of Khartoum Antar Yahia, whose goal led the Fennecs over the Pharoahs in that bitterly contested match. His club VfL Bochum is most likely to be relegated.

In midfield the heart and soul is VfL Wolfsburg's Karim Ziani whose exciting link up with Edin Dzeko and Grafite was a huge factor in their Bundesliga success. Ziani built on his success at L'OM, making a name for his midfield creatiivity. Adlane Guedioura, a towering presence in midfield- on loan to Wolves has impressed with his performances such that Mike McCarthy maybe considering a permanent three year contract. Hassan Yebda also on loan to Pompey has had an impressive career at Benfica. Karim Matmour listed as a forward in the Borussia M'gladbach website is Michael Bradley's understudy as an attacking midfielder, recently coming on when the US player was suspended.

Given the impressive names in midfield and in defense, the attack is decidedly low wattage.

Saadane is relying on 35 year old Rafik Saifi of French Ligue 2 club, Istres. He is the only one scoring with a degree of consistency with 19 goals. The other strikers Abdelkhader Ghezzal of Siena and Rafik Djebbour have 6 goals between them.

Saadane also faces a goalkeeping quandary. Algerian custodians have proven notoriously unreliable in the past.

Fawzi Chaouchi was the other hero along with Yahia in that match at Khartoum, and his stellar goalkeeping kept the Pharoahs at bay. At 25 years of age, he is considered the future of the Fennecs but Raabane's other choice, Lounes Gaouaoui at 32 years of age has far more experience with 48 caps. A bit of trivia: He appears to hold the record for a surname with the most vowels in a row.

Differences in personality remains the issue - Chaouchi is hotheaded and impulsive while Gaouaoui is the calmer and more collected goalkeeper. In the ACN, Chaouchi undid all his good work at Khartoum by aiming a headbutt at referee Coffi Codjia in the semi-final and was suspended from the competition.

Nice muffler but is that all he has?

Roberto Mancini is maintaining an outwardly defiant stance but his face was a picture of dejection after the match was over. And in the faces of the club administrators one could see disappointment and doubt.

"I'm disappointed," he admitted, "but I am also proud because of the job we have done and we have had a good season. We could have got the fourth position, we had the chances but football can be strange."

He was brought in with a clear purpose: To take City to a top four finish and a ticket to the CL. In this he has not been an improvement over Mark Hughes.

City also seems to have fallen into a rut - suffering from Mancini's defensive predilection. With three holding midfielders, there is a lacuna between the midfield and the top heavy attack.

Given such little creative leeway, the onus shifts to individualistic attacking endeavour, the sort that Carlos Tevez thrives on. But as evidenced against Spurs and against Man Utd, the absence of supply up front was an obvious drawback.

Instead of concentrating on bringing a quality attacking midfielder who could connect the dots, feed the killer pass, Mancini seem to be anxious to add even more high priced strikers. A midfield maestro would be a step in the right direction.

What City need is self belief and Sneijder. Which leaves only one choice.

City could gauge if Jose Mourinho's disaffection with the Serie is strong enough to induce him to leave. He has mentioned a longing to return to the Premiership in a heartfelt way.

Mourinho in all likelihood will be be courted by Real with assured Champions League duels with the top clubs. However, City provides a different challenge altogether- of carving out a different big four in the Premiership. Usurping Man Utd and Chelsea at the top and a chance to match wits with Sir Alex, Ancelotti, and Wenger might prove to be very tempting. City could unload its deep pockets with far more assurance of its return.

For the first time since the Premiership began, Spurs enter the top four. Peter Crouch heads a cross from Younes Kaboul past Fulop in the 82nd minute. The match seemed headed for a draw as both Gomes and Fulop came up with some spectacular saves and there were a number of near misses.

But there was no doubt that Spurs were the better side playing more attractive and attacking football. City seemed bogged down by a lack of midfield creativity as Tevez drifted deeper and deeper frustrated by the lack of service. City's chances came from a few long range highlight shots by Adam Johnson.

Fulop was the much busier of the two goalkeepers through the match and especially in the second half.

The upright came in the way of a Crouch header and then Ledley King's goal was turned down as the defender was adjudged to have fouled Gareth Barry. Gareth Bale came close as did Defoe. Benoit Assou Ekotto's scything cross just skipped past Defoe and Crouch. The tall gangling England striker was again denied by Fulop some minutes later. But Fulop's gallant goalkeeping was finally breached by Crouch.

Capello must have been encouraged by the performance of Michael Dawson and Ledley King and Redknapp made a very strong plug for both of them to be included in the England squad.

One note of worry for the England manager is Gareth Barry. The Man City midfielder recovering from a hamstring injury had been pronounced fit before the match. But he picked up an ankle injury and was replaced by Patrick Vieira. With just five weeks to go before the World Cup, the time to recuperate is fast running out.

Redknapp and Spurs deserve full marks for their magnificent response after their FA semi-final doldrums against Pompey. After that loss, they had an extremely tough stretch against the top clubs but they came away with wins against Arsenal and Chelsea which put them back on track. A fine managerial performance by Redknapp as any and if he does get the manager of the year, Carlo Ancelotti and Roy Hodgson would not begrudge him.

Here is Redknapp on the win >>

Anton Ferdinand and Tinchy Stryder are flying to South Africa for the world's biggest football tournament.But they need a football-in-your-soul, heart-on-your-sleeve blogger. An on-the-ball insider with an eye for the story behind the match. Sound like anyone you know?

Patrick Vieira meets some familiar foes

City have never come this close to the top in the Premiership. The closest is 2005 when they finished 8th. Spurs have been more successful with two 5th placed finishes in '06 and '07.

These two meet at the Eastlands to decide the race for fourth place and a CL spot. This is as Carlos Tevez describes it, the biggest match in club history. He comes close to flirting with hyperbole but it cannot be denied. Roberto Mancini was brought in to ensure passage into the top four.

Familiar foes take the field. Mancini is targeting Patrick Vieira to spur on City. With Toure and Adebayor, the match has the quality of a London derby.

As for Arsenal, a win by any one of these clubs could see their third place in jeopardy. They are not as disinterested as Wenger would like to pretend.

Harry Redknapp has gone on the offensive by claiming City used bullying tactics to force Craig Bellamy away from Spurs when they were interested in securing his services. City are now lawyering up over 'arry's statements.

These are all a couple of interesting head fakes to establish legitimacy over fourth place. City is the big bad club with the endless pockets buying their way to a title. But killjoy Michel Platini has other plans lined up so the wild, wild west days might be numbered.

Danger man Gareth Bale has been in top form and Spurs also get back twinkle toed Aaron Lennon back which should really open up the attack. Good news because Spurs have had problems scoring on the road.

At White Hart, they won against City on the strength of two goals by Niko Kranjcar and Jermain Defoe. Kranjcar is out injured and Defoe has tapered of in scoring profligacy. There is a big X factor involved. Spurs have won matches because of the heroics of players unaccustomed to scoring.

City on the other hand are heavily dependent on Adebayor, Tevez, Bellamy and the interaction of the trio up front. They have done well but at times the overemphasis on three holding midfielders has hampered their creativity. Such was the case in the Man Utd loss.

Two bright talents on display in Adam Johnson and Gareth Bale. A high scoring game on the cards. City with an edge.

"I am going to Barcelona in the summer."

Very explosive. Very definitive.

Except it is unclear in the article it appeared whether this was part of an interview given by Arshavin to People.co.uk. Only clue is the cryptic "but speaking after that dressing down ........ " There is no description of the circumstances. Ben Duffy who wrote the article did not say they met up at the Dorchester over organic prune juice spiked with vodka. There are no details.

The article also does not provide any link to a secondary source, like Kommersant or Izvestia. Or even internet chatter. It is devoid of any sort of attribution.

Even the Spanish media which would have been all over this at the whiff are strangely quiet. Angel Di Maria's reported transfer to Real is the top story. Surely, Arshavin would merit a bigger splash than that.

Look, this is People.co.uk where the top story is Denise Welch and her secret sex sessions. Now, I'm glad Denise is getting some on the side but top of the line credible journalism, this is not. So don't hold your breath.

Yes, Thierry Henry might be finishing his playing days off in England. The former Arsenal striker is now reduced to cameos in Barca, as his playing time has been cut further by Ibrahimovic, Pedro, and Bojan.

Barca's president Joan Laporta:

"In Barcelona we respect contracts, but he probably has not done as well as he wanted.

"Therefore, I say that he may go away in the summer transfer window if that's what he wants."

There are still flashes of the old magic but if I were to hazard a guess, it would be City that would land up with him. They are setting up quite an Arsenal alumni association at the Eastlands. The MLS is also another option if Henry wants to escape the rigours of European football.

The Bhoys did not win the SPL but they had the satisfaction of winning the best thing after that. They beat Gers through Marc-Antoine Fortuné's header which went between goalkeeper Allan McGregor's outspread legs in the 45th minute.

Just two minutes before Kenny Miller's header had restored parity for Rangers after Lee Naylor's deflected free kick had given the home side an early lead.

A win of this magnitude is a huge boost for manager Neil Lennon who is expected to continue as Celtic coach and fuel the Old Firm rivalry with his combative and pugnacious style.

Mauro Camoranesi is moving on in the summer. After 8 seasons and 287 appearances the Argentinian winger is looking for a new club as Juventus looks to purge house. The Old Lady is very confident that Rafa Benitez will be part of that revolution.

A host of players are expected to depart. The biggest name is Gianluigi Buffon who now sees the Premiership as a destination. Arsenal maybe looking at Joe Hart but getting their man will prove difficult because City is unsure of Shay Given's return. Buffon is just as good as he was 4 years ago and Arsenal maybe better off bidding for him.

Fabio Grosso, Amauri, Jonathan Zebina, David Trezeguet, Zdenek Grygera, Sebastian Giovinco, and Mohamed Sissoko are the others mentioned.

Johan Cruyff the progenitor of total football, widely considered with Pele, Maradona, and Di Stefano to be the four greatest footballers of all times, and the honorary president of Barcelona was in Siena to receive the 2010 Artemio Franchi trophy.

Asked whether he would like to be coached by Mourinho. Cruyff replied, "No."

He said more than but suffice to say he is not enamored of the Special One >>

Rosella Sensi, AS Roma owner gets an earful from Jose

Napoleon Bonaparte is obviously someone that Mourinho has read about or been influenced by because he knows the day the Admiral died. Why does that not surprise?

May 5th is also the day that Inter lost the Scudetto eight years ago to Roma at the Stadio Olimpico. May 5th is the also the day Inter meets AS Roma in the Coppa Italia final. The venue:

The Stadio Olimpico. An omen? Mourinho shrugs it off. The date is important because Napoleon died, not for any other reason. He was not born an Inter fan so he thinks little of it.

But the backdrop to the final is the war of words between the Special One and the AS Roma owner, Rosella Sensi.

Sensi over the weekend earned the Special One's ire by complaining that Inter should have felt shame at the way they won against Lazio.

Their bitter city rivals had capitulated abjectly in a defeat to Inter with their fans cheering on the visitors- more concerned about stopping Roma from winning the title than their club's own fate.

Mourinho blasted the owner, "Only thieves should be ashamed and we've got to this point playing two finals (also the Champions League) and for the title not because we were born in a golden cradle but thanks to our hard work."

"We don't deserve respect, we demand it. That lady (Sensi) can be a president, a doctor or born in a golden cradle but she has to respect us."

Another reason why Mourinho is irate is that the Coppa Italia final is being played at Roma's home stadium. Which goes against convention except in Italy.

"Now they have the good fortune to be playing the Cup final at home, something which happens nowhere else in the world.

"I don't know any other cup competitions where one team plays the final at home. It would be different if we were playing in Naples, Florence or Bologna."

If this is indeed Jose Mourinho's last season in the Serie, he is going out in a different way than he did at Chelsea. All guns blazing.

An ad by Young and Rubicam brings to the fore the passion and love Argentines feel for the beautiful game. As the World Cup approaches Argentinians comes together as one. It is out of this world. People in other parts of the world look on in awe and reverence. When they lose they suffer, do not go the cinema or theater. They do nothing. The fans and the players.

The interesting thing is that the ad is made for TyC Sports, a sports channel which virtually monopolizes TV coverage of Argentinian football. TyC Sports is jointly owned by TyC and Clarin, Argentina's biggest media company which has had a long and troubled relationship with the Christine Kirchner government.

The Kirchners have been trying to break up these broadcasting giants in favour of smaller community based media organizations which are more likely to be progressive. Recently, TyC took the Argentinian Football Federation (AFA) to court over breach of contract as they were replaced by Channel 7, owned by the government to broadcast the Primera Liga games. So the reality is a fractured Argentinian political and media establishment.

Leo Messi scored his 30th and 31st goal and then set up Pedro for his goal. Bojan rounded off the tally as Barca missed no step towards the Liga title. Xavi seemed to show no ill effects of his torn soleus. Which must come as a great relief for both Barca and Spain supporters.

Tenerife were able to equalize after Carlos Puyol's mistake let in Roman but thereafter it was Barca playing its free flowing brand taking over the game. Dani Alves had a superb game and there was even a Zlatan Ibrahimovic sighting as he set up Messi's first goal.

We can do away with Martin Atkinson turning a blind eye to Fabianski's mugging, Van Persie's penalty call after being fouled by Salgado in the box, and a few red cards thrown in for good measure. When teams play Blackburn, this is about a standard deviation from the normal. Not an outlier.

So what are we hearing?

Naturally, Lukasz Fabianski is a huge topic.

Arseblog makes it very clear:

"I don't think he's anywhere near good enough or strong enough to be a top level keeper."

This was Fabianski's test to prove himself and to his credit he succeeded making some important saves but in the end, Blackburn were sharks going after a goalie with very little self confidence. In the end Fabianski could do little.

Goonerholic rips Fabianski's performance:

" Fabianski has the consistency of a Tesco value jelly, and surely Mannone must be given a chance to produce a second heroic performance against Fulham this season, next Sunday?"

He has a point. At this point Vito Mannone cannot do worse.

Gunnerblog brings up the nightmare of a Fabianski future:

"Two years of Fabianski mistakes would be too costly for us."

He makes an important observation. With the Arsenal defense so engaged in protecting a vulnerable goalkeeper, they overlooked their most basic defensive duties allowing Dunn to score. It is not just Fabianski making mistakes, it is the shifting of defensive resources towards him that will cost us equally.

It is left to A Cultured Left Foot to inject moderation:

"That does not mean I think he is ready to take over as Number One next season; I do not but the potential is there."

ACLF is more willing to apportion the blame on a multitude of factors: Martin Atkinson's laissez faire refereeing, the slack jawed defending of David Dunn's goal.

But it was not just Fabianski hogging Arsenal blog space. The infuriating lack of team effort and and a sense of pride is a theme they all touched on:

Arseblog:

" They don't have enough pride in the Arsenal shirt. They're not willing to stand up for themselves or each other. They allow themselves to be bullied and not enough of them fight back."

Goonerholic:

" For the second trip to the north-west running, those who have spent an absolute fortune following the side this season were treated to watching a team that seems to be devoid of pride or commitment."

Gunnerblog:

" What was most frustrating about yesterday's game was that the players really didn't seem to care."

A Cultured Left Foot:

"The question of attitude is altogether different. There was a drive that was missing yesterday from the performance."

The verdict is not very rosy. Unless drastic action is taken.

Arseblog:

" I thought this summer required a little bit of tinkering, perhaps some keyhole surgery of the squad. After the last month it's more than that, open heart surgery required I think, provided he can find what's left of it. "

Goonerholic:

" It's time for a rest. It's time for a summer of reinforcing and strengthening. It's time to ship out the uncommitted and the downright incompetent."

Gunnerblog:

" That was our ninth league defeat. It's only two fewer than Liverpool, who've spent the season being rightly and roundly mocked."

It is left to A Cultured Left Foot to give a bit of a rosy tint.

"The danger is that the improvements seen this season are being diminished and lost in the rancour over recent performances."

Some observations:

Lukasz Fabianski shows talent as a shot stopper. But if all it took was quick reflexes then many more would be considered great goalkeepers. The true hallmark is situations when cognition and leadership at the back is required. As a goalkeeper on the line during set pieces, you direct traffic away to create space to deal with the ball effectively.

This is important when so many players jockey for position. An assertive goalkeeper knows how to claim territory, and in doing so frees up defenders to tie up potential loose ends. Fabianski may learn all the tricks of the trade in due course but is Arsenal ready to pay the price for such a learning curve?

As a coach, Wenger seems to be more actively invested than many of his peers about the long term financial viability of their club. And over the years, debt has been significantly reduced. In no small part because of Wenger's carefully calibrated transfer requirements. It has left us in much better shape than our rivals. But in preserving the Arsenal brand, one suspects less attention has been paid to coaching details and match preparation.

Here is Arshavin after the Blackburn match:

" As for the game, we made a good start and managed to score a quick goal. But it was not enough ... Arsene told us, that our rival knew how to score from set pieces, which Blackburn showed us twice."

It maybe a flippant remark from a famously free spirit but if this is true a last minute observation about your opponents strengths, serving as preparation does not bode well. Arshavin and the rest by now should have received a week's worth of drilling on what Blackburn was capable of. Maybe there is a reason Arsenal looks unprepared. Or unmotivated.

Wenger also does not get enough scrutiny for his transfers. Rafa Benitez is regularly pummeled for his crop of players who have turned out laughable busts but Wenger has shown less impeccable instincts about recent player transfers. The goalkeeping quandary is now two seasons long and would not have occurred if Wenger had found an adequate replacement for Lehmann.

So here we are recycling Almunia, Fabianski, and Mannone on the last match of the season. Mikael Silvestre, Carlos Vela, Armando Traore, Denilson, and Abou Diaby are some others. Still others have lost their edge through injury and Eduardo and Rosicky can be counted in that category. Walcott provides a frustrating example. Not quite a success but not quite ready to be written off. Bendtner has scored some clutch goals but one would be touched in the head if he were to be described as a clinical striker.

Those are 4 to 5 players with substantial starting minutes we are talking about. That is not a good sign. Milan gets derided for being a club that harbours every player born the previous generation but Arsenal might be establishing a reputation for having trouble letting go of the injured, incompetent, and the unmotivated.

In Wenger we trust?

Wenger fumes ..........

Can we get any more redundant? When has Wenger not fumed because the game was not to his liking?

"Blackburn's main purpose every time was to stop the goalkeeper and not go for the ball. I cannot understand why the referee did not stop that."

What was he expecting? Blackburn play Arsenal style ball hogging? They were going to target Fabianski because they had rolled tape on him all week long and seen a goalkeeper with the confidence of a minnow when it came to dealing with set pieces. A weakness that could be exploited. It is called tactics.

Someone prepared would have expected that. But this naive, simple minded belief that clubs play to some high minded standard seems to be a unique Wenger trait. Here we have Sam Allardyce under no illusions:

"We beat them fair and square," he said. "We did identify the goalkeeper as a weak link and tried to play on that, putting in plenty of crosses and putting him under pressure, but you are allowed to do that. The referee gave some fouls that perhaps weren't, and missed some that possibly were, but we caused them problems in that area. If you play on your opponents weaknesses eventually they will be exposed."

If Martin Atkinson did not fault Blackburn for crowding out Fabianski in the first instance, the chances of him doing so the rest of the game were remote. Asking the referee for protection is so effete. When did we become that?

I am trying to think if Jens Lehmann would have taken Blackburn's guff without landing a punch or two. They would have given the German a wide berth. In Wenger's earlier years one rolled out names like Steve Bould, Martin Keown, Tony Adams, Lee Dixon, Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit, Edu, as a bunch who would have taken matters into their hands. There was a square jawed pragmatism to those Arsenal squads.

Unfortunately, the more recent pie in the sky approach has devolved into something far more adverse for the club.

Wenger's tactical nous never seem to make for adjustments. It operates on one size fits all whether we play Chelsea, Liverpool, Stoke, Blackburn, or Barca. We never get caught in the details as a result we get caught out. Unlike Inter who recognized Xavi for the danger he was and hounded him into making mistakes, we had brain fog.

Didier Drogba kills us time and time again. Do we adjust? No. I see repetitions of the same mistakes over and over and over again. Cheap goals. One, two, three, a dozen, how many? Each year at this time, we have injuries that pile up. And every two years one of our players suffers a horrible career threatening tackle. They don't-like-it-up-'em meme gets played out ad infinitum. As opponents far better prepared and mentally focused flourish against us.

Yet, for those more optimistic, we always finish in the top four, get to the CL quarterfinals comfortably. So we must be doing something right. But at this stage all that good feeling engendered has dissipated in the face of such dissolution. Does anyone remember that bright August afternoon when we took Everton apart, 6-1? The world was Arsenal's oyster. The pundits were abuzz.

Both Blackburn's goals came from set pieces and they employed the same tactics: Crowd out Fabianski on the line so he would not be able to deal with the ball effectively. It worked to perfection.

Even before Morten Gamst Pedersen lined up to take the corner, a trio of Blackburn players surrounded Fabianski.

As the ball floated into the goal area Fabianski struggled to break free and ended up punching the ball weakly straight to Givet who recycled it back to Keith Andrews standing on the right edge of the box. The midfielder drilled a cross across the goalmouth and it deflected off Roberts to an unmarked David Dunn who was left with the simplest of finishes.

The winner again came off a corner. Morten Gamst Pedersen floating the ball towards the giant Christopher Samba as he and David Dunn backed Sol Campbell and Fabianski towards the line. This time the Polish goalkeeper missed the ball completely as Samba turned his head ever so slightly to nod the ball into goal.

Robin Van Persie gave the Gunners the lead as he scored of a Samir Nasri's corner after Bacary Sagna had helped the ball across goal. But the Gunners never capitalized on a number of chances and Blackburn who have been tough all season long at home against the other top clubs added Arsenal's scalp.

So here it is. Arsenal lose 1-2 against Blackburn and their swoon shows no sign of ending. They now need to win or draw Fulham to ensure their third place on the last day.

In an event conceived to simulate the real FIFA World Cup in South Africa ,the Gaza World Cup 2010, kicked off on the 2nd of May with 16 teams - Palestine, England, Turkey, USA, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Ireland, Egypt, Algeria, Spain, Serbia, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Jordan. .An American flag fluttering on a field in Gaza is not a very familiar sight.
The reality of the world's biggest sporting event, the World Cup in South Africa, triggered a longing for the revival in Gaza of soccer . More on that story here..

Lukasz Fabianski who handles the ball like a hot potato once again gets a chance to prove himself.

He did not do anything stupid against City last time but this time faces an aggressive Blackburn squad that scores regularly through set pieces.

Wenger has talked him up saying he should channel Emmanuel Eboue who was on the ropes last season and then effected this remarkable turnaround. He is one of the club's highlights.

I am not sure if Eboue can be held up as role model. Yes, he has brought a liveliness and an improved work ethic to his game. But Eboue has also benefited from Walcott losing his way in the lineup. In fact, it does appear Wenger is a bit worried about the wing play recently exhorting Nasri to produce like Pires.

Eboue still shows defensive lapses, not tracking behind enough. Which happened against Barca. He galloped across the field purposelessly with his touch horribly off. Elements of his gamesmanship showed up against Spurs. So although he has made much improvement, he is still a work in progress.

By the way, Blackburn were thumped 6-2 in the previous encounter at the Emirates. The goalscorers were Vermaelen, Van Persie, Arshavin, Fabregas, Walcott, and Bendtner. We are missing three of those scorers and our last win came against Wolves a month ago. In the last seven matches in all competitions the record is 1 win, 3 draws, and 3 losses. In this swoon 12 goals have been conceded and only 8 scored. There is no title to play for but we can at least go out on a high note in the last two matches of the season.

Almost five years after the Soca Warriors secured qualification to the 2006 World Cup, 13 of their players are still owed money by Jack Warner, the powerful president of the T&T football federation.

He is a kingmaker when it comes to keeping Sepp Blatter in power or awarding the World Cup. Andrew Jennings, the BBC reporter who has made exposing corruption in sports highest echelons has extensively documented Warner's career in corruption and nepotism.

The TTFF after the World Cup declared that they had made no money. They declared a revenue of £1.5 million and a expenditure of almost the same amount. This amounted to about a paltry sum of £500 each for the players. Naturally, the players refused. Warner accused them of 'greed.' Later it was revealed that the federation had made nearly £15 million.

A UK court decision in May 2008 ruled overwhelmingly in favour of the players receiving a substantial settlement. But after two years none of the players have seen any of the money.

What is galling about this situation is that the Soca Warriors were one of the big stories of the 2006 World Cup on and off the field. They held off Sweden with a man down. And kept England at bay till that fateful moment when Peter Crouch scored by climbing over Brent Sancho pulling on his dreadlocks. Toru Kamikawa, the referee completely missed the call as thousands of pictures and video footage showed the foul as it unfolded.

The Warriors were also followed by thousands of passionate fans whose joie de vivre livened up the World Cup. Those were promising times.

Many of the players have since retired or are out of contract and now cannot depend on a paycheck to keep them and their families above water. Kelvin Jack is one of them. At 34 years, he was getting £80,000 a year at Gillingham before he broke his leg. With his future uncertain, a nice healthy payoff would be very welcome.

Brent Sancho, whose dreadlocks helped Peter Crouch score was once again front and center when he scored an own goal against Paraguay, which effectively ended T&T's progress out of the 2006 World Cup group stages. He has since retired from international football and now plays for the USL Rochester Rhinos. Sancho's decision to retire was made in disgust at the TTFF reneging on their promise of payment.

They can now wear caps and not their traditional hijabs.

The U15 team was initially banned by FIFA from competing in the Youth Olympic Games to be held in Singapore in August this year because the team insisted on wearing head scarves.

This runs counter to a 2007 FIFA regulation that prevents the display of religious and political statements or symbols on the field. The head scarves were also considered a safety hazard.

The compromise between the FIFA and the Iranian Football Federation is that the girls can now cover their hair with caps.

How about those footballers who sign or kiss their cross when entering the field? Or the footballers who do namaaz on the pitch? Or Kaka who whips his jersey to show I belong to Jesus emblazoned on his undergarment? Seems like the men get away with it.

There's a £1,000 prize going for the best song ......

We never got to see Vassilis Hatzipanagis, who was called "football's Nureyev" by his beloved Iraklis fans. He retired in 1990 at the age of 37 years but this video clip will convince many that he was truly Greece's Maradona.

He was born in the Ukraine and represented the USSR's U-21 but returned to his land of origin in 1975.

At FC Iraklis he became a legend known for his amazing dribbling skills and vision when it came to passing. With his short, stocky build, and curly hair the comparisons to Maradona are obvious.

" Hatzipanagis who was later voted the best football player in Greek history with his unique style attracted huge audiences to Iraklis games. He had an immediate impact upon his arrival as he was involved in all 4 goals of Iraklis in Greek Cup final of 1976, a 6-5 penalty win (4-4 in regular time) against Olympiakos, either by creating goals or scoring them. "

He never made the move away from Iraklis despite interest from many of the big European clubs because the club board feared that fans would riot. On the international arena, he represented Greece only once in a friendly against Poland because FIFA ruled thereafter that participation in the USSR junior teams rendered him ineligible.

Hatzipanagis was nominated by the Hellenic Football Association as the greatest Greek footballer for the in UEFA's 50th anniversary.

We now discover him after two decades. From the Guardian's TheSportBlog >>

"If you have a Ferrari and I have a small car, to beat you in a race I have to break your wheel or put sugar in your tank."

Simon Kuper writes about Jose Mourinho's days at Barca where he performed translation duties for Sir Bobby Robson.

He is now Barca's nemesis not so much because of their losses at his hands but in the anti- Barca philosophy he espouses. It is the antithesis of everything that the club holds dear.

Kuper:

"For decades Real Madrid functioned as Barcelona's imaginary "other". Now one little man has usurped Real's role.".

Just because of this, I expect to see him managing Real Madrid. The perfect melding of the two "others" causing Barca sleepless nights will be too attractive to pass up.

The Ipswich manager sounds contemplative. Almost comatose. He looks at what the outstanding issues are and it is drink. That is what has held back Ireland all these years and oh yeah, a lack of cynicism. Drink and a lack of cynicism.

"Especially when you stop playing and you are getting up for the day and there is no buzz, you need it. It's a problem. It's there, especially in the Irish players, I notice. In my short time in management I notice that just about every incident we have had to deal with that is drink-related, it is Irish lads. It's an issue with Irish players. Always."

" Do we have to get a little bit more cynical? If one of our lads did what Henry did and Ireland went through to the World Cup and everybody was packing their bags in the next few weeks. Would there be many turning down the trip on principle? I don't think there would. "

The literary geniuses coming out of that country need a drop to drink. The Myles na Gopaleen's and John Milllington Synge's. And now Enda Walsh. The footballers not so much.

But more Keane: On Ipswich

"People ask about Ipswich this year and the only word that comes to mind is frustration. Poor start we had this year. Twenty draws is ridiculous. Not good draws. You go through the stats. We had more possession, more shots etc, I won't bore you. The amount of injury-time draws killed us."

"I enjoyed it, though. We are sprinting harder, we are covering more miles. We are lacking some experience and a little quality but the players have been brilliant. Brilliant. The owner was very good. Fans were decent. They are decent people. They give you the benefit of the doubt."

No tirade at the end. Keane sounds like he's had a lobotomy. What is the world coming to?

Brollywood Steve looking forlorn: He is now cresting the heights of the Eredivisie with FC Twente

Long live Steve McLaren. The former national manager who left England's shores in ignominy two years ago became the first Englishman since Sir Bobby Robson to win a domestic title on foreign soil. Sir Bobby did it with Barca in 1996.

McLaren took FC Twente to their first ever Eredivisie in the club's 45 year history when they beat NAC Breda, 2-0 on the road. FC Twente beat out Martin Jol's Ajax by one point as they finished with 86 points with just two losses. Ajax chalked up a phenomenal 106 goals conceding just 20 for a whopping 86 goal differential but it was not enough.

He brought up his tenure as England's manager in an interview:

"I don't think a day goes by some aspect of that experience doesn't come flashing into my mind. I felt I let down a nation."

"But being a manager is what I do. Generally I've been quite successful in what I do, but you can't win every time. Sometimes failures come, and this was a big failure."

"I had to learn from it, be strong and move on."

Good for him.

McLaren seems to have shown some serious scouting chops signing Costa Rican Bryan Ruiz whose 23 goals was only second to the most prolific Luis Suarez. Another success is on loan Chelsea attacking midfielder Miroslav Stoch with nine goals. And Luuk De Jong, the 20 year old striker and brother of Ajax's Siem De Jong is regarded as top national material.

But their success is the back line which gave away only 23 goals. Peter Wisgerhof who joined in 2009 from Breda teamed up with Douglas, the 6'4" Brazilian to form a solid central partnership. Ronnie Stam also arriving from Breda in 2008 quickly established himself as the right back. Dwight Tiendalli a U-21 standout signed on as a free transfer from Feyenoord in 2009 made the successful switch to left back.

An enormous challenge for a club in flux but their success exceeded McLaren's wildest expectations.

"I said at the beginning of the season I don't know if we have a team, I couldn't tell. They grew and grew, they deserve it. They deserve it."

McLaren is now the favoured choice to take over the Wolfsburg job. He might have to switch to a German English accent but he is disgraced no more.

Inter's defenders turned into a bunch of sharpshooters as the usual attacking suspects failed. Sneijder being particularly egregious finessing a ball to death with Fernando Muslera, the Lazio goalie at his mercy as Motta looked on in bemusement.

After impressing the world with their defensive prowess against Barca, the Inter defenders decided to take matters into their own hands or in this case, their heads.

Walter Samuel galloped centerforward style to receive Wesley Sneijder's floated cross and nod the ball into goal. In the second half Thiago Motta stuck the ball into the net from a corner.

More damage could have been done but Muslera kept the Nerazzurri out with an impressive set of saves. There were highlights of the slippery Mauro Zarate doing his customary dance around the Inter defenders. Huge talent that lad.

The Lazio fans celebrated every goal as it meant the Scudetto slipping away from the grasp of their crosstown rivals Roma. A banner proclaimed in bold: Oh Nooo. Another said Mourinho a real man in bogus football.

Overall, it was a subdued Mourinho who looked like he had to come down to earth after the giddy celebrations seen at the Camp Nou a few evenings before.

The aliens took over Raul Albiol too. Awful piece of defending which gifted Carlos Arenda his goal.

The defense was nowhere. Fortunately, Cristiano Ronaldo equalized, squeezing a well struck grounder past the helpless Ricardo. But Osasuna was not done as Aranda fed Vadocz who smashed his shot past Iker Casillas. It was left to Marcelo and his first goal through a header to restore parity.

The stage was set for CR 9 to stage his end of the match heroics. After the win, he expressed his disappointment in the club. "In my opinion, the whole team was quite bad. I speak to the attack, the midfield and the defense."

Not encouraging words. It reflects the state of a player not quite settled and harbouring serious doubts his club.

An injury that will ignite the club vs country debate as no other.

Spain's midfield maestro might be missing from the World Cup with a tear to his soleus, the calf muscles (along with the gastrocnemius). They help in pushing the foot down (plantarflexion) needed to generate the explosive force needed to walk, run and jump. The muscles are recruited according to knee position. The soleus acts when the knee is bent while the gastrocnemius kicks in when the knee is extended. Think about lunging forward vs standing vertical jumps.

The controversy: Xavi played the Villareal match with a calf tear. It did not seem to slow him down as he provided an assist and a fantastic fee kick to overcome the Yellow Submarines.

After the match, Pep Guardiola very casually dismissed concerns by saying, " He could miss the World Cup because of this injury. He is the best midfielder in the history of this club. He said he knows his body and he wanted to play."

Xavi was confident he would be ready in time for the World Cup. He said, " It hurts a lot but I wanted to be there for the team because they need me. It is not that important and I will ready for South Africa."

With Fernando Torres out for at least 6 weeks with his knee injury, Cesc Fabregas overcoming a fracture of the fibular shaft, and now Xavi with a calf tear, Vincent Del Bosque has injuries to three of his key players. Andres Iniesta is another injury concern. These cannot be dismissed lightly if Spain are to build upon their Euro 2008 legacy.

Group H is one of the safer ones with Honduras, Chile, and Switzerland comprising Spain's competition. However, Spain's recent laurels come after years of chronic underachievement. Their attacking prowess was bolstered with real defensive teeth provided spectacularly by Marcos Senna in Euro 2008. It helped them transition from the also ran to serious world contenders. At this stage Senna has no real successor to fill his big shoes which shifts the onus onto their attacking core. Spain can hardly afford to be so sanguine with injury concerns to those personnel. If Xavi cannot play then they can kiss their chances goodbye.

A last gasp 88th minute Cristiano Ronaldo header off a beautifully floated Gonzalo Higuain cross made the difference.

The first half was a breathless box to box affair with very little in the way of defense. Osasuna took the lead through Carlos Aranda after Albiol's mistake in the 5' minute. Cristiano Ronaldo equalized in the 23' minute. Krisztián Vadócz finished superbly in the 41st minute to give Osasuna a shortlived 2-1 lead. Marcelo's header brought back the Merengues in the 43d minute.

Osasuna had a glorious chance to take the lead when they broke away in a counterattack through Masoud and Krisztián Vadócz. Both had Casillas at their mercy when Vadócz fed Masoud whose weak shot drifted away from goal.

Manuel Pellegrini had a haunted look as the club from Pamplona managed to keep away everything that the Merengues threw at them. He was able to finally exhale when Ronaldo scored his winner.

With the win, Real are a point behind league leaders Barca and it all comes down to the last three games.

Danger: Stephen Hawking's warning that there are aliens in the universe have come true and their interaction proved harmful as predicted. They took over Steven Gerrard this morning.

Didier Drogba could not have asked for a better gift from the Liverpool captain. Pepe Reina looked like a zombie had given away the ball. Given the high bar Gerrard set last season, in contrast this has been a nightmare. Fabio Capello must be having a few of those when he looks at match footage.

This could also be Rafa Benitez's last home game. He might be in Juventus next season trying to help them recapture their Serie hopes. It all furthers the notion of a club heading to a crisis.

Paging Uri Geller: Nani uses telekinesis to keep the ball aloft

Man Utd saw off Sunderland's challenge through a 28' minute goal through Nani and kept their chances alive for a come from behind title win. Nani has been immense in these closing days of the season. He is turning out to be a clutch performer. Dimitar Berbatov continues to stamp himself as one of Sir Alex's biggest busts by missing one of the easiest chances after being put through by Rooney and with only Craig Gordon to beat, shanks the ball into the stratosphere.

The Red Devils came close to scoring a number of times but a game Sunderland battled through and launched a few threats of their own. They also lost John Mensah and David Meyler through injury.

Steve Bruce's no win record against his former mentor continues.

Chelsea now face Wigan, a club that has shocked a few big names including a 3-1 win over the Blues and a 3-2 win over Arsenal. But the way the Blues have been playing it is hard to see Wigan pose any threat. Man Utd play Stoke, a club that they have had their way with.

Roma beat Parma, 2-1 as club talisman Francesco Totti scored one and set up Rodrigo Taddei with his goal. Davide Lanzafame pulled one back for the Gialloblu. With this win Roma are playing tag with Inter for the top spot. This is the best chance for a Serie club to overcome the stigma of zero tituli which Inter has imposed the last four years.

Claudio Rainieri took over the club when it was down in the doldrums in 20th place. If he goes onto guide Roma to the Scudetto, he deserves manager of the year, even with Mourinho giving Inter their best chance at a European title since the 70s.

A 1-1 draw against Sicilian club Catania left Juventus on 55 points while Sampdoria and Palermo now duke it out for the final CL spot. Milan beat Fiorentina to hold onto their third spot.

Roma beat Parma, 2-1 to keep the pressure on Inter for the top spot. Mourinho's men face Lazio.

Chelsea consolidated their title chances by beating Liverpool, 2-0. Didier Drogba scores after a shockingly poor back pass from Steven Gerrard and then Frank Lampard ices it. Cue all the conspiracy theories about Liverpool preventing Man Utd from becoming the most decorated English club.

It is now upto Man Utd to take out Sunderland.

Wayne Rooney is back in the starting line up for what will be United's most important game because a draw will not do as they have an adverse 10 goal difference relative to Chelsea. Their last match is at home against Stoke while Chelsea entertain lower placed Wigan.

Surely, this the end of the road for Rafa Benitez. And can we also lay off the Jose Mourinho will be missed stories.

On a day when the Blaugrana were back to their flowing best, Busquets was all hands and a handshake. Take a look at this man's gamesmanship.

He was to be substituted by Yaya Toure and dilly dallied getting off the field. He went up to referee Teixeira Vitienes to shake his hand for which he received his second yellow card for time wasting. Busquets later claimed the yellow was given to Joseba Llorente after the Villareal striker tried helping him off the field by pushing him. Earlier, he was booked for a handball right in front of the referee and then protested his innocence.

In reality, with his second booking, he should have been ejected and Barca should have played with 10 men. Busquets is nothing but a lowlife cheat and a black eye on Barca's beautiful game. We have already seen how his acting got Motta ejected. If he is selected for Spain, there will be a Marco Materazzi moment in the World Cup, I guarantee.

Bayern with Thomas Mueller re-enacting his famous namesake Gerd Mueller, fired in a hat trick as the Bavarian giants ran riot against a relegation bound Bochum. Mueller's debut season has been nothing short of fantastic.

Any opposition with Arjen Robben and Philip Lahm providing the sort of cut and parry on the right flank will find themselves in trouble. It was a Mark Van Bommel- Philip Lahm move that led to Mueller's first goal.

Franck Ribery seems to have shrugged off the Zahia Dehar blues by providing a beautiful volleyed cross for Mueller's second goal.

Mueller had a golden chance of completing his hat trick but his shot struck the upright after Ribery put him through. No matter. The way Bayen carved up the Bochum defense, he was going to get a few more opportunities.

By now news had filtered into the Allianz Arena that Werder Bremen were a couple of goals up against rivals Schalke. The Bayern supporters erupted in celebration with Paul Breitner and Uli Hoeness caught fist pumping.

And in the 69th minute, they have even more reason to cheer. Robben cut in with his trademark mincing touch on the ball and fed the ball to Van Bommel who found Mueller. The youngster dodged past a couple of defenders and with a flourish buried the ball past Heerwagen. Mueller's first hattrick and his 13th goal for Bayern. What a self assured young man.

Christian Fuchs with a delectably placed free kick reduced Bochum's deficit. But it was a little too late. Dariusz Wosz first game taking from Heiko Herrlich did not provide the boost needed to stave off relegation.

Schalke winning the Bundesliga is now merely hypothetical. They need to overcome Mainz by more than 17 goals and hope Bayern lose to relegated Hertha Berlin. Not going to happen.

Barcelona have come back with a decisive 4 - 1 win over Villarreal.Bojan Krkic,Lionel Messi (two) and a Xavi freekick got them the goals and the three points.But it remains to be seen if the dent in their spirits from the CL knockout will help Real Madrid who are breathing down their necks to do some catching up.

The investigation into the French sex scandal has uncovered so much damaging evidence that it has been put off till after the World Cup.

The implications are too serious for a national side with three of their stars the target of the investigations.

Zahia Dehar, the Algerian born call girl has been talking. Much of it centers around Franck Ribery:

"I came on an aeroplane with one of my friends who I suppose [Ribery] had asked regarding my services. He had booked a room in a luxury hotel. We had sexual relations and he paid me... I was a nice birthday present, wouldn't you say?" she said.

The problem for Ribery is that she was underage at that time. Knowledge that the French midfielder denies. However the investigation centers around who paid for her flight to Munich as the ticket would contain her date of birth. If Ribery was responsible and still went ahead, then he is in violation of a law that considers underage sex a felony. If applied to its strictest extent, it would mean Ribery faces three years in jail.

Roy Hodgson is fast emerging as the unanimous choice as the Premiership's manager of the year. Today, Arsene Wenger joined that chorus.

"Fulham and Roy have been fantastic," he said. "They are the ones more than anybody else who have punched above their weight. And maybe that's why Roy deserves it.": [manager of the season].

Hodgson should be a candidate for the Liverpool job in the likely event Rafa Benitez leaves for Juventus.

....etc.