Recently in World Cup History Category

Juventus inaugurated their new stadium with a visual smorgasbord. In one of the classiest gestures in living memory, they invited Notts County who gifted the Old Lady their signature black and white pinstripes in 1903 after responding to a sartorial emergency which would have doomed the Turin club to wearing pink and being confused for Palermo. Richard Williams has more.

The first goal was scored by Luca Toni after a penalty kick saved by Robert Burch rebounded back into line of play. Notts to their everlasting credit did not roll over with Lee Hughes scoring the equalizer.

The 2022 World Cup will set the Qatar government back by $221bn in development and infrastructure costs according to an analyst who does this for a living. Small change for the richest country in the world even as they stand to lose billions without recouping but a small fraction. FIFA by the way will have made out with its billions in TV and merchandising revenue with all its earnings non-taxable because of its non-profit status.

To put this in perspective, the 2006 World Cup in Germany cost $8.5bn to host. South Africa spent $4bn for the 2010 World Cup. The business generated from these events boosted the GDP by about .5% in both countries.

The projected costs of the 2014 edition runs to $15bn with about 50% devoted to developing transportation (rail, road, and air) because Brazil is the 5th largest country in the world. The World Cup will boost Brazil's GDP by 1.5% according to a bank estimate.

That escalates to about $65bn to $115bn by the 2018 World Cup where the estimates to carpet Russia with high speed rail covering a surface area of 6,601,668 sq miles (the largest country in the world) will itself entail an expenditure of $35bn to $85bn, depending on the source. Without that additional burden, the figures plummet to a more sedate $25bn to $30bn.

This is eclipsed by Qatar where traversing its miniscule 4,473sq miles (164th in surace area) is not the really the problem but building stadia, training facilities, and accomodation that is air-conditioned will cost them $171billion. A new port and expansion to the Doha International Airport adds another $50bn.

There will be no hard feelings between Qatar and FIFA even if the 2022 World Cup is underwritten as a comprehensive loss because by that year the oil and gas earnings generated will more than make up for it (FY 2011 $80.8bn). Government revenues are projected to rise on an average $50bn a year because of increased demand in the energy sector. The 2022 World Cup is more of a vanity project than a economic fillip to a country that really does not need one.

Tragic news out of Japan as Naoki Matsuda succumbs two days later after suffering a suspected heart attack. Matsuda was just 34 years. He collapsed on the pitch during a routine warm up at current club Matsumoto Yamaga and rushed to the hospital where he was put on artificial life support systems but never gained consciousness.

Japan has been in the throes of a heatwave which has already claimed 43 lives and it is possible Matsuda might have experienced a sunstroke. The doctors believe he might have suffered a heart attack after arriving at the hospital unconscious as he did not respond to efforts to resuscitate him.

Matsuda was a long standing fixture at Yokohama F. Marinos having made 385 appearances for that club where his exploits as a central defender earned him 40 international caps for Japan. He was used as a right back in the successful 2002 World Cup squad which got to the quarterfinals and heralded Japan's rise as a soccer power. Amongst his team mates were the fabulous Shunsuke Nakamura who was the first to arrive in the hospital after learning his friend had collapsed. His reaction:

"He was dynamic in every aspect and he was a kind of big brother for everyone in a positive sense. A smile was on his face."

The 6' defender guided the F. Marinos to back to back J-League titles in 2002 and 2003 before moving on after 16 years last December to the third division Matsumoto Yamaga. He also made the J-league top XI in 2000 and 2002.

At his farewell speech at a packed Nissan Stadium, home to the F.Marinos, Matsuda said that he lived for the game. "Seriously, I love football for the heck of it," he said. There probably can't be a more fitting epitaph. RIP, Naoki Matsuda (14 March 1977 - 4 August 2011).

The Premier League is introducing goal line technology from next season which will hopefully resolve the issue of those hundreds of goals that cross the line every season but are never given. And the hundreds of goals that don't but are given. It has already cost Arsenal three titles and relegated West Ham. All because of Frank Lampard's "ghost goal" in the World Cup.

Seriously, far more goals are scored from diving which goal line technology will never solve. The fallacy is to elevate this technology to Wimbledon like proportions when video review can solve everything.

Abby Wambach is feeling it!

The 1991 US team broke new ground winning the first ever World Cup and repeated the feat eight years later. By that time Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, and Kristine Lilly were household names. US women's soccer and success are so inextricably intertwined with those names leaving each succeeding squad aspiring to reach the same heights and write their names into history. It's a double edged sword providing both motivation and pressure at the same time.

Today, the US looks to a group that have that chance. Some like Abby Wambach, Shannon Boxx, and Christine Rampone have fought in previous World Cups but have come up short. This time around they have put into place some of the missing pieces that should give them their best chance in 12 years. Lauren Cheney is has having the tournament of her life and she has a partner in Heather O'Reilly who provide the cut and thrust down the flanks.

The US will have to take full advantage on the counterattacks because their opponents the Japanese have shown stifling control of the ball. The US still have the best attacking weapon in Abby Wambach who has found the net with some huge momentum changing goals. The danger with Japan's possession game is that she might be forced into ball retrieval duties leaving her in an disadvantaged position during the counterattacks. For that not to happen, the US needs to close down the gaps very quickly and throw the Japanese off their passing game. Homare Sawa is their metronome and there might be good reason to shadow her. It was Sawa who found Karina Maruyama to send the Germans out of the World Cup.

The Nadeshiko have also shown that they're no slouches when it comes to set pieces themselves with Aya Miyama the cream of the crop despite her short stature. She showed her ability to bend the ball around the taller Swedish defense and there is no reason to suspect that she might not do the same against the US.

One cause for optimism here is the US defense who were very good against a very organized French attack and in Hope Solo, they have the best custodian possible. An early goal will be a great way to begin and in both instances when the US has done so they have prevailed. Pia Sundhage can look to Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan for impact off the bench. The Japanese have not won against the USA in 26 encounters but this is a very different team. The US is favoured to win but the Nadeshiko have the emotional support of millions in the world.

"Hey Sepp, I'm going to squeeze the jelly from your eyes and have it on toast"

Sepp Blatter beefed up his group of FIFA advisers today adding the name of Shrek and Justin Bieber to the already invited Placido Domingo, Henry Kissinger, and Johan Cruyff.

Asked about Shrek, the FIFA president revealed he liked nothing better than soaking in a hot tub watching reruns of the plain spoken ogre fight the medieval forces of chicanery and corruption. It was a tough toss up between Shrek and the talking donkey but the former won because he resembled a certain footballer whose name Blatter said escaped him.

Justin Bieber was an intriguing choice but Blatter gave him the nod because anything that gets the U13 crowd shrieking is a good thing. The better to drown out Jack Warner's tsunami of secrets. Besides, Bieber's Canadian and they play ice hockey. Which Qatar does not.

All part of an image revamp of hitherto octogenarian white male privilege. It reaches out to the last two demographics not already turned off by FIFA - animated characters and prepubescent girls.

Another Sepp Blatter look alike. Julio Grondona, Argentinian football's godfather

It appears worse than Dunkirk. The English FA's vote to delay the election goes over like a lead balloon and is defeated 172-17. And in between they come for some pretty vicious pillorying.

There is a war reference in Leopoldo Galtieri's ..... err... Julio Grondona's denouncement. The Argentinian Football Association's despot brings in Falklands.

" Yes, I voted for Qatar, because a vote for the US would be like a vote for England. And that is not possible. "But with the English bid I said: Let us be brief. If you give back the Falkland Islands, which belong to us, you will get my vote. They then became sad and left."

Talk about a bargaining chip on the shoulder. There are some real gems in the rest of Grondona's speech.

It's matchpoint, setpoint, and gamepoint for Sepp Blatter. The man is a genius when it comes to being elected.

Does anyone see the irony in FIFA ordering an investigation into an election opponent of Sepp Blatter without the FIFA president stepping aside from the fray? Where have we seen these sort of tactics before? Ah yes, name any totalitarian regime.

Mohammed Bin Hammam, the AFC chairman has till tomorrow to present his defense. The ethics committee will meet on Sunday and deliver its verdict in time for the June 1st election. Say it with me "kangaroo court". And just like that corruption and the system of unprecedented patronage enjoyed and furthered under Blatter will disappear. Not. He'll just have vanquished his opponent which is what he wanted in the first place.

Does this not say enough about Blatter that nine of the 24 executive members have either been suspended or are under ethics investigations? Under his watch. The world body needs cleaning up and this is beyond Blatter or his challengers because they're part of that corrupt system. FIFA need an equivalent of a receivership with an autonomous body guiding that process before we can even think of presidential elections.

Sepp Blatter whose cronies are the ones square in the eye of the present bribery allegations is now flapping his gums about corruption.

Yes, all window dressing for an election year. FIFA is very, very concerned about Lord Triesman's allegations against some very high ranking executive members. And now there is a report of Issa Hayatou from Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast accepting a $1.5 million bribe to vote for Qatar.

The man can be a short fused nightmare on and off the pitch but he speaks the truth. Spot on.

Stirring documentary about Jay De Merit who arrives in England with a dream of playing in the Premier League and with little money on him scraps around in a non-league club. Two years later he's playing for Watford in their Premiership promotion match against Leeds and scores in front of 65,000 people sending them to the world's top league. His Watford exploits in the following year earn him a call up to the USMNT.

Equally compelling is the story of how Ranko Tutulugdzija, the film maker, and a college buddy of De Merit came to make the film overcoming many obstacles including no prior film experience and a life threatening medical condition. In a selfless moment, De Merit learning his friend needs a kidney transplant offers his without hesitation.

As Tutulugdzija explains: " this isn't just a movie about soccer, but a human story of perseverance, hard work and belief. And for me this project was done with all heart, and with a sense of gratitude that's hard to explain, that Jay was willing to lay down his own life for a friend. That is something that the world doesn't know about Jay, but should. He is more than a soccer player, he is an awesome human."

They movie is complete but they have to pay off the licensing fees of $150,000 before it can be shown in public. If you want to help with the finances and/or distribution contact: jaydemeritstory@yahoo.com

The Australian category for best sport writing went to Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker of The Age for their articles exposing the money trail involved in Australia's unsuccessful World Cup bid.

Two perfectly lovely characters by the name of Fedor Radmann and Peter Hargitay benefited from AUD 11.37m of tax payer money for their lobbying services. And they are all tied at the hip to the odious Jack Warner. The Football Federation of Australia tried hushing it up by being deliberately vague in its accounting to the Australian government.

Andrew Jennings has more on the duo who have colourful histories. Hargitay in particular was twice acquitted on cocaine trafficking charges, worked for Marc Rich, the tax dodger who fled the US, and was linked to a securities fraud in Hungary. He's now actively involved in getting Mohammed Bin Hammam elected as FIFA president.

He looks better than Septic Bladder

Mohamed Bin Hammam who has done more than anyone to put Asia and Australia on the football map announced his candidacy in opposition to Sepp Blatter.

The announcement was hardly out when Franz Beckenbauer openly worried that opposing Blatter would split FIFA into two camps. Old Franz knows something about singularity of purpose - ask Jens Lehmann as the Bayern cabal went out of the way to destroy him in order to promote Ollie Kahn as goalkeeper of the German squad in 2006 World Cup.

What would happen if Sepp Blatter does not win re-election? There is one thing to be thankful for above and beyond it all: The marginalization of the most polarizing and corrupt of his many right hand men. Jack Warner. He is the poster boy for FIFA's lip service to transparency under Sepp Blatter. Under him CONCACAF has become a dependable voting bloc for the Swiss tyro over the many election cycles. The benevolence has paid handsome dividends as FIFA has turned a blind eye to the one of many scams that Andrew Jennings has so assiduously investigated.

Old Franz's complaints of divisiveness is a bit rich when Warner in his capacity as CONACAF president and FIFA vice -president was jet setting to candidate countries bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup and playing the old game of divide and conquer. He could not have telegraphed bribe me any more graphically. Under this sleaze's active intervention, the Soca Warriors would have been fobbed off with pittances from the T&T football federation's windfall after the 2006 World Cup. They rightly sued. To date his own countrymen representing T&T in a blaze of shining glory have not received a single cent.

Blatter might point to South Africa on his vitae as FIFA opening up new parts of the world capable of accommodating the global game. But his championing of Russia and Dubai comes on the heels of the western world's worst economic meltdown, a calamity bought on by a lack of transparency. The parallels are apparent to those less concerned about egalitarian ownership of the global game and wary of the smoke and mirrors of the current leadership. It is the latter being highlighted by the opposition candidate.

"I will consider ... the demands from the public to keep Fifa and football organisations above accusations and suspicion of negative practice; the demands of the public to create an absolute, ethical, democratic and transparent environment within Fifa," said Bin Hammam. "I will establish a transparency committee."

But Bin Hammam's announcement also reflects the shifting of the market place. Apart from Japan, the region with the highest rate of return for future investments lie in Asia. The biggest market for growth in football despite the paucity of player representation reflects the power of the mind boggling disparity in generating new viewership between Europe and Asia.

A skew well understood with a growing number of European clubs mounting pre-seasons in Asia. Richard Scudamore's desire for a 39th Premiership match was demonized but it will happen in some shape or form in the next few years. China, till a decade ago, a veritable shadow but with the 2008 Olympics is now mentioned as potential World Cup hosts in the near future, alternating the world's biggest spectacle with the ASEAN countries.

The old guard could look to Blatter's straddling both fences torn between natural proclivity and a new reality. Russia and Dubai might have been blips. With Hammam's presidency the shifting of power is irreversible. But the Qatari has been emboldened by one time allies, now spurned, willing to gamble on anyone but Blatter. Joao Havelange and his hand picked successor Sepp Blatter have ruled FIFA for as many years as Mohammed Gaddafi ruling Libya. An echo of the seismic forces dissatisfied with the status quo sweeping the Middle East? Hardly fanciful.

Blatter responds to the latest and most serious challenge to his presidency by seeking the most unsavoury company. No wonder the numbers eager to see the last of him are rising.

Andy Green in a Guardian article thinks paying £1.5bn for Man Utd is too much. But it maybe a price the Glazers could settle on to make a tidy profit. If there is anybody that can pull it off without thinking twice it is the al- Thani family that rule Qatar. Which is why there are such persistent rumours of a takeover. It may not be dismissed lightly.

The al-Thani's managed to get the 2022 World Cup against conventional wisdom partly because of their wrinkle free financial clout. A few weeks later Barca signed a record five year £125m million (£25m/ year) shirt sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation, a non-profit organization run by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. The stunning speed with which the sponsorship was launched was seen by some as a quid pro quo for Spain's support for Qatar's 2022 bid. But more likely it was a way of bailing out of trouble one of the biggest names in football (Barca posted record losses) and creating goodwill. Having UNICEF and the Qatar Foundation logo on the same jersey will not hurt either in the PR department.

A Man Utd takeover for investment purposes holds no interest for the mega billionaire Qataris. But a club of its stature will be a huge boost to Qatar's ambition as sporting superpower. The ruling family has a history of trying unconventional methods of attracting talented players to the tiny Emirate but they've largely failed. But they've recently launched a more savvy effort setting up the Aspire Football Dreams Academy that sends out scouts to sign up talented schoolchildren from the developing world (mostly Africa and South America) bringing them to the Gulf to develop them. Some of them might nurse ambitions playing for a club like Man Utd while their end of the bargain would be to represent Qatar.

There is substance to these rumours if we start looking away from the narrow prism of investment and consider Qatar's larger vision.

The real Ronaldo, the player called O Fenomeno retired a day ago. In a nutmeg, he was brilliant. You could have had three legs and he would have found a way between each of them. He brought immense beauty to the game. Enjoy.

As for the present Brazilian team something tells me their swansong days will be hard to replicate. Making those Ronaldo moments in their 2002 World Cup win priceless. He was lampooned mercilessly for his weight issues in his later days and what transpired before the 1998 World Cup final may never been known. A series of knee injuries and subsequent surgeries kept him out for protracted periods of time. But his day in history is intact. For a generation of football fans, he was the best player. Yours truly included.

There are very few moments so transcendental in a lifetime. Today is one of them as Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president of Egypt after 30 years of despotic rule. Bowing to an unprecedented show of people power. It is a revolution that promises the rise of a truly representative democracy and carries the potential of a more balanced vision of Middle East peace. What happened in Egypt is a pointed rejection of the moribund view of Islam being hijacked by radical elements.

We wish Egypt well in its future transition. No one understands the power of the people quite so well as a football fan. The global game is unmatched in its ability to sway emotion.

Less than a year ago, Egypt was in an uproar over a series of highly contentious soccer matches with Algeria which poisoned relations between the two countries. They lost the qualifying battle for the World Cup and for many this was a bitter end. It was possibly the last time that an estranged Mubarak and the Egyptian people were synchronized in unison. But none of them would trade that day for the freedom that they finally achieved. On and off the football field, Al Ahly and Zamalek fans are mortal enemies. But they shouldered arms and fought side by side for this day to happen.

Hopefully this day is also the day that Egypt, a long standing African football force finally turns around it's disappointing record on the world's stage. This revolution might just be the start of a new chapter.

Actually, it went to Leo Messi, who in any circumstance is not an undeserving winner. But when you look at a man commanding a soccer ideology as perfectly as Xavi in Spain's greatest sporting achievement then his claim to the world's most influential player is a bit more tenuous.

Xavi's style of playing so familiar to Barcelona was unhesitatingly incorporated into Spain's national team. Because it works. No one maintains the shape of a midfield as brilliantly as Xavi. He is the one who resets, recycles, and releases players like Messi to do what they do best - make defenders look silly. Though Spain won the World Cup with the fewest goals scored they were never outplayed. With a player like Xavi it usually comes down to the matter of when they score. Messi is his best executioner but Villa, Bojan, and Pedro have been beneficiaries too.

With Maradona casting aside Juan Sebastian Veron, the only player within a whiff of Xavi's calibre - Messi became less effective having to drop deeper to link up with Javier Mascherano. The Germans just had to wait in ambush. No one more than Messi knows better the reason for the disparity between his club and national performances. He, Veron and countless others acknowledge the symphonic quality of the Barca midfield orchestrated by Xavi.

We can also make the case for Wesley Sneijder, instrumental in giving Inter the title that they craved most, the Champions League. Under Roberto Mancini, the attack was carried out by individualistic and opportunistic strikers like Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Real Madrid reject brought to Inter in a master stroke by Mourinho became the club's playmaker easing the burden on Diego Milito. Sneijder also proved no slouch at scoring goals. Pushed hard by Roma, his set pieces proved decisive in winning the Serie and the Coppa Italia. And who can forget his seal on the Brazil game in the World Cup.

Sid Lowe explains why someone like Sneijder was overlooked in the run up to the final three candidates. He became a victim of FIFA's desire to amalgamate the Ballon d'Or with the Fifa World Player Award. Under the old format, the Ballon D'Or awarded by France Football would have chosen Sneijder. Messi would have finished fourth. But now the expanded pool of voters includes coaches and captains who pulled the votes for the Argentinian.

Some tabloids complained about an anti-Spanish bias after the awards. But the more obvious explanation is that Xavi and Iniesta split the vote which unfortunately did not work out well for either one of them. The increased number of voters have also diluted objectivity. Many have a political axe to grind. Some just choose their team mates in a fit of blind allegiance.

Jose Mourinho deserved the coach of the year award. So much of his success is built on a chip on the shoulder bravura that even in this august moment he did not let go of his cagey and calculating persona. He looked like someone was going to announce it as a very big mistake. But he too is notable for doing what Xavi does so well, make others give off their best. Wherever he is - Porto, Chelsea, Inter, and now at Real, his players are lifted to a different level of performance.

Marta became the world's best woman player for the fifth time. The title is an ongoing battle between the Brazilian and Birgit Prinz for the last seven years - a feat of notable durability.

The Asian Cup begins in Qatar today providing a preview to the world's biggest dance in 2022.

Can the tiny oil and gas rich country start turning around the skepticism that greeted it's shock selection? How about their national team - a usual joke even with its neighbours? Can Brian Metsu make them competitive? How will they handle the issue of indentured labour that regularly gets them into trouble with human rights organizations? Will they make allowances to the LGBT community to express themselves openly since homosexuality comes under their blasphemy laws? Will they relax rules that forbid alcohol in public spaces? And the heat, oh the heat! Even winter brings on a milder version of sunstroke.

The English cricket team will not look like this when they return home

This is a magnificent victory. It is cricket and as such has no place on a blog about soccer/football but for those growing up around that game like we did in India or elsewhere in the cricket playing world - the Aussies were damn near invincible for aeons. Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting and their band of swashbuckling merry giants ran riot over the other troll nations.

Now, it's all over. An under hyped English team retains The Ashes. And today in Sydney won the series 3-1, their first triumph Down Under in 24 years. The mighty Aussies are a shadow of themselves. Sliding inexorably to the precipice.

Cricket in its birthplace slid to irrelevancy as its former colonies have ousted the sport. The same same topology applies to football as it left its native shores to find roots elsewhere.

The reaction to both sports by the media is spectacularly different. The English cricket team are portrayed as ne'er do well before a Test series or the Cricket World Cup and so far the results seem to bear them out. But the football team always gets over hyped and sent over with a sealed and signed verdict of virtual indestructibility. As South Africa proved, despite the proclamations a whimper would be too kind a descriptive for what happened yet again.

The difference is that along with cricket moving offshore, so has the money. A large part of England's attraction for cricketers in the developing world was county cricket. It led to an influx of players in the 70s and 80s. There was a bit of money to be earned but it was mostly exposure to playing good pace bowlers that was the main draw. But county cricket could not compete financially and thus began the reverse migration. It is India that now has the EPL's version of cricket on crack.

The Indian Premier League is the fifth most lucrative sports brand and is getting only bigger and better. There has been an inflow of upcoming talent and former national players who have found homes in the Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, or Mumbai Indians. An average salary would be in the vicinity of $4 million over a year, second only to the NBA.

In football, the economy has remained in England. The sport remains within privatized clubs and there are no county counterparts. The EPL remains highly competitive with England's players competing with top notch overseas players. The receipts from its global media and TV enterprise remains unsurpassed. It is not hard to see how this could engender a false equivalency. A similar misplaced sense has developed within the Indian media about the infallibility of the national cricket team.

English cricket seems far more real with less fatuous idolatry. But an average cricketer also appears infinitely more perceptive than his footballing counterpart. At the very least he knows it's not all about him. Here is Paul Collingwood on his last day as a Test cricketer and given the honour of leading out the victorious English team:

"My role in the side is to score runs, I'm disappointed I haven't done that. But four years ago I scored a double century and we lost 5-0 and I much prefer it this way round. We deserve it."

In contrast, English football still lives in a bubble.

But enough already. We're here to celebrate an extra-ordinary victory and yes, for many of us, an extra-ordinary demise. The English media is trumpeting the new look cricket team that will come to a heroes welcome. Congratulations England! And dare one say, better luck next time Australia?

If Edin Dzeko is by any remote chance reading this blog, I implore him not to come to City because he'll become a castaway in Roberto Mancini's grind scheme of things.

City came to the Emirates not to play but to salvage a point which they did by parking the bus. Mind numbingly formulaic and efficient. On attack, City were little more than gnats apart from some individual forays by Tevez and Yaya Toure. Boring, boring, Citeh!

A clearly frustrated Cesc Fabregas jawed with Mancini post match. It was not hard to lip read. "You call that futbol because my abuela could play better than that."

City looked absolutely ripe for the taking in the first 15 minutes as a scintillating Arsenal broke in waves. But they were helped by a team that was not ruthless enough. Jack Wilshere's effort just wide off the mark should have been finished by RVP or Walcott but both failed to attack the goal.The post also denied the Dutchman and a little later Fabregas. The Fabregas effort had Hart absolutely beaten and the City goalkeeper must have heaved a huge sigh of relief when the post kept the ball out.

In the second half, RVP's touch which seems to have gone for a long stroll sputtered back on but Joe Hart effected a fine save to deny a long range blast. In between there were some dreadful bloopers.Overall, he is distinctly a step slower and less hungry in front of goal. Walcott's beautifully placed cross was shepherded off tamely by Kolo Toure as RVP was nowhere in sight. Ditto for Fabregas's cross. The most skillful Dutchman in the Premiership without doubt is Rafael Van Der Vaart.

Arsenal also enjoyed a huge advantage in corners but settled for the short version repeatedly because lets face it, the City defense made the Gunners look Lilliputian. And when did you last see an Arsenal goal through the air? The match was now entering familiar territory - the home team camped in the opposition half moving the ball around fluidly and authoritatively but running into a roadblock.

Wenger's substitutions amounted to a big doughnut. Arshavin did little but lose the ball, chase back futilely, and then foul. Nicklas Bendtner did not even touch the ball. Why was Chamakh, a more skillful striker left on the bench?

The defense delivered on the few occasions they were called on to act. Wilshere and Song were on hand to clean up and get the ball moving up field.

The match winding down to an inevitable draw was marred by an incredulously stupid set of decisions which could prove costly to both teams. Bacary Sagna brought down by Pablo Zabaleta on the sidelines retaliated and both engaged in a mutual head massage which rated a PG-13. But referee Mike Jones saw otherwise and gave both red cards. There will be protests and a good chance that these will be rescinded.

Man Utd benefits most from this result and have a game in hand. Chelsea lost to Wolves in now what appears to be increasingly looking like Ancelotti's last days. And Spurs increased the long odds on winning the title by losing to Everton.

Another year and yet another FIFA committee.

Sepp Blatter is setting up an anti-corruption committee to investigate the ethics committee or some such thing. Methinks he's a bit freaked out by the stories of back stabbing that went on with the USA, England, and Australia bids - where FIFA members blatantly lied about giving them votes only to switch to Russia or Qatar. What if it happens to him? An "Eye in the Sky" committee will make sure that members deliver on their votes promised for his June re-election campaign.