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Mohammed Bin Hammam, AFC president is thumbing his nose at FIFA directives that reinstate the voting rights of five countries in the AFC.

He had stripped these countries of their privileges at the behest of the ad-hoc legal committee's recommendations. As per the committee four countries did not deserve representation because their participation in tournaments do not meet AFC standards.

The countries falling foul are Laos, Timor Leste, Mongolia and Afghanistan. The fifth country, Kuwait has an interim association not recognized by the AFC.

FIFA has recognized the tournaments and the Kuwaiti association as legitimate. They however, have questioned the AFC's legal committee's jurisdiction. As per FIFA "it has no competence to take any decision with legal effect” and secondly it’s up to the AFC Congress to decide about voting rights of member associations.

Mohammed Bin Hammam has been Asian football's caretaker overseeing its revival since 2002. However, his increasingly authoritarian streak is causing many to throw their support behind Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa, from Bahrain who is challenging Hammam for a seat in the FIFA executive committee.

It is under Hammam's watch that Australia was admitted to the Asia zone which has been acknowledged by them as a major factor in improving their game. He obviously has a stake in improving football in Asia but the standards applied to these five countries appear very arbitrary and in contravention of FIFA rules.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Cristiano Ronaldo is a great club player. He has garnered every accolade including FIFA world player of the year and Man U's first Ballon d'Or winner in 40 years. In comparison, his national duty so far has been pedestrian by his own standards.

There appears to be a pattern. Very good performances into the lead up to the tournament where he tends to then play with a very marked "carry the team on the shoulders" quality that proves detrimental.

He came to the 2006 World Cup with the second best tally in the European qualifiers but gained notoriety for his extra curricular activities on Rooney. His actual contribution was just a PK goal against Iran. Again in Euro 2008, he scored a total of eight goals as David Healey stole the show in the qualifiers but apart from the match against the Czech Republic, where he scored a goal and assisted in the two others he did very little of note in the big quarterfinal against Germany. They lost the match 2-3 on a late rally.

So far his performances in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers have been very dull. 270 minutes of nothing. Portugal have struggled with three goal less draws against Sweden and Albania. This from a team brimming with attacking firepower like that of Ronaldo and in a group from which they should easily qualify. A note here, Ronaldo was captain of these three matches and he has not scored. It appears as if Carlos Queiroz is burdening the Man U winger.

I have to say, his performances are an inversion of another left winger, Lukas Podolski whose Bayern Munich career is pretty checkered but his national output has been outstanding.

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This movie could easily have been titled, Little Zizou: A Gratuitous Reference To or the Incredible Vanishing Zidane. Apart from some TV clips and some newspaper articles of him visiting Bangladesh there was nothing else on Zidane.

I happened to see it in a recent NY festival.

The protagonist is a little boy who misses his dead mother and is supposedly a devout fan of the French superstar. His father is preoccupied with a Hitlerian mission of instilling pure bloodlines in the Parsi community. I thought the springboard would be the boy's reaction to the headbutt that rocked the world. Surely, heroes don't do these things. It could have been a great story of a little boy reconciling with his neglectful father rather than trying to arrange a metaphorical seance with his mother's spirit. It is supposed to be a madcap adventure but only 12 days devoted to writing the script gives you deranged. A waste of fine acting talent in Boman Irani and Shernaz Patel who manfully try and bail out much water from a sinking boat with a thousand leaks.

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An Aragones statement caught on camera calling Thierry Henry a "black s**t" to Jose Antonio Reyes four years ago prefaces any encounter with Arsenal. It provided a backdrop to the Spain vs France encounter in the 2006 World Cup.

Wenger has since then moved on after concluding that the Spanish coach was guilty of an over the top comment but not inherent racism. He intends to shake hands with Aragones. But Aragones, known as the Wise Man of Hortaleza, with his pride at stake, has never apologized to Henry.

When Aragonés was asked yesterday whether he would apologise to the forward in person tonight, he said: "No, no, don't go down that road. Henry knows through Reyes, through everything [how I feel]. I won't talk about it for another second. It's a topic that isn't worth talking about. Why? Because it's not like that. I have black, Gypsy and Japanese friends, including one whose job is to determine the sex of poultry."

Aragones has had less success with Fenerbahce, his first overseas club and the Turkish side have struggled in the domestic league. Arsenal are missing three out of four starting defenders with Sagna, Gallas, and Toure sidelined. A rejiggered defence with Silvestre, Song, and Djourou will be called upon to provide an answer to giving up eight goals in four CL away games.

Fenerbahce will feature Dani Guiza, Spain's super sub whose goals provided a spark in Euro 2008 and the crafty Semih Senturk playing just behind him. Their attack will have to compensate for missing Emre and Josico in midfield.

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Andrew Jennings explains. Many in the 24 member executive council responsible for awarding the World Cup have been tainted by kickbacks and illegal ticket sales. Some were courted by England in their unsuccessful 2006 bid, giving the FA a bit of a black eye when the ISL investigations began.

The FA is in a tight spot because it is bidding for the 2018 World Cup and wants to do it without the suggestion of impropriety. But Sepp Blatter has transformed the FIFA into a giant pork barrel project where votes can be bought to award the World Cup. It's the usual order of business. The danger is that if the FA runs a clean as a whistle campaign, then it essentially takes it out of the running.

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Filed under snark

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Pim Verbeek assumes the mantle of the Socceroos coach in the wake of the disastrous Graham Arnold tenure which led them to crash out of the Asian Cup with reasons ranging from the dreadful heat to defensive meltdowns. Unlike the Australian cricket team, Harbhajan Singh thankfully, was not involved in this debacle and no team had to threaten to charter a flight out of Thailand.

Verbeek does the Socceroos no favours. He is not an improvement over the Arnold system. There are two very important reasons why a Verbeek management would be wrong as presently laid out.

Any manager who owes blind allegiance to a system without looking at what the players do in it should be hanged, drawn, and quartered. Yes, it might be an accurate characterization that the European leagues have a standard of training that the A-League can only dream of but it is equally fallacious to say that the players become better by simple association. So Josh Kennedy and Michael Beauchamp answer Verbeek's call even as they struggle to play any significant minutes for their German club teams because in Verbeek's eyes they are part of a superior system.

Second, Verbeek's boldface assumption is the A- League is an inferior recruiting ground. This is a major slap across the face because it assumes that domestic leagues other than European ones have very little part to play in player development. The A League saw the exploits of Nick Carle and David Carney attracting the attention of the European leagues before moving on. They are presently the hottest prospects for the Socceroos.

Verbeek implicitly suggests that the A- League is less worthy than the J-League which became the primary driver for the Japanese national team under Ivica Osim. His template for success was to draw down the European based veterans and highlight the J- League through its youthful contribution. It worked well for the 2007 Asian Cup before the Iraqis stole it through a combination of pre-ordination and good soccer. But Japan was a recharged team relying less on Celtics Nakamura and Eintracht's Inamoto, and more on Yuki Abe, who led the Urawa Reds to the FIFA CWC, and is widely seen as Japan's future point man.

In fact, his success with the Korean national team in the 2007 Asian Cup relying on a group of domestic players further underscores his contempt for the A- League.

Verbeek's willingness to gamble fatigue and jet lag in his European imports even with A-League players at his disposal to play Qatar is yet another indicator of his singular rejection of the A-League. It would make Hiddink blush to find that players like John Aloisi, Craig Moore, Ante Covic, and Archie Thompson who found a place in the World Cup team are being declared persona non grata simply because they returned to the A-League. This comes when David Moyes makes the usual noise releasing Tim Cahill to play for his national team.

Verbeek is little more than a band aid in the changing face of Asian soccer and his brand of soccer is very short sighted. It has gotten a lot more competitive than the time of the 2006 qualifications and the first aim of a good manager should be to get through Asia. To do that one has to understand the failures of the Asian Cup. It was the European veterans with over inflated expectations and their aging legs that failed the Socceroos. I am not sure if Verbeek understands this but as a veteran journeyman with apparently little time to turn things around, he apparently believes this is the best way to go about it. Deja vu all over again.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ian Turner in his NYT article points to a survey show that Italians are the least happy people in Western Europe. There is a feeling of malessere, a collective funk - economic, political, and social. With a stagnating economy, a bloated and insecure bureaucracy, and an aging population, Italy has fallen way behind Western Europe in development. Only 36% of Italians trust their government compared to 64% of Denmark.

When soccer becomes part of that malaise then it leads to the sort of violence that one increasingly associates Italian soccer with.

Which leads us to the interesting corollary, malaise is good for the overall performance of the national team. The Azzurri were determined to erase Calciopoli, a motivating factor in their winning the World Cup. A sense of pride in its achievement brought Italians together.

In France, the perennial question of how "French" constantly plagues the national team. A perceived malaise that is seized upon by Jean Marie Le Pen and the right wing National Front in every election. Les Bleus, use their diversity to rebut that polemic. They won the 1998 World Cup and reached the 2006 finals.

Germany in the 2006 World Cup shed its self effacing image and its collective guilt brought on it by two World Wars. The Mannschaft played lights out soccer and an increasingly assertive German public celebrated its achievement.

The English team comprises a group of self serving and smug soccer players. The only source of malaise within their team is what rank their myriad of badly written autobiographies occupy on the Amazon book ranks. Even Fabio Capello will be hard pressed to put a dent into this infatuated group.

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Just saw Jose Mourinho on Sky Sports categorically saying "Why not?" to being asked if he wanted to be England manager. He was in Portugal at the time despite rumours that he was in England being interviewed by the FA for the England job. Mourinho as if auditioning for the job also said that the next coach should be supported no matter what and that the FA was doing a great job.

The FA insisted that they have not contacted Mourinho or even drawn up a shortlist which sounds a bit disingenuous and more an attempt at containing rumours.

Lets recap how much things have changed in a year and a half.

During the Sven Goran Erickson transition, there was a constant toss up between Curbishley, Allardyce, McLaren, O'Neill, and Pearce becoming the next England manager. Bookies were constantly changing odds each day. A stark reminder of how the England job is now viewed with most English candidates distancing themselves from the job. The FA shortlist is probably filled with foreign candidates unless Allardyce is kicked out Newcastle, which might push him up the ranks, should he show interest in the job.

I still think there dissension within the FA as sentimental reasons dictate that a homegrown candidate will be infinitely preferable. With xenophobic statements now ping ponging around the soccer establishment of how foreign players have led to a 'meltdown' in English soccer, there is a debate being fueled between nativists and pragmatists as to the future of the English game. Who knew that 200 years ago when English missionaries brought the game to the Brazilian shores that this scenario would be played out in John Bull? Its come full circle.

Whatever comes of the search, the key is to get the best candidate. There is no scope for sentiment and who is to say that an foreign coach will not be successful when results are what counts and not some abstract "Englishness" of the game.

And in another reminder of how strait jacketed English perceptions are, here is Big Phil Scolari.

"That hypocrisy that someone who's born here is a saint and someone born on the other side of the Atlantic is a devil, that doesn't exist.

"It's time to stop that clown show. I'm just like anybody else, I've got two legs, two arms and a head."

It was part of a Beeb article exposing the madcap and bizarre world of Scolari. Some of it is. But the Beeb was more concerned about the image of the coach, not the game. It just led credence to Scolari's above statement. But you know what, I think Big Phil is lighting up a cigar and having a hearty guffaw. As bizarre and madcap as he appears to be, he has always had England's number.

Portugal is in. England is out.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I don't think there are too many coaches that can really say that fealty to a player has proven to have cost them not once but twice. It does look like Bruce Arena like George Bush prizes loyalty rather than competence. Reyna proved to be Arena's undoing at the 2006 World Cup with his pallid form and insipid captaincy. Reyna already slowed down by multiple knee injuries left Man City. He retired from international soccer.

Arena was forced to resign as national coach after that disastrous World Cup campaign which unraveled very quickly against the Czech Republic with the Jan Koller goal and was bookended by a uninspired display against Ghana, summed up by Haminu Dramani's hustle sweeping the ball away from Reyna's feet, leaving him in the dust, and scoring Ghana's first goal. Reyna suffered a knee injury and had to be stretchered off.

Reyna then became the Red Bulls designated player joining Juan Pablo Angel another player with extensive Premiership experience. Whereas the Colombian became an instant catalyst for the New York attack, Reyna in his 21 games scored no goals and even worse, as a playmaker provided 3 assists. Compare this to Angel's 19 goals and 5 assists. We can make a case for Reyna providing the cohesion to the midfield but his frailty was always a sticking point.

There are many reasons given for Arena's departure including an almost indifferent preparation towards the New England playoffs but once again the player that he reposed most faith in Claudio Reyna in an eerie play out of the World Cup suffered a pulled hamstring within half an hour and had to be replaced by Mathis. Two crucial matches and Reyna comes up short through injury. Red Bulls once again fail to advance in the playoffs.

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So Marco Materazzi decided to reveal in his yet to be released autobiography what he actually said to Zidane. He after all has to sell his book which probably is a pop up book with graphic pictures of him mowing down players. After all this is Materazzi!

And I have heard worse. Its a schoolyard taunt. PG-13.

Materazzi's book is out on August 30th.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Contrast the circus surrounding Beckham's debut with the quieter one of Blanco for the Chicago Fire. And the Mexican star delivered scoring a skillful goal against Celtic FC. The best part of Blanco's debut was that he hit the ground running.

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The Saturday showdown between these two rivals and clear contenders for the Asian Cup has come too prematurely. But there is no way around it as the Socceroos were the second best team in their group behind Iraq after being humbled by them in a shocking 3-1 defeat. Japan on the other hand topped their group.

So the mind games have begun as John Aloisi and Timmy Cahill, the two players who shot Japan's chances in the 2006 World Cup have stated that they wish to see Japan off early.

"To win the tournament you have to beat the best teams. Japan are the favorites and we have to finish them off first if we want to go on and win the cup," said striker Aloisi. "Hopefully we won't leave it until quite so late this time."

But Japan has been in good form in the group after an insipid draw against Qatar with Shunsuke Nakamura and Naohiro Takahara really opening up the offense against UAE and Vietnam. Takahara has three and Nakamura two. The Socceroos have relied mainly on their physical and aerial presence to score goals against their shorter opponents. Mark Viduka has three and Michael Beauchamp has one. Viduka plays best with his back to the opponents where he can hold them off, creating chances to score.

My feeling is that Graham Arnold will open with either John Aloisi or Tim Cahill to keep an edge psychologically. Cahill is now becoming a super sub. The other factor is Marcus Tulio Tanaka, the powerful central defender for Urawa Reds missing through injury, which opens up the aerial game for the Socceroos who will float a lot of long balls and crosses for Beauchamp, Viduka, and Aloisi to head home. A lot of pressure will fall on Yuji Nakazawa as the only tall defender who matches Viduka's 6' 2" frame. The other defenders give up almost 5" to 6" in height to the Newcastle man.

Goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi will have to summon all his experience and be at his acrobatic best. To keep the Socceroos busy the Japanese will have to force them to play a long field by challenging them early in play and cut off the passing lanes quickly. Make them predictable with their long balls. Counter the physical and aerial presence through speed. Nakamura believes that is why Japan lost in the World Cup when they sat back too deep and allowed so much space.

The Socceroos are rightly worried about Nakamura and face a similar quandary that other teams face when playing Kaka. Man to man or defend him by committee.

All in all, it makes for a very engrossing match up as two coaches who believe in very different philosophies pit their wits against each other and two teams with distinctly different styles of play that has yielded success in the past come together for this long awaited rematch.

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If Nery Castillo can't make it back from injury then El Tri have nary a chance. One of the most entertaining matches in the last World Cup was the stage 2 encounter between Argentina and Mexico resulting in a 2-1 defeat that saw the Mexicans almost snatch a draw after they pounded the Argentine goal in the last minutes of that game. So the Argentinians know not to take Mexico lightly.

However El Tri face a rejuvenated Riquelme in blemishless form and without goalpoacher Hernan Crespo out with an injury. Instead, it has been Riquelme, Messi, and suprisingly Javier Mascherano who have come up big. The Argentinians have the complete balance in every department of the game. The Mexicans on the other hand have been very reliant on Castillo whose first touch has been sublime.

If Castillo is out, Argentina should have an easier win, 2-0.

With Castillo, a brace from him is always possible and the Albiceleste will have to up the ante on attack. It will be tight but they should prevail, 3-2.

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The only conclusion that you can draw so far is that Brazil saves its best against Chile. Three matches, three wins, 13 goals for and one against. Chile has been good to Brazil and today their coach Nelson Acosta resigned.

The 6-1 win against Chile received the media's approval and Dunga was celebrated for sticking to his guns. This after the loss against Mexico and a hard earned victory against Ecuador courtesy a dubious PK awarded to Robinho.

A 3-0 win over Argentina in Dunga's early days was followed by a sequence of narrow wins, desultory draws, and losses against Portugal and Mexico broken by the Chile blowouts. The record in context looks a little above ordinary but even World Champs Italy have been struggling under manager Roberto Donadoni. So it is not just Dunga having his work cut out.

However, under Dunga, Brazil is charting an entirely different direction, albeit an untenable one. What one sees is his desire to "out-europeanize" Europe in their soccer. Reliance on set pieces, emphasis on defending a scoreline, and a virtual wall of defensive midfielders and physically imposing defenders. Dunga's vision seems to be a variation of the catenaccio.

Of course, this was all a part of the CBF's strategy in the late 80's to rein in the showboating attack and the indiscipline on defense that was Tele Santana's hallmark and a failure in the eyes of the CBF in his ability to win the World Cup in' 82 and '86. The agents of change chosen to steer the new course were Carlos Alberto Parriera and Mario Zagalo. Dunga was the player on the ground to execute that vision and now he is their manager, wary of skill and big name strikers. You take any win however narrow and/ or ugly.

But the times have changed for Europe too. European soccer is no longer defined by its set pieces and steel trap defenses as some of the most exciting names in attack are coming out of Europe and not Brazil. France, Netherlands, Germany, and now Croatia are the incubators for attacking talent. Italy's success in the World Cup showed that they did not need a Paolo Rossi as their goals came from different sources. In contrast, the new Brazilian strikers look fairly ordinary. Alexander 'Pato' de Silva might be touted as the next big name but he and the U20 squad showed their limitations in the ongoing World Cup. Vagner Love and Fred are pedestrian in comparison to the Ro's - Romario, Rivaldo, and Ronaldo.

Brazil's soccer is in danger of being overshadowed in South America itself as Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile are producing some of the most outstanding talent. The favela factor where good Brazilian talent almost always go overseas to richer leagues is creating a situation where no one really feels committed to play for the national squad or are burned out by an unrelenting season seems to be pinching Brazilian soccer when it needs them the most.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Brett Emerton is looking to shackle Nakamura

The Socceroos are ready to play 'sexy' according to Brett Emerton at the Asia Cup. Emerton might be talking of a wet t-shirt contest as a typhoon threatens the opening of the cup with torrential rain and winds. This is also the height of a hot and sticky summer in SE Asia that will make those jerseys cling to skin like cheap plastic. But I think Emerton is being more prosaic and means a more attractive brand of soccer. Considering their good form in the World Cup, the Socceroos are odds on favourites to win their inaugural Asian Cup. But there is competition in Japan, the reigning Asian Cup champion.

The two countries met in the World Cup group stages and the Socceroos came out on top, 3-1 despite Japan going ahead on a controversial goal scored by Shunsuke Nakamura. Tim Cahill shot the Socceroos ahead with his brace and John Aloisi iced it with his extra time goal. Japan only managed a point and manager Zico resigned after the World Cup. The Socceroos under Guus Hiddink came under the spotlight as one of the few surprises of the World Cup as well as in playing some of the most controversial matches. Graham Poll and Fabio Grosso became household names.

Graham Arnold and Ivica Osim are the two managers entrusted with the future course of the Socceroos and the Daihyo, respectively. Japan will again be looking to the leading exponent of dead ball art in the world, Shunsuke Nakamura whose wicked free kick benders evoke Beckham except its with his his left foot. Nakamura was behind Japan's cup winning exploits in 2000 and 2004 and is also adept at scoring from the open field. Celtic wiith Nakamura in scintillating form claimed their 41st Scottish title. There are reports that Nakamura is preparing for this Asian Cup by lining burly rugby players in a wall and scoring free kicks over and around them.

Under Ivica Osim, Japan is grooming for the future with a number of youth players in the Japan squad. He is taking them in a different direction from Zico. A number of the 2002 and 2006 starters with big names like Red Bulls Salzburg's Alessandro Dos Santos, Messina's Atsushi Yanagisawa, FC Basel's Koji Nakata, and Eintracht's Junichi Inamoto have not gotten the call and Bolton's Hidetoshi Nakata has retired from international soccer. Osim also seems to be emphasizing homegrown talent as there are only two overseas players in the entire squad.

Nakamura will be supported by his midfield namesake Kawasaki Frontale's less well known Kengo Nakamura. The bulk of the strike will come from Eintracht's Naohiro Takahara, Japan's leading scorer with 19 goals. But Japan will be also looking to Sanfrecce Hiroshima's Hisato Sato, an undisputed star in a midlevel club. With 36 goals in two seasons, Sato is the top ranked Japanese striker dominated by a list of Brazilians that include Ueslei, Juninho, Edmilson, and Washington.

An interesting sidenote is that Graham Arnold played for Sanfrecce Hiroshima in its 1997 season. Other Oz players that played in the J-League include Steve Corica, Matthew Bingley, and Hayden Foxe. However, the present squad reflects the success of the A-League and the attraction for the European leagues. Out of the 23 first squaddies, a whopping twenty play in the European league, eight in the English leagues. Arnold has gone in for experience with all the World Cup starters back. The average age is 27 years with Sydney FC's Mark Milligan at 24 the youngest. However, the Socceroos are not resting on their World Cup laurels and Graham Arnold expects nothing less than a finals appearance from the squad.

A concern for the Socceroos is the heat and humidity that could potentially take its toll on the older players as the tournament wears on as well as recent injury concerns to Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell. Arnold might have to substitute them early with the younger and fresher Nicky Carle, Vince Grella, and Luke Wilshire. Socceroo fans could get a very good look at their talent in this Asian Cup.

Australia take on Oman in their first match and Japan meets Qatar. For more coverage of the Asian Cup >>

Posted by Shourin Roy at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ryan Babel the fleet footed Ajax striker that Marco Van Basten has called the heir apparent to Thierry Henry may be on his way to the Emirates. Babel has been central to the Netherlands success in the U-21 Euro taking them to the semi-finals, scoring a well taken PK against Portugal (video here )and then providing the assist to Maceo Ritgers goal winning strike in a 2-1 win.

Babel has a lot of respect for Wenger's coaching and is a friend of RVP. He would be a fantastic addition to the flowing Arsenal style of soccer with the added ability to play wide with his pace. Primarily plays on the left but shoots with his right. I have noticed that he provides a lot of assists which signifies unselfish and heads up play. He is not bad with headers either. And at 6-7 million pound he fits right into budget conscious Arsenal.

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Most soccer pundits and fans alike agree that the last World Cup was a coming out party for many goalkeepers. From Shaka Hislop and his heroics against Sweden, Artur Boruc as the one bright spot in the Polish squad, Joao Ricardo saving Angola, Petr Cech keeping the marauding Italians at bay, Oswaldo Sanchez turning in a gutsy performance even as he lost his father a day before the World Cup, Ricardo Perreira outdueling Paul Robinson in the England Portugal match, Gianluigi Buffon turning a cool performance against Germany to lead them to the finals. The 2006 World Cup came up short on the attacking quality but was replete with scintillating performances from the custodians of the goal .

From the national squads to club level. In recent CL finals, Liverpool won in 2005 as Jerzy Dudek turned in an inspired performance against Milan in the penalty shootout. Two years ago, Dida did the same winning Milan its fifth CL title as he denied Juventus in the penalty shootout. From the CL level to weekly Premiership games. Brad Friedel's goalkeeping has saved the day for Blackburn on innumerable occasions. He has been arguably been one of Blackburn's best and its most durable player in the last seven seasons.

However, all of these accomplishments have not seen goalies worth rise in the transfer market. They are as a group, still grossly undervalued. In 1997, Shay Given cost Newcastle 1.5 million pounds and in 2007, Everton paid Man Utd 3 million for Tim Howard, one of the more expensive goalies. In ten years, the cost of a goalie has largely stagnated. The league average is 2.5 million pounds. At the lower end, Marcus Hahnemann at Reading cost 80,000 pounds and Paddy Kenny a mere 10,000 pounds. Contrast this with the 4.5 million pounds that Arsenal paid Inter for Kanu in 1999 and the 10 million pounds that Newcastle paid Inter for Obafemi Martins in 2006. Andriy Shevchenko was transferred to Milan for 14 million pounds from Dynamo Kiev in 1999 and Chelsea bought him for 30 million pounds in 2006. Peter Cech, part of the spending binge incurred by Abramovich's rebuilding of the Blues cost them 7 million pounds, the most spent on a goalie. That 2004 season, Cech was joined by Arjen Robben and Ricardo Carvalho, on whom Chelsea spent 12 million and 20 million respectively, overshadowing Cech's signing amount. Cech is at his peak and is one of the world's best goalies but if he were to transfer today Chelsea would not get much more for him.

Just one statistic is telling. Nicholas Anelka's transfer amount with all his clubs totals 51.5 million pounds.The total transfer amount of all 20 starting goalies in the Premiership also approximates 51.5 million pounds depending on who starts. With Pepe Reina in and Jerzy Dudek out the the figure is a bit more (53 million pounds). Anelka and fellow sharp shooters El Hadji Diouf and Kevin Davies consume 69.5 million pounds in total transfer fees. Anelka himself was the beneficiary of one of the most inflated transfer amounts in history. In 1997, Arsenal paid PSG 500,000 pounds and in 1999, Real bought him out for 23 millions pounds. A valuation 46 times over the original sticker price.

The group of twenty Premiership goalies boast big names like Edwin Van der Saar, Petr Cech, Jens Lehmann, Paul Robinson, David James, Shay Given, Mark Schwarzer, Jerzy Dudek, Antti Niemi to name a few. Most are or have been starters for their national squads. Between them have made 5646 club appearances and played nationally 641 times. Apart from all their skills, goalies bring other qualities to their teams. Many of them are individualists and are naturally too, the emotional leaders of their clubs. David James, Jens Lehmann, and Jerzy Dudek also make news for their colourful personalities and escapades. For all of this, it seems gray socialist economic considerations dictate the worth of a goalie while forwards and midfielders are beneficiaries of unfettered capitalist benevolence.

These observations have been directed towards the Premiership because the stats were readily available but I suspect that this trend is also to be found in other leagues too.

Stats at Soccerbase >>

Correction: Obafemi Martins played 88 matches for the Inter senior squad from 2003 onwards. He was sold to make way for Hernan Crespo and Zlatan Ibrahamovic. Thanks, Alvaro for drawing attention to the mistake. However, the point is that strikers worth have appreciated considerably whereas, goalies, continue to stagnate.

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The CONCACAF Gold Cup won't see the Soca Warriors who made history in the 2006 World Cup but that does not mean that the crowds won't see a good bacchanal or two when T&T meet USA.

The big guns have decided to sit it out because the T&T football federation has decided not to pay their World Cup bonuses. The only holdover from the 2006 squad that captured the hearts of thousands in Germany appears to be Densill Theobald, the present Soca Warrior captain.

The Soca Warriors were a huge part of Sunderland's march back to Premiership promotion as Dwight Yorke, Stern John, and Carlos Edwards were key contributors to Roy Keane's team. Between them they scored 14 goals and Edwards goal against Burnley which won them the game, 3-2 led them back into the Premiership.

More Soca Warrior news >>

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Mexico is in a tougher group than the USA. The Tris have Panama and Honduras in group C as well as Cuba. Panama boasts the best striker in the CONCACAF in Blas Perez and those who have been following the Cope Libertadores can attest to Cucuta Deportivo's magical run to the Copa finals being made possible by Blas Perez's cup leading 8 goals. He has company up front in Colorado Rapids Roberto Brown, giving Panama a potent 1-2.

The Hondurans don't have David Suazo, one of Cagliari's stars and the Serie's top scorer in the 2005-2006 season. But they have Carlos Pavon and Carlos Costly who have had extensive experience playing in the European leagues. And they still have Amado Guevara, a staple of the Metrostars and presently clubless with his release from Chivas USA. Guevara can still score goals although he makes more news now with his temperament.

The USA in Group B can expect competition from Guatemala. The Guatemalans have Carlos Ruiz, FC Dallas striker who has scored 76 goals in 126 MLS matches. Guatemala drew the USA in their last match Their main competition should have been the Soca Warriors but a World Cup bonus dispute will keep away star players like Dwight Yorke, Carlos Edwards, Stern John and Shaka Hislop. El Salvador rounds of Group B.

Group A has Costa Rica whose main staple for so many years have been Paulo Wanchope, Luis Marin, Walter Centeno, and Mauricio Solis. But the torch is being passed to Christian Bolanos, one of CONCACAF's best midfield talents spearheading a younger generation of Ticos talents like Randall Azofiefa, Victor Nunez, and Alvaro Saborio. Canada, Haiti, and Guadeloupe are the other teams in the group.

A little note on little Guadeloupe. Les Bleus squad presently has six players who have Guadeloupe origins including Thierry Henry, William Gallas, Lilian Thuram, Sylvain Wiltord, Pascal Chimbonda, and Luis Saha. Guadeloupe is considered one of France's 26 provinces and is part of the EU.

Predictions: Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, and USA in the final four.

Ivan Galarcep rates the teams chances >>

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Scotland endured agony when Berti Vogts was made the coach of the Tartans. They suffered a series of humiliating defeats in his two and a half years tenure. And in October 2004 their chances of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup ended when they drew lowly Moldova. Vogts resigned with a year and a half remaining in his contract.

So it was surprising that the Super Eagles picked him up as their coach. And sure enough this weekend in what must be one of African soccer's most memorable upsets the Super Eagles were beaten by minnows Uganda in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. Vogts was pelted by disgruntled Nigerian fans whereas millions of Ugandan's celebrated their win. This came after Vogts threatened to leave the team accusing the Nigerian Football Association of not paying his salary. A threat that the NFA did not take too kindly to asking him to keep his focus on the Uganda match.

Nigeria will likely qualify without any further ado as they lead their group but the questions that have dogged Vogts in the past remain. He is not exactly known for his man management and vision. Frankly, I don't see him leading the Super Eagles to a Africa Cup of Nations title and many Nigerians are beginning to have their doubts too.

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Herbert Fandel was not the only referee making the news. Josip Simunic will be sorry to hear that Graham Poll is retiring from international soccer next week. The Croatia vs Australia match in the 2006 World Cup was definitely Poll's defining moment. He was sent back home after that match.

Poll officiated the Championship playoff between Derby and West Brom which was his last domestic match. His decision to retire early was influenced by his perception that he was not supported by the FA in the John Terry dismissal.

However Poll is not going quietly into the night. He has a tell all book called Seeing Red coming out in summer which will probably have harsh words for Jose Mourinho, the FA, and overpaid players who disrespect referees. Poll's book probably has some good points to be made about how thankless a referee's job is. And seeing what took place in the Denmark vs Sweden game, dangerous too.

Graham Poll's World Cup fiasco (Video here)

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Altitude. You heard right. In a bizarre ruling, FIFA has banned matches played in high altitude venues which they say not only gives an unfair advantage to the home country but also poses a health risk to the visiting players. Matches can now only be held at a maximum height of 8,200 feet above sea level. This means that La Paz, Bolivia's capital will not be able to host any qualifying matches because its elevation is 11,810 feet.

This ruling affects not only Bolivia but other South American countries like Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, which have a number of venues higher than the FIFA limit. Quito, Ecuador is at 9,816 feet, Bogota, Colombia is 8,661 feet, and Cuzco in Peru is at 11,154 feet. In fact, the only venue that Bolivia can now safely use for international matches is Santa Cruz which is at 1,364 feet.

There is no doubt that playing in the rarified air of La Paz and Quito have helped Bolivia and Ecuador win an overwhelming number of matches. The record at La Paz in Bolivia's World Cup qualifiers since 1994 is 16 wins, 10 draws, and 4 losses. Ecuador's record at Quito is even more impressive, 20 wins, 9 draws, and just the one loss. But FIFA's decision is undoubtedly influenced by South American heavy hitters, Brazil and Argentina.

Brazil and Argentina since 1994 have only recorded 3 miserable wins while losing 7 matches when playing Bolivia and Ecuador away. Brazil was humiliated by Bolivia losing its first ever World Cup qualifier, 0-2 at La Paz on July 25, 1993. But Rob Hughes who wrote the article very rightly mentions that Brazil's draining domestic league and over scheduling of tournaments plus the Italian Serie's reluctance to part with their Brazilian imports left a savvy coach Alberto Carlos Parriera very little time for the acclimatization of the team.

Playing in thin air does have its risks just as playing in the hot sun can increase the chances of a heatstroke. Is FIFA going to ban qualifying matches in India where the temperatures can reach a sizzling 48-50 Celsius? The common sense precaution would be proper and adequate hydration. In the case of high altitude countries an adequate amount of time to acclimatize. The heat has not given India an entry into the World Cup and the Bolivians have not qualified since 1994. This is because you have to be a good team to win away games. Ecuador has done it because it wins enough away games against tough South American opposition to qualify for the two successive World Cups.

The Argentinians and Brazilians want a pass on this one as their players don't have time from their grueling and crowded domestic and European seasons to acclimatize in La Paz or Quito. Sepp Blatter just obliged them. Just add Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru to Kenya, Greece, Iran, Chile, and many other countries that make up the soccer have nots.

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There was little fanfare as Bob Bradley's position became permanent after all the song and dance of high flying European coaches showing up to take the US job. This is a good move because Bradley has been on a winning streak and the players respect him. There is plenty that needs to be done from now on till the World Cup in 2010. Bradley has a reputation for building teams from scratch and three years will be a long enough period for him to do exactly that.

Bradley's full time status will be tested when the US team meets China at San Jose on June 2, followed by the June 6-24 CONCACAF Gold Cup — a tournament Arena won in 2002 and 2005 — and the June 26-July 15 Copa America in Venezuela.

I think it all said and done a good thing that there is no big name that has taken over coaching the US team. This takes the focus off on us and we can concentrate on building the team without all the hype. The 2006 team did not do well on inflated expectations. Lets not go down that route again.

Greg Lalas has more >>

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Is the MLS ready for the Cuauhtémoc?

MLS is underway and the biggest news is Beckham's debut for the LA Galaxy. But the Chicago Fire are awaiting their own legend, Cuauhtémoc Blanco. The Beckham hype has overshadowed why this maybe the most significant signing because this makes the Chicago Fire real contenders for the MLS title despite the loss of their best striker Nate Jacqua to the LA Galaxy.

Blanco is considered one of the best strikers in Mexican soccer history right up there with Jared Borgetti, Luis Hernandez, and the present coach of the Tricolores, Hugo Sanchez. Blanco fans missed him this World Cup because of his bitter feud with coach Ricardo La Volpe who left him off the roster. The bad blood with La Volpe began when he was the coach for Club America. Blanco has always been controversial and has instigated many an incident on and off the pitch.

But there is no doubt about Blanco's talent, technically sound and very innovative. He has his own move called the Cuahtemina (Bunny Hop) where he scoops the ball between his feet and hops over tackling defenders. This was unveiled in the 1998 World Cup against S.Korea. Blanco has scored 138 goals in 355 appearances in the Mexican league. He has also won the MVP twice in a row in 2004 and 2005. He has been in fine form for Club America in the Clausura after making a full recovery from foot surgery.

The Fire will be boosted by the presence of the Mexican community coming out to cheer one of their heroes. This well maybe the X factor that will give Chicago an added edge towards the title.

The MLS also needs players like Blanco to give the league much needed oomph. Clint Mathis should not have to shoulder that responsibility alone. Blanco comes off as a simple man unfazed by money and with no pretensions. In his words he is a 'mesero', a street cleaner who is in the services of his club.

Cuauhtémoc Blanco stats >>

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Jafar Panahi's new movie, Offside captures the passion of the global game and the hold it has on the Iranian public, both men and women. The backdrop is the Iran vs Bahrain qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup. A group of women try to sneak into the stadium defying a law that bans women from watching live soccer matches.

Panahi's decision to make this film was inspired by his own personal experience with the law.

" Also, four years ago I was living near the stadium where our football team trains. I wanted to go and watch and my daughter wanted to come with me. I tried to explain to her that she couldn't, but she nevertheless wanted to try. So we set out with the entire family, that way if my daughter was refused entry, my wife could take her back home. We went to the stadium entrance and, as I had expected, my daughter was refused entry. I told her to go home with her mother, but she found another way of getting into the stalls and to my surprise, she joined me. This event also inspired my thoughts about the film, which I tucked away in a corner of my mind. When I realized Iran once again had a chance at being selected for the World Cup, I decided the time was right to do this film. "

Panahi's Offside opened in the US this March. New Yorkers can get a chance to see this wonderful film at the Quad Cinemas.

Offside synopsis and Jafar Panahi's thoughts on the movie >>

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Van Buyten, Riise, Oddo, and Phillip Lahm, the new hunting pack

Mocha is the new black. The 40's are the new 30's. And defenders are the new attackers. Nah! You got to be joking. Aren't they the plodders who never cross the half line. They never make the You Tube clips. And isn't attacking the best form of defense? So these guys are basically redundant.

The most amazing thing about Van Buyten was not his goals but that he was there at all about 40 yards out from where he should have been playing. The first goal had him and Pizarro in the box all by themselves with no white shirts within a mile. No Makaay, Poldi, Schweinsteiger or the usual suspects. The second Van Buyten goal was poached perfectly like Lineker or Crespo.

John Arne Riise scores along with Gerrard to leave PSV on the ropes. Riise also scores against Barca. Alex sticks the dagger in Arsenal's heart. Massimo Oddo looks like he loves spending time up field. This year's CL is continuing a trend seen in the last World Cup. Phillip Lahm scored the first goal as Materazzi and Grosso made multiple visits deep into enemy territory. Grosso breaking open the Italy- Germany game and Materazzi rising high to score the equalizer for Italy against France in the final.

And good things happened when they come up front. Italy walked away with the World Cup. Liverpool is almost into the CL semi-finals and Bayern is in great position to seal the deal in the return leg.

Maybe goal keepers have become so much better that they can actually be left with less support. Or having a lone striker up front makes the attack stale and predictable as England found out in their World Cup. Whatever the reason, having defenders set up and score goals is a welcome phenomenon. They seem a bit shy celebrating their goals right now but it will happen.

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Sepp Blatter is upto his old tricks with his willing accomplice FIFA's vice president Jack Warner. At stake are 37 precious CONCACAF votes that Warner controls which should ensure Blatter's re-election this May. But Andrew Jennings discovers that Sepp Blatter needs to sweep a few things under the rug before all of this happens.

London Daily Mail – back page Tuesday 13 March, 2007

FIFA FINE TOP OFFICIAL’S SON $1 MILLION

EXCLUSIVE by Andrew Jennings

FIFA have secretly fined the son of a top official almost $1million for touting World Cup tickets last year.

Daryan Warner, son of vice-president Jack Warner, has also been told their family travel company is banned from dealing in tickets.

The deals, revealed exclusively in SportsMail last September, were set up by Jack Warner. His Trinidad-based company Simpaul Travel acquired more than 5,400 tickets from FIFA
and then sold them at huge mark-ups to package tour operators in England, Japan, and Mexico.

Warner diverted a further 1,700 tickets, allocated to the Trinidad World Cup team, to Simpaul. He was found guilty in early 2006 of breaching FIFA’s ethics code. He hurriedly disposed of his shares in Simpaul but his son Daryan continued as managing director and during the World Cup collected hundreds more tickets from the FIFA office in Berlin and passed them to touts.

A report to FIFA last June from auditors Ernst & Young alleged that the Warners stood to make profits of nearly $1 million. In strict secrecy, the executive committee imposed the massive
fine, equal to the expected profiteering, and ordered the money be donated to the charity SOS Children’s Villages.

The confidential minutes of last December’s executive committee meeting, obtained by SportsMail, reveals that by last Christmas, ‘despite numerous reminders from FIFA,’ only
$250,000 had been paid.

The extraordinary decision to impose the fine was suppressed. At a press conference on December 6 FIFA President Sepp Blatter would only say they ‘disapproved’ of Jack Warner’s
conduct and he should not let Daryan ‘abuse the position held by his father’ - and that the case was closed.

But it wasn’t. The secret deadline for the full payment of $992,652 is March 22, the next meeting of FIFA’s executive, but FIFA insiders believe that if no more money is handed over
there will be no further action. After all, Jack Warner controls 35, of the 207 votes available, that President Blatter needs for re-election at the end of May.

A FIFA source said: 'If there is no more money paid over I can't see that Blatter is going to take action. After all Jack Warner controls 35 crucial votes that will ensure Sepp Blatter gets a
third term.'

In theory the Warners could be reported to Lord Coe, new head of FIFA’s Ethics committee, for the ticket rackets and the failure to pay the fine. But it’s unlikely that the 24-man executive committee will publicly humiliate Warner and authorise an investigation. Coe’s hands are tied; he can’t make an ethical judgement on the Warners unless there is a complaint.

Read the secret FIFA report on the Warner ticket rackets and the Million Dollar Fine at www.transparencyinsport.org

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Every four years we have cricket's version of the World Cup and this year the West Indies is hosting it. The premiere event in the cricketing world, the ICC Cricket World Cup starts this March and goes on for a month. The term West Indies is a quaint throwback easily recognizable to anyone familiar with British colonialism and cricket (these two entities are inseparable) and refers to the countries of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Barbados to name a few of the former dozen English colonies. When one refers to the West Indies playing cricket it is these ex-colonies rather than other parts of the West Indies such as Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Martinique and Dominican Republic ruled by a host of other colonial powers where cricket is rarely played.

Jamaica, Antigua, Trinidad and Tobago and the rest of the British West Indies are all independent entities but form a loose confederation when it comes to playing cricket. A phenomenon very distinct from how these countries represent themselves separately in soccer or the Olympics. The Windies as they are called were at onetime considered the Brazilians of soccer, an unstoppable force. Anyone familiar with cricket will instantly recall legends like Garfield Sobers, Lance Gibbs, Rohan Kanhai and the three W's, Weekes, Walcott, and Worrell. Their dominance began in the 1960's and for the next twenty five years they ruled cricket. As with Brazil their talent was unbounded and unfettered. The beaches of the West Indies was dotted with children playing cricket just like the Copa is filled with Brazilians showing off their skills in soccer, hoping to be the next Zico or Pele. Growing up in India, where cricket is a passion we felt the truly awesome power of the Windies over the years. The steadiest opening pair in Gordon Greenidge and Roy Fredericks, the power of Viv Richards repeatedly hooking balls for six against an impotent Indian attack, the dancing feet of Alvin Kallicharan elegantly cover driving the ball, a diminutive Malcolm Marshall who could extract lethal pace from even the most lifeless of Indian pitches and whose vicious bouncers were one reason why batsmen wear helmets, the gazelle like grace of Michael Holding, and the spectacle of almost 7' tall Joel 'Big Bird' Garner swooping down and bowling from a stratospheric 11' . And we have not even mentioned Clive Lloyd who swat balls imperiously with the heaviest bat in business. It made no difference who coached the Windies or who faced them. Yep, in those days we were lucky if a test match went beyond the third day. Even a second rate 1980's West Indies team decimated by its stars leaving for the lucrative Kerry Packer league was streets ahead of any other team. West Indian cricket was bolstered by Michael Manley, the Jamaican PM, and a vocal proponent of Pan Caribbean nationalism who saw it as an important part in coalescing against US intervention in the region just as Kwame Nkrumah did soccer in the nascent rise of African nationalism against the British. But with Manley's death in 1997 the differences between these countries sharpened. Cricket took a nosedive as a group of disparate and incohesive West Indian players led by the supremely talented Brian Lara met with a series of defeats. The infallibility of the West Indies had ended.

At the same time soccer enjoyed an growing popularity since the 1970s when Jack Warner, Trinidad and Tobago's soccer association president promoted it as a sport that opposed the remains of a colonial legacy and identified it as a sport for the blacks and the dispossessed. In contrast, cricket was always the sport of the elite and the Trini Indians who saw themselves as outside of nationalist politics. Much of soccer's surge in the Caribbean can be attributed to Warner who is now one of FIFA's vice president and the president of CONCACAF. Warner's good work to promote soccer has been tarnished with charges of financial impropriety and nepotism for which he is being investigated. Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago also benefited by a strong diasporic representation in English and the USA playing for their leagues or in the varsity teams and coming back to do duty for their national squads. The Reggae Boyz squad took advantage of this phenomena with Robbie Earle, Jamaica's hero in the 1998 World Cup who scored his country's first ever goal against Croatia, also playing for Port Vale and Wimbledon. Ricardo Gardner, Dean Burton, and Frank Sinclair, members of the 1998 squad were either born in England or played for clubs there. Trinidad and Tobago's Shaka Hislop, a hero to his countrymen in the 2006 World Cup (who can forget his goalkeeping in the Sweden game) came to the USA and attended Howard University winning the NCAA title in 1988. As did Stern John who joined Columbus Crew after completing his college. Dwight Yorke, T&T's captain played for Aston Villa, Man Utd, and Blackburn Rovers. Carlos Edwards joined from Luton Town. There were a number of player from the Scottish League including Russell Latapy, Jason Scotland, Brent Sancho, Densill Theobald, and Collin Samuel. In fact, there is a great story of many Scottish fans making the trip to Germany to cheer T&T, their adopted team against their rivals England. Soccer appeals to many in tiny and isolated T&T because it helps connect with the world and its billions that follow the global game rather than follow what appears to be an echo chamber of ten nations playing a game that smacks of a protracted colonial hangover.

Soccer with its TV and merchandising rights has also proved to be lucrative to these players and the respective soccer federations. The cash strapped West Indies Cricket Board on the other hand has had to undergo a financial crisis after chief sponsors Cable and Wireless pulled out imperiling future tours by the players. The players supplement their meager salaries given by the board with the more substantial endorsements given by sponsoring companies. This sort of problem does not arise in soccer as the diasporic Jamaican and Trinibagoans play for the richer English and US clubs and the soccer federations are not responsible for their salaries.

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Sepp Blatter is a political animal. His FIFA career has been an orchestration of lining up votes, doling out favours to powerful associates who help him to keep power. The ISL scandal shows the extent of corruption in the FIFA higher echelons. In Blatter's tenure as FIFA president, there has been no appetite for real reform.

In fact, FIFA is now a version of the IMF, an autocratic authority whose primary preoccupation appears to be imposing arbitrary disciplinary measures against the soccer have nots, while largely ignoring the problems that face European and South American countries where soccer hooliganism and corruption continue to run rampant. FIFA's hypocrisy is clearly seen in banning Kenya from international soccer while turning a blind eye to the match fixing crisis that confronted Italian soccer in the summer, racism in the German lower leagues, and hooligan violence in the Argentine league.

Surely, Kenya's running of two parallel league is their internal problem. The Kenyan government stepping in to resolve their differences was a good faith gesture and not a case of interference, as FIFA claims. In many countries, politics and sports are so intertwined it is hard to separate out the two. Be that as it may, is this enough reason to punish a country by banning them from soccer? Iran and Greece were similarly suspended.

Blatter's presidency is up for renewal this fall. His fairweather approach to reforms should be enough reason to convince anyone that he is undeserving of re-election. In fact, there is speculation that his public proclamations of support for South Africa hosting the World Cup is a front for securing the African vote. Once he is re-elected he will throw SA under the bus if it does not show enough progress, and award the World Cup to Australia. Cynical speculations you might add but Blatter has made a career out of being self serving. The suspension of Kenya exposes the real Blatter.

Freedom for football writes in about FIFA's intrusive policies:

A less prominent but equally chilling case is playing out in the US now over FIFA's power play to take control of futsal globally. The US futsal organization has existed for decades independently and owns the trademark to futsal in the US. FIFA has threatened to sanction USSF unless it brings US Futsal to heel, but FIFA and USSF haven't got a leg to stand on in terms of US (or Kenyan) law

I might add that Blatter was not being disingenuous when he expressed his concern at the number of foreign owners in the Premiership in clubs.

"We need to be careful football doesn't end up in the hands of people who want football to serve them, instead of them serving football," said Blatter. "It is a very delicate matter and we need the help of the judicial authorities."

Et tu, Blatter?

Update: Andrew Jennings points out that Sepp Blatter is up for re-electionin May 2007. Thanks Andrew.

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Remember the controversial film that French midfielder Vikash Dhorasoo made that landed him in hot water with Raymond Domenech for its rather candid moments. Dhorasoo filmed the World Cup with a hand held Super 8 cam and caught his team making some very unguarded comments.

Well, the Substitute is now playing at the Berlin film festival and those soccer film buffs will get a perspective of the World Cup through the eyes of a soccer player who like Godot gets disillusioned waiting for his place under the sun.

"Melancholy instead of euphoria, loneliness instead of "one-for-all-and-all-for-one"rhetoric, a tragic hero instead of a glorious athlete - Substitute is the other documentary football film. What begins as a World Cup adventure, full of hope, turns into the diary of a bitter disappointment. The father (trainer Domenech) rejects the son (Dhorasoo) who is worn down by the waiting, the boredom, and the self-doubt. Sixteen minutes on the field are too little to give him a sense of belonging."

Thanks to reader singe >>

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Today's match between France and Argentina marks Roberto Ayala's 107th international for Argentina. He passes Diego Simeone's record. Ayala started his international career against Chile on 16 November, 1994 under the present manager Alfio Basile. Ayala is one of Argentina's greatest center backs and was selected in the 2006 World Cup All Star squad.

Strangely enough, given that these two teams are amongst the elite, they rarely meet.Their last encounter was 20 years ago in a friendly in Paris that France won, 2-0. Argentina are without their playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, who retired from international soccer. In his place is 20 year old Fernando Gago. Basile has also kept out Messi and Tevez. Les Bleus are without injured defenders William Gallas and Lilian Thuram. In their place, Raymonde Domenech is the new pair of Julien Escude and Sebastien Squillaci.

Connections: David Trezeguet is of Argentinian descent, born in Rouen to Argentine immigrants. Gabriel Heinze played for PSG before moving to Man Utd and Javier Saviola did duty at Monaco before moving back to Barca.

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There are reports that Man Utd is now close to giving up on Owen Hargreaves transferring this January.

Owen Hargreaves shares a reciprocal and single minded obsession with Sir Alex which sees him playing at Old Trafford. Sir Alex is willing to shell out £23 million pounds, an astronomical amount of money to get Hargreaves into a Red Devils uniform. An amount that Bayern Munich has turned down. This sort of money begs the question, is Owen Hargreaves worth it? Is he all that good a player?

He is to all purports an average midfielder who made good in this World Cup as part of a somnambulistic England squad for which only a couple of players showed up to play.An English team so smitten with asthenia and devoid of animation that Owen Hargreaves was a standout with his friskiness. Nicky Butt would have been a livewire in this bunch of Kevin Costner deadpan lookalikes. Friskiness is good but 23 million pounds should buy you a lot more than that. How about some talent and skill? Hargreaves is a penny stock grossly overvalued in a desperate market. Plus, Hargreaves is Canadian. When did you last see a Canadian make good in soccer?

Man Utd is better off spending far less money on a younger talent. And if they really want to waste money then they can donate to savedarfur.org for a far, far more worthy cause.

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Ramon Calderon's Real has sprung a leak and after his off guard remarks, his unwanted players are jumping ship. First, Beckham announced that he was moving to the US to try his hand at Scientology and today Ronaldo moved closer to becoming a Rossoneri. He has to undergo a medical which states that he has to lay off the Cheetos for a bit. But it seems everything else is in the bag.

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Can Lucas Neill stop those goals?

West Ham has not won an away game this season. How bad are the Hammers on the road? They have played 12 away games and nine of them have been losses. They have scored only 4 goals and conceded 24 for a league low -20 goal differential in away games. They came close to beating Newcastle only to be dealt a blow with a dubious decision to give James Milner his goal even though he was clearly offside.

Meanwhile, Socceroo Lucas Neill who has been Oz and Blackburn's backbone in defence returns to London on transfer to the Hammers. His versatility and experience should help stop the Hammers hemmorhage of goals. The Hammers have also drafted Kepa Blanco, the Sevilla starlet to put some heft in their attack.

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Argentina's incredible string of 24 one touch passes in World Cup 2006, that Esteban Cambiasso finishes off by scoring the Argies second goal. This is a compilation of awesome goals scored by sheer teamwork overshadowing the best bits of individual brilliance. Soccer at its sublime best!

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A very tongue in cheek art piece on Zidane and Materazzi, compliments of the Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar. This high end piece of Photoshopping is part of the best of the galleries 2006 at the Guardian. It is worth a look as there are some beauties!

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Thank you for coming out and supporting Soccerblog. We hope we can continue to keep our readers informed about the world of soccer through our video clips and analysis of the beautiful game.

Happy New Year to you and your family!

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US World Cup soccer gestalt: Slow, reactive, and naive.

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1) The headbutt that was heard around the world: It cost France the World Cup

Zinedine Zidane in his swansong match of his stellar career and on the brink of taking France to a second title in this year's World Cup decided that his pride was more important than Les Bleus. He reacted to Marco Materazzi baiting his mother and sister, and leveled him with a headbutt. It proved costly with Zidane sent off and a visibly rusty Trezeguet shooting the ball over in the penalty kicks that gave the Italians their fourth title. The consolation, if ever there was a player who deserved to be leveled, it would be Materazzi. The headbutt becomes a defining point in Zizou's career and his worth as a player will never be complete without this discussion. There are very few that believe that the Azzurris would have won with Zidane in the line up.

2) The Azzurris win the 2006 World Cup: Amidst scandal and suicide

The Azzurris showed what wins teams the World Cup: Teamwork. With their discipline, opportunism, and their faith in their defense, the Azzurris marched to their fourth title. All this in the maelstrom of the worst scandal in soccer history with four clubs implicated in the Serie match fixing. The scandal shook Italian soccer with even the Vatican expressing their dismay. Worse was to follow as disgraced Juventus sports director Gianluca Pessotto attempted suicide during the World Cup, which necessitated Alessandro Del Piero and Gianluca Zambrotta leaving squad duty, to visit their friend in the Turin hospital where he lay recuperating from massive internal injuries.

3) Germany finds itself in the 2006 World Cup: Klinsmann and his merry men

Germany did not win this World Cup losing to their arch rivals Italy in the semifinals, 0-2 in one of the most entertaining matches in the tournament. However, by the end of the World Cup, Germany as a country discovered a new found exuberance shaking of ages old stodginess and stoicism. A change wrought by Juergen Klinsmann and his merry men who did not hold back their enthusiasm and animation on the field. The new Germany showed it did not care too much for Donald Rumsfeld's characterization of it as Old Europe. Klinsmann made it cool to watch German soccer. No mean feat for someone who had been dismissed as a California bimbo by the German soccer establishment.

4) The Serie scandal: Jogo Feio, Fiat, and Juventus

The Serie scandal exploded when tapped phone conversations revealed that Juventus's general director, Luciano Moggi, nicknamed Lucky Luciano by his critics, discussing the assignment of referees for league games with Pierluigi Pairetto, the refereeing official for Italy's soccer federation -- a clear violation of league rules. But that was only the tip of it. Other parts of the transcripts, culled by investigators and reported by the Italian news media, show much more: players and managers being threatened and blackmailed; numerous discussions over refereeing assignments before games; allegations of collusion among coaches, federation officials and a popular soccer talk-show host; the blacklisting of those who challenged the corruption; and, of course, the lavish greasing of palms. In the end Juventus was relegated to the Serie B and AC Milan, Fiorentina, and Lazio took point deductions and the faith of a country in its sporting heroes took a beating. The scandal prompted Cardinal Camillo Ruini, a close aide to Pope Benedict XVI to say ''From a good Italian and from an old fan, I am sad and disappointed. I would have always liked that sporting events were genuine.''

5) The sun sets on the British Empire: The club buyouts

This year continued where the following few years left off. After oil as an investment, foreign consortiums found British soccer clubs ripe for the picking. Portsmouth, Aston Villa, West Ham, and most recently Liverpool, the most storied English club succumbing to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum's, Dubai's billionaire ruler. A third of the Premiership clubs are now owned by a motley crew that includes a Russian oligarch, a reclusive NFL owner, a fugitive Israeli gun runner's son, an American credit card baron, an ex FIFA vice president, and of course, Al Maktoum, a horse and camel racing addict. But does the average Premiership fan care that these people have no clue as to Lou Macari's fish and chips shop? Nah. As long as it gets them a title even as the player's paycheck is being cut in Jumeirah.

6) Internacional beats Barcelona: South America still hangs tough

Internacional beat Barcelona in the 45th edition of world club supremacy, in the FIFA World Club Championships (aka Intercontinental Cup) between a South American vs a European club. South American clubs have shown that they continue to hold their own even in this age with most of their star players leaving for the more lucrative European leagues. Indeed, Barca has its share of South Americans led by Ronaldinho, Messi, Edmilson, Sylvinho, Saviola, Belletti, and Thiago. Yet, all of Barca's firepower came to nought, as Adriano Vieira slotted a goal for Internacional in the 72nd minute. The exodus of players from South America continues unabated but when it comes to the greatest club, South Americans edge Europeans out 24 to 21. Last year, Sao Paolo beat Liverpool, 1-0.

7) Boca Juniors self destruct: The Argentinian Apertura is won by Estudiantes

All Boca Juniors needed to do was to win one game in the Apertura to win this year's Argentina title. In a stunning collapse, they lost their final two games to Belgrano and Lanus. In the final standings both Boca Juniors and Estudiante were level, necessitating a playoff game to decide the Apertura title. Before the Estudiantes game, Boca coach Ricardo La Volpe had vowed to resign his job if his team did not win. The threat seemed to work as workhorse Martin Palermo scored the first goal for Boca sending their fans into ecstasy. However, goals by Mariano Pavone and Jose Sosa pulled Estudiantes through. La Volpe was expressly brought on by Boca honcho Mauricio Macri on August 22nd to take Boca to the title after Alfio Basile was selected to lead the Albiceleste.

8) The year of the new kids on the block: Africa is the powerhouse

Four out of the eight new teams in this World Cup were from Africa. Angola, Cote D'Ivoire, Togo, and Ghana. And France's squad that nearly won them a second title were mostly composed of players from former French colonies in Africa from Algeria to Senegal. Africa's competitiveness is reflected in the fact that soccer big hitters like Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroun, and Senegal could not find a spot in the World Cup. All though no African player made it to the FIFA top 23 squad, players like Didier Drogba, Aruna Dindane, Stephen Appiah, Sulley Muntari, Bakari Kone, Haminu Dramani, Emmanuel Adebayor, Hatem Trabalsi, Ziad Jaziri, Mohamed Kader, made their mark this World Cup. African players lead the Premiership. La Liga, and Ligue in most goals scored. El Ahly won the third spot in the Club World Championships and Mohamed Aboutreika showed that he is Africa's best player. However Africa was not the only big winner, as Trinidad and Tobago's Soca Warriors showed that they had come to play in their matches against Sweden and England. Although they lost, they quickly earned the love and respect of fans everywhere. The Socceroos were pipped at the post by a heartbreaking Fabio Grosso acting job but the Guus Hiddink coached team showed that they were genuine and gritty with tons of talent in Timmy Cahill, Brett Emerson, Lucas Neill, and Harry Kewell.

9) Ferenc Puskas passes away: The incandescent days of Hungarian soccer

The soccer world mourned a legend when Ferenc Puskas died on 17 November, 2006. He was the star in a team that boasted legendary players like Sandor Koscis, Nándor Hidegkuti, Zoltan Czibor, and Joszef Boszik, that made Hungary virtually indestructible in the 50's. He scored 84 goals in 85 games for Hungary and led them to an Olympic title in 1952. Puskas also captained a Magyar team, the first foreign team to beat England in English soil in 1951. The Magyars pulverized the English, 6-3. In the 1954 World Cup, Puskas almost led the Magyars to their first World Cup title but in the final he was injured and the Magyars lost to the Germans, 2-4 in a match known as the Miracle at Berne. With Alfredo Di Stefano, Raymond Kopa, Francisco Gento, and Jose Santamaria he was part of the legendary Real Madrid teams that won 5 Spanish championships, 3 European Cups, and 1 Intercontinental Cup. He scored 155 goals in 179 apperances. When he died, an emotional Alfredo Di Stefano said "He was a better person than a player. And as a player he was extraordinary." Puskas returned home to Hungary, virtually penniless, a victim of his unbounded generosity as a human being.

10) Juergen Klinsmann rebuffs US soccer: Is Jose Pekerman next?

The search for a big name coach for resurrecting the fortunes of the US World Cup team took a nosedive so fast that it became a nosebleed when Klinsmann on December 7, 2006 rejected US Soccer's offer to make him the new coach of the US team. Virtually every soccer fan in the USA had rationalized reasons for his acceptance. California home, married with an American wife, loves the fitness and conditioning skills of American sports, highly telegenic, and so on and so forth. In the end, Klinsmann probably did not find the US job challenging enough. After his rejection, it is the turn of Jose Pekerman's name being bandied about. The problem is that he understands only Spanish. But wait a minute, there is hope. Pekerman is related to Gregory Peck and due to this proximity should understand English very quickly, consequently taking up the US coaching job. Not.

This is Soccerblog's list and there are of course many more which might be equally deserving. If you have any that you want to highlight please feel free to bring it to our attention. We can always create another list. Matthew Taylor's goal is not an event.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 1:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Guus Hiddink says it like it is in his new book "Dit is Mijn Wereld" (This is my world) about the Socceroos. He loved coaching them during the World Cup. However, he has some choice words for Mark Schwarzer, Aussie goalie who has been openly feuding with him.

Hiddink's assessment of Schwarzer. "Mark Schwarzer must realise that no player can be guaranteed a starting place all the time. Even big, big players have to accept that because nobody is totally secure. Overall Mark did a good job, but of course he could have done better."

Dit is Mijn Wereld is available online >>

Posted by Shourin Roy at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A German soccer fan expressed his delight when Klinsmann turned down the USA job. I think he along with thousands of Klinsmann fans are celebrating that decision. Klinsmann it is conjectured turned down the decision because he was unhappy with how little autonomy US Soccer gave their players. This was inimical to his personal philosophy. In his biography he declares ''No one can tell me, 'do this or do that.' I am free. I'm my own man." In the end it may have influenced his decision to call off coaching the US team. We will never know the real truth as Sunil Gulati refuses to get into the details.

There maybe another equally plausible reason. In Western Europe, the Germans have the most unfavorable opinion of the USA. What we saw in the World Cup was Klinsmann lead a German team that about 10% of the population had given a chance winning the World Cup. He was hated and derided by the Bayern Munich cabal of Beckenbauer, Hoeness, and Magath. By the end of the World Cup, Klinsmann was a hero. It was cool to be emotional, wave the German flag, and sing patriotic songs; all overt celebrations of German pride because of what he had done with the German team.

Now why would he undo that once in a lifetime feeling by coaching the national team of a country towards which Germans harbour a strong antipathy? This is different from welcoming the US team to Germany during the World Cup or even having American players playing in the Bundesliga.

By turning down the USA job, Klinsmann has enhanced his stature in Germany which has led to even more clamors for him to coach again. There are reports that he maybe interested. This time around when he commands "Jump." Beckenbauer will say, "How high?"

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Carlos Tevez's well documented grouse with his playing minutes at West Ham, Thierry Henry becoming ornery at Arsenal, Sheva feeling that he is not part of the Mourinho system at Chelsea, Giuseppe Rossi being overlooked in Newcastle, and Javier Mascherano has all but disappeared. All a coincidence or do they underline a structural flaw in the Premiership? Is it a sink or swim system with far too many matches in the season producing early player burnout? With investors sinking in millions of pounds buying out clubs, the feeling is that they are entitled to instant success. With this comes distorted expectations of their foreign players.

For Sheva who had already tasted success in AC Milan with his scoring, coming to Chelsea rested upon his wife's decision to like London. He actually was quite lukewarm to the idea of playing in the Premiership. So far his Chelsea debut is proving to be a nightmare and for a pure striker, he has scored very few goals. He was adored by thousands of AC Milan fans, most of them who long to have him back and Sheva is a player who thrives on that sort of emotion. His reception at Chelsea has been quite lukewarm and it has taken him some months to find out that he is a cog in the Jose Mourinho machinery, a 30 million pound one, but quite easily discarded.

Carlos Tevez is an exciting player and one of the many Argentine players touted as the future of the Albiceleste. But Tevez knows that playing minutes are crucial to him, as players in other leagues, are getting far more extended time in their clubs staking their claim to national team representation. At the least, there are a half dozen strikers waiting in the wings for a call. Rodrigo Palacio, Diego Milito, Sergio Aguera, Fernando Cavenaghi, Gonzalo Higuain, Mariano Pavone. Alan Pardew probably does not understand the depth the Argentinians have in this department. After all it is a wealth of riches rarely seen in English football.

Part of the seduction playing in the English league is that it is the most watched league in the world. It is the most successful league in that regard, a fact that football pundits frequently mistake for a more sweeping generalization of the supremacy of English football. With that hype comes the feeling that foreign players should feel entitled playing in the league. The FA before the World Cup issued a statement that bragged about the number of players representing their national squads. 107 players out of a total of 736 players.The Bundesliga was a distant second with 70. However, as the World Cup went on and teams were eliminated, the representation of the English league fell. The Bundesliga, Serie and La Liga were better represented in the more successful teams. Their players actually contributed more with better defense and attack whereas the English League made up the numbers.

Most Brazilians and Argentinians bypass this hype and head for the Serie and La Liga because these leagues develop their players better with far better skill. There is a longer and deeper understanding in these leagues of the importance of foreign players. Their talent scouting is far more extensive. The passage to their national teams become more assured when playing in these leagues. It is safe to say that Tevez would not have had his hissy fits playing in the La Liga. Hernan Crespo and RVN are having their times of their life at Inter and Real. Interestingly, Real's most miserable player is David Beckham, part of the Premiership hype and a media product while playing in England.

The Thierry Henry doldrums is a bit strange. After all if there is a coach sensitive to the needs of so many foreign players, it is Arsene Wenger, since finding a true blue English player in Arsenal is akin to trying to find a pin in a haystack. This is a case of player burnout. Too many matches and saddled with the Arsenal captaincy. Henry is not one to lead and rally his troops. He is a bit moody and distant for all of that. This Arsenal team requires more captaincy than most with its up and down performances. Wenger should relieve Henry of captaincy duty and give him time off. At this stage, it looks difficult for Arsenal to make up the difference and win the Premiership. So Henry's hiatus will not be missed. So far, Theo Walcott has not been doing too badly in his cameo role.

The unlimited money and the gigantic TV viewership of the Premiership, distorts expectations, masking the reality, that in the end; it understands foreign players far less well than its league counterparts.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

It is official. Jurgen Klinsmann is no longer in the running for the US MNT coaching job. He reportedly turned it down according to a US Soccer official. A formal announcement will be made on Thursday by US Soccer. Klinsmann had been courted for months by US Soccer following Bruce Arena's resignation.

This means that US soccer can now chase Sven Goran Erickson, Eric Gerets, or better still Guus Hiddink.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 9:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Those who enjoyed Andrew Jennings expose the corruption in FIFA starting with Sepp Blatter's secret payout of £1m worth of bribes pocketed by football officials, the ISL company's bribery of FIFA officials over two decades, and the World Cup ticket scams by the FIFA Vice President Jack Warner in his program The Beautiful Bung: Corruption and the World Cup aired on BBC Panorama, June 11, 2006, are in for a treat because Andrew is at it again, exposing corruption on What Happened Next on Panorama, 10 December 2006.

In this Panorama story, Andrew Jennings finds Jack Warner to ask him about the FIFA investigation. FIFA has closed the investigation and has issued a mild rebuke to Warner.

Transcript of The Beautiful Bung:

JENNINGS: I just wanted to put a question to you now because some of your press people don't let me get in, they bar me. What I would like to ask.. let me just ask you this. Do you know which football officials took bribes from the ISL marketing company? BLATTER: No, sorry, I don't speak about that.

Andrew says that the video and the transcript should be available a few days later on the BBC Panorama website. Feedback is welcome from all those concerned about the well being of the beautiful game.

For those holiday shoppers, please consider buying Andrew's book: Foul! The Secret World of
FIFA:Bribes, Vote-rigging and Ticket Scandals. (Harper Sport £12.99)

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sepp Blatter should step up and show his credentials as FIFA president. It is becoming increasingly distasteful to see countries circling around South Africa, like sharks having tasted blood. Australia is leading the way in trying to bite a huge chunk out of South Africa's credibility in hosting the World Cup. This is becoming ugly real fast.

The premier of New South Wales, Morris Iemma, infuriated South African officials after stating that Australia has "the capacity to step into the breach at a moment's notice." He also quipped that he was "salivating at the prospect" of being an emergency host for the 2010 event. This follows the Daily Telegraph's David Blair writing South Africa was in danger of hosting "the biggest cock-up in history"

Blatter should issue a statement immediately making clear that these statements are unwelcome and unwarranted. He should also make clear that he has full confidence in South Africa as a World Cup host.

The strong reaction of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) to these baseless allegations underscores how important the unions are to the success of the World Cup. This seems to have escaped the Thabo Mbeki government whose policy so far seems to be to keep COSATU at arm's length when it comes to planning for the World Cup. The government seems far more interested in prosecuting Jacob Zuma, the pro labour leader, and a potential successor to Mbeki. The recent charges against Zuma has led to a split between the COSATU and the pro-business faction of the ANC. The neo-liberal faction of the ANC fear that a Zuma presidency would be a death knell for the small group of favoured businessman who presently control SA's economy. The World Cup should generate thousands of jobs for ordinary South Africans as long as transparency in the vending process is maintained. COSATU is concerned that this may not be the case and only the neo-liberal faction and its cronies will benefit.

A South Africa that believes the World Cup benefits each of its citizens will make it easier to disprove its detractors.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 8:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The Guus Hiddink magic is well and alive in Russia. They are now in second place in Group E with their 2-0 win over Macedonia, leaving England in the doldrums.

Hiddink is being courted by a number of countries including Russia, South Africa, and is being sounded out for another coaching stint with the Socceroos, for their World Cup aspirations in 2010. Nothing succeeds like success and with Hiddink this is true for all the countries he has coached. In fact, Roman Abramovich is determined to bring Hiddink to Stamford Bridge should Jose Mourinho fail in his bid to win a Premeirship or a Champions League title.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The NYT has an article on the PSG fan dying at the hands of a policeman, during a melee that broke out after a match between PSG and Hapoel Tel Aviv, in a humiliating loss for PSG, 2-4. The policeman shot one of the notorious PSG Ultras, when a group of them surrounded a French fan, who is Jewish. An incident that is shocking and highlights racism as an overt part of many football leagues around the world.

The Ultras in PSG have always had a terrible reputation of being racist and anti- Semitic, just as the thugs in Beitar Jerusalem have a equally horrible reputation of being racist and anti- Arab, even though there are a number of Israeli Arab players, playing for Israeli clubs like Abbas Suan who nearly got Israel qualified for this year's World Cup. This story will never see the light of day in the NYT.

France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, many from its former colonies, many who are unemployed, have never properly integrated, and are frequently at odds with a substantial minority Jewish population. A few years ago, a number of synagogues were burned down. And as the NYT in the article points out that France has far rightwing politicians like Jean Marie Le Pen, running for French president for almost a decade, who has frequently chastised the French football team for not being "French" enough. The NYT has always singled out France as a poster child for racism and anti- Semitism.

Before the 1998 World Cup, Mr. Le Pen called the French team “artificial” because of its ethnic and racial makeup. Last June, before the World Cup, he said France “doesn’t totally recognize itself in this team,” because there may be too many “players of color.”

So yes, in France there is a problem of racism and more relevantly for the NYT, one of anti-Semitism. I vehemently oppose the uniform civil code that Nikolas Sarkozy, the interior minister has put into place. Despite all of this, Le Pen has never been voted to power. As for anti-Semitism, prominent US politicians have indulged in it. And even now, a lot of Americans have a subliminal aversion to Jews.

However this is what Elaine Sciolino reporting for the NYT concludes in her article. Quote "Certainly, the message of Mr. Le Pen, who faced Mr. Chirac in a runoff in the 2002 election, resonates in France. In a poll published in Le Monde last week, 17 percent of the respondents said they intended to vote for the 78-year-old for president."

What???

Is France a single issue country? I guess Chirac's incumbency does not count, his spotty record on the economic front, or his government's support of labor laws that hire and fire at will. No, what matters is that Gaul is being replaced by hordes from Algeria.

Lets put this into perspective. Our favourite racist, Tom Tancredo calls Miami a `Third World country.' Tancredo, who has been mentioned as a potential presidential contender, criticized President Bush in the interview for Bush's push for comprehensive immigration reform.

''He is going to do what he can to create a place where the idea of America is just that -- it's an idea,'' Tancredo said. ``It's not an actual place defined by borders. I mean this is where this guy is really going.''

George Bush's approval ratings are in the early 30's. If I were to extrapolate Elaine Sciolino's conclusions, then I would say "Certainly, the message of Mr. Tancredo, a potential presidential candidate resonates in the USA. In a WSJ poll last week, 31 percent of the respondents approved the job that George W Bush was doing." Forget the war on Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, the social security fiasco, or the economy.

The NYT's problems are not just Jayson Blair or Ricky Braggs!

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

It seems as if Japan has been playing football all its life. The reality is that organized football is barely more than a decade old in that country. Japan qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 1998 and then had a breakout year in 2002 when it co-hosted the World Cup with South Korea. They qualified again in 2006. Japan is also the present Asian Cup champion having two titles in a row in 2000 and 2004.

Japan's football revolution has been remarkable considering the only other honour they have had is a long forgotten bronze medal in the Mexico Olympics in 1968. Tied inextricably to their intenrational success is the development of their national league or the J-League. The league was started in 1996 and in these 10 years the J-league, is seeing record attendances averaging 20,000 and over. There are 18 teams with fun names like Kashima Antlers, Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Kyoto Purple Sanga, and Kawasaki Frontale. International stars like Hidetoshi Nakata, Shinji Ono, Shunsuke Nakamura, and Koji Nakata who play for European clubs got their start in the J-League and form the backbone of a Japanese national team that is seeing so much success.

The J-League was the brainchild of a Saburo Kawabuchi, a player in the 1960's national team who never forgot a training tour to Germany. As Sebastian Moffet in a history on Japanese football called Japanese Rules, puts it, Kawabuchi was amazed at how deeply the game was entwined with German communities. Parents coached their children's team, played in adult league games after work, and on weekends, generation of families would head off to the stadium or the nearest TV to watch professional matches. In Germany, football was considered recreation, youth development, and entertainment and was steeped in the way of life. In Japan, sport was being part of being a corporate drone. In Germany, it was part of being a human being.

The years of effort by Saburo Kawabuchi and Kenji Mori, the then JFA president who first proposed the idea of a fully professional league in 1987, finally paid of. On May 15, 1993, the very first J League match in history kicked off in front of a crowd of 59,626 at Tokyo's National Stadium. The opening match was played between Verdy Kawasaki (formerly Yomiuri Verdy FC) and Yokohama Marinos (formerly Nissan Motor FC).

In a quintessentially Japanese endeavour, Kawabuchi with his special committees undertook quite an impressive tour of the world studying what made sports successful in other countries. Jim Frederick in his article on Japan (The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup, Harper Perennial, 2006) writes " From Europe and South America the basic league structure was incorporated. From the International Olympic Committee they learned how to develop corporate sponsorships. From the American football and basketball leagues they learned marketing, television licensing, clothing sales, and other team merchandizing. Following the fashions of the times, most people adopted either a Brazilian style of play or German one." And in what can be the model that the MLS is trying to follow with Youri Djorkaeff a decade ago and Beckham now, the J League also imported legendary players a few years past their peak, Brazil's Zico, Germany's Pierre Littbarski, and England's Gary Lineker.

The revolution that Saburo Kawabuchi brought to his country is eclipsing that of baseball, Japan's most popular sport. Nowadays, baseball is on the wane, with declining attendances. Football is providing Japan with an outlet to shake off its perception as a rigid, strait laced country with legions of excited football fans across the country who come to watch their clubs play, with their faces painted in club colours, singing and chanting, and beating drums.
Last year, the AFC awarded the Diamond of Asia to Saburo Kawabuchi for his yeoman service to the development of the game with the J League well on its way to being considered as one of the top ten football associations of the world.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Today FIFA and FIfPro proposed the implementation of a six plus five system, whereby six members of a side must be homegrown. The intended proposal can be looked on at many different levels. In fact, look no further than today's game between Arsenal and West Ham.

For a club like Arsenal this ruling is a blow, where 11 out of the 11 starting players this season have been from a foreign country. Ashley Cole, the only reliable English starter transferred to Chelsea and was replaced by William Gallas of France. Arsene Wenger's club faces a West Ham team that has no problems starting Nigel Reo-Coker, Anton Ferdinand, Marlon Harwood, Bobby Zamora, Carlton Cole, and Paul Konchesky, all John Bull players.

In fact Alan Pardew made no bones about his displeasure last March with Arsenal's polyglot team threatening "the soul of British football - the English player". To which Wenger accused Pardew of leveling statements that bordered on racism.

Pardew's statement was a bit of moral grandstanding considering he has no problems welcoming Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano this season to the West Ham side. In fact, the proposed West Ham takeover would have another Corinthian player, Carlos Alberto joining in the January transfer.

What one does not get is Pardew's "soul of British football" comment? Does Alan Pardew have words for Chelsea and Man Utd? The soul of English football is not just exclusive to the players, it is how the clubs are run. In fact, if we cared about an abstraction such as this then Pardew should question why a Russian oil oligarch runs Chelsea; a US real estate moghul controls Man Utd, or even why he is allowing a proposed takeover by an Israeli hotelier of his own club.

Sepp Blatter says that the proposal provides an incentive in developing players on the local level as clubs will be reassured that the players will remain with them, rather than transferring out. This is in turn will protect the national team.

Great words but hollow in portent. The fact that the Premiership is the only league that is attracting record breaking attendance as compared to other leagues, where numbers are stagnating or are in decline, is because it attracts the best players from the world. A league that was moribund a decade ago and was third fiddle to the La Liga and the Serie is now putting these Leagues in the shade. As for the national team, does a Steven Gerrard not look at a Thierry Henry, when the two club teams meet and improve his level of play knowing fully well that France could meet England in Euro 2008 or World Cup 2010? Having foreign players such as Henry and Drogba at club level enhances the English squad.

The best player in the English squad this World Cup, Owen Hargreaves of Bayern Munich has not even played Premiership football, so this talk of protecting national teams is empty rhetoric. From the way he played it seemed Hargreaves was the only one who cared about protecting the national team. When a player dons the colours of his country, he is in the business of national protection, no matter where else he might play the game. An artificial provision is not going to teach him that.

Crystal Palace has produced great players ... for other teams. Most recently, Andy Johnson of Everton. Should Crystal Palace feel aggrieved that they lost another player for the greener pastures of a Premiership club? Absolutely. Is there anyone at Palace thanking his stars that Johnson did not join Real? No. The loss of a player is the same whether he moves down the road or another continent away. Is Ashley Cole any less a mercenary for moving to Chelsea rather than AC Milan? If Roman Abramovich had not found Cole in the limited pool of English players available, he would have looked elsewhere. If a club invests in a player's development only to lose him, does it make it worse if he moved overseas rather than playing in the national league? Somehow FIFA's proposal does not make that distinction.

On a different level, the increased demand for foreign players, especially from Africa, in these leagues has led to their national teams becoming stronger leading to no free rides for the European and South American teams in international competitions. The unrestricted transfer of foreign players has enhanced the game and in doing so, given their national teams a real shot at the big international titles. Ghana the best team on display, did not even have a single player playing in the domestic league.

I seriously hope this proposal that FIFA is endorsing along with the FIfPro (the players association) that might be in effect by 2010 does not come to pass. It would be a reversal of the Bosman ruling, that has given so much to the game. On the other hand, FIFA should do more to stamp out racism, diving, betting, and corruption. Lets start with Blatter himself!

Here is a proposal: Having had a club invest so much in a player's development should also guarantee them a few years of service to the club before he can entertain offers. The club should make every opportunity available for him to play. A proposal that is worth considering. It applies to medical students who avail of government funding and then serve a few years in the NHS before they are eligible to join up a hospital of their choice or a practice.

Here is Wenger's angry rejoinder to the FIFA proposal >>

Posted by Shourin Roy at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Sepp Blatter tried to soothe the Socceroos by saying that they deserved to go to the quarterfinals instead of Italy. A bone headed play by Lucas O'Neill, an opportunistic dive by Fabio Grosso, and a miserable piece of refereeing by Luis Medina Cantalajo, all in the last minute of regulation time kept the Socceroos out of a fairy tale entry into the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup.

However with Blatter everything is too little, too late. Shouldn'nt we call him Sepp Blather, already?

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Kaka is dead on when he says Materazzi sometimes gets nasty on the pitch. A treat for Kaka fans! Inter beat AC today 4-3 in a thriller. We will post the video as soon as we can get it.

Translation

The translation is incomplete but you get most of what is said between the two. Kaka is definitely the more angelic of the two.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

West Ham lies at the bottom of the Premiership - a scenario hardly contemplated by the likes of Alan Pardew and Kia Joorbachian when they signed on Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. West Ham should have been challenging Bolton Wanderers for the top four spots in the League.

West Ham was the brightest of the clubs, with a nucleus of potential players, the future of the English squad, with Nigel Reo-Coker, captain of the U-21 team, Dean Ashton, Marlon Harewood, Paul Konchesky, Anton Ferdinand, Bobby Zamora, and Carlton Cole. The season started with the terrible news that Ashton was going to be out for a good part of the season with an ankle fracture. But Bobby Zamora and Marlon Harewood took up the challenge with Zamora an absolute beast, starting the season with a flurry of goals. The signing of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano threw the English football world into a tizzy. It had all the football pundits anointing West Ham as the upstart Chelsea, with a smaller budget, sure to finish in the rarified echelons of the Premiership.

Two months down the line, West Ham finds its season in ruins. They are in the 19th spot, one spot removed from bottom dwelling Charlton Athletic. They have not won a single match since the first match they played in the season.

Alan Pardew has failed to convince his players to play football. There was a lot of expectancy that with Tevez and Mascherano, West Ham would stroll through their matches. A perfectly understandable feeling. You have signed on players, that have been singled out for praise by Diego Maradona and Luis Pekerman. We saw glimpses of the wonderful stuff that Tevez and Mascherano are capable of the World Cup. But Nigel Reo-Coker, Anton Ferdinand, Marlon Harewood, and Danny Gabbidon have all but disappeared. The nucleus that understood how the Premiership is played that got them to the 9th spot and the FA Cup final last season has dissolved.

There is an element of complacency and even surliness, that has crept into the West Ham team, with the team's elevation because of the two Argentinians, without them playing a single match in the Premiership. It is as if the rest of the team wants to see how far West Ham goes with Tevez and Mascherano, without them playing. That question has been answered, not too far!

The present situation benefits no one, least of all Tevez and Mascherano, who have obviously set their hearts on another Premiership or a La Liga club and look at West Ham as a springboard. Alan Pardew has to be more astute with getting his players to play and assure his players, especially Reo-Coker that he is invaluable to West Ham. Especially with the news that Reo- Coker is understandably aggrieved that he was the target of transfer talks in the last days, wooed by Man Utd and Arsenal, news that he was ignorant of, and now reflected in his lacklustre play.

To most West Ham fans and supporters, it has been frustrating. In the beginning Tevez and Mascherano, were a wonderful distraction. They just might just become the millstone that sinks West Ham. In the end it is the XI players on the field that win matches.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Left over from the World Cup:

Too bad he couldn't do much on the field when it counted this summer.

Posted by Christian at 6:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The German government will raise its economic growth forecast for 2006 this week to 2.3 percent from a 1.6 percent estimate made before the June tournament that brought millions of Germans into the streets for public viewing parties.

If confirmed, that would be the economy's best performance since 3.2 percent in 2000, ending a long period of stagnation.

According to researchers, "39 million German households now 'feel' they have an extra 500 euros income each month because of Germany's good run at the World Cup -- totalling nearly 20 billion euros per month."

Wow.

Posted by Gerd Mick at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

West Ham lies at the bottom of the Premiership - a scenario hardly contemplated by the likes of Alan Pardew and Kia Joorbachian when they signed on Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. West Ham should have been challenging Bolton Wanderers for the top four spots in the League.

West Ham was the brightest of the clubs, with a nucleus of potential players, the future of the English squad, with Nigel Reo-Coker, captain of the U-21 team, Dean Ashton, Marlon Harewood, Paul Konchesky, Anton Ferdinand, Bobby Zamora, and Carlton Cole. The season started with the terrible news that Ashton was going to be out for a good part of the season with an ankle fracture. But Bobby Zamora and Marlon Harewood took up the challenge with Zamora an absolute beast, starting the season with a flurry of goals. The signing Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano threw the English football world into a tizzy. It had all the football pundits anointing West Ham as the upstart Chelsea, with a smaller budget, sure to finish in the rarified echelons of the Premiership.

Two months down the line, West Ham finds its season in ruins. They are in the 19th spot, one spot removed from bottom dwelling Watford. They have not won a single match since the first match they played in the season.

Alan Pardew has failed to convince his players to play football. There was a lot of expectancy that with Tevez and Mascherano, West Ham would stroll through their matches. A perfectly understandable feeling. You have signed on players, that have been singled out for praise by Diego Maradona and Luis Pekerman. We saw glimpses of the wonderful stuff that Tevez and Mascherano are capable of the World Cup. But Nigel Reo-Coker, Anton Ferdinand, Marlon Harewood, and Danny Gabbidon have all but disappeared. The nucleus that understood how the Premiership is played that got them to the 9th spot and the FA Cup final last season has dissolved.

There is an element of complacency and even surliness, that has crept into the West Ham team, with the team's elevation because of the two Argentinians, without them playing a single match in the Premiership. It is as if the rest of the team wants to see how far West Ham goes with Tevez and Mascherano, without them playing. That question has been answered, not too far!

The present situation benefits no one, least of all Tevez and Mascherano, who have obviously set their hearts on another Premiership or a La Liga club and look at West Ham as a springboard. Alan Pardew has to be more astute with getting his players to play and assure his players, especially Reo-Coker that he is invaluable to West Ham. Especially with the news that Reo- Coker is understandably aggrieved that he was the target of transfer talks in the last days, wooed by Man Utd and Arsenal, news that he was ignorant of, and now reflected in his lacklustre play.

To most West Ham fans and supporters, it has been frustrating. In the beginning Tevez and Mascherano, were a wonderful distraction. They might just become the millstone that sinks West Ham. In the end it is the XI players that win matches.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

West Ham lies at the bottom of the Premiership - a scenario hardly contemplated by the likes of Alan Pardew and Kia Joorbachian when they signed on Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. West Ham should have been challenging Bolton Wanderers for the top four spots in the League.

West Ham was the brightest of the clubs, with a nucleus of potential players, the future of the English squad, with Nigel Reo-Coker, captain of the U-21 team, Dean Ashton, Marlon Harewood, Paul Konchesky, Anton Ferdinand, Bobby Zamora, and Carlton Cole. The season started with the terrible news that Ashton was going to be out for a good part of the season with an ankle fracture. But Bobby Zamora and Marlon Harewood took up the challenge with Zamora an absolute beast, starting the season with a flurry of goals. The signing Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano threw the English football world into a tizzy. It had all the football pundits anointing West Ham as the upstart Chelsea, with a smaller budget, sure to finish in the rarified echelons of the Premiership.

Two months down the line, West Ham finds its season in ruins. They are in the 19th spot, one spot removed from bottom dwelling Watford. They have not won a single match since the first match they played in the season.

Alan Pardew has failed to convince his players to play football. There was a lot of expectancy that with Tevez and Mascherano, West Ham would stroll through their matches. A perfectly understandable feeling. You have signed on players, that have been singled out for praise by Diego Maradona and Luis Pekerman. We saw glimpses of the wonderful stuff that Tevez and Mascherano are capable of the World Cup. But Nigel Reo-Coker, Anton Ferdinand, Marlon Harewood, and Danny Gabbidon have all but disappeared. The nucleus that understood how the Premiership is played that got them to the 9th spot and the FA Cup final last season has dissolved.

There is an element of complacency and even surliness, that has crept into the West Ham team, with the team's elevation because of the two Argentinians, without them playing a single match in the Premiership. It is as if the rest of the team wants to see how far West Ham goes with Tevez and Mascherano, without them playing. That question has been answered, not too far!

The present situation benefits no one, least of all Tevez and Mascherano, who have obviously set their hearts on another Premiership or a La Liga club and look at West Ham as a springboard. Alan Pardew has to be more astute with getting his players to play and assure his players, especially Reo-Coker that he is invaluable to West Ham. Especially with the news that Reo- Coker is understandably aggrieved that he was the target of transfer talks in the last days, wooed by Man Utd and Arsenal, news that he was ignorant of, and now reflected in his lacklustre play.

To most West Ham fans and supporters, it has been frustrating. In the beginning Tevez and Mascherano, were a wonderful distraction. They might just become the millstone that sinks West Ham. In the end it is the XI players that win matches.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

West Ham lies at the bottom of the Premiership - a scenario hardly contemplated by the likes of Alan Pardew and Kia Joorbachian when they signed on Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. West Ham should have been challenging Bolton Wanderers for the top four spots in the League.

West Ham was the brightest of the clubs, with a nucleus of potential players, the future of the English squad, with Nigel Reo-Coker, captain of the U-21 team, Dean Ashton, Marlon Harewood, Paul Konchesky, Anton Ferdinand, Bobby Zamora, and Carlton Cole. The season started with the terrible news that Ashton was going to be out for a good part of the season with an ankle fracture. But Bobby Zamora and Marlon Harewood took up the challenge with Zamora an absolute beast, starting the season with a flurry of goals. The signing Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano threw the English football world into a tizzy. It had all the football pundits anointing West Ham as the upstart Chelsea, with a smaller budget, sure to finish in the rarified echelons of the Premiership.

Two months down the line, West Ham finds its season in ruins. They are in the 19th spot, one spot removed from bottom dwelling Watford. They have not won a single match since the first match they played in the season.

Alan Pardew has failed to convince his players to play football. There was a lot of expectancy that with Tevez and Mascherano, West Ham would stroll through their matches. A perfectly understandable feeling. You have signed on players, that have been singled out for praise by Diego Maradona and Luis Pekerman. We saw glimpses of the wonderful stuff that Tevez and Mascherano are capable of the World Cup. But Nigel Reo-Coker, Anton Ferdinand, Marlon Harewood, and Danny Gabbidon have all but disappeared. The nucleus that understood how the Premiership is played that got them to the 9th spot and the FA Cup final last season has dissolved.

There is an element of complacency and even surliness, that has crept into the West Ham team, with the team's elevation because of the two Argentinians, without them playing a single match in the Premiership. It is as if the rest of the team wants to see how far West Ham goes with Tevez and Mascherano, without them playing. That question has been answered, not too far!

The present situation benefits no one, least of all Tevez and Mascherano, who have obviously set their hearts on another Premiership or a La Liga club and look at West Ham as a springboard. Alan Pardew has to be more astute with getting his players to play and assure his players, especially Reo-Coker that he is invaluable to West Ham. Especially with the news that Reo- Coker is understandably aggrieved that he was the target of transfer talks in the last days, wooed by Man Utd and Arsenal, news that he was ignorant of, and now reflected in his lacklustre play.

To most West Ham fans and supporters, it has been frustrating. In the beginning Tevez and Mascherano, were a wonderful distraction. They might just become the millstone that sinks West Ham. In the end it is the XI players that win matches.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sam Allardyce shakes a fist!

Remember this summer's musical chairs with the England coach in the post Sven era? Names like Guus Hiddink, Alan Curbishley, Martin O'Neill, Stuart Pearce, Luis Felipe Scolari, and Sam Allardyce were getting tossed around. The overwhelming favourite was Big Phil. Steve McLaren pipped them at the post after spending a few seasons as Middlesborough's manager and doing a decent job. However, his resume was still pretty thin compared to the other candidates. Well, it seems that the lack of coaching experience may be coming back to haunt him.

If Steve McLaren continues to sputter with the 3-5-2 formation with disastrous results as in the Croatia match, the musical chairs might begin again, but this time, I have no doubts that Sam Allardyce will be the hands down favourite. If the FA wants to go homegrown, then Allardyce should be given the job. His stewardship of Bolton has been nothing short of spectacular. He has raised a motley crew to another level, with a 37 year old Gary Speed having the best season of his career, a temperamental El Hadji Diouf scoring goals, and a dysfunctional Nicolas Anelka looking like he wants to play football. The rest of the team has Ivan Campo, Tal Ben Haim, Idan Tal, Nicky Hunt, Ricardo Gardner, Kevin Nolan and Andranik Teymourian, names that don't really roll of your tongue when football superstars come to mind. Let us put this in perspective- Bolton's total worth is 60 million pounds, an amount that Chelsea surpassed this season on acquiring John Obi Mikel, Andrei Shevchenko, Khalid Boulahrouz, Ashley Cole, and Salomon Kalou.

Allardyce has made a believer out of Anelka, which is in itself a miracle. And Anelka is Bolton's most expensive signing in club history. The pundits felt that Allardyce had gone a bit soft, signing on a project in Anelka, whose talent has never been in doubt, a professional journeyman following countless fallouts with coaches and team-mates, earning him the title of the Incredible Sulk. Yesterday, against Newcastle, Anelka showed the damage he could do. I remember Allardyce in an interview soon after the Anelka transfer, talking about how Anelka had matured from those days.

Allardyce has a reputation for knowing his players better than they know themselves, and a great aptitude for bringing out the best in some of the most temperamental players. In fact, he has made a career of it- Jay Jay Okocha, Youri Djorkaeff, El Hadji Diouf, Ivan Campo, and now Nicolas Anelka. He is extremely adaptable- Bolton's back four have been doing a superb job, even with injuries to Quinton Fortune and Joey O'Brien. Allardyce has Nicky Hunt at right back with Ben Haim switching to left back, and the combination has been working. They have given Bolton 4 clean sheets in the 8 games played so far. The defence has only conceded 4 goals.

The rap against Allardyce is that he has little international coaching experience. However, given the fact that he has taken many international talents who would have short circuited elsewhere but under his tutelage have had flourishing careers, I really don't see this as a detriment. Allardyce can be abrasive just like Luis Felipe Scolari, and is immensely popular with the players as well as the crowd. He is the opposite of McLaren who comes of as colourless. One can imagine Allardyce harnessing the likes of Wayne Rooney and bringing a Michael Carrick out of his torpor. I don't think a Peter Crouch would find himself in an Allardyce team, whereas an Aaron Lennon might. When the bottomline is that you have to get your team to play well no matter what, a resume having international coaching experience appears to be an abstraction, and even overblown.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Didier Drogba, Emmannuel Eboue, and Didier Zokora, have a few things in common. They are Cote D'Ivoirian, fantastic players for club and country, and last but not the least, share a penchant for diving.

For every Drogba goal, and he has been spectacular this season- remember this beauty, he undoes all the good with his extreme cynicality. Yesterday, he took a tumble after some mild short tugging by Andre Bikey, the Reading defender and had him sent off. Last week, Zokora went down like pole axed steer after Paolo Mendes, the Portsmouth midfielder was no way near tackling him. It led to a penalty converted by Jermaine Defoe. The Spurs went onto win the game, 2-1. In the last Champions League final, Eboue went down in another fine piece of acting and Arsenal pulled a goal back from the resulting penalty, ultimately losing to Barca 2-1.

Are Cote D'Ivoirians players cheaters when it comes to football? No. I am drawing attention to the fact, that diving is a learned behaviour, that many players resort to because it pays dividends. A player who gets away with diving and is successful in getting the foul he wants, will resort to it time and time again. Football is not played in isolation. Didier Drogba is an icon in his country, the captain of the team enjoying remarkable success in qualifying for their first World Cup 2006, instilling a sense of pride in Cote D'Ivoire, a country torn in strife and civil war, united now by their football team. Along with this well deserved pride comes the belief in what got them this far- skill, hard work, team spirit, and yes, a bit of diving. It becomes undistinguishable from all the other aspects of the game. Zokora's glee was not so much that he was instrumental in getting the Spurs ahead but also the fact that he had sold the referee a dummy.

So, the best way to deal with drawing attention to how diving kills the game without singling out a group of players, starts from the coach, who needs to be uniformly critical of your own players, when they indulge in it. That is why Martin Jol's wink and nod to Didier Zokora's dive saying " I guess he was a bit off balance " was the wrong one. Moral relativism, by claiming that others are doing it too, does no good in solving this pernicious problem. The Cote D'Ivoirians are suddenly in the limelight with their success in club and country, and it is but natural that parts of their game are fodder for discussion.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Soenke Wortmann the top director who won acclaim for his movie "Miracle of Berne" [A movie about the German national soccer team achieving an unlikely victory in the 1954 World Cup soccer championship ] has created a new documentary on the German Team entitled "Deutschland: Ein Sommermaerchen" (Germany: A summer fairy tale) .
It is receiving unprecedented media coverage before its red-carpet premiere in Berlin deliberately set on Oct. 3, a national holiday celebrating Germany's reunification.
The trailer can be viewed here.

Posted by Anish at 3:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Sven Goran's team stumbles against Northern Ireland and David Healy. Check out the goal and the celebrations!

Posted by Shourin Roy at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

France did not need Zidane with Sidney Govou

It was as we suspected. Italy won the World Cup because when it came to the crunch they were the more level headed team (ask Materazzi who got leveled!), not neccessarily the better team. Today's game proved that France could play post Zidane and they crushed Italy 3-1. Most of the Azzurris who did duty in the World Cup also played this match, so there were no excuses that Roberto Donadoni could offfer. They were outclassed in this match.

Lineups:

France: Gregory Coupet; Willy Sagnol, Lilian Thuram, William Gallas, Eric Abidal; Franck Ribery (Louis Saha, 88), Patrick Vieira (captain), Claude Makelele, Florent Malouda; Sidney Govou (Sylvain Wiltord, 75), Thierry Henry.

Italy: Gianluigi Buffon; Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro (captain), Andrea Barzagli, Fabio Grosso; Simone Perrotta, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Franco Semioli (David Di Michele, 54); Antonio Cassano (Filippo Inzaghi, 73), Albreto Gilardino (Daniele De Rossi, 87).

Sidney Govou showed why Liverpool, Aston Villa, and Valencia wanted to sign him on >>

Posted by Gerd Mick at 4:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The European papers are abuzz with the France - Italy Euro Cup showdown this Wednesday, two months after their bedwetting and headbutting performance in this World Cup. The French are looking for a bit of payback. Maybe we can see different anatomical parts being used. The everything butt but headbutt; the kneebutt, elbowbutt, buttbutt, tonguebutt (OK, stop it Gerd, you are getting carried away).

Posted by Gerd Mick at 6:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

Posted by Christian at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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

Posted by Shourin Roy at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

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

Posted by Shourin Roy at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

Posted by Song at 6:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

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

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

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

No sympathy for the devil this time!

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

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

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

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

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

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

My picks for the top 5 performers

1) Bobby Convey: Club: Reading Position: Midfielder

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For more Yanks abroad >>

Posted by Shourin Roy at 4:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

Posted by Shourin Roy at 3:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

Posted by Shourin Roy at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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

Posted by Chiza Muzia at 1:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

Mark Simpson on David Beckham

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

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

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

Posted by Chiza Muzia at 11:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

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

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

Posted by Chiza Muzia at 8:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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

Posted by Chiza Muzia at 4:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

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

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

In which Beckham breaks down

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

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

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

Posted by Chiza Muzia at 3:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

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

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

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

It has been a busy season for Marina Hyde >>

Posted by Song at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

Posted by Chiza Muzia at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted by Shourin Roy at 7:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

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

Posted by Song at 6:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I agree.

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

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Posted by Shourin Roy at 1:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

(Hat tip to ems)

Hear the song >>

Posted by Shourin Roy at 12:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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

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

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

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

Posted by Gerd Mick at 8:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Parreira became South African soccer's 14th coach in that many years since they resumed playing in 1992. He has been given the responsibility of building the team for the 2010 World Cup. Of late, they have slipped in the international and African stage. The last time they won anything of note was in 1996 winning the Africa Cup of Nations. They also qualified for the 1998 and 2002 World Cup but made first rounde xits.

Meanwhile the German architecture firm of gmp (Gerkan Marg Partners) has been awarded the design of three of South Africa's soccer stadiums for World Cup 2010. The German firm was also involved in this year's World Cup designing the stadiums at Berlin, Cologne, and Frankfurt.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 8:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Egypt has always done well in the CAF. This is their fifth title as they won the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations against Cote D'Ivoire (Didier Drogba's PK was saved). However their World Cup ventures have always been unsatisfactory. 2010 could be their year.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 8:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Reggie Rockstone, the singer who originated Ghanian hip hop also called hiplife was so moved by the performance of the Black Stars that he and London based Ghanian musician Yaw Mensa produced Ayekoo, a song celebrating the Black Stars. Ayekoo is a Ghanian salutation in Twi, and depending on the context could mean "Well done,Congratulations, Thank You, or Welcome."

Ayekoo is a jamboree of Twi, Pidgin, and English. I would have loved to have the video clip but the song has just been released and the CDs are only available to a handful of radio stations. Reggie Rockstone's was part of PLZ (Parables, Linguistics, and Zlang) before he embarked solo. He writes politically conscious songs like Mensesa (I won't change), a Pan African paean.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Barry Bonds, Floyd Landis, and now Justin Gatlin. When does fact end and when does fiction begin? I am sure even without performance enhancing substances, they would have been great athletes and would have won it all. Gatlin the 100 meters at Athens, Bonds the Babe Ruth record, and Landis, the Tour De France. But they chose to throw it away. Because however much you might want to cut it; call them sporting legends, a country's icon, a savior to the masses, the fact is that these athletes are mortals, given to self doubt, insecurity, and bravado.

Sports has become a travesty. Look at how many times both Asafa Powell and Justin Gatlin were to meet face to face to decide the title of the fastest human being but backed away citing some half baked excuse. No one wants to give up the right to the fastest human being, even though by taking these substances, they have lost even before the starting gun goes off. When the world settles down in its euphoria at their win and discovers that there was an element of fraud in it, the myth of the sporting hero, mind over matter, conquering a wilful and imperfect physical plant that is our body, into a cohesive unit of perfection, crumbles. It is not enough that Barry Bonds hits the ball for a home run into the stands, he has to hit it out of Candlestick Park, into the bay, where boats await his home runs and people dive in to retrieve the balls. We all have to be a part of that legend and we want more.

Nobody wants to compete against each other, it is the sports management teams of each athlete that decides that. You can engage in a war of words, like Gatlin and Powell, as to the better athlete, but till the agents in each camp decide when they actually meet up, it remains bluster. Because till then the weather in London and Crystal Palace is too humid, too dry, and too windy. You see, it is not winning that is everything, it is not losing. Is it just me or does one feel that athletes actually met up more times when there were far less competitions, less sponsorships, and it was more difficult to travel? In my estimation Justin Gatlin and Asafa Powell should have met up at least a half dozen times and we should have seen the start of a gripping rivalry that would have done wonders for athletics. But such is the state of affairs, that you lose once, your self worth goes down, self doubt creeps in; the corporate sponsors and the sports management company start whispering campaigns, and before long, you are rubbing flaxseed oil on your knees. Then when you get caught these very entities are out your front door. Such is the price paid for losing. Nobody believes in the law of averages anymore.

We all know without Gatorade you will never be able to finish the Tour de France but is that all you want to do? The metrics of sports has moved so much that it is no longer to break racial prejudices, to go below the 4 minute mark in the mile, or to promote calcium in your bones. That is all left to movies like Chariots of Fire. Paul Simon's verse," And where have you gone, Joe Di Maggio, A nation turns its lonely eyes at you" seems to be all the more relevant now.

Suddenly the art of diving in soccer does not seem all that bad now. Eh? And Zidane's loss of composure should be measured in the context of this universal loss of composure seen in sports nowadays.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Carlos Tevez is unhappy playing for the Corinthians, the Brazilian club and is looking for a way out. Corinthians are in last place in the league and they suffered their seventh loss in a row. The fans are taking their ire out on Tevez and last Saturday surrounded his car with his wife and daughter inside.

Tevez says:

“That’s when I thought that I could leave Corinthians, and it’s going to be difficult to stay here,” he continued. “(My family) are really scared and these sort of things aren’t easy to just forget.”

“I want to stay, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve also got a responsibility to listen to my family.”

Man U is reportedly ready to make an offer to Tevez and fellow Argie Javier Mascherano. Details are not known.

Meanwhile Ashley Cole is still sitting pretty at Arsenal because Chelksi has not been able to match Arsenal's asking rate of £25m. I really cannot see Cole sitting too long in Arsenal even though Wenger has been pretty tightlipped about the whole deal going back and forth about contact been made by Arsenal to sell Cole to the Blues.

Posted by Song at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

Crespo did not report for training to Stamford Bridge and he missed his flight for Chelsea's tour to the US. Reportedly, Crespo is desperate to return to the Serie after his AC Milan loan spell. Crespo has made no secret of his desire to return to Italy and has successfully pursued similar tactics in the past, missing a breakfast meeting on Mourinho’s first day in charge two years ago and being loaned to AC Milan within a matter of days. Inter Milan are his most likely destination this time, with Mourinho making it clear that the Argentinian does not feature in his plans, although securing a transfer fee could prove more of a problem.

“I have enough forwards, so Hernán stays behind,” Mourinho said. “If the club receives the right offer for him then they will consider it, but if not he will return for training when we get back.”

Wayne Bridge is getting unsettled by the rumours of Ashley Cole joining up Chelsea and is now trying to seek a way out. Newcastle United might be his calling card. Shaun Wright Phillips is another player that Newcastle is seeking after Michael Owen's rather horrible end in the World Cup. Owen is now an injury liability, and Wright Phillips will be a wlecome addition. Jose Mourinho seems to be considering the Newcastle offer.

Posted by Song at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The best goals by US star Brian McBride in his days with the US team, Columbus Crew, Everton, and his present team Fulham FC. He was a real stand up guy giving the game his all. Frequently injured and frequently bloodied. We will miss him in the international scene.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The first minute sounds like a dirge. But the rest is vintage RVN set to Coldplay's "Speed of Sound."

Posted by Shourin Roy at 4:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

“Nobody Knows Anything”

His most recent work as a pundit on BBC has been met with praise from supporters and journalists alike. He has ended the tournament with even more respect that he went into it with. Responsible for perhaps the quote of the tournament with “Nobody Knows Anything”, said after the 3rd place playoff, he has had many England fans wishing the FA had offered him the job. Having correctly guessed France as one of the teams of the tournament, he put Alan Hansen to shame who had 3 picks (Argentina Brazil and England), all of whom did not make the Semifinals.

Martin O'Neill before Steve McLaren was given the England job was one of the strongest candidates to take over the Three Lions. He led Leicester City out of relegation and led them to the top half of the EPL in his tenure as coach. Woth Celtics, he won 7 titles. In all he coached 282 games before resigning and won 213 , drawing 29 and lost 40.

He is being sought after by the Socceroos with Guus Hiddink, their World Cup coach leaving to coach Russia.

Martin O'Neill stats >>

Posted by Chiza Muzia at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Marseille have shown a great deal of interest in Sol Campbell. Amongst French clubs, Marseille ranks below Lyons, FC Monaco, and PSG. They have not won a major championship in over a decade. Sol will be a huge signing for them. Djibril Cisse is also expected to join on loan from Liverpool. Little Franck Ribery was the one bright spot in OM's French contribution to the World Cup. This is not the OM we know from the decades of top notch players like Didier Deschamps, Manuel Amoros, Laurent Blanc, Jean Tigana, Jairzinho, and Rudi Voller.

Meanwhile Real is suffering from sticker shock for Ruud Van Nistelrooy and is not prepared to pay the transfer fee for him. United are believed to be demanding at leastfor the 30-year-old, who has handed in a written transfer request. However Real is stuck on a bit more than £10m, and as Sir Alex says, an increase by a couple of bob won't cut it. Bayern's bid of £11.6m has been similarly rejected.

I think he will be back in Man U in time for the EPL season and will see minutes off the bench. Ruud will just have to do what he did in the beginning of the last season, work his way back into the starting line up. Right now it seems awfully crowded with Saha, Rooney, Rossi, Ronaldo, Skjolsaer up front and Alan Smith ready to make his comeback.

Sven is jockeying to become Villa's new coach. Good luck, Villa you will need it. Sven will be a nightmare.

Posted by Song at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Belgium is hardly considered a powerhouse in world soccer, let alone European soccer. Their cupboard is quite bare of honors. Its best showing was the Enzo Scifo and Jan Ceulemans led team that finished fourth in the 1986 World Cup. In the European Championships they were runners up to the Germans in 1980. However it has cast a very, very long shadow in international soccer in the way that the modern game has evolved and continues to do so.

The present day rules of transfers that have led to European clubs recruiting top talent from Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe, leading to the globalized nature of the game is due to a lawsuit filed in the European Court of Justice by a little known Belgian player, Jean Marc Bosman against his club, FC Liege, a second division Belgian club. In 1990, Bosman wanted to transfer to French side Dunkerque but FC Liege, his club did not agree on the transfer amount and so refused his request. Meanwhile Bosman was demoted to the second team and his wages reduced. Bosman filed his lawsuit and after a few years of a tough battle, the European Court ruled that Bosman and other EU players at their end of the contract are entitled to a free transfer to any club that they sign up with.

The Bosman ruling did away with some peculiar notions of nation-states, especially in the British Isles. The UEFA and FIFA considered the British Isles to consist of four different countries, England, Wales, Northerm Ireland, and Scotland. This led to the UEFA limiting the number of foreign players in clubs participating in the UEFA cup to three. Manchester United had a problem because Ryan Giggs from Wales was considered a foreign player. The Bosman ruling did away with these superflous quotas and opened up the game of soccer to a number of players and a larger audience. It is looked on as a positive change in the world of soccer. This is the reason we can get to see the talent of Thierry Henry at Arsenal.

As much as the Bosman ruling helped in globalizing soccer a more recent ruling in a Belgian court has imposed a protectionist mould to the world of soccer. It has sharpened the divide between club versus country. A recent court case was filed by the Belgian club Charleroi against FIFA and their member countries that compensates the club for injuries that a player sustains while he plays for his country. In November 2004, Charleroi striker Abdelmajid Ouelmars was injured while playing for Morocco against Burkina Faso. Charleroi's complaint was that because of the injury to Ouelmars, they did not win the championship in 2005 and needed compensation. The lawsuit was supported by the G14 (a group of elite European soccer clubs) that establishes fealty to the clubs as a prime virtue over country and wants liability to be paid the clubs in lost wages. In fact, the clubs want to be the arbiter as to which players end up representing their country. The Charleroi case has now been moved to the European Court where a verdict is awaited.

The acrimonous tug of war seen in regards to Wayne Rooney's inclusion between Sir Alex and the FA and that of David Moyes with Tim Cahill and the Socceroos is a classic battleline being drawn in this increasingly bitter divide. In fact, one of the reasons, and hitherto not mentioned for less exciting and low scoring future editions of the World Cup will be because players risk fewer injuries because of their club commitments. The ruling will also reinforce G14's primacy over making player decisions over the respective boards especially in the length of the season. Players are playing more matches as the clubs squeeze the maximum out of them in high transfer fees and TV broadcasting and advertising revenues.

To learn more about the G14

"It appears that the core activity of football nowadays rather resides within club football than amongst the national teams competitions.

Therefore, and as a consequence of their historical-based structures and constitutions, the FA and their global association currently exploit an expertise, which does not lie in the day-to-day running of club football."

Martin Samuel's brilliant critique of the G14 and its agenda of protectionism >>

Posted by Shourin Roy at 12:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

We have been playing pat-a-cake for a month or so with the possibilities of which coach will utimately coach the US team. Jurgen Klinsmann is the perfect choice but the names of Gerard Houllier, Brian Metsu, Eric Gerets, and Guus HIddink have also been mentioned. One thing is clear, US Soccer wants an experienced foreign coach and they should go for the best one possible that is realistically available.

Jamie Trecker in his latest opinion piece goes into if wishes were horses territory. He wants US Soccer to go all out and think big when selecting the MNT coach. Fair enough. But Jose Mourinho???

What in the world would possess Mourinho to come over here? He has the best EPL team that money can buy, his signings are all world class players. Mourinho wants to establish a legacy in a team that has never seen success like this before. In the pecking order Chelsea does not come close to the standards of European soccer that clubs like AC MIlan, Juventus, Real, Barcelona, Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal, and Bayern have established. There is an even bigger reason for Mourinho's success, as good a coach as he maybe, and i.e., Abramovich's deep pockets.

Trecker says that the canard that the coach should understand the country and the American soccer system should be 'deep sixed'. He goes onto mention Guus Hiddink and Otto Pfister's lack of knowledge of South Korea and Togo, before coaching those two teams, in the 2002 and 2006 World Cup, respectively.

Well, Jamie, both are journeymen coaches. If I am not mistaken Togo was Pfister's ninth job, most of them in African countries and most were unsuccessful before his Togo gig. Guus Hiddink has a reputation for taking teams and building them so that they are ready to compete succesfully in the international scene, just like he did with Australia, in this World Cup. If the US has gotten well past that rebuilding stage as Trecker states, then Guus Hiddink's name should not even be mentioned.

The circle of coaches that can realistically coach the US team should be narrowed down and not widened at this stage. The successful hiring of a coach to coach a team should lie in the convergence of the interests of both parties and not to some abstract concept like "make US Soccer better." Which international coach lives in the USA, has been successful both as a player as well as coach, understands English and is articulate, has mentioned that it is hard spending time away from his family, incorporates US style fitness with an attacking flair.

The coach that best fits these convergences is Jurgen Klinsmann. Let us not lose sight of our first choice as coach.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Birmingham City: Heskey to Wigan; Pennant to Liverpool

Jermaine Pennant will give quite a bit of heft to Rafa's outfit. Birmingham City has some good players in a terrible club and Pennant is already on his way to becoming a star. Heskey is really over valued at the 5.5 million that Wigan shelled out for him. He scored but 4 goals in Birmingham's relegation performing season. IMO, Heskey is a talented forward who played some great years for Liverpool but somehow never performed upto expectations. He was one of Sven's favourite and when he performed we got to see what Heskey was capable of.

Pennant on the other hand is part of the Arsenal system. One that seems to churn out talent for other clubs. Liverpool is paying £6m for his services.

Pennant has had to fight disciplinary problems crashing his Mercedes in a drunk driving accident which saw jail time for him. Arsenal paid £2m, a record fee for a trainee at the time. He impressed in his Arsenal debut with a hat-trick in 2003. But never saw him gain Wenger's confidence and he was loaned out on spells to Watford, Leeds and Birmingham before he signed for City last summer.

Rafa is trying to lessen the load on Steven Gerrard who has had to play most of the season on the right flank. Pennant will take over that position.

Posted by Song at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As Germany claims its due pride in hosting a successful World Cup 2006, our memories will fade as our attention is increasingly drawn to South Africa given the onerous task of organizing the first World Cup in the African continent in 2010. A lot of energy will go into dissipating the critics who believe that South Africa is not upto the challenge. In fact, Australia is being mentioned as a strong alternative should South Africa falter.

This is not just about organizing the World Cup, it is a whole continent's pride at stake. The South Africans know that and they are fully prepared. Daany Jordan , the organizing chief states that FIFA has given the South African football federation $10 million to develop the Bafana Bafana, the South African national team. The SA federation is in negotiations with Carlos Alberto Parreira, Brazil's ex-coach to take over the reins of the Bafana Bafana.

Thabo Mbeki's government has pledged $710 million for building and renovating 10 stadiums, and another $1.2 billion for upgrades to airports, roads and railway lines. Cape Town has given the go ahead for a proposed stadium in its city center subject to government financing.

FIFA is supposed to be flush with cash through corporate sponsorships from first tier companies like Coca Cola and Adidas. Second tier companies like McDonald's have also renewed their sponsorships till 2014, good for the next two World Cups. Not to be left behind, FIFA's third tier sponsors that include six South African companies are also pledging money under the 'national supporter' category. South African company First National Bank (FNB) is commtting $30 million to the World Cup. In all, FIFA has more than $3 billion in hand for the 2010 World Cup and this does not even include TV and media broadcasting revenues from Africa, Asia and South America. The final figure is estimated to be more than $5 billion.

South Africa's economy is booming with it becoming the destination for a number of multinational companies setting up business. South African companies like SABMiller are buying up breweries in China.

Johannesburg is shedding its apartheid past and has become a vibrant multicultural city. Soweto has become a neighborhood that is populated by middle class blacks with clubs that play jazz and Soweto hip-hop also called Kwaito. The Orlando West neigborhood was home to two giants responsible for ending apartheid, Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela.

We will be following South Africa and Africa very closely in the following months. The 2010 World Cup will not mitigate many of Africa's teeming problems and it would be very naive to think so. However for pan-Africanists like Marcus Garvey and Kwame Nkrumah, their vision of bringing a continent together and forging a unitary identity might be a step closer to being realized.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Call me biased but there is no comparison. Ballack it is by some light years. And Shourin thinks that Andrea Pirlo is better than Ballack???

Posted by Gerd Mick at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (70) | TrackBacks (0)

It has been a bit quiet after the excitement of the World Cup. Sometimes its hard to say that we were the focus of the world's attention for more than a month.

The ZIdane Materazzi affair really got the public going for a while. I have to say that the German public was in favor of Zizou and they in general support him for leveling Materazzi. Well, Italy did destory Germany in the last few minutes of their match, so the sentiment should be unsurprising. Zizou's mother got into it and the German press was full of how Zizou's mother wanted Materazzi's balls on a platter. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

The big news is the Ruud Van Nistelrooy who has been the subject of a transfer from Man U to Real may ultimately land up in Bayern.

Real is not willing to pay Man U the money for Ruud and why should they? They are obviously looking for the in form players in the Serie to make their way to their club. They have snagged Cannavaro and Emerson. Plus, Ruud just proved to be a bit, shall we say.... rude while he played for Man U. Van Basten did not do Ruud's career any favors by not playing him in the Portugal match. So Ruud has quite a bit of a baggage when it comes to playing soccer. Bayern has lost some firepower with Ballack leaving and it would be a miracle if any of the Serie players want to play for the Bundesliga.

Germany is still taking Klinsmann's resignation in stride. They have an able successor in Joachim Low but nothing fired the imagination as Klinsi did. Good looking, articulate, emotional- he could have been a Latino. And of course as a player, he was quite the showboat. US Soccer should really go all out and get him as their coach.

George W Bush came to visit but not to pitch the US coaching job to Klinsmann. Something tells me that it was all for the best because after Dubya called up Bruce Arena to wish his team well in the World Cup, the US made a prompt exit.

As for the World Cup, the consensus seems to be that this World Cup was more important for Germany than it was for the game itself.

Posted by Gerd Mick at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Henry on Sol. "Just natural strength."

Posted by Song at 5:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am really disappointed with Chiza's cheap dismissal of Sol Campbell. The man was Mr Defender for Arsenal and the large part of why Arsenal took the EPL and FA double in 2001-2002. When I look at his record he only changed two clubs in his 15 seasons and the club that he changed was the Spurs for the Gunners. That took guts! I mean the man was subjected to the vilest of insults everytime he played the Spurs at White Hart.

As a player Sol was ferocious. It's too bad that most You Tube clips are of the goalscorers because Sol could put on a clinic in defence. Of course, most of You Tube clips you get on Sol is the goal he scored for Arsenal against Barca in the Euro championship. Which really isn't what the story of Sol is all about. He was a worthy successor to Tony Adams for both club and country.

It's just unfortunate that he was injured in the last couple of years and had a rare loss of form. A Sol operating at half his best was still better than about 90% of the players. He will really and truly be missed by all who love the game. And I wish him well wherever he decides to join. He played 198 times in the 6 seasons that he played for Arsenal and he was capped 69 times for England.

Posted by Song at 3:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Pavel Nedved showed that he can still play the game this World Cup. He has decided to stay on in Juve and continue scoring magnificently. Kudos to him.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 9:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Sol has a meltdown.

Posted by Chiza Muzia at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

With all the top flight players leaving Juve for La Liga or other clubs in Serie, it will get increasingly hard for Juventus to keep their financial house in order. Share prices will come down as revenues generated through TV rights, sponsorships, and gate revenues dry up.

The Juve lawyer Cesar Zaccone is fearing a backlash from the shareholders. Even less attractive is the prospect of Juve being relegated from Serie B as they face a 30 point handicap. Just to keep up in the Serie B, Juve will have to win 27 of their 40 matches with a decimated team.

Juventus is now appealing the relegation decision >>

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We saw Dennis Bergkamp retire after 11 years with Arsenal. As remarked before, this is increasingly becoming a rarity when we have players like Ashley Cole ready to bolt because Arsenal cannot afford to pay for his pound of flesh. With Juventus, it is the same with Fabio Cannavaro already gone to Real, Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta signed up with Barca. And Trezeguet and Ibrahamovic looking for a way out.

Alessandro Del Piero will not be bought. He wants to stay in Juve even though he has many offers and he knows that with relegation to the Serie B, they will not be playing in the European Champions club. His playing career could be over because of his decision. He joined Juventus in 1993 at the age of 18 when there were Bianconeri like Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli, and Fabrizio Ravanelli.

As Deven Alvares reports, the Juve fans appreciate Alessandro Del Piero or Pinturicchio as he is affectionately called -a name that means so much to Bianconerros all around the world. He is our pride and joy, our legendary captain, the servant, flagpole, and the symbol of our beloved Juve. There will never be another player like him for years to come.

Soccer fans all over should pay a tribute to these players who uphold loyalty and honor to their club more dear than lining their pockets for a few more bucks.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 2:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jurgen Klinsmann led Germany to a third place finish that few would have thought possible before the 2006 World Cup began. With its success in soccer was the new found confidence and patriotism in Germany, with all the cheering fans, the singing of the anthem, and the flag waving.

Even the biggest critics of the Germans, the Brits, who never fail to remind the Germans about their World War II legacy, were impressed by this new fervor. Basil Fawlty, the clod in the infamous episode "The Germans" reminds his staff "don't mention the war" to his German guests, a statement that became famous in the annals of Brit comedy, apologized to the Germans for his ignorance and bad taste.

Eduardo Galeano gives context to the long and tortuous way that the Germans have had to travel from their first hesitant steps in the post World War II era, the decades of self effacement, and to the overt displays of German pride and nationalism that we saw in this World Cup.

It was at the World Cup in 1954. Hungary, the favorite, was playing Germany in the final. WIth six minutes left in a game tied 2-2, the robust German forward Helmut Rahn trapped a rebound from the Hungarian defense in the semi-circle. Rahn evaded Lantos and fired a blast with his left, just inside the right post of the goal defended by Grosics.

It was the first World Cup that Germany had been allowed to play in since the war, and Germans felt they had the right to exist again. Zimmerman's cry became a symbol of national resurrection. Years later, that historic goal could be heard on the soundtrack of Fassbinder's film, "The Marriage of Maria Braun, " which recounts the misadventures of a woman who can't find her way out of the ruins.

(From Eduardo Galeano, Soccer in Sun and Shadow, Verso Paperbacks, 2003)

Posted by Shourin Roy at 2:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Barcelona have won the race to capture Juventus defenders Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta following the Italian club's relegation to Serie B. Spanish media reports suggest Barca have paid a combined fee of £13m.

So far La Liga with Real and Barca have reaped the benefits of Juve's relegation.

More from the Beeb >>

Posted by Shourin Roy at 1:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Zinedine Zidane has been banned for three games and fined £3,260 for head-butting Italy's Marco Materazzi during the World Cup final. Materazzi was banned for two matches and fined £2,170 for his part in the incident which occurred in extra-time before Italy's penalty victory.

The Beeb will have the full report.

Posted by Song at 3:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Reminds one of the Zidane PK against Italy except this one is executed better!

Posted by Shourin Roy at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Read Marina Hyde's review of Rooney's autobiography Part I for a hearty chuckle >>

Posted by Shourin Roy at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Apparently Juventus has been spurned by AC Milan in their quest to get Christian Abbiati plus a hefty sum of money for Buffon in exchange. Abbiatio has been offered to Torino. Now Juve wants to see if there are other takers for Buffon. It seems to be a race between Arsenal and Man U.

Buffon is a better fit for Arsenal. Most of the players are young and are from overseas. He'll live in London, infinitely more cosmopolitan than Manchester. His boss will be Arsene Wenger and not the old codger, Fergie who seems to rub of all his good players the wrong way.

The other player that Arsenal could pick up is Andrea Pirlo. The AC Milan star is not happy with the 15 point handicap that Milan is going to begin the season with. Pirlo will not come cheap and he could cost over 25 million pounds. AC Milan says that they are determined to hold onto all their players for this season. But it will be a coup if Arsenal gets Pirlo. He is far better than Ballack and with Rosicky in the middle, should make life miserable for the rest of the EPL clubs.

The Blues are trying to go for Gianluca Zambrotta in a big way and are willing to cough up plenty of Abramovich's dough to get him. But reports say that Real has the best chances of getting him.

The Red Devils seem to striking out in their chances of getting an international star. Vieira is more interested in Inter. Fernando Torres wants to stay on at Atletico Madrid. Gennaro Gattuso stays on at AC Milan. Even Kaka was reported to have gotten feelers from Man U but as of this moment he appears ready to continue on with AC Milan.

The Serie firesale is happening right now and there are plenty of developments that will take place in the next week or so.

Update: Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson sign up with Real.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBacks (0)

Wayne Rooney has signed a 5 book autobiography with Harper Collins worth 5 million pounds. It is supposed to be one of the biggest book deals in sports history. One wonders what could be so interesting in a 20 year's old life that warrants that much money?

In the autobiography Rooney denies the commonly held view that he is a hothead. " I think I’m a quiet, sensitive, retiring shy person.” Methinks these books are going to be tres boring and it is better to stick to George Best. At least he never apologized for visiting massage parlors. Horrors! We are going to find out that Rooney loves Nigella Lawson's cut salads.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Brazil is looking for a new coach as Carlos Alberto Parreira resigned today. I did not think he was going to last too long with Brazil bowing out shockingly in the quarterfinals. The new coach better would be advised to put more of the bonito in the e jogo. Former Real Madrid coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who was in charge of Brazil from 1998 to 2000, and former Sao Paulo and Peru boss Paulo Autuori are the favourites to take over from Parreira.

I am sure Euler will have more in the days to come.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It had to come sooner than later. The elation that swept through South Africa and the African continent after having won the 2010 World Cup with the chance to showcase the new Africa after decades of apartheid in South Africa and the nascent new democracies of many African countries (at least 15 governments after years of despotic rule), has given way to a familiar foe, western skepticism, who are of the opinion that South Africa will have to put in a Herculean effort to pull off the largest spectacle in the world successfully. In fact, there is a widespread belief that other venues are being contemplated, to be on the safe side.

We have to remember that the 2006 World Cup would have been held in South Africa if it had not been for a certain pusillanimous Charles Dempsey of the Oceania Football Federation, the delegate who was pressurized by many European federations, including the German Football Federation and the German media. Dempsey reportedly received threats to his and his family's life. His was a certain vote for South Africa (as instructed by his Federation)but he chose to abstain and the final count was 12-11 in favor of Germany. His vote would have deadlocked the count and Sepp Blatter with his tiebreaker would have voted for South Africa as widely believed. Instead, the continent of Africa experienced one of its bitterest moments of rejection, reflected in the words of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki.

Now we have the same bloc or cabal that are casting aspersions on South Africa's ability to hold the 2010 World Cup. It is a familiar refrain echoed of all developing countries that are given the rare opportunity to host an event of this magnitude. South Africa does not have the infrastructure, the roads, the airports, hotels, and the stadia to host such a huge event. It has a high murder rate that will frighten off soccer fans. Corruption is endemic in government and is a victim to complex tribal politics. Unspoken in many of the reports that express this skepticism but which might just become an issue with the Euro cabal is the specter of AIDS and its prevalence in South Africa. This will be touted as an economic issue, i.e., South Africa should concentrate its resources on containing this problem, before becoming a health issue to the many tourists who will come to South Africa to watch the World Cup. Look for all these health advisories to come out in the next couple of years that will warn tourists of anything and eveything from the Hanta virus to the guineaworm.

So it is no wonder that these skeptics are considering alternate venues like Australia, the USA, and Mexico. Sepp Blatter being the consummate politician is up for elections in 2007. He needs the votes of the 57 African countries to continue on. Look for him to bag those votes and then start sounding like a doubting thomas if South Africa has a few hiccoughs on the way to hosting the World Cup.

This dog eat dog mentality is not just prevalent in this North- South divide, but it is true even for less fortunate European countries. Exactly two years ago, Greece was being pilloried by the IOC for not being upto the mark in preparation for the Summer Olympics. But Greece pulled it off and magnificently, I might add.

The IHT has more >>

Posted by Shourin Roy at 12:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Tilam is right about the difficulties that lie ahead when you want change in soccer rules with a bureaucratic organization such as FIFA. There are some rule changes that seem so intuitive it is a wonder that FIFA ignores them. The darker interpretation is that FIFA allows this culture of 'benign neglect' deliberately to bestow the World Cup and the power it brings to certain favored countries.

I can't get into the comments section of Tilam's post (technical glitch? FIFA strking back at soccerblog?). But I urge you to read it and get pretty serious about the rules that need changing. If we can get enough people on board then FIFA might just listen to us. We always keep hyping soccer as the global game, and that means,we as the people, exercise enough say in the matter. In the words of Liam Gallagher, "So I start a revolution from my bed."

My personal choices:
1) Video replay, minimizes all those bad decisions and consequent make up calls. Not an expensive technology, easily implementable.
2) Two referees: Two pairs of eyes are better than one. This gives us the 'eyes at the back of the head' option. A referee positioned at the plane of the ball and the other one that stands behind the ball. Liken it to a camera placed lateral to where the action is taking place and another that looks forward. The roles of the referees switch on a counterattack. The linesmen concentrate on the corner kicks and offside.
3) Revolving substitutions: Ribery went out and Trezeguet was brought in. All Ribery needed was a breather. He was making things happen till then. I really think soccer games should not rely so much on substitutes. It becomes a crapshoot for coaches. They are hailed as geniuses if the substitutions work and morons if they don't. Either way it leaves very little margin for error and/ or creativity.

Other rules like modifying the offside rules and the sin bins are what I would call 'creature of habit' rules. The offside concept seems very ingrained in the soccer world. Plus, it appears to be the one rule that gives soccer the badge of honor. As Eduardo Galeano puts it, "It was disloyal to score goals behind the adversary's back."

The one thing that World Cup 2006 should convince lovers of soccer is, it is high time to bring a change in the rules.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 2:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

The World Cup win for Italy means many things to that country. A morale booster to citizens who are dismayed and disgusted at the match fixing scandal in the Serie and want the league to be cleaned up. The victory has thrown a lifeline to Romano Prodi's fragile coalition government. It has also probably taken away a potentially nasty backbiting fight between Silvio Berlusconi and his Forza Italia members with the center-left Prodi government, who see the Serie investgation as being motivated by gotcha politics.

However, there is also the good news that the World Cup actually increases the winner's GDP by .7%. This comes from a study done by ABN Amro analysts. JP Morgan estimates that consumption in countries that won the World Cup rose more than the EU averages. Italy's GDP is estimated at an anemic 1.5% and it brings up the rear in the EU along with France and Germany. Retail sales and Industrial production also lag behind most EU countries. So this is good news for a stagnant economy.

From the Economist, Jul 15th 2006 (Subscription needed).

Posted by Shourin Roy at 7:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Steve McLaren: Steve
Sven Goran Erickson: Sven

Steve: Sir, Rooney just stamped on Carvalho's goolies
Sven: With the left or the right metatarsal? Quick, which one?
Steve: The left one.
Sven: Good, those goolies can hurt those poor toesies like the damnation. Don't want that ogre, Ferguson busting my goolies.
Steve: Sir, SIr, there seems to...... (cell phone rings)
Sven (fishes cell phone out of pocket): Wait a minnit.
Yes, Nancy.... yeah... yeah... don't forget the bratwurst. Got that. I suppose any supermarket will have it. Oh! That bratwurst. Naughty girl. He he he he he he he he he he he. Tooodle-ums. Got a damn match to catch.
Sven: Where were we?
Steve: Sir, they've sent Rooney off.
Sven: Wait a minnit! Is this the same game.
Steve: He pushed Ronaldo with some force, sir.
Sven: Rooney did that? Pushed fat Ronaldo. What do we do now?
Steve: Cristiano Ronaldo.
Sven: Wait a minnit. Aren't we playing Brazil in the finals?
Steve: No sir, this is the quarters and we're playing Portugal.
Sven: But we're supposed to be playing Brazil in the finals. Terry Butcher said so. And The Mirror. Ladbrokes too.
(Brings his voice down to a whisper). I do have money on the frogs though. But what now?
Steve: Peter
Sven: Who?
Steve: Crouch.
Sven (light dawning): Crouching Peter, Airborne Lions. Brilliant!
Steve: Well yes. We did that against Paraguay, and Trinidad, and Sweden, and Ecuador. The 4-5-1, remember sir?
Sven: 4-5-1. I like that. Reminds me of a song. Syd Barrett?
Steve (stiffly): It was before my time.
Sven: Really. Look Steve, I really don't want a song to get in the way. We still have Lampard and Gerrard on the field, don't we?
Steve: Yes, and they don't appear to know what they're doing.
Sven: That's the cunning plan. Lampard softens them up with the heavy artillery. While Gerrard slips one in the fusillade.
Steve: You can't do it with one ball, sir.
Sven: I should have never used fusillade. Barrage. Is that better.
Steve (stiffly): Are you implying I never got an education?
Sven: Here we go again. I don't care whether you went to Wrexham Poly. Does Lampard look good blasting the ball?
Steve: Yes, but his mechanics are a bit off. Maybe we should get Theo.
Sven: Who?
Steve: Walcott, sir.
Sven: Ah! The bloke who sits at the end of the bench, looking like a... looking like a....
Steve (helpfully): Hood ornament.
Sven (frowns): Is that a racial slur? There are laws back home for such things. (whispers). Just because he does'nt look like you and me.
Steve (stiffly): 'Tis a figure of speech, sir.
Sven: OK. Don't go Oxford on me now, not when we have a match on.
Steve: Well sir, we did leave out Darren Bent and Jermaine Defoe for him.
Sven: Well Steve, that is because the tabloids had me down as a milquetoast. I wanted to thumb my nose at them. Remember?
Steve: Becks just left. He is weeping on the stands.
Sven: I blame Julius Ceaser. These 34 year olds, what don't they want? I like Nancy but give me Posh anytime (gets lost in a reverie).
Steve: Sir!
Sven: What. Is it important?
Steve: Sir, the match is over. We lost on penalty kicks.
Sven: Why don't they tell me these things? Isn't this the age of the information super highway. Where was the Daily Mail on this one?
Steve: I dunno. But it was a pleasure serving under you, sir. I did learn a lot. Honest to goodness, I did. On my mother. What are you doing, sir?
Sven: What do you think I am doing?
Steve: It looks like.... it looks like... like...like.... you are shoving your head up your arse, sir.
Sven: Yes, Steve. I am preparing for the next season. Wherever that maybe. Saudi Arabia, Mali, maybe even the Aleutian Islands.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Arjen "ball hog" Robben; Fabio "diver" Grosso; Frank "miss by a mile" Lampard
Cristiano "rooney red card " Ronaldo; Johny "poor sportsman" Heitinga; Zinedine "headbutt" Zidane
"van Bommel" Figo; Daniel "hatchetman" De Rossi; Marco "racist" Materazzi
Mateja"decapitate" Kezman; Thierry "flopper" Henry; Zelko "fumblehands" Kalac

Disagree with the ones listed here? List more?

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

Alex Bellos writing for the Financial Times tells us:

Instead of basing the team around the top players’ strengths, Parreira’s solution was to try to fit in as many of the stars as he could. In order to do this, he had created the so-called “magic quartet” of Ronaldo, Adriano, Ronaldinho and Kaká.

Indeed, the whole concept of the magic quartet was based on a fallacy. This was the formation that brought Brazil success in last year’s Confederations Cup. Yet in that competition the foursome included Robinho instead of Ronaldo. In Brazil’s best performance in the World Cup qualifiers, against Chile, Ronaldinho was absent and Robinho took his place.

He's right. Parreira tried to piece his team together like LEGO blocks. Untested, inexperienced, and ultimately, inneffective. What a disaster.

Do you remember the World Cup when the Brazilian team spent most of their practice time playing water-polo? I believe they won. Maybe it was 1994 or 2002? Gotta get that team spirit going, or else!

Posted by Christian at 6:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you haven't read Tony Karon's TIME article, you should. Tony Karon opens the door behind Zidane's outburst in the most insightful column we've read on the subject yet.

I'm still trying to understand.

Posted by Christian at 4:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Enjoy...

Posted by Christian at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Roberto Donadoni- Azzuris new coach

With Marcelo Lippi stepping down, the job at the helm has gone to Livorno's manager, Roberto Donadoni. He is a former AC Milan player who won 63 caps playing for Italy and was part of the 1990 and 1994 World Cup squads.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 5:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The next generation of soccer players, Team USA

Tim Howard (GK) Manchester United
Jonathan Spector (D) Charlton Athletic
Jay DeMerit (D) Watford
Oguchi Onyewu (D) Standard Leige
Bobby Convey (M) Reading
Clint Dempsey (M) New England Revolution
DaMarcus Beasley (M) PSV Eindhoven
Alecko Eskandrian (F) DC United
Eddie Johnson (F) Kansas City

He could even persuade Freddy Adu to stay.

If Klinsi comes on as US coach, then he will have a bunch of very young and talented players to work with, ready to make their mark on US Soccer. We might be able to to do what this overhyped US team failed to do this World Cup; make ourselves respectable in the world of soccer just in time for South Africa 2010. With Klinsi around, the US team that often looked lost when they got the ball this World Cup, will know how to attack. We will definitely see more goals than the one scored by Clint Demspey.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 3:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This World Cup saw goals at a premium (2.3 goals/ match), a record number of yellow and red cards, and diving as a universal disease. Even the Africans tried their luck at selling it to the referees and succeeded. Pimpong flopped when Onyewu barely touched him, and Marcus Merk bought it in the Ghana vs USA match. Steven Appiah scored the PK and sent the US home. Much of these dives and flops happen because that first goal is so important. It overwhlemingly favors that team about 90% of the times. The 5-4-1 formation stifles any attack unless it happens to be the Serbia and Montenegro defence. Chances of scoring are now far and few in between. The soccer player of today not only has to learn his soccer skills but he is also a lawyer learning how to bamboozle the jury or in this case the judge into believing that his client has been victimized. There is a great video of Cristiano Ronaldo diving onto the ground and while doing so he turns to look at the referee with stricken eyes. He was virtually begging the referee for a foul. It was so pathetic. Ronaldo scored one goal through a PK for all that fancy footwork.

So lets see what we can do. In many matches we noticed that the pace considerably picked up when the team lost a player due to a red card. In fact, the soccer seems to become far more free flowing. Portugal picked up after Costinha was booted out in the Netherlands game. The same happened for Netherlands when von Bronckhorst was evicted. For long spells the same happened in the Italy vs the US game when De Rossi was chucked out. The US looked good when Larrionda decided that he wanted to see Bocanegra's back. The reason was that every player was forced to give up the conventional striker-midfield- defender role and play something close to total football. The midfield was less clogged up and there were more opportunities to break free.

> So let us reduce the number of players. Let us go one better. There should be nine per side. This means that the players will have to be protean. They have their strengths be it on defence or attack or controlling the flow of play but they can switch to any mode on contingency. Having a 4-3-1 does not sound so bad because it means that we can be versatile with more space in the middle with more overlapping. Imagine what a Riquelme could have done with that space?

> To offset fatigue, the number of substitutions should increase. In fact, there should be no limits to substitutions. It has to be a dynamic flow and go. You can send in or off three at a time. In fact, Beckham who disappears for 89 minutes in the game could be brought on in free kick or corner kick situations. This is absolutely tenable because Beckham very rarely creates free or corner kick situations. Having Beckham collapse into tears was so painful to watch. Here was a player who did not understand why he had to play 90 minutes of a game. You could easily bring him on for a couple of minutes and he would do as much damage the entire match. Meanwhile a flying Aaron Lennon would have created about 15 free kick situations.

> Let us get the coaches involved shall we? You often times see Big Phil Scolari getting up and gesturing impotently with his hands. He wants to give instructions but he can't. There are no time outs. A limit of two should suffice. The coach has seen enough that his attack is not going anywhere or that his defence is giving too much space to the attack and calls a timeout. Regroup and refocus. This takes care of those spells where soccer seems to be going nowhere. Or those Frank Lampard moments where the blasting of the ball has a negative correlation to the distance and the target it needs to achieve. Sven if he was the counselling type could have just said, "Steady on son, just do what you did at Chelsea."

> Video review. When Fabio Grosso dives and the Italians are awarded a penalty kick against the Socceroos, then Guus Hiddink is entitled to a review. Or when Malouda sold the foul to Horacio Elizondo against Materazzi that led to Zidane's PK, then Lippi should have been allowed to roll tape. Or a goal awarded when it was clearly an offside, eg., Thierry Henry against Brazil, when Viera was offside. Or when the expulsion of a player happens on a dubious foul. Two reviews per game. This is not too much to ask for.The problem is that the referee is the final arbitrator in soccer using very subjective measures which is truly frightening. He rarely consults with the other linesman, has no video review, and magnifies or misses fouls left, right, and center.

> A referee runs on an average 7 miles a match and he is usually a lot older than the players. If God could be anything it would be a soccer referee, having to be omniscient as well as omnipotent. Not possible in this day and age, when Theo Walcott can run the 100 meters in less than 11 seconds. We also cannot hope to have a PierLuigi Collina like personality that can bark something from one corner of the field and have every player run for their lives. So lets give the referee a running partner. Another referee. 18 players and two referees on the field sounds like a proportional amount. Of course, it would never do to have Graham Poll and Valentin Ivanov on the same field. Having 54 yellow cards and 15 red cards and still have 20 players on the field would stretch the limits of human imagination and Timothy Leary.

> Lets make the ball less aerodynamic. Everybody wants to join the space club. We had so many balls sailing over goal it seemed like every country's space program wanted to outdo the other. Leg strength has gone up not down. We have balls that shift weight if you look at them funny. Lets give soccer balls a reality check. The idea is not to hit home runs and look chagrined after that. The idea is to get the ball into the back of the net and look happy that your high school knowledge of Newtonian physics stood you in good stead. So Adidas lets get back to the ball of the 1970's. That is when the ball stuck to your feet and was not an unruly dog having to be yanked back by a leash all the time.

Thew, Tilam, SteveA, Dave, Christian, Zach, and the rest, please throw in your ideas too. Cruzeiro and Humberto, Brasil and Argentina will be back. Thew had mentioned the offside rule and maybe something could be done about it as in the present circumstances the rule seems quite contrived, and it should be changed to benefit the striker. If the pass beats man to man coverage, maybe it should be allowed? After all it is a test of reaction time and then a foot race. If you are quicker why should you suffer?

Posted by Shourin Roy at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

FIFA has opened its investigation into affaire le coup de boule. Zidane has been asked to submit a written statement by the 18th of July to FIFA and a copy given to Materazzi for his response. Meanwhile, Zidane through his press statements expressing contrition over the incident has been hailed by the French media. Most of FRance has forgiven Zizou and Jacques Chirac has seen an uptick in his favorability ratings with his support of Zizou.

Even his harshest critics, the sports daily L'Equipe that had lashed out at Zizou asking how he could explain his act to the millions of children all over the world, turned conciliatory in their coverage.

Posted by Shourin Roy at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

Marco Materazzi is just another player that seems to be determined that the game of soccer should take a dive or become the game of buttheads. For an example you should look no further than Paolo Di Canio and the Irreducibli at Lazio that worship him.

But the rot starts from the top. From coaches like Luis Aragones and Oleg Blokhin who make openly racist statements. To the far right politicos like Jean Marie Le Pen who complained that it was hard to see what was so "French" about the 1998 World Cup team. Some politicians in Italy were not merely content with winning the World Cup, as we find out with Roberto Calderoli, the former minister of reform and a member of the right wing National Alliance Party, who said that Italy had vanquished a French team made up of, "Negroes, Communists, and Muslims." The Jewish quarter in Rome was desecrated by Swastikas during post game festivities.

Individual soccer federations are the worst, preferring to turn a blind eye to the problem or at most issuing a piffling fine to the soccer player that just takes away what they earn in an hour. The player learns nothing from these slap on the wrist punitive measures. FIFA also has been notoriously lax about enforcing the non-discriminatory policies.

Hmmm. Marco Ma