On the road to South Africa two European squads join Netherlands and put their hands on the qualification.
100 per cent victorious, they both produce an exquisite football, but with same important differences, England influenced by the coach Fabio Capello and Spain by the crushing style of Barcelona.
England
More pragmatic, always with high concentration on defense, uses a direct style of play to win matches.
Best: The midfield duo-Gerrard/Lampard, once called unmatchable by fans all over the world they are now essential to the only midfield that rivals with… Spain.
Worst: The fullbacks, neither Ashley Cole – that seems to have long lost is sparkle – neither Glen Johnson are truly what the doctor orders.
Spain
With a more passing style, they have on ball possession the first weapon to win games. The European champions are once again with high hopes.
Best: Like England, the dynamic duo on the center, Xavi the brain, Iniesta the pace. They bring all the show they give at Barcelona to the national squad.
Worst: The defense, I can’t name one Spanish defender without frowning my eyes. Obviously when you have the ball that’s not much of a trouble...
Also congrets to Ghana and Paraguay. They’re booth with assured presence in South Africa 2010.
On the other side what to say about self-proclaimed giants from Portugal… and France… and Argentina.
Friday 11 September 2009
Heads or tails? England or Spain?
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Tic-Tac… one week till Champions League
So the time is here, CL is kicking off in a week! If from this point on you’ll be spending 24/7 of your time thinking whose better… who will win… who will fall and who shall rise to the occasion, then you’re a true fan of football.
If not… get the hell out of here!!!
Now that we have the room full of real fans, who do you think will be better?? And worst??
Entering as champions, Barcelona still seems pretty comfortable on their offensive football, but with Inter performing better they shall face a real test in the group stage. For the big four things appear to be pretty easy on the first phase, even Man.Utd and Liverpool lack of form shouldn’t be a problem. Juventus, Porto and Lyon are also hot favorites to go thru.
But on the other side, giants like AC Milan, Real Madrid and B.Munich need to raise their respective games. From the Italian squad the real question is to know how much time will Leonardo get before being sacked, on R.Madrid we still need to understand if Kaka, CR9, Raul, Benzema and the rest of the guys can play like a team, German side Munich is trying to find a new identity under van Gaal guidance, Ribery and Toni are not happy, but Robben and Gomez are making good starts, so let’s wait and see.
Tip: Whatever you bet, one thing is sure, fun is back from one week forward, clock’s ticking starting on 19:45 today.
Monday 7 September 2009
Why Kaka is different from Messi and Ronaldo
Funny thing about the so called best three in the world, while Kaka put’s consistent and awesome performances both in the club and on the national squad, the two wingers are in very commonly criticized by their displays when playing for caps and extremely attacked by their countryman’s.
Obviously, we can’t point their lack of will or suddenly loss of talent – because nobody wants more a win then the players that step up to field. So, what make the difference?
1 - Kaka plays with a bunch of players that are also world top stars – Júlio César, Maicon, Lúcio, Robinho or Luís Fabiano are in the elite of their respective positions – and while Messi and Ronaldo have some teammates that are also on top – Kun Agüero, Javier Mascherano, Ricardo Carvalho or Deco – all eyes are on this two stars. For media and opponent defenses when playing against Portugal or Argentina will basically try to stop CR9 and Messi – if you’re well succeed, you’ll secure at least one point.
2 – The position on field, Kaka is an old fashion playmaker, always on center field and all the players are eager to give him the ball, they now he’ll push the right cord to put the team in play. On the other end as wingers that usually go to the box, passing the ball to the Portuguese or Argentinean means the end of the road, they rarely pass the ball – or they score or they’ll put it thru the end line – adding more drama to Diego Maradona and Carlos Queiroz, because they’re both on a no-goal streak.
3 – A different mentality an approach to the game that makes Kaka a leader on the pitch and that tends to make Messi and Ronaldo a split factor. When things go poorly the Brazilian his the first to star on defending and trying to serve the other players with scoring opportunities, the two prima donnas never defend and all they’ll do when the team is in trouble is to try and solve everything on a sole way, marking direct free kicks from the center field, aiming for direct corners and other lame moves like that.
Tip: Without a doubt three of the best in the world but what can really explain Kaka’s high performance in Brazil, and Messi’s and Ronaldo’s poor ones on theirs national squads? We’ve heard Deco becoming offended on the Portuguese football chairman said they’ve increased the prize money, but we can’t stop from wondering…
Obviously, we can’t point their lack of will or suddenly loss of talent – because nobody wants more a win then the players that step up to field. So, what make the difference?
1 - Kaka plays with a bunch of players that are also world top stars – Júlio César, Maicon, Lúcio, Robinho or Luís Fabiano are in the elite of their respective positions – and while Messi and Ronaldo have some teammates that are also on top – Kun Agüero, Javier Mascherano, Ricardo Carvalho or Deco – all eyes are on this two stars. For media and opponent defenses when playing against Portugal or Argentina will basically try to stop CR9 and Messi – if you’re well succeed, you’ll secure at least one point.
2 – The position on field, Kaka is an old fashion playmaker, always on center field and all the players are eager to give him the ball, they now he’ll push the right cord to put the team in play. On the other end as wingers that usually go to the box, passing the ball to the Portuguese or Argentinean means the end of the road, they rarely pass the ball – or they score or they’ll put it thru the end line – adding more drama to Diego Maradona and Carlos Queiroz, because they’re both on a no-goal streak.
3 – A different mentality an approach to the game that makes Kaka a leader on the pitch and that tends to make Messi and Ronaldo a split factor. When things go poorly the Brazilian his the first to star on defending and trying to serve the other players with scoring opportunities, the two prima donnas never defend and all they’ll do when the team is in trouble is to try and solve everything on a sole way, marking direct free kicks from the center field, aiming for direct corners and other lame moves like that.
Tip: Without a doubt three of the best in the world but what can really explain Kaka’s high performance in Brazil, and Messi’s and Ronaldo’s poor ones on theirs national squads? We’ve heard Deco becoming offended on the Portuguese football chairman said they’ve increased the prize money, but we can’t stop from wondering…
Sunday 6 September 2009
Kaka seals the deal
The importance of the Argentina 1 – Brazil 3 victory:
1 – This is the first Brazilian victory against the pampas side on Argentinean soil of the XXI century. The last one was in 1976.
2 – This allows Brazil to bookmark their flight to South Africa. Now they can use the rest of the games to show the world some new talents.
3 – They put Argentina in a fragile spot to qualify for the World Cup, the alvi-celeste are in fourth the last spot for direct access to the World Cup. They’ll face away Paraguay and Uruguay, receive Peru, hard times for Maradona.
4 – For the second time on their history Argentina loses a home game on a World Cup qualifying match. The first was in 1993 against Colombia (trashed by 5-0).
5 – As players Dunga and Maradona faced each other nine times, with the Brazilian losing sixth and only winning one. New story beginning here…
What an unbelievable performance from the best playmaker in the world, against a packed stadium in Rosario (Santa Fé), Kaka leaded is side to an unforgettable victory against long time rivals Argentina.
Although the center-back Luisão (the so called basketball player by Maradona), one-of-the-most-wanted striker’s Luís Fabiano 2x made the goals, it´s the number 8 from Real Madrid that played all the cords, every time he touched the ball he’d carry the game to the opposite half, produce a score opportunity or win a foul.
With Messi and Ronaldo struggling to go to South Africa maybe the Brazilian as gained points in the fight for best of the world.
1 – This is the first Brazilian victory against the pampas side on Argentinean soil of the XXI century. The last one was in 1976.
2 – This allows Brazil to bookmark their flight to South Africa. Now they can use the rest of the games to show the world some new talents.
3 – They put Argentina in a fragile spot to qualify for the World Cup, the alvi-celeste are in fourth the last spot for direct access to the World Cup. They’ll face away Paraguay and Uruguay, receive Peru, hard times for Maradona.
4 – For the second time on their history Argentina loses a home game on a World Cup qualifying match. The first was in 1993 against Colombia (trashed by 5-0).
5 – As players Dunga and Maradona faced each other nine times, with the Brazilian losing sixth and only winning one. New story beginning here…
What an unbelievable performance from the best playmaker in the world, against a packed stadium in Rosario (Santa Fé), Kaka leaded is side to an unforgettable victory against long time rivals Argentina.
Although the center-back Luisão (the so called basketball player by Maradona), one-of-the-most-wanted striker’s Luís Fabiano 2x made the goals, it´s the number 8 from Real Madrid that played all the cords, every time he touched the ball he’d carry the game to the opposite half, produce a score opportunity or win a foul.
With Messi and Ronaldo struggling to go to South Africa maybe the Brazilian as gained points in the fight for best of the world.
Friday 4 September 2009
The gentle art of making enemies by R.Madrid
Maybe inspired by Faith No More, the ‘merengues’ seem eager to make enemies a little bit all over Europe.
Every times Florentino Perez takes over the transfers of the Spanish side tend to dominate newspapers all over the world, but the real story is not the money he spent on players like Figo or Zidane or in second galactic generation Ronaldo and Kaka but the man’s that are being put away.
This weekend we saw funny things from some of those players.
Arjen Robben scored two goals in his debut for B.Munich and against German Champions Wolfsburgo. The winger then said: “I hope we find R.Madrid in the Champions League and I can score a double again”.
Wesley Sneijder – sharing team with Samuel Eto’o, Walter Samuel or Esteban Cambiasso – made is premier on Inters starting eleven and according to José Mourinho will be a cornerstone on the ‘nerazurri’ side for Serie A and CL’s campaign. After a cracking performance on AC Milan’s trashing said: “Real as treated me like a little boy, they don’t know how to treat the players and even the coach doesn’t seem to have any influence”.
On the other side of the San Siro battle was Klaas-Jan Huntelaar a young striker that also seems eager to face Madrid and score, on France we have Gabriel Heinze, on Portugal Javier Saviola and Javier Garcia, in England Michel Salgado – the one that seems to have parted way in mutual accordance. That’s the truth wherever they look, the ‘merengues’ will find a swear enemy. Well, they can always look to Barcelona… nowadays there’s no former R.Madrid in the ‘blaugrana’. Well but they don’t need that to hate Real Madrid.
Every times Florentino Perez takes over the transfers of the Spanish side tend to dominate newspapers all over the world, but the real story is not the money he spent on players like Figo or Zidane or in second galactic generation Ronaldo and Kaka but the man’s that are being put away.
This weekend we saw funny things from some of those players.
Arjen Robben scored two goals in his debut for B.Munich and against German Champions Wolfsburgo. The winger then said: “I hope we find R.Madrid in the Champions League and I can score a double again”.
Wesley Sneijder – sharing team with Samuel Eto’o, Walter Samuel or Esteban Cambiasso – made is premier on Inters starting eleven and according to José Mourinho will be a cornerstone on the ‘nerazurri’ side for Serie A and CL’s campaign. After a cracking performance on AC Milan’s trashing said: “Real as treated me like a little boy, they don’t know how to treat the players and even the coach doesn’t seem to have any influence”.
On the other side of the San Siro battle was Klaas-Jan Huntelaar a young striker that also seems eager to face Madrid and score, on France we have Gabriel Heinze, on Portugal Javier Saviola and Javier Garcia, in England Michel Salgado – the one that seems to have parted way in mutual accordance. That’s the truth wherever they look, the ‘merengues’ will find a swear enemy. Well, they can always look to Barcelona… nowadays there’s no former R.Madrid in the ‘blaugrana’. Well but they don’t need that to hate Real Madrid.
Thursday 3 September 2009
Try to stop me from laughing Chelsea out of market
I’me not a blues fan, so it’s easier for me to get some fun out of the fact that no new man will be arriving to Stamford Bridge before January 2011. Rules are for everyone, not just for suckers Mr. Abramovich.
Obviously I sympathize with Chelsea’s fans – I would be extremely annoyed if that happened to my club – still this is a lesson they won’t soon forget. And everything because of a unknown 18 years old Gael Kukuta. The young man as parted away from French side Lens due to Chelsea’s pressure.
Besides the punishment to club and player (682.000 pounds fine) there are some aspects we need to consider and that might get Chelsea out of trouble. French laws doesn’t allow under 18 years old to celebrate pro contracts with French teams, what opens space to think that Chelsea simple took an amateur player with no monetary obligations to Lens and shipped him to England.
Tip: Well let’s see what lawyers can do and on the other side stay calm blues fans: if Zhirkov is your only real buy do you really want new players?
Obviously I sympathize with Chelsea’s fans – I would be extremely annoyed if that happened to my club – still this is a lesson they won’t soon forget. And everything because of a unknown 18 years old Gael Kukuta. The young man as parted away from French side Lens due to Chelsea’s pressure.
Besides the punishment to club and player (682.000 pounds fine) there are some aspects we need to consider and that might get Chelsea out of trouble. French laws doesn’t allow under 18 years old to celebrate pro contracts with French teams, what opens space to think that Chelsea simple took an amateur player with no monetary obligations to Lens and shipped him to England.
Tip: Well let’s see what lawyers can do and on the other side stay calm blues fans: if Zhirkov is your only real buy do you really want new players?
Tuesday 1 September 2009
Who made the best last day buy in the Premier?
Few things pop into my mind after today [lack of] action. Defenses truly on top while only a couple of good strikers made their way into the Premier. Besides the ones I talked earlier, I single out Ivan Klasnic, loaned to Bolton and quick response from Tottenham on snatching Kranjcar from Portsmouth and replacing long-term injury Modric. Nice welcomes to the British fields are posted to Lovenkrands, signed with championship side Newcastle and new Scottish League add Jérome Rothen, from PSG to Rangers, both experienced but very capable players. Look out for young Sno on loan from Ajax.
Unfortunately, rumors of Gignac and Ribéry to Man.Utd are over, Liverpool still seems needy, while the madness stops at Man.City. Everton made a good trade from a relatively good centre back to a firm eleven man from Dutch national. So, trades are over, let’s talk again at the beginning of the year.
Complete list of last day transfers in Great Britain according to BBC Sports:
Radanfah Abu Bakr [unattached - Swansea]
Obi Anoruo [Wrexham - Newtown] Loan
Mickael Antoine-Curier [Dundee - Hamilton Academicals]
Adam Barton [Preston - Crawley] Loan
Tal Ben Haim [Manchester City - Portsmouth] Undisclosed
Hameur Bouazza [unattached - Blackpool} Free
Leigh Bromby [Sheffield United - Leeds] Undisclosed
David Button [Tottenham - Crewe]
Mark Brown [Celtic - Kilmarnock] Loan
Sean Canham [Notts County - Hayes & Yeading]
David Carney [Sheffield United - FC Twente] Undisclosed
Danny Collins [Sunderland - Stoke] £2.75m
Dominic Collins [Preston - Crawley] Loan
James Collins [West Ham - Aston Villa] Undisclosed
Jamie Cook [Crawley - Oxford] Undisclosed
Sam Cox [Tottenham - Cheltenham] Loan
Aaron Davies [Nottingham Forest - Brighton] Loan
Claude Davis [unattached - Crystal Palace]
Carlos Edwards [Sunderland - Ipswich] Undisclosed
Abdou El-Kholti [unattached - Hayes & Yeading] Free
Alain Emerson [Crusaders - Dungannon Swifts] Free
Stuart Fleetwood [Charlton - Exeter] Loan
Lewis Haldane [Bristol Rovers - Port Vale] Loan
Johnny Heitinga [Atletico Madrid - Everton] £6m
Luke Holden [Rhyl - Charlton] Loan
Oscar Jansson [Tottenham - Exeter] Loan
Joe Lamplough [unattached - Mansfield] Non-contract
Grant Leadbitter [Sunderland - Ipswich] Undisclosed
Ivan Klasnic [Nantes - Bolton] Loan
Nico Kranjcar [Portsmouth - Tottenham] Undisclosed
Tom Lees [Leeds - Accrington] Loan
Peter Lovenkrands [unattached - Newcastle] Free
Sean Mackle [unattached - Portadown]
John Martin [Linfield - Crusaders] Free
Clayton McDonald [Manchester City - Walsall] Loan
Leon McKenzie [unattached - Charlton] Free
Yassin Moutaouakil [Charlton - Motherwell] Loan
David Nugent [Portsmouth - Burnley] Loan
Darren O'Dea [Celtic - Reading] Loan
Michael Poke [Southampton - Torquay] Free
Kris Renton [Norwich - Brechin] Loan
Jerome Rothen [Paris St Germain - Rangers] Loan
Alvaro Saborio [FC Sion - Bristol City] Loan
Danny Schofield [Yeovil - Millwall] Loan
Ibrahima Sonko [Stoke - Hull City] Loan
Davide Somma [unattached - Leeds] Free
Evander Sno [Ajax - Bristol City] Loan
Blair Sturrock [unattached - Mansfield]
Teemu Tanio [Sunderland - Birmingham] Loan
Borja Valero [West Brom - Real Mallorca] Loan
Ben Watson [Wigan - QPR] Loan
Mike Williamson [Watford - Portsmouth] Undisc
Hassan Yebda [Benfica - Portsmouth] Loan
Unfortunately, rumors of Gignac and Ribéry to Man.Utd are over, Liverpool still seems needy, while the madness stops at Man.City. Everton made a good trade from a relatively good centre back to a firm eleven man from Dutch national. So, trades are over, let’s talk again at the beginning of the year.
Complete list of last day transfers in Great Britain according to BBC Sports:
Radanfah Abu Bakr [unattached - Swansea]
Obi Anoruo [Wrexham - Newtown] Loan
Mickael Antoine-Curier [Dundee - Hamilton Academicals]
Adam Barton [Preston - Crawley] Loan
Tal Ben Haim [Manchester City - Portsmouth] Undisclosed
Hameur Bouazza [unattached - Blackpool} Free
Leigh Bromby [Sheffield United - Leeds] Undisclosed
David Button [Tottenham - Crewe]
Mark Brown [Celtic - Kilmarnock] Loan
Sean Canham [Notts County - Hayes & Yeading]
David Carney [Sheffield United - FC Twente] Undisclosed
Danny Collins [Sunderland - Stoke] £2.75m
Dominic Collins [Preston - Crawley] Loan
James Collins [West Ham - Aston Villa] Undisclosed
Jamie Cook [Crawley - Oxford] Undisclosed
Sam Cox [Tottenham - Cheltenham] Loan
Aaron Davies [Nottingham Forest - Brighton] Loan
Claude Davis [unattached - Crystal Palace]
Carlos Edwards [Sunderland - Ipswich] Undisclosed
Abdou El-Kholti [unattached - Hayes & Yeading] Free
Alain Emerson [Crusaders - Dungannon Swifts] Free
Stuart Fleetwood [Charlton - Exeter] Loan
Lewis Haldane [Bristol Rovers - Port Vale] Loan
Johnny Heitinga [Atletico Madrid - Everton] £6m
Luke Holden [Rhyl - Charlton] Loan
Oscar Jansson [Tottenham - Exeter] Loan
Joe Lamplough [unattached - Mansfield] Non-contract
Grant Leadbitter [Sunderland - Ipswich] Undisclosed
Ivan Klasnic [Nantes - Bolton] Loan
Nico Kranjcar [Portsmouth - Tottenham] Undisclosed
Tom Lees [Leeds - Accrington] Loan
Peter Lovenkrands [unattached - Newcastle] Free
Sean Mackle [unattached - Portadown]
John Martin [Linfield - Crusaders] Free
Clayton McDonald [Manchester City - Walsall] Loan
Leon McKenzie [unattached - Charlton] Free
Yassin Moutaouakil [Charlton - Motherwell] Loan
David Nugent [Portsmouth - Burnley] Loan
Darren O'Dea [Celtic - Reading] Loan
Michael Poke [Southampton - Torquay] Free
Kris Renton [Norwich - Brechin] Loan
Jerome Rothen [Paris St Germain - Rangers] Loan
Alvaro Saborio [FC Sion - Bristol City] Loan
Danny Schofield [Yeovil - Millwall] Loan
Ibrahima Sonko [Stoke - Hull City] Loan
Davide Somma [unattached - Leeds] Free
Evander Sno [Ajax - Bristol City] Loan
Blair Sturrock [unattached - Mansfield]
Teemu Tanio [Sunderland - Birmingham] Loan
Borja Valero [West Brom - Real Mallorca] Loan
Ben Watson [Wigan - QPR] Loan
Mike Williamson [Watford - Portsmouth] Undisc
Hassan Yebda [Benfica - Portsmouth] Loan
Defense on top on market closure… or just wait and see?
With Heitinga coming to the toffees, Da Costa on his way to the hammers, it seems only Stoke is getting some real offensive solutions on the late transfers. I pick up those three names, because they are assured wins for the Premier.
The Dutch defender still needs to fix some problems on the contract, but Everton’s board shouldn’t fail on getting a good centre-back, that adds quality on offensive air balls and that’s got a powerful outside the box kick. Heitinga is looking for a new place to settle and this seems to be between the toffees and Wolfsburg. He can also play as defensive midfielder or right back.
From the Portuguese the best thing to say is that when he appeared he was tipped as ‘the next Ricardo Carvalho’. But, still young, Da Costa as lost a lot on his move from PSV to Fiorentina, he rarely played and stop being called up to national team. Although that, with the right amount of work he can became a solid centre-back to a mid-table side like Zola’s team.
Of these three highlights, I’ve let my favorite to the end, Uruguayan Diego Arismendi come from unknown side Club Nacional. This 2.6million pounds loan deal will see one of the most talented offensive midfielder of the year to come from South America to the Premier. The one’s that have watched this year’s Libertadores have probably noticed the awesome talent of this 21 old player. Already an international, already with the title of player of the year on Uruguay, already on the Premier League.
Well, but there’s still time to buy some more. Who do you think will appear before 17:00??
The Dutch defender still needs to fix some problems on the contract, but Everton’s board shouldn’t fail on getting a good centre-back, that adds quality on offensive air balls and that’s got a powerful outside the box kick. Heitinga is looking for a new place to settle and this seems to be between the toffees and Wolfsburg. He can also play as defensive midfielder or right back.
From the Portuguese the best thing to say is that when he appeared he was tipped as ‘the next Ricardo Carvalho’. But, still young, Da Costa as lost a lot on his move from PSV to Fiorentina, he rarely played and stop being called up to national team. Although that, with the right amount of work he can became a solid centre-back to a mid-table side like Zola’s team.
Of these three highlights, I’ve let my favorite to the end, Uruguayan Diego Arismendi come from unknown side Club Nacional. This 2.6million pounds loan deal will see one of the most talented offensive midfielder of the year to come from South America to the Premier. The one’s that have watched this year’s Libertadores have probably noticed the awesome talent of this 21 old player. Already an international, already with the title of player of the year on Uruguay, already on the Premier League.
Well, but there’s still time to buy some more. Who do you think will appear before 17:00??
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