Henk Ten Cate will bring attacking verve and a notoriously short temper to Stamford Bridge, writes Daan Schippers. Cate or should it Ten Cate played 21 games for the Edmonton Drillers in the NASL in 1980.
Former Manchester United winger and now Dallas resident, Gordon Hill, chimes in with his thoughts on the dearth of young English talent. What a sight Hill and Steve Coppell were on the wings in Tommy Docherty's Manchester United side of the mid-seventies.
The G14’s response to Michel Platini’s proposals to reshape football in Europe.
Ask fans to name the first Dutch team to win the European Cup and many will blurt out Ajax. However, Feyenoord beat them to it. Here is an abbreviated article on their coach Ernst Happel who also took the Netherlands to the 1978 World Cup Final.
Glenn Moore on the Premiership striker’s best friend – Paul Robinson.
Touch blue (no pun intended) paper and retreat. SFA Chief Gordon Smith chimes in on Old Firm bias.
The surgeries and treatment rooms of Europe are full of football players – so we must have another break for European Championship qualifying. But this time over the next five days there is also the start of the marathon that is South American qualifying. And so this week we start in South America.
The last two World Cups have seen Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay qualify both times with Uruguay moving on through a play off in 2002 after finishing 5th in the ten country group. Uruguay repeated as 5th place finishers two years ago but failed to negotiate a way passed Australia.
Whichever country finishes one behind the four automatic spots two years from now will play the 4th place CONCACAF team rather than New Zealand (sorry that should have read the winner from Oceania).
Winning at home is critically important in any competition but South American World Cup qualifying reinforces just how important it actually is. Tracking back though the 2002 and 2006 qualifying results show that the top four have only lost three games out of their 72 home games and have drawn only 14.
In 2006 the “final” four only lost once at home (Paraguay to Colombia), drew 8 and generated 89 points from a possible total of 108 - 82%; in 2002 two games were lost at home (Ecuador to Argentina, Paraguay to Colombia), six were drawn producing 90 points out of possible 108 – 83%.
Go back a further four years and although World Cup holders Brazil did not have to qualify, the overall outcome was very similar. Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia and Chile all qualified with Argentina unbeaten at home. The others lost four games but three of them were to table topping Argentina. Even so the top four still generated 88 out of a possible 108 points at home (81%).
Argentina are at home to Chile who have former Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa in charge of a competitive game for the first time. Chile made the headlines for all the wrong reasons at the Copa America this past summer and Bielsa has his work cut out if he is to make it to South Africa 2010. He has some very promising youngsters on the threshold of solid international careers but qualification for a World Cup may have to wait another four years.
Brazil start with an away match against Colombia and Ecuador hosts the ever improving Venezuela. Bolivia are preparing very differently for an opening game at sea level against Uruguay and then a home match against Colombia at altitude in midweek. Domestic players are continuing to train at altitude while foreign based players (including DC United’s Jaime Moreno) are working out at lower levels. Peru versus Paraguay is the other game.
European Championship qualifying for next summer’s finals in Switzerland and Austria may give us a first qualifier this weekend to join the co-host nations. However, if it does happen it won’t be from Group A.
The top four countries all face potential banana skin matches. Group leaders Poland have never made it to the Euro finals and are two points clear at the top with three games left. On Saturday they are at home to Kazakhstan, a country they beat 1-0 earlier in qualifying.
Serbia are away to Armenia (in their final four games Serbia plays the bottom three and host Poland in the last round); Finland travels to Belgium – a tricky fixture for Roy Hodgson’s side; Portugal with four draws in their last 5 matches travels to Azerbaijan.
Scotland may lead Group B and may “only” require two wins and a draw to qualify but I have this horrible feeling that this is the weekend (or Wednesday) when it all goes pear shaped. And before I receive any e mails questioning my “Scotchness” let me tell you something. Any Scottish fan over the age of 25 has to be worried or they are brain dead.
Far too many Scottish football revival articles being printed for my liking. For every piece I’ve read I can come up with a heart breaking disappointment. In reverse chronological order – losing 6-0 to Holland Euro 2004 qualifying; knocked out of the 2000 Euro play off by a poor England side; losing to Morocco 3-0 World Cup 1998; Costa Rica, a 1-0 loss WC 1990; 1986 WC scoreless draw against 10-man Uruguay for 89 and a half minutes; Hansen and Miller in a Keystone Cops routine WC 82 in a must win game versus Russia; Iran 1978 1-1 ; losing 2-1 to Spain at Hampden 1974 European qualifying; Zaire World Cup 1974, at least that was a 2-0 win; England 1968 at Hampden; losing two late goals to Poland 1965 at Hampden; World Cup play off against the eventual runners up Czechoslovakia in Brussels in 1962. And there are more. If Scotland goes through I will be as happy as anyone. But until that moment arrives my skepticism will be unabated. Oh yeah, they play Ukraine at Hampden on Saturday.
Germany are the most likely nation to be the first to book one of the remaining 14 spots. Unbeaten in eight games with seven wins and a draw, the Germans need only a share of the points when they play the Republic of Ireland in Dublin. A loss for the Irish would put the Czech Republic within a sliver of joining the Germans.
England should be able to qualify with a win over Estonia and then draws against Russia and Croatia. But rather like my feeling about Scotland, I am tending towards a counter intuitive view of England. Impressive wins over Israel and Russia a month ago can only mean an unimpressive display is on the cards versus a poor Estonia side. No matter they will get three points which will nicely set up Wednesday’s massively gigantic showdown clash (a bit of tabloid stuff there) in Moscow.
Israel faces a mammoth task in beating Croatia in Zagreb if they are to maintain a realistic chance of advancing. The last time these two countries met Arsenal’s Eduardo da Silva notched a hat trick as Croatia inflicted a 4-3 home loss in Israel. A win on Saturday would put Croatia impressively through with two games to spare.
Denmark and Spain renew a bitter rivalry (bitter for the Dames anyway) with Denmark desperate for a win that will keep them in contention for a top two spot in Group F. Since 1984 Spain has beaten Denmark in the 1984 European championship in France; thrashed Denmark 5-1 at the 1986 World Cup; won 3-2 at the group stage of Euro 88; defeated Denmark at the qualifying stages of the 1990 and 1994 World Cup and lost the corresponding fixture of this competition 2-1 back in March.
Denmark have six shut outs in eight games but none of their four wins have come against any of the top three teams. Even so Denmark currently trail Spain and Sweden by 5 points and Northern Ireland by two a win here could put the Danes in a decent position. Spain, Sweden and Northern Ireland all have to play each other while Denmark has to face the Irish (a) and Latvia and Iceland at home.
two more scottish football memories spring to mind
Archie Gemmill's goal against Holland in 1978!
Gascoigne bamboozling Colin Hnedry to score a cracker in a 4-1 defeat in Euro 96
oh and don't forget the Bay CIty Rollers!
Saving players who are on yellow cards is a pretty ludicrous policy - leaving them out could unbalance the team - far better win the game then hold a player out and not get a next game.
Prime example is Keane in CL SF.
Yellow cards are going to be a factor in the EC, you'll have the same non issue then, play your best team if you need to twin the game.
The G14 response is right - but for the wrong reasons - they are just greedy selfish orgs with little thought to the structure which allows them to be at the top of the heap.
Platini is wrong - all workers should be equal - but his reasons are good, he understands that to be on top a pile you need a stable pile which won't crumble, he's trying to plan and provide for the future stability of the pile
The whole debate is pretty childish, the particpants need to be locked away until they can be sorted out; there is enough cash floating around that EVRYONE can be happy - a little compromise for the good of the game as whole can't really hurt - or are the participants that arrogant?
craigy f - Now I understand why England win games. Every goal they score counts twice. Was it not 2-0 rather than 4-1; McAllister missed a penalty at 1-0 I think.
I think England beat Holland 4-1 - if it had been 4-0 Scotland would have gone through.
Last edited by BobbyMcMahon on October 12th at 6:13 AM.
Bobby l thouught the fifa world player of the year list was compiled by a bunch of ps3 kids of those l only found out that 10 deserved to be there and the other were hollywood names. john terry and cech were nowhere near as good as van der sar and vidic,l thought cesc was a good player last season and how henry and eto'o are there is completely beyond me.to suggest that patrick viera was the guy behind inter last season is a joke and why is philiph lahm there a left back and baryen last season had their worst season in 20 years.the ommission of ttotti a golden boot winner makes the list a joke and were is david villa, what did torress do , move to liverpool because villa had a better season or two.buffon was in seria b and he is on the list is a joke why not put michael chopra there
I wonder if ten Cate will bring back Ruud Gullit style sexy football.
Gordon Hill ,just the latest ex-player who thinks he knows it all.
Scott Carson is Englands No.1 No.1.
Rangers supporters are no worse than the other lot ,it`s just that Celtic`s are the media and UEFA darlings.
If the incident had happened at Ibrox the reaction and "penalties" would have been completely different.
As for Scotland qualifying ,I think you`re going to be watching the final games ,after Scotland have played their last ,and hoping for the right results.
When they say they want club line-ups to contain at least 5 nationals-In Europeean clubs, does FIFA mean 5 Nationals from the nation the League resides, lets say the EPL-have to be from that one nation: England. Meaning 5 English natives in every line-up of premiership games, or does this new proposal mean atleast 5 natives from Euorpean Union countries. I think the latter we could live with, however, if it's the first: The EPL just cut thier value in half, cause there's not 100 decent English players that are good enough to start every game. Well, I suppose there is: It's called the Championship Division. Bobby, please explain Blatters proposal in what could actually happen to the European Leagues. Of all the major players: UEFA, FIFA, the G-14, and the EU. Who really holds the power. Also, from an MLS standpoint: Don't we want more foreign players? If this ruling went through, would it be applied here in the States with MLS?
Last edited by LParker on October 12th at 7:10 AM.
Lparker - It is the former not the blatter - sorry I mean latter. Five players born\naturalized in the country of that league. A minimum of 5 English players in each English league, 5 Scottish players in each Scottish league etc.
In terms of who holds the ultimate power I thought I made that pretty clear in the piece I posted during the week. Within the EU it is the EU - that is why Blatter is trying to get the EU to recognize soccer (and sport in general) as autonomous organizations outwith the control of civil courts in Europe - it will never happen. As for MLS wanting more foreign players I would say that is not the case. I have not seen any indication that MLS is waivering from the focus of MLS being there to develop US players (in terms of Toronto Canadian players). I don't see the designated player rule as a "we want more foreign players in the league" move.
FIFA (Blatter) would apply the rule across the globe if they could.
Last edited by BobbyMcMahon on October 12th at 8:11 AM.
Bobby my questions to you is this. I am assuming there is not but I am not entirely sure, but is there any sort of revenue sharing of any sort? And I mean this in any competition, EPL, FA Cup, Champs league. I don't know specific numbers, but leagues like the NFL and MLB pretty much split revenue from tickets, with the home team getting a little higher percentage. At first I was kinda against this, but I definitley see as how it is a good thing.
Example I believe the Red Sox are the most popular team in the US right now, and thus sell out every home game, but they have to share those profits with the other team. But then you see the Red Sox go to a place like Tampa, or Los Angeles and you see all the Red Sox fans, and the Red Sox make some money off of those fans that came to see them, and it makes much more sense.
The only revenue sharing in the EPL, FA Cup and Champs League is TV to my knowledge.
ie Arsenal is not penalized with a tax for having a 60,000 stadium and the fans to fill it. They are technically penalized that they share TV revenues with say Derby when in reality people are tuning in to watch them not Derby.
Revenue sharing in baseball I don't know enough about but I was under the impression it was salary revenue sharing. i.e the Sox and Yanks pay penalties for having such high payrolls. One I do know more about is the NBA. Which is a quite broken system in reality. They share TV revenues like most leagues but also pay transfer payments to lower spending clubs. i.e if the NY Knicks are 50million over the soft cap they pay a dollar for each over the cap. The NBA then takes this money and gives it to teams who don't spend allot. Problem in this situation is a team like the Clippers were notorious of not spending any money, selling enough seats to their home games because the LA market is big enough and on top of it getting free money from the NBA for fielding a cheap team. The NBA does have a min roster salary you have to achieve I think though but not as strict as the NHL which is actually tries to force teams to spend at a certain level under the assumption that this will make them more competitive.
As an aside the Prem might have to look in to adjusting how the payments work as the promotion bonus is starting to get very large. They could face the problem of creating a 'big #' in the championship of the very same familiar teams going up and down. For example if Derby manages their new riches right they could just accept their fate this year and stock up their squad for a bounce back and get a fresh pay day. Create a kind of yo-yo scenario where they accept going up and down until the year is right to strike and grab a 15-17 spot.
Last edited by JayAlves on October 12th at 9:36 AM.
Since we're stuck with Shemp (don't know if you are familiar with the 3 stooges) Blather for another 4 years, is there anyone that can mount a serious challenge to him for the next election?
Do you think Chelsea's currrent lineup/bench have the "horses" to effectively employ Cate's noted attacking style?
Also I think your Scotsman have a real shot at winning the group. Italy and France are just not in synch and it could be too late for one or both of them.
If there is no revenue sharing for seats, I personally think that would be a very good thing for everyone, but could see the G14 putting up alot of resistance to something like that happening.
But I do remember in the FA Cup 2-3 years ago Man Utd tied some non-league team, I can't remember who it was though. And I remember the announcers mentioning that club was getting something like a 500K payday because they forced a 2nd game. Does anyone know anything about this, where would that money come from?
Do you remember where the 2nd game was going to be played. It could of been as easy as the club having a stadium that large that would be sold out between their fans and traveling fans. 500k isn't much considering a single game at the Emirates generates 3.1 million.
Bobby - oops!
Well it was EARLY - still two great goals!
I do share your reticence to celebrate Scotland qualifying for the Euros; they still need some big results. Scotland in the Euros would be fine, they have a team that could pull a few suprises in a short competition like the Euros.
In English Cup competitions a small club, I.e. Yeovil Town would love to get drawn away against a Premier League club; the ground revenue is shared in some way between the two clubs.
Jay Alves - it would in practice be very profitable to bounce between the two leagues but it's much more difficult in practice, it took Manchester City wuite a while to get back into the Premier League, Championship football is more gruelling than the Premier League - more games. playoffs and less football.
Teams like Derby and Wigan will probably have clauses in their player contracts which deal with relegation - usually a pay cut or an opt out clause is used.
And in the case of the MLS Designated player, one of the current spots is occupied by Claudio Reyna - it's more about money than Nationality.
This year I think only five designated spots are occupied
Blanco - Chicago
Beckham - LA
Denilson - Dallas
Reyna - New York
Angel - New York
Ringo:
Your earlier comments regarding Celtic being favored over Rangers are inaccurate and obviously fueled by your supporting the boys from Ibrox. To each his own.
From the seats in Parkhead, the Celtic fans often feel that Rangers are the media darlings. In fact, I doubt either team is favored except by those pundits or fans with an already established bias so the comparison is subjective and of minimal value.
The UEFA did right in their recent cash penalty to Celtic and the 2 match ban to Dida. It would have been the same outcome regardless of venue. To think otherwise is pure conjecture and again subjective.
How anyone can suggest Didas’ so called punishment was excessive is beyond me. It was a blatant attempt to disrupt the match and con the referee.
I think we should have more of these retroactive diving and play acting post match reviews with a two match ban being a minimum for the offender/actor.
As to Ten Cate: he only gets near the pitch if he wears a spider on his head!!
Hey Bobby, you'll always have Paris. Sorry, couldn't resist.
Despite your misgivings, Bobby, Group B is still totally unpredictable. I refuse to make anymore statements about any likelihood of anything -- and yes, that includes France's and Italy's upcoming games against Faroe Islands (in Italy's last game against FI, they won with a measly 2-1 scoreline). I'm the one that said Scotland would be lucky to get away with a point in Paris.
Aside from Germany, I think Croatia is the country to be watching. They've had an excellent campaign. As a gooner and a Brazilian, I'm esp. interested in watching Eduardo play.
But for me the BIG game of the weekend is the England-France rugby wc match! I'm still reeling from last Sunday's French defeat of the All Blacks! SEBASTIAN CHABAL ROCKS!!
Dida's punishment is just ridiculous. What right does any fan have to be on a pitch in any sport? None.
What player when feigning injury isn't trying to influence a ref?
They all are.
Dida's feigning of injury was amateurish and he should have been booked on the spot if the incompetent ref could have figured what actually happened.
Craigy F had the best solution to this incident. A body slam to the turf.
This is one instance when good old fashion American stadium security perhaps could have sufficed.
gongatore- in many instances you can blame the ref, but after a goal is scored, and all the attention is on the Celtic players dancing on the opposite sideline, it is understandable that the ref would have missed something like that.
For all he know something bad had really happend to Dida, afterall he did do an excellent job of selling it. If the ref is staring straight at the incident when it happend, and didn't card Dida I would agree, but do you honestly believe he saw that event transpire?
rico-
my disagreement is with dida's post match punishment.
he should have been booked. how long did it take for officials to realize he was not injured? i don't know.
where was the linesman on the byline? where was the 4th official? where was the video evidence that uefa records? noone in the broadcast truck saw this? they could not communicate the outcome with officials?
it's the system that i quarrel with. they should have been able to ascertain what transpired very quickly and since they could not this is just another example where video replay would have worked quite effectively.
You guys should see what the Brazilian media are doing with Dida's antics against Celtic. I watch Brazil's Globo and Bandeirantes TV networks and I read the print press regularly (online too). Dida's "injury" after the Celtic fan's little tap is now the new Roberto-Carlos-socks joke.
Meaning: Brazil lost to France at the wc last year when Henry scored the game's only goal -- Henry was able to score because Beto Carlos wasn't marking him. What was he doing instead? He was bending down picking up his socks! This photo of Beto picking up his socks while Henry scores got blown up and splashed all over the Brazilian press.
Well the Brazilian comics and comedy shows and talk show hosts had a FIELD DAY with this for months. There was one comedy sketch involving an assassination attempt on the president in full view of the head of the armed forces -- who's busy picking up his socks. Doesn't sound funny the way I tell it but it was very funny as a visual joke.
Well now it's all about comics suddenly falling down and being hospitalized after their mom or sister or puppy placed a little tap on them. There's one sketch I've seen where one moment a kitten places a paw on the foot of a boxer, and the next moment he's in a coffin being laid into the ground with his entire family looking completely confused -- while in the next scene doctors are busy examining the kitten for any secret powers.
in today's world, everyone has the potential to have "your fingerprints" digitally recorded forever.
good on the brazilians for vilifying dida. i quarrel with the incompetent system that permeates world football and it's supposed equitable solutions. then again look who is running fifa, a clown.
Last edited by gongatore on October 12th at 2:17 PM.
Completely in aggreement with you on that. Replay should be considered, but it wasn't and in the current system I don't think the ref can be faulted.
Wasn't the whole Zidane headbut thing controversial because it was thought the 4th official saw the replay on the large screen, and then told the Ref? By the current rules and setup that isn't allowed.
How long until Fifa joins the 21st century and installs some sort of instant replay? They say it will affect the flow of the game, yeah well so doesn't a player feigning injury on the ground for 2 minutes, especially when you have replays showing how the player is faked it from 5 different camera angles!!!
On yesterday's ESPN broadcast Wynalda had a dig at US referees, "when a US official is in charge of the game you don't know what you are going to get" more or less.
Some MLS refs are terrible - the bloke last night gave a straight red to Rhine for a bit of lip? He's nicknamed Peac ock?
Some MLS refs are pretty good though.
Replays are an insidious way to allow commercials to be inserted into the game.
dg - what do you think of Elano? Would you like to see Kaka play in England? What do you think about the two young Andersons, one plays for the mancs and one for the toffees?
I'm completely against replays (TV timeouts). They interrupt the flow of the game and, like craigy points out, it will inevitably lead to commercials. In the USA, both American football and NHL matches are interrupted and players stand around waiting for TV to finish running the adverts.
Atleti, will you be watching your Pumas tomorrow?
What do you think their chances are?
Do you think England can beat France?
The English press has been harping on about how the game won't be violent, as a RWC match was in 1991.
Sports fans I hate to break to you but video replays are already in use. How do you think that knucklehead Zidane got caught headbutting during the WC.
Fifa denies it but trust me, it's been in use and will continue to be.
Dida should have got two games just because he didn't kick the guy's ####. He towered over that ####. He's a pro athlete for God's sake. Run him down and teach him a proper Ron Artest-style lesson about running on to the field.
Alberta- Well said...I don't know if you are a gridiron fan but have you ever seen that old NFL FILms clip of Colts linebacker Mike Curtis clotheslining the fan that picked up the football after he ran on the field?
Hilarious Stuff.
Atleti- I think there are ways to institute video replays effectively into a soccer match. The Zidane incident is one. I am not endorsing the prospect of tv timeouts in soccer. For me that is one of the many issues that has ruined gridiron for me. I have not watched a game in over 15 years.
Saw and loved the Curtis clothesline. As I recall, two B.C. Lions danced over the head of a drunken #### who ran on to the field to confront them in Winnipeg a couple of years back. Bobby, do you remember this?
Hey Bobby, great job on the show tonight as usual. I'm part o####roup that is starting the first fan operated professional soccer team in North America, thought it might be something you might be interested, we just launched Wednesday, membership has been growing, for more info go to www.mysoccerclubusa.com, if you're interested in the effort/group, we could set you up with a free account, contact us a webteam@mysoccerclubusa.com, take care and keep up the good work
I have to wonder what drives Steve Maclaren's mind? We need a win and five goals to top the group going to Russia. 3-0 up at half time and all we have to do is score two more and what does our coach do? Goes to a five man midfield and kills the game. What a missed opportunity! Mindblowing lack of foresight even allowing the protection of players on yellows.
Last edited by redfan2000 on October 13th at 9:03 AM.
yeah as far as replays go, the fourth official could easily be set up with a fourth tv, and look for anything the other ref missed, and if he did, he can alert him, and tell him what happened,and the punishment can be given out accordingly.
Emmanuel Adebayor’s parents are both Nigerian. As Arsenal fans, we’re fortunate he chose to represent Togo instead - whilst Nigeria have qualified with ease for next year’s African Nations Cup, a 2-0 defeat to Mali means Togo will not be appearing at the tournament.
That means, in turn, that Adebayor will not go missing for six weeks in January - a huge bonus for everyone except Nicklas Bendtner
Scotland 3 Ukraine 1 --maybe just a wee abatement of skepticism? More to the point, what does Scotland have to do to to have Euro qualifying game televised on FSC? Top of the group, beaten France twice, and today, instead of a meaningful Hampden encounter we get a 90-minute yawner from the Faroe Islands!! Followed by those footballing giants, Liechtenstein. To add insult to injury, England-Estonia [nail biter, that one] is on tape delay tomorrow and--you guessed it France again in midweek. Come on, FSC, I pay enough for this --give us a shot.
Three hours after the England game ended, I still not sure what to make of it. They played well enough to win (3 deflected goals), but I kind of felt they were holding something back for Moscow. England showed little of the fluent play they played against Israel even thoguh Estonia were poor. Joe Cole created what there was, but can't hit the net. Richards looked strong again. Gerrard was anonymous again. Next ....
BTW, A. Cole could put no weight on his ankle. He looks out for a while.
Portugal got the job done in Azerbaijan in a pretty uneventful match. The goals came with some positives tho. Bruno Alves with a set piece header which is very contrary to how they usually get the job done and Hugo Almedia got the start and got a goal but wasn't very convincing otherwise but the only real hope at striker right now. Veloso also got a start he will be off to a bigger club sooner then later bet on that.
I type this as Poland is trying to throw the group away losing so Kazakhstan in Poland 1-0 at half.
the soccernet live updater has stopped for the Poland game and the time reads 'suspended' not sure if the game has been stopped for crowd troubles weather or aliens. The last update was a Kazakhstan player getting a yellow for unsporting behaviour so I'm betting some riots.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
Thank you to all who take time to visit this blog and especially to those of you who post your comments and thoughts.
PS - If you have questions please post them on the regular Monday blog. I am unable to answer e mails posted to the inbox on this site.
And one more thing. If you have questions or complaints or compliments about programming please contact Fox Soccer Channel or Fox Sports World Canada directly. I have no control over what the stations televise.
