Tim Vickery reviews 2007 from a South American perspective.

The Times lists the biggest FA Cup 3rd round shocks.

A bizarre story from Romania.

Graham Spiers suggests that the best way to honour Phil O’Donnell would have been to play rather than postponing games.

Glenn Moore looks back to an FA Cup Final played almost 51 years ago between Aston Villa and Manchester United and in particular an infamous incident.

The BBC has some FA Cup statistics.

Don’t mention anything about the romance of the FA Cup to Huddersfield Town manager Andy Ritchie.

An opportunity for our Liverpool fans to point out why Scott Murray is wrong.

For those looking to get right into the African Cup of Nations the All Soccer Africa website has a Nations Cup fantasy league feature. The site also has country-by-country previews and squad lists and it looks to be going all out to cover the 2008 edition. 

It’s the third round of the FA Cup this weekend and this is where the big teams get involved. Here is a rundown of a few Championship vs. Premiership games followed by predictions. I don’t do weekly league predictions but I thought it might be interesting to follow the Cup from the third round on. If you want to give it a go then post your predictions (eventual winners only count no draws) and keep score – it’s on the honour system right through to the final in May.

Ipswich Town v Portsmouth
These two met in the third round two years ago and Portsmouth won 1-0. This time we have a side with a fantastic home record (Ipswich) against Portsmouth who have won eight of twelve Premiership away games this season. Former Southampton midfielder Jim Magilton has Ipswich unbeaten at home in the Championship with eleven wins from thirteen matches and scoring 33 goals and only conceding 7. Contrast that with an away record on no wins, four draws and nine losses and you can see why it is a case of “no place like home” for Ipswich.  It is not often you come across a team that simultaneously hold s the best home record and worst away record in a league. Ipswich currently sits 6th in the fizzy-pop Championship and beat league leaders West Brom 2-0 on Wednesday. Former Canadian captain Jason De Vos scored.

Bristol City v Middlesbrough
Former Yeovil and Latvia manager (how is that for an exotic career) Gary Johnson has Bristol City third in the Championship and with only one loss in their last nine league games. This tie brings together two teams that needed penalty kicks to separate them last season in the 4th round – Boro eventually winning. Neither club has ever won the FA Cup but both have been runners up – Bristol City 99 years ago and Boro in 1997. Boro will be without Woodgate who is suspended and Robert Huth (remember him?) might get the call. Huth missed the first four months of this season before finally returning from injury at the start of last month.

Stoke City v Newcastle United
With only one point out of a possible 12 over the holiday period and Joey Barton seemingly intent on starring in Mean Machine 2 things are bleaker than ever for Sam Allardyce and Newcastle supporters. A push for a European spot would require a monumental effort especially given Newcastle’s January schedule. They have Manchester City h, Manchester United h and a, Arsenal a, Aston Villa a, and the other two games are against Bolton and Middlesbrough at St. James’ Park.

Despite pronouncements from owner Mike Ashley that he is not currently looking for a new boss it is clear that it all could change very quickly. But the FA Cup does offer an escape route and a run deep into the competition might be enough to salvage this season. However, Newcastle have not been given an easy task in the third round. They face a Stoke City side that is currently in fourth place in the Championship as well as knowing a thing or two about managerial turnover.

Regarded as the second oldest football club in the world Stoke in their first 103 years had 16 managers. In the last 30 years they have gone through 24 and have averaged a manager a year since 1991. Tony Pulis returned for his second stint in charge in 2006 and engineered a solid late run of results that saw Stoke finish just outside the promotion play-off spots. 

Pulis carries a reputation as a no nonsense boss and has a few Premiership players in his squad. Former Southampton striker Ricardo Fuller is Stoke’s leading scorer with 11 and former Sunderland player Liam Lawrence has 8 goals so far. Steve Simonsen was once an expensive teenage signing from Tranmere for Everton but he now keeps goal for Stoke. Dominic Matteo (former Leeds and Liverpool) and Salif Diao (Liverpool) are other recognizable names.  Stoke rarely blow teams away and vice versa so Newcastle are going to be in for a tough time of it.   

Chelsea v Queens Park Rangers
This is the seventh successive time that FA Cup holders Chelsea have been drawn at home in the FA Cup. Their opponents this time might as well be called “Mini-Chelsea”. With Chelsea backed by Abramovich’s billions, Queens Park Rangers have the financial clout of the world’s 5th richest man (Lakshi Mittal owns 20% of the club) as well as Formula One’s Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone. Former Napoli and Siena manager Luigi De Canio was appointed QPR boss in late October after John Gregory was sacked and has been given money to spend – and potentially there is lots more of it.

From his initial dealings the focus appears to be to generally upgrade the team rather blowing money on Premiership calibre players right from the off. One loss in the last seven league games has helped move QPR out of the relegation zone and it looks as if the ownership group is opting to build for long term success rather than risking a flame-out. It has been six seasons since QPR reached the 4th round and they are unlikely to improve on that this season. But there is every chance we are going to hear a lot more about the team in years to come.

FA Cup 3rd Round - predicted winners in bold
Saturday - Aston Villa v Man Utd; Barnsley v Blackpool; Blackburn v Coventry; Bolton v Sheff Utd; Brighton v Mansfield; Bristol City v Middlesbrough; Charlton v West Brom; Chasetown v Cardiff; Chelsea v QPR; Colchester v Peterborough; Everton v Oldham; Huddersfield v Birmingham; Ipswich v Portsmouth; Norwich v Bury;
Plymouth v Hull; Preston v Scunthorpe; Southampton v Leicester; Southend v Dagenham & Redbridge; Sunderland v Wigan; Swansea v Havant & Waterlooville; Swindon v Barnet; Tottenham v Reading; Tranmere v Hereford; Walsall v Millwall; Watford v Crystal Palace; West Ham v Man City; Wolverhampton v Cambridge Utd.
Sunday - Burnley v Arsenal; Derby v Sheff Wed; Fulham v Bristol Rovers; Luton v Liverpool; Stoke v Newcastle.

Some articles that have run in the last few days.

A little piece on Brazilian Jose Altafini who scored twice in Milan’s first European Cup Final win in 1963.What the article doesn’t point out is that Altafini scored 8 of his 14 goals against Union Luxembourg in a 14-0 aggregate win. In the same round Ipswich Town, with Alf Ramsey as manager, beat Floriana of Malta 14-1 with Ray Crawford scoring seven. Milan and Ipswich were drawn together in the second round.

Technology and its increasing application in the game.

Joachim Buwembo on a “surprising” result in last weekend’s African Cup of Nations qualifying round.

Fergie and things Portuguese.

David Bond and the recent trading Arsenal shares.

Lithuania midfielder Saulius Mikoliunas has been given a two-match ban for diving.

This weekend has a number of exceptional match-ups. Over the last few seasons any time Manchester United has played Chelsea the hype has been extraordinary although on occasion the actual performance has disappointed. Even without the exit of Jose Mourinho this game was going to garner all sorts of attention but Wednesday’s dramatics will only bring to bear more story lines. 

Neither side has started this season strongly. Both sit with 11 points from the first six games and goals have been difficult to come by. Manchester United has not scored more than a goal in a game and has been shut out twice. Chelsea has been kept off the score sheet in the last two Premiership matches and will likely be without their two greatest attacking threats – Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard.

Given the background to this game there will be a terrific temptation to read more into the result than there might actually be. A United win and Grant’s reign as manager might be counted in days rather than weeks; a Chelsea win and the knee jerk reaction will be Jose who.

Perhaps the more interesting contrast between these two teams is not on the field but in how the two organizations are managed. The Glazers have come in for a ton of criticism – mainly for burdening a debt free club with a debt-load that might sink a small country – but when you consider the shenanigans at Stamford Bridge you quickly realize that they understand how to run an organization - division of responsibility, accountability and singing of the same song sheet.

At Stamford Bridge you have a business working without a common purpose, layers of management that appear to overlap and an owner that thinks that money endows with football knowledge. What is worse are the indications that things will only get worse. This mornings English papers are suggesting that Abramovich “will take a more active role in team affairs after the departure from Chelsea of Jose Mourinho”, - (RA on the tracksuit will be next).

Central to Abramovich tightening the reins is the expectation that Avram Grant is going to suddenly turn Chelsea into an attractive footballing side. A noble goal but there is nothing in Grant’s background to show that he is capable of such a turnaround. We are more likely to get told that Chelsea is playing more attractive football rather than seeing it for ourselves.

The United - Chelsea provides Liverpool and Arsenal with an opportunity to take advantage given that one, or perhaps both, of the teams playing at Old Trafford on Sunday will drop points. Liverpool plays Birmingham, a side that was a bit of a bogey side the last time they were in the Premiership. Liverpool is without a win in the last four Premiership match-ups and in the 2004/05 season Birmingham did the double over the Merseyside club.

Liverpool will be hoping to do what they did three weeks ago when another promoted side visited Anfield. On that occasion Derby was put to the sword with Alonso and Torres contributing the first double/double by Liverpool players since April 2003 in a 6-0 win.

Arsenal hosts Derby who will be buoyed after their first Premiership win of the season last Monday over Newcastle. However, they have to find a way to blunt Arsenal’s attack. Adebayor is working his socks off; Van Persie has three goals already; da Silva is looking comfortable when Wenger slides him into the line up; Cesc Fabregas has added goal scoring to his repertoire with three game winners in the last three Premiership games. The goal threat from Fabregas in midfield should only increase the number of chances coming the way of the strikers. 

Officially only three of eight MLS play off spots have been decided so far but Chivas is likely to be added to that list this weekend. Chivas is unbeaten in their last seven games and their last loss was back at the end of July against the Kansas City Wizards – the team they play on Saturday evening. Goals have come in bucket loads whenever the Wizards have left the confines of Arrowhead although not always in their favour. Over twelve away games the Wizards have scored 19 goals and conceded 23. Meanwhile Chivas has only surrendered 4 goals at home in 11 games while scoring 24.

The first big encounter of the new Serie A season takes place in the Olympic Stadium in Rome with the undefeated home side, Roma, taking on recently promoted Juventus. After three straight wins Roma is sitting alone at the top of Serie A for the first time in four years. What is more this is the first time since 2001 that Roma have started with three straight wins and that season they went on to take the title. This is the first in a series of tough games for Roma that will see then face Fiorentina, Inter, Parma, Napoli, Milan and Lazio in succession.

Former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri (could Mourinho lightning hit twice!) has injury problems and a need to bounce back after a lackluster loss last Sunday to Udinsese.
Juventus defender Jean-Alain Boumsong is out for an extended spell after picking up a thigh injury while Marco Marchionni, Zdenek Grygera and Hasan Salihamidzic are also hurt. These two teams have played 146 times – Roma with 35 wins, 44 draws and Juventus 67 wins. Roma has only beaten Juventus twice in their last 12 Serie A encounters.
A true derby game will see Sampdoria and Genoa go at it in the top flight for the first time in 13 seasons. Sampdoria loan signing Antonio Cassano will be missing through injury although Vincenzo Montella should see action. Montella one of the few players in history to have represented both Sampdoria and Genoa, but up to now he has never appeared in a Genoa derby.

The teams that chased Real Madrid to the finish line in Spain last season clash at the Nou Camp with a cracking game in prospect. The last time Barcelona and Seville faced each other was in March with Sevilla winning 2-1. It was a game that saw three red cards (two for Barcelona) and Sevilla coming from a goal down to win the game with goals from Alexander Kerzhakov and Dani Alves.

Kerzhakov only signed for Sevilla last January but scored 8 goals in the 17 games to the end of the 2007 season. The Russian striker was often used off the bench but there are signs that he may just establish himself with Freddy Kanoute as manager Juande Ramos’ first choice partnership. Both have scored three times for a Sevilla side that has opened this league season with consecutive 4-1 wins over Getafe and Recreativo Huelva.

On the other hand Barcelona has been slow out of the blocks with a single home win a two scoreless road draws so far. However, Henry opened his Barcelona account on Wednesday in the Champions League against Lyon and Messi also chipped in with a marker in an impressive 3-0 win over Lyon.