Romania took an ultra-extra
cagey approach to this vital match trying to ensure that they didn’t offer Netherlands
a chance to counter attack. By the end of the ninety minutes they had won the
battle but had categorically lost the war.
The safety first approach
worked in the first half as the Netherlands were forced to build their attacks rather
than benefitting from the super quick passing that had caused Italy and France
so much trouble.
However, Netherlands did
have chances with the best falling to Robben but he shot wide with only Lobont
to beat. Boulahrouz of all players was enjoying far too much space when
attacking down the Dutch right and more might have come from a couple of his raids.
Romania’s passing was
inconsistent with far too many sloppy passes or players being caught in
possession. Early in the second half any thoughts Romania may have harboured
about holding back and then pushing for a late winner were crushed when their
sloppy play infected the back four.
The Romanian defence
allowed Afellay to chase down an errant Robben cross completely unmolested. The
Dutch midfielder played the ball back into the box and again the defence failed
to deal with it. This time the ball found Huntelaar and Romania was in trouble.
Needing to up the tempo
Romania was unable to change gears as their passing deteriorated under the
pressure of now having to chase the game. Maruis Niculae who started in place
of his namesake Daniel was a willing front runner but sorely lacking the skills
to bother the Dutch defence.
Mutu was a sporadic
presence as the two received virtually no support from the midfield. The replacement of Maruis by Daniel made no
difference as the Dutch continued to deal with any Romanian threat with a
minimum amount of trouble.
Another goal from the
Dutch, this one from Robin van Persie, only served to highlight the gulf
between these two teams on the day.
Romania go home and leave thinking
of what might have been if only Buffon had been a split second slower or even
a fraction of a second quicker. But even then the game against the Netherlands offered up a second
chance to Romania and they bottled it.
France 0-2 Italy The share of the play
might have been even but Italy should have had France dead and buried before
half time. French supporters can look to the penalty kick awarded against Eric
Abidal and the red card he received as the turning point in this game but there
ominous signs before that moment for
France.
The injury to Franck
Ribery early in the game was another blow to France but even a fully fit Ribery
for ninety minutes would not have mitigated the problems caused by a porous
central defence and a ponderous in midfield.
The lead up to the penalty
decision was a microcosm of France’s early problems. A free kick in the centre circle
was played to Pirlo. With no pressure on him Pirlo had time to look up and clip
a 35-yard pass over the head of Abidal and onto the toe of Toni. Abidal attempted
a tackle was never going to finish up as anything but a dead-cert penalty kick.
Toni was giving the French
defence fits before Abidal’s sending off and he continued after the dismissal.
Grosso also hit the post from a free kick and Perrotta came close to breaking
through. French coach Raymond Domenech’s
decision to withdraw substitute Nasri (he had replaced Ribery) shortly after Abidal’s
red card will be a source of heated discussion amongst French fans. A more fateful
decision was perhaps taken before kick off in opting to deputize full back
Abidal as a centre back.
You can certainly argue
about the merits of centre backs Jean-Alain Boumsong and Sébastien Squillaci. But asking a regular full back to play centre
half when Domenech had two specialist centre-backs available begs the question
why did he bother picking Boumsong and Squillaci to start with?
Daniele
De Rossi’s deflected free kick was the clincher and put the game well beyond
10-man France. De Rossi was excellent throughout and his performance was a
reminder of Donadoni’s mistake in not playing the Roma midfielder against
Netherlands in the first game.
Comment of the Day
"That is the happiest
I have ever been after a match in which I didn't score," Ruud van Nistelrooy
after Holland beat France 4-1.
Prediction Update
LHJS, Sounderfan, knvoetbal
all recorded 100% scores is predicting the outcome of Group B. Sounderfan is
the only poster with a 100% record at the conclusion of the first two groups.
He leads everyone by at least two points.
This was an amazing and
enthralling match that hung in the balance right through to the final whistle. And
in the end Italy and Romania remain in contention for a place in the last eight
come the final round of group play next Tuesday.
Italy has Gianluigi Buffon to
thank for their first point of the tournament and making sure that they
maintained a fragile grip on continued participation. Panucci was got caught red-handed trying to hog tie Niculae for little apparent reason and with ten minutes left Romania got a chance to almost certainly send Italy home.
But the Italian keeper guessed right on a well struck but poorly directed penalty kick from
Adrian Mutu. Buffon got his right hand to the shot which then deflected onto
his trailing leg and clear.
Earlier in the second half
Mutu turned opportunist has he anticipated a header from Zambrotta back to
Buffon. By the time the Italy right back had realized what he had done Mutu had
struck a rising shot behind Buffon and high into the net. It was however a very
short-lived lead as Italy equalized with their next attack.
Giorgio Chiellini intelligently
opted to direct a header down and across the Romanian goal rather than go for
glory and Panucci snuck in at the back
post to tie the game up.
It was almost
inconceivable that this match could reach half time scoreless. Italy set off at
a cracking pace and keyed on the right side of the Romanian defense early.
Contra came in for special attention as Grosso moved forward to support the
Italian attack and Petre instead of playing in midfield found himself
augmenting Contra at right back.
It took fifteen minutes
for Romania to find any attacking intent but once they settled chances were
created in quick succession. Tamas and Mutu had shots well saved by Buffon while
Rat went narrowly wide from a long range effort and a deflected Chivu free kick
came back of the post with the keeper helpless.
The series of close
encounters reinvigorated Italy and the first half finished with Lobent making a
couple of fantastic saves before being beaten by a Toni header. Fortunately for
Romania the assistant referee’s flag went up for offside; replays showed that Toni
was not offside.
The best game of the
tournament so far in my book and the Group of Death, for once, has lived up to
the pre-billing.
France 1-4 Netherlands
It was the sort of day
that you want to bottle and preserve only to be opened when you need reminding
of how compelling, beautiful and thrilling this sport can be. While Italy and
Romania produced an opening act that threatened to one up the main attraction,
the Netherlands and France rose to the challenge and produced a display for the
ages.
A look at the final score
might lead you to conclude that this was a terrible performance by the French. But
rather this was a case of an astonishing performance from the Dutch. Think the
World Cup Final of 1970 when Brazil beat Italy 4-1. Was Italy that bad? The
truth is it didn’t matter because on that day Brazil was just so brilliant it
did not matter who wore the other jerseys.
And so it was today as the
Dutch put on a master class of passing, movement, shooting and finishing that was
quite breathtaking. While 4-2-4 made way for 4-3-3, then 4-4-2 and now 4-5-1 or
4-2-3-1 the basic premise of attacking and defending has remained stunningly
simple. When you attack you want to create space, when you defend you want to
shrink the space. A simple concept yes,
but something that is exceedingly difficult to pull-off - especially when the
opposition is constantly trying to counter.
It was concept that the Dutch executed today to perfection as they sliced open a
French midfield with a display of passing that was devastating. No ten yard
square passes to slow the tempo ala Makelele. The Dutch bypassed the French
midfield with passes that changed defence to attack in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile,
the French midfield with two anchors (Makelele and Toulalan), that should in
theory have been the perfect foil to the Dutch counter attack was left gasping
and chasing shadows.
Netherlands back to back
wins against the World Cup winners and runners up from only two years and by a
clear three goals each time is unprecedented in my memory. The question for the
Dutch is what do they do for an encore? France and Italy both
remain alive with the winner of Tuesday match also needing the Dutch to maintain
their undefeated streak when they face Romania in order to move on.
What a day.
Man of the match - Rafael van der Vaart. Amongst a number of very honourable mentions Ruud van Nistelrooy. Can't play as a lone striker? Hmmm.
Comment of the Day
"If someone talks about my
private life, for example, I'll give them a good punching. I'm not interested
in suing. I like to sort things out my way" - Luiz Felipe Scolari.
This will make it six consecutive appearances for Netherlands at the European Championship finals. They won the tournament twenty years ago in Germany, made it to another four semi-finals (76, 92, 00, and 04) and lost at the quarter final stage in 1996.
How they qualified The Dutch relied on their wonderful home record in Euro qualifying that has seen them go unbeaten since losing to Luxembourg in 1963. Six wins and a draw in Group G extended the Dutch streak to 41 games without a loss over the last forty-five years.
Both losses in Group G came away from home with the set back against Belarus coming after qualification had been guaranteed. The Netherlands finished three points behind Romania (the other loss) and one ahead of Bulgaria. Robin van Persie scored four times for the Dutch.
The Coach Regarded by many as the greatest centre forward of all time Marco van Basten made sure that there was long pause between his injury enforced retirement and his return to the game as a coach.
The appointment as the national team coach after Euro 2004 was his first senior position after working with youth players at Ajax. After the tournament in Switzerland and Austria, van Basten will take over the coaching reins at Ajax and will be replaced by veteran Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk.
Key Players The conclusion of the tournament will see the Netherland’s most capped player goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar retire from the international arena. Captain of the Dutch team van der Sar is coming off of a European-Premiership double and his performances in qualifying kept the Ditch goals against to only five in twelve games.
Rafael van der Vaart is the pulse of Hamburg of the Bundesliga and if given the chance by van Basten his midfield promptings and an eye for a long range shot could prove valuable to the Netherlands.
With the likes of Robin van Persie, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink you would think goals would flow freely but a return of only fifteen goals in twelve qualifying games tells a different story.
Great Euro Memory With losses to the home nations at both the 1974 and 1978 World Cups fresh in the memory the Dutch finally won a major championship when they beat the Soviet Union 2-0 in the European Championship Final of 1988. No one who saw Marco van Basten’s goal will ever forget it – a classic.
Synopsis Many fans second favourite country in big tournaments based on the quality of the football they consistently deliver… up until the last couple of years that is. However, the Netherlands only have the 1988 European Championship to show for all their efforts hence the reason for Marco van Basten’s more pragmatic approach over the last few seasons.
The back four looks to be little more than competent while the midfield may turn out to be light weight. One of the big name forwards (that is not necessarily a reference to Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink) has to be provided with quality service and hit a hot streak of form if the Dutch hope make it out of this GROUP OF DEATH let alone reach the last four.
Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying Slotted into Group 9 alongside Scotland, Norway, Macedonia FYR, and Iceland.
Romania qualified for the finals in 1984, 1996 and 2000. They were knocked out by Hungary in a replayed quarter final in 1972.
How they qualified Romania’s only loss came against Bulgaria after qualification had been secured. Romania won Group G and finished three points better than the Netherlands and four better than Bulgaria. Adrian Mutu was their leading scorer with six goals.
The Coach Victor Piturca played most of his football for Steaua Bucharest and was part of the 1986 European Cup winning side. He was in charge of Romania during the qualifying stages for the 2000 European championships but was fired seven months before the tournament finals after a dispute over the distribution of bonus payments to players. He was recalled as the national team manager to replace Anghel Iordanescu in December 2004.
Key Players There are lots of very good players in this squad but Adrian Mutu who has resurrected his career with Fiorentina after a disastrous spell with Chelsea is the main man for Romania. Mutu often plays in tandem with pacey forward Ciprian Marica who moved to Stuttgart from Shakhtar Donetsk for big money last summer but a return of two goals from 28 appearances (13 as substitute) was poor.
Cristian Chivu made an impressive debut at Euro 2000 as a teenage left back before moving to a central defensive position. But lately Chivu has been providing defensive cover in midfield for the national team and has not looked out of place. Steaua Bucharest stopper Dorin Goian adds some steel at the back but can also pop up with goals at set pieces.
Great Euro Memory Romania failed to win a game at the finals in 1984 and 1996 and the first two games at Euro 2000 only brought a draw and a loss. Facing England in the final game of Group A play in Charleroi Romania needed a win to qualify as runners-up to Portugal while England needed only a draw to progress.
Alan Shearer opened England’s account from the penalty spot just before half time to tie the game at 1-1 after Cristian Chivu has put Romania into the lead. Michael Owen then popped up to give England an unexpected half time lead but right after the break Munteanu leveled the score.
With time running out Philip Neville fouled Moldovan in the penalty area and Ganea struck home the winner from the spot. Italy beat Romania 2-0 in the quarter final through goals from Totti and Inzaghi.
Synopsis This will be Romania’s first appearance at a major final since 2000 but this squad is a very good emerging side that must be cursing its luck after being drawn in the GROUP OF DEATH. However, Romania may be the banana skin that upsets one or even two of the other three teams. This is a side whose chances of making it out of the group should not be underestimated.
Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying Drawn in Group 7 with Austria, France, Serbia, Lithuania and Faroe Islands.
After England’s European Championship exit there has been even more debate on foreign quotas and player development. The Times has run a series of articles over the last week on how some other countries in the world go about the job of developing players and encouraging participation.
Holland – a place for everyone. Out of all the models that are out there this seems to be one of few that acknowledges that it is not just about elite development and neither is it just about encouraging people to play.
At the heart of the Dutch model is the belief that for the sport to be healthy there has to be a place for players of all abilities. It seems to me that the North American debate (definitely the Canadian debate) is polarized with recreation on one end of the spectrum and elite development on the other with no one willing to give an inch. The truth of the matter is neither of the polarities have it right.
Here’s something from www.footballeconomy.com ‘The average annual salary of a footballer in England's top flight has broken through the £1m ceiling for the first time. Players in the Premiership are now earning 15 times more than the 'golden generation' who lifted the World Cup in 1966, even when inflation is factored in.
In 1966 First Division players were paid an average of £100 a week by their clubs. When performance-related bonuses are taken into account, today's figure stands at £21,000 a week according to accountants Deloitte. The rate of increase means that footballers earn almost as much in a week as the average person is paid in a year.
Moore's World Cup-winning team earned about six times the national average week in 1966. Deloitte predicts that the first £200,000 a week player, equivalent to an annual salary of £10m, will emerge by 2010”.
And on to the action that is in store this weekend. It is hard to look beyond Serie A with the top five clubs plus European champions Milan facing off. Current league leaders Inter remain unbeaten after twelve games and are only two points off the record breaking pace that they set last season.
Inter travels to play Fiorentina on what will prove to be an emotional occasion. Fiorentina Coach Cesare Prandelli lost his wife on Monday after a three year fight with cancer. Many of you will remember that Prandelli had just taken over the reins at Roma in 2004 when she was diagnosed with the disease and he opted to stand down.
The coach was not on the bench last weekend as his team drew away to Reggina but he is expected back for Sunday’s match.
Fiorentina started the season unbeaten in their first eleven matches before succumbing to Udinese a couple of weeks ago. Even so Fiorentina, four points behind Inter with a game more played, have already played Roma, Juventus and Milan this season and drawn all three games. Schemer Riccardo Montolivo is suspended and will be missing from the home side’s line-up.
Inter qualified for the last sixteen of the Champions League in midweek and when combined with the league lead things are looking good for Coach Roberto Mancini. What’s more Inter have only lost once (Feb 2006 2-1) to Fiorentina in their last nine Serie A meetings and are undefeated away from home in the league since April 2006.
Julio Cruz (6 goals) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (7 goals) pack a wallop up front and summer signing David Suazo looked sharp last week as he scored a goal and set up another.
Milan and Juventus will be reacquainted after Juve’s one year leave from the top flight. Like Inter, Milan have already sealed a spot in the last sixteen of the Champions League although the winners or runners up spot have still to be decided.
Milan have the Club World Cup in Japan (on FSC) in a couple of weeks which means missing a week of Serie A action and then they have the local derby on the weekend before Christmas. When you add it all up it means that Milan can ill-afford to see the current gap with Inter and the chasing pack widen any further.
Currently the European Champions are eleven points behind the leaders while fourth placed Udinese are eight points ahead albeit with a game more played. Milan’s home form has been poor and they are still winless in the league after four draws and two losses.
Juventus have slipped effortlessly back into the top league with twenty-five points from thirteen games – good for second spot. But while their home form has been very impressive (16 points from 7 games) there is lots of room for improvement when on the road.
Only nine points have come from six away games with ten goals given up and only one shut out so far. Trezeguet and Iaquinta have combined for 17 league goals with eleven of them coming at home.
Udinese are one of the good news stories so far in Europe. A team that has historically enjoyed modest success are sitting fourth with five wins and three draws coming in the last eight games.
Wins against Fiorentina and Juventus have fans of Serie A sitting up and taking notice. They don’t score a lot of goals but when they do they seem to make them count. Away from home they have shut out the opposition four times in seven matches and although they only average a goal a game that has translated into a very respectable twelve points.
Only Milan (13 points) and Roma (17 points) can better that mark and it is to Rome that Udinese travels this weekend. Given their record so far Roma might be wishing it was the other way around.
Nearly 70% of Roma’s points this season have been picked up away from home while five home games have only generated an unexceptional eight points – only Milan out of the top ten teams have secured fewer (4).
Quick free kicks – The Barcelona derby promises to be a cracker. Espanyol unbeaten in their last nine games and are a heady fourth only two points below Barcelona and four behind Real Madrid.
Barca failed to beat their neighbours in the two games last season (a loss and a draw) and take their dreadful away form to the Olympic stadium. But the stadium has not seen very many goals this season with only nine coming in six games.
Whereas Espanyol have lost once at home Barcelona have only won once away from the Nou Camp. But perhaps the most interesting statistic is that Espanyol’s seven wins have all been by one goal so far.
Scotland may be sitting top of their group in Euro qualifying but there is an anthem problem.
Paul Wilson asks the question that if Manchester United fans have to buy tickets to Carling Cup games then shouldn’t United field a top class team. Buried in the piece Wilson also takes to task people who quote Bill Shankly’s “matter of life and death” comment. Wilson’s right – the vast majority of people quote Shankly as if he was serious which he clearly was not.
My favourite Shankly quote was from the late Emlyn Hughes. Hughes told a story that Shanks loved training and joined in all the time. One day Shankly turned round to Hughes and says to him "When I die I want to be the fittest man to ever die."
An interesting and informative website created by a regular blog visitor www.billsportsmaps.com Something obviously close to his heart. Check it out.
I received an e mail last week taking me to task. Apparently I have yet to publish my Champions league picks. So here goes – Group A, Liverpool and Porto; Group B, Valencia and Chelsea; Group C, Real Madrid and Werder Bremen (would not be surprised if Lazio qualified); Group D, Milan and Benfica; Group E Barcelona and Rangers (bring on the “are you on crack McMahon” e mails); Group F, Manchester United and Roma; Group G, Inter Milan and PSV; Group H, Arsenal and Sevilla.
Just a reminder that if you have questions you would like my take on, then the best idea is to post them on Monday’s Speakers’ Corner Blog. If they are posted any other time then there is a very good chance that I will miss them. I try my best to keep up but sometimes questions slip through the cracks.
And finally Winnipeg Thistle lost their Winnipeg Old Timers crown after losing 2-1 to Portuguese in the final on Sunday. A lack of polish in front of goal cost us dearly. It was a great game and I am glad to say that I am at the stage in life that I prefer to play in a good game and lose, than play in a bad one and win. To all the players and officials that make it possible for old guys like me to continue to kick a ball and love it a massive THANK YOU.
On a weekend when Lyon, Celtic and Inter sew up their respective league championships, PSV and Barcelona decide to make what looked to be straight forward tasks much more difficult.
A late equalizer by Utrecht against PSV means that a win for AZ Alkmaar next week against Excelsior will give AZ their first title since 1981. It could be the first time in 26 seasons that the big three of Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord have failed to lift the title. Quite the triumph for Louis Van Gaal.
Robert Pires gains a measure of revenge for being substituted in last season’s Champions League Final against Barcelona after Jens (short for Jennifer I understand) Lehmann was sent off. Pires scores the first goal and Barcelona’s miserable away form continues. They still lead Seville by a point and Real Madrid by two (and Sevilla and Real Madrid have still to play each other) but you have to think that Barca’s inability to kill off the chasing pack only gives the likes of Sevilla and Real Madrid more hope and confidence.
Cristaino Ronaldo and Shunsuke Nakamura pick up player of the year awards in England and Scotland.
And finally the last word goes to Nigel Winterburn the former Arsenal full back and colour commentator for Saturday's Manchester United vs. Boro match. "Rio touches his groin and shakes his head."
I received a question about the seedings for the group stage. The best internet site I have come across that details in the inner working of the UEFA seeding system and the co-efficients is authored by Bert Kassies. It is an impressive piece of work.
With the final thirty-two now decided you would have to rate Levski Sofia's (first Bulgarian side to make the group stage) defeat of Chievo as a major surprise as well as Ajax blowing a late lead and going out to FC Copenhagen.
FC Copenhagen contains some names that should be recognizable to many. Tobias Linderoth (ex-Everton), Marcus Allback (ex-Aston Villa) and Jesper Gronkjaer (ex-Chelsea) have all spent time in the Premiership. Goalkeeper Jesper Christiansen was with Rangers in Scotland while Razak Pimpong played for Ghana in the World Cup. Canadian Atiba Hutchinson, who will surely play in one of the big three leagues in Europe within the next couple of years, just signed for Copenhagen this year after spending two seasons with Helsingborgs of the Swedish league.
Here is the country-by-country by pot breakdown of the 32 teams that will be drawn on Thursday and last season's make up.
Country pot 1 pot 2 pot 3 pot 4 Total Last Season
Spain 3 0 0 0 3 4
Italy 2 1 0 0 3 4
England 3 1 0 0 4 4
France 0 2 1 0 3 2
Portugal 0 1 2 0 3 2
Holland 0 1 0 0 1 2
Germany 0 1 1 1 3 3
Scotland 0 1 0 0 1 1
Romania 0 0 1 0 1 0
Greece 0 0 2 0 2 2
Russia 0 0 1 1 2 0
Belgium 0 0 0 1 1 2
Ukraine 0 0 0 2 2 0
Bulgaria 0 0 0 1 1 0
Turkey 0 0 0 1 1 1
Denmark 0 0 0 1 1 0
Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Norway, and Slovakia all had teams in the group stage last season but for 2006/07.
In response to a posting on the blog “When Saturday Comes” that asked about decent soccer books, here is a summary of an article written at the end of 2004.
Colin Shindler’s “George Best and 21 Others” (Headline Book Publishing) is a great follow up to his two previous soccer books “Manchester United Ruined My Life” and “Fathers, Sons and Football”. Shindler takes the 1964 FA Youth Cup semi-final between the two Manchester clubs as his anchor and weaves together the stories of the individuals who played in that match, along with the social upheaval that was sweeping Britain in the 60’s. “How Soccer Explains the World” by Franklin Foer (Harper Collins) can be judged one of the best books of the year without limiting the category to soccer. Foer, who writes for the New Republic, does a masterful job of describing the powerful forces that the game often unleashes. Racism, ethnic-cleansing, bigotry and violence are all put under the microscope. Simon Kuper has followed up his acclaimed “Football Against the Enemy” with another stunner, “Ajax, The Dutch, The War” (Orion). Kuper tells the story of Amsterdam’s Jewish population during the Second World War and the role of Ajax during those terrible times. The Second World War is also the setting for Andy Dougan’s book “Dynamo” (Harper Collins). Dougan tells the story o####ame played in 1942 in occupied Ukraine. A team largely comprised of the pre-war Dynamo Kiev side played a Luftwaffe side. The consequences of the result were brutal. Dougan does an incredible job of separating the facts from the folklore of the game. This one is a riveting read. Tom Bower is an investigative journalist rather than a sports journalist but that is not a handicap in his book “Broken Dreams” (Simon & Schuster). You can’t read this book and not feel uneasy the next time you hear or read a rumour about an imminent player move. The book is devastating in its expose of the largely unregulated industry of soccer and the millions siphoned by sleazy agents, unprincipled owners and managers. Another book with a business and financial bent is “Manchester Unlimited” by Daily Telegraph reporter Mihir Bose. This book was published in 2000 and focuses on the attempted takeover of United by Sky TV. The book not only lays out how the Sky bid failed, but also provides the context for the current goings-on at Old Trafford involving Martin Glazer as well as the “Fergie – Coolmore Mafia” feud earlier this year. “White Storm” written by Phil Ball (Bloomsbury) thankfully manages to deal with subject of Real Madrid without mentioning David Beckham in every second sentence. The history of the world’s most successful club is charted. The roles played by all the great and influential figures in building the institution that is Real Madrid are described. A couple of years ago Alex Bellos gave us “Futebol – The Brazilian Way of Life” (Bloomsbury) and on a second reading a couple of months ago it is still a standout book. Nothing is left untouched as the book covers topics as diverse as the export of Brazilian players, poverty, religion, Carnival and the 1950 World Cup final. If it is statistics you want then you cannot go wrong with “Soccer Yearbook 2004/5” by David Goldblatt and published in the United States by DK Publishing. With over 500 pages the book is crammed with all the information you could want on a country-by-country basis while covering the history of all the major competitions. The statistics, graphics and the photographs make this a must have for all anoraks out there. Finally “Motson’s National Obsession – The Greatest Football Trivia Book Ever” (Publishers Group West) maybe a slight exaggeration although I must admit I cannot name a better one. Compiled by the late Adam Ward and with a foreword by legendary soccer commentator John Motson, it makes an enjoyable and often interesting little read.”
On the back of Michael Carrick's $35M transfer to Manchester United, The Guardian has produced a value-for-money rating on Britain's top all-time deals. I have abbreviated the article below and deleted their ratings out of 10. You might find it interesting to see how your ratings line up against the article. I have included an updated $ value of the transfer rather than pounds.
"1. Andriy Shevchenko - Milan to Chelsea, $56M (2006)
2. Rio Ferdinand - Leeds United to Manchester United, $55M (2002).
3. Juan Sebastian Veron - Lazio to Manchester United, $52M (2003)
4. Wayne Rooney - Everton to Manchester United, $50M (2004)
5. David Beckham - Manchester United to Real Madrid, $47M (2003)
6. Michael Essien - Lyon to Chelsea $46M (2005)
7. Didier Drogba - Marseille to Chelsea, $45M (2004)
8. Nicolas Anelka - Arsenal to Real Madrid, $44M (2000)
9. Marc Overmars - Arsenal to Barcelona, £41M (2000)
10. Shaun Wright-Phillips - Manchester City to Chelsea $39M (2005)
11. Ricardo Carvalho - Porto to Chelsea, $37M (2003)
12. Ruud van Nistelrooy - PSV to Manchester United, $36M (2001)
13. Michael Carrick - Tottenham to Manchester United, $35M (2006)
The Guardian
Summary
Buying club - Manchester United 5, Chelsea 5, Real Madrid 2, Barcelona 1.
Selling club - Arsenal 2, Porto, Milan, Leeds, Lazio, Lyon, Marseilles, PSV, Everton, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United (all 1 each).
Spurs fans must be disappointed at losing Carrick but it would have been insane to turn down that sort of money for a player who cost them around $5M a couple of seasons ago.
I don't think you will find too many United fans who believe Carrick will provide $35M of value but the prevailing view seems to be that they are thankful that Fergie has at least made a move in the transfer market.
As for future moves there are rumbles that despite Fernando Torres' "commitment' to Atletico Madrid there is a chance he could still move before the transfer deadline. He has two years left on his contract and no contract extension in sight. If Atletico don't sign him to an extension then his transfer value will plummet by next summer.
Sober second thought may bring about a change in mind. But at the moment I think we saw one of the greatest displays of football at this or any other world cup today.
I would have to go back to Holland beating Argentina 4-0 in 1974 to find anything comparable.
Ivory Coast is moving through the Dutch midfield with relative ease. The IC four is having the best of the Dutch 3 at the moment.
The IC needs some sort of the result in this one so their should be opportunities on the break for Holland.
Adrian Healey has just told us the goal difference is the first tie breaker - unfortunately he's wrong. The first tie breaker is head-to-head result(s).
I think we should see IC throwing on some attacking substitutes soon.
EVDS is hurting and everytime the ball goes to him it is a potential problem. However he does well to grab a cross and sets up a quick attack which ends with Robben firing wide.
Robben flys down the left side and is body checked just outside the penalty area. Gavrancic yellow card and free kick to the Dutch but nothing comes of it. We are now into injury time.
Whistle goes and Holland starts with a win. The Dutch were clearly the better team while S&M looked like a team better equipped to grind out a scoreless tie than to chase a game after going a goal down.
Edwin van der Sar shows what an advantage it is to have a keeper who can also play a bit as he brings an ackward passback down on his chest and then he cooly clears.
It has just struck me what is "odd" about this Dutch team - neither of the de Boer twins are playing. I know they have been gone for a couple of years but they were around for so long that I became accustomed to seeing them whenever the Dutch played.
The Dutch conceed a corner and they only have one post manned. God I can't understand why teams to that.
Van Bommel off and Landzaat (AZ) on. The obvious difference between the two teams is still Robben. He is the flair player that S&M just don't have.
