Pride of place has to go to Barcelona and their 6-1 dismantling of Atletico Madrid. Atletico had a number of starters missing but I doubt it would have made much of a difference. Barcelona’s performance was clinical and totally overpowered the Madrid side.
St. Mirren beat Rangers and in the process both the top and bottom of the SPL changed. The 1-0 win moved St. Mirren of the last rung and up to tenth spot with Falkirk and Aberdeen dropping below them. Rangers loss combined with Celtic’s 4-0 win over Hamilton meant that the Celts now lead Rangers at the top on goal difference. The game marked Rangers last league visit to Love Street which has been the Buddies home since 1894. Come next season St. Mirren will be moving to new digs.
Sporting Gijon travelled to Mallorca and recorded a 2-0 win, their first win and first points of the season. The newly promoted side has undergone a baptism of fire over the first five games. The opening spell has included letting in seven goals to Real Madrid, six to Barcelona and four to Sevilla. This was also Gijon’s first clean sheet.
Aston Villa arrived at Stamford Bridge with pretensions of bringing Chelsea’s unbeaten streak of 85 games at Stamford Bridge to an end. Instead they were handed a lesson as Chelsea set about them with a display that Villa just could not match. Villa’s most potent attacking weapons of Carew, Young and Agbonlahor were neutralized as Chelsea dominated the midfield and final score line of 2-0 flattered Villa.
Best forgotten…..
With their play-off hopes hanging by a gossamer thin thread Los Angeles Galaxy picked a bad time to produce a display that was as toothless as a Wednesday night bingo audience. The Crew picked up the three points with the game’s only goal and hardly broke sweat doing it.
In May 2007 Atletico Madrid lost 6-0 at the Vicente Calderon Stadium to Barcelona. Nearly eighteen months on at least they scored a goal this time.
Best goals….
It could not be considered a crucial goal considering it was Barcelona’s sixth in their 6-1 thumping of Atletico Madrid. But nonetheless Thierry Henry’s strike was a cracker. The Frenchman started the move and then drilled home a shot from just outside the penalty box after an exchange of first time passes.
If it is not one of the goals of the season it will certainly be one of the cheekiest. A cross from Inter’s Adriano on the left was back-heeled into the Bologna goal by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Christian Träsch will never forget his first goal for Stuttgart and what is more it is highly unlikely that he will ever score a more spectacular one. The volley from outside the penalty box by the 21-year-old German was struck with incredible power and accuracy and whizzed past Bremen keeper Tim Wiese and into the Werder Bremen net.
On a terrible evening for Atletico Madrid, a powerful, bending shot from Maxi Rodriguez that found the back of the Barcelona net from 25 yards out was about the only high spot.
Best Players….
Eric Cantona once described Mickaël Pagis as the player who most closely resembled him in modern-day French football. On Sunday the thirty-five year old provided a glimpse of what Cantona meant in scoring all three goals in Rennes win over “perennial” French champions Lyon.
Frank Lampard was at the centre of Chelsea’s dominant display against Aston Villa. He helped set up both of the first half goals and was a constant threat throughout the match.
A Fernando Torres double made the difference in the Merseyside derby a week past Saturday. On Sunday another brace led Liverpool back from a two goal deficit at Eastlands and an eventual 3-2 win.
Goal feast……
Six goals in the first twenty-eight minutes of a match are pretty difficult to beat. The remainder of the game brought only one more goal in Barcelona’s 6-1 win over Atletico Madrid.
North Americans in Europe….
US international Clint Dempsey made his first Premiership start of the season for Fulham on Saturday. After a bright start during which Dempsey was repeatedly a source of problems for West Brom, the Baggies came to grips Dempsey and his influence faded as West Brom shaded Fulham by the only goal of the game.
Biggest Howlers……
Dimitar Berbatov has to thank Aalborg captain Thomas Augustinussen for his first goal for Manchester United. Augustinussen had dropped into the centre of the Aalborg defence after Australian central defender Michael Beauchamp was forced out of the game and misplaced a pass that had been squared to him. The result was a gift wrapped chance from the edge of the box that the Bulgarian striker promptly dispatched.
Juventus’ Mohamed Sissoko picked up two yellow cards in the first half against Palermo and conceded a free kick from which Palermo opened scoring on Sunday.
Brutal errors by two MLS goalkeepers cost their sides dearly on the opening goals. Against Chivas, DC United’s keeper Louis Crayton badly misplayed a pass back and the loose ball was picked by Dejair. Dejair found Alecko Eskandarian who slipped the ball into an empty net from 20 plus yards.
Colorado Rapid’s Preston Burpo was the goat when his attempted clearance rolled to Brian Ching early in the game against Houston Dynamo. Ching was able to gather the ball and chip it over the advancing keeper.
Stat facts…..
Last season after seven games Derby County had accumulated four of the total eleven points they were to collect over the entire season – at the same stage this season Tottenham Hotspur have two points.
Spurs and Grimsby are the only two teams without a win to date in the four English divisions.
Rangers’ loss to St. Mirren was their first to the Buddies for 17 years and their first at Love Street in 22 years.
Four clubs lost unbeaten league records this weekend. In Serie A the last two undefeated teams Juventus and Napoli capitulated, in Scotland Rangers’ streak ended after a run of seven games without as did Lyon’s in Ligue Une.
Serie A referees were handing out cards quicker than an overworked Vegas dealer this weekend. In ten games there were nine red and sixty yellow cards issued.
Before Saturday’s match against Hull, Spurs had made their worst start to a season since 55/56. David Lacey looks back to the changes that were made and the path to the the 1961 domestic Double.
Guy Adams produces a well researched and objective article on David Beckham’s move to MLS.
Patrick Barclay believes that the guardians of English football have failed to control spending and so it is time for the Government to step in.
Coming up this week…..
With a weekend of World Cup qualifiers set for next weekend about all that we have to look forward to are squads being named and players withdrawing because of injury.
Amid all this summer’s transfer talk one of the few big money moves to actually happen has been the $20M+ transfer of Peter Crouch from Liverpool to FA Cup holders Portsmouth. Taken at face value the intent would seem to be to play Crouch in attack alongside former West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur striker Jermain Defoe.
The press has been quick to label the pair as a “little and large” combination. The little and large arrangement appeals to a number of sensibilities as it seems to match the best of two of the most common type forwards – the big fellow who is good in the air and the wee speedy striker with a nose for knock downs and an eye for a half chance.
But such combos appear to have fallen out of favour and instead many of the most successful Premiership scoring partnerships over the last few seasons have been made up of a striker and a midfielder - Van Nistelrooy and Scholes; Henry and Pires; Torres and Gerrard; Drogba and Lampard.
Nevertheless strike partnerships such as Quinn/Phillips (Sunderland), Heskey/Owen (Liverpool) and Dublin/Vassell (Aston Villa) have shown that a pairing of a big man and wee man along with the right supporting cast can sometimes deliver goals.
But when it comes down to ranking big and small pairings no combo has yet bettered the Kevin Keegan and John Toshack partnership from the Liverpool team of the seventies. Keegan and Toshack is still regarded as the consummate “little and large” strike partnership although as the years have gone by there has been a tendency to think only in terms of long balls pumped forward for the big strong Toshack to knock on for the speedy and nimble Keegan.
There was a lot more to the duo than balls thumped forward looking for Toshack to make contact. Keegan’s prodigious work rate and unselfish running created all sorts of problems for defenders who had become use to marking relatively static target men while Toshack was an intelligent reader of the game who was rarely given sufficient credit for his anticipation and touch.
Encouraging for Portsmouth fans is the fact that Peter Crouch’s only double figure scoring season in the Premiership (12 goals) was in 04/05 when he combined with “little” Kevin Phillips. It also marked Phillips last good Premiership season (10) although Southampton was relegated.
Both Crouch and Defoe have had trouble holding down regular staring spots at their previous clubs with over a third of their Premiership appearances coming as substitutes. Defoe has been the most productive scorer of the two and has also racked up 50% more Premiership appearances than Crouch despite being a year younger – 26 to Crouch’s 27.
Sixteen of Defoe’s 69 Premiership goals in 225 appearances have come off the bench and his 33 helpers reinforce his reputation as a striker who who is sometimes overly focused on his own exploits. Defoe’s best Premiership season for goals came in 2006/07 when he notched a dozen but he has finished two other seasons in double figures.
Crouch has 38 Premiership goals to his credit in 149 appearances although his 5 goals as a substitute seem to contradict the widely held opinion of him as a goalscoring “super-sub”.
In linking Crouch and Defoe Portsmouth boss Harry Rednapp is looking to improve Portsmouth’s goal output knowing that if his club is to improve further then more goals are necessary. In their five Premiership seasons Portsmouth’s scoring has ranged from a low of 37 (miracle escape year) to a high of 48 last season.
The best season return from a single player came from Yakubu with 13 in 04/05 and their two top goal scorers have never broken twenty between them in the five seasons - the best performance was in 2003/04 with Yakubu 11 and Sheringham 9.
Strangely that total was matched last season with Benjani collecting 12 goals and Defoe 8 but these two crossed transfer paths during the January transfer window and never did play together. For Harry Rednapp a change in preferred tactics may also be in order – especially at home.
Although last season Portsmouth finished a best ever 8th in the Premiership Pompey’s home form slipped and four single goal losses and eight draws at home meant a goal here and there might have meant a realistic challenge to fifth place Everton.
Rednapp’s favoured formation was the lone striker and although these tactics worked to Portsmouth’s advantage away from home it often backfired at home. Twenty-four goals in nineteen home games is far from prestigious but it becomes anemic when you consider that 17 goals came in only 4 games (against Reading, Birmingham, Bolton and Derby).
If Portsmouth is become a consistent top six finisher then not only do Crouch and Defoe have to become a dependable source for goals but Rednapp needs to make sure that more goals at one end are not negated at the other. Portsmouth need to find a way to service and support two strikers while keeping the midfield from being overrun and the defense from conceding more goals.
Group C Only France and Germany have won the Henri Delaunay Trophy more than once. The French won as hosts in 1984 and again in 2000. There were a number of occasions when the 2000 win could have turned out very differently. Spain’s Raul could have sent the the quarter final into extra time but missed a last minute penalty for Spain and France won 2-1.
The semi final against Portugal was decided in favour of France by an extra time golden penalty kick from Zidane. And in final Italy was only seconds away from winning when Sylvain Wiltord equalized sending the game into extra time. David Trezeguet then scored a golden goal winner just before the break.
How they qualified France’s two losses to Scotland made the headlines but once all was said and done the French still scored more goals (25) and conceded fewer (5) in finishing second by three points to Italy in Group 8. Thierry Henry was France’s leading scorer with six goals.
The Coach Outspoken and eccentric Raymond Domenech continues to prove the old adage about never underestimating an over achiever. Domenech succeeded Jacques Santini after France lost in the last eight of Euro 2004 to the eventual winners Greece.
Although France made heavy weather of World Cup qualification and the first two games of the finals against Switzerland and South Korea they did reach the World Cup Final before losing on penalties to Italy.
His selections are rarely anything but controversial and he has done it again setting off a heated debate after leaving the likes of Djibril Cisse, Philippe Mexes, Mathieu Flamini (recalled later as cover for a Patrick Vieira) and Hatem Ben Arfa out of the final squad of twenty-three named last week.
Key Players Karim Benzema does not have the name recognition of some of his illustrious team mates but over the next decade this youngster could become one of the world’s best players. Don’t be surprised if Domenech uses him sparingly but given a chance the 20-year-old could turn a game or two France’s way.
Franck Ribery impressed everyone in Germany two summers ago and a move to Bayern Munich last year led to him being named Bundesliga Player of the Year. Ribery has skill, close control, pace and creativity in a package that makes even the best defenders fear him.
Great Euro Memory Two second half goals from Platini and Bellone gave France a 2-0 win over Spain in the 1984 final in Paris. The 90th minute clincher from Bruno Bellone was the fourteenth goal scored by France in the tournament finals and the only goal scored by a French striker.
Synopsis Every tournament has to have a GROUP OF DEATH and for Euro 2008 Group C is it. When you look at the players available to Domenech it is impossible to dismiss France as legitimate challengers for the trophy. They have talent in every area but a nagging feeling persists that they may find it difficult to breakdown a resolute defence – ala Scotland.
Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying Austria, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania and Faroe Islands will be the opposition in Group 7.
Italy has now made it to the last four finals and won the tournament in 1968.
How they qualified After an opening game home draw to Lithuania and a loss in Paris to France Italy then rattled off a sequence of nine wins and a draw to win Group 8 by three points over France and five points ahead of third place Scotland. With five goals Luca Toni led the scoring for Italy.
The Coach Roberto Donadoni has achieved something that Italy failed to do after winning the 1982 World Cup and that is reaching the following European Championships finals.
Key Players Luca Toni may have only scored twice in Germany in 2006 but he was pivotal to Italy’s success. A massive player -both in size and in temperament.
The reigning bad boy of Italian football Antonio Cassano is in Donadoni’s squad and all eyes will be on how both deal with a situation that may be inherently unstable. Cassano was the only bright spot for Italy four years ago in Portugal but missed out on the 2006 World Cup after falling out with everyone except the baker, the butcher and the pizza-maker.
There is a quality to the Italian squad that few can match.
Great Euro Memory The Championship win in 1968 against Yugoslavia after a replay takes pride of place. Down by one to a first half Dragan Dzajic goal with around ten minutes to play, Domenghini’s equalizer took the final to a replay. Goals from Luigi Riva and Pietro Anastasi saw Italy lift the trophy in the rematch.
Synopsis Enter the tournament as World Champions although they were not assured of qualification until they had faced Scotland in the last group game. A
A team that should probably be building for a title defence in two years in South Africa but Coach Roberto Donadoni has generally stuck to experience with a significant number of World Cup winners returning two years on.
The trio of Antonio Di Natale, Marco Borriello, and Fabio Quagliarella does however offer the coach some interesting options up front. No one would be surprised if Italy won the tournament but by the same token a traditionally slow start in the anointed GROUP OF DEATH could prove very costly.
Coming Up in World Cup Qualifying Drawn in Group 8 with Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia and Monte####.
LosAngelesChelseaFan - Your thoughts on Denis Law?
Meanwhile, what's your take on our premiership champions pick? I can't begin to figure why JM played 3 holding midfielders against Villa and left Joe Cole on the bench. It was hardly the all out attack we saw at Reading. No-one looked sharp. Maybe it's not surprising when the manager looks so bored/resigned. I'd rather have "bad, angry Mourinho" back. I get the feeling that Abramovich actually didn't have money to spend right now and has asked Mourinho to make do with "adequate" for a while. Do you detect something missing at Chelsea in all of this?
Bobby – Denis Law was simply one of the most explosive and exciting players you could ever hope to see. He was brave and lightning quick and fantastic in the air. He also inspired a generation of young footballers to stretch the sleeves of their jerseys so they could grab on to them with their fingers! I still find myself doing it if I am out running or playing in long sleeves. Chelsea midfield was absolutely pedestrian and cried out for Joe Cole. The game has passed Makelele me thinks.
Leche010 - Is it just me, or is the Premiership just filled, from top to bottom, with more quality than it ever has before?I mean even the bottom club (and all but sure to remain there) Derby has Kenny Miller as a striker.
Bobby – Having Kenny Miller as your striker in the Premiership is more a sign of weakness than strength I am afraid. Miller has his strengths but putting the ball in the back of the net regularly is not one of them. However, I think a number of sides have made good acquisitions – Everton, Portsmouth, Manchester City, Liverpool as examples.
Henry14 - 1 Do you think Diarra's addition can help Arsenal with the bullies up north and maybe there is a chance for a real title challenge? 2 th14 is looking doggy for Barca for the past or so games l have seen him do you see him being a great player as he was or he will be another Sheva or Ballack? 3 Do you still think Arsenal will be under Hill Wood come start of next season?
Bobby –1. From what I have seen of Diarra he can’t be described as the second coming of Patrick Vieira – not so far anyway. He certainly is not going to be the difference between a league challenge and no league challenge. 2. Thierry Henry has looked fine to me. 3. I think the question is really will they be under the same regime at the start of next season? If so my answer is yes.
Foxcube - Re: Robson article. I feel it's unfair to match Pires/Ljunberg with Rosicky/Hleb head to head, toe to toe. This is because Arsenal has changed their way of playing since the 2005 and new players were bought for this new style. Bobby would you please give some analysis of their change?
Bobby – What new style? Bergkamp’s gone and can’t be replaced but the wide players are still being asked to do what they were two or three years ago as far as I can see.
Foxcube - Do you see the foreign investments will go on forever? Will the top teams break FA's restrictions and getting their TV deals individually?
Bobby – No tree grows to the sky. The question is how much upside is left in terms of increased revenues. That comes back to TV and internet deals and I’m guessing that there is a big upside left. Unfortunately most of the clubs have shown that can spend the money as quickly as it is given to them so the foreign investments will continue until someone realizes that soccer in Europe has never been a moneymaker. In fact the only people to have made money the last few years are the folks who have sold out to foreign buyers. What does that tell you? Remember apart from Abramovich most of the deals are being done with other people’s money not the names that hit the newspapers. Relatively little of their money is at risk.
The fallacy is that “new owners” bring new transfer money. Normally they increase the club’s debt load to pay for new transfers. Further to the TV deals I don’t believe that there are FA restrictions – it is a Premiership rule.
Foxcube - Re: players' sudden death. Nobody mentioned their insurance situation. Any insights?
Bobby – No different than any other worker dropping dead or being injured at work. If fault can be shown then the employer faces the possibility of legal and civil action. Otherwise you will probably find that depending on the professional players association in each country that the club and/or player carry some form of death benefit.
Craigyf - Your comments on the US MNT squad? Any USA v Brazil predictions? So far only two teams remain on maximum points in Serie A, does that surprise you. What has stood out in Serie A so far? Any thoughts on who might be favourites for the MLS Cup yet?
Bobby – A couple of minor surprise in Bradley’s selections but nothing stunning. Far too early to read anything into Serie A results – check in again around week 10. MLS Cup – I’ve been very impressed with DC United the last few weeks. However, MLS teams are very prone to streaks and there is still 2 plus months of the season left. You have to factor in New England given Steve Nicol’s record in the play offs. Houston still has time to find there feet again and Chivas as flown under the radar. Chivas’ record at home is outstanding.
Ringo - Now that we’re a month into the EPL season, would you like to take a mulligan on any of your picks?
Bobby – I’ll stick. It is a long season – lots of drama to come.
CIAO - What do you make of the final day transfers? Or lack there of in the case of Riquelme, Adriano and Ballack? Maybe Inter and Chelsea should just swap the 2 players. Inter has much better luck with German players than Brazilian strikers.
Bobby – As I said on the show - the transfer deadline had Super Bowl hype and Super Bowl excitement.
Bigdavedisaster - Why the need for the lack of a better word "lies" in the handling of Graversen and Miller transfers by Gordon? Is he simply covering incase the transfers don’t go through and then don’t the players already know that he was willing to let them go?
Whenever I read something on George Best I’m always reminded of my Uncle talking about what a shame it was that he never played in a World Cup for a United Ireland team (if they could have made it?) so that the world might see him on its biggest stage.
Bobby – The manager’s job is to do his up most to win games and that comes before being honest with the press. In the case of George Best my understanding is that he was asked to join the 1982 Northern Ireland squad for the World Cup in Spain but he said no. Can anyone else confirm that story?
It has become a summer ritual - the departure of another member of the Arsenal side that went undefeated while winning the Premiership title in 2004. Since the summer of that year Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Robert Pires, Lauren, Edu, Ray Parlour, Sylvain Wiltord and Patrick Vieira have all left for new pastures while Dennis Bergkamp chose the end of the 2006 season as the time to retire. And now, the man who over the last eight seasons has been the brightest of all the Arsenal stars, has also left the club.
With Thierry Henry leaving Arsenal to join Barcelona only four players (Lehmann, Toure, Gilberto Silva and Ljungberg) remain from the accepted starting eleven from thirty-six months ago. Reaction from Arsenal fans to the latest departure will be interesting to say the least with initial indications being a clear polarization of views.
One group seeing Henry’s departure for $33M as being a piece of good business for a soon-to-be 30-year-old with a sciatic nerve problem that is likely to be a constant problem; the other group viewing it as the loss of another iconic player without an adequate replacement on the horizon.
Views on the subject are perhaps dependant on three key questions. 1. Should Wenger have tied harder to keep the 2004 team together and if so would Arsenal have collected more trophies by doing so?
Looking back on it the signs were there that rather than being the team to beat, the Arsenal team of 2004 was in fact at its peak and was heading down rather than going onto to dominate the Premiership and Europe. Roman Abramovich had already bought Chelsea and with Claudio Ranieri in charge Chelsea knocked Arsenal out of the Champions League at the quarter final stage in 2004. Manchester United put Arsenal out of the FA Cup around the same time.
Wenger did in fact maintain the core team (Edu, Wiltord and Parlour had only started 37 games in total the previous season all left Highbury after the 2004 season) for the 2005 season. The FA Cup was won and Arsenal finished second to Chelsea in the Premiership. But, was at that point that Arsene Wenger decided his team needed to be rebuilt. All the evidence points to the fact that just one season after going a complete league season unbeaten Arsenal was in decline.
2. How do the replacements stack-up against the 2004 squad in the short and long-term?
Although Cesc Fabregas was on the Arsenal squad the year before Patrick Vieira’s move to Juventus it is fair to consider Fabregas as the Frenchman’s replacement. The same would be true for Clichy and Ashley Cole. The others would be Van Persie, Adebayor, Hleb, Rosicky, Gallas and Eboue.
In the short term only Emmanuel Eboue has slipped seamlessly into the Arsenal first eleven while replacing Lauren. Clichy is almost a clone of Cole and in another season or two he may match the now-Chelsea full back.
Van Persie has shown hints that he has what it takes to become one of the world’s best strikers but last season he started less than half the Premiership games last season through injury.
Adebayor is no Dennis Bergkamp and was never intended to be. In fact Wenger wisely chose not to look for a direct replacement for the iconic-Dutchman and instead opted for a different look up front. Adebayor has proven extremely effective at providing Arsenal with a long-ball option but it is doubtful that Togo striker will be ever be a consistent starter at a top class club.
The jury is still very much out on Alexander Hleb although Rosicky made a promising start to his Arsenal career last season. In defence William Gallas was another who missed a good chunk of last season through injury. Even then a good number of his games at the start of the season were at left back.
When he played in his favoured position at centre back the Arsenal defence often looked less than convincing when high ball were played into the box. Gallas maybe one of the world’s best defenders but the partnership with Toure may not be the best answer for Arsenal.
Finally back to Fabregas. An incredible talent that Wenger has decided to rebuild is midfield and team around. But he is still very much a work-in-progress. (Fabregas could have been playing at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup this summer). At this stage in his development Fabregas can’t carry the kind of load that Vieira could but in the long term the youngster could become one of the world’s great players.
3. Does Wenger dip into transfer kitty to replace Henry and if so who does he sign?
Wenger has no option but to sign a new striker or probably two. With Van Persie and Adebayor the only front line strikers Arsenal is badly exposed at this point. The young Mexican striker Carlos Vela is only 19 and it is unlikely that he will arrive at the Emirates until sometime next year – probably the summer. So who will Wenger go after?
If you were to create an identikit of Henry’s replacement it might look something like this. Under 26 years-old with his best days ahead, international experience, comfortable on the ball, good in the air and with the potential of 20-30 goals per season. A player like that is going to cost a few bucks but with $33m from the sale of Henry plus whatever other money is in the kitty already, Arsenal should be able to afford the asking price.
First off who does this exclude? Michael Owen for starters, as well as Miroslav Klose and Nicolas Anelka – although I admit that the return on Anelka might be intriguing it may also be a bit masochistic as far as the Arsenal brass is concerned. David Trezeguet also fails the identity parade.
Adriano might be available but who knows where his head is at. David Villa of Valencia apparently wants to stay in Spain although with Barcelona now top heavy in strikers the Nou Camp appears to be out. Ryan Babel (Ajax) is a name that has been linked with Arsenal in the past although he has yet to show that he is capable of scoring goals at a rate that Arsenal would expect.
The one player that seems to tick all the boxes is Atletico Madrid’s Fernando Torres. To land Torres Arsenal may have to outbid Liverpool but they may have a potential ace up their sleeve. Arsenal still own Jose Antonio Reyes and he might be dangled in front of Atletico in order to seal the deal.
Matt Scott says that a report suggests that “New riches may lift Premiership also-rans to the fore.” It seems to me that if this is true the one thing that the mid-table clubs then need is proven managerial talent.
And now to the matches. The European qualifiers dominate although if the truth be told there are very few games that capture your attention.
Here are the best of them and you catch-up on the group standings by following the link.
In Group A Belgium must beat Portugal to maintain any realistic chance of finishing second. Goal scoring is a problem for the Belgians and they are also missing Bayern Munich defender Daniel Van Buyten through injury. Portugal will be missing Simão while Cristiano Ronaldo is suspended. Portugal currently leads Belgium by four points.
Finland against Serbia in Helsinki is a real six pointer with both countries tied on 11 points after six games and with only a single loss each. What is more they have both slipped on banana skins in the not too distant past. Serbia lost to Kazakhstan 2-1 in March while Finland’ lost away to Azerbaijan 1-0. Giant Serb striker Nikola Žigic is suspended for this one.
Ukraine and France are tied at the top of Group B (Scotland has the same number of points but a game more played) and are two ahead of fourth place Italy. Both countries will be missing important players for the match in Paris. Olexandr Kucher, Andriy Shevchenko, Artem Milevskiy and Sergi Rebrov are all absent for Ukraine while Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Willy Sagnol and Louis Saha are all crocked and unavailable to France. Scotland does not play until Wednesday while Italy travels to Lithuania looking to improve on the draw between the teams the first go round.
Bosnia-Herzegovina needs to find a way to stop a Turkey side that has only dropped two points in the first five games and leads Group C. Bosnia-Herzegovina is six points behind the Turks and five behind second place Greece and started poorly in the early qualification games. A 2-1 win in Oslo against Norway provided fresh hope but a loss will leave them hoping for a minor miracle in order to finish second. Two Premiership players are in Turkey’s squad – Emre (Newcastle) and Colin Kazim-Richards (Sheffield United).
UEFA.com wins the prize for the headline of the week - “San Marino short in attack.” Here is a quick synopsis of San Marino’s campaign so far. They have an outstanding chance to break their own record for the worst European Championship qualifying campaign. All five matches to date have been lost with an average margin of defeat of a little under 6 goals. This is even worse than their 2000 qualification campaign that saw no points and an average loss by 5.4 goals. Attack would seem to be a secondary problem. Oh yes I forgot. They play Germany this weekend on FSC – the last time Germany won 13-0. If only the San Marino forwards had done better!!
Ryan Giggs plays his final game (#64 and this one against the Czech Republic) for Wales in an international career that has been largely about fighting lost causes. During his time a play-off loss to Russia in the Euro 2004 was about as near as Wales has come to qualifying for either the Euros or the World Cup. Freddy Eastwood (Southend) has been called up to the Welsh squad. He qualifies through the Grandpa rule.
In Group E both Croatia and Israel should pick up full points against Estonia and Macedonia respectively. The big match in this section will be on Wednesday and will be in Zagreb when Russia plays Croatia. While Beckham’s return hogs the headlines the Croatia - Russia game might have a bigger impact on England’s chances.
Denmark versus Sweden looks to be one of the few standout matches. Northern Ireland sits atop Group F but are idle this weekend and on Wednesday of next week. Denmark has a game in hand on Sweden and Spain and has played two games less than NI. A Danish win – and a Spain win against Latvia – could create a logjam at the top of this group. Denmark have called up Morten 'Duncan' Rasmussen who gets his nickname from a similar style to the former Everton striker. Something to look forward to!!
Group leaders the Netherlands sit out this Saturday and Wednesday. Hristo Stoitchkov’s interim replacement Stanimir Stoilov has omitted Juventus striker Valeri Bozhinov from the Bulgarian squad for the away and home games against Belarus. Bulgaria dropped what could become tow crucial points when they drew at home to Albania in March 0-0. Belarus took only a single point from their first three games but have since beaten Slovenia and Luxembourg in the last two. Another win could add Belarus to what originally looked to be a three-way race.
In MLS Toronto faces Colorado Rapids without three Canadian players who have already reported to the national team for the Gold Cup. They are still without Carl Robinson (Wales vs. Czech Republic) although young centre-back Andrew Boyens is available after missing last weekend’s draw with the Columbus Crew. Boyen was on international duty with New Zealand against Robinson and Wales.
Goalkeeper Greg Sutton appears to be the largest hole to fill with replacement Srdjan Djekanovic having only very limited experience. The Rapids are on a hot streak with two wins and two draws in the last four matches although they have only averaged a goal a game.
LA Galaxy plays DC United and is another team that will be missing Canadian players - Kevin Harmse and Ante Jazic. However they can still call on American Landon Donovan who doesn’t have to report to the USA camp until Monday. The Beckham headlines seem to be blurring the fact that this is a LA team that just isn’t getting results.
Six games have brought only one win, five points and four have come from two games against Chivas. Coach Frank Yallop will also be without defender Chris Albright may miss most of the rest of the season after suffering a severe hamstring injury. Midfielder Kyle Martino is suspended after a red card last week and LA may have trouble putting together a full bench! DC has won their last three games and has taken ten points from their last four games.
The game of the weekend in MLS is Kansas City Wizards hosting New York Red Bulls. Defensively the RED Bulls have been a solid unit – or a series of solid units. They have only conceded four goals in 8 games (5 shut outs), even though the back four has been a bit of a revolving door with multiple changes common. It is a marked improvement on last season that saw 15 goals against over the first eight games. Kansas City is a point behind the Revolution and Red Bulls in the Eastern Standings and has played the same number of games as Red Bulls, and one less than New England.
atleti_female - I've been thinking about going to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada this summer. The thought of seeing some of the sport's upcoming stars would definitely make it worth the trek up from NYC. I imagine that U-20 version will be less crowded than the regular World Cup-- is this a correct assumption? (Mind you, I don't see this as a negative, but as a possibility of getting good seats in the games.)
Also, at this stage of the competition, are there any youngsters that have caught your eye-- or, that have been talked about by other analysts?
Bobby - I think that the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada this summer is going to be a terrific tournament. The last announced ticket sales for the six host cities was around 300,000, but many of the sales so far have been cut-price deals to youth players and the soccer fraternity. The 24 team tournament will be held in Ottawa, Toronto, Montréal, (east) and Edmonton, Vancouver, and Victoria (west) in July. The final will be in Toronto.
The draw for the tournament will be made in Toronto, on March 3 and is being televised live in Canada, on CBC television (the rights holder in Canada). The teams to watch - no great insight here - will be Brazil, Argentina, and Spain. As for other teams to look out for I would pick Mexico (they won the under 17 World Cup two years ago), and the Czech Republic (they have produced some very good age-group teams in the last decade). ####ia has done well at age-group level as well and they are joined by three other African countries Congo, Gambia and Zambia who would be regarded as more unknowns, but potentially very entertaining and exciting.
I don't see the European teams being particularly strong given that they have a “competing” format for the under 21’s. Germany, France, Italy, none of these countries have qualified which I think will be a shock to some people who might be interested in buying tickets but do not necessarily follow the game closely.
The USA should be competitive as it normally is at this level and Canada should definitely make it into the last 16 with a top eight spot a realistic expectation. It is difficult to say who the players are to watch out for because there is no guarantee that they will be “available”.
He can only hope that the likes of Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Carlos Vela (Mexico and Arsenal) Giovanni Dos Santos (Mexico and Barcelona) make appearances. There is also a kid Bojan Krkic (still only 16) who may make the Spanish squad - another Barcelona player.
Just as an aside, North Korea and South Korea have both qualified and will be separated at the group stage. But what are the odds that North Korea will be drawn together with the USA?
Henry14 – I have to say l do not see Mascherano taking Sissoko's place he will be used as a squad player and the size of his contract appears to me to be more of Benitez accepting that he has taken a gamble. l have to make a brief comment on Tottenham. Martin Jol spend $82m in the transfer window on Zokora, Berbatov, Ghaly, Mido, Ekkoto, and Malbranque and it teams like this that make me appreciate Mourinho, because clearly they are underperforming. Martin Jol seems not to know his first choice midfield paring.
Managers are usually fined when they bad mouth referees do you know what happens to referees when they make bad calls like the Ronaldo and Yakubu tumbles, because l just feel the referees are inconsistent, the next minute they follow the book the other they are trying to use their head, like the Viduka case. And lastly what did you make of the La Liga round this week; in my opinion l just feel La Liga is not cutting it this year.
Bobby - A fully fit and fully functioning Javier Mascherano is a far better player than Mohamed Sisokko, in my opinion. Did Martin Jol spend the money or was it Damien Comolli (Arsenal’s former European scout) the Spurs Sporting Director?
I can't question Berbatov's performances this year, as I think he's been outstanding. I would agree that Spurs have not got their midfield figured out and they still lack balance and need somebody who is naturally left footed. Lennon and Malbranque played far too wide against Manchester United and left Huddleston and Zokora exposed. It didn't help either that the Spurs defense played very deep. The defense really misses Ledley King.
As for referees making bad calls - we can expect the perfect referee about the same time that the perfect player is created. Referees are held accountable for their performances probably to a greater extent than players are. It is interesting that you are criticizing the referee for the Ronaldo incident, but make no mention of Ronaldo's contribution. How can you criticize referees when some players go out with the full intention of cheating?
As for the comment about La Liga - I do not understand what you mean by “not cutting it”. There are 5 or 6 teams in contention for the league title, apart from the bottom two it looks like its going be a real fight for the last relegation spot and they have three teams in the last 16 of the champions league. What in your opinion would constitute cutting it?
Djnima - My first question for you is about Real Madrid. What do you think is their problem this year? They have the talent, they have a good coach. Do they just need time to gel together and hit form?
Also, would you see Wenger cashing in on Henry? I'm sure he could command a huge chunk of change. Isn't that was Wenger likes to do . . . (buy low sell high)
And my final question is about Scolari this week coming out and recommending that Ronaldo leave united for Barca. Do you consider that an irresponsible comment for a national coach to make about the player's current club? It is sure to sour relations between the national team and the club team.
Bobby – I think that Real Madrid is still suffering from the chaos of previous years and the culture shock of being managed by Fabio Capello. Capello is not an adventurous coach, and that's clearly seen by the lack of goals from Real Madrid. Not only is a team losing, but they are losing ugly! The problem is if they get rid of Capello who do they replace him with and if they do the chaos just continues.
Arsene Wenger is not going to be selling Thierry Henry in the near future.
Sometimes in newspapers we see the answer, but we never see the question. I am guessing that that's the case with Scolari.
Gunner44 - I'm also going to ask about Ronaldo on whether you think he should leave Man U? I don't see why he should move because he is been amazing this season and the Man U team has kind of revolved around him this season and he is having a fantastic season. The only reason that he might want to leave is because of social and environmental reasons like the weather just like Reyes did. It's really going to be a big loss for the EPL because as much as I hate Ronaldo, I do think he has been the most entertaining player this season.
Bobby – The Premiership cannot afford to lose players like Ronaldo even though gravity often gets the better of him. To substantiate the television rights fees, not just in England, but around the world the premiership has to be seen as the league that stars come to, rather than the league that they leave.
Foxcube – Man Utd this season have suffered very few injuries whereas other teams such as Arsenal, Newcastle had a team in the medic room at certain points. Could you shed some light on this issue? Another question regards Lippi's interview a short while ago about his possible move the Chelsea. Do you still think Mourinho is on the way despite their recent "revival"? Thanks!
Bobby – There have been seasons when Manchester United has had injuries piling up as well. Teams do need a bit of luck; it isn't just down to having the best players. Injuries tend to come and go in cycles but Newcastle seem to be in a perpetual state of injury crisis. There was some discussion about the quality of their training field a while back but I have no idea whether that was rectified or not. When you consider the amount of money that the top teams spend on players and pay them, you would think that they would be making sure that they train only on the best surfaces. Making sure that players cool down properly and prepare themselves properly is also key.
ulsterson - Do you see any validity to the idea that different skills or talents can be learned in different leagues? The EPL certainly has a different style of play than those on the continent and in South America. Some players have a very difficult time adjusting to the pace and physical nature and some English born players have difficulty outside of the EPL (Just recently read about forwards from the EPL having to be told not to track back as much in Spain or Italy) How do the different leagues around the world affect players development and do you feel the EPL style has in some way hindered the success of the English national team? Thank you and thanks from all of us for all the time you put in on this blog.
Bobby – I think you have to except that different skills and talents can be taught and learned by players in different leagues. The different leagues around the world still have their own characteristics and still represent each country's culture. Glenn Hoddle and John Collins are two players who've often commented on the difference it made to their game when they went to France to play. Sometimes it's not just the on field performance either, but things like lifestyle. Much has been made of the influence of Arsene Wenger and foreign players on home-grown player’s diets.
The EPL style does “hurt” English national team because at the international level ball possession becomes even more critical. In the premiership the ball is given away with more abandon and the emphasis is placed on winning it back.
Only1cab - I know that signing a player can be an arduous process but when there is so much money involved it seems a bit unprofessional signing players five minutes before the window closes. I mean they've had a whole month. Also Tottenham are in trouble with the FA for showing the replay of Ronaldo's (alleged) dive over and over again on their big screens at half time on Sunday. I believe it was a bit irresponsible of them after the events in Italy.
Bobby – Panic buying is never a positive thing although I think you have to separate the last moment decision to try and sign a player, versus pursuing a player over a long period of time but running into roadblocks and tough negotiators. I really don't know what Tottenham did in respect to the video replays, but if they did continually replay the Ronaldo “incident” at half-time then it shows a lack of common sense in my opinion. Replaying the incident on a video board isn't going to fix anything.
On the subject of video replay - sort of - Matt Dickinson had an article in The Times about how it was a bad weekend in England for video replay enthusiasts.
Verbal97 - I'm a little confused about what's going on in Italy in terms of repercussions. This should be the straw that breaks the camel's back and if it happened in England, the UEFA and FIFA powers that be would be going nuts. A small set of English fans (ok, Liverpool fans) inadvertently caused the deaths of 39* (mostly) Juventus supporters by rushing them and causing a wall to fall down in response to the Italians throwing stuff at them. The resulting punishment was that ALL English teams were banned from Europe for 5 years and Liverpool banned an extra year. In 04/05, Roma fans threw things at the referee during a Champions' League game. Resulting punishment was 3 games in front of an empty stadium. That same season, Inter fans threw flares onto the field during the CL quarterfinal against Milan, even striking a player (Dida). The resulting punishment was 3 games in front of an empty stadium. It seems that the punishment now that a policeman has died should be extreme and severe, but from the conflicting reports I've been reading, it doesn't seem that it will be likely. So, I really have two questions. First, what, in reality, is going on? And second, why is there a double standard depending on what country these things happen in (or am I mis-perceiving this)?
Post-script I stand corrected on the numbers (I've edited my comment to reflect this)...However, it seems to me that Italy is descending down a slippery slope and it needs to be stopped, using things like Heysel as a history lesson as to what can happen down the line. That said, I stand by my double standard comment, in that if something like this happened in England today, a swift, severe punishment from UEFA would likely follow, even though the English game has been cleaned up considerably whereas Italy now is a complete disaster and not likely going to get severe penalties.
Bobby – I don't think the Italian situation at the moment comes close to what was happening in England, and in Europe in the 70s and 80s. During that time, it was week after week, year after year, it was never ending. I don't agree that if there was a similar incident in England, that UEFA would issue a severe punishment. Domestically, it doesn't fall within their jurisdiction. UEFA get involved when European club or international competition is involved.
As a postscript - my memory might be failing me on this one - but my recollection was that the FA together with the British government of the time withdrew English teams from European competition immediately after the Heysel disaster. The suspensions from the UEFA only came after. I think that is an indication of how bad the situation actually was.
You also have to consider that it was not until after the Hillsborough disaster - not caused by fans but by incompetent policing – and to some extent the Bradford fire that there was a real commitment to fixing things. The issuing of the Taylor Report was critical, and only after the report were English football grounds brought up to a modern standard.
Jack “get your tickets here” Warner is in front of the FIFA Executive committee this week as he attempts to slither his way out of another in a long line of “misconduct” allegations. The November edition of “World Soccer” has an article by Lasana Liburd that details at length the ethically challenged Warner’s exploits over the years. Liburd points out that despite Warner’s initial threat to sue FIFA General Secretary Urs Linsi and Ernst & Young – whose leaked report set off the investigation – no action has ever been taken.
It seems that threatening to sue is all part of the Warner act. He threatened to do the same to Andrew Jennings but nothing came of that either. No doubt Warner prefers to take his chances in front of stacked FIFA committees rather than a court of law.
Rob Hughes looks at the imminent arrival at Old Trafford of Henrik Larsson and the current problems of Thierry Henry.
With SAF’s loan capture of Henrik Larsson and the transfer window just around the corner I’m interested in finding out how you would go about strengthening your favourite team. What kind of player (just one) does your team need and who would it be?
France played the almost perfect game against Brazil. Defensively they were solid and they ran at Brazil when they got the chance.
Domenech has found the role for Zidane just behind Henry - he was fantastic.
Malouda and Ribery were the lags of the team in midfield and Vieira and Makalele fitted in perfectly.
Zidane's first ever assist on a Henry goal for France?
The Brazil inquest will be underway all ready - I wonder if I should pull out the "Ten reasons why Brazil won't win the World Cup" article fom May to help the process.
A very disappointing display from Brazil over the five games. We never really saw the pace and power that was expected.
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