Week of the Manchester Un-united

A weekend with proper results shows that the ill effects of internationals are over and clubs are stretching their resources to gain maximum points. After five weeks, the EPL point table talks a lot about the way it is scaling up. The worst losers of the first week positioned in the top of the table and the present champion is struggling to cope up with the pressure. The week produced maximum number of goals in a week in this season -29 goals. Five week is not enough to judge the season and predict how the point table will look at mid May 2014.

Surprising result of the week was Southampton’s away victory over Liverpool, and it was unexpected too. The ‘Reds” were enjoying a high-flying start until the game that includes defeating Manchester United at home. All these success stories were without their main striker Luis Suarez who is serving his ten match ban. Southampton had different plan and they properly curtailed the flowing attack of Liverpool and made their winning goal just after the half-time break, through defender D. Lovren.

Fascinating results were the fight backs of Everton and Hull City in their away matches against West Ham United and New Castle United respectively. Both teams won with a margin of 2-3. Steve Bruce played for Manchester United and managed Wigan, Birmingham, Sunderland etc., lead Hull, the newly joined EPL team to new heights. When David Moyes left Everton to Manchester United, the pundits had written off Everton even from the first half list in the result table. Shrewd management of resources is the key element of the success of Everton. Roberto Martinez learned and tried it at Wigan and made it marvellous.

Disastrous result was the defeat of Sunderland (3-0) margin by West Bromwich Albion. The result angered the visiting fans they turned against the Sunderland manager Paulo Di Canio. His throat cutting gesture towards the supporters made the situation worse and it ended up in sacking of the manager eventually. He becomes the first manager to resign in this season.

Challenging return towards victory was the performance of Aston Villa. They defeated Norwich at Carrow Road with a solitary goal. It was not the attack of Villa created the result and it was the contribution of their defence. The defenders and midfield hung on the thing margin made by their striker L. Kozak. After defeating Arsenal in the beginning day, Villa forgot their way to victory. The result against Norwich will be enough to regain their confidence.

Saddest on one hand and brightest on the other, was the outcome of the Manchester Derby. Those who supports the champions, it was a sad result and for those who supports Manchester City it was a very bright result. City routed the United for 4-1 and produced a successful attacking football against the champions. Credit should go to Manchester cities game plan, coherence in their attack and team work, and lethal finishing. Though out the game, Manchester United was shadow of its self. They failed to do justice to their talent, depth and the name they are carrying with. Instead of giving a proper fight, they meekly surrendered from the beginning onwards. Only positive point in the match was the performance of Rooney. He tried to inspire his team and fight back at least in the last quarter. I don’t want to take credit from Manchester City for their best performance so far. When they are in flow, it is difficult to stop them and they proved it.

Everyone will blame Moyes for the defeat but it is wrong. Manchester United is in a transition stage. They have to change the structure of the team into the new manager’s mould. It will take little bit time. Sir Alex faced this in his beginning years but he successfully developed a team in his way and succeeded in all competitions for many years. Moyes has that element in him but require little more time.

NB: After five matches, most successful team is not Manchester City or Chelsea or Arsenal or Tottenham or Liverpool. It is Everton. They faced big teams but not defeated by anyone.

EPL Week IV: International Qualifiers took out the Steam

Internationals, whether it is qualifying rounds for World Cup or Euro or even the friendly match between two nations are enough to disrupt the rhythm of league matches. International is a big commitment and a big gamble for clubs and most of them are reluctant to send their best players for such matches. Most of the front-line clubs suffers setbacks due to the international matches and it will reflect in the forthcoming league matches. Internationals are demanding and every player wants to show up their best for the country they represent. The performance in the internationals will be the passage for them towards their participation in the World Cup.

For clubs, internationals are nightmares. In most occasions the best players who represent the national team will return with injuries or will be burn out due to exertion. The club has to bare the expense of any injury occurs to their player and in most cases, the absence of the key player matters a lot in their league results. The league match followed by internationals will generally be sluggish and the best teams will struggle to cope up.

On the other hand, the mid-level teams in the league table will wait for such breaks. They won’t lose many players like the top clubs and will get additional days during the break for rest and preparation for the next match. Sam Allardyce, the manager of West Ham, publically accepted it long back when he was managing Bolton that they use to wait for the international break to face the top clubs because the internationals will break the coherence and passing rhythm of those teams and in most occasions they won’t be fit enough cope up with the team who enjoyed the break with rest and training.

The results of top four clubs on the last week prove that the internationals will certainly damage their playing rhythm. Manchester United who played against Crystal Palace really struggled to churn out a 2-0 victory and the first goal was controversial due to ‘dive’ allegations. Manchester City faced Stoke City, one of the toughest team in the EPL, and compromised with a goal less draw. Performances of the renowned internationals were below par and the normal cohesion of the Manchester City was nowhere near.

The major sufferer of the international week was Chelsea who enjoys a star studded team of internationally acclaimed players. They played against Everton who enjoyed the international break for preparing strategy to face Chelsea. Everton was prepared and played very well against the London club and clinched a 1-0 victory. Chelsea was struggling to cope up with the physicality of Everton and lost their passing rhythm completely against the quick counter attack tactics of the Toffees.

The fourth placed team of the last season, Arsenal played against struggling Sunderland managed 3-1 victory. The joy of the result was marred with the allegation on the disallowed goal when match was 2-1 up for Arsenal.

Interesting feature of the fourth week was on the point table. One match between Swansea and Liverpool was featured on Monday and until that time Arsenal, the struggler of the first week, was positioned in the top. The 2-2 draw with Swansea took Liverpool to the top on Monday and Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspurs followed them. The week saw five draws some shared with goals and some without.

Total number of goals reached 20 this week, comparatively better proportion than second and third weeks. Thanks to Jonjo Shelvey who scored one for his team Swansea and allowed the opponents, his former club Liverpool, to score twice and then helped his team mate Michu to equalise the match at 2-2. 

World Cup 2014: The Final Picture is Appearing

It was like a long gap, and there was no league matches in the week between September 2^nd and 13^th.  But we had internationals for qualifying into the finals of the World Cup in 2014. During these twelve days, most of the football loving nations were struggling hard to book their place in Brazil. Some of them succeeded and few were reached closer but many of them still far yet in reachable position.

A world cup fixture can accommodate only 32 teams and almost all countries around the world will try to get into the magic thirty two. FIFA, the international governing body of the game football (soccer) restricted entry of countries on the basis of region they represent. According to FIFA, Europe (UEFA), the smallest land mass, is still the home land of football and will have maximum number of (13) berths. South America (CONMEBOL) will have 4 direct berths and another one in playoff against Asia. The CONCACAF, the region includes Central America and North America will have three direct berths and one playoff against Oceania football. The biggest region, Asia (AFC) has 4 berths direct and one playoff against South America and Africa will have direct five berths.

It will take little more time to get the final picture but the matches during this international break provide some clarity about who will reach in the 32. European powerhouses Italy and Germany along with Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland qualified for the finals. England, France, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Bosnia, Croatia, Portugal and Sweden are struggling to find their space in the 32 and present Champion has two matches in hand and staying in the first place in their group which shares with France. By the middle of next month, the picture of Europe will be clear.

Brazil, as the host nation is already qualified and the picture of remaining 4 +1 berths are clearing up. Argentina found their feet in the finals with 8 wins, 5 draws, one defeat and 29 points from 14 matches. Behind Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Ecuador are lined up and Uruguay is struggling for the fifth place through play off. CONCACAF, the region which includes North and Central America has identified their first three berths in USA, Costa Rica and Honduras. Mexico, the Olympic champions are in the fifth position and have equal points with fourth placed Panama. They will fight for the playoff place and will meet on 11^th October at Azteca stadium in Mexico. If they won’t win the match, it will be the biggest disappointment of the 2014 World Cup because Mexico represented almost all World Cups so far.

Africa had their group stage and the second round produced 10 group winners. Now the group winners will be placed in two groups and will have five playoff games in October and November. As per the draw on 16^th September, Ivory Coast will face Senegal, Tunisia is paired with Cameroon, Egypt will meet Ghana, Algeria faces Burkina Faso and Ethiopia has found their opponent in Nigeria.

After viewing all these results and draws, the biggest possible disappointment will be the absence of Mexico. Most interesting result so far is the qualification of Belgium. They played 8 matches and won 7, one draw and no loss. They defeated Croatia, Serbia, Scotland, Macedonia and Wales in the group stage. Belgium had a golden generation in 1980s and performed very well in 1986 world cup and gave a strong fight to the champion Argentina in the Semi finals. In 1990s they managed to reach in the group stage but in 2006 and 2010 they failed to qualify for the finals. Now, they are coming up with a new generation young players.

I am counting Belgium for next world cup, not for this one. This time, they will definitely give a fight for all their opponents and will gain experience. The new generation will be matured for 2018 World Cup in Russia. Their current squad is playing for the best teams in Europe at present. They have best two goal keepers in Simon Mignolet and Thibaut Courtois, in defence they have Vincent Kompany, Thomas Vermalen, Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld, in mid-field they plays some of the best talents such as Eden Hazard, Marouane Fellaini, Mousa Dembele, Kevin de Bruyne, and in the attack they holds Christine Bentike, Kevin Mirallas and Romelu Lakuku. They have talent, depth and needs experience. 

EPL Week III: Goal Shy Weekend, London Derby and Manchester-Liverpool Fight

Expectation for the third week of English Premier League (EPL) was very high but the results went in other way. The results of the entire weekend show that this was one of the most boring league week. Two big matches offered between the biggest rivals shot up the expectation level before the match but the result was more on the side of practicality. League champion Manchester United played against Liverpool in Anfield and in the famous London derby Arsenal hosted Tottenham Hotspurs. This was the last match before the transfer window closes and the last chance to assess the team strength and to decided whether to go for another player or not.

Number of goals has come down week by week. In the inaugural week the league saw 25 goals and the subsequent week had 17 in its count. Manchester cities 4-0 become the best result of the first week, then their defeat against Cardiff become the most entertaining match with a striking result. The third week gathered only 13 goals and had more solitary goal victory. Crystal Palace’s victory against Sunderland (3-1) was the most scoring one and Swansea’s come back to the point table was another entertaining result. There is no match for next week and players are going for Internationals in the World Cup qualifiers world around.

All the above mentioned four clubs were engaged in the transfer market in one or other way. Liverpool was acted as the most powerful club who said its star striker, who was ready to jump out from the club, to shut-up and stick with the contract terms. Very rarely player power gets defeated by the club. Until the match day between Manchester United and Chelsea, Wayne Rooney, the star striker of United was showing his ugly face towards his club by spurring up transfer options. Here also, the club power had upper hand and after the Match against Chelsea Rooney decided to stick with his club.

It is difficult to say whether Tottenham conceded defeat in Gareth Bale’s case or they took it as an opportunity to re-vamp the entire team by adding better players. When Real Madrid knocked in the door, Bale did not go for a second thought. Daniel Levy, the director of Spurs looked at it as an opportunity to gain maximum out of it and he demanded a transfer with world record. By the time they played against Arsenal, the negotiations reached in the last stage. Before letting Bale to Madrid, Levy found his replacements in five-six players and completed their deals.

Manchester United lost to Liverpool for one goal scored by former Chelsea man Daniel Sturridge. The London derby was all about the spending of Spurs and inactiveness of Arsenal in the transfer market. Before the match, Arsenal brought two players and both of them were free transfers. The second one, the defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini played for Arsenal before he joined with Milan five years ago. Injury crisis of gunners provided him a chance to appear in the first match after he joined. Remember, this was the second home match of Arsenal and in the first one they lost to Aston Villa and the entire stadium turned against the transfer approach of the club and ended up in chaos.  

There was not repeat show of first match this time and Arsenal played confidently against the newly shaped Spurs. With the solitary goal from Oliver Giroud, Arsenal completed the game with success and left the question of filling the space left by Bale in Spurs line up. Tottenham used almost all stars they bought in this transfer window but failed to find a decent opportunity to return the goal. 

EPL Week II: Week of Most Entertaining (Manchester City v/s Cardiff) and Most Boring (Manchester United v/s Chelsea) Matches

Second week of EPL was not very disappointing. Like first week, there was some special result which turned against expectation. Transfers are still not settled. Some clubs acted smartly to hijack the deal of another one and succeeded. A match which was expected as the most entertaining become the most boring and ended up in a goal less draw. This shows the special one is back without much change. Another match which could ended up as a one sided match become the most entertaining encounter and the best result of the week.

Protest in Emirates worked well and Arsenal managed to win next two matches, one in Champions League and another in Saturday’s Premier League against Fulham. Liverpool continued their streak of success with lonely goal from Daniel Sturridge and reached in the top table next to Chelsea who played three matches. Tottenham repeated the show and got another penalty goal for Roberto Soldado. This result took them to the third position in the league table. Arsenal reversed the result, which they had against Aston Villa a week back, and defeated Fulham. This result took them off from the bottom three to middle of point table.

Unexpected result will be the most entertaining football to watch. The match between Manchester City and Cardiff City was almost equal as a fight between Goliath and David. Previous week Manchester City’s emphatic victory (4-0) against New Castle United made a strong warning about their fire power under Manuel Pellegrini. The money, nearly 90 million GBP was splashed for wingers and attacking midfielders and in the first match they were able to show their attacking power. But, Cardiff, the newly promoted team to Premier League, had different ideas. They decided to stick with their game plan and defend the flowing attack of city by lining up almost all players near to their half and use effective counter attack and try to take advantage from long balls. City, who lost Vincent Kompany, the captain and main defender, in the previous match, struggled to cope up with sudden counter attack of Cardiff. The most entertaining match of the week ended up with a 3-2 success for Cardiff.

A weekday match between two newly appointed managers, one was returned to the same club after years and another one was selected to lead the current champion. Jose Mourinho, who was known as the ‘special one’ in his early stint but he declared before that season that he is a ‘completely changed’ man. His performance in the mid-week match against Aston Villa proved that he is not changed and remaining as ‘same man’. When Mourinho had enough ammunition for a full fledged attacking game, everybody expected he will use his attacking midfield and forwards against Manchester United. On the other hand, David Moyes the new manager of Manchester United, who managed Everton and made good defensive record, did acclimatized to the level of United and tried to get a better result. Instead of going for attacking football, Mourinho opted for a completely defensive approach, by ‘parking the team coach’ in front of the goal post and made the match most boring.

Premier League witnessed an unusual transfer episode this week. Tottenham Hotspurs did everything to get their target Willian from the Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala. The player appeared in North London for his medical tests. But, through the intervention of Chelsea’s Russian owner Roman Ibrahamovic , Chelsea snatched him to West London from under the nose of Spurs and completed the transfer. Chelsea’s hopes to get Wayne Rooney from Manchester United dented and Rooney played his best game of this season so far against Chelsea. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is waiting in front of the gate of Spanish giants Real Madrid to collect the signature of their rejected surplus players. He expects the appearance of Gareth Bale will definitely kick some of their established players out of the team and he can pounce on that occasion. He is still waiting there…with hope.

Next one week is the most important time for player transfer. Most clubs consider the first two weeks as their testing ground for the year and find where, in what position they require enhancement. Many teams were very active in the market but some of the major clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal are yet to enter into market, though they are short of players in many positions due to injuries. 

Gylmar dos Santos: Most successful Goalkeeper said Good-Bye to the World

Goalkeepers enjoys longest career than strikers, midfielders and defenders in football. Many successful goalkeepers extended their international career into their 40s and performed very well in the World Cups. But very few goalkeepers enjoyed glory of success by winning World Cup twice and consecutively. Gylmar dos Santos Neves (1930 -2013) moved into the pages of history with a unique record, a goalkeeper who participated in three straight World Cups and won successive two in 1958 and 1962. He guarded the Brazilian post in the 1966 edition of World Cup but Brazil was defeated by Portugal in the pre-quarter round.

Gylmar born at the same time FIFA started World Cup and played throughout his career in the Black and White era. He was known as Pele’s goalkeeper because of his association with Pele’s famous all winning Santos team of 1960s. He made 94 appearances for Brazil and played for Corinthians and Santos during 1950s and 1960s. Gylmar suffered a stroke in 2000 and died after a heart attack on 24 August 2013. He was 83. Gylmer’s death comes just a month after Djalma dos Santos (23 July 20013), the full back of 1958 and 1962 all winning Brazilian team.

PS. Italian goalkeeper Guido Masetti also figured in the consecutive World Cup winning team of 1934 and 1938. Difference was Gylmar played whole games and Masetti was not in the playing eleven on both occasions.

EPL Week 1: Gunners forgot to fire

First week of the football season in the English Premier League got over. Results were more or less expected and had just one unexpected. Both Manchester teams did extremely well and the champions passed the message that their managerial change did not tamper the cohesion of the team. Third placed Chelsea did well under Jose Mourinho and justified his return to the EPL. Transfer window is still open and all teams are more traffic is expected between clubs in coming couple of weeks. Many refereeing decisions were challenged in the first week itself and a mid week league game ended up in a big spar between managers.

Most significant result of the week was the defeat of Arsenal at Emirates Stadium against Aston Villa. Arsenal was one of the few clubs was not at all active in the transfer market and this inactiveness created huge uproar among the fans and the defeat created very chaotic scenario in the Emirates stadium. Villa ended up as fifteenth position in the last season and managed to escape from the relegation in the last two weeks. Before the season started, Arsenal released a good number of unused or non-performing players, sold out many fringe players and loaned out some of the first team players. But they added only one player who was from a French club playing in the second league of the country and it was a free transfer.

Much before the transfer window opened, the media was propagating news about Arsenal by saying they have 70 million GBP in their bank and will use it in this year to rebuild the team. Their flirtation with Luis Suarez, the star striker of Liverpool, and the bid of 40million plus 1 pound become the most frustrating element in the pre-season transfer saga. Liverpool rejected the bid and refused to sell Suarez at any cost. By the time, on the other side of London another transfer saga has grown into a different level. Real Madrid showed an interest in Gareth Bale of Tottenham Hotspurs and attracted whole attention to other side of North London. Spurs was very much active in the transfer market and brought established players to fill the vacuum expected by the transfer of Bale.

Inactiveness in the transfer market and over action of the rival club just across the city added fuel to the agitation of Arsenal fans and they demanded removal of Arsene Wenger, the longest serving manager in the EPL, at present. Villa took advantage of handicapped Arsenal who lost a contingent of players without proper replacement. Banners and placards appeared against Wenger and the Arsenal supporters trust demanded to stall the contract extension talks between club and manager. A red card of Laurent Koscielny and an injury of Alex Oxlade Chamberlane, which keeps him three months out, depleted the depth of team.

It will be unfair to take credit of the performance of Aston Villa against Arsenal. They played against gunners with a proper game plan, conviction and had good fire power in Christian Benteke and found enough energy to unsettle Arsenal in Gabriel Agbonlahor. Paul Lambert did his homework and implemented his game plan in right way. Depleted team, injuries and physicality of the opposition team dented the game plan of Wenger ended up in ugly scenes.

Manchester City, who spent nearly 100 million GBP, made a 4-0 victory against New Castle United, Chelsea who brought back their favorite manager defeated the new comer Hull for 2-0 margin. The holding champion, Manchester United who was also very inactive in the transfer market, under their new manager David Moyes managed a 4-1 away victory against Swansea. Liverpool and Tottenham defeated Stoke City and Crystal Palace respectively with a score line of a solo goal. 

Briefing before the season starts

Football season is back in Europe. German, Dutch and French leagues are started and English, Spanish and Italian are about to start in another few days. Sports pages of media is celebrating the transfer stories, analysing the strengths of each team and predicting their wishes. As usual, most of them are not behind the news and more interested in controversies. On the other hand, the clubs are also getting ready for another long season. Let us look at the specialities of this season.

Absence:

Most important name is Sir Alex Ferguson. He declared his innings at a high. Then Tito Vilanova, ended his career with a sublime finish with Barcelona but sadly called off his innings in between his career due to medical reasons. Roberto Mancini did well but not enough to keep his position. After spending huge amount of money, the second position in a league is not acceptable for the owners of the neo-rich.

Merry go round:

Jose Mourinho called himself ‘special one’ when he joined as the manager of Chelsea just after winning his first Champions League medal with Porto. At Chelsea, he developed a strong team and won the Premier League continuously but Champions League eluded him and the rich owner of the club lost his patience. His first episode with the blues ended up there. He appeared as the manager of Inter Milan and won both league and Champions League title and showed that he is special one and still has something special with him. This achievement caught attention of Florentino Perez, the Chairman of Real Madrid and brought him to Santiago Bernabeu to win everything possible. He managed to win the league title but Champions League stood away from Real. In the third year, he struggled to repeat the show in the league and lost trust of leading players of the club and forced to resign on an amicable ground.

Carlo Ancelotti managed Chelsea after the Mourinho but was kicked out when his team lost few matches in the league. He moved to France and lead the neo-rich club PSG to the league title. When Mourinho left Real Madrid, they approached Ancelotti and Mourinho was recalled by his former boss Roman Ibrahamovich. The merry go round goes on and on in both place...in Chelsea and Madrid. Mourinho, Avram Grant, Scolari, Hiddink, Ancelotti, AVB, Roberto Di Matteo, Rafael Benitez, Mourinho ..in Chelsea and in Madrid Del Bosque, Carlos Querioz, Camacho, Remon, Vanderly Luxemburgo, Fabio Capello, Brend Schuster, Juande Ramos, Manuel Pellegrini, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti... may be Vicente Del Bosque...

No trophy but regime continues:

Arsenal won their last trophy at Highbury and then they moved to Emirates Stadium but on the way they forgot the winning formula and learned selling formula. Arsene Wenger managed them for last one and a half decade and won several trophies in his earlier years. For the last eight years, they haven’t won anything. Still, Wenger manages a team... the board trust him and still people watches his team’s performance.

Madness with money

Whenever a club was brought over by a new owner, first question from the fans, pundits, commentators and analysts will be how much money he will spend on new players. In England, Spain and France appearance of the wealthy neo-rich owners from West Asian countries and Russia changed the concept of spending money in Football. To check this imbalance UEFA introduced Financial Fair Play in football, a policy to force the clubs to spend money from their own source and protect them from financial meltdown. Chelsea, Manchester City, Malaga, PSG, Monaco...the list is continuing. The followers and fans expect the club to spend more and more money every year and get the best talent for their club. This approach creates high level inflationary tendencies in the market.

This year, the spending power started from France. A.S. Monaco, with the money power of their Russian investor Dimitry Rybolovlev, moved out quickly from the French Ligue 2 and promoted to Ligue 1. Though they are not qualified for the prestigious UEFA Champions League, they were successful to convince their target about the prospects of their future plans. Monaco’s prime capture was Radamel Falcao, the Colombian forwards from Athletico Madrid by paying 52 GBP million and they added James Rodriguez and Joao Moutinho from FC Porto for another 45 million. Spiral effect was immediately appeared in French Market when Paris Saint Germain paid 56 million for Italian club Napoli’s Uruguayan striker Edison Cavani and a 19 year old Brazilian centre defender from AS Roma for 27 million GBP.

Transfer episode in La Liga started with the signing of Brazilian forward Neymar to Barcelona for near 50 million GBP. All rich clubs were behind including Real Madrid this striker with huge money offer but it was his choice to join Barcelona rather than biggest offer. Real Madrid, the club of Gelaticos were little bit slow to splash money this year but they spend more than 50 million GBP for two emerging Spanish talents Asier Illarramendi from Real Socidada and Isco from Malaga. At present they are equal of a little bit ahead to Barcelona in spending but they are waiting for a world record move to capture the service of Tottenham Hotspurs goal scoring defender turned midfielder-striker Gareth Bale. If it happens, Real will cross 150 GBP for this year.

In England buying managers were more important than spending on players. First three positioned clubs in the league changed their managers and Chelsea and Manchester City spend good amount of money in the football market. Chilean manager of City Manuel Pellegrini spent more money to make the attack more sharp by adding Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo, Fernandinho and Stevan Jovotic for 96 million GBP and now looking for defenders. Jose Mourinho preferred to stick with the existing squad and add players in selective positions. Biggest spending from Chelsea this season is 19 million GBP for striker German Andre Schurrle. They invested another 8 million in young midfield player Marco Van Ginkel from Holland. Jose Mourinho is keeping a tab on Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney and if it happens, it will be the marquee sign of Chelsea for this season and could cost more than 20 million GBP.

The Premier League champion Manchester United is yet to get into the transfer market. Their new manager David Moyes is struggling to find extraordinary midfielders to fill the gap left by Paul Scholes. For Moyes, first priority is to keep Rooney with the club and then add substantial talent in their team. It will take little more time to get a clear picture of United.

Arsenal, the fourth placed club in Premier League declared that they will spend big money in the transfer market for this time. They made the biggest bid of the season for a player in the English League by offering 40 million plus 1 GBP for Luis Suarez of Liverpool. This offer got into trouble and become a fight between egos of both club. Apart from this bid, their transfer activity so far restricted to the free transfer of French player Yaya Sanogo from second tier of French league.

Interestingly, English league is more competitive than Spanish, Italian, French and German leagues. So, it reflects in the spending powers of clubs lower than fourth place. Traditionally strong Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspurs spend good amount of money to build up their team to compete for the first four places and a space in UEFA Champions League. First priority of Liverpool was to retain the service of their mercurial striker Luis Suarez who expressed his wish to leave the club for Champions League football. Strong decisions of the owner and the manager helped them to keep Suarez in the fold and also strengthened striking position and goal keeping by adding Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto along with goal keeper Simon Mignolet.

Tottenham lost just one point to beat Arsenal to be in the fourth position and qualifying for Champions League. Performance of their most advanced player Gareth Bale helped them to achieve this position and at present they are struggling to turn down the World record bid from Real Madrid. While transfer battle goes on, Tottenham did not waste time to bolster the team and added talents of Roberto Soldado, Paulinho and Nacer Chadli for around 50 million GBP. They are trying to add a defensive midfielder and will look forward to add more players if Gareth Bale departs the club to Real Madrid.

Great Expectations and troubles ahead

In most of the leagues, present champion expect to retain its position and the clubs in following positions will try their best to be in the pole position.

Bayern Munich: the present European Champion and German league champion expects to repeat the show in this season too. Pep Guardiola, the new manager of Bayern has a colourful track record of winning multiple trophies in same year with Barcelona. It will be a very difficult task for Guardiola to overcome the achievements of Bayern under the guidance of Jupp Heynckes. Any shortage will be criticised well and could be end up in sacking.

Manchester United: the shadow of their all time great manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his achievements will be the biggest challenge for David Moyes. Main task for Moyes is to keep up the league position handed over by Fergusons and take the team further high. Everyone including the club management knows that expectation and reality are in different level but potential is there and will take little more time to achieve it. Even though United failed to perform like last year, Moyes will remain in the job for sure.

Real Madrid: Expectation, Club policies and Reality are in lying in different directions and it is difficult to get together in same place, especially under club chairman Florentino Perez. Managers were the victims of expectation and reality and the musical chair will continue. Money power will allow them to capture the best talent from anywhere in the world but coherence of the team suffers badly. Carlo Ancelotti is one of the most successful and experienced manager but Madrid’s expectation is much more than he can expect. If he fails to deliver quickly, he will be sacked and the musical chair will continue.

Barcelona: the current Spanish Champion replaced Tito Vilanova with Gerardo Martino. For the first time, Barcelona moved out from Dutch influence and attracted criticism of their god father figure Yohan Cruyff. Martino is less known figure among the managers and has no exposure in Europe. Lack of European experience is considered as a handicap especially when Barca plays against European opponents in UEFA Champions League. If everything goes well Martino will get complete support of the club management and supporters, otherwise the club chairman will face the heat and will forced to get back to their Dutch tradition.

Manchester City’s Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini is first time in England but he has enough experience in high level management. He took Villarreal to the semi final of Champions League in 2006 and worked for Real Madrid before Mourinho joined. He was the key person behind the development of Malaga as a force in Spanish league that performance attracted Manchester City’s attention. After spending huge money on player transfer, the expectation is very high. If he can manage any trophy this year, that will allow him to next year but expectation will be high. For city, UEFA Champion ship is the aim and league title will be a bonus. If he fail to deliver these, he can look for another club.

Chelsea: Mourinho is brought back by the owner who sacked him some time back. He made Chelsea a successful club but lost out to the rejuvenated Manchester United and failed to win Champions League. Roman Abrahamovich expects attractive football from Mourinho rather than his old winning formula. Roman supported him with money and a good squad still Mourinho fails to deliver, Roman will be ruthless again.

Tottenham Hotspurs: Fourth position in the English league is very important and crucial for many clubs. Tottenham Hotspurs are expecting to break into the top four and trying hard to place above their traditional rival Arsenal. Daniel Levy, the chairman of Spurs supports his managers with money but has a history of ruthlessness when it comes to result. Andre Vilas Boas is a young manager did wonders with Spurs last season and lost the fourth position for just one point. This year, Levy expects a lot and provided enough fund to get best players from all over the world. So, pressure on AVB is nothing less than the same on Guardiola or Ancelotti.

World Cup Year

Self expectation for each player will be very high for this year. The players who are playing in top European clubs expect call from their national team managers and the managers expect that their players will have a good season with more number of games and playing time.  

Politics of Hosting Football World Cup: Batting for the rights of Asia and Africa

·     Next World Cup is in Brazil scheduled for 2014. FIFA decided that they deserve it but now Brazilians are not sure about it.

·      World Cup of 2018 is allotted to Russia. Western Europe is not ready to accept this benevolence of FIFA because so far it was considered as a right some special countries.

·         The 2022 World Cup football tournament is at least nine year far from present day: it is a fact but European imperial powers are not ready to accept the ability of Asia.

·     Football World Cup is won by either European country or a Latin American country: it is a truth, but it doesn’t mean that Africa and Asia has enough organisational skill to conduct a big event like football world cup.

·      All countries in Arabian Gulf region has very strong summer: it is a reality and not a new thing but it was daily remembered by European newspapers and they forgot to mention that the region has a nice winter season too.

·         Some countries believe that football is a game played only in cold regions in the world and the world cup will occur only in the summer days of those places.

•  FIFA, the international organisation for football is ruled by few Europeans and just one Latin American for more than a century: may be true but at present major clubs in the Europe is controlled by Russians, Americans and Arabs. 

Very recently, while going through the web site of an international news agency, suddenly come across some news items about the weather conditions of Qatar. In the first sight, nothing felt wrong but when it connected with football, one could easily make out that it was a sheer campaign against the hosting rights of 2022 Football World Cup. The article was detailing about the hot and humid condition of the region and how it will affect the common people and the impact of such hot weather on football players and the viewers.

Interestingly, Sepp Blatter –the President of FIFA publically announced his personal interest to consider change of schedule for 2022 world cup. When the bid was taken place, Qatar also boasted its capacity to host the World Cup in 2022 summer but slowly they retracted from it. Recently, Blatter again appeared with his argument for a winter world cup in 2022 and he spun the ball into a public debate. Now his statement is gathering momentum and media started publishing for and against arguments about it.

Resistance against change of schedule comes from the European football leagues. It will disrupt the traditional schedule of the clubs who controls the world renowned players. According to Michel Platini, the President of UEFA –the football federation of Europe, the change of schedule for the 2022 is possible and there is enough time to make such changes in the European league schedule. But Premier league is adamant against the change in timing of the World Cup and they quote that “we are opposed to the concept of a winter world cup for very obvious practical reason that would impact all European domestic football”. Interestingly, the Premier League is challenging the authority of UEFA in decision making.

Here, the power of money of football elites becomes stronger than the wish and ability of the countries in Asia and Africa. One can see the tone of colonial mentality between the lines when the European Leagues push their arguments. In fact, the football leagues of West and South European countries holds control of the best players in the world and they are not ready to accept any disruption in their yearlong tournament schedules. So, FIFA and its regional bodies were forced to accept the arguments of the Football Associations in England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Holland and Portugal.

In the bidding process, Qatar defeated bids from South Korea, Japan, Australia and United States to win the ballot of FIFA’s 22 executive members. Among the four, three has already hosted football world cup and their bid for another round within the span of 20 years is not reasonable. The continent Asia has many more countries than South Korea and Japan and countries in the West Asia has equal or better tradition than Korea and Japan in participating in world cup. Among the West Asian countries, only Qatar was there in the final round of bidding and it shows that there is mutual acceptance among the countries in the region. Nobody can challenge the financial ability of this oil and gas rich country.

In such condition, the best weapon to challenge them is building up the argument based on climatic condition of the region. Yes, the desert region is hot and humid especially in summer. All of a sudden, articles started appearing in web sites questioning the climatic environment and human adaptability to play in such conditions. Just for the sake of argument, a recent article appeared in Washington Post quoted that the temperature of the Qatar region reaches 122 degrees in summer. They deliberately missed the unit of the temperature whether it is in Fahrenheit or Celsius scale. The figure is intentionally used to frighten the common people.  

Some of the articles pushed to further extend by saying the losers of the bid should go to court and challenge it and pursue for a re-vote. What is the relevance of such challenge and re-vote? Bidding is a right of any country who feels that they have the ability (economically and politically) to conduct the tournament and it is not reserved for some particular countries. There is also an argument found from a former German soccer federation president who believes that the rescheduling of tournament to winter season will badly affect the European League and will threat the “unity” of German football. Theo Zwanziger continues that it better for FIFA to cancel the bid of Qatar and give it to other country rather than rescheduling it.

West Asian region has gone through political turbulence for quiet long time but they produced decent football teams and reached in the finals of world cup several times. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, UAE etc., produced stunning performances in several editions of the tournament. Their leagues are not well established as European leagues but they use their resources to improve the standard of their leagues by buying some of the best talents of world football. If FIFA is aiming to promote the beautiful game all over the world, then they should obey the rights of other countries apart from South Korea and Japan.

When the articles appeared in the web medium highlighted the hot and humid condition of West Asian region, they deliberately forgot  or ignored that this region have a reasonable winter and it is suitable for conducting the tournament. On the basis of climatic conditions FIFA and European league try to refuse the right of Qatar to conduct the World Cup in 2022 in reality they are refusing the rights of many Asian and African countries who naturally located in the Southern hemisphere.

Qatar is not even asking for any change and they are willing to host it in June-July summer in the air-conditioned stadiums. At the same time they are ready to adjust the timing according to the winter season which would not require a drastic change in the timing of the tournament like moving the fixture to January or February. Small adjustment will be enough to organise the tournament in a better and feasible way. Qatar has an autumn season in the month of April and May which is not very hot and evening are more close to European weather.  In fact, FIFA has history of adjusting the timing of the tournament according to the climatic conditions of the hosting country and Mexico who hosted twice organised the tournament in May-June rather than the usual time of June-July. If FIFA really wants to promote the football as a global game, they have to accommodate the climatic factors of the regions and especially the hosting countries and should stop keeping such things in favour of European football elites.  

Football is one of the most globalised games in the world and has reached out to almost all places in the world. It has a higher viewership than Olympics or any other sports event. So, football globalised the world before the information technology did it. FIFA and the decision making regional authorities of World Football forget the fact that the game football has grown beyond their thinking limits and now it become a fight between money and viewership power.

Football is a colonial contribution as well as the football leagues and the colonial powers continued the football administration further. Even though, the game is globalised very much, still one can trace the colonial connection works better in many occasions and FIFA or any of its regional authorities could not do anything against it. In fact, FIFA keeps a closed eye policy towards the transfer market activities in the Europe especially against the moves from Africa and Latin America.

The debate on hosting of Qatar World Cup 2022 will continue in the web and print medium. The European football elites will always have a better edge in these discussions just because of the power of their colonial languages. Somebody has to come out to challenge them in same way and counter their arguments with proper answers and counter arguments. If Qatar faces these challenges today, then India or any other Asian country apart from South Korea and Japan or any African country except South Africa, because of its climatic advantage, will face it tomorrow.

FIFA and UEFA should remember few things. At present, good number of major football clubs in England, France, Spain, and Italy are brought over by Asian or Russian money. Europe is still struggling with its economic recession and will take much more time to come out of it. Once FIFA accepted the fact that they will rotate the World Cup venue between continents, it becomes a right of countries belongs to each continent to participate in the bidding process. Africa is producing best talents, not money but they will have a big say in hosting World Cup in Africa because it is their right. According to their financial capacity and infrastructure facility, they can bid for the venue and if they successfully convince the executive members of FIFA in the process, they will get it.

FIFA cannot go back from this announcement by saying this continent does not have any country who is capable to bid for the venue. As part of promotion of football, it is the responsibility of FIFA and the regional bodies to develop football in all countries to world standard. Still there is high level pressure on the international football authority to reduce the chances of Asia and Africa and consider more chances for Europe. We all are living in the age of democracy and organisations like FIFA also should become more democratic and transparent in their activities. Democracy was the concept promoted by Europe but they forget to introduce it to FIFA. In many places football was more than a game and was closely associated with the concept of liberation. Equal participation is a right and not the benevolence of the former colonial powers. 

Two Big Absences in European Football League

Confederation Cup is over and the football world is back in the League fixtures. Latin America and Africa produces the best talents in football but Europe is the place where they have to prove their worth. World Cup is very near and it is essential for a player to get into a good club and play maximum game in the highest level. So, there is a surge in the players market and clubs are also preparing to buy the best talent or best future talent. By mid August, European leagues will start and by the beginning of September the transfer window will be closed. Before the start of Champions League and other league games, most of the clubs wants to complete their transfer efforts and prepare for the next season.

What are the specialities for the next season? Apart from World Cup year, it is about the absence of two people. Yes, absence of Sir Alex Ferguson is something makes the football world completely different. Legacy of Manchester United was that they stood with their manager when he was struggling to build up a proper team in the initial four years and the legacy of Sir Alex was he prepared the club through his unparallel service with success. End of Ferguson era means an end of a tradition that consists a long list of items i.e., team building method, discipline of players, guts to challenge anyone, ability to define and redefine the game plans, mind games, and ruthless decisions. In a league where managers are the first scapegoat for any failure of the team makes Ferguson’s achievement remarkable. He was there with Manchester United for more than two and a half decades and took them to the maximum height they could reach. Sir Alex achieved everything he could reach in club football. Under his managerial career, Manchester United won the league title for 13 times, FA cups five times and UEFA Champions League twice.

By selecting David Moyes as the successor of Sir Alex, Manchester United made it clear that they will continue their traditional approach in supporting manager. This is what Chelsea, Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspurs deliberately forgot. David Moyes has big tasks to come across and most crucial one is coming out from the shadows of Sir Alex and become a success in Old Trafford. He has to establish his own approach to develop a successful team, game plan and engagement with clubs’ loyal supports. Bench mark of success in Manchester United is much above than any other team in the league. The club expects that he will deliver it and continue for a long tenure like Sir Alex.

The second absence was unexpected. Tito Vilanova was the manager of Barcelona FC until one week back. He was successful in his first year itself and he won’t be there with Barca for next year just because of the relapse of his illness. During his one year managerial career, he took Barcelona to their best league victory in the La Liga with maximum number of points ever achieved. His presence was there when they succeeded and his absence was the main cause when they failed. Cancer troubled him badly in his first managerial career with Barca and its relapse forced him to call it a day. We all hope he will defeat the illness and will be back to football.

In fact, Vilanova’s absence is a major turning point in Barcelona’s football tradition. He succeeded Pep Guardiola, one of the most successful managers in Barca’s history and the football world was sceptical about his ability to continue the successful reign of Barcelona. When club chairman Sandro Rossell decided to look for a new manager from outside Europe, the indication was very clear that they are not going to continue the traditional approach.

The game plan or game approach which Barca followed for last couple of decades were heavily influenced by the Dutch football and the list of managers proves this fact. Rinus Michel successfully transplanted the total football tradition to Barcelona through his disciple Johan Cruyff. This influence was continued through Frank Rijkaard, Pep Guardiola and Tito Vilanova. The selection of Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino proves the difference of opinion between Rossell and Cruyff and reflected it in the club decision. Now, we look forward that whether the Tiki-Taka game will continue or something new will replace it under Martino’s guidance.

Absence of Sir Alex and Tito Vilanova will be reflected in the future football schedules. 

Protest against Football: Response of Brazilian Passion

Confederation cup is over but not sure about the protests in Brazil which started along with the tournament. May be, the victory in the final match worked like an aspirin or cocaine that will make you to forget the real pain for some time. In media, the protests went to inner pages and the news of victory splashed in colours in the front page or in the last page where sports news is located. The protesters have nearly one year left for their preparation before the big event- World Cup finals. In the mean while, the government can change its approaches and accommodate the demands of the people in its welfare policies.

Brazil did very well throughout the tournament. Before the Confederation cup, they had friendly matches with England in Maracana and ended up in a draw. It was the beginning of their team building process and by the final of Confederation Cup, they found their rhythm and strengths, gelled as a team and ended up as one of the best team in the world. As the host of coming World Cup, Brazil doesn’t have to play qualifying matches against Latin American countries and this tournament helped them to have a preparation round. The Confederation Cup victory was their declaration towards the football world that they are ready for the big stage.

Victory against Spain is celebrated very much in the media. Some declared that it is an end of tiki-taka game and of course, the end of Spanish domination. Yes, they lost to Brazil for a big margin which was unexpected. But, the statistics says they were not clinical and ruthless but had better position and number of shots. People were confused with the game of Barcelona, where tiki-taka is more used, because of the dominant presence of Barca players. But, they forgot the fact that the Spanish manager is not from Barca school and he played for and managed Real Madrid team who have completely different game plan. In Madrid, he trained Luis Figo, Raul, Zidane and won the Champions league twice but not with tiki-taka game.

It is quiet immature to write off the chances of Spanish team in the world cup and it is same by saying Brazil is the best team in the world based on their performances in Confederation Cup. This tournament had just 8 teams and the finals of the World Cup will have 32 and all of them except Brazil will play against equal forces and book their berth. Uruguay and Italy gained experience from this tournament and definitely will come up with better teams. Germany, the emerging European football powerhouse will be a contender for the cup. The performance of two German teams in the Champions League finals –Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund –cleared the doubts of the world about German football’s reincarnation.

Argentina will appear with a better team in the finals and one can expect a better performance from Messi in this World Cup. Can’t we expect a repeat show of 1986 this time by Messi? A distant dream but the Argentinean team is capable to do better this time. We are not talking about the other teams from Europe. Most of the former East European teams are not very successful in the World Cup history but they can harm any giant team. Remember Croatia of 1998, Bulgaria of 1994 and Romania of 1990. If we go through the tough European leagues, we can see an emergence of new talent from countries like Croatia, Serbia, Czech Republic and Slovakia. After a long period of talent drought, Belgium became a production house of talent. May be, for the next world cup, we can expect a proper challenge from them. 

The waves of protests were receded by the final day of the tournament. Not sure, whether it was because of the intervention of the Brazilian government or just because of the Brazilian passion for football, especially when their own team were playing in the final. Report says, more than 90 percent of the spectators in the legendry Maracana stadium were supporting Brazil and shouting for them. No wonder, Spain lost that badly in the final. If they can repeat the show in the World Cup and the Brazilian passion for the game extends its support like this, the opponent won’t be able to do anything. 

Waiting for the Football Feast: The Joga Bonita v/s Tiki Taka

As expected, the FIFA Confederation Cup is moving towards a final between two Football powerhouses –Spain and Brazil. There was no miracle so far and not expecting anything in the final too. Japan played good football but forgot to win. Mexico did justice to their talent but was not sufficient to reach in the Semi. Performance of Nigeria was not up to the mark for any African country who are regular in World Cup finals. Italy appeared in the Confederation Cup as a second best in the Europe and ended up as second best in the group, behind Brazil. Uruguay, the Latin American Champions forgot their role and aspiration in this tournament. They are one team produced a crop of talented players recently in World Football. They are blessed with the best striking pair in the world football –Cavani and Suarez, still they looked up to ageing Diego Forlan’s contribution to reach semi final. It is not a good sign at all.

Murder –is not a term used in football writings. But, in this edition of confederation cup, performances of Nigeria, Spain and Uruguay in the group level were murderous. All three other teams pumped two dozens of goals against this minnows of world football. Spain used their best players against Uruguay in their first match but decided to field second rung against Tahiti and Nigeria and showed them they are far ahead in football terms.

Now, semi-finals are also over. Brazil defeated Uruguay but I don’t want to call it as a revenge of 1950. Uruguay also played well and the lost penalty of Diego Forlan mattered a lot in the final result. In the second semi-finals, the repeat performance of Euro finals –Spain against Italy was thrilling performance. Italy without their star/controversial striker Mario Balotelli struggled to find the net but succeeded in stopping Spain from goal. In fact, the match statistics says Italy had more shots on goals than Spain had more saves in the 120 minutes match.

Now, only two teams remaining to fight for the cup. Remember, those who won the Confederation cup rarely repeated the same result in the world cup. So, whoever wins whether the host or the existing world champion –and it matters. Both of them have enough capacity to meet again in the finals of world cup and both Luiz Felipe Scolari and Vicente Del Bosque are trying to be the second person to win World Cup twice after Vittorio Pozzo.

Match between Brazil and Spain will be interesting because of the contrast in their playing method. Brazil is not the old romantic small passing dribbling Latin American football team whose approach was known as joga bonito. They become pragmatic and added re-instated defensive methods which they adapted from European football. On the other hand, Spain will closely follow the Tiki-Taka of Barcelona, which was effective for more than last five years. So, the World’s Derby – as Spanish goalkeeper referred Iker Casillas –will be a feast for football lovers.

As a host, Brazil prepared well for the curtain riser of the World Cup and come out with a strong and young team. Protest against the government is continuing on one side but Brazilian passion for the beautiful game will ensure their support for the successful run towards the World Cup finals. Let’s hope the protests will bring better results – socially, economically and footballistically[i] for the Brazilians.

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[i] A word coined by Arsene Wenger some years ago. Meaning –in terms of football.