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.