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.