November 7th, 2008
You are currently browsing the articles from TOP FootBall Player written on November 7th, 2008.
Absolutely, positively the last run of days like this. Promise (maybe).
SAF makes sure the air is clear before Arsenal game [Soccerway]
Football’s most pointless jobs [Eurosport]
Just go ahead and get here, son [SI]
Another one in a series [Naples News]
How does one stop Rory Delap’s throws? [Guardian]
Subbuteo memories [Guardian]
And, finally:
Maradona visits Man U, gives Rio a birthday present. A certain Norwich fan is livid that no one kicked the munchkin in the nuts [Soccerway]
Written by Darkvader on November 7th, 2008 with no comments.
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Interesting article in today’s New York Times about Danny Jordaan, South Africa’s World Cup chief organizer.
Jordaan flew into New York for meetings this week and happened to land here right as the United States was electing their first African-American President, Barack Obama.
Considering South Africa’s delicate history with race and apartheid, it was an interesting time for Jordaan to be in New York.
According to the article, Obama’s election reminded him of the time South African Nelson Mandela was let out of prison in 1990.
It was a strange evening to be landing in New York. Jordaan, the chairman of the South African committee that will stage the World Cup of soccer in 2010, watched the celebration on CNN and compared the mood in America to the mood in South Africa on Feb. 11, 1990, the day Nelson Mandela walked out of prison after 27 years.
“The majority celebrated,” recalled Jordaan, who had worked against apartheid without going to prison or into exile. “But many people did not celebrate,” he recalled. “You have to be magnanimous.”
Obama has long expressed his respect for Mandela, saying he had been inspired by a visit to Mandela’s former prison cell on Robben Island. In turn, Mandela sent a message to Obama on Wednesday, saying, in part, “Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place.”
While much of the world sees Obama’s victory as a new symbol of hope, a successful 2010 World Cup in South Africa would be equally satisfying to many.
Jordaan is assuring people that everything will be ready in approximately 600 days’ time.
Joseph S. Blatter, the president of FIFA, once mentioned a Plan B for the World Cup, then amended his remarks to say they referred only to natural disaster. But Jordaan knows there is skepticism about the stadiums, the hotels, the transportation, the security.
Just about every major sports tournament around the world is dogged by tardiness, incompetence, graft, repression, you name it. The tear gas from civil unrest had barely been cleared before the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul, and they were a success. The trolley lines and expressways had barely been opened in Athens in time for the 2004 Summer Games.
“And we finished half an hour before the first game,” Sunil Gulati, the president of the United States Soccer Federation, said about the 1994 World Cup in the U.S.
But a tournament for 32 national teams, including the woeful national team of South Africa, automatically invited as host, is a huge task from a nation still only 14 years past gigantic change. A caretaker government is in charge at the moment, awaiting a new election in 2009, but Jordaan suavely noted that Germany had a change of parties as well as chancellors shortly before the highly successful 2006 World Cup.
South Africa will be fine. Obama will do great things. And in 2010, the world will have something else to celebrate: the wonderful experience of an African World Cup …
Written by Darkvader on November 7th, 2008 with no comments.
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Remember Ronaldinho? Here is a goal against Sporting Braga in the
93rd min!!!
Written by STRIKER on November 7th, 2008 with no comments.
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That´s the title from “elmundo.es”, as they highlight the beginning of
some tough weeks, or months ahead for REAL MADRID. The
prophecies & warnings that the decision of not reinforcing the team
with top class players during the summer transfer market is becoming
a reality.
The poor play in the local League the past couple of rounds & the double
defeat at the hands of Juventus in the Champions League has opened
up the debate with players making comments & some Real Madrid
directives asking for Coach Schuster´s head.
The situation is worrying, see what theses players had to say to
media:
Guti : “…We´re missing quality”
Ramos: “…We have´nt a player that can tip the balance, like Zidane”
Robben: “…would have wished more specialist players in my area”
Sneijder: “…Perhaps the squad is a bit short”
Now here is the reality:
Pepe - injuried
Robben - out 6 weeks
Van Nistelrooy - worrying knee, may have to be operated
De La Red - out after his collapse
Raul - not at his best at all.
To give Schuster a hand, during the summer his requests were not heard.
He asked for Alves, C.Ronaldo, Carzola, Villa…etc & Real Madrid
President & Football Director Mijatovic decided to make one signning
only, Van Der Haart, plus they sold Robinho against Schusters advice!
Now that it´s obvious that the team suffers from a bad summer
planification some ask for Schuster´s head - scapegoat tactics. The true
fault is Mijatovic & President Calderon who are not up to the level needed
for Real Madrid, the former should at least be asked to leave.
The only solution in the near horizon is to: hold out, pray for luck,
change Coach -
although this is not advisable nor really justified - &/or
sign in the Winter market, which will be costly & not all players will be
elegible for Champions. It will be band-aids, while rival FC Barcelona
is going full steam as the weeks go by to the detriment of Real.
Good luck, because the signs are clearly there - if not already - that
tough times are coming, some REAL deep shit!
*Thanks to “Mundo Deportivo” for Club header
Written by STRIKER on November 7th, 2008 with no comments.
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Each month we provide a couple of Flashback posts from our archives in order to display our prescience, update on a historical hyperreality or because workload dictates brevity.
The post below was first published on April 4th 2007 and focused on the development of a Europe-wide Super League to both replace the Champions League and to remove the major European clubs from their national competitions.
Since the post was published, we have had ScudamoreWorld’s attempts to expand their products market via the 39th Step and the alleged termination of the G14(18) lobbying group.
The former is an attempt to offset the inevitability of a Super League while the latter, as we demonstrated in a post earlier this week, has not disbanded in any way whatsoever.
The G14(18) still exists as a sleeping, or at least dozing, monster in the European game.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Every so often the G14(18) group of Europe’s most influential and powerful clubs utilise the threat of a breakaway European Super League as a negotiating tactic in their power play with footballing and/or governmental authorities. Aside from destabilising any negotiation process, such posturing lets the irritating regulatory and administrative bodies understand who possesses the real control of the European game at it’s highest strata.
The first point to be made here is that the Super League already exists albeit in a nascent form under the tutelage of an inappropriate body (in the eyes of the G14(18)). It is called the Champions League. This misnomer of a competition has historically paid lip service to being a competition for the champions of Europe’s various leagues while filtering out lesser nations to allow the latter stages to be a knockout version of such a Super League. Only three of the quarter finalists are national champions (Roma effectively finishing fifth in last season’s Serie A before Italy’s annual pre-season uproarious lottery) and ten of the last 16 teams came from the Big 3 countries. Several of the participants have directly and strategically targeted the Champions League competition throughout the season in preference to their domestic leagues and it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that we are involved in an ongoing process that will inevitably result in the formation of a Europe-wide moneybags tournament. For further evidence, look at the last two seasons in the English Premiership. It is an imperative that the Big 4 qualify for Europe’s premier competition. The manner in which Everton were discarded in favour of their neighbours via a change in the competition rules two years ago and Tottenham were stomach-bugged out of fourth place last season is an indication of the levels that the power operators will target to achieve their rightful place. Additionally, the Big 4 have issues with the more corrupt bookmaking practices currently in vogue in the Premiership (see numerous posts on the PGMOB undermining Arsenal this season, for example).
The election of Michel Platini, although welcomed by most football aficionados, may well accelerate this process. His declared aim is to reduce the number of Champions League qualifiers for the Big 3 countries which has no chance of being a feasible strategy. Such an action is the equivalent of self-administering a poison pill as it will merely hasten the formation of his nemesis - the Super League. Platini has an unenviable choice - compromise or be yesterday’s administrator…
Oh and, by the way, you’ll be sidelined eventually anyway. The power brokers who are taking control of the British game would prefer a blank piece of paper to establish their growth strategies. Standard private equity-heads desire either complete and utter control of a current structure or to develop an entirely new edifice suitably designed for their own creative investment plans. This week’s Milan versus FC Bayern game is a case in point. As Dietrological clients will be aware, we have been forced to not only hedge our initial positionings on the Italians but we are now actively supportive of the Bavarians in the marketplace. Some of our reasoning is proprietary isolationist stuff but the Germans are livid about the choice of Baskakov to officiate and a future Super League would have an enclosed roster of referees that were acceptable to all G14(18) teams and not just the ones with the deepest pockets. Interestingly, we still suggest FC Bayern +0.5 despite Baskakov and the exclusion of Oliver Kahn.
So, the owners want it and the powerful clubs want it. Governments and the EU? Britain’s Department of Culture Media and Sport is largely in the possession of the manipulators of the English game despite the occasional outbreak of righteous indignation from Richard Caborn. This is largely tokenistic as he knows which side his bread is vegan margerined while Tessa Jowell does as she is told (incidentally, not a lot of press coverage in England for her estranged husband’s ongoing legal sensitivities in Milan with fellow lodge member Silvio Berlusconi). The G14(18) have lobbied widely and effectively within the EU in order to drive a wedge into UEFA. The neo-con MEPs supportive of the creation of a Super League believe in regime change as a matter of course and are willing to play their part in the final takeover of the European game by the fat wallets.
What will be the impact on the Premiership once the Big 4 and a couple of referees have disappeared into the trading strategies of the investment banks? Prior to corruption, the playing field will be significantly more level. As the recent cup exploits of Arsenal reserves has shown, the junior teams of the Big 4 would get in the UEFA Cup spots if allowed into the Premiership. A more level playing field at a power strata equivalent to the Championship in the current English set up would be preferable for the second tier clubs supported by first world money (Portsmouth, Spurs, Villa etc) in a shiny Super League world.
And the bookmakers will be ecstatic. Our prediction of the first ÂŁ1 billion football market in the next 2-5 years would be achieved sooner rather than later. The betting turnover generated by the new Super League would be globally colossal. The bookmakers will have to adapt if they do not wish to be supplanted by the global investment houses but the profits on offer will allow a suitable accommodation of each other’s interests (at least initially). Domestic leagues would still be an earner for the market makers as Man City and West Ham fans would not immediately desert their team for a spot of glory hunting.
And, there are going to be some very very rich referees…
The fans, what about the fans? Do as you are told. Watch what they want you to watch and bet on what they wish for you to be betting on. Understand? We have a business to run here. Be good consumerists now…
The protagonists are claiming to be looking at a timescale of five to ten years before their baby becomes a reality. We would veer towards the lower end of this range and, quite probably, sooner. Private equity people are not renowned for their patience, risk aversion or lack of willingness to undertake psychopathic creative deconstruction in pursuit of yet more dollars. If Gillet and Hicks could sort it for next season, they would. For the moment though, the G14(18) assure us that the Super League is merely a potential blueprint in case “UEFA and/or FIFA runs wild”. Leaving aside the point that the like of the G14(18) objecting to football’s current administrators running wild is a case of projection of the first degree, plotters may always find a viable transgression for them to advance their strategy. An example - was Hezbullah’s capture of an Israeli soldier really the trigger for Israel’s invasion of Lebanon last year? Of course not… A strategy was in place years ahead starting with the taking out of Rafik Hariri and the expulsion of the Syrians after some “revolution” with a colour chosen from a Dulux paint chart.
The Super League start date is already agreed.
Unfortunately, the blocked out parts of the posts and all posts labelled # are available in full to subscribers only.
Our roster is now full for Football Is Fixed.
But, please enjoy the free snippets that we are posting on this site.
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
Written by Football Is Fixed on November 7th, 2008 with no comments.
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We’re still waiting on the Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World Player awards to be decided but another footie opinion-maker, FourFourTwo, has come out with their list for The Best Player in the World.
And - surprise - Cristiano Ronaldo earns the title.
Said FourFourTwo editor-in-chief Hugh Sleight:
“There were other contenders, but ultimately Ronaldo’s personal achievements, coupled with his team’s success, secured him the No.1 spot.”
> Info Source
Written by Darkvader on November 7th, 2008 with no comments.
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According to Italian paper “Gazzetta dello Sport”, which has been
picked up locally, JUVENTUS is in contact with VALENCIA CF
for its winger JOAQUIN (below).
Valencia is in need of “cash flow” & may let Joaquin go to find the funds
needed. The figure being talked is 15M€ & the deal could be for June
2009. However, the possibility of entering the January 2009 “Winter
Market” is on the cards. Stay tuned!
Written by STRIKER on November 7th, 2008 with no comments.
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If you have been watching Sky Sports News over the last couple of days you may have mistakenly believed that WW3 had just begun. The fuss over Arsene Wenger’s statement about Stoke City’s over exuberance last weekend has reached fever pitch.
Most seem to be jumping on the “Wenger is a whinger” bandwagon that has begun and I can’t stop laughing about it. Do you know why? Because Arsene Wenger wouldn’t want it any other way.
Wenger has created this storm on purpose. He isn’t whingeing, (whingeing is the one of the kindest words from people I know!) he is being clever about the situation. He knew that the Arsenal squad were going to get severe stick from the media over the draw with Tottenham and a defeat to Stoke so he deflected the attention to himself.
There is the small matter of a game against Manchester United tomorrow, confidence in the squad may not be the highest and it would have taken an even huger battering from the media with the upcoming clash with United on the cards. The media would have had a field day explaining to the world what Manchester United were going to do to us.
Instead the focus has been diverted onto Arsene Wenger moaning. I think this is good management from Le Boss, he is creating an “us against the world” attitude in the Arsenal camp and that can only serve us well, especially baring in mind we are up against it tomorrow.
Having said this, it does piss me off the way the people are quick to jump onto any bandwagon forming. I guess it’s just human nature but to me it just sums it up that in England we are quick to support these type of tactics that were used by Stoke.
Maybe that is half the reason England struggle to win things, we have a different mentality to the rest of the world. They like to play football, we like to kick people. We are very sharp to defend the battler and not so quick to defend the footballer.
Anyway,
Keep it Goonerish………………….
Written by Wrighty7 on November 7th, 2008 with no comments.
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The clubs’s medical team has assessed Eric Abidal’s injury. The club doctor have decided to continue with the same treatment and ruled out surgery at this point of time. The recovery is expected to take three weeks in normal scenarion; and if he does not recover well after this three weeks, they might consider the possibility of a surgery. If that happens the Abidal could be out of the game for a pretty long time. What disappoints me the most is the time of the injury. If this injury has occured a month ago none of us would have complained; but in the recent matches he was getting better and fulfilling his promises and now this happens. Guardiola would have to rely on Sylvinho in the left side of the pitch or he could still use Puyol again there. But I would prefer Guardiola using Sylvinho as there is a possibility that Abidal could take more time to recover or could take more time to find his form back.
Add to this Iniesta injury; Guardiola could be in for the toughest of tests. Iniesta had solved FC Barcelona’s incompetency in far left position of the pitch and now that is going to haunt Guardiola again. Henry looked like finally getting into his grove; but that could be another faulty sign like last season. Hleb could be used there but he has not made a compelling case to guarantee that position. Keita has started training but is not fully fit and cannot be expected to take part in this week’s match. The absence of Keita and Iniesta means the midfield would be stretched ofr creative ideas this week. Gudjonsen could come back but is sure not to start. Now that leaves Victor Sanchez a sure certainity. In the defense the team is missing two members - Abidal and Milito. It is still not clear when Milito would come back. Pique is carrying a knock but should be able to feature in next week’s match.
Written by Bibin on November 7th, 2008 with no comments.
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Absolutely, positively the last run of days like this. Promise (maybe).
