England’s World Cup Qualifying Campaign
October 15, 2008
England’s 5-1 win against Kazakhstan at Wembley on Saturday was their third consecutive win in their quest to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. By winning on Saturday they joined Spain and Greece who beat, Estonia and Moldova on the weekend, as the only three teams left in the qualifying stages to have won all three games so far, showing how world football is on the up.
If England were to win against Belarus at the Dinamo Stadium on Wednesday night, it will be the first time that England have won their four opening matches for any qualifiers (either European Championship qualifiers or World Cup Qualifiers) for the first time since 1972, when Bobby Moore captained England to wins against Malta (0-1 at the Empire Stadium, Gzira and 5-0 at Wembley, London), Greece (3-0 at Wembley, London) and Switzerland (2-3 at St. Jakob Park, Basel). This goes to show how Fabio Capello has re-instated the winning mentality back into the English national team.
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Hodgson Looks To Build On The Great Escape
August 13, 2008
Roy Hodgson is one of the great unsung English managers of the last 30 years and I’m a big fan of England’s most underrated manager.
A polite, erudite professor of the game and an intelligent, well spoken man, he’s simply never received the recognition his career and achievements deserve in England due to the majority of his success being on foreign shores. When he was installed as Lawrie Sanchez’s successor at Fulham, it would be fair to say that more than a few eyebrows were raised toward Craven Cottage and the consensus was that Fulham were doomed for the drop. It’s now one of the great defining moments of the 2007-2008 season when Fulham were away at Manchester City and went 2-0, the results were such at the time they were actually relegated until they scored 3 goals in the last 20 minutes and went on to survive on goal difference as their form picked up dramatically.
The European perception of Hodgson though is poles apart from his homelands opinion of him. A legend in Sweden, Finland and Switzerland, highly rated in Italy and Germany, he is every inch the renaissance man. With 7 titles under his belt in Sweden between 1976 and 1990, his move to Neuchatel Xamax in Switzerland was the defining period in his career, his success at domestic level convincing the Swiss FA to make him the national teams manager, taking them to USA 94 and getting through the qualification to Euro 1996, held in England. Since that period, Hodgson has been in demand by clubs and countries the world over with the exception of England due to his last period of employment in the Premiership.
All too much is made of his brief stint at Blackburn Rovers, more so his final 6 months at Blackburn, his critics point to the signing of Kevin Davies for £7.5 million as his main offence of a man out of touch with the game and abilities of players. The fact that often gets over looked about the Davies transfer is that Davies became seriously ill just weeks after joining Rovers and never recovered at Ewood Park. The self same critics also manage to forget that Davies was runner up in the Premiership Young Player of the Year award behind Michael Owen in 1997-1998 season. Suffice to say, 10 years later, Davies is still playing in the Premiership and has been one of the most consistent performers in the top league for the last few seasons. Yet people forget that Hodgson had guided Rovers back into European football in the 1997-1998 season and the Rovers board panicked when the team seemed to struggle until November when he was released from his position as manager. If they’d kept faith with him, I’ve no doubt they would have stayed up, rather than the terrible run they endured under Brian Kidd(£4.5 million for Ashley Ward anyone).
It’s this spell that has always gone against him in England, his critics never look to his success with Switzerland, the fact he almost got Finland to Euro 2008 only to fall at the final fence, his consideration to become the German manager in 1999, Massimo Moratti at Inters utmost respect for him and his reputation in Scandinavian football. When the FA failed to lure Big Phil to take over the England managers job in 2006, they should have gone to Hodgson. Instead they appointed a man that makes me angry just thinking about those wasted two years under the tactical buffoon, Perma-smile Mclaren.
There is no doubting that Hodgson is a fine manager, tactically astute and a lover of the beautiful game. He knows he’ll be under pressure this season, but I have full faith in his ability to get Fulham well away from the drop zone. He’s been the busiest manager in the transfer market so far over the summer, bringing in 10 players, including Bobby Zamora, John Pantsil, Mark Schwarzer, Andy Teymourian, Zoltan Gera and smashing Fulhams transfer record with the purchase of Andy Johnson from Everton for £10.5 million.
Fulhams biggest problem last season was creating goals and finishing teams off and he has gone about trying to rectify that fact with some shrewd signings. Adding to the bones of the team that he inherited and getting them back to playing football rather than the outdated kick and rush mess that Lawrie Sanchez had woefully tried to install will reap dividends for him and the Fulham faithful. With Johnson and Zamora up front, Bullard, Murphy and Gera pulling the strings in midfield and a steady defence, a comfortable mid-table season is on the cards at Craven Cottage. Good luck to Roy Hodgson, one of only two English managers in the modern era who should have been the England manager but never will. I’m sure Mr Clough doesn’t mind the company, they’ll both agree that Cloughie was the best.
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UEFA Competition Draws Released, Assume the Position
August 1, 2008
I understand that monster clubs like Barcelona, Arsenal, and Liverpool are actually involved in the third qualifying round for the Champions League this year. I know that they’re easily super odds-on favorites to make it to the group stages. However, a quick glance at the majority of teams involved in these rounds tells you one thing: they’re going to be taking quite the ass whipping if they make it to the group stages alive.
Therefore, while there is a great amount of money and prestige that comes to teams that simply qualify, for me these competitions don’t take on any serious meaning until the best of the best are involved. In the same vein, far be it from me to deny Portuguese teams their recognition, so it is my blog-given obligation to point out that last year’s surprise third place finishers Vitória Guimarães will be facing off against either IFK Göteborg of Sweden or FC Basel 1893 of Switzerland in the third qualifying round for the Champions League. The winner of the home and away playoff will then be thrown to the wolves and pray for a third place group finish in the Champions League so they lose at some stage to AC Milan in this year’s UEFA Cup.
Braga were also involved in UEFA draw proceedings today. Their Intertoto Cup win slid them into the second qualifying round draw for the runner up UEFA Cup. They found out that they have to deal with NK Zrinjski, a side that finished fourth in this past season’s top flight of Bosnia-Herzegovinian football. I’ve cleared my schedule for August 14th and 28th for these can’t miss ties. Maybe you’ll join me in watching these matches and double the television audience for the encounters by becoming the second non-lobotomized person watching via the tube.
Somebody wake me when these teams are having their asses handed to them by either Scolari and Co or Ronaldinho. Until then, enjoy your weekend. I get to grill for my six-year-old nephew’s pool party tomorrow, so even if you’re in prison on “kitchen detail” tossing salad or catching a disease like malaria, I guarantee you’re having a better weekend than me. Enjoy it.
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Real, Man Utd bosses ´to meet over Ronaldo saga´
July 7, 2008
MADRID (AFP) - Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon and Manchester United chief executive David Gill will hold talks in Switzerland next week over Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo, the Spanish sports daily AS reported Saturday.
The private talks will take place on Monday at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon on the sidelines of a wider meeting of European clubs, AS said.
United on Friday moved to quell further talk that their prize asset was about to link up with the Bernabeu club, saying the rumours were "utter nonsense and totally laughable. Cristiano Ronaldo is not for sale".
Manchester United have repeatedly said the player - whose contract runs until 2012 - is definitely not for sale.
Last month the club reported nine-time European champions Real to UEFA for trying to unsettle Ronaldo, though the global governing body have yet to make their decision known.
Ronaldo, currently an injury concern, is not scheduled to join the club on their pre-season tour of South Africa which begins on July 18.
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Terim stays in charge of Turkey until 2012
July 3, 2008
ISTANBUL (AFP) - The Turkish Football Federation said Tuesday they have struck a deal with Fatih Terim to stay on as coach of Euro 2008 semi-finalists Turkey until 2012.
"Fatih Terim had a contract until 2010. In the meeting we had with him today we agreed to extend the contract until 2012," federation president Hasan Dogan said in a statement.
Terim had said he was planning to step down and take over a European club after he led Turkey to the semi-finals of a European championship for the first time.
But the 54-year-old-coach, dubbed the "Emperor" for his leadership skills, came under strong pressure to stay on and lead Turkey’s campaign for the 2010 World Cup.
Turkey’s Euro 2008 performance elevated Terim to a hero’s status after he was severely criticised for his tactics and choice of players after losing 2-0 to Portugal in the opening match.
Pundits had given Turkey little chance ahead of the tournament, but the team reached the semi-finals, winning three of their first four games in a dramatic fashion that earned them the reputation of comeback kings.
After losing to Portugal, they beat Switzerland 2-1 and the Czech Republic 3-2 with last-minute goals in the group stage and knocked Croatia out at the quarter-finals on penalties after equalising with the last kick of the game in extra time.
They lost 3-2 in the semi-final as Germany scored their third goal in the 90th minute.
Terim had also guided Galatasaray to become the first Turkish side to win a European trophy when they beat Arsenal in the 2000 UEFA Cup, after which he coached AC Milan and Fiorentina.
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