World Cup Soccer News - sean o'conor

It's Harry's game as Capello era ends

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:25:23 +0000

As the dust clears from the impact of the news that Fabio Capello had called it a day with/been fired by England, the Football Association have a minor headache to deal with in their search for a replacement. Harry Redknapp has had his name on the job for some time, at least since Tottenham Hotspur's dazzling display in last year's Champions League convinced the doubters he could cut it in international football. But what will Spurs chairman Daniel Levy be thinking tonight, only hours after breathing a sigh of relief that his coach had been acquitted of tax evasion at Sout hwark Crown Court. Levy has played hardball more than once before when his star attraction wanted to leave. Tottenham are flying this season again, third in the league, seven points off the leaders and playing the most attractive football in the country. The loss to Spurs of their mercurial manager will be painful for a club finally sniffing success after years of frustration. Qualifying for the Champions League may seem immaterial as Redknapp was always going to leave for England in the summer, but a league championship would have been a fitting send-off. Perhaps Redknapp will wait until July, or take the job part-time from now, but however one looks at it, the unexpected end of Capello's England career has left a right mess for the F.A. to clean up. Capello won around two-thirds of his games and England most recently beat World Champions Spain, but lost when it counted, miserably against Germany at the World Cup Finals in South Africa. England were lethargic and insipid from the moment they touched down and lost Rio Ferdinand to injury, failed to beat the USA and Algeria before they scraped past Slovenia, only to be thrashed in the second round. He has manifestly failed for the first time in his career, and his English misadventure tarnishes his previously exemplary record. Never mastering the language helped nobody, while his stern style, although at first praised for instilling much-needed discipline in his overpaid charges, became brittle and unhelpful in the final dispute which caused his downfall. Pride came before his fall, as the Italian publicly slammed his employers on RAI television, precipitating an acrimonious parting of ways today in London. He was foolish to speak out like that, but the F.A. also failed to establish an effective relationship in the first place where both parties respected each other. Being overruled over John Terry's captaincy for a second time was too much for Fabio to take. Yet sadly Capello always seemed a hired gun rather than an integral team member, his poor English hampering a full immersion into a country and its football culture. Allegedly eschewing the telephone, Capello's communication line to the F.A. became fatally garbled when assistant Franco Baldini, who spoke fluent English, left to become Roma's general manager last autumn. Redknapp seems to tick all the boxes for England, but we must hold our horses before we can toast our first silverware since 1966. Will the inability to bring in foreign players do for chequebook-happy Harry, and will the lack of regular games frustrate his pally style? Or will the higher level of competition simply prove too much for his abilities? Has a nation once again got drunk on the idea of a magical saviour instead of looking at the bigger picture of a national football culture behind Germany's in organisation and tactics and trailing Holland and Spain in terms of technique? And why has the F.A. still not introduced a winter break, one of the key reasons for England's demise at the World Cup, which Capello highlighted. FABIO CAPELLO'S ENGLAND RECORD: Played 42, Won 28 (67%), Drew 8, Lost 6 World Cup 2010: Second Round (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags Euro 2012 football

Speed inquest sheds light, BBC Fashanu doc

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:00:28 +0000

The mystery surrounding the death of Wales coach Gary Speed unraveled somewhat today at the official inquest. While the coroner concluded there was not enough hard evidence to record a deliberate suicide, instead of just a cry for help presumably, we did learn that Speed and his wife had been having problems in their marriage and had rowed on the night he died. His children were in bed and his wife had driven off following the argument and spent the night sleeping in the car when her husband failed to return her phonecalls. Shortly after 6am she saw his body hanging in the garage. This news corrected the initial statements issued to the press, which had left everyone bewildered how someone so apparently happy and successful could end it all in a flash. Now we know there were warning signs, not least in a text he sent the week before when he spoke of a desire to kill himself. Friend Alan Shearer confirmed Speed had mentioned his marriage was in a rocky patch, but added that it was nothing unusual in long-term relationships. Speed's mother gave perhaps the most touching testimony, describing her son as a "glass half-empty person" and noting sadness in his eyes shortly before his death. It is still a tragedy with no happy ending, but at least it makes more sense now. Speed's many clubs have given him moving tributes, while Wales' friendly with Costa Rica next month should be a fitting send-off. Speeds' death came in the same week that 'A Life too Short' , the tale of German international goalkeeper Robert Enke's suicide, won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. Author Ronald Reng had previously penned an entertaining chronicle of another German goalie Lars Leese's year with Barnsley in the Premier League - 'The Keeper of Dreams'. *** If admitting depression remains somewhat of a taboo in soccer, Stan Collymore aside, coming out as gay still seems hopelessly impossible. Tonight BBC4 screened a documentary optimistically called 'Britain's Gay Footballers', where Amal Fashanu, the 23 year-old niece of the much-traveled Justin Fashanu and daughter of ex-Wimbledon legend John, asked why no gay players had come out since her late uncle more than twenty years ago. The most poignant moment was when Amal confronted her own father about his famous ostracising of his brother. John Fashanu came close to admitting he was wrong to have done so, but could only confess he could have done more to help and at the time believed Justin had brought shame onto the family by revealing scurrilous details of his sex life to Rupert Murdoch's Sun. Predictably, her quest for some sign that English football is about to exit the dark ages ended fruitlessly, with one voice after another expressing the mantra that gay men still cannot feel comfortable in soccer. Most players, depressingly, refused to even discuss the issue on camera with Amal, though QPR bad boy and twitterer extreme Joey Barton said he expected to see openly gay players within a decade. A chat with self-outed Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas and a visit to Sweden where Glenn Hysen's gay son plays fourth division football with no obvious problems, confirmed we have no excuses left in the game's homeland. Homosexuality has been legal in England and Wales for 45 years after all. The FA, UEFA and FIFA need to take more of a lead however and eradicate homophobia as passionately as they campaign against racial discrimination. The authorities' relative silence on the issue is sending the wrong message to a sport which revels in the full glare of modern publicity but in its social makeup and entrenched attitudes still inhabits a bygone age. Awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup Finals to homophobic nations certainly did not help, but there is time for everyone to change for the better. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Euro 2012 football

International night, Euro 2012 finalists set

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:46:20 +0000

The final lineup for next summer's European Championship in Poland & Ukraine is now set after tonight's playoff second legs, with a strong field of sixteen heading for Eastern Europe. There were no winning fightbacks following the first legs and Portugal, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Ireland and Croatia all advanced to Euro 2012, eliminating respectively Bosnia & Herzogovina, Montenegro, Estonia and Turkey. The sixteen qualifiers are thus: Poland, Ukraine , Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, France, England, Portugal, Denmark, Croatia, Sweden, Eire, Czech Republic, Greece and Russia. All the big guns are there, and Croatia, Sweden, Russia and Ireland make the boat having missed out on the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. The Netherlands' Klaas-Jan Huntelaar finished as top scorer in Europe with twelve goals, followed by Germany's Miroslav Klose with nine. England were the best supported team with an average home crowd of 77,000, followed by France with 65,000. The draw for the finals takes place in Kiev on the 2nd of December and the tournament itself is from the 8th of June until the 1st of July. *** * World Champions Spain 's lukewarm friendly form continued when they scraped a 2-2 draw in Costa Rica. Trailing 2-0 at the interval, David Silva pulled one back in the 83rd minute and David Villa spared their blushes with a leveller three minutes into injury time. As with Saturday's defeat to England, Spain fielded a full-strength team for the clash in San Jose, Costa Rica. In other European friendlies, Germany blanked the Netherlands 3-0 in Hamburg, Italy lost 0-1 to Uruguay in Rome, England beat Sweden for the first time since 1968, 1-0 in London, while France drew 0-0 at home to Belgium. The USA won 3-2 in Slovenia while there were home wins for both Euro 2012 hosts: Poland beat Hungary and Ukraine Austria, both by 2-1 scorelines. * Argentina overturned a half-time deficit to beat Colombia 2-1 in their 2014 World Cup qualifier in Barranquilla, Colombia. Lionel Messi equalised Dorlan Pabon's opener on the hour mark and Sergio Aguero bagged the winner with five minutes to play. In another CONMEBOL qualifier, Ecuador beat Peru 2-0 in Quito. * Asian giants Japan and South Korea both lost in 2014 qualifying tonight - Nippon lost 1-0 away to North Korea, while the Korean Republic lost 2-1 away to Lebanon. Australia won 1-0 in Thailand, China won 4-0 in Singapore and Iran won 4-1 in Indonesia. There were also qualifiers among the lesser nations of Africa and the CONCACAF region. * In the pick of tonight's African friendlies, Nigeria beat Zambia 2-0, Ghana beat Gabon 2-1 and Zimbabwe beat neighbours South Africa 2-1. (c) Sean O'Conor and Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

When the Kings came to town

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:16:37 +0000

England 1:0 Spain Wembley Stadium, London Wembley was full, sold on the dream of the king's touch , as the world's No.1 soccer nation Spain dropped by for an evening. A strange pre-match atmosphere, as the usual patriotic fantasy rang increasingly hollow: No-one expected England to win and most were hoping for a defeat short of embarrassing. A 90,000 defending army expected its fortress to be breached, and that it would only be a matter of when, not if the Spanish Armada would get revenge for 1588. They had their full team out: Xavi, Iniesta and David Villa were facing Phil Jones, Joleon Lescott and Danny Welbeck - ouch! In the first five minutes the red sea washed over Wembley as expected, Spain marinating possession and donning the mantle of the home side as they took their game confid ently to their raw hosts. England were second best, pinned back in their own half, unable to string multiple passes together or create moments of danger. This was no ordinary home game. Spain enjoyed the (three) lions' share of of the ball and out-shot England 21 to 3 overall, but never showed real 'animo' until they chased an equalizer in the final quarter, inst ead stroking the ball around as gently as crown green bowls. It was a lesson for the land of macho power-play from a visiting maestro. Simple yet brilliant: Play it to feet and flick it quickly when danger nears but never lose possession. Yet Fabio Capello's team still merited their win for holding firm having stolen the lead against the run of play. Scott Parker's astute anchoring and his last-ditch lunges saved the day more than once, while the lone strike was a goal made in England. James Milner muscled away on the left and won a free-kick. He looped his set piece into the melée and Darren Bent soared highest to nod the ball against the post. Enter the wily old head of Frank Lampard, increasingly tipped to lose his place as he drew level with Bryan Robson on 90 caps, as the only one following up as an open goal gaped. England wanted it more and were hungry for the scalp of FIFA's No.1-ranked nation. Their defence held firm and withstood the Spanish onslaught; job done. Yet Spain were clearly a class apart and England fans left buoyant but slightly subdued, knowing a narrow win had probably flattered the hosts. Even the loudest loudmouths at Wembley began hollering at England to pass and keep the ball down after a few minutes of watching la furia roja hold sway with effortless élan. The fruits of tiki-taka are still ripe, a playing system streets ahead of any other in 20 11. England and other nations play in a linear fashion, hitting front men with crosses or runners in channels or working the ball upfield with diagonal passes or dribbles. Spain eschew the 'droit au but' approach and prefer to keep possession, spinning a spider's web of flicks and passing triangles which send ball-watchers' heads spinning as the play changes direction with every pass. Only late in the game with the introduction of Fernando Torres to supplement Ces c Fabregas did Spain attack in a more 'vertical' way. Tiki-taka is maddeningly predictable yet unplayable at the same time, a winning formula that has bagged the European Championship and World Cup in an unprecedented golden age for a hitherto jinxed giant. Spain are not all-conquering however and have already been beaten five times since 2008 as it happens, twice competitively - the USA beat them 2-0 at 2009's Confederations Cup and Switzerland edged them 1-0 at last year's World Cup. Make that six losses for the champions now. Friendly defeats have come in Italy (2-1) this summer, and in Portugal (4-0) and Argentina (4-1) last year. It is as if in away friendlies the Spaniards take their feet off the gas and use them for practice and make sure they do not lose when it really matters, while the home teams are eager to beat the World Champions. The US beat Spain in 2009 through conceding the wings and forming t wo solid banks of four to frustrate their close-passing through the middle, leaving American speedsters Landon Donovan and Charlie Davies to chase balls over midfield and stop the Spanish full-backs overlapping. Like England at Wembley, Switzerland grabbed a goal and kept a tight ship to frustrate the more talented Spaniards and hold out for a close win. Spain are beatable. Being reigning European and World champions can become a millstone - everyone wants to say they beat you so they raise their game accordingly. As Spain manager Vicente del Bosque confirms, "Anything except winning will be seen as a disaster and that doesn't help us at all." For England, there was little to get excited about, but some green shoots showing promise: Danny Welbeck and Jack Rodwell impressed, Phil Jones fought manfully out of position, while man of the match Scott Parker proved why he should have gone to South Africa. England remain an underachiever on the competitive stage but had beaten three World Cup holders at Wembley before Saturday: West Germany were dispatched 3-1 in 1954 and 2-0 in 1974, while Argentina with a teenage Diego Maradona succumbed 3-1 under the twin towers in 1978. Beating the mighty Spain in 2011 in a friendly will not count for much in the long run, though a win is a win is a win. Euro 2012 will be a whole different ball game. ENG: Hart, G.Johnson, Lescott, Jagielka, Cole, Walcott (Downing 46'), Jones (Rodwell 56'), Parker (Walker 85'), Milner (A.Johnson 76'), Lampard (Barry 56'), Bent (Wellbeck) 63'. SPA: Casillas (Reina 46'), Arbeloa, Pique, Ramos (Puyol 74'), Alba, Busquets (Torres 64'), Alonso, Xavi (Fabregas 46'), Iniesta (Cazorla 74'), Silva (Mata 46'), Villa. Goal: Lampard 49'. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

FIFA back down in poppy row

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 12:09:43 +0000

England will be allowed to wear poppies on their shirts against Spain on Saturday after all, albeit as an armband. An extraordinary row had been stirred up after the Football Association announced the England team would sport the Remembrance Day flower for their friendly against the World Champions. Scotland and Wales plan to do the same for their games against Cyprus and Norway. FIFA reacted monolithically by refusing to countenance it, citing their regulations against "political, religious or commercial" symbols on national team shirts. Political leaders and royalty reacted with rage, the London media went into frenzy and two members of the English Defence League, a protest group which draws a number of soccer thugs, scaled the roof of FIFA House in Zurich to protest. Ignoring the fact that several nations' shirts have Christian crosses or Islamic crescents on them, or that Adidas, FIFA's favourite manufacturer, Nike, Umbro and other brands already have their logos emblazoned on shirts, the accusation that the poppy was a political symbol was well wide of the mark. Poppies are ubiquitous in England in the week leading up to the 11th of September commemoration of those who served and/or died in conflicts. Military veterans man the entrances and exits to every major railway station, adults and children alike wear them and no TV presenter would be seen dead without the little red flower in their lapel. Indeed, the pressure to be seen honouring the fallen has led to some complaining of 'poppy fascism'. But it is definitely not "political". All parties unite to lay wreaths at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, Britain's national war memorial. The poppy, which comes from Canadian John McCrae's 'In Flanders Fields' poem and American campaigner Moina Michael, succeeds in uniting the nation in quiet reflection, pacifists and non-pacifists alike. On that basis, FIFA should never have interfered with something so close to a nation's heart which was a one-off because it just so happened England had a friendly at home a day after Armistice Day. The interventions of UK Prime Minister David Cameron and future king Prince William were probably due to their unpleasant experiences at the World Cup vote a year ago, where both left fuming at having been lied to by FIFA Ex.Co. members. At the same time, did England need to wear a poppy? Their alternative plans of having a giant red flower on the pitch and having poppies on England training shirts and tracksuits and a minute's silence before kick-off surely would have made the point that football remembers too. 1,000 servicemen and women are due to attend to as part of the FA's 'Ticke ts for Troops' giveaway. Indeed, there has been a creeping military feel to England home games in the last few years. Now it is customary for uniformed soldiers to carry the flags around the field, to sometimes line up to be honoured and for the P.A. system to encourage the crowd to applaud, as 'Help for Heroes' collectors raise money for the families of those serving in Afghanistan. The connection between the national team and the national army is becoming a little blurred in England, and FIFA were right to assume all national shirts should be left alone, but equally the strength of feeling in Britain on the issue was something they should have been aware of before clumsily putting their foot down. In terms of football politics, England and FIFA look as far apart as ever, with the motherland of the game having given up the dream of ever hosting the World Cup again. Until regime change happens in Zurich, the FA can content themselves with mini-victories like this one. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

City's pyrrhic victory?

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:11:48 +0000

Manchester United 1:6 Manchester City Scorelines don't come much more amazing than Sunday's Mancunian derby, but was there really much reason to celebrate, however many records tumbled at Old Trafford? With a few days' recuperation from that shellshock of a final score, can the result be deemed a welcome riposte to or even wholescale power shift from the hegemony of moneybags Chelsea and Manchester United, or another symptom of the obscene, out-of-control spending in the English top division which is upsetting its natural order of competition? Watching Fergie's nose rubbed into the dirt certainly had its charms for those of us who do not buy into the 'Glory glory Man United' hype machine, as the Scot's lazily applied moniker of 'football genius' suddenly hung by a thread after such a an utter pasting. And it was not unpleasant to see City's supporters for once get the upper hand on their storied and hitherto more monied rivals. The Blues have played Torino to Juventus, Espanol to Barcelona for so many long and grueling years, that anyone's sense of fairness would not begrudge them a moment in the sun. For my whole life Man City, who last lifted the Championship in 1968 and whose last taste of glory was the 1970 Cup Winners' Cup before last season's FA Cup win, have seemed cursed to underachieve. Even when they looked like winning the FA Cup in 1981, their goalscorer Tommy Hutchinson then put through his own net to let Tottenham back in to triumph, after a replay . A sense of injustice turned into angry frustration among some fans, a similar phenomenon one can witness at Cardiff City or Leeds, but after an endless string of disappointments, along came rich men from the East bearing gifts. David could fear Goliath no more and City had arrived. Yet the underdog tag which won City sympathy is fast evaporating in the face of such a merciless spending spree by the Abu Dhabian owners. Just take a look at the Blues' winning team. Whilst five were Englishmen, only one had come through the City youth system (Micah Richards). United by comparison fielded eight Brits throughout the 90 minutes, two of whom had been developed in-house. But City's foreign legion surely eclipsed United's, whose overseas stars comprised Anderson, David De Gea, Patrice Evra, Javier Hernandez and Nani. Compare that to the ambrosial cornucopia of Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli, Gael Clichy, Edin Dzeko, Alexsandar Kolarov, Vincent Kompany, Samir Nasri and Yaya Touré, plus the Premier League's top entertainer of the hour, David Silva. United had been outspent off the field and thus outgunned on the pitch. With the Arab owners pouring money into a new academy complex and showing no signs of acknowledging any recession, City will soon spend their way to the heights of England, Europe and the world. With no restriction on salaries, money does not just talk in the Premier League, it bellows. The pyrrhic element to this famous win will tell in the signal it has sent to soccer's governing bodies. If the Blues maintain their unerring march to European conquest, UEFA and FIFA will be forced to act and impose control on clubs' spending as the playing field will have become too tilted. City's devastating victory shows the Premier League is absurdly top-heavy, listing like the Mary Rose into the waters of the Solent. There is no pretence of a 20-team competition and a gulf now exists even amongst the top teams. On any given Sunday, to plagiarise a term from American Football, Man U, the reigning champions, should not lose 6-1 at home to anyone. What made it so shocking was that it seemed no aberration, no one-off. Does it have to be like this? No. Later that night some miles to the south, the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers fought out a much closer NFL game at Wembley. In America, that well-known communist regime, a salary cap keeps its football field level, and the worse teams get first pick of the best young players. The more the Premier League continues with no regulation, the more meaningless games like Sunday's will become. Bring on the UEFA Financial Fair Play rules. Doubtless some new fans in Asia will be sporting blue shirts instead of their elder siblings' red ones, but there was a time when you supported a team for reasons other than it was far richer than the others, who are clearly finding it increasingly impossible to compete. With this elephant in the room, Sunday's thrashing of United was less proof that the Premier League is unpredictable and competitive, but that its free-market model is in serious need of financial regulation. For it seemed less a case of one club outplaying another through superior football than one simply outspending another, in an increasingly frightening way. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

The 2014 World Cup trek

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:15:44 +0000

FIFA have released the dates and venues for the matches of the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil, with the patience of traveling supporters set to be tested once again. Instead of keeping group games within a couple of venues located close to one-another, as used to be the norm, fans will face trips of up to 2,000 miles in order to watch all of their nation's opening clashes. One unlucky Group A team will begin in Sao Paulo, then trek 1,680 miles (2,700 km) up to Manaus, before an odyssey of 3,538 miles (5,698km) across the Amazon to Recife, a voyage one team from Group D and another from Group G must also endure. Even the hosts are not spared, with the seleçao kicking off in Sao Paulo before flying 1465 miles (2357km) to Fortaleza and then making another journey of 1042 miles (1677km) to Brasilia. The explanation for clocking-up so many air miles, according to the organising committee, is the varying weather, with the south of Brazil much cooler than the north. "The climate is so different you do not want to give an advantage to one country over another," said Head of Operations Ricardo Trade. The semi-finals will take place in Belo Horizonte's Estadio Mineirao (70,000) and Sao Paulo's Novo Estadio do Corinthians (68,000), with the final in Rio's renovated Maracana (85,000) on the 13th of July 2014. Starting times for matches will be 1700, 1900, 2300 and 0200 GMT. Brazil will kick-off the whole shebang in Sao Paolo on Thursday the 12th of June 2014 . (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

Morocco to host Club World Cup

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:51:40 +0000

Morocco will host both the 2013 and 2014 FIFA Club World Cups . Iran, South Africa and the U.A.E. all withdrew their bids, leaving FIFA to bring the competition to Africa for the first time. The hosting is set to be rubber-stamped in Zurich in December. The North African nation has a strong soccer tradition, and the national team memorably became the first African nation to win a group in the World Cup Finals, topping England, Portugal and Poland at Mexico '86, before losing to a late Lothar Matthaus goal from eventual finalists West Germany in the next round. Morocco will also host the 2015 African Cup of Nations , whose centerpiece will be the new 80,000-seat Grand Stade de Casablanca . Their current national team boasts QPR's mercurial midfielder Adel Taraabt and Arsenal striker Marouane Ch amakh. The 2011 edition of the Club World Cup, featuring Barcelona (Spain), Santos (Brazil), Monterrey (Mexico), Auckland City (New Zealand), a representative from Asia and one from Africa, as well as Japan's A-League champions, takes place in the land of the rising sun between the 8th and 18th of December this year, with the final in Yokohama. European clubs have won the cup the past four years (Milan, Manchester United, Barcelona and Inter), following three consecutive Brazilian triumphs from 2005 to 2007 (Corinthians, Sao Paolo and Internacional). Next year's tournament will also take place in Japan. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

Abolishing promotion deserves relegation

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:18:23 +0000

Richard Bevan of England's League Managers Association inadvertently raised the frightening prospect of a breakaway from the Premier League when he mentioned so me club owners wanted to do away with promotion to and relegation from the Premi er Leagu e. While he did not mention the 'b' word, a rebel division surely remains a potential threat if a majority of the mega-rich (foreign) owners decide they can worry no longer about their investments and thus remove the risk of a season or more outside the top flight. Bevan cited "American owners...and some of the Asian owners" for raising the unthinkable idea of the top league being cut off from the rest for good. The prospect of no promotion would kill the dreams of millions of supporters, particularly hurting fans of sleeping giants like Cardiff City, Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday. While the arriviste 'die-hards' of England's big clubs in the emerging m arkets for the 'EPL' of Asia and North America would probably see no problem, every fan in England appears violently opposed to any deracination of the top division. But we would be fools to ignore the risk. "If we have four or five more new (owners)," said Bevan ominously, "that could happen." So who are these quislings in the Premier League ? The American owners harbouring mutinous thoughts remain unnamed but it would be remarkable if they included Arsenal's Stan Kroenke, the Fenway Sports Group at Liverpool and the Glazers at Manchester United, none of whose teams are ever in real risk of relegation. The Yanks without thanks for tradition could include Randy Lerner at Aston Villa, often touted as a model owner, and quite probably Ellis Short at Sunderland. The "Asians" probably mean Venky's at Blackburn, and possibly Lakshmi Mittal and Tony Fernandes at QPR. That said though, it is often forgotten that Gary Cook, formerly Chief Executive at Manchester City, and Bolton's Phil Gartside have suggested doing away with the drop zone in the past. If those calling for a pulling-up of the ladder do represent top-four teams that indeed would reveal an exceptional paranoia or unforgivable ignorance of England's football culture and traditions. In a sense it would make little difference as the status quo is utterly dominated by big-spending teams for whom the other end of the table makes little difference, but the idea of lopping off the top of the pyramid is anathema to true football supporters. While the public at large is wedded to the tradition of promotion and relegation and would kick such an idea across the rooftops given half a chance, the fact the unsayable has even been said, barely days after Liverpool FC openly called for a greater share of television money, is confirmation that the big clubs still have itchy feet. Last season France Football revealed the big European teams were indeed hatching plans for a potential split, which presumably would entail some sort of hegemony without fear of demotion. And it should not be forgotten rebellion is in the clubs' blood: The FA's key involvement in the birth of the Premier League was precisely to stop existing breakaway plans in their tracks. While the Premier League is not a purely two-horse race like Spain, the entre nched dominance of a few monied clubs has left the top division looking increasingly devalued as an open competition in recent years. Unlike in previous decades, it has become easy to predict who will finish in the top three or four every season. In the Guardian this week, Jonathan Wilson revisits that oft-made criticism of the Premier League that the title race is not open enough; indeed the days when a Norwich, Southampton or Watford could finish second or Nottingham Forest win the title in their first season since promotion are long-gone. And the lack of a salary/spending cap ensures only a select few can challenge for the title now. The two issues are not necessarily connected: A top division where the money was spread evenly would ensure a competitive title race just with no demotion or new teams arriving. This is the NFL/NHL/NBA model which with American owners are familiar. The question surely is about the value of the pyramid and whether the age-old 'meritocracy' should be preserved. As it stands, without a billionaire backer, the best a club can hope for is to avoid relegation, win one of the Cups and sneak into the Europa League. If the Premier League were cut adrift and promotion & relegation, two sources of endless excitement, abolished, the sale of English football's soul would be complete. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

Hillsborough truth in sight at last

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:15:39 +0000

The end to an arduous 22-year campaign for truth surrounding the Hillsborough disaster could at last be in sight as the UK government has confirmed it will release all contemporary documents relating to the day in question. After a 139,000-strong online petition and a moving parliamentar y debate led Ho me Secretary Theresa May to announce up to 300,000 files will be released. The relatives of the 96 Liverpool fans who died at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final have maintained a relentless campaign for government minutes to be publicised, to prove once and for all that Reds fans were innocent and that South Yorkshire police alone were to blame for the tragedy and lied to cover the fact up. While the famous Taylor Report , which paved the way for the all-seater stadia of the Premier League we have today, exonerated the supporters and confirmed the police were responsible for the crowd control which turned fatal, the South Yorkshire force's role in spreading misinformation has never been confirmed officially. What seems clear is that the policeman in charge of opening the gates that April day, David Duckenfield , tried to cover his back by putting out stories to the FA, government and press of drunken and rowdy Liverpool fans barging their way into the Leppings Lane end and crushing their colleagues to death. This dishonest spin was taken up and amplified by a Rupert Murdoch tabloid and a Conservative government already hostile to football and its fan culture - at the time the impish Sports Minister Colin Moynihan was running an ill-conceived campaign to make English supporters carry I.D. cards to gain entry to stadia. Margaret Thatcher's bullish press officer Bernard Ingh am told the cabinet "tanked-up" fans were to blame, while oafish local Tory MP Irvine Patnick, despite not having been at the match, gleefully supplied the ammo for the Sun's notorious headline 'The Truth', which claimed Reds fans had stolen from, sexually assaulted and urinated upon their fellow supporters as they lay dying. Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie remains unapologetic for the nadir of British journalism, telling an after-dinner crowd in 2006: "I wasn't sorry then and I'm not sorry now because we told the truth." Clearing the final hurdle in the campaign for truth has probably arrived on the back of this summer's phone-hacking scandal , when a nexus of collusion between the Murdoch press, the police and politicians was laid bare for the public to punish. Those affected by the disaster, from the victims' relatives to the millions who had passed through English turnstiles to stand in caged pens and who empathised fully with th e tragic events as they unfolded, may soon be able to relax in the knowledge the whole truth of the darkest day in English soccer has been established. Football history has recorded Hillsborough not only as a human tragedy but as the death knell for the fortress-like stadia of cages and barbed wire and gritty supporter culture which was the norm throughout the 1970s and '80s. Hooliganism, which seemed out of control a t times in the 1980s, lost its sheen after Hillsborough, as the seriousness of fans losing their lives was brought home to one and all in England. I n the aftermath of the disaster , the removal of perimeter fencing for the Liverpool v Everton FA Cup Final heralded the spectator-friendly stadia we know today, and along with England's heroics at Italia '90, beckoned new private investment in th e game which would become the behemoth of today's FA Premier League. Tragically, it took a human disaster for morons to realise violence was stupid, and for the authorities to realise that crowds and revenues would grow if they treated their paying customers with respect. The 96 dead, whose names were read out in parliament today, ranged in age from 10 to 67 and included the cousin of current Liverpool FC captain Steven Gerrard . (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

Platini soothes growing pains of Ukraine

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:46:57 +0000

Michel Platini has said he is at last confident Ukraine can host Euro 2012 . After several 'last chance' warnings over the past three years, the UEFA boss can tear a few fewer hairs out now the four stadia do seem to be on track for next summer. "A year ago, we were deciding whether to leave four or two cities," Platini told reporters on a tour of Kharkiv. "And today we have four cities." "There are no serious problems in preparing for Euro 2012," he continued, "but there are many minor tasks and problems that need to be solved." For Platini, a successful Euro 2012 is crucial to his reputation as an organiser of big soccer tournaments as he continues his silent campaign for the FIFA Presidency at some point in the future. The Frenchman has found the two hosts' lack of infrastructure and slow construction progress compared to western European nations an ongoing headache, and has constantly had to threaten them with being stripped of hosting rights. Spain was the first nation touted as a replacement back in 2008, when World Soccer's Keir Radnedge boldly announced neither Poland nor Ukraine would host Euro 2012. Then Germany entered the picture, either as sole host or as joint organiser with Poland. Now it is clear UEFA is not turning back and is throwing its cards on the table with the two unknown East European hosts. By rights the tournament should have been Italy's, but the calciopoli scandal and an upsurge in high-profile hooliganism let the duo in through the back door. It promises to be a unique European Championship, a foretaste perhaps of the 2018 World Cup in neighbouring Russia. The cheap transport promised to fans facing extraordinarily long journeys between venues (Gdansk to Donetsk is 933 miles/1502km) yet to materialise. Next month Platini visits Poland to inspect their venues, with the opening date of Warsaw's new arena still up in the air. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile UEFA EURO 2012 8th June -1st July 2012 VENUES Poland Warsaw 58,224 (opening game and semi-final) Gdansk 44,636 Poznan 43,090 Wroclaw 44,416 Ukraine Kiev 63,195 (semi-final and final) Donetsk 50,055 Kharkiv 35,721 Lviv 34, 915 Qualifiers Poland, Ukraine, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Italy and ten others to be decided. Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

Weekending

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:15:13 +0000

* Reborn Napoli celebrated returning to the top of Serie A with a 3-1 home win over Milan, with echoes of titanic clashes between the north and south's giants in the era of Diego Maradona. Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani scored a hat-trick. *The quest for a level playing-field in Spain goes on. After Valencia finished 21 points behind Barcelona and Real Madrid last season and the big two began their 2011-'12 campaign with big thrashings, Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido decided to speak out and campaign for an equitable distribution of TV rights. But a meeting of club directors in Madrid last week proved fruitless. Sevilla director general Jose Maria Cruz said the meeting was, “An afternoon tea of pessimists and good for nothings. We only had a praiseworthy defence from Espanyol and Betis. The rest of those that attended have remained silent as if it wasn’t an issue for them.” With three games gone, Real Betis and Valencia are on 9 points, two ahead of Barcelona, who tanked Osasuna 8-0 , and Sevilla. Real Madrid are on six having lost 1-0 at Levante . *In the Netherlands , FC Twente and AZ Alkmaar top the Eredivisie after six games with 15 points, two ahead of Ajax and Feyenoord. PSV are in fifth with eleven. In Portugal , Porto and Benfica top the Primeira Liga with 13 points from five games. *Meanwhile in France, Marseille , tipped by some for a title challenge, are at the bottom of Ligue 1 following a 2-0 loss at table-toppers Lyon. Didier Deschamps' OM have drawn three and lost three so far. *In England, the two Manchesters sit atop the table. United despatched third-place Chelsea 3-1 at Old Trafford , while City squandered a two-goal cushion at Fulham to draw 2-2. Fulham, Bolton and West Brom are in the drop zone with three points; Arsenal, who lost 4-3 at Blackburn, are one ahead on four after five games. Liverpool's title aspirations took a blow in a 0-4 rout at Tottenham. * Bayern Munich are top of the Bundesliga after six games, two points ahead of Werder Bremen and Borussia Moenchengladbach. Hamburg are bottom with one point. *In Japan , Gamba Osaka lead the J-League a point ahead of Kashiwa Reysol, while Vasco de Gama lead Sao Paulo by the same amount in Brazil . * The USA's Major League Soccer has revealed its top ten annual wages packets for 2011:

David Beckham - LA Galaxy $6,500,000
Thierry Henry -New York Red Bulls $5,600,000
Rafa Marques - New York Red Bulls $5,544,000
Landon Donovan - LA Galaxy $2,127,778
Juan Pablo Angel - New York Red Bulls $1,918,000
Nery Castillo - Chicago Fire $1,788,060
Julian De Guzman - Toronto FC $1,717,546
Freddie Ljungberg - Chicago Fire $1,314,000
Mista -Toronto FC $987,337
Branko Boskovic - DC United $516,200

* Eight of the twelve finalists for the 2012 Olympic Games women's football tournament have been decided: Great Britain (England), Japan, North Korea, Brazil, South Africa, Colombia, France and Sweden. Two more will qualify from CONCACAF and one each from CAF (Africa) and Oceania. - Sean O'Conor Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

Is the Spanish league "third-world"?

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:57:27 +0000

*We might be marveling at the brilliance of Barcelona every time the blaugrana grace the field, and shake our heads at the bottomless bank account of Real Madrid , but the Spanish league is as absurdly top-heavy and devalued as the Scottish leag ue. The two giants won 5-0 and 6-0 respectively on the opening day of the Spanish season, leaving Villareal president Fernando Roig to exclaim in anguish, "It's a third-world league in which two clubs are sapping the TV money...I give it three to four years. Either it changes or we kill Spanish football." In third place in La Liga last season were Valencia, a full 21 points behind Real and this season the gripes are getting louder. Seville's president has blasted Spanish football as "not the biggest mess in Europe but in the world". Euro 2008 winner Marcos Senna concurred: "The superiority of Real and Barca is brutal." Three clubs other than Barça or Real have won La Liga in the past 15 years: Deportivo La Coruna in 2000 and Valencia in 2002 and 2004. The problem is historic, with Real Madrid built up by the Franco regime into a mega-club and Catalonia focusing its cultural and political frustrations onto its soccer team. Two weeks ago I was in the Castile province of northern Spain and watched the Barcelona v Real Madrid Super Cup second leg, which kicked off at 11pm local time. It was almost like watching Spain in the World Cup with the whole town glued to multiple TV screens in the main square. TV is the problem, as the clubs negotiate individual deals which inevitably favours the two giants. The locals in Ponferrada were largely pro-Real, as is the majority of Spain, but there were plenty of youngsters in Barça shirts too, presumably having grown up on Ronaldinho. Most of Spain is like this is in my experience. The big two have too big a hold on the nation. That said, at a national team level, this period of Barça/Real saturation has coincided with Spain winning Euro U-19, Euro U-21, the European Championship and the World Cup. This season began with Spanish players going on strike over money. How long before the imbalance in La Liga results in a breakaway? * Dunga and David Trezeguet are the latest to take the Arab shilling, having agreed to take jobs with club sides in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates respectively. The 4 7 year-old Brazilian most recently coached his nation at the World Cup finals and will coach Al Rayyan, while the 33 year-old French striker leaves a storied European career including spells at Hercules, Juventus and Monaco. 'Trez' won the World Cup with France and scored the winning (golden) goal in the Euro 2000 final. He will now play for Baniyas SC. No doubt he, like Dunga, are heading to the Middle East for the stratospheric salaries and little else, but in footballing terms it still seems a shame to be moving to real soccer backwaters in search of one last big payday. *Best wishes to Owen Hargreaves as he attempts one last resurrection of his injury-plagued career at Manchester City. The Canada-born midfielder, it is easy to forget, was England's best player at the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, despite, or perhaps because he had never played in English club football, gaining his soccer education instead first in North America and then at Bayern Munich. -Sean O'Conor Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

Blatter the clown prince of football

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:40:17 +0000

Sepp Blatter 's comments to a Brazilian magazine prove once and for all he is not fit to run football. " We have bad losers in FIFA," the FIFA President told Estado de Sao Paolo . "This animosity comes from England," he went on. "Interesting is the timing of the accusations. It was just around the time when they·failed to win host rights to the 2018 World Cup...All this has been an act of revenge for having lost the FIFA Presidency in 1974 to Joao Havelange. Still, they cannot accept that they no longer control FIFA. Since they cannot regain the Presidency, they decided they would try to destroy it." The words of a mad conspiracy theorist. The surge in reports of FIFA corruption came it is true around last year's World Cup vote but that was because both 2018 (Russia) and 2022 (Qatar) seemed highly suspicious choices to any fair-minded watcher. How then to explain the head of the German F.A. and Karl-Heinz Rummenige calling for Blatter's head recently? The fact is England has the most active investigative journalism and endemic FIFA corruption is something Blatter has presided over and allowed to fester. The Football Association and the British media has no desire other than a trustwort hy governing body for the sport it invented. Under Blatter, the FIFA Ex.Co. has looked like an FBI's most wanted list of felons: Warner, Texeira, Leoz, Bin-Hammam, Blazer (pic) and Grondona for starters. If Blatter really believes in transparency and honest management, let him release the judicial verdict on the ISL collapse which languishes in a courthouse in Zug, Switzerland. The F.A. however should look themselves in the mirror for shamefully u-turning to back Blatter in his initial bid for the Presidency, betraying the support of the honest Swede Lennart Johansson. How foolish do they appear now that deep anti-English feeling pervades FIFA corridors. Recent stirrings from Germany suggest that is the country from which a successful anti-Blatter movement should stem. -Sean O'Conor Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football

Return of the Premier League

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:08:40 +0000

England's Premier League kicked off again on Saturday and another long and gruelling season beckons. Manchester United , the team most likely to win it, have most of their first-choice defence injured already. While other nations take a breather over Christmas and New Year, England keeps its players charging over hard pitches in freezing weather, increasing the likelihood of burnout and injury. The national team should qualify for Euro 2012, but don't expect England's players to be any less sluggish than they were in South Africa in 2010. United looked slick and composed however, and Ashley Young on his debut played like a regular with assured interplay, creativity and danger. Phil Jones is another shrewd acquisition, more useful than Tom Cleverley and Daniel Welbeck. At the other end though David De Gea, who won Euro u21 with Spain in the summer, had a nervous exodus in English football, flapping at crosses and allowing a shot to go under his body. Shades of Massimo Taibi perhaps, but beware a bad start in goal. Tim Howard excelled in his opening year at Old Trafford before losing his touch badly before being transferred. Many eyes will be trained on Arsenal , and more particularly Arsene Wenger, whose excuses for a lack of trophies are beginning to run out. Having lost Cesc Fabregas ovenight to Barcelona and with Samir Nasri's move to Manchester City imminent, the heat will be on the Gunners to perform. Should they miss out on the Champions League places this year, the board may have to contemplate the unthinkable. Chelsea are not generally expected to win the league this year, although their ace in the pack is the amazing rejuvenation of Fernando Torres , who looked his old self at Stoke yesterday. If they can bring the creative Daniel Sturridge into the frame too, their goals haul could bring them close to glory. Andre Villa-Boas ' first game yesterday saw a clash of styles as Stoke's controlled aggression thwarted Chelsea's passing ambitions. The Potters' success with this evolved version of the physical styles which held sway in the late 1980s is remarkable, but great passing teams like Barcelona press every bit as keenly. Barcelona shirts are much in evidence on kids' backs in England this summer, the first time a foreign club team has captured so many young Anglo imaginations. If we can copy their style of play so much the better, though Stoke show another route to success. Manchester City play tonight and are expected to spend their way if not to the title then at least to a high finish and Champions League progression. But the purists are not yet ready to applaud his team's rather mechanical style. What else did we learn from the first day? QPR's 0-4 baptism of fire at home does not necessarily mean there is a chasm between the divisions. I watched Reading, runaway winners of the Championship, in their first game in the Premier League and they were two down at home in 20 minutes to Middlesbrough. They finished in the top half. Wayne Rooney has new hair, Joey Barton got into another scrap and there were swathes of empty seats at Wigan. Oh and the grass looked green. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Tags World Cup Pens World Cup Posters Euro 2012 football