Top 5 Moments of 2012

As we wind down 2012, here are what I see as the top 5 footballing moments of the year. Enjoy!

• Messi unstoppable -The Barcelona and Argentinian superstar broke Das Bomber's 40 year old record for goals in a calendar year. Messi finished the year with 91 goals compared to Muller's 85 in 1972. Yikes.
• Manchester City winning the EPL. The Citizens finally captured a little bit of the glory versus their cross town rivals - United. They did so in dramatic fashion during the last game of the year. The question becomes, can City continue to challenge and have they built their team for the long run? Their early crashing out of the Champions League leaves some wondering what this means long term.
• PSG being acquired by a bottomless money pit. Speaking of Manchester City, the Man City of the Seine has seen a similar level of cash made available. Leading to the signings of the likes of Ibra and Silva. PSG has even found itself in the conversation for the likes of Ronaldo. Much like City, PSG will have to see if this new strategy will pay off in the long term.
• Drogba goes out on top. Before heading off to China to join his Chelsea buddy - Anelka, Drogba found a way to put his stamp on the season by pulling Chelsea to Champions League glory. His equalizer in the dying moments of the finals and then his cool penalty kick were the final acts, but his play during the entire Champions League showed why he remains a force in football.
• Spain does the unthinkable. The only story that could be #1 for the year - La Roja winning another international title! And with such devastating effect. Spain completely took apart Italy in the finals and in doing so became the first nation to win 3 international tournaments in a row. Unbelievable. 

It has been a great football year, without a major tournament in 2013 things might be a little more quiet. Although I think that the Confederation Cup will be worth watching - Brazil, Uruguay, Spain, Mexico and Italy all present. What stories will you remember from 2012?

Injuries mount for big names for World Cup

The latest World Cup news is not good from the injury front. 2 nations with aspirations for a strong showing - England and Ivory Coast - both suffered major blows to these aspirations. The Three Lions may not have their captain and central defender Rio Ferdinand who left training after a crashing into Heskey during practice. The Manchester United player suffered what appears to be a knee injury that will rule him out of the World Cup. This would be devastating news for England. The one area that England had many questions was the central defense and goalkeeper. Terry and Ferdinand are solid defenders but both have had issues this season with performance and health, now England will have to go with a second choice center back to shoulder Terry and lose there captain.

The Ivory Coast may also be without their captain - Didier Drogba. The Chelsea striker appears to have broken his arm during a friendly against Japan. With the elephants having to compete in the "Group of Death" they will be hard pressed to advance without their top striker. There remains a chance that he will be able to play, but does not sound positive.

Add these injuries to the loss of Ballack and Essein (there are also a handful of Spaniards - Cesc and Torres - that are injured but should all be at the World Cup), and your injury list is starting to look like a team that would advance to the semi finals on its own. These injuries will test their respective nation's depth and the managers ability to manage their strategies and squads.

100 days until South Africa - Hiddink to manage the Elephants?

We are 100 days before the World Cup kicks off in South Africa. According to most reports, the venues are on pace to be ready for the event, which was always a fear. With a host of friendly matches tomorrow, highlighted by France v Spain, Argentina v Germany, England v Egypt, Holland v USA, Cameron v Italy and a number of other matches much will be made of the results of these games. Of course what can we really draw from tomorrow? Not much. 100 days is an eternity in football - injuries, players losing their mojo, managers being sacked (Ivory Coast has already sacked their Bosian manager Vahid Halilhodzic) - teams that are playing well now or teams that are in struggles now tend to have no bearing of what happens once the tournament begins. However it will be interesting to watch and to start the speculation, let the madness begin. Only 100 days to go!


Speaking of the Ivory Coast - rumor is that Hiddink is being lined up to take over the squad. He would be an excellent choice for the side. They are a veteran bunch, headlined by Drogba (a player Hiddink would know well from his stint managing Chelsea) but seem to be lacking when it comes to defensive organization. The Elephants do not need to figure out who should showcase for the team or how to develop their players - the side is full of veterans - Drogba, Toure brothers, Eboue, Kalou to name a few - so they are not in need of a manager to develop a team over a qualification. They need a manager that can put the right tactics in place and give this team a reason to believe in itself. 

Could the Dutch Master be the perfect strategist for this side? Clearly he has a great mind for football - just look at his track record with clubs with much less talent than the Ivory Coast. The Elephants are already in the group of Death - with Brazil, Portugal and North Korea. It will be a major battle to get out of this group, however with Hiddink at the head of this group their chances have just take a turn for the better.

Arsenal a shell of the old Gunners

So Arsenal faced cross London rival Chelsea this weekend, in a tie that used to be dominated by the North London side, the match this weekend was a far cry from those days. Chelsea easily left the Emirates with a 4-1 victory. Once again Drogba was a thorn in the side of Wenger's men, and there wasn't even Senderos to blame for this!

Oh well. This game, brutally, demonstrated the work that Arsenal needs to do to in the the transfer season if they every really want to contend for the Premiership title, let alone European glory. As I have mentioned in many prior rants, er I mean postings, Arsenal need to find some steel to their team. Ever since the sale of Pat Vieira there has been no toughness, no edge to the squad. Rather than signing players of that ilk as well as Keown and Parlour style players, Wenger has placed too much emphasis on youth, but youth that resembles itself, players like Cesc, Wolcott, Clichy, etc. All world class players, but all cut from similar cloth - talented but slight of stature players. I realize I have said this in the past, but you cannot allow players such as Pires, Edu, Silva, and Flamini just leave without a replacement. While these players were all on the "wrong" side of 30 (not including Flamini) they all could have and did bring veteran experience as well as steeliness to the team. However since Wenger does not belief in siging over 30 players to any muliyear deals they all walked. Wouldn't a Flamini or even a Silva have looked good doing some of the dirty work in the Arsenal midfield this season??? Also, I realize Henry appeared to be winding down, and I would never argue that he is the Henry that terrorized the Prem, however he would look good in a rotation with Adebayour, Van Persie and Bendtner...he certainly does not seem to be playing too poorly for Barca!

Bottom line, Arsenal will get into the Champions League once again. They will play some beautiful football in England and Europe. They will tease their fans at some point in the season...but short of an FA Cup (we all know that the Carling Cup will be sacrificed in the name of playing the youth) I do not see how Arsenal will grab any silverware in 2010...unless you count the Emirates Cup.....

Quick Champions League Predictions

Yes the next leg of Champions League footie is upon us, so some quick predictions:

• Bayern Munich v Sporting (agg 5-0) - Um not sure anyone has come back from a 5 goal deficit...so the easy prediction. Bayern through to the next round.
• Juventus v Chelsea (agg 0-1) - This is a tasty tie, heading back to Italy with the Old Lady needing to come out and find a way to over come that goal down. The intrigue for me is how Trezegol will have an impact on the game. However I think that Chelsea is starting to click, and Drogba is becoming the beast he once was. It is also clear that having Hiddink in the bench has some how calmed the egos on the Blues. Chelsea goes through after a 1-1 draw.
• Liverpool v Real Madrid (agg 1-0) - Oh now this is an interesting match up, my good friend Benitez is already whining about being "picked" on by the press, that he has a good track record in the Champions League...just disregard the futility in England. Liverpool has the huge away goal and are going to force Real to come to Anfield. Face the following.
  
  
  
  If one thing Benitez has shown is an uncanny ability to manage for one game matches. I think he got exactly what he wanted from his trip to Madrid and will now build his line up to sit deep and absorb the Real attacks and look to counter via Torres (assuming El Nino passes his match day fitness test). I just do not see the Real player that will be able to solve the Reds. Liverpool head on with a boring 0-0 draw.
• Panathinaikos v Villarreal (agg 1-1) - The Greek side has a good chance, heading back home with a precious away goal. Their manager Ten Cate is well experienced in European football so knows how to manage his squad and with veterans like Gilberto I can see the Greek side coming out of this tie. Granted Villareal cannot be underestimated, with Rossi, Senna and Pires they have the necessary veterans to overturn the tie in a hostile environment. However, I think Panathinaikos is this years Fenebache - the Greek side goes through with a 2-1 victory (3-2 agg).

It does pain me to predict Liverpool goes through...oh well.