World Cup Wrap up

Okay the world cup finals happened 20 days ago, so why am I revisiting the World Cup, especially after les bleus lost? Mainly because I started to get over my malaise from France's lose as well as needing to vent before the start of the club season.

So some final awards, others have created their own best of, most overrated, biggest dissapointments etc list...so I decided why not, so here are my "lists"

I will give you my all tournament team, all overrated team, and the good bad and ugly of Germany 2006

All Tournament Team:

Goalkeeper: Buffon, Italy. What can you say about the Italian, gave up 2 goals all tournament (granted had to face the power houses of Australia and Ukraine in the knock out stages). Without some solid goalkeeping against France, we might have had the parade on the Champs Elysee, the save on Zidane's header was a spectacular reflex save.

Honorable mention: Dida, Brazil. Surpising to see a Brazilian keeper shine, but that is an indication of how poorly his defense and team did.

Fullbacks: Miguel, Portugal and Grosso, Italy. Miguel was huge for Portugal, tremendous pace and defending ability. The only Portugese that was not diving everywhere. Grosso was a revelation, winning the penalty against Australia and scoring a memorable goal versus Germany.

Honorable mention: Sagnol, France. Sagnol was huge for France in the knock out stage. His offensive contributions have never been in question and he demonstrated a solid defensive ability as well. Lahm, Germany. Scored an amazing goal in the first game and continued to play a vital role in the German run to a 3rd place finish.

Centerbacks:Cannavaro Italy, Thuram France. The Juventus teammates both showed their outstanding abilities during the tournament. Cannavaro and Buffon were the stabilizing forces on the back line for Italy, his positioning and recovery ability were world class. Thuram, who many had questioned whether or not should even be selected proved everyone wrong. He was a rock at the back, were it not for Thuram Italy might have put the finals away in the first half, against Portugal in the semis, Thuram was absolutely dominating, not bad for a 34 year old!

Honorable mention: Gallas, France. Gallas and Thuram formed a dynamic duo, France should not miss too much when Thuram retires.

Midfielders: Pirlo, Italy. Vieira, France. Essein, Ghana. Zidane, France. Okay so my French bias is showing. But how can you question Zidane? Headbutt aside, he made us all dream starting with the Spain game. For those who called for him to be dropped (myself included) he made us all eat crow. His game against Brazil will live in World Cup lore, he completely dominated and was the only "brazilian" on the field. Pirlo was the maestro for Italy. A magical pass against Germany sealed their fate, a great cross gave Italy the equalizer against France...overall he was the one Italian player that showed the necessary flare and imagination to give Italy the necessary offense to win the tournament. Essein and his Ghanian teammates opened many eyes this tournament, unfortunately he missed the Brazil game which could have made things much more difficult for Brazil. Released from the Mourinho shackles, Essien was allowed to demonstrated his enormous work rate all over the pitch. Vieira, much like Zidane, also showed all those questioning him that the Pat we knew and loved was still there. He willed France during the Togo game, played a monster game against Spain (setting up Ribery and scoring the winner) his understanding with Makelele proved to be rock solid. Pat still has something in the tank!

Honorable mention: Makelele, France. Kaka, Brazil. Ze Roberto, Brazil. Hargreaves, England. Cahill, Australia. Appaih, Ghana. Cesc, Spain. Yes lots of folks get honorable mentions. Makelele was the engine for the French, doing all the dirty work every team needs to be successful. Kaka and Ze Roberto were the lesser known of the Brazilian midfield yet they both turned in solid tournaments. Kaka did dissappear a bit against France but still was one of the reasons Brazil got as far as they did. Ze Roberto was a dynamo, running all over the pitch, too bad his Brazilian teammates forgot how to follow. Hargreaves was much maligned after being selected, but proved to be the best midfielder for an overrated English midfield. His efforts against Portugal were amazing, he seemed to want to win that game singlehandly, too bad his fellow teammates were more worried about what their wifes were purchasing. Cahill helped push Australia to the knock out stage, his goals against Japan were a lighting bolt for the Soccerroos. Appaih was a huge threat for Ghana's opponents, teamed with Essein he formed a formidible duo for Ghana. Cesc showed glimmers of why he could be a top 5 player for years to come. He did not show any intimidation being on the largest stage of football, his pass to Torres against Tunisia was clinical.

Stikers:Klose, Germany. Henry, France. How can you not select the "golden boot" award, Klose and Podolski carried the German offense. Henry still did not break out on the big stage, but was dangerous in every game, scored 3 vital goals and was influential in each game. With the retirement of Zidane the French will now build around their talesman.

Honorable mention: Podolski, Germany. Tevez, Argentina. Torres, Spain. Podolski and Klose formed a strong stike duo. Podolski demonstrated why he is an emerging star. Tevez was the work horse up front for Argentina, while he was not scoring like Crespo he was the player that was influential with his incredible talent and work rate, the future for Argentina is bright when you combine him with Messi. Torres showed that he can finish, and that he is the world class stiker Spain has looked for. His combination with Cesc bodes well for Spain.


Okay now onto the overrated!

Goalkeeper: Kasey Keller, USA. Okay this might be a little unfair, Keller was not the reason the US looked terrible, but after hearing all the American pundits wax about how Keller was a top 3 keeper in the world yaddy yaddy yadda, he was not able to steal any games for the US. Keller did have some superb saves against Italy, but again I think he was a victim of all the pre tournament hype. I thought about Barthez but how can one say he was overrated? No one thought he should really start, except for the French coaches!

Fullbacks: Cafu and Carlos, Brazil. What were these two dinosaurs doing on the pitch??? Roberto Carlos is useless, he cannot even taken effect free kicks any more, nice to see him watch Henry stoll into the 5 yard box to score the winning goal in the 1/4 finals...what a waste. Cafu is too old and showed his age....he could not keep up with anyone and was worthless attacking.

Centerbacks: Terry, England. Puyol, Spain. Not sure why Terry was selected for all tournament teams. He did nothing for me all tournament, the most memorable moment was when his gaff forced Cole to back track and save his team. Terry was no threat on any set pieces, something he does for Chelsea. Ferdinand looked better in my eyes that Terry. Puyol did not have a horrible tournament but he must be called out as a central defender when you allow a free kick to float into the middle of your goal box with 10 minutes left of a knock out game! Players like Puyol are suppose to take charge on set pieces.

Midfielders: Beckham, England. Ballack, Germany. Ronaldino, Brazil. Beasley, USA. Donovan, USA. Totti, Italy. Again a long list but all deserving! Beckham remained lethal on set pieces, but did very little otherwise. He has become a shell of himself, while I was never convinced that Beckham was as good as his marketing team made him appear, he was able to threaten teams with his crossing ability, something we never saw in Germany. Ballack was deemed the only German Superstar, too bad his head was in London thinking on his riches awaiting him with Chelsea. He took a back seat to the German stike combo, he never controlled the midfield. A nice pass to get the equalizer against Argentina but otherwise completely overrated. Ronaldino, zero goals! That is all that needs to be said, what happened to the world's greatest player? Not sure if it was the system, Nike marketing hype, or a long club season but Roro was a complete disappointment. A statue of him was even burned in Brazil....I guess providing videos for Nike commercials was more important than playing hard at the WC.

Beasley and Donovan, again this comes from the pre tournament hype. But both players were useless this tournament. Against the Czech's both players looked scared, granted Beasley was being played completely out of position...what was Arena thinking? Donovan once again demonstrated what being an overhyped American looks like. Donovan showed no heart and no killer instinct. If he had any of the heart that Reyna or Dempsey demonstrated he could live up to some of the hype that surrounds him. A telling moment was when Donovan had the ball on the right of the goal box against Ghana, no one picked him up and rather that attacking the goal him wimpishly sent the ball into a gaggle of players. I cannot blame Donovan entirely, this goes back to the American Media pre tournament hype machine....Finally there is Totti, after he injured himself this season everyone was wondering could he make it back in time. While Italy was not hurt by his inactivety, and Totti did score the winner against Autralia, one has to wonder what exactly did Totti bring the Italian team???? Pirlo was clearly the one running the midfield, Gattuso was the one doing much of the dirty work....Totti who was also suppose to be the spark proved to be completely absent.

Strikers: Ronaldo and Adriano, Brazil. Kuyt, Holland. Ronaldo made the all tournament team...why? Because he broke Mueller's goal scoring record? Otherwise he was completely fat, out of shape and useless this tournament. He scored against Japan...wow...Ronaldo has become the athelete that has achieved the pinnacle and has become lax and has not demonstrated any drive to stay there. Adriano was a dissapointement as well, he did not take over games and show his wealth of talent. Anyone who watched the Confederation Cup saw what Adriano could do for Brazil, he was lethal during that tournament (granted a minor tournament), but much like the entire Brazilian team a major dissapointment. Finally Kuyt, he proved to be a pedestrian striker one that cannot play alone at top. How could Van Nistelrooy be left on the bench for this stiff? Rumor is that he will soon be appearing in the EPL, curious to see what he can do.

Other Thoughts: Best up and comer - Ribery, France. (Podolski and CRonaldo are well known in International circles). Ribery was not even suppose to be on the squad, he was a last minute selection for France. He proved to be the spark plug and catalyst France was looking for. His goal against Spain was the turning point for the French. I look forward to seeing him develop along side Henry, Malouda, Trezeguet, etc......Looking out to 2010, I see Argentina and Spain as potential favorites, they both have some great young talent that got a taste of the big show in Germany. I think that if Spain has a good showing in the Euro they will have the confidence needed to challenge in 4 years. Argentina have Messi and Tevez...scarey......Germany, played better than anyone expected, but I do not foresee this as a long term trend, their defense is terrible, midfield is pedestrian, strikers are lethal but Klose is no spring chicken, and what to do in goal, neither Lehmann or Kahn are youthful.....England is a mess, they have a ton of talent but no system......Brazil, hired Dunga to manage the team, interesting decision. He was the "hard man" for Brazil, we will see if he instills some of that mentality to this team, he still has obscene amounts of talent to work with........The US has a ton of work to do, and I don't think Freddie Adu is the answer......More Mexican national team players are heading to Europe, this could bode well. While the Mexican league is not that bad, getting exposure to the European game will do them a world of good.....So we now wait for another 4 years for the madness (2 years for those Euro fans, but not the same as the WC), I think that the next WC we might see an African team make the semi finals, Ivory Coast and Ghana looked very strong, Cameroon and Nigeria who did not even make the WC could field solid teams, especially Nigeria, playing on their Home Continent my be what is needed to get to the next level.

Ruud leaves England

Ruud Van Nistelrooy finally leaves Manchester United after a difficult season. No one should be surprised. He will be plying his trade for Real Madrid after a 15m pound sum was agreed upon for the transfer.

If anything Ferguson has shown consistency when it comes to players that have fallen out of favor with him, see David Beckham and Roy Keane. Van Nisterlrooy had a difficult season last year, even seeing himself relegated to the replacement's bench in favor of Frenchman Louis Saha.

I am glad to see Ruud leave, mainly cause I thought he was a baby, a whiner, and a cheap shot artist (see his hip check on Vieira's head a few seasons back at Old Trafford, then acting all innocent when Vieira confronted him). However, I cannot deny his goal scoring talents, 150 goals while at Man U. I think this move, right now, seriously weakens Manchester United. To make it through a long season you need stike options, with Van Nistelrooy they had 3 quality strikers: Rooney, Saha and Van Nistelrooy. Even with three that is thin, since you tend to want to have 4 so you can develop pairings up front. What will Man U do know, look to Alan Smith to fill this goal scoring void? The same Alan Smith that was slotted as holding midfielder at times last season....unless Ferguson has something up his sleeve: Abromovich, Trezeguet (too bad Deschamps said the sales were done at Juventus), or maybe Kuyt (not convinced he can fill Ruud's boots), Manchester United might be in for a long season on the goal scoring front. With Giggs and Scholes not getting any younger and Ronaldo seeming to be on the outs at Man U, the offense may be lacking this season....Too Bad for Manchester United.....

The Cole saga continues

The latest news is that Ashley Cole is heading to cross town rivals Chelsea for 16m pounds. Of course we have been hearing about this for 2 years already.

Mourinho has never made it a secret that he covets the England international left back. Cole was at the center of the "tap up" scandal from a year ago when Chelsea officials were photographed having secret meetings with the Arsenal defender.

So what is Arsene and Aresenal to do? The latest rumor has Wenger asking for the money as well as William Gallas in return...which would be a huge deal for both teams more so for Arsenal. Here is why:

Cole is as good as gone, wether he moves addresses inside London or heads to warmer climates and plays for Real Madrid. Cole, for whatever reason, seems to want to leave the north london club. Wenger has options at left back - Clichy and Flamini. Clichy is a great up and coming talent, always being a good second to Cole and really proving his worth. The main issue with Clichy is an apparent fragility exhibited the past season, this is concerning. Flamini, originally brought on as a midfielder, demonstrated an ability to slot back to left back last season and did more than an admirable job. I believe that Arsenal will be fine leaning on a Clichy-Flamini left back tandem, however much depends on Clichy being able to remain healthy for a season. What I think Wenger needs to do is ensure that Gallas is included in the deal. Gallas is one of the best defenders in the world and can play multiple positions on the back line (he could also slot at left back if need be). Where Gallas would be vital for Arsenal would be to shore up the middle of the defense. A partnership of Toure - Gallas, with Eboue and Clichy on the wings would be rock solid. Senderos would be a good back up for the Toure-Gallas duo once he returns. Additionally I am sure that Gallas would relish a move to north london, to get away from Mourninho's constant insistence that he play left back.

Come on Wenger, lower the money amount but ensure that Gallas comes to Emirates for next season, if we are going to lose Cole to an EPL rival lets get back a player of the caliber of Gallas.

Thuram to Barca

The latest news is Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta , this instantly upgrades an already solid Barca club. I am a little disappointed that Thuram did not end up in North London with the Gunners. The Barca defense will become that much more formidable. This follows their bitter rival Real Madrid signing - Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson.

Cannavaro is a great signing, something Real has need for a long time, someone that will actually play defense. But Emerson? Not sure he has anything left in the tank. Just proves again that recently Barca has had a monopoly on futball acumen on the Iberian peninsula.

Best Show in town: Manchester United Training sessions

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/5190154.stm

Anyone who watched the World Cup remembers the bust up between Rooney and Ronaldo during the England-Portugal match. This came after Rooney decided to "push off" on Carvalho's privates. Many argue that Ronaldo lobbied for Rooney to get the Red Card, even "winking" at the Portugese bench after Rooney got sent off.

Of course once this happened, everyone started wondering if the two Manchester United players could ever coexist at Old Trafford. From what Fergunson is stating it would appear this will be the case. If ManU gets Vieira, and does not sell Van Nistelrooy, you might have an interesting training sessions, there might be harder tackles between ManU players than in real games!

I think that Ronaldo will end up leaving, Rooney is such a hot head, but clearly the future for ManU, that Ferguson will have no choice but to sell one of his talismatic youngsters. I think that the ManU fans will not accept seeing the Portugese star doning the Red Devils strip during the season.

Wonder if Big Phil will look to get a "friendly" with England any time soon.....

Post world cup hang over - now back to the club scene

The world cup final were over a week ago, I am still mourning the lose of Les Bleus, but I have started to recover. Now I am focused on the upcoming club seasons, as well as the Euro Qualifiers. But first the club scene.

With the demotion of Juventus, many players will flood the market - Trezeguet, Cannavaro, Camoranesi, Ibrahimovic, and Del Piero to mention a few. But the players I want to discuss are two that reinvented themselves during the world cup and showed everyone that they remain world class players:

Lilian Thuram - For the second half of the Serie A season he was relegated to bench duty. If the world cup is any indication it is clear that he still has something to bring to the pitch.

The latest rumor is to have Lilian play for 2 seasons at Barca where he would be added to an already strong central defense with Puyol and Marquez. The addition of Thuram would allow for Barca to rotate these players through the long domestic and cup season. Of course where I would really like to see him (other than PSG) would be at Emirates Stadium in North London. Arsenal could use such a defender. He would not be asked play every game, but he would be invaluable starting certain games, and coming in as a defensive replacement. His experience would give the young gunners someone to turn to and learn from, something Campbell was not able to provide recently. And even an older Thuram would be worlds better than Cygan!

Pat Vieira - The latest rumor has Vieira heading to Milan to play for Internazional. Which is a fine place for Patrick to ply his trade, what I could not stomach would be to see him head to Old Trafford. Rumor is that Sir Alex is looking to offer 8m pounds for the midfielder. That would ruin my day seeing him done the Red Devils kit. Having to see Arsenal face him twice a year would turn my stomach. Then again as long as Van Nistelrooy is there I cannot see Vieira agreeing to go.

Question is would Wenger welcome him back? Not sure Arsenal would explore this, with Fabergas firmly entrenched in the deep lying midfield role. But at times last season Arsenal were a bit soft, something that bringing back Vieira would remedy. Could be an interesting midfield of: Cesc, Vieira, Rosicky, and Hleb/Ljunberg. Players like Diaby would learn a tremendous amount on the training pitch from someone like Vieira.....could be interesting.

Another manager in the unemployement line

No surprise, Bruce Arena leaves the world of international football. He joins the likes of Lippi, Klinsman, Janas, Kranjcar, Hiddink, Ericksson, and Pekerman in the unemployed line. Such is the world of international football, for many of us (myself included) thought that Domenech would be joining these names had the French not reached the finals.

I think that in defeat, Arena gets too much blame just as he received too much credit for their 2002 world cup run.

The US was drawn in a very difficult group, and after the 2002 world cup, the expectations were irrational. Listening to talking heads like Balboa and Wynalda a few months ago, you would think that semi-finalists France and Germany were "frauds" while the USA was for "real." It was irrational expectations that put Arena square in the target. Had the US emerged from their group, they would have most likely faced Brazil (as bad as Brazil was, they probably would have still beaten the US), would the pundits still come down hard on Arena?

Granted, Arena must assume some of the blame. How could he leave Twellman at home but bring Ching? How can he not get his team motivated for a first round game of the World Cup? His over reliance on Donovan was also questionable. Playing with one striker, McBride, he placed too much pressure on Donovan, who has yet to show can produce on the highest stage (and no the MLS finals is not that stage). His playing of Beasley out of position was also questionable. But looking back, the US was one questionable PK away from maybe sneaking into the second round. They played Italy decently, surviving all the referee's questionable calls.

The US has a chance to infuse some new blood into its national team, question is who would really want to take the role? As long as the US plays in CONCACAF they will stand a good chance to qualify for the world cup, but going much further will always be a stretch.

Other Thoughts: I think Argentina need to grab a solid tactician as their next coach, Hiddink? They have a world of talent built around Tevez and Messi. I think if they had a coach that had the ability to take chances and make the right decision they could emerge as the World Cup Champion in 2010 (I am still baffled as to how Pekerman could leave Messi on the bench in the finals......). Brazil needs to bring in a hard nosed coach, one that is not in awe of the collection of superstars they have at their disposal, someone that will play the right system not just throw out a bunch of players (granted all world class) and hope something works. Klinsman leaving is not surprising, I think that Germany played over their heads this year, showing how valuable the home crowd can be.

Italian politicians cover themselves in World Cup "glory"

This blog focuses on sports and more importantly on the beautiful game: futball. But sometimes politics creeps into the discussion...well not really since this is related to Les Bleus and Zidane. I came across an interesting article, from Time Magazine. The part that stuck me was the comments by a member of former prime minister Berlusconi government -

"Italian soccer has long been a magnet for fascist nostalgia of the far right, and festivities following its triumph were marred by Swastikas spray-painted on the walls of Rome's historic Jewish quarter, as well as a comment by a former minister in the previous government of Silvio Berlusconi that Italy had triumphed over a team of "negroes, communists and Moslems."

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1213502,00.html

Coupled with the idiotic comments from LePen that the France cannot see themselves in the French team, this shows that we have still not solved racism, ignorance and sheer stupidity in the world. Whatever Materazzi said to Zidane may never be found out, but any time you have leaders that show this level of ignorance and stupidity it should be of no surprise that this type of ignorance trickles down to the futball pitch.