Mid season

Time for my first musings of the year. And why not start with my favorite pastime - English Premier League?

By now it's probably commonplace to say that this is the most exciting EPL season ever. So excuse me if it offends for being repetitive, but I just can't hide my awe. And especially today, since just by looking at the table a lot of things strike out:

- The 4th placed team (Villa) is 3 points behind the first (Man U) - i.e. could be tied in points in the next round (note that this will only last a handful of hours, since hopefully tomorrow the Reds are going to crush Everton and move to 2 points clear of United!)

- There are FIVE teams tied at the bottom of the table. In fact, yesterday Spurs were last, and had they defeated Pompey earlier today they'd have moved to 12th!

- Stamford Bridge is no longer a fortress - even Stoke almost nicked a win! By the way, I've grown accustomed to actually enjoying Rory Delap in action.

- Amazing away runs from Chelsea, Villa and Everton (all won more on travels than at home). On the opposite, Man City scored 25 home goals (2.3 per game) but have a dismal away record (with only one win)

I could go on and on but it probably wouldn't make for interesting reading. Let me just say that as much as I would love Liverpool to win I don't see it happening. The home draws to Stoke, West Ham, Fulham and Hull will eventually hand the title to Sir Alex in a silver platter.

But hopefully, I've always been crap in predictions (bar Euro 2008!)

Big Cup takes

I followed today the draw for the group stage. As the song says, 'shivers down my back bone'.

Groups A and B are simple bets. Chelsea and Roma, Inter and Bremen to go through.

Group C is ridiculous for Barcelona, and I see Shakhtar (with all their second-rate Brasileirão rejects) pipping Sporting to the second place.

Group D is tough, but exciting. October 22 - Liverpool x Atlético, Torres's return to Vicente Calderon, is the most anticipated match for me. I think they'll both qualify, anyway.

Group E looks like certain that will fall in to the hands of Man United and Villareal. Celtic did scrape through last year, when they also were in United's group. I wouldn't put money on them repeating the feat with such a well-round Villareal side here.

Group F looks the toughest to me, and I think the matches will be the hardest-fought, but I don't realistically see Fiorentina or Steaua qualifying.

Group G may come as a surprise to Arsenal. Fener are the same team from the quarterfinals last year, less Kezman, plus Guiza - i.e. a better side imo. I fancy them to go through first with Arsenal second.

Group H looks awesome - three very hungry teams with a point to prove. And poor BATE debuting against their neighbors in a local derby from Soviet times. My take? Real first and Zenit second.

Btw, the new uefa.com site is quite good. Looking forward to Fantasy Football.

Premiership Punditry

So following my amazingly precise Euro prediction (which I sadly failed to capitalize monetarily) I am about to produce my punditry on my favorite championship of all - that's right, English Premier League.

How apt that I should start writing this while in the UK, albeit very briefly. The day I start this post (July 29) is the day Liverpool has announced Robbie Keane, therefore renouncing on Gareth Barry and possibly shaping our tactical strategy for the season.

That was also the day I caught up with my pal Ken, the cab driver, the avid Wycombe Wanderers fan. He's really upbeat about his team's chances in League Two (fourth division), perhaps they will finally climb to League One and face mighty (and Nasty) Leeds.

Honestly, I wish I could make as bold a prediction as last year, when I tipped the Reds to the title, but I do not feel I can. If anything, to set expectations low. And last week's match against Standard, at the amazing Liege stadium I visited last year my my friend Jan, was no exciter either.

If Rafa sticks to my preferred line-up of

---------------Reina-----------------

Arbeloa-Carragher-Agger-Fabio Aurelio

--Kuyt--Mascherano---Gerrard-Babel---

-----------Torres--Keane-------------

, at home games, we will probably win precious points instead of the turgid draws last year against the likes of Birmingham. Switching to a 4-2-3-1 with Alonso in the middle for away games would also be shrewd.

Problem is, it is not too different from last year, is it? And especially given Chelsea adds a guy like Deco to its already preposterously strong midfield. I don't see this Chelsea playing so badly at Anfield as last year. I totally see Chelsea a cut above United now they have a top class coach.

My next favorite teams are Spurs. Their arguably best starting XI is salivating even for Arsenal/Liverpool standards:

----------------Gomes----------------

-A. Hutton-Woodgate--L. King-G. Bale-

--------Huddlestone - Jenas----------

Bentley - Modric - Giovani dos Santos

--------------Berbatov---------------


Elsewhere, I see good things coming from Villa, Portsmouth, and Sunderland (again! last year I though Keane would be better) and not so much from Everton, Man City and Blackburn.

Anyway. No blogging punditry would be complete without a final table. Following last season's tradition (), here goes my list.

1. Chelsea
2. Liverpool
3. Manchester United
4. Tottenham Hotspur

5. Arsenal
6. Aston Villa
7. Portsmouth
8. Everton
9. Sunderland
10. West Ham

11. Manchester City
12. Newcastle
13. Blackburn
14. Middlesbrough
15. Fulham
16. West Brom
17. Wigan

18. Bolton
19. Stoke
20. Hull

FA Cup final: Man united x Aston Villa

League Cup: Chelsea (I mean, their reserve side is better than almost all other teams)

Champions League final: Chelsea x Inter Milan

Uefa Cup: Tottenham x Atletico Madrid (seriously, Atleti will fall from CL, now or later)

Euro punditry

If only I had put some money on Man United winning the Champions League by the time I predicted it, I would've struck gold. Alas my Premier League punditry was not precise but not so far either - I missed the point at Liverpool, Spurs and Wigan, got it right for Everton, West Ham, Sunderland.

Anyway. Now let's turn the page for a different tournament. It's Euro time.

This is not the most relaxed of times for me (loads of work) so I'll be brief:

Out of Group A: Portugal, Czech
Out of Group B: Germany, Croatia
Out of Group C: Italy, France
Out of Group D: Spain, Russia

1/4 finals: Portugal def Croatia, Germany def Czech, Russia def Italy, Spain def France

Semi finals: Germany def Portugal, Spain def Russia

Finals: Spain def Germany

Spain champions

(yeah, I know that's bold, even more with them defeating the French... anyway that's my guess)

Now this is a well-designed website

I think Uefa has struck gold with the new website for Euro 2008. It encapsulates many good things seen in other trend-setting news sites (my personal favorites The Guardian, Slate Magazine, NY Times, Ig standing out) - large hi-res photos; crisp interactive features; clean background; various layouts in each session; extra bits (team buses design is great) and so on.

I definitely see myself browsing it a lot in the next weeks.

England 4-1 Holland, Euro 96

Insightful analysis of an interesting game. From the Guardian.


On second thoughts: England 4-1 Holland, Euro 96
This was certainly one of England's best results in the modern era - but was it really as great a performance as everyone seems to think?

The game by the way can be watched in Youtube, via this link.

Looking forward to the Big Cups

You can see that season is coming by the ringing of the bells.

In case of the Copa Libertadores and the Uefa Champions League, the world's two premier football club competitions, the bells come in form of press coverage, which leads to word of mouth, side bets with friends, and that sort of thing.

The Libertadores

I'm glad that Europe is increasingly keener on South American football. After last year's good coverage of Copa America (I was in Belgium then, and could watch all matches I wanted), it seems that the Libertadores will also be treated as it should. In two of my favorite readings (BBC Sport and Guardian Unlimited Football), balanced and informed articles were written recently on the subject.

But, while the always excellent Tim Vickery of the BBC pits the cup as Brazilians x Boca, and flashes São Paulo as the strongest contender, the Guardian's Conrad Leach takes a road less traveled and invites readers for a gamble bet on Cruzeiro.

I am not sure how much Mr Leach wrote that just to show off how knowledgeable he is, or if he really believes Cruzeiro can stand up against Boca, SP and Flamengo. I for one am not convinced. As I commented in his blog, this Cruzeiro side looks refreshingly young, but not nearly as talented as the refreshingly young Santos of 2002. Which by the way lost against an experienced and catimbeiro Boca in June 2003. I'm more in agreement with André Rizek who paints them as unpredictable - not favorites, but likely to do damage.

The Champions League

Oh boy. Last night I was stuck in my Fantasy Football team selection. Round of 16 is tough, because you have to back up the likely winners to avoid costly transfers in the next round. And this year choosing the winners is not that simple.

Fair enough, Barça and Chelsea look pretty certain winners. Man United and Porto too, in spite of the bit stronger opposition. But then...

Real Madrid would edge past Roma with Robinho, but without him, who knows. Right, Robben and Higuain are as good subsitutes as Schuster could ever ask for; but still, will they gel so well with Raul and Ruud as Robinho did? And as for Sevilla and Fenerbahce, that's as random as African Cup semifinals. I favor the Spaniards for the recent expertise in European two-legged ties.

Finally, the crème de la crème. Runaway league leaders with a history of European underachievement, against the most traditional of European winners, who currently underachieve in the local leagues. (I should copyright that phrase. I wrote it myself, I swear). Arsenal x Milan and Inter x Liverpool are THE most mouthwatering round-of-16 ties since Chelsea x Barcelona in 2005.

Honestly, I have no prognosis on these. None whatsoever. Seriously. But I did take risks in Fantasy Football, and chose players from only one side of each of the ties. Who did I choose? Not gonna say now, Fabio, wait.

Last but not least: thank you uefa.com. Increasing the Fantasy Football "money" to 110 was really necessary, and just made the whole thing more fun by avoiding me to keep the reserve defenders from Celtic in my bench all the way through the final, just because they cost 3 "moneys". I actually really like my reserves this time.

Jornalistas esportivos

Estou meio viciado no ótimo blog do André Rizek ultimamente.

Um bom exemplo do estilo dele - "conhecedor de futebol sem ser chato" - é este post sobre o PVC - que aliás leva essa definição ao extremo.

Mas, PVC já é lenda, fato - e Rizek, seu contemporâneo, está no caminho.

The new stadium

Excellent pics from the newest designs of Liverpool's future stadium at Stanley Park.

Perhaps I can make it to the grand opening on 2011?

What did England and Brazil have in common tonight?

What did England and Brazil have in common tonight?

Both sent their star-studded, astronomically-paid, highly-hyped national football teams to play on home soil, in their largest cities, against opposition that, while having good campaigns, is a bit substandard on a name-by-name basis. e.g. most players in the opposition first-choice 11 are either in lower-ranking leagues, or are reserves in average teams of top leagues.

Still, both were thoroughly outplayed, as:
- their hapless, seemingly lost coaches made blunders out of team selections (Carson? SWP? Mineiro? Gilberto?) and substitutions (Bent for Joe Cole? Josue for Ronaldinho?);
- their central midfielders were unable to exchange the simplest of passes;
- their forwards could not connect and resorted to individual glimpses that were most of the times simple to contain;
- their defense, missing first-choice starters, was wreaked havoc upon by previously unknown players who dribbled around in Ballon D'Or exhibitions (Luka Modric in Wembley and Cristian Rodríguez at the Morumbi);
- the opposition taught a lesson of teamwork over the disorganized bunches of big names.

The differences?

For England, it was an all-or-nothing match, and now they're out of the Euro, while Brazil's match against Uruguay was still at a fifth of the campaign.

And Brazil actually won its game - though, seriously, I repeat, outplayed - thanks to three things England missed:
- an excellent keeper playing at his best (Julio Cesar);
- a top-notch, classy, flawless defender (Juan);
- and a centre-forward who was not only willing and able, but also lucky (Luis Fabiano).

What about now, Steve?

I don't like Richard Williams - though he's the most senior Guardian Football writer - but hats off to him for this excellent, point-blank, sharply written analysis of England's options.

Now all McClaren has to do is bench Rooney
With England finally purring, how does Steve McClaren tell England's missing senior players that they're not needed?

Richard Williams
September 14, 2007 12:10 AM

One way and another, that was not a bad night for Steve McClaren. Before his own eyes and those of the Football Association international board, Guus Hiddink was revealed not to be the omniscient Sun Tzu of football coaching. And over in Lisbon, Luiz Felipe Scolari ended the evening by landing a left jab on the cheek of a Serbian player after watching his own Portuguese team surrender points at home for the second time in four days. As McClaren calmly shook hands with the defeated Hiddink, those FA blazers must have been thinking that perhaps they hired the right man, after all.

Now all McClaren has to do is figure out a way to tell Wayne Rooney that there will be no place for him in the starting line-up when England return to Wembley to face Estonia next month. And then he will have to deliver the same message to Owen Hargreaves, to Frank Lampard and - if they recover their fitness in time - to those two old friends, David Beckham and Gary Neville.

With six points tucked away from two crucial games, six goals in the bag and a pair of clean sheets, McClaren must be rubbing his eyes at the wonder of it all. He deserves credit of course, particularly from those of us who have regularly questioned his right to the job of England's head coach, for reacting to adverse circumstances by making two decisions that turn out to have been extremely astute.

First, he reacted to the injuries to Lampard and Hargreaves by inserting Gareth Barry alongside Steven Gerrard in the position from which he has been captaining Aston Villa under Martin O'Neill. Two excellent captains of big clubs next to each other in the central midfield is not a bad foundation.

Second, he refused to heed the claims of Everton's Andrew Johnson and Tottenham's Jermain Defoe to partner Owen when the Liverpool forward Peter Crouch was suspended for last Saturday's Israel match, instead courting ridicule by reaching back into the past and recalling Emile Heskey on the basis of his current form for Wigan Athletic and his familiarity with Michael Owen.

Amply rewarded, McClaren can congratulate himself both on his shrewdness and his luck. No doubt he always had belief in the former. The latter, however, will have come as a pleasant surprise.

So at least his recent successes will have given McClaren a measure of personal authority as he confronts the problems posed by returning players. There will be a degree of pain and unhappiness on the faces of those he must disappoint, but he will be making his pronouncements from a position of relative strength.

How, though, does he break the news to the most talented English footballer of his generation, to the only man who performed with true distinction in the last World Cup, to the player who can be relied on to score 20 goals a season for his club from midfield, to the world's most famous footballer, and to the most loyal of servants?

Taking them in ascending order of difficulty, Neville will surely be the easiest to placate, not least because, after such a long period out with injury, he is probably the furthest from match fitness. The Manchester United captain has seen for himself what his Manchester City rival can bring to the side, and he also knows that an injury to either of the established central defenders would mean a switch to the middle for Micah Richards.

Beckham, too, has the excuse of sporadic recent activity to help him rationalise a place on the bench. During his time at Real Madrid he showed that he was not above accepting such a decision and continuing to give his best. Even a couple of minutes as a sub, of course, would allow him to get nearer to the personal goal of 100 caps.

As for Lampard, he will probably remind McClaren that he scored England's only goal against Germany last month. His long history of failing to perform in tandem with the undroppable Gerrard, however, is more than enough justification for inviting him to sit on the sidelines.

The only real injustice will have to be done to Hargreaves, so outstanding in the disastrous campaign in Germany, so committed and so thoroughly professional in everything he does. Having established his niche in the team, he must now accept that England have a midfield which has achieved enough in two games to deserve a further chance to test itself. Fate being what it is, his chance will come again.

And, finally, comes Rooney, the player whose name was the last thing on the lips of the departing Sven-Goran Eriksson, with a stern injunction to look after the country's most valuable footballer. Of course the £30m Rooney is a better player than Emile Heskey. But he is not a better player alongside Michael Owen, whose three goals against Israel and Russia restated the Newcastle United striker's importance to the national team.

Rooney's own scoring record for England would be unacceptable in a less gifted player, but he has yet to compensate with the kind of contribution that brings the goals out of his team-mates. To leave out Chelsea's Joe Cole - after one humdrum performance in a position he has worked hard to master - and to put Rooney out on the left would be to tinker unnecessarily with a line-up that, as things stand, appears to have the right balance for McClaren's purposes.

where-abôuts, and more Premier League

So I haven't had the time to write for a while - been caught up in some wicked work traveling and moving around.
But here goes a quick update since my previous post --

Aug 12 - I was there at the Emirates for Arsenal x Fulham as reported.

Aug 18 - Went to Craven Cottage to witness yet another 1-2 loss by Fulham, this time by an interesting Middlesbrough side. My buddy Martin got us third row seats - I could have spat in Stewart Downing if I wanted to. (I surely did want to, but the huge steward in front of me would probably not think it was such a good idea.)

Aug 19 - Flew to Toronto.

I'd been to Canada before, but not in summer. Pretty interesting. Amazed at the politeness of Canadians, at the number of beggars on the streets, and at some distinctive traits of Canadian accent - words such as "abôut", "any-ow" and so on.

Aug 23 - Flew to Montreal.

Aug 24 - Back to Toronto.

This past weekend I could also watch two full EPL games on TV (god bless it's not ppv anymore) - two hard-fought 1-0 wins, Arsenal beating Man City and Man United beating Spurs.

Anyway, just as an update, and before I forget, some notes on what I've seen so far of Premiership:

Positively impressed me:

- Man City is awesome to watch. Elano is playing as a creative attacking midfielder just like Diego used to be in his old Santos of 2002. Micah Richards is the future of English defence. Schmeichel junior is a lot like his dad. Uefa Cup for them is a concrete possibility.

- Wigan is not so bad as I first thought. Valencia-Landzaat-Scharner-Koumas is actually a pretty balanced line of four - the latter, especially, is impressive.

Confirmed my expectations:

- Chelsea looks even more cohesive this year. SWP-Lampard-Essien-Malouda, yet another outstanding line of four. Can't see where Ballack will fit. Makelele is already second reserve (behind Mikel)

- Liverpool are title contenders for sure. Torres is 10x better than Morientes, Voronin is 10x better than Fowler. Just not sure we have enough cover for centre-back if Carra is out for a while and Paletta was sold.

- Everton and Blackburn continue to be strong, well-led squads.

Disappointed me:

- Sunderland is well-organized but have no quality whatsoever. I mean, Dwight Yorke is the central midfielder for Christ's sake.

- Fulham is an absolute blunder. Watched them twice at the stadium - wouldn't put money on their staying up. What is odd is that the line-up doesn't look that bad - Smertin, Davis, Healy, Kamara, McBride.... but, well, they suck.

- Arsenal hasn't solved their front-of-goal problems. They pass and pass and pass but still take too much time to shoot. Both games I watched from them could've been 6-0 if not for their chronic procrastination.

First weekend of action!!!!

An addict on English football like me can only rejoice at the chance of being in the UK for the opening day of the season. I have practically drowned on TV specials, newspaper and maazine reviews, and countless snapshot conversations all over the tube, the taxis, the bars, and so on. Plus I can watch Match of the day at BBC - a personal favorite, with all the goals and best chances of all matches.

Even better, I could join my buddy Martin to a match - we went to the majestic Emirates Stadium to watch Arsenal x Fulham. An absolutely amazing venue, and a fitting match.

Fulham took a shock lead after a mishap from Lehmann, but it was always clear that Arsenal would eventually turn the game around. Rosicky and Hleb were especially entertaining, with good bal control and also creating effective chances - but Arsenal still lacked a proper finisher. Van Persie was a bit complacent and offside many times.

I was yearning to see Nicklas Bendtner in action - he's probably going to be a source of goals for them in the season - but he only got in at mid-second half. By then, Arsenal dominated thoroughly, but were taking a lot of time to kill off Fulham. Still the goal t seemed like a matter of time, and it came through a penalty and a good interplay by Hleb.

Next weekend there is Liverpool x Chelsea at Anfield, and expectations are high, given both clubs's showings this weekend. Both played fresh 4-4-2, with true wingers and an attacking stance in the lines of four (Pennant-Gerrard-Alonso-Riise and WrightPhilips-Essien-Lampard-Malouda). Let's see if neither comes back to the stifling midfield battles from last year.

In other teams - really excited about Man City`s prospects. Apparently Elano had a fantastic match - I`ve seen the highlights and he bursted forward at will, as Santos fans are accustomed. Will this be Sven`s revenge year? Let's see.

Anyway, for a warm-up it was an awesome weekend. I wonder why people still find it strange I`d reather follow the EPL rather than the Brazilian Championship.

My team of the round (to compare with Garth Crooks's team tomorrow at BBC):

Hahnemann (Reading)

Corluka (Man City)
McShane (Sunderland)
Toure (Arsenal)
Onuoha (Man City)

Elano (Man City)
Gerrard (Liverpool)
Rosicky (Arsenal)
Malouda (Chelsea)

Pizarro (Chelsea)
Martins (Newcastle)

My very first 07-08 Premiership amateur punditry

Oh there it comes. Another Premiership season ahead. A season that comes with an aura of excitement after some hectic transfer market action, which brought massive changes to team lineups and perspectives.

I could write and write on the topic, but I found out that as much as I would like to delve endlessly into every single team's perpectives, I'd rather keep it simple and then just justify my predictions.

First thing I'd like is to split the teams into some distinguishable groups.

Title challengers
Man United
Chelsea
Liverpool

Uefa Cup sure, CL possible: good squads + great managers = nice football, but no title challenge
Tottenham
Arsenal

Uefa Cup contenders: good end of last season, cohesive squad under competent coach, may have good runs in FA/Carling Cup too
Everton
West Ham
Aston Villa
Portsmouth
Blackburn
Sunderland

Uefa Cup hopefuls: question mark coaches, question mark player gel, whatever can happen
Man City
Newcastle
Bolton

Relegation fighters: look depleted from last season
Reading
Middlesbrough
Fulham
Wigan

New boys in town: might scrape their stay, but will probably go down
Birmingham
Derby


My personal guess for the end of the championship - with some of bias of course.

1. Liverpool
2. Man United
3. Chelsea
4. Tottenham
5. Arsenal
6. Sunderland
7. Newcastle
8. Aston Villa
9. Everton
10. Blackburn
11. Man City
12. West Ham
13. Portsmouth
14. Bolton
15. Reading
16. Middlesbrough
17. Birmingham
18. Fulham
19. Derby
20. Wigan

FA Cup final: Man United x Sunderland

Carling Cup final: Arsenal x Tottenham

Uefa Champions League: Man United

Uefa Cup: Bayern Munich

Un pesto

I watched the Copa América final in an Irish Pub in Belgium, together with a couple of Argentine friends, some local Brazilians I met on the spot, and the (Belgian) waiter of a restaurant I like, who has lived in Niteroi and claims to support Botafogo. He was by a lot far the noisiest chap in the pub, screaming heavily-accented "Só dá Brasil", "É nóis" and a number of "Juiz ladrão" at each small foul at Brazil's half (we made many).

I could write and write about the game - the grittiness of Josue, the precision of Julio Baptista's passing and finishing, and Dunga's brilliant substitution putting Daniel Alves on - but I'll resort to pasting selected comments from Rob Smyth's live coverage of the game at Guardian Unlimited. Enjoy.

1 min Off we go. It's ridiculously hot - about 100 degrees, with the game kicking off at 1705 local time. It'll probably be a more languorous game as a result, which will certainly suit Seba: he has an excuse not to do running!

GOAL! Brazil 1 Argentina 0 (Baptista 4) Julio Baptista has just scored an absolute belter. He ran onto a long, diagonal pass to the left corner of the box from Elano, fronted up the last man Ayala, pushed the ball inside and then just screamed it across goal and into the top corner. Not bad for a fat lad. A superb goal and, yet again, Argentina have to come from behind.

9 min Riquelme hits the post. That was sublime football: Messi got to the byline on the left, drilled it flat to the far post to Veron, who headed it down really smartly for Riquelme, 12 yards out, to spank it on the bounce with his left foot. Doni was well beaten by it smacked off the face of his right-hand post.

20 min A laughably overambitious glory pass from Veron, slashing it right to left, goes straight into Doni's arms. That's £28.1m, right there.

24 min Brazil have been the better side - much more authoritative - and they're having a fairly decent spell of possession at the moment. Tevez still hasn't kicked the ball. "Argentina really do look like the fakers they have been excepting the Maradona years since Passarella hung up his boots," said Gary Naylor. "Had Titus Bramble showed The Beast the only place he could score, we would all point and laugh, but because it's Ayala, we all shake our heads, unable to comprehend. Veron and Riquelme? To select one might be unfortunate - to select two smacks of carelessness." All fair points. A proper journalist would have told you that Ayala's defending on the goal was really poor. I'm not, and didn't.

39 min Veron simply doesn't bother to track the left-back Gilberto, who bursts into the box and drives it low across the face, forcing Heinze to sidefoot it wide of his own post.

GOAL! Brazil 2 Argentina 0 (Ayala og 40) Well. Well. Well. A really slick move led to Alves being released on the right, and he curved in a lovely cross between keeper and defenders at which Ayala, not knowing who was behind him, had no choice but to throw himself. But he was stretching desperately and all he could do was ram it past Abbondanzieri at the near post. It wasn't Ayala's fault really - he had to play it - but it's left Argentina up a creek with no paddle salesmen in sight.

44 min Argentina's burgeoning frustration manifests itself in a deserved booking for Mascherano for beheading some Brazilian. Then, seconds later, he hacks down another Brazilian, a foul for which he might conceivably have received a second yellow.

Half-time chit-chat "Is it time to re-assess Argentina's World Cup 2006?" says Gary Naylor. "They were a bit fortunate to beat Cote D'Ivoire 2-1; then beat an uninterested, disintegrating Serbia and Montenegro, a side who tackled as though playing a testimonial; then drew 0-0 with Holland. Into the knock-out phase, and a very fortunate 2-1 extra time win over Mexico, before going out to Germany on penalties (abjectly). The heirs of unlucky losers Holland 74 or Brazil 82 - don't make me laugh!"

52 min What Brazil have done very well today is the Makelele foul - enough to disrupt a dangerous mate, made to look sufficiently clumsy and innocent to preclude a booking - and there's another on Messi.

56 min Two Makelele fouls on Riquelme fouls in the space of a minute have Riquelme waving imaginary cards at the referee. Brazil's tactic hasn't been edifying but it's so very effective.

57 min Argentina are gone. I hadn't really put 2+2 together before but, as was pointed out in the first half, this golden generation, while blessed with wonderful talent, are damned by the fact that they are almighty bottlers.

58 min Veron makes the first tackle of his career, which so shocks Alex that he squares up to him. Veron flounces a bit and then retreats.

59 min The first substitution: the splendid Pablo Aimar is on for Cambiasso, so now we have three midfield playmakers to go with Brazil's three watercarriers.

More praise for the God-like Juan Veron "Is Veron a Zelig-like figure, always lurking around great events, but not actually part of them?" says Gary Naylor. "I've never - repeat never - seen him have a good game or even look like a footballer." Now that's unfair. He was brilliant against Maccabi Haifa in 2002.

GOAL! Brazil 3 Argentina 0 (Alves 69) Brazil seal the Copa America with a superb goal. Vagner Love led a counter-attack, running at the defence 30 yards out, and slid a perfectly weighted ball inside the left-back (who was actually Riquelme) for Alves to drive it superbly across goal and into the far side-netting. It was a wonderful pass, and a splendid, precise finish from a difficult angle.

75 min Argentina really have been feeble. They make Graeme Hick and Thierry Henry seem like rough-track warriors. Tevez, who has been dreadful, is booked for a petulant hack. Even Messi has gone missing since they went 2-0 down. "Doesn't this Brazil team look so much better without past-it prima-donnas Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos?" says Gary Naylor. "This lot plus Kaka would be an impressive outfit."

78 min Riquelme, an exquisite footballer but a total bottler, thrashes one miles over from 25 yards.

86 min Argentina are so shellshocked that they can't even summon the freedom of the damned, and Brazil continue to repel them with ease. "Is Gary Naylor suggesting that Ronaldinho is nothing without the passes he gets from Deco and that most teams have worked this out?" says Alec Cochrane. "Whereas Kaka forced into widening his game by playing in a defensive league has now surpassed the buck toothed one? Including winning his team a European Cup almost singlehandedly?" That's not fair: Bolo Zenden played a bloody big part in Milan's European Cup win.

Full time: Argentina 0 Brazil 3 Congratulations to Brazil and especially their coach Dunga, who completely outsmarted his opposite number Coco Basile. Brazil were the better side from the moment Julio Baptista welted a screamer in the fourth minutes, and they richly deserve their victory against lily-livered opponents who paid the price for being a ramshackle shower of dreamers. Thanks for your emails. It's been extemporaneous.

A true classic

The Guardian published the original report from the 1970 World Cup final in its website. While it proves very interesting reading, I have to admit that what really caught my attention was the post I attach below, from a reader called HarperSmythe.

Once again, the blog comments are better than the actual post. Once again, I praise the beauty of the world wide web as a means of communication and expression, as I did a while ago. Once again watching the goals in YouTube is a brilliant complement. And as much as Carlos Alberto's goal has achieved artwork status, I can't get enough of watching the 2-1 by Gerson.

Well, thank you "HarperSmythe". And let me take the liberty of publishing this.


No one has yet posted some churlish comment about how they hate Brazil, its fans, etc. (something I see often on this site) -- or how lousy we are now (which we are).

I can only thank the Guardian CiF for this. The 1970 and the 1982 team means so much to us. Since then we've had glimpses of greatness with certain individual players, but it's never been the same. It was the defeat in 1982 (and esp. after our poorest world cup in 1990) that started our national football on the road toward becoming more like the harder game in Europe and turning our backs on creating magic and beauty on the pitch. The vision of the CBF today is a suffocating one, whereas the Argentines still keep to their traditions.

In 1970 I was 10 years old and my family had emigrated to the US in 1964. We lived in a Portuguese/Brazilian enclave in Massachusetts. At that time it was very difficult for us to keep track of football (any football, not just Brazilian) but we'd usually manage to get some radio or TV coverage. But in 1968 some members of my family had decided they just couldn't stand the torture any more of figuring out how to follow the wc from the US, so they decided to plan ahead and save, take some time off, fly to Brazil and watch it with family there. My mother couldn't afford the trip but at the very last minute one of my uncles saw how much I wanted to go and bought my mother and I tickets. She spent 3 years paying him back.

In Rio, my mother's side of the family had no TV sets (tho their neighbors had) but my father's side in Sao Paulo did. They were all black and white of course. We visited both the Rio and Sao Paulo families and watched various games with lots of family and friends around. I had the time of my young life.

For the final, we were in my father's home town of Piedade (interior of Sao Paulo) and we saw the final in a large church hall and 2 small TV sets. Several radios were there too. Lots of Brazilian flags, lots of drink and food. About 50-60 people were there, with dozens more milling around outside. We loved the entire squad but Gerson & Carlos Alberto were my family's particular heroes because of the clubs they had played for and where they were from originally. Some people brought the Italian flag since many of us were descendants of Italian immigrants.

I remember the reaction of everyone around me after the second Brazilian goal. One minute there was loud talking and drinking, the next moment it was as if everyone lost their voice--it felt like a hush that would last forever, and then suddenly the loudest cheer I'd ever heard. My favorite uncle and aunt both turned to me, hugged and kissed me, and shouted "Brazil's going to win!" The game was a blur to me, I just remember Brazil scoring, Pele jumping around in joy and that second goal. I do not remember sleeping at all that night. I don't remember seeing anyone sleep that night.

We all loved the '82 squad too but the emotional attachment we have for the 1970 squad is in a category all its own. To this day, these guys make us cry. It was Pele's last wc. I once visited Carlos Alberto's school in Rio and saw him give a talk about how much the Brazilian game has lost because clubs refuse to train small, weaker kids who have skill and technique in favor of recruiting tall athletes with less skill on the ball. He still had his sense of joy in the game.

I watched him train a group of young kids (boys and girls), telling them that they should "kiss the ball, embrace it, show that it is safe only with you." I got choked up listening to him. Once in Rio in a restaurant I saw Jairzinho with his wife. I almost broke into tears. My boyfriend and I were about to leave and we tried not to look too much but Jairzinho looked at us and gave us a huge smile. I said something like "we will always love you" and left very quickly.

In 1970, Deus foi Brasileiro sim (God was Brazilian).

someone else's thoughts on the Wembley match

A quick browsing through my blog shows that, as much as I try to post once a week, there are some weeks in which I am either not creative or not with much available time - and then I resort to copying / pasting. Indeed, I reckon two thirds of whatever I ever posted in here was not "original content". Shame on me.

Still one can't blame me for stealing others's ideas, since I always make it very clear all the sources which I use in the posts. And it's not any different now, as I was trying to figure what I would write about England 1 - 1 Brazil last night at Wembley. I just exchanges a couple of emails with my friend and 'sanity checker' Tomas about it, and I guess I won't do better than pasting here what he wrote about the game.

Which is a fair analysis, anyway. So here you go.

> bonjour dude,
>
> for what it's worth, i thought the football last night was pretty shit. i
> was also fairly amused by many english commentators claiming that england
> had played well and desreved the win, despite the facts that brazil had a
> perfectly good goal ruled offside in the first half, and that ledley king
> should clearly have been sent off about 5 mins later for hacking wagner love
> when he was in on goal. i hate second choice steve. if you look ate the side
> he's playing now, it's essentially exactly the same as the one sven played,
> except steve has a far more naive understanding of tactics and is generally
> a fair deal shitter. so, well done the english FA. also, i don't understand
> why frank lampard is still seen as a choice, let alone an automatic choice.
> he was rubbish much of the season for locomotiv west london, and i can't
> remember a game in which he has played well/controled a game for england.
> so, i'm jumping happily on the 'lampard out' bandwagon. also, wes brown -
> what's the point. give up and draft someone from the under 21s instead. at
> least they might be good one day. wes will never get there, and it's
> apparent to everyone apart from the man with the brightest teeth in the
> stadium.
>
> oh, yeah, and i though brazil were fair, no better.
>
> what i'm obviously wiating for now is for you to tell me that you didn't
> see it.

I did Tom, and I agree with you.

And you'll never walk alone....

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark

Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone

the game.

Full stop.

Everyone is talking about the midfield battle - but with both teams probably fielding three defensively minded midfielders each, I actually think it'll be a match decided on the sides. Especially given Finnan's outstanding season.

I predict a 2-1 Liverpool victory. Milan up front in first half with Kaka.Second half Milan is all on counter-attack but we draw through a Stevie G belter from outside, and seal sixth trophy with a header from substitute Peter Crouch, in a cross coming from the right - either by Finnan or Pennant.

Oh, crystal ball, crystal ball,...

Allez le rouge et blanche

Yesterday night I stood on the Kop, holding my red scarf, and sung "You'll Never Walk Alone", as the home players ran around the field thanking the supporters for their intensive cheering during the electrifying Cup semi-final that had just ended.

No, I wasn't at Anfield. No, I'm not fantasizing on it either.

I was invited by my friend Jan to watch his team, Standard de Liege, play Anderlecht on the second leg of the demi-finale of Coupe de Belgique. Standard had won the first leg away 0-1, a surprise result given that Anderlecht is the current league leader and constant Champions League participant.

Besides eating French fries with mayonnaise in the rain while drinking a couple of pints of Jupiler, I watched a very entertaining match with a fantastic atmosphere. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera, so I will illustrate with some pics from Standard's website.



First half

Standard played on a 4-4-2 with a midfield a la anglaise - relying heavily on the industry of their central midfielders, Belgian teenagers Defour and Fellaini. Their strategy consisted of exchaging side passes in the opposition midfield till it reached one the team's two most skilled players - right midfield Sergio Conceição and centre forward Jovanovic.

Backed not only by the relentless chant of the self-called Kop, but also by noteworthy performances of their almost flawless centre-backs (Brazilian Dante, former Juventude player, and Senegalese Sarr), Standard pushed forward, and should have scored on the first half. But actually only Jovanovic showed some willingness to shoot, the others being a bit too reluctant when near the area.

Anderlecht was keeping it tight with a line of three in the midfield, right in front of the back line. And though the three up front were always ready to launch counter-attacks, their most dangerous player was Argentine right-midfield Biglia - who a couple of times cauught Standard's left back lost in marking and appeared to shoot.

Second half

Anderlecht endured till the break but were surprised by a goal at minute 46. I was surprised as well - I heard the crowd yell but I was actually still at the toilet at the time. When I sat, I saw an Anderlecht onslaught - they had nothing to lose anyway - which ended up in a goal by minute 60.

Standard's coach then reacted by taking off Jovanovic's partner in attack (Lukunku, an ineffective tall centre-forward) and replacing him with Portuguese elder Sá Pinto. Guess what, it worked. He helped regain midfield in a time when Anderlecht was regaining confidence. And, most importantly, he earned a penalty "from heaven" when stealing the ball from a centre-back and stopped by the keeper.

The subsequent goal was cold water to Anderlecht but sparked the Kop. From then on, Standard fans were more worried about coordinating the Mexican wave and the Ole chant.

The fans

Liege is in a French-speaking part of Belgium, and hence the chants were another foray into my learning of français. Not that they were too elaborate:

"Hey! Hey! Tous ensemble, tous ensemble!"

"Allez les rouges... allez les rouges... allez le rouge et blanche..."

And also some other chants that I couldn't really understand. Best one was a sequence of sentences uttered by one side of the stadium, and repeated 3 seconds later by the other, that ended up with a massive "Ole ole" chant.



The stadium resembled La Bombonera - tall, steep stands, with ribbons, flags and banners flying, as you can see in the pic above. I was on a seat in the third floor, but the side of the field, not in the Kop. By the way that is one thing I was likened to Standard - they look up to Liverpool, with the stands, the nonstop cheering, and the playing of You`ll Never Walk Alone in the End. Unbelievable.

Saturday, last home match of the season against Club Brugge (who Standard will play in the Cup final, in 10 days) - I'm there!!! Tous ensemble, tous ensemble!!!