World Cup Blog: latest injury scares!

Overall, like the last few World Cups, players involved in the centre of gravity of the sport, ie the European Clubs, are falling victims to injury & fatigue as the World Cup is about to start. With stars such as Michael Ballack of Germany & Rio Ferdinand of England (both their respective countries' Captains) & Michael Essien of Ghana heading the list of top injured players missing the Cup, the list is starting to grow bigger.

Many players get injured due to their fatigued bodies whilst others' injuries suffered during the laborious European season simply flare up in training.

It may be interesting for casual fans to know that players in the top European Clubs play 50-60 matches in the space of nine months. At the height of the domestic & European competitions this may mean three matches per week. Mid May to mid July is the off season for these players. This year however, most elite players will miss this period as they headed off to national training camps to train for the World Cup.

The latest injury list:

• Holland's creative midfielder Arjen Robben limped off with a partial muscle tear after coming off the bench & scoring two goals in his team's 6-1 win vs Hungary on Saturday. Holland are counting so much on Robben that they have declared they will keep him in the squad & use him in later stages of the competition once fit! well, Holland are one of my dark horses of the tournament anyway.
• Similarly, The Italian camp is adamant all is OK with their play maker Antonio Pirlo. News from the Italy camp is that it will take between 15 and 20 days for the midfielder to recover fully after he was left to nurse a calf injury following Friday's training session.
• The Socceroos reserve keeper Brad Jones has quit the World Cup to rush back to be with his ill 4 year old son. Like many others, my thoughts are with Brad & his family. Brad Jones has been an unsung hero & great servant of the Socceroos & will be missed. On a happier note, he has one or two more World Cups ahead of him in the coming years.
• Didier Drogba, the tallismatic goal scorer of Ivory Coast has undergone an operation on his broken arm & is hoping to be fit for the World Cup
• Ghana's influential midfielder Sulley Montari (who plays for European Champions Inter Milan) is a doubt for Ghana's opening match vs Serbia (the Socceroos opponents)
• Chile's (one of my other dark horse tips) European based star striker Humberto Suazo will reportedly miss the first two group matches.
• Brazil's no 1 keeper Julio Cesar will miss Brazil's final warm up match but is reportedly on the way to recover for Brazil's opening match of the World Cup.
• The European based star of Honduras, Wilson Palacios is another player who is injured & may miss the World Cup.
• Uruguay's European based superstar Diego Forlan was injured in a warm up match but the extent of his injury has been kept under wrap by the Uruguay officials & coaching staff. Forlan (well known to Manchester United fans) is the key player for Uruguay.

Next Blog: Germany's key players in the World Cup

World Cup Blog: latest news from South Africa, & why FIFA are responsible for ruining our "Beautiful Game"!

The latest news from South Africa:

1. Rio Ferdinand, the England Captain is out of the world Cup due to a knee injury in training. This will undoubtedly throw Fabio Capello's plans into chaos.
2. Ivory Coast sweating over Drogba's broken wrist in a friendly match. It has not yet been confirmed whether Drogba will miss the World Cup as a result.
3. Worrying losses for the 2006 finalists Italy (1-2 to Mexico) & France (0-1 to China). Although, like many others, I believe the Italian squad is an aging & tactically confused team, and Demenech (& France after qualifying with Henry's cheating handball goal) do not even deserve to be in South Africa
4. Impressive 1-0 win by Australia's Socceroos vs Denmark, although the Socceroos frailties were exposed in the 1-3 defeat in warm up match vs USA tonight, highlighting the current Socceroos limited tactical capabilities.
5. Dominant second half display by the youngest ever German World Cup team in the modern era in their 3-1 win vs Bosnia
6. Dark horses Holland smashed Hungary 6-1 & South Africa had a morale boosting 1-0 victory vs Denmark

My Tip for the World Cup: favourites: Spain & Brazil
Contenders: England, Argentina, Germany & Holland
Dangerous outsiders: Chile, Portugal & Serbia

Now for some basic facts that will once again demonstrate the true worldwide popularity of football:



FIFA the world governing body of football currently has 208 members. This membership level can only be fully appreciated when compared to e.g.

a) United Nations: 196 members
b) Rugby Union Board: around 120 members
c) Rugby League (claimed) to have around 50 members although only 20-25 active members


The major difference between FIFA & its world Cup competition compared other football codes however are:


1) 204 national teams took part in 3 years of qualifications (up to 20 matches) in order to qualify for the 31 available spots (South Africa qualified as Host Nation). On the other hand, n Union & in particular League World Cups, the respective international associations struggle to put together 16 competitive teams in order to hold the tournament.


2) Most amazingly, this year's World Cup will have a cumulative viewing audience of 27 billion over the 64 matches! As a result, there are billions of dollars of sponsorship & commerce money involved.

3) Sadly however, this is the exact reason why FIFA is so stubbornly reluctant to address the few major issues plighting the game! The money has made the administrators of the game too numb & too timid! The slogan "FIFA, For the good of the game" (see above) is at times nothing more than a joke in the eyes of fans worldwide!

FIFA administrators are highly skilled executives on very fat pay cheques & nothing more! They are blinded by the huge commercial appeal of football & nothing else. As a result, like many other businesses, they allow low grade cheating & lying by their stars as long as the commercial side of the game remains intact!

Yes! The play acting, cheating & diving can & must be stopped!
Yes! Technology can & must be utilised in support referees' decisions, to make match outcomes fairer & to stop cheating players influencing refereeing decisions
Yes! More of the money can & must be channeled to grass root & youth levels of the game!
Yes, Star players bulging pay packets can & must be curbed!

The above are possible despite FIFA & its executives. Whilst the administration rules over the 208 membership nations are autocratic, the shear number of members means that that FIFA will eventually have to listen to its members or diminish in stature, influence & power. The risk is that FIFA is sadly damaging the reputation of the game alongside its own whilst it remains disinterested in addressing the major issues affecting the "Beautiful Game".

A wrap of the European Season & the start of my World Cup Blog!

Another exciting European season is over & we are heading to the World Cup in less than two weeks!

As the above photos suggest I made the 18,000 km (36,000km all up) trip to Madrid from Sydney Australia & sadly witnessed my beloved Bayern Munich lose to the tactically superior Inter Milan in the final of the Champions League at the magnificent Santiago Bernabau Stadium.

Now to a review of my pre season predictions:

1. I correctly predicted Bayern, Barcelona & Inter Milan would win their domestic leagues & they all did


2. I also passionately blogged about Perez & his second coming in building a team of "Galacticos"! I predicted (and prayed) that his mega money would not (at least this year) win Real Madrid anything! With Mourinho joining Real, their fortunes might change, but for the sake of the game let's hope not!
   

Here's a link to my post about Perez & his spending spree @ Real Madrid in the pre season:

http://ricksamimi-football.blogspot.com/2009/10/sequal-galacticos-2-has-so-far-fared-no.html

3. Somewhat in a biased but nevertheless informed way, I tipped Bayern Munich as one of the dark horses of the Champions League....and they only came short at the last hurdle :(

4. I initially predicted a Liverpool-Chelsea-Man Utd-man City finish in the EPL, but later on blogged & suggested Ancelotti was going to win the Premiership with Chelsea. However, I totally miscalculated the demise of Liverpool & Tottenham gallantly pipped Manchester City to the post & won the crucial 4th place.

Here's a link to my post on Chelsea:

http://ricksamimi-football.blogspot.com/2009/12/ancelotti-is-proving-his-genius-stroke.html

I also predicted Hull, Burnley & Wolves as relegation candidates in the EPL. Two out of three! Wolves survived the drop, somewhat more comfortably than predicted.

However, my & I imagine many other pundits' most crucial tip was Barcelona winning the champions League. But like Chelsea before them & Bayern in the final, Messi & co found the well organised Inter Milan defence almost impenetrable & lost to Mourinho's side in the semi finals.

Now to the start of my World Cup blog: I will start by quickly look at the usual suspects:

I have already mentioned in one of my earlier posts that Germany will have a very difficult World Cup ahead of them, although Germany should never be underestimated (7 times finalists & 4 times semi finalists). Injuries to Ballack, Adler, Rolfe, Tresch & Loew's stubborn refusal to recall Frings & Kuranyi will make matters even more critical for the team. Nevertheless, as he mentioned himself, Loew & his team can learn from Bayern's achievements this year.

My prediction: Quarter Finals

Amongst the other big teams, England, Italy & Argentina seemingly have easier paths to the second round:

• Italy's team is however too old & Lippi's reliance on many of the fading stars will prove fatal. France on the other hand have lacked clear tactical directions under Domenech & owe their qualification to that dubious handball by Henry.

My prediction: Round of 16s for both team

• England on the other hand have flourished under Capello & as long as they sort out the following three major issues they will go a long way
  

a) Goal keeping issues. James is well past his best & Hart & Green are unproven at any level!

b) How to tactically accommodate both Lampard & Gerrard in midfield

c) Over reliance on injury hit Rooney! He can not emulate Maradonna winning the Cup for Argentina!

My prediction: Semi Final

• Argentina have massive technical ability & with Messi & others at least on paper have one of the top teams in this year's World Cup. However, Maradona is not the right tactical coach for such talented team & most likely will make naive mistakes as he did eg in the 1-6 drubbing by Bolivia in the qualifiers. However, Argentina will probably meet Germany in the QFs & go to the semi finals.

My prediction: semi final or final

• Spain & Brazil are my tip to reach the final. On paper they, alongside Argentina have the best squads in the tournament. On top of that both Spain (in particular) & Brazil (at times) are capable of playing attractive attacking football

My prediction: Spain vs Brazil final, Spain to win

My dark horses for the tournament: As per usual Germany, and yet again Holland. In Sneijder & Robben Holland possess two of the best "match winners" (alongside Messi of Argentina) in the world & if Holland manage to avoid the infighting they are notoriously well known for, they may at last lift the Cup!

I will be posting regular posts on my blog during the World Cup.

Champions League Final: Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan

It's down to the wire, and the final on may 22nd in Madrid will be between Bayern Munich & Inter Milan. Two old friends & master tacticians in their Barcelona days, Van Gaal & Mourinho have guided their respective teams through the tricky maze of the competition into the richest final in the world.

Those of you who from time to time read my blogs may remember that at the beginning of the season I nominated Barcelona as the best team in the world and my tip to successfully defend their European crown. Having declared my interest as a life long Bayern Munich supporter, I also cautiously labeled Bayern as one of the dark horses of this year's Champions League.

And my predictions nearly came true! Bayern admittedly rode their luck with brave away leg performances & wonderful away goals by Robben (amongst others) to the final. Van Gaal has slowly but surely blended the tough German mentality with the skillful Dutch/Barcelona style possession game into one of the best Bayern teams I can remember in my 35 odd years of being a die hard fan.

And as for Inter Milan, in Mourinho they undoubtedly have the most flamboyant, arrogant & polarising master tactician in the world of football today. His chess game got them past the might of Chelsea & Barcelona. And the quality of the players in their squad speaks for itself. Any team that manages to get through battles with Chelsea & Barcelona fully deserves its place in the final.

So for me, the final will be a match of Mourinho's tactics vs the Mini Me of Barcelona!

My heart says Bayern will win, my mind knows it will be tough on the night & 50:50........and my life & work schedule are doing everything it can to stop me from dashing off to Madrid for the final......................and in my dreams I am hoping to be there when Bayern lift the trophy!