Sunday, February 20, 2011

Off The Pitch

Snippets from far and wide:

Messi Wins Again

Lionel Messi won his second straight FIFA Player of the Year award as he scooped the prestigious Ballon d’Or.  Messi, the standout Barcelona star, garnered just under 23% of the vote, as he edged out teammates Xavi Fernandez and Andres Iniesta.  With FIFA’s Player of the Year prize merging with the French Ballon d’Or, this year, Messi could not repeat what he achieved last year when he won both accolades.  Considered to be one of the modern games brightest stars, despite being only 23, Messi has scored roughly once per match over the past year.  A dismal World Cup campaign for Argentina only briefly reduced the lustre as Messi was still one the national team’s main stars.

His performances seem to improve with every passing week and excellent seasons in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 have been further improved upon this year.  At time of writing, Lionel Andres Messi, affectionately dubbed ‘Leo’, has scored an astonishing 40 goals and provided 20 assists in just 35 matches.  Numbers like these have broken practically every club and league scoring record and his phenomenal offensive production seems to know no bounds.



With the best years of his career still in front of him, only injury can prevent Messi from adding to the sextuple he won with Barcelona in 2009 and the Olympic gold medal in 2008.  Pacy, with excellent close control, dribbling and potent finishing, Messi is the pre-eminent footballer in today’s global game.

Overall, Barcelona players took eight of the top 20 positions.

Ronaldo Retires




February 2011 saw the retirement of one of the all time greats.  Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima, commonly known as Ronaldo, first exploded onto the scene as a raw teenager at Cruzeiro, scoring 24 times in 26 outings.  A World Cup Win in 1994, albeit as an unused substitute, saw him then invade the European consciousness with a glittering two year career at PSV Eindhoven, where he netted 54 goals in 57 games.  A move to Barcelona for a single potent season followed as he would score another 47 goals in just 49 matches.




A record transfer to Internazionale ensued where, despite a recurring knee injury Ronaldo, further elevated his game and became the complete forward, creating, as well as, scoring goals.  In five injury blighted seasons, that were no doubt influenced by Calciopoli as well, Ronaldo still notched up 59 goals despite playing only 99 times.  His education in Serie A held him in good stead as his all round game allowed him to score another eight times in a winning 2002 World Cup campaign.  A transfer to Real Madrid after the World Cup continued his production as the Galacticos project yielded another 104 strikes for his generation’s greatest striker.  During this time he would play his final World Cup, during which he became the all time leading scorer at World Cup finals with 15 goals.




After five seasons with Madrid, he moved to his final European destination and in the twilight of his career put away 9 goals in 2 stop start seasons for the Rossoneri.  With weight and knee problems bogging him down, he moved back to Brazil to play for Corinthians in 2009.  Declining form and ability still saw his score 35 goals in his final seasons before he eventually announced his retirement at the start of 2011.  352 goals in four different leagues and at five of Europe’s biggest clubs along with a consistent international career, that saw 62 goals, with Brazil are just some of the achievements of the real, original Ronaldo.  At his peak, for the better part of two decades he was a powerful, pacy and lethal striker who captured the imagination of fans the world over.  He will always be the Phenomenon, a sporting freak of nature, who was the last of his breed - a true, raw, natural talent – a kid playing the game he loves.




Scared Jack

After Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Barcelona in their opening UEFA Champions’ League round of 16 tie, apparently Man of the Match Jack Wilshere was too scared to ask Messi for his shirt.  Captain Cesc Fabregas had to do so for him and then jokingly called him out on Twitter.  Although Jack responded in kind with another humorous response, the incident goes to show that even footballers are after all, just humans and fans like us.

Cesc: “Can't believe i had to go to get Messi's shirt for u. U were so scared. You were MOTM so next time please ask urself!”

Wilshere: “You are the skipper mate you should look after your players ;) Thanks though and next time in going after your mate iniesta!”

Here we have both the twitter page as well as Wilshere posing with the shirts and his father.




Lion on the Prowl

Uzbek tycoon Alisher Usmanov (sher means lion) is still snatching up shares left, right and centre as he seeks to acquire complete control Arsenal.  Sitting at just under 27%, Russia’s current richest man (personal wealth approximately $20 billions) is closing in on Stan Kroenke’s stake of 29%.  With Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea already owned by a single concern, what price the last remaining member of the big four, becoming the same.

Ticket Madness

UEFA are milking the cash cow that is the 2011 UEFA Champions’ League final.  A pack of two adult and two child tickets, come out to be just over 700 pounds.  UEFA claimed they wanted more children in the seats but out of the 11,000 neutral tickets, only set aside 500 of them for the kids.  In fact the cheapest ticket for the final is 176 pounds.  The eye gouging has drawn harsh criticism with both Carlo Ancelotti and Arsene Wenger urging UEFA to lower their prices.


Berlusconi Junior



With father and club owner Silvio under some heat for alleged improprieties as Italian Prime Minister, Barbara Bersluconi is slowly readying herself for taking over the management of Milan.  With Club President Adrian Galliani also aging and on his way out, young Barbara, with her blonde locks and entitled air, reckons, "For me, Milan is the symbol of my father. He has a sentimental bond with the team which is very strong, because it represents an immediate success that he has been able to achieve in all areas in which he operated.”



Euro 2012 on sale

Ticket prices have been set for the European Football Championships to take place in Poland and Ukraine in 2012.
­Just €30 gets you a group stage game while the cheapest ticket for the final is a very reasonable €50.  Of course, if you want a better view at the final, be prepared to fork over €600.  Tickets go on sale next month, solely on UEFA’s website.  Expect them to sell out in hours.


Umbro casts Shadow over Canada


In a move signalling serious ambition by the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA), the latter has signed an important kit partnership deal with the global soccer equipment giant.

Both men’s and women’s national soccer teams will take to field wearing the smartly designed new Umbro jerseys, replete with the traditional Canadian colours of red and white, accessorized with a bold new chevron across the chest.  While the chevron aesthetic has its motivation in a move signifying solidarity with the Canadian Armed forces, it has a storied history in the game of soccer dating back to the early 20th century.

While casual observers may liken the jersey to a smarter version of the classic look sported by Peru or Argentina’s River Plate, the motivation and character of the design are uniquely Canadian.  And for a country that gave the world the smart designs of the Winter Olympic Games at Vancouver, in 2010, this jersey is the latest coup for Canadian national sporting identity.

With high quality embroidery, twin needle cuff finishing, as well as tactically enhanced shoulder darts and polyester wicking for maintaining a cool body temperature, the entire product is both comfortable and designed for peak performance.  The home jersey has a white background with a vermillion and red chevron, while the away jersey complements the former perfectly, with the body in bright red and the chevron in white and black.

The designers of the jersey put great thought into designing the jersey to reflect both Canadian sporting pride and national identity.  The bold colours and anatomical design are just that, with bold colouring to go with the dynamic design that all Canadian sporting teams proudly display.

The move is a significant one as it ties in the growing popularity and upsurge of Canadian soccer with one of the World’s oldest and best established soccer brands.  It combines both the coming of age of North America’s latest global soccer ambition and one of the key players in the marketing and commercialisation of soccer over the last few decades.

With Umbro now on Canada’s side, one looks forward to an improvement in both the funding and performance of Canada’s soccer structure and teams, respectively.  With the excellent women’s national team already one of the top sides in the world and the men’s team a sporadic presence in the later rounds of North American competition, we all hope to see them acquire and cement a spot at global soccer’s top table.

The official uniform was worn for the first time on February 9th, 2011 by the men’s national team during their friendly against Greece, the 2004 European Champions.  It goes on sale from June 1st, 2011 with a recommended price of CDN $60.00

Around Europe


France – Still Lille

The smaller club from the industrial northern town of the same name has opened up a five point gap as it is slowly cements its position atop the standings.  Capitalising on the inconsistencies of fellow clubs jockeying for position at the summit, LOSC Lille has retained the leadership of Ligue through the end of 2010 into the New Year.  Although some transfer speculation linking star midfielders Eden Hazard and Yohan Cabaye threatened to derail both morale and teamwork, Lille have responded by sticking to their task and have kept on trucking.  Unbeaten since October 24th, their defensive stolidity and occasionally attacking brilliance have allowed a solid base on which to build their title challenge.


On the horizon are potential battles with three of the French giants as PSG, Marseille and Lyon have all crept back up the standings to occupy the top five.  With plenty of football still left, Lille has its work cut out to swat off the advances of the all three teams, as they finally put their bad start to the season behind them to rise to the top of the table.  Meanwhile early pace setters, St. Etienne, Montpellier and Toulouse have all drifted down into mid-table while Stade Rennes retains a slim chance, as they cling on five points behind the leaders.

To be fair, PSG were never completely out of the running and resided on the periphery of the top spots but renewed vigour from both Marseille and Lyon have tasked the club from the capital into becoming more consistent.  Their title challenge is still shaky with indifferent home form and an attack that averages just over a goal a game.  Marseille look a lot better and have eased out of the drop zone with some flashes of form, especially against the big boys.  Lyon are on the warpath again as they seek to reclaim a crown that was a long time resident in their trophy cabinet.  Strong away form and better defence has seen them lose only twice since the end of September.


Monaco and Auxerre, fresh of an encouraging but futile Champions’ League campaign, hover in and just above the relegation zone.  1999 Ligue 1 winners Lens provide excellent company as they know two out of three spots are still undecided.  Rock bottom Arles Avignon are adrift with only 9 points all season.

With 15 rounds still remaining, expect any of the top five to triumph as the musical chairs across the table continues.


Lille’s Senegalese striker Moussa Sow leads the league with 16 goals while PSG’s Nene and Lorient’s Kevin Gameiro follow with 13 and 12 goals apiece.

Portugal – Potent Porto

Just to the Southwest, in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, FC Porto are still streets ahead of the competition with an 11 point lead over second placed Benfica.  So far, their 20 games have yielded 18 wins and 2 draws as Porto seem intent on smashing all records as they return to the domestic summit and Champions’ League in some style.  Benfica themselves are no chumps as they have won 15 times while opening up another massive 12 points gap to third placed Sporting Lisbon.  With the latter and Guimares jostling for the two Europa League spots, the form of the front two is put in some perspective.  Put another way, after 20 rounds, the gap from first to fourth is 27 points.  Porto has almost doubled fourth placed Guimares’ haul of 29 points.


With the Europa League set to kick off again, all of the four Portuguese clubs still in contention will seek to rest some players, in order to preserve them for matches ahead.  Only Benfica and Porto can afford to do so, with both Braga and Sporting in a battle to return to continental competition next season.

Porto striker Hulk still leads all players with 19 goals in 9 assists.  Rio Ave’s Joao Tomas is next with 12 goals.

Scotland – A lot of Heart

The duopoly in Scotland is still very much that with both Celtic and Rangers locked at the top of the standings.  Celtic has a small gap to Rangers on account of having played a couple of games more but, despite 11 games in which the two Glaswegian giants have dropped points, they are virtually inseparable.  Celtic have only lost twice overall but have drawn four times while Rangers are slightly more fallible, having lost three games.  Both clubs have notched 50+ plus goals each in their 20 odd games but Celtic’s defence looks to be tighter having conceded only 15 goals all season.  Expect the Hoops’ rearguard to be the defining factor in a long title sprint between these two.  Goal difference is often worth an extra point and Celtic leads their rivals by eight goals in that column.


Of more interest will be the tie that was served up in the Scottish FA Cup fifth round as Celtic and Rangers were drawn to play each other.  An entertaining 2-2 draw prompted a replay as both giants seek to eliminate their biggest rivals well before the FA Cup final.  Most encouraging has been Hearts campaign as they sit only 5 points behind Rangers with 16 wins from 25 games.  In a league that is often over before it begins, for clubs outside the big two, Hearts’ performance is very promising, and their multi-ethnic squad, most interesting, with 12 different nationalities.

Rangers’ Kenny Miller continues to leads all scorers with 21 goals while behind him, Killie’s Connor Sammon has notched 15.  Most productive is ex-Arsenal striker Anthony Stokes, with 13 goals and 6 assists for Celtic.

Holland – Twin Peaks

FC Twente has joined PSV at the summit of the Eredivisie as both clubs sport identical 15-5-3 records.  PSV are more potent though with 62 goals and a difference of 41.  After looking out of the title race early on, Twente have battled back strongly as they will clearly not give up their crown without a fight.  Although a difference of 22 is impressive, compared to the offensive production at Eindhoven, it looks fairly pedestrian.  Leading club striker Mark Janko will need others to complement his 14 goals, if Twente are to last the distance.  On the flip side, a five point gap down to Ajax in third, if maintained till the end of the season, will see a return to the Champions’ League, albeit at the 3rd Qualifying round.


PSV have a more balanced squad but a slight recent wobble has seen them fall back down to the pack.  With a very promising spring campaign in the Europa League still to come, PSV would want to rebuild that gap at the top of the table.  For Ajax, although Champions’ League qualification is a must, they must do so without the departures of both Luis Suarez and Urby Emmanuelson.  Although their squad strength is still considerable, Ajax’s season hangs in the balance and they could still be caught by Groningen or ADO Den Haag, both of whom are snapping at their heels for third place.

The Dutch mid-table makes for the most interesting viewing as several of its denizens have shown renewed ability and massive amounts of belief in an exciting tussle for the Europa League spots.  Recently Den Hag beat PSV away while Roda battled Ajax to a 2-2 tie.  Alkmaar meanwhile have been in free fall with consecutive defeats and only one win in six.  Holland has a crazy post season with playoffs for both relegation as well as European spots, so expect to see plenty of drama as the season continues into spring.


Nijmegen’s Belgian marksman Bjorn Vleminckx leads all scorers with 17 goals while behind him Russian striker Dmitri Bulykin of Den Haag and Slovenian Tim Matavs of Groningen have 15 goals each.