A Football Report

Chelsea have emerged as the favourites to win the Premier League once again, and are well on their way to adding to one of the major dynasty’s of modern football. But it hadn’t always been that way. José Mourinho came in for the 2004/5 season and made some major changes to the Premier League outfit. Jose brought in Arjen Robben, Paulo Ferreira, Didier Drogba, Mateja Kezman, and Ricardo Carvalho. Quite a nice little spending spree. But you can’t overlook the class that was already present at Stamford Bridge. Sure, there was Lampard and Terry, but also Claude Makelele, Damien Duff, and Scott Parker controlling the midfield with Adrian Mutu up top.

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Germany may have become everyone’s favourites to win the World Cup, but unfortunately they had to face the best Spanish team in history in the semifinals. That being said, those Germans just love to win. And they’ll get another chance to do so tomorrow in the 3rd place match against Uruguay. So while they were defeated by Italy 2-0 in extra time in 2006, they certainly didn’t let that stop them from thrashing Portugal’s golden generation 3-1. There is a reason that the World Cup betting odds are in Germany’s favour for tomorrow night, and that is simply because they are going to win. No disrespect to Uruguay, but this German side, like past sides, have a sublime instinct to win when their country is behind them.

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Posted by Eric Beard

The Netherlands take on Brazil today in what is expected to be one of the best games of football of the entire tournament. Why? Well not only are these sides incredibly entertaining to watch as Brazil are at least supposed to play Joga Bonito while the Dutch are oh so proud of their “Total Football”, but these nations have a history. And not one that the Dutch are proud of. 

Brazil knocked the Netherlands out of the World Cup in the semifinals in 1998 and in the quarterfinals four years earlier in 1994. Granted, Brazil had Ronaldo at his best in ‘98, but in 1994 Dunga captained Brazil’s squad that would eventually go on to be world champions. That’s why today, this is more than a game. This is about pride, and even revenge. Will they be successful the third time around?

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Posted by Eric Beard

The United States certainly are not happy with Koman Coulibaly, the ref of the Slovenia-US game, because he really did cost the US team a victory. However, this is nothing new for the US squad. Eric Wynalda, former USA forward, said that “FIFA needs to investigate” Coulibaly’s decisions because he thought there were hints of match-fixing involved. But hey, at least the US team is still in this tournament. Let’s turn the clock back eight years when the USA made it to the quarterfinals against Germany, but were really robbed a likely spot in the semifinals.

 Despite dominating the run of play, Germany had gone 1-nil up. But what happened next? Well, Greg Berhalter volleyed a shot on goal from an inswinging corner. It bounced over a diving Oliver Kahn, but Torsen Frings was there. Rather his hand was. The ball clearly hit Frings’ hand, which would have been a penalty and a red card against Germany.  So let’s put this whole US-Slovenia disgrace aside for a moment and look at something that was truly injustice. You know, for a shot of Schadenfreude.

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Posted by Eric Beard

It seems like Germany 2006 was an entire generation ago, and maybe it was. But nonetheless, a new age has dawned upon us as Aaron Mokoena and Rafa Marquez will lead their respective nations out in front of 90,000 fans in Johannesburg. Many World Cup betting sites are predicting a nil-nil draw, which, to me, seems unthinkable. This is the World Cup! There will be 46 million South Africans supporting their best eleven; how can there possibly not be a goal in this match? The World Cup is full of surprises, and nothing was more exciting and surprising than witnessing a six-goal thriller between Germany and Costa Rica in last summer’s World Cup opener. It should have been a route. But anyone who knows the beautiful game knows that “should have” never has all that much substance. Philip Lahm stole the show with a breathtaking goal in 2006, will Steven Pienaar do the same?

He’s so good that they named him twice. Nigeria are back in the World Cup and though they’ll be without their “Nigerian King”, it’s always nice to look back at one of the nation’s heroes. Okocha had 75 caps for Nigeria, scoring 14 goals. But that’s not what Jay-Jay what about. Okocha tried the absurd. All the flicks and skills that you try when you’re up 3-nil in FIFA 10, well this guy would pull them off like it was no big deal. Establishing himself as a top player with Eintracht Frankfurt (1992–1996), and then Fenerbahçe SK (1996–1998), followed by Paris St-Germain (1998–2002), Jay-Jay has been all over the place. He even settled down at Bolton from 2002-2006, where he became a living legend, and obviously a fan favourite. Jon Obi Mikel may be the man to watch this summer for Nigeria, but there’s no one that will ever replace Okocha. A man of truly legendary status. And thanks to The Kiko for reminding us about him!

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By Eric Beard

As Portugal’s captain, a whole lot of pressure is being placed upon Cristiano Ronaldo’s shoulders. He may be the world’s best player, but can such an outlandish player really lead a team? Well, Luís Figo did. This is a painful memory for all England fans, but it has to go down as one of the all-time great individual performances, and one of the more epic comebacks as well. England were up 2-0 thanks to the likes of Beckham, Scholes, and Steve Mcmanaman, but then the Figo show turned up. Figo, at that time, was just about to make his controversial move from Barcelona to Real Madrid, and start Florentino Perez’s “Galacticos Era”.

Anyway, in this match Figo proved invaluable to the millions of Portuguese watching, and his goal to make it 2-1 will never be forgotten by most. A brilliant long-range strike that would beat every goalkeeper in the world. Then after Portugal equalized to make it 2-2, Figo, with little time left, set up Nuno Gomes’ game-winner. So if a certain someone needs some notes for how to lead a team, look no further than this. Luís Figo, you are a proper AFR legend.

By Eric Beard

I know a lot of people, including myself, were disgusted to see Francesco Totti viciously attack Mario Balotelli, but on our Facebook page Mr. Sgalbazzini made the very good point that “[Totti]’s done this so many times I don’t know why anyone is surprised. Rooney has done similar. So did Roy Keane. Patrick Vieira. They’re still [considered] amongst the greatest.” 

 This was a great way to put things in perspective. Totti acted criminally towards Balotelli, but in the long run will it really taint the legacy he has had on modern Italian calcio? Probably not. Should it? Perhaps. I thought, “Who is the biggest player to do something as terrible as what Totti did and still be considered a great?” And without a doubt, it is Maradona.

In the 1982 World Cup held in Spain, there were massive expectations placed upon Maradona, as he was the man who was supposed to lead Argentina out of a group of death with Brazil and Italy. FC Barcelona had just purchased the Argentine talent from Boca Juniors, so all Spanish football fans wanted to see their new La Liga man. Unfortunately, the Azzurri defeated Argentina 2-1, and Brazil were dominating their rivals 3-1 before Maradona lost it and, like Totti against Inter Milan last Wednesday, resorted to violence. Diego Maradona kicked Brazilian player Joao Batista, and promptly received a red card in the 85th minute for his actions.

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The league will be decided this weekend. Chelsea travel to Anfield, and surely after a disappointing knockout from the Europa League semifinal thanks to a true poacher’s goal from Diego Forlan in extra time Liverpool will not be willing to hand the title to Chelsea. However, if Liverpool tie or defeat Chelsea then they could very well gift-wrap a 19th Premier League title for their arch-rivals Manchester United. But it’s about pride at this point, and if you think there’s no Scouse pride left in the land of the Merseyside, then you’re completely out of your mind.

Rafa Benitez will have his last chance of the campaign to prove that he can get a result against the best in Europe, and there’s not a doubt in my mind that Liverpool will go out and attack Chelsea from the first minute. The question is, will Chelsea also go all-out attack? If so, then we’re in for a treat. Here’s when Rafa Benitez needed to make up for a 3-1 loss at Anfield in the second leg of the 2009 Champions League quarterfinal against the Blues. The game had eight goals and ended a 4-4 draw. For football’s sake, I hope we see the same on Sunday at Anfield. Here are the full highlights of that instant classic.

(part two is below)

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Pundits this past week have been saying some ridiculous things, such as, “What if Gareth Bale was English instead of Welsh?” This, to me, seems absurd. Bale is from Wales, so he is Welsh. It’s the same as saying, “What if George Best (or Ronaldo) were English?” It’s nice to dream. Anyway, a lot of players (ahem… Xavi & Fernando Torres) have been praising England prior to this summer’s World Cup. “England Expects”, but really why should they? After all, it has been 44 years since England made the World Cup. So why such high recognition? Well some may say the Premier League, but I say that the competition from the other nations in Great Britain have pushed England forward. Legends have worn the England kit, but one of them that England fans wish they could have had is certainly Mark Hughes. Hughes, though controversially out of work as he was fired by Manchester City earlier in the season, was a revelation for Wales, inspiring the likes of Craig Bellamy to play without fear. Not to mention his brilliant years under Fergie at Manchester United. A striker willing to do the ridiculous, perhaps Hughes’ best international goal was against Spain in a 1985 World Cup qualifier. And doesn’t he still have that touch?

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By Eric Beard

Yesterday was the 21st anniversary of the Hillsborough tragedy, and I really started thinking about what that really meant for football. Well, I found a video that pretty much sums it up. Modern football tells us that Liverpool and AC Milan don’t exactly like each other, especially after two (relatively) recent Champions League finals. But let’s go back to the dawn of the new decade that would be the awesome 90’s, when AC Milan were the first ones to embrace and support their fellow European superpower. 

AC Milan fans, just days following the disaster, printed off song sheets with the words to You’ll Never Walk Alone and handed them out amongst their support with a plea to learn them for the next home game against Real Madrid, only 4 days after the disaster. A gesture was planned to stop the game at 3.06pm (the time of the game being stopped at Hillsborough) and hold a minute-long silence. The squad was also full of class acts, such as Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Paolo Maldini, and Carlo Ancelotti, who are all AFR Legends. For me, this shows how football can bring the best out of people even in the worst situations, doesn’t it?

The best game in football is upon us once again: El Clásico. Real Madrid are tied on points atop of La Liga, and it will be the job of Los Galacticos to stop Pep Guardiola’s side in superb form. Barcelona have been in all the headlines, and rightly so, as Cristiano Ronaldo is playing great football but Lionel Messi has been just out of this world. I personally cannot see this Barcelona team losing at the Bernabeu on Saturday, but I wanted to give some hope to Madrid fans by bringing back memories of the masterful 4-2 victory over another great Barcelona team in 2005. To stop the likes of Ronaldinho in that game it took a complete performance from all the stars in Madrid: Zidane, Raul, Iker Casillas, Beckham, Michael Owen (seriously), & Ronaldo (the original #9). Zidane was a true artist, Beckham’s passes were unbelievable, and even Michael Owen couldn’t help but get himself on the scoresheet. Performances like these are what made these guys all (even little Michael) AFR Legends.