Saturday, February 12, 2011

Goal of the season

There is something special about Manchester United versus Manchester City this season, as the latter has invested heavily on a long list of excellent players. I must admit that I felt great sympathy with City today, with outstanding players such as Carlos Tevez, Edin Dzeko, Yaya Touré, David Silva and Shawn Wright-Phillips. But what took the day was another extraordinary player from the opposite team, Manchester United. Wayne Rooney scored the Reds' winner one an extraordinary bycicle kick; one of those goals that makes football best. The balance, vision, power and technique from Mr. Rooney is simply perfect.
2-1 to Manchester United and magic from Wayne Rooney.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Lucky world champions

Spain has not been looking overly impressive since winning the World Cup, and last night's match against Colombia was no exception. Colombia had numerous big chances against a meager Spanish defense, and can only blame enormous inefficiency on not having taken the lead. Instead, Spain showed its power credentials when David Silva scored the winner at the end of the match.
Spain's side is doing well in the Euro qualifiers after having defeated some smaller teams, but the side is not looking as impressive as when they won in South Africa.
The great Pacho Maturana once said that "to lose is to win a little bit", and Colombia can be optimistic looking at the Copa América that they played a great match, but should worry about the side's inefficiency.

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Millionaire transfers!

By the amounts some of the Premier League clubs have been spending in this transfer window one would never guess that there is an economic crisis going on! One year ago, the clubs spent 29 Mio pounds in the transfer window, something that couldn't even pay for what Chelsea paid for Fernando Torres! All in all, Premier League clubs have spent more than 200 Mio Pounds!
Chelsea, who seems to be living off Mr. Abramovich' billions to get out of its current slump, beat all Premier League record by the signing of Fernando Torres, who seemed to be in need of a transfer from Liverpool. Still, I personally do not think Mr. Torres is worth such amounts! Sunday's Chelsea-Liverpool match in the Premier League, where Torres is set to get his debut!
Liverpool has also been out spending money on two very interesting signings who will arrive at the struggling Anfield side with great expectations: Ajax' outstanding (and some places infamous) Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez, and the hugely talented and controversial young Newcastle striker Andy Carroll. What Liverpool paid for Mr. Carrol makes him the most expensive English player ever, thus sealing another record.
Amid Liverpool's and Chelsea's spending, many people may have overlooked one of the most interesting transfers, namely Manchester City's signing of Wolfsburg's outstanding Bosnian player Edin Dzeko. Dzeko was surely one of the best players in the world during his time in Wolfsburg, perhaps overlooked by him being from a small country and in an overlooked cup. Still, he was part of one of the most goal-scoring teams in the Bundesliga and was instrumental in leading them to their first Bundesliga title in 2009. Dzeko will be hugely interesting to follow under Roberto Mancini in Manchester City!