Manchester United's new star

Just a week a go I had never heard about Marcus Rashford. The 18-year old got his debut in Manchester United's first team in this week Europa League match against FC Midtjylland. In that match he scored two goals, becoming Manchester United's youngest player to score in European matches, and led Manchester United's 5-1 comeback.
Today the young Rashford started in his Premier League debut against title contenders Arsenal, and again scored two goals in Manchester United's well-deserved 3-2 victory against an Arsenal side that is no longer likely to contend the title.
After a long period of poor performance the success of young Rashford comes at the right time for coach Louis Van Gaal, whose job has and surely continues to be on the line. However, no matter what, as a football fan, it is great to see a new young player take up his debut with such storm, and it will be great to follow his future career.

Di Maria the saviour?

On the same day that Manchester United got destroyed in the League Cup 4-0 by a team called MK Dons (from the third tier English league) they announced that they have paid 84 Million Euros for the Real Madrid player Angel di Maria.
84 Million is a lot of money, and is in fact the most that an English club has ever paid for a footballer. Considering the fantastic players that have passed through the English league and not least through Manchester United, the amount seems completely out of proportion with who Di Maria is.
Granted, Di Maria is a good player, but he is not the player that can lift Manchester United out of the bad period they are in. Only one man can do that: Louis Van Gaal. The Dutchman has not had a good start, and perhaps Di Maria is part of a long-terms plan in Manchester United. But most of all it seems like a desperate gamble on a player that will have a pressure on him that he will not be able to take.

Premier league opening

With the usual World Cup hangover and a complicated situation in Monrovia, I have not had much time to dwell into the footballing pre-season. I recently met with a colleague and spent two hours talking about football, which was a wonderful escape from the disease that is otherwise the center of every conversation right now.
And the Premier league opening will help, at least me, in escaping the stress of the current situation.
The last two seasons have been incredible, with more amazing teams setting up to fight for the title:

• Manchester City: The defending champions have not been looking strong in pre-season, with too many of their players injured or resting after the World Cup. This culminated in a 3-0 Charity Field defeat to Arsenal, and in their opening match against Newcastle they look to be missing many players. That said, Manchester City will likely be contenders for the title again. They have reinforced an already strong defense with Eliaquim Mangala, and as players get fit and into the season, will be moving up the table.
• Arsenal: Arsenal fans are hungering for success, and the Charity field victory surely gives them hopes for this season. Further hopes are the purchase of Alexis Sanchez, the immensely talented Chilean, who will widen their attacking options. In fact, the challenge for Arsene Wenger will be to construct the optimal formation with a very deep squad. Arsenal are serious, and will be going for the title.
• Liverpool: The loss of Luis Suarez has opened questions about the striking power of the Reds, in particular for a season where they will want to win the title after last season's "Almost". With the money from Suarez, Liverpool has been buying many players, most notably in Southampton. Rickie Lambert will be core in attack alongside Raheem Sterling, while Dejan Louvren is set to strengthen their defense. With the loss of Suarez, and having to incorporate new players, Liverpool may have less likelihood of being a title contender.
• Manchester United: There are big hopes for the new coach Louis Van Gaal, who has had so much success everywhere he goes. There have only been two new signing though: Ander Herrera from Athletic Bilbao and Luke Shaw from Southampton. Players for the future, sure, but not really the signings that would give needed reinforcements for the defense. While all hope that Van Gaal can motivate Wayne Rooney and Robie Van Persie, alongside Juan Mata and Danny Welbeck, the weaknesses will be in the void left by Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. Van Gaal and Manchester United will not be fighting for the title this season, but for a Champions League spot, and for building up a new team.
• Chelsea: One thing is sure about Jose Mourinho's Chelsea: David Luiz' departure for Paris St. Germain made them richer and better. Chelsea is a serious title contender. Mourinho has brought in some strong players to build on what he already has. Felipe Luis has joined from Atletico Madrid, a player who was one of the world's best last season (and Brazil sorely missed in the World Cup), and will be a force alongside Branislav Ivanovic in defense. Cesc Fabregas has also joined the side, and the striking force will be interesting for sure, with Diego Costa and Didier Drogba joining. Costa is a player that may have disappointed with Spain, but his style fits perfectly into what Mourinho wants from a striker. With Drogba, we see the legend return to Chelsea: many will see it as a publicity stunt, but last season Mourinho managed to squeeze some great goals out of Samuel Eto'o. And that is a gift to all football fans.
• Tottenham: Another new manager with Mauricio Pochettino. He remains a young manager who has never won anything, but he impressed the entire football world with what he did with Southampton last season, playing high pressure football and making a bunch of young promising players flourish.  He will need the same qualities to motivate players who disappointed last season: Erik Lamela, Naser Chadli, Roberto Soldado, Emanuel Adebayor Paulinho and Mousa Dembele (Christian Eriksen was the only non-disappointment). It is certainly a promising side, but Pochettino is also still looking to reinforce it further with perhaps another striker (Jay Rodriguez seems to be in the pipeline). Be sure that Tottenham will be one of the most interesting teams to watch.
• Everton: Everton finished fifth last season, and coach Jose Martinez has managed to keep on to his squad, most notably Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku, who completed his transfer from Chelsea. Both are young players who could have chose any clubs, but the fact that Everton managed to keep them points to the ambition to build up a stronger side that will qualify to the Champions League. Th
• Stoke: I must admit that I know next to nothing about Stoke. However, one of the great things about the Premier League is that teams that are largely unknown can beat great sides, and that these small teams also have the capacity to buy great players. Bojan, the young Barcelona star that was hailed as one of the greatest a few years ago (at the tender age of 23 he has won two Champions League titles), is set to try to revive his career in Stoke.

Let a great Premier League season begin!

The Fantas-Tico warriors are out

Nobody expected Costa Rica to get this close to a semifinal. It took penalty kicks for the Dutch to defeat the Ticos, who held on to 0-0 with hard fight and commitment. No teams have fought their hearts out like the Ticos. If teams like Spain, England or even Argentina fought just a fraction of what the Ticos do, they would be title contenders.

That said, Netherlands deserved to be in the semifinal from a purely football perspective. While Arjen Robben's antics and diving may be disgusting, he creates a lot, and is proving one of the best of the tournament. And this has nothing to do with him being dislikeable. Many people do unfortunately not distinguish.

At one point Costa Rica only had the great Keylor Navas and luck to not get behind in the face of Dutch attacks. At the same time the Dutch attack was poor in the sense that they did not know the off- side rule (the Netherlands has never in their World Cup history had so many off-sides called). Also the defense looked quite ordinary in the face of the few Costa Rican attacks.

Louis Van Gaal is perhaps one of the tactical geniuses of the tournament; he is surely a genius compared to Alejandro Sabella, whose only tactical order is "pass it to Messi". That is why the Netherlands are huge favorites against Argentina. On the other hands the Dutch have shown defensive vulnerabilities which a great team could exploit. 

But could Messi do that? (and the reason I don't mention any of the other Argentina players is because they could only if they fought like Costa Ricans, but they seem totally unable to do that).

But Costa Rica is out. No matter what, this tournament will be remembered for Costa Rica. The World Champions of Spirit, Commitment and Sportsmanship. 

And that is the only real World Champion. 

The foretold fall from grace

All great teams fall from grace. Some people did not believe it would happen to Spain, but it had to. Perhaps the greatest surprise was that it would happen in such a way that it happened, getting hammered 1-5 by the Netherlands, whose revenge for the defeat in the 2010 final could not have been sweeter.

But looking at Spain's defense it was perhaps not so surprising. We have to admit that while Pique, Ramos and Albiol are good players, none of them are certainly not world class players. The genius of Spain's defense in 2008, 2010 and 2012 was Carles Puyol. Without him they are barely strong enough to withstand world class players. Teams like Brazil and Argentina must have been watching with delight. Pique and Ramos' weaknesses were particularly exposed in Robben's goals, where they proved to be slow and in wrong position. 

When the best goalkeeper in the world fails, it is a recipe for disaster, and that is what happened. He may not be at his best, and this is surely a cold shower, but Casillas has been the best goalkeeper in the world.

With the weak defense the Dutch team under Van Gaal did the right thing against the by-now predictable tiki taka. High pressure on the Spanish midfield and strike quickly. By the third goal (which was a free kick to Casillas) what happened to Spain was what happens to all great sides that have not faced adversity before: they fall apart. This included Del Bosque's changes, which seemed more of desperation than any tactical calculation.

Van Gaal again proved to be a genius, and Manchester United fans must be delighted at what lies ahead.

Of course the World Cup is not over for Spain, despite this heavy blow (never before has a World Champions been trounced this way). In 2010 they also opened with a defeat to Switzerland. But back then the problem lay in bad luck and underestimation, and that match proved to be crucial. I am not sure this match will be the same; there are structural weaknesses in an ageing side (Koke is the youngest player in the squad at 22). The match against Chile will be excellent. The Chileans will try to capitalize on the obvious Spanish weaknesses, while Spain needs to show that the 1-5 was a fluke.

I only watched first half of the match before I had to board a plane. I have watched second half online now, and will now be fully dedicated to the World Cup!

The strong man who will lift Manchester United

It has been confirmed that Louis Van Gaal will be Manchester United manager next season, after he has taken the Netherlands to the World Cup. Mr. Van Gaal is a controversial but highly successful coach. With Ajax Amsterdam in the mid-1990s he won everything, including the Champions League. He was then in FC Barcelona where he won the league and the cup, but left amid controversy with players and in particular the media, who hated his strict personality. Mr. Van Gaal then went to the Dutch national team, and incredibly, returned to Barcelona for a short stint, but was quickly fired, and in 2004 returned to Ajax Amsterdam, only to resign.
In 2005 Mr. Van Gaal went to AZ Alkmaar, where he won a title, before going to Bayern Munich in 2009, winning everything and the title of best manager in 2010. It was never clear why he left, but in 2012 he returned as Netherlands manager.
Mr. Van Gaal is a strict coach, almost fearful. There is not much place for humour, but a no-nonsense approach, where the he prioritizes the offensive and technical qualities of the side. This will be good for Manchester United, who also in Alex Ferguson had a disciplinarian. On the other hand, Mr. Van Gaal has clashed with fans and management in other clubs when he is criticized. He may face criticism at some point in Manchester United, but will surely face it with a more stiff face than the soft David Moyes. In the end that is what Manchester United may need: a strong man.

Great Bayern Munich, disappointing Olympique Lyon

With three goals the Croatian and Bayern striker Ivica Olic was crucial in giving an excellent Bayern Munich team the spot in this season's Champions League final in Madrid. Still, he was not the only star in the victory: the German side was far superior to an Olympique side that seemed nervous and overwhelmed by the importance of the match.

A lot of people are saying that the Barcelona-Inter match tomorrow is the real final, as if Bayern Munich didn't matter. However, nothing could be more dangerous than underestimating the German side that has been growing the entire tournament under the coaching of Louis Van Gaal. Surely, no matter which team they will face in the final, they will be aiming for the title, and will have a good chance to win it!