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!

Football lazy Saturday

While I was in Venezuela I did not play football once. It was therefore great when I joined a group of guys to play football yesterday evening. But figures that after four years without playing, I pulled a muscle. Today I have been taking care of my injury, on a rainy day that has not invited to go out either. So it has been a day entirely devoted to football: I woke up to hear the BBC World Football Phone-In on podcast, before watching the opening match of the Premier League, where Liverpool defeated Stoke 1-0.
The following match was between Arsenal and Aston Villa. The Gunners started well, but the referee did not favour Arsenal: the first penalty he gave Aston Villa was ok, but the second was a complete giveaway. Aston Villa's star, Christian Benteke scored on both (for the first penalty he was lucky). With a harsh red card to Laurent Koscielny, Arsenal seemed broken, and Antonio Luna's third for Aston Villa happened in the face of a broken Arsenal defense.
Arsenal will not be champion, but todays match was a special in their lack of luck and a lousy referee.
The third match I watched was Swansea-Manchester United. The most impressive in this match was Manchester United's strong attacking pair, Danny Welbeck and Robin Van Persie. With two goals each they broke down a Swansea side that was not playing badly, and for who Wilfried Bony at least scored a goal. But Manchester United seemed very dangerous, and a well-playing Antonio Valencia also contributed to the victory. David Moyes could impossibly have had a better start!
It is now evening in the laziest day of the year, and I will probably watch yet another match.

The Carlos Tevez show

It is hard as a football fan not to like Carlos Tevez: a small, nice guy from one of the poorest and harshest neighbourhoods, who had a harsh upbringing, but fought against it to become an outstanding footballer. He is a great striker, and his constant fighting for the team, running, tackling, and taking responsibility upon his shoulders, has made him loved in every single place he has played. In all his clubs, from Corinthians, West Ham, Manchester United, and Manchester City now, he has become a hugely important captain, who has carried them to one of their first title for many years, the FA Cup final victory against Stoke recently.
But at the same time this great player is also a moaner, who creates a difficult atmosphere in every team: he has left clubs suddenly, after talking with the press about how unhappy he is, something that is also starting now in Manchester City, where rumours about his leaving for Boca Juniors have started to abound.
It is perhaps because of his upbringing and strong Argentinean mentality, but it is obvious that while he plays extraordinarily, he is not comfortable in England, and it has been said that he is there so that his daughter can get all the things he never had, something you can only sympathise with as a person, but is more difficult to swallow as a fan of one of the teams where you constantly hear him complaining.

There is no doubt Mr. Tevez would feel more comfortable in Argentina, but even in a country where a player like him is adored, he creates controversy. In the national team he has never performed really well, but he was a favourite of ex-coach Diego Maradona, who insisted on using him for the World Cup, sacrificing the mid-field general Juán Sebastián Verón with dire consequences against the dangeous German team during the 2010 World Cup quarterfinal.
Still, such an extraordinary player is difficult to keep out from the team, but that is exactly what Argentinean coach Sergia Batista seems poised on doing in spite of strong criticism from many sides, not least Mr. Maradona. But it does seem that if Argentina is to being the best out of Messi, Mr. Tevez does not fit into the neo-Barcelona style that Mr. Batista wants to implement and try out in the coming Copa América in Argentina.
Any fan will be disappointed not to be able to see such a player as Mr. Tevez, but at the same time, it is a question of the balance of the team which is the most important, and less so the qualities of independent players. And in that regard, keeping Mr. Tevez out may be the least bad option.