Football rumours of coaches are plenty these days, but apparently some things are clear: Sven Göran Eriksson is out of Manchester City and will apparently turn to coach the Mexican national team. Surely pressure will be less than when he coached England!
And finally José Mourinho will be returning to the football world: the arrogant Portuguese is probably the best coach in the world, and an already strong Inter Milan side will be even more frightening with him as coach.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
EURO 2008 predictions
The EURO 2008 is starting on Saturday with two matches in group A: the hosts of Switzerland are facing the unpredictable Czechs, while the favourites of Portugal are facing Turkey.
With a lot of exciting football matches ahead it is time to make my predictions of the tournament (where I am, to be honest, usually pathetically wrong...):
With a lot of exciting football matches ahead it is time to make my predictions of the tournament (where I am, to be honest, usually pathetically wrong...):
- Group A: A strong defense and home support will bring the Swiss to the top of the group, with Portugal just behind (the two teams will share points in the last game of the group).
- Group B: The Croatians have a young and talented team, and is ready to repeat what they did in 1998: they will defeat a German team which I believe will disappoint for its third EURO in a row. Croatia will win the group, ahead of Austria, which without a strong team will take advantage of playing at home.
- Group C: This is the "group of death", and is thus the hardest to predict; I am certain we will see some close matches. The Romanians are an exciting young team, but they won't prevail. Instead, I believe the Netherlands will win the group, taking advantage of what i believe will be a tuff last repeat of the 2006 World Cup Final, but where the French will prevail ahead of the Italians, to take the second spot in the group.
- Group D: This group is also hard to predict, but I believe the Russians will surprise by winning the group. Spain will largely disappoint, as usual, but will squeeze past the Swedes to take second place in the group. The Greeks will lose their 2004 title.
With these predictions on the first round, we are looking at the following quarterfinals (I will not make any further predictions here):
- Switzerland-Austria: The co-hosts clashing!
- Croatia-Portugal: Surely to be an utterly intense match!
- Netherlands-Spain: Can Spain do it?
- Russia-France: The surprising Russians against the dangerous French.
According to this, we could plausibly be looking at a final between Russia/France/Netherlands and Portugal/Switzerland.
In the Facebook UEFA Euro 2008 predictor (I have before written about the football applications on Facebook) the most predicted team for champion is Spain, closely followed by Portugal. Although one can seldomly count on history alone, this is interesting: Spain often go in as favourites, but besides their victory in 1964, they usually disappoint. I don't believe their team this time is particularly stronger than previously - who knows...? Maybe that is why they could make it...
The teams mostly picked as runner-ups are Germany and Italy, and this shows that people are perhaps hoping/expecting to see a new winner, in spite of one of the big powers who usually win. Neither Italy nor Germany have done well in the last couple of European Championships, and although one should never-say-never with these super-teams, I don't believe that they will do well this time either.
In any case, I have been wrong before, and the greatest fun is to discuss it over beer and watch some great games, as well as taunt our fellow Europeans!
Sunday, June 01, 2008
The Empty Chairs
I was just going through some old pictures and came by an old picture of "The Empty Chairs", a 7-side team I played on at the European Commission while doing the so-called "Stage" there in 2001-2002:
It was great fun, we were a great an charming side, but didn't make it beyond the first round, because the games were usually on a Sunday, after massive amounts of beer warmed us up on Satruday evening.
Still, I believe we are the best team not to win a tournament since Hungary in 1954 or Brazil in 1982.
Cheers for the old days!!
Michael Laudrup to Panathinaikos?
Michael Laudrup has always been one of my favourite players, and as coach, first in Brøndby and then in Getafe, he has also proved a highly qualified football personality.
Since announcing his leaving of Getafe a few weeks ago, there has been widespread speculation of where he would be coaching, and he has on-off been connected to Benfica, Sevilla and FC Barcelona. I have no idea how serious these rumours have been, but now it seems confirmed that Mr. Laudrup will be going to the Greek club, Panathinaikos, replacing the Portuguese José Peseiro.
While I think many fans would have liked to see Mr. Laudrup in one of the bigger clubs in Spain or England, Panathinaikos will no doubt be a challenge: the Greek fans are passionate, and there is great competition in the league which for the last four seasons have been won by Olympiacos (must be mentioned that the Greek league has been a pretty one-sided affair since 1997: Olympiacos has won every year, with the exception of 2004, when Panathinaikos won their last title).
There is no doubt that Mr. Laudrup will be under pressure to bring Panathinaikos back to the title, and that will be a challenge I wish him the best of luck with!
Since announcing his leaving of Getafe a few weeks ago, there has been widespread speculation of where he would be coaching, and he has on-off been connected to Benfica, Sevilla and FC Barcelona. I have no idea how serious these rumours have been, but now it seems confirmed that Mr. Laudrup will be going to the Greek club, Panathinaikos, replacing the Portuguese José Peseiro.
While I think many fans would have liked to see Mr. Laudrup in one of the bigger clubs in Spain or England, Panathinaikos will no doubt be a challenge: the Greek fans are passionate, and there is great competition in the league which for the last four seasons have been won by Olympiacos (must be mentioned that the Greek league has been a pretty one-sided affair since 1997: Olympiacos has won every year, with the exception of 2004, when Panathinaikos won their last title).
There is no doubt that Mr. Laudrup will be under pressure to bring Panathinaikos back to the title, and that will be a challenge I wish him the best of luck with!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
"Foreigners" in football clubs
FIFA has decided to set a limit on the number of foreign players in national club sides. The proposed rule is a so-called 6+5 rule, where national club sides will be obliged to line up at least 6 players eligible to play on the national team of the said country (the rule is to start by the year 2012).
With this, FIFA and Mr. Sepp Blatter have shown an extraordinary disregard of the forces of globalisation and the free movement of labour in the EU (no matter how one views the EU, the free movement of labour is one of its great achievements). But more worryingly, as a football fan, they show disregard for the quality of football which they say they are there to protect.
It is comforting that policy makers, in particular in the European Parliament, are already saying that FIFA should not expect any special treatment: citizens with the correct work permit should not be hindered from working in another member state. And this touches upon the fundamental rights of people, and football should have no exemption!
Also, the clubs are also echoing their worries to the new FIFA rule, not only in terms of its obvious illegality, but also in terms of footballing: it is obvious that many clubs, like Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, FC Barcelona, etc. - all big teams in the Champions League (as well as many teams in countries not even participating in the CL!), will have to completely re-set their teams.
And will this be good for football quality...?
With the advent of the Champions League we have seen some of the best and most competitive football ever. It is sad indeed, often, that clubs/teams/players are dominated by the desire to make money, instead of fighting for their clubs (notable examples abound though; note Mr. John Terry, a classical example of a Chelsea player by heart), but perhaps we should consider that the good old-fashioned days are gone, and that we cannot legislate ourselves back in time.
The many foreigners (be they Europeans, outsiders with European citizenship, or African/South American/Asians) in European clubs have greatly improved the quality of the game and the teams. I also believe it has pushed local players to be better, to improve themselves, because of the improved competitiveness.
And if the youth-training in some countries has not followed on this, that is where the problem lies, and not in the number of foreigners in the big teams!
As in many other things, globalisation is here to stay, and FIFA seems set on fighting it, with the consequence that football quality will deteriorate.
With this, FIFA and Mr. Sepp Blatter have shown an extraordinary disregard of the forces of globalisation and the free movement of labour in the EU (no matter how one views the EU, the free movement of labour is one of its great achievements). But more worryingly, as a football fan, they show disregard for the quality of football which they say they are there to protect.
It is comforting that policy makers, in particular in the European Parliament, are already saying that FIFA should not expect any special treatment: citizens with the correct work permit should not be hindered from working in another member state. And this touches upon the fundamental rights of people, and football should have no exemption!
Also, the clubs are also echoing their worries to the new FIFA rule, not only in terms of its obvious illegality, but also in terms of footballing: it is obvious that many clubs, like Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, FC Barcelona, etc. - all big teams in the Champions League (as well as many teams in countries not even participating in the CL!), will have to completely re-set their teams.
And will this be good for football quality...?
With the advent of the Champions League we have seen some of the best and most competitive football ever. It is sad indeed, often, that clubs/teams/players are dominated by the desire to make money, instead of fighting for their clubs (notable examples abound though; note Mr. John Terry, a classical example of a Chelsea player by heart), but perhaps we should consider that the good old-fashioned days are gone, and that we cannot legislate ourselves back in time.
The many foreigners (be they Europeans, outsiders with European citizenship, or African/South American/Asians) in European clubs have greatly improved the quality of the game and the teams. I also believe it has pushed local players to be better, to improve themselves, because of the improved competitiveness.
And if the youth-training in some countries has not followed on this, that is where the problem lies, and not in the number of foreigners in the big teams!
As in many other things, globalisation is here to stay, and FIFA seems set on fighting it, with the consequence that football quality will deteriorate.
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