England – Page 2 – Football 011

The stage is set for the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final…well, almost

Champions League Final will be held on May 19, 2012 in Munich, Germany on Allianz Arena (home field of one of the finalists by the way). We now know that the 2012 UEFA Champions League finalists are Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

Each of the teams have advanced to the final in slightly different fashions. Chelsea, with a lot of heart, textbook team defense (remember, defense wins championships) collective tireless effort and a bit of luck which was certainly needed to beat the raining champions and arguably the best team in the world, Barcelona. Bayern on the other hand, simply played better football and as such has advanced past Mourinho’s Real Madrid.

Now onto the part that bothers me and makes this final less than ideal. Due to archaic and nonsensical yellow cards rule both clubs will have players missing due to suspensions. Bayern will be missing David Alaba, Holger Badstuber and Luiz Gustavo, while Chelsea will be without Branislav Ivanović, Raul Meireles, Ramires and John Terry. I among many others urge UEFA to change this rule and change it now (don’t wait until next year). Finals are considered “holidays of football” and as such millions of fans across the world deserve to see two BEST teams play with their BEST players. This should pertain to all of those players except John Terry whose idiotic, self-centered move nearly cost his team the final – for him I have no sympathy. Then again, who knows, he could have “helped” his team by not playing.

Either way, I’m looking forward to the final, one that will be won by Chelsea (2:1).

And the FA Cup 2012 finalists are…

FA Cup 2012 Semi-finals Cup competitions are generally known to surprise and enable less known teams to advance and win some trophies. However, this is not the case in England this season. This year’s finalists are two big clubs, Chelsea and Liverpool.
Could this be the only trophy Chelsea wins this year as they have no shot in the English Premier League (EPL) and defeating Barcelona in the Champions League will be very difficult.

Beckham going back to England?

Beckham doing what he does best - free kicks

Beckham going back to England? According to Tony Fernandes, the owner of Queens Park Rangers, that is certainly a possibility. At least that’s what he hinted on his twitter account. How realistic is this move considering Beck’s LA Galaxy contract and his age, remains to be seen.

On the other hand, I believe that he is one of the fittest athletes in the world and that he could play in the starting eleven for at least half of the English Premier League (EPL) clubs. At this point in his career I doubt that money is the driving force and can’t imagine him “wasting” the last couple of years of potentially great performances in Major League Soccer (MLS).

Offense sells tickets, defense wins championships

6‘ 6″ German international Per Mertesacker will continue his career in Arsenal. He arrived in London earlier today for medical exams and is expected to sign by Thursday and make his debut as early as September 10th against Swansea City.
Werder Bremen is expected to get £10,000,000 while Mertesacker’s annual salary should be £4,700,000. Arsène Wenger is also bringing a Brazilian left-back André Santos for a reported £6,000,000 from Fenerbahce.

Arsenal needs new players, mainly no-nonsense defenders considering they got creamed 8:2 by Manchester United and that’s clearly what Wenger has in mind as well. Oh and since ticket sales actually do matter, they also signed Chu Young Park.

English Premier League – Week 3 of the 2012 season

English Premier League continues full steam ahead and provides great games week after week. Today, I will focus on the top two.

Tottenham Hotspur – Manchester City (1:5) – not really much to say here other than once again, Man City is the team to keep an eye on, they will surprise many larger teams (their town neighbors), last season’s Champions League winners and few more. Also, Edin Džeko is firing on all cylinders, 4 goals today and 7 so far this season, simply amazing. He looks like he’s having fun and enjoying the game which (unlike last season) makes it look much easier.

Manchester United – Arsenal (8:2) – not much left to say, but Man Utd is going for their 20th title

Manchester United and Manchester City are the two dominant teams thus far. Chelsea is slowly waking up, but so far they have been more lucky than good.

Didier Drogba got knocked out

Earlier today Didier Drogba got knocked out during the game between Chelsea and Norwich City (3:1) and at first this collision with the opposing goalkeeper looked very bad. Slow motion shows him motionless mid air, right after the collision then bouncing off the ground. After a hospital visit, the diagnosis is a slight concussion, without any neck/spinal cord injuries as first feared.

He’s a great player and I wish him all the best. It’s always hard seeing someone getting KO’ed on a football pitch.

Stefan Savić matches Manchester City colors

First impression if often the most important one. As we can see, Stefan Savić another recent acquisition of Roberto Mancini from Partizan Belgrade is well aware of that and he’s taking no chances in selecting the color of his new ride. Unlike some of his predecessors who made mistakes of driving red cars (in case you didn’t know there’s another football club in Manchester whose color is red 😉 ) Stefan decided to go with blue, the color of his new club. Selecting the make of the car was a bit more difficult, but he settled on a Bentley Continental. Price? A bargain for a Man City footballer at a range of €150,000 to €200,000.

All nonsense aside, Stefan is a great central defender, very young and will undoubtedly truly earn his place in Man City and I have no doubts that he will become a fan favorite.

Samir Nasri signs for Manchester City

Samir Nasri signs for Manchester City for a reported £22,000,000 transfer fee. Nasri was recently offered a £90,000 per week contract to stay at Arsenal which he turned down, so it’s expected that he’s salary will nearly double at Manchester City.

Considering he joined Arsenal in 2008 for £15,800,000 from the financial standpoint it looks like Arsène Wenger profited and made a good decision. On the other hand, having lost both of his main midfielders, Fabregas and now Nasri could Arsenal really afford not to spend? In tough economic times (for most at least) not spending money on lavish and newsworthy transfers has been his M.O., but could he continue to do and still expect to win the ever elusive title? I don’t think so. As a matter of fact, watching them lose to Liverpool at home three days ago made me believe that it is time for Wenger to leave. He’s been at Arsenal for 15 years now and while he probably believes he could, not everybody can deliver like Sir Alex Ferguson and leave a winning legacy (Ferguson joined Manchester United when they had 7 titles, last season they won their 19th!). If Arsenal (read: Arsène Wenger) doesn’t bring in at least one great player at each of the lines (defense, midfield, attack) they have nothing to look forward to this season.

I know it’s still too early to make predictions, but Manchester United looks sharp and ready; Manchester City is not too far behind (even though they will need to sell some players soon); Liverpool hasn’t been impressive but even so they beat Arsenal 0:2; Bolton Wanderers’ have been a real breath of fresh air so far and the list goes on. In short, unless they invest Arsenal will not finish this season in the top third come May of 2012. Mark my words!

Emmanuel Adebayor on loan to Tottenham

It’s tough to find your place in starting 11 of Manchester City these days. This becomes even more difficult for a forward whose direct competitors are likes of Tevez, Džeko, Aguero and Balotelli which is why Emmanuel Adebayor will not be returning from his loan to Real Madrid.

He’s actually expected to join Tottenham this week on another loan and make his debut against Manchester United on Monday night. I’ve mentioned Robbie Keane leaving to LA Galaxy which is probably why Harry Redknapp decided to strengthen his attack with Adebayor.

Rumors on the deal are that Man City will pay half of the £170,000 per week wages for the duration of the loan, with Spurs having the option of buying Adebayor for £12 million at the end of the season. Tottenham will also pay a loan fee to Man City which is believed to be at least £2 million.

Now, let me take a minute to share my impressions of Adebayor who is undoubtedly a player for some of the top clubs. He played well in Arsenal, but left it for money and hopes that he will become a part of this “dream team” sponsored by the new Manchester City owners which quickly proved not to be the case. He didn’t provide enough value when compared to his other attacking colleagues so he was sent to Real Madrid. There he didn’t “obey” José Mourinho‘s TEAM/RESULT FIRST mentality and is now let go to join another team, most likely Tottenam.

He’s been searching for his rightful place on a team ever since he left Arsenal and I think that this it’s time to seize this opportunity and prove that he’s not just a big, physical guy upfront, but that he can actually contribute to his new team, score goals and provide assists. Let’s hope he has a great season, as I believe that he truly deserves it.

On the other hand, this move could spark another transfer, that of Peter Crouch to Stoke City, but it’s way too early to even speculate on that just yet. Other transfers in and out of Spurs are also quite possible which could include Defoe and Pavyluchenko on one side with Odemwingie, Rossi and Falcao on the other.

Things are heating up in European leagues and this will certainly be another great year for football.

English Premier League – Week 1 of the 2012 season

The best football league in the world has began their new season. English Premier League (EPL) or Barclays Premier League (as its been known for last 20 years) has been entertaining fans all around the world for decades with a physical no-nonsense approach to the sport which they (English) have also invented.

Having shared my affinities towards EPL up front it’s time to provide a brief review of some the games which took place this weekend.

First game first, Liverpool played a great first half then all of a sudden they went back to their play of season 2011, without ideas in the final third of the pitch, without creativity or attacking force.

Arsenal wasn’t impressive at all and now with losing both Fabregas to Barcelona and Nasri to Manchester City, Arsène Wenger better do something, QUICK! If he chooses not to then maybe Arsenal owners could finally send that long overdue “good bye” letter to Mr. Wenger. Arsenal is a club with too much history and fan base not to win anything for the seventh year straight.

Manchester United players are not clicking just yet, which can be attributed to a ton of traveling and games they have played over the past month or so (including their USA tour). It is important to note that both Vidic and Ferdinand ended their first game of the season early due to injuries which could be a massive problem if their stay off the pitch becomes prolonged. On the other hand, Manchester United can never be counted out as they have showed time and time again that they fight until the end and often score in the final minutes of the game. Also, their luck is nothing to discount considering today’s Ashley Young’s lucky double deflection to guide the ball in against West Brom for their 82nd minute winner.

Still waiting to see Manchester City play tomorrow against Swansea City, the team which has been spending money as if they own their private mint, with nothing to show for it. Has Roberto Mancini (who I really respect from his Inter Milan) days gotten into something he can’t sort out?

Last team which could make a difference in this year’s title run is Chelsea of course, and their first game of the season is scheduled for…today!? What! I missed that match completely, I guess I will need to look it up and see how they played, but considering the scoreless draw it looks like they are not completely aligned just yet. I expect them to do much better than last season.

Tottenham, Aston Villa, Stoke City and a few others could also throw their bids in for this seasons title or at least placement into the top third of the table to ensure Champions League or Europa League qualifiers which guarantees great football.

In summary, it is very early to judge teams’ true strength, but everything points towards another interesting season of the Premier League.

UPDATE on August 15, 2011 @ 8:58 pm: Finally watched Manchester City vs. Swansea City 4:0 (0:0) and must say that Man City will definitely be one of the teams fighting for the title. They started a bit slow (first 20 minutes or so) and then they took control of the game completely. Final score of 4:0 could have been even higher if the wasn’t for the woodwork and several great saves by Swansea’s goalkeeper. It’s too early to call, but Manchester City looked sharp.