Can the Best League in the World win the 2010 World Cup?

Surely now when I say the best league in the world, most people will straightaway refer to none other than the Barclays Premier League (or more widely known as English Premier League). Yes, the English League. They have come a long way from European minnows (among the major football league) to ultimate conqueror of Europe's Premier Club Competition- UEFA Champions League. Last season's all English final is the ultimate evidence to cast away any doubts or doubters that- Barclays Premier League is the best league in the world right now!

To add the icing on the cake, Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo was named UEFA's European Club Footballer of the Year, and also the Forward of the Year, while John Terry, Frank Lampard and Peter Cech made up the BPL dominations in the Defender, Midfielder and Goalkeeper of the Year. So, now the question is, can the best league in the world win the World Cup 2010 in South Africa?

The implication of being the best league, is the foreign influx of players. Now, players-and also investors all around the world set their sight on coming to BPL. While more big money investors in the BPL will certainly raise the standard of the league further, the group of talented English footballers for the national team has certainly become an issue.

While Theo Walcott- the lastest young prodigy to set the world alight- hattrick may have cover up the national team's attacking prowess, but any right-minded can sensed a lack of talent when the squad include Emile Heskey, who is way passed his best years.

Besides, the goalkeeping department doesn't look good as well with Paul Robinson (who is not playing at his best) sitting on the bench, while David James (not the most steady of hands) started the game.

So now we know the problem, but what is the solution, or where is the potential talents that may be able to replace them. The bigger problem is, there are none, or they are not given the chance to show them. Why?Because in the best league in the world, the players must also be the best around. So no time for nurturing! One of the example is Glen Johnson, who moved to Portsmouth from Chelsea to play first team football. Who can blame Chelsea for not giving him more chance to play, when they have other complete-article players at their disposal?

The trend now and here-to-stay is there will be more players from outside the big four to join the England squad, and these teams actually provide the only hope for Capello if he is to steer England to glory. And if the Big Four expand to Big Five, then there will be a team less to produce talents for England, as they will be too busy buying the best players in the world to the best league in the world!

And in another 1 year plus, we will see whether the best league in the world can win the World Cup!

Dramatic end to transfer window!

I was stunned when I checked out soccernet for the last minute transfer deals before the transfer window close. Robinho leaves Real, and surprise surprise, not to Chelsea, but to Manchester City! WTF?! Manchester City? I thought Thaksin is having all kinds of trouble, and Bangkok in emergency rule partly because of him, yet he can outwits the mighty Russian owned Chelsea in transfer market?! Incredible!

The 32.5 million is definitely higher than the Chelsea's reportedly offer of 28 million. Even if Real accepted the offer, why the hell Robinho will want to play in the UEFA Cup? Manchester City offer more (in terms of transfer fee) for Ronaldinho as well, yet Ronaldinho rejected them. What is he thinking?

I finally understand when I read that Thaksin is selling his stakes to Abu Dhabi United Group. With all these Arab money, City not only can afford the transfer fee, but also huge weekly salary that should be tempting to a young lad. Besides Robinho, City also bought in quite a number of reinforcement during this transfer window. They are Gláuber Berti from FC Nuremburg, Pablo Zabaleta from Espanyol, Shaun Wright-Phillips from Chelsea, Vincent Kompany from Hamburg SV, and Tal Ben Haim from Chelsea.

Though some of the signings are still unknown quantity, Manchester City should be a team to watch this season.

Tottenham also had a busy last day, with Dimitar Berbatov leaving to Manchester United for 30.75 million, while Roman Pavlyuchenko and Vedran Corluka join from Spartak Moscow and Manchester City respectively. These deals certainly solved the attacking options for both Spurs and Man Utd, as both will now have 3 strikers to sustain the whole season. Spurs won a psychological battle against Man Utd in the transfer market by not compromising the transfer fee, and also successfully completed two deals of their own in time to finally put the transfer saga behind. This is really a win-win situation where both teams get reinforcement, while Berbatov's wish to play for Manchester United is granted.

And we will be seeing the last of the tireless Andriy Voronin, who was loaned to Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga

The transfer dispute of 2008/2009 season

With the transfer window closing today, there has been many switches of players between clubs, league involving all kinds if nationalities for the past 2-3 months. Though there are many big names transfer that are already completed, some transfers are still in dispute or ended after months of speculating. And the most notable one are the 3 cases stated below:

Cristiano Ronaldo
Manchester United has shown their authority over player power as they successfully keep CR, even though CR had expressed his desire to move to Real Madrid, and even suggested that he is made a slave. This remark seriously infuriated a number of people (including me), as this remark is seriously crazy and offending. If a 100k per week bloke is a slave, then what do you call those on a few k per month? It was your decision to extend your contract with MU, and you will have to be responsible for it. If you really so desperate to leave for "the club you supported since kid", then don't extend your contract, and leave on free when your contract expire.

Dimitar Berbatov
Berbatov has been a hit with the Spurs fan, as he score goals for fun in the past few season for Spurs. But now, as he had expressed his wish to joined MU, the Spurs chairman to let him rotted in the reserve instead of selling him to MU for a lower price. In this case, no one is at fault, really.

Berbatov wants to play in Champions League, that's why he choose to leave. But when his wish is not granted due to different valuation of him by MU and Spurs, his morale and performance drop, and affected the spirit of the team.

Spurs is selling their best player to a BPL rival, so surely they will sell at a premium. Besides, they will be more than happy to keep Berbatov if MU can't match their price.

MU is unwilling to match the selling price set by Spurs, so they are unwilling to proceed.

If a deal cannot be completed before the transfer window close, hopefully Berbatov will leave the saga behind, and focus on helping Spurs to achieve greater success. Berbatov, at his best is a joy to watch, and also, prove a point to MU that he is worth every penny of the 30 million they are unwilling to pay.

Gareth Barry
Barry has shown that he is truly professional player. During the long transfer saga (which just ended with him staying put at Villa), he proved that he is not affected, and continue to perform at his best for Villa. His performance during the 1st BPL game is impressive, and if he can keep on playing at his best, his wish to move to Liverpool will still happened when they have the money and make him their 1st priority.

Soccernet title: Blues flop Shevchenko moves back to Milan

Is this a track record of a flop? You rate it yourself! But to me, the record is respectable, considering the injuries and the sudden change of style of football. People maybe saying that for 30 millions, Chelsea deserve better reward, but as in any investment, there is always risk that things may not go as planned, and this is one of the case. I do admit that at times, when he was given the chance to prove himself, he did not take it as well as he is capable. His performance is slightly worse than Hernan Crespo (which is also considered a flop, but if anyone just look at his record, I believe he is such a superb striker!)

And I believe, no one will disagree that Sheva is a top professional, never complained to the media during this tough period in Chelsea. He works his socks up, and fight for a place in the Chelsea squad. In the Champions League semi final last season when he comes on as a substitute, he made a on the line clearance to ensure Chelsea made it to the final. That moment just showed how good a professional he is, and he is a roll model to the footballers around, who is getting arrogant and acted unprofessionally.

2006/2007: 13 goals in total
4 in the League, 3 in FA Cup, 3 in League Cup, 3 in Europe

Appearances:
30 in the league, 22 starts, 8 as sub
6 in FA Cup, 5 starts, 1 as sub
4 in League Cup, 4 starts
10 in Europe, 9 starts, 1 as sub

- Significant strike at White Hart Lane in an FA Cup replay.
- Hernia operation in the closing weeks of the 2006/07 season ruled him out of the FA Cup Final win at Wembley.
- Carling Cup winner, having played all Carling Cup matches except for the closing seconds of a 2-1 win over Arsenal in the final at Cardiff.

2007/2008: 8 goals, 5 in the league, 2 in League Cup, 1 in Europe

Appearances:
17 in the league, 8 starts, 9 as sub
1 in FA Cup, 0 starts, 1 as sub
2 in League Cup, 2 starts
5 in Europe, 2 starts, 3 as subs

- fitness problems keep him out of competitive action until mid-September 2007.
- in his second game back he scored the final goal of the José Mourinho era, in a home Champions League draw to Rosenborg.
- there followed by an outstanding strike in the Carling Cup against Leicester
- leading up to Christmas, he scored six important goals in ten appearances with Didier Drogba out injured
- back-related problems called a seven-week halt.
- never start a game in 2008
- made seven sub appearances and scored the final league goal of last season

Why Gareth Barry should not go to Liverpool

Recently Aston Villa's coach said that he had not hear from Liverpool for the transfer of Gareth Barry for some time. It seems like Liverpool has now cool down interest of Barry, or there has been rumour that Benitez must sell to fund this transfer. Now it seems likely that Barry is staying after all, but it has always being my view that Barry should not leave Villa.

1) England captaincy: Recently, Barry has been made captain of England. Though he is not likely to win the race, but if he leave for Liverpool, he had totally no hope of getting the captaincy, as Gerrard will surely be the captain for Liverpool. If Barry stays in Villa, he may still get the chance to captain England occasionally, or when the 1st few choices of England captain unavailable.

2) Risks of being a non-starter. At Villa, Barry is definitely the 1st few names in the starting lineup. But at Liverpool, he risks being a bit part player, and jeopardize his England career just when his England career just started.

3) Liverpool unwilling to pay the amount, despite Barry confronting Villa manager and force for a move: Well, some may say the price is too high. Yes, I agree Barry is not worth 18m, but it's not Villa's fault, instead, English footballers are simply over valued. If Crouch is worth 11m (as paid by Portsmouth), then relatively Barry is worth 18m, no doubt!

4) Liverpool's handling of the transfer saga: Liverpool should not stop negotiation and waste Villa's time, while they announced new signings one after another. This shows that Liverpool is not too eager to sign him after all. If you can't afford it, then just say no to Villa. It's not as if Villa is unwilling to sell, like the case of Cristiano Ronaldo. But if you want to buy your rival's player, surely you'll have to pay more! Have you not heard of the story of Berbatov?

Italy scrap through the Group of Death

Italy qualified to the quarter-finals of the Euro 2008 after beating France 2-0. This victory signified the return of luck to the team after some ill-fated decisions against them in earlier games, or maybe it's just that France is more unlucky.

France lost Frank Ribery through injury, and had Eric Abidal sent off in the first 30 minutes of the game. Eric Abidal replace captain Lilian Thuram in the center of defense, who are being criticised after the Dutch game. Veteran Thuram and Willy Sagnol are both out of the starting lineup. But Abidal made a mess of the game when he conceded the penalty and got himself sent off for being the last man. To be frank, Abidal should not be solely responsible, as I feel keeper Coupet could have come forward to clear up the mess.

The resulting penalty, converted by Pirlo is touch of class for the midfield maestro. Pirlo is having one of his best performance for Italy, and his contribution to the team can clearly match those in the run to World Cup 2006. In fact, he is now the key man for Italy, creating chances and making visionary passes to his teammates. I would certainly agree with Italian press, who named him as the player of the match instead of the officially named Daniele de Rossi. De Rossi performance is good, showing his brilliance a move which he moved past a few French defenders, but his overall contributions, to me, is far less than Pirlo, even though Pirlo was substituted early 2nd half.

With Luca Toni still firing blanks and looked increasingly frustrated, coupled with Pirlo suspension against Spain, the Azzurri's challenge don't look promising as they face the in-form Spain in the Quarterfinals.



Italy coach Roberto Donadoni said that despite the outside pressures after two successive poor results, a 3-0 defeat by the Dutch and a 1-1 draw with Romania, there had always been inner belief in the squad.

Scolari turned Blues

Luis Felipe Scolari is the man to lead Chelsea next season! The current Portugal coach has been instrumental in turning Portugal into a force to be reckoned in world football, and now he is turning to club football for challenge.

With him being announced as Chelsea's new manager, there are speculations linking him to Kaka, with their Brazilian connection and Chelsea's seems-unlimited source of money. Milan's technical director, Leonardo, the man behind Kaka's arrival in Milan, has said Kaka will not change team, and will be in Milan until his career end. While Milan do have the attraction of keeping players, with most of his players being at the team for years, and decades, Chelsea's assault on Kaka cannot be taken lightly.

As for Scolari, he is one coach that have the winning touch and the tactical wits. Not many people know he is the coach that lead Brazil to the 2002 World Cup Winner title, as most people have take it for granted that with Brazil's pool of talents, whoever coach the team can win. But this myth has faded with Brazil early exit in quater-finals to the unfancied France. As for Portugal, Scolari has turn them into real force, storming to the semi-final before being ousted also by the French. In Euro 2004, he lead Portugal to the final, before being defeated by another unfancy team, Greece.

He is a real character and cunning in his tactical approach. With his inclusion to the Barclays Premier League next season, there will surely be more out of the world comments between the top coaches.