First post on Soccerlens …
England out of Euro 2008
In the not to so distant past England finally seemed to be on the path to its best days of football. Two 3-0 nil victories at home, and Russia to face on the road. Expectations were high. But Guus Hiddink seemed to have not read the script and put ice cold water from Volga on the flaming manes of the English Lions. All was lost. Surely, a team that had grounded the mighty English would beat the poor Israeli’s. But over the last decade and a half, Israel has shown the world that talent and resources really do not count for too much if you have heart. And thus, England’s destiny was back in its own hands; draw with Croatia, the group leaders, and go merrily singing, dancing and drinking beer to Switzerland.
But on this fateful day, Mclaren had a fit of amnesia or something and promptly forgot that if Gerrard and Lampard played together they seem more like petulant children arguing about their playing positions rather than actually playing. The excellent Gareth Barry, who had combined brilliantly with Gerrard in the centre of the midfield in the last few matches, suddenly did not know where to pass. Of course, the flying wingers, ‘am-better-than-Becham-SWP and ‘can-play-on-the-left-Joe Cole did add to the mess, with the latter marginally better than the former. Which is not saying much! The defence ravaged by injuries and suspensions was playing together for the first time and if combined with the one-match old goal keeper seemed a recipe for leaking goals.Why England on their home ground would play 4-5-1 (or was it 4-3-3), I failed entirely to understand. Of course, Mclaren could illuminate us on that. Or maybe he will point to the fact that England scored 2 goals and that they gave away 3 was just bad luck due to defensive injuries.
England actually does have very decent players. None of their players are truly world class, in the league of a Kaka or Zidane (no, really no, Gerrard, Lampard & Rooney do not fall in the same category) but most of them are in the better-than-average category. What they needed is a coach who understands their strengths and designs his strategy on it. Football has gone well past the days when you put your best players on the pitch and expected that they deliver. One needs to have a plan and keep refining it over time. With players having limited period with the national team to train these strategies cannot be conjured overnight and perfected. Sadly, Mclaren never seemed to have one.
Hopefully, after this defeat we will see the hugely inflated egos of the English players shriveling as if they were dipped into liquid nitrogen or something and the reams of paper wasted on elucidating the talents of Lampard, Gerrard and co kept to a minimum. Thats really is not wishing for a lot, rather than something like England qualify for Euro 2008, is it?
Manchester United - The next season
Primary Squad
Goalkeepers: Edwin Van Der Sar, Ben Foster, Tomas Kuscack
Defenders: Gary Neville, Wes Brown, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Gerard Pique, Gabriel Heinze (??), Mikael Silvestre (??), Patrice Evra
Midfielders: Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves, Darren Fletcher (??), John O’Shea (??), Christiano Ronaldo, Nani, Anderson, Park Ji-Sung
Forwards: Wayne Rooney, Guiseppe Rossi, Alan Smith, Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer, Louis Saha
Formations
As in this season, I think SAF will work with the 4-4-2 or the 4-2-3-1 formations primarily. I see the later being utilized primarily in European competitions where retention of the ball is important in all areas of the pitch. Wide men in both formations will be switching flanks giving greater mobility to the side.
(Van Der Sar/Foster)
(Neville/Brown) (Ferdinand/Vidic/Pique/Brown/Heinze/Silvestre) (Heinze/Evra/Silvestre)
(Ronaldo/Nani/Park) (Carrick/Hargreaves/Fletcher/Scholes) (Giggs/Ronaldo/Anderson)
(Rooney/Rossi) (Smith/Saha/Ole)
(Van Der Sar/Foster)
(Neville/Brown) (Ferdinand/Vidic/Pique/Brown/Heinze/Silvestre) (Heinze/Evra/Silvestre)
(Hargreaves/Fletcher) (Scholes/Carrick)
(Ronaldo/Nani/Park) (Rooney/Anderson/Giggs) (Giggs/Ronaldo/Anderson)
(Rooney/Saha/Rossi)
The key decisions for SAF would not be the formations but the personnel employed primarily because certain players would not see themselves as mere squad players. I see 4 key areas:
1. Foster or Van Der Saar: Foster has had a outstanding season on loan. And Van Der Saar definitely looked slippery towards the later part in the season. Is Van Der Saar still the number one or is Foster capable enough to take over?
2. Anderson & Nani: Both of the new players were first team members in their old clubs. While they might have to still learn lots and adapt to the Premiership, they would not be content in sitting on the bench most of the time. Where and how to bring them in will decide how effective they are.
3. Giggs & Scholes: When to play them and when to rest them? If Nani and Anderson gel well with the team, does the superior experience of these guys merit them a place in the team. All the while considering that they probably don’t have the legs to play all matches in the entire season.
4. Hit-man: Rooney needs space to operate and is not an ideal hit man. How reliable is Saha? Or is Rossi capable enough to endure the physical nature of the Premiership?
Milan again :)
Two years earlier with a heavy heart I wrote this.
Today’s Champions League final between AC Milan and Liverpool was anything but like the 2005 one. And not only because it was Milan who finally won. But because in no point of the game did we see the classy Milan of 2005 who in the first half made Liverpool look like schoolboys (they did show some of that stuff against Man U though … and how I hated them for that) and because at no point did Liverpool look like a side that would snatch away victory because they wanted to. But then this is two years later.
The funny thing is that both teams started out (and continued through most of the match) as if they were playing the game a day after that fated day in May, 2005. Liverpool were wary of allowing Milan the space in middle to exploit and started out with three central midfielders in Xabi, Mascherano and Gerrard. Milan on the other hand seemed too busy looking over their shoulders if Liverpool were on the warpath like the last time. Like a chess match where both players expect the other to make the first bold move this became a cagey affair.
Pippo Inzaghi’s freakish half time goal seemed to have injected some fluidity into the match but with Gerrard probably cursing himself still for the most important miss of his career. If he he had put the ball past Dida, who knows what would have happened. What ultimately happened was that Super Pippo (Sir Alex once described him as “born offside”) latched onto a Kaka through ball before superbly rounding off the Reina and rolling the ball into the goal. As a result, Dirk Kuyt’s goal at the 88th minute remained only a consolation.
In 2005, I wrote:
The saddest part about the whole episode was that Paolo Maldini will probably not see another final to make up for this loss
How wrong was I and how glad am I that I was wrong. One of the true greats of the game, Maldini richly deserves his fifth European cup medal. And now that it is confirmed that he is staying for the next year, I will be wary of making similar conclusions again. But then probably this game showed why fans and pundits alike will always put a Zidane or a Maradona ahead of a Maldini in the lists of greatest ever.
Finally ManU!!!
The last three premier league seasons have been fairly painful for me as a ManU fan. Primarily because we did not even have a chance. It started off with that magical we-can’t-lose-ever season by Arsenal and was followed by the two don’t-you-even-dare-to-touch-the-title seasons by Chelsea under the special one. So it is no surprise that I am elated as a ManU fan that we won the title this year.
While the core of the side has remained more or less the same, the couple of new players Sir Alex got in the winter last year have proven their worth over this campaign. Nemanja Vidic was an absolute rock in the heart of the defense, while Patrice Evra grew ever more confident in defending the left side of the pitch as the season went on (to the extent that Heinze was reduced to a bit part player). And finally, Christiano Ronaldo, showed why some people were raving and ranting about him for the better part of the last three years. However, the most significant additions to the squad would probably be the introduction of Michael Carrick and the return of Paul Scholes. United’s midfield has been threadbare over the last few years. These two formed a partnership at the center of the park which allowed Ronaldo, Rooney and Giggs to showcase their attacking talents. Scholes this season is almost back to his best (though his tackling has not improved a wee bit) demonstrated by that cheeky lob for the second goal against Milan at OT. Carrick widely considered unworthy of the 18 million pounds tag has quietly and efficiently stamped his authority on the center of the pitch. Detractors say he is no Roy Keane - but then he brings different qualities to the pitch that are equally beneficial to the team. Thankfully, these two remained fit for most of the season.
However, I have to say also that we have been extremely lucky this season. Before the season started, the major crib against the ManU team was that the squad was too threadbare. While the first team was as good as any other, the substitutes bench did not evoke any sense of confidence. The fact that none of the major first team players suffered lengthy injuries allowed this dimension to remain hidden for most of season. Towards the end, when the entire first choice defense was out everyone realized how thin the bench strength is. And apaarently in defense we were well covered. The second lacunae in the team is the lack of an out-&-out striker in the mold of RVN. With the absence of one, Rooney was even more tightly marked than ever and he got very little space in the games to work his magic. The below-par season for him cannot only be attributed to his bad form. The lack of a regular strike partner is also to blame. Louis Saha has been a major disappointment this season. Reports of his not willing to play through some pain were confounding because this season was his great chance to cement his place in a great team and convince his national team manager of his worth. He sadly, did not see it that way.
Also all the potential title challengers had quite a few things to worry about. Arsenal were without their talisman Henry and quite a few senior players for most of the season. That coupled with their playing at the new Emirates stadium ensured that the unsure start to the season defined the entire season. Chelsea on the other hand, faced a number of issues: injuries, player tantrums and the standoff between the owner and the manager. While each contributed in some way to their “relatively” staid showing this year, the absence of Peter Cech and John Terry was the single most important factor in their losing the crown. Liverpool, on the other hand, IMO lack the quality to maintain the sustained challenge necessary for winning the EPL. The tactical nous of Benitez assures them success where playoffs are concerned but winning a league with the opponent knowing all your moves is not something they are good at.
However, all said and done, we cannot take anything away from the entire ManU squad who showed tremendous grit and passion to win this title. The number of match-changing goals they scored in the last five minutes of games this season is probably the best testament for their never-say-die attitude and makes winning this title a sweet one for all of us who support this club.
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Soccer Roundup
Anyway as the Premiership table stands today, ManU are a neat 6 points ahead of Chelsea. I will not attribute this lead solely to abilities of the Red Devils. Chelsea have lost the hunger to win that was evident in the last two seasons. Only Drogba and Essien, and when fit Terry seem to retain that self-belief. Whether it is due to Ballack and Shevchenko coming in or the boardroom chess game that Mourinho, Arnesen, Kenyon and Abrahmovich seem to be playing or the injuries to key players (Cole, Terry) is inconsequential. The results on the pitch are of consequence and Chelsea seem to be faltering there. Teams face Chelsea and believe that they can win. They now play their best games against Chelsea and not ManU. And yes, all this has helped ManU. But it could have helped Liverpool or Arsenal also.
Liverpool apart from a envious troika in the midfield, are IMHO a bloated squad of average performers. It is difficult to pick out one world class player in a position other than the midfield. Though they probably have a home record as good as Chelsea and ManU, this has hit them hard in the away matches. Arsenal is completely different story. Firstly, they are a squad in transition much like ManU a couple of years earlier. Coupled with Wenger’s stubborn refusal to buy, the entire squad with the exception of Henry and few other veterans is composed entirely of tyros. And each of them is not a new Cesc Fabregas. Another reason, for their below par season would the shift to the new stadium with a pitch considerably larger than at Highbury. Arsenal’s passing game requires a great understanding of the playing space and this was clearly lacking in the early season. I am counting Arsenal to be back in the reckoning next year at the earliest and the next to next at the latest.
Coming to ManU, all pieces have fallen into place at the right time. Scholes is back; almost as good as he was at the turn of the century. Ronaldo is in the form of his life, which greatly compensates for Rooney’s insipid form this season. Ferdinand and Vidic have formed a partnership that is now being compared with the legendary duo of Gary Pallister and Steve Bruce. And finally Carrick is in, forming with Scholes a central midfield partnership that is as good as any in the Premiership. And finally, apart from Giggs, Scholes and Neville the first eleven at Old Trafford has hardly won anything. The hunger is clearly there to be seen (lately though, ManU have squandered a few golden opportunities to make their lead at the top of the table unassailable). Even though, ManU is still short of one more quality midfielder (Owen Hargreaves/Scott Parker) and a decent backup left winger, the squad does have the rest of the positions covered with Larsson on loan and Solskjaer back to full fitness. The season however is far from complete and many things can still happen with United still to play Chelsea and Liverpool away. But what the heck, Rooney is still to fire all cylinders.
Elsewhere, Spanish Liga is taking very interesting shape with the top spot hosting three teams. Barcelona have been hit hard by the injuries to Eto and Messi. Combined with Ronaldinho’s dip of form (notwithstanding the rediscovery of Saviola), suddenly the all conquering machine does not look that menancing though they continue to lead the charts. Real Madrid are a far cry from the strutting kings they were a few years before. The squad now resembles a racing car made out of junkyard parts. However they managed to sign three of the most promising South American youngsters and the next year might mark a turning point for them. But, right now they are so wracked by internal troubles that non one remembers that they are at the top three in the table with a very realistic chance of winning the league. The surprise package however are Sevilla who have played the most consistently and have amongst them some of players that bigger clubs all around Europe are itching to sign on. Even if Sevilla wins the Liga, will it be enough to prevent the great sale. Only time will tell. And finally 6 points adrift of the league leaders are Valencia, who have been terribly unlucky with injuries and Atletico Madrid, who seem to finally coming out of their under performing shells.
Calcio has been a one horse race with Juve going down to Serie B and Milan starting with a heavy deficit and a creaking squad. Roma and Palermo just do not have the financial muscle of Inter to build a team capable of challenging for the Scudetto. So 2006 has been Inter’s year, though many had given up the hope of any semblance of competition even before the season began.
Finally, the Champions League. No major upsets, with all the usual suspects in the knock-out stages. It is here that the fun really begins but for that we would have to wait for a few weeks more.
Farewell Puskas
Few sportsmen become stars. But very few amongst them become the symbol of an era and a nation. Ferenc “Galloping Major” Puskas was one such sportsman. He will remain always the icon and the mascot of the great Hungarian team of the 50s. The one that defeated England at Wembley. The team that showed the world what Total footbal was before Rinus Michels even coined the term. The team that would probably beat the Oranje under Cruyff as the best team not win the world cup. The Magical Magyars.
Puskas was short, stocky, barrel chested and overweight for most of his life. He could not head and could play with one foot. His right was worst than Beckham’s left. But apart from that he was magificient. Blessed with probably the best left foot in the history of soccer, Puskas was also blessed with that rare asset; a supreme footballing brain.
Of all of us, he was the best. He had a seventh sense for soccer. If there were 1,000 solutions, he would pick the 1,001st.
[Hungarian team-mate, Nandor Hidegkuti]
Captaining the “Magical Magyars”, he conquered all before him before falling to West Germany in the finals of the 1954 World Cup. 20 years later the same West Germany would cause the demise of the Total Football Oranje. The thwarted Hungarian revolution, caused the disbandment of this great team and for some years Puskas roamed around Europe trying to play footbal till he was signed by Santiago Bernebau to play in the “Dream Team” of Real Madrid. Playing with Alfredo Di Stefano, Gento and Kopa Puskas went on to conquer Europe all over again winning the first five editions of European Cup. Puskas won everything that a player could in a lifetime but the wish to lift the World Cup made him play for Spain in the 1966 edition (12 years after his first WC) but he was 35 at that time and clearly was not at his best. The ultimate prize eluded him.
After his playing days were over he took up coaching where his finest moment came in guiding Panathainikos to the European cup finals loosing to the great Ajax team of early seventies. He was seeing the birth of Total football as we know today. But his proudest monent was probably when he went back to Hungary in 1993 to become the caretaker manager of the national team. The hero finally returned home. On his homecoming he said,
When I left Hungary and received the FA and Fifa ban, I swore to myself I would never return. I felt bitter at such treatment, after so many years giving my best for the nation. But after 25 years I did go home. When I arrived at the airport it was packed with people who gave me the most warm welcome I could wish for. It was unbelievable. There were people screaming and shouting as if a pop star had arrived. As soon as I could, I visited the Kispest cemetery where the graves of my parents lay. I had never visited my mother’s before.[Puskas on Puskas]
In this day when soccer stars are for us beings from another galaxy, Puskas is remembered by those who knew him first and foremost as a good human being.
Although he was a famous footballer he seemed very normal compared to today’s modern stars.
He lived in a modest flat below ours and was very generous. He often brought home footballs from training for the kids in the block to play with.
[A former neighbour in Madrid]
Just how good was Puskas? I have never seen him play apart from the video clips and one full match of that magical evening in Hampden Park where Real Madrid played the greatest game of soccer. But in all he did one thing stood out. He was not the fastest nor had the most fancy tricks in his repertoire. Nevertheless he had the mark of a truely great player, to do the simple things simply; a trait that many of the superstars of tomorrow would do well to imbibe. And those who have seen him play or have played with or against him put him in the bracket of the best the world has seen. The opinion of Stanley Matthews and Alfredo Di Stefano is good enough for me.
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West Ham Argies …
Last season when this club bought a player for 7m pounds, eyebrows were raised and questions were asked if Dean Ashton was worth the highest transfer fee in the club’s history.
The same club in the final days of the just concluded transfer season managed to bag two of the hottest properties in world football; the minimum market estimate of whose transfers is in excess of 30m pounds. Tevez and Mascherano have been touted for some years as the future of Argentinian football (yeah Messi and Aguero have taken the mantle). At 22 years of age they are young; have already represented their country in the world cups and performed at all levels of the game. 30m combined for these two is definitely not a overestimation.
So where did West Ham get the money for them; especially considering that the Russian oil roubles and the Old Trafford war chest both fell short.
I would personally would have like to see Marscherano more than Tevez in ManU but atleast now I can see him playing week in week out.
Update: Soccerlens provides this link; dirt on MSI, Russian money and a worldwide cartel in football are the key words. Is fun to read these consipracy theories.
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Farewell Legends …
Zinedine Zidane. Dennis Bergkamp. One an artist. The other a surgeon. Both visionaries with intelligence, guile and skill far above their contemporaries, destined to shine in the pantheon of stars of the beautiful game long after they have left the pitch.
The precocious talent of Zinedine Zidane was first spotted by Cannes FC after Olympique Marseille did not deem him good enough. It was at Juventus however that he made his name. The schemer of the Juventus team of late 90s that reached 3 Champion league finals and won 3 Scudetti, Zidane was acknowledged in Turin and Paris as the true heir to the legacy of Michel Platini. His exquisite control on the ball, his comfort in running with it and his ability to shoot implied that for a decade nothing scared defenders more than Zizou with the ball at his feet. With him, magic was just a touch away. He made things happen. The flicks, the turns, the chips, the volleys will all be remembered for both their skills as well as the audacity of their execution.
Louis Van Gaal, Bergkamp’s coach at Ajax termed him a shadow striker. A more apt term cannot be conjured for him. Notwithstanding his ability to shoot at the goal from anywhere and probably the best first touch in contemporary soccer, he did as much with the ball as he did without it. He would appear out of nowhere in open spaces and thread his passes through nonexistent gaps. His ability to read the game implied that he set up more goals than he scored (not counting the goals he facilitated pulling defenders out of position with his intelligent running). Aspiring strikers might well compulsarily be made to see the videos of Bergkamp’s games to understand what being a complete striker means.
And yet how different their farewells to the sport were. Bergkamp signed off with a testimonal match in the new home of Arsenal, Emirates Stadium, between Arsenal and Ajax. Zidane went out in disgrace on a red card for headbutting a player in the World Cup finals. While Zidane has all the honours that a professional footballer can achieve, Bergkamp goes out a legend at Arsenal, with fans demanding to retire his number 10 shirt. While Zidane became a Galactico making a strong team stronger, Bergkamp preferred to cement his place amongst the Arsenal faithful by being instrumental in bringing their glory days back.
When asked to make a dream team, I tend to prefer including players I have seen play over the legends whom I, by my misfortune of being born in early 80s, have never seen. In any such list I make, these names will figure at the very top. They will remain the players watching whom I grew to love the game of football.
Italia, ‘90 to Germany, ‘06 - A journey
My first memory of a soccer match is the shocker that Cameroon gave the world when it defeated an Argentinian team with the Diego Maradona in Italia, ‘90. There was an all pervading sense of shock - how can a team with Maradona lose? For by that time, he was to the world probably the greatest footballer who ever lived; one who had single handedly taken Argentina to the ultimate prize four years earlier in Mexico. I did not know this at that time; I remember wondering what the fuss was all about.
Having finished Standard 3, I was all nine years of age and in the middle of a rather boring summer vacation. The daily digests of the matches at Italia ‘90, that came at around 10:00 or 10:30 p.m. every night were the only variance in the monotone of those days of sweltering heat. I followed the nightly digests with almost religious regularity. I remember very little of those viewings; but I do remember two things very clearly: Argentina (Maradona, Goycoechea) and Cameroon (Roger Milla). Tolstoy said, in War and Peace, that generals sitting in their tents might make make all the plans they want, but in the end the battle is decided not by their plans but by the soldiers fighting on the field; with all their machinations the generals have no way of knowing how the soldiers are going to fight. No truer statement could be made for football. And I believe it is this fact that generates the passion for the game; for there is always hope. The fan can dream till the end for that one magical moment which would turn the match in his sides’ favour.
By USA’ 94, I was not only four years older, I was infiniely more educated in matters concerning football. This was also the first time that I wasgetting to see the games live for which I woke up early in the mornings (5 a.m.) and stayed up late in the night. And this is the only time I saw Maradona play live. The match against Greece will remain forever etched in memory as will be the dejected look on the face of the Argentine players going out to Romania. During those days I used to play football on the road, barefoot, with friends. On the day of the final we had a game with one team as Brazil and the other Italy; game was tied 1-1, when the sun set and the match was decided on penalties. Brazil won. I was in the Italian team.
France, 98. I had just finished 11th class and was preparing for JEE, the most important examination, I was told, I would ever give. It was a tough time. I was looking forward to WC but my parents were not too happy with my spending the time in front of the television. I watched all the matches till the Italy-France quarters after which Mom literally put a curfew on the television. I missed the great quarter-final between Argentina and Holland and missed Dennis Bergkamp getting his last minute wonder goal. I remember straining my ears to hear the commentary coming from neighbouring house, trying to piece together from incoherent words and snatches of conversation the happenings of the match. I was back for the semifinals and finals though, seeing the the great Zizou powering France a hapless Brazil.
2002, Korea and Japan. During a WC held nearest to home, I was furthest away from it. In the summer of 2002, I was doing my internship at INRIA near Paris. Watching matches was again tough since I had to be in the office by 10:00 a.m. and left the place only after 6:00 p.m.. I saw most of the 7 a.m. matches there, and some of the 10:00 a.m. and the 1:00 p.m. (including the Argentina vs england tie) ones. It was tough on the weekdays. I would perenially tracking the scores at some website while at work. But it was a different matter on the weekends. I would watch all the matches and for some of the matches, including the final I went to the Palace De Ville to watch it on the big screen put there. Seeing a match in between so many people, was a completely different experience. It was more like rock concert than a football match. And despite Kahnian antics, Brazil with Ronaldo sporting a hairstyle more suited probably for certain other parts of the human anatomy toom away the cup. Anyway Argentina, the team I had supported since 1994, were out in the first round so I had no one to really support.
And so onto now. Germany, ‘06. Let the games begin and the journey continue.
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