Daily Archives: September 6, 2012

Uruguay have cause for World Cup concern

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“World Cup qualification resumes in South America this Friday, with a question mark hanging over the team which have been the continent’s form side over the past two years. Might the London Olympics mark an unwelcome turning point for Uruguay? On the face of it there should be no cause for alarm. World Cup semi-finalists in 2010, Copa America champions last year, Uruguay’s senior side have gone 18 games without defeat. They have made a solid start to the 2014 qualifiers. Leaders Chile sit out Friday’s round, where a win for Uruguay would take them to the top of the table.” BBC – Tim Vickery

Sabella meshes Argentina’s abundance of attacking talent
“It is possible to have too much of a good thing. Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain, Carlos Tevez, Angel Di Maria, Javier Pastore, Ezequiel Lavezzi … no other nation comes even remotely close to Argentina in terms of attacking and creative talent. The problem has been trying to fit as many of them as possible into the same squad. It did for Diego Maradona and it did for Sergio Batista.” SI – Jonathan Wilson

Trouble atop the table, hope at the bottom
“With Euro 2012 followed by the season’s big kickoff and the excitement of the transfer window, only now is Europe turning its attention to the need to qualify for the next World Cup. South America, meanwhile, is in a very different situation. Sights are already firmly trained on winning a place in Brazil 2014. The continent’s marathon qualification tournament is a third of the way through. This Friday, action will get under way in the second year of a three-year campaign. So far the soccer has lived up to its billing as the most competitive World Cup qualifiers on the planet.” ESPN

Adrien Rabiot: The Future Of Paris St. Germain

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“A few minutes before Ezequiel Lavezzi was introduced to the French press on July 2nd last month, heralded as yet another high-profile name to join the ranks of rapidly-improving PSG, another player came to sign a professional contract with the Parisian club. There weren’t any journalists present aside of those representing the club’s official website and local newspaper Le Parisien. And yet this name might well come to embody what is left of Paris Saint Germain’s identity a few years down the line.” In Bed With Maradona

The Curse of Wembley

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“The title of the film by German film maker Stefan Keber suggests what many people already know: England have not won any major trophy since their World Cup triumph at Wembley in July 1966: England are cursed by Wembley and the third goal. Not just that, every time they appeared to be coming close to another final, there were German teams eliminating them from the tournament. The last time in 1996 at the Euro held in England.” Do not mention the war (Video)

UEFA’s FFP Regulations – Play To Win

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“So the transfer window is finally over after the customary twists and turns and, as always, has raised some intriguing questions. Perhaps most perplexing is the decision of previously big spending Manchester City to slam on the brakes (by their own recent standards) much to the disappointment of manager Roberto Mancini. On the fairly safe assumption that this is not due to Sheikh Mansour struggling for cash, the culprit is likely to be UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations, a particularly delicate issue for the blue side of Manchester.” Swiss Ramble

To Boo Or Not To Boo? Why There Is A Time & Place For Dissent

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“Three games into the Premier League season, the distinctive sound of burning pitchforks is in the air. Without a win from the six matches that they have played between them, both Andre Villa Boas and Brendan Rodgers are already being cast into a familiar mould – that of the hapless managerial failure. Both are managers whose appointments carried an element of risk about them. Villa Boas excelled at Porto in a way that few other managers have in recent years in coaching this team to the Europa League and the Portuguese championship, but his stock fell with his turbulent spell at Stamford Bridge, while Rodgers arrival at Liverpool came off the back of success at Swansea City but a nagging concern that his name might not be of the pedigree that supporters of that particular club might have expected.” twohundredpercent

Team of the Week – Match Day 2

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“The second week of the new Bundesliga season proved to be even more exciting than the first, full of great individual and team performances, goals, and its share of upsets. Bayern München further laid down the marker as the team to beat with one of their most dominant performances in recent memory while defending champions Dortmund stumbled in Nürnberg. Promoted side Eintracht Frankfurt continue to be the surprise package of the new season with a convincing win of their own in Hoffenheim and Hannover got a memorable away win in Wolfsburg. Bremen came out on top in the nordderby and Greuther Fürth recorded a historic first ever Bundesliga win.” Bundesliga Fanatic