The new European Football Season promises another exciting year ahead

It's only a few weeks since Spain won the World Cup in South Africa. Nevertheless, the Domestic Leagues in Europe are in full swings again. The qualifying matches for Euro 2012 have already started & the first matches of Champions & Europa Leagues have also been completed. Another exciting season is well on the way.

In the European scene the main question yet again is whether the free spending Real Madrid & their brilliant new coach, the annoying & arrogant yet masterful Jose Mourinho can put an end to the domination of Pepe Guardiola & his brilliant ensemble of superstars of Barcelona.

Mourinho is undoubtedly a masterful operator & as was evident in teh Champions League match vs Ajax has already done well by bringing his old general Carvallio as well as the young German World Cup stars Ozil & Khedria to Real Madrid.

On the other hand, Guardiola has cunningly replaced the ineffective Henry & Ibrahimovic with the best striker in the world David Villa. With the likes of Villa, Messi, Puyol, Alvez, Piquet, Iniesta & Xavi (in my view, overall the best player in the world by a mile) Barcelona rightly deserve to be considered the best & should overcome Real's threat once again this year.

Champions League:
Favourites: Barcelona
main Challengers: Chelsea, Manchester United, Inter Milan, Real Madrid & Bayern Munich

Here are my prediction for the other 3 major leagues in Europe:

In England, Chelsea have formed a great team capable of winning the EPL & even the Champions League this year.
Manchester United are suffering from lack of funds to nuy> new players &; with Rooney out of form & in strife in his personal life, will find winning major trophies difficult once again.
Arsenla will be brilliat at times but not good enough to go all the way.
Manchester City's big spending is still hap hazard & will not dent the Chelsea/Man Utd grip.
Spurs will find the challenge of European football too demanding on their squad & will not cope in all fronts.
Liverppol will be in a transition phase for the next few years & unable to mount a serious challenge whilst under current ownership.

My prediction: 1. Chelsea 2. Man Utd 3. Arsenal 4. Manchester City
Relegation candidates: Wigan, Wolves, Blackpool & Bolton

In Italy, the European Champions Inter Milan will not find life under the former Liverpool Manager, the now hapless Rafa Benitez as easy as they did with Mourinho. However, with Juventus still in the doldrums & the rest such as Roma & AC MIlan inconsistent, Inter should once again win Serie A this year, as they have done so in the past few years. Nevertheless, the defence of their European crown will be unsuccessful. Their main threat will be their somewhat rejuvuniated city rivals AC Milan.

In Germany even with the long term injury absence of Robben & with their rivals attracting some of the Europe's superstars to the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich with their Barcelona like style of play will win the league & challenge for European honours again.

All in all, another exciting European season is under way & it should be full of thrills & unpredictable results.

The new European Football Season promises another exciting year ahead

It's only a few weeks since Spain won the World Cup in South Africa. Nevertheless, the Domestic Leagues in Europe are in full swings again. The qualifying matches for Euro 2012 have already started & the first matches of Champions & Europa Leagues have also been completed. Another exciting season is well on the way.

In the European scene the main question yet again is whether the free spending Real Madrid & their brilliant new coach, the annoying & arrogant yet masterful Jose Mourinho can put an end to the domination of Pepe Guardiola & his brilliant ensemble of superstars of Barcelona.

Mourinho is undoubtedly a masterful operator & as was evident in teh Champions League match vs Ajax has already done well by bringing his old general Carvallio as well as the young German World Cup stars Ozil & Khedria to Real Madrid.

On the other hand, Guardiola has cunningly replaced the ineffective Henry & Ibrahimovic with the best striker in the world David Villa. With the likes of Villa, Messi, Puyol, Alvez, Piquet, Iniesta & Xavi (in my view, overall the best player in the world by a mile) Barcelona rightly deserve to be considered the best & should overcome Real's threat once again this year.

Champions League:
Favourites: Barcelona
main Challengers: Chelsea, Manchester United, Inter Milan, Real Madrid & Bayern Munich

Here are my prediction for the other 3 major leagues in Europe:

In England, Chelsea have formed a great team capable of winning the EPL & even the Champions League this year.
Manchester United are suffering from lack of funds to nuy> new players &; with Rooney out of form & in strife in his personal life, will find winning major trophies difficult once again.
Arsenla will be brilliat at times but not good enough to go all the way.
Manchester City's big spending is still hap hazard & will not dent the Chelsea/Man Utd grip.
Spurs will find the challenge of European football too demanding on their squad & will not cope in all fronts.
Liverppol will be in a transition phase for the next few years & unable to mount a serious challenge whilst under current ownership.

My prediction: 1. Chelsea 2. Man Utd 3. Arsenal 4. Manchester City
Relegation candidates: Wigan, Wolves, Blackpool & Bolton

In Italy, the European Champions Inter Milan will not find life under the former Liverpool Manager, the now hapless Rafa Benitez as easy as they did with Mourinho. However, with Juventus still in the doldrums & the rest such as Roma & AC MIlan inconsistent, Inter should once again win Serie A this year, as they have done so in the past few years. Nevertheless, the defence of their European crown will be unsuccessful. Their main threat will be their somewhat rejuvuniated city rivals AC Milan.

In Germany even with the long term injury absence of Robben & with their rivals attracting some of the Europe's superstars to the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich with their Barcelona like style of play will win the league & challenge for European honours again.

All in all, another exciting European season is under way & it should be full of thrills & unpredictable results.

http://ricksamimi-football.blogspot.com/2009/12/ancelotti-is-proving-his-genius-stroke.html

I also predicted Hull, Burnley & Wolves as relegation candidates in the EPL. Two out of three! Wolves survived the drop, somewhat more comfortably than predicted.

However, my & I imagine many other pundits' most crucial tip was Barcelona winning the champions League. But like Chelsea before them & Bayern in the final, Messi & co found the well organised Inter Milan defence almost impenetrable & lost to Mourinho's side in the semi finals.

Now to the start of my World Cup blog: I will start by quickly look at the usual suspects:

I have already mentioned in one of my earlier posts that Germany will have a very difficult World Cup ahead of them, although Germany should never be underestimated (7 times finalists & 4 times semi finalists). Injuries to Ballack, Adler, Rolfe, Tresch & Loew's stubborn refusal to recall Frings & Kuranyi will make matters even more critical for the team. Nevertheless, as he mentioned himself, Loew & his team can learn from Bayern's achievements this year.

My prediction: Quarter Finals

Amongst the other big teams, England, Italy & Argentina seemingly have easier paths to the second round:

• Italy's team is however too old & Lippi's reliance on many of the fading stars will prove fatal. France on the other hand have lacked clear tactical directions under Domenech & owe their qualification to that dubious handball by Henry.

My prediction: Round of 16s for both team

• England on the other hand have flourished under Capello & as long as they sort out the following three major issues they will go a long way
  

a) Goal keeping issues. James is well past his best & Hart & Green are unproven at any level!

b) How to tactically accommodate both Lampard & Gerrard in midfield

c) Over reliance on injury hit Rooney! He can not emulate Maradonna winning the Cup for Argentina!

My prediction: Semi Final

• Argentina have massive technical ability & with Messi & others at least on paper have one of the top teams in this year's World Cup. However, Maradona is not the right tactical coach for such talented team & most likely will make naive mistakes as he did eg in the 1-6 drubbing by Bolivia in the qualifiers. However, Argentina will probably meet Germany in the QFs & go to the semi finals.

My prediction: semi final or final

• Spain & Brazil are my tip to reach the final. On paper they, alongside Argentina have the best squads in the tournament. On top of that both Spain (in particular) & Brazil (at times) are capable of playing attractive attacking football

My prediction: Spain vs Brazil final, Spain to win

My dark horses for the tournament: As per usual Germany, and yet again Holland. In Sneijder & Robben Holland possess two of the best "match winners" (alongside Messi of Argentina) in the world & if Holland manage to avoid the infighting they are notoriously well known for, they may at last lift the Cup!

I will be posting regular posts on my blog during the World Cup.

Champions League Final: Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan

It's down to the wire, and the final on may 22nd in Madrid will be between Bayern Munich & Inter Milan. Two old friends & master tacticians in their Barcelona days, Van Gaal & Mourinho have guided their respective teams through the tricky maze of the competition into the richest final in the world.

Those of you who from time to time read my blogs may remember that at the beginning of the season I nominated Barcelona as the best team in the world and my tip to successfully defend their European crown. Having declared my interest as a life long Bayern Munich supporter, I also cautiously labeled Bayern as one of the dark horses of this year's Champions League.

And my predictions nearly came true! Bayern admittedly rode their luck with brave away leg performances & wonderful away goals by Robben (amongst others) to the final. Van Gaal has slowly but surely blended the tough German mentality with the skillful Dutch/Barcelona style possession game into one of the best Bayern teams I can remember in my 35 odd years of being a die hard fan.

And as for Inter Milan, in Mourinho they undoubtedly have the most flamboyant, arrogant & polarising master tactician in the world of football today. His chess game got them past the might of Chelsea & Barcelona. And the quality of the players in their squad speaks for itself. Any team that manages to get through battles with Chelsea & Barcelona fully deserves its place in the final.

So for me, the final will be a match of Mourinho's tactics vs the Mini Me of Barcelona!

My heart says Bayern will win, my mind knows it will be tough on the night & 50:50........and my life & work schedule are doing everything it can to stop me from dashing off to Madrid for the final......................and in my dreams I am hoping to be there when Bayern li

Champions League knockout stage in 2010 promises to be exciting as well as intriguing

UEFA Champions League (CL) knockout stage kicks off on Tuesday 17th Feb 2010. As the world's richest and most watched annual sporting tournament, the real excitement starts in the round of 16 as the knock out stage commences.
In the absence of any form of salary cap system in Europe, the disparity amongst football teams in the CL is becoming more & more evident by the fact that most of the same usual suspects reach the quarter finals, ie teams from the powerhouse nations in Europe.
This year is no exception. The surprise casualties of the group stage were past winners Liverpool & Juventus, both of which are also having a relatively lean domestic season as well. the other surprise is the timely return to form of another former winners Bayern Munich.
Here are the round of 16 encounters & my predictions:

• Olympique Lyonnais vs Real Madrid: Whilst my pre season prediction that Real Madrid will need time to mould their star studded team to a force is still a valid point, Real are far too good for a mediocre Lyon that are a shadow of the perennial quarter finalists of the last few year. This is regardless of whether the recently back from injury Ronaldo or the out of form Kaka are present to help them.



• AC Milan vs Manchester United: This is a far more intriguing contest with the added spice of David Beckham's return to Old Trafford in Milan's colours. I am not a fan of either team this season (or any season for that matter!) & like many others believe selling Ronaldo has substantially weakened Manchester United, even though Rooney is playing the best football of his career. Milan on the other hand have dipped in form again after a mid season revival led by the resurgent Ronalidino. I think Manchester United will survive & pip Milan to the quarter finals. However, I don't think the eventual winner of this year's Cup will be either of these two teams
  
• Bayern Munich vs Fiorentina: A classic case of reversal of fortunes. Fiorentina played great football in the group stage & topped their group which included Liverpool. Since then however, Fiorentina's form in Serie A has dipped & Mutu has got suspended. On the other hand, Bayern were seemingly down & out & had to win their last match in Turin to qualify for the knockout stage. They fell 0-1 behind in the match, but in perhaps the best match of the current season ended up winning 1-4, their best ever away win against a top Italian side. Since then, they have had 12 consecutive wins in all competitions & scored 40 goals in the process. With Ribery rumoured to be starting against Fiorentina & Mutu suspended, Bayern should be win reasonably comfortably. If they can maintain their current form, they may even be an outside chance to win the CL this year! (Disclaimer: For those of you who don't know, I am a life long Bayern supporter!)



• Porto vs Arsenal: At the beginning of the season I predicted arsenal's attractive & flowing style lacked the experience factor. This is showing & I believe Porto, another former winner, whilst upstaged by Benfica in their domestic league this year, are too tricky & experienced for Arsenal & will win this close tussle.
  


• Stuttgart vs Barcelona: Barcelona will comfortably win against out an out of sorts but reviving Stuttgart & remain my tip to win the CL back to back. Pep Guardiola has done a magnificent job even if I believe Ibrahimovic is not suited to Barcelona's & Spanish football & is over rated.


• Olympiacos vs Bordeaux: Bordeaux are the refreshing surprise of the current season & disposed of Juventus & Bayern in style. Alongside Guardiola, Laurent Blanc is a rising star coach. Bordeaux should win this encounter comfortably even though their form in the French League has recently been inconsistent & Olympiacos are difficult to beat in Athens


• CSKA Moskva vs Seville: This is a hard one to predict simply because both teams can and do score goals & have proven themselves to be hard to beat. Seville have a better team on paper & should prevail.
  


• Chelsea vs Inter Milan: The last & most intriguing encounter is the return of Jose Mourinho with Inter Milan to Chelsea. I must say I am not a fan of Mourinho & believe Inter Milan would currently win the Serie A even if they don't have a coach! Both teams ae frustrated with lack of European success & are hungry. How much of a distraction John Terry's personal life & Ashley Cole's untimely injury are to Chelsea is open to speculation as they have been wobbly lately & lost to Everton this week with John Terry at fault. On the other hand, Inter Milan have a lot to prove in the european stage & this plays heavily on their players' minds. I believe Ancelotti is a better tactician than Mourinho & predict Chelsea will win the battle & in doing so will start the end of Mourinho's time at Inter Milan.

Africans in the UEFA Champions League

Today is Matchday One of the world's biggest club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League.

Super clubs like England's Manchester United and holder FC Barcelona of Spain will battle it out with Europe's elite clubs for the right to call themselves the continent's best team.

Who will win the title? I haven't the faintest clue. It's a wide open field. Could be one of the two aforementioned or it could be Arsenal, Inter Milan, Real Madrid or Chelsea, who all will be fielding mega-squads for this year's competition.

One thing that is certain is the glut of African talent on display at this year's tournament, beginning with the juiciest tie of the first matchday: Inter Milan against holders Barcelona.

Never mind the fact that Inter coach Jose Mourinho once worked for Barca or that Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic just made the move from Internazionale to Barcelona, swapping places with mercurial Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o.

These are two giants of European football and favorites to take the big prize.

Barca are likely to play their African midfielders, Ivory Coast's Yaya Touré and Mali star Seydou Keita, while Inter counters with former Barca star Eto’o, who will be desperate to prove the Spanish club wrong when they said he was passed his best.

Ghanaian international midfielder Sulley Muntari will also be a key figure for Mourinho’s side, who despite their dominance of Italian football the past few seasons have yet to make an impact in the Champions League.

Another Mali midfielder, Momo Sissoko, has not recovered from injury in time to feature for Juventus against Bordeaux, who have a Malian of their own in midfielder Abdou Traoré.

South African left-back Tsepo Masilela will make his group stage debut with Israeli club Maccabi Haifa when they host German giants Bayern Munich.

Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins (above) has made a good start to his career with Bundesliga side Wolfsburg and he will be looking to continue that as they host Russian club CSKA Moscow. Also in the Wolfsburg side is Algerian Karim Ziani. CSKA will feature Niger striker Ouwo Moussa Maazou, as well as Nigerian defender Chidi Odiah.

Swiss side FC Zurich have the unlucky fate of facing Spanish giants Real Madrid, who have started the season in red-hot form. Zurich have Nigerian forward Tico in their ranks, while Real will feature Mali midfielder Mahamadou Diarra.

Marseille, who host struggling AC Milan, have a plethora of African talent from which to chose from, including Nigerian left-back Taye Taiwo, the Senegalese trio of defenders Souleymane Diawara and Pape M'Bow, as well as striker Mamadou Niang (Marseille's captain).

But that's not all. Marseille also have Burkina Faso's Charles Kaboré, Ivory Coast striker Bakari Koné, Cameroon midfielder Stéphane M'Bia, as well as his countryman, defender Charley Fomen. Lots of African talent at Marseille's disposal, eh?

Chelsea host FC Porto in a battle between two teams who have been managed by Mourinho, with the English Premiership club relying heavily on their African talent, namely Michael Essien (Ghana), John Obi Mikel (Nigeria), Didier Drogba (above) and Salomon Kalou (both Ivory Coast). Thanks to Mourinho's keen eye for African talent, Chelsea have been one of Europe's most progressive clubs in scouting Africa. They'll need their African contingent to come up big in order to progress.

Liverpool may give a run to Moroccan youngster Nabil El Zhar as they host Hungarian side Debrecen, while Cameroon star Jean Makoun will be a key man for Olympique Lyon when they entertain Italian side Fiorentina.

South African midfielder Macbeth Sibaya will be suspended when his Russian side Rubin Kazan travel to Dynamo Kiev in the Ukraine, who have Pape Diakhate (Senegal), Ayila Yussuf (Nigeria) and Badr El Kaddouri (Morocco) on their books.

Sevilla and their African contingent containing the Ivory Coast trio of Dider Zokora, Arouna Kone and Koffi Ndri Romaric, as well as leading striker Frederic Kanoute (above) from Mali, will host Romanian side Unirea Urziceni, who have Guinea-Bissau international Bruno Fernandes on their books.

Ivory Coast international Arthur Boka should feature for his German side Stuttgart when they host Scottish champions Glascow Rangers, for whom Algerian midfielder Madjid Bougherra plays.

Moroccan international Jaouad Zairi should play for Greek side Olympiakos as they entertain Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, who have Zairi’s compatriot Mounir El Hamdaoui in their ranks.

Finally, Belgian side Standard Liege have Dieudonne Mbokani (DR Congo), Mohamed Sarr (Senegal) and the Ivory Coast duo of Moussa Traore and Gohi Bi Cyriac. They are at home to Arsenal, who will feature another Ivorian in Emmanuel Eboue and Alexandre Song of Cameroon.

As you can see, there is a plethora of African talent on display in Europe's Champions League. One could almost say the Cup passes through Africa on it's way to the holder! Should be an exciting, interesting competition. May the best team (Barcelona) win ...

(Many thanks to MTN African Football News for their help in this article.)

ESPN's Champions League Ratings Are Great!

We all know football can succeed in the United States. Here's further proof.

Wednesday's airing of FC Barcelona’s 2-0 win over defending champion Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League final averaged 1.43 million viewers (and a 1.1 rating/1.07 million homes) for ESPN, making it the most-watched UEFA soccer game in the history of U.S. Cable.

The previous record was the 2008 final on ESPN2 that averaged 1.09 million viewers.

The final was also ESPN Deportes’ second most-watched telecast ever, drawing a 9.9 Hispanic coverage ratings and 474,000 Hispanic homes. The most-watched ESPN Deportes telecast was the Euro 2008 Final where Spain beat Germany that drew a 10.1 Hispanic coverage rating.

This match marks the end of a 15-year run on ESPN networks. Fox Soccer Channel and Setanta Sports USA outbid the Disney-owned sports network for the rights to the prestigious club tournament for the next three seasons.

MY POV: It just goes to show that soccer can make a foothold in the USA. There are just two problems.

1 - People flock to the big names. Barcelona. Manchester United. The appetite is there for big-name soccer. But what about the domestic product, the MLS? The hunger and passion isn't there for this product just yet. It's huge in places like Seattle and Toronto. But MLS still needs to catch fire in other target cities, like Chicago and New York.

2 - Now that the Champions League is moving to the Fox Soccer Channel, which isn't distributed in as many homes as ESPN, will the under exposure hurt the game?

I'm sure Fox and their vast network of resources will work hard to further their resources. Still, it's not in place like ESPN's is. This is a total 'wait and see.'

Who Will Host the 2018/2022 World Cups?

With FIFA having received a total of '11 formal expressions of interest' to bid for the 2018 and/or 2022 FIFA World Cups, Road to 2010 wonders: How do the candidates stack up?

England's fine newspaper the Guardian Unlimited does the work for us, with an interactive map digesting the pros and cons of all 11 bids for the '18/'22 Cups.

The 11 bids are from Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands, England, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Republic, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, Spain and Portugal, and the USA.

Here's a small dosage of the Guardian's analysis. For more, please click here and enjoy the full article.

Australia

Pros - Has a proven track record in hosting major tournaments, such as the 200 Olympics, the 2003 Rugby World Cup and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Bid will not want for money or influence thanks to their chief football powerbroker, billionaire property developer Frank Lowy. A perceived boost to the moderately successful A-League would also be a boon for FIFA.

Cons - The time difference with Europe, the largest and most lucrative television audience for football, is the biggest problem and that may be accentuated should UEFA and FIFA succeed in their legal bid to open the bidding to subscription channels. A lack of purpose-built football stadia is also a problem.

USA

Pros - The likely voting pact between England's bloc and CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central American and Carribbean Association Football) gives the United States a good chance of securing the 2022 Cup. Top class infrastructure, stadia and transport links also work in their favor, as does a perceived positive impact on the ailing MLS.

Cons - Hosted the finals as recently as 1994, a dull tournament remembered for draconian regulations imposed by TV companies ignorant of the tempo of football regarding the intake of fluids and the amount of time the ball spent in play. Brazil 2014 may work against another bid from the Americas.

The Enemy Within: An Update on South Africa's Preparations

South Africa's working hard to get itself ready for the 2010 World Cup.
The last thing the organizers need is a lack of focus from their partners.

This week, a scorching document proclaiming South Africa’s inability to stage the 2010 World Cup, which supposedly emanated from Europe's football governing body UEFA, was denounced as a forgery by Local Organizing Committee CEO Danny Jordaan.

“We have written confirmation of this from UEFA itself,” said Jordaan at a media briefing following a meeting of the LOC’s Board of Directors at Safa House in Johannesburg.

“What is more,” he added, “we have established the scurrilous document originates from within South Africa and is designed as a desperate attempt to derail our preparations for the World Cup by parties who are known to us.”

Jordaan, however, refused to name the alleged forgers.

Strange indeed. Why would someone try to derail the preparations for the World Cup? Whose interest does this serve?

On a happier note, The Board of Directors expressed satisfaction that the overall preparation for the 2010 World Cup and FIFA’s Confederation Cup in 2009 remained on track.

At the meeting, which was attended by FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke, an update on preparations for next month’s World Cup qualifying draw were also released — with the general secretary declaring it would be “of the highest level”, while attracting 3,000 assorted officials and media representatives.

LOC chairman Irvin Khoza said reports received after last week’s FIFA inspection tour of venues in four of the 2010 host cities were “very positive.”

“The last month has been very active for us at the LOC,” said Jordaan, “but also very rewarding. We have had an assortment of visitors extending from the Inspection team to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Franz Beckenbauer — and everyone came to the same conclusion that we are doing very well.”