World Cup 2010 News

Ah...the groups for European qualifications for World Cup 2010 was done and dusted in South Aftica on 25th November 2007. I thought to share my thoughts on the groupings and see for comments.

Group 1
Portugal
Sweden
Denmark
Hungary
Albania
Malta

Comments: Portugal and Sweden would be the favorites to qualify from this group with Denmark playing the part of the dark horses. As for Hungary, Albania and Malta, their best hope is to avoid a trashing.

Group 2
Greece
Israel
Switzerland
Moldova
Lativa
Luxembourg

Comments: An interesting group where Euro 2004 champions Greece should be the favorites here. The runner up place should be between Israel and Switzerland though Lativa might throw a spanner into things.

Group 3
Czech Republic
Poland
Northern Ireland
Slovakia
Slovenia
San Marino

Comments: The fight for qualification would be down to Czech Republic and Poland with Northern Ireland a threat. Interesting though is the pairing of Czech Republic with Slovakia as they were together as Czechovakia, if I am not wrong.

Group 4
Germany
Russia
Finland
Wales
Azerbaijan
Liechtenstein

Comments: Germany by the strength of their team should take the group if they do not underestimate their opponents, leaving Russia, Finland and Wales to fight for the runners up spot.

Group 5
Spain
Turkey
Belgium
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Armenia
Estonia

Comments: A straight duel between Spain and Turkey for the top spot in the group as the rest do not seen like a major threat to these 2 nations.

Group 6
Croatia
England
Ukraine
Belarus
Kazahstan
Andoora

Comments: What a more interesting group than this one. England and Croatia again for qualifications with Ukraine in the Russia role. Hopefully this time, England do their work well.

Group 7
France
Romania
Serbia
Lithuania
Austria
Faroe Islands

Comments: France should be overwhelming favorites to take this group, but has to be wary of Romania and Serbia though.

Group 8
Italy
Bulgaria
Republic of Ireland
Cyprus
Gerogia
Montenegro

Comments: Based on the strength of the group, World Cup Holders Italy should qualify with ease.

Group 9
Holland
Scotland
Norway
Macedonia
Iceland

Comments: The group of death for me in the qualifications are even the supposed minnows Macedonia and Iceland are no pushovers. Best group for upset actions.

Headlines time

1. " Cetlic Cup in 2009"
In the place of non qualifications for Euro 2008, the football federations of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland agreed in principles for a four nation cup. England though distanced themselves from the idea, even if the idea came from UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Read on find out more.

2. "Bruce's Round up on Birmingham"
After being formally introduced as the new manager of Wigan, Steve Bruce let loose on his thoughts on his old club, Birmingham. Read on find out more.

3. "Sir Alex Charged"
More bad news for Sir Alex after his sending off on Saturday as English FA has formally charged him with using abusive language against a match official. Read on find out more.

4. "Sir Alex Rally his troops for Sporting game"
Sir Alex has came out rallying his troops for the Sporting Game in midweek as a win would cemment Man utd as Group F winners and for a easier draw in the second group. Read on find out more.

Some soccer News

What a weekend for EPL. Big result for Bolton to put off 1-0 win at home vs Man Utd. Can you believe it that was Bolton's first league win at home vs Man Utd for 30 years? Another icing on the cake is sending off of Sir Alex to the stands? Maybe he is letting off steam for not fielding Cristando Ronaldo in the absence of Rooney or he underestimate Bolton. Well Done Bolton for making the season interesting. If Bolton played this way week in and out, they would be safe from the relegation.

A bad day for Man Utd overall with Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Portsmouth all winning their respective games.

Ah...now Pool is just 3 points behind Man Utd with a good 3-0 win away at Newcastle. It seen that Newcastle even without Bramble, still has problem in defence. Another problem is whether Big Sam would be given sufficient time to turn things around as the Toons are not patient fans. As for Pool, it is nice to see Gerrard forgetting the events of mid week and focusing on the task on hand. Next is Porto in mid week CL action which better be careful.

Arsenal and Man City left it late to win their games against Wigan and Reading respectively. Only in the 83rd minute, did Arsenal breach Wigan's resistance with a Gallas goal. As for Man City, a 90th minute was needed to secure their win.

As for Chelsea, they are lucky to escape with a 2-0 win which should have been 1-1 to Derby County. A Kenny miller's equalizer wrongly ruled offside and a SWP goal that should not be given due a foul in the build up. But that's football where luck play a major part.

Portsmouth and Aston Villa enjoyed their win with a comfortable 2-0 and 3-0 win vs Birmingham and Middlesbrough.

Match of the day is the emphatic 7-1 win of Everton vs Sunderland at Goodison Park. It seen that this season would be a high scoring season as there have been at least one eight goal match every month so far. Tough luck for Keane and co though, but congratulations to David Moyes and his boys for such an entertaining match.

English Premiership Results

Newcastle 0-3 Liverpool
Arsenal 2-0 Wigan
Bolton 1-0 Man Utd
Man City 2-1 Reading
Birmingham 0-2 Portsmouth
Middlesbrough 0-3 Aston Villa
Derby 0-2 Chelsea

Bundesliga Results

Karlsruhe 2-1 Hertha Berlin
Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 Duisburg
Bayern Munich 2-1 Wolfsburg
Bochum 3-0 Arminia Biefield
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-4 Stuttgart
Energie Cottbus 0-2 Werder Bremen
Hannover 2-3 Schalke

It seen that all the big boys won respectively yesterday in the Bundesliga. A win in 5 games finally for Munich should wake their title challenge again. Really the morale winning victory vs Munich seen to spur Stuttgart on.

Spanish La Liga

Barcelona 3-0 Recreativo Huelva
Sevilla 1-2 Mallorca
Murcia 1-1 Real Madrid

Okay expected Barcelona to bounce back, but Sevilla to lose at home and Madrid's draw is unexpected though. At least the title race would be interesting though with such results. Great Chance for Villarreal and Valencia to catch up with wins.

Italian Serie A

Inter Milan 2-1 Atalanta
Genoa 0-1 Roma

Routine wins for Inter and Roma. Expected from them. Let's see why Fiorentina, Juventus or AC Milan can do tonite.

NEWS TIME

1. "Sir Alex's date with FA"
After his side lost 1-0 to Bolton at the Reebok Stadium, Sir Alex would also have to face a date with the English FA after his sending off to the stands during the match. After some many years, it seen that he had lost his fire in him though.

2. "Prefect Seven at home for Barcelona"
After winning 3-0 vs Recreativo Huelva, Barcelona maintain a prefect home record of seven home wins to move within a point of Real Madrid. However impressive as their home form, their away form need improvement as six points from 18 points are not champships form. Next up is Lyon away in the CL.

3. "Good Lesson to be Learnt"
After his departure or sacking, Steven McClaren is postive that his tenture would provide a good lesson to be learnt by his successor. McClaren's term as English Boss is one of the shortest ever, just 12 months.

4. "Lyon's Price for Victory"
France Champions won 2-0 away to Rennes to bounce back from their defeat to Marseille. However injury to midfielder Karim Benzama may be a higher price extracted 4 days ahead of crucial CL crash with Barcelona. A miracle may be needed for him to play, which without a doubt is a major blow for Lyon.

Book Review for Descent of Angels

Here is a review of Descent of Angels by me. Hope that you guys enjoy it.

Descent of Angels is the sixth book in the Horus Heresy Series of novels by the Black Library Publishing. Following on the release of Fulgrim, Descent of Angels mainly focus on the life of Lion El'Jonson, Primach of the 1st Space Marine Legion, on Caliban.
The whole novel is seen through the eyes and experiences of Zahariel, a knight supplicant, who joins the Order. The Order here is refers to a knightly order on the world of Caliban with the Lion and Luther key figures in the Order.
Throughout the novel, Zahariel started off as a knight supplicant, then a full fledged knight, a space marine and then finally a possible librarian. His encounters with the beasts of his world, his fellow knights and then his brief experience with the space marine legions would catch the reader up into a world where fantasy would meet technology.
Also throughout the novel, the roles of and reference to Lion, Luther and Lord Cypher are all mentioned in details. As most Warhammer 40K players would know from the Space Marine or Dark Angels Codex, the Lion and Luther would engage in a civil war during the Horus Heresy. This would result in the destruction of the Caliban and the hunt of the traitors by the victors. Throughout the course of the novel, the cause of this breaking of brotherhood between the Lion and Luther could be traced. As per in the novel, the relationship of Luther and the Lion can be seen between Zahariel and his cousin, Nemiel.
For one, when our hero, Zahariel, killed off the last Caliban lion, the Lion did mentioned that there would be those jealous of his achievements mainly Luther. The logic is that without killing a Caliban Lion, Luther would not be the equal of the Lion. Another was when Luther discovered that the Saroshi delegation ship was a weapon; thoughts of betrayal greed and power did run through him.
However the final break between the brothers were not explained. That may be a disappointment in the novel though overall it can rated as a good novel by Mitchel Scanlon.

PS: Review can be found on Ezinearticle too.

10 Interesting Facts About FIFA Player of Year Award

Another article that is done by me in conjunction with the short list of FIFA Player of Award 2007. It is also published on Ezinearticles.

It is time of the year where the FIFA world player of the year award is decided by the votes of coaches and captains of national team worldwide.

An introduction of the mechanism of the system used to select the player of the year would be discussed first. The award was started in 1991 for the male player and in 2001 for the female player categories respectively. Basically, the coaches and national team captains would vote for players drawn by the technical committees of FIFA. The system used is called the Borda count where each coach and captain would get three votes (one of five points, one of three points and one of one point) to cast for the players of his choice. And the winner would be determined by the total of points received. The winner last year is Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro of Real Madrid.

And here are ten interesting things about the FIFA World Player of the Year Award

1. The winner of 2006 award, Fabio Cannavaro, is the first defender or a player other than a midfielder or striker to have ever won the award since its inception win by Lothar Matthaus in 1991. The closet any other defender or goalkeeper has came to the award before Cannavaro’s victory are Oliver Kahn (Goalkeeper, second in 2002), Roberto Carlos (Defender, second in 1997) and Paolo Maldini (Defender, second in 1995).

2. In the past sixteen editions of the awards, it had been won by strikers and midfielders for seven times each. Thus making outfield players with the exception of defenders, a more popular choice for the award. It is summarized that as strikers and midfielders hoard most of the glory in competitions, therefore their chances are equally higher than defenders and goalkeepers.

3. There are two triple winners of the awards since its inception in 1991. They are French Midfielder Zinedine Zidane (1998, 2000 and 2003) and Brazilian Striker Ronaldo (1996, 1997 and 2002). The other player who has won more than once is Brazilian Ronaldinho (2004 and 2005).

4. No player has ever won the award for three consecutive years in the roll. The closet any one have came to it are Ronaldo (1996 and 1997) and Ronaldinho (2004 and 2005). It would take something really special every season for any one player to do so.

5. Although the award is meant for the world’s best player, only players from Europe, Africa and South American do make it to the final short list. Hence there have been quite some critics from some corner in the world about the selection process.

6. Another interesting fact is other than Juan Roman Riquleme’s nomination in 2007 when he is playing on loan for Boca Juniors, all the players on the short list came from clubs in Europe.

7. No English Player or Player from United Kingdom has ever won the award before. The closet any have came are Gary Lineker (1991, third), Alan Shearer (1996, third), David Beckham (1999 and 2001, both second) and Frank Lampard (2005, second). Maybe it would take England winning the World Cup or European Championship for a English to take the award.

8. Brazil has the most wins by nationality. Brazilian players have won the award a staggering seven times; four times more than the closet nationality of French with three wins. It could be the flair and attacking nature of the Brazilian players that clinched them the wins as players such as Ronaldo, Ronaldino, Rivaldo and Romario are all attacking players full of flairs. Or it could down to the names as all the Brazilian winners have a letter “R” to head off their names.

9. The last six winners of the award have come from teams in the Spanish La Liga. Hence it can be seen it is not English Premiership with the most star power, but the La Liga.

10. FC Barcelona had six winners from players within its ranks while great rivals Real Madrid had four. Thus making a majority of winners (a staggering sixty three percentage) from both of them for the past sixteen awards since the inception of the award. Their closet rivals for this honor is the Italian Giants Juventus with four winners.

Hopefully, the above can give one a better understanding of the FIFA Player of the year Award. And let’s await the result in 17th December 2007.

Review of Players Short Listed for the FIFA 2007 Player of the Year Award

In conjunction with the release of the short list for the FIFA 2007 Player of the year award. I did this short article on Ezinearticles.

It is time of the year where the FIFA world player of the year is decided by the votes of coaches and captains of national team worldwide.

But before we go into the discussion of the list of players drawn for 2007, an introduction of the mechanism of the system would be discussed first. The award was started in 1991 for the male player and in 2001 for the female player categories respectively. Basically, the coaches and national team captains would vote for players drawn by the technical committees of FIFA. The system used is called the Borda count where each coach and captain would get three votes (one of five points, one of three points and one of one point) to cast for the players of his choice. And the winner would be determined by the total of points received. The winner last year is Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro of Real Madrid.

Now to the list of players short listed for the award this year. Heading the list are five players of Italian descent, they are Cannavaro, Gianluigi Buffon, Gennaro Gattuso, Alessandro Nesta and Andrea Pirlo. Except for Cannavaro and Buffon (Juventus), the remaining three players of the UEFA 2006-2007 champions league winners AC Milan. However the chances of an Italian repeating the feat of winning is slim this year as the national team did not perform to its best after World Cup 2006 and as for domestically, the Serie A is recovering from the scars of the scandal hit season.

Next up would be the discussion of the English contenders for the title. They are Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea) and Wayne Rooney (Manchester United). Looking at chances of the English contenders, none of them have high chances of clinching the title as the English national team has a difficult Euro 2008 qualifying campaign so far and they did not any outstanding club exploits last season. The other reasons are although Manchester United and Chelsea went head to head in the Premiership race, they failed to impress at the UEFA Champions league level. As for Gerrard, if Liverpool did won the last season UEFA Champions league final against AC Milan, then his chances would be different. However they did not and Liverpool had another of its forgettable seasons in the league again.

As for the French, they have Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Lillan Thuram (Barcelona) and Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan) short listed. At the moment, the chances of the French are as slim as the English for similar reasons. Henry has been a world class player, but he could not inspire Arsenal to the Premiership title and for this season, he is still adapting to his new club, Barcelona. Ribery also did not have the best of seasons last year and has changed clubs in the summer, leaving for Bungesliga Giants, Munich from the sleeping giants of French Football, Marseille. In Vieria’s case, Inter Milan did retain their Serie A title last season, but as mentioned above, the title seen to be given to Inter midst point deduction for several Serie A clubs and demotion of Juventus. Hence he would not have a high chance in this year’s competition for the best player’s title. For Thuram, it is even more gloomer as he did not feature in a lot of his club’s games last season and Barcelona failed to defend its La Liga title.

Brazil has three players short listed in Kaka (AC Milan), Juninho (Lyon) and Ronaldinho (Barcelona). Although the Brazilians have a forgettable world cup 2006, however one of three can be considered as a highly possible contender for the title. He is Kaka. The reason is that he has also won the FIFPro 2007 Player of the year award and it was he that inspired AC Milan to winning the UEFA Champions League midst a disappointing Serie A 2006-2007 campaign. As for Ronaldinho, a previous two time winner (2004 and 2005), his chances this year are quite slim as he was not in the best form last season with the Catalans Giants as they lost out to Real Madrid in the La Liga title. In the case of Juninho, other than inspiring Lyon to six consecutive French Ligue 1 titles, he had no major efforts of note last season.

As for Brazil’s South American rival, Argentina too has three players short listed in Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Juan Roman Riquelme (River) and Carlos Tevez (Manchester United). Of the three, Messi’s chances are the highest as he has continued where he left off last season with eight goals in as many games this season. Tevez had a difficult season in which his transfer reeks of a drama serial while Riquelme with his talent to a lot of people has choked on the big stages once too often.

Another highly possible contender for the title is Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United. With his 23 goals, English Premiership Player of the year award and PFA player’s player of the year award last season, he can be seen as a major reason why Manchester United managed to regain the English Premiership title. Furthermore, in midst of enduring an anti-Ronaldo season after his antics at World Cup 2006, it is a wonder that he could conjure up such a wonderful season. Another Portuguese short listed is Deco of Barcelona who for all his talents was a bit player for Catalans last season and hence his chances are not very high then.

The remaining players of the short list are Fernando Torres (Spain, Liverpool), Ruud Van Nistelrroy (Holland, Real Madrid), Petr Cech (Czech Republic, Chelsea), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast, Chelsea), Michael Essien (Ghana, Chelsea), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon, Barcelona) and Rafael Marquez (Mexico, Barcelona). Of seven remaining players, Ruud Van Nistelrroy may have the best chance as he was the top scorer for Real Madrid in their title winning squad last season and has continued his fine form this season. As for players of Chelsea and Barcelona, their failure in defending the title and poor UEFA Champions League showing would count against them. Lastly, Torres, the sole Spanish in the list, like Henry has traded clubs where he left his boyhood club, Atletico Madrid for English side Liverpool in the summer. His chances are very slim as during his time as Atletico Madrid, the team failed to establish it as La Liga contenders and as for his new club, he is still adapting there.

Lastly to summarize my views on FIFA 2007 Player of the year, my choice of player to win is the Kaka of AC Milan with Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) to give him a run for the title. The results would be out this December 2007 at the FIFA World Player Gala in Zurich.

Preview of EURO 2008

Here are some of the images of areas for Salzburg in Austria which is a venue for EURO 2008 games.

First up is the plate showing the birth place of great composer Mozart.

Next up is the bust of Mozart.

Enjoy the inner serenity of the Salzburg as below

Really even in a candy shop, one can find the potrait of Mozart

3 Reasons behind 4-4-2

In the modern game of soccer or football, the most common formation or system played is the 4-4-2. In most games, one would be likely to see a 4-4-2 being deployed 90% of the time. Here are three main reasons why such a formation or system is employed. A definition of the formation or the system is needed first to understand the rationale behind them.

A 4-4-2 would refer to the deployment of one goalkeeper, four defenders, four midfielders and two strikers. The basis is that for defense, the four defenders would include two centre backs (or centre defenders), one right back and left back (right defender and left defender respectively). As for the midfield, it is set up like the defense where there are two centre midfielders, one right and left midfielder (or winger). The remaining three positions would be the goalkeeper and two strikers up front. There are also variations of the formation or system in which it can be attacking or defensive in mind set. But we would not be describing them in detail here.

As for the reasons, there are as follows:

Flexibility - Football or soccer is one of the most fast paced games in the world, where an attack can be turned into the counter attack by the opposition if possession is lost. As similar to a 4-5-1 system discussed in another of my articles, a 4-4-2 offers or allows for the flexibility for the team in both attack and defense. In attack or possession of the ball, the left and right midfielders would operate as wingers to push up and join the strikers. Furthermore of the two central midfielders, one or both can also push to join the attack and fall or drop back to assist the defense in case of a break or counter attack by the opposition. As for defense or without possession of the ball, strikers would assist in dropping down to the midfield to contest possession while the midfielders assist the containing of the opposition’s attacks.

Balance – Deploying such a formation or system of 4-4-2, there is balance thoroughly the team as there are tactically cover for all positions. Without a doubt, the major reason for the popularity of the deployment of 4-4-2 is the overall balance allowed for the team as compared to most other formations. Balance here would refer to coverage of all positions on the field. In theory the whole field would be covered by the players employed under such a formation since each player is dedicated to an individual role.

Simplicity – A 4-4-2 is a very simple formation to play in as most or all players have played in the system or formation at one or the other during their careers. Hence it is the most comfortable for players.One must remember that football is a fast game and to deploy a simple formation could enable the players to play better or get into their rhythm faster.

Furthermore the tactics are very easy and common for the deployment of such a formation or system. Over complex tactics or instructions would cause miscommunications or problems in execution and might result in bad results.Hence the above reasons should help to explain the rationale behind the employment of a 4-4-2 system or formation.

PS: Article has been published on Ezinearticle.