A glance to next round of World Cup qualifying in Europe.

The final rush to World Cup is started. It will end in November when we will have the 31 team that will join South Africa in the next World Cup. A lot of team are still struggling to qualify. We will have a glance to qualifying process, focusing on the next matches. In Europe, the situation is for many teams still in progress.

Group 1
In group 1, Sweden will play against Denmark and they have only one good result: win. The swedish team, lead by Serie A topscorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic is suffering being 7 points behind Denmark (but they have one match less). From the clash between the two teams may enjoy Portugal, whom scoreless illness will be proved against Albania in Tirana. Cristiano Ronaldo and compnay have a great opportunity to re-enter in the competition because now they are behind even Hungary that with 13 points is dreaming to reach at least playoffs in Euro zone.

Next matches of Group 1:
06/06 – Sweden vs Denmark
06/06 – Albania vs Portugal
10/06 – Sweden vs Malta

Kakà – Real Madrid: Yes we can!

Florentino Perez realize Calderon’s dream: Ricardo Iseczon dos Saintos Leite, worldwide known as Kakà soon will be a Real Madrid player.

Yesterday, Perez and Galliani, found an agreement to the transfer of Kakà, despite the voices of some interference from the new Chelsea duo Abramovich-Ancelotti. The probable amount money to be paid by Perez to AC Milan is around 60 million euros, some say 63.5 others 64.5, but despite this ballet of numbers, one thing is clear: Kakà will dress the camizeta blanca next year.

So Perez’s presidency begin with a big stroke! Perez new acquisition willl be probably Forlan from Villarreal.

The result is that another champion will leave Italy soon. Kakà farewell to Serie A is the greatest spot for the decline of Serie A. Interviewed by italian tv, Silvio Berlusconi, president of AC Milan, said that he will talk with the brazilian player on Monday, to see what will be his decision, but it seems a move just to calm down the fans. A bunch of them demonstrated today under AC Milan’s headquarters in Milan against the selling of their idol Kakà. The 2007 Golden Ball player previosuly stated that he wanted to remain in Milan and became captain of the team but AC Milan’s managament was so tempted by the amount of money put by Florentino Perez, that what didn’t happened this winter with Manchester City, it’s almost reality this summer.

Marca.com, the spanish newspapers, reported already the shirt number that Kakà will dress next season. It will be the nr. 5 of Zidane. Just to remember the Galacticos era.

Maradona’s Argentina against past ghosts

World Cup qualification in South America are entering the third and final part.

After 12 rounds the situation in the group is still fuzzy. There are teams that were weak and now look strong, and team that look unbeatable and now are gasping for some air. One of these teams are Maradona’s Argentina. When the former player of Napoli took over his  job, Argentina was in a strange situation: the team was quite the same as today, but it lacks inspiration from a guide. Maradona proved to be of great inspiration and we all saw this in the first matches. But when things seemed to work perfectly something strange happened. Argentina went to Bolivia to receive an historical lesson. The six goals against the bolivian team was a shock for an entire nation. They believed that with Diego as commander in chief they were unbeatable, but they learned that there is no such thing in football and they discovered it in the worst way.

On June 6th, they will face for the 13th round Colombia and past ghosts will surface. During the 1994 world cup qualifying campaing, a Colombian side trashed Argentina for 5-0 in one of the worst performance of “albiceleste” ever. That match saw the beginning of the process that took Maradona back with Argentina in 1994 world cup. Now this match maybe the match that will took Maradona’s boys back to their level and give them the self-confidence that they need in order to go in South Africa as favourite to win it all.

The decline of Serie A

Now that almost all european football is over, it’s time for considerations.

This year saw a lot of good football, great goals, amazing players and brilliant play. FC Barcelona amazed everyone with its terrific triplete, Manchester United solidity was proved by reaching for the second time the Champions’ League Final. Chelsea and expecially Liverpool entertain fans with their brillian play. Taken the sums it was a good season for European football, domestically and internationally. In Germany, Magath’s Wolfsburg won their first title thanks to Grafite and Dezko (two guys who will have a brillian future), while Bayern Munich, after bury Sporting Lisbona with goals, was destroyed by The Invicible Armada of Guardiola. The only thing we miss this year was italian football. Domestically, Inter Milan won his 4th title in a row without having much pressure from their challengers. But Mourinho’s side, unbeatable within italian boundaries, show very little in Europe. They qualified for Champions’ League eightfinals with a second place in an easy group (Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen and Anorthosis are not, with all my respect, giants). Then they faced a super team like Manchester United. In the first leg it was 0-0 only ’cause Manchester United didn’t expect such a defeatist tactic by Inter Milan. In the second leg they showed something but Manchester United was so superior that was almost always in control of the game. Other sides like Juventus and AS Roma, played better. The “bianconeri” gives some pains to Chelsea, but they were eliminated ’cause Chelsea got much more class in the midfield and Drogba’s rebirth with Hiddink. AS Roma was the only one to go near to eliminate an english side. They, full of second line players, arrived ’til penalties. The other italian team in Champions League, Fiorentina, was eliminated at group stage. In UEFA Cup things were worst too. A big team like AC Milan melt down soon and easily against Werder Bremen. Two players, Diego and Pizzarro, were enough to demolish AC Milan side, who can’t control a two goals advantage. Udinese also was eliminated by Werder Bremen, while Sampdoria was not able to beat ukrain side Metalist Kharkiv. Fiorentina, whose with its third place went to UEFA Cup was unluckly eliminated by Ajax Amsterdam: a team that in the Dutch League was near to be pathetic this year.

Inter Milan, by far the best team in Italy right now, demolished the Italian Championship, but Mourinho not only failed in Europe but also failed to give Inter Milan a decent style of football. Inter Milan won because they have the best players and most physical team in Italy, not because they play a good football. The point is that italian football is in a strange situation. They are world champion, but their clubs are suffering the pain to remain competitive at european stage. Only two years ago AC Milan won Champions’ League, but if you look back at their campaign, you realized that it was a dominance of only 3 months. Domestically they were all but outstanding.

The decline of Serie A has many and various factors. First of all it’s something to do about italian feelings about football. As Winston Churchill once pointed: “Italians lose wars as they were football matches, and football matches as they were wars”. In Italy football is very distant from a show and a way to spending spare time. There is a lot of passionality in italian football. Nothing wrong with passionality, but we arrived at excesses.

Some years ago, SS Lazio was saved by bankrupt just because their fans menace the public order. And the government and italian sports institutions gave SS Lazio a way to not dissolve. So, SS Lazio, a good italian team with a great history on their shoulders, is safe not because someone entered and put the money on the table, but only because it was saved by italian goverment. This is a bad move. Politics should avoid to enter sports facts, as it is demonstrated that politics can distort it in a bad way. And also, it was not a good example to give to other team’s management on how to manage a team in a good financial situation. Inter Milan, the dominating team of the last years, has a passive in their income balance that their president, Massimo Moratti, has to cover every single year. You understand that is the kind of situation that cannot stand forever.

AC Milan’s CEO, Adriano Galliani, is right in pointing out that italian football needs a rebuilding in some rules. First of all, Italian football suffered of too much taxes on players wages. This is an handicap for italian teams in order to have top players in their team, cause italian wages are not competitive enough. But this is only a part of the problem. If you look at FC Barcelona, you see that money can’t buy you football. Players like Iniesta, Messi, Puyol came from their youth team, while in Italy the only italian footballer to came out this year from “Primavera” is Davide Santon in Inter Milan (a paradox considering that Inter Milan is the most “international” italian team). Youth good players like Giovinco or Balotelli, fight to have a spot on the first team. AC Milan’s last player to came out from the youth sector is Demetrio Albertini, already a former player.

Other problems of italian football are in order: property of stadiums, violence and, of course, pressure and manipolation of the media. I will debate this issues in another post soon or later, but propery of the stadium is the first thing to do in Italy in order to increase the incomes and diminuish violence.

Now, big rumours are that Ibrahimovic and Kakà are probably on the transfer list. What will remain of once glorious Serie A then?

Carlo Ancelotti, new Chelsea’s manager.

Rumours were high in the last months. Now  it’s official. Carlo Ancelotti will be the next manager of Chelsea.

The italian already released an interview in which he talk about his future at Stamford Bridge. To welcome him Roman Abramovich will put 50 millions £ in the transfer market this summer.

Ancelotti leaves AC Milan after 8 years full of successes, expecially at international level. This is what Abramovich want by Ancelotti: to win finally something in Europe and settle Chelsea among the greatest team of Europe definitely. UK newspapers report that in order to do so, Ancelotti and Ambramovich have a lot of things in mind. They both tried to convince Kakà to follow his manager (the one who launched him in the big stage), but the brazilian player  seems to prefer Real Madrid to Chelsea if he have to leave Italy. Other probably candidate to wear the blue shirt next year are Frank Ribery, David Villa and Yury Zhirkov, while Ancelotti already have the list of players who can go: Deco, Malouda and Kalou. Another creature of Ancelotti who can follow him in London is italian midfielder Andrea Pirlo.

Carlo Ancelotti signed with Chelsea a three year contract starting from the first of July.

Ancelotti, Maldini, Figo, Nedved… (maybe Ibrahimovic) a lots of farewells in the last day of Serie A

Italian championship is over! It’s time for verdicts, considerations, but also for farewells.

Today three football giants like Maldini, Figo and Nedved played their last match. The italian legend Maldini was happy to celebrate with Fiorentina fans as AC Milan won 2-o and qualified directly to the groups of next Champions’ League. The portoguese Figo was happy to celebrate with his fans the winning of the “Scudetto” with his Internazionale Milan’s team-mates and Nedved cheers his fans after 8 years of successes and glory.

The news, but voices were high during last months, is that Ancelotti will be no longer AC Milan’s manager next season. His place will be taken by Leonardo de Araujo, former player of AC Milan and until today technical director of the club. Ancelotti is said to go in London, Chelsea side, to manage Abramovich’s team. During his 8 years spell at AC Milan, Ancelotti almost won everything: 1 Scudetto, 1 Italian Cup, 1 Italian Super Cup, 2 Champions’ League, 2 European Super Cup and 1 FIFA World Cup for Clubs. He leaves AC Milan as the second manager with more matches, only second to giant Nereo Rocco of 60s.

But the big news is about Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The swedish players in a post-match interview said that in Italy he won everything, and he doesn’t know what he can do more. Rumours are about a move by him in Barcelona, but also Real Madrid showed some interest. Maybe he’s playing to have more money by the team, or maybe this is another farewell of today.

Is Messi the new Maradona?

He is the man of the moment. He is the new king of football in the world.

His name is Leonel Messi, his place is Barcelona, he is job is to delight people.

The story of this little player is something amazing. Born in Rosario, an industrial city 300 Km far from Buenos Aires, Messi is born to play football. Everybody reminds this little shy guy that with the ball at his feet was unstoppable. With the juvenile team of Newell’s Old Boys he scored 100 goals per season, but something begun to get wrong with his body: he seems to grow lesser than his teammate. He was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency. The costs of cures were about 1,500 $ a month and his family cannot afford them, so they decide to go to Barcelona in order to get the cure free from the club. His trial with Barcelona lasted only 7 minutes. Carlos Rexach was so amazed by his brillian moves on the pitch that Messi entered very soon in to the Barcelona’s family.

He made his debut with Barcelona in an unofficial game against FC Porto at the age of 16 and 145 days, and in an official game aginst Espanyol on 16 October 2004 (age: 17 years and 114 days). From then, Messi started to amaze the world. He won the Youth World Championship with Argentina being top scorer and voted best player of the tournament. This year was is magical year. He scored 41 goals this season, and with 9 goals he’s the topscorer of UEFA Champions’ League.

Being argentinian obviously led to some comparison with the greatest argentinian footballer ever: Diego Armando Maradona. Both are left footed, both short and both can dribble everything on their way. Messi was dubbed by Maradona himself as his heir. On 18 april 2007′s semifinal of Copa del Rey against Getafe he scored a goal that resemble Maradona’s goal of the century against England at Mexico ’86. Spanish newspapers called him “Messidona” after that exploit. Against Espanyol he also emulate the hand of God’s goal of Diego.

So is Messi the new Maradona? Maybe yes, maybe no. At his age he is more mature than Maradona as a person, but personally i think he lacks some qualities that Maradona had. He is less strong than Maradona (and more prone to injury), and less leader than Maradona. Of course, Messi proved to be reliable: he had the difficult task of taking the place of Ronaldinho, but Maradona’s aura was on his own.

Maradona almost failed at Barcelona, while he revealed all of his greatnes playing in Naples. Messi proved to be good in Barcelona, but Barcelona of these days are far more better than Barcelona of Maradona’s era, and his team-mate are good to give Messi all the support he needs.

Messi’s world cup campaign in 2006 was little ’cause Pekerman considered him a substitute. South Africa 2010 will be his major appointment with history (and with Maradona as his coach), the same history that Maradona wrote in 1986. If Messi will succeded, than we’ll have probably the new Maradona.

Messi is still young and have time from his side to prove how great he is, but for me Maradona was a better player than him.

Perez’s assault on Kakà

Florentino Perez in an interview to spanish newspapers Marca confirmed that Real Madrid is still highly interested in having AC Milan’s players Kakà in camiseta blanca in the next season.

Already tempted by Calderon’s presidency, the brazilian player continuosly repeated that he wants to play for AC Milan, but AC Milan’s management already waver this winter when Manchester City tried to sign the brazilian star. There were big speculations about how much money Man City offered to AC Milan, but rumours were towards something around 100 million euros. There are also rumours that Berlusconi’s family see a Kakà as big assets to sell in order to have a better balance this year, and they stated that every offert more than 70 million euros should be taken in consideration by the management.

AC Milan’s fans however showed already in this  winter how much against a Kakà transfer they are. They were probably the main reason why Kakà is still playing in Milan and not in Manchester. AC Milan’s management needs the money to rebuild a team that is too old to compete. This year AC Milan campaign in Serie A was so poor that in the last match at San Siro supporters jeers at Berlusconi and Galliani (and to my surprise also to captain Maldini).

Yesterday AC Milan definitely sells Yohann Gourcouff to Bordeaux for 15 million euros. This together with maybe 70 millions euros from the transfer of Kakà at Real Madrid maybe a good sum to start rebuilding the glorious team of Milan.

All roads lead to Rome

The Guardian promoted Rome as host of the Champions’ League Final.

After months of articles against the city, UK’s newspapers recognized that Rome was a good host for the final. They were so amazed by the city that they propose Rome and Olympic Stadium as permanent host for the Champions’ League Final. A way to say that all roads in Europe leads ultimately to the Eternal City.

Personally i agree. The greatness of this city, the weather and passionate italian fans, everything summed up tends towards a good choice to let Roma be the final stage of the greatest tournament in Europe. It’s a way of unificating Europe in the city that have had the most influence on history in Europe, since the time of Roman Empire. And last but not least, i live here

There are some problems. Olympic Stadium is not properly a football stadium (in fact it is called Olympic since it hosted the 1960′s Olympic Games), and there are some issues with violent fans here in Rome. But, everything is solvable in this world and these problems are nothing compared to the aura of the fascinating idea of having each May the Champions’ League final in Rome.

Guardiola is the real winner

Barcelona has concluded their triumphant season in Rome with a superb display of skills, power and willing of win. A team blessed by the quality of Xavi and Iniesta, the magical trio Messi-Eto’o-Henry, the leadership of Puyol but above all with the leading role of Guardiola. Pep is the real master of Barcelona. He was the real Julius Caesar in Rome. He came, he saw and he won!

When, last summer, Laporta gave to Guardiola this opportunity, I was among them who saw this move too much risky for Barcelona. Guardiola’s only experience was Barcelona B, and i thought he was too much young and unexperienced. How I wrong I was! Guardiola proved us that experience and knowledge are not always related to age.

After Busacca’s final whistle, Guardiola, elegant as ever, seems to me a giant. He had just achieved what many managers will never achieve and he was so calm. He went to Manchester United’s sad players to shake their hands. He passed trough the old man Ferguson, who seems less the guru he use to be in front of Pep.

At only 38, Guardiola has his hands upon one of the greatest concentrate of champions in Europe: FC Barcelona. What they could achieve together only history will tell us.

But in Rome a great team and a great leader has born in the world football. Guardiola is the real winner!