Love The Game

With the January window coming up clubs all over Europe will be looking to add to there depleted or under performing teams. They will not want to be spending huge amounts half way through the season, so they will be looking at young talent.

There are many young talented players plying their trade around the world leagues and I have identified a few that will be looked at by certain teams.

The hottest young talent that is being courted by the likes of Chelsea and Valencia is Napoli's forward Ezequiel Lavezzi, 23. He plays just off the front man and can pick a pass brilliantly but also has an eye for goal which has caught the eye of the big guns. His name has been mooted around for a while but he is a certain talent that will cost a fair amount.

One of Lavezzi's team mates has been making his mark in Serie A also and that is, Marek Hamisk, 21, a talented playmaker that can score goals - alot of them, he has already scored 7 so far this season. Napoli will be doing very well to keep one of their stars let alone both.

Two other team mates that have been hitting the headlines are Standard Leige players Steven Defour, 20, and Axel Witsel, 19. Both midfielders and both players with a great touch a very good technique. EPL clubs have sent there scouts to watch both. Do not be surprised if both are plying their trade in the worlds greatest league.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8B8zKnuMIA

Other players that might be on the move are Zoran Tosic, 21, and Adem Ljajic, 17, with both Man Utd an Real Madrid wanting them from club FK Partizan. Tosic is a left winger who has a good shot and Ljajic a skillful midfielder who operates in the central or right of midfield.

Finally two South American players who are getting rave reviews are Racing Club holding midfielder Franco Zuculini, 18, and diminunitive playmaker Diego Buonanotte, 21, who plays for the famous River Plate.

All these players will eventually being playing for the top teams and representing their countries, it is just a matter of when.

Futsal is a type of soccer played mainly in South America and holds many key attributes to help a players technique. This is due the pitch size (40 x 20 meters) and the smaller heavier ball that is used. This promotes closer control due to the lack of space and a better skill range that is required to beat a man.

The game originated in the 1930's in Uruguay but has now been adopted by Brazil and is seen as the countries favored sport alongside soccer. Players like Robinho, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Rivaldo played the sport before moving up to soccer.

The most powerful nations of this game are Brazil but they are followed closely by Spain, Italy and surprisingly Iran. The highest ever scorer in International Futsal is Iranian striker Vahid Shamsaee with an amazing 340 goals in 119 games.

But Futsal's greatest ever player has to be the great Brazilian Falcao - real name Alessandro Rosa Vieria. At the age of 31 he has already won everything that is on offer, he was voted in the Futsal World Cup 2004 and 2008 best player and won the competition in 2008. Watch the clip and you will truly understand how Futsal can help you develop as a soccer player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5E34XzxrAM

This is a great game and should be used more through out the world.

A.C. Milan have a fantastic history, they have won Serie A an amazing 17 times, that is only 2nd to Juventus with 27 and have won the European Cup 7 times which makes them the 2nd most successful club behind real Madrid with 8. But the one thing that they do come first in is there training methods and the facility they use.

The clubs facility is called the Milanello, it is situated in a small village 50 kilometers from Milan called Varese. It was completed in 1963 but really took form as a leading institution in medical sports science in the late 80's when current A.C owner Silvio Berlusconi took over the club. The facility has 14 permanent staff working there, who study in the leading views in soccer training.

The club over the past 10 years has had an exceptional amount of players continue there careers into there late 30's and even 40's. Players like Baresi, Maldini, Cafu, Favalli and Costacurta have all had prolonged careers due to these techniques. One technique that is used is daily muscle scans, that detect if any player has small tears that could lead to injury. This is not used by any other club in the world.

This facility is the worlds best and is not just used by A.C Milan, the Italian national squad have used it for the past 10 years as a base before big competitions. It is based on a hill and has a running/biking path 1,200m long, with varying altitudes to keep players physically premium and injured players recuperate quicker. It consists of 6 regular pitches, 1 synthetic grass pitch (35m x 30m) and a covered pitch, there is also a cage pitch that keeps the ball in play at all times so that increases the players speed and execution in thinking and technique.

The last thing is the 'MilanLab', they have created a program to help keep players at there peak of performance throughout the season. It consists of 3 levels - (neuro) structural area, biochemical are and mental well being area. The Neuro structural area looks at the chiropractic way in helping there players body to recover without drugs or surgery. Next is the biochemical level that looks into how a players body responds biochemically, when put through different levels of exercise. The final level is mental in which the club makes each individual spend 20 minutes everyday in a 'mind room' to help relieve stress and relax the players.

All of this information is amassed and scrutinised methodically to create a portfolio on each individual and help develop a programme for the player in training that will optimize his ability. Only Arsenal can even be put close to this level of scientific player development due to Arsene Wenger studying there techniques when he was younger.

This is a truly ground breaking area within sport let alone soccer. All the top clubs in 20 years will have this but it is A.C leading the way.

Soccer now creates huge amounts of income through out the world but it is no surprise where the top earners are. English, Spanish, Italian, French and German leagues are the powerhouses in world soccer and that is shown in the list below of the players that earn the big bucks. What is a surprise is that the English league is not as dominate as one would think. This is mainly due to the economic downturn in the pound compared to the Euro, but maybe this is a sign of the times to come in the shifting of power again in the big leagues. The top man in the earners is Zlatan Ibrahimovic with just over 11.5 million dollars a year. But the surprising player who is down in 8th position on 8.7 million dollars a year is world footballer of the year Cristiano Ronaldo.

Top Earner Inter's Zlatan Ibrahimovic

1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic Internazionale 750.000 euros per month (9.000.000 per annum)
Ricardo Kaka AC Milan 750,000 (9.000,000)
3. Lionel Messi FC Barcelona 700.000 (8,400,000)
4 John Terry Chelsea 631,182 (7,574,179)
Frank Lampard Chelsea 631,182 (7.574.179)
6. Thierry Henry FC Barcelona 625,000 (7.500.000)
Samuel Eto´o FC Barcelona 625,000 (7,500,000)
8 Cristiano Ronaldo Manchester United 563,555 (6,762,660)
9 Ronadinho Gaucho AC Milan 541,667 (6,500,000
Andrei Shevchenko AC Milan 541,667 (6,500,000
11. Michael Ballack Chelsea 541,013 (6,492,154
Steven Gerrard Liverpool 541,013 (6,492,154
Rio Ferdinand Manchester United 541,013 (6,492,154
14 Raul Gonzalez Real Madrid 533,333 (6,400,000
Ruud Van Nistelrooy Real Madrid 533,333 (6,400,000
16 Iker Casillas Real Madrid 500,000 (6,000,000
Frederic Kanouté Sevilha FC 500,000 (6,000,000
18 Wayne Rooney Manchester United 495,928 (5,951,141
Michael Owen Newcastle United 495,928 (5,951,141
20 Fabio Cannavaro Real Madrid 483.333 (5,800,000
21 Robinho Manchester City 473,386 (5,680,634
22 Francesco Totti AS Roma 458,333 (5,500,000
Luca Toni Bayern Munique 458,333 (5,500,000
24 Arjen Robben Real Madrid 455,000 (5,460,000
25 Ashley Cole Chelsea 450,844 (5,410,128
Deco Chelsea 450,844 (5,410,128
Fernando Torres Liverpool 450,844 (5,410,128
28 Carlos Tevez Manchester United 428,302 (5,139,622
29 Adriano Internazionale 416.667 (5,000,000
Patrick Vieira Internazionale 416.667 (5,000,000
Charles Puyol FC Barcelona 416.667 (5,000,000
Andres Iniesta FC Barcelona 416.667 (5,000,000
Xavi FC Barcelona 416,667 (5,000,000
Sergio Aguero Atletico Madrid 416,667 (5,000,000
Gianluigi Buffon Juventus 416,667 (5,000,000
Willy Sagnol Bayern Munique 416,667 (5,000,000 (Retired)

37 Dimitar Berbatov Manchester United 405,760 (4,869,115)
Andrei Arshavin Arsenal 405,760 (4,869,115)
Didier Drogba Chelsea 405,760 (4,869,115)
Nicolas Anelka Chelsea 405,760 (4,869,115)
Paul Scholes Manchester United 405,760 (4,869,115)

42 Alessandro Del Piero Juventus 400,000 (4,800,000)
Karim Benzema Olympique Lyon 400,000 (4,800,000)
Lúcio Bayern Munique 400,000 (4,800,000)
Frank Ribery Bayern Munique 400,000 (4,800,000)
46 Joe Cole Chelsea 383,217 (4,598,609)
Ryan Giggs Manchester United 383,217 (4,598,609)
Xabi Alonso Liverpool 383,217 (4,598,609)
Jamie Carragher Liverpool 383,217 (4,598,609)
50 David Beckham AC Milan 375,000 (4,500,000)
Juninho Pernanbucano Olympique Lyon 375,000 (4,500,000)
Sidney Govou Olympique Lyon 375,000 (4,500,000)
David Trezeguet Juventus 375,000 (4.500,000)

BSKYB have announced that they have been awarded 5 out of the 6 packages for the Premier league matches from 2010-2013 seasons. This is the most packages that the company are allowed due to European Commission rules regulating that not one company can have a monopoly on all games. The packages A,B,C,E and F are the slots that have been allocated with package D now more than likely to go to either Setanta or Disney owned ESPN Sports.

This is a huge positive for BSKYB who is one of only a few companies in Britain to carry on growing within this recession. The package itself is a lot more than the total paid for all six packages last time which totaled 1.6 Billion pounds. This will only mean more money for Premier League clubs which will mean a bigger gap between the Championship and foreign leagues.

There is no doubting that there has been a huge improvement within the quality of player in the EPL over the past six years or so. The current European and World player of the year is plying his trade in the English league and the current Champions League winners are English. This is also backed up once again with all four EPL clubs reaching the last eight of this years Champions League this also occurred the previous year. Many people are coming to conclusions for the reason behind the EPL clubs success but the easy option is to state that money is the deciding factor.

Steven Gerrard demolished Real Madrid with his performance.

That is just all to easy to state, but if you look at the early 80's when English clubs dominated Europe there was certainly not money involved in the English league then compared to now. Some big names in world soccer have given there reasons behind the English clubs dominance in Europe. England manager, Fabio Capello, gave his reasons. "Let's say there is a big difference in terms of attitude," he told Raisports. He also stated "(English clubs) have a habit of being more physical and athletic. (Italian) teams are deficient in these areas compared to them". This could be said also for the Spanish clubs also after Liverpool's crushing defeat of Real Madrid. Clarence Seedorf also stated that he thought English clubs structures were better planned than Italian clubs with the policy of investing in youth. He commented "it is about management and building the right projects so you can be competitive. I think in Italy that is what is lacking. I think the English teams have sufficient team structures. They’ve been buying the right players and even from a younger age they are now popping up. For example, if you look at Cristiano Ronaldo he was in Manchester when he was 17 or 18 and now he’s one of the best players in the world. He makes the difference to their squad."

England Manager, Fabio Capello
This has always been the take on the culture of soccer in England. EPL clubs have always played a higher tempo which creates a more physical and fast paced game. This is mainly the deciding factor with the dominance of English soccer. This has been shown with Liverpool and Utd's victories over Real Madrid and Inter Milan respectively. EPL clubs have the upper hand for now but the question is how long will that last?.

He is one of Britain's most known faces and had people idolize him through out the 1990's with his quick feet and cheeky smile. But now he is in his 40's and at rock bottom. This article is on a flawed genius, a man known as "Gazza" to his fans and Paul Gascoigne to others. Born in Gateshead, situated in the north eastern part of England on the 27th May 1967; Gascoigne was brought up in the world with very little to spare economically and found his way to success with a football.

Gascoigne had a enigmatic career that started with Newcastle in the mid 1980's and carried onto Tottenham Hotspurs, Lazio, Rangers, Middlesborough and Everton before moving down into the lower leagues. He was a barrel chested highly skillful midfielder that caught the imagination of all the clubs fans that he played for. He won many caps for England and could of made a century of caps if not for injury.

The year that Gascoigne truly made his name was the World Cup in 1990 where England made it through to the semi-finals to only be knocked out by to be champions Germany on penalties. During the game Gascoigne was booked for a late challenge that would of made him suspended for the final if England had made it through. Within moments of the booking he realized that he would be missing for a game that would be his biggest in all his career and he cried in front of millions of watchers.

This created a bond with the English public that would grow to become known as "Gazza Mania" through out the early and mid 90's. With the world at his feet and being touted as having the potential to biggest England's greatest ever player, Gazza ruined it all.

It was the 1991 F.A Cup Final; Gazza was playing for Tottenham against Nottingham Forest and was ready to win the cup as a farewell gift for the Spurs fans after it was revealed that he was to move to Lazio at the end of the season. It was 20 minutes into the game and a highly charged Gazza throw himself into a wild and reckless challenge on right-back Gary Charles. Gazza made contact with Charles's thigh and ruptured his right knee; he ruptured both his ligaments and a tendon. He was rushed to hospital with every fan concerned for his health. Tottenham won the cup in extra time 2-1 but that did not dampen the anguish everyone felt for England's star player.

His move to Lazio was put on hold and it took Gazza 13 months to recover from the injury after a serious relapse with his knee. He moved to Italy but many a fan questioned whether he would ever make it back to his best. After a reasonably successful spell at Lazio he moved on to Scottish giants Rangers and found his old
form.

In 1996 he was selected for England's Euro squad and once again made it his own tournament; but once again it ended in heart break. He scored what is known as England's greatest ever goal against Scotland where he picked a long ball up with his first touch, flicked it over the head of a defender and before it drops volley's it into the bottom left hand-side of the goal. This was Gazza's moment in which he celebrated in controversial style in which he used a water bottle and mimed a drinking game called the dentists chair. He would go on to inspire England to the Semi-finals once again.

As if fate would have it England lined up once again against it's old rival Germany in the European Championship Semi-final at home. This time everyone thought this would be the time that Gazza et al would come to the front and claim victory. After a great start with Gazza setting up England's goal in the first few minutes Germany scored and dragged it into extra-time. Pressure was showing on all the players on the pitch, England created a counter attack and the ball was crossed low into the box with Gazza running onto it; it looked like he couldn't miss and would put England into the finals, but he misjudged the speed of the cross and missed the ball a yard out.

The game went to penalties in which the Germans held their nerve and England did not. Once again there were tears by the England playmaker but this time was the last time any fan would see him wear the national jersey in a major competition.

He was dropped controversially for the 1998 World Cup squad for a then baby faced David Beckham. By then the years were taking it's toll on him and he never hit the heights again.

Through out his career he was well documented as a wild child that like to drink and play stupid pranks. He was also guilty of attacking his wife once which effected his popularity. He has battled drink and drug addiction for the past 15 years or so and is a shell of his former self. A man who had the world at his feet but didn't know how to make that final step into folk lore. Whether he will be remembered by many in a good fashion is not known but nothing can take away the joy he gave when he played.

Lionel Messi in most peoples view is the best player in the world at the moment. I would like to disagree to a certain point. Much like the constant debate that which player is better? Pele or Maradona?. My argument much like with Maradona that Messi is undoubtedly a world class footballer but he simply is not built to be the best. At 21 he is now fully developed in form and weighs in at 148 lbs and at 5'7 in height he can be dominated by bigger players who can work him out. Now the question is what are his weaknesses; during the champions league semi-final against Chelsea he was found wanting very much in his ability to create space for himself and move the ball onto his right foot. Chelsea had worked out that he is at his most effective when moving in from the right wing on to his stronger left foot, he seems very hesitant to go to the bye line and take a player on with his weaker right foot.

There is no doubting about the quality that he Messi has but would he be effective in the most competitive league in the world in England? I doubt it. Most of his goals this year have been through quick one-twos from the edge of the box and running at players who are off balance. The sheer speed of the game and certainly the physical side of the Premier league would see Messi as a player above distinguished ability but would you say that he would be on par with a Ronaldo, Rooney, Torres or Gerrard?.

The reason why Pele was a better player than Maradona is because he was better in the air than the little Argentine, the same goes when you compare Messi to Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese winger can use both feet and is a big danger in the air, this is down to no small part that he is 165 lbs and 6'1in height. The game is changing and has been now for some time just like other sports; Rugby, Basketball, American Football, Golf as well as many more sports have changed over the last decade due to advancement in diets and technology and this also includes soccer. Players now are bigger than the average man, they are taller, they are stronger. This makes it very hard for a average sized person become the best in their respected sport.

Lionel Messi is very effective in the Spanish league but has never really made huge steps in the champions league past the group stages. Nothing takes away the fact that he has an unbelievable centre of gravity in which he is very hard to knock off the ball and he does have amazingly quick feet, but more is required in this day and age to become the best.

After Spain’s fantastic performances in the European Championships this year it has been brought into question who does play the most pleasing football to watch?. No doubt the Spanish played lovely flowing football with there short triangular passing style but can it be compared to the likes of Brazil who play there way of football for such a long time now or is it more effective than the Italian style of play?. These questions have been asked for a long time and the only answer to them is by looking at who holds the current titles whether that be World Cup, European Championship, Copa America or African nations Cup.

What is a very interesting point though on this type of subject is how these types of styles of football have been created. Society has an impact on everything, the cultures and ways of life from one country to another can compare and vary dramatically, this can also be evaluated in football. You only have to look at the way the English national football team play compared to Brazil‘s. England’s tactics are of a direct route of attack with long balls over the top of defences for attackers to run onto where Brazil’s is of a more entertaining style, more free willed. When you look at the two cultures they can be seen as the same as there football. The English are very direct and rushed with life, everything is of getting A to B as fast and easy as possible, look at the way we eat, dinner is usually taken around 7pm or 8pm and we eat the food as quickly as it has been served. Also the way we drive, we want to get from one place to the other as soon as we can rather than relax and enjoy the journey. Then there is Brazil which is renowned for their carnival spirit and easy way of life, their restaurants don’t open until 9pm their life is led with a certain freedom. That is all shown in style of football they play.

You can look at the same thing with Italy, Portugal, Argentina, Spain and many more. At this current moment Spain are the best in Europe and are major contenders for the World Cup in 2010 in South Africa, can the Italian mentality of Fabio Capello be the catalyst that English football needs so desperately?. He has stated that technically our national team is as good as anyone’s, it is more to do with confidence. Now that is another part of our culture that needs to be addressed so badly and that is of the English mentality of self criticism. Yes the English media are mainly responsible for creating this crisis of confidence in the national team but it is also the people buying these papers that are responsible too. If only we could change our culture for the good and back our boys through thick and thin then it might be us holding that cup last Sunday!!!

Could this be the start of the end for the identity of English football?. With news filtering out today that the Premier league clubs have agreed to looking into the possibility regarding playing an extra game a season in varied venues around the world it seems a distressing time for English fans. We have always been a passionate nation about our beloved game, we invented the sport. But this must truly be the first step in many that will see our own beloved football clubs lost forever to us. Yes, it is only a preliminary meeting regarding this venture but it is a major set back for fans that hold their clubs so dear to them. This is no doubt based around revenue as it always does, but we also need to think about the consequences of such radical steps. Firstly the burn out of international players, an extra game a season in the hectic period of January will put players like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney up to around 70 games a season. In the long term this could be more than just one game extra to be played with that they will have shorter break periods during off season due to this, which is surely detrimental to the standard of football that the fans pay so much to see already. Only last week Carlos Tevez who has not had a proper off season for over two years now has admitted to being exhausted and the wear and tear of Premiership football was taking effect on his body. Is this what we want to see for our own national players?, there is no question now that the Premiership is the biggest league in the world, in revenue and viewing figures. This is mainly due to the standard of play that we now have, it is fast and furious but with a very high standard of technical ability. This I think will change if players are to travel further a field for league games, for example if Manchester United are to play Chelsea in Melbourne in the first week of January, then four days later they are to play Spurs in London. That is an astronomical amount of miles that need to be made to play two games of football.

What has been put forward by the Premiership is that an extra game in the January period is to be played. The Premiership will auction off the games to the highest bidder, the areas that the premiership is looking into is the far east, middle east, Australia and the U.S. The packages that will be offered out will be two fixtures that are to be played in one stadium, that in total makes five packages that will be put up for auction. The Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore said today ‘The ‘International round’ is an exciting and innovative proposal that needs careful consideration before being introduced. However, this concept recognises the truly global appeal of the Barclays Premier League whilst understanding that the traditions of the English game have always underpinned our success. We believe that an ‘International round’ of matches will enhance the strength of the Barclays Premier League as a competition; create extra interest in all 20 Premiership clubs at home and abroad; and allow increased investment in talent development and acquisition, facilities as well as our football development and community programmes.’ This I say is a very diplomatic response into something the league have seriously been pondering for a long time now.

Maybe the clubs will argue their case and state that they are trying to bring games to fans that are all over the world, or even say that the revenue made will help them lower tickets for fans in England. But that will be just sugar coated propaganda, the simple fact now is that every club in the Premiership is run as a business and if the figures add up then they will do it and say damn to the consequences. If this notion is passed it will be the start of a very well devised plan by the big wigs, after a certain period of time has passed to see if this idea works, then a the concept of a world league will be brought into fruition. This has been a plan devised and spoken about by the members of G-14, the super powers of European football. The warning signs are already there for people to look at, players like Ronaldinho and Adriano who were two of the best players on the planet only a year ago but are now being offered left, right and centre to clubs who are willing to pay the big money for them. They have suffered from severe burnout and personal issues, due to flying from country to country for sponsors, national games and charities. With this matter you could see the next Wayne Rooney retiring aged 27 due to injury, where his body was unable to cope with the amount of games played every year and not being able to let their body recuperate from the previous game. The examples are already there to be looked at, so I ask myself, are the fans just going to sit there and watch it happen? Or will spokespeople from every club stand up and give an opinion from the perspective of a purely football view that isn’t not money driven.

There is also another opinion that the gap between the big clubs in the premiership and the smaller clubs in the lower league will just get bigger. There is already a big gap in revenue between the leagues, for example West Ham in the Premier League and Bristol City in the division below in the Championship; they are miles apart in comparison. West Hams highest paid player is Freddy Ljungberg and Craig Bellamy who are on £60,000 a week that compared with Bristol City’s top paid player that is over 12 times the amount. This gap will only get bigger if this plan does go through for the 2010/2011 season. There are others factors that must be taken into account like security, are places like Bangkok and Beijing ready for all seater stadiums that will have to apply to law within in this country about health and safety relating back to the late 1980’s, you could get crowd violence if there is no segregation in the stadiums also There are so many issues that have not been answered.