Monday, November 1, 2010

Champions league: Who are the great teams now?

Which team that going to win?
Bacerlona  are still the best club  the champions in UEFA league  catching attention of every fan this week. This happen with the fresh score of  Sevila 5-0 the Blaugrana are now 3.60 recapture the trophy  won in 1992, 2006 and 2009 respectively.

Chelsea and  Barca’s La Liga rivals Real Madrid are on the highest pick of 5.0 to triumph in Wembley next May. All teams have great maximum points after three matches and well clear of third best Manchester United.

The red Devil’s are now 10.0 point to repeat what happened in 2008 against Arsenal with just small chance behind at 11.0. The great holders team Inter Milan are buying at 13.0 and no team has ever maintained the champions League in its present stage.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Rampant Germany

Germany photo-op during the 2010 world cup
If you have read the news article last, I wrote on how England ended their World Cup campaign on such a disastrous note. Well this week let’s discuss on why many people agree that the Germans have probably the best squad in the terms of the next World Cup being held.

Firstly even before the 2010 World Cup started, many people started writing off the Germans as favourites because of their very largely unknown team which comprises mostly youngsters who are below the age of 23.

To many, this team was not capable of posing a serious threat towards other better teams. But tactically if seen, this team has been selecting players who have worn the national jerseys at the junior level.

Some of the players were part of the team that trashed the England Under 23 team to lift the European Championships earlier in 2009. Another thing that most people do not know is that Germany always gives priority to their national league or rather called “Bundesliga”.

They always make it a point to state the rule that there should be more German players in a club rather than giving in the chance for more foreign player recruitment.

In one way it is considered bad as there won’t be enough superstars in a team, but on the other hand its actually a good move that you are giving a chance on homegrown players to shine and get a name for themselves.

The team that went all the way until the semi finals of the World Cup didn’t have any special stars to lead the team but rather gifted players who could change the game with a simple swift move. That is where Germany’s superb counter attack caught many well known teams by surprise
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These young guns were not known by many so the stage was just set for them to portray their skills on the pitch. Another huge advantage the Germans had was their tenaciousity to play free flowing football which was only bettered by the eventual champions, Spain.

They came without any expectation and even their very own people started criticizing the coaches selection of players but they never taught for one moment that the coach was not only thinking of winning the current World Cup but also in building a strong team for the other championships that would come along the way.

The bottom line is that people watch out for the Germans in the upcoming European Championship.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Homework needs to be done

Spain in a championship photo-op raising the FIFA world cup 2010 trophy

I bet this is not a topic that many would wish to hear especially since the FIFA World Cup is over and the waiting begins for the next four years until the next tournament.

I bet the majority of the fanatic football fans in Malaysia would have supported the favorites consisting of Brazil, Germany, Spain, Argentina and so on. Of course eventually the honors went to Spain because they played the most free flowing football in the tournament and nobody will disagree to that.

What was running through most of our minds was the way England was knocked out of the tournament. Many people expected England to be one of the front runners for the cup even before the tournament kicked started.

There was much hype about the repeat of the 1966 tournament where England won their first and only World Cup. The first bad news was revealed when it was announced that David Beckham would miss the World Cup due to a cruciate ligament injury that rules him out for three months.

If that wasn’t bad enough then Michael Owen was also out due to an injury and again England received another major blow.

To some people Michael Owen and David Beckham might have passed their prime, well I agree with you but remember when these two play together, they tend to take the burden off the other younger players and this gives the team and extra boost when playing against tough opposition.

Rio Ferdinand the highest paid defender in the English Premier League and who was just newly appointed as the captain had to pull out of the team due to a chronic back injury.

That was the main reason why England dominated their qualifying group with astonishing results against some of the world’s best teams such as Croatia. After losing these three players, the attention was now all towards Wayne Rooney to spearhead their campaign in the World Cup.

Maybe lady luck wasn’t shining on England at all, Rooney who was in fine physical form suddenly had an injury but just luckily managed to recover in time to be fit for the World Cup.

During the group stages, the effort by the United striker was a little less than disappointing. Imperfection timing of his runs, lacking ball control, a lack of composure and Rooney was rarely seen at his best in fact he was never seen at his best.

Steven Gerrard who was the captain tried his best to pull the strings in midfield but there was no inspiration from any of the forwards upfront. Gareth Barry was rushed to fitness but also didn’t find the spark in time.
John Terry arguably the leader of this team failed to perform at his best and his season was a mix of good and bad fortune due to his personal problems off the pitch.

The bottom line was the team lacked unity. Even the coach didn’t know to pick the right formations and even the right players. For an internationally renowned coach like Fabio Capello to create a mistake such as this is simply unforgivable.

And when a team which had the technical ability and the hunger to win like Germany came up against them in the second round. England was just ripped apart by a team who played with heart rather than one playing for the sake of playing.

If ever England wins another World Cup to add to their collection, then it has to happen with a much younger and technically gifted team. Remember Capello, choose players who can change the game with one move, not ones who can be a good role models.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Media Outsmart Sports!

Float like butterfly, taste like chocolate while talking to the media
“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee “, a quote popularized by a famous boxer, Muhammad Ali. This quote perfectly suites the writing style of journalists today. There is no limit to the amount of publicity and attention the news today creates. In today’s society the media has a profound impact on sports and the majority of the time the impact is negative.

According to AC NIELSEN a research website, sports is the most read about and watched event in terms of newspapers and television. Whether one is a sports fan or not, the scores, highlights, and rivalries within a particular sport for example football will be ever present within our minds whether it is good or bad. An example would be the world famous rivalries of the Barclay’s English Premier League, The Red Devils, The Blues, and The Gunners.

For instance, the majority of people globally are fans of football yet there are some who do not know the processes of the game. Regardless of this fact almost everybody knows who David Beckham is. This is because of the influence the media has over us. However if an incident occurred may it be positive or negative like for example a scandal revolving around ‘Becks’ than we and the rest of society will be aware of it because he is such a public figure.

A good example in football would be FIFA’s European Championships in 2004 when Portugal was playing Greece in an intense final until an intruder ran into the pitch naked focusing all the attention on him from then onwards. To ardent football fans, the incident was an atrocity but for the rest of the non-football fans, it was such interesting news to read compared to the result of the match.

Many athletes are targets of media prey. Win or lose, their performance and life is publicly dissected by the media. Winning brings about glorification and expectation, and losing results in mockery or criticism by the media and therefore the public.

These examples support the premise that the media does have a profound impact on athletic performance and who does the public deem favorable in terms of sports celebrities. The athletes have two choices whereby they can succumb to the challenges of media distractions, or they can meet the challenges of media.