We need a Rohan Ricketts song

My recent conversion to Toronto FC actually garnered some attention to this small corner of the internet and shockingly inspired some people to post comments which was a delightful and unexpected consequence.

After a defeat at Houston (last year’s MLS champions) that was widely blasted as “pathetic” and saw many fans call for the heads of several players - good to see that there are some familiarities between them and Spurs - they entertained Colorado Rapids this past weekend.

The result… a commanding 3-1 victory with Rohan Ricketts scoring his first two goals for the club. The second of which is rather spectacular.

I was messing around with youtube and actually created a rather spectacular embeddable player but there seems to be a disagreement of sorts between that site and wordpress. If I had a blogger account then it would work fine which was heartbreaking to learn. So instead I’ll just create a link to a page with all the relevant videos on. It looks nowhere near as flash but it’ll do for now.

TORONTO FC vs. COLORADO RAPIDS - 15th JUNE 2008

Sunday update

Typical me, just as this site starts to get a decent number of visitors (a link on the Guardian website attracted over 400 hits for the Dutch article alone) I start to let things slide.

I have no real excuse apart from I have been working at a real paper all week and pumping out a couple of thousand words on sport every day and so I was a little burnt out by the time I got home in the evenings, especially when I actually wanted to watch Euro 2008 games too. An unfortunate quasi-addiction to Big Brother (the evening highlights show at least) has also not helped.

I’ll be back in the next 24 hours with a post though and shall try to get back to a post every couple of days. Hold tight.

(Insert superlative here) Oranje!

Holland have just beaten the reigning world champions Italy 3-0 in their opening fixture of Euro 2008. Expect to read a lot about it in the paper tomorrow.

There is a book about Dutch football by David Winner called ‘Brilliant Orange’ and I think that is the right adjective to describe tonight’s game.  Wonderful, outstanding, mesmeric and just downright beautiful all-round.

I have enjoyed Euro 2008 so far but on arriving home with twenty minutes left in the Romania-France game today and hearing it written off as an awfully negative, ugly game I worried for the tournament.  There had been no outstanding game so far and tomorrow’s Group D games do not promise to be spectacular.  The competition needed tonight’s game to be more than special, it needed to grab the continent by the scruff of the neck and shout “Yes Romania, we admire your tactically-astute, defensive football - but this is how it should be done”.

It did that and so much more.

I am caught up in the euphoria of the performance at the moment and don’t wish to comment too much as I’ll be prone to hyperbole.  Having predicted that they would finish bottom of Group C though I’ve never been more pleased to eat a slice of humble pie.  Even though theoretically they still could, if they lose 4-0 in the next two games they will still have made a huge contribution.  Marco Van Basten has crafted a team that, tonight at least, reminded us about the beauty of football and it was perfectly juxtaposed against the afternoon game.

I have previously questioned Dirk Kuyt and commented that he is a worker and little else.  An attacking version of the phrase “Water Carrier” that Eric Cantona used to insult Didier Deschamps contribution to France.  Well tonight you proved me wrong.

I wonder why Van Bronchorst was in the side when players like Urby Emanuelson were waiting in the wings.  Again, questions answered.  It is not inappropriate to say that every player from Van Der Sar to Van Nistelrooy played their part and made almost the perfect game.

In the morning we can raise the questions such as whether or not they are capable of repeating something of that magnitude or if it is possible to get anywhere near those energy levels more than once on the back of a long season.  All of these points are irrelevant and as you rest your head on a pillow this evening the images you dream of should simply be those of Van Der Vaart through balls, Van Bronchorst lung-busting runs, Van Persie killing a 70-yard pass dead on his chest on the touchline under pressure from a defender and of Van Der Sar diving full-stretch to make a save yet within thirty seconds celebrating the third goal and final exclamation point on an amazing night.

It is unlikely we will see a better performance all tournament so savour this moment.  All hail the brilliant orange.

MLS Thoughts - 5th-7th June 2008

After my recent conversion to Toronto FC, I’ve decided to make a slight effort to keep in touch with the happenings of MLS. I thought this was going to be a nightmare but it seems their league is far more forward-thinking than most other sports when it comes to fan interaction. There is no scrambling around the internet looking for goals in time before the league stamps their feet and removes them. Just by subscribing to the official MLS youtube channel, all the goals will be put in convenient highlights form for anyone to watch legally just hours after they happen. Good work America.

06/06/08 FC Dallas 1 - 2 New England Revolution

For those equally naive, New England were in fact the home team. I know, it doesn’t make sense to me either. As I’m very new to the league, please feel free to comment and point out where I’ve made mistakes. The overriding feeling after watching this was just how poor the defending on show. Cristman was allowed a free header for the first goal and Dallas’ keeper completely telegraphed which was he was going for the penalty. Dallas’ consolation goal was amateur hour with Alvarez on his own in a laughable amount of space at the back post. Surprised to hear that New England are on top of the league after seeing this.

06/07/2008 San Jose Earthquakes 2 - 0 Columbus Crew

I’ve no idea how Columbus lost this, they appeared to have all the play but somehow lost 2-0 at home. This was pretty nasty in places with two sendings off and numerous yellows. Robbie Rogers, in particular, took a kicking from the San Jose. The referee seemed appeared biased, but for the away team. Maybe he is as confused by the wording of the fixtures as I am.

06/07/2008 DC United 2 - 1 Chicago Fire

Another three sendings off. Maybe the league is just generally dirty and I wasn’t aware. DC United have a guy, who I think from the sounds of it, is called Fred up front and he could not finish the proverbial dinner. He missed numerous chances. Marcelo Gallardo who I imagine is one of the best players in the league was one of those sent off, yet DC still went on to win with nine men. Impressive resilience but the keeper was at fault for the injury-time winner.

06/07/08 Colorado Rapids 2 - 3 LA Galaxy

Two more sendings off! Also three very nice finishes in this game as well, which also featured the return of Beckham who in turn put in the cross for the opening goal. This would have been 3-3 if not for an amazing save from the LA keeper when tipping a long shot onto the post.

06/05/08 Chivas USA 0 - 1 New York Red Bull

Juan Pablo Angel headed a late winner to nab the points. In both NY games I’ve seen in recent times he’s appeared the best player as you may expect for someone who’s played at such a high level around the world. His movement and link-up play seems a step ahead what a lot of defenders are used to dealing with. The Chivas keeper Brad Guzan who is attracting a lot of attention made one or two good saves. NY on paper at least appear to have one of the strongest squads in the division, even with the upcoming sale of Altidore.

There doesn’t appear to be highlights for Salt Lake vs. Kansas, possibly because it ended goalless.

£5 Euro 2008 betting preview

Around two weeks ago I was considering writing about one of the 16 teams in Euro 2008 every day in the build up the tournament’s start. On Monday I was considering a four-day-long preview where I examined a different group every day. This morning I was thinking about an all-encompassing preview in one long post. Now, with the tournament starting tomorrow, you get something better than all those three combined. My much sought after gambling preview which, due to me covering so many bases, should be live throughout the tournament.

I have a massive fiver burning a hole in my online Bet365 account and as finances are slightly stretched I don’t plan on investing any more during the tournament. With such limited funds, betting on favourites or short-odds bets doesn’t seem worthwhile. I could try and keep backing winner favourite after favourite and re-investing every time I’d inevitably be let down by Austria getting revenge for 1938 against Germany or something. This means that backing an outright winner seems largely pointless as everyone, except one team, with half a chance is below 10-1.

Top tournament goalscorer is a more tempting market. Although once again it seems a little small-fry for me. I want to win BIG on this tournament and that means combining the two. Tournament winner / top goalscorer. This is a dodgy bet because someone like Torres could easily score the most goals yet Germany win the show outright. These fixed markets only account for one country winning the Golden Boot and the trophy. Still - It’s only a fiver. I’ll start with the most interesting bet first.

Romania & Adrian Mutu @ 351.00, £1.00 Single

This is my most outlandish bet and I expect to be laughed at heartily for picking it.  However it is far from as unlikely as the odds would suggest.

I think the winner is going to come from the ill-fated GROUP OF MURDEROUS DEATH but I think Holland can be pretty much written off.  I like Robben, Van Der Vaart and Sneijder but their defence is poor and overall I don’t think they quite have what it takes.  Romania on the other hand are being written off as the whipping boys of the group but they actually took four points from Holland in the qualifying stages.  They won said group, which also contained Bulgaria Slovenia, with +19 goal difference over only 12 games.  This suggests they score goals and don’t concede many at all, even against good teams (Holland failed to score against them at all).

They have two outstanding players in Adrian Mutu (above) and Christian Chivu with a promising young striker in Ciprian Marica also leading the line.  Mutu is only seven goals off equaling Hagi’s national record for international goals and could feasibly match or better that in the coming weeks, in about half the number of games it took the ex-Barcelona man.  It’s not been a great start to June for Adrian, but it could end very nicely.

In my mind they are capable of getting 5 points in the group and have enough acumen to beat anyone in Europe on their day.  I know this sounds quite obvious for a team ranked 12th in the world but for reason they have been largely ignored.  I am getting in early so I can say I told you so when they take the trophy back to Bucharest.  Nobody gave Greece a chance four years ago, and their squad didn’t contain players possessing the class and guile that Mutu and Chivu provide.

France & Karim Benzema @ 81.00, £1.00 Single

Now for the first of the four more obvious choices.  France have an amazing squad despite their trouble in qualifying.  Nasri, Ribery, Toulalon, Henry, Anelka, Makelele and yet a young guy from Lyon could very well be in the ace in the crown.

Lyon have slapped a €50m price tag on his head after Man Utd were rumoured to be sniffing around and for good reason.  He is arguably the best striker under the age of 21 in the world and doesn’t seem to have any flaws.  He is tall, strong, good in the air, pacey and capable of finishing with both feet.  My only worries would be that despite all the above, France tend to have loyalty to the veterans in their side and he may not start every game with Henry and Anelka also in the squad.  Also, the GROUP OF TORTUROUS DEATH is likely to a tight one and strikers in weaker groups (see my next pick) could have a major head start by the time it gets to the qualifying rounds.

Still though, 80-1 seems very generous and worth a pound of investment.

Germany & Mario Gomez @ 34.00, £1.00 Single

With reference to my Benzema / France comments, Germany find themselves in a very different situation.  They are favourites to win the tournament and it is hard to argue even considering their lack of star power compared to rival nations.

First of all, they have the easiest group by far.  They could not have cherry-picked it any better.  They will face co-hosts Austria - who must be one of the worst teams to qualify from a European Championships in some years, Poland - Another poor side who seem to perennial qualifiers but consistent early-leavers at the same time, and Croatia - a talented team but one lacking their top scorer and only potent goal threat.

It is basically a home tournament for them as well and you would expect them to score hatfuls of goals early on.  Miroslav Klose has profited in recent tournaments from similar situations and could do again this time.  However better value can be found in his likely strike partner Mario Gomez.  He has scored 44 goals in his last 62 games for his club Stuttgart and is being tipped as one to watch by informed European journalists.  I don’t personally think Germany will be outright winners, but the much-spoke cliche tells us to never write them off and if they are to triumph then this man may be hailed as the architect.

Italy & Luca Toni @ 34.00, £1.00 Single

Whose to say that the world champions don’t have a shot of doing the double, ala France in 1998 and 2002.  Captain Fabio Cannavaro is injured but expect their defence to be as water-tight as ever.  Their problems could lie up front if anywhere.  Del Piero is being trotted out for another tournament but it could be one-too many for the legend from Turin.  Cassano is talented, but also mental.  Borriello and Di Natale have had good seasons but are unproven internationally.

Their go-to man will undoubtedly be Luca Toni.  He has just had a great debut season in Munich where he claimed top scorer honours in the Bundesliga.  He also averages a goal nearly every other game for his country.  Italy are second favourites to win the tournament with most bookmakers but that will not be possible without a good tournament from the highest paid player in Europe.

Spain & Fernando Torres @ 17.00, £1.00 Single

My final and most predictable choice.  This is reflected in the frankly awful odds on offer.  However if I had to stake my reputation (ha!) on choosing one combination then this would be it.

Spain have an outrageously talented group of players including Fabregas, Casillas, Xavi, Villa and a favourite of mine in Iniesta.  Their shaky defence is offset by an easier potential route to the finals compared to their main rivals.  Ignore the boringly repetitive pundits who will Pavlovian repeat to you “they never do it in big tournaments”, this is their best chance in ages and El Nino is the most likely out of anyone to help them finally fulfil their potential.

Toronto FC: They don’t pay for healthcare and nor do I

I’ve gone through a very strange transformation in the last few days.  Suddenly, out of nowhere I’ve become somewhat of a fan of Toronto FC.

Now I’ve never shown any inclinations to the MLS before.  I’ve always been quite anti-America as far as soccer… football is concerned.  The reason being that I’ve always feared the potential ramifications of North America suddenly waking up the game.

While I like basketball and imagine I would enjoy playing baseball - I don’t follow US sports to any major extent.  I like the San Antonio Spurs in basketball but that was mainly due to the name being associated with my English football team.  That and I liked Tim Duncan and, in more the recent times, the awesome  Manu Ginobili.  American Football on the other hand was simply a write-off.

But yet I’ve nailed my colours to the Toronto FC mast and I know where the blame lies.

The MLS had struggled to penetrate the UK in any way until recently.  If you ask most people in the country about the league then the characteristic that most would pick out the unfathomable concept to people in this country that the games are decided by penalties as the public won’t tolerate draws.  Even though this is no longer the case it seems to be the only fact we know about the game stateside.

It’s not as if we are just ignorant on this side of the pond.  We have one of the best leagues in the world and that receives almost blanket coverage on the sports pages.  In Europe there are strong leagues like Serie A, La Liga and the Bundesliga and yet they are barely mentioned.  If we don’t have time for leagues
that are packed with quality internationals then there are few people dedicated enough to watch MLS highlights at 4am on a channel not everyone can receive.

However one signing made everyone sit up and take notice.  The purchase of a certain impossibly-handsome Londoner in his early-thirties had fans and media buzzing with excitement.  Could he put the game on the map where others have tried and failed.

Well, I’ll hold my hands up and plead guilty.  I have fallen hook, line and sinker for the media hype.  The transfer of Danny Dichio to Toronto FC has had the required impact and I have been hooked in.  He was recently interviewed on the BBC’s late-night world football phone in and made me aware of his move and that Toronto FC even existed.  I found the story about their special chant for him that is always sung on the 24th minute, on account of that being when he scored the team’s first-ever goal, to be humourous but must admit I didn’t think much more of it.

Fast forward to last week and the hype surrounding Jozy Altidore in the build to the England vs. USA friendly intrigued me and on asking an American who he plays for, was told Toronto.  They turned out to be wrong but a Wikipedia search of the team revealed some more familiar names in their squad list.  Ex-Tottenham and Arsenal youth player Rohan Ricketts wears the number ten shirt and the-ever controversial Laurent Robert was also listed and I recognised Jim Brennan (captain) and Carl Robinson (vice-captain) from the English lower leagues.  Ex-Celtic and Birmingham centre back Olivier Tebily is also enjoying the benefits on sunny Canada.

One such benefit being that they, of course, don’t pay for health care.  Why would anyone?  I don’t get it.

I was now more than curious and co-incidentally found an article about the team on one of my favourite football sites on the very same day.  Typically for Pitch Invasion, it was extremely well-written and as I was so unaware of everything MLS-related, all the points brought up by the author were new and interesting.

I like to have a team to support in any country where I pay attention to what’s going on and the piece pointed out that the team had their inaugural season in 2007.  Not only are they my commonwealth cousins but they were almost as new to the league as I am.  Now I don’t particularly believe in fate but surely the Gods were aligning on this one.  All these factors coming together at once AND they have Dichio-o-o-o-o-o leading the line?  I was surely being pushed towards Toronto FC.

I probed further into youtube and found numerous clips all of which charmed me further.  The accessibility of the league itself is a major positive and the goals from every game are all readily available online.  So, as I have no excuse not to, I’ve decided to follow the fortunes of Toronto FC over the rest of the season.  Who knows if this will be temporary infatuation or a long-term love but for the time being at least I am charmed by the side that have taken Danny Dichio to their hearts so.

Not every import to American does as well as him though.  A less-glamouous Londoner plying his trade out there is not having nearly as much fun.

So called youth development

Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan is apparently furious with the stepfather of midfielder John Bostock and blames him in large part for the youngster having set his heart on a move to Tottenham.

Jordan claims that the sole reason for the move is the large sums of cash on offer at White Hart Lane and reports that Neil Warnock doesn’t see him fitting into his squad next season are pure fabrication.

His stepfather responded with comments such as that if they were purely bothered about financial remuneration then they would not have signed with Spurs as bigger clubs were interested.  A move to Barcelona though was never an option as John did not want to leave London.  (The issue of young British players’ lack of ambition and willingness to make sacrifices to further their career is a separate issue.)

So with his contract expiring in the next few days, and seeing as he has until now been too young to sign a professional deal, he will sign with Spurs before the end of June barring a natrual disaster hitting South London.  The fee will be decided at a tribunal because Palace have developed him as a player from the age of seven onwards but are powerless to stop him leaving now that the hard work has been done.

This situation was all too predictable and could have been foreseen as soon as the first media headlines surrounding his appearance in the first team at Selhurst Park were written.  A 15-year-old playing in the Championship whilst still taking his GCSEs is always a nice story.  However the hype was extraordinary for this boy immediately.  He was instantly being hailed as the next big thing (in a team with fine youth players including Victor Moses) and was, of course, being linked with a move away from them.

Scouts from Real Madrid, Chelsea and AC Milan have assessed his play and more than likely sounded out his agent and parents about his next move.  Ultimately it seems as though Tottenham have won the race for his signature and the fee is likely to be around a couple of million pounds after few playing milestones have been reached.

I have often criticised Arsenal in the past for their attitude towards youth development.  They are masters is signing players aged between 15-17 before they have had a chance to sign a professional contract and bringing them to their youth / reserve teams.  The fee will be decided by tribunal but is never overly expensive no matter the potential of the player involved.  The most shining example of this was when they plucked Cesc Fabregas out of Barcelona’s youth team and it was ordered that they must pay £600,000 for him.  The Catalan club played the most crucial role in his development as a player but he was taken from their grasp for peanuts just as the hard work in nurturing him was about to pay dividends.  A couple of years later and Fabregas is Arsenal’s star player and worth maybe 50 times that amount.  Bargain.

Arsenal have perfected this technique and executed it on numerous occasions.  Fran Merida was stolen in similar circumstances from Barcelona.  Gerard Pique was taken by Man Utd from the club (and, crazily, bought back by them for a large sum of money) while Chelsea stole a Spanish youngster in Sergio Tejera from Espanyol.

Arsenal led the way but the rest of the top English clubs were quick to follow.  If you look at the youth teams of most big Premiership clubs then they are filled with either foreign imports or players who have migrated from smaller teams, such as Scott Sinclair.

Tottenham Hotspur are the latest club to have a fondness for this way of doing business, and Bostock is just the most recent example.  The club paid £2m to QPR for Dean Parrett last year and put Leeds Utd noses out of joint by nicking England youth international Danny Rose.  This was done not long after Aaron Lennon was pounced upon with Leeds in financial difficulty and in no position to turn down even average money for their best players.  Leeds were also the unfortunate victims of a Chelsea raid on their youth team when they signed Michael Woods and Tom Taiwo and infuriated chairman Ken Bates in the process.

Neither FIFA, UEFA or even the FA seem keen to challenge this tactic as it is mainly the plaything of the six biggest clubs in England and they always seems to turn a blind eye to their indiscretions.  However this is potentially extremely damaging to young players all over the world and those clubs without the financial clout to compete ordinarily.

I do not expect players to all be like Matt Le Tissier and loyal / unambitious enough to be at one club forever.  it would be nice though if clubs who have taken the time to develop young players could bear the fruit for even a short while getting a substantial reward for their efforts.  In the current model young players are barely getting any first team football before they are moved on for minimal compensation.

Clubs that are so amoral that they would stockpile the best young talents are helping nobody, not even themselves, but merely making sure nobody is given the chance to progress.  If twenty prospects are signed three will be lucky to make it as a first team squad regular by the time they are 22.  Even fewer are likely to be regular starters.

Not only are clubs being raided but the development of generations of players are at stake.  Apart from those that are truly outstanding that they would have made it any team at any time (like Wayne Rooney), talented players are being stifled at a critical stage in their career.  A major example is Glen Johnson who was earning rave reviews at West Ham before Chelsea stepped in to sign him when he was 19.  He is now 23, at Portsmouth, and has only in the last six-twelve months started showing the sort of form that got him attention in the first place.  You get the impression that he will never be the player we once thought he might turn into.

Stephen Warnock was rotting in the Liverpool reserves until Blackburn purchased him at 23 and now he has earned a call up to the England squad.

Part of the blame must lie with the players but you cannot find too much fault with them.  Young footballers are not blind to big clubs mistreating their fellow players but everyone has so much faith in their own talent to believe they will be the exception.  The main fault lies with the clubs who are so keen to exploit a flawed system and the agents / parents who are willing to take short-term financial rewards at the expense of a successful career long.

Football has always been morally bankrupt, this is nothing new.  I just wonder how many tournaments England will need to fail to qualify for, and how manager costly mangerial compensation cheques the FA will have to sign before someone does something about it.

RONALDO JOINS REAL MADRID!

Along with “Swiss and Austrian police express disappointment at England-less tournament” and “Arsene Wenger to be best man at David Bentley’s wedding”, the above is just one of the many headlines you won’t be reading this summer.

I understand it’s an awkward summer for sports journalists in this country. England and / or Scotland failing to qualify for Euro 2008 has hit them hard. Advertising revenues are down and not as many will get to experience the delights of Austria and Switzerland as will have hoped.

Therefore as your average British tabloid readers don’t care about football matches where they don’t have a tattoo or at least replica shirt for ones of the team involved they will have to find other avenues with which to fill the back pages. This will inevitably involve largely unfounded rumours being portrayed as fact mixed in with massive hyperbolic exaggerations about stories with a hint of truth but little developments.

I can only imagine the disappointment that surged through newsrooms when the story of Avram Grant’s dismissal broke on Saturday afternoon. He’s been a news goldmine ever since he was handed the job and the papers have enjoyed feasting on his every move in the past seven months or so. A large portion of that has been spent criticising him in every possible way and speculating on replacements and what fun they’ve had.

Now Abramovich has only gone and ruined that fun by doing the one thing they have been advising for the whole period and actually sacked him. They couldn’t do it midway through July could they, oh no. They had to do it before May was even out. With the news emerging tonight that Chelsea have already begun interviewing and expect to name a replacement in the next few days the story becomes even shorter. They can’t spend the weeks they would have liked speculating on his successor. The Independent got their pound of flesh today with a story even they admitted had little foundation in reporting Didier Deschamps keenness to take over at Stamford Bridge. If Chelsea don the worst thing possible and appoint an acknowledged coach with a clean reputation then they really will be sticking two fingers up to the press.

In the absence of anything exciting happening in West London (bar Fulham signing Bernand mendy on a free transfer!!!) attentions have been turned to Manchester. We seem set for a summer of “Will he, won’t he?” regarding Ronaldo possibly moving to Madrid. View From The Shelf can exclusively trump everyone and break the news for you now…

…

…he won’t.

A journalist I respect in Graham Hunter was quoted on Sky Sports News earlier as saying words to the effect of “Ronaldo could clear all this up once and for all if he would just commit himself to Utd but his silence speaks volumes.” Did everyone miss the Champions League final? In the immediate aftermath of the game an ITV reporter said “Cristiano, you can’t leave after something like this can you?” to which he replied “No, I will be here next season.” I would say you cannot get a more clear cut denial than that.

The sceptical may say that he may have meant he will be in Moscow next season rather than Manchester, but I don’t think anyone can produce enough oil to pay for a Portuguese playboy who has said that even the North of England is too cold for him to move to Russia.

Quite simply there is not a story here and I will do whatever people deem a suitable online equivalent of eating my hat is if the move does transpire in the next couple of months. The papers are desperate to fill the space and the TV channels need something to report on. What better than a story involving the two biggest clubs in the world arguing over a good-looking, controversy-magnet who also happens to be one of the best players in Europe.

As I said earlier, I can understand why they are talking about it. I just wish so many people would stop falling for it. The next person who asks me what I think about the rumoured move will be treated with the short shrift they deserve and directed immediately to this post.

Calm before the storm

First of all, it’s been a while since my last entry to this blog and there really is no excuse given the amount if important football going on in this time. So what have I missed…

FA Cup Final - I previewed this in glorious fashion but never got around to talking about the match itself. That’s probably because it didn’t inspire me to wax lyrical about it. Portsmouth played overly defensively as soon as they went a goal up and it largely killed the contest. They have played like this all season in the Premiership and their physically and commanding and tactically intelligent back five have been a key reason for their league position.

However such tactics are not really in line with what neutrals would like to see in an FA Cup final, especially from a top ten side in the country playing someone mid-table in the league below. You could say that they were slightly nervous and wanted to avoid a spectacular fall at the final hurdle and as such just did enough to finish. They started with one man up front and in the final minutes were running the ball into the corner to kill it off once and for all. Disappointing.

Champions League final - In contrast, I could probably write about this game forever but I think everything has already been said. I thought it was a tremendous game that kept me entertained all the way through. Chelsea more than deserved it based on the efforts of the night itself and will consider themselves unlucky to have finished runners up. Frank Lampard is not my favourite player but I have developed a new-found respect for him in the past few months and thought he was excellent in midfield along with Michael Ballack.

My liking for him is nothing to do with sympathy over his family circumstances, but initially were due to an interview on The Game podcast (link on the left) conducted with Gianluca Vialli and the usual presenters. He spoke very intelligently and showed a different side of character that we see all too rarely from professional footballers. Maybe it’s because the tabloid press is obsessed with headlines but it was more than refreshing to hear such a high-profile professional talk about aspects of the game including media intrusion, why players are reluctant to talk to journalists in this country and thoughts on foreign climates. I’m sure it will still be in their archives and is worth a listen if you haven’t already.

Whilst I found something very uncomfortable about the tribute when his mum died (picture above), in the public eye at least he has responded excellently and played some of the best football I have seen him play. His interview after the final whistle where he talked about how he has to hold his family together in the past few weeks while trying to win the double with Chelsea put a lot into perspective. This is a man who scored in the semi final and never looked like missing his penalty when the pressure was on. In contrast Nicolas Anelka (everyone’s favourite whipping boy) apparently refused to take one of the first five penalties in the shootout because he had not had adequate time to warm up. I’m sure that the usual morons will continue to boo him and some fans will even make sick comments chants about the death of his mother, but hopefully I am not alone in my change of opinion.

The play-offs - I don’t have a lot to say on these but I want to air a gripe I have that nobody has so far been able to answer. Why is it that they have suddenly decided to switch the order in which the play-off games are played. it is tradition that we start with League 2 on the Saturday and progress accordingly until the Championship game on Bank Holiday Monday. This year it is all different and as as result it all seems like a massive anti-climax. Typical case of change for the sake of it seemingly although I;m willing to be corrected if there is any thought behind the decision at all. I was pleased to see Hull go up mainly because of Nicky Barmby but their manager Phil Brown seems like a skilled coach as well. Everybody is naturally predicting that they will be next season’s Derby County but with the right investment they could surprise people. Doncaster also thoroughly deserved their victory over Leeds in yesterdays game.

Rangers - Their never-ending season has, err… ended. After 68 games their players are able to put their feet up. I don’t think many if any of them will be taking part in Euro 2008 and so can have a deserved few weeks off. Ultimately they fell short in the two competitions they put most effort into winning but they can still look back on a successful season. The SPL’s refusal to extend the season to accommodate the European success of one of their teams was both spiteful and unnecessary. If Rangers decide to rest players in domestic cup games in future seasons then they will attract plenty of critics for devaluing the cups. However when the authorities do nothing to help them then what loyalty should they have in return?

Jol to Hamburg - My love for Martin Jol is unabound and so I am delighted to see him back in football at a high-profile European club in Hamburg. My interest in th Bundesliga has already increased exponentially and they become my official German team to follow. I loved spending some time in Cologne a few years but the lure of Jol and Rafael Van Der vaart, along with recently departed Spurs coach Ricardo Moniz, is too big to ignore. Come on the Rothosen!

And now, a week or off until Euro 200 begins. I shall try to update this daily or thereabouts from now on as there won’t be a shortage of stories and transfer rumours going around to keep everyone entertained.

Arrivederci Parma

Sadly, Parma bid farewell to Serie A with their 2-0 loss away to Inter Milan this weekend, which in turn secured the title for the Nerazzuri.  I say sad because I like to think of Parma as my Italian club despite the fact that even calling myself an armchair supporter would be pushing it these days.

When Italian football was first picked up by British television, around the time of Paul Gascoigne’s move to Lazio, I was only young but immediately taken in by the exotic-sounding names and beautiful stadia.  Of course the catchy Channel 4 theme tune was repeated infinitely in the playground whenever a goal was scored as well.

At that time I didn’t really have a team of my own in England.  I was more taken in by individual genius than any particular affiliation to a badge.  Initially Everton caught my attention due to the skills of Peter Beardsley.  In terms of presentation and image he was the antithesis to someone like Cristiano Ronaldo is today but had a similar capacity for making magic happen with a ball at his feet.

While all the hype was about Gazza, the player who caught my eye immediately at the time was Gianfranco Zola.  I had never heard of it him before (which seems crazy when you think how gloablised football is today) and I cam remember the specific free kick that hooked me.  It was a free kick curled into the top corner from the left corner of the penalty area.  Thanks to Youtube, I have a feeling that it is the one at the very start of this highlights compilation.

Up front with Zola in that side was Fuastino Asprilla.  Known in this country for his time with Newcastle United, and his signing indirectly costing them the Premiership, this gangly Columbian was as controversial off the pitch as he was brilliant on it and the pair remain my favourite strike partnership of all time.  This is possibly the result of me remembering it more fondly than it was in reality but these two players were just so refreshing and completely different to anything at the time in England bar the soon-to-emerge Cantona.

Over the years I have continued to follow them from afar and they have continued to be associated with great players.  Buffon, Cannavaro, Crespo, Ortega, Veron, Stoichkov, Thuram and more all came and went over the next few years.  Realistically despite the financial backing we were always going to be a stepping stone the elite few clubs in European football but it was fun to enjoy the players whilst they were there.

Main financial backer Parmalat suffered financial difficulties in 2003 and this had a knock-on effect to the football club.  Cutbacks were made and performances suffered.  Fast forward to last season and relegation was narrowly avoided by Claudio Ranieri temporarily working his magic for the few games he was in charge at the end of the season.  He subsequently left for Juventus immediately.

This season it was clear from a few games to go the fate seemed sealed already.  Going into the last day needing to win away at a team who need victory to win the league is the hardest game you can throw at any club.  When you consider that results also needed to elsewhere then it would have taken a miracle.

Amazingly, Hector Cuper was sacked before the final game by an owner hoping to inspire the players.  This is clearly twisted logic but he who signs the cheques can do as he pleases.  The youth team coach was put in charge and it would have gone down as one of the greatest gambles in footballing history had it somehow worked out for them.

Alas, it was not to be.

As this writer points out, the role models will be Fiorentina who suffered relegation only to bounce back and this season even pipped AC Milan to a Champions League spot and reached the semi finals of the UEFA Cup and were only denied a place in the final by the football brick wall that is Glasgow Rangers in Europe.

An unfortunate side effect of acquiring a Tottenahm season ticket is that it has left me less time to follow the other teams I hold slightly-less dearly around the continent.  With Parma plying their trade in Serie B next season, media coverage in English will be even more scarce.  However crisis brings out loyalty in people.  For the last few weeks I have paid equal if not more attention to Italy than North London where the season was over a long time before it officially finished.  The thought of Parma playing in a lower division has actually re-affirmed my interest more so than mid-table finish would have done and I fully intend to be a better fan next season.

I just hope they don’t fall any further.  By my current logi I’d probably end up moving out there.