World Cup Playoff Predictions

I had initially planned to make some predictions before the first legs of these playoff matches at the weekend, but what with my busy schedule I didn’t have chance to. Intriguingly though, each and every tie is delicately poised and could easily go either way when all is said and done later on tonight. Playoffs are always hard to call, they’re essentially like Cup Finals and form goes out the window but I had NZ down to beat Bahrain by one goal (though I’ll admit, I’d picked 2-1) so let’s see what I can do…

European Qualifying Playoffs
Bosnia-Hercegovina vs. Portugal (agg. 0-1)
Portugal were certainly the favourites going into this playoff tie despite a stuttering qualification campaign that saw them limp into second place, they have enough quality in their side to be a real force if they make it to the World Cup. Bosnia are looking to make it to their first World Cup and as is so often the case with nations recently affected by civil war, the national side carries the hopes of the nation with them. They’re also quite technically gifted though and if the home fans can provide a threatening atmosphere they’ll trouble a fragile Portuguese outfit. I think Portugal will probably get a crucial away goal though and make it to South Africa.
Prediction: 1-1 (agg. 1-2).

Beckham’s on his way to Milan… and the World Cup.

Beckham flourished during his last stint in Milan, will he do so again?

So AC Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani has assured the world that the loan deal to take David Beckham back to the red half of the San Siro in January is “100% done” and “The only thing missing is the signatures” which simultaneously confirms that he’s lying (let’s face it, unless it’s signed and sealed, it isn’t 100% done) and that David Beckham will almost certainly be part of England’s World Cup squad in South Africa next year.

He’s proven popular as a squad member during Fabio Capello’s time in charge of the three lions but because of the Italian’s reluctance to take a player plying his trade in the sub-European standard MLS to a World Cup there was still a chance that Beckham could miss out. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that a move to Milan was the only way that Beckham could give himself a really good chance of being included – a much talked about Premier League return could actually have harmed his chances.

Cheer Up Davey: It’s not quite the end of the world.

Cheer up Davey, it's not the end of the world.

Firstly, apologies for my slightly slack posting recently – I’ve been compiling an application to a postgrad journalism course and it’s been a lot of work. Gone are the days of just filling in a form you know, but I’m nearly there with it now so will be returning to regular posts ASAP (don’t mention exams though, yeah?).

Secondly, today’s post is as much for my own benefit as for yours. There are few things that can make me thoroughly enjoy the prospect of getting out of bed before six o’clock on a Friday morning, but one of them is the prospect of watching Everton playing in Europe. As those of you who’ve seen the score (which, for reasons of self-preservation I won’t repeat) will know, it wasn’t really worth it. Such a defeat is always demoralising and makes you feel like the world has just ended.

Ronaldo & Messi: Are you coming?

Will they be in South Africa next year? Are we bothered?

With Portugal and Argentina both faltering in their attempts to qualify for next year’s World Cup, there has been much discussion about whether or not it would be somehow improper or unworthy to have a World Cup in which the world’s best two players do not take part. This of course assumes that Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the world’s best players which is an argument for another day, but either way, they’re in almost everyone’s top five, and their absence would raise some eyebrows.

However, I take exception to concerns that the World Cup would not really be the World Cup without the likes of Messi and Ronaldo there. While both are great, great players who would undoubtedly bring much to the tournament in terms of excitement and glamour, I don’t see that the World Cup is concerned with individuals. It is a tournament which sets out to determine the best football team in the world after all and so if Messi and Ronaldo aren’t there, I won’t be losing any sleep.

BATE Borisov 1-2 Everton: Match Analysis

Tim Cahill helps Everton surpass adversity to defeat BATE.

It’s football’s ability to show that adversity can be conquered that makes it so enjoyable sometimes. When Everton travelled to Belarus for their Europa League match against BATE Borisov yesterday, they were missing nine players from their first team squad through injury, suspension or intelligibility and when they arrived, stand-in captain Joseph Yobo picked up an injury in training just for good measure.

That meant that Tony Hibbert had to fill in at centre back while young Dan Gosling was forced to drop into the right back slot. It also enforced a change of formation from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 because the only senior player on the bench (except Carlo Nash) was Yakubu, who came in to partner Jo up front and left us with outfield substitutes aged 17, 17, 17, 17, 18 and 19. And this was against a side who have won three league titles in a row and drew with Juventus twice in the Champions League groups stages last season.

European Football: Three Conclusions

Will Everton's new star 'Bily' help Russia shine in South Africa?

After a full midweek’s worth of Champions and Europa League action, we should have plenty to talk about. Unfortunately, most matches involving English sides went… pretty much as planned. Still, I’ve drawn a couple of conclusions from this little lot of results, do let me know what you think…

1. Russia are going to have a cracking World Cup.

We all remember just how well Russia played at Euro 2008. I watched an awful lot of that tournament when I wasn’t moping around and wishing England were there, and the Russians were brilliant. Not only were they technically good, but they just seemed to run and run and run and then, for a change, run some more. They work incredibly hard, have great discipline and are a very effective team. Plus, they were managed by Mr. Magic himself, Guus Hiddink.

Simulating Progress: One Step Forward but Two Steps Back.

Cool, calm and composed: attributes of a great high-diver.

So UEFA have back tracked on their decision to ban Eduardo for his blatant dive in the second leg of Arsenal’s Champions League match with Celtic a few weeks ago. After all the discussion that the incident has provoked, this is a pretty tame ending to the saga with UEFA backing down after Arsenal showed that “there was contact between the keeper and Eduardo” and thus convinced UEFA “that the referee hadn’t been deceived in taking his decision on the penalty.”

Eduardo has followed a fine Arsenal tradition that sees players speaking unwisely in public by asserting that he is “very pleased we have finally arrived at the truth” despite the fact that the whole world still knows that he dived, and if anything the abuse he’s received since the incident will now increase. I’m a bit mixed on this reversal though, because while UEFA did somewhat unfairly make an example of the Croatian, it looked like they were finally going to make a stand against diving.

WDKF Wednesday: The Professor Proves Us Wrong?

It’s Wednesday again (they do seem to come round very quickly) which means that I’ve posted my weekly article over at We Don’t Know Football. This week I’ve taken a look at the goings on at the Emirates Stadium where Arsenal were almost completely written off before the season but are now being heralded as the country’s form team and genuine title challengers.

By having a wee look at their new tactical set up and analysing the mentality of the squad I’ve tried to get past all the media hype and determine whether Arsenal are the real deal or not. I even went to the great lengths of creating an animated .gif image for the post, but it seems that something went wrong so if the words get boring (never!) you can sit and watch a tactical diagram move. I fear I’ve built it up too much already.

Please do click on through and have a read though…

WDKF Wednesday: The ‘Premier’ League?

Wednesday rears its head once more which means that I’ve written my weekly article over at WDKF, and this week I’ve looked at whether the English Premier League is still the best league in the world. It’s a trickly question to answer, despite the summer diaspara that has seen many top players depart England for Spain, and to answer it properly you really have to decide what exactly it is that makes a league great.

Click the lovely new look ‘topper’ to head over to We Don’t Know Football (who also have some new designs up on their site) to check out the article and find out whether I think that La Liga has taken title of ‘best league in the world’ from it’s English compatriot. Tomorrow, assuming I have time, will see the beginning of a four part Premier League season preview, so I hope to see you then!

Click through to read my WDKF Wednesday article…

Is this the ‘Real’ Barcelona?

Will Zlatan upset Barca's apple cart?

Does anyone else think that Barcelona have negotiated a really poor deal for Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Zlatan is a player that has always and will always divide opinion – some say he’s the best in the world, some say he’s terribly ineffectual. I count myself among the latter camp, however you can’t argue with his domestic scoring record, and his technical ability is second to very few. However, I don’t think anyone would really have thought he was worth Samuel Eto’o plus Alexander Hleb for a season plus about £40m. It’s obscene.

However, even if you did value Ibrahimovic that highly, there is also the question of just why Barca want to sign him in the first place. One can argue that you can never have too many quality players, but that may not be the case. Manchester City have too many strikers and the first Galacticos proved that too many superstars will ruin any team, with Madrid maybe about to re-prove that point this time around. Barca were the best team on the planet last season, so what does Ibrahimovic add to the equation?