Sunday 31 March 2013

Sunderland roll the Managerial Dice


Managerial appointments will often tell you a lot about the philosophy of a clubs board.
While appointing a manager of the pedigree of Ferguson, Mourinho or Guardiola would be defined as a ‘no brainer’ decision; when you don’t have the luxury of choosing a manager with a track record of nothing but success, you can only choose between two categories of manager.
You can choose a manager with a consistent record who has performed admirably with many clubs and had few failures, or you can appoint one who has achieved spectacular success, but is not proven across more than a few clubs.

Paulo Di Canio falls heavily into the latter category.  As a manager his only experience is in League One and League Two of English Football, but given he started with an average League Two team and made them a high flying League one team in just 20 months, his achievement is spectacular.
Furthermore Di Canio gave everyone the belief that he would have Swindon Town in the Championship sooner rather than later.

As a player, Di Canio was as controversial as they come.  Many red cards, including one where he pushed the referee to the ground after receiving the card, interspersed moments of sublime genius.  Di Canio has been quoted as saying that discipline is the most important part of management, which is clearly something he was never good at following as a player.  Despite his controversial moments, he also notably caught the ball, rather than score when a keeper was down injured, earning him the FIFA Fair Play Award.
Di Canio’s aptitude for the game however, is not in question.  It is rumoured that in an Italian managerial exam, he scored the highest score ever recorded.  This is an exam that has also been taken by managerial legends such as Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi.

In Martin O’Neill, Sunderland have dispensed with a manager who was the exact opposite of Di Canio.  In spells at Leicester, Celtic and Aston Villa, Martin O’Neill is remembered fondly, and the role at Sunderland is the first where he has failed to exceed expectations and the first where he has been fired.  He was a safe pair of hands that most would still bet on keeping Sunderland in the Premier Division.

Sunderland is unlikely to be a quiet and boring place with Di Canio around.  The consistency of the Martin O’Neill reign has gone.  It is likely that with Di Canio in charge, they will only enjoy either unprecedented success, or cataclysmic failure.

Thursday 28 March 2013

Goal Line Technology ‘Too Expensive’ for Champions League


The President of UEFA, Michel Platini has today announced that the technology prevalent in sports such as tennis and cricket is too expensive to be used in the World’s most lucrative sporting competition.

Fans have long berated governing bodies for the introduction of technology to aid refereeing decisions.  Too long has human error cost fans and players the chance of glory when everyone watching on TV can plainly see the error.

Recently, goal line technology has moved much closer, with Fifa hosting trials and approving two companies, Hawkeye and Goal Ref for use in top level football matches.  However Platini’s comments will be a blow for fans of the World’s most watched football competition.

Expense

Platini estimates that goal line technology would cost UEFA in the region of 54 million Euros spread over 5 years.  Considering the winner of the tournament alone earns a sum in excess of 54 million Euros, in a single year, surely there is room in the budget to ensure that it is a fair winner?
Platini would prefer to spend the money on youth development, which seems a fair opinion, but just how much money should we pour in to the bottomless pit that is ‘youth development’?

Match Fixing
 
Sceptics would also comment that if Platini’s main goal as UEFA President is to eradicate match fixing, which he stated was the greatest threat to football just a few months ago, then the use of technology can only help in that mission to stop it.

While footballers have been to known to perform poorly on purpose, the greatest match fixing conspiracy of modern times occurred at Platini’s former club Juventus, who paid referees to influence games.  A referee would have less excuses for incorrect decisions if he was aided by technology.

Controversy

The main argument against goal line technology between fans has often been that they enjoy the controversy and wouldn’t like to see technology put an end to it.  Referring them to the most recent controversial incident in the Champions League – the sending off of Luis Nani for a unintentional high boot to the chest of Alvaro Arbeloa – did fans, pundits and managers come to a common consensus after the game?

Video replays would make referees better informed, but it wouldn’t eliminate dodgy decisions entirely as many of the rules of the game allow the referee a great deal of subjectivity when making a decision on whether a tackle has ‘excessive force’ or a handball is deemed to be deliberate.

Whether a ball is over the line or not is black and white however - it is either a goal or it isn't.   This could be the first step towards modernising the beautiful game, and bringing it up to date with other world sports.

Tuesday 26 March 2013

Spain Victorious in the Stade de France


After one of their most unimpressive competitive results in recent memory, Spain showed why they are World and European Champions last night with a victory over rivals France that took them back to the top of Group I.

Pedro scored the only goal of a game that Spain largely controlled in the Stade de France.   While France came back into the match a little after the opening goal, they were hampered by going down to ten men, after Paul Pogba was sent off on 76 minutes.

The result is hugely significant, as after a draw in the reverse fixture in Spain, and against Finland in their last outing, Spain knew anything other than a victory would give France the opportunity to secure first place by winning all their remaining fixtures against lower opposition.  Now Spain are back in control of their own destiny.

Elsewhere in Europe, Holland recorded their sixth victory out of six by beating Romania 4-0, with Robin Van Persie overcoming a little bit of a recent drought to score twice.  Italy beat Malta 2-0, thanks to the revitalised Mario Balotelli, and England failed to defeat a Montenegro side that continues to impress, and leads the way in Group H.

Germany recorded their second win over Kazakhstan in a week.  Having played in Kazakhstan on Friday, the teams may well have shared a plane to Germany for the return fixture.   Croatia and Portugal remain deadlocked together on 16 points each in Group A, while Israel and Portugal moved closer to Russia in Group F, as Russia did not play and now have two games in hand on the teams behind them.

In South America, Argentina dropped points in their quest to qualify for the finals in their greatest rivals home territory, however when their 1-1 draw against Bolivia is compared with the last time they traveled there in a World Cup qualifier where they suffered a 6-1 defeat, it starts to look like a point gained.

Bolivia play their games high above sea level, so anyone not used to the altitude finds it extremely tough to play there, and with only four days since their last match, Argentina did not have time to acclimatise.

In Asia, Australia battled back to scrape a 2-2 draw with Oman which leaves them with some work to do if they are to be in Brazil in 2014.  Japan suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Jordan that makes their passage seem less assured.  The Korea Republic (South Korea) were the only major power in Asian football to record a win, and even they left it late.

Mexico played the USA in a match which is fast becoming the rivalry to attract Americans to the sport.  However this match will not have endeared football to many Americans, as while a 0-0 draw is a good result on Mexican soil, the lack of goals will bemuse American viewers as to the attraction of the sport.

Stingy Russians restrict Brazil to one goal


Following the weekend’s action we are treated to another round of international action.  Just as they did before the weekend’s action, Brazil played a friendly the day before the rest of the world’s competitive international action.
As hosts of the 2014 World Cup, Brazil do not have to qualify for the finals, and appear to be suffering from a lack of competitive action.  They have been taking on some of the top European teams to give their matches a more competitive edge.

Having managed to score two goals against a traditionally strong Italian defence on Thursday, Brazil could only muster a late equaliser against a Russian defence which is yet to concede in World Cup Qualifying matches – the only team in the world to have done so.

Russia opened the scoring with a goal which raised serious questions over a Brazilian defence lead by the highly rated duo of David Luiz and Thiago Sila.   Despite managing to block two of the Russians shots, the fact that 6 Brazilian defenders could do nothing to clear 6 Russian passes played within the 18 yard box, eventually resulting in a goal by Victor Fayzulin, will be of huge concern to coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. 

Also of great concern to Scolari will be that he is winless in his first 3 matches in charge of Brazil, although all have been tough fixtures on European soil, against England, Italy and now Russia.

While any game involving Brazil is always a treat, it was merely an appetizer for tonight’s action.
In Europe, the most enticing match up appears to be between World and European champions Spain, and neighbouring European heavyweight France.  What makes the game all the more enticing is the circumstances of the fixture.

Having dropped 2 points to Finland in their last fixture, Spain are two points behind France.  They failed to beat France at home, with a late goal from Oliver Giroud now putting pressure on Spain to beat the French in the Stade de France tonight in order to move into the automatic qualification position at the top of the group.

If they fail to top the group, they face the prospect of a two legged qualifier against one of the other European runners up.  If they lost the qualifier, they would be the first ever World Cup winners not to be present at the next finals to defend their title, mainly because this will be the first year that the defending World Cup winners do not automatically qualify for the event.

Elsewhere in the world, another set of neighbours are squaring up in North America, as the USA take on Mexico.  This is a rivalry which grows as the game grows in popularity in the USA, and the results over the last ten years have become much more even, with the USA even managing to record a friendly win on Mexican soil for the first time last year.  The Mexicans will be looking to avenge that defeat.

In the South American qualifying section, Argentina look set to qualify, however they face one of the toughest away trips in football, to Bolivia, where the match will be played at an altitude of 3,000 metres above sea level.

Such conditions are draining for anyone unacclimatised to them, however unlike the last qualification campaign where Argentina lost 6-1 to the unheralded Bolivians, there are still plenty of games for Argentina to make up any lost points.

Monday 25 March 2013

Who Impressed in this Weekend’s Internationals?


Italy's Mario Balotelli
This weekend saw the return of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.  However it was arguably a friendly that generated the most worldwide interest.
It is a classic match up between the world’s two most successful international football teams.  Italy have won the World Cup four times, and the only team to have won more is Brazil with five.

As perennial World cup contenders, they have met twice in the final, most recently in the 1994 World Cup final, where a missed penalty from Italian talisman Roberto Baggio handed Brazil the trophy.

In Thursday’s friendly match in Geneva, Italy’s current most iconic striker, for both the right reasons and the wrong reasons, stole the headlines with a tremendous long range strike in the key moment of the game.

As was highlighted by his sublime goal, Mario Balotelli is well in form since his move from Manchester City to Milan. 8 goals in 8 appearances is a good initial return on the fee paid to bring him back to Milan, a deal which looks like a much better investment than it did a few months ago.

Another man with something to prove to the English media is Neymar.  Having had a quiet game against the English national side, questions were immediately asked about his ability against European defences.  Against Italy he contributed an assist for Oscar’s goal, and looked a menace throughout.

One man the English press are impressed with is goalkeeper Julio Cesar.  He was helpless for both Italy’s goals, and against a keeper of lesser ability, Italy would surely have won.

In other matches around the world, arguably the world’s leading man on form, Gareth Bale, was considered the primary threat for Wales, and in some quarters the only threat against an under-performing Scottish team.  However Bale was withdrawn at half time with his team 1-0 down, in a match Wales eventually went on to win 2-1.

The Spanish national side can be considered to have been on form for the last 7 years, having won every major international available since 2008.  However they stuttered to a 1-1 draw against Finland this weekend, their second draw of the campaign, leaving them adrift of group leaders France and in danger of needing to qualify via the playoffs.

With Germany playing Kazakhstan, England playing San Marino and Holland against Estonia, none were greatly troubled in routine wins and no players had a great chance to impress against lower level opposition.

Portugal have struggled in these qualifiers, leaving it late to secure a 3-3 draw with two late goals against Israel.  Surprisingly, despite his team scoring 3 goals, Cristiano Ronaldo was not amongst the scorers, though he did lay on an assist for Helder Postiga.

With another round of international matches to come during the week, players have another opportunity to impress for their countries and make our On Form list.