Soul, if not team, mates

Frank Lampard is flattered that he might be wanted on the continent but content to stay with his new manager, Carlos Ancelotti, and do it all over again.  Joe Cole is happy he was given the chance to show he’s back from a horrific injury spell and will wait, until after the World Cup, to choose his next club.  Unfortunately, John Terry seems to think winning gives him license to undermine Steven Gerrard, the new captain of  England, and  Nicolas Anelka believes it gives him the right to return to being La Sulk. So, succumbing to their spoiled inner children, these two have lit bonfires of dissent within their respective camps on the eve of crucial matches for their national sides.

Not for a moment am I accusing either of merely attempting to garner attention.  I believe, in my heart of hearts, that both of them spoke out because they desperately want to win and things are not going their way.  Even though the Chelsea duo were thinking of the greater good, they acted selfishly, thoughtlessly and without consent from their teammates.  They assumed and you know what that makes them.

Each must now lie in a bed of their own making and both are likely wondering how, in trying to be the hero, they have, again, been branded villains.  It’s not hard to imagine that the pair are harboring ill thoughts towards their managers and, in Terry’s case, teammates for letting them down.

The only advice I can offer these bitter twins originally came from some old geezers known as the Glitter Twins.

For Anelka any advice may be too late.  He’s been shown the door by the FFF and has flown from South Africa to London, rather than Paris.  A wise choice considering the furor in France over the side’s poor performance.  Rumors in the London tabloids have him in danger of losing his place at Stamford Bridge, as well as his standing in Les Bleus.

To me, that seems a bit much.  By the time August rolls around, so many other things will have happened at the World Cup, including the crowning of a champion, and after, as well, with the usual rash of transfers resulting from stellar auditions during the competition.  Anelka’s tantrum will be merely a footnote.  Carlos Ancelotti will take his striker aside and politely make it understood that he is not Raymond Domenech.  Then, he and the Chelsea brass will downplay the matter publicly as being between Nicolas and the FFF.

Definitely not a WAG

Anelka’s former French teammates may have a few things to say to him, as well, despite giving him their support after his tirade.  Patrice Evra, the captain, was stripped of his captaincy before today’s loss to South Africa. He had words, himself, with the manager, in support of the banished forward.  Frustrated that his effort had proved to be so much chasing of windmills, he let it all out in a feisty  row with a physio.

The whole side was then dressed down personally by French Minister of Sport, Roselyne Bachelot, earlier criticized by players, courtesy of her deputy, for condemning their posh training quarters in light of the current economic difficulties.  Apparently, she delivered an ultimatum, ordering the team to pack before the match.  If they lost, there would be a bus waiting to carry them to the airport for an immediate commercial flight home, coach class no less.

Bachelot may have been grandstanding for the French press, doing her leftist version of Sarah Palin,with a funny accent, but its hard to argue that it’s treatment undeserved.  When I read about this whole French mess (and the English one, too) the players’ actions reminded me of  the loud obnoxious children frequently encountered in what are supposed to be romantic restaurants, ruining moment and meal for everyone.  So, three cheers for Roselyne.  Go get ‘em, I say.

Still, anyone who reminds me of Sarah Palin has to take some stick.

Beyond what I already have done, I don’t know what I can say in John Terry’s defense.

As for what drove him to go public, I think there were several factors.  To start, he’s competitive and wants to win.  Also, he’s a control freak.  He’s use to being in charge and suddenly, thanks to his antics with Veronica Perroncel, he’s no longer the alpha male in the Three Lion pride.  He believes in and places himself before anyone else.  Those last two qualities combined are often a recipe for disaster.

Then there’s the fact that Nicolas Anelka is a teammate back in West London and they have doubtless talked over the last few days.

Could it be that after their chat, JT thought to himself, “You know, I’m in the same sort of situation over here.  Our gaffer doesn’t always relate well to the players and he seems to think my opinion about who should be playing <read Joe Cole> and who not <read Emile Heskey>  isn’t important at all.  The lads aren’t playing well and Stevie G isn’t stepping up to have a go at Fabio.  I need to step in.  It’s not too good an idea to get in a row with il Signore, however.  Look what happened to old Nico.  Maybe I should just drop some hints in a press conference.”

Of course, if that’s how it happened, it needn’t be said that our boy didn’t stop to think things through but that’s not really his style.  If he had, he might have realized that Fabio Capello is not Raymond Domenech.  He has a head on his shoulders.  He’s playing Heskey because:

1. He works better with Rooney than anyone else,
2. He set up the goal beautifully in the US match and
3. Against Algeria, he was the only interested player on the pitch, literally running his kiester off

He’s not playing Cole because it’s either Cole or Gerrard on the left side and he prefers Gerrard with his added dimension of leadership.  I will admit, in Terry’s defense that it’s beyond me why he doesn’t bring Cole in as a sub, rather than Shaun Wright-Phillips.  That’s no excuse for attempting insurrection, though.

It’s heartening, if you’re an England fan, that none of the team broke ranks to stand with Terry.  That shows they still have respect for their manager, as they should.

Capello , quoted in the Guardian, is spot on in his diagnosis of England’s struggles.

“I don’t know why or how the players have arrived at this point. The training is good, so I can’t understand why they don’t transfer that form on to the pitch. It is simply the fear that stops the legs, that stops the mind, that stops everything. I’m not criticising them for that. I know the problem, it happens sometimes in important matches, this pressure. This is a big challenge, and a big pressure for me and the team.”

Terry is lucky Capello hasn't already shown him the door

Hopefully, he can find a solution in time for tomorrow’s match.

In any case, John Terry, more than Nicolas Anelka, should be concerned with future consequences from his actions.  His international could be over after this tournament, especially, if Capello stays on.  The Italian, when he has more time and options, is not likely to rely further upon someone he can’t trust.

When the tournament does end for the Brits, fingers crossed that it’s not too soon, Terry, unlike Anelka, won’t be flying to a foreign country where he’ll be able to avoid the local media.  Instead, he’ll be landing in a hornet’s nest.  Every pundit who panned him after the Bridge fiasco now has the right to say that he should have been dropped from the national side.

Essentially by going behind Gerrard’s back in this press conference and co-opting leadership of the team, he burned another Bridge.  This time it was on the pitch, though, not off.  He has lost all credibility as a leader and that was his hole card coming into this competition.  He sees nothing wrong, however, because in his mind, it’s all  about him.  Frank Lampard and Carlos Ancelotti should be concerned as their defense of the double begins.

Still, I can’t deny that he’s an effective defender.  Despite his shortcomings, he deserves some form of tribute for his many deeds and accomplishments.  Perhaps a dedication.  Why not?  I’m sure Roselyne enjoyed hers.  This is for you John, with love.

The last verse is so appropo.

‘Well, you’re where you should be all the time and when you’re not

you’re with some underworld spy or the wife of a close friend,

wife of a close friend”

Priceless.

Anyway, in preparing for tomorrow’s match, one hopes that Capello is thinking, “How much would I really lose by starting Dawson and Upson in the middle?”

Pull the trigger, Fabio.

There have been well-documented players who have played for their adopted country. The reasons for this are that they are influenced where they grow up and can arguably become a bigger part of them than their native country where their roots lie. Zidane, of Algerian descent, is probably the biggest case of this. Born in Marseille to Algerian immigrants, France has clearly benefited from the cultural connections between North Africa and France.

There are, however, a few countries that have produced more than one or two stars and have become somewhat of a supply chain. Two countries that have contributed hugely are the Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe and South America’s smallest state, Suriname. These countries have provided France and Holland respectively with conveyor belt of talent of which is a strong feature of their modern day make-up.

Guadeloupe is French owned Caribbean Island with a population of just short of half a million. Thierry Henry is amongst the most famous who are of Guadeloupean descent; Lillian Thuram, Louis Saha and William Gallas also have family connections to the area – the latter having as close non-footballing tie to Guadeloupe.

Suriname is predominantly a Dutch speaking country and claimed by settlers in the 17th century. Relying heavily on African slaves to work in the primary nature of their trade, the link to football has now emerged. Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit, Patrick Kluivert, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Aron Winter, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – the list goes on. Most of Holland’s best players from the last 20 years are of Suriname descent, players who complement the ‘Van Bastens’ and the ‘Koemans’.

Whereas France and Holland have benefited it’s maybe a shame that these players didn’t create a super team in their regions of descent. Currently Surinam does not have a strong national team however Guadaloupe have become a threat in the CONCACAF region, reaching the semi finals of the Gold Cup in 2007 – would they have won it with Henry et al?

Amongst this turmoil an image of Manchester United players surrounding the referee or Martin Keown throwing a wobbly may stick out in your mind as similar past experiences, but with the ‘RESPECT’ campaign being released in light of that then you wouldn’t have expected that response from Chelsea players – would you?

Unfortunately as footballer’s wages are increased, they start to believe their own hype – that they are untouchable, above the law. Due to their status in the game, they feel that they can question refereeing decisions more so than others – the measures that UEFA are attempting to impose simply miss out on this level of footballer – these players struggle to respect their opponents at times, how are they ever going to respect the referee?

Although physical violence on referees is kept to a minimum (except some leagues in Europe and South America), the verbal tirade of abuse thrown towards referees is simply too much – they’re going to be pushed out the game. We think we have bad referees now but imagine the next tier of referees if these ones quit; the likelihood is we’d be in trouble.

All in all the players are responsible for this – it is them who berate referees and cause major talking points, but they’re only human and frustration is an emotion that people deal with very differently.

The one-way nature of the refereeing of the game must also be a factor in this frustration; players cannot change decisions, nor must they question them – they are even punished, as Jermaine Jenas recently found, when they speak out against them. But rarely do we see or hear the referee’s side of the story.

It is of some people’s opinion that the referee should explain important decisions but refereeing is not solely based on facts and rules, it’s based on the view they have on the pitch and interpretation. This results in differences of opinion from one referee to another and if referee’s start to question others this brings their level of judgment into further questioning – something that UEFA or FA simply don’t want the hassle of defending.

The lack of retrospective action is also another frustrating element of the game. Penalties that are wrongly given must be marked against a referee – and red and yellow cards must be rescinded more often. It’s the lack of flexibility of the system that is causing the problems, because in the blink of an eye a decision may be missed, but add that to the injustice that is carried out throughout the season then frustration runs to an even higher level. Tennis, Rugby and Cricket have seen video replays introduced in the last ten years but with the frantic pace of football as well as the flowing nature that referees are told to enforce this is becoming something of a pickle for the top men at FIFA and UEFA.

Then there’s the punishment. Each time an FA hands out a punishment they must consider all consequences, not those just linked with the incident. The opportunity is there for a player to sue if he feels the punishment is too harsh so the FA must be cautious – this is why the punishment hardly ever fits the crime.

In saying that though the FA must start to hurt these players who bring the game into disrepute – a deterrent to make sure no others follow. In the event of the Chelsea game last night – why not ban them for the group stage of the Champions League qualifiers next season? They then may not qualify for the knockout stages – and surely lesson learnt? The ban does not mean Chelsea can’t compete, it just means the people who intimidated the referee are excluded.

As we await the verdict, which will no doubt come after a long process, lets hope UEFA make an example of the Chelsea fiasco – the more examples we have the more lessons can be learnt and the less chance we have of repeat incidents. As for the referees well maybe they need to be given a higher status in the game but for starters at least somebody could say sorry to them so we still have some for next season.

What actions would you like to see FIFA/UEFA take? Please leave your views in the comments below….

Interestingly the most efficient and watched academy Clairefontaine, is in fact just one of nine such academies. A fact which puts to shame the English Football Association’s bungled attempts at establishing the National Football Centre. Each geographical region has an academy taking the cream of youth players from the area for up to two years at the age of 13. When they have finished their education, footballing and otherwise, they are highly sought after by the French professional teams, indeed some are already linked with clubs before enrolment.

France has in recent years produced some of the most exciting talent in Europe’s top leagues, and given us players like Zidane, Henry, Cantona, Ginola, Vieira, Thuram and many more to enjoy. Since these players have gone though, the national team has seen a sharp decline. Though with players like the fleet footed Franck Ribéry and the ever reliable Patrice Evra adding experience to the following six young talents surely a future challenging for silverware beckons.

Karim Benzema – already an established star, the 21 year old Olympique Lyonnais goal machine has proven himself prolific in front of goal in Ligue 1 and the Champions League and has already notched up 5 goals and 20 caps for Les Bleus. A tall and powerful forward with exceptional technical ability and a real goal scoring instinct he has been linked with just about every major team in Europe.

Yoann-Gourcuff

Yoann Gourcuff – owned by AC Milan but on loan to Bordeaux for this season, he has carved a reputation as an elegant and exciting attacking midfielder. One of many dubbed the ‘Next Zidane’ he has a similar playing style, beats players with ease, constantly improvises and scores spectacular goals – see his strikes against PSG and Toulouse earlier in the season. One of the best emerging creative players in the game.

Samir Nasri – another young attacking midfielder with a busier style than Gourcuff, yet just as effective in it’s own way. Now learning under the expert tutelage of Arsène Wenger at Arsenal after coming through the youth teams of Marseille. Of Algerian descent and growing in Marseille he faced the inevitable comparisons with Zidane, despite being a very different type of player. With his pace and trickery and Gourcuff’s guile France have a potentially devastating midfield going forward.

Younousse Sankharé – a little younger than the others, 19 year old Sankharé played regularly for Paris Saint-Germain earlier this year. He demonstrated sound positional sense, great strength in the tackle and good distribution. He has been loaned out to former French powerhouse Stade Reims for the remainder of this season but looks an exceptional prospect. His two way dynamism rekindles memories of a young Vieira but will he fit into the national team with Lassana Diarra having established himself at Real Madrid this season? Time is on his side.

Sébastien Bassong – a tall, powerful and frighteningly fast centre half that has been touted as the find of the English Premier League season. He has had more defending to do than most – being at struggling Newcastle United – yet has acquitted himself wonderfully. The Clairefontaine graduate has shown good judgement and consistency at the back, not prone to the errors that have plagued former Newcastle defenders before him. Should they go down a move is almost certain, with Arsenal apparently leading the queue.

Jérémy Menez – a wonderfully talented and exciting player to watch. Now at AS Roma in Italy having been developed by first Sochaux, then Monaco. With the ball at his feet, anything can happen, an enigmatic player who can have the crowd on it’s feet every time he touches the ball. If he can find the consistency to go with his undoubted talent then the sky is the limit for this trequartista, the perfect number 10.

There are many more talented young French players blossoming elsewhere in Europe that will no doubt come into national team reckoning as well. Feel free to add your own tips and mini-biographies as you see fit.

Despite the current wobble in their form there should be no doubt that they will have a strong team in the coming years, and that with the right leadership and tactics can challenge as before, if nothing else they will be entertaining to watch given the amount of attacking talent at their disposal.

In two or three years Italy will once again be represented in the latter part of the Champions League. It’s hard to see right now with English team’s dominance and glimmer of hopes from Spain with Barcelona and Germany’s Bayern Munich but football is cyclical and because of that I would be in anticipation of the next Calcio assault.

Whether there are genuine baron spells or major turning points such as the Heysel disaster or the Calciopoli scandal – the Champions League will continue to produce a variety of winners – exemplified by the fact no team or teams have won it back to back from the same country since Milan in the late 80’s. England, Spain and Italy all contribute 11 Champions League wins between them.

Without getting into the inevitable topic about finances, Italian teams have struggled in the last couple of seasons to decorate their squads in the same manner that English and Spanish teams have. What the Italian teams now possess, is a pragmatic view focusing on youth players and realistic transfer budgets – they also have unrestricted access to South American’s particularly those of Brazilian nationality. Thiago Silva will join up with Milan in the summer, and Diego is heavily tipped to replace Nedved at Juventus – there will no doubt be more by the end of August.

Another major factor is the vast increase in the quality of mid table sides in Italy such as Napoli & Lazio meaning their stars will be there for the taking this summer for the top teams – the Italian league as a whole is strengthing before our very eyes. Marek Hamsik is rumoured be making a move to Internationale, Napoli will do well to hold on to Ezequiel Lavezzi as will Lazio with Mauro Zárate.

Italy’s historically strongest club team, Milan, will be back in the Champions League next season, as will a more streamlined Inter Milan side. Jose Mourinho will surely look to Alex Ferguson’s regime at Manchester United when choosing his squad to avoid having to field players such as Nelson Rivas – also the rumoured transfer of Kun Aguero should be the summer’s biggest talking point.

There’s also a certain Yoann Gourcuff at Bordeaux. Come the end of the season he is due to return to Milan. Add this to Kaka, a sublimely impressive Pato and yet again there’s another Milan team for Europe to fear.

The buck does not stop with Italian clubs though. Germany and Holland are both experienced nations at fielding great Champions League teams with five medals from each country. Bayern Munich are again a force to be reckoned with in Europe and when you consider how tight the German league is this season there are surely a handful of German teams that can punch their weight in the Champions League.

Previous glories of PSV and Ajax may find it more difficult to replicate but one only has to look at Porto of five years ago and realise that anything is possible in football – special teams like the Ajax of 1995 are surely still achievable even if only for a short period.

Barcelona are again this year’s spanner in the works for English teams, but don’t be surprised if you are sitting there in May watching another all-English final – hopefully you’re not reading this in 2010 or 2011 thinking exactly the same thing!

Gonzalo Higuaín

Gonzalo Higuaín has been the scorer of some important goals for Real Madrid. His first came in the derby against Atletico Madrid, his first home goal against Espanyol in climax of the 2006/2007 season and most recently the goal against Osasuna in the 2007/2008 season that stole the title from their arch rivals Barcelona. Higuaín has touched the hearts of all at the Santiago Bernabéu but those ‘one-off’ shows of admiration can only last so long in the minds of what can be only described as an agitated and fickle crowd – especially when trying to live up to fellow team mate – Raul Gonzalez.

The early signs are good though – he’s used the form of the end of last season to his advantage and in the absence of the injured Van Nistelrooy he has taken a step up. His physical side has improved dramatically. He’s strong, powerful and quick, but at the same time has a great touch and has recently been ruthless in front of goal – becoming Real Madrid’s top goalscorer so far this season. This description may make Higuaín sound like the perfect striker – something he is not yet – but has the potential to be.

In recent times Argentinian strikers have come in two moulds. The Batistuta mould – strong, powerful, good in the air – a real striker. Similar strikers include Crespo, Cavenaghi, Denis of Napoli. The second mould – Lionel Messi, – very quick, extremely skillful, unpredictable and very exciting. Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Ezequiel Lavezzi again spring to mind.

So where does Higuaín fit in? The answer is, at the moment he doesn’t. Higuaín is an 8 out of 10 at just about everything, but a master at nothing. You could argue his age still allows him to find his niche, but Messi and Aguero were already defined football players in their teens. There’s no doubt that Higuaín will continue to shine in Madrid – Raul has only a limited time left, Van Nistelrooy the wrong side of 30 and Higuaín’s stock is certainly higher than that of Huntlaar.

To become a top class player however he must become irreplaceable at club level and to do this he has to have a successful international career. Higuaín recently turned down playing for France and gained Argentinian citizenship. Maradona’s new regime has seen the consolidation of playing players such as Tevez, Messi and Aguero up front. Should Maradona need to switch to Plan B there may be a case for Higuaín maybe France would be a better option. Thierry Henry is still a regular starter for France but he’s not the player that left London 18 months ago. Trezeguet has not been in Domenech’s plans for a long time now which leaves only Anelka and Benzema who possess world class attributes.

Whatever the decision Higuaín makes it could be vital to his success as a world class football player. Sometimes the decision can be made from the heart, but this one surely has to be made with the head – over to you Gonzalo.