There were four outstanding deals made in the dying moments of summer and they are as follows:

Robinho (and Zlatan Ibrahimovic) to AC Milan

For the past year, since the departure of Kaka to Madrid, Silvio Berlusconi has been crying pauper, loudly proclaiming he can no longer afford to go out and spend willy nilly to land the most sought after targets in the market.  A season spent watching Roma and, for a while, Sampdoria challenge Inter for the Scudetto did not sit well with the Italian president, however.

When he can tear himself away from more important matters, Berlusconi knows how to make a deal ... Then again, maybe it's a transferable skill.

Then, Jose Mourinho left town and opportunity beckoned.  The wily Berlusconi bided his time, though, waiting for the deadline to approach and hardened bargaining positions to soften.  Then he struck with surprising speed and financial cunning.  Agreeing a one year loan deal with Barcelona for the unwanted Ibra, with an option to purchase the player outright in 12 months time, caught the rest of football by surprise.

Then, at the last, he secured the services of Robinho, discontented with Man City ever since his compatriots Jo and Elano were shipped out, perceivably as punishment for his lack of focus.  Now, at the San Siro, the Brazilian will enjoy the company of fellow samba-leros Ronaldhino and Alexander Pato.  The deal was made for approximately a third of Man City’s original £32M purchase price of the moody winger, not two years gone.  In order to cover the cost, Berlusconi simply moved fringe player Klaas-Jan Huntelaar on to Schalke 04 for a reported €13M.

Ibra and Robinho are both possessed of  combustible personalities but are also capable of  setting fire to opposing defences.  If it’s not too late, it might be a good idea for Rafa Benitez to confirm the Giuseppe Meazza is well equipped with extinguishers.

Alex Hleb, Jean Beausejour and Martin Jiranek to Birmingham

Am I good, or am I good?

Alex McLeish, like a true Scot, understands the value of a pound.  As well, in Carson Yeung, he’s been blessed with a chairman who does, as well.  In the current climate of the Premier League, no one player is going to transform Birmingham into world beaters.  As like as not, with Sheikh Mansour in the neighbourhood, you’d probably have to overpay for your man, to boot.  On the other hand, an eye for talent can take a decent budget and divide it among several solid players.  If that eye is also accompanied by a strong hand, the resultant value of the squad might prove to be greater than the combined purchase price of its various members.

McLeish guided the Blues out of the Championship, two years ago, and then had them threatening a European place for much of  their first season back in the top flight.  With Hleb’s ability to play in the hole or on the wing, Beausejour’s speed and power down the left side and Jiranek’s towering presence in central defence, combined with James McFadden, Matt Derbyshire and Ben Foster,  Birmingham continue to have the look of upward mobility.

Asamoah Gyan to Sunderland

He scores in stripes for Ghana, maybe it'll work for the Mackems, too.

For every step forward Steve Bruce has managed at Sunderland, another obstacle has risen up to bar his way.  Most of those impediments have taken the form of injured players.  It was Lee Cattermole last year, over the holidays, who went down hard just as the Black Cats were flexing their claws.  This season it’s Frasier Campbell who’s come up lame at a very inopportune time, with the unhappy Kenwyne Jones having been sold to Stoke and Martyn Waghorn to Leicester.  That has left Darren Bent and ManU loanee Danny Welbeck without any cover.

So with just 15 minutes remaining in the silly season, Bruce snatched up the Ghanian for a hefty  £13.5M.  At Rennes, Gyan was not prolific, scoring just 14 times in 47 matches but with his international captain, John Mensah, to welcome him to the Stadium of Light, Bruce hopes he will settle quickly and translate his World Cup form into club success.

Rafael van der Vaart to Tottenham

With Crouchie and Abigail Clancy on the outs, Harry earns bonus points for maintaining the depth of the Tottenham WAG squad, in the bargain.

There was some controversy over this deal, because it looked to have been submitted late.  After deciding that no one would believe that Steve Bruce was intentionally chatting with the clerk and holding up the line after completing his deal, Harry Redknapp went with the old standby and blamed it on faulty wiring in the communications equipment.  And it’s not really surprising that it worked.  After all, if the powers that be are willing to take the word of Kim Jong Il on faith, regarding the fate of the North Korean World Cup squad, why wouldn’t they believe Harry?

Still, it’s a very happy van der Vaart coming to White Hart Lane, where his experience and creativity should put him right into the starting eleven, despite not being able to crack a Madrid lineup missing Kaka.  Whether Luca Modric appears more often in a wide role or he has to share some playing time with David Bentley and Nico Kranjcar matters not.  It’s the type of problem Redknapp loves to have, as evidenced by the continuing logjam up front, with Jermaine DeFoe, Peter Crouch, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Robbie Keane all worthy of first team status.

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Of the four, which do you think was the boldest of the last minute deals?  Vote in our poll below!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

This week, that means the first spate of qualifiers for Euro 2012, as well as plenty of fixtures in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, and the US.  If you didn’t catch our big Euro preview midweek, it’s right here.  The upcoming matches aren’t all that has fans of the European game abuzz this week, though.  The transfer market has closed, although not without a flurry of last minute business.

Now that Alex has this transfer thingy down, maybe he can find a decent barber.

If you see a smiling Harry Redknapp walking about London, during the break, don’t ask him for an autograph.  His hands are still swollen from a last desperate grab, just as the transfer window slammed shut.  His grin is genuine,  though, because coming away with Real Madrid’s surplus midfield magician, Rafael van der Vaart, for Tottenham, was certainly worth the pain.

In Birmingham, Alex McLeish has no need of painkillers.  His timing was much better than Redknapp’s, as he landed Barca benchwarmer, Alex Hleb, Chilean World Cup winger Jean Beausejour and the towering Spartak Moscow centre back, Martin Jiranek, all earlier on deadline day,.  With the trio joining the likes of Matt Derbyshire and Ben Foster as newcomers to City, the Blues are looking good to improve on their ninth place finish, last term.  Now chairman, Peter Pannu is on the hook to sign the Scot to a new deal, after having made some unflattering remarks regarding his ability.

Most players only do this after scoring a goal; For Robinho, this is his reaction to everything.

While McLeish and Redknapp were adding to David Cameron’s headaches over immigration, Man City provided some relief for the Tory PM, shipping the red tagged Brazilian, Robinho, to AC Milan, at well over a 50% discount on his £32M purchase price of two years ago.  Although Silvio Berlusconi will need to find some spare change hidden under his mistress, sorry, mattress to exercise the option to purchase Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Barcelona, for €24M in one year’s time, the suddenly economically minded Italian president at least broke even on the Robinho deal, by sending Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to Schalke 04 for €13M.  With the aging squad he has, if the lecherous Berlusconi can keep getting these kinds of players through the door without cracking open his wallet, maybe he does deserve to continue running the entire country for a while longer.

Back in England, all twenty Premier League clubs submitted their 2010 rosters on Wednesday.  Despite all the kerfluffle, no one seemed to have much trouble complying with the Homegrown Rule.  Many clubs simply named less than the maximum 25 non-homegrown players to their squad and supplemented those they did with a bevy of youngsters.  In fact, Arsene Wenger, who is known the world over as a despiser of the rule, got in one last dig, by naming just a 20 man roster, accompanied by a whopping 56 under-21′s.

Oh, and we almost forgot.  Mikel Arteta won’t be playing for England.  The FIFA archivists, working long into the night in their Zurich vaults, uncovered an obscure rule which prevents the Everton midfielder from featuring for the Three Lions.  Apparently, since he played for Spain as a wet-behind-the-ears teenager, without holding a UK passport at the time, it won’t matter if he obtains one now.  That’ll teach us to write a feature article on the subject.

Not a person to be reasoned with.

The  international matches, all scheduled on Friday, make for an early weekend in Europe,  but Monday is the Labour Day holiday in North America.  For MLS fans, that’s not a reason to celebrate.  To them, the holiday is like some horribly mutated version of Groundhogs Day.  The difference, in this case, is that instead of a cute little bucktoothed rodent popping out of a hole, hoping to avoid its own shadow, a pair of terrifyingly large and hideous monsters, known as the NFL and NCAA football emerge from their lairs and stomp on anyone not wearing a football jersey decorated with large numbers on both sides.

Outsized and outnumbered, MLS will soldier on with a full slate of fixtures this weekend.  Mexico, however, features just a single match on its calendar.  Experts believe this has direct relation to the fact that most US Border Patrol agents are massive grid-iron fans, who would never miss opening day.

In the southern half of the Americas, Corinthians legend Roberto Carlos can rest easier tonight.  After years of study, French physicists have confirmed that the incredible bend that the former galactico put on his infamous 1997 free kick against their home side, was indeed no fluke and that the Brazilian deserves every accolade for greatness he receives.

It’s one thing for a planet full of pubcrawlers to argue that you’re the most amazing left back of all time but it’s another when science is on your side.  Forget string theory and quantum mechanics, this is research grant money well spent.

Now to what’s on tap this weekend.  The WFC gang is back to serve it up but you’ll have to supply your own pretzels.

That mad Baggins is off again...

From the desk of the vacationing Geoff Edwards

Belgium v Germany, Euro ’12 Group A

Given that many of the day’s headline matches are of the killer whale versus minnow variety, this tilt stands out at first glance.  Unfortunately, Geoff notes that Die Mannschaft haven’t lost to the Belgians since 1954, which, and I don’t get to say this often enough anymore, is before I was born.  In that match, the Rote Teufel (think ManU or AC Milan) caught the Germans with a major hangover, it being the champions’ first game after winning their initial World Cup.  Thomas Vermaelen wears the armband for the hosts, while Philip Lahm, now officially caretaking for Michael Ballack, leads out the visitors.  As well, Manuel Neuer’s stellar turn in South Africa has earned him the Nr. Ein for Germany.

Chris Mann

Chris Mann

Liechtenstein v Spain Euro ’12 Group I

Undoubtedly the biggest mismatch of the week, newly-crowned world champions Spain will travel to Liechtenstein (population 34,761) on Friday, where they will face a country ranked an incredible 140 places below them in the FIFA rankings. Vicente Del Bosque has named a full-strength team despite the lowly nature of Spain’s opposition and it would hardly be surprising if David Villa, Fernando Torres and friends racked up a double-figure margin of victory at the Rheinpark Stadion.

Estonia v Italy Euro ’12 Group C

The Cesare Prandelli era begins in earnest tomorrow evening, as the Azzurri take on Estonia at the Lillekula Stadium in Tallinn. If a new-look Italian side can gel from the off, led out by redemption minded Daniel De Rossi and Giorgio Chiellini, then Prandelli’s men shouldn’t have a problem with their Baltic opponents, but Estonia -- ranked 94th in the world -- should not be underestimated. Players such as Tarmo Kink and Andres Oper are more than capable of punishing the Italians should they lose concentration. It should be an straightforward victory for the Azzurri but, as we saw so clearly in South Africa, Italy can be prone to self-destruction.

Eliot Rothwell

Eliot Rothwell

Slovenia v Northern Ireland Euro ’12 Group C

The Slovenians, under Matjez Kek, have made real progress, of late. A play-off victory over Russia cemented their rise to the top table of global football and rocketed them up 60 (yes, 60!) places in the FIFA rankings, all the way to 19th.  The rangy figure of striker Mile Novakovic may cause the likes of Jonny Evans problems, as the slippery Köln striker looks to evade the clutches of his markers.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland have a problem. They never seem able to get out of a group situation. Even in their last World Cup qualifying group, they were pipped by Slovakia and (you’ve guessed it) Slovenia. Manager Nigel Worthington will no doubt be scratching his silver mane trying to fathom how his side can conquer the likes of England and Spain, yet fail dismally against weaker teams. The Northern Irish cause should be aided by long-time saviour David Healy who, reminiscent of Lukas Podolski, remains out-of-form with his club side, while invariably turning up in spades for his country.

When not whipping Wales into shape, Toshack sings lead on PS Guitar Hero.

Montenegro v Wales Euro ’12 Group G

Recently established on the international stage themselves, Montenegro, host John Toshack’s Wales, in what could be a contender for match of the week.  The Welsh posses an in-form Gareth Bale, lightning quick and blessed with a traction engine in his left boot.  Montenegro, meanwhile are blessed with two goofy-footed technicians of their own. AS Roma’s Mirko Vucinic and Stevan Jovetic, of Anfield goalscoring fame, are more than a match for the weary defence of James Collins and Danny Gabbidon.

With both sides blessed with attacking menace and cursed with frail defences, the highlight reel should be lengthy.

England v Bulgaria Euro ’12 Group G

With the retirement of talisman Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgaria have adopted a 4-2-3-1 in recent matches, with the clear aim of controlling the ball for as long as possible. Martin and Stilian Petrov, in the midfield, should provide the Bulgarians with some creative spark against the too often lacklustre English.

With the English press heavily criticising Fabio Capello of late, the knives will be out should England not win this game and comfortably. Unfortunately for Capello, his side are suffering from any number of injury problems, most notably missing first choice centre-backs John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, as well as rangy impact sub Peter Crouch. This leaves the Italian the tough choice of relying on his out of favour World Cup squad or blooding unproven youngsters in a game that actually matters.

England have often struggled against possession minded sides and whilst they may run out eventual winners, I predict it to be a frustrating one, with the Bulgarians combining technique and tactics to stifle Englands attackers.

Tapesh Patel

Tapesh Patel

France v Belarus Euro ’12 Group D

While this match ushers in a new era for the French, Laurent Blanc probably still doesn’t know his best eleven.  We can therefore expect wholesale changes from the World Cup team.  Philippe Mexes will likely team up with Adil Rami in defence and Loic Rémy with Guillaume Hoarau in attack. The formation Blanc will play is also a complete mystery; the 4-4-2 diamond deployed against Norway will probably change to a straight 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3, due to the lack of an attacking playmaker (with Samir Nasri, Franck Ribery and Yoann Gourcuff all ruled out). The diamond in the rough is undoubtedly Florent Malouda, who has arguably been the best player in the Premiership so far this season.

Belarus will look to spring a shock on France if the hosts start slowly, but it may prove a difficult task, as key winger Aliaksandr Hleb has hardly played since April.  To be honest, though, I wouldn’t like to predict how this will pan out.

Lithuania v Scotland Euro ’12 Group I

Lithuania are still seen as minnows but Scotland will undoubtedly know the threat of their opposition, with many of the home side being current or former practitioners in the Scottish Premier League. Aberdeen’s Andruis Velicka leads the line for the hosts, while former Hearts man Saulius Mykoliunas is sure to get a hot reception, after being banned for play-acting the last time both sides met.  Eight changes have been made by Craig Levein for the match. The most notable are the omission of James McFadden and the inclusion of 40-year-old David Weir, who will become the oldest player ever to have donned the Tartan Blue.

This match will undoubtedly be a tight one, with both sides seeing the match as a proverbial six-pointer.

Avi Goldberg

Avi Goldberg

San Marino v The Netherlands

For their first qualification game, Netherlands coach Bert Van Marwijk must like the thought of San Marino.  The Oranje can afford to play more attacking football but the question is will coach Van Marwijk change the formation and test the new boys, midfielders Hedwiges Maduro, Theo Janssen and the ‘old’ come back of Ruud Van Nistelrooy? The coach has not given any hints whatsoever on the details of the line up but one thing is sure, the fans are expecting a lot of goals.  Playing with a 3 man defence will definitely increase their chances for a nice goal fest.

Martin Palazzotto

Martin Palazzotto

Major League Soccer

As the season hits the stretch run, with most clubs having played 22 of their 34 matches, the top clubs in both conferences are feeling some pressure.  In the east, Columbus are clinging to a four point lead over the hard charging NY Red Bulls.  The Crew are in the capital, hoping to take 3 points from lowly DC United, while Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez face a strong challenge out west, in Rio Tinto Stadium, versus holders Real Salt Lake.

Real are trying to reel in the west leading Galaxy, who have cooled of late, and would like to take more than a draw from a home match, no matter the opponent.  At the same time, they must look over their shoulders, as FC Dallas have risen out of the midden heap and are breathing down their necks.

LA are in Chicago to face a Fire side that, with the addition of Freddie Ljungberg, has rediscovered its spark.  Fully 13 points behind the 2nd place Red Bulls, with two clubs to climb over before they can even consider the New Yorkers, the Fire have a great deal of work to do.  The good news is that, through some scheduling quirks, they have 3 matches in hand on the rest of the field.  They need to make every one of those count, however.

The Mexican Apertura

If you absolutely, positively can’t do without some Mexican football this weekend, you’ll have to settle for the Guadalajara derby; it’s the only show in town. Chivas and Tecos are propping up the Group 1 table, so if it weren’t for the local rivalry, you might not think much of the prospects for entertainment.  On the other hand, Chivas haven’t really been taking the Apertura seriously, chasing, as they were, after the Copa Libertadores.  Having come up just short in that pursuit, the Goats can fully focus on butting heads with their neighbours and serving notice to the rest of the league that they are baa-a-a-ck.

Argentine Primera Division

On Sunday, Velez Sarsfield, battling it out for second place, with who else but Arsenal (de Sarandi), are confronted with a golden opportunity.  They go into Estadio Jose Amalfitani to face top of the table River Plate.  It’s a heavy-weight battle and the winner will rule the Primera Division roost.  On the other hand, if the aforementioned Argentine Gunners take an inviting 3 points at home against minnows Argentina Juniors, a draw in Buenos Aires could see both of the big boys looking up at a surprise leader.

Kris Dwyer

The Oz Files with Kris Dwyer

After last weekend, when the A-League took a ‘dive’ it’s only fitting that theres some tasty matches coming up.  First though, it’s the Socceroos.

Australia v Switzerland in Qatar

It’s a big game for Holger Osieck, the new $2million man at the head of the Socceroos.  However the ‘Roos have been dealt a blow with injuries to Michael Beauchamp (ankle), Josh Kennedy (back) and Harry Kewell (groin) limiting the squad for the upcoming international friendly match against Switzerland.  After consultation with the  three players and their clubs, Osieck has decided that they would not be required in camp.  Instead, the German has added Jon McKain and Tommy Oar into the squad.

On to the A-League, then…

Apparently, Perth have this nice chap named Fowler in their squad. Supposed to be famous or something.

Grudge Match -- Perth Glory v Wellington Phoenix @ nib Stadium

Last season, the two play-off debutants faced each other in the first round, with the Phoenix taking out the match in a heart breaking penalty shootout.  The Kiwis ended up going all the way to the Preliminary Final only to be knocked out by eventual champions Sydney FC, whilst the Purple Army from the west seethed and dreamt of what might have been.

With the home side branding this as their chance for revenge, you can only expect fireworks, especially with former Glory players Jade North, Leo Bertos and new signing Nicky Ward, all making the trip west.  The Glory are at near full strength, with only Michael Baird (suspension) and Victor Sikora (long term hip injury) unavailable.

One to Watch -- Melbourne Heart v North Queensland Fury @ AAMI Stadium

Melbourne Heart are desperate to get their first win ever in the Hyundai A-League and North Queensland Fury are a team desperate to get back to winning ways.  Both sides play fluid Euro-esque attacking football, and, without a doubt, have two of the most passionate, flamboyant managers in the league, making this match a real cracker for the neutral.

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Well, that about wraps it up.  We’ll be back on Monday with more news, reaction to the matches and, if we can twist the right arms, even a few highlights.  Enjoy the footy and we’ll see you then!

]]> http://www.worldfootballcolumns.com/2010/09/02/catch-them-if-you-can-3-5-sept-2010/feed/ 0 http://www.worldfootballcolumns.com/2010/08/31/did-you-catch-it-%e2%80%94-28-29-aug-2010/ http://www.worldfootballcolumns.com/2010/08/31/did-you-catch-it-%e2%80%94-28-29-aug-2010/#comments Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:16:07 +0000 Chris Mann http://www.worldfootballcolumns.com/?p=5405 Another hectic weekend of footy is in the books but club managers will get a fortnight off now, to review and regroup, while many of their troops nip out for international duty.  With the transfer window closing in midweek, it will also give those gaffers with pressing needs extra time to sort out an eleventh hour deal.  So don’t put pen to paper fro West Ham quite yet, Mr. Parker.

No, Avram, I'm serious. The board said they were behind me all the way.

In Southampton, Alan Pardew was fully focused on making a last minute deal but his time with the Saints ran out much sooner than he anticipated.  One win in three matches, albeit a 4-0 thrashing of Bristol Rovers was not enough for the League One club’s board, who admitted, in their statement to the press, that giving their man the hook so early may look like panicking but, well, so what if we are?  Expect to find reports across the web, this week, that Alan Curbishley is the favourite to take over for his departed namesake and, yes, Sven may be interested in the job if the terms are right.

At the Emirates, Arsene Wenger lost a target for his annual frustration, as Robin van Persie took his yearly injury break a bit early and the KNVB, still smarting from last year’s tongue lashing from the Gunner boss, announced that they would not be calling the hobbled van Persie up for this week’s internationals.  On the bright side, it’s good news for the old horseman, Ruud van Nistlerooy, who once again finds his country in need of him.

In North America, it seems that CONCACAF may be switching its World Cup qualification format, eliminating the current Hexagon model, wherein the top six countries meet in a round robin group with three or four advancing, to two final groups of four.  Dependent upon whether the groups are drawn or seeded, the region’s two ‘super’powers, Mexico and the US, may never have to play each other, under the new system, to reach the World Cup.  Read this interesting article from MatchFit USA, to learn the reasoning behind the change.

As Bradley contemplates and decides against a move to Aston Villa...

...Juergen realises he needs to remove the 'For Sale' sign from the lawn of his Malibu villa

Also stateside, the USSF president Sunil Gulati recently met with Juergen Klinsmann, the former Germany and Bayern manager, in the wake of current manager Bob Bradley’s stated interest in the Aston Villa job.  Klinsmann was a candidate for the job, in 2006, upon leaving the Germany set-up but terms could not be reached and the decision was made to stick with Bradley.  The news had many fans of the USMNT excited, including our own Martin Palazzotto, who called for Bradley’s ouster right here on WFC .

Unfortunately, on Monday evening, it was announced that Bradley had signed a 4 year extension to remain the US coach.  All disappointments aside, this brings up some interesting questions.  Were Bradley’s interest in Villa and Gulati’s in Klinsmann both red herrings designed to push the other side closer to a deal?  Was Villa at all interested in Bradley?  Is Kevin MacDonald, with the victory over Everton, about to have the ‘caretaker’ removed from his job description?   And most importantly, is Juergen Klinsmann, right now, feeling about as used as Tony Blair backing up George W. Bush?

Elsewhere, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was a little pouty on his return trip to Milan from Barcelona.  It seems he really wanted to stay with the Catalans but, nonetheless, he should definitely have seen the writing on the wall when David Villa was signed.  AC seems to be a repository for unwanted Barca stars, these days, with Ibra arriving and Ronaldinho also hanging at the San Siro while longing for the good old days.  Still, the addition of the Swede and the rumoured pursuit of Robinho, if it comes to fruition, could find Berlusconi’s boys pushing Inter for Milano and Serie A supremacy once again.

It would seem, then, there are a few players who have jetted off to play for their country but may find themselves needing to change their travel itinerary while they’re away.  As we await those developments, the WFC gang is here to catch you up on the matches you may have missed over your weekend.  Enjoy.

Geoff Edwards

Geoff Edwards

St. Pauli 0, Hoffenheim 1 --Bundesliga

Not the exciting affair we may have been hoping for, but an absorbing game nonetheless.

In a game of 2 halves, the hosts will count themselves unlucky to have lost as, for the most part, they went toe to toe with their more expensively-assembled counterparts and created the majority of the chances, most notably a Fabian Boll header which crashed against the bar. But (and here’s one for the cliche lovers), if you don’t take your chances in top-flight football, more often than not you get punished for it.  That was the case at the Millerntor, as Isaac Vorsah poked home a Sejad Salihovic corner with just 3 minutes remaining.

Hoffenheim took home the spoils and now sit proudly on top of the league, alongside Kaiserslautern in the 100% club. Disappointment for St Pauli, but they can take heart from their performance.

Tapesh Patel

Tapesh Patel

Leicester  1, Reading 2 --The Championship

To Leicester’s surprise, it was Reading who stole victory, at the Walker’s Stadium. Gylfi Sigurdsson, as always, provided a touch of class for Reading, showing great technique to dink the ball over the Foxes’ keeper, Conrad Logan.

Lloyd Dyer similarly sparkled, capping an impressive display with a 25-yard barnstormer at the start of the second half, to draw the home side level. However, it was Reading defender Matthew Mills who stole the show, first scoring from a corner, and then clearing a certain Leicester goal off the line to secure the win.

Leicester still languish in the relegation zone after this one, then, while Reading’s season has sprung to life, the Royals having now gone five matches unbeaten.

Bordeaux 1, Marseille 1 --Ligue 1

After Lucho Gonzalez gave OM an early lead, this became a tense affair, with the early sending-off of Marseille midfielder Edouard Cissé. Despite this, Marseille almost managed to hold their own, until les Girondins snatched a draw, thanks to a late goal from striker Anthony Modeste.

Unfortunately, this was not taken lightly by 400 of the Bordeaux supporters, who targeted the Marseille team bus after the match, with police intervention required to calm the situation. Their frustration will be shared (albeit to a lesser extent) by both teams, who, while they did find transportation home, remain marooned in mid-table and facing a fight to catch up with early pace-setters Toulouse.

Fabricio Presilli

Fab Presilli

Internacional 1,  Botafogo 0 --Brazilian Championship

A crucial win for Internacional, which keeps them in the race for the national title. Botafogo threw everything but the kitchen sink at the much better Internacional team but in the end it was not an unexpected result.

Boca Juniors 2, Velez Sarsfield 1 Argentinian Apertura -- 4th round

A much needed win for Boca after a rocky week. Velez now stands second at the table, and have a key match next weekend against leaders River Plate.

Fluminense 2, São Paulo 2 Brazilian Championship

The MVP of the round in Brazil, without a doubt, has to be São Paulo’s keeper Rogerio Ceni. A goal from a freekick and a penalty saved helped his team get a point away against the board leaders.

It’s been a very competitive season.After 17 rounds of play, Fluminese and Corinthians are the only two clubs with better than 30 points.

Chris Mann

Chris Mann

Huddersfield Town 3, Charlton Athletic 1 --League One

I thought this might be an open game -- and it was -- but the encounter at the Galpharm Stadium turned out to be far more one-sided than many had imagined. Lee Clark has got Huddersfield playing an attractive brand of football and the young manager was rewarded with a confident performance from his team, against a Charlton side much-fancied for promotion. That said, the London club were the architects of their own downfall, all three of The Terriers’ goals coming courtesy of some catastrophic Addicks defending.

Matt Fry netted a consolation in injury time but it was not enough to mask the considerable failings of Phil Parkinson’s team.

Real Mallorca 0 v Real Madrid 0 --La Liga

Well, this was all rather disappointing wasn’t it? I’d been hoping to see either an emphatic start to the Mourinho era or an epic shock sprung by Mallorca but we ended up getting neither. The home side deserved a great deal of credit for the way in which they contained the galacticos, but as a spectacle the game was very little to write home about.

As expected, the Portuguese set his team out in a 4-2-3-1 with Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Canales and Angel Di Maria the attacking bank of three behind Gonzalo Higuain. We got a glimpse of Mesut Ozil with half an hour to go but the German struggled to impose himself on the game to any great degree.  Madrid’s misery was compounded after the final whistle with two pieces of news, first, from their medical staff, that Ronaldo will miss the next three weeks with an ankle injury and second, from Cantabria:

Racing Santander 0, FC Barcelona 3

All in all, a mediocre start to the season from “the world’s biggest club” (TM).

Martin Palazzotto

Martin Palazzotto

Toronto FC 0, Real Salt Lake 0 MLS

Toronto was under the gun to get a result against the defending MLS champions on Sunday, with the Crew and Red Bull’s taillights fading in the distance of the Eastern Conference table and only 3 home games, including this one, remaining in the season.  Road weary from a midweek round trip to Panama, which ended in defeat and hampered by several players being unavailable through injury or suspension, Reds’ coach Preki was forced to go with midfielders Mista and Dwayne DeRosario as his strike pair.  The results were largely anemic and at the other end Stefan Frei was forced to come up big more than once, with Fabio Espindola smelling blood in the water.

With the carnival atmosphere of the Canadian National Exhibition (the fair of all fairs) ongoing in the background, TFC battled and earned a much needed point.

Cruz Azul 3, UANL Tigres 2 Mexican Apertura

If goals are your thing, then you should have headed south of the border, rather than north.  There wasn’t a lot of defence on display in Mexico City, by either side, but los Cementeros managed to hang on for their 5th victory in 6 matches.

Emmanuel Villa had the hosts on top very early, capitalising on a poor cross, but joy can be fleeting and Itamar Batista equalised for Tigres only a minute later.  The visitors seized the momentum from that point but not the lead and, as Geoff mentioned earlier, the inevitable occurred.  Against the run of play, Javier Orozco put Cruz Azul back in front just before the half, demonstrating why he has earned his first Tri Color international call up.   In the second stanza, Alejandro Vela added to Tigres’ misery, with a scintillating left footed effort that bent its way past the keeper and into the twine.  Itamar would give his side hope, pegging one back but Jorge Torres Nilo was sent off at the death, allowing Azul to close out the match in comfort.

The loss, in combination with Puebla’s 3-1 home victory over Pachuca, dropped Tigres out of the last at large playoff spot.  The train ride home was likely a somber one but, if all that noise in the background of the highlight reel is any indication, they were probably on their way quickly.

Eliot Rothwell

Eliot Rothwell

Lokomotiv Moscow 0, Zenit St. Petersburg 3 --Russian Premier League

It is safe to say that Lokomotiv were truly awful in this match, as Luciano Spalletti’s title contenders cruised to a 3-0 victory. Portuguese international Danny opened the scoring for Zenit with a goal steeped in controversy. Danny was presented with a tap in as the referee allowed Zenit to take a quick free-kick both confusing and infuriating the Lokomotiv players in equal measure.

Lokomotiv’s afternoon went from bad to worse as talisman and key attacking threat Dmitri Torbinskiy was sent off close to the hour mark. Zenit took advantage of the fact that Lokomotiv were a man light as Aleksandr Bukharov strode through the defence, rounded the ‘keeper and then had an age to carefully slot the ball home. The rout was completed with a delicious curling effort from Roman Shirokov, in the midst of more chaos and panic in the Lokomotiv defence.

Both teams were knocked out of their respective European competitions in the week but it is the men from St. Petersburg that proved that the poor performance in midweek was just a blip. Lokomotiv will have to regain their form fast if they are going to have any chance of claiming a Europa League spot again.

Matt Dalton

Matt Dalton with The Scouser Report

This weekend’s action, although hardly inspirational, did have a few interesting points to mull over.

Liverpool, in desperate need of both points and a performance, after a pretty timid start, grabbed all the points, albeit by the narrow margin of 1-0, against West Brom. The Reds didn’t exactly boss the game; in fact, they were only saved further embarrassment,  courtesy of a brilliant right footed volley from Fernando Torres, on the counter attack.  The Baggies, largely considered to be cannon fodder, actually had more shots on goal than their more illustrious opposition.

In the other Merseyside game, Everton were entertained by Aston Villa at Villa Park. Actually, now I come to think about it, entertained may be the wrong word! Despite dominating large portions of the game, Everton, led early on by new signing Jermaine Beckford and later by Louis Saha, were unable to break the deadlock and went down to a 1-0 loss.   Luke Young, following on from some excellent play from his namesake, Ashley, was the Toffees nemesis on the day.  How Everton lost the game, not many people (other than Geoff, of course) will fathom.

In the other games in the Premier League, Bolton valiantly fought back from two down against Birmingham to draw 2-2, especially significant given the first half sending off of keeper Jusski Jaaskelainen, following on from a rather tame slap on Roger Johnson. Refereeing really has gone barmy these days -- you only have to look at someone to get sent off! What would Tommy Smith think of this mayhem?

...This is not.

Premier League Etiquette 101: This is acceptable facial contact...

Elsewhere, Sunderland ground out a 1-0 victory at home to Man City, courtesy of a second half injury time penalty from Darren Bent, whilst Chelsea and Man United each ran out routine wins, 2-0 and 3-0 against Stoke and West Ham respectively.

In the surprise of the weekend, Tottenham went down at home to Wigan 1-0, but it was fully deserved. From start to finish, Wigan worked tirelessly to ensure that Spurs suffered from the well known “Champions League hangover”. It will be interesting to see how Spurs deal with this phenomenon. Personally, I think they may struggle.

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Just because it’s an international week, don’t take your eyes off WFC!  On Wednesday, we’ll be publishing our Euro group qualification preview, a new Over A Pint is on the way, starring Mikel Arteta and his England suitors, and an international version of Catch Them If You Can will be out on Friday.  As well, look for the debuts of two new WFC writers, Oranje fiend Avi Goldberg and from Down Under, Kris Dwyer!

Until then, we’ll leave you with a tip for the young players out there.  Football is a demanding game.  It takes nerve, skill and, above all patience, to break down opposing defences.  Unfortunately the young Brazilian starlet, Neymar, forgot that advice in his weekend match against Goias:

Kids, now you know what your parents mean when they tell you to keep your pants on!

See you on Friday!

His motives may be easy to understand, the surge of Ronaldinho Gaúcho in Milan threatens his spot in the Brazilian National team that is going to South Africa. Reportedly, coach Dunga told him that he needs to play somewhere to justify his presence in the squad. However, he is not even performing enough to prove he can be in the Brazilian bench. Mancini compared Robinho to Adriano: when he was back in Internazionale, the forward came back to Brazil to play for half a season for São Paulo, and then came for good to play for Flamengo and clearly improved his football. Adriano is now considered a no brainer for a spot in South Africa. Now all four forwards that were in the Seleção in 2006 are playing in Brazil, with Ronaldo in Corinthians and Fred in good shape in Fluminense.

One thing Robinho will surely have in Brazil is weaker opponents. Santos first half of the season brings two challenges: the Campeonato Paulista, a local tournament that runs until May, mostly with teams that are not even in the national championship, and some big clubs, like São Paulo and Corinthians, with their eye on another crown, the Copa Libertadores. Santos will also play the Brazilian Cup with teams that do not get a spot in the Libertadores, the Cup is always a good place to show off and win a title after just 12 games.

So now, at an age where he should be peaking in performance, Robinho chooses to surrender for a spot in a Premier League contender to come back to Brazil, a good measure to understand how his career got off track is a really common coparison that brazilian media makes everytime that Robinho is not playing well, watch Tevez! They were born just two weeks apart 26 years ago, in poor neighborhoods near big cities. In 2003, they first met when Tevez helped Boca win the Libertadores final against Robinho and Santos in São Paulo. Then in 2005 Tevez accepted the shady MSI offer to come to Corinthians and they won that year’s Brazilian Championship. Robinho went to Real Madrid and Tevez managed to save West Ham from relegation prior to two good seasons with United, they met again in the City of Manchester Stadium, and it is easy to assume why the supporters like the Argentinian so much.

Dunga probably will call Robinho up to the team for South Africa, but this will be make or bust for him, a really good player that has an enourmous ego and was labeled as a flop in the UK.

During his first game back in Brazil today, Robinho came off the bench and capped a cross magically, giving Santos the win over São Paulo. In a much anticipated game by the brazilian media, Robinho was exactly… Robinho.