“There is no nightlife in Sivas,” states Sivasspor coach Bulent Uygun.

This is why his team are surprise leaders of the Turkish championship.

Located in Anatolia’s bleak central heartland, Sivas is a tortuous 12-hour drive from the temptations of Istanbul. Turkey’s glittering beach resorts aren’t much closer.

You’d have thought the 38-year-old Uygun might have a bit more sympathy for his players. But to a man nicknamed “the soldier”, and whose website displays poems he has penned to Turkish generals and the Turkish Republic, discipline is key.

“There are only a few shops where my players can buy drinks but I’m in contact with the shop owners,” Uygun told Hurriyet newspaper.

“I am informed as soon as one of my players buys drinks and I warn him.”

With two months to go, Sivasspor have a real chance of breaking the Istanbul teams’ 24-year stranglehold on the title — and Uygun is excited.

“Sivasspor will be champions and show a good example to other Anatolian teams.”

He also relishes the prospect of minnows Sivasspor, with a budget of just $12 million, joining the Champions League.

But how will his clean-living team fare when swapping conservative Central Turkey for the drinking dens of Soho and Madrid?

PHOTO: A calf looks out of the back window of a cab as it is transported to shelter after a cold snap caused temperatures to fall below minus 22 C in the central Turkish town of Sivas, Jan. 11, 2002. REUTERS/Anatolian FS/WS

Marco Tardelli is famous for that crazy goal celebration as Italy won the 1982 World Cup.

He loves his country so much that he is ready to whisper the Italian national anthem at Bari on Wednesday despite the fact he is now assistant coach to Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni. 

At least he is honest, but it’s doubtful the thousands of green-clad Ireland fans making the trip to Italy’s heel for the World Cup qualifier will appreciate his words. It will be April’s Fools day after all.

I don’t remember Sven Goran Eriksson’s lips moving when the Swedish anthem played before his England side faced his homeland in the 2002 World Cup.

Current England boss Fabio Capello would certainly keep his mouth shut if Italy ever visit Wembley while Trapattoni may well cringe when he hears the Italian anthem given he has such bad memories from his spell in charge of the Azzurri.

The debate over the nationality of international coaches had seemed to have disappeared before Tardelli’s comments.

But if he dances down the touchline flaying his arms about when Robbie Keane scores the winner on Wednesday, the Irish fans will surely forgive him.

PHOTO: Marco Tardelli sits with fellow Ireland assistant coach Liam Brady at a press conference in Dublin, May 1, 2008. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne

Quite how far Michael Owen’s career has nosedived was underlined at the weekend when the Newcastle United striker was again overlooked for his country despite the lack of attacking options for coach Fabio Capello.

Capello watched three of his squad strikers hobble off at Wembley on Saturday during the 4-0 friendly victory over Slovakia with Emile Heskey and Carlton Cole both ruled out of Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Ukraine.

With Peter Crouch also carrying a knock, surely the time had come for Capello to get on the telephone to Owen, a player with 40 goals in 89 appearances for his country and who was voted Europe’s best player in 2001.

Instead, Capello bluntly dismissed the case for Owen, saying he felt the striker was not playing well enough for his club. Capello turned to the much-maligned Darren Bent, a willing runner but hardly a finisher in the same class as Owen.

It is hard to see where Owen now fits into Capello’s plans. The Italian appears to favour a big target man playing in tandem with the versatile Wayne Rooney. Owen’s penalty area prowess is clearly not enough for Capello.

At 29, and after a series of injuries, Owen does not have the explosive pace that was once his trademark and he can look hesitant in front of goal. He has scored just once in his last 10 matches for relegation-haunted Newcastle and it is a year since he last played for England.

So is there any hope of an international return for the former Liverpool man? A move away from St James’ Park would be a first step but any journey back to the top of European football looks like being a long and painstaking one.

HAPPIER TIMES: Michael Owen poses alongside Fabio Capello at the launch of the England team’s new away kit, February 4, 2008. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

Soccer leagues in the Balkans are suffering from an uncontrolled outflow of talent to wealthier and more competitive environments in Europe and it’s a trend that’s benefiting some of the region’s national teams.

At least three countries that emerged from the former Yugoslavia stand a good chance of reaching next year’s World Cup in South Africa.

Serbia, who tightened their grip on Group Seven with a 3-2 win over neighbours Romania, are in the best position after a masterclass performance by Manchester United centre-back Nemanja Vidic and captain Dejan Stankovic, plying his trade at Italian champions Inter Milan.

Serbia have only two home-based players in their squad, which has been given a new lease of life under coach Radomir Antic in their bid to reach a first major tournament as an independent nation.

Even more impressive were Serbia’s bitter Balkan foes Bosnia, who demolished Belgium 4-2 and have an excellent chance of securing a play-off spot in Group Five, where European champions Spain seem untouchable.

The Bosnians, also aiming for a maiden World Cup appearance, are reaping the benefits of having experienced exiles such as Eintracht Frankfurt striker Zlatan Bajramovic, Zvjezdan Misimovic and his 22-year old Wolfsburg team-mate Edin Dzeko, who all scored in their surprise success in Genk.

Croatia may not be able to leapfrog England into the driving seat in Group Six but they should also win a play-off berth available to the eight best second-placed teams.

The Croatians, who finished third in the 1998 World Cup in France, have a wealth of experience in a squad chasing a seventh major tournament appearance in eight attempts.

Slovenia, who faded into oblivion after back-to-back appearances in Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup, are in contention for one of the top two spots in a delicately balanced Group Three.

Even the Macedonians are in with a shout for a runners-up spot in Group Nine, where the Dutch have imposed their authority, while Montenegro – newcomers to the world soccer map — have no chance in Group Eight.

How many of these teams will come through at the end of a long and demanding road to South Africa?

Can the Balkans produce a unique treble or even a quadruple, or will the region’s participation in the finals boil down to the usual one or two teams? Give us your thoughts.

PHOTO: Bosnia’s Zlatan Bajramovic (L) celebrates with team mate Zvjezdan Misimovic (R) after scoring against Belgium during a World Cup qualifier at the Fenix stadium in Genk March 28, 2009. REUTERS/Yves Herman

Tragic news from Abidjan, where officials say at least 19 people were killed in a stampede at an overcrowded stadium during a World Cup qualifier between Ivory Coast and Malawi.

“We have 19 dead and many seriously injured,” a military source at the stadium said. The crush occurred after part of a wall collapsed when ticketless fans stormed one of the entrances to the 45,000-capacity Houphouet-Boigny arena in the West African country’s main city, Abidjan.

Click here for the full story.

This week’s two World Cup qualifiers between Spain and Turkey have prompted the Spanish media to look back at a dramatic moment in the history of the two nations’ soccer teams.

It came at the end of the last of three matches the pair played in early 1954 to decide which would qualify for the World Cup in Switzerland later that year.

Spain won the first game 4-1 in Madrid but Turkey shocked the Spaniards by winning the second 1-0 in Istanbul. That meant they had to play a decider in Rome, goal difference not being taken into account in the rules of the time.

After the clash in the Italian capital ended in a 2-2 draw, the stalemate had to be resolved by drawing lots and a 14-year-old Roman named Luigi Franco Gemma, the son of an employee at the stadium, was picked to draw one name from the pot.

Adrian Escudero, scorer of Spain’s second goal in Rome, takes up the story:
“We shut ourselves away in the dressing room feeling utterly dispirited, thinking that there was nothing more we could do, that everything had gone so badly that the kid wouldn’t pick our name,” he told Friday’s As newspaper.

“And of course he picked Turkey. The disappointment was tremendous. We felt helpless. It was dramatic.”

As said the Turks invited Gemma to go to Switzerland as their mascot but did not say whether he accepted.

They went on to lose twice to eventual winners West Germany, 4-1 and 7-2, but did manage a 7-0 victory over Korea.

Drawing lots is a highly unsatisfactory way of resolving a qualifying group but one that could make for some great television.

PHOTO: Spain’s Fernando Torres juggles with a ball during a training session near Madrid. March 25, 2009. Spain will face Turkey in a 2010 World Cup qualifier match on March 28, 2009. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

Troubled Mexico face a potentially decisive five days in their attempt to qualify for the World Cup and the tension is already starting to tell.

After losing to the United States last month in the opening game of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament’s final stage, Mexico host Costa Rica on Saturday and visit Honduras — where they were beaten in a previous stage of the competition — on Wednesday.

Anything less than four points from those games is likely to end Sven-Goran Eriksson’s short spell as coach and discredit the players even further.

Tempers flared during an extraordinary media conference this week when Ukraine-based Nery Castillo lost his cool after being asked why he had reported late for training.

Castillo, back at Shakhtar Donetsk after his unhappy spell at Manchester City, replied with what, if nothing else, was an interesting diversion.

“You’re happy when the team does badly,” shouted Castillo, who was born in Mexico, left the country at the age of two, raised in Uruguay and began his football career in Greece.

“Have you ever played football? Was it in a first division team? That’s why, no matter how much you criticise me, I don’t care because I know I do things well.”

At the end of the outburst, Castillo offered to settle his differences with another reporter in the car park and then said: “You know what your problem is? That I’m in Europe and you are in Mexico and that is where you are going to stay.”

It remains to be seen how his last remark will go down with the 100 million other people who call Mexico their home.

PHOTO: Mexico coach Sven-Goran Eriksson of Sweden during a news conference in San Pedro Sula, November 18, 2008. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

It may prove difficult to switch a nation’s sporting focus from rugby to football, especially one that is basking in the glory of a first rugby grand slam in 61 years, but a wave of good fortune is boosting hopes of Ireland featuring at the World Cup finals in South Africa next year.

Guided by the mercurial talents of Italian Giovanni Trapattoni, the Irish have made a solid, undefeated start to a tricky qualifying group containing World champions Italy, Dimitar Berbatov’s Bulgaria, Cyprus - who beat them 5-2 in Euro 2008 qualifying - and a skilful Montenegro.

Optimism of a first appearance in a major finals since 2002 is growing but in earning their second place position, behind the Italians only on goal difference, a number of fortuitous moments have occurred.

Firstly they managed to avoid playing Georgia in their difficult Tbilisi home venue because of the war with Russia. They instead played in Mainz, Germany which seemed liked a home game for the Irish with the number of supporters they had to cheer a 2-1 victory.

Then Cypriot striker Efstathios Aloneftis, identified by Trapattoni as the dangerman ahead of their clash in Dublin in October, injured himself in the warm-up and missed the 1-0 defeat by the home side.

(more…)

Things are looking grim in the north east, England’s fabled “hotbed of soccer”. 

The phrase, if you are interested, was used for many years to describe the passion for football in the region before a scholarly book by reknowned journalist Arthur Appleton “Hotbed of Soccer - the story of football in the North East” was published in 1960 and told a mainly successful story.

If a similar tome was being written today, I’d suggest a more apt title might be “The Frozen Wasteland of Soccer — Under-Achievement, Broken Dreams and Very Few Trophies in the North East.”

A suitable sub-title? “Staring Relegation in the Face in 2009.”

With the end of the English Premier League season fast approaching, Newcastle United and Middlesbrough occupy two of the three relegation places with only seemingly-doomed West Bromwich Albion beneath them.

Sunderland, the region’s other major power, may appear to be safe in 14th spot, but they are only three points above Newcastle and five ahead of Boro.

One online betting service on Tuesday was offering odds of 25-1 that all three north east clubs will go down — and who knows, if West Brom launch the kind of miraculous escape they managed in 2005, that could still happen. (more…)

Thierry Henry did not enjoy the happiest of starts to his new life in Barcelona but it’s clicked for the Frenchman this term.

He plays more as a winger than a striker under Pep Guardiola yet he’s still managed 15 league goals this season and the Premier League certainly seems a poorer place without him.

Click on the video above to see Owen Wyatt emerge blinking into the Canary Wharf sunlight to discuss Henry’s current form, and why you shouldn’t leave your car parked anywhere near the Barcelona training ground.

And if you’ve got any thoughts on Henry please let us know in the comments or, if you’re feeling adventurous, in a vlog of your own. Personally, I put his return to form down to cooking and Cluedo.