Reuters Soccer Blog

Should the cup-tied rule be abolished in the Champions League?

How AC Milan were crying out for the guile of Antonio Cassano or the tough tackling of Mark Van Bommel (who could have replaced Gennaro Gattuso before he lost his head) in Tuesday’s 1-0 home defeat by Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League last 16 first leg.

Both were ineligible having played in the competition for Sampdoria and Bayern Munich earlier in the season.

But if Fernando Torres can spend half a league season with Liverpool and half with Chelsea, why is it so different for cup competitions?

What extra benefit would Milan have by fielding players who played in a totally separate part of the tournament months ago with someone else?

The chances for skullduggery seem impossibly small too. Torres was trying his hardest against Liverpool in the Premier League the other week, why wouldn’t Van Bommel have done the same if Milan had come up against Bayern?

It all seems a little old-fashioned really, even the name ‘cup-tied’ has rings of the 1950s about it. In the modern game where loyalty is limited and players move around so often, the ineligibility rule seems only to be harming one group of people — those that matter most — the fans.

Milan could be heading for elimination in the first knockout round yet again partly because two of their best players have been robbed from their usual ranks.

Where do awful Italy go from here?

If you thought Italy were awful at this World Cup it could get even worse in future tournaments.

The slow, unimaginative holders were embarrassed 3-2 by Slovakia on Thursday to crash out in the group stage and retiring captain Fabio Cannavaro reckons the country is just not producing top players anymore.

I asked in a blog before the tournament whether Marcello Lippi’s Italy were the worst ever world champions and now I’m predicting what the team might look like under new coach Cesare Prandelli for Euro 2012, if struggling Italy qualify of course.

A lot of the current team are over 30 and may have had their day so younger players will come in (although young in Italian soccer means 27…). You might not have heard of many of them, and that is exactly the point Cannavaro was making, but Prandelli may want to make radical changes.

Here’s my Italy XI for 2012.

Goalkeeper: Federico Marchetti – Gianluigi Buffon is very injury-prone and there are doubts how much his body can take even if he is having back surgery soon. Marchetti did not do anything wrong in South Africa but doesn’t inspire huge confidence with his constant punching

Balotelli succeeds Cassano as Lippi’s torment

No sooner had the campaign to get Sampdoria forward Antonio Cassano an Italy call-up subsided than Inter Milan’s Mario Balotelli had taken his place as coach Marcello Lippi’s ‘tormentor’.

Cassano’s supporters have been silenced by his recent form and injury problems, along with the frosty relations with club coach Luigi Del Neri that suggest he may not have subdued the temperament issues that dogged him in the past — the apparent reason Lippi consistently overlooked him.

Lippi knew all along that the Italian media needs at least one outcast to champion in the traditional of epic pre-tournament furores such as the campaign for Roberto Baggio to be called up by Giovanni Trapattoni before the 2002 World Cup. “Bring on the torments,” he said while the Cassano controversy was raging.

But this time even Lippi’s boss, Italian Football Federation president Giancarlo Abete, has spoken in favour of having Balotelli bumped up from the Italy under-21 team.

“Balotelli is mature and Lippi can count on him, although it’s up to him to decide,” Abete told Sky television on Thursday, the day after Balotelli helped the under-21 team beat Hungary 2-0 while the seniors were held 0-0 by Cameroon.

Earlier this season some journalists lobbied for Balotelli, who is of Ghanaian decent, to be called up by Lippi as a response to the racist taunts he has frequently faced at Serie A stadiums.

This time, however, the campaign is based purely on his strong form for Inter, with him showing technical ability and a physical presence that arguably make him Italy’s most complete striker.

Unimaginative Inter could have taken punt on Cassano

Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has again lamented the lack of a playmaker* following Sunday’s 1-1 home draw with Bari in their Serie A opener.

Creativity was already a problem for the champions last season and now talented striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has left for Barcelona, it is difficult to see where inspiration is going to come from judging by their Super Cup defeat to Lazio and the Bari draw.

Samuel Eto’o is a goalpoacher while Dejan Stankovic, who occupies the role behind the front two, is a hard-working midfielder at best.

Mourinho has said the club is working to bring in a playmaker before the transfer window closes but with Deco too pricey at Chelsea and Wesley Sneijder looking happy to bide his time at Real Madrid, the options are limited.

But there is Sampdoria’s reformed wildchild Antonio Cassano. He has certainly matured in the last two years after annoying a slew of coaches with his behaviour and at the moment is undoubtedly the most talented Italian with the ball at his feet.

Reports linking Inter with Cassano have swirled for months and Mourinho is an admirer, although he cryptically said at the weekend that Cassano now played too far forward to be considered a playmaker and had blotted his copybook by daring to score against the champions last term.

Lippi and Capello get grief for two very different reasons

Italy coach Marcello Lippi probably expected to be grilled for again overlooking Antonio Cassano, but England counterpart Fabio Capello may not have foreseen the furore surrounding him actually picking a player.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Ledley King has a chronic knee problem which prevents him training yet Capello still deemed the centre back good enough for an England squad recall for the friendly with Slovakia and World Cup qualifier with Ukraine.

“It’s mad. It’s pointless at best,” blasted Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp in the Sun.

King has now returned to Tottenham and will not be involved in either game.

Capello, whose side were easily beaten by Spain last month, may have been trying to show who was boss by taking a look at King first. The decision, though, does look a little odd.

Lippi, a World Champion, also has the same imperious air as Capello. However, the Italians are not happy that he has ignored Sampdoria’s Cassano despite the cheeky playmaker’s wonderful performances this term.