Reuters Soccer Blog
World Soccer views and news
Real Madrid’s Alonso maturing like a fine wine
Xabi Alonso’s 30th birthday on Friday has prompted an avalanche of praise for the Real Madrid midfielder and has also served to highlight the former Liverpool man’s importance in coach Jose Mourinho’s plans for Spanish and European domination.
Widely regarded as one of the finest players of his generation, as well as one of the most astute purchases by big-spending Real president Florentino Perez, the quietly-spoken Alonso has gone from strength to strength since joining Real for a fee of 35 million euros ($47 million) at the end of the 2008-09 season.
Spraying passes around the pitch from the centre of midfield with consumate ease and unleashing a crunching tackle when necessary, he is the well-oiled cog at the heart of Mourinho’s Real machine and it would be hard to see them mounting a realistic challenge to great rivals Barcelona without him.
Mourinho has used him more than any other player this season, more even than captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
Alonso has spent 1,626 minutes on the pitch, (1,110 in La Liga, 421 in the Champions League and 95 in the Spanish Super Cup, compared with Casillas’s total of 1,592 minutes.
Alonso’s role in the Spain team is no less vital. Alongside Barcelona’s Xavi, the world and European champions surely have two of the best midfielders ever to have played the game, capable of orchestrating long periods of ball possession before unlocking the meanest defence in the blink of an eye.
Among Alonso’s attributes, Spanish media commentators picked out his calm demeanour, leadership qualities on the pitch and the fact that he is able to live his life away from soccer well outside the glare of the media spotlight.
What is Arsenal’s future?
By Zoran Milosavljevic in Belgrade
It is a bit early to single out Manchester rivals United and City as the only title contenders this season, but it appears highly likely that Arsenal will not be among the chasing pack now headed by the new-look Liverpool and Chelsea.
What is more, the 8-2 hammering the Gunners suffered at Old Trafford suggests that Arsene Wenger’s side might even struggle to finish in the top six, unless the Frenchman can swiftly turn around their fortunes.
Crippled by early injuries to some regular starters and even more so by the departure of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, Arsenal were so off the pace for most of the match that their fans will want to forget as soon as possible.
With the team’s vertebrae boiling down to inconsistent and injury-prone Dutch striker Robin Van Persie, Wenger faces a mammoth task of rebuilding his side which is now a far cry from the 2003-4 Invincibles who won the league title without losing a match and stretched their unbeaten record to 49 games the following season.
Ironically, that remarkable run ended in a 2-0 defeat by United at Old Trafford and signaled a decline which seems to have culminated in Sunday’s humiliation.
The 2005 FA Cup is the only silverware Arsenal have managed since and adding a fourth league title to his trophy cabinet always looked unlikely for Wenger after the Gunners swapped the intimidating atmosphere of dilapidated Highbury for their glittering new palace, the Emirates Stadium, in 2006.
Soccer Break Tuesday – corrupt game?
Dominating football news on Tuesday are the allegations by David Triesman to a UK parliamentary inquiry that several FIFA executive committee members asked for favours in return for their votes for England’s 2018 World Cup bid.
Startling stuff, especially with the FIFA presidential election less than a month away and a third of the 24-man executive committee having been accused of corruption.
Current chief Sepp Blatter sought to distance himself from the committee on Tuesday. Rival Mohamed bin Hammam has been campaigning by pledging transparency and technology. Who do you want to clean up the game?
Click here for a timeline of events that have rocked FIFA over the past year.
Back to the pitch, and Liverpool’s blistering late-season form has got everyone talking after their 5-2 destruction of Fulham.
Not that Fulham are being ignored mind you, goalscoring midfielder Clint Dempsey very much a transfer target this summer.
More off pitch drama now and France coach Laurent Blanc has been cleared of racial discrimination.
Soccer Break Monday – Goalline technology…again
It is never over until the fat lady sings or should that be until Alex Ferguson stops talking about refereeing decisions?
The Premier League title race is reaching boiling point and Ferguson is hot under the collar that his team did not get a penalty in their 1-0 defeat to Arsenal.
It could be, after all, only three points now separate United and Chelsea ahead of next week’s showdown between the top two at Old Trafford.
Ferguson’s sense of injustice was no doubt heightened by Chelsea’s win over Tottenham Hotspur that managed to re-ignite the debate over the need for goalline technology and highlight Heurelho Gomes’ flaws as a keeper in the space of a couple of seconds.
Redknapp did prove, however, the need for someone to sit down and explain to all Premier League managers the difference between flying to the moon and goalline technology as there was once again widespread disbelief that one has been accomplished without the other.
Its doubles passion when one play for title game , dats why premier leagues is behaving so aggressive and energetic in competitions.منتديات كرة
Soccer Break Tuesday – Bad omens for United
The semi-finals of the Champions League are upon us and the omens are not good for Manchester United ahead of their double-header against Schalke 04.
They might be running away with the Premier League title and facing a side who are 10th in their own table (ok, those portents look pretty rosy), but they have come unstuck the last two times they have lined up against German rivals in the semi-finals.
And these particular German rivals have Raul, the pocket poacher who proved far too wily an opponent when they lost to Real Madrid in the quarter-finals in 2000.
But the motivation is there for manager Alex Ferguson, who after 25 years spent overhauling Liverpool’s domestic record, has admitted he is more than a little envious of their red rivals’ European success.
If this clash doesn’t whet the appetite then you only have 24 hours to wait for Real Madrid’s semi with Barcelona – and if you are not looking forward to that then I’m guessing you’ve clicked this link by mistake.
Real boss Jose Mourinho has a knack of rubbing Barcelona up the wrong way and after last season’s semi-final victory with Inter Milan, he has been struck off many a Catalan’s christmas card list.
And for those of you who don’t know your ‘Cules’ from your ‘Meringues’, we have prepared a little pocket phrasebook to accompany the ‘Clasico’.
Soccer Break Monday
Real Madrid 1 Barcelona 1. Pictures of the teams suggest they were both pleased with the result but you would imagine Barcelona came away the happier side. Though Real were down to ten men for almost the entire second half so must be relieved not to have lost.
Who gained the upper hand then from the first of four clasicos between last Saturday and May 3? Wednesday will be an interesting affair in the King’s Cup final, a one off match as opposed to the two-legged Champions League semi-final.
Another fierce rivalry that was played out over the weekend was the Manchester derby, where the blue half of the city emerged victorious to ease the pressure on Roberto Mancini who must surely fancy his chances of beating Stoke City in the FA Cup final to hand City their first piece of silverware since 1976.
Ugly scenes marred the end of the match in which Rio Ferdinand and Mario Balotelli clashed but the United captain was quick to play down the spat. Balotelli in the news again though, will he stay at City?
At Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium a quite extraordinary end to the match provided two penalties and a managerial dispute after the final whistle following Liverpool’s 102nd-minute penalty to snatch a 1-1 draw with the Londoners, whose chances of the title are diminishing rapidly.
Thankfully Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, who suffered a sickening but accidental blow to the head in the second half and was stretchered off holding up play for eight minutes, is well.
In Europe several teams moved closer to winning their respective leagues, and back in England Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale was given the player of the year award. If the price on his head wasn’t already big enough, surely now he will be a major target for European clubs this summer. Will he stay or will he go?
Soccer Break Monday
Hello everyone at the start of this new week, where before we talk Champions League and give a reminder of the weekend’s action, there’s news of another foreign takeover.
Arsenal are not enduring the easiest of times on the pitch but on Monday announced that American billionaire Stan Kroenke is taking over the club. Arsenal fans, what are your thoughts? Will this new era usher in drastic changes such as a new manager?
For a weekend recap, the title races in Italy and France look like being the closest, although Manchester United’s pursuers in the Premier League did their best to keep things interesting, and in La Liga Barcelona would appear to have the title won though with several clashes against Real Madrid coming up you never know.
Elsewhere Louis van Gaal was sacked as Bayern Munich coach after a double-winning 2010. The Bavarians are set to hand over their Bundesliga crown, either to leaders Borussia Dortmund or Bayer Leverkusen who again narrowed the gap at the top over the weekend to just five points.
The best of Monday’s football is a Premier League cracker between Manchester City and Liverpool. The Anfield club were rocked by Steven Gerrard’s injury and the news on Friday that he’ll miss the season, though they have other injury worries and are looking nervously over their shoulder as they aim for a European berth for next season.
Looking ahead to this week’s Champions League matches, and Man United v Chelsea looks to be the only tie left in the balance. Here’s an interesting read on Alex Ferguson’s side, whose success is largely down to their scouting policy and the constant influx of talented youngsters into the club.
Finally, here are some transfer rumours to get you talking.
Thanks Fury. Whether you like Kroenke or not, do you see his investment bettering the club? People are quick to point out Arsene Wenger and his talented bunch are challenging every season for honours but the fact remains they haven’t won a trophy since 2005, so the buck has to stop somewhere no? What would you do?
Soccer Break Friday
How can the upcoming domestic matches beat this week’s European action for goals? 19 were scored in Thursday’s four Europa League quarter-finals, with a further 18 coming in the four Champions League last eight ties on Tuesday and Wednesday.
What the top leagues around Europe do have however is drama, with most leagues set to go down to the wire, whereas only two out of eight of next week’s quarter-final second legs are in the balance.
Do you think the goings on in Europe will affect any title races? Will Inter Milan’s confidence be so badly shattered that they may as well leave Napoli to pursue Serie A leaders AC Milan?
Fan chanting made an unwelcome return to the spotlight this week, while Wayne Rooney’s swearing on camera was dealt with by the FA. Too harsh a penalty?
This time of the year some teams are already looking ahead to the next season, take for example Liverpool. They have nothing much to play for apart from an outside chance of a Champions League berth by finishing in the top four. Captain Steven Gerrard has been ruled out for the remainder of the season, however. Will that knock Liverpool off course?
Now for some transfer gossip. After another fine performance for the ‘Yellow Submarine’ of Villarreal in Thursday’s 5-1 humbling of Dutch champions Twente Enschede in the Europa League, Giuseppe Rossi is again being talked about.
Finally, a sending off for Brazilian Neymar in comical fashion. Agree with the referee or sometimes should the officials ease up on the rules?
Soccer Break Thursday – Champions League recap
Where to start after four brilliant Champions League quarter-finals, even if the intrigue for next week’s second legs has all but gone from three of the ties with Barcelona leading Shakhtar Donetsk 5-1, Real Madrid 4-0 up against Tottenham Hotspur and Schalke 04 in total charge against holders Inter Milan after the 5-2 triumph at the San Siro.
However, the appetite has most certainly been whet for the very probable ‘Clasico’ semi-final between Real and Barcelona, a meeting of the world’s two best players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. April 26 or 27 and May 3 or 4. Do not miss these dates. Not that Spain’s two leading clubs are thinking that far ahead.
There is of course more top European action on Thursday in the Europa League, which has a distinctly Portuguese feel this year. Not that Spain’s Villarreal agree mind you.
In 2003, who can forget the young Jose Mourinho leading Porto to UEFA Cup glory and the way he would rise to the top of the managerial tree in years to come. This time round there could be a similar story. Porto’s current coach is Andre Villas-Boas, who used to work under his compatriot. Could he be the new Mourinho? Watch this space…
Attention now turns back to domestic leagues so read our Premier League, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 previews to bring you up to speed with what lies in store in the coming days.
A club usually associated with the English title race is Liverpool, who despite their mediocre season continue to hit the headlines. Plus basketball star LeBron James has invested in the Anfield club.
Here’s more on Wayne Rooney, the goalscorer in Manchester United’s Champions League 1-0 win over Chelsea in London on Wednesday, after it was announced he will miss the FA Cup semi-final against city rivals…Manchester City.
for more information check out this recap
http://mizzousportswriters.com/2011/04/1 3/manchester-united-and-barcelona-punch- their-tickets-to-the-champions-league-se mifinals/
Soccer Break Friday – Champions League draw special
Well well well. Now the Champions League really is wide open..
So here’s that quarter-final draw again:
Real Madrid v Tottenham Hotspur
Chelsea v Manchester United
Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk
Inter Milan v Schalke 04
As Gary Lineker put it, there will be an English team in the semi-finals, but could Tottenham make it two sides? Real are certainly not invincible.
Chelsea against Manchester is the game to watch as both sides come into the game with revenge on their minds. Chelsea for the 2008 final defeat where as Man U, will be looking for a payback to the recent lost at the Stanford Bridge.
I predict either Inter or Barcelona to be in the final
