Reuters Soccer Blog

Egyptian soccer at a crossroads as Bradley jets in

Cairo giants Al Ahli’s elimination from the African Champions League at the weekend is the latest blow for soccer in Egypt and their golden generation.

Al Ahli failed to reach the semi-final stage after drawing 1-1 at home with Esperance of Tunisia in their final group game in the Egyptian capital on Friday.

It was Egypt’s last chance of salvaging some success from what has been a terrible year for their football.

They have gone from an unprecedented three successive African Nations Cup titles to missing out on defending their title at the next edition, to be hosted in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon early next year.

Al Ahli’s long-standing dominance at club level is also at an end while Egypt’s other major club Zamalek surprisingly did not even make the group phase.

In all likelihood, it signals the end of an all-conquering generation who rewrote the continent’s record books.

Egypt’s national team, close to officially naming American Bob Bradley as coach, and Ahli have perhaps kept faith for too long with players like Mohamed Aboutrika, Mohamed Barakat and Wael Gomaa who ruled the roost for almost a decade, but no longer have the aura of invincibility they so long enjoyed.

Future looks bright for ambitious and deep-pocketed Malaga

In our latest post on Spanish soccer, Iain Rogers in Madrid looks at Qatari Sheikh Abdullah al Thani’s ambitious plans for Andalusian club Malaga and an impressive victory for Spain over United States that underlined the world champions’ strength in depth. 

Future looks bright for ambitious and deep-pocketed Malaga

It’s been a long road back since they went into voluntary administration in late 2006, but for Malaga the future looks extremely promising.

Sheikh Abdullah al Thani, a member of the Qatari royal family who bought the south-coast club last year, appears genuinely ambitious and looks to have deep enough pockets to turn his plans into reality.

Certainly if his choice of automobiles is anything to go by.

On a visit to the club’s La Rosaleda stadium last week to interview vice-president and CEO Abdullah Ghubn, we passed through the car park where several of the sheikh’s prize possession were being housed — including a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and a Pagani Zonda.

We were in Malaga for the inking of an agreement between the club and UNESCO and also happened to be there on the day Ruud van Nistelrooy turned up to put the finishing touches to a deal to join from Hamburg SV.

Soccer Break Monday

Welcome back to another week of digesting the global game, and where better to start than with a look at the Lionel Messi effect on the sport.

The wizard-like Argentine is a joy to watch and by playing in countries such as the United States, where soccer is not the main sport, he can only have increased enthusiasm for the round ball game.

The U.S. will also face world champions Spain in June.

In Europe, while Spain huffed and puffed and finally blew the Czech Republic’s door down for a 2-1 win in Granada with yet another mesmerising display of quick passing, there was little else to go crazy about.

In fact, UEFA president Michel Platini fears that Euro 2012 qualifiers are becoming a little boring, and he is concerned that players look forward more to Champions League matches than internationals.

Brazil were another big name to take to the field and win at the weekend but despite their 2-0 loss at the hands of the five-times World Cup winners, Scotland’s Charlie Adam said his team had learnt some valuable lessons.

Other people who could be a taught a lesson are the laser users at the Wales-England match and the fans who were noisy during the minute silence for the Japan earthquake and tsunami victims at the U.S.-Argentina game.

FIFA’s World Cup decision day — live

We’ll be following all the presentations and the vote itself as FIFA’s executive committee decides on the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Spain/Portugal, Russia, England and Netherlands/Belgium are the four rival bids for 2018, while Australia, South Korea, Qatar, United States and Japan battle it out for 2022, with the vote to come on Thursday.

Follow it all here live…

World Cup podcast – day 14

Listen!

Kevin Fylan, Paul Radford, Andy Cawthorne and Felix Bate discuss a few of the forthcoming second round matches at the World Cup, including the classic Germany v England.

England melt in World Cup pressure cooker

After England treated their fans to a second excruciatingly dull World Cup performance in South Africa on Friday, those wanting answers were left with a bemused looking Fabio Capello and an irate Wayne Rooney rant to television cameras.

England 0 Algeria 0 was not what anyone had in mind for Friday’s Group C showdown in Cape Town and Three Lions’ fans certainly were not expecting to wake up to British tabloid headlines such as ‘Roo-boo-zela’ and ‘Cape Clowns’ the next morning.

England, who waltzed to World Cup qualification with two games to spare, were widely expected to put their opening (and for Rob Green, embarrassing) 1-1 draw with the United States behind them and take hold of the group with a straightforward victory over Algeria.

From kick-off it was painfully apparent that was not going to happen. Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard appeared never to have played together before in England’s central midfield, while Aaron Lennon struggled to make an impact once more.

England talisman Rooney, enduring a barren scoring spell, spent much of the game too deep, desperately looking for the ball only to lose it when in possession.

Algeria, at times, played the better of the football, slicing through giant holes in England’s midfield, who often inherited possession rather than won it back – one of Capello’s pet hates.

The Italian coach’s substitutions also caused some confusion after bringing on Shaun Wright-Phillips, ineffectual in the tournament opener, and giving striker Peter Crouch just minutes on the field once more.

Maradona gets one over on England again

Argentina and England have one of the great soccer rivalries and although they were not playing each other on Saturday Argentina still managed to score a psychological victory over their old foes.

Diego Maradona, whose “Hand of God” goal and wonderful slalom against England in 1986 are among the most iconic images of any World Cup, emerged the undoubted victor with his astonishing touchline sideshow compared to England coach Fabio Capello’s unhappy performance.

Both teams are tipped to do well at these finals, and both started the tournament with difficult matches against tough but beatable opponents.

Both got off to excellent starts — Argentina scoring through Gabriel Heinze after six minutes of their Group B match against Nigeria and England scoring after four minutes of their Group C game against the United States with skipper Steven Gerrard firing home.

But whereas Argentina held on for a well-deserved 1-0 victory, England lost their way after conceding an equaliser following a terrible mistake from goalkeeper Robert Green, never recovered and were held to a 1-1 draw.

Irrespective of the brilliance of Lionel Messi’s performance for Argentina and the nightmare Green endured with his howler, there was another important element involved in the different outcomes for the two teams — the body language and demeanour of the two coaches, whose sides could meet in the quarter-finals.

Argentina were inspired by the passionate, energetic and at times over the top enthusiasm of Maradona, their World Cup-winning skipper in 1986.

Donovan must think hard about Everton move

Everton hope to complete the signing of Landon Donovan on loan from Major League Soccer’s L.A Galaxy, a move which has generated plenty of excitement among North American soccer fans.

The move makes a lot of sense for Everton manager David Moyes – it gives him no-risk attacking cover, particularly useful while Nigerian Yakubu Aiyegbeni is away throughout January at the African Nations Cup. What is less obvious is why a short term loan spell is a good move for Donovan.

The move is being reported as similar to Donovan’s L.A team mate David Beckham’s temporary switch to AC Milan but there is a major difference in the circumstances facing the two players.

Beckham is pushing himself through a gruelling 16 month non-stop season with no real rest because he has been forced into that situation by England manager Fabio Capello. The Italian has told the midfielder that he must be playing in Europe and be able to prove his form and fitness if he wants to make the World Cup squad.

Donovan is in an entirely different position and it is odd that he would consider copying Beckham. Donovan’s place in the U.S squad is absolutely secure and his coach Bob Bradley would be the last person urging him to go and play in Europe during a period of the year when MLS players are supposed to be recovering ahead of the new season.

What is driving Donovan’s possible move is not the World Cup or any thoughts about the U.S national team but his own lack of satisfaction with his club career.

Despite being the U.S’s all-time scorer and the winner of countless domestic awards, Donovan has yet to prove himself on the international scene. He has had three attempts at breaking into the Bundesliga (twice with Bayer Leverkusen and last year’s loan with Bayern Munich) and on three occasions he has been sent packing back to America having failed to make the grade.

Big decisions loom for growing MLS

Major League Soccer shows plenty of signs of good health and progress but beneath the surface the North American league has some critical decisions to make over its future direction.

After a week of largely upbeat build-up and nationwide publicity for a sport that so often struggles to get space, the league’s title deciding game, MLS Cup, was played out in front of over 46,000 fans here in Seattle – the city that is staking a strong claim to be the de facto home of U.S soccer.

“It was a memorable night for soccer in the United States,” said league commissioner Don Garber.

Strolling through the squares of downtown Seattle, packed with fans bedecked in team colours and chatting to the soccer-savvy locals, it was hard not to imagine how the sports scene in the U.S could change if the Seattle experience truly was replicated across the country.

David Beckham and L.A Galaxy didn’t get their title, losing on penalties to Real Salt Lake, but they did both earn some respect.

Beckham has surely put to bed the argument that he is not fully committed to his MLS project by playing through the pain barrier of a badly bruised ankle for 120 minutes and since Bruce Arena took over as head coach, the Galaxy feel like a real team rather than the circus act they were in danger of becoming.

Salt Lake won the league in just their fifth season of existence – a real boost for the trio of new teams about to enter MLS, Philadelphia in 2010, Vancouver and Portland a year later and encouraging also for other teams in the league without a big name foreign player.

Are you ready for MLS Cup?

Major League Soccer’s finale, MLS Cup, takes place on Sunday in Seattle and (perhaps surprisingly to some) the game between L.A. Galaxy and Real Salt Lake will be broadcast in over 120 countries.

For the benefit of those fans outside of the States, who might be tuning in to watch David Beckham play for the Galaxy (or perhaps admire the intelligent midfield play of Real’s Clint Mathis?) and aren’t familiar with MLS or it’s final, here are some answers to the kind of questions you might be asking yourself as you sit down on the sofa and get ready for…

Well no, not really a Cup final. Officially the game is known as ‘MLS Cup’ (or Copa MLS in the league’s Spanish language literature) but unlike say every other Cup final in the world, this is not the final game of a knockout Cup competition. No, this is the game which decides the league champions of MLS.

But what about the team who finish top of the league table? Aren’t they the champions?

What league table? There is no single league table in MLS. The 15 team league has two league tables for the two conferences – East and West. The top two teams from each conference alongside four teams with the next best record in the league overall go into a knockout playoff format and this is the final game of that process.

Ah, so it’s like the NFL’s Super Bowl then, or the World Series. MLS Eastern Conference champions v MLS Western Conference champions?