Reuters Soccer Blog

World Cup will survive without Messi and Ronaldo

“Ronaldo and Messi could miss the World Cup!” screamed the headlines after Portugal drew 1-1 in Denmark and Argentina were humiliated 3-1 at home to Brazil.

It sounds awful, doesn’t it? How will we ever manage without Cristiano and Leo, two of the poster boys for the elite, Masters of the Universe level of footballer we’ve come to know and love?

Leaving aside for a minute the fact that Argentina almost certainly will qualify, and Portugal are by no means out if it either, let’s get one thing clear: the World Cup will get along fine without them or any other individual players, should their countries get left behind.

Comparatively minor tournaments, such as soccer at the Olympics and regional championships outside Europe and South America, need glamour players from the big leagues to attract worldwide interest from media and sponsors. Domestic leagues need them to do overseas rights deals, the Champions League needs them to keep the money flowing but the World Cup is in a different category altogether.

The World Cup has always been bigger than any one player, or indeed any combination of them. It has consistently been a tournament that has created new stars rather than one that has simply allowed established ones to shine.

It’s striking, in fact, how many players have come into recent tournaments lavished with praise, and adorning the advertising posters of the boot manufacturers, only to find themselves upstaged.

Take France in 1998. I don’t remember anyone going to that tournament with the express intention of seeing Zinedine Zidane. He was certainly much admired, but he was not in the same league as Ronaldo, the FIFA World Player of the Year for 1997, and we all remember how the tournament turned out.

Now it’s official — Kaka signs for Real Madrid

They took their time getting there but Kaka is now officially a Real Madrid player.

The Spanish club and AC Milan issued statements at 0030 local time with the player due to hold a news conference in Brazil, where he is on international duty.

No figures have been given for one of the biggest transfers ever in soccer but it has been announced the 27-year-old has signed a six-year deal.

Media reckon the deal is around 68 million euros which puts it second in the list behind Zinedine Zidane’s 2001 move from Juventus to Real.

It’s tough to say if he is really worth that much. It’s difficult to say if any human being is worth so much, especially in current economic climes.

I’ve watched Kaka a lot in the last two seasons and he has not been as good as he was in 2007 when he inspired Milan to their seventh European Cup.

The Real Madrid Presidential Candidacy ‘Promisometer’

The campaign to be the next president of Real Madrid Football Club has finally kicked into gear with the claim from the little known Eduardo Garcia that, if elected on June 14, he will bring with him the Chelsea striker Didier Drogba.

Promising big-name signings has long been an easy way for candidates to drum up support for the presidency at Real and Barcelona, the two member-owned Spanish clubs, but ever since Florentino Perez came from nowhere to take the 2000 election what was once an entertaining sideshow has become the key battleground.

Perez, you may remember, outrageously delivered on a promise to sign Luis Figo from Barcelona in 2000 and the grandmaster is set to announce he is standing again, after resigning in 2006.

Garcia, the 29-year-old director of an IT consultancy, is considered a huge outsider for the position but he earned a bit of publicity with his claim that he could land Drogba, as well as Palmeiras attacking midfielder Keirrison and Racing Santander left back Ivan Marcano. (The fact the interview was hidden away on page 6 of sports daily AS shows how seriously his candidacy is being taken in the local media.)

The latest election campaign at Real was ushered in by the resignation of Ramon Calderon, who failed to deliver on his pre-election promises of bringing Kaka and Cesc Fabregas in 2006.

While agents rub their hands, clubs in Europe and South America will bracing themselves for a flurry of interest in their players, as candidates try to outdo each other in the rush to win the votes of club members.

The other candidates will have to work pretty hard to outdo Florentino.

Pepe’s Zidane moment could cost Real dear

Real Madrid’s Portuguese defender Pepe faces a lengthy ban that could extend to the end of the season after he had an astonishing Zinedine Zidane moment against Getafe on Tuesday.

I had the evening off and watched the match in a Madrid bar and the looks of disbelief on the faces of the punters around me reminded me of the reaction to the Frenchman’s headbutt in the World Cup final in Berlin in 2006.

There was less at stake on Tuesday but Pepe’s meltdown could hurt Real badly as he is almost certain to miss next week’s “Clasico” against leaders Barcelona at the Bernabeu and may be unavailable for the remaining four league matches after that. He will also miss Sunday’s match at third-placed Sevilla.

The Brazilian-born defender, who moved to Madrid from Porto for 30 million euros in the summer of 2007, has forged an effective partnership with Fabio Cannavaro in central defence and his absence will severely weaken Real as they attempt to overhaul Barca and clinch a third consecutive title.

For those of you who haven’t seen the incident, which happened with the scores level at 2-2 and three minutes left, Pepe totally lost his cool after pushing over Francisco Casquero and conceding a penalty.

He kicked Casquero once on the ground and raked his studs over the midfielder’s back with a vicious second swipe. In the ensuing melee he struck another Getafe player, Juan Albin, in the face.

As he stormed off the pitch, he said “You are all sons of whores” to the fourth official and then committed a further offence by running back on to celebrate Gonzalo Higuain’s dramatic winner in added time.

from Left field:

Quiet day for April Fools

I've been scouting around for some sporting April Fools but I've not spotted many good ones.

Maybe some websites and blogs have held off on the jokes given the state of the world economy is no laughing matter.

Gazzetta dello Sport's French football blog Sotto La Tour Eiffel says Zinedine Zidane will come out of retirement to play for Marseille.

Have you seen any better April Fools? We are assuming of course that Alan Shearer is really going to manage Newcastle United. However, there has been no official confirmation so far...