Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
What next for pampered players — overcoats?
I blame the late, great Keith Weller of Leicester City.
He started the trend for "cold-weather clothing" when he pulled on a pair of white tights one winter's day in the 1970s.
He did not know it at the time, but that began the wimpish drift towards gloves, hats and now the ridiculous snoods, or neck warmers, being worn by the likes of Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, and most fetchingly, Marouane Chamakh of Arsenal in the last few weeks.
At this rate, with winter now drawing in, they will be turning up and playing in overcoats by Christmas.
Things have deteriorated a long way since Weller's heyday.
Players have been wearing gloves for years -- some, bizarrely with short-sleeved shirts.
But the snood takes matters down to a whole new level. Tevez began the recent trend for them with a kind of roll-neck number while his Manchester City team mate Adebayor looks as if he is going out for a cross-country skiing expedition across the frozen tundra rather running out for a football match in Manchester.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Tevez provides sweet headache for Maradona
Carlos Tevez has quickly gained the love of supporters wherever he has played, first at Boca Juniors, then Corinthians, now in the Premier League, with his never-say-die attitude added to considerable ball skills.
On Monday in Buenos Aires, he played as if he were facing Brazil in the World Cup finals and not Canada in a friendly. He chased and harried for 70 minutes, laid on the second goal in a 5-0 win for Maxi Rodriguez, passed to Angel Di Maria for his celestial third goal of the night and got on the scoresheet himself.
Tevez will provide Diego Maradona will a headache at the finals in South Africa fighting for a place in the starting line-up among a quintet of strikers good enough to get into any top international team in the world.
“Diego’s got to open his head. I know he has an idea for his team and (playing) system, but he has to open his head and try other options too,” Tevez said last week when the squad began their World Cup preparations.
Maradona, too, has admitted to the difficulty posed by a forward section in his squad that includes Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain, the top two scorer in La Liga, Champions League winning striker Diego Milito and Sergio Aguero, who needed just a minute on the River Plate pitch to score the fifth goal on Monday.
“It’s tough leaving Carlitos out, eh,” Maradona was quoted as saying over the weekend.
Argentina’s fans left the Monumental stadium confident they have a team to fight for the title, regardless of any misgivings some may have about Maradona’s ability to coach them on the practice field and, more importantly, when the chips are down on the pitch.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
We predict the worst … you show us how it’s done
It seems like ages since we last managed a proper weekend programme* but at last, here we are, with an all-singing, all-dancing snow-free extravaganza, with the dubious attraction of Arsenal v Man Utd's traditional handbags at 10 paces highly competitive fixture being shown in 3D at select boozers across the land.
Below you will find the Reuters Soccer Blog standings and predictions for the week but remember, we'd like you to join in as well. If you're a newcomer, you get 10 points for correctly predicting the exact score from the weekend's Premier League game, or two for getting the right result. (If you've been with us for a while, it's five points and one point).
Being on double-bubble means you can catch us up in no time, especially with huge bonus points on offer for incidental details like scorers, penalty misses, substitutions, or indeed anything else. So please send in your scores and have the satisfaction of out-predicting the stat-obsessed football nerds here at Reuters Soccer Blog Towers.
Reuters Soccer blog panel: Patrick Johnston 194, Mitch Phillips 182, Paul Radford 181, Neil Maidment 166, Kevin Fylan 148, Mark Meadows 142, Simon Evans 142, Julien Pretot 137, Mike Collett 132, Asia Sports Desk 115, Martyn Herman 109, Miles Evans 107, Sonia Oxley 71, Justin Palmer 41
Here are this week's matches ... leave your predictions in the comments.
Birmingham City v Tottenham Hotspur: Patrick Johnston , Mitch Phillips , Paul Radford 1-0, Neil Maidment 1-1, Kevin Fylan 0-2, Mark Meadows 1-2, Simon Evans 1-1, Julien Pretot , Mike Collett 0-2, Asia Sports Desk 2-2, Martyn Herman , Miles Evans 1-3, Sonia Oxley
Fulham v Aston Villa: Patrick Johnston , Mitch Phillips , Paul Radford 1-0, Neil Maidment 0-1, Kevin Fylan 0-2, Mark Meadows 0-1, Simon Evans 1-2, Julien Pretot , Mike Collett 1-1, Asia Sports Desk 1-2, Martyn Herman , Miles Evans 1-0, Sonia Oxley
Hi Chipking. I don’t think too many people will be getting points from the Chelsea game. My prediction was 4-0 as well. I’m going for Fulham 2 Portsmouth 2. We’ll see…
-
Resident Left Field Expert
-
