World Cup Day Four: Goal Line Technology Prevails

I must apologise for yesterday's post. I wasn't entirely sober as I was at Lord's watching the test match. Anyway, let's move on to football and the incredible events of the most recent round of fixtures. There are a few to go through so bear with me as I try my best to sound knowledgeable.

Let's kick off with the Switzerland v Ecuador match which, I have to admit, I thought would be one of the dullest matches this World Cup. However, as we have seen more often that not this year, it is anything but dull. A Swiss winner so late into the game was probably not deserved considering how well Ecuador played throughout the match but they were just not clinical enough. Ecuador are unlikely to qualify, but then looking at the Costa Rica score we really can't take anything for granted down in Brazil.

Which brings us nicely onto what you can take for granted, Lionel Messi. He didn't have the greatest of games and his goal was good, but not nearly as incredible as the media are portraying it as. They're trying to make it look like he didn't have a crap game, but he did. However, he scored, and that is certainly a constant. Bosnia and Herzegovina should not have presented as much of a threat as they did. Then this is the place if you want an upset. They'll qualify, I'd be interested in seeing how they progress from there.

Finally to France who faced a team that held England to a no score draw in Honduras. It was a deserved victory for them against a team that has proven hard to break down. With the help of goal line technology of course. It has proven that it has worked. Yes, there was a bit of confusion because it initially said that there was no goal, however, it then moved to the actual goal, which turned out to be an own goal.

France look good, they always do in alternate World Cups. The manner of their victory showed they have the strength to go far in this tournament.

This is stressful on a daily basis. Let's hope you still enjoy reading them.

World Cup Day Three: Rain In Paradise

Well how awesome is this? An incredible day of upsets and brilliance. I have to admit, I found it a real struggle to care about what happened in this World Cup but it has appeared to have come alive in the most recent round of fixtures. Let's run through them.

With four games to run through, I shall try to make this brief. Starting with Colombia v Greece. How did Greece qualify? I'll always have a soft spot for them for family reasons, but seriously?! So Greece lost, but that's not because they were rubbish. Quite the opposite actually, Colombia were incredible. Without the much-loved Radamel Falcao leading the line they were forced into leaving striking duties to Teofilo Gutierrez. What an impact he had on the game. Scoring the second goal and having a hand in the first. Who needs Falcao?

Greece, by contrast, offered very little in the way of attacking prowess. But then, that doesn't matter really, does it? They're not expected to proceed any further in this tournament. They're make weights. Except they're not. It's been 48 years since England last won a major tournament, whereas this summer marks only the 10th anniversary of Greece's victory at the European Championships. They weren't good though really.

Onto Ivory Coast and their match against 2002 hosts Japan. Err, I didn't watch this match. Sorry guys but I can only glean off it what I can from reading various news outlets. Come on, it was 2am over here! Give me a break. Turns out it was a grinding 2-1 win for The Elephants. Well done. It's also lovely to see an Arsenal alumnus score in a major tournament. Congratulations Gervinho.

So can I please move on to a current Arsenal player? I know I'm biased, and I always will be, but how incredible was Joel Campbell? He scored, he assisted, is there anything more you want from a striker? He made the Uruguay v Costa Rica match a joy to behold. Costa Rica were unplayable. Simple football allowed them to come back from 1-0 down. For their part, Uruguay were abysmal. A chronic lack of belief from their strike force, which consisted of Diego Forlan and Edison Cavani, resulted in a rather flaccid display from their entire team. If this is who England are to face on Thursday, bring it on!

Finally, the England v Italy match. The only real comments I have are that England need to learn how to hit the target when they shoot and how to score. On the flip side of my criticism lies a belief that Raheem Sterling is the future for English football. He looked incredible. Always cantering forward, even in the Manaus heat. Rooney, on the other hand, made his mark with an amazing assist that belied the fact that he was atrocious all game. Defensively, we were very solid. Phil Jagielka was, until last night, the man who scored an own goal when playing against Arsenal and I thought I would never forget that. However, last night I saw him make one of the best clearances I've ever seen. You are forgiven.

Italy were strong, undaunting and interesting to watch. I won't feel too aggrieved if England do not qualify from this group simply because it's a really tough one. This will be the best group to watch, I promise you that.

Right, I'm off to watch the cricket, see you again tomorrow!

World Cup Day Two: Well, That Happened

I enjoyed writing yesterday's post so much that I thought I might try and do this on a daily basis. Why not?

On Day Two there were three matches. The remaining match in Group A along with the two from one of the toughest groups in the tournament. I'll kick off from the beginning, with Mexico against Cameroon.

What originally looked, on paper at least, to be an exciting and compelling match to watch, it turned into a rather drab match punctuated by dodgy offside calls and a solitary goal. At least, this time, the questionable decisions by the linesman didn't prevent the right team from winning. Poor old Cameroon, they looked jaded for large swathes of the second half, almost as if they'd already lost the game. They looked spirited to begin with and I still believe that it will be between these two teams as to who will qualify from this group alongside Brazil. 

Mexico too didn't look like they're about to beat Brazil. However, were it not for those two poor offside decisions, they would have ended the night actually above Brazil in the table. What a boost that would have given them so early on in the tournament. I like Croatia, but I doubt they will qualify for the knockout stages from this group.

Moving on to the Chile v Australia match and, when you consider the prestigious company they're in with this group, neither of them are qualifying. However, last night's match was a spectacle. It was what the World Cup is all about. Passion flared and ignited the fever within the ground. Thousands of fans turned up the volume as the World Cup finally hit home in the glorious heat in Brazil.

Chile hit two in early. Then Australia came back at them with a goal before half time to set up a tense second half where you could feel that the next team to score would go on to win. The Aussies battened down the hatches and withstood the Chilean assault, throwing in a few dangerous counterattacks for good measure, up to the second minute of added time when Beausejour pounced on a rebounded shot. It was a proper cup tie. Enjoyable, rationally refereed and captivating.

Now we can move onto the big match. The rerun of 2010's Final. Spain against The Netherlands. A fixture of epic proportions, especially when you consider the bad blood between these two adversaries after Nigel de Jong's ridiculous antics the last time these two teams met in the World Cup.

I'll just come out and say it, Spain were a disgrace. I know that many a column inch will be devoted to analysing the reasons behind their awful display so I'd like to add my own, starting from the back. Casillas showed how far he's fallen since being dropped at Real Madrid. He was at fault for one of the goals and should have come out quicker for Robben's second. Ramos is ageing badly, he's nowhere near the player he used to be and it shows, badly. Pique has not had the best season at Barcelona, neither have Xavi or Iniesta who are both in their thirties. As for Diego Costa, I really believe that Chelsea have bought a real dog there. He's had a fantastic season, don't get me wrong, but he's not a world class player, he's not the man to lead Spain's line. Maybe that's the problem with Spain, they don't really have anyone who can step up to that position except Alvaro Morata, and I don't see his name on the team sheet.

Switching sides for a moment, it's easy to run out of superlatives when describing who good the Dutch were. They had a shaky first half but tore brutally into the Spanish back line in the second half. It all kick started with Robin van Persie and his incredible header before half time. Utterly brilliant. In fact, except for de Vrij and his far post header from a free kick, all the Dutch goals were incredible. Robben, a man I passionately hate, showed real composure to control the ball and bring it onto his weaker foot for his second goal.

In all, it was an exciting second day in Brazil. Now, roll on England!

Lacklustre, Pointless, Overshadowed - Welcome To The World Cup In Brazil

So last night it all kicked off. After 4 years of what seemed like endless qualifying matches (not to mention a European Championship in between) the first match of the 20th World Cup Finals kicked off. It's finally here and, for the first time ever, I couldn't give less of a shit.

Forced to sit through 96 minutes of dull, uninspiring football between two highly technical teams is painful for any football fan. It just doesn't seem right. If you don't want to know the score, you're reading the wrong article. Brazil won their opening fixture 3-1. Croatia, for their part, didn't actually get any of their own players on the scoresheet. Their contribution to the scoreline came courtesy of an extremely dangerous low cross into the Brazilian box, a tiny deflection once in and a rather clumsy attempt at a clearance by Marcelo which ended up in the back of the net. Marcelo, to his credit, would have easily cleared the ball had it not taken that tiniest deflection en route to him. As it stood, he had a shocking game.

It's tricky when Brazil are playing in a World Cup on home soil to accuse any of their players of a lack of motivation. However, if there was ever a blueprint on how not to contribute to the opening match of a World Cup, look no further than Marcelo. A highly successful left back in his own right with La Liga trophies, a Copa del Rey and now a Champion's League winner's medal to add to that, he looked every bit an amateur last night. The attitude he had on the pitch was nothing more than pitiful. It was a sorry sight. After conceding the own goal just 11 minutes into the match, he should have stood up and been counted for the rest of the game. As it was, he left it to his less experienced, but vastly more talented, teammates to cover for him. His contribution was minimal throughout and for someone who has license to roam up and down his flank as part of a now-guaranteed back five, he wasn't nearly as far up the pitch as his mirror, Dani Alves.

Talking of contributions to the match, I feel it is incredibly disappointing to see yet another important game decided by the whistle of the referee. I've always said that football referees do an incredibly difficult job, but that means they need to be the best at what they do. The World Cup refs need to be even better than that. I'm not saying that Croatia were going to win last night, I just have this belief that when a penalty is given, it should be checked and re-checked by a video referee. That shows that the proper checks have been done before giving one team a decisive decision. At the Maracana, that decision was wrong, and Fifa should stand up, say it was a wrong decision to make, apologise and show some backbone in ensuring it doesn't happen again.

That brings me nicely onto Fifa. Oh, the almighty Fifa with its very own dictator, Sepp Blatter presiding over this shambles of a World Cup. There are many times when writing these articles that I think of how much better world football would be without him. The conclusion is always the same, Sepp Blatter should no longer continue as president of Fifa. We shouldn't wait until next year, he ought to have gone years ago. His decisions on football at the highest level are some of the most ridiculous statements it is possible to hear from any statesman. I haven't looked, but I'm sure there's a video of him and all the u-turns he's made while Fifa president. He's been there so long, he drew England's name out of the envelope for the 1966 World Cup!

Blatter has to go. His comments about the allegations of corruption within Fifa being racist were just a smokescreen designed to keep anybody away from an investigation in fear of them being labelled a racist. A very good trick as anyone who goes near it now will be accused of being racist. This plays nicely into Blatter's hands because then they don't start looking into him and his personal life. He had something to do with it, I just can't prove it.

All in all, this just means that I don't give a monkeys about this year's World Cup. I'll support England of course but the whole tournament has been sullied by pointless bureaucracy and overshadowed by a lack of faith in those at the very highest echelons of world football.

And that's without even mentioning the rioting that takes place every day and night in a part of the world where the government gives nothing to their most at-risk citizens. Pathetic.

Football League Final Day Blues

So that's nearly it. The end of the SkyBet Championship season. Leicester securing promotion to the Premiership, followed swiftly by confirming their status as champions. That's all really boring though, isn't it? Similar to Manchester United last season and Lewis Hamilton in the Formula One. No one wants to watch that. Where does the interesting stuff happen? Fighting for the play-offs, and right at the bottom.

Let's start with the Play-offs. Derby, QPR and Wigan were all confirmed to be heading for the Play-offs before kick off today. Only Reading, occupying 6th place as the day began, could drop out. All they needed to do was win and they'd be in with a chance of going to Wembley for the final. The complicated maths involved in possible permutations of scorelines meant that if they lost or drew and Brighton won, Brighton would end up sixth. If they both lost and Blackburn won, with a seven goal swing in their favour, Blackburn would go through.

As it was, there were seven goals in the Blackburn game, but it was all but one-sided. Blackburn beating Wigan by one goal in an epic 4-3 thriller. So Blackburn were out of contention. However, Brighton were still in it. With 32 minutes, plus stoppage time, left on the clock, Reading were locked at 2-2 against Burnley, who had already won promotion. This scoreline wasn't going to change, so it was up to Brighton to seize the initiative. Which they did on the stroke of ninety minutes, Leonardo Ulloa climbing above the defense to head home the goal to ferry Brighton into the Play-offs. Could there have been a more dramatic end to the season?

Turns out, there could. At the other end of the table, Birmingham City were struggling. They went into the day a point behind Doncaster Rovers but with a far superior goal difference. The minimum that needed to happen for them to stay up was a draw and hope that Doncaster lose to champions Leicester. With 15 minutes left, they were 1-0 down to Bolton but a glimmer of hope had been sent their way - Leicester had been awarded a penalty and David Nugent had stepped up and scored it. Then there was the clearly audible moment when thousands of Birmingham City fans' hearts broke. Bolton scored. 2-0. As most commentators would put it 'they now have a mountain to climb.'

At this point, I'd had enough. I left the office and walked to my car. By the time I started the ignition, Birmingham had scored. No way, was the thought that ran through my head. This would be a Harry Houdini moment. I was able to listen to the match all the way up to the 92nd minute, at which point my appointment arrived so I had to turn it off. Had he been late, or even not bothered to turn up, I would have heard Paul Caddis scoring Birmingham City's unlikely equaliser.

Admittedly, Birmingham had outplayed Bolton all game. However, this had been a pattern formed over the previous five games, which they had lost. A lack of cutting edge and incision in the final third coupled with a likelihood of shipping stupid goals.

This is the beauty of the Championship. Eight weeks ago, you would never had suspected that Birmingham would stay up on Goal Difference. You would also not have fancied Brighton to be in the Play-offs. Stranger things have happened, but this season's edition of Championship Review would be worth buying so you can enjoy the drama right from the off.

Special mention at the end for Paul Dickov whose Doncaster Rovers side was relegated to League One today. He's loved by fans up and down the country for his exploits in the sky blue of Manchester City. I'm convince he will make a great manager one day.

Ron Dennis Returns - What Next For McLaren?

This 'hostile takeover' by McLaren's former Team Principle came out of the blue. Insiders will say that it was inevitable but if you look at it from a Formula One neutral's perspective, it's an unwanted surprise.

I have no doubt that McLaren will get back to winning ways, but this coup by Ron Dennis won't assist that happening. He was dominant throughout the previous three decades in F1 and, after a few years running the consumer side of McLaren, he's back.

I really like Martin Whitmarsh, he's very straight when he answers questions. You never get the impression he's hiding something and he always talks about his drivers and the other teams with the utmost respect. Ron Dennis, on the other hand, is a nasty piece of work who was at the very centre of the Spygate scandal that cost McLaren their first Constructor's Championship in nearly a decade.

Dennis doesn't agree with Whitmarsh's way of running the team but I feel he's brought in a few changes that have certainly benefited the team. The central 'island' in between the two drivers' garages for example, this brought the teammates and their respective engineers closer together in the way they shared technical information.

This all having been said, McLaren haven't won a Constructor's Championship in over a decade and a Driver's title since 2008. They've just had their worst season in F1 and they've brought in a rookie driver to replace Perez. Can Ron Dennis bring the team back to its former glory? 

Whatever he does this year, whatever happens, will have been built from Martin Whitmarsh's foundations. The recruitment of Eric Bouillier shows Whitmarsh is on the way out. This season will be very interesting indeed. 

Tactically Sound, Resilient and Top Of The Table - Why Are Pundits Still Writing Arsenal Off?

With an injury list that, for most of the season, included players that would walk into most Premier League sides, you could have forgiven Arsene Wenger if Arsenal were doing their usual and fighting for the fourth Champions League spot. However, they are top of the table and have been up there for a few months now, chased by the hungry pack of Manchester City and Chelsea. They have an unenviable record of clean sheets and a startling attack bolstered by the late arrival of Mesut Ozil to the party.

So why is it that the majority of pundits are as quick to praise Arsenal as they are to write off the club's chance of winning the Premier League? Well, I believe that there are a few arguments that can hold sway but I'm sure that I can provide good enough retorts.

1. Goals. This seems like the number one argument all pundits, writers and bloggers go to in their argument against Arsenal winning the Premier League. They don't score enough goals. However, it's not just about the number of goals scored but also about the number of goals conceded. Arsenal have kept 9 clean sheets so far this season, the most in the PL, and only let in 19 goals, the fewest. Also, with 41 goals so far this campaign, Arsenal place in third for the number of goals scored behind Manchester City and Liverpool. So of the pack nipping at the heels of Arsenal, City have scored more goals and Chelsea have conceded the same number as Arsenal. However, neither have done both. Of the 19 goals Arsenal have conceded, 10 of them come from just two teams, City and Aston Villa. Incredible.

2. Character. When Manchester City play a home game they have a tendency to brush aside their opponents. They dominate their home pitch. There are a lot of people saying that City are showing the character to win the title. Except that what is, undoubtedly, a fierce tiger at the Etihad somehow transforms into the most adorable kitten at any other stadium. Once City leave their fortress, they are a completely different team. One incapable of getting a serious result. True, they are known to kill the game off if the opposition aren't performing but that is only at home. Arsenal may not kill off the game, but they sure have the character to see it out and grab the three points, either home or away. Look at Aston Villa. For many an Arsenal fan, the bogey team for this season after the opening day defeat at home. They scored with 25 minutes left on the clock and the familiar groan of 'Here we go again.' went through the fanbase. Except that this time, Arsenal showed the character and the determination to take the three points back to the Emirates.

3. History. Remember, in February a few seasons ago, when Arsenal topped the table, into the final of the League Cup, next round of the FA cup and were riding high after their 2-1 home win against Barcelona in the Champions League? I do. Then Birmingham went and won in the League Cup final and Arsenal's season imploded. Down the pecking order in the Premier League, run ragged by Fabio and Rafael da Silva against Manchester United in the FA cup and dumped out of the Champions League by a combination of Barca and the referee. This happened and there's no getting away from it. People are saying that whenever Arsenal are in a good position, they are their own worst enemies. However, I also remember the exact opposite happening in both of the last few seasons. What was it that Tottenham supporters were saying? Mind the gap? I bet they regret that now. History doesn't mean anything for this current Arsenal team, they are focused on this season, not on what has happened previously and rightly so.

This Arsenal team can go the distance and they are genuine title contenders. I'm not saying that they are definitely going to with either the PL title or any other trophy, all I'm saying is that you would have to be incredibly foolish to write them off and say that they won't win. Robbie Savage, I'm looking at you.