footballspectator

What’s more surprising about Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s transfer? The fact that Manchester United let him go for £10.3m or the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson is going to reinvest that money and more in buying Tottenham’s Michael Carrick?

Let’s take the first part. Van Nistelrooy has scored 150 goals in 213 games for the Red Devils. He is United’s leading scorer in Europe with 38 goals. His international record is also impressive - 28 in 53. Conclusion - he is in the top echelon of forwards in the game. Now yes he is 30 years old but so is Shevchenko and Chelsea paid £30m for him. Allowing for Chelsea inflation let’s say a realistic fee for Sheva was £20m. Is Van the Man worth half that? If I had to choose between the two, I would favour Shevchenko. He contributes more to team build-up and is better at creating his own goals whereas Van Nistelrooy is more of a poacher. Still the difference is not £10m, more like £2m-£3m.

The problem is that by washing his dirty laundry in public, Ferguson shot himself in the foot. When Fergie falls out with a player, the world knows that the player will leave - see Stam, Beckham and Keane. As a result, it becomes very difficult to command a certain price. The player becomes a depreciating asset. Teams just have to wait to get him on the cheap. Sir Alex’s attempts at insinuating that he was close to patching up his differences with RvN were just a pathetic attempt to arrest the player’s declining value.

Turning to the second part - is Carrick the man Manchester United need? Their midfield has been a problem area since Keane’s demise and departure. Carrick is not going o change that. He is a good passer but he is lightweight. He cannot however take over the game when his team are struggling like Steven Gerrard can for Liverpool. He is not in that class and he is definitely not worth the £14m to £16m that United are rumoured to be paying for him. Marcos Senna of Villarreal is being targeted to provide the bite that Carrick lacks but he too is a “poor man’s” solution. Conclusion? United will continue to struggle in midfield.

The problem is that they will also struggle in attack where they now only have one truly outstanding player - Rooney. Saha, despite his prolific end of season form is not top class. Solskjaer has not played for two years. Rossi is an unknown quantity. Alan Smith, who will be re-converted into a forward is tough and a hard worker but hardly inspires fear. If a top-class forward is not added there is a risk that Rooney will become frustrated and we all saw in the World Cup how he reacts when that happens…

Many will say that United’s problems stem from the Glazer takeover, but is this true? Is money the reason Fergie can’t capture the star names? No - Carrick and Senna will cost a combined £24m. The problem is Ferguson himself. Unfortunately, the players he falls out with are the stars. Why? because they start to become more influential than him and his ego cannot accept that. The big names see this and decide to go elsewhere. How long before he falls out with Rooney? He may be United’s most successful manager, but it’s time for him to go.

So who you ask is Luciano Moggi? How did he managed to bring the “Old Lady“, the team that had won 29 titles (now 27) to her knees? Here is a brief biography of the man previously known as “Lucky Luciano“.

Born in Siena in 1937, Moggi’s career started as a train station attendant in Rome. Many of the most powerful men in Italian football passed through the station where he worked. He befriended many of them and soon earned his big break when Italo Allodi offered him a job working with the junior sections of Juventus in the early 70s. This was Moggi’s big chance to impress the “big cheeses” at Juve. However, he soon moved to a new role at Roma in 1979 and then on to Lazio. His first major “successes” came at Torino in the early 1980s where he helped re-establish the team among Calcio’s elite.

In 1985, Verona took the Italian championship. While the fans credit the coach and players such as Elkjaer with the success, Serie A club directors are not so convinced. Rumours of match-fixing by Verona’s president, a close friend of Moggi emerge. In a bid to distance himself from these, Moggi moves south to join Napoli. Here he is in his element and is able to “work” quietly with the support of the mafia. Napoli begin to enjoy “fairer” treatment from referees and win the championship.

Moggi leaves Napoli in 1991. Through his connections, he helps Silvio Berlusconi acquire Gianluigi Lentini from Torino, the most expensive transfer in football history at the time. Moggi himself then returns to Torino and revives their fortunes, helping them secure European football again. There is talk of the “granata” enjoying favourable refereeing decisions and Torino’s profits sore unexpectedly. The vultures begin to circle. The press are more suspicious than ever and investigations begin into the transfer of Lentini.

Moggi jumps ship and moves to Roma. His time there is short. Once again he displays excellent timing, moving to back to Juve just as a scandal is uncovered surrounding Roma’s transfer dealings (his main responsibility). Moggi brings Lippi to Juventus and Juve win their first title in 9 years in 1995 and follow it up by winning the next two scudetti. Moggi’s popularity is at its peak.

However, once again a club with Moggi at the helm seems to enjoy extremely “favourable” refereeing but nothing can be proved. It’s at this time that the Juventus doping scandal surfaces. After a 5 year battle in the courts, the directors and manager are cleared of any involvement in or knowledge of the scandal. The blame is placed squarely on the shoulders of Juve’s medical team.Moggi’s uncanny ability to be close to controversy but to escape unscathed continues.

His downfall eventually comes due to his love of mobile phones. The prosecutor in the doping scandal had Moggi’s mobile tapped and in the spring of 2006, transcripts of conversations between Moggi, journalists and members of the refereeing community emerge. Moggi resigns. His arrogance knows no bounds. “The system [controlling the appoinment of referees] existed before my time. The only thing I wanted to ensure was that Juventus would not be unfairly treated. If you are looking for guilt, look at Milan” he says. This time he cannot escape. He issues one parting shot: “I am tired of football. Those who accuse me have destroyed my soul. Football will not be better without me and that will be proved shortly. When that happens I will no longer be around to be used as a scapegoat. Remember that…“.

If the World Cup were to stop today, who would be in your team of the tournament? Here is our selection of the players that have impressed us most so far, lined up to play 4-1-4-1:

Goalkeeper: Buffon (Italy) - A one man wall against the Czech Republic. Also played well against Australia.
Defender: Boka (Ivory Coast) - impressed with his pace and directness. Caused problems every time he went forward. Unlucky to be going home early due to the draw.
Defender: Ayala (Argentina) - Still has it even at 33. A steadying influence at the centre of the albiceleste’s defence. Sorin may be the captain but Ayala is the defensive leader.

Defender: Juan (Brazil) - Numerous last ditch tackles have saved his team mates from embarrassment

Defender: Lahm (Germany) - Like Boka a fullback who like to get forward. Plays on the left but is right-footed. Has the ability to beat the man on the outside or to cut inside and unleash powerful shots such as the one from which he scored against Costa Rica. Wanted by Chelsea.

Midfield: Ballack (Germany) - The driving force and chief creative influence against Poland, Ecuador and Sweden. Germany have improved dramatically since his return from injury. Sheer class.

Midfield: Kaka (Brazil) - Consistently the canarinha’s best player. The only member of o quarteto to be playing anywhere close to his potential. Stunning goal against Croatia.

Midfield: Mascherano (Argentina) - The best holding midfielder in the tournament. A strong tackler who is also blessed with superb technique and passing ability allowing to exert a creative influence from in front of the back four. An upgrade on Makelele. European clubs are sure to be testing Corinthians’ resolve following the end of the tournament.

Midfield: Maxi Rodriguez (Argentina) - Three goals so far, including the individual goal of the tournament to win the game against Mexico. Defends and attacks equally well. The unheralded star of the albiceleste.

Midfield: Riquelme (Argentina) - Showed his class when orchestrating Argentina’s demolition of Serbia and their defeat of the Ivory Coast. A classic number 10 who makes up for what he lacks in pace through skill and vision. Had an off day against Mexico but has undoubtedly confirmed his reputation as an elite player.

Attack: Klose(Germany) - At Korea/Kapan 2002 made an impression through his heading ability but showed little else. Since then he seems to have developed into a great allround performer, with good pace, dribling ability, shooting and passing. Had a great season for Werder and has carried that into the tournament.

With the quarters, semis and final left there are still opportunities for the likes of Ronaldinho, Henry, Maniche, Rooney and Shevchenko to catch the eye.

The stereotypical view of an Italian footballer is of a diver, who tries to cheat and influence the referee. Information Builders’ alternative World Cup statistics confirm this view.  According to the company, Italian players have dived 25(!) times in their 4 matches (more than any other country), have tried tried to bully the referee 4 times (2nd behind Croatia) and have faked injury 7 times (again ranked 2nd). England fans, who tend to believe that their team does not dive will be surprised to hear that their heroes are hardly squeaky clean, being ranked 14th of the 32 teams in the diving stakes.

The stats also show that cheating doesn’t pay - the Italians have been punished by being the victims of the most wrong offside decisions. Finally, they may also explain why S&M capitulated so spectacularly against Argentina - their lack of patriotism: 31 of their players failed to sing the national anthem in their 3 matches, more than any other nation.

The information is slightly misleading using cumulative numbers rather than averages per match which would have been more accurate given that the teams will end up playing different numbers of matches. However, it still makes for interesting and entertaining reading!

The record number of cards shown by Valentin Ivanov is not the first time he has been the subject of controversy. Ivanov was the man who gave Villarreal their last minute “penalty” in the Champions League semi-final with Arsenal. At Euro 2004 he averaged 5.5 yellow cards per game, being outdone only by Manuel Gonzalez of Spain, Urs Maier of Switzerland and Portugal’s Lucilio Baptista who averaged and incredible 10 yellow cards per match.

His piece de resistance came in May 2003 when he was banned for two months from refereeing Russian League and Cup matches. His crime? changing his mind about awaring a goal after seeing a video replay while the game was being played. The incident occurred in the Cup semi-final between Rostov and Adzi Makhakhala. At first Ivanov awarded a goal in favour of Rostov. However, following intense protests from their opponents  Ivanov decided to consult the video replay and eventually to annul the goal. The game was held up for 20 minutes before Ivanov finally decided that the ball had struck a hand and therefore should not have counted. At first Ivanov denied that the incident had taken place but was forced into an admission by the publication of photos depicting it in the Russian press….

In footballing terms, the Spanish and English national teams have litle in common. English sides are famous for their fighting spirit, their workrate and, traditionally, their long-ball game. In contrast the Spanish are known for their flair, and trickery. However, there are two traits which both countries share. First, both only have one major title to their name. England (as we are constantly reminded) won the World Cup in 1966. Spain won the the European title in the 1950s. Second, despite having only ever won one national title, the press and public of each are notoriously good at overhyping their chances of success and, ultimately blaming someone else when defeat inevitably occurs. This type of attitude makes you will them to lose, everytime they play.
Many England fans, fuelled by the flames of the tabloids believe that their country has almost a divine right to win the World Cup. After all the English invented the game. Yet when England lose a crucial match, it’s rarely because the team or players are not as good as the public is lead to believe, no, no - it’s because there are dark forces conspiring against them. At France 1998 England the culprits were Diego Simeone “he got Beckham sent off!” and referee Kim Milton Nielsen “he fell for Simeone’s trick” and “disallowed Sol Campbell’s goal“. If England had superior players to the workmanlike David Batty they may have fared better. At Euro 2004 it was referee Urs Maier who disallowed a late “winner” again from Campbell. Most Englishmen who failed to spot John Terry’s foul on the Portuguese goalkeeper, Ricardo and forget that Portugal were far superior to an England team which contained Emile Heskey..(enough said).
When I went to work in Spain, I thought that the English superiority complex could not be surpassed. Much to my surprise, it was. A recent article in World Soccer, sums up the position:

“Spain’s superiority complex is matched only by their inferiority complex. They’re convinced they use the ball better than anyone else, that teams such as England lack subtlety, while teams such as Italy lack beauty. There is a sense that victory by any means other than neat passing football is illegitimate, but they are equally convinced that fate, or some dodgy plot,will conspire against them…whisper it quietly, maybe they just haven’t been good enough.”

So which of the two is the most hyped at Germany 2006? Without Wayne Rooney, England look ordinary up front - Crouch prowls the pitch with a speed that snails would be proud of and Owen has lost some of his sharpness through injury. In midfield, Gerrard rarely delivers in an England shirt. At the back, the error prone Rio Ferdinand believes his own hype.As for Spain, they struggled in hardly the toughest qualifying group. Fernando Torres is not, as Spaniards want us to believe, a world class forward. The midfield is also lightweight in the absence of Ruben Baraja and in defence Sergio Ramos has had a poor season with Real Madrid and looking nothing like an £18 million defender.

My prediction? Spain to go out in the second round and England to make the quarter-finals at best.