footballspectator

Through his skills and trickery, Ronaldinho has become a hero to millions. Many of his youngest admirers practise daily to try and emulate their idol. Few will succeed but here are a couple who look like they have a better chance than most: 13 year old Nikon Jevtic from Serbia and 10 year old Mohammed Demirci from Turkey.

Nikon left war-torn Serbia with his parents and moved to England to escape. His footballing talent was quickly spotted and he was approached by clubs such as Austria Vienna and Valencia before ending up at Schalke where he is contracted until 2009. With skills like these it is likely he will be there for longer unless Abramovich and his millions find him:

Meanwhile 10 year old Mohammed is Turkey’s big hope. He currently plays for Besiktas’ junior team with the nickname “the eagle” (don’t ask me why). The Turks are already banking on him for the 2014 World Cup. Like Nikon his finishing needs work but it’s hard to be critical when you see this and then realise his age..

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.

The appeal court announced its verdict on the calciopoli scandal earlier this evening. The big winners are Lazio and Fiorentina with both teams escaping relegation to Serie B and instead remaining in Serie A but starting the season with -11 and -19 points respectively. Milan must also be pleased. They will start with -8 instead of -15 points and crucially will be able to take part in the Champions League, although they will start from the qualifying rounds. For Juve too there was a slight reduction in penalty. They will start on -17 as opposed to -30 but remain in Serie B. They now have an outside chance of promotion.

The losers included Lecce and Treviso who will now play in Serie B - after the original verdict they had been reinstated to Serie A. Palermo also suffered with their Champions League hopes being dashed.

So it seems like the summer sales will continue at Juve. Milan will probably now be able to keep their star players like Kaka and Fiorentina will need another stupendous season from Luca Toni (if he stays) to survive. The court has been soft and the decision seems like a cop out to me unless there were darker forces involved. Berlusconi? Or perhaps Luciano Moggi himself…

Carlos Dunga, the captain of Brazil’s 1994 World Cup winning side has been announced as the new coach of the Selecao following theresignation of Parreira. Dunga’s contract is to cover the World Cups of 2010 in South Africa and 2014 which may be held in Brazil.

Dunga  declared that he wants to bring the same characteristics that he showed as a player to the  national team, “motivation and a will to win are the keys to wearing the national shirt“. Judging from their abject performances in Germany, these are two qualities which are currently very much lacking.

As a player Dunga played at the World Cup finals of 1990, 1994 and 1998.  He won 96 caps in all winning 66, drawing 21 and losing 9, scoring 6 goals in the process. Apart from the World Cup he also won 2 Copa Americas (1989 and 1997) and 1 Confederations Cup (1997). Canarinha fans everywhere will be hoping that he can recreate this success as a coach.

It’s amazing how quickly players can go from “hero to zero“. Take Carlos Tevez. Last year he was Corinthians fans’ favourite player, leading the big spenders to the Brasileirao and being voted player of the championship - an incredible feat given he is an Argetinean playing in Brazil.

This year, things are different. Corinthians are underperforming and lie 18th in the Brasileirao. Their fans are obviously disappointed and their main target has been Carlitos whose performances have not matched those of last year. Of course, last year there was no World Cup but the fans don’t care, they just want to see their team doing well.

In Timao’s latest match against Fortaleza things reached breaking point. Throughout the match the Tevez was booed everytime he received the ball. So when Carlitos scored to make it 2-2, he could not help it and celebrated by holding his finger to his lips sending a clear message to supporters. As expected this annoyed them even more. He then probably made things worth when after the match he, said that supporters should show more respect towards a group of players that lifted the championship the previous year. European clubs will be monitoring the situation closely - if the relationship deteriorates further Tevez may welcome a European escape route.

The Neapolitan prosecutor who first uncovered the involvement of Juventus, Lazio, Fiorentina and Milan in match-fixing has announced that two more as yet unnamed clubs are also being investigated. Unlike last time however, he is refusing to name the clubs before retired magistrate Franceso Saverio Borelli (who is leading the investigation) files charges. This is likely to be very shortly as a result of UEFA pressure.

This new revelation comes a few days after Luciano Moggi’s statement to the Italian media that Inter were also involved in match-fixing. At first, his comments were seen as an attempt  to “cleanse” his image, now they may be seen as prophetic…

Following his resignation, Marcello Lippi has plenty of spare time on his hands and he is planning to use at least some of it to learn a new language. Apparently, he has enrolled with a foreign language school in Milan. His choice of course (English) may provide some clues as to his future destination - the English Premiership. A source close to Lippi revealed, “it is 70% certain that Lippi will work in the Premiership. If Manchester United offer him a contract he will accept. However, at the moment feels that his lack of English is a disadvantage so he is planning to start an intensive course to overcome this issue“.

Sir Alex Ferguson will be monitoring Lippi’s progress with interest as his the future may depend on Lippi’s aptitude for languages!

The shackles were off last night and with little at stake Germany and Portugal produced an entertaining 3rd place play-off match in Stuttgart. The Germans, playing at home, wanted it more and prevailed 3-1, with Bastian Schweinsteiger the star with his two long range efforts. The first on 59 minutes appeared to be a stunning goal, as he cut in from the left before shooting powerfully past Ricardo from 20 metres. In slow motion however its clear that  penalty specialist Ricardo should have saved it. Schweinsteiger’s free kick then caused havoc and Petit deflected it into his own net. His second goal was almost a carbon copy of his first but this time at least there was no goalkeeper error involved as Schweini’s shot curled away from Ricardo and just inside the post.

The match was not all Germany however and Portugal got the consolation goal their inventive play with two minutes left, with Figo delivering the last stunning cross of his 15 year international career which was converted by forgotten man Nuno Gomes with a diving header. This was also the last international match for Oliver Kahn and Pedro Pauleta. Now for tonight’s main course.

What a difference a year (or two) makes. Two summers ago Greece were celebrating being crowned European champions. A year later, they are left wondering when they will play international football again as FIFA suspended them from all international competition over government interference in the sport. The ban extends to the involvement in international club competitions. A spokesman for the Hellenic Football Federation claimed that “it was not something we had expected“. This is a strange statement to make given that FIFA had warned that a ban would follow as early as 2004 unless the state stopped interfering. Instead of heeding the warning however, the Greek sports minister George Orfanos introduced a law effectively legalising state intervention in the sport. Since then there has been constant bickering between the HFF and the government leading to today’s embarrassing outcome. Only in Greece….

Zinedine Zidane gave a footballing masterclass last night as France deservedly knocked out favourites Brazil last night in Frankfurt . He showed that he can still turn it on at 34 and that when he does, no one can match him, not even current World player of the year Ronaldinho. His touch was sublime, his passing pinpoint, his repertoire of skills mesmeric. On top of that he delivered end product - it was his cross which Henry volleyed home for the only goal of the game.

Brazil started well as their new formation, with Adriano dropped in favour of Juninho Pernambucano, looked more mobile. Ronaldinho at last looked like he was going to have a good game, with a couple of intelligent passes. But he quickly faded and ZZ took control.  He was so good was ZZ that at halftime Robinho stepped off the bench to shale the big man’s hand. His level of performance continued in the second half and as Brazil pressed for an equaliser, he and Ribery began to exploit the spaces left at the back. The champions never really threatened however and the French, so poor in the group stages but brilliant in the knockout rounds booked their place in the semis.

Brazil must now return home to face the ire of their fans. With the talent that they have in their squad their performances have been a disgrace. They thought they just had to turn up to win. Their stars were clearly out of shape and out of form. A lot of the blame must be Parreira’s - he did not prepare them properly and persisted with Ronaldo and Cafu despite their poor performances. He also moved Brazil away from their traditional style - which confused the players and a result they played as if shackled. France look hungry and if they can keep up this performance level, they will surely lift the trophy on 9 July.

It seems Argentineans have forgiven Jose Pekerman for the mistakes that he made in the match against Germany. Shortly after the match with Germany, Pekerman announced he would be leaving his post. Major newspapers Clarin and La Nacion immediately launched polls asking whether Pekerman should continue. The results were heavily in favour of Pekerman continuing to be the manager with over 74% of readers voting this way in each poll. If Pekerman stands by his word, the fans would like to see ex Atletico Madrid and Boca Juniors coach Carlos Bianchi to take his place.

We have seen Milevskiy’s successful version of the “Panenka“, but there are some risks involved as this next video proves. It might also explain why Marcelo Lippi decided to leave Real Madrid’s Antonio Cassano out of his World Cup squad - he was worried Cassano would try one of these in a penalty shoot-out and cost him his job….