Manchester United out of the Euro Champions league. Not a surprise at all after their lackluster performance in that competition this season. But the real problem for the club is they are too dependent on Rooney.
That is my opinion indeed.
The team does not have a prolific scorer. With Rooney aging, Giggs on his way out, Hernandez staying at the clinic more than playing football, Man. Utd will be shooting blanks for a long time.
I guess during the next transfer window – January 2012 – the club will look for a natural striker but that will not be enough if they don’t shift their focus from Rooney. Indeed, Man Utd feels the responsibility to put Rooney up in their priorities. They are English first and if Rooney is not given all the support, he might miss out in the forthcoming Euro 2012. That would be devastating to the nation and to the club.
Yet his performance has been below standards for the past weeks. And the team is suffering from this poor performance from Rooney.
They are out of the Euro Champions league, they are behind Man City in the Premier League with a 5 points deficit and they are facing Man City in the F.A. Cup third round. Not an easy game but if they play tactics more than ‘play’ Rooney, they might surprise City as they have players who can do that!
Meanwhile, they are out of the Carling Cup, being booted out by Crystal Palace. This leaves them with – practically speaking – the F.A. Cup as the trophy that they may still hope to win.
But will they beat city at Main Road?
Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, better known by the name of Socrates, died last night, Sunday, as the result of an intestinal infection. He was 57. Rai’s elder brother, he will leave the imprint of a player of genius, elegant, slender and a rare elegance. His charisma off the court was equally legendary in the sense that he behaved like a gentleman. This was reported by Brazilian newspapers.
Socrates was a very patient, composed and brilliant footballer whom the press called ‘the Doctor’ of football. His impact on the game will remain in the memories of millions of people who watched him play for the Brasil team in the World Cups.
He played for Brasil from 1982 to 1986, He was a real doctor as he had passed his medical degree while playing soccer for his country, a feat not many people can boast of.
The sad news is that despite his composure, Socrates had become an alcoholic. and it is quite regrettable. Once again, I learn the lesson that not all stars on the soccer field are larger than life and while Socrates was not one of my heroes, I loved watching him play football.
Socrates had 60 caps and 22 goals with the national team.
I like to watch South American football, though it can be a rough affair with less display of skills and more physical than other leagues. This means I watched with pleasure the live coverage of he Universidad de Chile’s historic win that sent it to the final of the Copa Sudamericana, which is the equivalent to the European Club Championship.
Universidad de Chile, a name rarely seen at international level but today’s semi-finals of the cup saw them beat a worn out, uninspired Vasco De Gama team.
This is the first time in Universidad’s history that it reaches the final of the Copa Sud America and their performance was dashing to say the least. They controlled most of the game, dominated Vasco de Gama from top to toe.
In the first half, it should have been an easy 2-0 lead for the Chilean champions but the Brazilian goalkeeper was superb. His performance did not stop the Chilean team from taking the lead with a beautiful kick from Eduardo Vargas
In the second half, Vasco, increasingly desperate to stop the march of Uni de Chile, had a player sent off after he was given the red card for a foul on a Uni. de Chile player. The second goal ensued just after the send off of the Brazilian player and it destroyed Vasco’s slim chances of getting a goal that would have sent the game to be decided on penalty shoot out.
However, it must be said that Vasco was no match for the well oiled machine of Universidad de Chile. The teams were playing the second leg of the semi-finals in Santiago, Chile.
It appears Uni de Chile is on a winning streak, It played a perfect national season with 26 wins. It has a record of seven wins and two draws in the Copa Sudamericana. They drew in Brazil against Vasco de Gama, 1-1.
They have also scored more than 15 goals and conceded only two goals in the cup.
The two big strikers of last year, Tevez from Manchester City and Berbatov from Manchester United are facing the worst scenarios in their illustrious career.
First of all, Berbatov, who scored 20 goals for United in last season’s campaign, was clearly dismissed by Alex Ferguson, the Man Utd coach when he was not included in the squad that failed lamentably against Barcelona in the EURO Championship final. Wost still, Berbatov is not even considered in many big games in the Premier league. The attention is on Rooney, the Englishman who is as temperament as a firecracker at times.
I believe Berbatov is being made to pay the price for being too nice and compliant to Ferguson and the United board. The player is visibly a goal poacher, even better than Rooney in that matter but he is made a fool in the waiting by Ferguson. Instead of Berbatov, the club preferred the aging MicheaL Owen. To be frank, Berbatov had more chances to be a top goal scorer this season too than Owen or Rooney, but alas for him, he is in the wrong team and he should do everything to get out of there!
In comparison to Berbatov, we have the Argentinian star Tevez who has been treated like crap by Man City even after he topped the list of goal scorers at Man City. He even shared the glory with Berbatov.
I believe that his case is similar to Berbatov as he is being preferred to the like of the very arrogant player Balotelli. Tevez would have played a bigger role this season in Man City but since the club management and the coach made it clear he is not to be in the ‘first’ team, it was surely devastating to him.
No matter what the football commentators can agree upon about Tevez, that is he was wrong to do what he did this season (that is refused to play when he was asked to come as a ‘replacement’ player), Tevez was always right that he wanted leave Man City. He should have been allowed to leave the club as it was his own choice after the poor treatment he received at the end of last season.
It is not strange that the Italian coach of Man City preferred an Italian star – who was sent off against Liverpool by the way – than a star who scored 20 goals for Man City last season.
This is a sad, sad story of football stars being treated like trash because other stars has to be given more ‘attention’…
Soccer, I’d rather say football, in South East Asia a major disability and this has to do with organization. I have seen football players in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. I watched Thailand’s national team along Myanmar and Vietnam. My point of view is there are many talents in the region but they are being let down by a lack of good coaches, support from the authorities and a bad ‘league’.
In most cases, the football league is plagued by extreme amateurism. The players, being non-professional or semipro’s, are evolving in archaic structures set by the national FA’s with the exception for Malaysia.
Nevertheless, I see that Malaysian football is stuck with ‘communal considerations. There are too much emphasis on one community while other communities are not really well represented both at state and at national levels.
This may be due to a lack of interest by minorities in soccer, however, if that was the case, it should be addressed. Soccer would benefit largely in the country if all the communities, including the foreign legion, are brought together and are given the opportunities to shine.
In Singapore, the natural talents have always been ‘Malay’ but we have also seen non-Malay soccer players shine. While the Singaporean authorities are trying to strike the right balance in ‘communal
representation, I feel not enough is being done to raise the players’ standard.
If I would say that football is all about coaching, I doubt that many people would differ with me. Yet I can also say that the coaching abilities of local ‘coaches’ are not to a great standard and this is the very reason why we see football in South East Asia lagging behind the rest of Asia.
It is lamentable indeed that not a single South East Asian team made it to the World Cup competitions so far. It is also improbable that a South East Asian team will make it to the Olympics.
And once again, I’d repeat that it is the organizational structure that has to either be reinforced or completely changed in the region for soccer or football to prosper like it is in many other parts of the globe.
As I hoped, Liverpool has done it and Man City’s triumphant march on top of the Premier League is halted for now. The 1-1 draw is a dent in the City’s shine and it will reflect a lot on the overall standings at the end of the season.
City may have thought they could do dropping points against Liverpool, but then don’t forget they still have to face Liverpool again and they will surely not be given the same chance to win big against Man Utd even at Maine Road.
There are other teams out there that can scalp City in the long run to the title as Champions. I am thinking of the like of Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and even Newcastle United. The season has just begun but I still feel if City is not stopped now, they will be the Champions in the end!
Nevertheless, City remains the number one contender in this seasons Premier league.
After demolishing Man Utd at Old Trafford by 6-1, Manchester City look set to dominate the English Premier League with an even more devastating lead over its rivals if it defeats Liverpool at Main road.
After Man Utd was robbed 2 points in their clash with Newcastle Utd yesterday night, it is clear that a city win today over Liverpool will mean they will have a stronger hold on the title this season.
However, Liverpool has produced great results away from home this season and they could be the one team that upsets City. City was bruised by its defeat in the middle of the weak in the Euro championship, a defeat that may bear its toll on the team at Main road.
I would bet on a ‘draw’ but watching City playing this season, I would rather be careful to go against them.
My wish though is that Liverpool halts their strides and give the league a sense of happenings. And to do that, the Liverpool team must at least grab a point.
The world is changing, the soccer scene has changed for decades now but the Malaysian soccer scene may go back to the old type, old time of having no ‘imported’ players in the league.
This would be bad for local soccer, which is already not that a great soccer league if you ask me. And without the foreign players in the league – not that there are any great names too from abroad in the current league – could be the death knell for soccer in this country. Malaysians need to learn from other countries, more successful nations, and to do so is to bring in the good names of players who have done well in their nations or in other leagues across the globe.
But if the Malaysian soccer league believe it can only do well with its own talents, it will be interesting to see the progress of football after that.
