Will Barca be less messy with Messi back?

With the Champions League Final around a month away, the competition is truly heating up and as we head into the semi-finals that start tomorrow, the players themselves are starting to speak out about the key factors that they see will effect the upcoming matches.

One individual speaking out is Carlos Tevez. The Manchester striker told the BBC that he thinks that the return of Lionel Messi will be the make or break for Barcelona in their upcoming Champs League tie.

Does Tevez's claim have any weight to it? You can look at it from two angles. From an individual players perspective, Messi is an amazing player. I zoomed over to soccernet and had a look at his stats for the Champions League and he outscores everyone on the team. You could also argue that from the individual level, he could be a rallying point for his side and could lead them on to win against United.

The other major view would be that from the team level. This gets subdivided into the two teams. Barcelona have had a rough end to their La Liga campaign this year and with Real Madrid to be the sure winners of the title, there is no way that the Catalan's can mount a return for the season. There are also grumblings in the club itself of the bigger stars leaving after this season. Ronaldinho, who will finish the season on the bench do to a leg injury, is hinted to be going to both Milans and possibly Manchester City over the break. Samuel Eto'o is discussing leaving after next season if the Nou Camp fails to gain silverware for another season. And lastly, everyone pretty much knows that Henry has become a cry baby but that he is trying to be mainly about it. Does this hurt the team that will played on Wednesday? Sure it does. If your major first team players are not really in the game to win, then sure it hurts you. This is just a ninety minute kick about for them and it is a situation that United will exploit.

Speaking of Manchester United, how does this match look for them? Anyone who knows me, know that I hate Manchester United more than I hate the fact that my alma matter is starting to charge students for the football tickets this coming season, but I think despite Tevez's reassurance that this will be a different game with Messi in, I doubt it will be. United are the best team in the world right now with the best players in the world. They are the Yankees of world football (yet another team that I despise). The striker core for the team and their midfield will do 95% of the work against Barcelona over the next two legs and I think this will be a huge victory for the Fergie's lads, Messi or not.

But, it is hard to say who will win the match. Football is more fickle than a group of teenage girls trying to pick a dress for prom. There are simply too many factors to calculate for these ties and if you only look at the factors that rest on top (like I just did) you are going to get a somewhat accurate picture but odds are no greater than 60% that your outcome will happen. Happy footy, all.

6+5=0

No, my math is not off on this one. This 6+5 rule is something that FIFA's president Sepp Blatter is trying to impose on the world football community. What is the 6+5 rule you might ask? It is a rule that would halt a team from fielding more than five non-national players in a teams starting eleven. Has anyone took a look at the Premiership lately? How many of the starting elevens of the the top four teams in the league have six English players in them? The answer is probably what you expected: none.

It is not that these teams do not have English players, oh they do. And lets be honest, some of them are quite good. Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrad, and Theo Walcott are all amazing players, but it is the backbone of international players that hold these teams up. As you go down further into the Premiership, the situation evens itself out a bit more when it comes to the number of national players but I doubt the top four teams would be where they are today if it were not for their international players.

Looking around at the various other league, even in Spain, some of the better players that get noted are from Brazil and other non-national countries. This is true even in German football, although, not to the same extent. The only country out of the major world leagues that would not be greatly effected would be Seria A. The Italians, for the most part, believe in an "in house" system. I personally believe that mentality is why they field such a strong national team.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Blatter wants to do this. It would help foster younger nationals coming up through the academies. But he needs to take a step back and look at the bigger picture of who is really scoring goals in these league. If you took someone out of the Manchester United finishing school and put them up against some the Premierships best defenses, chances are that they would not have a chance, even if they had played for years on end.

Do I think it is the right move? Absolutely not, and both the EU and UEFA agree with me. Mark this date down in history because for once the whole footballing world might actually agree with me on something. The use of amazing international players has a two fold effect. First, for the internationals themselves, it gives them a chance to compete against some of the best players in the world and to get out of the squalor of their home countries (if they come from a squalorish country). Secondly, at the domestic level, it gives the nationals a chance to compete against some of the best players in the world. Me playing against the kids from college for four years will only stifle my playing, but if I can play against a new crop of talent from all over the globe every few years or so it will only increase the number of tools in my box that I can bring to me national squad.

Will Blatter get his way on this one? It is unlikely and it is honestly for the best that he does not. If some of the top flight teams in the Premiership were forced to play at least six English players every game, their teams would be worn out and the fans would loose interest. They pay to see big names, not Dave from Stoke or Paul from Blackpool. Happy footy all.

Global Politics and Soccer?

You bet your sweet ass they go together! I've met a lot of footy players over the years and most have been rather chill individuals, like sub-arctic... well, until you score on them. Anyways, most of them couldn't tell you the five members of the UN Security Council (UNSC), but they should really get acquainted with them if they have hopes of seeing Tibet in the World Cup ever.

We live in an amazingly connected world these days. I mean come on, there are three hundred page books and thesis work on the extent of globalization and rather or not it exists. From the footy fans perspective, I doubt the world is really all that flat because some countries simply can not seems to be able to get onto the moving ball. If you are still reading this and wondering why I brought up the UNSC in regards to this topic, here's why. FIFA, our beloved governing body, will only admit national teams that are recognized as a country/nation and the UNSC makes that decision.

This is truly sad. Football is the most popular team sport on the face of this flat earth of ours. No other sport can even begin to say that it has the fan base that the beautiful game does. But, when you start to ban teams from competition because five stuck up diplomats sitting in a building in New York fail to recognize you as a nation, how beautiful is the game?

I think it is pretty damn ugly. It is a disgraceful practice and one that you would think FIFA would not go along with. What do they loose if they allow Tibet to play? China? The Chinese can not even play decently, except their womens team and who really watches the Womens World Cup? And what about Greenland? What does FIFA really have to loose by not admitting a team from a damn country that most high school seniors in America can not find on a map?

What are the consequences here? Maybe the five security council member nations will pull their teams from the cup. Do it! That's one less grouping of teams to have to go through. And seriously, the US and the UK will not miss much by not going to the World Cup. Hell, maybe then they could devote money to building a better youth program (at least here in America). Russia has only attempted to go to four World Cups and they did not qualify for two of them. See the above paragraph for my opinion on China. Lastly, the only team that would really be hurt if their nation left FIFA would be France.

When it comes down to it, at the end of the day, the situation is rubbish! So, there is a snippet of how politics can influence something as beautiful as international football. Happy footy all. And as of this moment, I am officially boycotting the 2010 cup until FIFA can get its head out of its ass, wipe the shit from their face, and make football beautiful once again.

Roughneck Rooney to Captain the Lions?

I was browsing through Soccernet today and I came across a rather interesting article on their front page about England manager Fabio Capello's statement that he can see Wayne Rooney as wearing the armband for England in the future. Capello, who is currently rotating things more than Rafa when it comes to the armband, feels that Rooney is good at everything. If by everything, Capello means that he can run up and down the pitch and score, then sure, Rooney is good at everything. I do not think Rooney is captain material. He is hyper-focused on his role as a striker and I do not think he had leadership potential. I think when picking a captain for a squad you need someone who can think in every position on the pitch. Apart from the manager, the captain is the main motivational force for most players and I do not think Rooney will have the ability to motivate England (in all honesty, I do not think God could motivate them at this point) into winning any kind of competition in the next ten years or so. Rooney is a striker, hands down. He belongs in the six yard box and not in the center of the team huddle before the walk out of the tunnel. Sorry, Wayne.

I felt so European this weekend.

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I got in from D.C. about five hours ago and I had to quickly put together a project for class, had I not had to do that I would have got this up here sooner. I spent the entire weekend and most of last week walking through our nations capital. I ate some pretty good food. I recommend Zaytinya, especially on Sundays. The omelet and the lamb that I had were both amazing. The food was a bit pricey but me and Josh made out pretty well considering he got two Turkish coffee's. The table service was absolutely amazing. As soon as one basket of bread was gone, we quickly had another. And once you were done with your dish it was whisked away if by magic. Great place if you are in the area down around the Virizon Center. Also in that area is the International Spy Museum. I dragged my friend Shibley down there on Friday because I really wanted to walk through and see the stuff they had. Admission was $18, which I thought was a little steep but it is D.C. and the exhibits were really interesting. I would recommend that WWII buffs stay away from the museum. Most of their exhibits deal with efforts to crack the German code and general intelligence during the era. They also devote a large portion of the tour to the Cold War. Once again if you are really well read about these time periods, you won't fell like you got your moneys worth.

I did get a chance to visit the National Portrait Gallery, the National Art Museum, the Native-American History Museum, and the the Museum of Natural History. I recommend them all, especially the food at the Native-American museum. It is a bit pricey but it is worth it, especially the blue cornbread. The museums offer something for everyone really. I saw a lot of interesting landscape paintings that were simply amazing. I do not think they get the credit they deserve though due to the twenty-seven rooms of Renaissance art that focused mainly on the two stages of Christs' life that we know very much about; his birth and his death. In the National Portrait Gallery, I recommend the second floor. I would take extra time and look at the exhibit from Lincoln's inaugural ball and the Presidential Portrait Gallery. Moving on to the other museum I visited, the Museum of Natural History, I got to see the hope diamond but the really great exhibit is the dinosaur one. Yes, I sound like a kid but it was really fun to get to see the recreations of the skeletons.

I also learned how to use the Metro while I was in D.C. I come from Nashville, ya'll. All we have in the way of public transportation is the city bus. And if I was not feeling European already, this greatly added to the experience. We went to see the Washington Nationals play on Thursday and Saturday night and we took the Metro from Foggy Bottom to Navy Yard and to be squished into the train with tons of supporters and standing in the queue to ride the escalator up to get to the park was awesome. If that was not amazing enough, you get to the top of the escalators, go through the turnstiles to the Metro and when you exit the station, there to your left is this image. The gates to Nationals Park. The team lost both nights but it was amazing to get the experience of following your team in the European way with the metro stations built right next to the parks and grounds.

All in all, it was an amazing weekend despite the stubbed toe, scared knee, and sunburn I got. I'm not sure if I would ever want to live in D.C. but I would surely want to visit again and I plan on doing so as soon as possible.

Lehmann's Lament

So, now that the young Gunners are effectively out of all competitions for the year, dissension is starting to form among the ranks. This is mainly coming out of the bench hugging goal keeper, Jens Lehmann. Lehmann, who until this year had been Wengers number one, has recently found himself playing second fiddle to the Spanish keeper, Manuel Almunia.

Lehmann is thirty-eight years old compared to Almunia's thirty. Now this is not a major point of contention except that before coming to Arsenal, Almunia did not really see that much playing time with the three clubs he was loaned out to. Wenger is just trying to build a squad to compliment his young Gunners. That is another point to take to heart, the Gunners themselves are a young team. With time and experience the team will get better and there is nothing that a goalkeeper can really do to help the offense, in my opinion.

So Lehmann should give Drogba a call and see what he is doing this summer, maybe they can rub each others back and braid each others hair like the whiny girls they are.

Footie Across America.

So I just got into D.C. and I've seen a couple of interesting things so far. I saw a lot of Washington on the drive in and it looks really pretty at night. I am going sightseeing tomorrow with Shibly, so I will have tons of pictures by next week.

Secondly, I saw signs that soccer is not dead in this country. David Beckham is not the life breath behind this either. I saw three or four pitches from the air on my flight in. When I was at the airport in Detroit, I passed a girls soccer team on their way to a tournament it appeared.

So, no, footie isn't dead in America and it is more than likely growing.

But Who Will Stop Wigan?

That's the question at the Bridge after both Carlo Cudicini and Petr Chech were injured in the past two weeks. Chech had to get an astounding 50 stitches after a misplaced hit on the traing pitch. Cudicini, who filled in for a better part of last season after Chech was injured, injured his hamstring in last nights Champions Leage win against Fenerbache.

So in comes Hilario. This kid isn't half bad in goal and he will step up to the task at hand. I don't know why the BBC consider this to be a setback. The keepers for Chelsea have proven themselves time after time as some of the best in the world. Sure, it's not a a goalkeepin core built of Chech's but they are all trained by the same coach and while Chech is a better keeper overall, there is no reason to be moaning about the third keeper coming into play. Chelsea have been in far worse situations and have come out smelling like a rose. But, only time will tell if the Blues will continue to climb the Premiership ladder and hop over United to take the league this year.

D.C. Will No Longer Be United!

I really wish I could say that but since United will not be in town this weekend I will have to settle for two good friends of mine, Josh and Shibley. I am heading down to our nations captial for the weekend to hang out with two of my good buddies. Now I haven't seen these guys in almost a year so I think there will be probably ten minutes of catching up and that will be pretty much it. By the time the eleventh minute comes I expect us to be tossing verbal assaults at each others teams. Me and Josh will probably swap slurs more than all of us. I support Chelsea and he supports some pansy boys from some northern city in England. Man Chest United or something to that extent. Sounds like Josh should be telling he fianc something important. Lol.

When the hell did Jackie Chan join FIFA?