Where have you gone, Jose Mourinho? The Blues turn their lonely eyes to you

(www.soccerblog.com)


If it wasn't bad enough that graduate school classes are starting to pick up, now, Jose leaves the Bridge. Oh and lets go ahead and toss in the fact that the US Women's team lost in the semi-finals to Brazil. Needless to say, the last two weeks have been quite the adventure. To make matters better, my girlfriend doesn't understand my passion for footie. Horses are here anti-drug, soccer is mine.

In the intel business, we ask ourselves three questions usually: what's going on, so what, and what are the implications. Jose Mourinho has left Chelsea. That's what's going on. This is a realy big move within the ranks of Premiership coaches. Arsen, Fergie, and Rafael will have much easier seasons this year because of Jose departing. Chelsea has shuffled the rank and file of the club and brought up Avram Grant, the former Israeli national team coach and the director of football at the club, up to the post of skipper. Premiership coaches are calling for an investigation into Grant who does not have the appropriate coaching license for the league. Needless to say, this hasn't been the best fortnight for the Blues.

So, what are the implications of this? It seems that Roman Abromavich, the clubs owner, has started to help pick the lineups until Avram gets the swing of things. There is also a movement in the ranks of the players to quit the club. Players like Drogba, Lampard, and Essien, who are all loyal to 'the special one," are talking of leaving. This could leave the club in a right ugly place by the end of the season. Personally, I don't see Chelsea being in the top four by the end of the season. That truly breaks my heart. But I look for Chelsea to go out of contention by January. I think they won't make it past the group stages in the Champions League. And to despite the fact that they won their Carling Cup match on Wednesday, they will not go far.

On Tap: The English Premier League

(springfieldbrewingco.com


So, how long is long enough between an international fixture and a domestic one. Not long enough according to Liverpool skipper, Rafael Benitez. ESPN is reporting that Benitez is calling for an overhaul on the way the fixture system is arranged in England in respect to domestic and international duties.

Most players get back to England on Thursdays and you can work them a bit that evening and then a little light training on Saturday but apart from that, it's go time. It's easy to understand the Spaniards argument, but that's what you get for having a team full of superstars.These guys are going to get called for international duty and it's your job as a manager to develop a team that can work around the shortcomings of a tired first team.

I see two outcomes here. The first is a fairly simple one. You have a reserve team for a reason. Use them. That's what you are paying them for, not to kick around with the first team on practice days. You never know, you might find the next Drogba or Rooney in your B squad. That's the purpose of scouting and the youth academies. If you are only going to use them when someone on the team gets hurt, you might as well not staff an eleven man reserve.

The second option, and the more drastic of the two, is to tell the players to hush. They knew what they were signing on for when they accepted a role in the Premiership and when they accepted a role on their national team. It wasn't going to be easy. And I am sure that most of these players aren't having to deal with this on a regular basis. There is a reason why qualifiers and group stages are spread out the way they are. To follow Benitez's logic, we should space out the Champions league qualifiers as well.

When it comes down to it, footie is one of the most endurance based sports in the world. Running around for ninety minutes straight can't be a fun thing but if they players aren't complaining, then the skippers should hush. It isn't their fault that the internationals and major competitions get scheduled the way they do. So, Beitez's claim is pretty much groundless.


Making other news in the Premiership, things are not looking good for Roy Keane and Sunderland. The former Manchester United star is facing more problems with his club that is sitting in the seventeenth place in the table right now. Keane has reported that apart from his team captain, he has lost two key wingers; one to a back fracture and the other to a knee injury.

It's hard to imagine how a team will come back from a blow like this. Keane's side is nearly decimated and it's likely that a relegation will come for Sunderland, who won the Championship title this past year.

Euro 08 news and reviews

(bbc.co.uk)


So, England made a liar out of me. Israel went down to an injury stricken England team. It will be interesting to see if England will stay in the number two spot in their group or if they will loose to Russia on Wednesday. Steve McClaren, the skipper for England, will have an interesting time at Wembley against a rather strong Russian side. There is also fruitless speculation that England will be playing against a Russian side that may be in line to receive an added bonus if they pull a win against the mighty lions. The BBC website has reported, and it doesn't give its source, that Chelsea have released a statement on a rumor that its owner, the Russian oil magnate, Roman Abramovich has offered the members of the Russian team each a cash reward if they win at Wembley.

Chelsea have went on record saying that while Abramovich supports grass roots football back in Russia, that the back room deals that make the Russian business world what it is have no place in the football world.

Can we believe this? Abramovich is a big name in Russia. He owns one of the largest yachts in the world, according to VH-1, so in theory, he could afford to pay off the players if they win. I think the money would be better spent to pay off Chelsea skipper, Jose Muriniho, who has been on rocky terms with his boss since loosing the Premiership to Manchester United this past season. It would be a nice bit of hush money to get the "special one" to quiet down about the squad not being at peak strength and how the teams in the lower positions on the table will challenge Chelsea this season.

So, my call for the game, I look for Russia and England to have a close match, depending on who the starting elevens are but, I don't, however, look for England to make it past qualifying. I do look for McClaren to go the way of Man City skipper, Erikson. That's all for my take on the current standing of Euro 08. Happy footie all.

Getting my boots back.

Yesterday was the first time I have actually pulled on my boots and played since June 2nd, the day I broke my leg. It has been three months since I have felt a ball on my foot and the sensation of flicking the ball over my head, turning around to settle it and taking off with it. My touch is gone. It must have left when it heard that I was going to have a two month lay off. I suppose I should send it a email and tell it to get it's ass back here. Oh yeah, bring the touch for my left foot too.

It's beautiful footie weather here today in Erie. It's about 90 degrees with low humidity and a strong wind of about 20mph. The wind alone made it fun today. I chased the ball around so damn much and then came the scoop that put the ball on the parking lot about the basketball court where I play. I grab my bag and hobble my ass up there to grab my ball and find it lodged under a car. I lay down, in my white team USA heat shirt, and dig the ball out from under the car. It brought a smile to my face like no other. I haven't had to do anything like that for so long. I guess it truly is the little things that make us happy.

I have some of the guys in the program ready and willing to start pickup games here. And I started a group on facebook for all the soccer players in the college. I doubt I'll play in a league this year but pick up games are better than nothing. I hope everyone has a happy footie Friday and remember two things: make the ball happy and joga bonito.

England v. Israel

With qualifying for Euro 08 heating up, and the morale of the English team dwindling, one has to wonder how England will approach their qualifier against Israel this weekend. In the early goings, I think Israel will win this. They simply have a fitter squad than England. Steven Gerrard has been cleared to play on Saturday but the BBC isn't reporting if he will be taking a shot to alleviate the pain in his broken toe. Apart from that, England's normal starting eleven is now England's missing eleven. Crouch, Rooney, Lampard are all ruled out for this weekend and Owen Hargraves will undergo a medical on Saturday to see if his injured thigh will keep him out of play.

With the struggle to reassign players and call up others, it will be interesting to see how England Boss Steve McClaren handles the pressure not only from this game but the next qualifier against Russia. Most of his team look to be sidelined for that match as well. We should also pay special attention to Paul Robinson. The English keeper, who flailed around in net against Germany in August, will be starting Saturday against would be the collective conscious of the fans and perhaps the FA.

For a country that invented the sport, England has sure seen some rough times in recent years and I don't see them making it past the group stages for Euro 08 and I think Mr. McClaren should start shoping for a home in America, where we won't notice him because his name isn't Beckham.

Breaking the hearts of Americas daughters once again

(delivery.viewimages.com)


With the Women's World Cup about to kick off, young girls around America are probably figuring out how they are going to fit watching the games in with their school schedules and sleep schedules. For all the bad press that the men's national team gets, the women's team gets nothing but positive. And for the young girls watching at the odd times of day when the games will be on, this is probably their dream. To play professional womens soccer.

See, the thing is, we tried to have a professional women's league after the last WWC, but it kinda fell apart after three years. Now, the associated press is reporting that a seven team league will be put into play after the 2008 summer games in China. Why wait until 2009? Because, the founders of the league think that if they started earlier than that, that it would take focus off the cup and the Olympics.

I disagree with that. I think the waiting has to do with the fact that there might not be a league in two years. I think the protracted start date is a safety net that gives the investors enough time to pull out if the deal starts to go under. Hopefully though, with seven teams slated to start, more of Americas daughters will get the chance to earn their boots and the play at the advanced level will develop a good crop of talent for when the older members of the national team start to retire.

Football and football

Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, said after his teams loss to Aston Villa on the weekend that he expects a more open race for the Premiership trophy this year. He told BBC that the teams that occupy a the few rungs under the top four spots, have spent more money to acquire better players and will give the top four teams a run for their money. I think "the special one" is getting a bit of himself. It is almost a month into the season and May is far away.

Mourinho's words remind me of another sport that is dear to my heart. College football. College football kicked off this past weekend and we have seen, what would the be equivalent of a Football Championship league team knock off say, Liverpool or Manchester United. The college football system here in America is designed in such a way that you play the smaller teams in your normal schedule but you run the risk, no matter how small, of loosing to them. I don't think that risk is as great in the EPL.

I think the issue in these early weeks has been injuries. Manchester United lost Rooney one game into the season. Frank Lampard has been ruled out for international duty so, one can assume he might not be kiting up for Jose anytime soon. Chelsea are also at a loss due to the absence of Ballack who might not be back until October because of an ankle issue. Liverpool has it's on issues to deal with. The Anfield boys are struggling with the injury to Steven Gerrard, who has a broken toe. The only top four team that seems to be in form is Arsenal.

I don't normally disagree with "the special one," but I am going to have to here. Sure, the smaller clubs went out and bought great players during the transfer window but the big sides are having to deal with losses among their squads. I don't think it's that the teams have better players now, it's that the normal Premiership manager doesn't plan for things like this. They dump half their transfer budget to get one good international that will drive the fans wild until his breaks something. Then, the manager spends the rest of the season rebuilding the house that was built on a foundation of one instead of a foundation of 25.