GAVIN HAMILTON
Editor of World Soccer, writes for worldsoccer.com.
WEMBLEY WOE
28/03/08
I can’t say I’m surprised by UEFA’s decision to stage the 2010 Champions League Final at Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium rather than Wembley.
It has been reported today that UEFA’s executive committee had been concerned that they had not been given strong enough reassurance that participating teams and players would not be taxed by the British government.
I suspect that the reasons were more complex than that. Certainly, the travel arrangements to and from Wembley leave a lot to be desired, as anybody who has watched an evening game at Wembley will testify.
I was at the last game played at Wembley, England-Switzerland, and was still queuing to get into the tube station more than two hours after the game.
What is the point of spending hundreds of millions of pounds on a state-of-the-art stadium if you neglect the transport links between the stadium and the centre of the city.
The Bernabeu has no such problems, situated as it is in the centre of Madrid’s financial district, with its excellent transport links.
For purely selfish reasons. I’m delighted that Wembley has lost out, as I can now plan a trip to the Spanish capital, rather than another trip to Wembley.
On a more serious note, there are lessons here to be learned for England’s 2018 World Cup bid. The heritage of England’s stadiums may be considerable, but there are difficult places to get to. The crush to leave Arsenal’s Emirates stadium is a case in point. The fans may not be bothered about getting caught up in a tight squeeze, but the corporate entertainers will be.
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MEDIA CIRCUS
26/03/08
There’s a fantastic programme of international matches taking place around the world today, so why is it that nobody can bring themselves to talk about anything other than David Beckham’s 100th cap for England
It’s a great shame that Fabio “tough guy” Capello has capitulated to the shameless media circus that accompanies Beckham wherever he goes. We were led to believe that Capello was going to be a different kind of England manager - no more JT and Stevie G, let alone Becks - but the early signs are not encouraging.
Anyway, back to the football. I’m heading off to Arsenal’s stadium for the Brazil-Sweden friendly. It was a difficult choice between that and Ghana’s game with Mexico at Craven Cottage. That match has received precious little coverage in the UK media, despite the fact that Mexico coach Hugo Sanchez’s job is on the line after the failure to qualify for this summer’s Olympics.
Elsewhere, today’s matches offer last opportunity for European Championship coaches to experiment before the warm-up games that immediately precede that summer’s finals. Spain and Italy meet in Elche, Switzerland play Germany in Basel, Romania face Russia in Bucharest, Portugal meet Greece in a rematch of the Euro 204 Final and Austria host Holland in Vienna.
There are also important games for Poland (against the United States in Krakow), Croatia (Scotland in Glasgow), Turkey (Belarus in Minsk) and the Czech Republic (away to Denmark). Outside of Europe, African champions Egypt play host to Argentina.
With all the hype surrounding Beckham and Rio Ferdinand’s promotion to the England captaincy, it’s been easy to forget how important the match is for French Euro 2008 preparations. An injury to Karim Benzema has opened the door for the unlikely return of David Trezeguet to the French side. A few weeks ago the international career of the Juventus striker appeared to be over after he objected to being named in a B squad by coach Raymond Domenech. But any news of Trezeguet’s return is likely to be lost amid the clamour for quotes from the boy Beckham.
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POT, KETTLE, BLACK
19/03/08
Reports that Arsene Wenger is considering filing an official complaint against Internazionale for “tapping up” Alexander Hleb did raise a few smiles in the World Soccer office. That’s Arsenal, a club that has never done anything underhand in the transfer market, especially when it comes to signing younger players.
Tapping up occurs throughout football. Wenger knows that more than anybody. The Arsenal manager is known throughout the game for the thorough research he undertakes on prospective signings - and that, in my mind, has to extend to finding out about a possible signing’s salary and contract expectations. And that means discreet inquiries via a player’s agent.
Wenger’s comment was doubly ironic because of Arsenal’s history with the signing of young players. Be it Nicolas Anelka from Paris-Saint Germain,Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona or the most recent case of Carlos Vela from Guadalajara, Arsenal are adept at twisting and bending the regulations to suit them.
Arsenal are doing nothing illegal, nor are they breaking football’s sporting regulations. The most polite way of describing their behaviour is that it is unsporting.
But pot, kettle and black are the words that spring to mind when reading of Wenger’s recent comments.
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ENGLAND'S DREAMING
17/03/08
I had to happen, didn’t it? The chances of the English teams being kept apart during the Champions League quarter-final draw were slim, and so it proved.
The Liverpool-Arsenal showdown will garner most of the headlines but of the English sides, Manchester United have the got the best draw. 12 months on from their drubbing by United at the same stage last season, Roma have improved considerably and are the form team in Serie A at the moment.
Should United get past Roma, Barcelona or Schalke should hold no fears. Barca have been stung by the loss of Lionel Messi though injury and are not playing the free-flowing football of two seasons ago.
At this stage of the competition, the teams with the tightest defences come out on top - as United found to their cost when Kaka ripped through them in last season’s semi-final.
I tipped Chelsea at the start of the season and I’m not going to change now, even if Avram Grant has yet to prove that he has the tactical insight needed to win games at this level. The League Cup Final defeat to Spurs suggested that Grant is struggling to impose his will on Chelsea’s collective egos but they have enough big-time personalities to win through.
The English Premiership can rightly claim to be the world at the moment. It’s been a miserable Champions League campaign for the Spanish and Italian
clubs. Milan’s ageing legs finally got the better of them against Arsenal, while Real Madrid’s challenge for a record 10th European Cup is now firmly back in its box.
The English challenge has never been stronger. The difference compared to two years ago is that players such as Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas and Cristiano Ronaldo are now opting to join or stay with English clubs despite tempting offers from Spain and Italy. Their best chance of winning the Champions League lies with an English club. They know that, and so does the rest of Europe.
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LIES, DAMN LIES...
13/03/08
Just a quick warning not to take all statistics about Euro 2008 players at face value. Lies, damn lies and statistics, and all that.
I’ve been looking up some information on Croatia our Euro preview issue. According to the Croatia page of UEFA’s official tournament website, Ivan Radeljic played three matches for Croatia in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. Now Ivan Radeljic is actually Bosnian, not Croatian, though he played in Croatia until a January move to Energie Cottbus in Germany. According to World Soccer’s World Service results section he played a number of Euro qualifying games for Bosnia-Herzegovina.
To compound the matter the latest edition of the normally reliable European Football Yearbook lists an Igor Radeljic as having played for Bosnia-Herzgovina last season. I’m pretty sure it’s Ivan, not Igor, but either way that two too many mistakes by reputable sources.
I’m not blowing World Soccer’s trumpet, I’m merely pointing out that even the most reliable of sources can get it wrong.
At the moment, UEFA’s official tournament site seems far too concerned with promoting video footage of the qualifying matches, rather than basic information. Hopefully, it’s something that can be sorted out before the tournament kicks off.
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TRIAL AND ERROR
11/03/08
The sleepy Swiss town of Zug is not used to global attention, but the court case involving six former executives of ISL, the former marketing arm of FIFA, is about to change all that.
The case against the former ISL execs, who include former ISL boss Jean-MarieWeber, is expected to focus on the general mismanagement of the company. ISL collapsed in 2001 with debts of around £150million and for some years prosecutors from Zug, where ISL had its headquarters, have been investigating the fallout from the collapse.
As always, the devil will be in the detail. By far the most interesting aspect of the case for FIFA-watchers is the prosecution’s allegation of the payment of bribes to key figures in TV rights deals. Prosecution papers published on the opening day of the trial allege that Nicolas Leoz, the Paraguayan president of South American confederation CONMEBOL and a FIFA executive member, received $130,000 (around £64,000) from a secret ISL account in Liechtenstein.
Leoz has denied any wrongdoing and it remains to be seen whether any other FIFA executive members or staff will be named during the trial.
The big unanswered question is whether FIFA, at the behest of Blatter, repaid any of the bribes from ISL in an attempt to cover up. In May 2005, the investigating magistrate Thomas Hildbrand raided FIFA House in Zurich and searched the offices of Sepp Blatter and others.
Blatter has always refused to answer questions about the case and it remains to be seen whether any further details will emerge during the trial. But over the next few weeks, the eyes of the world will be on Zug.
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MAGIC OF THE CUP?
10/03/08
A lot of debate over the weekend about the FA Cup - do the surprise wins for Barnsley, Cardiff and Portsmouth mark a revival for the competition, or a new low?
Now I love a cup upset as much as the next man, but the only people who can really take delight in the weekend’s results are the supporters of the weekend’s victorious teams. The rest of us should be worried that the FA Cup has become a competition that the likes of even Middlesbrough do not take seriously.
Having watched a lot of very average Championship football this season, I can safely say that there are no teams in this season’s Championship who will survive in the Premier League next season without serious reinforcements. West Brom are the most attractive “footballling” side that I have this season they are rubbing shoulders with the likes of Stoke, whose tactics resemble those of Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang back in the day. That tells you all you need to know about this season’s Championship teams.
At the moment, the battle for promotion to the Premier League is a real scrap; the teams doing well are those prepared to fight for every tackle. Just the sort of qualities needed to rough up Premier League opposition in the FA Cup.
On a different note, the most significant result of the weekend did not happen in England, but in France, where Lyon’s 4-2 win over closest
challengers Bordeaux put Alain Perrin’s side on course for a record seventh successive league victory.
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MESSI OUTCOME
07/03/08
Lionel Messi is out for at least six weeks, possibly longer, after picking up another muscle injury in Barcelona’s Champions League victory over Celtic this week.
This latest setback prompted Barca captain Carles Puyol to blame the media for Messi being rushed back from his previous injury lay-off. Puyol was quoted thus: “The doctors spoke and said their was a risk of injury and you [the media] put pressure on him to play, saying that he always has to play. Now we’re all left to regret the decision.”
So apparently it’s all the media’s fault. What does that say about the authority and influence of coach Frank Rijkaard?
The extraordinary thing about Messi is how fragile he seems even when fully fit. His apparent fragility makes his achievements all the more remarkable. And all the more reason for Barca to wrap him in cotton wool.
Oh to be a fly on the wall when Puyol and Rijkaard next speak to each other!
A few more random thoughts this week.
I suspect Sepp Blatter didn’t think through his comments demanding zero tolerance for bad tackles. So what’s new?
The timing of the FIFA president’s interview with The Times suggests that he wanted to make a splash ahead of the meeting of the International Board this weekend.
Thanks to Blatter’s outburst, all eyes will be on the discussion at Gleneagles on Saturday. For Blatter, that’s mission accomplished.
No surprise to see Johan Cruyff back out of his appointment as technical director at Ajax.
Since leaving his position as Barcelona head coach in the 1990s Cruyff has always preferred to operate behind the scenes, advising and influencing from a safe distance.
And seeing the resources, playing and financial, currently available in Amsterdam, probably convinced him that that should continue to be his role.
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A LAW UNTO THEMSELVES
04/03/08
This weekend, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body that decides on changes to the laws of the game, gets together for its annual meeting. Hands up anybody who knows where they are meeting, or what they are scheduled to talk about?
Exactly. The IFAB is a mysterious body. Few people know who sits on it - it’s actually composed of eight people: four from FIFA (president Sepp Blatter, general secretary Jerome Valcke, referee committee chair Angel Maria Villar and a vice-president, Michel Platini) and a representative each of the four home nations (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland). The home nations normally send a delegation of people, though only their secretary votes.
Like a lot of legislative bodies, the IFAB generally muddles along, staying out of trouble wherever it can. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is the conservative reasoning that underpins its existence and it’s no surprise that the laws of the game have barely changed in more than a century.
What concerns me most is not the FIFA delegation, which apparently votes en bloc, but the four home nation reps. Any decision must be approved by a majority of at least six votes to two. So who decides who attends on behalf of the home nations? And do they follow any particular direction from their respective associations?
Of course, the continued involvement of the home nations in the IFAB is a recognition of the role played by the home nations in the founding of the modern game. Nevertheless it’s a very strange way to run a rule-making body in the 21st century.
As for this weekend’s meeting, it’s planned to be held at Gleneagles Hotel, the five-star golf resort in Perthshire, where I trust the IFAB members will be wined and dined in style. On the agenda are a proposal from FIFA to stage a season-long experiment with matches officiated by two referees and extra assistants, as well as a plan from the Welsh FA to standardise pitch sizes.
I don’t suppose the world’s media will be rushing to report the board’s decisions, but World Soccer will report them at some stage. Remember, you read it here first.
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