CHOOSE ONE

See now, i put before you: England or Europe, domestic or continental, the Premiership or the Champions League. Choose one.

Following Man Utd's fall at the hands of Celtic this midweek, the signs are becoming increasingly ominous for English teams who dare to dream of transcontinental success. It seems like English teams can only choose one: succeed at home at the expense of a faltering campaign in Europe, or go for broke in Europe while everything crumbles at home.

For the past two seasons, that was every bit the trend, with Chelsea wiping the tables and plates clean in the Premiership back to back while their wonky European form persisted. While that was happening, Liverpool and Arsenal took turns to finish fourth in the Premiership, but both scaled the dizzying heights of European glory.

This year, the trend seems to be again at work. The same two, Liverpool and Arsenal, who carried England's flag so well in the Champions League continue to do so, with both teams walking away as group leaders, confirmed of their place in the second round with two games to spare. At home, both teams have been troubled with inconsistency, and are seeing their title hopes fast fade. But they've still got a good shout in Europe.

That's more than what league leaders Man Utd can say about their continental campaign. Their form domestically seems to be nothing short of remarkable, rekindling comparisons to the United of old. But their form on the Europe has been disappointing. After three wins in the group stages, they have lost twice - first to FC Kobenhavn and now to Glasgow Celtic, leaving them the awkward tie with Benfica on Matchday 6, the team who knocked them out last season at the same juncture.

Can an English team succeed in both the Premiership and in Europe in the same season? For the other European giants like Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Lyon, performing well in both competitions is their bread and butter. And none of these teams, bar Lyon, have much room to slack off and drop points here and there. But in England, it's always different. In England, something always has to give. Why?

It's been almost a decade since United's very own treble season. While this season's competitions are still midway - and anything can happen yet - it's hard to imagine any English team proving that glory in Europe can come as icing on the cake of domestic success.

[get this widget]

Man, that's quite embarrassing

The first casualty of the Premiership relegation pound fight turns out not to be Glenn Roeder after all. I mean, that says a lot doesn't it? The fact that you manage a team where your first choice centreback is Titus 'Butterfeet' Bramble, and you still have a job couple of weeks before Christmas. All hail the religion of Boumsong, I say. Iain Dowie was given the boot yesterday by Charlton, after only notching one win in 12. The Addicks are anchored at the bottom of the table.

Okay see, what I am thinking is not 'boo hoo poor Iain's out of a jobby'. I'm thinking it's pretty embarrassing for the poor fellow. And not in a 'boo hoo Iain's out of a jobby' kinda way. I mean on one hand you can say it's pretty embarrassing to be sacked in front of an audience of billions. On the other hand, it's even more embarrassing that he did worst than a guy that looked like he was born to be an accounting teacher. I mean look at Iain. He could easily pass off as an evil Bond villain that has a mechanical leg that shoots nuclear missiles.

So what in god's name is happening to the game when the players aren't inspired by a badass that probably role plays as a Gestapo general but are instead inspired by a guy that could probably put a room to sleep just by walking in. It's wrong I tell you. Wrong. Wrong, as in wronging wrong. Wrong.

[get this widget]

Juventus off the bottom

Secawan Bola's fascination with Juve's sojourn through Serie B continues with this little nugget of news: Juventus are no more last place in Serie B.

Juve, Italy's giant club were relegated before the start of the season, and penalised with a 17 point deduction. Hence, the Bianconeri began the season with negative 17 points and firmly anchored to the bottom of Italy's second tier.

But five wins and a draw later, and the Turin giants are officially second-last. This comes as especially ironic news, considering that they are second-last with a total points haul of... negative one.

Who is it then, who is last, with fewer points than negative one? Arezzo. With negative two points. How did that happen? Don't ask us. Italy is a very strange country.

[get this widget]

Boumsong finds home

"Unfortunately, that's maybe the way my career will go. I don't think it's fair but I've learned how to deal with it ... I was the target of the English press when I was playing for Newcastle last season ... It was relentless and stupid. All right, I'm no Beckenbauer but with time I've figured out what I can do and what I can't." - Jean-Alain Boumsong

Right, so everyone has had a good pop at Boumsong in their time - not least of all us at Secawan Bola. And it's nice to see the guy own up to the likelihood that he will never be world class. And perhaps swapping the black and white stripes of Tyneside for that of Serie B's bottom feeder Juventus was always the kind of move that suited Jean-Alain best.

A temporary stint at a big club defending day in day out against pallid opposition ... at Juve, Boumsong may have finally found a club that befits his high profile yet provides his error-prone ways little margin for slip-ups. Or is he really that bad?

Perhaps English football was never his thing. Perhaps he should have stayed in Auxere until a move to the slower-paced Serie A beckoned. Perhaps Philippe Mexes, his partner while in France, was smart to turn down Arsenal and Liverpool and opt for Roma instead. Now, here he is. Boumsong, two seasons of British football later, has warded off being everyone's nightmare defender, survived the harshest ridicule perhaps because Titus Bramble spent more time on the bench, and is a less fun target anyway.

You have to admire his humility - and perhaps in this setup, France's third choice centreback has found his spiritual home. Let's hope Juve get promoted. The world needs Boumsong in top flight action once more.

[get this widget]

Young Player Profie: Nabil El Zhar

Name: Nabil El Zhar
Age: 20
Position: Forward
Club: Liverpool
Country: Morocco

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Nabil El Zhar. As of today, he is a Liverpool reserves player. We could have put up pictures of him standing around the pitch in his new Liverpool jersey but we thought these pictures were more informative.

El Zhar, as you can see, is a guy who likes to get tangled up among opposing defences. You can also see that he's a nippy fella with low centre of gravity. Both pictures above suggest that the guy has pace and knows how to get around defenders.

Mainstream media will back this up - with Wikipedia reporting that his natural playing position is either as a striker or playing in the hole behind the front two, and the bulk of Liverpool sites describing him as a highly determined striker. El Zhar is a French-born Moroccan who has started junior games for both nations. He was part of the Moroccan team that finished 4th in last years World Youth Championships - which figures, because Kop scouts had been watching that tournament closely.

Much remains to be seen of this kid. But the press are starting to get their feelers around him so we thought it was time to dip our fingers into his limited fame. Young French-based players arriving at Liverpool was the hot thing five years ago, and it was a failed policy. As much as there is stuff to suggest raw talent and potential, there is equal measure suggesting problems adapting the british game's brutish lack of charm (look at him!). And while the fan in me would like to see him succeed, the critic in me thinks this is Anthony Le Tallec meets Bruno Cheyrou south of the border. All the best in the Mersey, kid. Please make me eat my words.

[get this widget]

The Return of Stan Collymore

Stan Collymore is trying to pick himself up again.

"A month from today I guarantee I will be able to stand side by side with any striker in the country and my physique will be up there with any of them." - Stan Collymore

Some people will find this laughable, and from a purely footballing perspective, it probably is. But there's something sad about a 35-year-old who was once the country's hottest young striker, thinking at he can still cut it alongside the Henrys, the Rooneys and the Drogbas of the world. And it's not a pathetic "sad" either, it just reminds you of the loss that they've had in their life, and at a non-tabloid level, Stan's desire to return is absolutely heartbreaking.

Of course, he could defy the odds, come back for one or two great seasons and this would become a story of grit, guts and tenacity, but something tells me that he doesn't even need successful seasons to prove that. Sure, it looks every bit like comic tragedy, or tragic comedy, still there's something strangely admirable about a loser who won't let down.

[get this widget]

Missing: Ariel Ortega

Have you seen this man?

His name is Ariel Ortega.

Ortega went missing after his club, River Plate travelled on a 10-hour bus ride from Cordoba, where they drew 1-1 after conceding a pathetic late goal. He didn't show up for training the morning after the bus ride. If you see Ortega, please contact Lost and Found at:

Club Atletico River Plate
Av. Pte. Figueroa Alcorta
7597 CP 1428 Buenos Aires
Tel: (5411) 47891200
www.cariverplate.com.ar
club@cariverplate.com.ar

His fans miss him very much.

[get this widget]

Sepp Blatter is at it again

"When it comes to the World Cup final it is passion, and when it goes to extra time it is a drama. But when it comes to penalty kicks it is a tragedy." - Sepp Blatter.

Sepp Blatter wants to get rid of penalty kicks in the world cup and replace it with the golden goal. Will he never leave football alone? Must he always stick his grubby little fingers into every aspect of the game trying to fix something that isn't broken?

Sepp Blatter, penalties might be a tragedy to you because your old frickin heart can't take it. But the rest of us love it. It's downright dramatic, it absolutely scares the shits out of the fans, it's the most heartbreaking way to lose but it is part of the game. The sooner you wake up and realise this, the sooner you can start paying attention to the real crimes in the sport right now: simulation and bungs. As for penalties, they have been an integral part of the world game since its inception in Euro 76 and you, one senile man, cannot take that away from us. Penalty shootouts have given us so much world cup folklore. It makes heroes out of men. It separates the mentally resilient from the physically able.

Do you wanna know what tragedy is, Mr President Blatter? Tragedy is your lousy golden goal rule which you dug up from under a pile of rotting carcasses and tried to shove into our mouths six years ago. You're just an unhappy old fart with nothing better to do in his time than uglify the beautiful game. Abdicate your throne you good for nothing twat!

[get this widget]

Hammed

To borrow a common and terribly overused phrase - you can take a club out of the Championship but you can't take the Championship out of the club.

West Ham crashed out of Europe last night, with bionic duo Carlos Teves and Javier Mascherano in tow against, Palermo, a side who can only count Aussie Mark Bresciano as probably the most recognizable name in their squad. In other words - there's no more excuses.

The impact of the Argentinian duo has been severely mis-managed by West Ham. There hasn't been any explosive performances from Tevez, who some would rank as perhaps one of the finest players on the globe today. How explosive can you get when you are playing off someone like Carlton Cole?

Even after producing sparkling gems such as Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and of course, Frank Lampard over the years, most of these players achieved their max potential elsewhere. Now with Tevez and Mascherano, it's like giving the latest O2 PDA/phone to your technologically spastic dad.

It's better for West Ham to purchase like-minded Championship-style working class players who can band and huddle together to grind out a teeth-grazing survival campaign. Now Alan Pardew would be hard-pressed to play the duo even though they appear to not be delivering the goods. Just like how you can't just leave a RM3000 PDA at home even if it's a pain to learn how use it.

[get this widget]

Football is a strange

It was one of those nights when Peter Crouch would score a spectacular bicycle kick and the dimunitive Luis Garcia would head home a classic center forward's goal.

Liverpool, against trend, are the ones who pull 3-0 ahead before suffering an onslaught comeback. Of course, the script would be imperfect, and Galatasaray would never get their third goal.

But the reversals are all there, and the irony alone is a joy to know.

[get this widget]

So sad ...

From Soccernet: MONTEVIDEO, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Former Uruguay striker Dario Silva has had his lower right leg amputated following a car crash, a hospital director said on Monday. Silva suffered an exposed fracture of the leg after the accident on Montevideo's main seafront avenue on Sunday morning, when his pick-up truck collided with a lamp-post. "There was no other solution other than to amputate below the knee," said Mario Cancela, head of the intensive care unit at the private hospital where Silva is being treated.

Silva made 49 appearances for Uruguay between 1995 and 2005, scoring 14 goals, and played at the 2002 World Cup, when Uruguay were knocked out in the first round.
His last international appearance was in the World Cup qualifying playoff at home to Australia last year.

I know I've poked fun at Silva on this blog but really, this is terribly sad news. And of all body parts, it is the one that's most essential to his profession. No snide comments today. Just some empathy.

Cheers mate.

[get this widget]

Skandalooooos

Unless you've been, well, not surfing the net today or checking your favorite football sites in the last day or two, you would know that English football is being hit by quite a major scandal.

And no, it does not just involve some tight-upper lipped suit in some office who you don't know or the janitor's son but some of the mentioned parties include Bolton manager Big Sam and Pompey manager Harry Redknapp.

While it is nowhere in the scale of the scandal that struck Malaysian football some years ago that effectively crippled our national team and sent Malaysian football about 10-years back into the dark ages (and seriously, considering where Malaysian football was at, at the time, it was pretty damn far back), it is certainly a grave concern. Which could in turn result in two managerless Premiership clubs before the season ends.

With the start Pompey's had, you must wonder if this will start mucking around with Harry's dreams of European grandeur. If it did then it would come as no surprise, seeing as little clubs like theirs never do end up ending the season on a romantic note anyways. It's either an injury to their top striker or their boss being accused of tapping up a player. In any case, the powers that be will find something to stuff the little-lings lower on the table so that the big guns can maintain their big-ass sponsorship contracts.

Anyone noticed that Big Sam's suits started getting more and more stylish? Hmmm ...

[get this widget]

Young player profile: Elano Blumer

Name: Elano Blumer
Age: 25
Position: Attacking midfielder
Club: Shaktar Donestk
Country: Brazil

This is Elano Blumer, or as all great Brazilians are better known, just Elano. He's the guy who scored two goals against Argentina in Brazil's 3-0 friendly win recently. Prior to that game, he had only played three times for Brazil, so it's an awesome record for him, especially with the goals coming in an el classico game.

Elano is an attacking right sided midfielder who can also play in the middle. His physical game also means that he has filled the defensive midfield gap at club level. He is right-footed, which when coupled with some rumours that call him "the next Beckham" seems to create for us the picture of a... well, Beckham who tackles hard. The similarities don't end there - Elano is somewhat of a deadball specialist, with freekicks and penalties often falling at his feet. To cap it off, he wore number 7 for Brazil the other day.

While his attributes are merely words to describe till you see him in action, the fact that he wears a fashionable number in the Brazil team hints that manager Dunga rates him as something of a valued first teamer. Strange, considering that up until two weeks ago, the Brazilian team picked itself and this 25 year old was a nobody plying his trade in Ukraine. But Dunga, who knew him from their days in Santos, really does fancy him, and in one interview, referred to Elano as a "key player" in his team. "He's the kind of player who seldom gives the ball away and an example for young players looking for a chance," Dunga said elsewhere.

To add dimension to this young man, Elano possesses a fearsome shot from distance: plough your way through Brazil's and any number of Shaktar Donestk's match reports and count the number of times Elano's name appears in the same sentence as words like "screamer", long-range", "bolt" and "35 yards" and it gives you a deeper understanding of how this guy plays. (Incidentally, you might soon have to plough through AC Milan's match reports too - word on the street says that the Rossoneri are after him!)

But what does it mean for Elano to break into a Brazil midfield already choking with stars? In the game against Argentina, Elano scored both goals after interplay with Robinho and Kaka respectively, suggesting that his inclusion into the midfield compliments rather than unhinges the work of his more illustrious compatriots. After a world cup where Brazil looked lazy and disjointed, this can only be good news for the man they call Elano Blumer.

[get this widget]

From Soccernet: Chelsea's Germany captain Michael Ballack apologised to Liverpool's Mohamed Sissoko on Sunday after he stamped on the Mali midfielder's leg and was sent off during a fiery Premier League match. Ballack was shown the first straight red card of his career by referee Mike Riley for violent conduct six minutes into the second half. He will miss the next three games. The Chelsea midfielder waited outside the Liverpool dressing room to offer his apologies after the game. 'It's a bad situation for me,' a softly spoken Ballack said. 'It is the first straight red in my career. 'I didn't mean to injure him. I've just seen him now and I've said sorry,' he added. 'In the second half these situations can happen. It was bad for me. The team worked very hard after this and we went on to win the game.'

Now that's a man. I've about had it with weenies that claim 'they did not mean to kick that player's balls' or 'I wanted to stretch my neck but I accidentally head-butted the idiot instead'. But Ballack, now he is different. Sure he did not mean to injure but he admitted to stamping.

No copping out, nopes. Sure he was sorry, like how we are sorry when we burned down a block of our school by farting at couple of lit matches. Or how you were sorry about stealing your best bud's girlfriend, but you know, too bad.

I mean, eating all those big meaty German frankies must show somewhere right? And what better way to show it than stamping on an opponent's leg, getting yourself sent off in an important clash with a good half-hour still to go and admitting that you intended to do it at that. Manly, man. Woo hoo.

[get this widget]

Juventus update: Welcome to Serie B

Can you spot the big names? Del Piero. check. Nedved. check. And then there's the rest. Juventus look like a team on a sunday walkabout in the neighbourhood park. The tiny terraces, the midday games, the casual feel. This is life in Serie B.

Juventus opened their second-tier account with an away draw to Rimini, each side scoring a goal apiece, and they pick up one point to cut their punishment deficit to negative 16 points. They sit at the bottom of Serie B, and will continue to do so until they can pull off at least six straight wins if not something closer to ten. And do that they can.

In spite of the post-world cup diaspora, many of the Juve faithful are still there: Buffon, Trezeguet, Camoranesi, Tudor, Kovac, Zebina. For all intents and purposes, this is a team that can reasonably challenge for european places in Serie A, which follows that a 17 point deduction can and should be overturned enroute to a speedy return to Italy's top flight. If anything is to go by, their preseason victories, with margins like 7-0 against clubs of comparative level to Serie B, suggests that their 1-1 hiccup to Rimini might just be that: a hiccup.

But the pictures say it all, don't they? Just months ago, guys like Buffon, Del Piero and Camoranesi were dancing in Berlin's Olimpiastadion, crowned world cup winners. Now, it's the sunday park, one-terrace stadium with trees within eyeshot. Secawan Bola promise to keep you updated on one of the world's greatest clubs as they claw their way out of second division.

[get this widget]

Farewell Riquelme

Argentina playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme waved goodbye to international football yesterday, citing that he needed to look after his mum's health, and that the Argentina shirt can never compare to his duties as a son.

While entirely noble, this news comes as a great loss to football fans worldwide. International football is a lesser sport without Riquelme, who is at his prime at 28. And though Argentina have an abundance of talent in his position, Riquelme brings to the game a certain class and nimble brilliance that few will ever know how to bring.

Argentina's captain will continue to play for his club side Villarreal, but something about this retirement reminds me of Marco Van Basten's truncated career. Let's all hope Mrs Riquelme Sr gets well and we'll all see a fit 32 year old Juan Roman in South Africa four years from now.

Please don't leave us just yet.

[get this widget]

Young player profile: Rodrigo Palacio

Secawan Bola is proud to bring you a new series entitled Young player profile. Whenever we do one of these, we profile a young player from a league from somewhere, usually a player who is gaining interest and could soon become hot property, but is essentially someone the international media hasn't actively picked up on. We'll tell you what you'll need to know about him so you can take his little profile away and name drop him among your football peers. When his name becomes household, should it ever, and you look like the paragon of cool for getting to him before Jorge Valdano did, all we ask of you is to drop by and leave a comment telling us what a nice bunch of blokes we've been. ;) And so, with that, we begin.


Name: Rodrigo Palacio
Age: 24
Position: Striker
Club: Boca Juniors
Country: Argentina

This is Rodrigo Palacio. Boca Juniors signed him last year after he turned up 36 times for Banfield and scored 9 goals. While that's not exactly a phenomenal goal return, his first season under the tutelage of Alfio Basile earned him rave reviews in Argentina, which culminated in his selection in Jose Pekerman's world cup squad. You may not remember it, but Palacio was a second-half substitute in Argentina's opening game against Ivory Coast.

The flamboyant Ricardo La Volpe has taken over the reins at Boca Juniors this season, and Palacio has netted three times in Boca's opening six games. His strike partnership with Boca legend Martin Palermo has been hugely fruitful, with Palermo finding a rich vein of form alongside young Palacio.

At 24, Palacio already has a fair few titles under his belt: the 2005 Apertura and Clausura championships, the 2005 Copa Sudamericana (something like South America's UEFA Cup) and the 2005 Recopa (South America's Super Cup). It seems like his move to Boca has, if nothing else, has won him some silverware and a day in shop window for European clubs.

All this, along with the promotion of former mentor Alfio Basile into the Argentina manager position, can only be good news for Palacio as far as his international career is concerned. Palacio has turned up three times for the Albiceleste. Having said that, his competition at international level is extremely stiff, and he must fend off higher profile youngsters like Teves, Saviola and Messi if he is to earn his... stripes, blue and white. He missed out on the recent friendly loss to Brazil, though that might actually have been a good thing. There's definitely promise for Boca's number 14, and we'll track him along with Boca this season, and see if his promise ever comes good.


Next up: Elano. Who's that Brazillian who put two past Argentina? We'll profile el classico's latest hero.

[get this widget]

Wenger is a mathematician

From Soccernet: He will sign a new contract yes. Cesc [recently] signed a [new] contract that was agreed before with his initial contract. 'The real new contract is now," Wenger noted. "Nineteen plus eight is 27. There are not many [longer contracts] - but when you are 19-years-old and are already a regular player in the team, I do not have a problem."

8 years?! Do you know what can happen in 8 years? For one thing he can end up being the dump of the season. Or he could write a book and end up being sold. Or he could start dating another Spice Girl and start crying at a World Cup. Just ask Marcus Stewart or Thomas Brolin or any young French player that played for Liverpool under Houllier's reign. I bet they thought they were hot shots too. But look what happened to them.

And what is it with football managers and their need to prove to us they can count all the time? Like we don't know what is 19 + 8, tsk. Wait a minute, what is 19 + 8?

.................................. oh, 27.

See I do know. Cause I may not be able to read but I can definitely count.

[get this widget]

English clubs are vampires

Just check your friendly neighborhood soccer sites. You will find three very important bits of news.

1) Morientes scored a hat-trick for Valencia
2) Shevchenko failed to score again
3) The whole Liverpool team failed to score again

The large victories Bayern, Barca and Roma notched were unimportant. Or the fact that a German taught an Englishmen how to take a penalty.

More important on the agenda is why are some English clubs sucking the goals out of perfectly good strikers?! Is it the English women? The tea? Crouch blocking the sun out? What?

It's like those old computer games where if you get razed by fire you lose points or the ones where if you wrongly stepped on those red energon cubes, you get your life blood deducted. Only thing is there are no fires around Anfield and certainly no red energon cubes sucking the goals out of perfectly good strikers.

Maybe it's Big Brother.

[get this widget]

Mourinho is leaving

From Soccernet: "Mourinho said: 'It is not correct. I made one mistake in Porto and that was to leave when I was European champion. I could have won the Inter-Continental Cup and I didn't. If I win the Champions League again, I want to win the Inter-Continental Cup and not gift it to another manager to win it," Mourinho wants to win the European Cup and then beat the South American champions, so he can call his team the best in the world."

Isn't the Inter-Continental Cup or now known as the FIFA World Club Championship held just a couple of months after the season resumes? Why the hell do people say stupid things that don't mean anything all the time. Like this. I bet the press were wondering the same thing as well. It's like saying 'I promise I will love you, if you can swallow my plastic dinosaur toy in a single gulp' or like what parents like to say 'You can go out late tonight, but only if you come back by 10.' Why why why? He should have just said, "I plan to leave this club after I've won everything so if you don't want me to leave, pray that I win nothing. Pray harder, harder harder harder."

[get this widget]

The greatest double swoop in Premiership history

Teves and Mascherano. Probably the greatest double coup in premiership history. Possibly one of the greatest double coups in football history. Two of the hottest Argentine talents have moved to a club that just two seasons ago was busy winning promotion into the Premiership. Now, West Ham - the great West Ham of Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst - have in their ranks players coveted by the Real Madrids and Man Utds of the world. Someone tell me this isn't the makings of a great Championship Manager storyline!

How did that happen? All the jealous sods are pointing fingers at Joorabchin, West Ham's potential investor, riling at the possible impropriety of the transfer while they curse beneath their breath that it's not their club who got them. UEFA are gonna make their foray into regulating foreign investment in the premiership. whoop-dee-doo.

The rest of us, however, wait with bated breath for this duo's premiership debut, potentially against Aston Villa. West Ham excited us last year with some brilliant displays against big guns, culminating in the FA Cup final. We knew they were going to be exciting this year. Now, they've just gone out and thrown down the gauntlet. Just look at them - Teves with his rare gift of scowling and smiling at the same time, and Mascherano, with an entirely annonymous look of nobodyness. But these aren't nobodies.

These are men with the onus to thrill.

[get this widget]

"I did not provoke him, I responded verbally to a provocation," Materazzi told the daily Gazzetta dello Sport on Tuesday.

"We both spoke and I wasn't the first. I held his shirt but don't you think it is a provocation to say that 'if you want my shirt I will give it you afterwards'? I replied to Zidane that I would prefer his sister, that is true. I brought up his sister and that wasn't a nice thing, that is true,' said Materazzi."

Okay I don't know which ding donging planet Marco crash landed from but Zidane's supposed line of sin just doesn't sound like much to me. It would be like me saying 'thank you' to the butcher for my pound of meat and have him call me an insensitive prick and proceed to drag me to the middle of the street and bat me over the head constantly with a T-bone axe.

But then again football is starting to make less and less sense. Just ask Jermain Defoe why he missed out on the World Cup after scoring two good goals against Andorra.

No sense man. And I love it.

[get this widget]

What Could've Been ...

"He went on to threaten that if he was forced to play, or if he was disciplined and financially punished for his breach of the rules, that he could score an own goal or get himself sent off, or make deliberate mistakes."

Shame on you William. That would be the ultimate match fix. The one that requires no hiding, no shaddy activities and no stealth. Just guts, a ball and errr ... a pair of balls. Although the former WWE fan in me was screaming for something like this to happen at some point. Defender scores own goal, runs to the opposing fans' stands and screams. Like how some wrestlers are supposedly betrayed by a tag team partner and the betrayed dork turns and fakes out that shocked look. Would've been great to see Mour with a shocked face. Only thing is it wouldn't be fake, cause the EPL just isn't the WWE.

Now we will never know.

[get this widget]

English Premier League: 06/07 Season Preview

The Premiership season begins tomorrow. We haven't gone out and covered all 20 teams. Honestly, we couldn't be too bothered about some of them, and we think you probably aren't as well. So without wasting time on what you don't want, here are blurbs on seven of the most exciting teams in England this year, and how they may fare. We've resisted the temptation to predict finishing positions - not only do we hate getting it wrong, we also think it's more fun this way. (And it alienates less readers.) Enjoy the read. But enjoy the weekend more.

CHELSEA
In: Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack, Solomon Kalou, Obi Mikel
Out: Damien Duff, Hernan Crespo, Asier del Horno
Going out: William Gallas

Chelsea have strengthened in personnel but much will depend on how Mourinho sets up his team, especially in midfield. Granted that his options are plenty, if almost limitless, any insistence on squeezing Ballack and Lampard into the same midfield even if it does not work may cost Chelsea valuable points, especially in early season. Discord among the bench-warming central midfielders appears to be the other related concern, but otherwise, the Blues look mouth-watering for a third successive title. If they all still want it bad enough, the Premiership can be theirs for the taking.


LIVERPOOL
In: Craig Bellamy, Jermaine Pennant, Mark Gonzalez
Out: Djibril Cisse, Fernando Morientes, Didi Hamann, Djimi Traore
Coming in: Dirk Kuyt

Much is hoped of Liverpool this term as they continue to perfect the art of playing tight and systematic pressure football. Their season may hinge on the goal-return of Craig Bellamy and Peter Crouch. If their partnership clicks, and the goals flow, there is no reason why they shouldn't be title hopefuls. Liverpool are becoming increasingly notorious for being hard to play after they go 1-0 up, but they must also fix their form when playing the mid-table battlers. If they don't slip up there, and if Bellamy's goal-return is handsome, they may be very hard to catch.


MAN UTD
In: Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves, Tomasz Kuszczak
Out: Ruud van Nistelrooy, Tim Howard

Man Utd always survive difficulty - it has always been their hallmark. They coped brilliantly last season in spite of losing so many players and now they have added the brains and bite in midfield that was lacking last season. Rooney will have to live without van Nistelrooy, and neither Saha nor Smith are commensurate goal-poachers. But United have some extremely industrious players and this kind of workrate always translates losses into draws, and draws into slim wins. Nonetheless, replacing van Nistelrooy remains the factor that determines whether or not they seriously challenge for the title.


ARSENAL
In: Thomas Rosicky
Out: Sol Campbell, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp
Going out: Ashley Cole, Jose Antonio Reyes

Arsenal are hard to predict, as their form last season showed, they are capable of slipping up in the league if their attention is turned elsewhere. They are very much still a team in transition, and if Cesc Fabregas has fully graduated into Vieira's boots, they may still need to groom replacements for Cole, Reyes, Campbell and Bergkamp. There is muted optimism on young Walcott's promise, and Rosicky should take to the Premiership's pace and physicality with ease. On paper, it's very hard to say that the Gunners are a better side this year, but Arsene Wenger's boys have earned everyone's respect, and still deserve to be feared.


TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
In: Dimitar Berbatov, Didier Zokora
Out: Michael Carrick, Andy Reid

The fifth team in England at press time, Spurs did very well last year, running Arsenal and themselves ragged till the last day, and they will hope to consolidate on that this year by being consistent. But consistency is an elusive winged creature to a team with one eye on the UEFA Cup and another on catching the league's leading pack, and good money is on Spurs hoping best to (a) be ready if any of the big guns slip up, and (b) have a solid season in Europe. The more likely result is that they do well in one and plummet in the other. There are some humungously talented individuals in this squad, but they need to be extremely tight from start to end if they are to stay within touching distance of the 4th spot.


NEWCASTLE UTD
In: Damien Duff
Out: Alan Shearer, Jean-Alain Boumsong

They have money to spend, but no one wants to go there. Newcastle suffer from being hugely well supported but the lack of European football continues to blight any progress in the transfer market - and consequently, on the pitch. Their desperation to sign a big name striker has been well documented, and Glenn Roeder does not look at all capable of pulling off any of the big name heists that have made the rounds. Michael Owen could be out for the whole season. Damien Duff will become a cult hero but all the signs point to Newcastle having a horrible season. It's still fashionable to be a toffee, but life after Shearer won't be sweet.


WEST HAM
In: Carlton Cole, Lee Bowyer, Robert Green

West Ham were remarkable last season as strikers Dean Ashton and Marlon Harewood turned on the style and became the revelations of their season. They have an extremely hardworking squad, and for reference to their passion for big scalps and big occassions, look no further than last year's FA Cup final. They do have quality, but it's all confined to the first eleven. While this should keep them struggling to catch Spurs, you can still expect more excitement from them that two or three midtable teams.

[get this widget]

Young managers make international debuts

Young managers. That seems to be the trend these days. And not just any trend either - the trend in international management. Just look around you. All you need is to have followed football since the early nineties and they're all there, all on display, in their respective dugouts. Some are in trackies and some are in sharp suits but all of them, just ten to fifteen years ago, clashed at the highest level as players in their prime.

At the world cup, we saw Klinnsmann lead Germany down an inspiring run. Marco van Basten was at the helm of the Netherlands. Now, Dunga is at Brazil, Roberto Donadoni is at Italy, Steve Staunton at Ireland, Slaven Bilic at Croatia. It's intriguing to note that Diego Maradonna and Stuart Pearce were in the running to succeed Argentina and England as well. So how are these guys doing? These young men of international management?

The man who was most prolific as a player - Jurgen Klinnsmann - is also the most successful as manager, at least thus far. His injection of young talent into Germany gave everyone much reason to cheer during the World Cup. Marco van Basten, hugely inspiring as a player is now seen as a solid no-nonsense manager with a mind of his own. His perculiar decisions have just been vindicated as Klaas Huntelaar scored a brace in the Netherlands' 4-0 trashing of Ireland. Ruud van Nistelrooy, who has been left out, surely knows that he is up against a strong-willed gaffer.

For the rest, it has been a hard working day on the chalk line. The first raft of international matches after Deeutschalnd 06, completed just hours ago, give us a quick peak at how their day in the office has come along.

Dunga and Donadoni patchy matches. Both named squads full of unknowns, the former seemingly to prove a point to his lacklustre stars while the latter to give an extended holiday to his own, much more decorated, pool of first choice players. As a result, both were met with disappointing results. Dunga's Brazil fought to a dull 1-1 draw with bogey team Norway. it turns out that cutting off his nose to spite his face has led wound Dunga up with an unconvincing and shaky start. No one is particularly impressed, not with the football, nor the results. Donadoni's Italy were thumped 2-0 by Croatia, but he has all 23 world cup winners left to call back, and if only by virtue of their glitter, Donadoni is spared of the critics' knives.

Croatia, that of Slaven Bilic, appears to be rejuvinated. Reinspired with new faces, phasing out of old tired ones, and now even sporting the presence of naturalised latino talent in Eduardo Da Silva in attack, the Croats put two past Italy efficiently. Bilic's team selection has been rewarded, as Da Silva, the Brazilian to don the chequered shirt of Croatia, scored the opening goal. And then there's Steve Staunton, who must surely lament his selection choices - left with a disarray bunch of Irish players in the post-Roy Keane era (not that Keane would have played under Staunton anyway!), Staunton's Ireland was massacred 4-0 by the Dutch, which says plenty about the task that lies ahead of him in whipping the Irish into a decent international outfit. And more than just ability, Staunton will need to be at his ruthless best with a pool of players notorious for indiscipline, malaise and underachievement. (Sounds a lot like England, i know, but that's not what i'm talking about.)

Mixed fortunes, so it seems, for all the young managers on the international scene. For those among us who grew up adoring some of these players, it is a strange time, to see them stand neck and neck on the touchline, chatting perhaps about the game or perhaps about some game some ten odd years ago.

[get this widget]

Argentina Apertura Championship: Boca keep pace, River stumble in thriller

We begin covering the Argentine Apertura Division today with results from the Buenos Aires giants. But first, here's how the league is run in Argentina.

The Argentine league is broken up into two competitions each year, the Apertura and Clausura (literally Opening and Closing) championships - each featuring the 20 teams playing only one round (not home and away). Therefore, there are two champions each year in Argentina. Neither the Clausura nor the Apertura is more prestigious, they're just separated that way. You can also think of it as the winter champions in european leagues, except that this one is real. Relegation is done by averaging the results of both championships and this inevitably helps the big guns avoid the drop. Nonetheless, we're frank enough to say that we don't really care about who drops in Argentina. It's the big four or five clubs that we're really interested to watch.

Two games have been played, and Boca Juniors are keeping pace with San Lorenzo and Independiente, all joint leaders. Boca defeated Rosario Central 2-1 away from home with goals from defenders Juan Krupoviesa (pic, above) and Daniel Diaz. All three goals were scored from free kicks and there was some horrendous goalkeeping by the Rosario stopper.

Elsewhere, River Plate lost some ground in a six-goal first-half roller coaster thriller with Newell's Old Boys ending 3-3. Paraguay striker Oscar Cardozo (pic, with Ariel Ortega) scored a brace to pull Newell's from behind into a lead before River levelled just after the break.

1. Independiente P2 Pts 6
2. San Lorenzo P2 Pts 6
3. Boca Juniors P2 Pts 6
4. Estudiantes P2 Pts 6
5. Newell's Old Boys P2 Pts 4
6. River Plate P2 Pts 4

The Argentine league has been notorious of late with their unearthing of young talent. Hot on the heels of Leo Messi making it in Barca is Sergio Aguerro, the 16 year old, who has made his big game transfer to Atletico Madrid. Hot on his heels is River's winger Gonzalo Higuaín, who remains in South America hoping to win something there before he moves to Europe. Our feelers are firmly planted on these young stars so that our readers are always the first to know what's going on in latin football.

[get this widget]

One up for Benitez

And so it starts. With a rare Peter Crouch goal, a typical Riise stormer and Shevchenko doing what he does best.

Signs are that it's not going to be all sunshine and fruit punch for Chelsea this season. Liverpool managed to wrestle victory even with their inspirational, and possibly career-capping captain starting on the bench and the new gawky forward line of Crouch and Bellamy very much involved.

But Ballack limping off with a hip injury could well be a blessing in disguise as many people have expressed their skepticism on Ballack and Lampard's ability to play together on a starting sheet.

And so in the end the two generals of the red and blue camp chose not to shake on it as both a blatant disregard for simple footie decency and a notion to the war that is to start next week for the EPL.

We sit back and chill on our lazy boys, awaiting for the plot to unfold.

[get this widget]

The Curtain Is Raised

Secawan Bola is back! With its new "high-journalism" look and a renewed vigour for all things football, the same lads who led you through the highs and lows of the World Cup are back to guide you through the maze of club competition. Everything from the Premiership all the way to the Copa Libertadores will be covered by our stable of indefatigable editors. And what better place to begin than this Sunday's annual curtain raiser of club football... the Community Shield.

Chelsea v Liverpool. Blue versus red. South versus north. Glamourous city versus industrial port. The powers of new versus the powers of old. John Terry jostling with Steven Gerrard for England's armband. Premiership champions versus FA Cup champions.

Tell someone in the mid 90s that ten years later, the tie to watch every season will be Chelsea v Liverpool and they would have scoffed at you. But the script seems perfectly well-written, and while Ferguson and Wenger's war is turned down to a simmer, it has been Chelsea and Liverpool who have been writing the history that matters. In the Premiership, Chelsea have had much of the upper hand, defeating Liverpool home and away for two seasons now. But in cup competitions, it been all red, beginning with that marginal Luis Garcia goal in the Champions League, followed by the tight draws in Europe last season and culminating in Liverpool's FA cup semi-final success.

But that was last season. Over the summer, much of the landscape has changed for both sides as a raft of players have left, new players brought in, and both sides even sporting swanky new adidas kits. For Chelsea, summers must be fun. The arrivals of Andriy Shevchenko (pic) and Michael Ballack represent what Chelsea is now all about: big players who come ready-made. With Shevchenko, Chelsea genuinely have a 20 goal striker who will go far in relieving the goalscoring duties of Frank Lampard. Jose Mourinho has been shrewd, even with his millions, and above all, has backed up his bucks with a policy of buying players to play, and not to sell shirts.

Up in the Mersey, it's been another hardworking summer for Rafa Benitez, whose new additions include Craig Bellamy, Jermaine Pennant and the belated arrival of Mark Gonzalez (pic). Boasting a side that has genuine pace and width, many Liverpool fans believe that they finally have a team that is close to challenging for the title. Yet, their propensity for starting seasons slowly, and their inability to see off easy opposition, has cost them in the past. Where Chelsea's preseason friendlies have shown some positive signs, Liverpool's have been woeful, and it took a Gonzalez winner two minutes from time to save Liverpool the blushes in their mid-week Champions League qualifier.

Chelsea look like the more settled team, with fewer coming in and going out, and while not everyone there is happy, there is a lot more class in their ranks now. It may be early in the season, but some of that class, which only two months ago was still on display at the World Cup, has to show. As for Liverpool, their relative lack of richess has resulted in perhaps more creative shopping - or compromised, whichever way you see it. Regardless, Liverpool won't be expected to come off the blocks so quickly as the Rafalution incorporates more young Spanish speakers into its fold. Still, all the key cogs from their last two campaigns are very much there, and they are by far an improved side.

If this was a Premiership tie, you'd have to hand it to Chelsea. Quick start. Two-goal margin. Done and dusted before one hour. Their machine-like efficiency makes them anyone's bet to come right out of preseason to beat fellow top opposition. But because it's a cup tie - or a shield tie, however stupid that sounds - you can't leave Liverpool without a shout. They have a very different setup in midfield this year, and though it seems to be taking time to gel, Rafa is an extremely canny man who knows better than anyone how to stop Jose Mourinho.

Having said that, with the kind of quality that Jose has brought to Stamford Bridge, the Community Shield looks like Chelsea's to lose. Lose it they just might. But don't bet too much on that happening.

As for the rest of the season... check back next week for a Premiership season preview! Enjoy the game this Sunday!

[get this widget]

Secawan Bola will be back!

Hi readers,

Good news! Secawan Bola will be back when the football season reopens! The blog will have an all new look and a fresh focus, this time, of course, on club football.

We're all itching to bring you the latest on the Premiership and all the other european and non-european leagues, but for now, the editors will continue to sip their drinks with umbrellas while on their tropical holidays, at least until the charity shield rolls into town.

You can expect The Geek to be your principal correspondent regarding all things EPL while Goodchristianboy will cover the action across the continents, from Spain's La Liga to Argentina's Clausura division. The feverish editor, Alex, will also be writing during the season, and don't bet against our resident funnyman Creagler also getting into the mix.

We are looking to add to our team, cos the season is long and the stories are many. If any of you are interested to be part of the Secawan Bola editorial team, drop us a line at secawanbola@gmail.com and we'll have a chat. If you're particularly interested in either the Premiership or the Champions League, that will be a major advantage!

For the rest of the readers, we look forward to returning. Do come back when the silly season is over, and the real football begins.

[get this widget]

Zinedine Zidane: From man to god and back

The indisputable facts of Zinedine Zidane’s participation in the 2006 World Cup in Germany are as follows: matches played: 6, goals scored: 3, yellow cards received: 3, red cards received: 1. Everything else has become the subject of such debate and speculation that for many Italy’s triumph has become almost an afterthought.

Of the galaxy of stars assembled at the World Cup, it was “Zizou” who shone brightest and most brilliantly before exploding like a supernova in Berlin. In truth his form did not match that of the Italian skipper Cannavaro, the tournament’s outstanding defender, yet his brand of determined rearguard brilliance cannot capture the imagination as Zidane’s.

Not since Maradona in Mexico '86 has one player been so much the focal point of attention at football’s quadrennial carnival. And not since Maradona's “hand of god” goal against England has a player produced a moment of such scandal and controversy as Zidane: a headbutt to the chest of Italian defender Materazzi which earned him a dismissal in the final. It was the last act in the career of the greatest talent the game has seen for the past 15 years

The second coming

Zidane was not even supposed to be at the World Cup having retired from international football two years earlier after the European Championships in Portugal. A lacklustre France crashed out at the quarter-final stage to eventual winners Greece and it seemed Zidane’s days with les blues had come to an underwhelming conclusion.

His club career at Real Madrid seemed to be following suit. There was a glorious climax to his first season with Real when he struck a stunning volleyed winner in the European Cup final to add the most prestigious prize in club football to his international honours. But that proved to be the high point as Real crumbled under the hubris the “galacticos” policy. In his final seasons Zidane seemed tired and jaded, even his great talents unable to lift Madrid’s bloated squad above mediocrity.

With France struggling in their World Cup qualifying campaign, the call went up for the old guard to return. Zidane, along with fellow retirees Thuram and Makelele, was coaxed out of retirement by coach Domenech. Viera gladly yielded the captaincy back to Zidane.

No doubt the frustrations of his last years in Madrid tempted him to return to les blues for the chance of one more trophy and a glorious send-off. He negotiated an annulment of the final year of his contract with Real and announced that he would retire from all football at the end of the World Cup. Win or lose, France’s last match in Germany would be the last match of his career.

Yet Zidane's return proved to be no panacea to France’s woes. They limped through to the finals and arrived in Germany as firm outsiders. Abject displays in their opening two games did little to inspire confidence. There were rumours of a rift between Domenech and his captain, Zidane having stormed off angrily after being substituted against South Korea. With France in danger of elimination and Zidane suspended for the final group match it seemed the grand ending to his career he sought would instead be another disappointment.

Against Togo, France needed to win to be sure of a place in the knockout rounds. Win they did, sans Zizou, with an improved display which had some questioning if the captain should return. Zidane, they said, was too old, too slow and too ponderous to play alongside the young guns in the French team. Would Domenech do the unthinkable and drop his captian for the clash with Spain?

France lined up with Zidane, but for perhaps the first time in a decade they found themselves as underdogs against an impressive young Spanish side. Spanish supporters, having seen the end of Zidane’s club career only weeks before, brought banners reading “Au revoir, Zidane”, so confident were they of ending what remained of his career. But it instead turned out to be “Adios Espana”, Zidane himself capping a resurgent French victory by skipping past Puyol, Spain’s finest defender, and slotting home in the final moments.

Most thought Zidane had merely earned himself a stay of execution, as France faced tournament favourites Brazil next. Up against Ronaldinho, his successor as FIFA’s official best player in the world, he responded by producing one of the all-time great World Cup performances. Rolling back the years, his full repertoire of touches, dribbles, flicks and passes was on show. From the very first minute he mesmerised and confounded the Brazilians and set up the winner for Henry with a wonderfully flighted free kick, all while never threatening to score a goal himself. Zidane’s performance demonstrated again that he was the playmaker supreme; a virtuoso whose artistry functions for the betterment of the team.

Portugal were dispatched in the semi-final, a largely forgettable match settled with a Zidane penalty. He now had his date with destiny; the final match of his career would be a World Cup final against Italy. To lead his country to a second world championship would surely provide confirmation of what many already professed and still do: that Zidane belongs alongside names such as Pele, Beckenbauer and Maradona as one of very greatest players the game has known.

Despite the presence of other world class talents in their squad, Zidane’s teammates spoke of him in almost reverential terms. When quizzed on the reason for their confidence before the final more than one French player answered to the effect of “we have Zizou and they don’t”.

Early in the match, Malouda tumbled in the area and France were awarded a penalty. As in the semi up stepped the captain. His previous attempt from the spot has been a powerful effort whipped into the low into left corner. Facing Buffon, rated by most as the world’s best keeper, he produced an audacious chip of such backspin that it hit the crossbar before bouncing down over the line, hitting the crossbar again and then out. Zidane tuned away to celebrate sheepishly, knowing how close his daring had come to costing his team.

Italy equalised shortly with a header from Materazzi, but after half-time France began to dominate. The talk before the final was of how the aging legs of Zidane and others would be exploited by the Italians, but instead it was the French who looked full of energy. Following their captain's lead, the other veterans of the French side seemed to summon untapped reserves of will for a final push to victory.

Just before the half-time in extra-time, Zidane slid the ball out to Sagnol on the right. The full-back delivered a perfect cross into the area towards Zidane, who had continued his run. For once the tiring Italian defence failed to pick him up and he rose to power a header towards goal. Buffon denied him with a majestic leaping save. Zidane had almost sealed his own fairy tale ending.

“Oh, Zinedine. Pa ça, Zinedine.”

The dream had been so close, but now came the nightmare. With 10 minutes to go, after exchanging words with Materazzi, the same famed, balding scalp responsible for those two headed goals in the ’98 final in Paris delivered a firm coup de tête to the Italian’s chest. Materazzi could not have collapsed more dramatically if he had been shot, but Zidane’s punishment was inevitable: a red card.

The reaction of French TV commentators was shock, disbelief, confusion, despair. French supporters in the stadium, not privy to replays of the incident, howled their disapproval until the final whistle. With both teams drained and the atmosphere poisoned, the remainder of the game spluttered towards a penalty shoot-out, won by Italy after a solitary miss by Trezeguet.

In the immediate aftermath Zidane remained silent. Materazzi has never been anyone’s idea of a sporting gentleman and doubtless it was some obscene comment which provoked Zidane. News organisations around the world scrambled to find lip-readers to decipher the Italian’s insults. Common suggestions were slurs on Zidane’s family or his Algerian-Muslim heritage. For his part Materazzi only issued a few clumsy statements of defence.

The day after it emerged that Zidane had won the “Golden Ball” award for player of the tournament on votes cast by journalists before the conclusion of the final. FIFA president Blatter, clueless to a fault, made the hollow suggestion that Zidane’s could be stripped of the award.

In an eventual TV interview, Zidane was reticent about details, saying only the insults concerned his mother and sister. "I do apologise but I don't regret my behaviour because regretting it would mean he was right to say what he said." Non, je ne regrette rien.

The Player. The Icon. The Man.

It was estimated that over one billion people watched the final in Berlin. Over the past 15 years through his exploits for France, Cannes, Boudreaux, Juventus and Real Madrid, Zidane has been possibly the most watched player at a time when football’s appeal has never been greater.

His footballing story has now come to a bitter end, but manner in which it has captivated the world is a testament sport’s unique cultural appeal and capacity for human drama. Twice Zidane has appeared on football’s greatest stage and in those two performances he has shown us ecstasy and agony, genius and madness, glory and shame, joy and anger, triumph and defeat.

The world first knew Zidane the player; one of peerless touch, vision and control. Since that night in Paris it has known Zidane the icon; of France, of racial integration, of Gallic flair and genius; of football’s global appeal. After Berlin, not for the first time but more starkly than ever, it knows the Zidane the man; capable of sporting feats most can only dream of, yet also capable of the same follies and weaknesses as the rest of us. If you prick him, will he not bleed? And if you wrong him, shall he not revenge?

The world watched to see Zidane ascend to the footballing pantheon, but was instead reminded that a man with god-like talent remains just that: a man.

[get this widget]

The Show Ends

Ah... and so the show ends. The world cup travels to Rome and the street cleaners of Berlin sweep away the remnants of a month left behind by long nights of foreigners drinking and locals celebrating irregardless of results. The world cup isn't really there to celebrate nations or teams or even heroes, these are just incidentals in the larger scheme of things - the world cup is there to celebrate football. Not nearly the lofty humanitarian ideals of the olympics, but still, you can't fault the celebration of football. And we've seen some pretty good football across the last four weeks.

Germany was a thrill to watch, with Klinnsmann breathing a good gust of fresh air into a nation we all feared was fast depleting in guts and style. Their incredible comeback against Argentina, and their subsequent victory in penalties, proved that there is a lot of life left kicking in these German legs. When Bastian Schweinsteiger drove home (literally) two piledrivers against Portugal, he only confirmed for us what we should have known all month - Germany are very, very on.

The African countries were quite a joy to watch - Ghana and Ivory Coast were thrilling in their attacking brand of football. And while we'd appreciate a cut back on their simulation, we'd all love to see them back in the world cup again.

England was a disappointment - frustrating as it was always going to be. Holland gave us early flutters but went out with a limp (again, literally) while Spain once again gave us false reason to believe. Argentina and Brazil both went out in the quarters, one could have gone further, the other could have gone out earlier. And Portugal, well, they played some really good football at times, and but for a few individuals soiling the gloss of their football itself, they did give us the best latin flair to a tournament dominated otherwise by organised european traditions.

France was a surpise, weren't they? One week into the world cup, i spoke to a jersey shop guy whose answer to my query if he had any France jerseys summed up public opinion of them prior to their great run: "Takde boss. Peranchis kali ni drop la" ("None boss. The French have dropped"). Yet, they took out some big names en route to the final in a run that must surely redeem them from their less than glorious immediate past.

And then there's Italy - world champions for the fourth time. Who - other than Secawan Bola - would have been crazy enough to predict Italy winning this world cup? When all the hype surrounded the magic quartet and recovering metatarsals, this tight-knit blue machine ploughed through a tough group and then shifted gears in their awe-inspiring semi-final triumph over Germany. Their collossal defenders, galloping fullbacks and tireless midfielders will forever infuse all memories connected to this tournament now.

And so we pack up the snacks, give the tv a break and return to our normal lives, penning, as a final homage to wild month of relentless football watching our allstar XIs.

In the meantime, your Secawan Bola editors are on what we believe is a well-deserved holiday. When we come back, we'll sit around again and see if the blog will be back after the summer, all pumped up up for the new football season. We'll let you know.

Until then... keep your mind off football and go do something else.

Cheers and thanks for reading.

[get this widget]

ITALY WIN THE WORLD CUP

Italy have won the world cup!

After 120 minutes and five perfect penalties, Italy have become champions of the world for the fourth time.

Italy win the world cup for the fourth time

If you didn't see the game, it was tight, especially after the first two goals were scored, and the Italians, who at several times in the last month thrilled us with attacking football, crawled back into their defensive shell and did what Italians did best - play cattenaccio football. While it wasn't pretty, it was certainly an absorbing final - never really reaching the excitement of the semi-final with the host, but the contest was always on. For the largest part of the 120 minutes, France was the aggressor, and by far the side that looked like they wanted it more. Ultimately, though, their many attacks were blunted by the dogged Italian defence, and whatever went past Cannavaro and Matterazzi didn't go past goalkeeper hero Gigi Buffon, whose save against a Zidane free header in extra time will not just go down as one of the best saves of the tournament, but certainly the most important.

Goalkeeper hero Buffon kisses the world cup

The game will forever be marred, however, by a senseless headbutt by Zidane into Matterazzi's chest in the 110th minute. Ten minutes from retirement, Zidane displayed his badass charm and was duly thrown off the pitch - a shameful end to an otherwise legendary career.

The penalties were all of a high quality. So high that the only miss would have been a textbook unsavable penalty had it been two, three, maybe four inches lower. The Italians, who had been knocked out of the world cup three times on penalties - and once in the final - were extremely calm. Pirlo, Matterazzi, del Piero, de Rossi and - of course - Grosso, all converted excellent penalties, three of which were top corner kicks.

Italian players celebrate with the world cup trophy

After that, it was a sea of blue and white as Camoranesi had his ponytail chopped off and Gattuso had his shorts stripped in what must have been "if we win the world cup, i will..." bets. The Italians were playful and childlike in their celebration, and the ceremony was capped off with Fabio Cannavaro hoisting up the world cup - a fitting end for the Italian centreback, whose majestic performances all month now lifts him into that pantheon of world cup winning captains: Maradonna, Pele, Beckenbauer, Dino Zoff.

Italy are the new world champions. They will go home to a stockpile of domestic football troubles, armed now with perhaps the best evidence for grace. But that is for another day. Today, Italy win the world cup - they deserve to paint Berlin blue.

[get this widget]

Italy v France: Penpix

Secawan Bola continues its world cup final extravaganza by bringing you a player-by-player penpix of the two finalists. It's time to know every man. Text by The Geek, pix by Goodcristianboy.

ITALY v FRANCE

THE STARTING XI
































THE SUBSTITUTES













[get this widget]