Besides being Uruguay’s record international,
An Old International
football at the crossroads with culture and history
Besides being Uruguay’s record international,
Uruguay have won the Copa America 2011 and are the force of South American football to be reckoned with for the next years. OK, Brazil will be in better shape come the Confed Cup 2013 and the World Cup the year after. For now however, it is Uruguay who seem to be the best team in South America.
What happens once football players decide it’s time to call it a day? There seem to be a number of options they can choose from. George Best opened a boutique while German World Cup winner of 1954 Horst Eckel returned to his trained job as a teacher and even as a pensioner is working with young offenders to give them a chance to a normal life with the help of football. Does a successful career as a football player of international reputation guarantee success as a coach/ manager? Does it allow generally success in any career path chosen the post-playing days? This seem to be questions that can not be answered easily. Rather it is argued here that a lot depends on circumstances.
That is the ultimate conclusion the observer of this weekend’s football that saw Argentina and Brazil crash out at the quarterfinal stage of the 2011 Copa America in held in Argentina. Read more →
This is the best way to describe Japan’s historic success at the Women’s Football World Cup last night in Frankfurt, Germany. In a game that saw them often outplayed by the United States’ Women’s Soccer Team, Japan never gave up and with some astute resilience they fought their way back into the game and to the title. Read more →
The future of Spanish football is looking bright indeed. Its under 21 team has just won the European Championship this year against Switzerland and it can be expected that from this team a number of players will progress to the senior stage and enlighten the international football stage in the years to come. The final in Aarhus was another demonstration of possession football that has been the talking point of the last few years. The only bitter point was the attendance: only 15000 watched the game. Considering this is the last youth stage before the professionals, this is pretty bleak in public interest.
In terms of public interest, Mexico have trumped Spain by winning the under 17 World Championship held this year in Mexico in front of almost 99.000 spectators! World Record! The affair was an entirely Latin American one as the hosts beat Uruguay in the final on Sunday. Germany came a respectable third after beating Brazil 4-3 in the third place play-off. This after being 3-1 down after 30 minutes, the Germans fought their way back into the game and securing the third spot on the podium. Somehow the third place seems to be the natural place for Germany as the seniors reached the same rank in the last two World Cups in 2006 and 2010. Their coach, former Borussia Dortmund defender Steffen Freund instructed his team to play fluid and attacking football unlike himself in his playing days, for which he was rather known as a Vinnie-Jones-type-of-player.
Another German ex-player, Christian Ziege, has not had the luck as his team, the under 19s have failed to qualify for the European Championship. In what has been labelled ‘golden generation’ many players have already gained valuable playing time with the pros and can call themselves experienced. Therefore to speak of another golden generation has come a little too early.
Of course success in the youth teams does not guarantee success in the senior teams or even selection into the senior squads but it does offer clues as to the future progress of players and does allow to think about coaching methods on this level which may be approved and then applied at senior stage.
England’s Under-17 national team lost to Germany 3-2 in the quarterfinal of the World Cup currently held in Mexico, forty-one years after the senior squad lost to Germany on the same score, although in 1970 it was after extra time and England squandered a 2-0 lead. Read more →
Public Enemy certainly have nothing on their minds with football but it is a fitting headline for the next big tournament due to start in a few days time: The Women’s Football World Cup in Germany. Read more →
Almost all European leagues have finished, one European Cup Final has already been played, with only the Champions League Final to come this Saturday. It is time for a conclusion of this season’s results across Europe. Due to events in Zürich leading up to the FIFA election, this review comes a bit later than it was originally planned. Read more →
This had to happen. Just days before a crucial election, allegations of corruption were brought forward about the only “candidate” to challenge Sepp Blatter for his presidency. And the result was that on Saturday Mohammed Bin Hammam withdrew his candidacy in order to clear his name.
Surprise, surprise in a hearing on Sunday, Blatter was cleared of any wrong-doing while Jack Warner was suspended. Certainly the election can not take place now as it has become a one horse race and thus would be a farce par excellence. Warner has now published documents that show that Blatter’s aide Valcke knew about Qatar buying the World Cup in 2018. Valcke is Blatter’s right hand man and therefore if he knows, Blatter might so too. Therefore he is involved in this matter and a liability for the credibility of FIFA, if there is any of this remaining after the December meeting which saw Qatar beat candidates to hist the World Cup in 2018 and recent statements by Lord Triesman who accused members of the FIFA Executive Committee of bribery among other charges. Among them, Jack Warner. Now Warner does feature a bit too frequently, a bit too often to assume his innocence. Andrew Jennings and Jens Weinreich had their reasons why they were consistently pointing to Blatter and his aides as being crooks. Possibly Blatter has now realized the potential danger this man could be to his re-election and duly he was suspended. But Warner wouldn’t go without a fight and the events after his suspension, i.e. publishing material and emails that show how much Valcke and Blatter knew and know. Therefore all people involved should take a break, retire from their posts and let FIFA clean itself up under new guidance. Knowing that this won’t happen we’re left with a sour aftertaste of the whole affair. However, this could turn into disgust should Sepp Blatter remain in office for another term.