Blue scores, Red fires blanks

Inter Milan's home match at San Siro against Villareal featured many South americans, Argentines in particular.



The Blue side of Milan came from behind to score two goals. But with an away goal in hand, will the Yellow Submarines knock the Nerazzuri out at El Madrigal? Will Riquelme and Forlan breach the Italian defence?Villareal will also have some players back from suspension.An anxious seven days lies between the question and the answer.

The beaten finalists last year were denied by the Lyon goalie in the first half while Dida saved some long range efforts for the Rossoneri.
The goalless scoreline hardly does any justice to the two teams like in the case of the goalless Iberian tie at Lisbon.



Lyon must have missed Juninho dearly. But with the free kick God back from suspension, will Lyon be able to stop Milan's determined march to Paris at San Siro? Will Juninho get the better of his compatriot Kaka? Will it be a stroll in the park for Milan like it was against Bayern? Answers a week away.

An Italian Job half done and an intriguing Iberian return fixture

A job well begun is half done. Arsenal have begun their quarter-finals tie in the best possible fashion by slotting two crucial goals and equalling a record 7-match successive clean sheets record of AC Milan. Touted as Fabregas vs Vieira, after seeing the way Fabregas squeezed his passes through the Juve midfield like threading a needle,it was easy for people to judge who won. Vieira is not going to get a chance to make amends as he is missing the return leg due to suspension.



Slowly but surely, Francesc Fabregas is stepping out of the shadows of Vieira and Gilberto and is estabilishing a niche for himself in the Arsenal midfield. Though not as celebrated as Rooney or Messi are because of the fact that he plays in a relatively deeper role, Fabregas is a star for the future coming out of the Barcelona stable. I would be happy to be proved wrong again by the gunners when they play at the Stadio Delle Alipi in a week's time.



A dogged Benfica keeps the Iberian tie alive.They've already surprised many with their good run in this year's competition.But will Ronald Koeman's Eagles be able to flourish in the electrifying atmosphere at Camp Nou? Do they have what it takes to upset the Catalan applecart? Answers in a week's time.

The filthy "Hand of Drog"

With no offence meant to the Argentine magician Diego Maradona, I start this post.

The sport is called Soccer or football. There have been instances of players using their head literally like in the case of Miroslav Klose who used it to such an extent that he missed a "sitter footer" six metres from goal post in the 2002 final against Brazil. Teams like Celtic and Bolton use their head a lot to score almost all the goals and use the two feet only to kick the ball long and high in the air into no man's land making one feel whether the sport should be rechristened "Head Ball". But there has been a new development in the sport. Using hand to control the ball so stealthily and sneak a goal is hogging the headlines in recent weeks. And no prizes for guessing who is the humdinger of this "refreshing change"....

How a champion should not be? Best Example: Chelsea. The Blues are making a hue and cry about the love and respect they are due for.John Terry insists that it is going to be Chelsea's days under the sun in the near future and they want to estabilish a foothold as strong as that of Real Madrid. But they have been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons... Disciplinary committee, Diving, Play acting and now a 'novel' way to score goals... This only shows the champions in poor light. For the second week in succession, Drogba has tried his antics and has succeeded for a change. Chelsea were a goal ahead and were doing more than enough to guarantee them a legitimate second goal. But out from nowhere, a 25 million pound striker scores using his hand and shamefully admits it to the media. This only highlights Chelsea's arrogance and a win-at-all-costs attitude. With such a mindset, they'll not be able to even gather as much as respect as the invincible gunners had, leave alone the great 80's Liverpool and 90's United teams.

Now how does one solve this ugly problem of using hand? It's very hard to detect amidst all the melee happening in the box. Some suggestions are as follows:

1) Borrow the third umpire concept from cricket. Already with lot of pauses in a 90 minute game due to injuries and substitutions, the fans might not be patient enough to wait for the 3rd umpire. Also, we've witnessed 3rd umpires take some outrageous decisions in cricket. Known to be volatile, the fans may just crucify the man in the hotseat in case he gives a horrendous decision.

2) Some embedded chip inside the football which detects and lists the players in the order of who touched the ball first. The linesman will have a monitor which gives the list. Obviously, the chip should ignore the defending goalie when determining who touched the ball first. The problem is that the linesman might err in his normal duties in trying to come to terms with the new technology.

3) Post additional linesmen especially behind both the goal posts. I think, UEFA is going to experiment with one more linesman from next year.

4) Don't do anything new. After the match is over, watch the video of the debatable goal and red-card the player who used his hand and dock a point from the cheating team's tally for every single handled goal. Uncaught divers may also be brought into this net.

EPL's Poor Losers - Meet the latest Winner

Some common incidents occurring post matches at EPL...

1) Chris Coleman openly lambasting his players for their abysmal performances away (They have become so consistent in losing away matches that bookies can bravely bet on relegation candidates stealing point(s) against Fulham).

2) Sam Allardyce starting his post- match press meet with his customary "The ref got couple of things wrong against us. 11 tackles by opponents went unnoticed" and some more conundrums.

3) David O' Leary finding some excuse to save his head for another week.

4) Arsene Wenger complaining in his typical French accent about refs not protecting his team against rough opponents. Gunners do not want any opponent to touch them. Is it feasible? What else is the defenders' job other than dispossessing you? Everyone also remembers the bad spat in September, 2003 at Old Trafford when Gooners incensed by play-acting of van Nistelrooy showed their dark side by roughing him up.

From the above four nominations, the clear winner by a long mile has been Arsenal for the past 2 or 3 seasons. But there has been some improvements on the discipline front at Highbury. Departure of those people involved in the OT 2003 spat is an important reason. Henry may not be as inspiring as Vieira. But he has managed to instill some discipline among his young colts. Another reason has been the teams nowadays have literally got physical when it comes to playing Arsenal. The EPL teams tried for 49 matches in vain. And it was the experienced ManU manager, who came up with the formula of "I don't care whether you kick the ball or not but if you fail to kick their players, you may forget about starting a match in the future". Though United have lost that physical presence of late due to the departure of Keane and Phil Neville, other teams have followed united's example perfectly.

Enough of old stories.. If Arsenal has improved who takes the title this time around? Well, We have a brand new contender and it has done exceedingly well leaving the competitors far behind. Stand up for Moaning Mourinho's Chelsea.

It all started last season itself. Anders Frisk' forced into retiring, Sir Alex alleged about talking to ref at half-time. But the media didn't tighten the rope on Jose and his blues. The club was afterall winning its first title in 50 years. Initially, it looked a good ploy that the manager was absorbing the pressure whil shielding the players.

But this season, Chelsea has developed a mindless arrogance, which makes them feel they've won a match even before stepping on the pitch. They've had their share of good fortune. If it had not been for an outrageous ref decision to call Scholes offside, Jose would still be loitering on the corridors of Estadio Dragao. When decisions go against them, which does happen once in a blue moon, he should be able to accept defeat graciously rather than blaming others, refs in particular.

Some quotable quotes out of Jose...

"All I know is we scored two beautiful goals and were worthy winners" - After chelsea dropped their first points of the season while drawing 1-1 at Everton.

"Liverpool played Basketball" - After Chelsea's attempts at trying to break down Liverpool in Europe broke down for the fourth time.

"There are good theatres in Barcelona" - Taking a swipe at Messi after Del horno was sent off. Maybe he doesn't know that there are good theatres in West London itself. Should have remembered Reina's sending off weeks before at Stmford Bridge.

Not shaking hands with Bryan Robson after their scrappy win over West Brom where Robben was sent off. At the same time last year, chelsea had only one red card against its name (No send-offs in EPL, Drogba at Camp Nou), whereas this season, in a space of two months they have collected as many as 4 red cards.

Tha latest defeat to Fulham takes the cake. "Drogba handled the ball. But unless the ref had ten eyes he could not have seen it" - So a nice logic to claim a disallowed goal. They played poorly in the first half and Drogba must realize that there is no defender in EPL strong enough to make him fall to the ground. Atleast Glenn Roeder can find some solace that his club's not alone when it comes to blowing away money on wasteful signings.

Now disciplinary hearing for the second time this season. I guess the blues have allotted time in their monthly schedule for a disciplinary hearing from last month.

Teams to watch out for - I


World Cup fever is on. The coming edition takes us to home of the European powerhouses, Germany. The list of teams to watch out for is long. And so is the list of favourites . But the current holders are first in this list. Brazil, unlike in 2002 is coming into the tournament with good form and embarrassment of riches in the front line. They have also tasted success on German soil recently after winning the Confederations Cup thrashing rivals Argentina 4-1 in the finals Carlos Alberta Parreira has a big headache in selecting his attack. I thought I would time my first blog by having a look at a possible formation for the South American giants.

Alberto Parreira has been pondering over a 4-man frontline. Brazil have traditionally been brittle at the back. Their full backs, Cafu (even at 35), Carlos and the new kid-on-the-block, Cicinho and center back Lucio, all have a habit of running forward too much exposing the defense. A team good on the counter attack has a good chance of scoring lot of goals against Brazil. I am reminded of a particular commentator say in one of those official WC official films on ESPN-STAR that Brazil has been more than happy to trade goals provided they get one more than what they give. A 4-man frontline looks befitting for Brazil's style.

Ronaldo excused himself from the confederations Cup in June, 2005. He would be cautious to not take any such risk in the future as Adriano more than threatened his place with a stellar display that time. But of late, Adriano has suffered a steep drop of form. Moreover, Ronaldo has always done well for Brazil. So he will be there up front with Kaka and Ronaldinho converging from the flanks. Adriano, Robinho and Baptista may be rotated in the deep lying attacker position. Edmilson, Cicinho, Lucio, Denilson will be the substitutes.

One look at a possible formation...


                                              Dida



                Cafu         Roque Jr.         Alex         Carlos


                        Emerson                     Gilberto


                                          Adriano


                    Kaka                                   Ronaldinho


                                          Ronaldo


That looks like an uphill task for an opposition. Bad days at office for opponents' defenders not far away, I believe.