England vs Germany – UEFA Under-21 Football Championship Final – Preview

Written by Kyle Rafferty.

England’s Under 21 Euro Championship campaign has been a great success, with them reaching the final which will be played on Monday in the Malmo New Stadium in Sweden. They will be facing a very solid Germany team who has only conceded 1 goal in the whole competition; strangely enough this goal was against England. Will England crack Germany’s back 4? Or will Germany hold on and capitalize on one of England’s defensive errors? While Germany have been a fortress in defence, their attacking force is one to question with only 5 goals between them for the whole competition.

Psycho: Manager Stuart Pierce

England made it through to the final last night, after having a first half that should have seen them through home and dry, as they left the field at half time 3-0 up. England returned to the pitch looking relaxed and confident, in my eyes they looked as if they had already won the game, and at that level you can’t think that, especially when you’re playing in a Euro Championship Semi Final.

The England defense’s concentration dropped and that let Sweden come tumbling back into the game, in a reversal of Istanbul, where Liverpool came back from 3 goals down, to draw the game at 3-3. As Turkish referee blew for the end of extra time, it was penalties. With Milner for England, and Berg (who looked no doubt he was scoring) and Molins for Sweden missing, England were through, 5-4 winners on penalties. The odds look good for England in my view, since every time they have made it through to final of this competition they have not been beaten. Winning the competition three times and on Monday they could make it the fourth.  

German manager, Rainer Adrion

 Germany on the other hand have never reached past the Quarter Final mark in the competition until this year. They haven’t been an entertaining team to watch. Germany’s Semi Final was a more direct route, as they scored the only goal of the game, 3 minutes after the restart by an unusual scorer, Andreas Beck, who has scored only 2 goals in his whole career so far, and will probably never score a more important goal in his life. He put his country through to their first ever Under 21 Euro Championship Final.

 So, after 15 days, 8 teams, and 14 games, we have reached the finale of this year’s Under21 European Championship; this is the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

What will happen, will England win their third European Championship? Or will Germany win their first?

Spain vs USA – Preview

Two contrasting teams will take to the field tonight, in the first of two Confederations Cup Semi-Finals.

Spain capped off a very impressive group stage, by beating South Africa 2-0. This is their first time in the competition, and they are proving to be formidable debutants. They are undefeated, winning all three of their group stage games, scoring eight goals and conceading none. The victory against South Africa has also given Spain a world record of 15 consecutive international wins and 35 straight matches unbeaten.

The USA, were down, but certainly proved that they were not out, by beating Egypt 3-0 in the final game of the group stages. Having already lost their two opening games, the USA were on the verge of going home, with no wins, and no points. Due to Italy’s failure, and subsequent demolishing defeat at the hand of Brazil, it meant that USA would qualify for the semi-finals on goal difference, with three teams tied on 3 points apiece.

Spain really are the team to beat, they have dispatched 15 teams in a row now, and almost surely will do the same with the USA, so it is no surprise that they are already favourites for next years World Cup.

I made the prediction at the start of the competition that Spain would reach the final, and I am going to stick by that.

Ian’s Prediction: Spain 3-0 USA

The Pathway to Europe – 2009/10 Season

Reigning champions Barcelona

Champions League

Due to the ever widening gap between bigger clubs and smallers clubs, this season will see a whole new format in Europe. First off is the abolishment of the UEFA Cup, and in its place the much talked about Europa League, more about that soon. This however is not the only change that is taking place, as the Champions League Qualifying format will also be revamped.

The final of this seasons Champions League will be played at the Santiago Bernabéu, home to Real Madrid, on the Saturday 22^nd May, 2010. This year’s final will be the first to be played on a Saturday night.

In recent years it has been relatively easy for the big guns to qualify for the lucrative group stages, by picking off smaller clubs on their way. But this years sees a new look to qualification, instigated by UEFA President Michele Platini, it means that the non-champions must face each other in order to reach the group stages. His vision is to see more national champions reach the group stages.

For the first time, this season’s Champions League offers five places in the group stages, worth an estimated €10million, for clubs who are ranked outside the top 15 nations in Europe. This means that on Monday when the draw takes place for the preliminary rounds, that 5 out of the 34 teams taking part are guaranteed to reach the lucrative group stages, where they will be facing teams such as Manchester United, Barcelona, Liverpool and Inter Milan.

This path is only for the champions of countries who are not ranked highly enough to go straight into the group stages.

As it stands, 22 teams, (up from 16) have automatically qualified for the group stages, based on the strength of their league co-efficients. These teams are:

 

1. Liverpool
2. Manchester United
3. Chelsea
4. Barcelona (Holders)
5. Real Madrid
6. Sevilla
7. Inter Milan
8. Juventus
9. AC Milan
10. Bordeaux
11. Marseille
12. Wolfsburg
13. Bayern Munich
14. Rubin Kazan
15. CSKA Moscow
16. Unirea Urziceni
17. Porto
18. AZ
19. Rangers
20. Besiktas
21. Dynamo Kiev
22. Standard Liege

 

These alterations could prove to be fatal for a team like Arsenal. Their failure to finish in the Premier League’s Top 3 means they will have to endure this new route of qualification to reach the all important group stages, meaning they look forward to a busy month in August. They face Everton on the 15^th, then the  Champions League Qualifier 3 days later on the 18^th, along with the return leg a week later, and also a game against Pompey squashed in between that.

In turn, they will navigate the other path of qualification, the route for non-champions. Arsenal join 14 other teams who finished second, third or fourth in their league, of the top 15 ranked countries. These 15 teams have been split.

 

10 teams will go into a qualifying round to produce five winners:

1. Dynamo Moscow
2. Timisoara
3. Sporting Lisbon
4. FC Twente
5. Celtic
6. Sivasspor
7. Shakhtar Donetsk
8. Anderlecht
9. Panathinaikos
10. Sparta Prague

The five winners of this qualifying round will then go on to face the other five teams in the play-off round, they are:

1. Arsenal
2. Lyon
3. Stuttgart
4. Fiorentina
5. Atletico Madrid

Then five winners will them reach the group stages, as non-champions.

Confused? Okay, let me put it all in simple terms.

22 teams are already in the group stages. They will be joined by 10 more teams, 5 from the champions route of qulification, and 5 from the non-champions route, which makes up the 32 teams.

It will all make a little more sense when the draw is made in Nyon tomorrow. So, I will wait until after tomorrows draw to launch into explaining the Europa League, as I try to get my head around it first. That draw takes place a t 12pm tomorrow, see UEFA.com for more.

Adios Carlos!

Carlos Tevez is today joining Cristiano Ronaldo on his way out of Manchester United. This comes after the club agreed to pay £25.5m, and a contract to make him one of the clubs highest paid players, but it was subsequently turned down after the player informed the club he doesn’t want to remain playing for them.

This now paves the way for Tevez to move to rivals Manchester City who are battling Chelsea in a race for the Argentines signature. He’s already been linked to many clubs after he made it clear earlier in the season that he wasn’t happy with being left on the bench.

I along with many United fans had hoped that with the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for the £80 million, that some this money would be used to keep Tevez at the club, obviously not. It now leaves Manchester United very weakened, and with only seven weeks until the start of the season, it looks like all eyes will be on who Manchester United will buy as a replacement.

A large amount of work will have to be done if Manchester United want to retain their fourth successive title, because they current are at a handicap, much to the delight of the other Premier League clubs.

Remember the name!

Mohamed Homos. In what was the 100th Confederations Cup match, Egypt who came very closing to drawing with Brazil earlier in the week, went one better yesterday as they beat World Champions Italy. Mohamed Homos scored the only goal of the game, his first goal for his country and what a time to score it.

Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El Hadari, was also the hero on the night, as he was Egypt’s safe hands throughout the game, keeping the Italians at bay. Egypt’s victory means that Group B remains wide-open going into the final round of fixtures on Sunday.

Who says the Confederations Cup is not exciting?

Bye bye to the monitor

The Guardian reports that after Howard Webb’s controversial decision to award Brazil a penalty, after he first awarded a corner. He did this based on what he was told by the fourth official, and while it was the right move, FIFA forbid the use of video technology in matches.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said – ‘There is no more video use in front of the fourth official on the side of the field,” Blatter said. “So now no one can say there is interference in any decisions on the basis of video.”

You can check out the full article here.

Kick Him in the Vuvuzelas!

I am with Chris over at twofootedtackle on this one, the Vuvuzela’s should not be banned!

They are currently the symbol of the Confederations Cup, that constant buzz you hear, thats them. No doubt they will be the sound of next summer also. While many people complain about the noise, I love it. At the end of the day you are going to a football match, to see great football, and what contributes to that? A great atmosphere of course.

The vuvuzela is part of  the culture in South Africa, so you can’t ban it just because a few begruders are complaining. If you don’t like, you know what to do. Hit the mute button!

Confederations Cup – Day 2 – Review

Well, well, well. Yesterdays games really didn’t disappoint. After the opening delievered a bore 0-0 draw, and Spain’s 5-0 annihilation of  New Zealand, yesterdays games delieved just about everything you could think of. Goals galore, red cards, penalties, and a controversy surrounding Howard Webb (nothing new there though ).

First up was Brazil vs Egypt, Brazil are the current champions, having won the competition when it was held last in 2005. But they only looked a shadow of their former self yesterday, as the game went right down to the wire. At half-time it looked all but over for Egypt, as Brazil were 3-1 up, through goals from Kaka, Luis Fabiano, and Juan, while Zidan scored for Egypt.

It was the 55th minute when the game hit a turning point, as two goals in quick succession from Egypt, by Zidan and Shawky, drew the match up at 3-3, suddenly Egypt looked like they were going to win this, and if not they were sure to get a point. But thats when controversy stuck. In the 89th minute, Premier League referee, Howard Webb, awarded Brazil a penalty, but only after consulation of the fourth-official via his earpiece. However the decision was correct, as Ahmed Al Muhamadi had clearly handled the ball, subsequently he was sent off.

The controversy that is surrounding the game is, Webb appeared to give a corner at first to Brazil but later changed his mind. Referees are allowed to consult with their assistants but the use of television replays is not sanctioned by FIFA, even in this case if it was the right decision.

This was certainly Brazil’s get out of jail card, as Kaka converted the penalty, sealing a 4-3 win for Brazil.

In our evening game, the USA took on the current World Champions Italy. Italy, making their Confederations Cup debut, began without injured skipper Fabio Cannavaro. It was the Americans who looked the best side in the first half, but had midfielder Ricardo Clark sent-off after a late challenge on Gattuso. To me it was no surprise that the USA took the lead five minutes before half-time after they got a penalty, which was converted by Donovan, a well deserved lead for the USA.

Italian coach Marcello Lippi had a secret weapon up his sleeve however, as he brought former Manchester United striker Giuseppe Rossi, who scored a minute after coming on, and drew the game up at 1-1.  The USA’s disadvantage of only having 10 men was clear to see, so it was no shock when the took the lead from a fantastic goal by De Rossi. The Americans did have their chances, and one could argue that on another day they may have scored more. It was game over on the 90th minute when Rossi struck again. Giving the Italians a 3-1 win.

When you look at how Italy played overall, they didn’t deserve to win. But the goals they scored were simply fantastic.

 

Today we have a rest day in South Africa, before it all kicks off again tomorrow – with Spain vs Iraq and South Africa vs New Zealand.

Carling Cup 2009/10 – First Round Draw

Accrington Stanley v Walsall

Huddersfield Town v Stockport County

Rotherham United v Derby County

Tranmere Rovers v Grimsby Town

Sheffield Wednesday v Rochdale

Bury v West Bromwich Albion

Notts County v Doncaster Rovers

Lincoln City v Barnsley

Scunthorpe United v Chesterfield

Coventry City v Hartlepool United

Darlington v Leeds United

Preston North End v Morecambe

Crewe Alexandra v Blackpool

Carlisle United v Oldham Athletic

Nottingham Forest v Bradford City

Macclesfield Town v Leicester City

Sheffield United v Port Vale

Cardiff City v Dagenham & Redbridge

Wycombe Wanderers v Peterborough United

Southampton v Northampton Town

Barnet v Watford

Hereford United v Charlton Athletic

Bristol Rovers v Aldershot Town

Millwall v AFC Bournemouth

Gillingham v Plymouth Argyle

Colchester United v Leyton Orient

Reading v Burton Albion

Exeter City v Queens Park Rangers

Cheltenham Town v Southend United

Brentford v Bristol City

Yeovil Town v Norwich City

Crystal Palace v Torquay United

Milton Keynes Dons v Swindon Town

Swansea City v Brighton & Hove Albion

Shrewsbury Town v Ipswich Town Ties will be played during the week commencing 10th August 2009.

Wigan land Martinez – At last!

After much humming, and hawing, Wigan have finally appointed former Swansea City boss Roberto Martinez as their new manager. He was due to be appointed last Thursday, and unveiled on the same day but his appointment was delayed because his former club weren’t happy with the compensation package that was being offered.

He takes over from Steve Bruce, who left Wigan to take over at Sunderland. It is clear that Martinez is one of the great up and coming managers, at just 35 he led Swansea to the League One title in his first season in charge, and almost led them to the play-offs last season.

Martinez has earned many fans, and has impressed a lot of people with the football his team plays. Swansea last season beat FA Cup champions Portsmouth in the fourth round. This is now his first time at Wigan, as he was a player at the club from 1995-2001, making 180 appearances,  scoring 17 goals.

Wigan finished 11th last season, their second best finish in the Premier League. Surely this will be a sign of things to come, and I don’t see why Wigan can’t challenge for European football next season, and with a manager like Martinez that will be most definately possible.