Earning their Spurs?

It was brought to my attention that I was the only blogger out here in the world of wide webs that hadn't yet posted about something that happened at the weekend. No, it wasn't Lee Bowyer's goal or Liverpool's first goal scorer sounding more like a Pokemon than a defender. Of course it was Wigan's woeful defending. What? I'm not missing the point am I? Wigan lost 9-1! There's no need to mention their opponents. OK! Fine I'll swallow my pride. Spurs won 9-1 and weren't they fantastic.

The moment Harry's boys beat Liverpool on the first weekend of the season I knew something was going to happen with the boys from the lane this season. At one point Spurs were riding very high in the table, and they went into the game against Manchester United on September 12th unbeaten. It led me to tell a friend, a Tottenham fan, that I'd blog about his side's excellence if they managed to beat my own beloved Manchester United. It didn't happen, despite Jermaine Defoe's extremely early goal.

And so Harry's men went on to lose to Chelsea before dropping points to Stoke and Bolton. There was wins against Preston, Burnley and Pompey in between but they were now hardly setting the world alight.

Fortunately for them the other contenders for forth place, as long as something seriously wrong doesn't happen to Chelsea, Manchester United or Arsenal, have been dropping points.

Aston Villa for example, lying in 5th place after their closest rivals, Manchester City and Liverpool, could only draw at the weekend, have themselves dropped too many points recently. Draws against Burnley, Everton, Sunderland and Wolves have come since their win over Chelsea. They are always a force to be reckoned with in any game but simply they do not have the consistency or depth to challenge for 4th spot and once again 5th will be the best they can do.

Meanwhile, down at the City of Manchester Stadium, the great pretenders are doing just that, pretending! After beating Arsenal and coming within a whisker of an away draw to hated rivals United, City have done nothing, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. Actually that is unfair, City have set about trying to set a new Premiership record of games drawn in a row. Nothing wrong with drawing with Villa and Liverpool away but in drawing with Fulham and Burnley at home, especially when they were ahead, they have shown huge defensive frailty despite spending 24 million on Joleon Lescott and Nigel de Jong being one of the most impressive players in the Premiership currently.

Outside those two and Spurs and Liverpool are the dark horses. Sunderland are riding on the crest of a wave. Darren Bent is on supreme form and has scored against all the 'Big Four' in the last 3 months but neither him nor his manager will have any real design on a top four finish and that's because it's just short of impossible. Everton have always been the side we most expected to break the top 4, and most recent to do so, but now find themselves way down the table. Of course if anyone will get them back up the ladder it is David Moyes but top 4 is just too far away.

Back to the weekend though. Spurs destroyed Wigan 9-1, and being honest Wigan were lucky to get 1, Thierry Henry's handball was so obvious, sorry it's just the first name that comes to mind when I mention handball. Jermain Defoe was outstanding, any regular readers will already know my love for the ex West Ham striker and how much I want him to be an England starter. Aaron Lennon continues to prove why he should be THE right winger in the England squad, whilst his rival Shaun Wright-Phillips seems hell bent on getting himself out of the squad. It is Tottenham's attacking verve that is so eye catching at the moment and as any Arsenal fan will tell you, attack is often the best form of defence. And yet Spurs defence is still in question. A fit Ledley King is almost unbeatable, but a fit Ledley King is almost as rare as a rich student. Spurs though are richer in squad depth than some of their 4th place rivals and with a player as talented as Luka Modric yet to come back, Harry may not need to spend too much of Daniel Levy's money to keep his assault on the 'Big Four' going.

And now to the paragraph I've most looked forward to. If only some of the world's professional football pundits read my column- because right now I'd like to point out to them all who they tipped for Premiership glory this season, especially Alan Hansen and Phil McNulty. Yes ladies and gents it was of course Liverpool. Yes back in August everyone tipped Liverpool to win the league, how could they not, getting better every season under Rafa Benitez and United without Ronaldo, no one could see past Liverpool. Now, at five to eleven on November 24th, Liverpool find themselves in seventh place, 5 points behind 4th place Spurs. Liverpool have been good on so few occasions this season I can only really think of wins at home against Stoke and United. With Gerrard and Torres in and out of the side, due to several injuries, Liverpool have often been without their main men to dig them out of a hole, as in Lyon a few weeks ago. Injuries have also hit several other squad players and the most talked about man not to start a Premierleague match this season, Albert Aquilani, will have to be world class as soon as he does start a game if they are to improve. The match against City on Saturday only put the Red's frailties into a greater light, they still can't defend set pieces- when Craig Bellamy eventually got one past the first man Adebayour scored. And they still don't have enough match winners, with Gerrard marked out the game by de Jong there was no one to step up.

And yet tonight something that most of us would not have predicted happened, Liverpool went out of the Champions League in the group stages. Throughout Rafa's years in charge when Liverpool have struggled domestically moments of European magic have saved them. This time it will not be the case. Jamie Carragher today said "The Europa League is still a piece of silverware" but it is not the one Liverpool should be playing for, nor is it a foregone conclusion that they will be anywhere near winning it. This should demoralise and humiliate a club who's history is all about winning the Champions League and it should lead to Benitez being sacked, but it won't. Liverpool cannot afford to sack Benitez and have to pay his wages along with whichever expensive European would come in to replace him. This makes Liverpool dangerous, they are now a squad who have disappointed very passionate fans, a club who know only a top four finish can give them a way into the Champions League, and a manager who knows that failure to get the top 4 position will cost him his job!

Of course what your all really interested in is how did Sporting JLGB do this week. Well after weeks of games cancelled and all players being out of match fitness, facing a side in form in the league, with two of our best players still out injured there was only ever going to be one result..... we won, 1-0, a score that is so rarely seen in our league it took me about 2 days to believe it happened. So through to the next round of the cup we go. Next week another cup game and the week after yet another.... well it's all silverware ey Jamie!

Hey Bobbi what is the French for "Handball"

After a night as exciting as last night I thought I'd fall straight asleep, of course I didn't. It had nothing to do with thinking about Slovenia's win against Russia, Portugal's inevitable victory over Bosnia, nor Greece making it to the World Cup for the first time in a while, nor Algeria's historic play-off win over Egypt, I wasn't even thinking about Uruguay being the last team to qualify for said tournament. Now you're all expecting me to claim my sleep deprivation had something to do with France's draw, and subsequent win over two legs, against Ireland, well it didn't, I just don't sleep too well generally.

There is though some people I could well imagine having varying sleep patterns last night who could blame the game. I say the game, one incident that changed everything. If the match last night had finished France 1-1 Republic of Ireland there's a good chance that I wouldn't have anything particular to write about, I would be writing about all the teams who qualified, not just last night but all the teams going to South Africa. Instead it finished Platini 1-1 Republic of Ireland, oh how I hope that French bastard is happy (excuse the French).

So here's my run down of how some of the main player's in last night's play would have slept;

Richard Dunne; A wall at the back for the Irish last night. That was until his foundations were rumbled and down came the wall. As the final whistle blew Dunne, a man in supreme form at the moment who would have been instrumental in the World Cup, sat on the edge of the box. He looked desolate, like a broken man, how he didn't cry was beyond me. When they eventually got back to the team hotel I imagine Dunne, talking to barely any one, pacing around asking himself the usual questions "why!", "what if", "what now". Maybe the Villa man got an hour or two sleep at the end of the night, when every question had been asked, but unanswered. Unfortunately for Dunne they will remain unanswered, he has to go back to his club side and concentrate on the Premier league, as hard as it may be. Next time the World Cup roles around, in 2014, Dunne will be nearly 35, so for him last night may have been it.

Giovanni Trapattoni; A legend in Italian, world and now Irish football. Watching the 70 year old in today's press conference one thing is for sure- he's pissed off. All the questions that Dunne may have asked himself last night Trapattoni has asked them all and more to himself, to the FAI, to Liam Brady, to the press. The Italian doesn't take the view of many, most of us would blame the player involved in the incident, the Italian blames the officials. But perhaps more importantly he has questioned FIFA, and he is right to. He has questioned the choice of officials but more importantly the ranking system suddenly imposed by FIFA for the play-offs, and why his team were the only non-ranked side to play away in the 2nd leg. My assumption on Ireland's manager is that he did sleep, not too well though, he was probably constantly woken up by his own thoughts, all those questions would have not set well on his mind. At 70 the ex-Juventus man would be forgiven for thinking about retirement, I hope he stays on and leads the Irish to the Euros in 2012, and if the universe likes maybe they could knock out France somewhere along the line.

Thierry Henry; This is a tricky one. Henry is an awesome footballer. He is one of, if not the best player I have ever seen. I have never seen Pele or Maradona, often mentioned as the two greatest players, play football and so I cannot wade in on the argument, but certainly in terms of the last decade he is the player of our time! The Frenchman made a name for himself playing for Arsenal, a team, perhaps unfairly, known for cheating. And yet you could never really tar Thierry with the cheating brush, Henry was too busy cutting in from the left, destroying a defender or two on the way, and curling the ball majestically past the keeper and into the top corner of the goal. Last night however I feel Henry has damaged his reputation forever. As the ball came over he could have made a choice, attempt to keep the ball on legally, difficult but legal, or knowingly handle the ball to keep it on the pitch. He did the latter, he cheated, it's that simple. Henry will now be synonymous with that handball, no matter your opinion on him, it has happened before with other world class players. Diego Maradona may be the world's best player ever and yet most can't think about him without discussing his handball moment, 'Hand of God part one' if you will. And another Frenchman, another who could argue to be one of the best players ever, Zinedine Zidane can not now be thought of without the headbutt which ended his career. Back to the point though, sat next to Dunne in the penalty area after the match was Henry. He sat, pensive looking, and consoled Dunne. Later on he laughed off suggestions he should have told the ref he handled the ball, for me it was an act. Henry is generally a fair man, one who slept last night, but the voices in his head probably kept waking him up.

Our final players can be mentioned together, neither would of had problems sleeping, they would not have needed sleep tablets, hot milk or a bedtime story. Quite frankly these two may as well have slept together last night, snuggling up to each other in the warmth of their own disgusting bodies, safe in the knowledge that, apart from Russia, it was job done. The two morons are of course Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter. Moron A, that's how I'll refer to Platini from now on, is the Frenchman in charge of UEFA. It is him who does not want video refs. I admit that the ref may not have asked for video evidence but with all those Irish complaints I can't help but feel he would have done. Of course Moron A would argue that his idea to have extra linesman behind the goal would have worked last night, unless of course the linesman was tying his shoelaces at the time. But it is Moron A's absolute refusal to have video software help out referees which has caused us to look elsewhere, test out his extra linesman and thus slow the process of getting more correct decisions. Moron B, for Blatter, is the head of FIFA. A man concerned with only two things in life, money and wrecking the English game. It is his love of money which led to this debacle. Never before have qualifying play-offs been seeded, but suddenly with France and Portugal, packed with big money making names such as Henry and Ronaldo, due to be in the play-offs Moron B changed the system. He couldn't possibly sit idly by as one money maker knocked out another. In came the seedings and through went both Portugal and France. One of his officials may have been wrong and the use of video refs called into question again but Moron B won't care, he just made some more money.

I feel for the Irish I really do, I also feel for the referee. It may have been an awful decision but it was not one he made on purpose, he will now always be the referee who allowed that goal and I hope for his and his family's sake he continues to be an international ref and doesn't get any death threats that have come the way of other controversial refs. For Blatter and Platini the means does not matter, it is all about the result. The same could be said of Henry, I hope it plays on his and the French's conscience and they perform the way they should in the World Cup. Most of all I hope that all this doesn't take a shine off the World Cup. For now it will cloud all our excitement, hopefully come 4th December it will all be forgotten!

Who's making the right noises?

They say a week is a long time in football, and yet it seems I haven't been able to write about it in three. This despite Sir Alex's ranting, United losses to Chelsea and Liverpool, the 2018 bid being restructured, Liverpool being on the verge of Champions League exit, David Beckham leading L.A Galaxy to the MLS Cup final and Robin van Persie using horse placenta to cure his ankle. All in all there's been a lot to write about. Perhaps my lack of activity stems from the Sunday leagues, down at the bottom rung of football life has been stagnant, the weather has caused havoc with our fixtures with the last 3 cancelled.

But I return to you now to blog about the topic you have come to realise I am most passionate about- international football. The weekend just gone was in fact one of those few occasions when the sporting gods threw all international sport at us at once. And England came up short, everywhere!

The rugby union side, destroyed by injuries, were dreadful to say the very least- they won but they may as well have lost. The cricket team, with some injuries, were well beaten in the 2nd Twenty20 international (the one run win on Friday hardly saves them). The rugby league side, not with injuries, had Australia on the ropes, leading with 20 minutes to go and then lost, 46-16.

Then there was the football team, led by new father and stand in captain Wayne Rooney, interrupted by injuries to all but two of their regular starters. The 2nd (or possibly 3rd) choice side took to the field against the most successful side in World Cup history, Brazil, of course. I mention their history because that's what the next few months are all about, the World Cup that is. The fact that England lost is unimportant, that they played averagely as a unit is also redundant, this match was all about those 'fringe players' and if they could cement their place in the squad to South Africa.

In goal Ben Foster, who has been dodgy for England in the past, had a good game. He made a couple of decent saves and his only dodgy moments, giving away the penalty and a kick from the ground going straight to Kaka, were the faults of Wes Brown and Matthew Upson respectively, and importantly didn't get punished. Wes Brown managed to almost certainly write his name off the squad list, the right back position is one of England's problem areas behind Glen Johnson and yet Brown was so awful it just will not do in the World Cup, it is a shame for a player who has been so solid at club level. The rest of the defence was more solid, I'm still not convinced by Lescott and Bridge but who there is to replace them is a question I can't answer and I'm afraid nor could Mr Capello. In midfield obviously Gareth Barry is a World Cup starter, his main competition would be a fit and in form Owen Hargreaves but that is still yet to be seen. Jermaine Jenas did little wrong, but unlike Capello's first match in charge, when Jenas got the winning goal, he did nothing right and will never get passed the first choice England midfield and would also struggle against the 2nd choice. On the flanks James Milner continues to impress with a mix of industry and skill and will definately be on the plane. On the opposite flank though, with Mr Beckham helping his side to the MLS Cup final, Shaun Wright-Phillips did himself no favours with a mule like first touch, of course things may have been different for him had captain Wayne got on the end of his early cross. Up front Kai's dad ran his heart out as always, and the captain's armband suited him well, he IS a future United and England captain and record breaker and if anyone was going to break Brazil it was going to be him. Finally was Darren Bent, a player I have often said I would have in my England squad- perhaps no more. The former Spurs player played, well, like he was back at Spurs and not at his Sunderland best. Playing like that will not help his chances, which after Saturday I believe are all but gone.

All this means that Foster, Upson, Bridge, and Milner are all edging closer to that plane with only injury likely to stop Upson and Milner. It also means that players such as Joe Cole, Owen Hargreves, Phil Jagielka and maybe even Michael Owen still have a change. Finally it means David James, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Wes Brown and Darren Bent will still be hoping till the last.

Of course England weren't the only ones playing on Saturday and the only one's who gave us some clues to the future. For one there was the opposition, Brazil, World Cup favourites and rightly so. Many 'purists' have complained that Brazil don't play with the flare and beauty of the 1970 winning and 1982 losing sides but in this day and age of greater physical players it is almost impossible. Then again any side with Kaka, Robinho, Maicon, Elano, Nilmar and Dani Alves amongst their ranks can hardly be thought to have a lack of flair and class. The debate though is pretty pointless, the real talking point is how good they look as a team and with the odd adjustment to the side, including Robinho coming back into the side, few would doubt their World Cup credentials.

Elsewhere Spain, the World Cup's joint favourites, took on the team who on talent alone should be one of the favourites but add in their hopeless manager and you have a team who barely qualified for the World Cup. Of course Argentina won't be so bad at the tournament but don't expext them to be good enough to retire Carlos Tevez- clearly life for the blue side of Manchester must either be so stressful or boring that it makes you consider retirement so young. Spain look healthy, and that's an understatement, a side that boast Fabregas, Iniesta and Xavi in the centre of midfield and Torres and Villa upfront are dangerous (they have loads of other talent but why bother naming many or any others).

Two of Europe's super powers taught us very little as Italy and Holland drew 0-0. The Dutch will always flatter to decieve before inevitably losing in the quarter finals, noooo it doesn't sound familiar at all! The Italians at times seem to be clueless, Marcello Lippi seemingly thinks he's back in 2006, choosing as close to the World Cup winning squad as possible whilst trying to push through a passport for Brazillian born Juventus striker Amauri and ignoring Italian born attacking midfield genius Antonio Cassano.

Of course one of the other favourite's for the World Cup, and seemingly every World Cup, Germany, did not play this weekend, and all our thoughts should be with Robert Enke's family and the German and Hannover squads, football is sometimes the least important thing in life.

In Cardiff the boys of Wales took on the men of Scotland in a match that mattered not to getting ready for the World Cup and was just further proof as to why Scotland never needed to worry about a Great Britain squad at the 2012 olympics, none of thier players would have been in it! The Scots have a bleak future, in the short term at least, with George Burley finally sacked, how he'd survived so long is beyond me, and with players barely good enough for the Sunday leagues there is a lot of rebuilding to do. Lots of names are being thrown about for the post and perhaps the Scots should go back to the tried and tested, and soon to be out of a contract, Walter Smith. I'd go for youth and inexperience in Darren Ferguson, it's out there I know but I'd like to see the SFA be a bit daring. The Welsh though have something to smile about, despite a qualifying campaign that ended as soon as a good performance in Russia didn't end in a win they do at least have extremely talented youngsters such as Aaron Ramsey, Simon Church, Gareth Bale, and Joe Ledley- all young and all collecting many caps already.

The hosts meanwhile were playing Japan to continue their on pitch preperations. Bafana Bafana will be so determined to play well in the World Cup and not find themselves as the first hosts failing to advance passed the group stages. To kick start their warm up matches they drew 0-0 with the Japan in Port Elizabeth. It doesn't sound exciting does it, but after the match Motoaki Inukai, President of the Japanese FA, complained about the famous vuvuzela trumpet, an African instrument known for being loud. It is according to Mr Inukai too loud, You can't hear yourself speak. I will be bringing it up (with Fifa president Sepp Blatter),". As far as noise is concerned it's South Africa making the loudest ones... or maybe it's Japan!

First Scotland! Then the World?

It has been quite sometime since Henrik Larsson looked like this, but oddly enough this is how I remember him most. Ok not in the Sweden shirt, but with his dreadlocks scoring goals in the green and white hooped top of Celtic. For those of you who don't know, Larsson announced his retirement yesterday. 2009 has already seen legends like Maldini, Figo, Nedved and Dean Windass, ok well the latter may not quite be a legend, hang up their boots, and now Henrik joins them.

In all senior levels of football one thing remains the same, the size of the net! So surely a goalscorer in one country could suggest he is a goalscorer in any country. Therefor a great goalscorer for, say Celtic, could claim to be a great goalscorer full stop, one of the best in the modern era.

But is it that simple? Can Larsson really be compared to the greats of today's game or does his extended time in the Scottish Premier League mean he can not really be compared to the Inzaghis and Shevchenkos of the world.

His main opponent in Scotland is that cheeky chappy Mr Ally McCoist. McCoist was at the heart of the Ranger's attack during their 9-in-a-row league winning sides. His record is 2nd to none, well it would be, he scored a goal every 1.66 games for the blues of Glasgow, not bad. But not Henrik, the Swede has a goal record of one every 1.3 games for Celtic. Oh yeah, he's also the top scorer ever in the SPL, so as far as Scottish football goes, he's a great!

It seems that most of Europe's best goalscorers in the modern era are linked by the fact that, in the main, they have scored most of their goals for one club. Shearer has Newcastle, van Nistelrooy has Manchester United, Shevchenko has Milan, Batistua
has Fiorentina, Inzaghi has Milan and Trezeguet has Juventus. You basically get the point that an extended period at one club equals more goals. It's the same with managers, consistency breeds success because you get used to the way player's around you play and eventually the team plays around you.

So can we really judge the dreadlocked (well he used to be) Swede for staying at one place, after all his contemporaries stuck around at one place for so long. Then again Inzaghi scored his goals against opposition such as Inter Milan and Roma, with players such as Fabio Cannavaro and Walter Samuel in defence. Larsson scored his goals against Aberdeed and Dundee, with players such as Jamie McAllister and Chris Coyne, I won't say anything too untoward about the latter two but you get the comparison.

So Larsson is a great goalscorer in Scotland, and it clearly attracted many clubs to him, the fact there is any debate suggests there is some reasoning to say he is one of the modern greats. Then there is Henrik's other clubs. He impressed enough at Celtic to earn him a shot at the big time with Barcelona. In his first season with the Catalan giants he picked up a serious injury and played just 10 league matches, although he did manage a Champions League goal against Celtic, uncelebrated of course. In season two for Barce he scored 13 goals in 40 matches, not a great strike rate but still enough goals to help win La Liga. But perhaps his best performance came in the Champions League final as a substitute against Arsenal, he came on with Barcelona 1-0 down and turned the game on its head supplying both his team's goals in a 2-1 victory. It led Ronaldinho to say "With Henrik leaving us at the end of the season this club is losing a great scorer, no question. But I am also losing a great friend. Henrik was my idol and now that I am playing next to him it is fantastic." and Thierry Henry to say "People always talk about Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Giuly and everything, but I didn't see them today, I saw Henrik Larsson. He came on, he changed the game, that is what killed the game. Sometimes you talk about Ronaldinho and Eto'o and people like that; you need to talk about the proper footballer who made the difference, and that was Henrik Larsson tonight." Not bad praise at all!

His performances for Barcelona led to them offering him a new contract, he turned it down, instead to go home to Helsinborg. The homecoming was put on hold, after playing for one of the world's biggest clubs another approached him as a loan signing for 3 months, Larsson was Premiership bound with Manchester United of all teams. He scored 3 goals in 13 matches in all competitions and picked up more silver wear with United winning the Premier league and asking for a medal for Larsson. Oh yeah he once again plagued former manager Martin O'Neil by scoring against Villa in the FA Cup.

So Henrik Larsson, a man who scored lots and lots of goals in Scotland. Who moved to Barceolna and won the La Liga and European Champions League and then moved to Manchester United and helped them win the English Premier league. A man who scored at 3 World Cups and was so inspirational to the Swedish team he was asked out of international retirement twice. A striker who's goal per game record is up there with the best and even better than some.

Yet the nagging feeling won't go away, would Larsson have scored so many in the peak of his career if he'd played in a top league. More to the point, when you chose a best 11 from the last decade would Larsson get in your team? For me the answer is no! Give me Raul and Henry up front any day and I'll be a very happy manager! On the other hand I'll never forget the young Swede running away in celebration, tongue sticking out, because goals are worth the same no matter what level of football! Take a bow son, take a bow!

Doing it easy is just, to easy!

Football really does damage your health. From the cold sweats to the over aggressive celebrations, the heart and most of the body aren't really built to take the punishment but some how we battle through, we watch, we enjoy!

Sometimes our passion goes further, it makes us take part, maybe when we're not good enough, or fit enough, or don't really want to. At times in the last few months Diego Maradona would have felt a whole new feeling, that maybe, for once, he wasn't good enough. Throughout his career Diego has always been too good. But it was always at playing the game, managing the game is like a whole different sport, one which many talented players have failed at.

And the Argentinian legend had seemed to be one of those as well, having taken the position of national manager Diego has put his almost Godesque status in his native country on the line, he has struggled. So, going into the final match of the qualifying campaign away to Uruguay, Argentina were on the brink of not getting to a World Cup for the first time since 1970.

Having been the villain of the piece for many months Diego threw on young Mario Bolatti as a late substitue and just four minutes later Argentina led 1-0 and that was that, the old enemy were heading to South Africa.

With Maradona at the helm Argentina look week, frail, and all together at a loss as to how play football. Scary thought considering they posses the world's best player, Lionel Messi, and several other rather decent players, Tevez, Higuain, Veron, Mascherano, Gutierrez, Heinze to name but a few of them. And if they continue playing the way they have been the World Cup will not last long for them.

Unfortunately for their rivals they wont continue to play this way. The World Cup does magical things to footballers, especially those who have suffered adversity on the way to said event.

Rewind if you will just 4 years ago. The Italian national team arrived in Germany on the back of one of the biggest scandals to hit any footballing league in the world. Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio, three of the countries biggest teams were relegated to the 2nd tier of football, whilst Milan and Regina picked up points deductions. The scandal meant players such as Italian captain, Fabio Cannavaro, would be playing in Serie B, imagine John Terry in the Championship if you will.

The Italian side were not expected to do too well with the scandal expected to be on the minds of all of thier players. In the group stages the Italians were good but not exceptional, beating Ghana and Czech Republic then drawing with U.S.A, the Azzuri topped their group as was expected. Four years earlier Italy had gone out in Round 2 against Guus Hiddink's South Korea, who were helped by a dreadful Italian performance and some rather awful home refereeing decisions. This time round they faced Australia, managed by none other than Guus Hiddink, this time it was Italy who got the rub of the green, being awarded a 95th minute dodgy penalty to make it 1-0. The quarter final was a 3-0 run over of the very average Ukraine.

Suddenly the semi's were upon us and excitement had reached fever pitch. The Italians scored two late goals in a magnificent extra time match against the Germans and the final was set up, the determined Italians vs the French, a team who possesed a retiring Zinedine Zidane. I could write a whole post dedicated to that man, possibly one just dedicated to the picture of him walking past the World Cup trophy and down the tunnel after his sending off. The Italians of course won on that night! They fought through adversity, through pain! They won when they perhaps felt they weren't good enough, were too emotionally injured and perhaps they didn't even want to be there!

Any one writing off Argentina, in the same way that many wrote off Italy, would be stupid. In 2002 Brazil were written off after a dreadful qualifying campaign, of course they won the World Cup that year. Meanwhile England this year qualified easily and head to the World Cup full of expectation, that will be furthered by the media's and fan's view that we will win the World Cup. Maybe we need a touch of Argentina, although with Wayne Rooney in our ranks we may just have an English Maradona!

Essential work horse or time for the glue factory?

There is a man amongst England's current strike force who, when he scores England win. Oh how I wish it was Wayne Rooney. Admittedly only once in a competitive match have England failed to win when Mr. Rooney has been on the score sheet, although this was a rather big match in Russia back in October 2007.

There is a player amongst England's current back line who has played 57 times for England (at time of writing) and scored 6 goals. England have never lost when said player scores, although they do have a draw against Brazil on one occasion. Unfortunately John Terry doesn't score often enough.... oh wait the first player is Emile Heskey, oops!

Yes 'Big' Emile has never been on a losing side, or even a drawing one, when he has scored for England. But then his international record reads played 57 scored 7, JT is only one goal off!

The list of when Heskey has scored his goals is as follows; Malta, Spain, Germany, Denmark, South Africa, Slovakia, Kazakhstan! Some decent enough opposition, well Spain, Germany and Denmark at least.

But the simple stats and that list don't tell the full story. Heskey's first goal, against Malta in a friendly, was scored way back in June 2000, his first competitive goal came in that match in Munich, you know the 5-1 victory for England!!! Since then he has scored two, yes only two, more competitive goals for his country, at the 2002 World Cup against Denmark in the 2nd round and against Kazakhstan in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. That goal, which is his most recent goal for England, was scored one week short of the 7th anniversary of his previous competitive goal, now there's a striker!

Fast forward to the present day and the Aston Villa striker, that's Heskey not Terry by the way, has come out and said he may need to leave his current team to guarantee his place in the squad for next year's World Cup. This is no surprise. Fabio Capello has made it clear that the players in his squad will have to be playing club football in order to get into his squad and Heskey simply is not. Of course I've already pointed out Heskey's goalscoring problem, but even during his most successful club spells, at Leicester and at Wigan, the ex Liverpool striker wasn't a great goalscorer. What is probably more worrying is a statistic surrounding Wayne Rooney; if Heskey is in the side to set up Rooney why is it that the Manchester United striker has scored 6 goals without Heskey on the pitch and 5 with him on the pitch since Capello took over at the helm. Now of course there isn't a great deal between the two figures and it isn't complete proof of anything but it does beg the question of whether Rooney, who is supposed to be the main beneficiary of Heskey's presence, is really benefiting from him being there.

Meanwhile across the land there is players such as Jermain Defoe, Carlton Cole and Darren Bent playing regularly and scoring goals for their club sides. Furthermore Cole and Bent add goals to their game of height and strength, something Heskey has never been able to do. Added to the list of possible partners, for the almost undroppable Rooney, are Gabriel Agbonlahor, who may well get to play in place of Rooney against Belarus, Peter Crouch and even Michael Owen. All these players are capable of scoring more goals than Heskey and each have their own attributes which could be vital to any World Cup campaign something Heskey can boast less and less about.

On Wednesday England play Belarus at Wembley in the last game of the World Cup qualifying campaign, it doesn't matter all too much, in terms of result, but for some players, specifically Emile Heskey, it could well kick start their campain to get on the plane to South Africa next summer.

Football's West Lothian Affair!

Welcome to the English Premier league, home of some of the world’s greatest teams, players, managers, coaches and stadiums. Not all of them English admittedly, and I mean that for the players, managers, coaches and to an extent the stadiums, although the choice of Australian builders for Wembley wasn’t what you’d call an inspired choice, but the teams are most certainly English.

Welcome to the Scottish Premier league, home of some of Scotland’s best teams, players, managers, coaches and stadiums- well it has all of Scotland’s teams, for now!

There may be no greater tragedy in domestic football if than if Glasgow’s powerhouses of Scottish football, Celtic and Rangers, were to join the English leagues.

There can only be one reason for these two sides to want to join the elite this side of the border, money. Many will suggest it is for success but it is clear that this is an afterthought as it is money that breeds success and not the other way round in most cases. In most domestic leagues throughout, certainly Europe if not the World, there is usually only three or four clubs who are likely to win the league. I don’t need to go through the list of the main players in England, Italy, France, Germany, Spain or Scotland we know them all. But look at Russia, Austria, Belgium, Israel, Portugal, Ukraine, Holland it is always the same teams competing in the European competitions, we can only assume it’s therefore the same teams picking up trophies domestically.

It is also the same clubs who win the big prizes in Europe, mainly from England, Spain and Italy. There has of course been the odd surprise from, say, Portugal or Germany. There is also the ever unpredictable UEFA Cup/Europa League which throws up winners from all over the place, although this may end now with the new set up favouring consistency as it’s more esteemed cousin the Champions League. Consistency means the strongest teams will always rise to the top and lowers the risk of upset. So expect Champions League drop outs or those who struggled domestically last season, and ended in the 2nd tier of European football, to be competing in Hamburg come May.

The point here really is that Celtic and Rangers have no divine right to the money that the English league generates, funny way to suggest it I know, but basically being the most successful club/s by a country mile in a below par domestic league is not exactly a one off, unique in only Scotland. It happens everywhere, and yet there isn’t to my knowledge any question of Anderlecht and Standard Liege joining the Dutch leagues just because the two countries are neighbours.

Actually the whole thing is extremely laughable for one big reason! In 2012 there will be some small multi-sport event in London, you may have heard of it, the Olympics I think it’s called. In said event there is a football medal up for grabs. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have never competed in the football at the Olympics. The reason for this is because at the Olympics the four nations compete together as Great Britain, at football they compete separately with separate Football Associations. With the Olympics being held on home soil the BOA (British Olympic Association) thought it would be a jolly good idea to enter as many, if not all, sports available. The English F.A thought a football team in the Olympics would also be a jolly good idea. The Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh F.As on the other hand were all worried about their status as separately competing nations when it comes to footballing matters. I think we all agree a fair argument. How then can it be a good idea for Celtic and Rangers, the two sides from Scotland with any remote chance of making an impact internationally, to compete in English competitions, where they have little or no chance of qualifying for said international competitions? Way to show some patriotism!

Some north of the border have suggested that it would be good for the Glasgow monopoly on all competitions to flee. After all it would bring serious competition back to the league and bring the crowds back to the grounds. Cue all those south of the border with Sky Sports channels switching off as soon as Inverness vs. Aberdeen kicks off. A lack of Celtic and Rangers in the league would not make the rest of the clubs better teams, it would just get of the two decent sides. The league might come down to more than just the four Glasgow derbies in a season but only a few seasons of Aberdeen and Hearts reign (these clubs are an example) would mean they instantly became a lot richer than the likes of Falkirk due to European money, suddenly two new ‘superpowers’ of Scottish football and we’re back to square one, great!

Meanwhile down in England! “Welcome to Parkhead on this cold Saturday afternoon as Celtic take on Portsmouth”, just think of the hoards of Pompey fans wanting to make the long, and no doubt, expensive trip to Glasgow during these times of recession. Fans of both Celtic and Rangers will tell you that atmosphere’s at their grounds are amazing, and no doubt the games I’ve watched that these teams take part in have seen great crowds, but then again I only watch derby games and European nights so it’s hardly surprising. The fact is that most, if not all, team’s fans are the same. Loud away from home, loud at big games, loud when the mood suits them, but quiet a lot of the time and there to watch football being played and not make ridiculous amounts of noise all the time. The other thing I’d say for the fans is that I went through Manchester the night after Rangers UEFA cup final loss and I’d rather not see my city looking like that again thanks, one off maybe but I still don't want another potential Milwall or Leeds.

Celtic and Rangers aren’t good enough to compete week in week out in the Premier League, maybe one day, with all the money the Premier League generates, they will be. But that’s the point; they have done nothing to warrant all that money. I’ll tell you what my Sunday league football club could do with all that money and then we’ll start our Europa League campaign!