tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17262791105260112082023-11-16T02:24:23.616-08:00Off the UprightDylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-23347421630601565792012-12-19T13:14:00.001-08:002013-01-10T14:49:21.462-08:00Fixtures Announced<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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Following the announcement of the 2013 League of Ireland fixtures earlier this afternoon UCD will open their campaign, on <b>March 8</b>, with an away visit to <b>Bohemiens</b>. Their <b>first home fixture</b>, against <b>Derry City</b>, will come the following Friday, on <b>March 15</b>. They will then subsequently travel to the south-west of the country to lock horns with newly-promoted Limerick City, following a long overdue spell outside Ireland's top-tier for the Blues.<br />
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Among the domestic glamour home ties for UCD, they will play host to <b>Sligo Rovers </b>(<b>April 1</b>), <b>St.</b> <b>Patrick's Athletic</b> (<b>April 12</b>), <b>Shamrock Rovers</b> (<b>April 26</b>) and again against the same sides on September 20, October 4 and October 18 respectively.<br />
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Speaking today on the season opener at Dalymount Park UCD manager Martin Russell seemed optimistic ahead of the new campaign. He was also keen to stress the impact UCD's new players will hope to have come March, following the departure of key figures, such as Paul O'Conor, Danny Ledwith and Graham Rusk, during the off-season.<br />
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"We will look forward to going to Dalymount to start the new season, It's a great opportunity for our new players to showcase their ability on one of the biggest stages in the league."<br />
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On the inaugural home league fixture Russell also spoke about looking forward to welcoming Derry City, the FAI Cup winners, as well as the following weeks trip to Thomand Park in Limerick. The latter, he emphasised, "will be a nice place for the lads to play in such a big stadium".<br />
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Captain Mick Leahy, meanwhile, echoed a similar sentiment, willing the team to "build on a good result" in the opening fixture, and "get more points than we did over the first series of games last season."<br />
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Leahy is also particularly looking forward to the Limerick fixture as it "should be a great place to play" and it presents the opportunity to revisit some family living in the county, which it will doubtless be an added incentive for the 23-year-old.<br />
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For a full list of UCD AFC's 2013 fixtures <a href="http://www.ucdsoccer.com/airtricity-league/premier-division/fixtures-a-results">click here</a><br />
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<br />Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-88912613766477469662012-10-04T15:09:00.000-07:002012-10-05T15:50:41.731-07:00THE GREAT ESCAPE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As the League of Ireland lumbered its way past the mid-way point in the season UCD AFC were a team that looked doomed. Rooted to the bottom, winless for what seemed an eternity, the Students looked destined for a relegation showdown. (Mustering just a single victory in seventeen outings didn't do them any favours, either.) As Dundalk, their nearest competitors, inched their way bit by bit away from UCD, grabbing the odd point or three every couple of games, the College were a team desperately struggling for any sort of momentum. After a decent beginning to the season, winning two of their three opening home fixtures - although they were docked three points for Monaghan's withdrawal from the League, which was reckoned to have knocked their confidence a bit - their momentum soon waned, before enduring on a horrid run which culminated in them claiming bottom place, with nowhere to look but down.<br />
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But then, fortunately, they were handed a lifeline. The resurgence, initiated through Paul Corry's sublime curling effort in the final minutes away to newly-promoted Shelbourne, saw them slowly move their way up the table. With each victory came a reassurance that they weren't ready to roll over just yet. This unprecedented rekindled sense of spirit set UCD, buoyed on by its young fan base, appealing to such a target market for its tendency to produce attractive football (though sometimes not such attractive results), on their way, having tapped into such a timely rich vein of form, and they haven't looked back sense.<br />
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Their form, prior to a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of St. Patrick's Athletic on Monday, read like this: five wins and a draw from their last seven league fixtures. Only St. Patrick's Athletic and Sligo Rovers have bettered that feat and there have been endless theories as to how UCD rode such luck and wriggled their way out of trouble, lengthening the gape between them and Dundalk to ten points with Friday's desperately unlucky draw away to Bohemians. Confirmation of their safety was imminent.<br />
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The most obvious of reasons was to do with their dynamic holding midfielder Paul Corry who departed for Hillsborough as deadline day reared its ugly head. His absence, though it was through him UCD kickstarted this run, strangely coincided with UCD's significant improvement in the League and considering he was one of UCD's most cherished players it left the fans slightly baffled. (This theory, that it was basically him alone holding UCD back, was even mooted to him on his Facebook, to which he responded, in obvious sarcastic fashion, "thanks for that enormous boost of confidence".) Martin Russell, the man at the helm at UCD, saw this as an opportunity to shake things up and in came Barry McCabe, while Dean Clark also began featuring prominently as a formation change beckoned. Corry's defensive-mindedness, although useful in breaking up counter-attacks and sweeping up any arising danger, seemed to be holding his team back and the introduction of Clark and McCabe seemed to breath new life into UCD's sails.<br />
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The spike in UCD's fortunes also lays thanks to David MacMillan's second-coming. The former St. Pat's talisman netted on his first night back, while the fans took to his presence immediately and showered it with adulation. He preceded to add a handful of more goals, some crucial along the way, as he kick-started The Students' hugely unprecedented revival. His impersonating of Graham Rusk's role - UCD's usual number nine who had too rode his luck early on in the season with his dispatching of a cluster of penalties, but was then sidelined for several moths with a lengthy lay-off - has been to near perfection, averaging a goal every other game since his return, and its no wonder how he's already nailed down a starting slot ahead of Chris Lyons and Cillian Morrison.<br />
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The manner of UCD's victories have also warranted high praise for the way in which the club, a football team based as part of the University College of Dublin, has found ways of keeping their head above the water.<br />
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This is a side which consists of students currently attending UCD, the college, as opposed to the heaps of professional clubs that actually employ players as part of a full-time job. Currently, the reportedly highest paid player in the League of Ireland, Gary Twigg, receives in excess of €1,000 a week. Those who ply their trade at UCD get a fraction of that sum but they hold an advantage over these players with the education programme they are currently undertaking, which, as well as providing the UCD players with an educational backbone, also lends them an invaluable experience of competing at the highest tier in Irish league football. Many players skip out on education which leaves them in serious trouble if football doesn't work out, which is the case in a lot of cases.<br />
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Paul Corry is a fine, and recent, good example of this. The Dubliner, having recently made the daring step of crossing the channel to England, combined studies with football during his four-year stay in college. Although his style of play attracted many potential suitors, he continued his studies, despite Burnley, at the time flying high in the Premier League, enquiring about his services. He left the college with a degree secured and a lucrative move to Sheffield to reward his four years of dedication to UCD, both on and off the pitch.<br />
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With the amount of players leaving and returning from abroad having skipped out on education in the process they are served a second-chance at UCD where an opportunity arises to test their mettle against the best in the country. Sure, the devotion to the football programme are significantly less frequent than professional clubs, but the intensity and the competitiveness remain the same as any other team in the League of Ireland and that's, in the end, what makes the football team so unique. Although they invest less time on the pitch than professionally paid players do they still manage to defy the odds, beat the drop and plan ahead for yet another year of top tier Irish football which in itself is a bonus as it at attracts a higher quantity of players and gives the coaches a better pool to choose from when there are new additions to the college each year.<br />
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So, as another successful year for the College draws to a close fans can once again look forward to the promise of League of Ireland football at the UCD Bowl next season, a promise that seems all the more remarkable considering the horror run UCD endured for what dragged on for what seemed a lot longer than the four months it lasted.Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-76482686138583394022012-09-19T16:10:00.001-07:002012-09-19T16:10:27.599-07:00"And to be fair, she was a fucking winner...." Jason McAteer Takes a Trip Down Memory Lane<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ONLY 32,500 VIEWS? For shame.</span></div>
Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-75450147713805336552012-08-28T16:43:00.001-07:002012-08-28T16:56:48.964-07:00Paul Corry Makes "Dream Move" Abroad a Reality as he Departs UCD<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">There was never a chance UCD could keep a talent like Paul Corry forever. A deep-lying hugely cherished midfielder, the 21-year-old had plied his trade at UCD for three years refusing the urge of Owen Coyle's Burnley to pursue his education and a college degree. Now, three years on from initially turning his back on a "dream move" to England, Corry has once again been the subject of intense transfer speculation. Only this time it was Sheffield Wednesday and this time he accepted.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;">During August, as rumours continued to swirl over where his future lay, a tremendous amount of attention was paid to his Twitter account. Cue the onslaught of questions, all tied, inevitably, to the same topic: where he was heading. He was coy and smart in his responses, citing he had to "see what happens" - obviously a shrewd tactic; neither revealing nor concealing any information he may have known - and the fact that he never shied away the interest surely told the UCD fans he was on his way. They were forced to accept the inevitable as a fully-fit Corry didn't partake in Derry City knocking out UCD at home in the 3rd round of the FAI Ford Cup. The writing was clearly on the wall and it was only a matter of time until the Owls had their man.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222;">Unfortunately for the Students, Corry's future had been clouded by uncertainty for the better part of a year. After the 2011 League of Ireland season, as clubs stepped up their pursuit of him, few expected the former Belvedere schoolboy to remain with one of the League's weaker sides. He admitted that he had spoken to various managers, just before the new year as teams were beginning their pre-season training, but an overwhelming sense of pride - and a determination to see out his college degree - saw him stay, signing on for another year at UCD. Martin Russell, UCD manager, had sought "continuity" from the season before and securing the services of one of his star players for another year guaranteed just that. Corry, only twenty-one, knew that at UCD he'd be getting first team football and that was one of many factors that led to his staying at the College.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With Corry having departed its become apparent - in fact, it already was - that UCD predominantly serves as a stepping stone to many players who go on to achieve greater things. Players such as Greg Bolger, Ronan Finn and Evan MacMillan all went on to taste the highs - and lows - of European football, while Conor Sammon had achieved a long-standing dream of his as he signed for Premier League strugglers Wigan. Corry may be next in line to taste success away from the Bowl as the jump to Wednesday represents a chance to really see if he's worth his weight in salt. In these instances, players not deemed good enough can fall behind, become lax, disillusioned and <a href="http://fourfourtwo.com/news/restofeurope/102301/default.aspx">leave the game early, feeling unfulfilled.</a> Nobody wants it happen but sometimes the game just can't help itself, taking hostage an unsettled player abroad and suffocating his confidence until it becomes just a scrap of what it used to be.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In Corry, whose style of play resembles Michael Carrick of Manchester United or Sergio Busquets of the all-conquering Barcelona - players who let others hog the limelight as they go about their business in a quiet manner - Wednesday have acquired a jack-of-all-trades. He can tackle, distribute safe passes - sometimes key - make lung-bursting runs through midfield and, perhaps most importantly, has a keen eye for goal. He's become renowned at UCD for his ability to shoot from long-range, with that trusty left foot of his a particular crowd-pleaser. He would regularly partner Paul O'Connor in midfield, and while O'Connor would make forward runs Corry would stay back and make sure to nullify any potential quick breaks the opposition may attempt. (Too add to this, Corry recently became the only League of Ireland player to receive a call-up to the Irish under-21 side, against Turkey, further adding to his revered status.)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">While UCD manager Martin Russel was fairly strict with instructions for Corry - primarily 'clean-up duty' - hopefully we'll get to see more of the adventurous Corry under Dave Jones. When he has been allowed to roam he is more than capable of unleashing curling, dipping strikes from long-range, with many finding the net in spectacular fashion - see his goals vs Stevenage and Shelbourne for example, both in the weeks leading up to his move - so Wednesday fans have something to look forward to.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If ever there was a time to make the switch it's now as the course Corry is studying is nearing its completion date and so, this time he'll be ready to focus solely on his football. Failing that, he'll still have a degree to fall back on if things go pear-shaped so all-in-all there's nothing to lose for Corry as he swaps the college turf of University College of Dublin for Sheffield's Hillsborough Stadium. One can only hope it'll be a transition worth making.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Note: I have written previously on Paul Corry, over for the folks at In Bed with Maradona, so if you're fishing for more information on <a href="http://inbedwithmaradona.com/journal/2012/4/20/paul-corry-irish-footballs-next-big-thing.html">Sheffield Wednesday's new signing</a> I'd implore you read that too.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-51107182665264212012-07-12T19:38:00.000-07:002012-08-27T16:13:22.470-07:00Shay's Untimely Fall from Grace Signals The End of an Era<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shay looks on after Spain's 4-0 annihilation of Ireland</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">It was, in the end, inevitable. His inferior performances at the European Championships clearly showcased </span>Given's<span style="background-color: white;"> slow demise as one of the world's finest shot-stoppers and at 6.57 PM on Monday evening he announced his retirement from international football via the medium of Twitter. While it's clear to many Twitter is now densely populated with footballers, nobody predicted Ireland's greatest ever goalkeeper would announce such news in such anti-climatic fashion. Interestingly, it conveys perhaps yet another loss for communication in Trapattoni's eyes. A manager renowned for not forming close bonds with his players, Trapattoni had revealed on Sunday that Given, as well as the trio of Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and Richard Dunne - all of who's international careers still hang in the balance - would be staying on.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">It was clear, though, that during the course of Euro 2012 Given's ability to perform at the highest level was proving an impossible task. As the games wore on the 37-year-olds wear and tear was finally beginning to become evident. Against Croatia, Mario Mandzukic's first header - as Shay lept helplessly to the left of his goal - left him seething, and understandably so. The Croats' third goal, again credited to Mandzukic, cannoned off the post into Given's back, sending the ball over his own line. Again, he was furious.</span><br />
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Fast-forward to Italy ten days later, sandwiched in between a 4-0 annihilation to a rampant Spain, Given was again at fault. <span style="background-color: white;">His spillage from Antonio </span>Cassano's<span style="background-color: white;"> tame effort that subsequently resulted in Italy's first successful headed effort of EURO 2012 landed Irish fans, and Given, in disbelief. His shattered confidence was laid bare for all to see and it wasn't a pretty sight to see Ireland's most capped player in distress.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">In fact, he'd been the driving force behind several mistakes, both for nation and club, of which were scuppered due to it being a 'one-off'. Mistakes duly repeated themselves, 'one-off after 'one-off', all be it not in quick succession, which led to fans believing he was still in his prime. It was only at the European Championships that many came to the realisation that Given had surpassed his zenith and could no longer dine at the big kids table.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">This retirement was a long time coming for the 36-year-old hailing from Donegal. As goalkeepers usually tend to outlast their outfield counterparts, Given, nicknamed "Lazarus" at Newcastle because of his powers of recovery, had fortunately outlived his stay in the Irish team, and the majority of Ireland's World Cup squad, providing memorable moments a plenty to leave the turf with and hang up his boots in the knowledge that he gave all he could for Ireland. For a man who plied his trade in between the sticks for over 16 years on an international stage, he merited more recognition than a mere two revered international tournaments - although one as his performance levels dropped considerably. As the FAI appointed some men just out of pure desperation on a reasonably shoe-string priced budget - primarily Steven Staunton, a man who was starved of any previous managerial experience - Given, and indeed the rest of the squad, were made to suffer at the hands of the FAI's errors in judgement. When they finally did hire a man suitable of guiding the nation to qualification, Shay had already entered his final years as a seasoned professional and by that stage it was too late for his talent to truly shine.</span><br />
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There were, as I said, previous signs of his fall from grace. <span style="background-color: white;">Whilst in the midst of a gripping qualifying campaign for the EURO's late last year, Given was culpable for Armenia's goal at the Aviva Stadium in Ireland's final group fixture and also, at the same venue, for an Estonian goal that denied an Irish victory - both goals which would have never materialised had it been Given three, maybe four, years ago.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> There was another moment, albeit for his club side, Aston Villa, when Norwich striker, Anthony Pilkington, lined up a free-kick on the edge of the box. With the five-man wall covering the right of Given's goal, and noticing his international teammate slowly inching towards the right, Pilkington fired the ball past a helpless Given and the area where he should have been covering. (In my opinion, and taking into account Given's movement to anticipate a curling effort - and the speed of the ball - that free-kick should have never eluded him. Although that might just be me. Decide for yourself </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tacbWKL9j5w" style="background-color: white;">here</a><span style="background-color: white;">.) </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">But, then again, he was - and sometimes still is - capable of producing performances of the highest standard; most notably, and recently, his heroics in Russia's capital alongside Richard Dunne, a mere nine months before his disenchanting showing in Poland. Alas, while those performances would repeat themselves a couple of years back these days they come seldomly.</span><br />
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Many were grateful for Given's willingness to stay on, despite Ireland's recent shortcomings. He was there from the very start, making his hotly anticipated début, while plying his trade in the midlands with due to be crowned champions Blackburn - although unable to oust the then current England number one Tim Flowers - and was thrown in the deep end for Russia's visit in 1996. Mick McCarthy, experimenting with an unfamiliar 3-5-2, had been recently appointed by the FAI to succeed the legendary Jack Charlton and had handed Given his first international cap, as a reward for a string of impressive showings for Sunderland as they stormed to promotion with the 19-year-old in between the sticks. He soon nailed down a place in the national side, with thanks to Packie Bonner's retirement, and had retained it ever since, despite the emergence of fellow international 'keepers Dean Kiely, Paddy Kenny and Kieren Westwood, to name a few.<br />
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But, recently, his performances haven't matched the public's expectations and have lacked the cutting edge that the Irish were used to. He's seen as the country's saviour, the one they can rely on when the chips are down, the man who makes the impossible look a great deal easier. Sure, he may be susceptible to the odd lapse - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y0kpT_DD6I">Dion Dublin</a> ring any bells? - but, in the end, he's the man who - along with stalwart Richard Dunne - plays a predominant role in how the Irish defence - 11 clean sheets in 14 games prior to the EURO's - is they way it is, moulded under the tutelage of the wily Giovanni Trapattoni. In a system often referred to as the "Green Cantenaccio", because of Trapattoni's insistence on defensive solidarity, Ireland have prospered hugely and Given has played his part to near-perfection. During EURO 2012 Spain's Xabi Alonso spoke, and in an eloquent manner, about the 'system' which teams, club or international, choose to endorse. While he was obviously referring to Spain and their respective style of play, he claimed that "the issue is not the system, but how you use the system", and with Trapattoni his style of football, while it may be branded 'boring' and 'unadventurous', has reaped the benefits for Ireland and Given, at the base of the system, has been an integral part of it.Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-38933751632816230472012-06-28T14:48:00.002-07:002012-06-28T14:49:34.789-07:00THE POZNAN EXPEREINCE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AErcFBSSlsPAAX7EasZifk1wkBYDi5ot2TNBlhKiuxflfzSnwng58C9V_eBsyN9KCHDR2fItPQOe9GK-BUtlH6e3FmWaiYND7GB0N24dBbsCdGBzrOtolTbZYUcM8HKqXoImtmhjPCs/s1600/Ireland+v+Croatia+-+Group+C:+UEFA+EURO+2012.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_AErcFBSSlsPAAX7EasZifk1wkBYDi5ot2TNBlhKiuxflfzSnwng58C9V_eBsyN9KCHDR2fItPQOe9GK-BUtlH6e3FmWaiYND7GB0N24dBbsCdGBzrOtolTbZYUcM8HKqXoImtmhjPCs/s1600/Ireland+v+Croatia+-+Group+C:+UEFA+EURO+2012.jpeg" /></a></div>
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<i>The following appeared on Backpagefootball.com</i><br />
<br />
So last week I travelled to Poznan, Poland with my dad to bear witness Ireland's final game of the European Championship. Although the Irish had been on the wrong side of their two previous EURO encounters, and in doing so surrendering any chance of progression, there was still much to play for, most notably the "honour" Trapattoni had mentioned in one of his latest press-conferences, and with Ireland having beaten Prandelli's team the previous summer - in a neutral venue as well it should be noted - there was plenty of food for thought as the day grew closer.<br />
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However, an unexciting, dull 2-0 defeat, at the hands of a clearly superior Italian side, condemning us to our third consecutive European Championship loss - and thus equalling the record for the worst showing at the EURO's, previously held by Yugoslavia ('84), the Danes from the turn of the millennium and Bulgaria the year of the Greek's unprecedented success - fortunately did nothing to dampen the spirits among the Irish fans throughout the trip in Poland. From the hugely disappointing 3-1 loss in the opening fixture, to the annihilation we suffered at the hands of Spain, the Irish teams performance throughout June was nothing short of embarrassing. And yet, despite the uninspiring performances, the 20-odd thousand fans remained in a jubilant mood even after the Italians won in comfortable fashion. <br />
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We landed in Poznan airport having flown with British company WizzAir, whose airliner seats, despite being the cheapest available, were woefully uncomfortable as there was insufficient leg space - a pain in the arse for people wishing to sleep - at eleven that morning. However, I let it slide as they had offered such low and affordable
prices, prices which I soon discovered why as I became acquainted with
my seat. I'd kept myself occupied with Nick Hornby's 'Fever Pitch' - a book which I thoroughly enjoyed and would implore readers of this blog to purchase. It's a book which all football-obsessed fans can largely relate to - I know I did - and its main purpose is to serve the readers how big an effect this sport has had on Hornby's - and of course scores of others - life. (Have you ever found yourself rejecting proposals for social gatherings in order to fulfil a football-driven task? Hornby's an expert in this particular area, even missing occasions such as wedding in favour of the world's most popular sport.)<br />
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The flight exceeded a time just short of two hours, thankfully, as my discomfort deprived me from catching some much needed sleep, hence the reading. On arrival, a bus then collected and drove us from the plane to the airport as our day was finally, slowly but surely, getting underway. We sought out help from several information desks until a designated helper wandered over and instructed us to board the "number L" bus. It was here our tickets came in handy, surprisingly, as holders of European Championship tickets were given a free ride to their destination. Ours was the Poznan train station where we were due to meet up with friends also travelling from home, but via Gdansk where they had the unfortunate pleasure of attending the Spanish mauling of the Irish. Nonetheless, despite their and scores of Irish fans misfortunes they'd headed to Poznan with renewed optimism ahead of the duel with the Italians. Having done battle with Prandelli's Italians the year previously and earned a 2-0 victory why couldn't the Irish dream of ending the so far miserable EURO journey on a high?<br />
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From the train station my dad and I, noticing our friends had not yet arrived, headed for the Poznan city centre, Stary Rynek. As soon as we arrived we'd noticed a sea of green had engulfed the whole of the town square, taking up temporary residence at every bar and pub available, making the most of this rare opportunity. The Irish had also brought numerous flags from home and I was able to see them hanging on various gates or leaning against the base of many buildings. One such one was the now famous 'Angela Merkel Thinks We're at Work' flag in honour of German chancellor Angela Merkel. Although when I arrived, it had been, what seemed, autographed by the whole of the Irish squad and was due to be auctioned off for charity by the end of the country's involvement. As I donned my Trapttoni mask, which I was surprised to see in short supply considering the huge number of Irish fans present - there was one other I found - Italian fans raced over to me to be snapped with their hero Trapattoni in an Irish jersey. Suffice to say, I was delighted and enjoyed the occasion as much as they did.<br />
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That was at 2 PM local time. Swarms of Irish were still gathering in the Old Town Square - at this point there was barely breathing space, unless you were seated at a bar or restaurant - and we didn't have to wait too long for the first of many 'fan battles'. Let me just say, it isn't what it sounds like.There was no physical violence, or any violence at all. Tens of Irish fans pitched their chants and wit against a small, compact group of Italians who, to give them credit, kept it going even though they were severely outnumbered. Cue an endless re-run of the 'Fields of Athenry', 'Come on you Boys in Green' and, perhaps one of the wittiest I had the pleasure of witnessing, the 'Ohhh Trapattoni, used to be Italian but he's Irish now' which sure enough got the blue blood of the Italians pumping. I was reclining in a bar a stones throw away and seriously considered fetching that oh so elusive Trapattoni mask that many Italians seemed to adore. (I was asked for more photographs once I had taken it out again, which I found was somehow more aesthetically pleasing than the last time.)<br />
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Following the conclusion of the fan battles the Italians dispersed and the Irish took over, conjuring up all types of previously unheard of wit-fuelled chants. A particular favourite of mine was the 'Alive Alive-o' song sung to the tune of Stephen's Ireland's grandmother. (Funnily enough, a couple of friends we had conversed with in a restaurant after the Irish shenanigans had told us of an old lady waving down to the Irish fans in Gdansk as they were passing by. As one would expect, with the unrivalled wit of the Irish, an Irishman took notice of this woman and shouted 'Stephen Ireland's Granny', and of course, the whole street subsequently erupted in true Irish fashion.) The day, and banter exchanged between the Irish and Italians, was nothing but jovial and good-natured and it inevitably set the tone for the fixture later that night.<br />
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The chanting on the tram was even more impressive. Irish fans were forced to cram on tram 'Linia 13', whose route led directly to the stadium, and, amid the cramming, everybody present exuded copious amounts of sweat, their respective jerseys glued to their respective bodies, during the 15 minute journey. The absence of a working air-conditioning didn't help the cause either. More chanting inevitably ensued and odes to Trapattoni and Paul McShane - although the latter, having played zero minutes in Ireland's three games, was clearly the subject of a pisstake ('Ooh Aah Paul McShane') - and slamming of former Irish international Roy Keane - 'F**k you Roy Keane, We'll Sing when we want' - made the trip that much more enjoyable as many in tram, jolly as they were, were now beginning to feel the full wrath of a packed tram with next to no space to roam. Sure enough, our destination duly arrived, to the satisfaction and relief of all.<br />
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Scores of us heaved our way through each other in order to depart the tram and after some serious pushing, amid a bulging train, we finally found our way out. Prior to the stadium we had met up with a friend of ours back home who was involved throughout the tournament with Ireland. He told us a story regarding the WAG's of the 'nobodies' in the team - harsh (and not my words) - and how they rejected outright the hotel that was proposed for them in Gdansk. Instead they resided somewhere else for the couple of days in the North of Poland. However, on their way down to Poznan, our friend told us of how the WAG's demanded to stop for McDonald's. It was here that their class had finally shown through (I'll say no more).<br />
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The match itself was the only disappointment of an otherwise perfect trip. What the Irish team tend to do when a country who's vastly superior to us is drag them down to our level. And that's exactly what we did in a game where Italy embarked on arguably their poorest showing in the tournament, while the opposite was in order for the Irish. There were few breaks but when they did come, as a result Italians misplacing passes - how uncharacteristic! - the Irish players in possession - Glen Whelan, for example, when it was a 2 v 2 - squandered it. It perhaps emphasised the fact that a large percentage of our goals came directly from set-pieces. (It was also my first time supporting Ireland outside the country, which made for an even more pleasant experience.)<br />
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As soon as I'd returned I was gagging for more. Immediately, as soon as we reached the airport, I checked the upcoming fixtures: Serbia and Kazakhstan. Tickets were mooted for over €200 to and back from Belgrade, which was a tad expensive for an unemployed 17-year-old. And that's excluding the ticket and accommodation. I guess my next away trip would have to wait. Oh well...<br />
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*</div>
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<b>Ireland EURO 2012 Songs:</b></div>
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'Ohhh Trapattoni, used to be Italian but he's Irish now'</div>
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'The group is upside-down, the group is upside-down, you're hardly gonna believe us, the group is upside-down'</div>
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'We're better than the Dutch'</div>
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'Stephen Ireland's granny' (sung to the tune of 'You''ll never beat the Irish', was a chant adopted by Irish fans after an old lady waved to Irish fans from her balcony in Gdansk, Poland)</div>
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'Alive Alive-o, Alive Alive-o, Stephen Ireland's grandmother's Alive Alive-o'</div>
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'We'll sing when we want, We'll sing when we want, Fuck you Roy Keane, We'll sing when we want'Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-34864181483156212672012-06-15T04:09:00.000-07:002012-06-16T16:06:21.589-07:00Ireland vs Spain - The Stats Breakdown<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last night was kind of embarrassing, from an Irish perspective anyway. The first team to be knocked out of the European Championships, accompanied by letting Spain and Xavi set new Euros landmarks left a more than an indelible mark on the Irish.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On the site today thanks to the StatsZone app, we have images of just how dominant Spain were throughout the evening, from Xavi's masterclass to a statistic that defied expectations: Aiden McGeady leading the tackle figures. Today we will uncover to what extent Spain asserted their dominance and how well they did it.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">*Warning: These photos do not make for pleasant viewing.*</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Right, here we go then.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spain had more than 4x as many shots, nearly 8x as many on target and, most decisively, scored 4 goals to show:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNV6wOI3SG47Zw3MwziBq24_XY6KvFMwMjYeMpGXXWYYZdGN9YgjgwmMUtJ9AvLBexr83xbolX5s7h6GqTeZIK0n3ELsubDyIOBeZ07j8s8ZtraEMNDQ4A1QB7qbkbAC8ggBPq38JU3Js/s1600/IMG_0061.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="417" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNV6wOI3SG47Zw3MwziBq24_XY6KvFMwMjYeMpGXXWYYZdGN9YgjgwmMUtJ9AvLBexr83xbolX5s7h6GqTeZIK0n3ELsubDyIOBeZ07j8s8ZtraEMNDQ4A1QB7qbkbAC8ggBPq38JU3Js/s640/IMG_0061.PNG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They also set the benchmark for most passes in a European Championship game, exceeding the previous record of 778 with a delightful 860. They completed almost four and a half times as many passes as the Irish did:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJUHmGXeBJ9b7_owI-bGBeOOXYKQKf482aIfnuKu42emCGbYW17PMfVJ-NmGKcxwz7Yg9qaBKMoERNpqum2BHkPE8f66jgWfcRo9-PBRIl9alSEE2Q8Pq-js1k2SjxPBwhwSt57wC0pgM/s1600/IMG_0060.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJUHmGXeBJ9b7_owI-bGBeOOXYKQKf482aIfnuKu42emCGbYW17PMfVJ-NmGKcxwz7Yg9qaBKMoERNpqum2BHkPE8f66jgWfcRo9-PBRIl9alSEE2Q8Pq-js1k2SjxPBwhwSt57wC0pgM/s640/IMG_0060.PNG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">They also created 18 chances to Ireland's meagre 5:
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSzLk874aoNBZybiOxhWi4WQltYycf6rD6Et4YFBYj4cWzb5WRq8PgjpiUnFi8TzZQXx6qQqsdxZLY_GWdjzyFDxMD2REBUx4cf9UhmHKhSwj3eJ_hRDlI5cVivEiQiEikW5PAEDwE1nY/s1600/IMG_0063.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSzLk874aoNBZybiOxhWi4WQltYycf6rD6Et4YFBYj4cWzb5WRq8PgjpiUnFi8TzZQXx6qQqsdxZLY_GWdjzyFDxMD2REBUx4cf9UhmHKhSwj3eJ_hRDlI5cVivEiQiEikW5PAEDwE1nY/s640/IMG_0063.PNG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
To convey just how dominant Spain actually were StatsZone's 'Player Influence' tells it perfectly. If a player's name is in bold it highlights how effective they've been throughout the game. The same goes for the bigger the font of the players name. If the name is left in its plainest form you can get a fair idea of how average that team, or particular player, has played. As you can see there's quite a difference in the image below:
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguhNAstZcVziGj6Xjpj6bhjILlYy5MPF8yjTJhTZS41W2hJvMTOk-aT4dZBXozMxYp8yP-qPmMFIjjn-wFo9sQ4rcinEiqc-reRnwkTTze1LPCFYyzrDW-47jkKlHlB8TtvZrhhvd3vK4/s1600/IMG_0068.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguhNAstZcVziGj6Xjpj6bhjILlYy5MPF8yjTJhTZS41W2hJvMTOk-aT4dZBXozMxYp8yP-qPmMFIjjn-wFo9sQ4rcinEiqc-reRnwkTTze1LPCFYyzrDW-47jkKlHlB8TtvZrhhvd3vK4/s640/IMG_0068.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Xavi, as per usual, was at the heart of everything for Spain and it was no surprise to see him smash the record for most passes by a single player in a European Championships game such was the ease of this fixture, surpassing Ronald Koeman's total of 117 set in '92. His nearest competitor, Stephen Ward, could only complete 27 - a full 100 less than his Spanish counterpart:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCdVPUhpFt_Qg560HVTT3QCfeaJ_GagewG5F9eUMEu2BhYWLNC97yVQ1x_V_AAwmHKCTWfXraqo1uNm6NGOsiENgD5zyu_QF2vF3XawrY3BLnutU1Ax-ylepglkTIVltydMDzkU1wXPIg/s1600/IMG_0064.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCdVPUhpFt_Qg560HVTT3QCfeaJ_GagewG5F9eUMEu2BhYWLNC97yVQ1x_V_AAwmHKCTWfXraqo1uNm6NGOsiENgD5zyu_QF2vF3XawrY3BLnutU1Ax-ylepglkTIVltydMDzkU1wXPIg/s640/IMG_0064.PNG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the final third Xavi was once again a dominant figure. He was Spain's main man, finding 45 of his 53 passes deep in Ireland's half. To gain some perspective I've attached Ireland's most effective passer, Glen Whelan, in Spain's final third but it makes for grim viewing:
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4c7oLBPfRMTlMNor_V_9oX06rGBubDl00JyYKuahd23gCDzrNbOhnldumhrICItOtO4G0rmCrYhuPdRXljY0WeEHhYRrenhjcRKu2uBrSAdXEKE_oqukTlFtckIRDdGJCeYOWDBi0HU/s1600/IMG_0071.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4c7oLBPfRMTlMNor_V_9oX06rGBubDl00JyYKuahd23gCDzrNbOhnldumhrICItOtO4G0rmCrYhuPdRXljY0WeEHhYRrenhjcRKu2uBrSAdXEKE_oqukTlFtckIRDdGJCeYOWDBi0HU/s640/IMG_0071.PNG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Spain were also more presumably efficient than Ireland when it came to bossing the game in the final third of the pitch. <i>La Roja</i> eviscerated Ireland's efforts of 31 from 62 attempted passes with a near perfect 243 from 285 - equating to 85%. While many of Ireland's attempts were long, hopeful punts, Spain's were more controlled and assured, giving a predominant proportion of their passes short in order to keep it moving quickly, tiki-taka style:
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDcjTyENflCGkOEsxGgOb98zkO-6R7K3nlahz9HXH80IcVS3LL4xPSZko-EcX3dzX4wrKShEbMO6hUxQ165TVctsCjKMyKJCxVdyaVkApwLNxLX2kDO2uAvDahzyY9B7Td7A-FOitHVBM/s1600/IMG_0062.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDcjTyENflCGkOEsxGgOb98zkO-6R7K3nlahz9HXH80IcVS3LL4xPSZko-EcX3dzX4wrKShEbMO6hUxQ165TVctsCjKMyKJCxVdyaVkApwLNxLX2kDO2uAvDahzyY9B7Td7A-FOitHVBM/s640/IMG_0062.PNG" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The game's most successful pass combination was the Jordi Alba - Andres Iniesta link-up. Between the two they accumulated 59 passes, including Iniesta - Alba. Again, to gain some perspective Ireland's most effective combination is displayed (note: it's not very good):
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And finally, on a positive and encouraging note - if we may stray from Spain's masterclass for just a minute - perhaps an interesting statistic from yesterday's game was the fact that Spartak Moscow's Aiden McGeady was Ireland's - and the fixture's - most effective tackler. He was directly responsible for precisely 30% of Ireland's tackles throughout the match and succeeded in 38% of Ireland's overall tackle success rate. Previously known for straying from his defensive duties it was a more than admirable effort from the 26-year-old. And yet, even though us Irish were the ones constantly hounded it was nothing short of a masterclass performance by the Spanish defence when it came to tackling:
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<br />Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-42944005435254493842012-06-12T06:41:00.001-07:002012-06-12T06:41:04.551-07:00Ireland's Forgotten Man<br />
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In Poland throughout June twenty-three Irish players under the tutelage of the wily Giovanni Trapattoni represented their country in a major international tournament for the first time in ten years. However, Kevin Kilbane, for so long a definite fixture in Ireland's XI, this summer he will be staying at home - actually not true considering he's in Poland working for the Beeb, but still - having had his dream to feature at the Euros cut short by a "cold" and "methodical" phone-call from <i>Il Trap</i>. Instead, Wolverhampton Wanderer's left-back Stephen Ward will be taking his place.<br />
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Kilbane enjoyed arguably the highest point of his career at the World Cup in South Korea in 2002. Five years after taking his international bow, he was part of Mick McCarthy's squad that progressed to the last 16 having progressed from the group. From the defeat to Spain on penalties, Kilbane remained Ireland's left-back for a further nine years, before finally relinquishing the duty to the up-and-coming Stephen Ward. As the years passed by so did the game and he was progressively struggling to keep with the pace of the English Premier League. Everton offloaded him to Wigan, who subsequently offloaded him to Hull and from there to Huddersfield Town in League One and Derby County in the Championship. It was clear Hull had no place for him and so the former Irish left-back, having accumulated over one-hundred international caps, has a future which now seems unclear.<br />
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It's a well-noted fact that 'Killer' was technically a severely limited player when he was playing. But like Gary Neville, Kilbane was someone who succeeded thanks to sheer hard work as he consistently gave his all. At left-wing for example, for Ireland his defensive work was highly praised as he often covered up for Ian Harte's defensive deficiencies. Originally a left-winger but later converted to full-back, Kilbane revelled in this new role for a plethora of Premier League sides, with various clubs looking for his services. Under David Moyes at Everton he did more than just moonlight at left-back, displaying great versatility, having been employed as a support striker as well right of midfield. This was at a time when the promising and prodigious Stewart Downing had just broken into the Middlesborough first XI and Moyes stated that Kilbane was just as good as Downing, which was quite a compliment at the time - even if he has been a bit shit since signing for everyones favourite Merseysiders - having operated in many different positions that day as Thomas Gravesen had recently for Real Madrid.<br />
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Despite his flailing club career Kilbane remained a regular at full-back for Ireland. His sixty-six successive appearances for Ireland - a run stretching back to 2003 - ended prematurely due to a back injury before the game against Slovakia last year before handing the role to Stephen Ward. Since then he's barely featured at both club level and international level. He has, however, kept himself firmly on Irish TV sets as he tends to appear now and again on our screens for the lovelies at RTE, alongside Dunphy, Liam Brady and Johnny Giles.<br />
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Kilbane could have easily pulled a 'Stephen Ireland' - to forge a pathetic, ill-informed excuse very much susceptible to ridicule (for those of you not familiar with this technique) - and forfeited his role in the Irish set up. But he was better than that; Kilbane was a committed, dedicated player, and at thirty-four, always gave everything he had but, sadly, there's an expiration date on all of us and unfortunately his expired sooner than others. That's why we had to say goodbye to our so famously dubbed and beloved 'Zinedine Kilbane' a little too early.<br />
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P.S At 37, Shay's next.Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-66234485812370267022012-06-09T06:46:00.001-07:002012-06-09T06:47:12.743-07:00Ireland Euro 2012 Betting Guide: Ireland vs Croatia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ireland play their opening game of the European Championships on Sunday, June 10 vs Croatia. The game, as well as the competition in general, represents a number of opportunities to make money.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of them is the<b> Correct Score</b> market. Last year when the two sides clashed at Ireland's Aviva Stadium both sides were involved in a 0-0 stalemate. Ireland contained the Croat's the day with relative ease, apart from a couple of half-chances and the teams that day were relatively the same as they will be on Sunday and a <b>0-0 draw</b> this time around can be backed at <b>13/2 </b>with many bookmakers, which seems a likely result considering Ireland's recent defensive record of 11 clean sheets while on their run of 14 games unbeaten. Ireland are seldom breached at the back but if you fancy Modric to orchestrate his side to a win to can back a <b>1-0 win for the Croatians at 11/2. </b>If you fancy <b>Ireland to continue their streak of clean sheets</b>, which is a still at this price due to Croatia's talismanic forward Ivica Olic ruled out through injury, <b>you can back them at an enticing 9/4</b> to do so vs Croatia.<b> Croatia are 11/8</b> with SportingBet not to concede.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Unders/Overs market is also a useful tool for this fixture. 12 of Ireland's last 14 games have been under 2.5 goals and so this represents a decent chance to make a bit of money. However, the Under 2.5 market remains the favoured choice with bookmakers as both sides will be wary as it is their opening game of the competition. <b>Under 2.5</b> <b>can be backed at a disappointing 8/15 while the opposite is 7/4 with William Hill</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also at value for this fixture is a<b> Draw HT/FT 4/1</b> as I think nothing will separate the sides come Sunday. A <b>draw in the Win-Draw-Win market is also at 11/5.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>BEST BET - Draw @ 11/5 (General)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I've gone for the draw because of Ireland's recent defensive record - 14 games, 11 clean sheets - and the fact that both sides are fielding more or less the same sides as last summer should draw a similar result. There'll be chances but as Ireland showed against Russia, and more recently Hungary, their pain threshold is at an all-time high and they should be able to hold out against a depleted Croatian side come Sunday.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>VALUE BET 0-0 DRAW 13/2 (General)</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All prices were correct as of June 9 00:32 GMT.</span></span></div>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-74225569877737701492012-06-06T16:46:00.001-07:002012-06-06T16:46:45.742-07:00James McClean: Trapattoni and Ireland's Wildcard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"He plays with a bit of luck," admired Giovanni Trapattoni after assuring the Irish press that James McClean had a "90-99%" chance of landing a place in the Italian's squad for the European Championships late in April. It's been a story about more than just luck for McClean; I mean, who else can lay claim to playing in Ireland's second division one year, taking on Mervue United and Salthill Devon, and the next playing against the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal et al in the Premier League? And, of course, a year later making his eagerly awaited Irish international debut? An answer like McClean fails to be replicated from Irish football. McClean would have never thought in his wildest dreams that he'd be in the Republic of Ireland squad by the end of his inaugural season in England's top tier and yet here he is, now adamant on making an impression on the man fifty years his senior. But how did this come about and how exactly did "luck" play its part?<br /><br />James McClean was born in the heart of Derry - Creggan, to be exact - on the 22nd of April, 1989. He recalls that those early adolescent years were spent "just playing football video games all day", having arrived home from school in the afternoon. It wasn't long before these skills were put to the test on the pitch, to great effect one might add. It was with his local youth side, Trojans FC, that proved to be his springboard. Not soon after leaving Trojan's he departed for Institute, a side which has born fruit with esteemed Irish international Darron Gibson (2003-04) and also Ivan Sproule (2004-05), who now plies his trade at Hibernian in Scotland, having returned to Edinburgh following a five-year hiatus from Hibs.<br /><br />At Institute, he made one solitary appearance - against Glentoran in 2007. He remembers a moment in the game where the ball made its way towards him. As he made his way to the ball he slipped and fell on his face. It was a discouraging time for McClean as he had devoted two years of his life to Institute - while featuring once - and he figured maybe it could have been his shy persona that was holding him back. Either way, his confidence was at its lowest ebb. Just for good measure, Institute piled on the woes and refused to offer him an extension, effectively making him a free agent.<br /><br />It was at this time that Derry City, financially skint and soon to be expelled from Ireland's top tier as a result of financial irregularities, hatched up a plan to host an open day for local non-contracted players and that following season young blood was in large supply - all players that were recruited that summer were below the twenty age barrier - as youngsters such as Patrick McEleney and Shane McEleney - both brothers - and David McDaid, all climbed aboard. McClean was also a new recruit. Then Derry manager, Stephen Kenny, had apparently hailed the Creggan-native as a "very exciting prospect for the future".<br /><br />McClean had a debut to remember as he bundled a bobbling ball into an empty net for the first of Derry's four against Bohemians after 41 minutes in the League Cup encounter. McClean was to develop at a phenomenal speed during the course of the three years he spent at the Brandywell and went on to add a further 17 goals in an 73 appearances; not a bad strike-rate for a left-winger one might say.<br /><br />McClean had only been spent a single season in the League of Ireland before Derry foolishly began playing with fire, risking their involvement in the League of Ireland by making under-the-table payments to agents and players, which inevitably cost them their top-flight status despite qualifying for the second qualifying round for that season's UEFA Cup. Immediate promotion duly followed, McClean being one of many driving forces forcing Derry back into the big time, and that first year back they finished a mere nine points off the champions Shamrock Rovers.<br /><br />At this point an array of clubs had already conveyed an interest in taking on the young McClean. The first was Lincoln City but McClean, not yet ready to commit to such a deal, pleaded them to tear up the contract. He had realised he hadn't wanted to leave home yet and Lincoln took the initiative on rescinding his contract as the last thing they needed was a homesick player so it worked out best for both parties in the end.<br /><br />The second club was Brighton. They were intrigued by the ongoing development of the Creggan native, as were Peterborough. But yet, Stephen Kenny saw no reason to let his starlet go. He knew McClean was a special talent and it was Kenny's faith that ultimately led to McClean finally securing a move to England.<br /><br /> Kenny had become acutely aware that McClean's star was in the ascendant but he insisted on waiting for the right move. It panned out perfectly as not long after Peterborough were shown the door, Sunderland came knocking. The decision was inevitable. The patience had paid off. He had effectively secured his, what he soon described as, "dream move". Upon touching down on Tyneside, it was obvious McClean was already missing his life back home. Although he knew he couldn't have the best of both worlds he still struggled.<br /><br />Naturally, McClean was grateful for the chance given to him by Kenny at Derry and thanked him personally for those three hugely enjoyable years he had at the Brandywell. For the meagre sum of £350,000 (€430,000), McClean soon spoke up about how he was expecting nothing more than to warm the bench as the season got underway. But as it progressed and he grew restless his opportunities were quickly becoming limited and so, he sought out manager Steve Bruce to mull over what was in store for his opening season. He began by seeking out Bruce in his office one afternoon: "I said, 'look, thank you for giving me the opportunity, I'm really enjoying it and trying to improve but at the same time I think I'm ready to play'." The response wasn't exactly what he had hoped for as Bruce laughed off what McClean had proposed but nonetheless knew where he was coming from. He explained to James that times were tough at that moment in time and he couldn't jeopardise things by throwing him into the fray. But McClean thought otherwise: "On the other hand, how could it go worse? If he threw me in, and we'd lost another game, so what? Nothing's changed. In a sense, I wouldn't agree with that."<br /><br />It was perhaps a blessing in disguise then that Sunderland, on a run of just two wins from their first 13 fixtures, were bang out of form and badly needed to shake things up. Having taken a brief sabbatical from the game, Martin O'Neill took over the hot seat just short of midway through the season. McClean's imminent future already appeared brighter. McClean must have made an impression on O'Neill in training early on as the the 23-year-old was finally granted what he sought under the tutelage of Steve Bruce and a 15-minute workout was rewarded just a week after O'Neill's arrival, at home in a 2-1 win against Blackburn. He played again the next week. And again the following week. But on New Years Day O'Neill threw him in the deep end, handing him his full debut, against a rampant Manchester City side. McClean had now featured in four of O'Neill's five games in charge and was quietly flying under the radar. No wonder McClean insisted he was "delighted" to be working with a fellow Northern Irishman like O'Neill.<br /><br />It was at this point that McClean began to establish himself as a first-team regular under Martin O'Neill. It was later revealed by O'Neill that he had persisted with McClean due to the fact that defensive work "comes naturally" to him. OPTA statistics convey to us that McClean averaged more tackles per game than any other Sunderland defender in the Premier League last season, bar Phil Bardsley who managed 2.5 per game.<br /><br />The Sunderland manager continued: "James does the defensive work. He will get back for you willingly. It is a great sight when you are playing left back to have him in front of you.<br /><br />"You would think with the energy he puts into the game and the effort he puts in to get back he would get tired, but he just keeps going."<br /><br />A string of consistent displays for the Black Cats, both in and outside the Premier League, including two back-to-back impressive performances against Arsenal, brought about his first call-up for the Republic of Ireland squad. The call-up came following that weekend's victory over Arsenal in the FA Cup. McClean claimed he was "honoured" to be representing "my country". But his biggest joy was when Trapattoni signalled him to come on as the Aviva stadium erupted: "I remember the noise when I warmed up and I thought, 'is this really for me?' Then when my top came off to go on, the whole place got up. I was standing there with Alan Kelly and he was laughing and I was thinking, 'this is crazy.' The goosebumps on the back of my neck and the noise was something I'd never heard in my life. My family were all in tears."<br /><br />During that 12 minute cameo McClean showed flashes of what had convinced Trappatoni to select him for the Irish squad. A couple of crosses combined with successful defending was the end product that evening and it was deemed an encouraging start to McClean's international career by many. He showed promise, hunger and that often talked about luck that more or less guaranteed his place in Trapattoni's squad for the summer European Championships. The question now is though, having finally achieved his personal goal of landing a place in the Irish squad, can he successfully transfer his form from the club ground to Europe's biggest international stage? Only time will tell.</span><br />
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</div>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-84026989817196782262012-06-05T04:28:00.000-07:002012-06-07T04:55:40.817-07:00Euro 2012 Team Preview: Ireland<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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There's an Irish proverb, not recognised by many, which goes like this: "An rud is annamh is iontach." It translates as what's seldom is wonderful. With Ireland qualifying for their first major international tournament in ten years there couldn't be a more apt time for it.<br />
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Boring football often breeds success. One of the most famous examples of this can be taken from Greece's recent shock European Championship win in 2004. Otto Rehhagel's team had been organised in such a way that they had effectively 'padlocked' their defence, conceding no goals in the knock-out stages, with a particular focus on set-pieces. It was, in fact, a set-piece that handed them the Henri Delaunay trophy in the final against Portugal.<br />
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Trapattoni's Ireland are styled in very much the same way as Greece were back then. Knowing he had limited resources to work with, Trapattoni set about strengthening the core of the Irish defence when he arrived, which had hemorrhaged goals under the leadership of former Irish international Steve Staunton ("Nightmare in Nicosia" anyone?).<br />
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The 73-year-old wily Italian was hired with the aim of qualifying Ireland - "supposed to be a first rate team", according to Trapattoni - for their first international competition to once again rub shoulders with the big boys of European and international football. He very nearly succeeded in 2009 as he successfully led Ireland out of their group but left France aggrieved at what tarnished Thierry Henry's reputation among many.<br />
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They were handed a slightly easier group in qualifying for the Euros as Russia, the lowest ranked of the pot one teams, and Slovakia, the second lowest ranked of the pot two teams, were drawn alongside Ireland. Trapattoni manufactured five clean sheets on his way to once again achieving a play-off spot, earning clean sheets home and away against a dangerous Slovakian side. Ireland were also the only side in the group to take maximum points from Armenia, whose side sprung many surprises throughout the qualifying campaign, including a 4-0 thumping away to Slovakia in the second last fixture round of the group, effectively ruining the Slovakian's chances of qualification. That meant all Ireland had to do was gain a point against Armenia in the final game to ensure their progress. The Irish won 2-1.<br />
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Perhaps the most defining fixture of Ireland's Euro campaign was in Moscow as Richard Dunne threw caution to the wind and inspired Trapattoni's dogged defence to a well-deserved point. In a game where Ireland were constantly on the back foot, the defensive masterclass from Dunne, throwing himself into tackles, blocks and steering a sure goal off the line, was so good he was <a href="http://casarebelde.com/?product=minister-of-defence">humorously christened "Minister of Defence"</a> back home.<br />
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In the play-offs, amid some confusion over Ireland being a seeded team or not after qualifying, they were luckily handed Estonia and duly dispatched them 5-1 on aggregate. That first leg in Tallinn saw the Irish score four times for the first time in a competitive match in nearly five years as they took a decisive step in reaffirming their status amongst Europe's elite. Three days later they confirmed it with a 1-1 draw at the Aviva Stadium.<br />
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These European Championships may well be the final time the remaining players of the 'Golden Generation' get to feature on an international stage. Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and John O'Shea were all part of that illustrious, unprecedented under-16 and 18 European Championship double winning side under the tutelage of Brian Kerr - in '96 and '98 respectively - and have preceded to have impressive careers both with club and country. Although, Robbie Keane, Ireland's all-time record goalscorer with 53, has voiced uncertainty over his international future beyond the current summer, bringing to light what many knew but refused to acknowledge about these current crop of players that all good things eventually come to an end.</div>
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With many of the Irish squad pushing their thirties and Trapattoni probably only continuing until the 2014 World Cup campaign, now seems the best time for the Boys in Green to deliver performances the country can be proud of before the likes of James McClean, Séamus Coleman and James McCarthy et al are all passed the torch to lead their country into a new, prodigious - and perhaps even more successful - era.<br />
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<b>The Opponents</b></div>
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<b><u>Croatia</u></b><br />
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Croatia qualified for this summer's Euros with a few bumps along the way, including an embarrassing 1-0 defeat at the hands of Georgia. They recovered from the loss with a 2-1 return victory, followed by three more wins and a defeat thus sealing them a play-off berth. They were drawn against a young Turkish side who pipped Belgium to second on the last day and managed a surprise 3-0 win away in Istanbul, more or less securing their Euro 2012 spot as they held Turkey to a stalemate in the return leg.<br />
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Slaven Bilic, the manager of Croatia who is leaving following the competition to take up the post as manager of Lokomotiv Moscow in Russia, has said he "feels" for Ireland as they are Croatia's best chance to cash in on three valuable points. If the fixture is anything like last year, Ireland should be more than capable in gaining a point from Bilic's men. But, in a group where maximum points are required, a win must be the sole aim for both sides in the group's opening game.<br />
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<b>The One to Watch:</b><br />
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Croatia boast many stars, from Eduardo da Silva to Darijo Srna, but their most dangerous and influential is Tottenham's <b>Luka Modric</b>. This is the 24-year-old's second Euro Championships and was part of the squad that were a penalty-shootout away from making the semi-finals four years ago. Modric made UEFA's Team of the Tournament, following his showing In Austria and Switzerland. In Modric, Croatia possess an incredible passing range and, more often than not, he is the man that makes the difference. In 2011, when Croatia played Ireland in the Aviva Stadium, Modric, sporting the no.10 shirt that day, was at the heart of everything good for the visitors. If his performances for Tottenham are anything to go by his presence may be felt when Ireland as Croatia lock horns in Poznan on June 10.<br />
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<b><u>Italy</u></b><br />
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Under Cesare Prandelli, Italy conceded just two goals in ten games as their qualification was secured with a game left to play. This summer Prandelli has promised to play "in an attacking style inspired by the 1970's Total Football", which will be an interesting and refreshing alternative considering Italy's famed history as a defensive team. His inclusion of the troublesome Mario Balotelli and Antonio Cassano, who recently overcame a heart defect, could spell trouble for the Irish in the last group stage fixture on June 18.<br />
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When quizzed on Ireland, Prandelli, who served as a player under Trapattoni at Juventus, had nothing but admiration for Trappatoni and the Irish squad:<br />
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“In truth, though, it will be an honour and a pleasure to meet Ireland and Trap, I feel very linked to him, he was my coach at Juventus for six years. For me, he’s a reference point and not just from the viewpoint of football technique.<br />
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“Trap’s Ireland will make everyone struggle, us included. We have to start off with that in mind, otherwise the game against Ireland will be very, very difficult."<br />
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<b>The One to Watch:</b><br />
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The player to watch for Italy at the Euros is none other than Juventus' <b>Andrea Pirlo</b> himself. Having swapped Milan for Turin last summer, he, among others, orchestrated an incredible run which was rewarded with Juventus' 28th - or perhaps their 30th - Serie A title as they also ended the league season unbeaten. Á la Modric, Pirlo's range of passing can be a joy to behold at times and if Ireland allow him sufficient time on the ball he might just prove the difference between the two sides come June.<br />
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<b><u>Spain</u></b><br />
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After a tiring season domestically many are expecting Spain to finally surrender their international dominance at Poland and Ukraine this summer. Having lost to Portugal, Italy, England and Argentina since winning the World Cup in 2010, teams they are competing against will know that Spain are no longer the 'invincibles' that they were two years ago. Having David Villa and Carles Puyol, their talisman and captain respectively, ruled out through injury doesn't help either.<br />
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It's for those reasons that Germany have overtaken Spain as the public's favourites to win the European Championships in July. However, in an interview given to UEFA.com, Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque spoke about how Spain must forget their previous glories and focus on the present if they are to become the first European nation to win three successive international tournaments:<br />
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"We can be proud of what we've achieved, but at the same time it belongs to the past, and we have to face the future.<br />
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"And if we want to keep our feet on the ground there is no other possibility than to forget that we won it, and prepare for the future."<br />
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<b>The One to Watch:</b><br />
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In a team full of "mythological gods", as vividly described by former Barçelona player Edgar Davids, Spain's most beloved mythological god is the irreplaceable <b>Xavi</b>. Catalan by birth, Xavi has enjoyed one of his finest seasons to date for Barçelona, scoring 14 goals as well as contributing a handful of assists. He has benefited from this thanks to Guardiola playing Xavi "10-15 metres higher up the pitch", which has enabled him to contribute to more goals during the past few seasons for Barça. After a tiring season, while he may not be at his best, Xavi's influence always tells as his constant recycling of the ball and eye through the needle passes have made Spain the dominant forces they are today. Like Modric and Pirlo, he is the one Ireland should pay most of their attention towards come June 14.<br />
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<b>Conclusion:</b><br />
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Placed in an intensely difficult group for just their second appearance in the competition, Trappatoni and Ireland know that good results will be difficult to obtain. His type of football, while it may discourage certain fans, is certainly effective when results are needed. It's not pretty but as Trapattoni himself once said: "A beautiful game is for twenty-four hours in the newspapers; a result stands forever".Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-73140302270151718932012-05-08T15:16:00.002-07:002012-05-08T15:18:12.725-07:00The Day Milan Came to Town<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ-Hx2lduRMdNKPB2PGU9SZPStXZ2sN_59_yntqc75814Vd4lTi4kdhqJCT6Lr6KOAuheszjjEAsVJIO_pQ6oollIhxxhwm7XmZHgA4Ss7E2VJ5zDxiPeJbjmPcAlxtXA7e-THYWwObPE/s1600/article-1089747-029B2635000005DC-277_468x584.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ-Hx2lduRMdNKPB2PGU9SZPStXZ2sN_59_yntqc75814Vd4lTi4kdhqJCT6Lr6KOAuheszjjEAsVJIO_pQ6oollIhxxhwm7XmZHgA4Ss7E2VJ5zDxiPeJbjmPcAlxtXA7e-THYWwObPE/s320/article-1089747-029B2635000005DC-277_468x584.jpeg" width="256" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With the score deadlocked, Athlone Town forward John Minnock steps up to take the free-kick. With so much at stake the responsibility to qualify for next season's UEFA Cup falls upon Donegal-born John Minnock. The opposition are Cork Hibernian and a goal would more or less guarantee Athlone's first ever European outing. Thing is, neither the players nor the coaches nor the fans knew how legendary this adventure was destined to soon become.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Minnock scored. Athlone would hold out to win the game 1-0. Cork Hibernian - now defunct - failed to find a way to break down the resolute Athlone defence and so, they had secured their inaugural appearance in Europe for the 1974/75 season. The man who orchestrated this rise to prominence was Ireland's very own Brian Clough - Athlone Town manager Ambrose Fogarty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">From the late 50's to the early 60's, Fogarty had plied his trade alongside Clough at Sunderland. The two had struck up a great friendship whilst at the club - they were "great friends" according to former teammate Jimmy Nelson - and remained in touch long after they parted ways. While Clough was flexing his managerial muscles at lowly Derby County - soon to become second division and first division League champions - Fogarty retreated to Ireland to take the reins of Athlone Town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Prior to his arrival, Athlone had been exiled from the League of Ireland for the better part of forty years but a group of club officials finally persuaded the LOI authorities to let them back in in 1969. Thanks to the reinstatement Athlone Town were finally back where they belonged. They proceeded to fly through managers á la Roman Abramovich - four in five years back in Ireland's top tier - but it was with Fogarty coming towards the end of 1974 that Athlone really transpired to become one of the League of Ireland's best clubs for the short time he was there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In Fogarty's first season Athlone jumped to second in the table - an improvement by nine positions on the previous season, which was a testament to just how effective Fogarty was in those early days. It was Minnock's free-kick in that penultimate game that had effectively earned Athlone a place in next season's UEFA Cup for the first time in their history.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Upon qualifying, players and managers alike rejoiced in ecstasy and Pauric Nicholson, who now works as Regional Development Officer in the midlands, failed to get his head around it. Speaking in 2010 he said: "we could hardly grasp it. AC Milan were as big as they are now and, in many ways, they were even bigger then because Italian clubs were the top clubs in Europe at the time. English clubs have taken over now with the money they have but, at the time, AC Milan and Inter Milan and teams like that, Juventus, they were really the top teams. So, for us to be drawn against them was an amazing thing".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first leg of qualification pitted them against Norwegian outfit Valerengen. Valerengen had endured a similar fortune to Athlone as it was their close-fought 2-1 victory against Hamarkam on the final day of the season that ensured they'd be taking their place in Europe for the subsequent season. Athlone played the hosts role for the first game and duly won at a comfortable scoreline of three goals to one. They travelled to Norway knowing that a goal meant Scandinavian side needed three but "it was hard to see them doing that" as Paul Martin put it, quoted by Paul Keane. The return leg in Valerengen ended 1-1, so Athlone progressed on aggregate 4-2.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In that next round Athlone could have been pitted against teams like Roma, Liverpool, Barcelona, Lazio, Porto or Ajax. Instead, they drew the mighty and fearless AC Milan. What already looked a lucrative tie swayed slightly more so in Athlone's favour after it was revealed that Gina Rivera, who had iced his retirement plans, would not feature in the first leg as he would be making his comeback for the second leg, in front of the Milan faithful. Luciano Chiarugi and Franco Vincenzi were also out, which gave Athlone a small glimmer of hope. The Athlone team however, were not looking forward to the prospect of going toe-to-toe with Romeo Benetti, as nineteen-year-old Cyril Barnicle remarked:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Benetti was a rough nut, a physically very strong man, very muscular, like Gattuso all right but physically much stronger and much more dangerous. If he hit you with his strength he could break you. Gattuso, now, is tigerish but hasn't the same physical presence whereas this lad was very, very strong, like a little bull".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Back in the mid 70's, Milan were in the midst of a bit of a dry spell. Having last won a scudetto the year before their second European Cup triumph, Nereo Rocco and his Milan side soon became restless after a series of three consecutive second-placed finishes, including the season prior to their journey to Athlone. On top of their domestic shortcomings, the Milan hierarchy also wanted the 'Golden Boy', Gianni Rivera, out of the club, but ultimately failed as he later staged a comeback for the home tie against Athlone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There's a picture that was published as part of the thirtieth anniversary in 2005 that sees Milan players carefully measuring their steps disembarking from the team bus in order to avoid the mud-soaked ground that surrounded them. Upon arriving, Milan coaches were a bit taken a back at how dire the training complex seemed to them (it was actually the match pitch that they had seen. The actual training complex was situated at a nearby rugby pitch which facilitated the Milan players prior to the bout). Three days prior to the fixture, Athlone were competing in a League of Ireland game against none other than Cork Hibs - the team that had paved the way for Athlone in qualifying for Europe - a game which they subsequently won thanks to a late flurry of goals. However, what was interesting to note was that a Milan spy had been among the crowd during the game. When Athlone had the fortune of winning a penalty in the dying stages the spy had taken particular notice of penalty taker John Minnock's habits. He scored, but would ultimately pay the price in the coming days in what could have secured Athlone's most famous result in their history.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">By the time October 22nd rolled around, both teams were raring to go in what was to prove a hugely historic and eventful day. <em>El Parón </em>- the boss - and his team of coaches, including current Irish manager Giovanni Trappatoni, took their seats for what they perceived an easy enough game for the Rossoneri. Thing is, it wasn't. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Athlone knew that Milan's approach very much verged on the physical - Nereo Rocco apparently advised his players throughout his time "kick everything that moves, if it is the ball, all the better" - and so they set up in a similar manner, and were lucky not to have their skipper John Duffy sent off as one of his tackles had caught an opponent "around the chest with a boot". Nigel De Jong and himself could probably relate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Although Athlone had begun nervously with careless, wayward passes and concession of soft free-kicks, they soon settled into the game and gave Milan a run for their money. Just after the half-hour mark they were handed a glorious chance to take the lead. Terry Daly was set free having made some leeway and cut inside onto his right for a split moment. With only one man to aim for in the box Daly feigned to head right, then dropped his left shoulder and raced into the box. Milan defender Nevia Scala was seemingly flat-footed by Daly's acceleration and it was his clumsiness that brought Daly crashing to the earth. Referee Sorenson duly pointed to the spot. Minnock stepped up. Referring to the incident thirty-odd years later he exclaimed: "I just went with what I was used to. I felt confident enough."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As he readied himself, Milan keeper Enrico Albertosi, the man who had kept the famous Dino Zoff at bay during the 1970 World Cup for Italy, already had a fair idea of where he'd be shooting, thanks to the eye in the sky - spy in the crowd, rather - those few days prior. Minnock's tame effort was saved easily by Albertosi as he had dived to his right, as suggested, and clawed away Minnock's poor attempt at a penalty.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With their penalty chance scrapped, 'the Shepherds', as they were humorously dubbed by sportswriters in Italy due to the fact that they were perceived as being farmers, never truly looked like threatening thereafter. The only chance they could muster for the rest of the game was a cross-cum-shot from Noel Larkin which could find nobody bar a Milan defender in the box. Milan soon began to assert their superiority and as the game tore into its latter stages they slowly dominated but the Athlone defence stood firm and ended up holding the Rossoneri to a hugely noteworthy 0-0 draw.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The event was subsequently labelled "a piece of life stranger than fiction" by Con Houlihan and the BBC news at six led with the headline "the Mighty Milan have been held". And, of course, John Minnock's penalty miss soon became the talk of the town. A funny anecdote from Minnock decades after explained how he was in a bar one night with a mate when he popped on his glasses to read the horse's name his friend had pointed out. Minnock went on to note that two army men were sitting at the counter, observing him apply the glasses. "It's a pity he hadn't the glasses on when he took the penalty against Milan," remarked one.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If only.</span></div>
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<br />Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-39787446459026262722012-04-20T08:49:00.000-07:002012-05-12T14:10:26.027-07:00Paul Corry: Irish Football's Next Big Thing?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtISMMGpgd-mWuTl3NPQceXdirUNlnUz5VbByNiWT9P3ZVghHGqjkC1vPwqYuGHubiHy9UyEv2LPn2-n9jxDWuZ1jE0YrzBud8cSb9a8wVCWXC6jcgsyC2xLS4evxq337xM6dovhe-Od0/s1600/Corry.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtISMMGpgd-mWuTl3NPQceXdirUNlnUz5VbByNiWT9P3ZVghHGqjkC1vPwqYuGHubiHy9UyEv2LPn2-n9jxDWuZ1jE0YrzBud8cSb9a8wVCWXC6jcgsyC2xLS4evxq337xM6dovhe-Od0/s400/Corry.jpeg" width="307" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I got my first glimpse of Paul last season when I saw UCD entertain Derry City at the bowl towards the end of the season. Not too keen a League of Ireland follower at the time, I resigned to let a mate of mine drag me along to a game which he was going to regardless. As the game wore on, I began to notice a certain player in midfield moving the ball swiftly and making lumbering runs through the middle quite frequently. All I knew him as was a 'No.6' at the time. No name, just number 6. Even my mate, who I was convinced was a die-hard, failed to conjure up his name. (He claimed it was difficult to memorise all the UCD players' name's considering the squads constant reshuffling). Thanks to a quick google search, I later discovered his name was Paul Corry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What many don't seem to know about Corry is that when he was 18 he was scouted by the high-flying Premier League Burnley, who were lead by the tutelage of a certain Owen Coyle at the time, but he decided against the temptation of English football to remain at home in Dublin and continue studying for his commerce degree, a degree which has already presented him plenty of opportunities, including a job offer form Dutch firm KPMG. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">'I was over at Burnley for two weeks in July last year. I trained with the youth team for one week and the first team after that,' he explained. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"> 'I remember the first day, Chris Eagles came in with a brand new Lamborghini and his legs were waxed, and I also remember nutmegging Graham Alexander.'</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">'The thing I really liked about Burnley... was Owen Coyle. In training, he was always encouraging me, always giving me that bit of confidence. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">But I was always told, don’t sign for the manager, sign for the club.'</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Corry was so sure Burnley was the club for him that it resulted in him receiving a deferral for the commerce course he was doing at the time: '</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">I remember on the deadline day for the CAO, I went out to UCD and got a deferral for my course as I was so certain that I was going to go to Burnley. But at the last minute, I changed my mind,' said Corry.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> This sacrifice, at an age where players die to ply their trade abroad, conveyed that there was more to life than just football for Corry. Despite turning down Burnley, Corry remains adamant that he'll get another chance: '<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;">I still see myself playing abroad, I think that I’ll get there eventually so if I can get my degree and get my job offer from KPMG I just think it be will an ideal situation for myself.'</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> He was smart in planning for a future without football -- a tactic which many footballers tend to ignore when they enter the sport as professionals. Corry, at least, has something to fall back on immediately if it doesn't work out for him in England, something which seldom occurs in English football today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Corry first signed for UCD in 2009 and has so far made over fifty appearances for the Students, scoring a modest six goals from his deep-lying midfield position. However, it was ante-UCD that he first rose to prominence on a national stage. Corry, as captain, had marched his Belvedere side to the final of the FAI Umbro Under 17 Challenge Cup in 2009. Inspirational as ever, Corry masterminded the turnaround to Kilmalock's dismay as his two goals in the second half, plus a late strike from teammate David Lodola, gave Corry the first piece of silverware of his career. The win was dedicated to the recently deceased former FAI Senior Coach Noel O'Reilly, a man who proved instrumental in establishing 'Belvo' as the household name it is today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After that virtuoso display he was picked up by UCD and immediately offered a scholarship of his choice. That first season with the students included him making many first team appearances as UCD won promotion back to Ireland's top tier, finishing a point clear of Shelbourne, who had been breathing down their necks the majority of the campaign. Prior to the 2010 campaign he was featured in Daniel McDonnell's Independent article 'Top Ten Commodities to Watch', which rose his stock even further as he continued to feature heavily for the Students, continuing to perform consistently and add the odd goal or two in helping UCD maintain their status in the League of Ireland Premier Division for the next two years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the programme for the 2012 season opener against Cork City, manager Martin Russel spoke of how he hoped for 'continuity' in terms of keeping the majority of the previous seasons' squad as many in the past tend to depart when other clubs come knocking. The club's seen just as a stepping stone for most players. However, with just three players having left during the close season Russel was understandably delighted, none more so than managing to keep his number six, Paul Corry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Corry's contract was due to run out at the end of the 2011 season and despite the playmaker sitting down with various coaches over the Christmas period - "</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It seemed to me that the more managers I met the more confused I became!" -</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> he fortunately remained at the Bowl, where he said it was the "best move" to stay with the College "for another year". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now that Russel had secured Corry's services for yet another season everybody was raring to go for the opening night where UCD would host newly-promoted Cork City, a fixture which the College would end up winning 1-0 thanks to a goal from Mark Langtry. Corry was unable to take part that night due to an ankle injury on which he was anxiously awaiting the results on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He was again absent for the next game, away to Sligo Rovers, but returned for his season debut at Oriel Park against Dundalk. He managed to play the whole game but unfortunately re-injured himself in the process and was out for a further two games, again an injury in the same area. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Three weeks after the Dundalk fixture he was finally fit enough to take part as UCD were chasing their third home win from four. Corry played well, cleaning up and distributing the ball well, but it wasn't enough as a resurgent Bohemians grabbed their second win in a row, holding on for the final few minutes after a late penalty from UCD's top scorer Graham Rusk.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Corry's style of play mirrors that of Sergio Busquets. He's employed by Russel mainly as a deep-lying midfielder, asked to make tackles, interceptions and pick up on any loose ball within UCD's half and find the nearest man to offload it to. The 21-year-old also has an impressive left-foot, as he has a tendency to shoot from long range, and has found the net with quite a few during his short career thus far.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While it hasn't exactly been an ideal beginning to the campaign for Corry, things can only get better from here on in: </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">"Why I changed my mind </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">[about not joining Burnley]</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">, I don’t really know. Maybe it’s something that I will end up regretting, maybe it’s not. My ambition is to play at the highest level, so obviously I want to go and play in England some day. Hopefully something like that will come up for me in a few years. But I haven’t regretted my decision one bit, as all I’ve had is good times with UCD." </span>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-28359907315304345382012-04-09T16:46:00.002-07:002012-04-11T13:12:05.501-07:00The Bielsa Effect<br />
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As Marcelo Bielsa touched down at San Mames last August to return to club management for the first time in over a decade, there was an air of excitement in Spain. Bielsa, having turned down Massimo Moratti and Inter in order to fulfill a promise he made to Josu Urrutia, was coming back in order to attend to some unfinished business he had endured the first time around.</div>
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In 1998, Español hired him. He lasted only six games, failing to win any. He abandoned ship as they lay in 18<sup>th</sup> position after those half a dozen games to take up the post as manager of his home nation, Argentina.</div>
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At the beginning of this season, to the untrained eye, it seemed Bielsa was set for a case of déjà vu. It was with Athletic Club de Bilbao this time that he went winless for his first fives games of the season, breaking a 32 year record for their worst start to a campaign. Languishing in the relegation zone, just as he had with Español, questions were already being asked of Bielsa and his coaching methods and if they were suited to club football, especially a team structured like Athletic. While the stats lay bare the early season mini-crisis, behind the scenes it was a different story altogether.</div>
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Athletic were clearly a side in transition, still dealing with the demands of Bielsa and implementation of his tactics. It was evident at the World Cup that Bielsa's Chile team constantly hounded teams like dogs seeking to regain possession of the ball. It's the same at Athletic. They press, but just not as an alarmingly a rate as Chile did, most likely due to the fact that there are a significant amount of lower games to play in the World Cup than there are in La Liga and the copious amount of pressure would begin to tell for Athletic as the season progressed.</div>
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Athletic's first league win of the season, and usually one of the most anticipated in the club's season, was a win against Basque rivals Real Sociedad. Two goals from Fernando Llorente were enough to cancel out Inigo Martinez's jaw-dropping goal from the half-way line and give them their first three points of the season.</div>
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Finally there was a reward. For all the work the players had endured early on in the season, Bielsa's tactics were finally paying dividends. He now had one win in six but pundits were still excited to see what came next from the Argentine. Bielsa himself was particularly relieved about the result: "Even though I am a foreigner you can still feel this game is different; it is not just any game. We needed to win."</div>
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He said it again, whispering it, albeit as if to emphasis the repercussions he would have been ridiculed to if he hadn't: "We needed to win for many reasons." He knew, the team knew, the board and the fans knew how important that game was. It was one of those ‘must win’ games, a ‘do or die’ fixture, that eased the early season pressure on Bielsa, giving them some much needed respite, lifting them up from 19<sup>th</sup> to 16<sup>th</sup>.</div>
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That win kick-started a run of eleven games without defeat for the Basques. Among those results was a creditable draw away to Valencia, a seemingly comfortable 3-0 victory over fellow Champions League hopefuls Atletico Madrid and, perhaps most intriguingly, a pulsating 2-2 draw with Barçelona at San Mamés, in which Pep Guardiola showered Bielsa's men with praise, labeling them 'beasts' and stating that he had 'never played against a team so intense'.</div>
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The two have what one calls 'history'. Back in 2006, when Guardiola wished to become a coach, he paid Bielsa a visit in Argentina and the two talked. And talked. And talked. For eleven hours. Flinging chairs from one place to another, exercising several different marking strategies. Such a story was confirmed by Guardiola who stated "you don't talk for that long if its not agreeable and worthwhile". No wonder then why they were quick to compliment each other on that wet, rain-soaked drama fuelled November night, Guardiola more so than his counterpart.</div>
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While Bielsa's methods were beginning to bare fruit, we could see where and what he had altered since arriving. For example, Athletic now average 418 short passes per game, as opposed to last season’s 308 under Joaquín Caparrós. This clearly conveys <em>El Loco's</em> tactics of executing short and concise passes in building from the back and, with more possession, comes the likelihood of more goals.</div>
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He's also channeling more of the ball out to the wings, where Iker Munian and Susaeta attempt to weave their magic, the former more so than the latter. This season, attacks have instigated in the middle of the pitch just 25% of the time. Last season it was 30%. The emergence of Iker Munian has obviously lent a helping hand in shifting attacks more frequently from the middle to the right and indeed the left, where Muniain enjoys most of his possession. The possession they receive out on their respective wings is used predominantly to supply Fernando Llorente up front. This season, the 27-year-old has managed to grab an impressive 23 goals in just 30 starts. With Llorente having recently signed a new contract extending his stay at San Mamés until 2016, fans can breath a sigh of relief as his new inflated price tag will turn off any potential bidders.</div>
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In Europe, Bielsa and Athletic Club have taken away the breath of many, and slain some of Europe’s biggest sides in the process. Arguably Athletic Club’s finest victory of the season was when they outmaneuvered and outgunned Champions League dropouts Manchester United at Old Trafford, winning 3-2. Sir Alex Ferguson couldn't help but beam of admiration for Bielsa and the way Athletic performed, claiming that it was an ‘outstanding’ performance, as well as admitting that the Basques had ‘the highest stats of any team that has played at Old Trafford in the last 10 years.’ Sir Alex even went as far to say that this Bilbao side’s work-rate is greater than anyone he had seen in Europe, including Barcelona.</div>
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Madrid legend Raúl also got in on the act. Following Athletic’s 4-2 away win in Gelsenkirchen last week, the 34-year-old claimed, “this may be the best Athletic I’ve ever seen.” Now that’s saying something.</div>
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With their progression into the Europa League semi-finals and a Copa Del Rey final in May, it’s easy to admit that the short-term effects of Bielsa’s tactics have born fruit. However, league-wise, results have been dim of late. In their last six league games Bilbao have managed just one victory, which was the reverse fixture of the Basque derby against Real Sociedad. It’s understandable that such results are inevitable, especially a team drilled so intensely like Bielsa’s, and fatigue begins to play its part as the season draws to a close. The lack of depth in the squad has also made itself evident in the past couple of weeks and yet, the Argentine has continued to name unchanged line-ups, unless forced otherwise.</div>
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Marcelo Bielsa once said: “a man with new ideas is mad until he succeeds”. These ‘ideas’ that <em>El Loco</em> have implemented have brought success, be it short-term, to Bilbao. With Bielsa the man behind such ideas, it’s safe to say <em>Los Leones</em> is in safe hands and will be for the foreseeable future.</div>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-57140117063819182722012-04-09T16:43:00.001-07:002012-04-09T16:43:53.309-07:00The Memorable Leap Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Twenty years ago, on February 29th 1992, Éric Cantona opened his account in English football. But, despite all the success he had gone on to have in England, it wasn't his first choice. In fact, his first choice was Japan. Weird as it may sound, Éric desired career in a country where he'd be a relative unknown and where the clubs paid 'very good wages' according to a friend of Éric's at the time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After initially retiring at just twenty-four having endured a troublesome yet quietly successful football career - he had been chief tormentor in Montpellier's surprising <i>Coupe De France</i> win in 1990 - Cantona decided to call it a day. That two-month ban handed to him by the French FA - although initially a four-match suspension Cantona, fuming, and in true Cantona fashion, walked up to each member of the commission and uttered the same word: <i>'Idiot!'</i> and left - subsequently saw him commit, for the first time, football 'suicide'. He did this while still contracted to Nîmes and subsequently owed them £1 million. Not a great time to retire then one might think.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Knowing that canceling his contract with Nîmes may well run him close to bankruptcy, he begrudgingly returned and was advised to carve out a career in England, not Japan - thankfully the season was coming to a close and no clubs needed additional players - by then assistant coach of the French national team, Gérard Houllier.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Howard Wilkinson, the Leeds manager at the time, was informed of Cantona's availability via Trevor Francis, who was in charge of Sheffield Wednesday. Gérard Houllier, 'a good friend' according to Dennis Roach, the football agent who had overseen the first £1 million transfer fee in England, was given the task of breaking this news to Francis that the mercurial Frenchman was seeking a club in England. However, with the Frenchman's talent also came the inevitable trouble. Houllier warned Francis who remained so intrigued that he subsequently organised Cantona to come to Sheffield and train late on in January 1992. "Eric came over and played in an indoor six-a-side tournament - and he was absolutely fantastic. Unbelievable." Roach was clearly a very impressed man. And Cantona equally impressive. But when it came down to signing the contract, Francis 'hadn't yet learnt to make quick decisions' according to Roach, 'so he ummed and aahed'. Francis decided that he wanted to evaluate Cantona a further two days but that decision proved costly as Roach soon received a call from what sounded like a very intrigued Howard Wilkinson at Leeds.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Wilkinson and Houllier got straight down to business. The Englishman enquired, Houllier responded. When asked on what Wilkinson should do, Houllier remembers telling him to "close your eyes and take him, you'll get a superb player". 'Sergeant Wilko' was quick to act. A week on from those discussions that took place between those two and Cantona was discussing his future with Wilkinson. He duly signed, on loan from Nimes, and the reigning champions were given the option of buying him outright in April 1992.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Having abandoned all his fitness during his one-and-a-half month absence from the game Wilkinson eased him back into it. Cantona understood Wilkinson's approach and Gordan Strachan, the United captain at the time, was quick to praise Cantona's 'first-class attitude', while also backing Wilkinson's choice to 'break him in gently' at the time: 'You have to remember that when [Éric] joined us, he had not played for six weeks - so it was really like pre-season for him, and we have to break him in gently, though hopefully he will be a big help to us in the final weeks of the season.'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);">An untimely injury to midfielder Steve Hodge forced Wilkinson to give <i>Le Brat</i> his debut - away, in a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Oldham. Cantona failed to make a lasting impression in his inaugural game for United and other than a few flicks, he was a largely subdued and understandably frustrated character.</span><br style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);" /><br style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);" /><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);">'I found it physical to play in,' said Cantona following his failure to exert any influence on the fixture. He acknowledged that he had 'had a bad day' but delved deeper and said 'I think I'll have fun here. I'll understand more with each day that passes. It's the same for the language. It won't be harder, it'll be just as difficult. To learn is always difficult.'</span><br style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);" /><br style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);" /><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);">His second game, after United crossed the Irish Sea to do battle with Irish champions Shelbourne, excited many and the anticipation that he'd be featuring saw ticket sales spike. Cantona duly impressed and was the man behind a ferocious shot which shook the post from 20-yards. So far, so good then for the 25-year-old. His home debut in another friendly, this time against Swede's IFK Gothenburg, saw the birth of - or reincarnation of - the 'Ooh-Aah' chant that soon became one of the most recognisable chants in English football when the mavericks name was added to it. It was a chant formerly used for Manchester United's Paul McGrath and was subsequently used to great effect when the Frenchman arrived at Old Trafford in arguably the most cherished of his years in football.</span><br style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);" /><br style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);" /><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);">His first goal in English football arrived on the rogue day, February 29th, in 1992. An injury to Tony Dorigo saw the introduction of Cantona on the half-hour mark. In the second half Éric attempted the audacious and chipped the Luton keeper, Steve Sutton, with the ball evading him, but just not the crossbar. Not long after that, Gary McAllister charged through the Luton defence. Just about to round the keeper, the Scot was felled and the ball rolled free. Cantona, with just a few yards to trek, saw his opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. Cue a rapturous reception from the Elland Road crowd. (He later turned provider for the unmarked Lee Chapman, who rifled his shot past Sutton.)</span><br style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);" /><br style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);" /><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969);">He went on to record 9 goals in 28 appearances for United during his solitary year at the club. But that day, on February 29th 1992, the Cantona train was well and truly set in motion.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/pYerOuONqJw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-51716993680291891392012-01-11T13:33:00.000-08:002012-04-20T08:52:46.592-07:00Following Fergie: Manchester United and Frank O'Farrell Syndrome<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<strong style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px; text-align: left;">With the day nearing when Manchester United will have to find a replacement for Sir Alex, Frank O'Farrell's struggle with the shadow of Sir Matt Busby looming in every corner of Old Trafford may yet ring true again...</strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Frank O'Farrell was, and still remains, the only Irishman to have ever managed Manchester United. He took over from Wilf McGuiness in June 1971 but his tenure was short-lived as a combination of poor results and an even worse relationship with 'director' Sir Matt Busby ultimately led to his downfall. He was perhaps a touch unlucky to have been given the impossible task of dealing with an out-of-sorts George Best but, despite his best efforts, he was unable to tame the mercurial talent that was the Northern Irishman. He may be a forgotten man in the history of Manchester United but he remains one of the most successful Irish managers to have ever managed abroad. This is the definitive story of Frank O'Farrell and his life in football.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Frank had been born in Cork, in the South-West of Ireland in October 1929. From an early age, O'Farrell had wanted to become a train driver - just like his father had, however his dreams of following his dad were dashed whilst playing for Cork United when he was spotted by a scout from West Ham who had assured him he had shown plenty of promise. He crossed the Irish Sea and duly signed with the Hammers in 1948, receiving a signing-on fee of £1,000, a fee which he described as a "fortune" at the time. It took him time to settle, but once he did he was unstoppable. Tommy Docherty, once a teammate of Frank's at Preston North End, once said of Frank that he "didn't stick out like a diamond or a jewel", but if a player on the opposing team was having a tough game that was because of Frank.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When he moved to London that year it was evident that Catholicism wasn't as widely practiced as it was back at home. In other words, it was non-compulsory. Many Irishmen who had emigrated to England had noticed this and dropped practicing it altogether. And yet, despite what was becoming the norm, O'Farrell remained true to his roots and sure enough continued to be involved in the Catholic community throughout his career in England, visiting mass every Sunday and becoming involved in the Legion of Mary.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">O'Farrell continued to impress and earned a move to division one side Preston North End, whom he helped finish runners up to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 1957/58 season. He was forced to retire in 1961 due to injury and began life in management with division four side Weymouth and then Torquay, leading them to immediate promotion and successive 6th and 7th place finishes. Following the success he had in Dorset he then moved on to Leicester and led the Foxes to the FA Cup final in 1969, losing out to Manchester City. Unfortunately, that FA Cup run had hindered their league progress and at the end of the season they found themselves demoted to League Two, finishing 19th out of 20th.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, they returned to the First Division after spending just two full seasons in England's second-tier, finishing atop of the pile having accumulated 59 points from 42 games. It was this achievement that had eventually landed him the job at Old Trafford in June 1971.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When phoned by Sir Matt Busby on whether he'd be interested in coaching United, O'Farrell couldn't have been more ecstatic. Busby was invited to O'Farrell's house to discuss contract terms and the two eventually settled on a five-year contract and a salary of £12,000. However, when O'Farrell went to finalise the deal with the then-United chairman Louis Edwards he quoted that the deal involved O'Farrell receiving a salary of £15,000 - not £12,000 as Busby had slyly suggested in previous discussions. Nonetheless, after giving the proposal some thought, O'Farrell preceded to accept the job offer and was duly presented in front of the press as the new manager of Manchester United in the Summer of 1971.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Upon his arrival Sir Matt Busby had said to Frank that he would be taking up a role as a 'director' at the club and would not become involved in the day-to-day activity of the club. What Busby said would later deemed to be just lies as his continued interfering with the club inevitably led to the Irishman's sacking just eighteen months later. He was a man clearly still cushioning the blow with the loss of retiring from management, so much so that when O'Farrell came in on his first day at work he had to reassign Busby to a different room as he had refused to move out from the managers office.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On the pitch, O'Farrell's United side began the season brightly and found themselves top of the table early on in the season. His star player, George Best, was in terrific form and United seemed in good stead by Christmas. Just as United seemed to be heading for yet another Division One title George Best took it upon himself to disappear and reappear at regular intervals. Nobody knew where he was. Tommy Docherty even said that he knew every bar in Manchester and yet was unable to locate the whereabouts of United's troubled star. Once when he returned, O'Farrell made the decision to drop him for their league game with Wolverhampton Wanderers but it backfired spectacularly as his United side lost 2-0 at home, struggling to make any sort of impression without the presence of Best.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">His constant boozing was clearly a cause for concern but all O'Farrell could do was wait until he came back to deal with him. When Best did eventually come back, after enjoying a summer in Marbella where he announced he was quitting football only to retract his comments after O'Farrell said he'd take him back, the United manager took the bold move and reprimanded the Northern Ireland international by fining him £400 and announced that Best would be "losing his domestic freedom" and missing the clubs' four-match pre-season tour.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">United finished that first season in a hugely disappointing 8th, so O'Farrell decided to strengthen the squad during the off-season. One of his the more controversial signings he made, Ian Storey-Moore, involved a very public tug-of-war with one of football's most eccentric and controversial characters, Brian Clough. United had had a bid of £200,000 accepted for the left-winger and both Moore and O'Farrell, along with Nottingham Forrest manager Matt Gilies and secretary Ken Smales, agreed to finalise the deal at the Edwalton Hall hotel in Nottingham. Both parties failed to agree terms and so, after hearing of the collapsed transfer via one of his many spies, Derby County manager Brian Clough swooped in and rang the hotel to tell Storey-Moore to stay where he was. Moore agreed and whilst Gilies and Smales headed home, Clough arrived in an attempt to try and bring the Forrest winger to then bottom-of-the-table division two side Derby. Clough, as became the usual, convinced Moore that Derby were destined for greatness and he subsequently signed the transfer papers. However, Ken Smales had refused to sign them so Moore technically remained a Forrest player.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This didn't stop Clough. He went on to announce that Moore had officially signed for Derby and preceded to parade his new signing around the Baseball Ground, whilst the move still remained an unofficial one. Nottingham Forrest refused to confirm the deal and so Moore eventually left Derby to return back to his home in Bingham. Upon hearing of Storey-Moore's return to Derby, both O'Farrell and Sir Matt Busby visited him at his house, and swept his wife off his feet with a surprise bouquet. It's evident that this generous gesture may have been the deciding factor in Storey-Moore eventually agreeing terms with United and officially signing in the summer of 1972.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In his second term at the helm the results largely remained the same. He began the season poorly, as did Best, and in December that year he was called in by the United board members and was delivered the news that his contract would be terminated. When he asked why they stated no reason for his dismissal. This understandably left O'Farrell furious as to why he was getting sacked but after pressing for an answer he got the reply that he was losing his job because United were "last", even though they were only third from bottom. Frank took legal action against United due to his dismissal and after nine months both parties settled out of court.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Speaking in a recent documentary providing an in-depth insight of his tenure at United, O'Farrell remembers Sir Matt Busby as a very "nasty, vindictive" man who played more than a helping hand in his eventual dismissal late on in 1972, shedding a rather dim light on a man who fans of the club have always held in the highest of regard. Paddy Crerand, who plied his trade under O'Farrell when he was in-charge at Old Trafford, defended the accusations but also declared in the same documentary that the Irishman was simply "too nice a man" to succeed at United, especially as such high standards were required of him so soon after Busby's previous successes at the club.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These days, O'Farrell resides in Torquay, England with his wife Anne. They've been together for over fifty years and he turned down the opportunity to manage Newcastle United after returning home fresh from winning Iran's first Asian Games trophy to spend more time with his partner. Sweet may the be term used to describe the Cork man's actions but one may suggest that he was just being Frank, and that he's done so for his whole life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>This was originally written for <a href="http://inbedwithmaradona.com/">inbedwithmaradona.com</a></i></span></div>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-34098723140423669542011-12-29T08:29:00.000-08:002011-12-29T08:29:57.617-08:00Over Before It Even Began: Carlos Vela<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoedYfr01HnYMEbfMwbOPFJR0_lKflTyZZNwd79Fn9mhOuOXS_i-_wGnEiVCu8H3ljHprTWL3KrNxDcUM3h8DAIhqc_sAZBEOiK8GbwUkOr-LivVilLOQRqKQeeZtbyg5XwBOT-R5PjMM/s1600/tumblr_lj17vmqMBO1qgrxdwo1_500.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoedYfr01HnYMEbfMwbOPFJR0_lKflTyZZNwd79Fn9mhOuOXS_i-_wGnEiVCu8H3ljHprTWL3KrNxDcUM3h8DAIhqc_sAZBEOiK8GbwUkOr-LivVilLOQRqKQeeZtbyg5XwBOT-R5PjMM/s1600/tumblr_lj17vmqMBO1qgrxdwo1_500.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoedYfr01HnYMEbfMwbOPFJR0_lKflTyZZNwd79Fn9mhOuOXS_i-_wGnEiVCu8H3ljHprTWL3KrNxDcUM3h8DAIhqc_sAZBEOiK8GbwUkOr-LivVilLOQRqKQeeZtbyg5XwBOT-R5PjMM/s400/tumblr_lj17vmqMBO1qgrxdwo1_500.jpeg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;">So much was expected of </span><em style="line-height: 19px;">El Bombardero</em><span style="line-height: 19px;">. He had taken the U-17 World Cup by storm, claiming the Golden Boot and leading his hugely talented Mexican side to World Cup glory - a side that featured current Barcelona outcast Giovanni Dos Santos, who had won the Silver Ball at the same tournament. Now, after an unimpressive showing with Arsenal in the Premier League, and a string of unsuccessful loan moves, Vela is trying his luck with Real Sociedad in Spain's La Liga. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Where did it all go wrong for Vela? At just 16, Vela had already represented his country at the Under 17 World Cup in Peru, back in 2005. His potential was for all to see as he scored Mexico's first goal of the competition, in their opening fixture with Uruguay, and continued to defy expectations as he scored a further four goals, against such teams like Australia, Costa Rica and even the mighty Brazil in the final. These underage tournaments are always looked to for new talent who, once impressing, have managers sit up and take notice. This was the case for Vela and after that World Cup victory CD Guadalajara owner and coach Jorge </span>Vergara<span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, made him an offer he couldn't resist. However, since Vela was in a position of power, he bargained with </span>Vergara<span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and had him relocate his family after their town, </span>Cancún<span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> in Quintana </span>Roo<span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, was on the receiving end of a terrible storm earlier that year.</span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This deal he brokered for his family made it evident that he loved his family. After winning the World Cup final with a resounding 3-0 victory over South American counterparts Brazil, and with his fathers birthday having clashed with that final date, Vela dedicated his goal in the final, golden boot and the trophy they had won earlier that evening to his father, who was understandably overjoyed at such an action, especially from a 16-year-old.</span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Following his hugely successful World Cup showing, and impressive club form, Arsene Wenger's Arsenal came calling in 2005 and faxed over an offer of $3 million [£1.5 million] in order to entice the Mexican to London. "He was a player we were looking to be a big part of our future and there was no way we were going to let him go for free," said Vergara after agreeing to the sale of Vela. "</span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We expected him to stay for two or three years and then leave as the big star he was going to be, but in the end it was his decision and there was nothing we could do about it. I hope he won’t regret leaving the club at such an early age."</span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A deal was agreed imminently and, after passing his medical with flying colours, he signed a 5-year deal with Gunners. However, after Arsenal had the "exceptional talent" excuse for a reason to obtain a Visa in order to Vela to work in Europe turned down, the 17-year-old was forced to look abroad for opportunities before re-applying in a few years time. </span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It wasn't long before teams came calling upon hearing of Vela's rejected Visa proposal. In January 2006 it seemed the Mexican was destined for a short-term loan move to Spanish outfit Celta Vigo as David Dein, Arsenal's former vice-chairman, had agreed for him to leave. However, once again things turned sour as Celta Vigo announced that they were not able to take Carlos, due to restrictions regarding non-Spanish players. The loan move was cancelled but new alliances were quickly formed with Spanish Segunda side UD Salamanca, where young Carlos left more than an impression. </span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Upon arriving, Vela took time to settle but once he did there was no looking back. He had found his goalscoring touch, scoring a modest 8 goals in 31 games, and also lent a helping hand in contributing nearly half of Salamanca's 53 goals that season, whilst still only 17. This form saw many lavish him with praise, with Spanish newspaper <em>Marca </em>labeling him "the new Hugo Sanchez" as there were several similarities between the two. For example, both had black curly hair, as well as wearing the No.9 jersey. But perhaps the most intriguing piece of information was that both Vela and Sanchez had played in Spain, at Salamanca and Real Madrid respectively, and had a knack of making their presence felt in games. </span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He returned to London that summer brimming with confidence but was once again shipped on loan as Arsene Wenger decided he was still to young and needed a fresh challenge, as well as still not having obtained a work permit. Plenty of clubs came knocking, Spanish sides such as Levante, Osasuna, Real Betis and Almeria all enquired about the teenage prodigy, but it was Osasuna who he chose to depart to on a one-year loan, with an option of a second year on the table too. No sooner had he been at Osasuna for the entirety of a single month was he drafted into the Mexican squad for their friendly against Brazil and subsequently Guatemala a month later, in October 2007, whom he scored his first international goal against.</span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">His form for Osasuna wasn't necessarily the greatest, returning to Arsenal with a relatively poor 4 goals in 33 appearances for <em>Los Rojillos</em>, but it was the step up he needed in order to truly show Wenger what he was fully capable of.</span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In May 2008 Vela was finally granted a work permit and so was able to play for Arsenal during the 2008/09 season. He made his debut for the Gunners in their fifth game of the season, vs Newcastle, and came on for talisman Robin Van PersieArsene Wenger had fielded, as has become the norm, a young, inexperienced side, with Carlos Vela leading the line alongside Nicolas Bendtner. Little did 18-year-old Vela that this would prove to be his greatest achievement for the Londoners as he went on to score a hat-trick - all goals being of the highest quality, especially the second, which was chipped ever so delicately over the on-rushing Paddy Kenny. </span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sachin Nakrani of the Guardian wrote that Arsenal "were a side with an average age of 19, containing one 16-year-old and four players making first starts, played through their more experienced opponents as if they were ghosts, only pausing to catch breath or celebrate the stream of goals". Arsene Wenger later went on to note that they were "the best crop of young players" he has had at the club. But one player who made more of an impression than anyone that night was the young Carlos Vela, handed his first start that chilly September night. His exceptional performance earned many plaudits and Wenger once again led the praise, labeling him a "top-class striker", as well as stating that "he has everything: agility, a good first touch and - perhaps most importantly - clinical finishing". Despite the hugely impressive showing he gave that night Vela was to start only a further nine times that season, making a total of 29 appearances. He might not have made much of an impact, finishing the season with a total of only six goals and four assists, but Wenger still had him in is plans. Or so Vela thought he did. </span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The following season Vela made even less appearances and scored even less goals, managing just two. He was limited to cameo appearances and understandably became frustrated at his lack of opportunities for the first team. 2009/10 was no better. Just two goals in 20 appearances. With the arrival of </span>Marouane Chamakh from Ligue 1 side Bordeaux in the summer of 2010, who had scored 16 goals the previous season, it seemed this was the beginning of the end for Vela. In 2010/11 he played only 13 times and ended the season with 3 goals and a single assist to his name. It was perhaps a relief then when West Bromwich Albion took a chance on him and brought him on loan to the Midlands from January 2011 until the end of the season.</span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In just his second start for the Baggies Vela scored at the death to grab a much-needed point against fellow relegation contenders Wolves. He also scored a late (controversial) equaliser in the subsequent game at the Britannia Stadium, where he had only been on the pitch a matter of minutes, that helped the Baggies climb out of the relegation places - for the time being at least. He was not to feature for the following three games, remaining an unused substitute, but made a further four appearances before the end of the season, failing to score during any of them.</span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At the beginning of the 2011/12 season it was agreed that he would travel to Spain once more but this time with Real Sociedad. In his thirteen appearances thus far he's started eight, scoring twice, with both coming in successive games. His second goal, an incredible bicycle kick, tied things up in injury-time when Sociedad played Malaga early in December. With two goals in two games and confidence sky-high Sociedad travelled to Estadio El Madrigal to take on the injury-ravaged Villareal but a failure to score in that game and indeed the game after resulted in a dip in this new-found confidence.</span><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px;"><span data-mce-style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Despite his goals, Vela has flattered to deceive at Sociedad thus far and that's very much been the story of his career, with Salamanca proving the only exception. That once fresh-faced potential-ridden youngster who had joined Arsenal in order to achieve his dream to "play there beside Theirry Henry" has taken a turn for the worst and many don't expect him to come back. Only Vela can decide his fate and if he can't improve by the end of this La Liga campaign and change Arsene Wenger's mind odds are his career will end up playing in the doldrums of a division two or perhaps even division three side in the years to come - an utter travesty considering the potential he once possessed.</span></span></div>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-80295962140325377562011-12-22T06:27:00.000-08:002012-07-25T13:34:35.301-07:00Unmasking The Myth: Socrates and UCD<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj5-F2GSfx57YgFw9pBdDsuBgSp9mI6HXcS1siQhcJavQDVntcqRX4WYS3j3en4GmiLkSVrRptGLHxvtV1Wf7bjX07YnmcrKe-DoqbzPQBsWA2llzzzpeaXjVjsHeIKElbNl9t6jfSTI0/s1600/backpagefootball.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj5-F2GSfx57YgFw9pBdDsuBgSp9mI6HXcS1siQhcJavQDVntcqRX4WYS3j3en4GmiLkSVrRptGLHxvtV1Wf7bjX07YnmcrKe-DoqbzPQBsWA2llzzzpeaXjVjsHeIKElbNl9t6jfSTI0/s400/backpagefootball.png" width="400" /></a><span style="border-width: 0px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Since the untimely death of </span></span><span style="border-width: 0px; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">former Brazil superstar Socrates tributes have flooded in, </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">praising the former skipper for the contribution he gave the world. Much has been lauded of his time as a player, and indeed the input he gave the political world, as well as being a qualified doctor, but one particular aspect of his life that has intrigued many Irish natives has been the fact that he apparently togged out for UCD AFC - or the University College of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;">Dublin football team for those of you living elsewhere - during the 1970′s. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A bit about UCD first:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">UCD was born the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Catholic University Medical School Football Club in 1895. It was up and running the subsequent year, playing friendlies and such, and were the founding members of the Leinster Junior League in 1896, and went on to make the semi-finals in 1897. The ‘College’, as they’re so fondly known as, enjoyed considerable success in the early 20th century, winning the inaugural Irish </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Intervarsities</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> competition, the Collingwood Cup, in 1914 and collected the Irish Intermediate Cup the following year, beating Portadown 2-1 in the replayed final. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">After just a season back in Ireland’s second tier, the College re-entered the top-flight of Irish football after winning the First Division in 2009, finishing a single point ahead of fellow </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dubliners</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Shelbourne</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> FC. A steady season back saw them steer clear of the relegation places and finish a respectable 8th out of 12th. One of the many highlights of the 2010 season was UCD’s famous 3-2 home win over Europa League-bound and reigning champions Shamrock Rovers. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Their second season back featured one of the oddest, most peculiar finishes to a game you’ll ever witness. The College were 2-0 up inside 25 minutes thanks to strikes Paul Corry and </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Samir </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Belhout</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> respectively but went into the break only 2-1 up, proving to be the architects of their own downfall after Drogheda’s Gavin Brennan capitalised on some poor UCD defending. United then went on to equalise on 58 minutes, through Jordan White, and then scored a further two, on 61 and 64 minutes, to make it 4-2. What then happened was one of the best, most sensational comeback’s you’ll ever see. UCD’s Darren </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Meenan</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> halved the deficit on with ten to play and Robert </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Creevy</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> then leveled the scores with only six minutes left before Graham Rusk, or ‘</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rusky</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">‘ as adored fans call him, grabbed the 9th and final goal to end a thrilling contest between the relegation contenders.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Famous ex-players’ include former Manchester United and Blackburn defender Kevin Moran, the man with the supposedly ‘hardest shot in football history’ and ex-Leeds man Peter </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lorimer</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, former Crystal Palace man Ken O’Doherty and Conor </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sammon</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, famously – and perhaps humorously – dubbed the ‘</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sammon</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> of College’, who now plies his trade at </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wigan</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Athletic.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Anyway, returning to Socrates, and a myth’s transpired about him having used to play for UCD, or indeed their reserve side. While nobody knows if it’s there’s any truth behind it, many have supported the theory, including former FAI press officer Brendan McKenna who said ”Socrates did play for UCD, but it was way, way back, sometime in the 70s.” The view was supported by G</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">erry Callan</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> of the Irish Daily Star, who said he thought the Brazilian did play for UCD, but he only featured for the reserves on Saturday’s instead of the first team on Sunday’s, as he only wanted to play on a Saturday.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The tale then went unmentioned for the better part of 14 years before reappearing in the Guardian’s “Knowledge Unlimited” series when the question was posed to journalist Sean Ingle and then in 2003 when the myth was debunked in a match programme between UCD and St. Patrick’s Athletic, where it dismissed the claim that he had played for the College but made the allegation that he had, in fact, studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) in Dublin in 1976. The passage also asserted that he went to the RCSI’s trials for their Collingwood Cup team but chose to focus his attention towards his study instead after being appalled at the lack of ability his teammates possessed.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Guardian delved into more detail about the matter in 2002 when they revisited the issue and provided a more in-depth look at the subject from a reader who claimed that Socrates had quit the team after only “a couple of games because the coach and manager at the time, Dr. Terry O’Neill, insisted that he quit smoking.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Billy McGrath, a former UCD player, who played for the College from 1973-77 backs up the claim that Socrates never played for them, confirming that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“At the time the UCD first team was playing in the League of Ireland B division so if he was playing for UCD – and not good enough for the first team – he would have been in the Leinster Senior League.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Various publications have tried their best to sink the unsinkable myth with the (now defunct) <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sunday Tribunes’</em> article “Will the Socrates Myth Ever be Put to Bed?” in 2006 urging the fans living in hope to “</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">put a stake through the heart” of this so-called myth. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">An English language newspaper in the People’s Republic of China, <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The China Daily</em>, ran an article in 2006 that described Socrates as </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“an alumni of the College of Surgeons in Dublin”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> so the myth isn’t necessarily going anywhere soon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">However, even despite this, websites such as Footbo.com continue to maintain that Socrates had in fact ”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">spent time in Ireland and turned out for the University College Dublin (UCD) team.”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Socrates then finally came out and delivered the verdict himself, stating that he had actually never been to Dublin, totally disproving the widely-spread myth. So the fact that he’s never actually visited Dublin means he never played football for UCD which, of course, means there’s no truth to the myth. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oh well, one can dream.</span></span></div>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-73891607512162979602011-12-04T07:02:00.000-08:002011-12-04T07:17:48.271-08:00Precious Messi The Focus of Barcelona<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyrC04gbT9lbL_OO-7YXE_o1_rK7iqKadGNLMMYY16OMcS_oKkan8Em_Gkhn3gPbrR_JWJJ_9O5jPg8l3DvbQrQuwKYJN1Dx4Dun4gdbz8PLyQqzt0B43J-GE_4Bl7Lx9wNhbZQ8I8PJM/s1600/Lionel%252BMessi%252BFC%252BBarcelona%252Bv%252BSSC%252BNapoli%252BJoan%252BDXgWrPzLxH2l.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyrC04gbT9lbL_OO-7YXE_o1_rK7iqKadGNLMMYY16OMcS_oKkan8Em_Gkhn3gPbrR_JWJJ_9O5jPg8l3DvbQrQuwKYJN1Dx4Dun4gdbz8PLyQqzt0B43J-GE_4Bl7Lx9wNhbZQ8I8PJM/s1600/Lionel%252BMessi%252BFC%252BBarcelona%252Bv%252BSSC%252BNapoli%252BJoan%252BDXgWrPzLxH2l.jpeg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At Getafe's Coliseum Alfonso Pérez stadium on Saturday night it became increasingly apparent for Barcelona that something - or in fact, someone - was missing. No it wasn't Xavi, nor Iniesta (even though he was actually missing), but Lionel Messi. The three-time Ballon D'or winner was the quietest he's been in Madrid on Saturday and it became further evident that for this Barcelona side they've begun to rely on more and more on one individual to supply them with ammunition. His name's Lionel Messi.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These days, Barcelona are essentially a 'one-man' team. Spanish football expert Guillem Balague wrote in his preview of the Getafe vs Barcelona game last Saturday that Barcelona are "heavily reliant" on Messi. And to an extent, that's true. They have become extremely reliant on the Argentine. In fact, last season, if you take away what Lionel Messi contributed - goals and assists - for Barcelona they <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/OptaJose/media/slideshow?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftwitpic.com%2F55xxor" target="_blank">would have finished 2nd,</a> which means Lionel Messi alone contributed 24 of Barcelona's 96 overall points.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guardiola has yet to speak about this in person but journalist Graham Hunter, whose new book 'Barca: The Making of The Greatest team in the World' hits shops in January, has written about how highly the Barca coaching staff regard Messi above the rest of the squad. In an excerpt released last week he says:</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"It was decided that Brau would be dedicated to Messi, helping him avoid injury, rather than recover from it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Messi’s diet would now include previously unknown quantites such as fish and vegetables and these changes in the way he maintains his body have made him leaner and stronger, less susceptible to injury and quicker to recover. However, there was more to the plan than that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ronaldinho and Deco were to be removed from the team – partly to clear the decks for a new coach but, those in the war cabinet decided, this was equally to save Messi from thier destructive influences."</span><o:p></o:p></span></div></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This favouritism has irked many, some more than others, but nobody as much as former Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swedish national made it clear in his newly released book I am Zlatan, which sold over 300,000 copies in its first week last week, that he resented the fact that Barcelona cherished Messi so much:</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"He came to Barcelona as a 13 year old, was brought up in their culture. He has no problem acting like a schoolboy. But in that team it is all about him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After I arrived I was scoring more goals than he had. So Messi went to Guardiola and said ‘I don’t want to play on the wing any more, I want to play in the middle of the attack’. Guardiola became pathetic, and he swtiched to something more like a 4-5-1 formation with me just ahead of Messi.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He shouldn’t have adjusted the team for one individual. Why had he bought me if that was the case.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It's the same in Argentina. When playing for the national team he's made the permanent 'scapegoat' whenever they fail to produce the goods in a tournament. That so-called 'spark' we have the pleasure of witnessing every time he plays for Barcelona is so often absent while he dons an Argentine jersey. This was recently stressed by former Argentine legend Gabriel Batistuta who spoke about Messi in an excellent interview he gave to Fox Sports Latin America in early November stating that:</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">“I see a Messi that is intelligent, away from controversies. What I don’t like is how [Argentines] always find him responsible for the national team’s shortcomings.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For Barcelona, Messi smashes it and we want him to do the same for [Argentina], but there are different players...Messi doesn’t play for Argentina as he does for Barcelona, I think he seems nervous, because if he makes a mistakr, everyone turns against him.”</span></span></div></blockquote><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As previously mentioned, the Barca team now revolve around Messi. When he plays well, they play well. When he doesn't, they don't. While this may seem a good plan, it can have its disadvantages. In fact, it already has become predictable as this was countered fantastically by Getafe last Saturday in their 1-0 defeat. Messi, you could say, 'went messing' and never really looked like causing too much trouble, partly because he was dealt with superbly by Getafe.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The Blaugrana travel to the Bernabéu on December 10th for their third <i>El Clasico</i> meeting already this season. In the two previous meeting, both Super Cup fixtures, Barca prevailed as victors having drawn the first leg 2-2 and winning the second 3-2 in a thrilling encounter at Camp Nou. Of those 5 goals Barcelona scored three were scored by the ever so brilliant Messi, while the other two were supplied by Andres Iniesta and David Villa.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In that first game, José Mourinho attempted to reduce the threat of Messi by pushing Richardo Carvalho high up the pitch to stop the Argentine doing what he does best. But it was to no avail as when Carvalho pushed up, Messi skipped by him and played in Iniesta for the first goal at the Bernabéu. As Zonal Marking's Michael Cox suggests, <a href="http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/08/18/mourinho-messi-false-nine/" target="_blank">Pepé, having been so impressive in last season's classico's, would have been the player to have prospered better</a>, rather than Madrid's no.5.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So often looked to for goals, Messi's influence is undoubtedly undeniable. But, when <i>La Pulga</i> and Co. arrive in Madrid in mid December, many wil be expecting the Flea to be dealt with effectively by Pepé in Real Madrid's midfield. As Didier Deschamps once said: "Great teams are not just created by architects but also by bricklayers and hod carriers", and with the Galacticos just around the corner, now's the time to play to the teams' strengths and not just Messi's.</span>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-52946339436125789172011-11-14T23:26:00.000-08:002011-11-27T13:33:49.932-08:00Newcastle: What Difference A Year Makes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1khw8PI5yshPJKXwITMfIP2LoOBNEP2aoiB67zv1l3gl1kGrCbltNya5LqRT8cbCpt1-MQX0-qiAqc0zsXXmg42IVodia83PADlYjHVRz7oSU34rMDxFdmgpzkkroZk7TP8BAeMrzj3U/s1600/Cabaye.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1khw8PI5yshPJKXwITMfIP2LoOBNEP2aoiB67zv1l3gl1kGrCbltNya5LqRT8cbCpt1-MQX0-qiAqc0zsXXmg42IVodia83PADlYjHVRz7oSU34rMDxFdmgpzkkroZk7TP8BAeMrzj3U/s400/Cabaye.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"What a year a difference makes, eh? This time last year Newcastle were re adapting to life in the Premier League and had managed to take a decent fourteen points from a possible thirty on offer. Back then, they still had the trusty English triumvirate of Joey Barton, Andy Carroll and captain Kevin Davies but a year later their names have disappeared from the team sheet and instead a Frenchman, an Ivorian and a Senegalese have more than filled the void in a season which has seen the Magpies remain unbeaten after eleven Premier League games..."</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.eplindex.com/newcastle-difference-one-year-makes/">Read more at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">EPLIndex.com</span></a></span><br />
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</div>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-6756723802831256822011-08-11T05:27:00.000-07:002011-08-11T05:27:08.333-07:00Is McEachran Ready to Make the Leap?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipqbMK53L17ps4HM5zoESpf_Tf1MnCv2dWKnEcquVcEKKkyNy6LYadK3idibWLZiFjm65nirFB6u_JoTTNJuJrxRqp9Aka-X9F7SDHEXxfUdAbmNUvWg0E7JX57ZQKJOBwuEH5k-0HSN0/s1600/Josh%252BMcEachran%252BChelsea%252Bv%252BNewcastle%252BUnited%252BMUHGSgfhsN4l.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipqbMK53L17ps4HM5zoESpf_Tf1MnCv2dWKnEcquVcEKKkyNy6LYadK3idibWLZiFjm65nirFB6u_JoTTNJuJrxRqp9Aka-X9F7SDHEXxfUdAbmNUvWg0E7JX57ZQKJOBwuEH5k-0HSN0/s400/Josh%252BMcEachran%252BChelsea%252Bv%252BNewcastle%252BUnited%252BMUHGSgfhsN4l.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>'That's Liam Brady!'</b> yelled Ray Wilkins in excitement after seeing young Josh make a move reminiscent of the footballing great. McEachran, as a 15-year-old, was with the Chelsea side when they competed against Argentinian club side Racing, in an Under-17 encounter. Despite being one of the youngest players on the field that day, it didn't faze the youngster in the slightest. He continued to impress, stringing consistent after consistent performances and soon enough he was drafted into the first-team and made his European debut at just 17, becoming the first player to be born to feature after it was renamed the UEFA Champions League.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was all very exciting for the young boy from Oxford. Having been recruited by Chelsea as an eight-year-old prodigy playing for local side Garden City FC, McEachran soon received his first comments of praise from former Chelsea defender Jason Cundy, who was manager of the Under-11 and Under-12 Chelsea youth teams. He said the youngster had<span class="Apple-style-span"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia;">“the mental ability and toughness to not get overawed in situations and instead took it all in his stride.”</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia;">Under the watchful eye of Ray Wilkins, McEachran continued to flourish and was an integral part of the England side that won the 2010 European Under-17 Championships, chipping in with an assist in the final from a corner, which co-incidentally, is considered as one of the finer points to his game.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">"Young Josh", as Ray Wilkins often refers to him, then graduated to the Chelsea first-team last season and went on to feature 9 times in the Premier League, coming off the bench for 8 of them. But it was in the Champions League where he made that all-so-important mark that people remember most. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">Chelsea had already qualified for the latter stages of the competition when then-manager Carlo Ancelotti decided to field a weakened team that featured only four regular first XI members and Josh McEachran was given a chance from the off for his European home debut.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Y1WKlSHoY6TNAQbyITwkAtsv6fX3GkUFLI6tP4luzmikZxmutRhlXZ9exxZALREInyZt1Llo7euj6o33-ZJ1HDZi2I8A_2N2bsTw7gtwltIrccdwxeSIsRSFyTbnMQFP1RGdjEEASgk/s1600/IMG_0026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Y1WKlSHoY6TNAQbyITwkAtsv6fX3GkUFLI6tP4luzmikZxmutRhlXZ9exxZALREInyZt1Llo7euj6o33-ZJ1HDZi2I8A_2N2bsTw7gtwltIrccdwxeSIsRSFyTbnMQFP1RGdjEEASgk/s1600/IMG_0026.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;">The above screenshot shows how McEachran fared against MSK Zilina back in November. His successful pass ratio of 85% was among the best of the Chelsea XI that night and his 102 passes even managed to better football's finest passer Xavi's efforts, when he and the Catalans drew away to Danish outfit FC Copenhagen on November 2 last year. Mainly employed as a <i>regista </i>(deep-lying midfielder) by Italian scudetto-winning coach Carlo Ancelotti, the youngsters' passing suggests he spent a large portion of his time playing quite deep into the opponents half, which isn't actually so surprising considering his natural position is in fact a </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>trequartista</i>, not a <i>regista</i> as Ancelotti thought. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Newly-appointed manager Andre Villas-Boas has already commented on the situation and said that he'd be willing to try McEachran in both positions come the new campaign. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span">"I spoke to Josh at t</span><span class="Apple-style-span">he start of the season about where he felt best on the pitch," he began. "The position six for me is a very, very important position and I know that Josh touches more of the ball in that position and likes to organise play,” he said.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"But he also likes to face the play more often and he has the vision to see people in attacking options and it's good for me to test him as a number eight, further forward. He has the tactical and technical ability to fulfill both positions."</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4jseE4qS24lBv44DO8Psxwvm4gmcT7Yv-IhjzJ7Km0LXTYDVc0imrzTBSlnT_U_aQVBiITrlD5HVOwZ4MEUbncPTwpKNM1ysfZZAc3Troz4NUgy5TeYulj65VOy1k3BBojicRg8jCUM/s1600/IMG_0031.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4jseE4qS24lBv44DO8Psxwvm4gmcT7Yv-IhjzJ7Km0LXTYDVc0imrzTBSlnT_U_aQVBiITrlD5HVOwZ4MEUbncPTwpKNM1ysfZZAc3Troz4NUgy5TeYulj65VOy1k3BBojicRg8jCUM/s1600/IMG_0031.JPG" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, McEachran's passing wasn't the only thing under the microscope that night at Stamford Bridge. His ability to dictate the play was examined closely and the result was quite astonishing. Throughout the ninety minutes McEachran was Chelsea's best and most influential player, as the above screenshot examples. He outshone the likes of established Blues performers such as Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda, and did so in quite magnificent fashion. This being his inaugural start in Europe, he wasn't expected such an impact as he did, and Carlo Ancelotti showered praise on the 17-year-old. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"</span><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I think Josh McEachran can play every game,' said Ancelotti. 'He showed his quality. He was good defensively, won a lot of tackles. And, obviously, with the ball he's fantastic. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'He can play it short or long without problem. He played with personality and I'm happy with his performance. He has to grow, he has to improve, but he's ready to play.'</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Despite his thrilling performance for the Blues in Europe, questions were still being raised over if he could thrive in the Premier League. As already mentioned, he appeared 9 times in England's top-tier last season and began the game against Newcastle in mid-May. Limited to just 171 minutes of top-flight football, he certainly made the most of it finishing with stats such as completing 91% of his 194 passes from open play, as well as coming off with a rather modest 67% success rate from his tackles. In truth, it's remarkably difficult to make an impact with such little game time but even with the little time he had, McEachran still managed to impress. Often coming on late in games in the <i>regista</i> role for Ancelotti, McEachran was simply told just to close out the game and he did exactly what was required of him, if not more with 176 successful passes in just 171 minutes - over a pass per minute.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the only game he began (vs Newcastle in the penultimate Premier League fixture in May), he completed 87% of his 67 passes, with most of them coming from inside his own half. Here, he also averaged over a pass per minute as Michael Essien came on for McEachran on 64 minutes, bringing an end to his illustrious debut campaign for the 2009/10 champions.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">At times last season, Josh was often compared to now-established Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere. Comparisons are to be expected again this upcoming campaign, especially when McEachran is playing in a similar position to Wilshere. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last season, McEachran, who's only a year younger than Wilshere, completed a whopping 90% of his passes, compared to Wilshere's 84%. The Chelsea man also succeeded in trumping Wilshere in playing more forward passes bettering him by 6%. Wilshere, however, dominated elsewhere and proved better in minutes per chance created, - 42 vs McEachran's 57 - mins per loss of possession, - 27 to 34 - tackling success - 72% to 67% - and interceptions per game - 1.9 vs 1.05. It's true that Wilshere enjoyed considerable success during his loan at Bolton in the 2009/10 season and it was the impression he made there, at the Reebok Stadium, that consolidated his place in the Arsenal XI the subsequent season. If a Premier League team (or Championship side) decide to take a gamble on securing McEachran's services for the upcoming season he may well find himself keeping the likes of Frank Lampard and Michael Essien out of the side come 2012/13 - obviously pending consistent performance for whoever he may join.<br />
</span></div>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-14167104783837094682011-08-01T14:22:00.000-07:002011-08-01T14:22:39.330-07:00An Interview with Duncan Alexander<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTa7pUlNgkPL6oljxPgt58mFJSQOwV4aQvkczovJ5l2zdCAyFjVWOJxyZviyOBRZLqCufv99tZYq-5sTMaRuLmgTyDZrlLT2fE1UmN16YPCpe_d1BkYIcv-NzOknTJguKfRnHrMF6TZk/s1600/new-opta-logo3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTa7pUlNgkPL6oljxPgt58mFJSQOwV4aQvkczovJ5l2zdCAyFjVWOJxyZviyOBRZLqCufv99tZYq-5sTMaRuLmgTyDZrlLT2fE1UmN16YPCpe_d1BkYIcv-NzOknTJguKfRnHrMF6TZk/s320/new-opta-logo3.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We're back, and what better way to begin a season than an interview. But hold on a sec, it ain't no player. I'm not that popular yet (although I would like to be sometime in the future) but it is someone who runs a sports business that is highly regarded as one of the best stats centres in sport. From athletics to volleyball, they cover everything and anything that goes on stats wise in between. This past summer I managed to persuade the head of Opta Sports Duncan Alexander to agree to do an interview with the FD. So without further adu, here he is:</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>1. Hi Duncan, first of all for those who've never heard of Opta<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>Sports, would you care to explain to the reader what it is your<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>company does?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;">Opta are Europe’s leading sports data company. We’ve been collecting football data since 1996 and have the biggest & best database of sports info there is. We work with professional clubs, the media and the betting industry to provide content and analysis in whatever format they require.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>2. As Britain's leading football statistician you must be up to your<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>Eyes in stats. What's a typical day like for you in Opta Towers?<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;">I head up the whole range of content delivery for the UK. That could be something like data feeds to power a website or Chalkboards or creating bespoke features and analysis for television or the national press. Ultimately you’re working with sports data every day and looking for angles and stories that will shine an objective light on the game.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>3. Is understanding maths an essential component for working at Opta?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: red;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Depends on what your role is really. An understanding of statistics helps enormously, particularly the concept that correlation does not necessarily imply causation. That said, you could be Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting but if you don’t have a robust knowledge of football then you’ll not be any good. A love of the game and an understanding of the trends that are shaping it are key.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>4. Opta Sports recently decided to share their information to the<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>public mainstream when they opened their first twitter account,<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>OptaJoe, in June 2009. Gathering over 100,000 followers within that<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>two year time period, do you think Opta have surpassed their<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>expectations?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;">Twitter has been a massive success for us, helping us to connect directly with fans and help the public understand what it is we do. The response we get when there’s an OptaJoe quiz, for instance, are huge.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>5. Does Opta have plans to expand their horizons for the new seasons<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>to the various leagues in Europe / worldwide?</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: red;">We are always looking to expand the leagues and sports that we cover. We recently became official data suppliers to MLS in America and may look to analyse some South American leagues soon. We already analyse every game in the top-flights in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France as well as international club competitions and international tournaments.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>6. Your twitter bio tells us that you're a Wycombe Wanderers fan. How</b> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><b style="color: black;">did that come about?</b> </span></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My grandfathers supported Wycombe and Chelsea respectively and I got to choose which team to support. More chance of getting to Wycombe games so I went with them, a decision I have yet to regret.</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>7. What's your most memorable moment whilst donning the colours for</b> </span><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>the Chairboys?</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The standard WWFC answer is the famous FA Cup run of 2001 but I think winning 2-1 at Maine Road in 1999 tops it for me. I had lived in Manchester for three years and seeing my team beat City in a league game was almost beyond comprehension. Can’t see it ever happening again, put it that way.</span><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>8. What's your favourite sporting event in the calendar year (doesn't</b> </span><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>have to be football by the way)?</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> </span></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Tour de France by some distance. I’m a big fan of pro cycling and while there are races that are often better than the Tour (the one-day classics, the Giro D’Italia), the sheer size and intensity of the TdF gets me over-excited every year.</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>9. Since the inception of Opta in 1996 the company's gone from</b> </span><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>strength to strength to unparalleled strength. What's next on the</b> </span><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>agenda for Opta Sports?</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span"></span></span></div></div><div style="font-size: 10pt; margin-bottom: 0.1pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0.1pt;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We have seen a big change in the way that sports data is viewed over the last decade or so. Originally seen as ‘too-American’, statistics are now being used widely by clubs, the media and fans to achieve greater insight. Opta will keep trying to develop products & content that enables people to analyse football, rugby, cricket and many other sports in ever-greater depth but still in an accessible way.</span></div></div>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-65865876598869815142011-07-28T04:43:00.000-07:002011-07-28T06:30:55.459-07:005 to Watch at the U-20 World Cup<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCgY9gYc-R74Tr1_-sMrP5DEXYDq8dKEhNKkQebletJM3NuQZ3UEnaTMNEDM1Ik24yN-LoM1vQm37iMI6miBs5PP5OFUKrGNO_OKGbMMj9_RKhSnLEQOfUip9gFbFwXFfLM_1SP4iMcUU/s1600/206_NpAdvHover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCgY9gYc-R74Tr1_-sMrP5DEXYDq8dKEhNKkQebletJM3NuQZ3UEnaTMNEDM1Ik24yN-LoM1vQm37iMI6miBs5PP5OFUKrGNO_OKGbMMj9_RKhSnLEQOfUip9gFbFwXFfLM_1SP4iMcUU/s320/206_NpAdvHover.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ghana beat Brazil in the 2009 final</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Diego </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Maradona</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, Luis Suarez, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Ronaldinho</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, Luis </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Figo</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cesc</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Fabregas</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thierry</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Henry, Maxi Rodriguez, Michael Owen, Roberto Carlos, Sergio </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Aguero</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, Diego </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Forlan</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Arjen</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Robben</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, Landon Donovan, Petr </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Cech</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, Rafael Marquez, Adriano, Michael </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Essien</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and Lionel </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Messi</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. These are just some the names that have competed at various U20 World Cups. And look how they’ve blossomed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With the U20 World Cup just days away from launching, I’d like to take some time out to fill in the gaps on the players you’re going to need to look out for.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our prime pick, Guadalajara Chivas and U20 Mexican striker <b>Erick Torres</b>, is a wanted man. And by wanted I mean desperately sought after, with rumours already suggesting that he may be on his way out of Mexico soon after the tournaments conclusion. The Chivas striker has taken the Mexican clasusura by storm following his vastly impressive debut season with 6 goals in 20 appearances – the most important and best featured from a header, which paved the way for a 3-0 win in <i>el super clasico</i> against sworn enemies America. Unlike his former compatriot Javier Hernandez, Torres was an exceptional individual who made his way up through the ranks. <i>El Cubo</i> (meaning the cube) was top scorer in the Mexican Under-17 tournament with a phenomenal goal tally of 22 goals in 29 games. Many a football pundit tend to compare Torres with Hernandez, which is fully understandable considering their meteoric rise through the ranks, but in reality their style of play suggests they are entirely different. While Hernandez is quick to seize on any mistakes and buzzes around the box like a steroid-fuelled bee, Torres is a more complete striker, in the sense that his play involves a bit of everything. He is able to hold up the ball, can occupy countless positions across the front line and is entirely comfortable with his back to goal.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Despite all this, Mexican U-20 coach Juan Carlos Chavez simply refused to bring the young ‘un to the Under-20 World Cup preliminaries, arguing the fact that bringing Torres would be unjust on the other squad players who had been competing for places the last two years. And so when the decision was made to let Torres board the plane, it was seen as somewhat a surprise, although not unsurprising, if you get my drift. He had impressed and was well rewarded with a ticket to the U-20 World Cup. Question is, will he start?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSyEWpDi_zOYPUdyc8PaJgbXtzFxlKQiYkKlUfO-7t7NDpxdtp-I4Yd2TFTJz29TV6HP7mfd9O49K1uzLGed4_KhVaWcsSo_A4snyAI0c0U0jYd7c-VVgRpj0fonA0Ka7IASuPDeatvXA/s1600/Juan+Manuel+Iturbe%252C+is+a+17-year-old+forward%252C+who+plays+for+Paraguayan+team+.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSyEWpDi_zOYPUdyc8PaJgbXtzFxlKQiYkKlUfO-7t7NDpxdtp-I4Yd2TFTJz29TV6HP7mfd9O49K1uzLGed4_KhVaWcsSo_A4snyAI0c0U0jYd7c-VVgRpj0fonA0Ka7IASuPDeatvXA/s320/Juan+Manuel+Iturbe%252C+is+a+17-year-old+forward%252C+who+plays+for+Paraguayan+team+.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next up is 18-year-old diminutive forward <b>Juan Manuel Iturbe</b>, who’s already drawn numerous comparisons with fellow Argentine Lionel Messi. Born in Argentina but bred by Paraguayan parents who came to Argentina in search of work, he’s endured several dilemmas on which national team to declare for. Having made his senior debut for the men in red and white in a friendly back in 2009, it seemed he would be following in the footsteps of his parents only to have their dreams dashed after a rather unfortunate fall out with the Paraguayan staff which resulted in his declaration for <i>La Albiceleste.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> </i>Iturbe’s prominent rise to fame first stemmed from his virtuoso display in this years Libertadores Cup, after featuring as a second-half substitute for Cerro Porteno of Paraguay against Colo Colo of Chile. Colo Colo had quickly found themselves two goals down and after halving the deficit, Cerro were finding themselves under copious amounts of pressure, desperately trying to preserve their lead. Cue Iturbe and cue one of the finest introductions to a Libertardores games in some time. It took him merely a minute to make a name for himself. After finding space on the left he swapped passes with a teammate, dashed through a hole in the defence, cut in on the diagonal between two Colo Colo defenders after once again receiving the ball and toe-poked home with his left-foot to restore Cerro’s two-goal cushion. But he wasn’t finished quite yet. With Cerro leading 4-2 and unwilling to wind down, Iturbe received the ball back to goal, turned his marker with remarkable ease before strolling into the box and side-footing home an accurate and precise finish that was celebrated by yet even more excessive badge-kissing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Following his change of allegiances, Iturbe’s been a sparkling addition to the Argentinian youth sides. Earlier this year he traveled to Peru to compete at the U-20 South American Youth Championships where he was easily La Albiceleste’s best player, scoring a modest three goals and helping them to a 3<sup>rd</sup> place finish, only behind Uruguay and winners Brazil. It’s no wonder either that he’s already been snapped up by all-conquering Portuguese outfit Porto, who he signed a pre-contract agreement with back in January.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Its fair to say that we’ll be seeing a whole lot more of the Argentine in next seasons Portuguese Super Liga and who knows, maybe he could even drive the team to European glory come the end of May.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Yet another star on the rise is Costa Rica’s outrageously talented <b>Joel Campbell</b>, who’s already made six appearances for the senior side and been top scorer at the CONCAF 2011 U-20 Championships, where he notched 6 goals in 5 appearances helping them to an excellent 2<sup>nd</sup> place. Campbell, who can play as a left-winger or forward, was chosen for the Costa Rican squad that competed at the Copa America earlier this month as part of a team that mainly consisted of U-22 players due to Costa Rica’s main squad being involved in the Gold Cup staged in the USA in June. The 20-year-old was one of very players who was chosen for both tournaments, after impressing - featuring sporadically as a sub - with one goal at the Gold Cup. The <i>Ticos</i> were heavily regarded as one of the teams that were expected to fail miserably at the Copa but ended the tournament with a rather impressive three points, considering their dilemma. Campbell was a pivotal figure in securing those three points when they took to the field against Bolivia in their second group game. During the game Campbell was a constant menace and his wonderful through ball set up the Ticos’ first goal. Then twenty minutes later, Campbell was on the score sheet, this time finishing off a lovely move that originated from the Costa Rican defence.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For a player who’s only played 8 competitive club games, it seems like he’s got the whole package. His wonderful ball skills, blinding pace and his tremendous imagination are just some of the traits he possesses and its probably the reason why English side Arsenal are / were planning a swoop for the youngster.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpIYaM8OYaUhVaL4602fqtbi288vw58MhJ2IaVkew4vECdcZxkPMeAfd5nCjFkba983h3lLAYdd2NoieTSLnb3J2PLWBUujSnl1gciEQVdApr9nqi6WHKzL2wYMh71noAYz657lPEYio/s1600/James+Rodriguez+-+FC+Porto+v+Braga+-+UEFA+Europa+League+Final.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKpIYaM8OYaUhVaL4602fqtbi288vw58MhJ2IaVkew4vECdcZxkPMeAfd5nCjFkba983h3lLAYdd2NoieTSLnb3J2PLWBUujSnl1gciEQVdApr9nqi6WHKzL2wYMh71noAYz657lPEYio/s320/James+Rodriguez+-+FC+Porto+v+Braga+-+UEFA+Europa+League+Final.jpeg" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rodriguez, left, lifts the Europa League trophy</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Colombia have qualified for this years tournament as part of the privilege of hosting it, and captain </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>James Rodriguez</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is the player who I’ve hand-picked that you should keep a particular eye on, considering he caught the eye of so many playing for Porto last term. Rodriguez began his career in football at the tender age of four after being snapped up by Colombian football side </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Envigado</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and quickly impressed when thrown into the senior team, scoring 20 times in 55 appearances before his move to Club </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Athletico</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Banfield</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> from Argentina in 2008. He was a regular at </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Banfield</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> throughout his second season at the club and earned the nickname of the ‘James Bond of Banfield’ due to his cool composure in tight situations on the ball. It was during that second season that clubs such as </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Udinese</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and Porto became interested in the youngster and in the summer of 2010 the dream was made a reality when Porto signed the then 19-year-old for €5.1 million. During his first season in Portugal, he averaged a goal every three games and also bagged a hat-trick in Porto’s treble-completing cup final win over </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Guimaraes</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> late in May.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rodriguez has also starred for various Colombian youth teams over the years and was an essential part of the squad when <i>Los Cafeteros </i>contested at the 2007 South American Under-17 Football Championship. Rodriguez scored three goals at the Championships, in the process helping his side finish a very impressive 2<sup>nd</sup>, only behind runaway victors Brazil. He was also part of the squad at the U-17 World Cup just a few months later where they exited the tournament losing to eventual winners Nigeria in the round of 16.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rodriguez is a sublimely talented individual with superb technique who’s been increasingly likened to Real Madrid starlet Cristiano Ronaldo in his style of play. Already seen as a complete winger as well as a free-kick specialist, Rodriguez definitely qualifies as ‘one to watch’ for Porto in the coming years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last but certainly not the least on the list is Spanish and Barcelona B midfielder<b> Oriol Romeu</b>. Romeu, who’s preferred position is defensive midfielder but can also play in central defence, has been part of the La Masia setup since he was 13 and was handed his first team debut by Pep Guardiola in 2009. Since impressing for the Barca ‘B’ team in the 2009/10 Segunda Divison, Romeu has attracted a flurry of interest from the likes of Newcastle, Everton and surprise, surprise Arsenal, who’ve been keen to add him to their ranks but Romeu has disappointed them, with Oriol opting to sign a one-year contract extension at the Nou Camp.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As well as impressing for Barcelona, he’s also drawn attention to himself on an international stage, appearing at U-17, U-19 and U-20 for Spain. He was a major figure in Spain’s successful qualification campaign for the U-19 European Championships last year and scored the winner against Turkey in a close-fought 3-2 win.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Romeu can be described as quick and strong, which gives him the ability to impose himself in the midfield. He is yet to make the breakthrough to the first team, who has often been referred to as Sergio Busquet’s backup before Mascherano arrived, but is one of the youth players tipped to make a significant impact when he does make that eventual breakthrough.</span></span></div>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1726279110526011208.post-65123987019377713102011-07-26T10:18:00.000-07:002011-08-16T14:23:40.288-07:00West Bromich Albion: A Season to Remember for the Baggies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQsst66jDvPuznnyZOLWtuLaMMrIhchlydz7xr-WDy7aJGjz1typFjMUve0tPjAdug4elQvCnA0lG-1AAkatB9p1IqSLmu4OOKFRCa7L0GQ2e4ItFOA6mV80hUY3qNpmUPo6ThxxPAPyI/s1600/3548559580_19ee0d75f8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQsst66jDvPuznnyZOLWtuLaMMrIhchlydz7xr-WDy7aJGjz1typFjMUve0tPjAdug4elQvCnA0lG-1AAkatB9p1IqSLmu4OOKFRCa7L0GQ2e4ItFOA6mV80hUY3qNpmUPo6ThxxPAPyI/s1600/3548559580_19ee0d75f8.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Before we all look forward to the new season and what it promises us, I’ve decided to take a look back at West Brom’s remarkable finish to last season’s campaign, in which they picked up 14 points out of an available 24 from their last six matches to guarantee another year in England’s Premier League.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">West Brom started the season at the foot of the table, but by the end of it, they had managed to finish 11th, the Baggies’ best finish to a campaign in almost thirty years (they had ended the 1982/83 campaign in 11th also). It was a phenomenal achievement considering it was their return to the top-flight, having bounced straight back up from the Championship, and it consolidated their status as England’s premier ‘yo-yo’ club. Between 2002 and 2010, they were promoted to England’s top tier four times and relegated back to the Championship three times, with 2011 being the first year since 1999 that they were not involved in either a promotion or a relegation battle. It was a refreshing sight to see West Brom perform so well last season, at times challenging for Europe, and it’s one that will live long in the memories of die-hard Baggies fans. They saw them claim hard-earned but deserved victories over top sides such as Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City, as well as doing the double over Merseysiders Everton, with an aggregate score of 5-1 to accomodate their impressive performances.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Manager Roberto Di Matteo prepared for their return to the Premier League by snapping up eleven players – some who had previous experience in the Premier League, some not – with transfer fees accumulating to £3.3m (excluding the 5 undisclosed fee’s paid for further players). One of these players took to his first season in English football like a duck to water. It was Nigerian international Peter Odemwingie, who had previously played for Lille and more recently Lokomotiv Moscow, before sealing a move to the Midlands in mid August. Odemwingie competed in his first game for the Baggies just a day after his arrival and by the end of the game, he had already won over the hearts of the West Brom faithful with a neat finish (and winner) ten minutes from time. Little did they know that Peter Odemwingie would later go on to break their record for most goals in a league campaign, amassing a grand total of 15 goals from just 32 games, breaking the previous record set by Robert Earnshaw (11) in the 2004/05 season. This feat by Peter was rewarded by Australian confectionary business owner and Albion fan Spencer Samaroo, who had promised Peter — should he score 15 goals — that he’d shower him with a hamper of Australia’s finest chocolates.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The results those first few weeks upon the Baggies’ return were magnificent, with the small exception of a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Chelsea the opening weekend. After that defeat, they lost only once in the subsequent eleven games, including remarkable victories over Manchester City and Arsenal in successive games. At the end of October, they were sitting pretty, happily occupying a Europa League place. Yes, it may have been beyond belief but this wasn’t neccesarilly an act of disillusion to West Brom supporters. For god sake, they beat Arsenal and Manchester City! Only Aston Villa and Manchester United managed to repeat that feat.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That defeat to Blackpool signalled a terrible run as they only picked up two wins in the following thirteen games. And how did they end this horrible form? With a coincidental home win over Blackpool of course, followed by an even more coincidental winless streak of six further games. However, it was during that first ill-fated run that saw West Brom relieve Roberto Di Matteo of his duties and appoint Roy Hodgson as boss until the end of the 2011/12 campaign. The move itself was a perilous one, considering the Brit had led Liverpool down a dark path the first half of the season, but all was forgotten by the time he took over the reins at the Hawthorns. His first game resulted in a 1-1 draw with fellow relegation contenders Wolverhampton Wanderers and followed that up with another score draw against Tony Pulis’ Stoke. He then led the Baggies to a well-deserved win away to Birmingham, a draw with Arsenal and yet another victory over his previous employers, Liverpool. West Brom were once again on the up and by the middle of April they were coasting, lying in 11th and 6 points clear of nearest relegation strugglers Blackpool. Copious amounts of praise were heaped on Roy Hodgson and the team and by the time May rolled around they were practically guaranteed of survival. A phenomenal job was achieved by Hodgson and it seemed that he was finally the one to get the best of this bunch of players.</span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">PASSES</span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="pass success rate West Bromwich Albion: A Season to Remember for the Baggies" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-33214" height="327" src="http://www.epltalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/pass-success-rate.jpg" title="pass-success-rate" width="500" /></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As the above diagram shows, West Brom’s passing completion was one of the main reasons why they finished in such a high position. Their 78% was among one of the best in the Premier League, behind only Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham. They finished above the likes of Liverpool and Newcastle, who could only manage 77% and 76% respectively. Jerome Thomas was one of the Baggies’ most successful passers of the ball. He managed to find a teammate in 730 of his 930 attempted passes – a 78% success rate. Youssuf Mulumbu, West Brom’s most successful passer, completed 1352 of his 1612 attempted passes – a whopping 84% success rate and among the best in the Premier League, matching that of Tottenham’s Luka Modric and Jack Wilshere and bettering the efforts of Cesc Fabregas, Joey Barton and Charlie Adam. Surprisingly enough West Brom were also one of the highest scoring teams in last years campaign – in at 7th, netting 56 goals, which was above the likes of Tottenham, Everton and even Blackpool. This was partially down to West Brom’s magnificent successful final third passes in which they completed 2318 of the attempted 3469 passes (67%). This landed them in 5th, shared with Spurs, and only below the new ‘big four’ (Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea – in that order). Mulumbu again led the way for the Baggies as his 72% was one of the best among the team.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-PI1Sq10uokBSxMolyoh9j9_rYByrs5gSoA2qsJmMcWtVT0SYGji0qlnC8K7Imm4t_cET-KhtY-1E1Cj7nWAvl7YuHCsqVyBOVr-baXtxAfbZTCQOFbtTa1ZSqHbGC8py1CxkB9voKDY/s1600/Premier+League+Top+10+Key+Passers+.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="145" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-PI1Sq10uokBSxMolyoh9j9_rYByrs5gSoA2qsJmMcWtVT0SYGji0qlnC8K7Imm4t_cET-KhtY-1E1Cj7nWAvl7YuHCsqVyBOVr-baXtxAfbZTCQOFbtTa1ZSqHbGC8py1CxkB9voKDY/s640/Premier+League+Top+10+Key+Passers+.png" width="510" /></span></a></div><div class="wp-caption-text"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</span></div></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">West Brom’s Chris Brunt was also one of the top 10 passers in the Premier League last season as shown by the table above. Brunt mainly operated on the right of the Baggies midfield and had featured heavily in the ‘Key Passes’ section, averaging a brilliant 2.53 key passes per game. Brunt also came in 3rd in the ‘Total Key Passes” area where he only ranked behind Chelsea’s Florent Malouda and Bolton’s Kevin Davies. Being above the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Steven Gerrard and Rafael Van Der Vaart demonstrated his importance to the Albion team.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Brunt, often the creative hub behind the West Brom team, also racked up 9 assists, levelling that of Joey Barton and only lagging behind Nani and Cesc Fabregas, who finished on 14 on 11 respectively. Brunt often likes shooting from distance and it shows here as his Shots p/g (per game) is among the top three in the table. He almost doubles Joey Barton’s efforts who averaged a merely 1.1 per game. Brunt’s 40 passes per game was bettered only by Youssuf Mulumbu for the Baggies (47), yet another example of his significant importance to the side. He also created the third most scoring chances (86) in the Premier League last season, coming behind only (again) Florent Malouda (117) and Kevin Davies (91).</span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">GOALS</span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="goals graphic West Bromwich Albion: A Season to Remember for the Baggies" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-33216" height="211" src="http://www.epltalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/goals-graphic.jpg" title="goals-graphic" width="500" /></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">West Brom scored 56 goals in all last season in the Premier League and they depended heavily on newly-acquired striker Peter Odemwingie to bang in the goals. His 15 goals (27% of the teams goals in all) were a significant factor in why they finished so high in the league last term. Of Odemwingie’s 15 league goals, he scored 7 with his left-foot, demonstrating his versatility as a two-footed player. The closest Baggies goalscorer to Nigerian was again the magnificent Youssuf Mulumbu, who managed to bag 7 in 34 appearances. The closest Albion forward to Odemwingie in scoring terms was Frenchman Marc-Antonie Fortuné who scored just 2 goals in 14 appearances (and 11 as a sub) and the on-loan Arsenal man Carlos Vela who netted impressively twice in 3 appearances (5 as a sub). Odemwingie’s creativity was also on display as he assisted in 7 of West Brom’s goals last season, only behind Chris Brunt who finished on 9.</span><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">DEFENSE</span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With Scott Carson having left for Bursaspor, Welshman Boaz Myhill now has the chance to consolidate his place among the starting XI. Last season Carson’s form became riddled with errors (5 errors leading to goals in 32 appearances) and questions were raised over whether he was actually fit to continue as keeper. Boaz Myhill began 6 games for the Baggies last season and conceded 13 goals – 5 of them from outside the box. He made no defensive errors and also carried out 10 saves. The former Hull City Player of the Year is a more than capable replacement for Carson and with Hodgson yet to purchase a new keeper, Myhill looks set to begin the campaign between the sticks.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next season the West Brom defence also needs to pay particular attention to set-pieces as they conceded the most goals from set-pieces (30) in the League last season. The Albion back-four shifted 71 goals last term, boasting the worst defence in the Premier League. Youssuf Mulumbu was also top of the charts – but this time for all the wrong reasons – as he was sent off twice, nestling in at the top of the table, with the likes of Lee Cattermole and Laurent Koscielny.</span>Dylanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17407139733694461732noreply@blogger.com0