Messi one-two-goals

One of the great qualities that Messi aquire is his ability to play team work, quick passes, and move around with "One-Two" passes. It is a very smart, unselfish way to get through defences using team-mates.

Not a lot of players, or big stars do that. You don't recall it a lot in players like Cristiano Ronaldo for example. But you find it in the best quality of players, some of the big names, Pele, Maradona, Zidane, Beckenbauer, Romario, Roberto Baggio, Zico and, of course, one of best them with skill: Lionel Messi.

Recently he scored a passionate goal vs. Real Sociedad with great set of "One-Two" passes



Here is a wonderful clip some of his best "one-two" goals



I was watching some old clips, and I saw this one for Maradona. It directly reminded me of this goal for Messi vs. Panathinaikos.



The way he received the ball, the quick swift one-two passes, his flexible body, the balance ..... one more way of similarities of the two players.
Here is the original version of the goal, by Maradona :)

Mazembe tales

FIFA World Club Cup in Abu Dhabi two weeks ago witnessed a historical event, which was that the first African club ever to reach the final. Mazembe broke the monoply of European-South American typical finals, even though they lost the final 0-3.

I was in Stadium, and the image you get about Mazembe is more than great. Nice team, fighting to the last moment, and very friendly fans.




Yet, there is more to the story.
Seems, the hopes were very high back home to win the final game. The defeat in the final sparked a lot of protests and violence back home, which forced the police to intervene and shot over the heads of people to calm them down.

Some fans who watched the game on television in the capital city of Katanga smashed windows and began looting Chinese-owned mobile telephone premises. The reason that during the game, fans didn't like Japanese referee decisions, and mistakingly, they chanted 'Chinese go home'. China has a substantial commercial presence in Lubumbashi and Katanga, with Chinese firms involved in copper mining in the region. Watch protests.

In another tale, Mazembe played the WC without their best player Trésor Mputu, who used to wear shirt#8. He used to be the master-mind of Mazembe in WC 2009, and very skillful. He was described as the "Next Eto".

The reason is because this incident over the referee last April, which made FIFA punish him with a one year ban.


Anyhow, here is some of his skills

Best of Maradona with Barcelona

I found this beautiful 3 minutes video summarizing Maradona life in Barcelona in the early 1980s. The best part is at the end when Maradona went to apologize to King Juan Carlos after his Karate fight at the end of Spanish Cup when King was watchign : )
 WATCH THE VIDEO IN THIS LINK

Another superior goal for Gareth Bale

Gareth Bale continued his excellent run this season to score a beautiful goal, almost a replica of his goals vs. Inter Milan in the Champion League. The goal came when Totenham Hotspur beat Newcastle United 2-0.
Watch Lennon first nice goal
Then, watch Gaeth Bale beautiful goal

Video picks of the day

Sander Boschker hardly made it to the national team of Netherlands as a substitute. However, he didn't make it to South Africa 2010. At age of 40, he made his first season in Champion League with Twante. People will remember him with this flunk as Twante tied with Spurs 3-3



And here is a stunning and skillful shot to enjoy from Brazil

Maracana new look in 2014 WC

Maracana stadium has been out of sight for a while. The reason is that it is taking a major rennovation project, in which it will be ready to host World Cup 2014 and Olympic Games 2016. The stadium was built for the 1950 World Cup and witnessed the historical defeat 1-2 vs. Uguguay.

The stadium will be ready to host 2013 Confederation Cup, as a preparation for the big Mondial a year later.

From here and there (news-gossips-quotes)

- Beckenbauer: "My faith in Fifa is limited."

"The Executive Committee was told that neither we nor the public would get to know the precise voting figures. After each round of voting, we were only told which candidate had been knocked out. And then a few hours later, I hear on the radio who had received how many votes. Full Story.

                                                                       
- Leonardo is the new Inter Milan coach:

So, Zenga is not the new coach as some gossips were guessing. I am not sure if this is great news to Inter. I am not a big fan of Lenoardo, as a player, nor as a coach. Let's wait and see. Full Story

                                                              

- World Soccer magazines announced annual awards:
Player of the year: Xavi Hernandez

Manager of the year: Jose Mourinho

Team of the year: Spain

Awards are selected by readers votes Full Story

- Gossip transfer: Inieta to Manchester City, Dani Alves to Manchester United?
I will be very sad, Barca will lose big part of its soul. Full Story.

One of best under-rated forgetten goals

The 1988 European Cup is stamped with Marco Van Basten amazing goal at the final, and till today people watch this goal over and over again. May be only Maradona famous 1986 goal is watched more than Basten goal.

However, that same 1988 tournament witnessed a wonderful amazing forgotten goal from Rupublic of Ireland. It was an amazing volley from Ronnie Whelan against the same Soviet keeper Rinat Dasayev, who used to be considered as the best in the world at that time.

That amazing goal, went on the shadow of Marco Van Basten goal. It went totally forgotten, except may be from the Irish fans.

Enjoy



what's interesting that this keeper attracts the beautiful goals
he got two amazing Brazilian goals in 1982 WC
and one of best Kuwaiti ever scored goals in Olympic games 1980

Rumers: Walter Zenga to replace the fired Benitez

Benitez is officially out of Inter Milan. Inter Milan announced officially that they reached and agreement with Benitez to end the contract only after six month of his position. Benitz will get 2.5 million pounds as a  settelment, well, we cannot really say that he is a poor guy and jobless now.

In another development, there are rumers that the former Inter keeper Walter Zenga is a key candidate to get Benitez position. Zenga currently coaching Al-Nasr, a club at Saudi Arabia which is not doing well and now it is almost confirmed that they terminated Zenga contract to get an Argentinian coach. It is said that Zenga is claiming his benefits and end of contract penalty as he is coming with a conflict with the club.

So, will Zenga be the next Inter coach?

Bad Ref stories from the 70s (2 of 2)

If you watch or read any documentary on 1974 WC Final, you will see so much praise for Jack Taylor the referee of the game. He gave Netherlands a penalty in the 2nd minute before the ball touching any German player, and the game was at Munich. It was one of toughest decisions ever for a referee.

...... and by the way, it was the first penalty kick ever to be awarded in a WC Final.

Yet, he was not free of mistakes. When I got the game on video, and from what I read on the orange side, I was waiting to watch Johan Cruyff magic and Netherlands great team. I thought Netherlands dominated the game and was very unlucky to lose.

Well, never trust journalists : )
Netherlands and Cruyff were great as said, no doubt. However, German side deserved the victory 100%, and Beckenbauer was more than amazing. For me, he was the man of the match. Add to that, that the real score should not be 2-1, but 4-1 to Germany.

Jack denied a very clear goal. When you watch it, you think it was an offside. Even players didn't object much.



But, if you see replays, and pause the clip, you can see it was 100% correct goal that was disallowed.

Later, Dieter Muller was fouled inside the penalty box, I seen it again and again, and it was a penalty no doubt. Unfortunately, I could not find the video on YouTube.

What is different, however, for this German side, and in many great teams, is to keep focus, stay in control and play strong football, irregardless of bad decisions. This what made Germany World Cup hero in 1974.

You can name many other incidents, in such situations, when players started to lose nerves and focus, and start to do the silly stuff and cry after that.

Bad Ref stories from the 70s (1 of 2)

Refereeing mistakes were always there since my grand father days. Human being has limitations. Today game has more cameras, so it is easier to spot mistakes, and the game is faster and tighter, which makes ref job a more challenging one.

The game cannot be fairer till video replays introduced.

I go with the opinion that most mistakes are of human nature, and few of them has some fishy things in the backstage. This one was either very bad refereeing or really something fishy.

This story is from 1975 European Cup Final (equivalent of CL today), where Leeds outperformed Bayern Munich. They dominated the game, and it is said the Ref did few bad decisions, missing two penalty for Leeds (as claimed).

Wait a moment to think about Bayern team those days. They won 1974 European Cup, then 1975 and 1976. Most of their players were like Barca players today, just won 1974 WC and they made most of Gemran national team. Great names like Muller, Sepp Mair and Beckenbauer were in that side.

It was something really big for Leeds to do that performance.

In the 62nd minute, Leeds scored a very clear goal, no one can deny it, except the ref. Leeds collapsed, and Bayern scored two goals in the 71st and 81st minutes.



Hooligans phenomena already started in English team, and this made riots to start at the Leeds side, it ended up in a disaster. Leeds were banned from European football for four years, then it was reduced to two years after appeal.

Real Madrid 8 Levante 0

Real Madrid smashed Levante 8-0 at the Spanish Cup, in a game that adds a lot to the theory that the Spanish league got two big teams, then, nothing much!

Stadium Atmosphere from FIFA World Club Cup Final

This is taken from my camera while being there. Stadium atmosphere is something really enjoyable.

Messi never dive

Lionel Messi did a wonderful peice of skill in yesterday game vs. Atletico Bilbao.

what's interesting that he tries to keep his balance and continue playing and does not look for dive and easy fouls

he is a player of good attitude and manners, in the field, and off the field

Yassir scored stunning goal

Yassir Al-Qahtani, best Saudi striker in last few years, scored a wonderful goal last week. It worth watching



To watch more wonderful goals for this player, you can check this post

Inter Milan victory fo the FIFA World Club Cup

Okay, I am back home now as I have attended the Semi-Final and the Final of the FIFA World Club Cup at Abu-Dhabi. Inter didn't have any problems in securing the title to Europe. He had very little challenge from the Korean Seongnam or Mazembe from Congo.

This add to the theory that Europe is dominating the world of football slowly. This time South America introduced a very weak team that didn't have much to celebrate or joys to watch. I think this was one of weakest South American sides ever introduced to this comeptition.

Eto appeared to be a very mature player with too much impact in the least possible effort. He was elegant, fast, skillful, smart and agile.

Zanetti was great as well, very consistent as usual elegant, fast and skillful. He scored, in my opinion, the goal of the tournament. It was very good team work, including the heel pass from Milito, but the best part was the wonderful elegant finish by Zanetti

Play of the week from Napoli

The Uruguayan player Cavani scored a spectacular goal at the last minute vs. Lecce in Serie-A. The goal came after another spectacular save by Napoli defence, a very nice exciting few minutes

Inter Milan gets the 5th title of 2010

One of the reasons why I've been very slow in this blog last week is because I am travelling and watching World Club Cup in Abu Dhabi. I was there watching Inter games in the semi-final and final.

Today Inter looked very confident, strong, elegant and competent. It took less than 20 minutes to end the game with a 2-0 lead. Inter added a third with few minutes remaining.

Eto was a wonderful star in both games and won the Player of the Tournament. I will write more on this competition once I am back home.

Mazembi makes history to Africa

Mazembi, the very nice team from Congo made a history last Tuesday by qualifying to the FIFA World Club Clup final to be the first team in history, outside Europe or South America to play in the final.

The competition were held 49 times in the past, and used to be traditionally played between Europe and South America winners only in "Intercontinental Cup". World Club Cup were held six times, where winner from every continent can participate.

Till last Tuesday, the WCC looked very obvious, and not very different from the Intercontinental Cup. There were no reason for other clubs to participate.

Mazembi beat Internacional from Brazil 2-0 with two very good goals, and a clear win. No refereeing issues, no luck, and no violence. It was a fair result of the very good team work and scoring smart goals from Mazembi, combined with very slow team, without many skills, losing easy chances, and a defence full of gaps.

Remembering Pele

I try from time to time post something for the classical trianble, Maradona, Pele and Zidane. I think I posted the least for Pele. Here are something of the best I seen for Pele, mostly rare





and the second of this collection worth enjoying




nice dribble


Another solo dribble goal
And this is friendly vs. Germany, putting the ball between Beckenbauer legs in 1963
Finally, this compilation has many of the usual stuff, but I think it is a nice collection and clear images
Click here to watch it

Arsenal two very nice goals

among all of the Champion League games this week, I think Arsenal 2nd and 3rd goals worth watching a lot. Theo Walcott had a skillful touch goal, and Samir Nasri ended a very good team work goal.

Both goals were a joy to watch in a 3-1 victory for Arsenal vs. Partizan



also, Real Madrid 4-0 win over Auxerre worth watching, especially the last goal

Golden ball to Barcelona

In the last three weeks, I kept chatting with friends about this award, and whoever knows me in person know well that I always said, it will go to one of the three players: Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. Well, I think this was an easy prediction, not that difficult.

France Football reported officially that the three Barca stars will be the final nominees.

and if it is up to me to vote, I will give my vote to Messi, then Iniesta then Xavi. I think it is very likely it will go to Iniesa, he was always present at the most difficult moments with critical goals and passes.

Artistic movie clip on Barca RM 5-0

Very high quality picture and wonderful editing of the most famous derby game may be ever played. People will still refer to this game 20 years from today

And goal fo the week goes for Samir Nasri

wonderful two goals for Samir Nasri vs. Folham in a 2-1 victory for Arsenal
the wonderful goal that we refer here, is the second in this clip


may be also, worth highlighting Ronaldo two goals vs. Valencia in a 2-0 victory
seems this week is full with nice goals, so I must highlight this wonderful goal by Craig Beattie vs. Ipswitch

Messi magical touch pass

Barca beat Osasuna 3-0 in away game after long trip by bus and train. Messi had an assist and scored two more.

What was breathtaking to watch is his pass to Pedro. He did it with a magical touch, so simple, so accurate and it looks a peice of kick. This type of passes, I think I seen it only with Maradona

Incredible freekick of the year

Goal by the young Dorel Stoica in the Romanian league,
something incredible, especially when you watch the last replay

Recent roll of wonderful goals

Something from Brazil


i like this one a lot, my favorite this week


and something stunning from Italy

Barcelona passing machine crushed Real Madrid

Totti said after the 5-0 great game:

"This Barcelona is unbeatable, if three teams had played yesterday against Barca they would have all lost, not only Real Madrid. The Barca players were devastating, ran less than Madrid and they controlled the ball. I think they are the best team ever."

I might agree. I have seen Brazil 1982, Italy 1982, Argentina 1986, Germany 1990, AC Milan 1989 (which also crushed Real Madrid 5-0), Brazil 1994, France 2000, MU 1999 and much more, I cannot claim that I have seen anything like Barca last week, at least in what they do best, the passing machine and the midfield.

"this wasn’t an inherently ‘tactical’ victory. Barcelona won primarily because of the cohesion and quality of the interplay in midfield. Their passing patterns in the centre of the pitch are the result of years of experience playing together, something Real couldn’t hope to match" (Zonal Marking Site)

What did numbers say?

- Barcelona had 67% possession of the ball vs. Real Madrid, that just crushed Ajax 4-0 few days earlier.

- Barcelona did 608 successful passes, vs. 245 for RM, that is 70% of all passes in the game.

- Barca had 6 kicks on the target, 5 were successful. RM had two kicks on target, zero success rate.

What was impressive is the patterns of Barca positions of players each time the ball was with them, or was not with them. They looked like the fleets of fishes, and how they shape many different patterns as they travel together.

I don't think I ever seen any strong fast midfield like Barca, and this last game was the best of their performance.

Gardiola knew very well how to employ Messi talent, which he did one of his finest games ever, despite the fact that he missed few chances and didn't score.

In Argentina, the team was so slow and distracted, they reached nowhere, Messi always had three players around him, and he was not able to pass to any player. There was no pattern at all in Argentina.

Xavi, Iniesta, Messi were no doubt the skeleton of the midfield. One great player, a core part of this Barca team is often missed by the media, Sergio Busquets. Check out this video

Shi Shi Shikabala - hatrick of free kicks

I have indicated in a previous post the level of skills and talent of the Egyptian player, Shikabala.
Yesterday, he scored a hatrick of freekicks to lead his team to a 4-3 victory in the Egytpian league,

Check out the hatrick of free kicks


also, I found the first goal in a clip from a fan mobile phone, interesting clip with the fans singing his name

And Congratulations Russia 2018

World Cup 2022 Goes to Qatar

One irony in the 2018 and 2022 that Russia is the world largest country in terms of area 17 million square meters, and Qatar is one of smallest countries in the world (#163) with 11,000 square meters only and 1.6 million people there.

What is impressive is the huge advance that happened in Qatar in the last two decades. Not long ago, during 1990 WC, I remember my friends who went to Qatar used to tell me, that it is VERY behind country, you drive and you find incomplete roads, and sands all over.

Now it is full of sky scrapers with huge constructions everywhere. It is amazing how this small country managed to convince the FIFA to host the World Cup.



Introduction of the first five stadium for 2022 World Cup

Qatar story with the global soccer started in 1981 Youth World Cup in Australia. Qatar reached the final after beating Brazil 3-2 in QF and England 2-1 in SF with really nice goals. They lost to Germany 0-4 in the final.

However, the real competency of organizing something big came in 1995 when Nigeria supposed to host the Youth World Cup and FIFA decided not to do so for health reasons. Qatar offered to host the World Cup and it had just 21 days to prepare for it, and it did a great job in that. It saved the FIFA face that year. Since then, and the relationship started to develop with FIFA and it paid back a lot.
Qatar will be the smallest country to ever host the world cup in every measure you take, except the money:

Qatar will spend $4 billion in new stadiums and another $43 billions in infrastructure projects, including high speed train, new international airport.

The thing that I liked most is the very elegant promotional campaign for Qatar 2022, especially with the Maestro, Zizou

El-Classico 5-0 goals with Spanish (Catalonia) voice

It is fun to watch the five goals with Spanish commentator



More to come on the game, analysis and opinions

Mourinho continue his worst week

After having the worst defeat in his career, now UEFA made it up for Mourinho.
Remember the story of the two faked red cards for both Ramos and Alonso vs. Ajax??

Now, UEFA concluded that coach and players were guilty of misconduct and trying to play un-ethical game with the rules. Mourinho will miss 2 CL games and a Euro 40,000 fine.

There will be more fines:
The club (Real Madrid): Euro 120,000
Both players, Ramos and Alonso, Euro 20,000
Casillas: Euro 10,000
and Euro 5,000 for Jerzy Dudek 

Murinho: Gardiola made my best and worst moments

As a coach, Murinho managed to win UEFA Cup 2003, Champion League 2004, 2010, Premier League twice, Porteguese League twice, and Serie A twice,

with all of that, Murinho told the press last April, after passing Barca in the CL Semi-Final, "Beating Barcelona is the greatest moment of my career".

A coach with all of that amazing achievements, consider beating Gardiola magical team, with 10 players in the defence side, with 25% possession of the ball only, as the best moment in his career.

It was very clear that night, in this famous clip


I think the way that Murinho won that Semi-Final had a lot to do with the way that Barca looked outstandingly motivated to play a game of a life-time this week.

After the 5-0 defeat, Murinho admits that it was the worst point of his career:
"This is the first time I have ever been beaten 5-0, It is a historically bad result for us. It is not a humiliation but I am very disappointed. It is sad for us.

We played very, very badly and they were fantastic. We gifted them two goals that were bordering on the ridiculous. It is our own fault.

I have spoken to the players and told them the title is not gone. We can't leave here crying. I left here defeated at the start of last season with Inter Milan and then at the end of the season we were playing in the Champions League final [having knocked out Barcelona], while they had to watch it on television."

So, it is a challenge, of Jose and Pepe, and Pepe was a reason for the best and worst moments of Murinho career.