Thursday, January 20, 2011

A touch of class from Lionel Messi

Barcelona lost 1-3 to Real Betis, which was a moral win as Barcelona qualified anyhow to the Semi Final as they won 5-0 in the first game. Messi scored a hatrtrick in the first game, and scored for his team a goal that is very difficult, but again, Miessi makes it look very easy

Neymar Superhattrick for Brazil vs. Paraguay

This superhattrick came just in the right time, few days after changing the name of my blog.
Brazil beat Paraguay 4-2 in South American Champion Chip under-20. The top 4 will play in Youth WC U20 that will be held in Columbia. The top 2 will also play in the summer Olympic Games.


Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Asian Cup memories - part 3

As this Asian Cup is getting nicer and nicer with very interesting goals and we are still in the group stages, I will continue these posts. Kuwait left very early with three defeats, scoring a goal and receiving seven. To understand how bad this is, I will take you long journey to the 1980 Asian Cup which was held in Kuwait.

Drawing Football wonderful project

This is a wonderful piece of art, an animated pictures, done by a Japanese guy in his mid-20s. According to his Japanese site, he used 500 sheets to create this video. It took one month of planning, and other five months for the actual drawings.

The video takes you into a journey behind the time wih Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Zidane and Roberto Baggio and a lot of imagination:

Monday, January 17, 2011

The collapse of the Saudi team

Saudi Arabia lost today 5-0 to Japan in the last game of the Asian Cup. This is the worst defeat for the Saudi team from another Asian team since 1981 when it lost 5-0 to New Zealand. In general, this is the lowest point ever reached by the Saudi football after the 2002 0-8 defeat from Germany.

Saudi team was beaten from within before the start of the game. After Peseiro was replaced, head of Saudi Federation was himself replaced. There were rumors that Saudi players left the camp. Another rumors (from the Japanese press) that some players seen drunk at late hour at night.



However, I am not that shocked by this defeat, I don't see it that bad .................

First of all, when the team internally has problems, fights and serious issues, you can expect the worse. It happened to a wonderful Cameroon team in 1994 WC. After a great start, they faced Russia in the last game. Russia surprisingly beat Cameroon 6-1. The reason was that the team had internal problems, rumors of players trying to stay-over at the US, and financial issues.

So, collapsing in such situations was not surprising. I expected Japan to win at least 2-0.

When Saudi lost the 0-8 in 2002 vs. Germany many people were aiming for a big change in Saudi Football Federation, but nothing happened. Now, the big change is happening and people are aiming for a restructure of the football federation.

One man, the team manager, Fahd Al-Musaibih was very well known by his mismanagement and was a big factor in killing players morals for many years. Rumors that he resigned today.

Still too early to judge, but if real restructure happened, we can see Saudi team 1994 again.
A lot of pressure from the media that cannot take it anymore, as Adil Essam Eddin famous comments after Jordan defeat (this link in Arabic)

Ibra and R.Carlos join goals of the week

This week is very rich with wonderful goals. Even in Asian Cup, we seen four great goals so far. After Villa Real great goal couple of days ago, Ibra scored a super goal vs. Lecce



I am amazed not only by the magical finish, but also his fight for the ball. Usually, these type of balls are lost to defenders.


The other goal is again a crazy one from Roberto Carlos for Corinthians against Portuguesa (2-0). It was a very smart one from Roberto. Difficult angle and he saw that the keeper is not paying attention to this angle. Also, the Brazilian player who let the ball pass through his legs did it very smartly

Barcelona and new Messi role

It kinda became boring and a routine in the Spanish League to watch Barca and Real winning every game against other teams. Barcelona crashed Malaga 4-1, with a wonderful opening from Iniesta. What's interesting in recent Barcelona game is Messi new role. More and more he is positioning behind the strikers and provide sharp penetrating passes. Remember his two passes in the 5-0 vs. Real? He did two again yesterday,

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Great free kicks day in Asian Cup

Today, two memorable goals were scored in the Asian Cup 2011. Qatar beat Kuwait with three nice goals. The third goal was a very special free kick


but the best goal came from China vs. Uzbekistan in a 2-2 draw. Uzbek scored a wonderful second goal but the Chinese free kick to make it 2-2 was a great wonderful goal




Tribute to Syria

In the past, I used to dislike seeing an unusual country advance in football. In 1994 I said, I cannot stand seeing the Americans win in football. In 1998, I was shocked when I saw a new team raise the World Cup, France.

Today, I am totally the opposite, I cheer and love when I see a new country develop their football. I start cheering for countries like Japan, Korea and USA in the World Cup. And in the Asian level, I cheer so much for Syria and Jordan that managed to embarrass biggest teams in Asia.

Most likely Syria won't make it to the second round tomorrow after group games. Yet, I tribute these great Syrian goals for their achievement. These are recent goals when Syrian football did big leaps,





a great goal vs. Iraq in 2008



and some goals vs. Kuwait by the star Firas Al-Khateeb


Just as a reminder, Syria was not always a bad team. In 1984 Asian Cup, they beat South Korea 1-0 and lost hardly to Saudi team 0-1. They were about to reach 1986 World Cup. They had to play two legs with Iraq. Tied the first 0-0 but lost 3-1.

They never came into big achievement before, but never as well had big humiliations. They always lost to big teams by a goal difference, and sometimes managed to get a tie.

Finally, this great goal in a friendly vs. South Korea

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Big changes in Saudi football

As predicted in yesterday's post, Prince Sultan Bin Fahd, Head of Saudi Football Federation, announced his resignation today. This is the biggest event in the history of Saudi football. Now, everybody is awaiting to know the new members and structure of the Saudi Football Federation.

Crying Saudi fan, a common scene in recent years
There is big hopes that the Saudi team will start to recover from a 17 years of decline, and will start having a big U-Turn. All of this will be clear when we know the structure of the Federation.

Goal of the week

I think it is difficult to pick a goal better than this one for this week
Cani scores a great goal for Villa Real vs. Osasuna

Friday, January 14, 2011

Thierry Henry cool goals with Monaco

I found these interesting videos from 1995 when Thierry Henry was playing with Monaco. Look at his look, lol, very different from the Henry we know of 1998 onwards



And this interesting clip is his touches vs. Newcastle the next year



Two freaking own goals

Little bit of break to some bloopers,

This own goal is so great, that it needs special skills of a striker, it reminds me of Luis Garcia from Mexico great goals :)



And the next one is even more amazing, you must watch the reply, to realize how stupid the keeper is lol


Will the Saudi football take a U-Turn or continue sinking?

I could not find a better picture to represent the conditions of the Saudi football today better than this one
Saudi Arabia officially was the first team to exit Asian Cup 2011 after two defeats from Syria 1-2 and Jordan 0-1. It is not a big issue to lose a game or two, but, the way Saudi lost and the whole set-up of the team and the journey this team has taken since 1994 World Cup till today, is the real issue. 

(the links in this post are full of interesting videos)
Little Bit of History:

Let me go back to the Owairan goal in 1994, and the very good mondial for the Saudi team, it didn't come by a chance or just as an individual effort. It was a result of a lot of progress since 1984 when Saudi won their first Asian Cup.

By 1992, it was apparent that the Saudi team is heading towards something big, especially when you watch such wonderful goals vs. USA and Argentina in the first Confederation Cup. 

After the 1994 WC, Saudi football started to decline slowly. 1994 WC coach Jorge Solari quit the Saudi team. The Saudi federation kicked out the coach that won 1996 Asian Cup (Vengada) and next year the coach that reached 1998 WC (Pfister), only to hire Carlos Alberto Perreira, who himself was kicked out as a Saudi coach after failing to reach 1990 WC. Ironically, Perreira was kicked out during 1998 WC after losing to France 0-4. Saudi Arabia had to play last group games vs. South Africa with the joke local coach Mohammad Al-Kharashi.

All of this worked well, Saudi still had good talents from the past who managed to make the ship kept going, up and down.

Then, comes the worst event of the Saudi football history, the 0-8 defeat vs. Germany in 2002. After that Mondial, the Saudi Football Federation started to talk about big plans to have big change of the Saudi football. A lot of committees, consultants and real plans.

However, things only went worse. 9 coaches were changed, many players were kicked out of the national team, sidelines then returns. The story was almost the same. Yet, Saudi team fans had two things to remember:
- Qualifying to the 2006 WC.
- Playing the Asian Cup final in 2007.
Yet, the coach of both teams were kicked out. I was so sad about Calderon from Argentina, who lead the team to 2006 WC. It was the last time that the Saudi team played a decent good football.

Little Bit of Today:
Saudi football clubs and league started to decline slowly. Talents today are not rich like yesterday. And even the new promising talents, they peak only for 2 to 3 years. They earn millions of dollars which prevent them from being a good target for the small European Clubs that played big role in developing football in African countries.

So, Saudi football lost almost everything possible in recent years:
- AFC Champion League: Last time a Saudi team won was 2005. Before that, it was always a common factor in this league.
- Gulf Cups: Saudi team lost four last cups. Last time won was in 2003.
- Asian Cup 2011: Saudi team entered with already a have campaign against the Coach. Everyone was awaiting what will happen?
- After losing the first game vs. Syria, Saudi Football Federation changed the coach and appointed Nasser Al-Johar. (he is the same one who lead the 0-8 defeat). Changing the coach during the competition is something common, and was done for the fifth time.
- Now Saudi lost the second game on a row, vs. Jordan. Both teams used to be considered among the "piece of kick"  in the past.
- Today there was big announcement that six Saudi players quit international games. Something that was never happened before in Saudi football.

The talk about the Saudi Football Federation is the biggest topic (directly or indirectly) in all football channels in the region, the media, the forums, the cafes and everywhere.

The big question that everyone is awaiting:
- Will the Saudi Football Federation be changed totally? Which will mean the Saudi football might make a big U-Turn and repeat something of the 1994 WC memory?
- Or it will continue, and this means, Saudi Football and Titanic will have similar fates?

Tottenham Hotspur great game vs. Charlton Athletic

Spur had a great game in a great year beating Charlton 3-0 with 3 nice goals, and a special performance from Defoe


Tottenham Hotspur v Charlton Athletic
Uploaded by trigzmetric. - Basketball, baseball, pro wrestling and more sports videos.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Qatar beat China in a sensational way

Qatar had a great game vs. China and the 22 years old player Yousef Ahmad scored both goals, the first goal was a stunning great one. Game ended 2-0 but it could have been much more.

This summarizes the difference between the Saudi and Qatari team. The first changed the coach as they lost 1-2 vs. Syria. Qatar, with intense pressure, of having the whole world looking at them after the World Cup bid, and Qatar being the host ..... and with that, they kept on their French coach Bruno Metsu.

Messi celebrates the award with a special hattrick

Messi celebrates the player of the year award by scoring his third hattrick for the new season against Real Betis in the Spanish Cup.

The hattrick was scored in a very "Messi" way, however, in my opinion, the play of the game came with the fifth goal assist from Iniesta, with a very special cross to Seyodu Keita

Monday, January 10, 2011

Lionel Messi Deservedly 2010 Player of the Year

"To be honest, I didn't expect to win today, but it was already great to be here next to my two mates. To win it makes it even more special. I want to share with all of my friends, my family, all the Barcelonistas and the Argentinians."

I think I got this one right. I told my friends if I were to vote, I would vote for Messi, but I think he will find strong competition first from Iniesta, then Xavi. Unfortunately, my vote does not count : )
The award is based on coaches, captains and global journalists.

Messi became the first player to be named player of the year in a World Cup year without winning the cup.
Messi scored 60 goals in 2010 for Barcelona in an amazing run. 10s of them were jaw dropping performance.  I won't talk about his superhattrick vs. Arsenal, amazing dribbles, one-two goals, rather, I will post a goal from 2009 Champion League against Lyon. It is my favorite goal for Messi,


In the other award, Murinho won the coach of the year. I think it is a very deserved title, especially when you watch Inter Milan with exact same players, but without Murinho. Also, the way Inter managed to beat Barca in the semi-final second leg of the CL was a great performance, and it takes a lot of guts to do it.

Also, Hamit Altintop goal vs. Kazakhstan deserved its title. It is an amazing goal, in its technical quality, it is the first time I see a volley better than the Marco Van Basten 1988 goal. Of course, Basten goal had its own historical importance.



Here is the full list for the FIFA awards for 2010:
FIFA Men's World Player of the Year: Lionel Messi
FIFA Women's World Player of the Year: Marta
FIFA World Coach of the Year for Men's Football: Jose Mourinho
FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football: Silvia Neid
FIFA FIFPro World XI of 2010: Iker Casillas; Maicon, Gerard Pique, Lucio, Carles Puyol; Xavi Hernandez, Wesley Sneijder, Andres Iniesta; Cristiano Ronaldo, David Villa, Lionel Messi
FIFA Puskas Award: Hamit Altintop
FIFA Fair Play Award: Haiti Under-17 women's team
FIFA Presidential Award: Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Saudi Arabia changed 24 coaches since 1994 WC

"It is not acceptable for Saudi Arabia. The coach has had enough time, more than a year and a half, to do a perfect job."  as said by Sultan bin Fahd, the President of the Saudi Arabian Football Association.

It was one of the most stable and long times that the coach stayed at the "Green Falcons" as used to be called. That period was one and a half year!!!!!

Jose Peseiro was fired after Saudi defeat by Syria 1-2 in the first game of the Asian Cup. He was replaced by Nasser Al-Johar, a local coahc. If I am not mistaken, this would be the first ever victory for Syria against Saudi Arabia, at least in the first team level. (source: my memory)



Here is some irony:

- As per Dubai Sport Channel analysis, Nasser Al-Johar (the new coach) was sitting in the game and taking notes in his note book. So, the decision to change the coach was mostly decided. The Saudi Football Association was only waiting for the right time.

- Nasser is not a new coach. This is the fifth time that he been appointed as the coach of the Saudi team (always called as the substitute coach, or the spare part).

- He was the coach that lead the team to worst defeat in its history: 0-8 vs. Germany in 2002 World Cup.

- Saudi national team changed 24 coaches since Candinho was fired in 1993 WCQ (which is practically when the team qualified to the WC for the first time in their history).

 Mohammed Al-Kharashy 1993
 Leo Beenhakker 1993
 Mohammed Al-Kharashy 1994
 Ivo Wortmann 1994
 Jorge Solari 1994
 Mohammed Al-Kharashy 1995
 Ze Mario 1995
Vingada 1996
 Otto Pfister 1998
 Carlos Alberto Parreira 1998
 Mohammed Al-Kharashy 1998
 Otto Pfister 1999
 Milan Máčala 1999
 Nasser Al Johar 2000
 Slobodan Santrac 2001
 Nasser Al Johar 2001
 Gerard van der Lem 2002
 Martin Koopman 2002
 Nasser Al Johar 2004
 Gabriel Calderon 2004
 Marcos Paqueta 2006
 Helio dos Anjos 2007
 Nasser Al Johar 2008
 José Peseiro 2009
 Nasser Al Johar 2011

- Let's do some benchmarking, Germany changed 5 coaches during the same period. Italy changed 7 coaches.

- Saudi team itself changed 21 coaches in 36 years. (1957-1993) as 1957 was the first coach appointed.
Now, it changed 24 coaches in 18 years (1993-2011), that is almost double the speed.

These are all small indications of the professionalism of football in Saudi Arabia and the reasons why the team that qualified to the second round in 1994, cannot now qualify to the second round of the Asian Cup.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Video pick of the week

I think this wonderful goal for Freddy Guarín for Porto against Maritimo 4-1 victory deserves to be the goal of the week.



The game that ended 4-1 seems to be a wonderful one, and all the goals and missed chances worth watching (in this video)