Champions are almost known... (already)

Championships are not won in the first week of April, but all five of Europe’s big leagues took decisive turns over the weekend.

Manchester United came from two goals down to win, 4-2, at West Ham on Saturday and became the odds-on favorite to recapture the Premier League title in England.

Barcelona, winning on the road at Villarreal, took full advantage of Real Madrid’s first home defeat in any competition this season.

Borussia Dortmund moved resolutely toward the Bundesliga crown. Lille, attacking in style, is now clear in France. And the battle of the two Milans was so emphatically won, 3-0, by A.C. Milan that Inter’s five-year hold on the Italian title looks to be on its last legs.

Barring some unprecedented mishaps, the champions’ colors are already set.

“It starts with the manager,” Manchester’s veteran winger, Ryan Giggs, said of Alex Ferguson after the Reds’ second-half comeback. “He was calm. He made changes. He said we were playing some good stuff and we could win this. We never give up, no matter the score.”

Giggs has spent his entire 21-season career getting to know the driving force of Ferguson. He might have been mildly surprised when Ferguson indicated in the locker room at halftime that he was taking off his left back and putting in an extra attacker, so Giggs was required to play the defensive role.

Those familiar with Ferguson’s firebrand nature could read the script. The team is down, the two penalty-kick goals that put them there were undeserved, but we’re better than them. “So play,” Ferguson instructed his team. “Just go out and play.”

The old boy is mellowing. Fergie is 69, and the young Ferguson always told players, “Go for their bloody throats.” These days, temporarily barred from the sideline because of his criticisms of referees, he gets a word with his players only at halftime.

That was enough on Saturday. The extra forward at halftime, Javier Hernández, and then the addition of another attacker, Dimitar Berbatov, early in the second half created time and space for Wayne Rooney to score three goals.

Rooney spoiled it all later; he is likely to be charged with bringing the sport into disrepute because of a foul-mouthed rant he made into a TV microphone.

Sometimes, the winners never acquire grace. José Mourinho lost his extraordinary record of not losing a home game in nine years when his team, Real Madrid, succumbed in a 1-0 loss against Sporting Gijon at the Bernabéu on Saturday.

Mourinho is the coach who called himself the Special One. His last league home defeat was with Porto, in February 2002. He never lost on home soil with Chelsea, never lost with Inter, and Real had won every match in Madrid during his tenure until Saturday.

The goal that ended all that was, coincidentally, scored by Miguel de las Cuevas, a former Atlético Madrid striker. A fine goal it was, with de las Cuevas cutting in from the left and with a sudden, flick-knife shot, scoring off the inside of the post from 12 yards.

Real Madrid, without Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso and Marcelo, tried to reclaim the match, and Sporting’s defense at times led a charmed resilience. And Mourinho blamed the gods. “Luck,” he said, “is part of football; our opponents had it all, and we had none.”

Hours after Real Madrid lost, Barcelona triumphed in one of the toughest places to win, Villarreal’s El Madrigal stadium. Barça, too, has injuries and suspensions. It started Saturday without the key figure in each line of its team — Carles Puyol in defense, Xavi Hernández in midfield, Lionel Messi in attack.

It had other absentees: Éric Abidal, Pedro, Maxwell. And the perceived wisdom at the start of this season was that Barça’s reserves were less experienced than Real Madrid’s.

“What makes the difference is desire,” Barcelona’s coach, Josep Guardiola, said before the match. “People talk about tactics and fitness, but what matters most is the desire to be champion.”

Barcelona’s goal Saturday was scored by a defender, Gerard Piqué. Its defense was held together by three immaculate saves by Victor Valdés. But as Guardiola envisaged, his team did not make excuses of fatigue and distraction after last week’s national team duties. It had the desire to dominate a pure team like Villarreal, to the extent of 70 percent ball possession.

A champion wins when it must. Many had prophesied that Inter’s squad would still be the best in Italy, but A.C. Milan stunned Inter by scoring in the opening minute through Alexandre Pato. He scored again in the second half, and his pace was responsible for the red card shown to Inter’s Cristian Chivu when he chopped down Pato shortly after halftime.

The sending off was indicative of Inter’s inability to cope. “We stayed calm, we played good football, and we didn’t let Inter score,” Milan Coach Massimo Allegri said.

His job, taking over with finances trimmed back by the owner Silvio Berlusconi, is on a good path. The opposing coach, Leonardo, was a fine A.C. Milan player, and briefly its coach until Berlusconi lost faith in him.

Allegri was careful not to claim the Serie A title, and Leonardo insisted it was not yet lost. But the championship is in Milan’s sights after many years in its neighbor’s shadow.

Now - Barca shows off its skills

The hurt may be greater than it was in the 4-1 trouncing here last season, because this was a tie that might have taken a different course. Arsène Wenger's side, with the score at 1-1, held a 3-2 aggregate lead when Robin van Persie was sent off in the 56th minute for a second booking. The referee Massimo Busacca was sure he had played on intentionally and had a rare shot at Barcelona's goal instead of simply failing to hear the whistle.

Patronising though the appraisal will sound, Arsenal were far closer to Barcelona. There is, despite that, an obligation to emphasise that they posed so little threat that there was not a single shot on target for Víctor Valdés to save. In the circumstances, Wenger has to settle for notable evidence that Arsenal do have a durability now that will be valuable in the bid for the Premier League title.

While prospects look appealing on that front, nothing came easily for the side in this fixture. The young goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny lasted 19 minutes and had to go off after a seemingly mild shot by Daniel Alves bent back a finger, later confirmed as dislocated. His replacement was Manuel Almunia. The Spaniard's presence took to six the number of Arsenal players on the pitch who had been in the starting line-up here last season.

Circumstances beyond the control of Wenger have made some of the changes inevitable, but Arsenal's unsettling search for a first trophy in six years also contributes to the restlessness. Some of his verdicts are being vindicated. The defensive midfielder Denílson has been downgraded to the Carling and FA Cups. He started at the Camp Nou last season but did not leave the bench in this match, even though the current defensive midfielder Alex Song was injured.

Abou Diaby took up some of those chores although he is not a specialist in that work. It was still a comparatively subdued first half, putting aside the fouls that led to four of the Arsenal line-up being cautioned. There was just a moment to spare for real distinction, then, as Messi struck in the third minute of stoppage time before the interval. Cesc Fábregas attempted a flick and gave possession to Andrés Iniesta. The through pass put Messi clear and he dinked the ball over Almunia, who was attempting to dive at his feet, before thumping it gleefully into the net.

For all that gusto, Barcelona were, by their own measure, judicious. Pep Guardiola, left with more regard for Wenger's squad after the 2-1 defeat in London, had rested some of his men in the weekend victory over Real Zaragoza. Energy was particularly significant against Arsenal, who had decided to hold a high line at the Camp Nou rather than back off and leave the opposition with simple possession.

It was Guardiola's men who looked better-equipped to set up a goal. If there is one area of reconstruction in which Wenger is starting to take a tentative pride it is in a defence that has a good record and the manager is entitled to note this achievement. Given the context, the relapse into folly for the opener must have been all the more distressing.

Samir Nasri's persistence earned a corner on the left. The midfielder flighted it over and Diaby's run seemed to distract the defence so severely that Sergio Busquets, a midfielder employed at centre-half because of injury and suspension, headed into his own net. Arsenal, though, suffered, too, when the second booking followed for Van Persie, who claimed he did not hear the referee's whistle above the noise in the crowd.

Even so, Wenger's men, with their lead in the tie, were more at peace for a time than Barcelona. Guardiola's side and the home support all knew that a goal was essential to take the game to extra time. Almunia was outstanding in the face of an unfettered Barcelona, particularly with one save from Villa, but the resistance could not continue. Barcelona quickly scored twice to assume the lead on aggregate. After 69 minutes, Iniesta and Villa combined in a perfect move, before Xavi put the ball past Almunia. Two minutes later, Koscielny fouled Pedro and Messi converted the penalty.

This campaign has hurt Arsenal on other occasions as well and Wenger will have not have forgotten the defeats in the group phase that led to their facing this daunting fixture.

Arsenal strikes back

Arsenal struck twice in five minutes late in the match to snatch an unlikely 2-1 win over Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash at The Emirates on Wednesday.

Barcelona dominated possession with wonderful passing, working tirelessly to harass the home side in their short spells on the ball, and deservedly led through a David Villa goal after 26 minutes.

They could have had three or four more but Arsenal levelled out of the blue through Robin van Persie in the 78th minute.

That would have been kind on Arsenal, beaten 6-3 on aggregate by the Spaniards in last season's quarter-finals, but they got a huge bonus seven minutes from time when substitute Andrei Arshavin swept in the second after a superb counter-attack.

When Arsenal did begin to see some of the ball after the break Barca gave them another lesson, this time in the art of closing down, as they showed that like all great teams they know how to work hard and defend when they have to.

The game seemed to be heading only one way until the ball broke to Van Persie wide on the left with little apparent danger but, from a tight angle he lashed a shot goalwards and it sneaked inside the near post of a flat-footed Valdes.

The goal lifted the crowd and Arsenal responded with a Barca-style counter-attack that ended with Samir Nasri squaring for substitute Arshavin to sweep in the winner

The second leg at the Nou Camp Stadium is on March 8.

Ibrahimovic: Le grand désastre du football

En Ligue des Champions 2011, l'AC Milan a perdu un match capital à domicile à cause de sa recrue hors de prix: Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

AC Milan 0 - Tottenham Hotspur 1

(but de Crouch sur une superbe passe de Lennon)

Je n'arrive toujours pas à comprendre comment l'AC Milan ait pu acheter un joueur qui n'a jamais rien prouvé au niveau européen.

Imbu de sa personne, superbement hautain, cette diva a quitté l'Inter Milan (qui pourtant gagnait tous en Italie) pour le Barca car il souhaitait obtenir (enfin) une couronne européenne et par conséquent une couronne mondiale.

Le Barca regrette aujourd'hui d'avoir fait la plus mauvaise transaction de l'histoire du football (achat de Zlatan avec en cadeau un Samuel Eto'o livré gratuitement). Résultat des courses: Ibrahimovic a été transparent toute la saison 2010 en Espagne et Samuel Eto'o est devenu le seul joueur au monde à gagner 2 ligues de champions et 2 coupes du monde des clubs d'affilée !

Vite débarqué du Barca, refusé par l'Inter, Zlatan se retrouve chez le rival Milanais avec pour ambition de redevenir champion d'Italie et de gagner la Ligue des Champions. Le 1er objectif reste dans la mesure du possible, quant au 2e objectif ... il devient problématique suite à son match loupé d'hier soir.

Non content d'être transparent durant tout le match, Zlatan a donné le match aux Londoniens à cause de sa passe très approximative qui a généré la contre-attaque fulgurante. OK, Il a perdu le ballon (cela arrive à tout le monde), mais le crime est qu'il n'a pas défendu comme un diable pour récupérer le ballon et empêcher la contre-attaque. Et pour se rattraper, il marque un but logiquement refusé car ce monsieur revenait d'une position d'hors-jeu et qu'il s'est fait de la place en poussant le défenseur Londonien... Pathétique.

AC Milan peut se mordre les doigts d'avoir choisi ce serial loser pour des millions d'euros.

Asia Cup 2011: Japan is the best of them all

The Asian Cup final between Australia and Japan was tied 0-0 after 90 minutes of regulation play and the first 15 minutes of extra time at Khalifa Stadium in Doha. Then Tadanari Lee came on as a substitute for the Blue Samurai, and within three minutes drove an airborne volley from Yuto Nagatomo past Mark Schwarzer into the back of the Socceroos’ net. The Aussies had a final chance to tie the game in the 119th minute when David Carney had a free kick on goal deflected, securing the 1-0 victory for Japan. Keisuke Honda was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVsi57HjpY4&feature=player_embedded

The goal that keeps the Asian Cup in Asia for at least one more cycle of the event was an absolutely fitting way to end the tournament in Doha, Qatar. It combined the speed and cross from the left wing by Yuto Nagatomo and the near perfection of Tadanari Lee, who volleyed the ball from just below hip height with his left foot. Such sweet timing, such coordination of minds and skills, and such promise for Japan’s future.

Nagatomo is 24, already a player with 40 caps, and already earning his fortune in Italy with Cesena. Lee is 25 but a relative unknown even in Asia. He had been on the field for little more than 10 minutes when he struck that fine shot Saturday, and maybe the fans of Sanfrecce Hiroshima were the only ones who knew of his striking qualities.

Lee, as his name implies, has family that originally hailed from what is now South Korea. He was born in west Tokyo, but his family members are among the 900,000 “Zainichi,” ethnic Koreans whose forebears were taken to Japan as wartime laborers in the coal mines and factories.

Lee played, once, for South Korea at the under-20 level. But he received his Japanese passport in 2007, joined Hiroshima in 2009 and is as clear about his status as he was when his chance came during extra time in the final in Doha. “When the ball came, I just thought I needed to smash it,” he said in the Khalifa Stadium. “I am proud of this game. I’m not Korean, I’m not Japanese, I’m a footballer.”

Lee is a player who has youth on his side, and he’s hardly alone on this team in that regard. This squad won the final without the injured playmaker Shinji Kagawa, who has had a fantastic first season with Borussia Dortmund in Germany, and it looks like the best is yet to come.

The impressive goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima, Kagawa, Keisuke Honda and others are a full decade younger than most of the Australians beaten in this tournament.

Australia, a convert to Asia for the convenience of soccer, will stage the next Asian Cup in 2015 — but first it must find successors to Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill, Lucas Neill and Mark Schwarzer.

Those battle-hardened, European-domiciled veterans had a far easier passage to the match Saturday than the Japanese, who went to extra time and penalties against South Korea in the semifinals. Their fatigue was evident from the kickoff. Their passing fluency was missing. As Japan’s coach, the Italian Alberto Zaccheroni, observed, it needed reserves of spirit, strength and ultimately the fresh mind and legs of substitute Lee.

Japan, the winner of four of the last six Asian Cups, endured one downside from the final: Some supporters who journeyed to Qatar were locked outside the stadium. They had tickets but were denied entry when the gates were closed five minutes after the match started. Organizers said Sunday that tight security was in place because members of the emirate’s royal family attended the match.

The issue of Qatar’s ability to host a major international tournament was a desert wind whipped up by the FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who stole some of the event’s early thunder when he suggested Qatar was too hot in the summer to play soccer. All this after Blatter and FIFA energetically boosted Qatar as the host of the 2022 World Cup.

Empty stands caused speculation that local interest in soccer may not be a great as in other recent (South Africa and Germany) and future (Brazil and Russia) World Cup locales. Then again, the Asian Cup does not draw visiting fans with the number and intensity of the World Cup.

Technology became a factor in driving up interest and viewership: all the games were available live and in high-definition on television, as well as on broadband and mobile devices. Last summer’s World Cup established a model for delivering big-game soccer to fans anywhere anytime on any device, and the Asian Cup extended and refined those technologies.

The two most interesting Asian leagues to track post-Doha will be the Japanese J-League and the Chinese Super League, because the former emulates European league organization and depth, while the latter may soon give a hint of a future Asian soccer giant.

Doha has changed a lot in the last few years and it will certainly continue an evolution fueled by petrodollars and a desire cast a shadow greater than one might expect from an desert nation with 1.7 million people. Qataris are gracious hosts and won the hearts of virtually everyone who attended the tournament.

With the Asian Cup, did Qatar show it is capable of hosting a World Cup? Is 11 years enough time for the country to prepare for 2022?

No date change for FIFA World Cup 2022

Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam on Friday 14th of January 2011 ruled out shifting the 2022 Soccer World Cup in Qatar to winter or staging tournament matches around the Gulf region.

Bin Hammam told Sky News in an interview that he was "unimpressed" by suggestions from FIFA president Sepp Blatter that the tournament could be moved to a winter time slot to avoid sweltering summer temperatures in Qatar.

He also took aim at remarks by UEFA President Michel Platini earlier this week that the 2022 tournament could be a "Gulf World Cup", with matches taking place in several countries surrounding Qatar.

Bin Hammam's stinging rebuttal of recent comments from Blatter are certain to fuel speculation that the Qatari is planning to challenge the FIFA chief at elections later this year.

"I believe Qatar can stand alone and organise the competition by itself," Asian Football Confederation President Bin Hammam told Sky.

"And I'm really not very impressed by these opinions to distribute the game over the Gulf or change the time from July to January - it's actually premature, you know, it's people's opinions and they're just discussing it on no basis or no ground," the Qatari official added.

English football clubs have said switching the World Cup to January or February would be a logistical nightmare that would need at least a two-month mid-season break to the Premier League.

Bin Hammam appeared to sympathise with European leagues likely to be affected by a date change as he continued his criticism of Blatter's remarks.

"It's not up to one, two or three members of Fifa to talk about changing the time without getting the real stakeholders' opinions," Bin Hammam added, without mentioning Blatter or Platini directly.

"I know that football in Europe has quite a history, it is quite a business involving a lot of financial, media, marketing - a lot of things," he said

"It is unfair to these people that we talk about changing the calendar or the time without their full consultation and their full approval and their full agreement - I'm actually not happy to see that happening without the real stakeholders' part of this discussion."

FIFA has said world football's governing body would need to receive an official request from the Qatar FA before any change of the 2022 tournament dates could be formally discussed.

Bin Hammam, a member of FIFA's executive committee, said no request would be forthcoming.

"We are not interested - we are very happy and we are promising the world that we are going to organise an amazing world cup in June and July," he said.

Bin Hammam's comments are the latest in a series of criticisms of Blatter, who will run for re-election as FIFA President in May.

Asked by Sky if he was planning to run against Blatter, Bin Hammam replied simply: "No comment."

Bin Hammam's reluctance to confirm his intentions are in stark contrast to comments he made in August last year, when he categorically ruled out a bid to topple Blatter.

FIFA's decision to award the World Cup to Qatar in Zurich last month has attracted a firestorm of criticism after a bidding campaign dogged by allegations of corruption.

Bin Hammam said FIFA needed to be "more transparent" if it wanted to avoid a reputation for corruption in future.

"It's (FIFA) an organisation which is more than 104 years old," he said.

"We should modernise ourselves in such a way as to reflect the real stakeholders - member associations, leagues, clubs, players, coaches," he said.

"A lot of things could be done. Maybe the actual administration can do that, they have to commit themselves to doing that.

"The structure is not helpful or useful for our world," Bin Hammam added.