February 2008

Not ones to jump on the obvious bandwagon, preferring to wait until less imaginative types have had their fill, today is the day that we at euro2008statistics.com get to celebrate the 99 day countdown to Euro 2008 – and celebrate it we will, with this football related punch – ideal for toasting June’s potential stars.

Ideal for kicking off a prime night out, who not enjoy a jug or two of this with pals whilst watching worldwide football tomorrow:

Here’s how to make your perfect footballing cocktail, and always make sure to (Peter) Cech all around you drink responsibly:

• Begin by liberally splashing around 500ml of (Luca) Toni(c) water (Italian) and another 500ml of Jan Coca-Koller (German) into your cocktail receptacle. Neither shake, nor stir.
• Pour out a large glass of refreshing Baileys and (Cosmin) Contreau (Romania) – and slip tenderly into the mix.
• Mmmm – my favourite – measure out 3 single shots of (Sergio) Rumos (Spain) and pour right in, making sure to shimmy the liquor with aplomb across the surface of the beverage.
• Add a little kick with 2 shots (or 50ml) of Ricard(o) Pernod from Portugal, and if you’re feeling brave, why not chuck in a wee dram of Tequila (Barnetta) (Switzerland)
• For the artist at heart, who is always happier peppering their drinks with the personal touch, add 3 shots of any (Massimo) Oddo spirits you have lying around (Italian).
• Then top off the mixture with a (Ludovic) Magnum of champagne (Switzerland) – and hey presto, your cocktail is ready to kick off the party!

Of course… Before serving, remember to garnish your jug with a slice of (Jens) Lehman (German) and serve with ice in a (Gregory) Coupet from France.

Or perhaps – you could just settle for few cans of Fabio Cannabeero?

…if you’re a Polish international. In an interesting move last night, the Polish coach (Dutchman Leo Beenhakker) decided to play a team devoid of foreign-based players in their exhibition game against Estonia, meaning none of their Castrol Index-rated men made it onto the pitch. Artur Boruc of Celtic (rated 5^th amongst goalkeepers), Ebi Smolcrek – the striker currently plying his trade for Racing Santander and 11^th in Castrol’s Top 20 – and Jacek Krzynowek who plays for VfL Wolfsburg in Germany (15^th amongst midfielders) were all left out.

And as intotheforest predicted here, it was a comfortable win for Poland with goals from Matusiak (yes he is a Herenveen player, but is currently on loan at Wisla Krakow) in the 38^th minute and substitute Zahorski (playing for Gornik Zabrze in Poland) in the 78^th giving them the victory.

So will this radical move give the manager an insight into new home-based players in the run up to the Finals, or will he simply revert to recalling his star players from abroad when the next round of official friendlies occurs? It would be like England without Beckham. Oh, hang on….Anyway, only The Beenhakker knows, and we wait to see how his plans pan out for the group matches against Germany, Austria and Croatia in June.

They may be 7th in the official FIFA world rankings, fairly prolific in front of goal, and be in possession of some of the best young talent in Europe - but Big Phil Scolari has his work cut out if Portugal are going to triumph this summer, because the ‘Selecção das Quinas’ were officially the most wasteful side during the Euro 2008 qualifiers. Indeed, spearheaded by the mesmeric Christiano Ronaldo (who seems to fire shots wide on the international level for fun) – they smashed a total of 112 shots wide, to their 24 goals scored. More than anyone else during the qualifying campaign - 99 more indeed than Andorra (although that should probably be compared to Andorra’s *ahem* total 2 goal haul).

And for the team who only just scraped in past Serbia and Finland to stutter to Euro 2008 qualification second to Poland in their group, it seems that their undeniable hotbed of talent are going to have to focus! Indeed, according to the stats on the CPI – only 2 Portuguese players made their respective top 20’s during qualifying (let alone making the form 4-4-2 pictured below). Ricardo rated the 16^th best goalkeeper and Maniche statistically the 8^th best midfielder in the campaign so far.

Of course – it would take a brave man to write off tournament’s traditional dark horses but Portugal (who are currently attracting odds of around 8/1 on the betting exchanges), look like poor value at those odds – unless our Christiano can find his bright orange shooting boots of course!

Yes, Eduardo’s injury looked horrific, and yes I’m sure it hurt so much that it transcended pain, possibly taking the Brazilian-Croatian hybrid to a higher plane, but is it the worst injury ever?

Let’s take a look at some of the worst (and funniest) on- and off-field injuries to occur in the world of football.

In a similar incident to that of Eduardo, Coventry’s David Busst experienced similar horrific injuries in a game against Man United in April 1996. He suffered a compound fracture tibia and fibula, with one of the broken bones penetrating through his skin. The resultant pool of blood had to be cleared before the game could continue and shot-stopper Peter Schmeichel needed counselling after the game. On a side note - in a display his one-time successor Schemeichel would have been proud of, goalkeeper Alex Stepney screamed so hard at Manchester United team mates that he broke his jaw.

Alf Inge Haaland’s career was effectively ended by Roy Keane during the 2001 derby game at Maine Road. The knee-high horizontal studs-up two-footed challenge was one of the worst ever seen in a Premiership match. Not content with inflicting crippling pain, Keane compounded the issue by standing over the prone form of Haaland, unleashing a stream of expletives.

Whilst playing for Servette in the Swiss League, Paulo Diogo scored and jumped into crowd. Unfortunately he caught his wedding ring on a fence as he did so and ripped off top half of finger. Naturally he was booked for excessive celebration.

And who can forget Steve Morrow, who broke his collarbone after falling off Tony Adams’ whilst celebrating the 1993 League Cup win. Needless to say he didn’t lift said trophy.

On to domestic incidents and what better place to start than with Darius Vassell, who attempted DIY surgery on a blood blister under his big toenail by using a power drill to drill through both the nail and the blister as he had heard this was usually the way doctors dealt with it. Obviously he picked up an infection and had to have the nail removed.

Domestic injuries also include David Batty’s foot being run over by his daughter’s trike, Charlie George cutting off his big toe with a lawn mower and various injuries inflicted by items as random as a bottle of aftershave (Santiago Canizares), a bottle of salad cream (Dave Beasant) and a coffee table (Rio Ferdinand).

The moral of the story? Footballers should be wrapped in cotton wool and never allowed to do anything for themselves.

What do you mean that happens already?

So says osteopath and physiotherapist Tim Allardyce in so many words: “Imagine your worst ankle sprain and make it about 10 times worse and you’re getting close to where Eduardo is.” Sounds painful, but are Croatia’s Euro 2008 hopes hanging like the aforementioned Da Silva’s foot from his near-severed ligaments? One hopes not, and coming from an English perspective, Croatiawere one of the most exciting sides I witnessed in qualifying – but I fear that the shortage of such exceptional talent up front could cost them dearly.

Denying the tournament of Eduardo is a particularly cruel twist of fate – for all Croatians certainly and other neutrals who would love to see him in full flow, taking on some of the best players in Europe. However, the amount of Croatians embedding themselves in the CPI index top 20 lists, suggests they have a squad still immensely capable of troubling the big boys. Here’s hoping, because at the Wembley debacle, which admittedly lives on in the coldest, most desolate area of my heart, Croatia nonetheless proved themselves to be a determined, passionate team – determined to win whether they needed to or not. An attribute well needed these days in world football. And just look what we’ll be missing….

You’re top! Yes indeed, proving once again that the formbook is mightier than the name, the recent round of friendlies have thrown up yet another shock in the top ranked players of Euro 2008 – making French stopper Gregory Coupet top of the pile, trouncing Croatia’s Stipe Pletikosa back to 3^rd in the list, and etching out close to a 100 point lead in the rankings. He may be perilously close to retirement at the ripe old age of 35, but this agile chap has amassed a sizable 28 caps for ‘Les Bleus’ – and it looks unlikely that number will stop rising now.

But is he really that special, or are the statistics hiding flaws in his game that only the Euro 2008 tournament will expose? Well, looking at this career highlight it is easy to err on the former. In a flamboyant attempt to avoid giving away a free-kick for a backpass, Coupet launches a flying header that Andy Gray would have been proud of, and manages to edge the ball onto his own bar before pulling off a world-class save on the line.

Make your own mind up by having a quick look at this video.

Hot on the heels of his thunderbolt to the Spanish FA earlier this week, Sepp Blatter has been swiftly brought back down to earth by the European Commission, who have poured cold water on his plans to introduce foreign player quotas for club teams. An EC spokesman said ‘The implementation by FIFA of a 6+5 [6 home grown + 5 foreign players] rule in the European Union would violate EU law’, pretty much scuppering that one then.

So that means that European teams will continue to be packed with foreign imports (most noticeably from South America – it seemed that about 5 of the Inter Milan team that played Liverpool this week were Brazilian). But does this detract from the game on a national level? Many in England certainly think it does, including some MPs, arguing that the Premiership, whilst being the best league in the world, isn’t the best breeding ground for home grown talent it used to be. They point to this as the reason for England’s dismal showing in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

Half of me says Sepp is right, half of me that he is so, so wrong. Yes, having a limit of 5 foreign players per side may allow young English players to flourish, but if they can’t compete against the permitted foreigners, they shouldn’t be in the Premiership anyway. And whatever happened to free trade? Sepp, give up, it’s never going to happen, find another way to flex your muscles.