April 2008

President of the Italian FA, Giancarlo Abete, has had his say on how he thinks things are going to go in the Euros come June.

He reckons that the Azzurri have the strongest selection of strike force available to any national team appearing at the finals, and that coach Donadoni (the temptation to call him Donatello and Photoshop a Ninja Turtles picture was strong, but I resisted!) should be ‘grateful’ for the plethora of choice available to him. He went on to suggest that the Italian Serie A has a level of competitiveness that is ‘much higher than the other European championships’. Now, I don’t know which games he’s been watching, but my recollections of Italian football involve a lot of own-third passing, a few wild shots from 30 yards, some falling over and bent refs. Abete reeled off a list of names including Luca Toni, Inzaghe, Del Piero, Di Natale and Iaquinta, saying that with a strike force like this, Donadoni will be spoiled for choice.

The fact is, only two of this list make the CPI’s Top 20 Strikers. Admittedly Toni is top of the tree, with Di Natale in fourth, but the other don’t feature. So maybe Abete is a little confused. Yes, you need good strikers (and he has statistically the best available), but a team does not win the Euros just by having a potentially good forward line. Italy’s only entry in the Top 20 Defenders is Fabio Cannavaro at a lowly 13^th, so this might make the Italians ever so slightly suspect at the back.

Only time will tell, but the I reckon the defence promises to be so leaky that Donadoni might be calling on the services of Italy’s other great export, the moustachioed plumbing fraternal franchise that is the Mario Brothers. And even they might not be able to fix it.

So with the world looking on expectantly (well the Swedes anyway) and Olof Mellberg no doubt stroking his prize-winning beard in characteristically calm excitement the last kit of the Euros has been unveiled – so gaze in delight at the Sweden away shirt, and may I say… What a beauty. 

Using Umbro’s latest design template, the shirt is coloured in a majestic navy blue, with teasing flourishes of subtle yellow splashed across the shoulders – all topped off with a navy collar. I suggest it is likely to go down particularly well with our Scandinavian brethren, and make their admittedly handsome team look even more handsome on the pitch.

However – as I gushed on about this kit with delight to my blogging pal and confidante Tom, he pointed out that shouldn’t all the teams but Austria and Switzerland wear their away kit all the time? An obvious and silly point yes - but one I hadn’t really considered? I guess it would cut down on kit sales substantially, although I’m surprised the manufacturers haven’t yet come up with a money spinning ‘neutral’ 3^rd kit, for tournaments just like this… 

Watch this space.

Hot on the heels of perhaps the most electrifying season’s football, with goal-tally records aplenty beckoning from the back of the opposition net like the Sirens trying to lure Ulysses to his doom (a little bit of classic culture for you on a Monday morning), wunderkind Cristiano Ronaldo last night picked up the PFA Player of the Year award. Again.

Securing his second successive title should only serve to spur him on to greater things – making sure Manchester United triumph in the league, and that Portugal put on a display worthy of their attacking prowess at Euro 2008. The confidence boost of being recognised by one’s fellow professionals as the best player currently plying his trade must count for something when the shake-down comes to pass in SwissAustria (as I am contractually obliged never to refer to the host nations again). As for the likes of Torres and Fabregas who were passed over for the gong, what effect will that have on their tournament? Although Cesc did win the Young Player (for which Torres was also in the hunt – when does young not become young? Torres is 24, not long until he’s considered to be getting on).

So my advice is to look out for the confidence-boosted Iberian duo as they take their inflated egos to the Euros and, safe in the knowledge that the Premiership players think they are the best amongst them, delight and entertain the watching millions. The Castrol Performance Index only measures on-field feats, but you can rest assured that this award can only improve on what are already quite impressive achievements, and might even drag Ronaldo into the Top 20 Midfielders where he surely belongs. No doubt once the tournament starts he will pull up his socks (both metaphorically and literally – anyone notice he does that every time he is sitting on the floor with that grin on his face, looking at the ref?) and pull out some decent performances. Yes, he can act like a spoiled schoolboy, but he is undoubtedly one of the planet’s most gifted footballers, and it is surely only a matter of time before the international stats represent this.

So as Thursday drifts into Friday, and I receive a panicked phone call from good pal, and fellow blogger, Tom – it is with a blissful ‘knowing’ serenity that I realise that for the first time we have missed Euro 2008 Random Round Up Thursday (didn’t I say last week that Thursday was the new Friday)… And thus, please bang your kettle drums; shake your rattles and blow ‘dem horns – for this is Euro 2008 Random Round Up Friday!

And as our first port of call of this voyage around the net, is the nifty new idea from Adidas to send Interesting big names to small places. For example, according to worldcupblog.com, the likes of David Beckham and Steven Gerrard will visit the Isles of Scilly, home to the world’s smallest football league (with just two teams). Well, they won’t be doing much else this summer will they? Perhaps they could send Ashley Cole to Basra?

Meanwhile, the Austrian first team coach has thrown somewhat of a curveball by selecting the 38 year old attacking midfielder Ivica Vastić (pictured below with small child) for his provisional squad. The wily old dog (I presume he must be if he’s that old) however has scored 13 goals in 31 league matches for Linz this season – and despite not playing for the Austrians since 2005, has amassed 46 caps in his career. Could he be the next Toni Polster? We watch and wish!

Also – an interesting comparison is drawn to the Italian World Cup Winners of 2006 by Ivan on the Russian Football blog, as he surmises that Russia’s Euro 2008 may well be made up solely of domestic talent. Of course, there are a number of Russians plying their trade across Europe (amongst them Fulham’s Alexi Smertin of course) – but their chances of being in the squad look pretty bleak.

Oh – and for a totally neutral perspective over the next few weeks, why not pop over to Aaron Stollar’s blog, where he will be talking look at each of the groups and giving his professional opinion on how Euro 2008 might just go!

Image borrowed from Kids Guide 

Following on from news on these pages that Spain might not be allowed to participate at the tournament, it seems that their Sports Council has backed down and are not now insisting that the Spanish Football Federation holds elections prior to the Olympics.

How FIFA saw this as governmental interference in the first place – and quite frankly it was so complicated I’m not sure even FIFA knew what was going on, but somebody had said something so everyone else went along with it – is a mystery. At least now the fans can rest easy knowing they will see the likes of Torres and David Villa rolling around like they’ve been shot scoring fantastic goals and promising to win the whole tournament, then inexplicably falling apart at the quarter-final stage.

What the managers of Russia, Greece and Sweden are thinking of the whole affair is anybody’s guess, but presumably they’ll be following the old football cliché and ‘preparing for the team that is put in front of them’. Sure they’d have preferred Northern Ireland (the alternative option should Spain have been booted out) - just the 21 places in the FIFA World Rankings (see the Castrol Index for details) behind La Fiora Roja - but they’ll just have to do with tickling tackling the Spaniards, then standing back and watching the Swan Lake impersonations instead.

Image borrowed from BlogWawasan

Ever keen to court controversy and promote rivalry between writers on a blog (we’ll post photos of horrific and bloody injuries later), I’m pleased to report that contrary to previous reports you may have seen on these pages, there are plenty of hotel beds to be had in June, at least in Zurich.

According to the Austrian Association of Hoteliers, June is going to be a much quieter month for them this year than last. Mainly due to the lack of business bookings (what, they’re scared of thousands of football fans? Come on, England didn’t even qualify!), the days in between games are looking fairly empty.

Presumably you can also get a room in a house with Austria fans (this happens at most major tournaments), but be prepared to console them after the 16^th June when their hopes lie shattered like so many dropped steins after Germany have given them a sound thrashing at the Ernst Happel. After all, 39 places separate them in the FIFA World Rankings, and the German team have 12 competitive games in their legs thanks to the qualifying matches, compared to the staid friendlies the host nations have had to endure.

In an attempt to draw people to Zurich during the tournament, this great site has been put together to entice visitors. Containing news of the Fan Zone (bookmark this site for more news of that, by the way) and the Fan Mile, along with useful tourist info, this is a must-visit website for anyone planning to get to Austria in June.

It even comes complete with a countdown of how long to go before the first match kicks off. Can you believe it is only 46 days, 7 hours, 16 minutes and 24 seconds before the tournament starts. Hang on, make that 19 seconds…..16 seconds….

April and May are a nervous time for fringe players of national squads. For while the Fabregas and Ronaldo’s of this world could, theoretically, sit back and cruise to an injury-free end of season, making sure they’re fleet of foot and firm of fetlock come Euro 2008 – there’s a whole heap of others, struggling to make the national squads – who need to get into the best form of their lives! After all, a coveted place in the team not only has the potential of heaping you in glory, praise and adoration from your fellow countrymen, but also (he added, more cynically) puts you up on a world stage in the spotlight of cheque book brandishing chairman, with their eyes on league prizes – and some serious cash to fling.

One such player – who’s coming to form at just the right time is the enigmatic Alessandro Del Piero, who just this weekend topped off a super performance with a hat-trick to give Juventus a 4-0 victory over Atalanta, and gave Roberto Donadoni quite the selection headache as he did so. For although the 33 year old has not played for Italy since September 2007 (against France in the qualifiers), the well liked Italian is doing all the right things to catch the eye of the Azzurri coach.

But to make the squad is one thing, the team another… And with the current world sporting champions sporting a two-pronged attack of Luca Toni and Antonio Di Natale (who both occupy a slot in the top 4 Euro 2008 strikers on the Castrol Performance Index) – he’s going to have to go some to get any time on the pitch… However, I’m reliably informed that he is featured in the Panini Euro 2008 sticker album, and for the good of the kids, he’s making the best of it – just take a look at this video!