A wrap of the European Season & the start of my World Cup Blog!

Another exciting European season is over & we are heading to the World Cup in less than two weeks!

As the above photos suggest I made the 18,000 km (36,000km all up) trip to Madrid from Sydney Australia & sadly witnessed my beloved Bayern Munich lose to the tactically superior Inter Milan in the final of the Champions League at the magnificent Santiago Bernabau Stadium.

Now to a review of my pre season predictions:

1. I correctly predicted Bayern, Barcelona & Inter Milan would win their domestic leagues & they all did


2. I also passionately blogged about Perez & his second coming in building a team of "Galacticos"! I predicted (and prayed) that his mega money would not (at least this year) win Real Madrid anything! With Mourinho joining Real, their fortunes might change, but for the sake of the game let's hope not!
   

Here's a link to my post about Perez & his spending spree @ Real Madrid in the pre season:

http://ricksamimi-football.blogspot.com/2009/10/sequal-galacticos-2-has-so-far-fared-no.html

3. Somewhat in a biased but nevertheless informed way, I tipped Bayern Munich as one of the dark horses of the Champions League....and they only came short at the last hurdle :(

4. I initially predicted a Liverpool-Chelsea-Man Utd-man City finish in the EPL, but later on blogged & suggested Ancelotti was going to win the Premiership with Chelsea. However, I totally miscalculated the demise of Liverpool & Tottenham gallantly pipped Manchester City to the post & won the crucial 4th place.

Here's a link to my post on Chelsea:

http://ricksamimi-football.blogspot.com/2009/12/ancelotti-is-proving-his-genius-stroke.html

I also predicted Hull, Burnley & Wolves as relegation candidates in the EPL. Two out of three! Wolves survived the drop, somewhat more comfortably than predicted.

However, my & I imagine many other pundits' most crucial tip was Barcelona winning the champions League. But like Chelsea before them & Bayern in the final, Messi & co found the well organised Inter Milan defence almost impenetrable & lost to Mourinho's side in the semi finals.

Now to the start of my World Cup blog: I will start by quickly look at the usual suspects:

I have already mentioned in one of my earlier posts that Germany will have a very difficult World Cup ahead of them, although Germany should never be underestimated (7 times finalists & 4 times semi finalists). Injuries to Ballack, Adler, Rolfe, Tresch & Loew's stubborn refusal to recall Frings & Kuranyi will make matters even more critical for the team. Nevertheless, as he mentioned himself, Loew & his team can learn from Bayern's achievements this year.

My prediction: Quarter Finals

Amongst the other big teams, England, Italy & Argentina seemingly have easier paths to the second round:

• Italy's team is however too old & Lippi's reliance on many of the fading stars will prove fatal. France on the other hand have lacked clear tactical directions under Domenech & owe their qualification to that dubious handball by Henry.

My prediction: Round of 16s for both team

• England on the other hand have flourished under Capello & as long as they sort out the following three major issues they will go a long way
  

a) Goal keeping issues. James is well past his best & Hart & Green are unproven at any level!

b) How to tactically accommodate both Lampard & Gerrard in midfield

c) Over reliance on injury hit Rooney! He can not emulate Maradonna winning the Cup for Argentina!

My prediction: Semi Final

• Argentina have massive technical ability & with Messi & others at least on paper have one of the top teams in this year's World Cup. However, Maradona is not the right tactical coach for such talented team & most likely will make naive mistakes as he did eg in the 1-6 drubbing by Bolivia in the qualifiers. However, Argentina will probably meet Germany in the QFs & go to the semi finals.

My prediction: semi final or final

• Spain & Brazil are my tip to reach the final. On paper they, alongside Argentina have the best squads in the tournament. On top of that both Spain (in particular) & Brazil (at times) are capable of playing attractive attacking football

My prediction: Spain vs Brazil final, Spain to win

My dark horses for the tournament: As per usual Germany, and yet again Holland. In Sneijder & Robben Holland possess two of the best "match winners" (alongside Messi of Argentina) in the world & if Holland manage to avoid the infighting they are notoriously well known for, they may at last lift the Cup!

I will be posting regular posts on my blog during the World Cup.

Champions League Final: Bayern Munich vs Inter Milan

It's down to the wire, and the final on may 22nd in Madrid will be between Bayern Munich & Inter Milan. Two old friends & master tacticians in their Barcelona days, Van Gaal & Mourinho have guided their respective teams through the tricky maze of the competition into the richest final in the world.

Those of you who from time to time read my blogs may remember that at the beginning of the season I nominated Barcelona as the best team in the world and my tip to successfully defend their European crown. Having declared my interest as a life long Bayern Munich supporter, I also cautiously labeled Bayern as one of the dark horses of this year's Champions League.

And my predictions nearly came true! Bayern admittedly rode their luck with brave away leg performances & wonderful away goals by Robben (amongst others) to the final. Van Gaal has slowly but surely blended the tough German mentality with the skillful Dutch/Barcelona style possession game into one of the best Bayern teams I can remember in my 35 odd years of being a die hard fan.

And as for Inter Milan, in Mourinho they undoubtedly have the most flamboyant, arrogant & polarising master tactician in the world of football today. His chess game got them past the might of Chelsea & Barcelona. And the quality of the players in their squad speaks for itself. Any team that manages to get through battles with Chelsea & Barcelona fully deserves its place in the final.

So for me, the final will be a match of Mourinho's tactics vs the Mini Me of Barcelona!

My heart says Bayern will win, my mind knows it will be tough on the night & 50:50........and my life & work schedule are doing everything it can to stop me from dashing off to Madrid for the final......................and in my dreams I am hoping to be there when Bayern lift the trophy!