Spanish La Liga vs German Bundesliga vs English Premier League in Champions League's new season

We are now at the half way point of the Group stage of the 2014-15 Champions League. There's no doubt four teams have stated their claims more than the other 28 so far:

Real Madrid & Barcelona from the Spanish La Liga
Bayern Munich from the German Bundesliga &
Chelsea from the English Premier League

Interestingly enough, these four teams are also the 4 winners of the last 4 seasons of the Champions League.

But as the only 3 leagues which enjoy up to 4 teams in the Champions League, let's see how the three respective leagues have performed at this half way point:

La Liga, represented by Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid & Athletic Bilbao:

7 wins 1 draw 4 losses 26 goals scored 13 goals conceded: 22 points

EPL represented by Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool & Arsenal:

5 wins 3 draw 4 losses 19 goals scored 14 goals conceded: 18 points

Bundesliga, represented by Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke & Leverkusen:

9 wins 2 draw 1 loss 28 goals scored 8 goals conceded: 29 points

It is interesting to note that Bundesliga teams, on the back of Germany's World Cup win, have had their best start to the European season in many years so far, notching 6 wins on Match Day 3 in Champions & Europa League.

The EPL teams on the other hand have had their worst start in recent memory, and the over all record would look much worse if it wasn't for both Arsenal & Liverpool winning in added time.

It will be interesting to see how this table will shape up at the end of the Group stage and by the end of the season.

Nevertheless, it is fast becoming clear that the top 4 winners of the last 4 seasons are creating a gap between themselves & the rest which include the likes of PSG, Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Juventus & Arsenal

European Football Season kicks off following a magnificent World Cup in Brazil

All major European Leagues will kick off this weekend & the draw for the Group stage of the Champions League (and Europa League) has also taken place.

The usual suspects will challenge for the major titles again although many World Cup starts will not be fully fit till mid September Champions League Group stage match day 1.

Once again, the EPL will receive most of the attention in the English speaking media. Manchester City & Chelsea are clear title favourites whilst Liverpool, Arsenal & spurs will be hoping for CL places. Louis Van Gaal will find the task of returning Manchester United back to the top more difficult than anticipated.

IN Spain, both Real Madrid & Barcelona have strengthened their already impressive squads & will once again battle with Atletico Madrid for the Top 3 honours. Although at least on paper, Real Madrid, with the addition of Tony Kroos & James Rodriquiz, and potentially Falcao, must be favourites to win both the La Liga & Champions League.

In Germany, Bayern & Dortmund will once again be title challengers, whilst in Italy Juventus will be chased by Roma, Napoli with Lazio, Inter, Milan & Fiorentina fighting for minor places & possibly a Champions League position.

The Champions League draw has been mostly kind to the top teams. Group E, with Bayern & Manchester City & Roma & the Russian Champions CSKA Moscow can be considered the so called Group of death.

Germany's impressive book of World Cup Records continues with their 4th win

Germany deservedly won their 4th title in the most thrilling World Cup of recent times. In a World cup which no team dominated, many matches produced excitement& goals, and knockout rounds were close, tense & at times tediously defensive, Germany stood out by defeating no fewer than Portugal & past winners France & Argentina as well as the favourites, the hosts Brazil.

In doing so, Germany controlled all of their 7 matches & only for a brief period vs Ghana looked vulnerable. And by beating the hosts Brazil in a thrilling 7-1 semi finals, Germany will ultimately be remembered as one of the most entertaining winners of all time.

But it is not just their 7-1 thrashing of Brazil which should remembered in this World Cup. Germany continued to set more records and/or improve on their already impressive World Cup standing during this, the 20th FIFA World Cup. Here are some of the records or significant facts about Germany following their win in Brazil 2014:

- Germany have appeared in a record 8 World Cup Finals, one more than Brazil & 2 more than Italy.

- They have reached a record 13 World Cup Semi Finals.

-  In those 13 semi finals, they have won the world Cup 4 times, finished second 4 times, third 4 times & fourth once (a record again)

- They have finished in Top 8 in 17 out of the 18 tournaments they have participated in.

- Germany have played a record 106 World Cup matches. Whilst Germany have participated in 18 of the 20 World Cups, this is 2 matches more than Brazil, despite the fact that Brazil have participated in all 20 World Cups.

- Germany are the all time highest scoring team in World Cup history. Following their victory in 2014, they have scored 224 World Cup goals. Brazil are second with 221 goals.

- Miroslav Klose, became the all time leading World Cup goalscorer in Brazil with 16 goals, and one of the only 3 players to have scored in 4 World Cups. He also became the first player to have played in 4 World Cup Semi Finals. He holds the record for most World Cup wins (17), most knockout phase matches played (14) & most World Cup medals (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze). Meanwhile Lotthar Matthaus, the 1990 World Cup winning Germany Captain holds the record for most World Cup matches played (25 in a joint record 5 World Cup tournaments)

- Germany are the only country to have won the FIFA World Cup Trophy 3 times (1974,1990, 2014), the trophy which replaced the original Jules Rimes Cup which Brazil won 3 times (and kept following their 3rd win 1970 World Cup)

- Since readmitted to FIFA following their ban from the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, Germany have participated in all 16 World Cup finals & have progressed to the 2nd round in all their 16 attempts (a record)

- Germany hold the record for the highest scoring Champions (25 goals in 1954) & joint record for highest goal difference achieved by a Championship winning team with Brazil (+14, 2014)

- Germany hold the record for Most Consecutive Top Scoring Team, having scored the most goals in 2006, 2010 & 2014 World Cup Finals.

- Fastest brace ever scored in World Cup history is 69 seconds when Germany's Tony Kroos scored twice in the 7-1 vs Brazil in 2014. The 7-1 incidentally is the highest all time semi final score.

- Germany's Franz Beckenbauer remains the only person who has won the World Cup both as a Captain (1974) & as a coach (1990), AND has lost World Cup finals both as a player (1966) and as a coach (1986)!

- No other coach has coached more games (25) & won more games (17) than Germany's 1970 World Cup winning coach Helmut Schon.

- Germany are the only team to have a 100% win record in their World Cup penalty shootouts! (4/4)

All in all, Germany are most notable & impressive tournament team of all time, considering their 6 European Championship final appearances on top of their 8 World Cup finals!

Germany vs Argentina: FIFA World Cup Final will be watched by an estimated 1 billion fans

Brazil 2014, arguably the most exciting World Cup in recent times, has reached its final stage.

Football, the beautiful game, the World Game, has its problems, players cheat to get penalties, the FIFA has corruption allegations hanging over its head & some games were tedious, tight  & defensive during the knockout stage, and then there is the highly emotionally charged & yet unsatisfactory penalty shoot out lottery............

Despite all of that, the Beautiful Game unarguably continues to maintain its at times hard to understand universal MAGICAL attraction. The worldwide appeal of football is simply unmatched by any other sport, team or individual.

Football is played, loved or followed regularly by an estimated 4-5 billion people around the world. It generates revenues unimagined or unheard of in most other sports, and even beats the Olympics in the cumulative TV audience as the most successful single event in the world.

........so when two nations play the WC Final, as Argentina vs Germany will do tomorrow morning at 5am EST, an estimated ONE BILLION people around the world will be watching and another few hundred million will watch the replay and/or highlights later on!

The sponsorship money is staggering & the total revenue generated from the tournament will be in excess of $2bUS.
FIFA will pay each of the Football Federations of the unsuccessful teams in the group stage will each receive $9mUS each & the winning finalist's Federation will receive $37m....despite corruptions & disputes, most of this money goes to players & grassroots development of the game amongst mostly disadvantaged kids in many poor areas of towns & cities around the world........so FIFA World Cup as a phenomenon has a global effect like no other....in its reach, in its cultural diversity & in its positive unifying influence.

Scolari & Van Gaal main failure was to abandon their teams' core tactical values.

The Brazil FIFA World Cup 2014 will be the battle of South America vs Europe for world supremacy, but the teams are not what most experts predicted as the World Champions Spain & hosts Brazil failed to reach the final.

Brazil 2014 has produced one of the closest & most exciting World Cups of all time. Nevertheless, most of the knockout stage battles have been very tight & the tournament has produced a not all too impressive SEVEN penalty shootouts (most since 8 in 1990) & the first ever 0-0 semi final in the World Cup history.

At the same time, we have witnessed defending World Champions Spain losing 5-1 in their opening match, Germany handing over Brazil their heaviest defeat in World Cup by beating them 7-1 in a record semi final score with German striker scoring his record breaking 16th World Cup goal in the match, and both Germany & Brazil surpassing 100 World Cup matches.

Undoubtedly Brazil 2014 will forever be remembered for Brazil's total capitulation in their humiliating 7-1 defeat to Germany. Brazilians had carried the pain of the 2-1 defeat in the World Cup in 1950 for 64 years. Brazil 2014 was meant to wipe that painful memory but instead has replaced it with the 7-1 humiliation at the hands of Germany.

And whilst many expert commentators have analysed both semifinals, one simple fact is clear: Both Van Gaal & Scolari failed to reach the final because they abandoned their teams' core strengths. 

In case of Brazil, hometown advantage turned to intense pressure & panic for the players. But that was not the only reason Brazil collapsed. Nether was it the absence of Neymar & even Thiago Silva. The fact is Brazil are back to their ugly playing days of World Cup 1994 when they won the final in a penalty shoot out after a drab 0-0 vs Italy. Jogo Bonito or the Beautiful Game has been dead under Dunga & now Scolari & the team lacks true leadership. Following Germany's first goal in the 10th minute, David Luiz, who as it turned out was clearly a poor choice as the Captain, & the rest of the team started playing as if they had 5 minutes left to equalise! They abandoned all discipline & all systems! Germany, who like Spain & Italy, are renowned for following core systems in their style of play, clearly saw the chaotic defence & lack of visionary leadership as a great opportunity & took full advantage scoring 4 goals in 6 minutes to finish the first half at 5-0! By the middle of second half it almost looked as if the Germans were too embarrassed for Brazil to try to score in case they hit double figures!

I said in a post before the World Cup that in my opinion the weakest link for Brazil was Scolari's lack of true genius tactical ability (as proven by Portugal's home defeat in final of Euro 2004 to Greece). As it turned out, Scolari once again froze & was unable to alter the course of the the reckless brain freeze by David Luiz, Marcello, Fernandinho & co! Brazil must now regroup & go back to rebuilding with players who can deliver on the Brazilian footballing culture by 2018 & not the disappointing rubbish we have witnessed from Scolari's team.

But as much as Scolari is a nice father figure & not a tactical genius, Luis Van Gaal is the exact opposite! The truth is Van Gaal in fact overachieved with this otherwise young inexperienced Holland team with a clear lack of world class talent (at this stage of its development) save RVP, Robben & Sneijder. The 5-1 opening thrashing of a totally out of sorts belied the difficulties in beating a brave Australia 3-2, and the 2-0 win vs Chile scarcely hid the major short comings of this developing team in subsequent poor display: 2-1 win vs Mexico with a 88th minute lifesaver & a questionable 93rd minute penalty, and two subsequent 0-0 penalty shootouts. Van Gaal however has a lot to answer for & must take the lion share of the blame here because he should have taken both games to Costa Rica & Argentina & could have potentially won bot. Instead he resorted to super cautious defensive tactics, rough physical ploys & man marking Messi, none of which are true to Holland's core style & footballing culture.

Germany vs Argentina:

Argentina have generally displayed a very solid defensive style (except in the 3-2 wobble vs Nigeria)
& have had 4 clean sheets in 6 matches, although in those 4 matches they have scored a miserly 3 goals.

With Di Maria still doubtful & Aguero not fully fit, and most worrying Messi looking injured or not fully fit in the semi finals, Argentina will not be able to trouble a disciplined & highly confident German side. Germans are familiar with Argentinian defensive weaknesses, which arguably no team (except Nigeria) has so far managed to expose. But at the same time, it is clear that without Messi at the top of his game, Argentina can not score easily.

Germany on the other hand, need Hummels to be fully fit & Lahm to stay as right back if they are to avoid a narrow 1-0 loss to Argentina. Argentina will try to attack Howedes on the left hand side but the great defensive wall of Schweinsteiger & Khedira should be able to deal with Argentina whilst if Kroos & Muller replicate their semi final form they will cause Argentine's defense plenty of problems.

Most commentators are predicting a very tight match due to Argentine's record at this World Cup. I tend to be more encouraged by Germany's record & predict a win by a 2 goal margin by Germany.

And then there were Four: Brazil 2014 semi finals: Clash of Football Titans!

And then there were four! 

The semi final pairings have been decided. Following 4 tight quarter finals & a penalty shoot out elimination of the gallant romantic minnows Costa Rica, the final four are footballing World Cup royalties.

When the World Cup draw was made, a quick calculation suggested a classic semi final draw of past winners Brazil vs Germany & Argentina vs Spain.

And despite Brazil 2014 producing many exhilarating displays, goals, attacking football, surprising results & excitement in the likes of Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Belgium & Algeria, the semi finals pairings are close to classic predictions.

The only difference was Netherlands thrashed World Champions Spain 5-1 in the group stage to revenge the World Cup 2010 Final defeat. The four finalists have appeared in a total of 21 finals between them. They have won a total of 12 World Cups between them with only Holland having lost in all their previous 3 final appearances.

However, in true form of Brazil 2014, none of the four teams have been fully dominant on their way to the semi finals & all have shown frailties.

Brazil vs Germany:

Alongside Italy, Germany & Brazil are statistically the two most successful nations in the World Cup history. Amazingly however, these two giants of the game have only previously met once before in the World Cup: The Final of the 2002 World Cup when Big Phil & Ronaldo led Brazil to a 2-0 World Cup victory.

Brazil & Germany are the only two nations that have played more than 100 world Cup matches(following Brazil 2014). each have reached the final 7 times up to now & have won the World Cup 8 times between them (Brazil 5 times, Germany 3).

This semi final has all the ingredients to be a classic: Home page advantage for Brazil, absence of star Neymar, Germany's class of 2006 & 2010 semi finalists finally coming of age in only the second ever meeting between the two.

Brazil will have a huge a home hometown advantage in their semi final clash with Germany. 

They were once again ineffective up front against Colombia & without Neymar & their Captain Thiago Silva to lead from the back they will have to regroup. However, in Bayern Munchen's defender Dante they have a ready made replacement for Thiago, whilst Bernard & Willian can step up in place of Neymar & give Oscar a more creative role. Brazil will also have Luiz Gustavo back to sure up their defensive midfield.

Germany on the other hand produced something unique vs France, a first ever in the Loew: A missing ingredient in their impressive & yet ultimately unsuccessful semi final/final appearances in the last 4 major tournaments: (Last two World Cup semi finalists, and Euro 2008 finalists & Euro 2012 semi finalists):

They stopped playing the attractive & yet at times easy to break down football introduced by Klinsman/Loew since 2006 & instead for the first time in Loew's years displayed the tough classic match winning German mentality that this undoubtedly talented group of players have been accused of failing to produce at crucial times in the past.

Loew finally reverted back to their trusted 4-2-3-1 formation against a fast & attack minded France, with Lahm at his best in the right back position & Schweinsteiger/Khedira defensive pairing produced the classic non spectacular yet steely German display which had so often won Germany titles in the past. The pairing of Boeteng & Hummels in central midfield also paid off handsomely as the faster Boeteng replaced the slow to turn Mertesacker & backed the more attack minded (Man of the Match) Hummels.

If Neymar's absence does not tempt Loew to revert Lahm back to a midfield position, and the newly found steely German mentality continues to be present, Germany can & will beat Brazil without their key man Neymar.

Argentina vs Holland:

Many sycophant commentators have tried & tried to justify Argentina's semi final presence in the World Cup. But despite Messi's undoubted great work to take Argentina this far, they are the least deserving team amongst the 4 semi finalists. To design an entire team to feed to Messi, and in the process stifle the brilliant talents of the likes of Di Maria is simply an act of desperation which has produced less than scintillating displays & at times less than exciting matches. nevertheless, Argentina remain a threat because of the one & only Messi.

Netherlands on the other hand have also been a pragmatic team under Van Gaal. Whilst they have a much less impressive fool of talent at their disposal in Brazil, they have been a free scoring team (at least until they met Costa Rica). Holland are the first team with a truly tactically gifted coach facing Argentina in this World Cup & are more than capable of beating Argentina for their 4th World Cup final appearance (and to revenge the 1978 final loss to Argentina!)

And 40 years later, history may repeat one of the greatest & most talked about World Cup finals of all time: The rematch of the 1974 Final between Germany vs Holland ....and at last a European team will claim the World Cup in South America!

Quater Final Time & still hard to predict any results in the World Cup

Following an exciting Group stage, the 8 round of 16 matches have now been completed & the quarter final pairings determined......and yet, it is still difficult to confidently predict the outcome of the quarter finals.
In an amazing round of 16:
- ALL 8 Group winners won their matches through to the quarter finals
- 5 out of 8 matches went to extra time, with only two penalty shootouts out of the 6 & the rest of the results determined in extra time.
- Only Colombia won comfortably in regulation time whilst Netherlands only scored an equaliser in the 88th minute & won their match vs Mexico with a questionable penalty in the 92nd minute & France struggled to score until 77th minute.
- Hosts Brazil struggled & were ultimately lucky to win their penalty shootout vs one of the 3 dark horses of the tournament Chile
- Netherlands, Germany, France & Argentina all struggled to beat their opponents whilst Costa Rica continued their impressive fairytale march to the quarter finals on penalties.
Colombia led by James Rodriguez comfortably continued to enjoy their pre tournament Dark Horse tag whilst Belgium found Tim Howard in the USA goals in impressive form & the USA players' courage & fitness almost impossible to stop at the end. Algeria meanwhile displayed fast attractive counter attacking football & were unlucky to fall to the formidable albeit somewhat puzzlingly fragile Germans

And hence, both commentators & fans are none the wiser as all teams displayed frailties in some areas & impressed in others:

There are however several observations that can be made following the round of 16 matches:

- First & fore mostly, as a friend pointed out to me, it is almost ridiculous for Les Murray & Craig Foster to fool heartedly praise the Socceroos after three defeats & constantly praise the South American style of the likes of Chile as a role model Australia should aspire to.

Australian players are generally less tactically gifted & as sporting culture in Australia dictates (as opposed to the football culture of South America), our players are more physical than tactically gifted. Therefore, FFA & the likes of Craig Foster should look to what Klinsman has done with the USA team. That is what the Socceroos should aspire to, and we can achieve, a highly competitive, physically fit team with a mix of tactical & technical capability.

- Brazil are almost impotent upfront with Fred & Jo & rely too much on Neymar for goals (as do Argentina with Messi). I mentioned in my pre World Cup post, I am not a fan of Big Phil Scolari & think he can be tactically naive at times. He is not using Oscar very well & there's too much gap between Oscar & Neymar. But most crucially, as the players broke down following their penalty shoot out win vs Chile, it is quite clear that the weight of hometown expectation is bearing heavily on the players. Most crucially, Luiz Gustavo, the ever present holding midfielder is suspended following a 2nd yellow card. With David Luiz as the only natural replacement in that position, Big Phil will have a major headache to deal with, one that Colombia look towards exploiting.

- This pressure represents the perfect scenario for Colombia, arguably the only consistent team in the tournament so far. James Rodriguez and co are capable of crossing the cultural barriers that rule the status quo in South American football (having only ever beaten Brazil twice).

I tip Colombia to beat Brazil 2-1.

France have no doubt been the other surprising team besides Colombia. I predicted in a post that they were a quarter final side & that is where the tournament will end for them as they fall to Germany again. As Oliver Kahn said today, if Germany cut the supply from midfield to Benzema, France are almost void of a Plan B to compensate for that. On another point, like Argentina, France have so far had a relatively easy route & will face their first serious challenge in Germany.

Germany on the other hand, have shown frailties in the defence with 4 fullbacks filling the positions whilst the best right back in the world, their Captain Philip Lahm is deployed as a holding midfielder! Germany coach seems hell bent in again using Lahm in midfield vs France even though against Algeria, once the hapless Mustafi was injured & Khedira replaced him (in Lahm's position & Lahm moved to right back in place of Mustafi). Much has been said about the slow turning Mertesacker but when paired with Hummels, Germany defence should cope with the impressive French attack.

This match will have goals & Germany will win by 1-2 goal margin

The other half of the draw sees Netherlands bring Costa Rica's gallant & at times entertaining journey to a credible end. Holland will not underestimate Costa Rica like Italy, Uruguay, England & Greece did & their 3-5-2 formation will cause Costa Rica & their brilliant goalkeeper Navas plenty of headaches. Holland will win a fast entertaining encounter.

And finally to Argentina & Belgium. Both teams have at times struggled & Argentina in particular have found it hard to breakdown teams defending with 11 men to neutralise Messi. Like France, both teams are also reached the quarter finals through a relatively easier schedule than the likes of Brazil, Germany & Netherlands. Many commentators suggest Argentina will show their real quality against a more attack minded Belgium than their previous more defensive opponents.
The surprise package may be Aguero. If he's finally fit to compliment Messi the way Higuain never can, then Argentina will win. If Aguero remains sidelined, Belgium have enough quality across the field to beat Argentina unless Messi magic strikes again!

This has been a high scoring exciting World Cup & the quarter final pairings will continue to make it one of teh best ever!

Exciting Brazil 2014 World Cup reaches the knockout stage

The FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil has so far got it all!

Attacking football with 36 more goals compared to group stage in South Africa 2010, passionate fans in the Mecca of football Brazil, unpredictability & controversy, and relatively few faking moments!

Goals in the group stages since a 32-team format was introduced
France 1998	Japan and South Korea 2002	Germany 2006	South Africa 2010	Brazil 2014
126	130	117	100	136

And this is all happening despite the tarnished image of FIFA & its slippery President Sepp Blatter, Luis Suarez's ever baffling behaviour & biting controversy, Nigeria & Ghana player payment issues and in Australia's case, less than exciting exclusive SBS coverage!

Whilst as usual, I have been tragically watching most matches live, due to work commitments I have not managed to blog as regularly as I would have liked to. Brazil 2014 has been one of the most exciting in recent memory & here are some of the more notable incidents of the group stage:

• In my opinion, the demise of Spain as a footballing force & the possession based tiki taka are both greatly exaggerated. No doubt del Bosque certainly made sentimental as well as tactical errors by taking his ageing team of champion players to the tournament. However, Spanish football has many young & upcoming stars who are more than capable of stepping up to the difficult task of replacing the likes of Xavi, Inesta, Caillas, Villa, Torres & a few other fading stars. Spain must remain loyal to tiki taka & simply refine the system based on a refreshed squad.

• Biggest flop of the World Cup is a coach! Lack of media focus on the failure of World Cup 2018 hosts Russia &  their pompous, arrogant, overpaid & overrated coach Fabio Capello has been also surprising! Capello failed with England in 2010 & blamed the players. Now he's utterly failed to lift Russia. At reportedly £10m p/a, comparing his results with the likes of Pinto of Costa Rica, Herrera of Mexico & Algeria's Halilhodzic who successfully eliminated Capello's Russia makes great reading & almost a story of a conman who has convinced his employers to part with 10s of millions of pounds for very little return.

• Whilst Russia have been simply awful, Ronaldo & Portugal were embarrassingly out of sorts. Reports of Ronaldo being dismissive of his teammates' capability are typical of self obsessed Ronaldo. Let's make it perfectly clear: Ronaldo's total failure to make any memorable mark on the World stage at any World Cup simply rules him out as one of the all time greatest of the game!  

• Italy on the other hand started well but faded too quickly & paid the price for abandoning their system whilst England, can take very little comfort despite relatively adventurous outings considering their worst ever World Cup result! (in 1958, they finished 3rd in their group, this time around, they finished last!).

• Messi & his adorable fans....Ooops!....I mean Messi & his adoring fans! on other hand must be very encouraged about his "Maradona" like singlehanded leadership of fast improving Argentina. Unlike Ronaldo, the humble Messi has simply compensated for his team's shortcomings but almost single handedly winning all three group matches for Argentina. Those of us who have watched many World Cups know how slow starting teams like Italy & Germany have in the past gone all the way. Argentina led by the incomparable Messi is a real threat to do the same as long as it continues to improve as a team.

• Asia & to a lesser extent Africa have been very poor at this World Cup. Slippery FIFA President may pride himself at nurturing third world footballing nations under his watch, yet the performances suggest otherwise & it appears the beautiful game is regressing in Asia & Africa. Asian teams between the four of them failed to win a single match, drew three (two at 0-0) &  lost nine whilst Africa were saved blushes by the unexpected qualification of a gallant Algeria at the expense of a hapless Russia. Nigeria only qualified after they were helped by refereeing errors.
• Colombia have fully earned their Dark Horse tag & Chile, Algeria & Mexico deserve commendation for their adventurous & daring displays.

• However, Costa Rica's achievement in topping the so called Group of  Death & in doing so eliminating Italy & England must go down as one of the greatest shocks in World Cup history.  Their achievement ranks alongside North Korea's 1-0 defeat of Italy in 1966, Algeria's shock defeat of Germany in 1982, Cameroon's 1986 magic & South Korea & Turkey's semi final appearance in 2002.

• Last but not least, Germany have performed as expected, with the minor hiccup vs Ghana whilst Holland & France have been much more impressive & entertaining than expected

• Finally, to get the white elephant out of the room, SBS coverage of the World Cup has been probably its least dynamic since 1990. SBS in my view, his its peak in 2006 with Simon Hill commentary of the Socceroos match. The football department has never recovered following the departure of Simon Hill & Andrew Orsatti. Whilst SBS are for the first time showing all 64 matches live (thanks to SBS2), the "Full Brazilian" is humourless & the nightly commentary from Rio is at best lacklustre. Les Murray & Craig Foster come across as timid & boring with their unwillingness to critically analyse the shortcomings of their personal favourites, ie the likes of Brazil & Spain. Foster's tactical knowledge aside, he was a poor co-commentator to David Bashir during Socceroos 3 matches. To make matters more obvious, FoxSports & even  ESPN's daily shows have been more entertaining & proving. 

The lethargy is all happening during Brazil 2014, at a time when SBS's exclusive coverage of FIFA World Cup (since 1990) will come to an end & Les Murray has announced his semi retirement. 

It might come as a shock to Les Murray, but he doesn't own football in Australia and whilst fans of the beautiful game appreciate his years of tireless work to promote football, the game itself does not owe Les Murray any favours either.......the timing of Les Murray's retirement is right, and Craig Foster is not the automatic choice to take over because there is no mantle left by Les Murray!

Excessive TV money in the EPL responsible for almost embarrassing results for England in recent World Cups

Brazil 2014 marked the worst ever result for England. The Three Lions finished bottom of their group, having lost to Italy & Uruguay & failed to beat the already group topping Costa Rica, in the of death.

Whilst the likes of Sterling, Barkley, Shaw & Lalana may be considered as a  glimmer of hope & Roy Hodgson's side were more entertaining than the overpaid Fabio Capello & his excuses after South Africa 2010, England can take little comfort from Brazil 2014.

England finished the group stage last in their group with a solitary point against the already qualified Costa Rica & without a win & only 2 goals in three games. This result surpassed their worst ever group stage performance in 1958 when they finished 3rd with 3 draws  & scored 4 goals.

The chronic plight of England at World Cup & in particular their poor results in Brazil 2014 is mainly due to excessive amount of TV & marketing money the EPL is immersed in! 

Promotion to, or survival in Premier League is worth around £100m a season to clubs. These unbelievable sums are mainly generated from TV revenues.

EPL player wages are in excess of £2b a year.

The need & almost desperation for revenue makes it absolutely essential that the media hype about EPL as the greatest league in the world is relentless & ongoing. This artificial hype results in two distinct problems:

1) Giving young homegrown talent a chance to learn, develop, adapt & shine is risky & almost out of question in case the strategy backfires & results in relegation & massive loss of TV revenue (reduced to 50% in the first year of relegation & then more & more after that), and

2) The media hype deceives the fans & players alike, who seem to fall for the artificial accolades & forget that it is the foreign imports & not English talent that gives the EPL its so called excitability.

The statistics are astonishing: According to a BBC report:

In Spain's La Liga: 57% of playing time in 2012-13 season was played by Spanish players.

In Germany's Bundesliga in the corresponding season the figure was 51%

In the EPL, the figure for English born players was a mere 33% in that season.

Yes, Spain was also eliminated but after having won Euro 2008, World Cup 2012 & Euro 2012, and with 2 Clubs in the final of 2014 Champions League!

Yes, Germany's last major win was Euro 1996. But German have been in the semi finals of WC 2006, Euro 2008, WC 2010 & Euro 2012 and can boast the all concurring Bayern Munich of 2013.

Both countries have meanwhile developed the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Casillas, Villa, Lahm, Muller, Schweinsteiger, Ozil, Gotze by simply taking a chance on them from a young age!

England on the other hand, are ruined by the lure of the EPL money & remain head in the sand thanks to the EPL self grandiose!

World Cup of surprises continues to produce exciting matches

When the draw for Brazil 2014 World Cup was made, as usual there were predictions of favourites, groups of deaths, dark horses & no hopers by fans & commentators around the world.

Brazil 2014 has so far turned out to be one of the most exciting in recent memory as match after match  predictions are proven wrong!

Defending Champions Spain, the favourites alongside hosts Brazil were one of the first teams to be eliminated after only 2 matches whilst Brazil were lucky to win their opening game vs Croatia & struggled vs a resolute Mexico & unless they beat Cameroon they may not  of top the group.

Meanwhile, Costa Rica, the so called no hopers in the group D, the group of death, have beaten both England & Italy & in the process made sure England were eliminated!

At the same time Iran made Argentina struggle & only win thanks to a 92nd wonder goal by Messi. The result should read Messi 1 Iran 0. Australia's Socceroos also gave Holland a mighty scare before succumbing to a 3-2 loss whilst Ghana produced one of the performances of the tournament to hold Germany to a 2-2 draw.

France & Holland on the other hand have impressed with their fluid football whilst undoubtedly Spain, England, Portugal & Russia have been disappointing.

Spain have been found out by fast counter attacking sides. Following the lack of success by Bayern & Barcelona in the Champions League, Spain's failure will further question "Tiki Taka" as an effective system & some commentators are already predicting its total demise.

Amongst the three main picks as the so called dark horses, Chile & Colombia have reaffirmed the tag whilst Belgium look less capable of going far in the tournament.

Here are my prediction for the round of 16th encounters:

Brazil vs Chile
Columbia vs Italy

Croatia vs Holland
Costa Rica vs Ivory Coast

France vs Iran 
Germany vs algeria

Argentina vs switzerland
Belgium vs USA

The early departure of Spain, Uruguay (or Italy) , Portugal & England means there is a chance that the first half of the quarter final draw will pair 4 former World Cup winners like this:

Brazil vs Italy
France vs Germany

And the bottom quarter final pairs could be:

Holland vs Costa Rica
Argentina vs Belgium

The beautiful game thrives as the World Cup 2014 starts despite Sepp Blatter & FIFA's cover up of rampant corruption

Sepp Blatter is not listening. In fact he doesn't even care! Despite reassuring the world over in 2010 that he would not stand for FIFA Presidency in 2014, he has just announced he's standing for another term.

FIFA & Blater are tarnished by allowing system corruption by the likes of Bin Hamman & Jack Warner. Blatter's position is untenable. Yet, he is teflon like. Whilst there's no evidence or suggestion that Blatter himself has ever accepted any bribes, the fact that corruption has been systematic under his watchful eyes does not seem to bother him the slightest bit!

Last Week Tonight's John Oliver summed up the situation the best (copy the link & watch the hilarious post on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlJEt2KU33I

However, the beautiful game will have its showpiece, The FIFA World Cup, at its spiritual Brazil from tomorrow........and an accumulated worldwide audience of close to 30 billion, will make it the most watched event in the world's history, and pour close to $3 billion to FIFA's coffers.

World Cup update: Marco Reus injury blow for Germany: Yet another World Cup marred by player injuries & fatigue?

French superstar Frank Ribery, and German star Marco Reus are the latest key players to join the growing list of big names missing from the World Cup 2014 due to injury.

Like South Africa 2010, the list of injured big name players is growing by the day. Russian Captain Shirokov, Reus & Ribery are the latest names to join the growing list which already included the likes of Falcao (Colombia) Montolivo (Italy) Walcott (England) Gundogan, Bender (both brothers) & Gomez (Germany), Montes (Mexico), Holland's Strootman &  Van der Vaart &  Thiago Alcantara (Spain).

On top of that many European based players, are struggling to shake off niggling injuries after yet another big European season.

Whilst Marco Reus got injured this morning in a warm up match vs Armenia, the intensely competitive & crowded European calendar is directly responsible for the likes of Diego Costa, Ronaldo, Germany's Schweinsteiger, Lahm & Neuer who re all struggling with injury & fatigue & racing against time to be fully fit for the World Cup.

This is a shame for both fans & teams' prospects as world class players fail to appear in the game's international showcase.

Marco Reus's injury is a huge blow to Germany's prospects in Brazil. The German coach Low, has chosen only one out & out striker in final 23 & instead relies on the likes of Reus to provide the creativity & goals. Germany were hit with the injury of their Captain & playmaker Michael Ballack (in FA Cup final) just before the 2010 World Cup & missed his presence in the tight semi final vs Spain in 2010. Whilst Reus may not be of the same stature & influence, I have no doubt Germany will miss his goalscoring talents & his injury is a massive blow to the team's confidence.

Low however, in a show of defiance has called up inexperienced defender Mustafi to replace Reus therefore suggesting that he believes the likes of Muller, Ozil, Podolski, Goetze, Draxler, Schurlle & Schweinsteger are more than capable of doing the job for him. At least on paper, he may be right!

Germany coach Loew heads to the World Cup with only a single out & out striker, the 36 year old Klose

Those of us who follow football closely, are familiar with the recent tactical prominence of the so called "false 9" made fashionable by the successful coaches such as del Bosque & Guardiola in tactically brilliant & attractive to watch team such as Spain, Barcelona & Bayern Munich, and prominent players such as Totti, Messi, Rooney & Muller.

The basis of the strategy is to play the game without an out & out recognised striker (who used to wear the no 9 shirt in the old days) & instead to use a speedy goal scoring utility midfielder/striker to move around. This causes confusion amongst the two centre backs who do not have a recognised attacker to mark.

Now Germany's coach, Jogi Loew is the latest coach intending on using this system. This is the best way to list the final 23 man "Nationalmannschaft" squad for Brazil 2014:

Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96)

Defenders: Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Erik Durm (Borussia Dortmund), Kevin Grosskreutz (Borussia Dortmund), Benedikt Howedes (Schalke), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Philip Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal)

Midfielders: Julian Draxler (Schalke), Matthias Ginter (Freiburg), Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Christoph Kramer (Borussida Mönchengladbach), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Lukas Podolski (Arsenal), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund), Andre Schurrle (Chelsea), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)

Forward: Miroslav Klose (Lazio)

Following multiple injuries to Mario Gomez and snubbing Stefan Kiessling of Leverkusen, Loew has decided to take the 36 year old World Cup veteran Miroslav Klose to the World Cup as his one & only recognised forward.
Instead, Loew will be relying on the speed, tactical flexibility and goal scoring abilities of Muller, Reus, Goetze & Podolski as his potential "false 9".

It must be pointed out that Klose is not just any striker:
This is his 4th World Cup
He scored 5 goals in 2002, 5 in 2006 & 4 in 2010.
He's therefore currently ranked as equal 2nd highest goal scorer in World Cup history with 14 goals & only needs 2 more goals to become the all time highest goals scorer (at the moment Ronaldo of Brazil with 15 goals holds that title)
He will also need a single goal to break Gerd Muller's legendary 68 goals & become Germany's all time highest goal scorer

BUT, Klose is 36, has suffered from niggling injuries all season at Lazio in Serie A, AND
may struggle to last the full 90 minutes in the climatic conditions of South America

So, whilst all the media attention was on goalkeeper Neuer's injury, Germany's defensive frailties & holding midfield injuries that ruled out Lars Bender & Gundegan & has restricted Schweinsteiger & Khedira, Jogi Loew sprung the biggest surprise when announcing his final 23, by including Klose as his only recognised striker.

Obviously, results will judge this major decision in the next few weeks! But at least on paper, Reus, Muller, Gotze & Podolski have the speed, tactical ability & firepower to beat any defence on their day. 

I still tip Germany to go all the way if they manage to beat Brazil in the semi finals & desperately hope Klose breaks the all time goal scoring record at the World Cup

World Cup Update: Astonishing pool of talent means many stars are overlooked in Spain's final 23 man squad!

Following consecutive victories in Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 & Euro 2012, many commentators are suggesting if Spain manage to become the first European team to successfully defend their title (since Italy in 1938) & win the World Cup in South America, they will probably go down as the best football team of all time surpassing the golden generation of Brazil from 1958 to 1970.

And whilst the affable Vicente del Bosque is at pains to reduce the pressure on his squad by avoiding any such speculation, he does have an enviable task with the seemingly never-ending talent pool at his disposal!

Spain's final 23 man squad was announced as follows:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Napoli), David De Gea (Manchester United).

Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Raul Albiol (Napoli), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea), Juanfran (Atletico Madrid), Jordi Alba (Barcelona).

Midfielders: Xavi (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich).

Forwards: David Silva (Manchester City), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid), Fernando Torres (Chelsea), Pedro (Barcelona), Juan Mata (Manchester United), David Villa (Atletico Madrid)

What is astonishing in this list is the number of starts who missed out on the final 23 due to injuries, not enough playing time or for tactical reasons, just to name a few ( and the clubs they play for)

Isco, Carvajal, Illaramendi & Arveloa (Real Madrid), Negrado & Navas (Manchester City) Llorente (Juventus) Thiago Alcantara (injured, Bayern Munich), Valdez (injured, Barcelona) & Soldado (Spurs)

With the unbelievable talent at his disposal, del Bosque is under pressure to repeat the success of the 2010 World Cup. The only concern is he has decided to stick with Torres & Villa based on their successful international track record for Spain rather than last season's form, and the fact that he has gambled on the fitness of Diego Costa, who lasted a mere 9 minutes in the Champions League final before he had to be substituted. So, if Villa & Torres misfire as they frequently have at club level, & Costa's fitness plays up, del Bosque & Spain may be in trouble for ignoring the likes of Llorente & Negrado.

Brazil are the overwhelming favourites to win the World Cup on home soil.

No matter which way you look at it, Brazil are the overwhelming favourites to win the World Cup for a record sixth time.

They have the talented world class players, tactical quality & the added advantage of home soil in "South America" where no European team has ever succeeded.

As my regular World Cup posts kick in from this week, here I will make some personal observations (rather than tactical) about some of the favourites & dark horses & what can potentially make or break it for them:

Brazil can & will most probably win the World Cup. In the Confederation Cup final, they comfortably beat the defending World & European Champions, potentially their strongest opponent, 3-0.

However, the high expectations as well as home crowd pressures can play against them. The ghost of the defeat in the 1950 tournament in home soil & the widespread discontent with the costs associated with staging the games mean the slightest hick up can turn things against Brazil, both psychologically & in terms of home crowd support.
However, in my personal opinion, Brazil's biggest worry is in fact their coach Scolari. Unlike most fans, I am not a big fan of "Big Phil" & believe if Brazil get in trouble, he may not have the tactical ingenuity to save them. 

Spain, the defending Champions, also have the players, the tactical ability and a brilliant coach in Del Bosue. The fact that they will not meet Brazil unless both teams reach the final is another advantage for them. The only thing against Spain is that their style of play is no longer an unknown factor (as demonstrated by their loss to Brazil, and Barcelona's decline in the last two European season). Also, there are lingering doubts in the quality of Spain's defence & who Del Bosque decides to use as central defenders & full backs.

However, a Brazil vs Spain Final is a the most probable outcome.

Germany are in one of the two very tough groups in the tournament & must be very careful not to get embarrassed at this World Cup by any of their more than capable opponents in the group stage.

They do have an enviable World Cup record to defend after all! They have reached the last 8 in every one of the last 15 World Cups, whilst making it to semi finals in 12 occasions & the final 7 times. However, the psychological barriers are disturbing! Germany lost their semi final matches to the eventual winners Italy & Spain in the last two World Cups in 2006 & 20010 respectively. They also lost out to Spain in the final of Euro 2008 & Italy in the semi final of Euro 2012.
The advantage for Germany is that the core of the players in those tournaments are at their prime in the current side & their experience may take Germany all the way.

Like Spain & Brazil, Germany have both the player quality & tactical capability to win the tournament. However, not only absence due to injuries of the likes of Gomez & Gundegan (and even Scheweinsteiger & Khedira's lack of fitness) will potentially play havoc to Germany's tactical plans, but also, Germany will probably meet Brazil in the semi finals where their suspect central defence and lack of a world class quality left full back can catch up with them & be their undoing. However, if they get through the current psychological barrier of being tagged as losing semifinalists, this time Germany win through to the final, I strongly believe they will win the Cup.

Argentina can only seriously challenge if they have learned from the lessons of World Cup 2010, where despite being entertaining, they relied too heavily on an underwhelming Messi & had major defensive shortcomings which were exploited in the 4-0 thrashing by Germany in the quarter finals. They are tactically better post manic Maradona period & will go a long way if Messi can reproduce his Barcelona magic. However, they cannot succeed if they try to use Messi for Plan B if things go wrong.

Italy, in my opinion, will go far in this year's tournament. Italy were thrashed in the Euro 2012 Final by Spain following their surprise 2-1 semi final win vs Germany in Euro 2012. Following that loss, they have been continuously overlooked by the media as a major contender. Since then however, Prandelli has done a magnificent job of refining the team tactically. They have massive World Cup winning (2006) experience in defence supporting the evergreen Buffon in goal, whilst another evergreen master, Pirlo, is still at the top of his game & can dictate & turn most sticky situations t Italy's favour.This year however, Italy also have a very potent attacking line up in the unpredictable Balotelli but also the likes of hugely dangerous & talented Immobile, Cerci & Insigne. This is why they must be considered one of the favourites.

England & Holland on the other hand, in my opinions will potentially fail to get past the group stage.

Holland are a very inexperienced albeit talented side which as entertaining as they may be, simply do not have the player experience at this level & are in danger of losing their spot to an impressive & dangerous Chile who will undoubtedly cause a headache or two for Spain as well. Whilst Van Gaal is a master of getting the best out of young talent, the experienced players in his squad who are on top of their game are only a handful. With the news this week of Van der Vaart injury blow Holland's prospects have got even worse. Even if Holland make it out of the group stage, they will most probably face Brazil, and unlike 2010 when they beat Brazil, this Holland team is not experienced enough to cause a huge upset this time around against the tournament favourites.

England have also finally started to produce some real quality young talent again. The likes of Shaw, Barcley, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wilshere, Sturridge have the potential to shine at the world stage this year & make an impact.
However, England are in a very tough group (group of death) & must overcome Italy & Uruguay to go further. The British media's unhealthy obsession with their domestic league (EPL) as usual does not help either as it makes the English myopic. At the same time, whilst Roy Hodgeson is an excellent manager & much more suited to the job than Capello ever was, his capacity to guide a team to the world summit must be questioned.
I don't believe England can finish first in their group. However, if they manage to finish second, they will meet a hugely talented Colombia side which will probably beat them in the next round.

France meanwhile, will get through their easy group as well as round of 16th before coming unstuck at the quarter finals when their tournament will end. All that the French public are hoping for is a united team of talented players to make up for the farcical embarrassment of World Cup 2010 group stage elimination.

As for the teams with lower profiles, Colombia, Uruguay & Chile are all capable of causing huge upsets this year. Not only all three teams are tactically superb, their players will find playing in South America easier than most of their European counterparts.

Chile have only built on Bielsa's great work & their unlucky elimination in the last World Cup & if anything are even more entertaining & dangerous this year. I predict they will go through at the expense of Holland this year....and then in the elimination rounds anything is possible.

Uruguay are not doubt sweating on the fitness of their star player Luis Suarez. They have the quality to pip both Italy & England to the post in the Group of Death & have the memories of their famous World Cup triumph of 1950 in Brazil to carry them psychologically.

Columbia, like Uruguay, are also praying to have their undisputed start Falcao fit just in time for the games (although after a lengthy absence due to injury). However, there are several other talented players in the side that can carry them in Falcao's absence. Whilst it appears they may have an easy group on paper, they are in fact in a tough group as matches vs Ivory Coast & Japan will be anything but easy. However, it is in the round of 16 that Columbia's world cup plans may unravel, when they will meet one of the trio of England/Italy/Uruguay from Group D

Amongst the remaining European teams, Belgium offer the best of the rest. They have a young talented side with several stars playing across Europe's top leagues & in Champions League. They are also in a reasonably easy group on paper. However, in the round of 16, they will potentially meet Germany & Portugal. This is where their palyers' lack of World Cup experience can potentially work against them. nevertheless, this Belgium side will be a force for the next few years.

And how about the so called minnows of the game? 

There is no doubt that Australia's Socceroos have been incredibly unlucky in drawing the 2010 World Cup finalists Spain & Holland, as well as one of the dark horses of the tournament Chile. Hopefully, the Socceroos will use Brazil to prepare for Asian Championships which are held in Australia in January 2015.

As for the rest, Japan & Ivory Coast have many talented players but are unfortunately drawn in the same group! Boznia-Hertegovina on the other hand, can potentially overcome Nigeria & Iran & make it to the knockout stage in their first ever World Cup as an independent state.

The most watched event in the history begins on June 13th. All matches are live & exclusive to SBS. No doubt we will witness the full spectrum of sporting drama, good, great, not so good & ugly.......from heartache to bad luck, to time wasting, poor refereeing decisions to player cheating. No matter what THE WORLD GAME will once again entertain, enrage & thrill the fans all over the world!

To paraphrase the words of the legendary Liverpool Manager Bill Shankly: ..."...to the fans......football is not about life & death! It's much more important than that!"

Bring it on!

UCL Final: Battle of cross city rivals after Ancelotti & Simeone outfox Guardiola & Mourinho

In my last post, when the UCL semi final draw was made (scroll down if you wish to read), I made the unusual step of calling the pairings the "battle of 4 of the best master tactician coaches" in Europe as three fast counter attacking teams & the possession tiki taka of Guardiola & Bayern contested the semi finals.

And that is exactly how the semi finals turned out! Both encounters were highly complex tactical battles. The only surprise in the results were how comprehensively Ancelotti outsmarted Guardiola & how Mourinho lost the tactical battle to Simoene.

Out of the four coaches, Pep Guardiola went to the semi finals with most questions. Could his tiki taka , the preferred 4-1-4-1 formation & its slower possession based build up tactics cope with Ronaldo, Bale & co's pace? Whilst Ancelotti caught Guaardiola on counter attacks in Madrid, it was initially from set pieces & then counter attacks that Madrid annihilated Bayern for their first ever win in Munich for their record 13th final. At the end, not only Ancelotti won the battle, but he also questioned whether Guardiola's tactics had been found out & the days of his dominance were over.

Mourinho on the other hand decided on an aggressively defensive approach in Madrid for the first leg. However, like Bayern, he did not get an away goal. Therefore, Atletico Madrid, themselves a counter attacking side, went to London with Simeone hoping to win the tactical battle with away goals.
Whilst they hit a wall of 11 defending Chelsea players in the first leg, they outsmarted Mourinho in London even though initially they fell behind 1-0. Mourinho lost the game tactically after he was forced to open up Chelsea following 1-1, and was outfoxed by Simeone & his impressive team.

In the process, Mourinho lost his 4th successive Champions League final battle whilst Real won their semi final after having lost in the semis in the last three years with Mourinho!. Bayern on the other hand, lost a semi final having won their last three previous ones since 2010. Atletico Madrid meanwhile won only their 2nd ever semi final, having reached their only other final 40 years ago in 1974 where they lost to Bayern.

And now, to the first ever "inter-City" final in the history of competition & second ever all Spanish Final (Real won the last won 3-0 vs Valencia in 2000).

The final will once again be a tactical battle, with two city rivals who know each other's weaknesses & strengths better than anyone else.

The result will be tight. If Atletico manage to neutralise the inform axis of Ronaldo-Bale-Dia Maria-Benzema, they have enough quality to beat Real with shear determination. I tip the dark horses of the tournament, Atletico Madrid to cause one of the biggest sensational upsets in the history of the UCL & go all the way.

So the recovery of Spanish football after last year's hiccup is complete, with Sevilla also contesting the Europa League final vs Benfica.

On a personal note, in a year when the universally admired Befica great Eusebio passed away, I would like to see Benfica win the Europa League final.
Benfical are arguably the unluckiest of Giants of European football. Since they won their 2 European Crowns with Eusebio in 1961 & 1962, they have lost all their consequent 5 European Cup & 2 UEFA/Europa League finals. This includes last year's Europa League final in the 93rd minute with a heartbreaking Chelsea goal)