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!

European powerhouses storm into semi finals....as expected, whilst England flopped badly, also as expected!

Spain, Portugal, Germany & Italy have reached the semi finals of Euro 2012....as expected.
The only surprise flop & potential other team would have been Holland...and there were no surprises in one of the worst every England teams of all time being a major flop vs Italy in the quarter finals!

As predicted at the time the draw was made, Group A was too light to have any potential semi finalists. On the other hand Group B was deemed the "Group of Death" & 2 teams, Portugal & Germany from this group have rightfully earned their place in the semi finals. Spain were expected to be there & Italy have surprised everyone with their skilful approach & are now the dark horse of the tournament.

Andrea Pirlo, like old wine has had a renaissance year. Having led Juventus undefeated to Serie A title in Italy in a year many predicted his demise into eventual retirement, masterfully is leading Italy's charge towards the Euro 2012 title. Italy may have only won on penalties vs England, but the close result was by no means indicative of the huge gap between the teams.

By the way, if you have not seen Pirlo's silky smooth penalty vs England, watch it on youTube here. It's one of the most skilful penalties of all time, under the intense pressure of a penalty shoot out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcGU_gUH1F0

France on the other hand were never expected to go beyond the quarter finals & like Holland seem to continue to struggle with internal strife due to uncontrolled egos.

And as for those perennial underachievers England, well, potentially had their worst ever team in a tournament in living memory & played one of their worst ever matches vs Italy with unbelievably negative statistics heavily against them in terms of possession, shots on target & completed passes etc.

Hastily appointed coach Roy Hodgson had obviously read too much into the lucky ways of the negative defensive & boring CHELSEA, who totally undeservedly & through shear luck had got past the silky ways of Messi & Barcelona on the way to beating an unlucky Bayern Munich side in the final of the Champions League weeks earlier.

If Chelsea's win was a win for "anti football & money", England's elimination was a positive gain for football. England were once again lamenting their bad luck in penalty shootouts. From memory they have got eliminated on penalties in six major tournaments in 1990, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006 & now in 2012 (don'y quote me on exact years as I may be wrong).

But the question the English press never asks is this: "Why England are incapable of winning matches in normal time in tournaments? Most other teams have been involved in one or two or at most three shoot outs during the last 22 years, England have had in six!!. 


In my view the reason for this is because the English teams are not tournament teams!" In fact I would go as far as saying the Rugby codes culture of friendly "test matches" style is engraved in the England football team as well! Win a match here lose one next playing the same teams over & over & over again as it boringly happens in rugby codes is alien to the world of tournament heavy football where there are 206 national team members & teams like Italy, Germany & Brazil thrive in.

Now to the semi final pairings:

Both matches are simply too close to call and it is even more difficult to predict the scores.

Spain are the more likely winner out of the battle with Portugal.

The problem with Portugal is that they rely too much on Ronaldo as a match winner, and if Ronaldo misfires as he did in the first match vs Germany Spain have enough to pounce & win the match. Spain know the Real Madrid  trio of Ronaldo, Pepe & Coentrao (as the trio do the Spanish players) & how they operate.
Overall, Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta & co are good enough to neutralise Ronaldo & win the match, and we all know the only & only criticism of this highly tactically & technically gifted Spanish team is their overwhelming tendency to win crucial matches 1-0 (as they did in their way to winning the World Cup in 2010). The trick is to stop Ronaldo, and if any team can do that, it's a Spanish side full of players who are used to playing with or against Ronaldo.

On the other hand, amazingly Germany have never managed to eliminate Italy in knockout stages of World Cup or European Championships! Their last such encounter was the WC 2006 semi final in Germany. Italy won 2-0 after extra time, as the match was about to head for penalty shootouts.

The two power houses' encounters have however always been close & tactically fascinating. This time, if this young & exciting German side are to break the jinx, they must mark the amazing Pirlo out of the game. In order to do so, Schweinsteiger must be at his best in the middle of the park. Against Greece, he was clumsy & obviously less than 100% fit. Nevertheless, this time around Germany have the depth in their bench not only to beat Italy, but also to go all out and avenge their Euro 2006 & World Cup 2010 losses to Spain.

As an astute witty friend of mine cheekily said the other day (thanks Tim, with your kind permission):
"It is Germany's duty to continue to cut a swathe through the debt ridden countries of Europe.  Having done away with the wasteful greeks, they can now see off the diving Italianos this week and then the best of the Iberian peninsula". 
(no offence to the suffering masses in those countries whilst the mining boom in Australia enriches the few lucky ones!)


My tip for the final: Spain 1 Germany 2

The opening day of Euro 2012 full of drama, excitement & goals...and thankfully no racism!

As expected, Poland put up a great show to open Euro 2012, both in the Opening Ceremony & the opening match of the tournament against Greece.

For the information of the more casual football fans, after the Football World Cup & the Olympics, European Championships reportedly attract the third highest overall sports viewing audience around the world. (although the Indian Cricket League IPL is also very popular these days)

Group A, dubbed the real Group of Death, not for its tough competition but for lack of excitement compared, produced two drama filled matches in the opening day:

Poland controlled Greece in the first half & a Greek defender was harshly sent off. Then in the second half, Greece demonstrated their resilience & if it was not for a penalty miss they could have won the game.
In the other match, as expected Russia crushed a young & transitional Czech Republic side 4-1. The scoreline could have been much worse if not for Russia's wastefulness.

The two matches only confirm my belief further that Russia & Poland are favourites to go through to the quarter finals from Group A

And most importantly there were no sign of the ugly "Football Racism" around. Let's hope that trend continues.

Tomorrow morning the opening matches in arguably the toughest Group in the tournament will be played. Three of the four teams in the group are former winners & Portugal were finalists in 2004.

The problem with this group is that each team needs to get a draw or a win from every match as there are no so called easy matches in this group.

Holland in my view are favourites to top the group & should win their opening match against Denmark reasonably comfortably. With impressive goal scorers such as Huntelaar, Van Persie, Robben & Snjeider at their disposal, Holland are a better team than they were in the World Cup in 2010 when they narrowly lost to Spain.

Germany on the other hand have surprisingly misfired in the last few weeks having conceded 5 goals to Switzerland albeit fielding a much weakened side. Then there is also the daily question in the media & press conferences about whether their 8 Bayern stars have psychologically recovered from their heartbreaking loss to Chelsea in the Champions League final.(all of whom could potentially start against Portugal)

Having said that, I have followed Germany through every single World Cup & European Championship since 1974. They are the tournament team! Die Mannschaft get better & do not hit form too early (Italy are another great example of this, whilst some of the best Brazilian teams of all time were the opposite)

I believe whilst Germany continue to have difficulty with their two central defence positions, they now, for the first time since 1996 possess enough quality players to be considered potential winners. They also have for the first time since they won the 1990 World Cup have enough talent on the bench to change tactics & salvage matches if they fall behind & in players such as Neuer, Lahm, Ozil, Kroos, Schweinsteiger, Goetze, Klose, Podolski & co Germany are once again belong to the cream of world football but need to crown the potential by winning the tournament. (they have reached the semi finals of the last two world Cups & were the finalist in Euro 2008 losing to Spain)

Portugal on the other hand will have to rely too heavily on Ronaldo especially if as reported Nani does not start against Germany. Ronaldo, like Messi is yet to reproduce his club form on the world stage. Their achilles tendon which Germany will target will be Fabio Coentrao who had an awful time playing against Bayern this year for his Club side Real Madrid.

On Monday, the defending Champions & favourites Spain will open their account vs Ireland in a tough Group C contest. I believe Chelsea's tactics vs Barcelona & Bayern Munchen in the Champions League have exposed Spain's weaknesses. With Torres's form still in question & David Villa's long term injury, Spain's attack may be too blunt to deal with a defensive Irish approach. And absence of the ever reliable Carlos Puyol adds to Spain's defensive worries.
Nevertheless, Spain should ultimately account for the Irish & also top the group.

I rate this Italian side as lowly as many including myself rated the woeful French side in the World Cup 2010. To top it all, Italian football is once again (surprise surprise) in the midst of yet another match fixing scandal. Croatia on the other hand, are & have always been a football production line! Whilst they are also going through a mini transitional period, their coach in my view is still one of the most tactically gifted coaches in Europe. Despite the huge loss of Olic to injury last week, I predict Crotia will beat Italy & will go through to the QF alongside Spain.

On Tuesday, the ever disappointing England open their account in Group D. France have now remained unbeaten in 18 matches under the likable former Captain Blanc & should be considered one of the dark horses of the tournament.

This is perhaps the hardest group to predict. I still believe Frank Lampard is the heart & soul of the England team. In his absence, and with Rooney being suspended for the first two group matches, alongside the foolish decision by Hodgson not to recall Rio Ferdinand after Gary Cahill was forced to pull out, England have problems in both defence & attack & the Swede attack led by an in form Zaltan Ibrahimovic can potentially signal the end of England's campaign after the first round.

I predict France & Sweden (or Ukraine with home support) to go through to the quarter finals.

I will be posting regular blogs during the tournament.

Spain are favourites to retain their crown at Euro 2012

Euro 2012 is only a week away. Considering the economic & political upheaval in Europe, this tournament & the London 2012 Olympics are necessary distractions for those millions of people affected by the financial crisis in Europe.

Most teams are fine tuning their tactics in friendlies at the moment in anticipation of the opening match On Saturday 9th June.

It is generally acknowledged that the European Championships are the most competitive & difficult football tournament in the World. In fact outside Brazil & Argentina, the tournament usually features the best footballing nations in the world. For example, six of the seven teams reaching the final four of the last two World Cups feature in Euro 2012 (the 7th being Uruguay with Germany featuring in both semi finals). sadly however, the next European Championships in France in 2016 will be extended to 24 teams. This is a purely commercial decision & will undoubtedly reduce the quality of the event as a whole.


In my view, and most other commentators & fans, Spain, the defending European & World Cup winners are again the clear favourites this year. With the exception of the absence of the injured David Villa & the influential Barcelona Captain Puyol, Spain have a near full strength team based on the stars of Barcelona & Real Madrid & supplemented by the talents from Atletico Madrid, Valencia & Athletic Bilbao. If Fernando Torres continues to improve his form as he has during May, Spain may very well will the title again. However, if Torres misfires as he has for most of the past two years, then, in the absence of the free scoring David Villa, Spain will struggle.

After Spain, the young, attacking & skillful Germany & the ever scoring Holland are the other favourites with the 19 game undefeated France as an outside chance. Two major issues for favourites Germany are:
a) Poor recent form of their only two out & out strikers Gomez & Klose
b) Whether the shattering psychological impact of Bayern's loss to Chelsea has a lasting effect in the minds of the 8 Bayern players in the squad, considering that as many as all 8 are potential starters in any of the three group stage matches.

I believe England, without the injured Lampard & the suspended Rooney (for the first two group matches) & their newly assigned coach will once again disappoint whilst Italy are still in transition & the latest corruption allegations will not help them. Both Italy & England will have problems scoring goals

And the likes of Portugal, Croatia, Russia will be the usual difficult opponents for the so called favourites whilst out of the two co-hosts Poland have more potential to reach the quarter or semi finals.

My predictions for the quarter finals, not in any particular order:

Group A: Russia & Poland
Group B: Germany & Holland
Group C: Spain & Croatia
Group D: France & Sweden (or Ukraine with home support)

Final round of group matches start tonight: Which teams are likely to make it to the round of 16 in the World Cup?

The second round of all group matches was concluded this morning with Spain's 2-0 win against Honduras.
Tonight the final round of group matches will commence. Although the first two rounds produced the lowest average goal per game of just over 2, the final group round promises to produce lots of thrilling moments as well as a few surprises. The reason for this is because almost all of the European favourites or heavy weights, i.e. Germany, England, Spain, France & Italy, must win their final matches to guarantee passage to the knockout stage of the Cup. The South American teams on the other hand, are all on the way to potentially win their respective groups. As a result, the first knock out stage promises top produce a few blockbusters (such as e.g. England vs Germany) as the favourites in many of the groups will probably finish second instead of the expected first place.

Here's a quick review of each group & my view on which teams will advance (in bold):

Group A: Uruguay & Mexico

As mentioned in my previous emails, France not only embarrassed themselves on the pitch with their inept performances, they also disgraced themselves off the pitch with publicly fought unrest in their camp. South Africa will sadly be the first host nation in the history of the Cup not to advance beyond the group stage.

Mexico & Uruguay have been the stand out teams in this group. France need to score at least 3 goals against South Africa & for either Mexico or Uruguay to win their battle in order to have any chance of advancing to the next round. If this does happen, it will be undeserved.

Group B: Argentina & South Korea

Prior to the World Cup, I predicted that Nigeria, despite having so many talented players would disappoint at the World Cup & so far they have been far from competitive with two losses.

I believe despite their heavy loss to the scintillating Lionel Messi & Argentina, South Korea have shown enough to get past the predictably boring Greece & advance to the next round.

Argentina, on the other hand, arguably have the best player in the world in Lionel Messi & are once again one of the main favourites to go all the way & are simply irresistible to watch.

Group C: USA & England

This was supposed to be one of the easiest draws for one of the pre tournament favourites England. But once again they have failed to fire & have been rather disappointing. It all started to go wrong with Robert Green's disastrous mistake in the first game against the USA. It got worse when Ledley King who had replaced the injured Captain Rio Ferdinand in the central defence injured his knee. And to top it all, John Terry, the disgraced former captain destabilised the England camp further by attempting & failing to start a rebellion against the coach Capello on Sunday. Despite all this, England have enough character & calibre to beat Slovenia & advance to the second round for a possible show down with their arch enemy Germany.

I have been very impressed with the USA's fighting spirit, their speed & energy & believe they will be able to break down Algeria's disciplined defense & advance alongside England.

Group D: Germany & Serbia

My heart wanted my favourite two teams Germany & the mighty Socceroos to advance from this group, and Australia to meet England in the knock out phase. However, red cards have dented both Australia & Germany's prospects in their previous matches.

Germany, the record 11 time semi finalist & 7 time finalist in the World Cup have never failed to go through the group stage in World Cup history & should be too strong for Ghana. On the other hand, whilst I am sure the Socceroos will put up a brave fight, I do not believe Australia, in Harry Kewell's forced absence, will have the fire power to get through the solid Serbian defence and score the minimum of 2 goals they require. :(

Group E: Netherlands & Denmark

After a slow start in their first game, Holland found their feat in the second game & will advance as an outside favourite for the World Cup. their odds improve even further if Robben ends up being fit enough to play for them at some stage.

Denmark on the other hand will be too strong for Japan & should be able to win and advance. Japan however, do have a better goal difference. They will aim for a draw ad therefore there is an outside chance that Japan will end up advancing on goal difference.

Group F: Paraguay & Italy

Group F was supposed to be a walk in the park for the defending champions Italy. But Italy's coach Lippi failed to rejuvenate the 2006 team & stuck with the likes of Canevarro who is now 37! Their slow & tired legs has seen Italy ride their luck to two draw their first two matches.

However, those of you who are keen football supporters would know or (in my case) remember how Italy won the World Cup in 1982 after having drawn all their 3 group stage matches & advancing to the knock out stage on the basis of having scored a mere one goal more than Cameron. In more recent times, having experienced their mighty sting against Australia in 2006 & aging New Zealand last week make it hard to write off Italy totally.

Paraguay have on the other hand been the dominant team in this group, and a massive show of admiration also goes to the courageous effort by the great New Zealand side. They have once again overachieved & should be congratulated.

Group G: Brazil & Portugal

After sluggish start in their first respective matches, both teams produced fantastic attacking football & great wins in their second matches making in almost impossible not to go through. The final group game clash between Portugal & Brazil promises to be one of the best matches of the entire tournament.

Group H: Spain & Switzerland

After their shock loss in their opening match against Switzerland, Spain got back on track with a win against Honduras.

I believe they need to beat Chile to guarantee passage to the next round as Switzerland will beat Honduras. This will probably eliminate the impressive Chile on goal difference. However, amazingly, if Chile draw with Spain & the Swiss beat Honduras, Spain, the favourites will be eliminated from the competition.

It must also be mentioned that Switzerland broke the record for the longest time any team has not conceded a goal in the World Cup history last night, although eventually they conceded a goal 7 lost to Chile 0-1. their record started in the 2006 world Cup where they got eliminated without conceding a single goal in open play (eliminated in a penalty shoot out) & lasted two matches into this year's second round match against Chile.

As you can see, the mouth watering excitement of the World Cup is only beginning. Enjoy & check my blog to rate my predictions!

If you wish to leave comments but are unable to click on the comment section as reported by some of my friends, you may wish to email me on ricksamimi@gmail.com & I will post your comments.

How do the teams rate as the second round of the group stage starts to shape at the World Cup 2010?

The second group matches got on the way last night in FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

Before having a look at the first round, I must thank 702 ABC Sydney (radio station) for interviewing me for the last two Fridays in the morning show with Deborah Cameron about the World Cup & also for including a link to this blog on the ABC website.

I'd like to remind those of you who are casual followers of the sport not to lose too much heart! The first round of the group stage of this World Cup has been unusual in its lack of goals. Most teams have been very cautious & some like Australia have not looked settled.

As it was evident last night, we will be witnessing much more attacking football in the crucial second round matches (13 goals scored in the 4 second round matches played so far whilst the same groups only scored 5 goals in the first round). And now to a selection of teams making headlines so far:

• France: As predicted, lost & clueless under their coach Demenech
• South Africa: sadly for them & their fans, will become the first host nation in the Cup's history not to make the second round
• Argentina: Maradona, Messi & co look good both on paper & on the field, a potential winner
• England & Brazil, both looking a little bit out of sorts & in need on fine tuning, which may be too late to do! but still potential quarter finalists & in case of Brazil, a potential winner
• Germany, sublime against Australia, got stifled in midfield vs Serbia & lost 1-0 having had their star striker Klose sent off & missed a penalty. I still rate them as a good bet for semi finals, and an outside chance for the final.
• Italy, looked old, jaded & too slow! They will be out by quarter finals!
• Portugal & Ivory coast had a tough match. Overall ronaldo was yet again disappointing for Portugal. But we have to wait to see their respective second matches.
• Switzerland & USA should be congratulated for taking points out of Spain & England games respectively. Switzerland legendary coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said he learned from USA's win against Spain in the Confederation Cup last year.
• Australia were hugely disappointing against Germany. Their coach Pim Verbeek should have used the same system as USA & Switzerland did in their first matches.
• And last & not least, Spain are still my favourites to win as long as they can mentally pull themselves out of the misery of the loss to Switzerland. However, that may turn out to be easier said than done as Spain are the perennial under achievers at the World Cup level & are notorious for losing their nerves. However, they are the current european Champions & the most attratctive side to watch!

All in all, the second & third round of the group matches are sure to provide more goals, thrills & surprises like the defeat of France by Mexico & Germany by Serbia.

If you are unable to use the comment section, you canemail me at ricksamimi@gmail.com with your comments & I will post them. Thank you.

World Cup qualifier playoffs: Ireland lose to "Hand of FIFA", whilst the "Gus Hiddink" legend is shattered by the minnows of Slovenia

Two major news items made the main football headlines across the world this morning, one full of the astonishing & simple beauty of football, "The people's game", & the other a story of the tarnished image of the stubborn, out of touch, money chasing FIFA acting like a sect trying to protect itself from criticism & investigation, and the perception that its  has sold the "Beautiful Game's soul to sponsorship money.

a. The smallest & wealthiest of the former Yoguslav regions, Slovenia made history by stunning the legendary Gus Hiddink's Russian side & qualifying for the World Cup this morning. In doing so, Slovenia achieved something even more profound, something that stunned the rest of the football world: . It exposed & shattered the legend that was Gus Hiddink!

The "Legend of Gus Hiddink" in no more! The mythical legend "Gus Hiddink"was born when he helped PSV win the European Cup in 1988. He then took Holland to the brink of WC final in 1998 and repeated the same feat with the much lesser footballing nation of South Korea in 2002. He grew even more in stature by taking Australia to the brink of a quarter final birth in WC 2006 in Germany, Russia to the semi final of the European Championships last year, and helping Chelsea back on track by winning the FA Cup final with them whilst missing out on a Champions League birth by a last gasp goal by the magical Inesta.

All the big footballing nations, coaches,clubs & players were in awe of Gus Hiddink & his magic touch, and unable to stop him. The first cracks in the legend appeared when Germany comfortably beat Hiddink's Russia 2-1 in Russia in the first leg, and then again 1-0 last month. But it took the tiny Slovenia this morning to bring joy to true football fans worldwide. They beat Russia & its legendary cooach Gus Hiddink. In the process they demonstrate the intrinsic beauty of the game & its magical moments, and the fact that much love Gus Hiddink is after all human!

b. Whilst the beautiful events above were occuring, the ugly side of the game showed its ugly head & the Republic of Ireland got eliminated, literally in the hands of Thiery Henry, who shamelessly redirected the ball by his hand and created an equaliser for william Gallas & France & its undeserving coach Demenech.

In my view, Ireland lost to the "Hand of FIFA". FIFA is starting to act like an exclusive sect. It fools the fans into accepting what it offers as all that there is, and meanwhile rolls in money & pays its undecisive vote grabbing self serving executives from Sep Blatter down millions of dollars in remuneration & fringe benefits.  FIFA is distinctly creating the perception amongst fans that it is ok for crucial matches to be decided in favour of more profitable sponsorship outcomes.

If the above comments sound too harsh, then FIFA must at start clamping down on all forms of chating on the field by threatening to reverse results and/or order a rematch in order to deter players from acting so shamefully. Thiery Henry is not the first player who acted in an unsporting fashion and won't be the last. Players cheat in all shapes & forms, from diving, to throwing themselves on the ground holding their faces when hit by a feather, to handballing & getting away with it. Just ask Maradona and his "Hand of God" in 1986 against England. Remember the shameful behaviour of AC Milan's Brazilian goalkeeper Dida a few years ago in the Champion League?

Players do this totally shameful acts simply because they know they can get away with deceit because they are confident FIFA will not clamp down or punish them! All FIFA has to do is to order a few matches to be replayed & before too long coaches will come down hard on any player who acts in such shameful manner as the infinte examples of the last 15 years or so suggest.

If FIFA continues to hold the line that all is working in the interest of the game & its broader appeal, and it is not hostage to sponsorship money & its greedy self serving executives, then it must acknowledge the short comings of the current model & the need for  introduction of technology assisted refereeing.

Otherwise, it is only fair to accuse FIFA of selling out the game to generate sponsorship money & favouring teams/players with more sponsorship dollars appeal.