International friendly round-up
March 3, 2010
In truth the countdown to the next World Cup starts as soon as the previous one finishes. The preparations for the 2010 tournament are now in the final stage, denoted by the fact less than 100 days remain to check out the best World Cup bets until the actions kicks off in South Africa.
Most participating teams have chosen this landmark to play friendlies, with the most notable result being Brazil’s 2-0 win over Republic of Ireland. The five-time winners fielded a strong team and exhibited the fluid, passing game that many expect to take them to glory once again.
The Samba Kings were in total command during the second half at the Emirates Stadium, cruising to victory in much the same way they did against England in November. Robinho was the outstanding performer, but the whole team looked settled and comfortable in their jobs, typified by the 29 passes that preceded the temporary Santos star. World Cup odds will certainly have them down as one of the favourites.
Mexico started their busy build-up – they play 10 more times before the tournament – with a 5-0 thrashing of Bolivia in San Francisco. Boss Javier Aguirre selected a young squad, with Carlos Vela, Rafael Marquez and Omar Bravo some of the star names to be rested.
The comprehensive victory, secured with four goals in the opening 20 minutes, gives Aguirre food for thought as he finalises his squad, with two-goal Javier Hernandez one man who did his hopes of inclusion no harm.
CONCACAF rivals United States edged past El Salvador 2-1 in the last match they will play before Bob Bradley announces his World Cup squad. Sacha Kljestan and Brian Ching scored the goals for a team that was missing its major stars from the European leagues.
Ivory Coast Desperate For Guus Hiddink
February 24, 2010
Early reports have been saying for a while now that Guus Hiddink, the man behind Chelsea’s 2009 FA cup win, is close to securing a deal with Ivory Coast, to become their 2010 World Cup manager.
Hiddink is currently the manager of Russia, and his contract for their national team ends on at the end of June. He will be taking over Turkey at the very beginning of August.
But Chelsea’s star man, and also Ivory Coast’s key player, Didier Drogba has apparently been begging for Guus to come and manage his national team, for this year’s world cup.
Drogba, who built a strong relationship with Hiddink during their time together at Chelsea, has actually come to ask Hiddink himself.
Hiddink later confirmed this, saying:
“It’s true. I have the chance to take charge of Ivory Coast. Didier Drogba has asked me on behalf of the players. The board of the federation want it too.’’
Even after this personal request by Drogba, Hiddink later remarked that he still was unable to decide as ‘a lot has happened in the past few weeks’.
If Hiddink is to coach the Ivory Coast, he is going to have to terminate his contract with the Russian’s early, which obviously isn’t going down all that well with the Russian Football Federation.
Hiddink has also received requests from other teams like Nigeria and North Korea to manage their teams, but Hiddink has said that he is a lot more likely to go to Ivory Coast than any other team, if he were to move. They don’t call him the world’s best manager ever for no reason, you know.
However, in my opinion, I believe that Guus Hiddink, as long as the Russuan Football Federation are not in disagreement, will go for a short stint for the Ivory Coast before his management time for Turkey begins, as not only does he have a personal relationship with Drogba, it also seems like a very typical Hiddink thing to do, as he is known to bounce between teams rapidly.
Despite this, all one can possibly have at the moment is speculation, and whether or not he will actually move is merely wishful thinking.
By Anthony Duong
Capello Must Pray For Rooney Fitness
February 17, 2010
England’s World Cup hopes appear to hinge on one man at the moment with Wayne Rooney in the form of his life.
Fabio Capello must be having sleepless nights worrying over the fitness of his talisman and knows if Rooney is not in the England side in South Africa, then there is little chance of success.
Rooney is having his best goal scoring season to date and seems to be relishing his status as Manchester United’s star man since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. The worry for Capello could be burn out for Rooney as he virtually single-handedly keeps United in contention for major honours. Playing as a central striker has added more goals to Rooney’s game and he is well on course for breaking the 30 goal barrier this season. He has started scoring the more simple predatory strikes to add to his spectacular collection, while as AC Milan can testify his heading has come on leaps and bounds literally.
Fellow England players have failed to live up to their lofty reputations this season, with Steven Gerrard and new England captain Rio Ferdinand struggling with form and fitness, John Terry in the limelight for the wrong reasons and several other members of Capello’s squad not playing to their usual standards. Another key player in Ashley Cole has succumbed to an ankle injury and now the left back position is suddenly a problem for Capello as well but he knows there is still time for the Chelsea man to come back to fitness.
Rooney has been the shining light for his club this season and has become his country’s prize asset. His all round game is exceptional and his only fallibility is his short fuse but even that has seen a marked improvement over the last couple of years. After years of posturing and posing by the English press of a so-called ‘Golden Generation’ perhaps the only world-class performer in the English ranks is Rooney. If he is aided by several other key players, England can mount a challenge this summer in South Africa but one thing is for sure, the rest of the England team can’t do it without Wayne Rooney.
Richard Howard
World Cup Hot Shots
February 15, 2010
The race for the World Cup golden shoe looks like it will be wide open. Brazil and Spain are the firm tournament favourites with 2010 FIFA World cup betting, but punters should be wary before selecting their forward men in the top scorers’ market.
Only one of the last six World Cup top scorers has been a member of the cup-winning team (Ronaldo in 2002) and it might be tempting to avoid the Brazilian and Spanish forward men, for very different reasons.
Spain’s strike combination is, but for injury, settled. Fernando Torres and David Villa could well be the most productive forward pair, but selecting one of these stars is difficult. In contrast, Brazil’s front two is harder to predict, although Luis Fabiano is in the best form and has done enough to be the current favourite in the market.
This might lead punters to select strikers who are guaranteed to be the attacking focal point of their teams. Wayne Rooney, Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo are attractive in this category, although punters must be confident that their teams will advance to the latter stages.
Sergio Aguero, Nilmar and Lionel Messi could well be stars of the finals but might not have the goal tally to show for it and punters might prefer to choose a player who could cash-in against weaker opposition.
Few would have predicted Oleg Salenko would be the joint top scorer at USA 1994, a feat he achieved thanks to five goals in one match against Cameroon. Miroslav Klose hit a hat-trick in an 8-0 demolition of Saudi Arabia in 2002 on the way to becoming that event’s second highest scorer and the German hitman, the only man to score five goals in consecutive finals, will be a decent outside bet with the FIFA World Cup Odds.
Davide Santon: The Future of Italy and Inter.
February 15, 2010
Davide Santon is one of the brightest prospects in the whole of Italy. He has already muscled his way into the Inter starting 11 and gained his first few caps for the full Italian national team. He can play either right or left back and he has great potential. The only question that remains is will he earn a place to South Africa?
Even though he is at the tender age of 19 he has already bagged plenty of experience to say the least. He faced Ronaldo against Man United last year and also came up against the best teams in the country. After some very promising performances Lippi decided to call him up to his Italy squad, and even took him to the confederations cup last summer. He is very useful as he can play on either side of the defence and even occasionally play in midfield. He has a great, positive attitude and most of all he just loves to play football.
The main reason I believe that Santon deserves a place in the team is the fact that Italy have two very aged full backs who in my opinion have passed their sell-by-date. Fabio Grosso at left back seems to have lost his 2006 form and he is now drifting away from that infamous final penalty kick, and looking at the other options at left back there seems to be a distinct lack of talent. Andrea Dossena is nowhere near capable of harbouring the dreams of a nation on his shoulders so why not let Santon play? He has been playing left back for Inter and he is certainly talented enough and bringing a more youthful player into the team might finally get rid of the old team stereotype that surrounds the Italy camp.
Therefore I believe Lippi can do no harm in bringing Davide Santon to the World Cup, he is intelligent, young, skilful and committed. He deserves a chance to shine for his country.
Fabio Sarlo
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