United's Young Guns

Not too long ago I was bemoaning the failing, flailing underperformers at Man Utd (Scholsey, Berbatov, Carrick...). But all was not lost as today's 5-0 thrashing of Wigan proved in spades.

United's play was marked by a fluidity and crispness that has been lacking from many of their recent performances. The architects of this improvement were none other two young Red Devils, 16 million pound man Antonio Valencia (himself a former Wigan player) and Rafael da Silva.

Valencia's pace and vision proved too much on the night as he set up three goals and scored the fifth himself for good measure. While Rafael provided Rooney with a wonderful service (leading to his 14th league goal) and scored the third to boot. Even Berba got his scoring on...for the first time since Halloween, but still! Old Trafford faithful rejoice!

P [dot] S Who'da thunk it? Ronaldo misses Man Utd, though you shouldn't expect a reunion anytime soon. And the way Valencia's playing perhaps Old Trafford soon won't be missing him as much. He is SIR Alex Ferguson for a reason, you know....

Liverpool's Last Gasp

Fernando Torres scored the 90th minute winner at Villa Park in a crucial game for the Reds and their top-four ambitions. Now not only is El Nino the fastest 'Pool player to 50 goals in the club's history, but he has single-handedly moved them up to seventh -- two points behind sixth-placed City and Villa and only another two behind fourth-placed Tottenham.

This is definitely the most exciting EPL race in recent memory: at the top (Chelsea is only slightly ahead of Man Utd and Arsenal, each of which are separated by 2 points); in the middle (four teams are within 5 points of fourth); and at the bottom (second-to-last Hull City is only 5 points behind tenth-place Sunderland).

He's Back (Well, Sort Of...)

Jose Mourinho has reiterated his desire to return to England at some point in the (near?) future, as only as he can:

"I want to be back...I don't leave any club mid-season to go to another. So, until the end of the season there is no chance that I will leave Inter...I was very successful so it is normal that the other clubs will want me; but, yes, I believe I will be back one day."

Maybe those rumors of him heading up things at Old Trafford upon SAF's retirement are true (current odds at 5/1), or Man City (9/1), if/when Mancini doesn't work out, but, really, his best odds at 9/4 are at Liverpool. And, undoubtedly, the Special One would derive the most pleasure from replacing Rafa.

Capello's Claim: Brazil Better than Spain?

In mid-November, England traveled to Doha, Qatar to face the boys from Brazil in an international friendly, which while unremarkable in the scoreline (1-0 to Brazil), was nonetheless notable for the locale (obvi money talks...though the Three Lions better hope that the idiot that negotiated their fee isn't in charge of their 2018 bid [score there: 400k v. 4 mil for the Canarinhos]).

Anyways, the main takeaway of the evening brought to us by Don Capello, who claimed in his post-match commentary that this Brazilian team was better than FIFA World #1 and current European Champions, Spain. This proclimation might not be so surprising given that his team was just on the losing end of the most comprehensive 1-0 defeat in recent memory (England managed perhaps one shot on goal the entire game), but the English manager's remarks highlighted another less publicized reality.

In the past 20 years or so, nutritional standards have improved significantly in Brazil. Thus, as Dunga has pointed out, national team players and the population at large have reaped the physical rewards of proper nutrition (i.e. increased physical strength and stature). No longer are the Selecaos merely a group of fleet footed wonder boys; they now have the athletic prowess and power to complement their fantastic footwork.

Abysmal Play? It Has to Be Serie A!

At the Christmas break, Inter pretty much have the league wrapped up. This despite only scoring one goal in each of the last four games (resulting in two wins, one loss, and one tie). So not only is the league title a forgone conclusion, but the most dominant team in that league, the defending champions of Serie A, have struggled to produce substantial offensive output. It also seems as though Samuel Eto'o is suffering from the same, predictable Serie A malaise as Kaka once did..

Need a further indictment of the level of play/players in the Italian top flight? Just look to FIFA's World XI. Soccer's governing body went with a 4-3-3 formation with Iker Casillas in goal (Real Madrid/Spain), Dani Alves (Barcelona/Brazil), Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd/Serbia), John Terry (Chelsea/England), and Patrice Evra (Man Utd/France) across the back.

Headlining midfielders include Steven Gerrard (Liverpool/England) and Xavi and Iniesta (both of Barcelona/Spain).

Finally, up front Puskas Award winner Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal) is joined by Fernando Torres (Liverpool/Spain) and, of course, FIFA World Player of the Year Leo Messi (Barcelona/Argentina).

Which is a round-about way of saying that not one of the World XI is from Italy or playing for an Italian team.

P [dot] S The preponderance of English and Spanish clubs is understandable, given those players' success in competitions for club and country. Nevertheless, it does seem curious that Ligue Un's Player of the Year Yoann Gourcuff was left off this list (maybe in the place of Stevie G?).

Gourcuff was a true master of the midfield last season, producing the kind of displays that earned him a (justified) comparison to the great Zidane and earned Bordeaux their first title in a decade. Actually, come to think of it, Gourcuff's resurgence coincided with his Italian escape. And that pretty much sums up my point.

Mark Beats Robinho to the Exit

Just not by choice. Mark Hughes was sacked about an hour and a half after City's 4-3 win at the weekend.

For many, the proverbial writing was on the wall for weeks. The frustrating run of draws were not the most flattering to Hughes' managerial skills, and, it could be argued, the 78 million pounds in new additions have not lived up to their potential under his stewardship. But then there's the mitigating fact that taking a mediocre, mid-table side and trying to vault them into the top four in 6 months is neither probable nor even possible, no matter how much money you try to throw at that side. The ethos of an elite side does not necessarily come with elite league players.

In their press release, City bosses cited lack of progress as a reason for the firing, but, according to Hughes, the agreed target was 6th place and 70 points at season's end. And he left them in....6th place, on pace for 65 points, having only lost two league games this season (the fewest in the Premier League). Year on year, City is up 11 points, the greatest improvement amongst all top flight teams, save Tottenham.

Essentially, Hughes was fired for drawing too many games, which doesn't make the most sense, but patience has never really been a virtue of Premier League owners.

As for his replacement, Mancini's time at Fiorentina and Lazio were successful, yes, but he went in with very little expectation, so impressing was not necessarily the most difficult under those circumstances. Moreover, his first Scudetto winning Inter side had the good fortune of receiving the title after Juve had been stripped of it and relegated to Serie B, as a result of the Calciopoli scandal.

Indeed, Mancini was sacked for not being able to replicate Inter's domestic success on the European level. In this context, his optimistic domestic goals (he claimed he would lead City to a top four finish this year and a league title in the near future) are understandable. Obvi if he doesn't win at that level, and there's no guarantee that he will against Continental opposition...then there's no guarantee of a job.

Miserable Man Utd

In the past, Femme-Football has been cautiously optimistic about Man Utd's future without Cristiano Ronaldo. SAF obvi has this whole Premier League management thing pretty much down. But just as the Reds are suffering from not having found an adequate replacement for Alonso, so are United in regards to their former talisman.

But it's more than that, if Saturday's game at Craven Cottage showed anything, it was Manchester's stunning lack of depth at the back. Because of injuries, Sir Alex had to switch to his less-preferred 3-5-2 line-up and the results were disastrous. Moreover, even at full fitness, the partnership between Ferdinand and Vidic, which, in title-winning years past, has been solid, seems to be suffering under the weight of Rio's declining form (bad news for both England and Man Utd).

Speaking of declining form, it seems time that Paul "I Never Met a Tackle I Didn't Like" Scholes hang up his professional boots. Actually, it's long overdue. While Ryan Giggs relishes in adjusting his play to the reality of his potential, and has been justly rewarded another Old Trafford extension, the pace of the game has just gotten away from Scholesy, and he doesn't seem willing or able to remodel his pugnacious play based on his physical limitations. Which wouldn't be so bad, if his errors didn't often lead to wide open opposition scoring opportunities deep in the United half (witness Danny Murphy's goal in Fulham's win).

Hitting Their Stride

Real Madrid took full advantage 0f Barca's weekend absence from La Liga by thrashing Real Zaragoza 6-0. Both teams have now played 15 games. Both are +27 on goal difference. And now Madrid is a mere 2 points back from the league leaders.

It was always going to take time for Pellegrini's side to gel, but more than that the personnel selections were going to be difficult to figure out at first, especially with a veritable buffet of pedigreed footballers (Kaka, Ronaldo, Guti, Ramos, Benzema, Iker, Higauain, etc., etc.) from which to choose. It was bound to take a little trial and error. Though Pellegrini did seem too insistent on including Benzema in the first team, when the mercurial French striker did little to repay his faith.

But, as soon as Pellegrini followed our advice and started Higuain instead of Benzema, he and the club were handsomely rewarded. The young Argentine striker has racked up an impressive 10 goal tally over the past eight games, including two braces in the last two fixtures. Perhaps more importantly, he has worked harder for Madrid up front than Benzema ever cared to do.

And his efforts have freed up play throughout the midfield, unleashing the full potential of the likes of Van der Vaart, Diarra, and Marcelo. Ultimately, the flourishing of Los Blancos' central midfield will be particularly important to their future success, as their already faulty back line has been dealt an additional blow with Pepe's season-ending industry.

While Zaragoza were never going to be too much competition (the club hasn't won since September), one just has to look at Pompey's triumph over Liverpool to realize no opponent, no matter how downtrodden, can be counted out. Madrid's brilliance on the night, however, could not be but impressive.

Done Good

Following (however unwilling) in the cleat prints of teammate and nemisis, David Beckham, Landon Donovan is off to a European outfit on a loan deal.

EPL side Everton have decided to bring in the American and LA Galaxy striker for two months and possibly longer, depending on work permits and performance.

Let's hope that English football proves a better match, so that he doesn't embarass American footie as much as he did during his time at Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich. Hey, at least he'll have Tim Howard to help him along this time....

Champions League Draw

Fresh off the presses, here is the Champions League draw for the Round of 16, which will take place on February 16/17 and 23/24 (Round 1) and March 9/10 and 16/17.

AC Milan v. Man Utd (2/16 & 3/10)

Lyon v. Real Madrid (2/16 & 3/10)

Bayern Munich v. Fiorentina (2/17 & 3/9)

Porto v. Arsenal (2/17 & 3/9)

VfB Stuttgart v. Barcelona (2/23 & 3/17)

Olympiakos v. Bordeaux (2/23 & 3/17)

Internazionale v. Chelsea (2/24 & 3/16)

CSKA Moscow v. Sevilla (2/24 & 3/16)

La Liga Breakdown:

• Barcelona got a favorable draw against Vfb Stuttgart in their quest to become the first team in the CL era to win the competition two years on the trot.
  
• As for their La Liga peers, Real Madrid will face a tough test against Karim Benzema's old club, Lyon. But apparently the French side are pleased, as they would rather face Real than say Chelsea...or Barca.
  
• Sevilla drew CSKA Moscow in the least glamorous draw of the La Liga teams. And it seems that the Russians are comfortable with their opponents, despite Sevilla taking first place in their group stage group.
  

Prediction: We tip all Spanish clubs to progress beyond this stage.

EPL Low-down:

• Looks like David Beckham got his wish; really, who is UEFA to deny old golden balls? In any event, Manchester will be looking to improve their record against their Italian opposition, which, historically, hasn't been the best. So even though Milan would appear to be the weaker side in terms of current league position, United will only have to look to their bipolar two leg experience in 2007 to understand the immensity of their opposition.
  
• In what should be a cracking match, Chelsea got Serie A leaders, Internazionale. Beyond pitting the league front runners against one another, the draw will bring the return of Murinho to Stamford Bridge. Let the posturing begin...
  
• Finally, Arsenal drew the lone Portuguese side, Porto. Considering, the north London club will get to play the second leg at home, they should be especially happy with the draw.
  

Prediction: Arsenal and Chelsea will move on, while Man Utd will fall to a Milan side that always gets up for CL games.

The Rest:

• Olympiakos and Bordeaux will meet in the knock-out stage. While an aura of mutual respect pervades, it will be difficult for the Greeks to overcome the French champions, if only for one game changer: Yoann Gourcuff.
  
• Bayern Munich received the more favorable draw of the two German sides and are set to face Fiorentina, currently in ninth place in Serie A. The Bavarians will be looking forward to this match for a variety of reasons, not least because of their relative success last year against the Italian side.
  

Prediction: Bordeaux and Bayern will be booking their places in the final eight.

Lessons from the FIFA Club World Cup

Bane of my footie existence.

1. Fox Soccer Commentators (Looking at you Bretos) are ABOMINABLE!!

I mean they really, really suck. Please note, most, if not all, viewers of FSC are not soccer neophytes, so, while it may be a stretch for you, you should try to elevate your insight to more than the inane "Ibra...How dare you go up on us? You wanna play with the big boys here you go..."; lest people's overwhelming suspicion that you are unable to produce coherent and cogent speech be confirmed as reality. At this point, I hardly expect insight, but would it kill you to stop the vacuous exigeses?

Listen, if I were a American sports fan I would change the channel, just so that I could escape your self-amusing-yet-mind-numbing commentary. Honestly, I'm glad you get a kick out of yourself; this being one of the occasions that if you didn't, no one else would. However, being that I am more dedicated than the general American sporting public, I can fight the impulse to turn away, because I understand the power of the mute button and use it to my advantage any (read: every) time I have the sincere and great displeasure of hearing your voice.

Oh yeah, and I'm not alone.

2. Barca can turn it on at will.

Whew now that I can move past my frustrations, I can focus on the actual game.

Despite going one down to Atlante, the final result was never in doubt...an 80-20 possession advantage made sure of that. After Sergio tied up the score at one all on an opportunistic finish, Messi fired Barca into the lead on his second touch of the game, and Pedrito moved the match out of reach, now having scored goals in the six different competitions Barca has taken part in this year.

The result could have been much worse as Barcelona peppered the Mexican side's goal, and, at times, the passing was so crisp and clinical as to make the ball, never mind the game, far beyond Atlante's grasp.

Next up for Barca is Estudiantes, the CONEMBOL representative from Argentina, with Valdes, Puyol, Iniesta, Xavi and Marquez looking to avenge their 2006 loss to another CONEMBOL team, Internacional.

3. Pep Guardiola has apparently gotten the hang of this whole tactics thing.

Early in the first half, Barca weren't gelling in the midfield at all. They were unable to dictate the pace of the game and looked unmotivated to seize the initiative. The nonchalance of their effort was overcome by the tactical magic of Guardiola. His decision to move Sergio and Xavi closer together in the midfield proved prescient, as the Blaugrana's passing improved almost immediately. In fact, that decision, along with Pepe's later introductions of Messi and Pique (the latter for the ineffective and over-the-hill Marquez), laid the foundation for their three goal resurgence.

Tops

Spain has finished first in FIFA's world rankings for the second year in a row. Congrats!

A Long Summer Vacation

You're a winner in our book, Andrei.

With World Cup qualification (finally!) coming to a close and the draw for next summer's tournament already taken care of, attention has largely been on the winners, the 32 qualified nations. And while that is all well and good, we here at Femme Football would like to take a moment to offer our sincere condolences to those footballers who will be missing out on South Africa.

For these poor souls something to hang their hat on in the interim, we have created a new honor: the "Best Player Not Playing in This Year's World Cup," abbreviated BPNPTYWC, and known commonly known as the Ryan Giggs Award.

Here are this year's honorees:

4th Runner Up: Petr Cech, Czech Republic (It really has been all downhill since that Steven Hunt incident)

3rd Runner Up: Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgaria (Not scoring goals in a Man Utd uniform to be replaced by not scoring goals in Bulgaria's red and green)

2nd Runner Up: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sweden (At least you won't fall prey to the tricks of small children off the field or those of wily defenders on it)

1st Runner Up: Emmanuel Adebayor, Togo (We shall miss your strikes, but, as any Arsenal fan will tell you, we'll mostly miss you're class)

And this year's BPNPTYWC/Ryan Giggs Award goes to......Andrei Arshavin, whose Russian side decided to do everything in its power to undo the 2-1 advantage it had going into the second leg of UEFA qualification play-offs. Andrei, you may be king of the house, but your coronation in South Africa was just not to be.

Oh yeah, and congratulations on your win!

So This is What a World Record Transfer Fee Buys You....

After sitting out the last two months owing to an ankle injury or a curse or some combination thereof, Cristiano Ronaldo has now featured in the last two Real Madrid CL matches against FC Zurich (as a sub) and Marseille (as the scorer of a brace) in addition to playing in El Clasico. He is currently the leading scorer in the Champions League and added what was probably one of the best strikes of the competition to his haul this week.

All this, and there's the fact that he's still "not 100%."

In other Champions League news, top spots went to: Bordeaux, which eeked out a 1-0 win against lowly Maccabi Haifa; Man Utd, with Michael Owen's hat trick capping an otherwise lackadaisical performance; Chelsea, which drew with Apoel Nicosia 2-2, but lost Michael Essien for at least a month; Fiorentina, which effectively ruined Steven Gerrard's 500th appearance for Liverpool.

There was also Barcelona, with Messi ensuring first place on a night when all four teams had a chance at the top two; Sevilla, which finally put Rangers out of their CL misery with a 1-0 win; and, Arsenal, which still managed to top the group despite losing 0-1 to an enterprising Olympiakos side.

Second place (in order of groups [A-H]) is as follows: Bayern Munich; CSKA Moscow; AC Milan; FC Porto; Lyon; Internazionale; VfB Stuttgart; and Olympiakos.

The draw for the Round of 16 matches will take place on December 18th and matches will begin on February 16th and 17th.

Legend Status

Ronaldinho was named World Soccer's Player of the Decade today.

First and foremost: !Congratulations 'Dinho!

We always had faith (and kept it in spite of the off field extracurriculars). In fact, we still think there is much more greatness left in those golden boots, and we look forward to many, many more goofy smiles and slightly awkward surfer hand gestures on the pitch in years to come.

What about you? Who's you're top footballer from the past decade? We just want to put it out there now: in ten more years, the honor will go to [drumroll please] Cristiano Ronaldo.

But to celebrate this decade's greatest, we have compiled Femme Football's Top Ten Ronaldinho Moments from the past ten years. Enjoy!

1. The Made to Look Easy Goal against Villareal. Seriously. Ridiculously. Amazing.


2. The Mind Boggling Free Kick against England. No list would be complete without it.


3. The Brilliant One. There are no other words.


4. The Genius Juggling against Milan. Where does anyone get off doing that in a game?


5. The Fine Finish at PSG. Divine in its simplicity.


6. The Brazilian Ping Pong. Thank you, Nike.


7. The Superb Strike against Sparta Braga. It's almost not fair.


8. The Free Kick that Confounded Kahn. Really how many other players could do that?


9. The Freestyle. Because that is what makes Gaucho so fun to watch.


10. The Fantastic Footwork at Milan...and all that is yet to come!

Break It Down: World Cup Draw

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

Group C: England, U.S., Algeria, Slovenia

Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zeleand, Slovakia

Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal

Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Hondouras, Chile

Some thoughts for your consideration:

1. For an unseeded team, France was very fortunate in the draw and should easily progress. Well, then again, they should have easily progressed in their qualifying group, so we'll see how it goes...


2. Greece got the same draw (Argentina and Nigeria) as they did in the 1994 World Cup - the last time they qualified for the competion. Fans of Hellas can only hope this time is different...


3. The opening game of the competiton will be South Africa v. Mexico. Usually, the host country gets a boost on the pitch in light of their home field advantage, but recent results put that prospect in doubt for the hosts this time around. Will this be the first time the host side doesn't make it out of the first round?


4. Group of Death? Look to Group G: Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal. In terms of promising free-flowing football, it doesn't get much better than these three.

World Cup Seeds

Seeding for the 2010 World Cup has just been announced with the most curious admission being France, which missed out on being seeded (perhaps as punishment for the "Hand of Gaul") and now resides in Pot 4 along with the rest of the European teams (though that is not likely to allay Irish anger, which seems to be building as every WC milestone comes to pass).

Now, only 49 hours, 25 minutes and a few seconds to the actual draw!

Apparently the Placenta Fluid Didn't Work

Robin van Persie will be out until at least April (and very possibly through the end of the season) as the ligament damage he suffered on his ankle during international duty has proven worse than originally anticipated.

Despite his admirable, if unorthodox, efforts to regain fitness, Arsenal will be without their most effective attacking player. This is doubly concerning for the young Gunners, who have traditionally had trouble finishing, and who are without the significant striking presence of the departed Emmanuel Adebayor and the injured Nicklas Bendtner.

As such, Wenger has decided to foray into the transfer market during the January window. Apparently the Frenchman has eyes for Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh, but it's still to be seen whether Bordeaux will be willing to let go of their prized player.