In the world of tweets and Facebook commentary, opinion and debate is not hard to come by in modern football. Throw a #hashtag on your thoughts, and they’re there for the world to see.

After England scraped through against Ukraine last night to claim top spot in Group D in Euro 2012, the twitterati was abuzz. The ‘ghost goal’ that John Terry cleared from inside the England goal had everybody talking – where is goal line technology in football? Do two wrongs make a right, considering the Ukrainian was offside in the first place? Why won’t Michel Platini listen to the people and change the game for the better?

Then there were the usual debates surrounding the England team itself – why, for instance, is James Milner continuing to start for the Three Lions when he has offered so little in the tournament so far (many want to know why he was even in the squad in the first place)? Is Wayne Rooney really the new Pele? (That isn’t even made up – people really do think he is England’s answer to the Brazilian master).

One topic, however, had everybody in agreement: Steven Gerrard is finally starting to show the form in an England shirt that has made him an Anfield favorite for over a decade. What stood out about Gerrard’s performance was the fact it wasn’t a typical guns blazing, box-to-box marauding display that we’ve come to expect from him (think Istanbul 2005, Millennium Stadium 2006).

Instead he was everything that Roy Hodgson has been looking for from his team: he kept it tight, made important tackles, and crucially, popped up with moments of individual brilliance when it mattered. It was his work that set up Rooney’s winning goal – aided, admittedly, by a couple of deflections and some atrocious goalkeeping, but he was there when it counted. That’s three assists from England’s five tournament goals so far after setting up Lescott against France, and Carroll against Sweden.

We all know about Gerrard’s skills, but what was especially pleasing was his commitment to getting the result for England. After he misplaced a pass in the first half, the cameras caught him loudly remonstrating himself, brow furrowed in anger. The pass itself was hardly a surprise – England have been fairly awful in possession so far – but it was Gerrard’s desire to improve for his side that really pleased. After the anger, he barely put a foot wrong.

Goal assists, tackles, grit and determination: if Gerrard keeps all of this up, England’s Italian job on Sunday may not be so difficult after all.

What difference a single game can make. Against Wigan just days earlier, the knives were immediately pulled out on Manchester United and their chances of taking home a record 20th Premier League title. The pressure of the run-in was finally getting to them, said the doomsayers. Wigan, struggling to avoid relegation to the Championship, bossed the game and United’s star players had an off night, not least their talisman Wayne Rooney. The title race, it seemed, still had few more twists in store.

Playing at home to Aston Villa, United was facing even more pressure. Manchester City had put together some exquisite football the day before, tearing six goals past Norwich City, who were powerless to stop the Argentinean pairing of Tevez and Aguero adding to the end of season highlight reel with some superb goals.

The Red Devils’ fans need not have worried. With the midfield and strikers looking lively again, United returned to the fast, fluent passing football that has helped them chase down and then overtake City’s lead at the top of the table.

They were, admittedly, helped with some fortuitous refereeing decisions and calamitous Villa defence. Ashley Young tumbled far too easily inside the Villa box after brushing (at best) Ciaran Clark, the opposing defender. Even Sir Alex Ferguson believed as much in his post-game press conference, saying that it was a “dramatic fall”, and that Young had “played for the penalty”. So much, then, for this misguided theory that diving is simply a disease on the English game brought on by conniving foreign players.

So, Villa had what looked a genuine grievance with Martin Atkinson for awarding the penalty that Wayne Rooney coolly tucked into the bottom right corner. But they only had themselves to blame for the second goal of the match, the killer, which locked in three points for the home side. After Patrice Evra played an inauspicious cross from the left field into the box, Aston Villa’s central defenders turned to gormless spectators and watched the ball roll by, with Danny Welbeck taking advantage and easing it into the back of the net. The second half, containing another Rooney goal and a fourth from Nani was a procession.

United now sit at the top of the table, five points in front of City with four games to play – a position any side would have taken when the season kicked off back in August. The fact is that, after their barnstorming start, the football that Manchester City produced in beating Norwich has become all too rare (particularly away from home) to keep their cross-town rivals behind in the title race.

For United, meanwhile, the air of inevitability that accompanied their win is a sure sign of a champion side, and they are now almost at the stage where they can afford to lose to City at the Etihad on April 30 and still bring home the league title. Their other three remaining fixtures, against Everton (home), Swansea (home) and Sunderland (away) will certainly provide challenges; but the feeling exuding from Old Trafford is that, having taken stock of the poor Wigan performance, Ferguson’s side is now ready – almost – to start celebrating and making more noise even than those of their neighbours.

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Lightning, it appears, does strike twice. Two years to the day after Fabio Capello stripped John Terry of the England captaincy, the FA through its chairman, David Bernstein, made the same decision in far more controversial and emotive circumstances amid the allegations of racism currently surrounding Terry and his July court hearing. And so for the second time in two years, England face the prospect of a divided and distracted camp ahead of a major tournament, because of the alleged actions of one player.

Looking at this case, one needs to separate the on-field implications of the FA’s decision from the wider consequences off it. The FA, so often lampooned by the vocal Fleet Street press pack for its blundering ways, indecision and general incompetence, should be lauded for this decision. In recent years it has, for all its perceived dithering, been outspoken on the need to eradicate the stain of racism from football. It has supported the Kick It Out! campaign well, and while Sepp Blatter was making the ridiculous assertion that racial vilification on the pitch could be forgotten with an amicable handshake after any match, the FA was busy investigating John Terry and Liverpool’s Luis Suarez following allegations of racist abuse.

Taking the captaincy off John Terry therefore firms up the FA as a leader in this area. Certainly, compared to numerous other European nations – the Royal Spanish Football Federation’s inaction when its coach Luis Aragones was caught out making racist remarks against Thierry Henry springs to mind – it can consider itself a positive agent of change. And reflect on this scenario: if the FA hadn’t taken its course of action, how would it look taking a moral high ground if England’s black players were abused by spectators in Poland and Ukraine at Euro 2012? It would be less a position of high ground than one of being mired in a moral swamp, and the calls of hypocrisy would be deafening. For all of that, it must be pointed out that John Terry has not been proven guilty as yet; for his part, he vociferously denies all allegations and is said to be furious about having the captaincy taken from him. But when it comes to public figures, perception frequently takes precedence over reality, and it is for that reason that David Bernstein and the FA is morally correct in taking its tough stance.

And so to the practical issues now facing the England team. Just as the public perception of John Terry is crucial for the FA, so it is for the England dressing room. Reports from English newspapers such as The Guardian suggested that the atmosphere was none too friendly when the squad was last together for the friendly matches against Spain and Sweden following the original incident between Terry and Anton Ferdinand, a QPR player. There has to be serious question marks, then, about whether senior England players would have been prepared to continue into Euro 2012 under captain Terry. Anton’s older brother Rio, who (when fit) partners Terry in central defense, was unimpressed by the court’s decision to delay the trial, as his Twitter account can attest to. In this sense, the FA’s decision is sensible in attempting to avert a potentially explosive dressing room at the European Championship.

It is naïve to believe, though, that simply taking the plastic armband away from Terry will remove all tensions within the England squad. For as long as Terry remains in the team while his trial is unfinished, division will surely continue. John Terry’s very presence in the squad must now be in doubt for that very reason. For Fabio Capello, it is another thoroughly unwanted sideshow in the lead up to a tournament that will decide his legacy as England manager. In 2010, the controversy surrounding Terry cost him Wayne Bridge, who felt he could not compete alongside Terry after his alleged dalliance with Bridge’s girlfriend. Now, Capello could be forced to leave aside Terry who is, for all his faults, still a powerful presence in central defence and for whom there are no major candidates for replacements. Were Terry to depart, Micah Richards would surely be in the frame to finally break into the squad (Capello has hitherto shown reluctance in giving the Manchester City defender a sustained run with England). Otherwise, Richards’ City teammate Joleon Lescott could be considered, though his form this season has been somewhat patchy. Away from that pair, cover looks worryingly threadbare. The whole situation seems a Catch-22 for the England manager: discord and enmity with John Terry’s presence, a fragile back line without.

Whatever the outcome, Capello will again be scratching his head at the attention on who captains the England football team. The significance of the captain in football is far less than in other sports such as rugby, where only the captain can speak to the referee during games, or cricket, where the captain directs team tactics. In England, the position has acquired a symbolic meaning and political importance, more so than in other big football nations – in Capello’s homeland of Italy, for example, the position of captain automatically goes to the player with the most international caps rather than being determined by merit of character. It is a focus he would clearly rather do without, with the press wasting no time in debating who Terry’s successor should be following Friday’s events. Rio Ferdinand has ruled himself out, but everybody from Steven Gerrard to Ashley Cole and Scott Parker has been suggested as a replacement.

Whether it is right or wrong for the England captaincy to be given special significance is a moot point. The fanfare surrounding the new captain – whoever that may be – will continue until England’s tournament opener against France on June 11. And while the FA is to be applauded for taking its firmly anti-racism stance, for England fans it is another build-up of controversy and division taking centre stage.

They must surely long for the halcyon days of 2002, when David Beckham’s left metatarsals were the sole pre-tournament talking point!

On a night when their main title rivals Manchester City were disposing of Stoke City at the Etihad, the red side of Manchester maintained the pressure with an away trip to Fulham that could barely have been easier. Three first half goals saw them pull clear of an insipid and frustratingly inconsistent Craven Cottage outfit, before Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov completed the rout close to full time.

United surged out of the blocks and were one up inside five minutes with a goal that would set the tone for the rest of the half. Nani took the ball inside Fulham’s territory and moved effortlessly down the left wing, cutting the ball back into the box for Welbeck to ease home at the far corner. The most striking feature of the goal – United’s fluent passing play aside – was the lack of pressure from Fulham that allowed it: no midfielders, no defenders gave Nani even a hint of a tackle, and Welbeck’s finish looked more like the completion of a training ground exercise than a crucial moment in a top-flight league match.

United gained more confidence from the goal, and continued to move the ball effortlessly about the park. Michael Carrick was efficient in centre-midfield, starting attacks with excellent distribution to the wide men – and after Phil Jones was injured with a potentially fractured cheekbone and replaced by Ashley Young, United had four traditional wide men marauding the pitch with Young partnering Nani, Giggs and Valencia. Two of those, Nani and Giggs, secured the win before half time, with a flicked header and a deflected effort respectively to ensure the Fulham players trudged to the sheds surrounded by boos at the break. And rightly so: this tepid display has been seen too often this season from the men in white, and how it must infuriate their fans. The tempo and pressure that was so effectively used in the recent win against Liverpool was nowhere to be seen.

Coming out in the second half, Fulham finally found their feet. They played with far greater intensity as influential figures such as Clint Dempsey and the increasingly popular Moussa Dembele fought hard. When you’re 3-0 down at the break after a weak first half, however, these efforts are almost always in vain, and when United decided to lift to another gear late on, more punishment was inflicted. Wayne Rooney, who had been putting in a hard-working if not outstanding performance for his side thus far, unleashed a classic long range drive that swung away from Fulham goalkeeper David Stockdale in front of the delighted United supporters, before the substitute Dimitar Berbatov added a sneaky back heel goal to make it five.

The 5-0 final score was a little harsh on Fulham given their second half work rate – but this was United’s night from start to finish, and although they will go to Christmas two points shy of their neighbours in sky blue, they will still be delighted to have rediscovered the free-flowing, free-scoring form that characterised the opening games of their campaign. The only sour note of the night for them was the aforementioned injury to Phil Jones, as well as to Ashley Young who returned to the bench with knee damage.

Fulham find themselves in more uncertain territory. In 13th position, just four points above the drop zone, they are in a maelstrom of sides of whom all could rise up the table, or just as feasibly get bogged down in a relegation fight. With the congested Christmas schedule just getting started, and tough fixtures against the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal coming up, they need to find fluency and consistency – and fast.

Fulham 0
Mancheser United 5 (Welbeck 5, Nani 28, Giggs 43, Rooney 88, Berbatov 90)

Settling into football management at any level is not easy for anybody, least of all a 34-year old who is attempting to steer one of the world’s wealthiest clubs back to the top of both domestic and European competitions. Yet this is the charge for Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea, with the wealth of the Roman Empire behind him. His outburst against Gary Neville, the former Manchester United defender and current pundit with England’s Sky Sports, betrayed the strain that the job is really taking on Portuguese manager.

Neville had criticised David Luiz, the Chelsea centre-back, saying he had played like a 10-year old on a PlayStation was controlling him in a recent match. An amusing simile to most and nothing more, from a man who is fast gaining a reputation as a balanced and intelligent pundit from fellow observers of the game (somewhat surprising considering his parochial passion for the red half of Manchester during his playing career) – yet Villas-Boas took exception to his words, and made a point of telling the media that he thought Neville unprofessional and overly disparaging to his player. This, meanwhile, came just a day after Villas-Boas roundly accused the British press of treating Chelsea differently to other big clubs, and being far too harsh to a team that is still alive in the Champions League, and (for the moment) still in the domestic title race.

And thus his mistake: rather than easing the pressure on the west London club, he has signposted the toll that the English game is taking on him less than halfway through his debut season. Other managers have clashed with the media; one only has to watch pre-match press conferences involving, say, Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger, to know that the relationship between journalist and football club is rarely an entirely happy one. But to single out one pundit (Neville) and to claim a conspiracy against his club smacks of tensions and anxieties not yet banished by the comfortable win over Valencia in mid-week.

Villas-Boas endeavours to have Chelsea playing an attractive brand of football. Too frequently this season, however, his sideline antics (see: the nervous squat as the team withstands pressure, followed by the ecstatic jump and flailing of limbs whenever a goal-scoring opportunity arises) have proved better entertainment than what is being served up on the pitch.

John Terry has been increasingly error-prone, and the distasteful racial vilification accusations against him are the latest in a long line of embarrassing off-field incidents for the club captain. Meanwhile, Frank Lampard’s star is clearly fading, with substitutions and bench appearances becoming the norm for a member of England’s so-called “golden generation”. Didier Drogba’s goal scoring feats against Valencia have not changed the fact that he looks a good bet to be leaving the club in the off-season. These are just the some of the issues that Villas Boas has been grappling to deal with so far in his tenure.

Adding to the questions posed by the aforementioned players (and others) is the worrying precedent set by the Abramovich administration in dealing swift justice to previous managers who have not brought home the required results. The most recent example, Carlo Ancellotti, will certainly weigh heavy on the Portuguese’s mind: the Italian was sent packing just a season after delivering a historic double to Stamford Bridge. It was questionable, at best, of Abramovich to force that change, and it is Villas-Boas who has to deal with those memories on a daily basis as he tries to forge his own legacy for Chelsea.

Winning matches, ultimately, banishes all self-doubt, all anxieties. A confident performance at home against the runaway league leaders Manchester City will boost Villas-Boas’ morale and halt any more comparisons from ex-players to certain video game consoles. But one thing is for certain: taking to the press to admonish those comparisons does nothing to promote an image of a stable, happy club purposefully going about its business. If the inconsistent football from Chelsea continues, one must doubt whether Villas-Boas will still be there to decry the many faces of the English media at this stage next season.

As we all know, this year’s La Liga coverage is enhanced 10x with GolTV still bringing us their quality coverage along side newcomers ESPN, who will have one game a week on ESPN or ESPN2 as well as numerous other matches on ESPN Deportes.

The week’s matches on TV (all times in EST)

Saturday August 29th

2:00pm – Real Madrid v Deportivo La Coruña — GolTV

Sunday August 30th

11:00am – Athletic Bilbao v Español — ESPN Deportes

1:00pm – Valencia v Sevilla — ESPN Deportes

3:00pm – Almeria v Valladolid — GolTV

Monday August 31st

4:00pm – Barcelona v Sporting Gijon – ESPN

If you are looking to catch the matches on Radio, most of the clubs have their own radio stations and simulcast games streaming online.  Also, you can turn to the old standby, Carrusel Deportivo on CadenaSer.

I’ll be turning into most of the games this weekend, which ones will you be watching?

With all of the trials and tribulations Valencia have faced on the pitch, their woes lie in the absolute Mount Everest of debt the club has racked up.  In June 2008 the club was in the hole to the tune of EUR 502 million and was forced to stop construction on the New Mestalla in February, thanks to the bust of real-estate and construction markets in Spain.  The club also fell behind on payments to David Villa and David Silva, Valencia’s biggest stars.  The debt has forced the club to consider selling it’s new stadium for EUR 300 million to help repay it’s creditors.

To avoid administration, Valencia was forced to raise some serious capital, and turned to their loyal fans for support.  According to VCF Chairman Tarsilo Piles, Valencia raised EUR 18 million by selling shares of the club to fans for EUR 48.05 a piece.  Piles said  “The interest of the foundation is to democratize the club so that we do not end up in the same situation as before and also so no one has a large enough piece to control the entire club.”

Valencia’s Assets

The largest assets to a majority of football clubs lie with it’s players and Valencia is no different.  David Villa has been rumored to come with a EUR 60 million price tag, but recent reports say Villa will stay put in Valencia after the club looked absolutly ridiculous this off-season with a footballing version of ‘He Loves Me’  (we want him, we want him not, we wan’t him…).

Reports in May placed David Silva at around EUR 45 million when he was rumored to be heading to Anfield to reunite with former Valencia skipper, Rafa Benitez.  At the same time, reports had Valencia offering a staggering GBP 135 million blockbuster deal to Manchester City for the duo.  Yes, that was to Man City and it could have been for GPB 300 million the way the papers report it, but you get the idea.

The club could also look to offload highly touted Ever Banega, who never materialized at Valencia and was off on loan at Atletico Madrid until the start of this season.  He was out of place his entire stay at the club.   Valencia paid EUR 18 million for Banega back in 2008 and he quickly gained notoriety for his exploits in the homemade porno industry, or as Banega himself titled, Banega, Always Big (I’ll leave the intrepretation to you). Banega was set to go to Stuttgart for GBP 7.5 million, but a rough patch between Unai Emery and VP Fernando Gomez has seemed to derail the train for now.

A New Hope

Reports say Valencia have been approved for a new loan backed by the Generalitat, Valencia’s regional government, from Bancaja for 74 million euros that will be repaid from the proceeds of a further share sale.  With the new influx of money, the club will rely heavily on season ticket holders to come through and renew.  Valencia have always had a strong socio base and last season more than 9,000 renewed their season tickets even before the 2009 season came to a close.

Valencia will also need to cash in on their appearance in the newly formed Europa League.  An impressive finish in the Europa League would leave the club with an influx of cash they can use to repay some of the club’s outstanding debt, and restructure for the future.  Below is the rubric for $$ for the UEFA Europa League in 2009/2010.  If Valencia rack up some wins and move on, they can have a significant amount of money into the club, as well as the increase in gate revenue for the Europa League matches at home and any shared gate during away matches.

UEFA Europa League 2009/2010:
1st qualifying round: 90.000 €
2nd qualifying round: 90.000 €
3rd qualifying round: 90.000 €
Playoffs: 90.000 €
Group stage: 1.000.000 €
Group match victory: 140.000 €
Group match draw: 70.000 €
1st knock out round: 200.000 €
2nd knock out round: 300.000 €
Quarter-finals: 400.000 €
Semi-finals: 700.000 €
Final: 2.000.000 €
Winning the final: 1.000.000 €

What do you think of the club’s future?  Will ticket sales and selling shares keep the club’s head above water, or are they just avoiding the inevitable? Is there anyway else for the club to raise the necessary funds to avoid administration?

Don't Worry, No one will notice...

Drugs? Football Players? FIFA Agents? 600 pounds of blow?  Oh come on now, this can’t be real?

Today in Spain, eleven people were arrested, five of which make or made their living in the world of football, on suspicion of smuggling 600 kilograms (yes, 600 kilograms) of Cocaine into Spain.

The main culprit behind all of this was Zoran Matijevic, a Serbian agent who apparently had too much time on his hands and wasn’t happy with the money he was bringing in via the beautiful game.  Apparently he was a bit behind the 8-Ball and needed to bring in some extra cash, and thanks to his frequent trips to South America, he was able to find a way to do that, through drug smuggling.

Also implicated in the sting, entitled Operation Cyclone, were two former Hercules players, Pedrag Stankovic and Jesus Emilio Dias, aka Txutxi.  The most suprising of the bunch is Rayo Vallecano defender Carlos de La Vega, a 29 year old Spanish national who went from hopes of going up with Rayo (who currently sit third place in the table) to making sure Bubba doesn’t get a hold of him at night.

The scheme was simple.  The five of them would front the cash needed to buy the drugs as if it was a huge mutual fund. Matijevic would go to South America, arrange for the sale of said drugs, and camouflage the drugs in windmill parts destined for Madrid.  Brilliant…what could go wrong?

In this case everything, as the Spanish authorities has a special sting ongoing and arrested a total of 11 men as the package made landfall in Madrid, but before the football conglomerate could get their hands on the nose candy.

This isn’t the end for Operation Cyclone as authorities questioned more players at both Rayo Vallecano and Poli Ejido.

No word yet on the fate of any of the involved players or agents, but I’m sure we’ll find out breaking news from such lovely telebasura such as Aqui Hay Tomate.

5 bucks to the first person who has a sign at Rayo’s ground saying ‘No, no, we don’t blow!’

Wait, I think Villarreal are already all over that one…