Categoría: Tienda de Fútbol Online

Take the most successful team of the world, ever, the strongest team of Africa, and one of the most competitive European squads, put them all together, and what do you get? The group of death!

Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal cannot afford to take any match in group G lightly, including the one against  the relatively weak North Korea, the 4th squad in the group.

Tuesday’s match between Portugal and Ivory Coast promises to be one of the hardest fought group matches and perhaps the most intriguing of all.

Ivory Coast  coasted through their qualifiers with Drogba scoring six goals. In contrast, Portugal barely qualified having to  engage in a play off with Bosnia.

Ivory Coast have suffered misfortune ahead of their opening match at the World Cup, with their star Didier Drogba fracturing his arm in a warm up against Japan.

Though he is said to be recovering after an operation, Drogba could sit the first match out.

Drogba is among the world’s best goal scorers, and his absence will hurt Ivory Coast who will look to  another Chelsea star Salomon Kalou to keep the scoreboard ticking.

Ivory Coast manager Eriksson will rely on his strong midfield comprising Yaya Toure and Zakora, and speedy winger Eboue, apart from the in form Tiote who plays for Dutch champions FC Twente.  If Drogba plays, they are likely to concentrate on feeding him.

Kolo leading the defence are other reliable players who have distinguished themselves for Ivory Coast, in the past, as is Arsenal full back, Emmanuel Eboue, who is coming off a successful club season.

Portugal have had their share of injury woes, their Manchester United winger Nani the latest casualty with a collarbone injury sustained in training. Benfica midfielder Ruben

Amorim has replaced Nani. This adds up to an additional load on Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, the captain of the side. Ronaldo has not scored for Portugal since Euro 2008, and he will be desperate to end the goal drought.

Before his current goal drought began, Cristiano Ronaldo was considered by many  as the world’s best player, with great dribbling skills, speed, and a happy penchant for scoring especially from set play situations.

 

Portugal will depend on Atletico Madrid winger Simao to reduce the pressure on his captain. Chelsea’s Ricardo Carvalho along with Pepe and Bruno Alves comprise a reliably strong defence.

Apart from an experienced midfield comprising Meireles, Deco and Mendes, Portugal has a solid defence, which will be bolstered further if Pepe is fully fit.

With a cloud over Drogba’s participation, Portugal enjoy a marginal advantage that is in turn offset by Ronaldo’s indifferent form. It’s hard to see a result in this match. Both teams might actually be happy to share points.

In Nigeria, the game of football is followed with a lot of passion considering the fact that the country remains the biggest exporter of footballers in major leagues of the world. The game is not however devoid of players who get famous for the wrong reasons. Below are the top five Nigerian players who though talented, were always at the receiving end of the media. Some are no longer active, while others are still actively involved in both club and country.

Etim Esin

Etim Esin was born in Oron in Akwa Ibom State, Southern Nigeria in the year 1960. He emerged as one of the most talented stars in the local scene when he helped Nigeria qualify for the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile. His urge potential however suffered serious dent due to lack of discipline and arrogance. In the height of his escapade, Etim Esin was shot by armed robbers in 1987 prior to the Junior World Cup. The nail in his coffin came while he was playing for AK Ghent of Belgium in the early 1990’s, as he was convicted of raping a Belgian girl and subsequently deported back to Nigeria by Belgian Immigration authorities.

Tarila Okorowanta

Tarila Okorowanta was a creative midfielder who became a local folk hero while playing for Shooting Stars football clubs of Ibadan in the 1980’s. His career was however engulfed in controversy due to lack of discipline and frequent breaking of camp rules. Tarila Okorowanta made the wrong headlines when he defected to Italy while Shooting Stars of Ibadan were returning back from an African Champions Cup match in Tunisia. That rash action led to the eventual fall of his wonderful but short career.

Gbolahan Salami

Gbolahan Salami is a striker with the Shooting Stars football club of Ibadan. A bulky and exceptionally gifted player, Gbolahan gained fame when he starred for Nigeria at the U-20 World Cup held in Egypt in 2009. The rising profile of the bully striker however suffered some knocks last year when he was slammed with a two match-ban for verbally assaulting his former coach at Sunshine football club- Gbenga Ogunbote. To compound his woes, he got a one year ban recently when Shooting stars were forced to a 1-1 draw by visiting Crown F.C of Ogbomosho in a Premier League fixture played on Sunday 30th January 2011. He allegedly attempted to attack the match referee- Michael Oshei for awarding a late penalty against his club-side.

Junior Osagie

Junior Osagie is a former Enyimba and Super Eagles of Nigeria invitee who was fond of breaking camp rules. The highly talented striker could not fulfill his goal of play professional football abroad due partly to his erratic conduct and the negative influence surrounding his career.

Akpan Bassey

Akpan Bassey is the only goalkeeper in the Nigeria Premier League to be given a one year ban since the inception of the league. He was a member of the Ladan Bosso-led U-20 team that participated at the 2007 FIFA World Cup held in Canada. Though lacking in height, he remains one of the best goalkeeper in the Nigeria Premier League till date. His superlative performance has even earned him invitations to the Super Eagles of Nigeria on several occasions. The Heartland F.C of Owerri shot-stopper had earlier been handed down a $650 fine and a one match ban on the 20th of January 2011 for shoving a referee during a Premier league match against Sunshine F.C of Akure.

One sad trend that can be observed from each of these players, is that they are all gifted and talented, but failure to abide by the rules of the game adversely affected their career. It is a lesson which other aspiring footballers must learn from.

The draw for this season’s UEFA Champions League last 16 has taken place and it certainly produced some mouthwatering encounters to look forward to. These games will take place on February 24th & 25th with the return legs two weeks later on March 10th & 11th. Here is the full draw as it was drawn in Nyon, Switzerland:

Chelsea v Juventus

Villarreal v Panathinaikos

Sporting Lisbon v Bayern Munich

Atletico Madrid v FC Porto

Lyon v Barcelona

Real Madrid v Liverpool

Arsenal v Roma

Inter Milan v Manchester United

The current champions Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson face their old friend, the former Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho and his Inter Milan side who were knocked out by Liverpool last year at the same stage. Mourinho had made it clear he wanted to draw one of the English «big four» clubs and he certainly got his wish, with the first leg to be played at the San Siro. The game at Old Trafford will no doubt revive memories of Mourinho’s famous celebration, as he ran down the touchline back in March 2004 when his Porto side scored a last minute equaliser that sent United crashing out of the Champions League. Of course Mourinho and Porto went on the lift the trophy that season beating Monaco in the final.

Sir Alex Ferguson is also looking forward to the tie as well. Ferguson believes it will be very interesting to come up against Mourinho as he has a character with a good personality. Contrary to what used to go on between the two when Mourinho managed Chelsea, Ferguson also said that he has always got on well with the now Inter Milan manager. It didn’t take long for Mourinho to also start the psychological word games by talking up Man Utd. He stated that he wanted to be drawn against the best and that he got the European champions. Man Utd could also be crowned World Club Champions in Japan this weekend too. Meanwhile another of the English teams, Liverpool, were drawn against the current Spanish champions Real Madrid and their new manager, ex Tottenham boss, Juande Ramos. The former Tottenham manager has only just taken over at the Bernabeu and will no doubt be looking forward to his return to England with the 9 times winners Real Madrid. Liverpool have the perceived advantage of the second leg at Anfield due to finishing their group on top. The tie is a repeat of the 1981 Paris final, which the English side won 1-0 thanks to a goal by defender Alan Kennedy. That was the last time these two giants of European football have met in a competitive game.

The draw also provided Italian coach Claudio Ranieri the chance of an emotional return to London and Stamford Bridge, against his former club Chelsea, last year’s beaten finalists. Ranieri is now the manager get Italian giants Juventus. Ranieri was a popular figure at Stamford Bridge before being replaced by non-other than Jose Mourinho in 2004. This despite Ranieri guiding them to the Champions League semi-final, where they lost to Monaco, who as mentioned above were then beaten by Mourinho and Porto. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal will have the first leg at home as they take on AS Roma. The Arsenal manager believes the Gunners, just like every other team now left in the competition, has a good chance of lifting the trophy in Rome come May. Despite both those difficult ties for Arsenal and Chelsea, they will have breathed a huge sigh of relief as the draw was made as they could have been paired with the current favourites Barcelona. They will have been extremely happy to have avoided the Catalans however, as mentioned above both Arsenal and Chelsea face difficult ties against AS Roma and Juventus respectively.

The «unlucky» team to draw Barcelona were the French champions Lyon and looking ahead to the game, their sporting director Bernard Lacombe admitted that they were very worried. Lyon couldn’t have been handed a more difficult game.

The Spanish team Villareal, which finished second in the group stages behind Manchester Utd, were handed, what on paper at least, looks one of the easier ties. They will face the Greek side Panathinaikos which pipped Inter Milan to top stop in their Group. So, Panathinaikos will equally be relived they didn’t finish second, as Utd would have been awaiting them. Former champions, and I suspect a dark horse for this season’s cempetition, Bayern Munich, will play the Portuguese team Sporting Lisbon and in the final tie of the round another Portuguese team Porto will go head to head with another Spanish team, Athletico Madrid.

There truly are some great games to look forward to in early 2009. No doubt there will be plenty of drama and a few shocks, the UEFA Champions League never disappoints once it has entered the sudden death knock-out stages.

Johan Cruyff is a legendary football player known the world over for his aggressive and intelligent style of play. Though he had success in his earlier years, it is when he joined FC Barcelona in 1973 that his star really began to shine.

Cruyff began his career in his home country of the Netherlands playing for AFC Ajax. There he led the team to many victories and memorable performances, but was eventually sold to FC Barcelona for a hefty sum. Cruyff wasted no time winning over the Barcelona fans, stating to the press that he chose Barcelona over their rivals Real Madrid because he didn’t want to play for a team associated with former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. He even named his son Jordi, a traditional Catalan (the region of Spain in which Barcelona is found) name.

Cruyff’s years playing for FC Barcelona were truly memorable and made him an icon. In his first year with the team, he helped them win La Liga for the first time in fourteen years (beating Real Madrid on their own turf along the way) and was also named European Footballer of the Year. It was during this time that he also scored one of his most memorable goals, called «The Phantom Goal» or «Le but d’imposible de Cruyff» (The Impossible Goal of Cruyff). In a match against Atlético Madrid, the football was already past the far goal post and was at about neck height when Cruyff leapt into the air, twisting so that he was facing away from the goal and kicked the ball into the goal with his right heel. This move among others propelled him to godlike status in the eyes of football fans.

Cruyff then spent many years away from FC Barcelona as a player and manager, until finally returning to the club as manager in 1988. When he returned to Barcelona, Cruyff brought with him the so-called «Dream Team». This elite squad was composed of Spaniards Jon Andoni Goikoetxea, Jose Mari Bakero, Josep Guardiola, Txiki Beguiristain, along with international stars Romanian Gheorghe Hagi, Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov, Dane Michael Laudrup, Brazilian Romario, and Dutchman Ronald Koeman.

Under Cruyff’s direction, the Dream Team went on to win four consecutive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994. They won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1989 and the European Cup in 1992 at Wembley Stadium with a famous free kick goal courtesy of Ronald Koeman. In 1990, the Dream Team won a Copa del Rey, the European Super Cup in ’92, and three Supercopa de Espana.

Cruyff remains FC Barcelona’s most successful manager to date, with eleven trophies to his name. He also has the distinction of being the club’s longest serving manager. He continues to be an advisor for FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta, whom he openly endorsed during the elections. To this day, he is still revered by FC Barcelona fans, who call him «El Salvador» (The Saviour) for his successful run as both player and coach at the club.

For the best part of the last decade, two names have dominated world football (soccer) more than any others; Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. These great rivals have broken countless football records, scored insane number of goals and pushed each other all the way to greatness despite the fact that they are two very different football players, playing two very different styles in two very different roles for two different clubs. The only thing that really connects the two is the ocean of ability that separates them from the rest of the players in the world. There can be no question as to whether the duo belongs in the pantheon of football all-time greats anymore. Although any effort to determine the greatest footballer of all time is subject to generational bias, it should be noted that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are not individually or collectively the greatest football player[s] of all time due to the following reasons;

Cristiano is not the best ‘Ronaldo’ to play the game: Despite his unparalleled achievement in and off the field of play, Cristiano Ronaldo is still not considered the best Ronaldo to have played the game. Ronaldo de Assisi (also known as Ronaldinho) and Ronaldo de Lima (the phenomenon) are the other ‘Ronaldos’ whose legendary attacking prowess is often compared to Cristiano Ronaldo’s. Ronaldo de Lima was a more explosive and complete striker who would have probably been the ‘World’s Best Striker Ever’ if he had stayed injury-free in his footballing career, while Ronaldinho was the entertainer who, at his peak, constantly wowed the footballing world. Cristiano Ronaldo is better than other ‘Ronaldos’ in terms of constituency over the years, phenomenal goal-scoring rates, overall fitness and prolonged career (due to low rate of injuries) but for sheer skill, explosiveness, superior technical ability, and the ‘wow’ factor, the two ‘Ronaldos’ are better than Cristiano Ronaldo.

Lionel Messi is not the best ever Argentine player: It is a well-known fact that for a footballer to be the best ever in the world, he has to be the best ever footballer in his country and sadly, Lionel Messi isn’t both. Lionel Messi is not the best football player Argentina has produced. That honor goes to Diego Armando Maradona. Maradona (widely regarded as one of the best football players ever) is a footballing legend that inspired Argentina to a world cup victory and S.S.C. Napoli (in the Italian Football League) to its first and second League title [Scudetti] in its history. He is the scorer of the world’s most dubious goal (the ‘Hand of God’ goal) and the FIFA Goal of the Century. There is virtually a cult around the player in Argentina. Diego Maradona (and Pele) is the benchmark for the illustrious South American nation when a new star comes on to the block. So, while Messi has dazzled on the European stage, passing milestone after milestone and picking up loads of awards, his countrymen regard him as the country’s second best football player ever.

Both players have never won the World Cup: Although the latter rounds of the modern-day UEFA Champions League would rival the FIFA World Cup in terms of quality, with talents from around the globe increasingly concentrated in the hands of an elite few, the World Cup still retains substantial symbolic value as a quadrennial competition which pit the best of one nation against the best of another. It is no secret Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have never won (or inspired their respective countries to win) the FIFA World Cup. Cristiano Ronaldo has won an European Cup (The Euros) with his home country, Portugal but has never been to the semi-finals or the finals of the World Cup while Lionel Messi was underwhelming in the 2014 world cup semi-final and final with his home country Argentina eventually losing to Germany. The World (and Messi) was shocked when he was named the best player and awarded the Golden Ball of the tournament. Lionel Messi is also a three-time runner-up in the Copa America competition with Argentina. Most football players such as Zinedine Zidane, Pele, Diego Maradonna, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo de Lima etc. often touted as the world’s best ever football player all played dominant roles in the World Cup tournament they eventually won. The same cannot be said presently of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

They are not Football’s best Goal-scorers ever: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are efficient, effective and phenomenal goal scorers boasting amazing goal per match ratio but they aren’t among the five best goal scorers in football history. Neither of them have scored up more than 700 goals in their respective careers so they cannot be in the company of great players such as Pele, Romario, Josef Bican, Ferenc Puskas (he has a FIFA goal-scoring award named after him), Gerd Muller. The rate of scoring of these legendary players is more impressive than that of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo given they ended their footballing careers with goal tallies well into the 800s. So if scoring goals are what makes footballers great, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, having better players boasting better goal tallies ahead of them, cannot be the greatest footballers of all time.

Both players have been accused of being criminals: They both have tax payment issues with the Spanish authorities (the country they reside and play in) and so have been accused of being criminals. After a lengthy trial that attracted so much publicity due to his status as a supremely gifted sportsman, Lionel Messi (and his father) was found guilty of not paying his taxes to the Spanish government, fined heavily and sentenced to two years in prison (he has since agreed to pay an increased fine rather than have a 21-month suspended prison sentence). His trial, guilty verdict, fine and (suspended) sentence damaged his credibility as a morally upright athlete who could do no wrong and that of his football club (FC Barcelona). Cristiano Ronaldo is also being investigated for tax evasion by the Spanish authorities, might be tried (or not), heavily fined and get a suspended prison sentence.

Their overall goal tallies are padded with too many penalties: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the greatest goal scorers of their generation. They score obscene number of goals in a football season but almost half of the total goals scored both players have come from the penalty spot. In football, penalties are the easiest way to score because it involves only the designated penalty-taker and a goal keeper to beat. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, being the designated penalty-takers of their respective club sides, always take every penalty kick awarded them or their teammates thereby increasing their goal tallies. In 2013/2014 Football season in England, Luis Suarez of Liverpool FC (before he moved to FC Barcelona to become a teammate of Lionel Messi) won the highest goal scorer award in the English Premier League and shared the European Golden Shoe award with Cristiano Ronaldo by scoring 32 goals in 33 games in open play without taking a single penalty. That is a record Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo do not yet hold.

They play for football’s most valuable clubs: Messi and Ronaldo play for super-clubs in Spain where the top sides score goals by the hatful. The second millennium’s new financial order unfortunately gave birth to the modern super team essentially creating a certain form of predictability in both domestic and continental leagues. Lionel Messi plays for FC Barcelona in Spain while Ronaldo plays for Real Madrid CF also in Spain. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF are extremely rich and dominant football clubs that can afford to buy and stockpile the best and most expensive football talent anywhere in the world and so Messi and Ronaldo are always surrounded and assisted by world-class players to aid in dominating continental club football thus raising their international profiles. Both clubs always have a slew of world-class players at their disposal which leads to utter domination in domestic (Spanish La Liga) and continental (UEFA Champions League) football competitions.

The benefit of playing in the Modern Era: It is almost impossible to compare players of different era in a game that has changed so much over the years. Great footballers like Ferenc Puskas, Alfredo di Stefano played in an era when the game was played at a tempo unrecognizably slower than in the modern era. That does not make them less great than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The game played presently has changed because of changes in rules governing the game and the quality of footballs produced and used. Players in the modern era are also fitter, faster, and stronger than they have ever been, but players (especially defenders) are technically weaker than they have ever been. The Champions League’s expansions of the nineties is also an advantage to the modern player: having a group stage allows a margin of error that simply did not exist in the knock out style pre-1995 tournament. It has never been easier for attackers – Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo probably would never score 40-60 goals a season in the 1980s when the rules governing the game and footballs used didn’t benefits attackers (strikers), and defenders/defenses were littered with world-class talents.

They are a part of football’s rich history: We view the history of the game through our own national experiences, or at least we did until the modern era, where we can watch the Spanish league, Messi and Ronaldo every weekend. It is worth remembering that in the 1970s and even into the 1980s, most of Europe just watched the European Cup and UEFA Cup games of their own national teams. So, here is a little suggestion; the next time Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo score a breath-taking goal and someone on Twitter suggests the debate (on the greatest football player) is over, head to YouTube and spend ten minutes watching goals from Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff, Pele, Ferenc Puskas, Roberto Baggio, Eusebio, Alfredo di Stefano and so on. There have been plenty of geniuses in the game, and Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are part of that rich football history.

Generational and positional bias in football: The hunt for the greatest football player in history is like that of the Holy Grail. All footballers (sportsmen) are products of their time. Due to football’s developmental stagnation relative to other sport and because there are so many different positions, and so many roles within those positions, it is hard to have a worthwhile conversation about who the best football player of all time is. Since the main objective of the game is to score a goal, the best goal scorers such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will always be near the top of any list about the game’s best players.

Conclusion; Don’t kid yourself that there won’t be another player like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, no-one thought they would see another player like Diego Maradona.