Club football took a week off as internationals moved into a temporary spotlight. As always, there was plenty of talk about, so here’s my pick of the action.
Spain’s world domination continues with a come from behind win
The juggernaut continued for La Roja on Saturday night in Prague as the world and European Champions defeated a testing Czech Republic side 2-1. On top of recording a 38th win in their last 44 matches since 2006, their superstar striker David Villa netted a brace to lift him above Raul as Spain’s all time leading scorer in internationals.
Furthermore, the exceptional Xavi passed his own milestone when he received his 100th cap in the same match.
With this Barcelona duo at age 29 and 31 respectively and a dream team of players around them, it’s hard to see when this incredible era is going to end. Beware the rest of the football world.
England gets the job done again, but issues still remain
England’s problems in international football are often well documented, so rather than re-visit them, I’m going to take a simple look at what we learnt from a 2-0 win against Wales in Cardiff.
Scott Parker and Jack Wilshere proved why fans have been calling for their inclusions sooner with tireless and passionate performances that included ferocious pressing and work-rate, something we haven’t seen from England in a long time.
Ashley Young also impressed on the right, giving Fabio Capello food for thought with rivals Theo Walcott, James Milner, Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips out.
On the negative, Wayne Rooney showed his silly side with a needless booking, while Glen Johnson refused to defend once again, leaving me to imagine the effect the absent Gareth Bale would have had.
Plus, it was against a 116th ranked Wales side that clearly had limitations and five championship players in their starting 11.
At the end of the day though, the job was done professionally and it was three more points towards appearing in next year’s championships, something that wasn’t done in 2008.
By the way, the captaincy saga looks like it’s going to drag on even further when it was revealed today that Gareth Barry will wear the arm-band in the friendly against Ghana that will see a whirlwind of change. So much for continuity eh…
Racism mars Brazilian win against sluggish Scots
A lot has been said about Neymar in the last 12 months and the Brazilian starlet justified the hype surrounding him with a wonderful performance in his first senior appearance in Europe.
He scored both goals at the Emirates against Scotland and showed everybody just why Chelsea and Manchester City are eyeing him up. Santos resisted an approach from the Londoner’s last season, but on this performance, their resolve to keep the wonder kid will be tested.
Unfortunately, though, the match may not be remembered for his dazzling efforts on the pitch, rather an alleged incident where a banana was thrown on the pitch as the 19 year-old prepared to take the penalty which sealed the game for Brazil.
Bad week for bad-boy Balotelli
At 20 years of age, and with bags of talent, there is no doubt that Mario Balotelli could become one of the finest players in world football in the years.
But the troubled forward continues to live up to his ‘unique’ reputation.
Last week, embarrassing footage emerged of Balotelli struggling to put on a bib on the training field and then got himself sent off for an awful tackle, effectively ruining Manchester City’s chances of advancing further in the Europa League.
Italian manager Cesare Prandelli then left the eccentric youngster out of his squad for the qualifiers saying the play must mature more before he earns a recall. Sadly it may be some time before we see him in the Azzuri shirt after he decided to throw darts from a first floor window because he was ‘bored’.
What next?
Club vs. Country row
The row between club and country has once again surfaced in the build-up to the U-21 European Championships in the domestic off-season.
Having watched the tournament myself four years ago when I was back in the UK (as well as the World Cup two years ago), I must admit, I was extremely impressed by the quality of the players and the football that was on show and I am looking forward to it once again in June.
But will we be denied the opportunity to see the talent shine this time around?
Using England as an example, it is believed that Stuart Pearce is desperate to take youngsters and full internationals Jack Wilshere and Andy Carroll to the tournament to strengthen the young lion’s bid for the title.
It looks like Arsene Wenger and Kenny Dalglish are going to step in the way of that though and with the FA seemingly siding with Pearce, another of these wars seems likely.
Wilshere has already stated he wants to play, but will he get his wish? I can assure you that this debate is far from over!
Super Ceni
Finally, I’ll end with a salute to Sao Paulo custodian Rogerio Ceni, who scored a record 100th career goal on the weekend against rivals Corinthians. The 38 year old has made a name for himself over the years as a ‘specialist’ free kick and penalty merchant and has impressively scored the whole century with Sao Paulo in a career that’s spanned over 20 years for the tri-color Paulista.
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