Italy: 2006-2007 Serie A Preview

A sign of things to come: Zanetti & Inter beat Roma to the title - well, the Supercopa title that is.





So last night I sat down, cappucino and tiramisu at my side for added inspiration (and energy), to write this year's Serie A preview, and sat there stumped, unable to type much of anything for hours. I mean, what can you say about this summer's soccer news in Italy? Did anything happen? Were there any signings? Any controversies? Anything? Well, no news is good news, I guess. Barring any last-minute changes, here's my top five: Juventus, Milan, Inter, Fiorentina, and Lazio. Pretty much the same as last year. Good luck trying to argue that.

All kidding aside, where do you start a preview of Serie A? The biggest club in the country is in Serie B now and must overcome a 17-point penalty just to make it back to the big leagues. The second-biggest club in the country is still in Serie A but has its own 8-point penalty to deal with. One of the feel-good teams of last year also has a point penalty, not to mention a star striker that spent half the summer trying to leave. Even the Azzurri's World Cup win proved less enjoyable and harder to understand than it should have: after De Rossi's first-round elbow, the controversial win over Australia, and Materazzi's foul play in the final, was anyone outside of the Boot really all that happy to see the Italians win it all? And how was it that a team loaded with talents like Luca Toni, Alex Del Piero, Filippo Inzaghi, Alberto Gilardino and Andrea Pirlo only put together one truly impressive performance (the 2-0 semifinal win over Germany)? Maybe the answer is a testament to the shocking indictment of Italian soccer that is the Serie A scandal. Even though it proved to be a galvanizing boost for the national team in the World Cup and no punishments were handed out until a week after the final in Berlin, the scandal seemed to overshadow everything.

For many years now, Italian soccer has been viewed with more than a healthy dose of suspicion - when a country has a history of corruption like Italy's, it's not hard to understand why, but most of the skepticism also stemmed from the clearly preferential treatment enjoyed by leading clubs Juventus and AC Milan. Some chalked this bias down to the fact that both clubs were Northern powers - Italy has long been a country with a deep-rooted North/South rivalry; but one need look no further than the highly dubious calls that went against AC Milan's city rivals Internazionale to realize that this was no regional issue. And as it was revealed in a court of law this summer, it wasn't: Juve and Milan had been part of a group of teams that was wielding far too much power over referees, from which referees handled which games to what calls these referees made in said games. The aforementioned Lazio and Fiorentina were also implicated. When all four clubs were hit with harsh punishments, count me among the many who were surprised that justice had been served. But not so fast - all four clubs appealed and all four had their punishments reduced. Despite promises to the contrary, Juve's board members were in fact not all willing to accept their demotion to Serie B, so the appeals process went on. And on. And on. And around the world, soccer fans watched in horror as one of the world's greatest soccer leagues had turned into a farcical circus of lawyers, board members, and state tribunals. Somehow, after all the damage done by the initial proceedings, the guilty parties managed to make matters worse by continuing to deny, deny, deny...appeal, appeal, appeal. So here we are, in the last days of August, still two weeks away from the kick-off of this season's Calcio. And how can one possibly predict it all, what with the corruption of past years and this year's point penalties? Damned if I know, so here goes nothing:

For starters, the team on the wrong end of so many calls in recent years, Inter, now finds itself as the defending champion (despite finishing last year 15 points behind Juve and 12 behind Milan). Moreover, no team in Europe (not even Chelski or Real) managed to spend more than Inter this summer. For a little added salt on the proverbial wounds, they raided the Old Lady for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira. Massimo Moratti also signed Maxwell from Ajax, Maicon from Monaco, Fabio Grosso from Palermo, Olivier Dacourt from Roma and, from Chelsea, they got Hernan Crespo to complete the most outrageous group of strikers in recent memory: along with Ibra and Crespo, the Nerazzurri already have the likes of Adriano, Julio Cruz, and Alvaro Recoba. All of this meant that Inter themselves had to offload some talented youngsters, such as Obafemi Martins (to Newcastle) and David Pizarro (Roma). The question on everyone's minds is not if Inter have enough talent to, um, repeat as champions, but if they (specifically, coach Roberto Mancini) can mold such a bloated, ego-laden group of superstars into a coherent unit capable of equalling the sum of its parts. With an eight-point cushion to work with, they should be okay. Plus, the refs won't be conspiring against them for once. Still, if there's one team that could find a way to blow this, it's Inter. And if they do, God help them - but this has to be the first time in a long time that a team is almost in a no-win situation to start the season. If they win, then all of their rivals will claim that the season should always have an asterisk next to it. If they lose, well, let's just say that there could be dead bodies all over the San Siro & I wouldn't be surprised. They could be the first team to win back-to-back Serie A titles and not really get any credit or respect for them. Ahh, Inter - gotta love em.

Across town, AC Milan have done nothing, absolutely positively nothing, to inspire confidence. They lost their best player, Shevchenko, to Chelsea and replaced him with...Ricardo Oliveira?!? This guy is a Brazilian who managed to convince his former club Real Betis to let him go rehab from an injury in Brazil in the hope that he might be able to get fit in time to impress the national team coach to call him up for the World Cup. And when it comes time to go back to Betis this summer, what does he do? He bails on them, refuses to return to Spain, and then demands a transfer. Class act, that Oliveira. Other than him, the Rossoneri have signed a promising French kid, Yohan Gourcuff, and that's about it. Combine the fact that this is a thin, aging squad with an 8-point deficit and all in all, Milan will be fine with just securing a Champions League spot for next year and putting this whole fiasco behind them. With Kaka and Pirlo and Nesta still sporting the red and black, Milan should be able to do just that.

Outside the San Siro, there's just not much to be excited about. A lot of cavernous, empty stadiums, flare-throwing fans, and defensive-oriented catenaccio doesn't exactly get me fired up to watch some footie on weekend afternoons. Maybe the only other reason to pay attention to Serie A this year is a really good youth movement going on down at Roma. A la Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla, Roma have opted to bring in the best youngsters around and this approach is starting to pay off. This summer, the Giallorossi have brought in the aforementioned Chilean, Pizarro, and Serb striker Mirko Vucinic. These two should bring more offensive firepower to a side that already has Francesco Totti, Roberto Taddei, Vincenzo Montella, Daniele De Rossi and Mancini; at the back, Christian Chivu and Phillippe Mexes give the Romans one of the best defensive partnerships in the world. If there is any squad that can legitimately challenge Inter and Milan this year, it's Roma. And when all is said and done, that's exactly what they'll do, but look for Inter to have too much depth and experience to let this Scudetto slip away.

1. Inter
2. Roma (good to see Diadora is still churning out quality unis, from here to Scotland)
3. Milan
4. Parma (this year's Cinderella story)
5. Udinese
6. Palermo (a solid season last year, plus a great, intimidating stadium to call home)
7. Sampdoria
8. Chievo
9. Fiorentina (keeping Toni was huge)
10. Lazio (you know how we feel about sky-blue unis here at WSB)

Off & Running in Espana

Man of the Hour: Joaquin shows off his skills in Valencia. His former team, Albacete, had no comment.




An eventful start to la Liga, complete with a champion in crisis, a heated local derby, and a debut down in the Bernabeu. Most newsworthy, though, was the league opener - a dandy of a match-up between Valencia and Betis in Mestalla - that was completely overshadowed by the impending transfer of Betis's favorite son, Joaquin. Only in Spain, some might say. The beloved winger had declared a week earlier that his days in Sevilla had come to an end. Despite the fact that top clubs such as Chelsea, Real Madrid, and Milan had all expressed an interest in the right-winger, no one's interest was as serious as Valencia's. Still, Betis would not let them close the deal, either as a sly time-wasting tactic to keep their poster boy from debuting against them in the season opener or in an effort to hold out for more Euros. Either way, the saga soon turned farcical; the day before the match, Betis management took the shocking decision to agree to loan Joaquin to Albacete, one of la Liga's lesser-known teams. Joaquin, in fact, went so far as to turn up in Albacete for his presentation. Of course, Betis then took Joaquin back from Albacete, the loan deal apparently having only been good for an hour or two. Then, the night of the Valencia game, the Betis president summoned Joaquin to a midnight meeting with representatives of Olympique Lyon. Just when all hell seemed to be breaking lose, Valencia finally announced that they had agreed to purchase Joaquin for 25 million Euros, the second most expensive transfer of the Spanish summer. And oh yeah, Valencia beat Betis 2-1.

The next game to kick off was the Basque derby, an always frenetic affair pitting Athletic Bilbao against Real Sociedad. Whatever you think of Athletic, you must respect the amazing fact that they have managed to survive in the top flight decade after decade while strictly adhering to a policy of fielding only Basque-born players. Imagine how long Green Bay would last in the NFL with an only Wisconsin-born squad. Their opponents from San Sebastian have their own policy, albeit a rather less risky one that permits them to play only players from the Basque country or the rest of the world, but no Spaniards. The match in Bilbao's ancient and glorious stadium San Mames, known as "El Catedral", was hardly a feast of quality football, but it came to life in minute 36 when the linesman shockingly called a penalty for Athletic. The Sociedad players were appalled, justifiably so when replays clearly showed that the ball had in fact hit the outstreched arm of a Bilbao player. Next time, before calling a penalty, the linesman might want to take note of the fact that Sociedad players were the only ones who cried foul after the play, while all the Bilbao players turned to run back downfield. Of course, the linesman can also chalk his error down to the fact that both teams wore striped uniforms, the hosts in red & white and the visitors in blue & white. Maybe the poor chap is colorblind, but it didn't matter to Bilbao, who scored the penalty but, after hanging on for most of the second half, were stunned by a late Sociedad equalizer. Justice was served: 1-1 it finished and the only loser on the day was the error-prone linesman.

Another refereeing error reared its ugly head in Barca's match against Celta. The defending champs, devoid of their star Ronaldinho, entered the game as a team in crisis, despite their fully-stocked trophy case. Last week, striker Samuel Etoo, unhappy at being substituted at halftime, stormed out of the stadium in Barca's Supercopa win over Espanyol and just a few days later, the Blaugrana were at the wrong end of a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of UEFA Cup champ Sevilla in the European Supercup. It was clear that there were problems both on and off the field for Barca. At the intermission, the problems looked set to continue: a goal from Celta striker Baiano had given the sky-blues an undeserved 1-0 lead in the Balaidos stadium. Well, whatever Frank Rijkaard said at halftime clearly worked. Of course, his team - as they did last year, too - got some help from the refs; this time the man in the middle failed to call Barca's Ludovic Giuly for offside, despite his clearly interfering with play and obstructing a Celta defender from stopping Samuel Etoo from scoring the equalizer. The shootout was on: another Barca goal, this time by Messi, was matched by Celta tying it again thanks to , setting the scene for new boy Eidur "Albino" Gudjohnsen scoring the winner just three minutes from time. So much for the crisis at the Camp Nou - Barca put any of that talk to rest with a scintillating second-half, full of the inventive midfield play and inspired attacking that made them so hard to beat and so fun to watch last season. And to think that Ronaldinho never even had to bother to lace up his boots...

Barca's main competition this year will surely come from their arch-rivals Real Madrid, despite evidence to the contrary this weekend in the Bernabue. On Fabio Capello's debut, his new team put forth exactly the type of performance that everyone expected...and everyone feared. A staunch defense, minimal attacking, and ultimately a drab 0-0 draw with Villareal. Blah blah blah - as Villareal's Italian Alessio Tacchinardi pointed out, that type of play might work in the catenaccio-crazed Serie A, but not in la Liga, where winning is nice, but "jogo bonito" is imperative. To be fair, though, Capello is caught in a catch-22: everyone agrees that Real's problem in recent years has been a lack of defensive skill to match its offensive firepower - you're just not going to win much of anything with the likes of Thomas Gravesen, Pablo Garcia, Francisco Pavon, Ivan Helguera, and Alvaro Mejia at the back, but no one really gets too excited about the signings of Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson, and and Mahamadou Diarra. Hopefully for fans of los Merengues (not the dessert, dummy), Capello will find a happy medium and all of his defensive acquisitions will give his attackers the chance to push forward with confidence. It's hard to imagine that even a coach with the defensive demands of Capello could put the brakes on an attack that boasts of Ronaldo, Raul, Robinho, Julio Baptista, Antonio Cassano and Guti, but tell that to the Madrileno fans that witnessed the scoreless snoozefest on Sunday. Ronaldo's out injured, Baptista never made it off the bench, and Robinho and Guti were only sent into the fray with half an hour to play. Cassano put in another good performance that testifies to his resurgence under his countryman Capello, Raul looked lively on the left wing, and Beckham put in another combative but not-so-effective on the right, but for the most part Van Nistelrooy was on his own up front and, despite the defense never looking too troubled, it was not an afternoon to remember at the Bernabeu. One game in the books and already the fans are restless in Madrid - when they're already two points behind Barca, not to mention cross-town rivals Atletico (1-0 winners at Racing Santander), it's easy to understand why.

Unfortunately, thanks to the brilliant schedule-makers at FIFA, no sooner have things gotten started when la Liga will take a two-week break for international play (and three days of last-minute transfer manuveurings). But don't despair yet - a World Cup final rematch, sans Zidane & Materazzi of course, is set for next week, with an Argentina-Brazil friendly in London a pretty intriguing appetizer. Buen provecho!

You hear that?

Barcelona's extra-terrestrials try to figure out how the hell they just got shellacked by a team of mere earthlings.




That thud you just heard off in the distance was the sound of the two top teams in Europe crashing back down to Earth in the first weeks of this young season. Barcelona, back-to-back la Liga champs and reigning Champions League title-holders, and Chelsea, back-to-back kings of the Premiership, have already been rudely reminded that their successes of yesteryear are no guarantee to expect more of the same this year. Not to mention, the consensus predictions of more trophies to come will not exactly instill the humility necessary to get the squads working hard. Frank Rijkaard and Jose Mourinho, the respective coaches of Barca and Chelski, have already gone on record as suggesting some humble pie for their star-studded squads. Still, the best recipe for humility is a loss and both teams have already suffered setbacks. Barca, in fact, have already tasted the nasty sting of defeat even though la Liga doesn't start until this weekend - on Thursday, Barca's stars raked in one UEFA award after another for their performances last year; on Friday, the Blaugrana went down 0-3 to fellow Spanish side Sevilla in the European Supercup, the annual match-up of Champions League and UEFA Cup winners. Up in England, the Blues, having already lost to Liverpool in the Charity Shield, contrived to do the unthinkable: blow a one-goal lead (in the past a surefire victory for Mourinho's boys) late in the game and fall 1-2 at the hands of Middlesborough, a mid-table team if ever there was one. Of course, it's still only August and there is no guarantee that these setbacks are an early taste of things to come (after all, both Barca and Chelsea won over the weekend, the former coming from behind to beat Celta 3-2 and the latter downing Blackburn 2-0), but maybe, just maybe, we're seeing yet another case of a team enjoying too much success too soon and quickly becoming a victim of their own arrogant expectations of automatic victories. Remember that it only took Real Madrid a short three months in 2003 for the wheels to come off: coming off a Champions League title in '01 and a la Liga crown in '02, los Galacticos looked to be cruising to more titles as the season entered its home stretch, but no sooner had a squad replete with stars like Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo, Beckham and Raul been upset 2-3 by Real Zaragoza in the Kings Cup, then all of a sudden los Blancos were eliminated by Monaco in the Champions League and embarking on a lengthy losing streak in la Liga. No trophies would be hoisted that year by Real, nor in the next two seasons. From an unstoppable squad to a bunch of losers in just a few months, Real's collapse should serve as a warning sign to Barca and Chelsea, as should Brazil's national team. This summer everyone had el Selecao pencilled in as World Cup champs before a ball had been kicked, but they appeared over-confident, ill-prepared, and ripe for an upset - sure enough, out they went at the hands of France. At least Barca and Chelsea are not in a single-elimination tourney at the moment, so they've got plenty of time to sort it out; if they don't, then rest assured that much-improved teams like Real Madrid and Liverpool will be ready to pounce. And if the defeats of last week are any indication, there could be some titles surprisingly changing hands this year. Watch this space.

Sold Like a Boat

Ronaldo to Inter: "Mmm, ravioli, delicious...it's so good when it hits your lips".








24 hours and counting until the transfer market closes in Europe, so clubs across the continent are furiously racing to beat the clock and snag a few more key signings before it's too late. Almost every major club is still working on one deal or another: Man United continues to chase Bayern's Owen Hargreaves because they failed to sign Inter's Patrick Vieira, whose new club are after Real's Ronaldo now that Milan turned their attention to Betis' Oliveira, who will be leaving that club along with Joaquin, sought by Valencia, who are trying to hang on to Roberto Ayala, who is rumored to be headed to Villareal, who signed Robert Pires from Arsenal, who might lose Ashley Cole to Chelsea, who acquired Michael Ballack from Bayern, who sold Paolo Guerrero to Hamburg, who must replace the departed Sergej Barbarez who moved to Bayer Leverkusen, who need to find a substitute for Dmitar Berbatov, now a Tottenham player, but not a teammate of former Spurs star Michael Carrick, sold to none other than Man United. Got it? Oh, nevermind. It's all one big frenzy anyway, what with all of the rumors in the press and misleading comments by the clubs, so trying to stay make sense of it before the smoke clears come August 31 is a near impossibility. Having never been one to back done from such an exercise in futility, we'll still give it a shot anyway.

No discussion of this summer's transfer activity can start anywhere else but Turin. The city in the north of Italy, home to troubled superclub Juventus, has seen a mass exodus of its footballing heroes. No sooner had the courts finished reading the guilty verdict sentencing Juve to Serie B (and minus-17 points at that) had the vultures, er, other teams pounced on Juve's array of superstars. Not a captain to go down with his ship, coach Fabio Capello jetted off to Real Madrid, bringing defender Fabio Cannavaro and midfielder Emerson with him. Another duo soon to follow them to Spain were defenders Gianluca Zambrotta and Lilian Thuram who joined Euro champs Barcelona. Shortly thereafter midfielder Patrick Vieira and striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic were off to Inter Milan. Oh, and striker Adrian Mutu moved down to Tuscan giants Fiorentina. And there's still more to come: winger Mauro Camoranesi is clearly unwilling to stay with the club and striker David Trezeguet may also move on to pastures new. Anytime a major European club has a summer firesale, you can expect it to have a ripple effect throughout the other top leagues, but of course no country will feel the impact quite like Italy. All of a sudden, Inter have been declared last year's champs as part of Juve's punishment and the Nerazzurri have now raided Juve's ranks for two of its best players - how the tide has turned, no? In fact, no side in the world has spent as more than Massimo Moratti's Inter: as well as Vieira and Ibra, Internazionale has brought in Hernan Crespo from Chelsea, Fabio Grosso from Palermo, Olivier Dacourt from Roma, Maxwell from Ajax, and Maicon from Monaco, giving coach Roberto Mancini a wealth of talent to work with. I mean, Moratti makes Roman Abramovich look like a cheapskate. The only question now is not if there is enough talent at Inter, but if they can mold all of it into a team equal to the sum of its parts. To start with, which of his star strikers will Mancini relegate to the bench? And what will happen when Adriano (or Ronaldo) or Crespo or Ibrahimovic realizes that they're nothing more than a substitute? Across town, Milan have done next to nothing this summer (outside of court, that is) - not exactly the revolution that everyone demanded after watching the aging Rossoneri lose out to Juve in the Serie A and get dominated by Barca (though the scoreline didn't show it) in the Champions League semis. Further south, Roma continue to follow Arsene Wenger's model of bringing in top young talent by acquiring Chilean David Pizarro, deemed surplus to requirements amidst this summer's Inter influx. He should fit in beautifully in a side already stocked with the likes of Daniele de Rossi, Simone Perrotta, Christian Chivu, Phillippe Mexes, Mancini, and Francesco Totti, who should put de bulge in de ole onion bag dozens of times this year. I'd write more, but I don't want to spoil your appetite for WSB's Serie A preview, coming sometime next week.

Along with Inter, another club that has improved immeasurably is Real Madrid. Despite a general feeling among the Madrid fanbase that the club needed to offload its aging group of superstars and start anew with young blood (a process they started last year by signing Robinho, Julio Baptista, Sergio Ramos, Cassano, and Cicinho), new coach Fabio Capello seems to disagree. After watching the veterans of France and Italy do battle in the World Cup final, few Madrilenos can argue that there's something to be said for experience. In steps Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Mahamadou Diarra, but more importantly what Capello has done is give Madrid the equilibrium it has so desperately lacked in recent years. It's no coincidence that ever since los Blancos jettisoned defensive pitbull Claude Makelele and centerback Fernando Hierro a few years ago, they've won a grand total of zero trophies, a string that wouldn't even be considered a drought at most other clubs but at Real is just about as bad as it gets. Capello's teams may not play exciting footie, but such a strong defensive backbone should give the offensive end of the team, including Antonio Cassano, Robinho, Raul, Ronaldo (or Adriano), Guti and Van Nistelrooy (to call it an impressive attack is like saying that Bill Gates has a modest savings account) the freedom and confidence it needs to push forward. Watch out, Barca. But I'd say that another la Liga side, Real Zaragoza, really made the signing of the summer in bringing in Argentine Pablo "El Payasito" Aimar. The little guy has had some injury issues in past seasons, but when he's healthy he's every bit as good as Milan's Kaka and Villareal's Riquelme. Don't say I didn't warn you. Down south, Sevilla got the fantastic Dane Christian Poulsen to boost their midfield, while Madrid's city rivals Atletico had a busy summer, but the real steal of the bunch should prove to be young Argentine Sergio Aguero. Barca got their two Juve cast-offs and Chelsea's Eidur Gudjohnsen, but with their star-studded squad they hardly needed a lot of help.

Speaking of "galacticos, another team full of stars, Roman Abramovich's Chelski, has hauled in two studs of its own: Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko. Yep, the rich get richer, but is Jose Mourinho making the same mistake Real did a few years ago and forgetting about his defense in favor of big-name offensive stars? Sorry, but Khalid Bouhlarouz ain't no William Gallas. Across town, this man's two cents says that Arsene Wenger made a much more astute signing in Czech playmaker Tomas Rosicky than anyone that Mourinho or Sir Alex brought in. Ditto for Tottenham picking up midfield dynamo Didier Zokora, who should be a more-than-adequate sub for the departed Carrick. One player that both Spurs and the Gunners want to sign, Real's Julio Baptista, would be a super signing for either team - once he got his feet wet in his first season at the Bernabeu, he lived up to his nickname of "La Bestia" ("The Beast"), but Real appear willing to let him go as part of Capello's new No-Offense policy. But I digress. Up on Tyneside, Newcastle has done very well in acquiring Damien Duff and Obafemi Martins - more importantly, they've gotten rid of Jean-Alain Boumsong, which should help their goal average exponentially more than Duff and Martins combined (what's worse for Juve fans - the fact that their club is stripped of titles and relegated to Serie B or that they'll have to watch Boumsong in action for the next few years?). Another club short on strikers, Liverpool, had an excellent off-season, too: Rafa the Gaffa continued to raid the sunny shores of Spain for the likes of Chilean winger Mark Gonzalez (second-best British signing) and Brazilian left-back Fabio Aurelio, to go with troubleboys Craig Bellamy and Jermaine Pennant. Why he didn't sign Lee Bowyer, too, I will never know, but hey, if (nay, when) there's a massive bar-fight in Liverpool that ends with bloodshed and hospital stays, at least Scotland Yard will know who dun it.

One man that Newcastle desperately wanted but couldn't acquire was Werder Bremen's Miroslav Klose, who surprisingly stayed put after his impressive World Cup run, which is a good thing for Werder, who lost the excellent Nelson Haedo Valdez to Borussia Dortmund - he's this site's pick for Bundesliga signing of the summer. However, based on the first few games, Werder have done pretty well for themselves by getting Brazilian Diego to sign from Porto; the former teammate of Robinho at Santos has been absolutely sensational in his side's start to the season. Werder's main rivals for the title are, of course, Bayern Munich, who look to be close to acquiring Barca's Mark Van Bommel to replace Ballack. I've never been a fan of the Dutchman, so count me among those who think that Bayern will really miss Ballack, even more so if ManU manages to swipe Hargreaves, too. At the back, consider ginormous Belgian Daniel Van Buyten a massive upgrade over injured Valerien Ismael. Another Bayern-Hamburg deal was the Bavarians' acquisition of the promising Lukas Podolski, making another yung 'un, Paolo Guerrero, free to move in the other direction to Hamburg.

Seeing as my face is now dripping in sweat and my fingers are bleeding from typing this 36,000 word recap of Europe's frenetic summer of signings, I'm going to sign off here. And honestly, who really cares what clubs in Portugal or France or Holland did? (If you're reading this in any one of those countries, um, don't answer that) And if anything happens in the next 24 hours (and rest assured, it will), you can count on us to be covering it all here at World Soccer Blogger - that is, if we get the sensation back in our fingers.

Spain: 2006-2007 La Liga Preview

Hell freezes over: Who ever thought they'd see the day when Real's big signing was a defensive midfielder from Mali?





Bust out the gambas al ajillo and tortilla espanola. Whip up a few pitchers of sangria. Catch a quick siesta and finish that damn Don Quixote book - it's time for la Liga. Come this weekend, the best league in the world is back in action. And boy have things changed since the boys in Iberia hung up their boots back in May. Almost half the teams have new coaches, the biggest club went out and got a brand-new president, general manager, and coach, a boatload of superstars from Italy, England, Argentina and France have flocked to the footie heaven of la Primera, and some big-names have changed squads over the summer break. Welcome to la Liga 2007.

Well, before we get all caught up in what's new in Espana, let's start with what hasn't changed: Barca is still beating all-comers, Real Madrid is still a bit of a mess, and Atletico still looks like world-beaters on paper. Okay, so maybe calling it an extreme makeover might be a bit of an exaggeration, but a closer look indicates that a repeat of last year's league table is probably not on the cards. And that's a good thing - after Barca's back-to-back Liga titles in 2004 and 2005, plus a Champions League title last year for good measure, a little jolt of excitement is just what la Liga needs. Of course, in the two-horse race that is the Primera, if anyone hopes to mount a challenge to the Catalan giants, it's the Blancos over in the Bernabeu. Will Real Madrid be able to right the ship and put up a good fight this year? Further back in the title race, can Atletico make all of their talent gel into a cohesive, consistent team for once? Can Valencia return to the glory days of a few years ago? Will Villareal manage to duplicate last year's Cinderella run to the Champions League semis in la Liga? And what will become of some of the other danger squads like UEFA Cup champs Sevilla, their hated city rivals Real Betis, last year's fourth-place finishers Osasuna, and former front-runners Deportivo La Coruna? Questions abound in la Liga de las Estrellas. For answers, read on.

After watching their domination of Spain and Europe last year, one would be hard pressed to find any chinks in Barca's armor, but that doesn't mean we can't try. In the past few seasons, no team in the world has played the type of beautiful, direct, attacking soccer seen in Barcelona. With a take-no-prisoners defense of Puyol, Marquez, and Edmilson, a magical group of midfield artists like Xavi, Deco, and Iniesta, and an inspired, inventive attack led by Ronaldinho, Messi, and Etoo, Barca has managed to assemble as close to a perfect team as any in recent memory. They've got it all and - what's even more scary - they're young. These guys aren't going anywhere for a while. Messi looks like he's barely 15, Iniesta even younger, and Ronaldinho, Etoo, Xavi, and Deco are all entering the respective primes of their careers. Watch out, world - this could get ugly. A world-class line-up deserves a world-class coach: Frank Rijkaard has been the perfect antidote to Barca's culture of frenzied desperation for titles, fame, and acknowledgment. The Dutchman simply exudes calmness and confidence and, during the requisite rough patches, it has been his cool under pressure that has seen his side through to success. So what, if any, could prove to be Barca's Achilles heel? First, their president, Joan Laporta, is an arrogant, loud-mouth control freak; in recent years, he has alienated almost everyone in the upper levels of the club, including his former close friend and right-hand man Sandro Rosell. It was Rosell who closed the signing of Ronaldinho, kept the faith with Rijkaard during a difficult initial few months, and aggresively sought out the core of this team: Deco, Edmilson, Marquez and Etoo were all hand-picked by the man affectionately dubbed "Sandrinho" by Laporta. Laporta, though, appears to be driving a lot of good soccer minds away and his recent re-election this summer (by the fans) will do nothing to quell his power-hungry quest for complete control at Can Barca - and we all know what becomes of dictatorial presidents drunk on success (see Perez, Florentino). Another brewing issue could be Barca's new signings: former Juventus defenders Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta and former Chelsea striker Eidur Gudjohnsen (the only Iceland native known to people outside Iceland). Far be it from me to take issue with the skills of any of this posse, but one must wonder where and how they will fit into a Barca squad that is damn near perfect - Thuram, a World Cup winner, will not sit quietly behind Puyol, Marquez, and Edmilson; Zambrotta will theoretically slot into the right-back spot to replace Oleguer or Belletti, the latter being the scorer of Barca's winner against Arsenal in the Champions League final, or the left-back spot, already capably managed by Giovanni van Bronckhorst or Sylvinho; Gudjohnsen, in fact, has already started to upset the pecking order at the Nou Camp: Etoo, after being replaced by the former Chelsea man at halftime of the Supercopa game against Espanyol, stormed out of the locker room and went home, skipping the rest of the match and ensuing title celebrations. A fluke outburst from a hot-headed youngster or a sign of trouble in paradise? Time will tell, of course, but for all of their brilliance on the pitch, trouble off of it could bring an abrupt end to Barca's reign at the top.

Over in Castilla, the former king, Real Madrid - as they are wont to do - have not sat idly by while watching their archenemy win titles galore. And nothing quite wreaks havoc at the Bernabeu quite like Barcelona lifting trophies over on the East Coast. In the past three years, los Merengues have seen four presidents, seven (!) coaches, and a plethora of world-class players pass through the doors of the Bernabeu. This summer, club elections produced a disputed winner, Ramon Calderon, a former player as general manager, Pedja Mijatovic (scorer of the winning goal in the '98 Champions League final vs Juventus), and a hardman Italian coach, Fabio Capello (from where else? Juventus). Calderon won the elections largely on the promise to bring in imaginative youngsters like AC Milan's Kaka, Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas, and Chelsea's Arjen Robben. No sooner had Calderon won the elections when Capello ordered Mijatovic to sign, um, aging superstars like Juve's Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson and ManU's Ruud van Nistelrooy. While the latter batch of players is surely more of what Real Madrid needed (honestly, when you've got Robinho, who needs Robben?), the Bernabeu faithful value attractive, attacking soccer above all else, including winning. Capello's teams have never been known to indulge anyone in 'jogo bonito', so it remains to be seen how the Madrilenos will react after a fifth-straight 1-0 dud of a win over a bottom team in la Liga. At the time of writing, Real appeared close to selling Ronaldo to AC Milan, a sale that, combined with their recent signing of Mali's defensive midfielder Mahamadou Diarra, is one more step in the Capellization of the world's richest club. The Italian has already banished Robinho to the bench, backed out of the signing of Arsenal's young winger Jose Antonio Reyes, and showed a far greater interest in acquiring defenders (Roma's Christian Chivu and Chelsea's William Gallas have also been mentioned). There is no doubt that Real will now have a formidable defense, with Sergio Ramos and Cannavaro at the back and Emerson and Diarra just in front of them (there has been talk in Madrid papers that Capello guaranteed that Real wouldn't lose a game all year - no word on how many nil-nil draws to expect, though), and in all probability, such a strong backline will allow attackers like Guti, Cassano, Raul, and Van Nistelrooy to flourish, but suffice to say that a man with the reputation of Capello, albeit even a winning one, will be kept on a short leash in Madrid.

Across town, by the not-so-pretty banks of the Manzanares river that cuts through Madrid, Real's neighbors Atletico have also endured a turbulent summer. They, too, have made a coaching change, bringing in Osasuna's Mexican disciplinarian Javier Aguirre, as well as a plethora of high-profile signings. Of course, when you're talking about Atletico, the Washington Redskins of soccer, that's hardly newsworthy. This summer, watching the likes of Fernando Torres, Maxi Rodriguez, and Pablo play so brilliantly for their national teams at the World Cup, you couldn't help but wonder how Atletico made such a hash of it last season. The directors at the Vicente Calderon stadium clearly wondered the same thing, going on another all-out spending spree to acquire Argentinian wunderkind Sergio Aguero, Portugal midfielder Costinha, and Spaniards Mariano Pernia, Mista, and Jurado (from Real, of all places). And they held on to the franchise poster boy Torres, which might be the best move of all. So on paper, of course, Atletico look poised for a top-three finish; but on paper it also says that they finished 10th last year, behind the likes of Celta and Getafe. Yikes.

Far from the bright lights of the two big cities, three of last season's top-five finishers enter this season with a tough task ahead to re-produce their form of the previous campaign. Valencia, Osasuna, and Sevilla all look set for a let-down. Los Ches have lost their own Argentinian prodigy Pablo Aimar, a surprise sale to Real Zaragoza; if there was a major coup in the Spanish transfer market this summer, then Aimar's move is it - he is one of the top ten players in the world when he is healthy and on form and Zaragoza bought him for peanuts. Factor in that Valencia also lost Brazilian left winger Fabio Aurelio to Liverpool and appear set to say adios to another Argentine, centerback Roberto Fabian Ayala. Sorry to say it because Valencia has been such a good side in recent years, spurred on by one of the best midfield tandems in Spain in David Albelda and Ruben Baraja, but you don't lose your best defender, best midfielder, and best striker all in the same off-season and live to tell about it. Their participation in the Champions League won't help them any in la Liga, either. Unfortunately for the boys in the Basque Country, that's a problem that Osasuna only wishes they had to deal with. All of their efforts from last season were squashed by Hamburg, who eliminated them this week. Osasuna also lost Aguirre to Atletico, so pencil them in for a mid-table finish. As for Sevilla, they have lost Javier Saviola back to Barcelona (I mean, seriously, Barca are so good that they don't even have room for Saviola or Riquelme!) and might yet lose right wingback Daniel Alves to any one of a number of teams. As well as they played in thrashing Middlesborough to win the UEFA Cup, it's hard to imagine Sevilla managing another top-five finish after all of the talent that's left the Sanchez Pizjuan in recent years (see Baptista, Julio and Ramos, Sergio).

So who could spring a surprise and vault up into the European spots? Look no further than the team that went on its own excellent European adventure last year: Villareal. The Yellow Submarine, led by the aforementioned Riquelme, made it all the way to the semis of the Champions League, almost forcing extra time against Arsenal had Riquelme converted a late penalty. This year, despite the devastating early-season knee injuries to centerback Gonzalo Rodriguez and new signing Robert Pires (from Arsenal, of course - what other sport has the symmetry of soccer?), they should be able to concentrate on la Liga and make it back into Europe. Elsewhere, Zaragoza should squeak into Europe thanks to Aimar; he should be an excellent strike partner for Diego Milito and Ewerthon - plus, Diego's brother Gabriel has turned into one of the top defenders in Spain, maybe even Europe. Up north, Deportivo la Coruna seem to be embroiled in way too much turmoil to make any noise this year, while Galician neighbors Celta Vigo will be hard-pressed to duplicate last year's top-six success. Across the northern coast, Athletic Bilbao showed some promise late in last season, especially attacker Francisco Yeste, but it should be another long year spent battling relegation for their Basque rivals Real Sociedad.

Of the rest of the squads, it warrants mentioning that new boys Levante have made some nice signings, among them former Roma middie Damiano Tommasi. Real Betis are about to lose right winger Joaquin to Valencia (los Ches' one good move in the past three months), plus left winger Ricardo Oliveira - something tells me that crosses won't exactly be flying in from the Betis flanks this year. Nothing of note on Gimnastic or Recreativo Huelva, mainly because I can't even tell you where they play or who plays for them, but I digress.

In the end, it's awfully hard to imagine any team in Spain, much less the world, getting the better of Barca. Still, the Catalans did benefit from some dubious calls last year (both in la Liga and in Europe) and their star players last year, save Deco, all endured dismal World Cups. A few calls going the other way, some friction between Etoo and Rijkaard, and more controversy involving Laporta could spell doom for the blaugrana and, with Capello's track record of success and Real's new and improved backline, Madrid will be at the ready to pounce on any Catalan mishaps. Ultimately, though, schedule another trophy parade down Las Ramblas at the end of the season - all the same, here's one fan that wouldn't dare miss a single match along the way.

1. Barcelona (new uni design is actually growing on me, shocking as it is to say)
2. Real Madrid (terrible new unis -just way too much going on)
3. Atletico Madrid (speaking of unis, check out the new look for Atleti)
4. Villareal (they'd be wise to hang on to unwanted winger Juan Pablo Sorin)
5. Real Zaragoza
6. Valencia (no better stadium in Spain than the steep stands of Mestalla)
7. Sevilla (youngster Jesus Navas, if he can get his head straight, is a budding superstar)
8. Athletic Bilbao (second-best stadium in the league: San Mames, known as El Catedral)
9. Real Betis (gotta love the Kappa...)
10. Osasuna

Long time, no see!

Over before it began: Kehl (in ugly jersey) does battle with Hargreaves on Day 1 of the Bundesliga - the former went off injured, the latter could be off to England.




And we're baaacckkk!!! First, apologies for the week-long hiatus - call it a summer vacation, call it a result of the lack of action in the soccer world, call it whatever. But dammit, don't call it laziness - my mom used to call me that all the time & those wounds have yet to heal. In an effort to ease back into that nice, comfortable rhythm we'd established here at WSB, we'll start with a smorgasborg of snippets from the last week. Think of it as an appetizer platter - a full entree comes next week - you have my word.

Hell hath no fury like a mad Mourinho

Let the madness begin. Last week, Jose re-ignited his war of words with Liverpool's Rafa Benitez after his Blues went down 2-1 in the Community Shield. After the two managers didn't shake hands, Mourinho blamed it on his counterpart, claiming that he had waited for Benitez to shake his hand while Liverpool collected the trophy, but Benitez never approached him. Then the pissed-off Portuguese skipper sounded off on international friendlies, calling them a complete waste of time at a crucial moment before the start of the season when the players should be with their clubs. Agreed and agreed. How can anyone not concur with Mourinho when he says that no one should care if he shakes hands with Benitez or that - after a World Cup summer - the players should be training with their clubs. Case in point: Real Madrid's Brazilian international Cicinho played a full season with his club last year, then played in the World Cup, followed by a month-long vacation. In late August, he flew from Brazil to Austria to participate in pre-season training with Real, followed by going to the U.S. for two games in early August; then it was back to Madrid on Sunday, then up to Oslo to play a friendly against Norway in the middle of the week, and finally back to Spain for more pre-season action starting with a game Friday in Cadiz, one of the most southernmost cities in the Iberian peninsula. Yep, I'd say he'll be as fresh as Renton & Sick Boy after a week-long bender. The lesson, as always: FIFA are a bunch of idiots ruining the game we know & love. And there's one angry Portuguese prick in London who's not afraid to say so.

To heck with Becks

Steve McClaren, the man who got the England job on the basis of a few mediocre years at Middlesborough (a season ticket holder once ran onto the field to throw in ticket at McClaren's face) and some time spent assisting Sven Goran Erikkson in his underacheiving stint as the boss of the Brits, left Beckham off the team to play Greece last week. Sad day for a lot of female fans, but I'm more concerned with the rationale behind this decision. Becks, for all his baggage (read: Posh & a billion paparazzi), remains one of the best players in the world. Quick, name me five better passers in the world. Name me someone better from dead ball situations. Name me three English players that were better in the World Cup. Hate him all you want, but don't forget that he was at the core of half of England's goals in Germany - he did more for that team than Frank Lampard and Joe Cole combined. He might not be your typically pacey right winger or as enticing an option as a fan favorite like Gerrard or a promising youngster like Lennon, but Beckham is still an experienced leader, a fantastic passer, and a consistent example of devotion to the cause. I'll take him on my team any day, anorexic publicity-whore of a wife and all.

Ze Bundesliga iz noww unzerveih

With much fanfare and ear-bleeding Euro music, the Bundesliga kicked off on Friday. Bayern Munich did what they do - which is win - and Borussia Dortmund did what they do - which is wear hideous uniforms. See what I mean? Not too much of note, but the Borussians did unfortunately lose middie Sebastian Kehl to a long-term injury. Kehl ranks as one of the ten-best young defensive mids in the world and it was a shame to see him go down at the hands (or should I say cleats?) of a nasty studs-up tackle from the Bavarians' Hasan Salihamidzic. Massive loss for the Borussians. Speaking of dirty players, Hamburg sold Khalid Bouhlarouz, he of the hideous tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo in Wrestlemania XXII (aka Holland-Portugal '06), to Chelsea. Hey William Gallas, the exit is just down the hall on the right. However, Bayern's Owen Hargreaves may not have the same luck in ditching his club; the Englishman is jonesing for a move to ManU, but ze Germans appear ready to show some of that stereotypical resolve and not let him bolt back to Britain. Watch this space.

REALity bites

Nothing like kicking a man when he's down. Real Madrid, after a disastrous three years and a trying summer, are getting abused left and right by some of Europe's most famous clubs. Sure, it's always fun to pick on the bully for once, but what exactly did Real do that was so bad? It all started when AC Milan (not exactly a club that should be acting all high & mighty right now) called out Real for making an approach to their Brazilian wunderkind Kaka (means "poop" in Spanish). So yeah, maybe Real's new prez Ramon Calderon shouldn't have promised to sign Kaka in an effort to get elected, but how often do you get a chance to win an election by telling your fans, "I'll bring you s**t"? Then it was Olympique Lyon's Jean Michael Aulas who joined the fray; after Real attempted to negotiate with them for their Mali middie Mahamadou Diarra, Aulas ripped the Spaniards for having the nerve to try to sign one of their players a mere two weeks before the close of the transfer market. Seeing as Real signed Ronaldo about half an hour before it closed a few years ago, maybe we shouldn't be surprised. And then, another Frenchman, Arsenal's Arsene Wenger, claimed that Real are guilty of illegally approaching players (specifically Arsenal's Jose Antonio Reyes) all over Europe, but never really making concrete and genuine offers to buy them from their clubs; basically, Wenger said, they just go around de-stabilizing top players without ever buying them. Call me crazy, but by all accounts Real did in fact make real offers for Reyes, Diarra, and Kaka. And it was Real themselves who were the victims of AC Milan making an approach to their striker Ronaldo last week. The bottom line is that, as Wenger said, Real don't behave like a big club should; but then again, neither does AC Milan or Chelsea or ManU. Welcome to the soccer world 2006, where players hold all the cards and clubs are simply at the mercy of the superstars - it's a free-for-all now, and the bigger and better you are as a player or as a club, the more power you have. Now if the clubs all got together and agreed to keep their hands off of each other's stars, then something might change - but c'mon, that's like asking Ronaldo to lay off the empanadas.

Speaking of which, we hope you enjoyed the mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, and buffalo wings that we dished out today. Don't worry about paying for this one - it's on the house. Back again next week. Until then, have a good weekend (especially all my fans in Fiji).

Much Ado About Nothing

Ahh, the sweet stench of desperation: Jaime Moreno & the MLSers lift some sort of trophy. Lean in close - you can almost hear "We Are The Champions" playing in the background.




Another slow week in the soccer world, as evidenced by the lack of activity here at World Soccer Blogger, but don't fear - we can always find something to complain about...

On Saturday, the MLS All-Stars beat Chelsea 1-0 in a friendly in Chicago. From their World Cup-worthy trophy presentation and ensuing celebration, you would've thought that the game actually mattered. From the league executives to the coaches and players, everyone talked about the growth of the league, the newfound respect that the victory would bring, and how it signalled that MLS, in beating England's best club team, had finally arrived. Um, not exactly.

As Jose Mourinho went to great length to note, Chelsea was in week two of their pre-season; this was their first pre-season game and it featured a slew of players that up until late July could be found enjoying cocktails and sunshine on the beaches of the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Chelsea's squad was just gearing up for a long season and, mainly for marketing reasons, were forced to play an away game in the sub-Saharan heat engulfing the United States in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, the MLS All-Stars were in mid-season form, they were playing in front of their fans in their All-Star game, and they had far more at stake than their opponents. If Chelsea won, it would just be a meaningless victory when there are far bigger games just weeks away - it would be a nice way to start the season at best, a completely meaningless exhibition win at worst. If the All-Stars lost, it would be another damning indictment of the low quality of play in MLS. So when the All-Stars emerged 1-0 victors, it was to be expected that the MLS players would be relieved, while the Chelsea players were more concerned with their post-game trip to Holland; instead, we got a celebration that rivalled scenes from July 9 in Berlin - all it was missing was Dwayne DeRosario cutting off his ponytail.

Look, as an American soccer fan (not an easy plight in life, trust me), I want MLS to succeed as much as anyone. There are good players (DeRosario, Adu, Albright, Ching, Moreno to name a few), great new stadiums (this was the first game played at Chitown's new Toyota Park), and a real determination to become a top-notch soccer league. While I conceed that we might be able to chalk this fiasco up to growing pains, the post-match celebrations can only be described as embarrassing.

There's an expression that we always repeated to the team I used to coach: "Act like you've been there before." Well, dancing around like you just won the Champions League after winning a friendly is not the way to do that. The way to earn respect is not to celebrate beating a team that cared more about signing autographs in L.A. than winning a friendly - it's to gather a collection of top-notch players, give them the chance to play in world-class stadiums, and let the quality of play speak for itself. Instead, MLS danced around like a horny drunk girl at a nightclub who'd inhaled one too many tequila shots - and just as that's not a pretty picture, neither is the sight of a league virtually begging to be liked, noticed, and respected. Desperation is a stinky cologne, MLS, and on Saturday in Chicago - scoreboard aside - you stunk up the joint.

England: 2006-2007 Premiership Preview

Mourinho welcomes Ballack & Sheva to Chelsea: Best in the world or too much of a good thing?





Trivia question (winner gets a free tank of gas): What club team had the most players participating in this summer's World Cup? Hint: they wear blue, play boring soccer, have a jerk for a coach, and are making the English Premiership less entertaining than a month-long scrabble tourney. That's right, Chelski have a whopping 17 World Cup stars on their roster, which may explain their last two Premiership titles. However, an even more important number might be 818, as in the millions (yep, millions) of dollars that Russian oil magnate Roman Abramovich has spent on acquiring new players since buying the club back in 2003. Looking at the trophy case, it's been money well spent, but factoring in the club's lack of success in Europe, completely underwhelming style of play, and universal dislikability, you can't say that it's been all smooth sailing for the Blues. Does this mean that they won't be lifting the Premiership trophy for a third-straight year this season? Well, let's not get carried away here, but read on just for the hell of it.

It's been an unusual off-season for the big guns of the EPL. Chelsea spent millions buying big-name stars, Liverpool brought in some fresh Latin blood, Arsenal snapped up a great young talent from the Continent, and ManU overpaid to get a defensive midfielder. Shocking! And this doesn't even factor in that Newcastle failed to address their Swiss-cheese-like defense (stop me if you've heard this before), Bolton signed an overrated and unwanted international star, and Spurs smartly acquired an excellent up-and-coming midfielder. Some things never change, and definitely not the ways of gentlemen like Abramovich and his trusty coach, Jose Mourinho.

Just like Real Madrid did a few years ago, these two men have been busy raiding some of the world's biggest clubs to sign their best players (but Chelsea actually pay attention to their defense). This season, the fans at Stamford Bridge will be treated to the sight of Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko, signed away from Bayern Munich and AC Milan, respectively; but do these signings make Chelsea a much improved team? Well, the answer, surprisingly, is no. Ballack plays almost the exact same style as fellow midfield marauder Frank Lampard, an attacking, driving middie who loves to push forward into attack as much as possible. And if anyone tuned in to the action in Germany this summer, it's clear that Lampard's play deteriorates dramatically when he doesn't have the center of the pitch at his disposal; Steven Gerrard's presence in the England eleven reduced Lampard's space in midfield, decreased his effect on the game, and generally made him a shadow of the player that he is for Chelsea. Mourinho is clearly a coach who believes that you can't have too much talent, that great players make a team better no matter what; Mourinho's problem is one that most coaches in the world would love to have: how do I pick a team from all these great players, keep them all happy, and live up to the sky-high expectations. Last year, a visibily unhappy Mourinho said that he had the most thankless coaching job in sports, since if he won, then he had only accomplished what everyone expected him to, but if he lost, then he had done the unthinkable and failed spectactularly. Cry me a river, Jose. I guess we should all pity the Portuguese genius even more now that he's got Ballack and Sheva to deal with. Not only will Ballack play a similar role to Lampard in midfield, but Sheva will do many of the same things that Hernan Crespo did for Chelsea last year. The Argentine striker has demanded a move back to sunny Italy, so in steps the Ukrainian to take his place. Sheva is definitely an upgrade over Crespo, but not as much of one as some might think. And where does this leave Didier Drogba? If anyone in that squad will not be okay coming off the bench, it's the Ivory Coast forward. And in Mourinho's favored 4-5-1, there's only room for one striker and that'll be Sheva. In fact, surprising as it might be, the one summer signing that could pay the most dividends for Chelsea over the years is not Ballack or Sheva, but rather Nigerian wunderkind Mikel John Obi (not a Star Wars character, it turns out). Another change for the Blues this year could be an increased role for Michael Essien; the Ghanian looks set to step in more frequently for aging hardman Claude Makelele - but just as Madrid fell apart after Makelele's move to London, I can't help but wonder if Chelsea will struggle to replace him at the Bridge. After all, Essien is much more of an attacking mid than Makelele. A central midfield of Lampard, Essien, and Ballack strikes me as an overcrowded one. Even at the back, undoubtedly Chelsea's strength over the past two seasons, the Blues may be showing some weaknesses. For my money (and that's not much - this blogging gig doesn't pay too well), William Gallas is the best defender on that team, along with John Terry. The Frenchman is powerful, versatile, and just entering his prime; now he wants out, and Mourinho's decision to give Ballack the Frenchman's #13 shirt will not do much to mend the strained relationship between Gallas and Chelsea. If they lose him - and at the moment all signs suggest they will - then Chelsea will be surprisingly thin at the back. Terry and Ricardo Carvalho will be their only centerbacks, with Robert Huth's on again-off again move to Middlesborough still up in the air. Still, this is Chelsea, meaning that quality reinforcements, such as Arsenal's Ashley Cole for one, should be on the way. In the end, any doubts over Lampard's coexistence with Ballack, Makelele's decline, Sheva's uneasy battle with Drogba, a thin back four, and possible fatigue from all their participation in the World Cup, may be overcome by the simple fact that this team has too much talent to fail. Even if all of these worst-case scenarios materialize, there might not be any other teams in the EPL capable of matching Chelsea's strength in numbers.

If there is one challenger that can separate itself from the rest, it is Rafael Benitez's excellent Liverpool side. The Spaniard has turned the club into a veritable airport hangar of arrivals and departures; the influx of talent into Anfield has only been matched by the wave of players heading out of the revolving door. This summer has been no different. While the likes of Fernando Morientes, Dietmar Hamann, and Djibril Cisse have exited, the Kop will be pleased to see Chilean winger Mark Gonzalez, Brazilian leftback Fabio Aurelio, and English convicts, er, troublemakers, er, attackers Jermaine Pennant and Craig Bellamy donning the Liverpool red. Aside from the fact that Benitez is turning Liverpool into Cincinnati Bengals East, the new signings should be good ones. The real steals will prove to be Gonzalez and Aurelio, who will turn the Liverpool left wing into a new M6. Gonzalez is as fast and tricky as they come, while Aurelio is the latest in a long line of fantastic Brazilian fullbacks (see Carlos, Roberto); how Valencia ever let him get away, I will never know. Still, where does this leave John Arne Riise and Harry Kewell? Did Liverpool even have a need for these new signings? And why does Benitez continue to sign wingers when his best options up front are Peter "Bambi On Ice" Crouch, Robbie "Boogie Nights" Fowler, and the hot-headed Bellamy? Liverpool, like Chelsea and Newcastle before them, seem to be under the impression that you can't have too many midfielders. While this obviously makes sense as more and more teams employ the 4-5-1 formation, you have to wonder where Liverpool's goals will come from. Xabi Alonso and Gerrard remain the best midfield duo in the Premiership - nay, the world - but who will be in the box to get on the end of their fantastic passes? If there's one Achilles heel that will keep Benitez's boys from challenging Chelsea, it's a dearth of quality strikers. In that sense, "You'll Never Walk Alone" makes an ironic serenade to Liverpool's crowded midfielders and lonely strikers.

Another manager that has been busy making quality signings is, of course, the world's best talent-spotter, one Arsene Wenger of Arsenal. This year's coup was the purchase of Czech prodigy Tomas Rosicky from Borussia Dortmund. Simply put, Rosicky is one of the best playmakers in the world, a natural #10, the perfect link between Cesc Fabregas and Thierry Henry, and one of the few players worthy of being mentioned as a possible successor to the retired Dennis Bergkamp. Before long, he will be the prince of the sparkling new Emirates Stadium. It is absolutely amazing the way that Wenger consistently brings in amazing young players and then grooms them into world superstars; in my humble opinion, he's the best manager in the world. Of course, he'll have to find a way to replicate Arsenal's Champions League form of last year in this year's domestic campaign. To do this, it appears that he will have to overcome the loss of Jose Antonio Reyes, who has been craving a move back to Spain to take part in Fabio Capello's revolution at the Bernabeu; the Spanish winger will be tough to replace, but Robin Van Persie showed some positive signs at the World Cup of being the man to do just that. And there are other reasons for optimism: Henry has elected to stay in London, Cesc will only get better and better, and this could be Theo Walcott's break-out year (post World Cup, bizarrely enough) - they may not challenge crosstown rivals Chelsea for the title, but Arsenal will mount a much stronger challenge than last year.

Up in the Northeast, the same cannot be said for Manchester United. Yes, they managed to overcome a torrent of injuries to finish second to Chelsea last year. Yes, Michael Carrick is an upgrade over Darren Fletcher, John O'Shea, Alan Smith, and any other warm body that Sir Alex Ferguson could plug into the central midfield slot. And yes, they do have two of the best youngsters in the world at their respective positions in right winger Cristiano Ronaldo and striker Wayne Rooney. Unfortunately, injured or not, players like Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (fantastic name - my first-born will definitely be given the middle name "Gunnar") are d-u-n done; Fergie overpaid to get Carrick, who looks like he may be their only off-season signing; and Rooney and Ronaldo may or may not wish a slow painful death on each other after their little World Cup tift this summer. (Tangent alert! For everyone who is worried about how Ronaldo will overcome the abuse to which he will be subjected this season at stadiums around England, since when has he not been United's most despised player? Since when have opposing crowds not hated him? This is the same kid who played against his hometown club Benfica in the Champions League last year and was so jeered so relentlessly that he flicked off the crowd as he left the pitch! I don't think this year will be anything new for the little Portuguese pretty boy) Anyway, there are just too many holes in ManU's current squad for this team to hope for anything better than a Champions League place: they are thin at centerback after Rio Ferdinand and the underrated Gabriel Heinze, Patrice Evra and Mickael Silvestre are just not good enough at leftback, they have no one but Carrick in midfield, Ji-Sung Park or Park Ji-Sung or Ji-what-Park-Song is not the answer on the left wing, and there is no true #9 (sorry, Louis Saha) to replace Ruud van Nistelrooy (Why is the "van" sometimes capitalized and sometimes not? Or am I just wrong half the time? Can we get an answer on this?). If Fergie can get the Glazers to open their purses one more time to buy Villareal's Spanish destroyer Marcos Senna, then that will be an important addition for them, but overall there is just not enough firepower to challenge Chelsea, Fergie has not been as successful as Wenger or Benitez at bringing in young talent (aside from Ronaldo & Rooney), and there just isn't enough money at Old Trafford anymore for the Red Devils to be the team they once were. On the plus side, how hilarious is it to listen to Fergie bitch and moan about how Chelsea & Abramovich's million-dollar squad is ruining the sport of soccer? Puhleeze. How many years was ManU at the top of the spending spree list? How many times was ManU able to outbid everyone else as they bragged about their status as the world's richest club? Well, Fergie, the tables have turned - deal with it. And here's a hint: the best way to beat Chelsea is not by blowing all of your spending money on Ji-Sung Park, Nemanja Vidic, Liam Miller, Louis Saha, and Alan Smith. But hey, Kleberson and Eric Djemba-Djemba send their regards.

Ultimately, Chelsea should once again prove to have too much talent for the rest of grand ole Engaland, but this year should be closer than the past two. The boys at Stamford Bridge, after crashing out to eventual champs Liverpool and Barcelona the last two years, should put more of their effort into winning the Champions League, which could prove detrimental to their domestic form. With the exciting players on display at Liverpool and Arsenal, their challengers could pull a shocker and unseat the reigning king; still, don't bet on it. ManU will comfortably take the fourth Champions League spot, but after that it's anyone's guess. Tottenham have made a great purchase in Ivory Coast midfielder Didier Zokora, who should be a nice addition to a midfielder already featuring Jermaine Jenas, Edgar Davids, Danny Murphy, and Aaron Lennon, but the loss of Ledley King for a few months makes them way too weak at the back. Newcastle, with Kieron Dyer, Scott Parker, Emre, Nobby Solano, Chuck N'Zogbia, and new boy Damien Duff, is one of the few teams in the league that can rival the midfield riches of Chelsea and Liverpool, but their defense and attack just don't match up. Boumsong and Bramble continue to be the biggest joke in world soccer; somewhere, Grahame Souness is unemployed. Bolton have done what Bolton do and signed an unwanted big-name player, Quinton Fortune, who might be South Africa's best player, but what does that really say? Middlesborough are now managed by Gareth Southgate - enough said. Fulham, with Americans Brian McBride and Carlos "Blackmouth" Bocanegra, could spring a surprise and grab a UEFA Cup spot. Two other teams to watch out for are Charlton, who have managed to hang on to striker Darren Bent, and Manchester City, home of the man-who-should-have-been-England manager Stuart Pearce and two world-class midfielders in Joey Barton and former Yankee captain Claudio Reyna - look for Oasis' favorite team to make a big jump in the league table this year. All in all, despite the growing gap between the big four clubs and the rest of the league and Chelsea's continued domination at the top, there's a lot to look forward to this year in the EPL. As we mentioned in our Bundesliga preview, great fans, fantastic stadiums, and world-class talent are the key ingredients in any league - England, unlike Italy, has it all. Unfortunately, there'll be no more Highbury to savor, but Old Trafford, Anfield, and St. James' Park are still as good as it gets. So grab a lager or twelve, pull up a seat at the pub, and get ready to enjoy one of the best sporting spectacles in the world: that crazy, fast-paced, super-intense, oil-filled footie festival that is the English Premiership. Oh, and not to ruin the suspense, but here's how it's going to finish when all is said and done:

1. Chelski (Now outfitted by adidas, in a major coup for the German designers, because...)
2. Liverpool (...will also be switchng to adidas this year)
3. Arsenal
4. ManU
5. Newcastle (Over-under on games played before Boumsong costs the team a win: 1/2)
6. Tottenham (I can't be the only person who finds Martin Jol scarier than Kaiser Soze, can I?)
7. Bolton
8. Man City (Pearce & Barton could kill people, even each other, and I wouldn't be surprised)
9. Fulham
10. Everton (They're only here by default, but watch out for Mikel Arteta - the boy can play)

Germany: 2006-2007 Bundesliga Preview

Bayern Munich pose for their 2006-07 team photo. And just in case you forgot, they threw in a few of last year's trophies to remind you what to expect this year in the Bundesliga.



While teams in England, Spain, and Italy are still immersed in pre-season training, world tours, and courtroom trials, respectively, one of the great leagues of Europe is already playing some meaningful games. In Germany, the Bundesliga has yet to kick off, but the German League Cup has already commenced. This pre-season showcase tournament, which features the best six teams from last year's league table, is taken far more seriously than most other games played in the lazy days of late July and early August. Yesterday, Werder Bremen defeated Hamburg 2-1 to book their place in the final, where they will meet the winner of today's match pitting Bundesliga champs Bayern Munich against Schalke 04. All of this action means that it's probably a good time for a preview of this season's Bundesliga.

In the past, I have not been a great fan of German soccer. The national team played a boring, mechanical style, only made all the more aggravating by their amazing efficiency at penalty shoot-outs and consistent ability to advance deep into tournaments full of teams that played better, more attractive football than ze Mannschaft. The domestic league was not much better; year after year, Bayern Munich would thrash all pretenders to their throne. Aside from a brief period of success for Borussia Dortmund, one which ended abruptly with the club basically plunging into bankruptcy, it was a one-horse race for Bayern. But after their impressive showing in this summer's World Cup, I have a new appreciation for the German national team. With players like Ballack, Podolski, Frings, and Lahm, they now play an attractive brand of footie to match their impressive array of talented youngsters. Of course, back in the Bundesliga, there's not much to suggest that anything has changed, except for the small detail of the sale of one Michael Ballack to everyone's favorite oil magnate, Chelsea's Roman Abramovich. And this, for the non-sarcastically inclined, is no small detail.

For the past few years, Ballack has been far and away the best player for Bayern. All of their play ran through their talismanic midfielder. And if you're going to be dependent on a midfielder, Ballack is one of the best out there. Unfortunately for Bayern, aside from players like Lucio, Sagnol, Schweinsteiger, Roque Santa Cruz, and Ze Roberto, there wasn't a lot to strike fear into any teams outside the Bundesliga; since they last won the title in 2001, Bayern have fallen short in the Champions League. Now, not only is there no Ballack, but Ze Roberto has been deemed surplus to requirements, a seemingly shocking decision after his superb World Cup; but with the likes of Owen Hargreaves, Sebastian Deisler, and Martin Demichelis (you may remember him as the player who said that he had lost the will to live after being left out of Argentina's Cup squad), Bayern clearly feel confident that they can replace the Ballack-Ze Roberto duo in the center of the pitch. More importantly, Bayern have addressed their two glaring weaknesses: centerback and striker. At the back, Valerien Ismael was almost single-handedly responsible for the Germans' loss to AC Milan in the quarters of the Champions League; he will now be replaced by Belgian giant, Daniel Van Buyten - with him and Lucio, Bayern need only sign Dirk Nowitzki to complete a back-line with a combined height of 20 feet. Up front, Lukas Podolski becomes the latest in a long line of German players to burst onto the scene and promptly get snatched up by Bayern. With Phillip Lahm racing down the left and Schweinsteiger on the right, more than a few teams will be having flashbacks to ze Mannschaft that tore apart the Cup this summer. Still, all of these players are not what makes Bayern so special; rather, it is that they have known how to combine German efficiency with Latin flair. Consider that Bayern has raided some of the best players that Latin America has to offer and can now boast of attacking talents like Roque Santa Cruz, Claudio Pizarro, and Julio Dos Santos (and this is after they have let go of players like Ze Roberto and Paolo Guerrero, sold to Hamburg). Aside from that dreadful bubble that they now call home (whodathunkit, but I already miss that intimidating concrete jungle that was the Olympiastadion), Bayern need only find a way to overcome the loss of Ballack and it should be another profitable year for the trophy case in Munich. Rinse, lather, repeat.

Still, the rest of Germany's teams will not be pushovers this season. Bremen looked good yesterday and with talented players such as Frings, Tim Borowski, Patrick Owomoyela (helluva name for a German), and Miroslav Klose, they're my pick to give Bayern a run for their Euros. Plus, their uniforms are outrageous. Another team whose unis were clearly designed using only a box of highlighters is Borussia Dortmund. Not only do they have the best stadium in the league (Westfalenstadion, home to that classic Germany-Italy match), but they also have a team that can do some damage this year. Dortmund will be hard pressed to overcome the losses of Czech stars Tomas Rosicky (Wenger has plucked another one of the world's best young studs - Rosicky is a gem) and Jan Koller, but all is not lost in the Ruhr Valley: Sebastian Kehl, David Odonkor, and Christian Metzelder are all national team players who give Dortmund's fans cause for optimism, as does new signing, Paraguayan striker Nelson Haedo Valdez. However, they will have a tough time getting the better of their regional rivals, Schalke 04, who have German national team members like Gerald Asamoah and Kevin Kuranyi (more absurd German names) to go with South American stars Lincoln, Gustavo Varela, and Dario Rodriguez. Elsewhere, Hamburg have improved with the acquisition of the aforementioned Guerrero to go with their northern European contingent of Dutch playmaker Rafael Van der Vaart, hardman Khalid Bouhlarouz, and new Belgian defender Vincent Kompany. On the down side, their uniforms suck. A team that should battle all-year with Hamburg for one of the automatic Champions League spots is Bayer Leverkusen. They've got one excellent Brazilian defender (Juan) to play alongside a crappy Brazilian defender (Roque Junior), two Mannschaft stallwarts in Bernd Schneider and Carsten Ramelow (now those are German names), and a good signing in Sergej Barbarez to replace the departed Dmitar Berbatov. Plus, their keeper is named Butt and takes the team's penalties - what more could you ask for? One team that will disappoint this year is Stuttgart; after their success in 2002, the team has faded and I, for one, don't expect the Mexican influx of Pavel Pardo and Ricardo Osorio to change that.

In a recent interview, former Bayern defender Bixente Lizarazu (that's a Basque name, as long as we're on the topic) was asked to comment on the state of German footie. Lizarazu's answer was so simple, but it illuminated exactly why the Bundesliga deserves more respect: "The Bundesliga and German fans don't get anywhere near the credit they deserve. You decide to play for a German club and people ask you, 'Germany? Why not Spain, Italy, England...?' Because the level of football in Germany is excellent. And because it has, without doubt, the best stadiums in Europe today." Lizarazu, in a brief remark, has summed up why the Bundesliga has now become a more appealing league than even Italy's Serie A: fantastic fans, amazing stadiums (er, stadia?), a major club closely challenged by about six or seven quality teams, and some of the best football talent from all over the world. I never would have said it a few years ago, but there's a lot to like about Germany today. And what could be better than the title-winning team gathering in the town plaza to drink ginormous beers with their fans? So here's hoping that, come May of this year, we won't be stuck watching Oli Kahn pound a pony keg in Munich...

1. Bayern Munich (Again - but hey, what club has had better unis over the past ten years?)
2. Werder Bremen (Kappa = most underrated uni designer in the world)
3. Hamburg
4. Bayer Leverkusen
5. Borussia Dortmund (You think they miss Rosicky now? Just wait two years until Rosicky is one of the best playmakers in the world)
6. Schalke 04
7. Wolfsburg (Kevin Hofland is one of the best young defenders around)
8. Stuttgart
9. Hertha Berlin
10. Borussia Monchengladbach (On the strength of Kasey Keller's goalkeeping)