Quaresma

I still find it hard to believe that Ricardo Quaresma isn't playing for one of the big clubs in Europe (not to say Porto isn't a good club but it isn't thought of as a Madrid or Liverpool or Milan, etc.). I guess he did have a good chance to really take the world by storm when he was younger and Barcelona purchased him but he never really made an impact there. Maybe it was too much expectation, maybe the style of play was difficult to adapt to, Maybe Rijkard and him had some real issues or perhaps any number of the common reasons that players can struggle when changing clubs and leagues.

It's not that he's that old (24) but it does seem like he's been around a while now. Recently he's regained the form that attracted such interest in the first place. He is a powerful, fast winger with incredible technique and vision and in my opinion, very much the same player as Christiano Ronaldo. Both share almost all the same qualities and with these wingers on the Portuguese national squad, any defence would be nervous. Portugal just needs a striker that can keep up with these guys! Interestingly they both used to play at Sporting Lisbon at the same time for a brief period.

I can't quite understand why the last couple of transfer seasons haven't attracted a great number of suitors... Perhaps Porto have him on quite a contract or he is happy to remain there for now. There have been rumors that his personality is hard to deal with but this is the case for many players and he seems to be doing just fine at Porto. I read that Chelsea tried to sign him with little luck but also that Inter are after him as Figo's successor... I sure hope so! Anyways, check out the clip, he's definitely one of my fav players.

Brazil vs Algeria friendly

So Brazil recently defeated Algeria 2-0 in a friendly match. The first half was not a great display by the Selecao but they did have a few shots on goal. The second half was quite a different affair and it was obvious why, the bringing on of Kaka' and Ronaldinho. There's a reason why they've been the most important players at their respective clubs for several seasons now, they make the difference.

The first goal came about from a well directed Ronaldinho corner which Maicon of Inter converted. The second involved Ronaldinho setting up Diego who's deflected shot was calmly placed by Ronaldinho to seal the 2-0 victory. One of Kaka's characteristic blazing runs almost resulted in a goal as he tore past several defenders, cutting across the face of goal, requiring a simple tap in of Vagner Love that just could not keep up. Which brings me to an important point. Vagner Love is a good striker but certainly should be 6th or 7th on the Selecao list of strikers. He did little during the copa america and it continues to show that he does not deserve that number 9 shirt. Ronaldo needs to return, he may be 30 now but he is still clinical and in good shape now (as opposed to how he was at WC06). If anyone doesn't agree that R9 should be back then at least Mancini of Roma who has been on fire over the last couple of seasons. There are many better Brazilian strikers but I'll continue that discussion another time, for now, check out the highlights below. They go for about 9-10 minutes so are quite substantial and well cut-down.

Right back fever

There's been much interest in right-backs of late!

Cicinho's on-again, off-again transfer to Roma seems to be finally complete. It seems that Roma went to great lengths to sign him, going from a 5 million euro offer to 8 million and finally 9 million with 2 million extra based on performance.

Chelsea have given up on Daniel Alves after offer upon offer has been knocked back by Sevilla. It's good to see a club that values it's players and future more than a one-off pay cheque and it's good to see that Chelsea can't always buy whoever they want! The last offer was in the region of 36 million euros! They have instead settled for Belleti who's had a tough time going from champions league hero to bench warmer after Barca brought Zambrotta in from the demoted Juventus. Not of the same calibre as Alves but a good right back that opens up attacking options on the flank.

So the Brazilian shuffle continues (also with Emerson joining many compatriots at AC Milan)...

The next Ronaldinho?

Okay maybe not, I think there's a bit of hype surrounding Celsinho mostly because of his looks. It may take a few minutes of watching the clip below before you can see that it actually isn't Ronaldinho! hehe. Celsinho really is the spitting image of Ronaldinho but he definitely has some skill, check it out!

Apparently Sporting have signed him up, taking him off Lokomotiv Moscow's hands where he only spent a year. Corinthians were in a battle to bring him back to the sunshine of Brazil but may have lost out. He used to play in Brazil for Portuguesa of all clubs, so may already be suited to a Portuguese adventure. Personally I think his face looks more like Andersons...

Latest Transfers Update (21st Aug 07)

Chelsea continue to throw their money around and build on their ability to field 3 first-class teams (talent-hoarding, hehe). They've offered Sevilla 30 million euros for Daniel Alves, I wonder if the temptation will be too much for them.

Tottenham have put together 15 million euros in a bid for Riquelme, a steal for such a quality player. Problem is that creative players like him don't always do well in the fast-paced and physical EPL. Don't forget Veron's less than memorable spell at Manchester United.

It seems that the Cicinho deal may be off (yet again) as now Real Madrid appear to want to feature him in their plans for the current season. Either way Panucci doesn't seem to be worried about losing his spot in the starting 11 suggesting that Cicinho would have a tough battle to take his position.

Ribery Magic!

Just a quick post to show a youtube clip of Ribery's excellent ball control which helped Bayern demolish Werder Bremen 4-0. Left the defender swinging in the air.



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Lots of transfer action in Serie A

It seems that the big Italian clubs have been busy securing (or at least trying to) transfers before the deadline.

Roma seem to have sealed the Cicinho deal which works out well for the player since Real Madrid's new coach has him playing on the left but mostly had the Brazilian out of his plans anyway. Since Cicinho has an Italian passport, he won't take up a foreigners spot which is advantageous for Roma.

As for Juve, they're madly chasing after Gilberto Silva, but will Arsenal sell another of their experienced, core players? It seems that they're at least considering it by asking for about 50% more than Juve have offered so far...

Inter have Deco in their sights but so do Newcastle. Inter has more money to throw at Barca but an auction isn't going to help get Deco for a reasonable price. He's definitely a player that can make the difference with creative play and hard work, Inter can surely do with him.

AC Milan are trying to nab Emerson from Real Madrid. They seem to like their older players. Failing that, they may go after Motta who seems to have had his fill at Barca. He has just under a year on his contract so Barca would be keen to prevent a free transfer at the end.

Sure are a lot of Brazilians moving about...


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Milan's new duck

It seems that Milan have finally got their Duck. The duck I mean is Alexandre Pato from Inter (Inter of Brazil). Pato means Duck in Portuguese and Alexandre was given this nickname as he is from a place near Pato Branco (white duck) in Brazil. It's funny that he played for a team named after Inter Milan but ended up with AC Milan, oh well, all the best to him! He has many Brazilians there to help him accustom.

He's probably got a little coverage over the last year as he was involved in Inter's Intercontinental Cup. They defeated Barcelona in the competition that used to be the Toyota Cup that puts the Champions League winners up against the Copa Libertadores winner. Brazil has had a good run over the last couple years actually (Sao Paulo defeating Liverpool the year before).

Alexandre definitely has much potential and AC Milan can probably thank Leonardo for bagging them another Brazilian talent (who almost signed up Kaka' from Sao Paulo some time ago). In my opinion, I think they'll probably loan him so he can get some European experience before they start using him but he could already make an impact for them. Problem is he can't start playing for them until January 2008 anyways, after paying out a fair bit for his buy-out clause they must be betting on him for the future. He definitely will be one to watch out for very soon! Check out his current abilities below...



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Recoba seals it for Inter, against Milan!

An unlikely heroe of late sealed a 1-0 victory for Inter Milan against arch rivals AC Milan in the final of the TIM cup (A small preseason tournament). See the goal below, pure Recoba of old, so good to see again.

I've always admired Recoba, he's been at Inter for such a long time, it's always been said that he could('ve) been the worlds best. What happened to all that immense potential? I guess some of it was realised from time to time but he has always been plagued with injuries. It's pretty tragic and I know what it's like to have long term niggling injuries that don't seem to go away.

It seems like he'll move away from Inter finally which is probably a good choice for him as he's now on the wrong side of 30 and probably doesn't have much playing time left. He finds world-class competition for a starting spot with Ibrahimovic, Crespo, Adriano, Cruz and now Suazo.

Check out below why he was always highly rated and the moments that etched him into the hearts of many an Inter fan...

PS: The music is pretty dodgy but you forget about it pretty quick after seeing that lethal left foot!

2007 - Sept - 15; Update: Recoba is now on loan to Torino. Good luck El Chino! He has been at Inter since 1997, made 261 appearances and scored 72 goals.

Amazing 9 year old whizz kid signs for Man U

An amazing young talent has signed up with Manchester United after his grandfather sent their youth staff a DVD of his skills. Rhain Davis is British born but was playing in Brisbane, Australia. It's hard to say who will be the next big thing at this age but you can certainly see he has an amazing amount of skill and talent!

Check it out below...



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Ronaldo R9 - The original and the best

Okay, first off, I've got nothing against Christiano Ronaldo (I'm half-Portuguese, half-Brazilian so I have loyalties in both camps :) but I got into football during R9's time, when he was unquestionably the best player in the world. He inspired me to start playing soccer (I started quite late) and really got my interested in the world game.

Christiano has got so much going for him, his pace, technique, strength and height. The only thing is the ugly side of his game, that is, the diving, etc. (which he seems to be cutting down on thankfully). But while he was still in primary school, Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima was already making a name for himself.

He began his professional career with Cruzeiro as soon as he was old enough to sign up. He didn't last long there before he was snapped up to play at PSV Eindhoven in Holland where he scored 55 goals in 57 appearances, a truly phenomenal statistic a testament to his alias "O Phenomeno". A good striker is one with about 1 goal per 2 games so 1:1 is amazing!

Barca could smell his pure talent and snapped him up for the 96-97 season where he maintained his amazing strike rate with 47 goals in 49 appearances! Moratti was soon pulling money out of his pockets to bring him to Inter where he spent about 5 years before going to Real Madrid where his talent was mostly wasted (at the very least, badly managed). Many Inter fans are sour about how he left the club but to me the problem was Hector Cuper, the worst Inter coach ever. He left him on the bench for the last game of the season which they lost and handed the Scudetto over Juve (I think it was Juve).

Around 1999-2000 he had an injury to his right knee that was almost career ending. He injured it, did rehab for about 3 months before re-injuring it badly almost straight away in his first game back. A dark period indeed for soccer and Inter! Luckily he came back and proved everyone wrong with an amazing performance in the 2002 world cup (after almost two years out!). In WC2006 he became the highest scorer in all the world cups, I sure hope they consider him for WC2010!

He turns 30 in a month (Sept 18th) and so is starting to approach his last remaining years in the game. Personally I feel he still has plenty to give and I think he will make his mark at AC Milan. Even though they are my bitter rivals as an Inter supporter, I do hope he gets the chance to win a champions league medal as it's probably the only thing he hasn't won yet!!!

See below the magic that was/is Ronaldo...



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First post

So this is obviously my first post for this soccer blog. I guess I hope to bring you the latest soccer news and add some insightful comments based on my opinions about what's going on in the football world at the moment. I'm probably going to post my favorite youtube clips with commentary cause they're a lot of good ones out there to watch!

Anyways, I hope you find this blog interesting and informative, it's sure to grow as I'll try to post as often as I can!