There Is Only One Sinnacle

Poland look to erase a disappointing World Cup showing coming into Euro 2008. They arrived in style winning their qualifying group against the likes of Portugal and Serbia.

Highlites from Poland’s 2-1 victory over Portugal in qualifying.

One through eleven Poland doesn’t match up on talent with Germany and Croatia, Leo Beenhakker has this team well prepared for what lies in front of them come the group stages.

Between the posts Poland have a wealth of talent with Celtic’s Artur Boruc, Manchester United’s Tomasz Kuszczak and Arsenal’s Łukasz Fabiański in the mix but the depth really ends there for Poland.

Trying not to take anything away from Poland since they were the best team coming out of there qualifying group and will be fired up getting to play against Germany. While each player plays and understands there position well both Germany and Croatian have game breakers which Poland will be hard pressed to match. Only 31 year old Maciej Żurawski comes into Euro 2008 with more then 15 international goals, that coming over 68 appearances. Not an impressive output for a striker.

Key Player - Artur Boruc

The strength of this Polish team will be the fact they don’t gift there opponents easy goals. The back line feature effective players such as Jacek Bąk, Marcin Wasilewski, and Michał Żewłakow but a back line is only as good as who you have in goal. Boruc is one of the finest goalie currently playing in Europe. Recently Boruc has made nosies about moving on to a bigger team and with a good performance come Euro 2008, Celtic just may end up receiving big money offers for Boruc.

Group B Outlook

As mentioned previously I like Croatia, Germany and Poland pretty equally in this group. While I feel Poland can cause an upset over Germany they are also the team that I feel will drop points to Austria which could be the difference in them not making it to the knockout stages.

Sinnacle Prediction 3rd in Group B

Ancelotti Meets Abramovich

According to La Repubblica, Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti is set to join Chelsea after meeting with Roman Abrahamovic in Switzerland.

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If I were running A.C Milan I’d fire Ancelotti on the spot if I hear he was talking to Chelsea. Milan has stayed loyal to Ancelotti when many other clubs would fire him after what occurred this past season.

Mancini left stunned by Inter Milan dismissal

Roberto Mancini has left Inter Milan after being dismissed last night.

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Case in point. I can see both sides of the coin here. Mancini has nothing to be ashamed of with regards to his record at Inter. The flip side of that coin is that Inter limped to the Scudetto this season. Mancini also clashed with several key players. The final nail in that coffin was Inter’s early exits in the Champions league the past couple of seasons. Mancini must of seen the writing on the wall after the Liverpool game.

Gomis’ Brilliant French Debut Sinks Ecuador

Bafé Gomis staked a very serious claim for a spot in France’s Euro2008 team by scoring both goals of France’s friendly success over Ecuador…

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Who needs David Trézéguet anyway.

Cassano To Stay On Loan At Sampdoria

Antonio Cassano is set to spend another season on loan at Sampdoria rather than be sold on a permanent basis it was decided in a meeting between the player’s agent and Real Madrid.

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Real Madrid don’t wish to sell Cassano to Sampdoria since they figure within a year or two he’d end up at one of Italy’s bigger clubs.

Real Madrid have joined Inter Milan in the race to sign Arsenal’s £15m-rated midfielder Alexander Hleb. (Various)

If Arsenal are smart and history has proven that, look for them to sell Hleb sooner rather than later and avoid creating a distraction.

Peter Crouch has told Rafa Benitez that he will stay at Anfield to see out the remaining year of his current contract in protest at his £15, price tag. (Daily Star)

Good for you Peter Crouch. We both know you aren’t worth £15 million. Tell Rafa that you don’t want him holding you back anymore.

Tottenham have won the race to sign Barcelona wonderkid Giovani Dos Santos and will arrive at White Hart Lane in a £12.5m deal. (Daily Star)

Now who will win the race to sign Tottenham current midfielder Aaron Lennon.

Sir Alex Ferguson will fly out to Portugal’s Euro 2008 training camp in Switzerland to persuade Cristiano Ronaldo to stay at Manchester United. (Daily Mirror)

It’s doubtful that Sir Alex Ferguson and Luiz Felipe Scolari will be sharing a bottle of wine during this trip.

Bolton have been told they will need to pay at least £16m for Sporting Lisbon’s Miguel Veloso. (The Sun)

There is no way that Bolton will ever sign Miguel Veloso.

Wigan manager Steve Bruce is lining up a £3.5m bid for Newcastle’s Charles N’Zogbia. (Daily Mirror)

If N’Zogbia grows up whatever team he is on will have a great player on there hands. Top 4 talent but quite immature.

Arsenal are bracing themselves for tough contract talks with Cesc Fabregas after it emerged that his new agent is Darren Dein, son of former vice-chairman David Dein. (Daily Telegraph)

Whatever Fabregas wants Arsenal should pay him. He is the heart and soul of that Arsenal team . Fabregas is one of a few players in today’s game you just can’t replace.

First off I want to apologize for any non Canadians who happen to read this. You may get it, you may not.

So here I am doing what I do best and that is killing time when I check out the tsn website (Canadian version of ESPN) and read a TSN preview for the upcoming European Championships. Link will be provided below.

Click here if you wish to have your intelligence insulted

Before I start, Something thing that bugs me about most main stream media and their coverage of soccer is the fact most of the people who cover it wouldn’t follow soccer if they weren’t getting paid to do so. Alf De Blasis and Morris Dalla Costa have covered the sport for aslong as I can remember. De Blasis I’m a fan of, Dalla Costa not so much but I respect his opinions. You can atleast tell he loves the game. Both as you can tell are Italian but really aside from those two you’d think soccer coverage in Canada would have a more European influence. Heaven forbid I see a Polish/Portuguese/Spanish/Serbian etc represented in the media talking soccer.

Look at Toronto FC for example. None of the beat reporters covering them are European however many of the fans in the stands are. Now before I am ragged on for a bias the point that I’m trying to make is this. The people in the media should atleast speak to the people who follow the game. What bugs me about media coverage is that the people who cover Toronto FC are not soccer fans. The second a reporters job for Hockey or Baseball open up every one who currently reports on Toronto FC would apply. If soccer is truly about passion, the reporters who don’t have that same passion can never speak to their readership who do. It’s just a flawed system.

Basically what I’m trying to say is most media coverage of soccer in this country sucks. Now I’m not all negative as mentioned I do like Alf De Blasis from TLN. Vic Rauter on TSN does a great job handling traffic during the warm up shows. Dick Howard who must be moth balled somewhere when Euro and the World Cup aren’t on does bring knowledge when the two competitions are on-going. Former Ipswich goalie Craig Forrest does an excellent job over at Sportsnet. Heaven forbid he says anything good about Portugal but we all can’t be perfect in what we do. To finish the I’m-not-really-a-bitter-prick list the guys from Fox Soccer Report also do a pretty good job covering the game on a nightly basis.

Ok, guess I’m not finished, whatever happen to Graham Legget anyway? Why did TSN force him out? Waking up in the morning to watch week old division 1 games while Legget updated the current weeks scores at halftime ruled for some odd reason. Bring World of Soccer back TSN, except make the games live of course.

Oh yes back to my point, three out of the four people in this article mentioned that Portugal has the most to prove? Prove what and to who exactly? Atleast heading into this Euro 2008 I don’t have to deal with the Portuguese national team chokes reasoning. Making the semi finals or better 3 out of the last 4 major tournaments speaks for itself. What other country with a population of 10 million can claim that any point?

The kicker were these comments.

DE BLASIS His comment will be in Italics

I think the team with the most to prove is Portugal. Here is a very talented side that couldn’t quite win it all at home the last time around (I don’t recall Italy winning the World Cup in 1990 nor would I call that Italian team a disappointment. Same can be said for Portugal in Euro 2004)

and came very close at the 2006 World Cup but lacked the discipline and determination to go all the way. (Another point I don’t agree with, they lacked discipline in the Holland game but they won that game. They were very disciplined in the England game, No Portuguese player stepped on John Terry groin nor did they fold during the penalty kicks. Portugal lost to a better team in France, determination had nothing to do with it. There is no shame losing to a French side that also beat Brazil 1-0 the round before)

They have arguably the world’s best player in Cristiano Ronaldo at the top of his game and need to take advantage of his unique skills.

What arguably? Who is this argument coming from? Even the most hard headed Arsenal and Liverpool fan at this point would have to say as of this date Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world.

Kaka received universal and deserved praise in winning the FIFA world player of the year last year. Not only did Ronaldo match Kaka this year winning the Champions League, he also won the EPL title with United that Kaka didn’t do last year for A.C Milan in Serie A and he scored nearly double the goals Kaka did. Why was Kaka hands down considered the best player in the world the second he lead A.C Milan to Champions League victory but the moment Ronaldo not only matches that but surpasses it do questions still arise?

But they run the risk of falling off the rails the same way the previous generation of Portuguese teams did back in the early 90’s.

This I can agree with.

Cathal Kelly His comment also in Italics

The player with the most to prove is Cristiano Ronaldo. If he really is the best player on earth, now’s the moment to show it. By extension, the Portuguese are under enormous pressure to go one stage further than they managed four years ago and win this thing.

Again prove what? Portugal is not a football factory, it’s not Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy and even England that have populations of 50 million and above. If one great player retires or is injured they is always a younger generation ready to take its place. Portugal doesn’t have that luxury. Yes, they are a great team filled with great players currently but guess what so are Spain, Italy, France, and Germany. The margin of victory is so small at the highest level. On the International level the player I’d most compare Ronaldo with is Johan Cruyff. He never won anything for Holland but he is admired for what he did with the national team and again deservedly so. Why the media has this need to bring players up and then tear them down is beyond me. In the ultimate team game it is a lot to ask that one players legacy be defined in winning a World Cup or European Championship.

That same chip must by lying across the shoulders of the Germans, who haven’t won a major tournament since ‘96. That’s the Deutsch equivalent of a century and a half.

This part I can also agree with. Germany does face pressure heading into Euro 2008.

Jamie BellHis comment also in Italics

After reaching the finals at EURO 2004 and the Semis at the World Cup in 2006 I believe that Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal have the most to prove.

Portugal employs one of the top managers in the World in “Big Phil” Scolari and a good mixture of youth and experience. They also have Ronaldo who established himself as perhaps the best player in the World this past season, but the knock against him is that he doesn’t always show up in the biggest games. Although still young, the time is now for Ronaldo to put his name up there with other all-time greats by having a big tournament and leading the Portguese to at least the Final once more.

Oh my god how do some people get a job in media. This site is what it is. Quite frankly I say that cause I don’t know what it is. I have no clue if this site is any good or not. I do realize there is a lot of things I need to get better at. One of the reasons this site was started is because I saw these people who talk about soccer and I kept thinking to myself “Hey I can do better then that” or “WTF I know more about soccer then that guy” It was either repeating that to myself for the rest of my life or doing something about it.

Ronaldo is 23, the time isn’t now for anything. Most players don’t enter their prime until 25-26 and I still can’t believe the whole big game theory is still mentioned. He could retire now and his resume would match up against many of the games greats. Due to my lack of Spelling and Grammar I won’t comment further that he also misspelled “Portguese”.

After a season where he was largely underused at Liverpool I also expect Ryan Babel to announce his presence on the international scene for the Dutch and Andrei Arshavin to follow up a strong performance in the UEFA cup with one for Russia.

It will be pretty hard for Arshavin to match his UEFA Cup performance when he is suspended for the first two Euro 2008 games. By the 3rd game it may not matter anymore for Russia.

The only way in my mind that Portugal would be a disappointment in Euro 2008 if they don’t advance out of the group stage.

Come the knockout stage if Portugal losses to either Croatia or Germany there is simply no shame in that. Maybe I just find it weird that for the first time in my lifetime the eyes of the soccer media are taking dead aim at Portugal. Despite that I refuse to believe that this team is a failure and by extension Ronaldo is a failure if they don’t win Euro 2008.

Alright I got that off my chest. For the time being I feel better.

As Gary Lineker famously mused, “Soccer is a game for 22 people that run around, play the ball, and one referee who makes a slew of mistakes, and in the end Germany always wins. While their Euro win in 1996 seems along time ago for Germany fans. That 96 final win also coincides with the last Germany victory at the European Championships. Coming off winless campaigns in Euro 2000 and Euro 2004 new head coach Joachim Löw will look to build upon the success of the previous World Cup.

Highlites of Germany 13-0 pounding of San Marino in Euro 2008 qualifying.

In goal will Jens Lehmann manage to shake off the rust of the previous domestic season where he was very much the second choice at Arsenal. Motivation is a word that is too often used in football but a player of Lehmann will have plenty of it going into Euro 2008 as he’ll look to prove Arsene Wenger wrong. I’d be hard pressed to believe that Joachim Low would bring Lehmann into the Germen gold if he wasn’t going to be the number one. Lehmann isn’t exactly the greatest of team players when he isn’t in the line up. Backing him up will be Robert Enke and René Adler who the latter seems to have the inside track in being the Germen goalie of the future.

Up and down this lineup Germany is well equipment. They are talented and they are deep which are key in tournaments such as these where injuries and yellow card suspensions take its toll late in the tournament.

With this depth it will be interesting to see who exactly will start. You can pencil in stars players such as Philipp Lahm, Michael Ballack but it will be intriguing to see who will feature up front for Germany. Miroslav Klose, Kevin Kurányi, and Mario Gómez all had impressive domestic seasons and Lukas Podolski who was the best young player in the previous World Cup.

Key Player - Michael Ballack

The German captain will be used to the international spotlight this being his 5th major tournament and while he has scored some clutch goals for Chelsea during the course of the previous two season Ballock is very much been the brides maid and never the bride with the National team. If Ballack is to shake off that tag with the German public he’ll need to help Germany win Euro 2008 in what could be his last major tournament.

Group B Outlook

I can’t picture Germany going three straight European championships without a win. The talent is there, they are well coached with Low being a hold over from the previous World Cup set up and they are well composed. The pressure of big events generally do not phrase Germany and that alone should help them proceed to the knockout stages.

Prediction 2nd in Group B

Begiristain: Keita Is Key

Barcelona technical director Txiki Begiristain stressed the importance the signing of Seydou Keita will have on their squad next season, as the Catalan giants look to construct a championship-winning side.

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This doesn’t excite me. I’ll hold off until Keita plays a few games for Barcelona. The fact that Keita already has one year playing in Spain does count as an advantage when making the switch to a team such as Barcelona.

Barcelona launching £15M bid for Valencia’s Silva

Barcelona are launching a £15 million bid for Valencia winger David Silva.

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Silva however would excite me if I was a Barcelona fan.

Adriano To Join Samp?

According to sources from Genoa, Inter striker Adriano could make a surprise loan move to Sampdoria this summer.

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Sampdoria already know what its like dealing with a head case from another team. That being last years loan signing of Antonio Cassano. Don’t look for this to happen anytime soon. If Inter make a coaching change, Adriano could easily be in the new coaches plans.

Deschamps chasing Chelsea job

Didier Deschamps admits he is keen on the management job at Chelsea.

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It’s funny seeing Deschamps beg again for the Chelsea job. He did the same thing when Mourinho left. No matter how many stories Deschamps leaks to the press he won’t be offered the Chelsea job.

Sir Alex Ferguson wants to spend his £50m summer transfer budget within the next fortnight, with Micah Richards and Sevilla’s Brazilian duo Luis Fabiano and Daniel Alves top of his wish-list. (Daily Mirror)

United would need to cough up more then the £50m in order to sign those three players. Richards and Alves alone would eat up most of that £50m budget. I can understand United adding a 3rd striker but I don’t understand why United wants to ticker with the back line. Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand and Brown made up the backbone of the United team. Add Gary Neville, Danny Simpson, and John O’Shea even the cover is pretty good.

While Alves/Richards are better then Brown, what message does that send to Brown who signed a new contact? Where will Brown play next season? Evra is going into the final year of his deal and once he hears what either of the new players make you know he is going to call his agent right away.

Having a newspaper throw big names out there looks good in print. The resulting effect on a team is often over looked.

Real Madrid are prepared to pay an estimated £150m to secure the services of Cristiano Ronaldo. They will pay Man Utd £39.8m as well as offering Robinho, Sergio Ramos and Mahamadou Diarra in exchange and will pay the Portuguese winger £7.6m a year. (Daily Express)

If you haven’t noticed I don’t post most of the Ronaldo rumors that seem listless. Quite frankly it bores me. It’s all conjunction at this point.

Blackburn midfielder David Bentley has snubbed a new contract at Ewood Park clearing the way for Tottenham and Chelsea to launch £15m bids. (Various)

Bentley must feel that if he is to crack the England starting 11 he’ll have to leave Blackburn to do so.

Arsenal are lining up a £20m move for Real Mallorca striker Dani Guiza, 27, and Real Madrid midfielder Ruben de la Red, 22. (Daily Star)

De la Red would be a good signing for Arsenal. Guiza 27 goals last year is bound to attract interest but I don’t think he’d come close to repeating that goal output his first year in the EPL.

Aston Villa are interested in Manchester City’s £4m-rated defender Richard Dunne. (Daily Mail)

Villa boss Martin O’Neill is also keeping tabs on Chelsea midfielder Steve Sidwell and Man Utd goalkeeper Ben Foster. (Daily Mail)

It would be a shame if Richard Dunne could be had for less than Steve Sidwell.

Spurs are favourites to sign Barcelona’s Giovani Dos Santos after discussing a £7m deal. (Daily Mail)

Dos Santos is clearly angling for a new contact from Barcelona. He would only leave the Spanish Giants if they play hard ball. Dos Santos would be foolish to leave Barcelona at any rate.

Man Utd assistant manager Carlos Queiroz wants reassurances he will succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford or he will leave the club, (Daily Star)

If and when Sir Alex Ferguson retires this is how his replacement will be named.

a) If at the time of Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement Manchester United are coming off a successful season then United will look to continue in that same vain and Queiroz would be promoted from within.

b) If at the time of S.A.F retirement United are coming off a disappointing season the board are going to look towards bringing in a new face hence Queiroz would be left out in the cold if that is the case.

The conquers of England not once but twice during qualifying take their rightful place amongst the best 15 teams that Europe has to offer and Austria.

You’d be hard pressed to find a coach who has done a better job in the last two years of European qualifying then Croatia coach Slaven Bilić. Taking over from a disappointing first round World Cup exit Bilic took Croatia from an outside chance of beating Russia and England in the qualifying section to actually winning the group. Not trying to twist the knife deeper here for England fans but it does say something about a team that had nothing to play for going into the final England game to not only compete but win at Wembley on that faithful day.

Really, what else did you except me to use as Croatia’s Euro 2008 qualifying highlite?

This is another team whose balance of youth and experience I find just right in a major tournament. The defence is lead by Dario Šimić, Josip Šimunic, and Robert Kovač. Each with over 50 caps to there name. Joining them will be Manchester City’s Vedran Ćorluka. The 22 year old had an impressive first year playing in the English Premier League.

Croatia’s midfield is also quite deep with captain Niko Kovač joined by Ivan Rakitić, Luka Modrić and Portsmouth Niko Kranjčar. All gifted, all under the age of 25.

The biggest loss which leads to the biggest question mark heading into this tournament is who will replace the goal scoring of Eduardo up front. His horrific injury while playing at Arsenal will leave him on the sidelines this summer. None of the strikers that have been called up for Croatia have more then 10 goals on the international stage. While the midfielders will carry the Croatian offence someone up front will need to up there game in order for Croatia to go deep in this tournament.

Key Player - Luka Modrić

The newest addition to Tottenham has all the tricks needed to impress on the international stage. Tottenham may prove to be wise in signing him before the European Championship. With a good showing this summer his value would of increased from the 16 million pounds Tottenham paid to sign him.

Group B Outlook

I’ve said a lot of good things about this Croatian team and deservedly so but I do feel the loss of Eduardo will end up be crushing blow to Croatian at some point. In this group I like Germany, Poland, and Croatia equally. When deciding who will advance in my mind I asked myself which team is more then likely to trip up against Austria and drop points. The answer wasn’t Croatian so I see them advancing in a fiercely contested group.

Sinnacle Prediction 1st in Group B

Chelsea To Swap Drogba, Carvalho For Kaka?

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is lining up an incredible player-exchange deal for AC Milan superstar Kaka, according to reports…

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Another story that looks good in print but the reality of it coming to pass is unlikely. Until Chelsea have a new head coach Kaka won’t sign off on any transfer. A.C Milan also need to rebound and at least make the Champions League next season. Selling one of the best players in the world even for Drogba and Carvalho isn’t the right way to go about it.

Atletico Madrid coach Aguirre: I was right to dump Maniche

Atletico Madrid coach Javier Aguirre believes he was justified in offloading Maniche to Inter Milan in January.

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This summer isn’t going so great for Maniche.

Pepe Wants Ronaldo At Bernabéu

Spanish sports daily Marca reports Real Madrid defender Pepe as saying that he’d love to line up alongside Cristiano Ronaldo for los Blancos…

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Good to see the Real Madrid propaganda paper at it again. Seriously what is Pepe going to say? Of course he would want to play with Ronaldo. Ask Steven Taylor of Newcastle the same question and I’m sure he’d say the same thing. It still doesn’t make it news.

Juventus prepare to rubberstamp Amauri signing

Juventus could unveil Palermo striker Amauri as their latest signing tomorrow.

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Just do it soon. I’m getting tired of reading about it.

REPORT: MLSE IN TALKS TO PURCHASE LEEDS UNITED

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Poor Leeds fans haven’t they suffered enough the past couple of years.

Quique Flores Appointed Benfica Coach

Former Valencia boss Quique Sánchez Flores is set to take over as manager of troubled Portuguese giants Benfica…

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I let this one slide for a day. I’m not against it since Flores has had success at Valencia. It doesn’t make me think that this will cure all of Benfica’s evils either.

If Flores brings any kind of success to Benfica he will leave for a bigger club and they will start this cycle over again. Benfica needs a coach that is committed to the club and quite frankly the Benfica board need to find a coach they are committed too.

That Euro 2000 team is still my favorite Portugal team. I’m not going to sit here and say if that was a hand ball on Abel Xavier or not. I will say that if the reserve happen there would be no way that the referee would make the same hand ball call literally seconds away from Penalties against France. For close to 120 minutes they stood toe to toe with the best team in the World. I’ll even overlook Vitor Baia who shouldn’t of spilled that ball.