There Is Only One Sinnacle

The SFA has confirmed Burley’s departure…

The Scots’ 3-0 friendly defeat to Wales in Cardiff at the weekend has proved the final straw after a disappointing World Cup qualifying campaign in which the team’s progress over the last few years faltered and then appeared to hit reverse.

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Timing may be curious as it should of happened right after World Cup qualifying but in the end it’s the right decision. You can make the claim Walter Smith and Alex McLeisth had Scotland punching above their weight, taking them to within a game of Euro 2008 but on the flip side it’s been nothing but downhill since Burnley took over. His team’s couldn’t score goal with the likes Kris Boyd never being able to duplicate his Rangers form with the national team. Then you have the Barry Ferguson and Allan Mcgregor saga where it became clear Burley had lost the confidence of his players. It will be interesting to see who now takes over this program which is again very much at a crossroads.

Portugal 1-0 Bosnia: Wasteful Hosts Take Narrow Advantage To Zenica

Portugal dominated against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Lisbon, but ended up just taking a one goal lead in their World Cup play-off first leg encounter.

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I’m emotionally exhausted and it’s not even Wednesday yet. The good news is Portugal kept a clean sheet and they are not the type of team to park the bus away from home. Of course I would of loved to see Portugal win by three but it’s not awful Portugal is going into the second leg only up 1-0. Already people are not impressed by Portugal which in a way is a good thing. It keeps them focused going into the second leg. Usually Portugal underachieves when they think it’s job done. With everything still to play for hopefully Portugal can score an early away goal and close it out.

Just wanted to say thank you to Bruno Alves. If it wasn’t for him Portugal wouldn’t even be here. It was his last minute winner against Albania which got the ball rolling finally for Portugal in World Cup Qualifying.

(Fast Forward to the 40 second mark)

Dunga slams City in row over Robinho’s availability

Brazil international Robinho has ruled himself out of Saturday’s friendly against England in Doha as he continues his recovery following an ankle injury – but Dunga has slammed the Premier League club for the way they have handled the situation.

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Dunga had some interesting quotes when talking about how Manchester City has handled Robinho being called up to the Brazilian National team.

“People need to know we are the five-times world champions. It is Brazil we are talking about. They have got to have respect for us.. They just can’t come to the team hotel and try and take the player away.

“There is a hierarchy here that needs to be respected. We brought Robinho here so the doctors can be near to him and they are famous for getting the players fit quickly.”

My first reaction was to snap my fingers and say that’s right. My second reaction was to applaud Dunga for playing the five time World Champions card. With respect to Manchester City, I can understand them trying to protect their investment but clubs have to know most players value wearing their National team colours. Robinho himself put it best by adding;

“My club pays me but I always want to be with the national team when they meet up and I don’t want a problem with my club or the national team.

“My obligation is to be here, and it’s supported by FIFA. The people who need to understand each other are the Brazil national team and the club, not the player. When I am with Brazil it is like being back at home and being with your family.”

Jonny Evans: Sometimes Manchester United Have To Beat The Referee Too

Manchester United defender says reds get raw deal from officials…

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The day after his boss was handed a touchline ban for blasting Alan Wiley and Wayne Rooney apologized for claiming last weekend’s referee acted like the 12th man, Jonny Evans comes out and has some interesting comments of his own. Speaking to Sky Sports News Evans had these things to say.

“I think there are a lot of teams that do a lot of play-acting, but I don’t think that’s the case with Manchester United.

“Sometimes you have got to beat the referee as well and that is what we are going to try and do.”

Oh cry me a river, looking back over the last couple of years few teams have benefited from refereeing decisions like Manchester United. This blaming the referee for ever little thing mentality is really masking the real issue Manchester United should be addressing. Instead of questioning such things as Alan Wiley’s weight, Manchester United should find the answer as to who will spark their offensive attack against the top teams of Europe.

Real Madrid Star Cristiano Ronaldo Wants To Return For Barcelona Clash

Cristiano Ronaldo wants to return to action before Real Madrid play Barcelona at the end of November. He hopes to take a step forward by returning to full training next week.

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Truthfully I’ve got bigger fish to fry heading into this weekend than worrying about if Cristiano Ronaldo will play against Barcelona. I do want to let it be known if Goltv Canada doesn’t broadcast the game due to ESPN picking it up in the United States I’ll rage. Surely common sense will prevail here but I’m not betting on it.

Carlos Tevez has said he is considering retirement after the World Cup if Argentina pick up the trophy, because he is disappointed at losing his first choice place for his country and exhausted by the amount of football he is playing.

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What is wrong with Carlos Tevez? Lately he is coming off as a whiner. Very early on I defended Carlos Tevez for getting shafted by Manchester United last year but he has beaten that topic to the ground already and now this?

He mentioned he is exhausted by the amount of football he is playing. Granted I have tons of respect for South American players who have to travel long distances to play for their countries. Notice he mentioned that second and the fact he was disappointed at losing his first choice place as the first reason. For a country stacked with Argentina you need to score goals. For all the effort Tevez brings on the pitch you need a striker who can score at a once in every two game clip and Tevez has not been that type of goal scorer. Diego Maradona benched his son in law Sergio Aguero over his lack of goals so you can’t say Maradona has played favorites. The answer is simple for Tevez. Should he wish to start for Argentina he’ll need to start scoring. Venting his frustrations in the media won’t do him any good.

Manchester City have been told by Benfica that star forward Angel Di Maria will cost them £36m after they made him their top target to replace Brazilian Robinho, who has been linked with Barcelona. Daily Mail

Will always maintain Di Maria will stay until the summer but he does have a release clause which Manchester City can trigger at anytime. Interesting price being set here since it would be a tad more than Manchester City paid for Robinho. Good business has they say if Benfica does sell Di Maria anywhere close to that price.

Liverpool have placed a £14m price tag on midfielder Lucas Leiva after a couple of top European sides inquired about his availability. (Daily Mirror)

Some would say that’s £13 million more than what is should be. Regardless of the price Liverpool hs set the price high as they don’t want to sell Lucas.

Blackburn are considering a £4m bid for AZ Alkmaar’s Swedish midfielder Rasmus Elm. (Daily Mirror)

With AZ Alkmaar’s main sponsor going bankruptcy it would make sense if they sold a player or two to cover the loss in income.

The Football Association could face a £900,000 compensation bill from Chelsea after midfielder Frank Lampard suffered a thigh injury while on board a “cramped economy jet”. The Sun

Who says footballers have the glamorous life? Poor Frank Lampard and poor English FA. Early word is Lampard will be missing for three weeks. Take three weeks, times that by Frank’s £150,000 weekly salary and you have an expensive cheque the FA (ok the FA’s insurance) will have to cut.

Manchester City forward Robinho is set to anger his club manager Mark Hughes by playing for his national side Brazil against England, despite being out of action with an ankle injury since August. The Sun

If I was Robinho I’d play too. He plays great when wearing the Brazil colours. Not so much when wearing a Manchester City jersey.

Liverpool’s Fabio Aurelio has been forced to pull out of Brazil’s squad to face England and is the Premier League club’s latest injury worry. Steven Gerrard, Fernado Torres, Glen Johnson, Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera are among the other injured first-teamers. Full story: The Guardian

And you wonder why most coaches hate international club friendlies?

Why am I posting a youtube clip on a penalty shootout between Stony Brook vs Hartford? Fast forward to the 20 second mark where the Hartford goalie tried to pull a Bruce Grobbelaar. Now watch the reply by the Stony Brook player.

Kicking it old school with a clip of the penalty shootout between Roma and Liverpool. Fast forward to the 1:45 for Bruce Grobbelaar’s spaghetti legs antics.

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore has some interesting and candid comments to stay about Scottish giants Celtic and Rangers possibly joining the EPL. Below are some quotes from an interview Scudamore gave to Sky Sports News.

“There is nothing to say other than what it is in the official statement. The clubs have discussed it as part of strategic development, but as far as Rangers and Celtic are concerned – it’s a non-starter.”

When asked to reiterate, Scudamore said: “No means never.”

“The clubs welcomed the additional input in to an ongoing process, however they were of the opinion that bringing Celtic and Rangers into any form of Premier League set-up was not desirable or viable.”

The English Premier League is a business and let most big businesses they think “what’s in it for us?” There is no denying Celtic and Rangers have worldwide appeal but it’s not like the EPL is hurting when it comes to their global marketing efforts. When the Scottish Premier League lost Setanta as a broadcaster they struggled to replace them, finally selling their TV rights to ESPN and BBC at a fraction of what Setanta previously paid.

Adding Celtic and Rangers isn’t going to send TV revenues any higher and if they add two more clubs to the English top flight it means two extra clubs to share revenue with. Unless Celtic and Rangers can convince English clubs they can make more money even after dividing the pie in two extra pieces as an example this conversation will not go anywhere despite it bringing bought up every year around this time.

Algerian Team Bus Attacked With Rocks In Egypt, Three Players Injured

According to RMC, the Algerian national team bus has been attacked by projectiles in Cairo, having just left the airport. Three players are reportedly injured, including Rafik Saifi, who was hit on his hand, and Rafik Halliche and Khaled Lemmouchia, who were both struck in the head.

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Few things bug me more than violence in football. I realize football is more than just a game but people need to keep things in a proper perspective. It’s one thing wanting a team to lose, even hating another team. You become a mental midget when you cross the line and act out on that hated with violence. No idea what is going to come about from this but I’d wish for this game to be played in an empty stadium as a punishment for what happen on the Algerian team bus. Below is video of the incident.