There Is Only One Sinnacle

When I was a kid before I realized as a Portuguese kid it’s almost a mortal sin to cheer for a Brazilian since the Italian kids would bust your balls about it endlessly Socrates was my favourite player of World Cup 1986. He had that “look.” Not only did he stood out on the field cause of his look but also his play. Sadly, Socrates was to go down as one of the generations of Brazilian players who played some of the most beautiful football ever see but never could win the big one.

I also love the fact Socrates was a doctor, it’s not everyday you read about someone going to medical school while playing at the highest levels of football. In the end years of hard living caught up to Socrates who was taken off life support and passed away today at age 57.

Yes, yet again I realize I’m getting old with that comment in my tilte but what a show WKRP in Cincinnati was. From as god as my witness I thought turkeys can fly, to Les Nessman “office”, the show where they dealt with the who tragic of those kids dying at a who concert and scenes like the one embedded you just don’t see smart TV written like that, much less on a comedy show.

I tweeted this morning how happy I am about the fact Portugal are even in Euro 2012 so whoever they ended up facing would be gravy. As a 3rd seed I knew the chances were good Portugal would be placed in a tough group and beating drawn with Germany, Holland and Denmark confirms they are in a tough group.

You know what however it’s not really that bad. This is Euro 2012 after all, this is the best of the best. You can’t side step good teams until the Semi Finals like you can in the World Cup. Portugal plays Germany in the first game. If they lose they can two other kicks at the can. If Portugal plays Germany and loses in the knockout stages like in Euro 2008 you are packing your bags. Basically whoever makes it out of the group gets a crack at the weak Group A teams. Not exactly a bad trade off.

Hopefully we keep on owning the Dutch, We gain revenge on Denmark of Euro qualifying, We gain revenge on Germany for knocking us out of Euro 2008 (this one won’t be easy) and hopefully if they advance maybe Portugal can get some revenge on Greece for Euro 2004. Then we lose in heartbreaking fashion in the semi finals.

Below are a list of the groups and a schedule of games.

Group A: Poland, Czech Republic, Greece, Russia
Group B: Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Germany
Group C: Spain, Ireland, Croatia, Italy
Group D: Ukraine, France, Sweden, England

Match schedule
All kick-offs CET, Ukrainian time is one hour ahead

Friday 8 June 2012
#1: POL v GRE, 18.00CET, Warsaw
#2: RUS v CZE, 20.45CET, Wroclaw

Saturday 9 June 2012
#3: NED v DEN, 18.00CET, Kharkiv
#4: GER v POR, 20.45CET, Lviv

Sunday 10 June 2012
#5: ESP v ITA, 18.00CET, Gdansk
#6: IRL v CRO, 20.45CET, Poznan

Monday 11 June 2012
#7: FRA v ENG, 18.00CET, Donetsk
#8: UKR v SWE, 20.45CET, Kyiv

Tuesday 12 June 2012
#9: GRE v CZE, 18.00CET, Wroclaw
#10: POL v RUS, 20.45CET, Warsaw

Wednesday 13 June 2012
#11: DEN v POR, 18.00CET, Lviv
#12: NED v GER, 20.45CET, Kharkiv

Thursday 14 June 2012
#13: ITA v CRO, 18.00CET, Poznan
#14: ESP v IRL, 20.45CET, Gdansk

Friday 15 June 2012
#15: SWE v ENG, 20.45CET, Kyiv
#16: UKR v FRA, 18.00CET, Donetsk

Saturday 16 June 2012
#17: CZE v POL, 20.45CET, Wroclaw
#18: GRE v RUS, 20.45CET, Warsaw

Sunday 17 June 2012
#19: POR v NED, 20.45CET, Kharkiv
#20: DEN v GER, 20.45CET, Lviv

Monday 18 June 2012
#21: CRO v ESP, 20.45CET, Gdansk
#22: ITA v IRL, 20.45CET, Poznan

Tuesday 19 June 2012
#23: ENG v UKR, 20.45CET, Donetsk
#24: SWE v FRA, 20.45CET, Kyiv

Wednesday 20 June 2012
No matches

Thursday 21 June 2012
#25: 1A v 2B, 20.45CET, Warsaw

Friday 22 June 2012
#26: 1B v 2A, 20.45CET, Gdansk

Saturday 23 June 2012
#27: 1C v 2D, 20.45CET, Donetsk

Sunday 24 June 2012
#28: 1D v 2C, 20.45CET, Kyiv

Monday 25 June 2012
No matches

Tuesday 26 June 2012
No matches

Wednesday 27 June 2012
#29: W#25 v W#27, 20.45CET, Donetsk

Thursday 28 June 2012
#30: W#26 v W#28, 20.45CET, Warsaw

Friday 29 June 2012
No matches

Saturday 30 June 2012
No matches

Sunday 1 July 2012
#31: W#29 v W#30, 20.45CET, Kyiv

I know you missed my Jose Mourinho propaganda but I couldn’t pass up this cover of the latest Rolling Stone in Spain with the Special One on the cover.

What an awful headline and awful story to talk about. You must really have no shame running an article like this.

For the last 20 years I’ve made fun of the other guy from Wham and the fact that no one really knew who he was. If anyone tells me they are a fan of the 80′s right away I ask them who was the other guy from Wham. Most still don’t answer Andrew Ridgeley as the other guy in Wham.

When I come to think about it I have to tip my cap to Andrew Ridgeley who is just about the only famous person I know who knew his place in the world and handled his fame so perfectly. During the Wham years Andrew Ridgeley was considered the lucky guy who rode on George Michael’s coat tails like he was some lottery winner. He was making boat loads of cash, selling out everywhere and then it came to close when George Michael Choose Solo.

It always interests me how people handle losing fame when the bright lights are no longer on them and really no one has handled it better than Andrew Ridgeley. It takes a really interesting person who knows exactly who he is and knows fame has little to with it. In the years since Wham broke up Andrew Ridgeley has lived the good life. He is set for life money wise, married the dark haired chick from Bananarama, who it must be said has held up nicely over the years. Plays golf, races cars and cheers on Queens Park Rangers. Basically he is living the dream. Sure fame no longer shines upon him but do I think Andrew Ridgeley would trade his life with anyone right now? I don’t think he would.

Stayed tune tomorrow as I talk my views on Tears for Fears.

Let start of be saying I’m a weird person in some fashion. In some ways I’m an old soul and so other ways I hold my youth close to me and don’t want to let it go. I don’t do or want to do what many people in my age group (early 30′s) find the norm.

So with that out of the way I got Frank Sinatra’s best of the best over the weekend. Every year they seem to release a Sinatra greatest hits package but usually they bug me by leaving out a song or two I like. I believe one of them didn’t have My Way on it, seriously it’s like A flock of seagulls releasing a greatest hits package without I ran. This one has all the songs I wanted so I picked it up.

This is my point. If you are over 30 and don’t think Frank Sinatra is one of the greatest entertainers ever, something is wrong with you. I listen to this album on the way to work and I simply smile. Sinatra voice is a thing of magic, you can’t help but be in a good mood while listening to the man.

I swear one of the first things I would do if I had a time machine is go back to the Sands to see the rat pack play. Screw the future, what I want is to see Frank, Dean, Sammy, and the other two, (it could be Andrew Ridgeley for all I care very inside joke but it gave me a new blog post coming up) just tear up the room.

You know you are getting old when you say things like they don’t make em like that anymore but you know with Frank Sinatra there will never be another one close to him.

A couple of months ago I wrote a pissed off article on Andre Villas Boas warning him about the sharks that come with taking over Chelsea football club. Part of the reason I wrote that of course was I wished he stayed another year at Porto but another is the fact I knew Andre Villas Boas was walking into club that needed to let go of the old guard and bring in a new era.

I’ve said it a million times that when a new coach takes over a team he needs to make his mark but sending someone packing. Everyone else usually falls in line but on the flip side I can’t blame Villas Boas for taking a year to see what he had before deciding on the shape of his team.

The problem lies with the fact most Chelsea coaches don’t get along time to take stock of their club and the English press doesn’t help matters by going after Villas Boas like a shark seeing blood in the water. Why doesn’t the British press go after the old guard of Chelsea who for the 3rd coach have flopped in November/December? (Ancelotti in 2010 and Scolari in 2008) These Chelsea players had it so good under Mourinho who even something went wrong took the heat onto himself or blamed everyone under the sun but his players. The likes of Frank Lampard, John Terry should be answering hard questions and no beating Wolves 3-0 doesn’t change everything yet.

If Chelsea expect Andre Villas Boas to cook the meal than they better let him shop for the eggs in the grocery store next summer. It’s easy to play football manager but screw it I’m going to do it regardless. They are the players who should go in the summer.

Petr Cech (They didn’t pay that money for Thibaut Courtois to loan him out every summer.)
John Terry or Frank Lampard (one needs to go, one could stay. I can’t decide which one)
Didier Drogba
John Obi Mikel
Florent Malouda
Salomon Kalou
Nicolas Anelka

When I started up my website again one of the first points I wanted to touch on was Robin van Persie but then Wenger had to go on and say Robin van Persie is on par with Ronaldo and Messi. That comment made me throw up in my mouth alittle. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. There is Ronaldo and Messi then there is everyone else.

What I must admit however is the fact Robin van Persie is more important to Arsenal than Ronaldo and Messi is to Real Madrid and Barcelona. van Persie is really the only world class player Arsenal has left. Don’t even try to throw any other Arsenal player in the mix. Arshavin? Please. Walcott? The Reggie Bush of soccer. Was giving a place in history on hype. When Arsenal plays well it’s Robin van Persie carrying Arsenal on his back. When he doesn’t play well Arsenal don’t win simple as that. When Ronaldo doesn’t play well Real Madrid can still put the boots for you, same for Barcelona.

It’s smart for Arsenal to keep contract talks private and away from the press but if Arsenal isn’t trying to sign van Persie up long term they are fools. If they leave it until the summer with only a year left on his deal you know the rumours will do the same damage next year as the Cesc rumours did this summer. This is no time to be cheap, van Persie has the hammer so in my best Teddy K.G.B voice pay the man his fu**ing money.

Woke up this morning to the awful news that Wales boss and former EPL midfielder Gary Speed passed away at the age of 42. Even more shocking is the fact police has confirmed that Gary Speed took his own life.

I try to keep this website light but suicide is a very tricky subject for me. I try not to judge people in general (but I know, I do) Far be it for me to judge what is going on in a person’s mind during those final moments. For me however my heart breaks for his two kids. Those are the people I feel sorry for. His two kids will have the bear the scars of Gary Speed’s action for the rest of their lives. It’s those kids for are in my mind right now not so much Gary Speed who took his life at the age of 42.