World Player of the Year?

It has been a topsy-turvy year this one in football. The gap between big and small teams has become smaller, and to win, tactics have proven to be more important than the individual skills of the players. A much debated question amongst fans and experts alike is who will win the player of the year this time around. It may be noted that during the years that have had a world cup, the World Player of the Year has come form the winning team: Romario in 94, Zidane in 98, Ronaldo in 2002 and most recently Cannavaro in 2006. I have compiled a small list..See if you can add to it.

Los Galacticos: Then and Now

Then…

Now..

Madrid are bloody Copy Cats!

van Nistelrooy on his way out?

Dutch hitman Ruud van Nistelrooy could be on his way out of Real Madrid. For a mere 2 million Euros! Tottenham are understood to be one of the clubs interested.

Tottenham calling??

van Nistelrooy has been top scorer in all the leagues he has played in so far, and has scored 60 goals in 80 champions league appearances. Perez may have gotten Kaka, but he can’t guarentee you the goals that van Nistelrooy can. And a record transfer fee for Kaka and 2 million for Nistelrooy dosn’t make sense at all! Mr Perez, are you listening?

Forza Maldini

A living legend himself, Paolo Maldini plays his last competetive game for AC Milan on Sunday against AS Roma. He joined Milan’s youth academy in 1978 and has remained there since then. He has won 7 Serie A titles, along with 5 Champions League medals. Before his last game, we say Forza Maldini!

Owen set to make Anfield return

Reports suggest that former Liverpool hitman Micheal Owen, who scored 158 goals from 296 appearances for the Anfield outfit is set to make a return to the club during the January transfer window. The forward has won the FA Cup, the Uefa cup and the European Super Cup during his tenure at Anfield.He was named European Player of the year in the year 2001. Owen was sold to Real Madrid in 2005, shortly after the arrival of Rafael Benitez at the club for 11 million pounds. However since then, he has been plagued by recurring injuries. The forward was previously linked to the club but was signed by Newcastle United for an undisclosed record club transfer fee in 2006. He is said to carry a prize tag of 2-3 million pounds, and seems a good option for Benitez to bolster his attack, with Fernando Torres down with a hamstring tear.

Money doesn’t buy you success.. unless you’re Chelsea

Robinho:32.5 million pounds
Jo:19 million pounds
Shaun Wright Phillips:11 million pounds
Getting 11th place in the Premier League: Priceless

There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there is Manchester City.

There had been a lot of anticipation about the club when the new season of the Premier League started. With anew owner with millions to spend, a new coach, and a lot of big money signings, a lot of people thought that the time had come finally for them to break into the Top Four for that prestigious Champions League spot. But that was not to be, as we see today, with the club in the bottom half, 16 points off the leaders.

Yet again, it has shown that money can’t necessarily buy you a higher league berth. Tottenham Hotspurs is the other club in the BPL to suffer from this fate. This looked rather like Real Madrid’s “Mission Galactico” at the beginning of the season, and seems to have failed like it as well. This process of moving up is a rather gradual one, and not one that happens over half a season. Mark Hughes has proven to be a capable manager at Blackburn. And the high profile signings have proven their mettle as world class players.
However, to remain competitive in the big leagues like the BPL, the team has to compete, and not the individual players. Signing players is one thing, but getting them play to play well as a team is what matters most. Recently, there has been a speculation of Manchester City ready to bring in Brazilian genius Kaka during the January transfer window. That will certainly take quite a bit of money. But these signings alone wont do if the ambitious aims of the new owner are to be met.

Footie Fox: A must have Firefox Addon for all Football Fanatics

I am a football fanatic. A lot of other people are football fanatics as well. Being the football fanatic I am, I find it essential to be updated with latest scores of the matches happening around the world. One can always use the numerous websites to keep a track on the latest scores, but it becomes rather cumbersome to refresh every few minutes to check if anyone has scored or not. This process gets simplified greatly by an addon for firefox I discovered recently.

Footie fox is indeed a must for all football fans. It creates an extra toolbar on firefox, from where one can check for latest scores. The leagues we prefer to follow can be customized, as can be our favorite teams. Whenever a goal is scored, a popup with the

scoring teams name and the score line appears accompanied by a shout of “GOALLL”.

One can follow all the matches happening around the world, check for upcoming fixtures, and even set alarms before the matches you wouldn’t like to miss. It is an excellent utility and I strongly recommend it to be added to your firefox.

Click here to add Footie Fox to your Firefox.