Juventus have always been a team that has always chose Italian players over foreigner or Italian coaches over foreigners. During the teams entire existence this philosophy has worked out pretty well for them until the last 4 seasons. After the world cup Italian Football was decimated by scandal and even now to this day new scandal has rose in the Italian game. This scandal has turned the Italian into what I would call boring football. Italian Football has always been on the slower side due to its tactical game but after 2006 it has become dreadful. Juventus are the team that suffered most since 2006 by being relegated, stripped of 2 titles and losing a host of world class players and not to forget there top class coach in Fabio Capello. Since returning to Serie A 3 years ago they have steadily moved up on the tables coming 3rd and then 2nd. After the 2008-09 season Juventus saw fit to replace there coach with another Italian coach and midway through the season they fired that coach and replaced him with another Italian coach. As of now Juventus sit in 7th place 6 points off the final Champions League spot and dont look in any shape of form to come near that last spot.
Juventus's game has become stale and predictable. They are a one dimension team that can not adapt to other styles of play successfully. The most surprising stat of all though is their defensive record. Juventus have always been a team that strives towards defense but this year they have they are tied 4th for the worst defense in the league. Never in my days have I ever heard such a stat linked to Juventus. If Juventus hired a foreign coach I believe they would improve dramatically because in all the major leagues around Europe you are seeing a team brand a football, a fast paced ball moving style of football because of the new generation coming into the teams. These young players seem to all have pace and have a certain flair to them to want to become the next big thing in Football but in Italy you aren't seeing this instead they are fading into a tier 2 league because of this unwillingness to let young players play and not allow foreign influence in there league. Italians are hard headed on their ways and dont like change, why do you think you see the same old players playing for the same team and still starting! Italians have this mind set that your young until your 26, then you can play regularly. With this mind set the Italian game will not last much longer and will eventually lose interest and lose fans which will ultimately mean less money and less expensive players. Italians have always had amazing youth systems, you see it in their U21 international set up. Always the favorites to win the European Championships but for some reason after that event you dont see them anymore until there old because their respective clubs feel them to young and instead of playing them they send them out on loan to a lower seated team to be benches as well or sent to Serie B where they play a bit more then usual. One thing Italians are the best in the world for is wasting young talent.
If Juventus or the league in general started having foreign owners and foreign coaches you will see more interest in the league and more interest from foreign players like the early 90's when Serie A was considered the best league in the world. Until then though Italian football will continue to decline and pretty soon Serie A will turn into no more then a amateur league for retired players who still think they can play with the best.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
3on3 Charity Event
Last week I was surfing the net for something to write about and low and behold I find a 3on3 charity street soccer tournament. I was excited to see this to be honest. Heres some info on the whole event.
The tournament is in its first year of existence and is being held at St Francis Xavier Secondary school in Vancouver in the 24th of April. 100% of the entry fees are for charity and will be going towards rebuilding a school in rural China. I luckily found out about this tournament website before the deadline to enter so I did. I entered the team as Asante Football Academy to get our name out more once we win haha. So this tournament is ran by donation and sponsorships it has 2 current sponsors in puma and embroid this in Vancouver. I think this is a great event in the community and for soccer enthusiasts and hope next years event will be event bigger. They have over 3o teams register, not bad for its first year.
So anyways the event is all day on April 24th at St. Francis Xavier come check it out or come cheer on Asante Football!!
3on3soccer.ca
The tournament is in its first year of existence and is being held at St Francis Xavier Secondary school in Vancouver in the 24th of April. 100% of the entry fees are for charity and will be going towards rebuilding a school in rural China. I luckily found out about this tournament website before the deadline to enter so I did. I entered the team as Asante Football Academy to get our name out more once we win haha. So this tournament is ran by donation and sponsorships it has 2 current sponsors in puma and embroid this in Vancouver. I think this is a great event in the community and for soccer enthusiasts and hope next years event will be event bigger. They have over 3o teams register, not bad for its first year.
So anyways the event is all day on April 24th at St. Francis Xavier come check it out or come cheer on Asante Football!!
3on3soccer.ca
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Player being Blackmailed for Protection
The latest headlines in England is a football player is being blackmailed by a London based gang. The BBC investigators and a member from the gang is saying the player is paying a sum of 15,000 pounds every 3 months for protection. I dont know how to react to this article to be honest. I know im not surprised that a gang would take advantage of this, I mean if this person was once there own and grew up with them before he made a name for himself why are you making money off his success? Wouldn't you want to keep him safe? I guess money does weight more then friendship and loyalty. The PFA need to address this problem at full force because once someone becomes a target it will give other gangs means to do the same and you'll see a huge domino effect of copycats across the UK. How to stop this? I have no idea because the fact that gangs tend to target family and friends is the difficult part. To many people to protect.
Read article below,
A Premier League player is being forced to pay £15,000 every three months in protection money to a London gang, according to a BBC investigation.
A member of a south London gang told the BBC that onePremier League player had grown up with gang members and now had to pay them protection money or risk being attacked and having his career ended.
The gang member said: "The people above me have ordered this person that he has to pay them a certain amount of money every couple of months.
"That's just in case, so no one can touch you for three or four years but you are still paying that money every three months to keep yourself safe.
"It's £15,000 every two or three months, that may not seem a lot to a Premier League footballer but it's a lot of money."
The gang member said hiring private security would not protect the player, adding: "We know where your family, friends and the people close to you live and your security isn't going to protect them all the time."
BBC World Service's 'World Football' programme claims footballers are becoming easy prey for organised gangs.
The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) said the claims underline the need for clubs to be aware of security issues surrounding players and their families.
PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor said "Football reflects society and sometimes society can be not very pleasant.
"If these threats are a reality it's a terrible intimidating thing for the player concerned.
"Clubs and players are a lot more conscious [about security], we have made them aware of this, and there's a strong need for private security to go alongside the police."
Another criminal from Merseyside claimed players filmed in lap-dancing clubs and brothels had paid blackmail demands of up to £100,000 to prevent the pictures being sold to newspapers.
David Beckham's former bodyguard Paul Hughes, who runs Benchmark Security, said he had heard of players being involved in protection money demands.
Hughes told the BBC: "I believe it has already happened, it's an ongoing thing in the north east from what I have been told.
"Most of your players are up-and-coming lads from the council estates and have still got all these contacts with people from when they were hanging around with their mates on street corners.
"When these other people see the money they have got they are contacting them."
Hughes said players and their families were easy targets.
He added: "They are so easy it's ridiculous and I think the clubs and the FA need to do a lot more to protect them and their families."
Hughes is confident players will be well protected at the World Cup in South Africa but warned that their families may not be.
He said: "I think the players are going to be so well looked after following the Togo incident.
"But I think the targets are more their family and friends over there in their own place, with their own little villas and their own drivers. That could affect the players, knowing the families are a potential target."
Read article below,
Premier League Player 'Threatened By Gang' - Report
'Player forced to pay protection money to London gang'
By Tim Ward
Apr 17, 2010 4:30:00 PM
A member of a south London gang told the BBC that one
The gang member said: "The people above me have ordered this person that he has to pay them a certain amount of money every couple of months.
"That's just in case, so no one can touch you for three or four years but you are still paying that money every three months to keep yourself safe.
"It's £15,000 every two or three months, that may not seem a lot to a Premier League footballer but it's a lot of money."
The gang member said hiring private security would not protect the player, adding: "We know where your family, friends and the people close to you live and your security isn't going to protect them all the time."
BBC World Service's 'World Football' programme claims footballers are becoming easy prey for organised gangs.
The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) said the claims underline the need for clubs to be aware of security issues surrounding players and their families.
PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor said "Football reflects society and sometimes society can be not very pleasant.
"If these threats are a reality it's a terrible intimidating thing for the player concerned.
"Clubs and players are a lot more conscious [about security], we have made them aware of this, and there's a strong need for private security to go alongside the police."
Another criminal from Merseyside claimed players filmed in lap-dancing clubs and brothels had paid blackmail demands of up to £100,000 to prevent the pictures being sold to newspapers.
David Beckham's former bodyguard Paul Hughes, who runs Benchmark Security, said he had heard of players being involved in protection money demands.
Hughes told the BBC: "I believe it has already happened, it's an ongoing thing in the north east from what I have been told.
"Most of your players are up-and-coming lads from the council estates and have still got all these contacts with people from when they were hanging around with their mates on street corners.
"When these other people see the money they have got they are contacting them."
Hughes said players and their families were easy targets.
He added: "They are so easy it's ridiculous and I think the clubs and the FA need to do a lot more to protect them and their families."
Hughes is confident players will be well protected at the World Cup in South Africa but warned that their families may not be.
He said: "I think the players are going to be so well looked after following the Togo incident.
"But I think the targets are more their family and friends over there in their own place, with their own little villas and their own drivers. That could affect the players, knowing the families are a potential target."
Saturday, April 10, 2010
What happened to Arsenal?
Arsenal saw their Champions league season come to and end again a team that was lead by a player that has hit a new level in talent in Lionel Messi.
Before I begin my little article on the game I have to comment on how outright amazing Mr. Messi is. What aspect I love about football is you dont have to be the biggest or the strongest, all you need is good balance and a good center of gravity and you'll be fine. Lionel Messi has those characteristics and obviously more but thats another story. Messi is almost impossible to knock off the ball and if your lucky to do so hes so quick that he'll jump right back on the loose ball most of the time. His ability to run around players is astounding, I mean hes not even flashy like his Madrid counter part Christiano Ronaldo. Messi simply with a soft touch to the inside or outside and hes gone. Worse thing is for defenders is we all know what hes going to do, like I said hes not flashy its just he his strength on the ball, quickness and low center of gravity it makes it very very difficult to stop him without fouling him. His accuracy is again almost perfect, so if he has any sort of time in front of net he will most likely score like he showed against Arsenal. Just an amazing player.
Now to the game....
Talking with a team mate yesterday and we were talking about how we thought Arsenal pretty much was the Barcelona of the English Premier League. I dont mean as good or any better I mean the style of play. Both teams the pass and move philosophy instead of the crappy kick and run. So when I saw this match up I really thought Arsenal matched well with Barcelona. Unfortunately you can see no one and I mean no one can match Barcelona's style of play. The pressure Barcelona put on Arsenal was amazing and turned Arsenal from a passing team into a long ball team but what made this worse for Arsenal was they had 3 skilled attacking players injured. Not having Van Persie, Fabregas and Arshavin in the line up is a huge blow and Im sorry but Bendtner is not a world class player . Good on the lad for being where he is and scoring as much as he does but he does not exactly strike fear to defenses across Europe. Going from Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Emmanuel Adebayor to all of a sudden having Nicklas Bendtner is odd for me. I understand Nicklas is still only 22 and has a lot of time to grow into a world class striker I would just assumed with Arsene Wengers ability to find these amazing young talent could of found someone alittle more skilled in the forward position but again Nicklas is still only 22, I guess time will tell. Anyways a little off track back to the game. You could see Arsenal was playing a bit tentative and was not there usual selves obviously they had injury problems but a team like Arsenals ability should not be playing nervous. You can see this when Arsenal scored, Theo Walcott had a clear break at goal and instead of shooting which he should of done but instead he passed it off. Now why would a player whos attacking minded pass off a ball when he had a better chance of scoring then Bendtner? To make his nervousness more obvious Walcotts pass was so poor he is lucky the defender over ran the play and Bendtner had the awareness to get up after the rebound and slot it home. Once Arsenal scored it made them even more nervous because they had a lead to protect and away from home. This is when Messi decided to tear apart Arsenals backline and make they look like a buch of u18 school boys. After that first goal by Messi we all know what happened next.
Before I begin my little article on the game I have to comment on how outright amazing Mr. Messi is. What aspect I love about football is you dont have to be the biggest or the strongest, all you need is good balance and a good center of gravity and you'll be fine. Lionel Messi has those characteristics and obviously more but thats another story. Messi is almost impossible to knock off the ball and if your lucky to do so hes so quick that he'll jump right back on the loose ball most of the time. His ability to run around players is astounding, I mean hes not even flashy like his Madrid counter part Christiano Ronaldo. Messi simply with a soft touch to the inside or outside and hes gone. Worse thing is for defenders is we all know what hes going to do, like I said hes not flashy its just he his strength on the ball, quickness and low center of gravity it makes it very very difficult to stop him without fouling him. His accuracy is again almost perfect, so if he has any sort of time in front of net he will most likely score like he showed against Arsenal. Just an amazing player.
Now to the game....
Talking with a team mate yesterday and we were talking about how we thought Arsenal pretty much was the Barcelona of the English Premier League. I dont mean as good or any better I mean the style of play. Both teams the pass and move philosophy instead of the crappy kick and run. So when I saw this match up I really thought Arsenal matched well with Barcelona. Unfortunately you can see no one and I mean no one can match Barcelona's style of play. The pressure Barcelona put on Arsenal was amazing and turned Arsenal from a passing team into a long ball team but what made this worse for Arsenal was they had 3 skilled attacking players injured. Not having Van Persie, Fabregas and Arshavin in the line up is a huge blow and Im sorry but Bendtner is not a world class player . Good on the lad for being where he is and scoring as much as he does but he does not exactly strike fear to defenses across Europe. Going from Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Emmanuel Adebayor to all of a sudden having Nicklas Bendtner is odd for me. I understand Nicklas is still only 22 and has a lot of time to grow into a world class striker I would just assumed with Arsene Wengers ability to find these amazing young talent could of found someone alittle more skilled in the forward position but again Nicklas is still only 22, I guess time will tell. Anyways a little off track back to the game. You could see Arsenal was playing a bit tentative and was not there usual selves obviously they had injury problems but a team like Arsenals ability should not be playing nervous. You can see this when Arsenal scored, Theo Walcott had a clear break at goal and instead of shooting which he should of done but instead he passed it off. Now why would a player whos attacking minded pass off a ball when he had a better chance of scoring then Bendtner? To make his nervousness more obvious Walcotts pass was so poor he is lucky the defender over ran the play and Bendtner had the awareness to get up after the rebound and slot it home. Once Arsenal scored it made them even more nervous because they had a lead to protect and away from home. This is when Messi decided to tear apart Arsenals backline and make they look like a buch of u18 school boys. After that first goal by Messi we all know what happened next.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Why the VMSL is NOT better then the FVSL
Well in my previous article I wrote why the VMSL is better and how the FVSL need to develop better. Well after a phone call from a friend I realized how wrong I was. Apparently the VMSL teams dont have much connection at all to the local youth teams and instead of helping raise local players they tend to poach kids away from the FVSL. The numbers are quiet shocking to be honest. Obviously I cant give a concrete number but apparently 40% of the players are from the Fraser valley!
I am still going to stick with my previous statement and still believe the FVSL need to some how make the FVSL more appealing and keep these players in the Fraser Valley and need to help the local soccer clubs in the Fraser valley and get there Select programs more organized.I can sit here and write it and be a protagonist and do nothing either but I have started doing my part and will continue even though I am no one special but its going to take everyone from a local fan, a local coach all the way up to the executives of the league to make the FVSL into something greater then what it is. I dont understand why these players would want to go further from home. I dont know, again I am only one person writing out his thoughts.
Till next time
I am still going to stick with my previous statement and still believe the FVSL need to some how make the FVSL more appealing and keep these players in the Fraser Valley and need to help the local soccer clubs in the Fraser valley and get there Select programs more organized.I can sit here and write it and be a protagonist and do nothing either but I have started doing my part and will continue even though I am no one special but its going to take everyone from a local fan, a local coach all the way up to the executives of the league to make the FVSL into something greater then what it is. I dont understand why these players would want to go further from home. I dont know, again I am only one person writing out his thoughts.
Till next time
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Juventus Issues Radio Silence.
Today I witnessed Juventus get smashed 3-0 from a team only 4 points clear of the drop zone. Udinese handed Juventus there 12th lose of the season and now Juventus sits in 7th place.
I have already wrote about what issues Juventus need to handle but the fact that they lose again and to another relegation trouble team has to finally send a message to the club shareholders to seriously change something immediately. I am hoping this is why Juventus have issued a media silence so these changes can happen swiftly and immediately without the media causing more of a head ache. The fact that Juventus now sit 7th place and 3 points with the possibility of that going to 6 depending on Sundays games, have a real risk of missing european competition in general never mind Champions league.
I say the share holders need to step in and put in the youngster's because the older players at Juventus are finished. I love them all because they a great players but its obvious for some reason they have just lost motivation and what makes it worse is it is a world cup year.
There will always be coaches wanting to coach a team like Juventus because of there history and prestige but what world class player would want to not play european football? I know Mancester City managed to sign a few players but in reality players arnt flocking to play Serie A anymore so that right there is another disadvantage that Juventus have. Juventus must make Europe to be able to sign star players or else they will be again stuck with flop or mediocre players for next season.
As a Juventus fan through and through this is honestly the most darkest period in Juves history never mind Calciopoli.
I have already wrote about what issues Juventus need to handle but the fact that they lose again and to another relegation trouble team has to finally send a message to the club shareholders to seriously change something immediately. I am hoping this is why Juventus have issued a media silence so these changes can happen swiftly and immediately without the media causing more of a head ache. The fact that Juventus now sit 7th place and 3 points with the possibility of that going to 6 depending on Sundays games, have a real risk of missing european competition in general never mind Champions league.
I say the share holders need to step in and put in the youngster's because the older players at Juventus are finished. I love them all because they a great players but its obvious for some reason they have just lost motivation and what makes it worse is it is a world cup year.
There will always be coaches wanting to coach a team like Juventus because of there history and prestige but what world class player would want to not play european football? I know Mancester City managed to sign a few players but in reality players arnt flocking to play Serie A anymore so that right there is another disadvantage that Juventus have. Juventus must make Europe to be able to sign star players or else they will be again stuck with flop or mediocre players for next season.
As a Juventus fan through and through this is honestly the most darkest period in Juves history never mind Calciopoli.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Why VMSL is Superior to the FVSL.
Today I put my attention to the local soccer scene here in Vancouver British Columbia. The Lower Mainland has many amateur adult winter leagues but non more competitive than the Vancouver Metro Soccer League (VMSL) and the Fraser Valley Soccer League (FVSL). Today I am going to concentrate on both respective premier divisions and try and justify whether the VMSL is or isnt better than the FVSL. The VMSL is regarded by many the "best premier division in British Columbia", but why? Well simply put, "the best players play there". In my opinion no not "the best" instead I would rephrase that statement and say "some of the best players play there". This article is more then just the VMSL vs. FVSL, this article goes deeper to where the leagues get their players from.
The VMSL does have some of the best teams in the Province because of the connection they have with the youth leagues, Universities, Colleges and even the Whitecaps. So how is the FVSL suppose to compete with the VMSL on the provincial level when there connection with the community is so strong? The so called "head honchos" in the FVSL need to look long term and realise the VMSL is considered better because of the development programs the clubs in metro Vancouver are using on their youth teams. In recent years the FVSL on an organizational point of view has got a lot more organized and developed and one can argue more so then the VMSL. The FVSL has even made significant improvements when looking at the competitiveness of their respective teams but what hurts the FVSL the most is there lack of involvement in helping develop their local Select youth teams. Abbostford Mariners is currently the only club that is developing exceptional players year after year in the fraser valley at the select level but other then Abbostford where are the other clubs? You can't consider Coquitlam Metro Ford SC a fraser valley club because they are registered in the VMSL. So again how is one club from the fraser valley suppose to compete with clubs like Burnaby, North Shore, Surrey, Delta, Vancouver and Coquitlam Metro Ford? Well its not secret why the VMSL recruit better players, It is because the youth teams that feed the VMSL have better development then the teams in the fraser valley and what makes it worse is those good players coming out of the fraser valley will jump ship to the VMSL once there old enough because they know its better soccer.
So specifically how should the FVSL get involved? Well for starters create summer clinics to make younger kids aware. Then move to getting proper coaching for these youth teams and even more specific get the select teams proper trained coaches and training gear so they can train at an elite level as they are suppose to but the FVSL need to make a huge splash and make players aware of their involvment so player know who is helping them develop. If they dont know this then it is a waste of time for the FVSL, If they know then it creates that attraction to want to join the FVSL.
There will obviously be the money issue when talking about development but again which can be solved by awareness in the community. I know its easier said then done but the FVSL sohuld spend a bit of money promote the league better and get businesses involved with either sponsorships or lunches/bbq's at the games and even get involved with local schools. Promoting this league can bring it to new heights, I know it can be done, it will take time and you need the right people in head office to make this happen.
Obviously this is one mans opinion, so tell me what you think would help the FVSL.
The VMSL does have some of the best teams in the Province because of the connection they have with the youth leagues, Universities, Colleges and even the Whitecaps. So how is the FVSL suppose to compete with the VMSL on the provincial level when there connection with the community is so strong? The so called "head honchos" in the FVSL need to look long term and realise the VMSL is considered better because of the development programs the clubs in metro Vancouver are using on their youth teams. In recent years the FVSL on an organizational point of view has got a lot more organized and developed and one can argue more so then the VMSL. The FVSL has even made significant improvements when looking at the competitiveness of their respective teams but what hurts the FVSL the most is there lack of involvement in helping develop their local Select youth teams. Abbostford Mariners is currently the only club that is developing exceptional players year after year in the fraser valley at the select level but other then Abbostford where are the other clubs? You can't consider Coquitlam Metro Ford SC a fraser valley club because they are registered in the VMSL. So again how is one club from the fraser valley suppose to compete with clubs like Burnaby, North Shore, Surrey, Delta, Vancouver and Coquitlam Metro Ford? Well its not secret why the VMSL recruit better players, It is because the youth teams that feed the VMSL have better development then the teams in the fraser valley and what makes it worse is those good players coming out of the fraser valley will jump ship to the VMSL once there old enough because they know its better soccer.
So specifically how should the FVSL get involved? Well for starters create summer clinics to make younger kids aware. Then move to getting proper coaching for these youth teams and even more specific get the select teams proper trained coaches and training gear so they can train at an elite level as they are suppose to but the FVSL need to make a huge splash and make players aware of their involvment so player know who is helping them develop. If they dont know this then it is a waste of time for the FVSL, If they know then it creates that attraction to want to join the FVSL.
There will obviously be the money issue when talking about development but again which can be solved by awareness in the community. I know its easier said then done but the FVSL sohuld spend a bit of money promote the league better and get businesses involved with either sponsorships or lunches/bbq's at the games and even get involved with local schools. Promoting this league can bring it to new heights, I know it can be done, it will take time and you need the right people in head office to make this happen.
Obviously this is one mans opinion, so tell me what you think would help the FVSL.
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