Archive for July, 2010

Diego Maradona is no longer coach of Argentina, and as you would expect, he has gone down in a blaze of glory and accusations!!

On the day Argentina lost to Germany, the day Diego calls his day of mourning, he was told by his seniors in front of the players that he had done well and they wanted him to stay as national coach. I have to agree with this part, i do think he did well, the German team that faced Argentina that night were in devastating form.

Over the next 24 hours however things took a turn in the wrong direction for Diego. Maradona claims Carlos Bilardo the national team manager worked in the shadows to get Maradona out. They told him they wanted to keep him as coach, however they wanted him to sack 7 of his back room staff.

This was not an option for Diego, who i get the feeling would be extremely loyal to the people around him. When he refused to let them go, his contract renewal offer was withdrawn and alas, he is no longer coach!

One thing i dont get about this story is who Carlos Bilardo is, in the story he is described as the national team manager, to us English that’s the person who calls the shots, if this is right then what exactly was Maradona?

Source: BBC

32 year old Emile Heskey has announced his retirement from international football.

Heskey scored 7 goals in 62 appearances for England in a carear that lasted11 years. By modern standards, this is actually a very long innings for an international.

Now im not going to bad mouth Heskey but it does surprise me that his England career lasted so long. At the age of 32 i doubt he would have been picked again for any England performances, and to be cruel, i think the more changes capello can make the better for the team. There are a lot of young players out there that score goals week in week out that i personally think should now be given the opportunity.

Tonight sees Germany meet Spain to get into the world cup final for 2010.

Its a hard one to call, I think if Spain come out with the grit and determination to get to their first world cup final then they could beat the Germans, On the flip side, they are playing Germany, Germany seem like they can turn anyone over with no hesitation.

The game is 20 mins in now, and i still cant call it! lets watch this space and wait!!

Its being reported (in the Sun all be it) that their was a feud between Steven Gerrard and John Terry during the world cup that could have been to blame for the teams uneasy time in South Africa.

It has been said that David Beckham played the intermediate to calm the situation down. After England won their only game of the world cup, John Terry gathered all the players in a huddle. A very captain like thing to do!!

Gerrard didn’t like this as he saw Terry as someone trying to play a role he didn’t have.

Now ive read a couple of blogs about this and the consensus mainly is that it’s a non story, they fell out, so what. I however don’t feel it is a non story (if in fact it is true)

The captain of a football team should lead from the front, they should be strong, they should be seen, they should be heard and most of all they should be respected by all other players and England did not have that figure in the camp. Gerrard for all his footballing skills is not a great captain for his country. I didn’t see him much in the media and on the pitch he blended in too much.

There was always potential for friction in the team a John Terry has had his captaincy revoked, yet he wont for one second think he should have done as he didn’t get it taken away at Chelsea.

John Terry in the world cup acted like a captain would. If it wasn’t for Rio, then i think this would continue in the England camp until one of the players were dropped. Rio as a captain would be everything you need him to be, he has the respect of all the players and i don’t believe JT would try to undermine him like he obviously has done with Gerrard. The sooner Rio gets back to being captain, the better it will be for the England team.

Basically, it’s all Hesky’s fault!

Source: The Sun