Categoría: Todas las equipaciones de fútbol

The Ballon d’Or is an award awarded by UEFA and France Football magazine while «The Best» is awarded by FIFA, the ethically-challenged arbiter of the world’s most popular sport. Although prestigious as it is degenerate, both awards are nothing more than tangible compliments paid by the writers and experts (confederations administrators, coaches, football team captains, fans etc.) whose opinions and votes were canvassed. Presently, both awards have become an egotistical first past the post as nobody embodies the toxic and political nature of both awards than the recipients of the past decade. The comparisons of football players across and within football leagues (for these awards) is a time-honed guilty pleasure for fans. Like most sports awards, fans will always root for their favorites – but unlike many others, it’s hard to make a statistical case that one player is more valuable than another. The point is, teams are like machines. One part, no matter how important, cannot function properly without the other. That makes the award merely a measure of prolific goal-scoring but as any manager will tell you, that is probably not enough to carry a successful football team. Comparisons among football players are essentially what makes trading cards, sticker albums and fantasy soccer so popular but there should be no place for it in an official capacity. And how can we improve on what we have at present? The basic truth is we can’t, unless the awards are discontinued due to the following reasons:

Football is a Team Sport: Debate on individual footballers among football fans is fun but in a team sport with so many leagues, such individuality is impossible to measure precisely. Football (as we all know) is a team sport where eleven men from two separate squad of players compete against each other for a trophy or in modern times, to get a paycheck at the end of it all. Every football team requires world-class (supremely talented) goal-keepers, defenders, midfielders and attackers to excel and win domestic [EPL, Serie A etc.], continental [CAF, UEFA Champions League] and inter-continental [FIFA Club World Cup] trophies. No player or position is dispensable or greater than the other as they must all work in unison to achieve a common goal. Most great attackers of today (and yesteryears) would probably make terrible defenders and goalkeepers and most great defenders and goalies might be terrible attackers and midfielders in the game. It feels wrong to constantly elevate a particular set of football players over their teammates because of their position on the field of play. Football games are worn ‘Firstly’, by goals scored by a team’s strikers, midfielders, defenders and ‘Secondly’, by (potential) opposition goals stopped by that same team’s defenders and goal-keeper. No player truly wins a game single handedly except he plays all positions simultaneously – being at his penalty box defending and punching away the opposition’s shots on goal and at the same time running of to score all kinds of goals in the opposition penalty area. Most FIFA and UEFA individual awardees perform brilliantly when their team’s passing and playing style suit them thus giving them freedom like no other side would. Most managers strive to fit 11 players into the best team rather than having to fit the best 11 players into a team. There is a reason why reputable managers around the world like Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho have categorically despised and blasted such individual awards in a team based sport.

Biased towards Attackers: Winners of FIFA and UEFA awards (presently and in the past) are (nearly) always players who play close to the opposition goal – such as strikers and attacking midfielders – enabling them to score hatful of goals while putting faith in their teammates (defenders and goalkeeper) to prevent the opposing team from scoring and winning the game. In football, it is widely known and accepted that attack win games but defense win titles and trophies. Very few defenders and goalkeepers are recognized for their output on the field of play and the dirty work they do (so that their attacking teammates in the opposition goal can get the ball to score.) It is quite disheartening that attackers are paid way better than defenders and goalkeepers. Goalkeepers are usually the least paid in a football team, even with the alarming level of scrutiny aimed at them, which begs the question why anyone would choose to be a goalkeeper. No one has really found a way to compare the value of goal keepers to outfield players – much to the detriment of goalies. Should a goal stopped by a goalkeeper be treated as equally to a goal scored by a striker? How much should quality defenders influence our judgement of a keeper – and how much should quality midfielders influence our judgement of a forward? There can be no denying the fact that some players do improve the overall quality and effectiveness of certain teams, but even in that case, such extraordinary players wouldn’t be able to win anything for their respective teams if, for example, the goal keeper spills every shot fired at him by the opposition. The beauty of modern football is such that every player (bar the goalkeeper) is minimally required to score goals anytime, anyhow and whenever it pleases him or (to some extent) his coach, which makes the fact that individual awards given only to offensive players does a lot of disservice to their teammates and the sport.

No specific Criteria in given out the Awards: There are no specific criteria in given out individual awards to players by UEFA and FIFA in football competitions played. Most fans, and administrators do not know which competitions – the national league (EPL, La Liga, Serie A) the continental leagues (UEFA Champions League – since all FIFA individual awardees are based in Europe) or international tournament (The FIFA World Cup) – players’ performances in are given top priority when nominees for the FIFA and UEFA individual awards are compiled. Although most nominees and awardees of such awards play for football teams that are either champions in their domestic leagues or champions in the UEFA Champions League or champions in the World Cup (in a world cup year) with their countries, some winners of such awards play for club-sides and countries that were not champions in domestic, continental and international tournaments. Lionel Messi won the Ballon d’Or in 2010/2011 (because he scored 91 goals in a year) without winning Spain’s La Liga or Champions League with Barcelona or the World Cup with Argentina beating other deserving players who won at least one of the aforementioned competitions.

Breeds Individualistic and Selfish Footballers: In pursuit of individual awards from FIFA, some players forego team work and effort, preferring to go solo on the field of play – to show off (as fans would say) – to the detriment of the squad. Such players do not care if the team is winning or losing a game as long as they are scoring goals, boosting their goal tallies and being in contention for awards by shooting for goal instead of passing the ball to a better positioned teammate, taking every set-piece – free kicks, penalties, corner kicks – awarded in a game even when they have poor records taking such set-piece. This creates instances where a player wins The Ballon d’Or or The Best Player of the Year Awards because he has the highest number of goals in the football season in addition to 5 or 6 man-of-the-match performances and a few awesome highlight reels of the season while his team ends that season trophy-less and second-best in competition finals.

In conclusion, if there must be individual awards (for whatever bizarre reason) then they should be based on objective criteria such as number of goals scored (best striker), number of saves (best goal-keeper) or number of tackles made (best defender) etc. Even that wouldn’t make much sense because, again, scoring a goal is about team effort. No one player can score a goal without the help of his teammates. And Yes, even the solo goals require team efforts. Therefore, it becomes unfathomable as to why football’s governing body, FIFA would hand out these awards which are destructive to the very nature of the sport it is supposed to regulate. FIFA should not be lending its name to a beauty pageant.

FIFA’s recent award of the Ballon d’Or 2014 (World Player of the Year) to Cristiano Ronaldo proves that the accolade is more about politics and personal popularity than about performance on the field.

Although players from several nationalities are nominated and win the award, they always all play for European clubs while those active in other leagues such as in South America and Mexico are generally overlooked. The best player is chosen by players and managers based on favoritism rather than merit which often creates unworthy winners. Thus the award has lost its recognition and become the object of amusement and ridicule.

The Ballon d’Or was established by a magazine called France Football in 1956 to recognize the history-makers of the game. But that is not what it has turned out to be.

LA LIGA

Between January 1 and December 31, 2014 in this competition Lionel Messi scored 35 goals in 36 matches (11 with the right foot, 23 with the left and the other with the head) while Cristiano Ronaldo scored 38 but with less versatility as only 4 were with his head and unfavorable left foot.

In addition Messi created 97 chances, 24 more than any other player and completed 164 dribbles, 63 more than the nearest rival Iker Muniain of Atletico Bilbao (MAILOnline – Why Lionel Messi should win Ballon d’Or after a record-breaking year with Barcelona; by Kieran Gill, January 12, 2015).

EUROPE

Messi conquered the continent on November 25 when he became the all-time top goal scorer in the Champions League in Nicosia, Cyprus. It was his 23rd European city, his 16th European country and recorded the 24th different stadium in which he had scored (MAILOnline etc.)

WORLD CUP 2014

At soccer’s most important competition Messi led Argentina to the final, was voted Man of the Match in 4 games (the most of any player in the competition) and won the Golden Boot as the best player of the tournament.

He had the most impact on the competition. His goals were all match-winning goals which propelled Argentina to the final. He was the third joint highest goal scorer with 4 goals and 1 assist, created the most chances, had the most successful dribbling runs, made the most deliveries into the box and produced the most through balls of any player.

In contrast, Ronaldo was a non-factor and only scored a late goal against minnow Ghana and had an assist against the USA.

HISTORY MAKER

Messi’s performance in 2014 was what the Ballon d’Or is all about, namely, history-making performances. On March 16, he became Barcelona’s all-time top goal scorer (371). One week later he became the El Clasico (matches between Real Madrid and Barcelona) top goal scorer (21) with a hat- trick.

He scored his 400th career goal on September 27 against Granada and surpassed a 59-year-old record to become La Liga’s all-time top goal scorer (253) on November 22. Three days later he overtook Raul by scoring a hat-trick to become the top goal scorer in the history of the Champions League (74).

Given all these achievements one would think that of the three nominees Messi was the most deserving to win the award. Instead he not only lost to Ronaldo but he and the other nominee Manuel Neuer got less votes combined (31.48 %) than Ronaldo (37.66%).

In 2013 Ronaldo won nothing and Franck Ribery won everything but nevertheless Ronaldo beat him.

How can all this be explained?

POLITICS BEHIND THE VOTING

FIFA’s criteria call for national managers, captains and media officials to vote for the most outstanding performer of the previous twelve months.

Not unexpectedly players vote for their team-mates and compatriots. In the 2014 contest for example, Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany) gave all three spots to Germans, Manuel Neuer, Phillip Lahm and Thomas Muller.

Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid) voted for his former team-mates Diego Costa and Thibaut Courtois.

Vincent Kompany (Belgium) voted for team-mates Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard as the world’s two best players with Arjen Robben third.

The best example of the politics in all of this is illustrated by Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) who declared without giving a reason that he regretted voting for Ronaldo instead of his team-mate Neuer. This ‘change of heart’ can only be explained as coming from a player who wants to save face with team-mates in the dressing room rather than from a voter with any real conviction.

The same criticism applies to managers who only vote for national players. For example, Argentina’s manager Gerardo Martino gave all three places to his fellow countrymen namely, Lionel Messi, Angel di Maria and Javier Mascherano, Belgium coach Marc Wilmots voted for Belgian Thibaut Courtous for third place, Didier Deschamps (France) gave the final spot to French striker Benzema and Holland’s Guus Hiddink gave top honor to compatriot Arjen Robben.

Players will get a lot of votes if they are popular ‘with the boys’ and can play to the cameras to advertise commercial products. Those who defend the choice of Ronaldo as best player point to the fact that in the second half of 2014 he scored 32 goals. The problem is that 9 of those goals were penalties so his non-penalty goals were 23, the same amount as Messi who had no penalties. Ronaldo is nicknamed «Penaldo» because of his mastery of drawing and scoring penalties.

In a World Cup year such as 2014 your performance in that tournament is what defines you. On the world’s biggest stage Ronaldo was a nonfactor and his supporters excuse this by saying he was carrying an injury. If that is true that is unfortunate but injury is a misfortune, not a privilege and he can only be judged on actual performance and not on speculation as to what he might have achieved had he been fully fit.

The Player of the Year award has lost its authenticity. But it does not have to be so. It is not a personality or school prom contest. It is supposed to recognize performance on the field. Maybe the officials of FIFA should themselves become the judges, give more consideration to non-European clubs and use criteria like achievements and fair play to choose the winner. This would not be a perfect system but would be preferable to the present one which is deeply flawed and cannot be taken seriously.

Victor A. Dixon

January 18, 2015

If there is a need to find out which sports produce the most unpredictable results, everyone will agree that soccer is absolutely that kind. The fact has proven. Let’s recall of the UEFA Championship final match in 1999 where Man U surprisingly stroke 2 goals during the 2 minute injury time to overcome the 1 goal deficit and clinched the Champion Cup.

Let’s recall again the South-America Champion final match between Argentina and Brazil in 2007 where over-the-top Argentina suddenly lost to struggling Brazil with the shocking result 0-3. And let’s recall again the underdog Egypt who managed to win the European Champion Cup where the best teams of the world such as Italy, Germany, and England… even failed to reach the final match.

There are a lot more to prove to everyone that everything can happen in soccer, even the most shocking results. As a result, soccer betting is more attractive to punters – the sport is very unpredictable.

But luckily the unpredictable results are not the only thing that matters punters. Soccer itself does have the same natural concept: no matter how high or how low a team is heading, there is always a stop to it. Thus, the rule of thumb is not to consistently place bets on teams that continuously won and expect that they will win. Or, it is not advisable to place bets on teams that consistently lost and expect they will lose.

Beside the unpredictable nature of the game, other factors do affect the final results. They are the weather, a sudden injury, or a decision of the referee.

Weather does play an important role in deciding the match result. For example, raining poses a bad impact to well-performing teams who used much tactical playing methods. A cold weather does the same to away-team who visits the home ground under 0 degree Celsius.

Sudden injury of an important player before or during the match does pose a scaring threat to a team. No soccer player can avoid injury, either it is during the training session or in the actual match. Beside injury, I have also witnesses plenty of important players struck by flu and thus could not attend some critical matches.

Decision of a referee to send off a player is undeniably the sudden bad impact to that team. But who can avoid that or plan to avoid that? Everything under the sun happens in a soccer match.

Augustine Azuka ( Jay-Jay ) Okocha who was born August 14 ,1973 in Enugu ( same day as my mom difference year though is a Nigerian footballer who currently plays for Hull city in the lower league in England a move which was completed in 2007. Nicknamed Jay-Jay for his entertaining and Flamboyant style of play.

Okocha was playing football at the age of just 16 for his first club, Rangers international of Enugu, before a chance encounter whilst on holiday in Germany launched his international career. Okocha tried out for fourth division club Borussia Neunkirchen and they snapped him up.

Via Saarbrucken, he went on to join Eintracht Frankfurt in December 1991 – still before his 18th birthday – where he was to explode on to the Bundesliga scene.

Five years on, he moved to Turkey to play for Fenerbahce where he gained Champions League experience (notably in a shock win against Manchester United at Old Trafford) and hero worship in Istanbul.

In 1998, Jay-Jay became the most expensive African player ever with his £14million move to Paris St Germain.

After seeing out his contract with the French giants Okocha was available on a free transfer – hence the rumoured £3.3million-a-year wages he was rumoured to be demanding. It is testament to Allardyce’s negotiation skills that he was able to convince the midfielder to drop his high demands and join the Barclaycard Premiership outfit.

He has played at the 1994 ,1998 ( where he was named in the tournament best XI ) , and 2002 Fifa world cup and many African Nations cup Tournaments with Nigeria. He won the olympic gold medal with Nigeria in 1996 beating Brazil in the semi finals before seeing off Argentina in the final.

Proudly a member of Fifa 100 , a list of 125 greatest living footballers selected by lengendary Brazilian Pele in conjunction with FIFA’S centenary celebrations.In the 2004/2005 season he won the BBC’s African Player of the Year award (for the second successive year).

After seeing out his contract with the French giants Okocha was available on a free transfer – hence the rumoured £3.3million-a-year wages he was rumoured to be demanding. It is testament to Allardyce’s negotiation skills that he was able to convince the midfielder to drop his high demands and join the Barclaycard Premiership outfit.

In the 2004/05 season – his third for the Trotters – he made 33 appearances and scored 7 goals, including two in the first game of the season – a 4-1 victory against Charlton.

He was relief of his captainship band with Bolton in early 2005/06. This is Much attributed to his public admittance that he is interested in a move away to Quatar. He finally left the team after the final game of the season when Bolton announced they will not be renewing his contract , manager sam allardyce shaking Okocha’s hand before he came on the field in his last game.

After a lucrative year playing for Qatar Sports Club, Jay-Jay returned to England to take up a new challenge at the KC Stadium.

In 2004 he released a DVD called «superskills with Okocha » where he teaches children at a football school the most difficult football tricks.

He is happily married to Nkechi , a native of his country, Nigeria. Blessed with a son who he Named «A-J Okocha.

PERUVIAN ANCESTRY:

Benjamin Bratt (actor): His movies include: Shadown Hunter (1992), Demolition Man (1993), Kill or Be Killed (1993), Woman Undone (1995) and Exiled (1998).

Yma Sumac (actress and singer): Sumac was born in Peru. She has American citizen.

Helena Christensen (Model): Like Fernanda Tavares, Elsa Benitez and Juncal Rivero, she was a spectacular super-model in Europe in the United States in the 1990s. In 1986 Helena had been elected Miss Denmark.

Alejandro «Alex» Olmedo (tennis player): Was born in Arequipa (Peru). Like Mary Jo-Fernandez, Richard «Pancho» Gonzalez, Alex became American citizen. He came to the United States from Lima as a schoolboy. He is the only Latin American who has won one Wimbledon Tournament (1959).Alejandro played many times for the United States and he won at the 1958 Davis Cup

DID YOU KNOW THAT ….

Peru is the first country which has had a President of Japanese ancestry. From 1990 to 2000, Alberto Kenya Fujimori, best known as «Chinese», was President of Peru. In 1992, Fujimori made history when he became dictator. During his dictatorship, he rewrote the Constitution.

Opposition and human rights groups accused Fujimori of violating human rights. Ironically, his government was an advocate for the women’s rights, anti-terrorism and tourism. In 1996, Miriam Schenone became minister of the Woman and Human Development.

Under his authoritarian rule, Fujimori received aid from the People’s of China and Japan. Protest marches against the dictatorship took place in 2000.That year, Fujimori fled to Japan, where he received asylum.

His style has been compared to Ferdinand Marcos, former dictator of Philippines….

FAMOUS ATHLETES:

Juan Carlos «Johnny» Bello (swimming): The most famous swimmer in the Peruvian history. Johnny decided to learn to swim at the age of seven. From 1965 to 1973, he won several international medals.

Teofilo Cubillas (football): Cubillas, best known for his nickname «Nene», has played in three World Cups (Mexico-70, Argentina-78 and Spain-82). Certainly, Peru was one of the best teams in the 1970s.He is now recognized as a symbol of South American football.

Cecilia Tait (volleyball): Peru’s most talented player appeared as a sub aged 18 at the Pan American Games in San Juan (Puerto Rico).Like Lang Ping (the People’s Republic of China) and Flora «Flo» Hyman (United States),she is one of the best players in the volleyball history. She has played more than 300 games for Peru in the 1970s and 1980s.Tait has become an icon for the Peruvian sport. She was a congresswoman.

Gabriela Perez del Solar (volleyball): She was one of the World’s most popular players because of her all out effort and humble personality. Made her debut in the 1984 South American Youth Cup in Chile. She, best known as «Gaby», has been described as one of the best athletes by Peruvian journalists. The 1993 South American Championship was her last international tournament. Currently, she is a congresswoman since 2006. She has projects about Olympic sports.

Edwin Vazquez Cam (shooting): Edwin made history when won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1948.He was one of the best shooters in the Third World. Latin America has produced many shooters, but none as Edwin Vazquez Cam. Like Marlene Ottey, Marlene Arehns, James Gilkes and Lloyd Labeach, he has become a symbol in the Latin American sport.

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DID YOU KNOW THAT…

Shining Path, a group terrorist in Peru, has been called «The Khmer Rouge of Latin America. Abimael Guzman Reynoso, terrorist leader, has been compared to Pol Pot. The indigenous were victims of a delivete policy of genocide by Shining Path. More than 50,000 Peruvians have been killed by Shining Path.

FAMOUS PEOPLE BORN IN PERU:

Mario Vargas Llosa (writer)…Hernando de Soto (economist)…Cesar Vallejo (writer)…Daniel Alomia Robles (composer)…Fernando Belaunde Ferry (ex President)…Fernando de Szyslo (painter)…Chabuca Granda (singer)… Susana Baca (singer)…Luis Flores (designer)…Victor Delfín (sculpter)…Jose Carlos Mariategui (writer), Javier Perez de Cuellar (diplomatic), Alfredo Bryce Echenique (writer)…

REFERENCES

-Bach, Caled. «Mario Vargas Llosa mundo sin limites», Americas, Washington DC, abril 2004

-Bowen, Sally. El expediente Fujimori, Perú Monitor, Lima, 2000

-Compendio Histórico del Perú. Historia Política y Económica (1820-1998), Editorial Milla Batres, Madrid, 1998

-Diccionario Histórico y Biográfico del Perú Siglos XV-XX, Milla Batres, Lima 1986

-Elton, Catherine. «El retorno de Ayacucho», Americas, Washington DC, diciembre de 1999

-Enciclopedia Ilustrada del Perú, Peisa, Lima, 2001

-Guevara Onofre, Alejandro. Historia de la Mujer de los Estados Unidos, Cecosami

-Lama, Abraham. «Perú: difícil sendero», Nueva Sociedad, Caracas, septiembre-octubre 1988

-Lizarburu,Raúl. «El documental del terror», La República, Lima, 4 de julio 2005

-Orbegoso, Manuel Jesus. «Pérez de Cuéllar a Ghali: entrego la posta», El Dominical del Diario El Comercio, Lima, 5 de enero de 1992

-Perry, Ellen. Documental: La caída de Fujimori/ Estados Unidos/ 2005

-Yates, Pamela. Documental: Estado de miedo / Perú-Estados Unidos/2005

The 1995 tournament held in Canada was a bitter pill in the mouth of the Golden Eaglets, and they were determined to make amends at the 1989 tournament which was hosted by Scotland. In a group comprising 1987 host Canada, China PR and tournament favorite Argentina, the Golden Eaglets were expected to progress to the Quarter-finals with ease. Book makers were already tipping the Nigerians to clinch the trophy before the tournament even began.

They lived up to their billing in their first match, when they stunned Canada 4-0, with Kayode Keshinro scoring a brace in the 27th and 75th minutes before Babajide Oguntuwase and Victor Ikpeba put the game beyond the Canadians with two superb goals in the 56th and 78th minutes. They then drew 0-0 with Argentina in their second match. In their must win last group game against China, the Golden Eaglets defeated China PR with an emphatic 3-0 bashing, and they sent jitters down the spine of other countries who were already avoiding the Golden Eaglets. Olusegun Fetuga, Victor Ikpeba and Sunny Umoru were on the scorers sheet in an encounter that saw the Nigerians completely dominating proceedings.

In the Quarter-finals, the Golden Eaglets were paired with Saudi Arabia, and most sports analyst labeled the encounter as a rematch of David versus Goliath.

They were referring to the physically big Saudis, compared to the smaller sized Nigerians. The Golden Eaglets were however not going to be intimidated, as they battled the Saudi Arabians to a 0-0 score at regulation time.

The game had to be decided via penalties as it happened two years ago.

It was a game filled with so much intrigues, as the Golden Eaglets were face to face with the giant goalkeeper from Saudi Arabia. The game eventually ended 2-0 in favor of the Saudis, who went ahead to lift the Trophy. The Nigerians were so unlucky, as Bobolayefa Edun, Sunny Umoru, Patrick Mancha and Chiedu Anazonwu all missed their spot kicks, while Saud Al Hammali and Jabarti Al Shamrani scored for Saudi Arabia to take the game beyond the hopeful lads from Nigeria.

Some players from the Nigerian team to Scotland 1989 later progressed to the senior national team after blossoming in their various club-sides. Top on the list was Victor Nosa Ikpeba who was nickname «The prince of Monaco». Victor Ikpeba eventually won the African footballer of the year award in 1997. Benedict Akwuegbu, Godwin Okpara and Precious Monye are also notable names who excelled both in club and country.

As you probably know, soccer is the most played, watched and televised sport in the history of mankind. According to FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) there are currently 270 million people that are actively involved in the game of football. (That is about 4% of the world population) So why has this sport become such a grand interest for me and people alike? What is the history behind this widely spectated event?

Soccer which is referred as «football association» in Wikipedia is a sport that has roots dating back to the 2nd and 3rd century. The earliest form is said to have originated in China; a game called «cuju». FIFA, the governing body of football, officially stated that China was the birthplace of its game in 2004.

In the latter decades, many other forms of the sport have been spotted in other regions of the world, such as «Harpastum» (Roman), «Kemari» (Japan), and «Knattleikr». (Iceland) These games were of course a lot different from what modern football is all about. It was not until the 19th century that various forms of football became somewhat an organized event played mostly by prestigious public schools in England. There was much improvement in the course of the sport when Thomas Arnold (head of the ‘Rugby School’ helped to establish the first standardized rules of Rugby.

In Rugby, they allowed players to kick opponents legs below the knees (which was banned in the later years), handling the ball was also permitted. Following this development, football and rugby split on December, 1863. The modern game of football was born in England with the formation of the F.A. (Football Association) which is the governing body of football in England. Ebenezer Cobb Morley was a founding member of the Football Association in which he stressed out the importance of a governing body for football. After the F.A. was established he laid down the «Laws of football» that implemented the rules the game is played today. On January 9th, 1864, the first exhibition football game was played at the Battersea Park. In only eight years, the F.A. had 50 member clubs and grew rapidly allowing a competition to emerge in 1972. The F.A. Cup is the first football competition and in England regarded as the most prestigious one. The ‘Wanderers’ were the first team to win the cup, beating the ‘Royal Engineers’ 1-0.

Football popularized slowly in other countries with the help of British influence. It was not until 1889, other countries (Netherlands and Denmark) would embrace this wonderful game. Football started growing rapidly with the following countries; New Zealand (1891), Argentina (1893), Chile, Switzerland, Belgium (1895), Italy (1898), Germany, Uruguay (1900), and Hungary (1901) adopting football associations of their own.

In 1904, FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) was formed in Paris to regulate international fixtures and there were seven founding members (France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). The first international football competition was introduced at the 1908 London Summer Olympics with Great Britain winning gold, Denmark silver and the Netherlands bronze. The emergence of World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945) brought the growing sport to a halt resuming years after the war. By 1950, FIFA had 51 member countries. Before the creation of the World Cup (the most prestigious football competition), FIFA organized a football competition within the Summer Olympics. In 1930, FIFA would manage their own tournament in Uruguay; the host nation to be the first football team to have won the cup that would be the most spectated than any other professional tournament today.

Football today, is a much growing sport with 208 national teams recognized by FIFA, in addition there are thousands of club teams competing with each other in various leagues and cups for global dominance. The sport has become an addiction for many people around the world, helping nations and people get together as they cheer their team away hoping one day, their team will bring home a trophy. The future of football always has room for improvement and hopefully will grow interest in the U.S. as elsewhere. «Fair-play» is the name of the game.

World cup 2010 is finally upon us and soon the whole country will be going football crazy as the hopes and dreams of every England supporter will be in the balance. Every world cup the supporters follow their team through the thick and thin of it all but will this year finally be the repeat of 1966 for the England boys?

I know that every girl out there will be dreading the the 27 days of constant football games as they will all become football widows but every man out there is counting down the days till that first game on the 11th June and i would suspect that most have booked the time off work or making sure their employer has a tv set all ready to go. But the biggest question on all English fans lips is – will this year be the year that the boys can do it?

So girls what are the things we need to know to make us fit in?

Capello the England manager is with us for the long run, or so reports say but as it stands he is the man that has our hearts in his hands for 2010, so for us I hope this year it doesn’t end in heart break or if it does please don’t let it be through penalties I am not sure the boys will be able to watch this again.

So with Capello in the driving seat who will be steering the team forward, John Terry we would believe will be our captain and is he the man for the job, I certainly think so you only have to look at his track record and his determination as a player to see his commitment to the team and his country.

So how can we prepare for the big date on the football calendar, well for starters lets get well and truly behind the boys and show our ongoing support to them, I for one will be getting all the world cup merchandise! I can and ensuring everyone out there knows I am behind the team 100% even if 50% of the commitment is to be having fun in the pub with the lads.

Here is to the world cup 2010.

In every football-playing country, there is a league system. The most competent clubs play in the top division league. The sport being the most popular one in the world, top-tier football leagues are watched by the crazy fans from all over the globe. In fact, the most exciting league matches find the highest number of viewers. These five leagues are as follows:

· Barclays Premier League

· Spanish League or La Liga

· Italian League or Serie A

· German League or Bundesliga

· French League or Ligue 1

Among these five leagues, Barclays Premier League is considered the most exciting one. A decade ago or so, Serie A was widely considered the most competitive league in the world. However, things have changed over the last few years since Manchester United lost their monopoly. The Red Devils – Man U are often referred to as their famous nickname – were simply unstoppable under the tutelage of Sir Alex Ferguson. Once their golden era is over, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal are some of the big names dominating the English Premier League landscape.

This 2015-16 season, Leicester City have emerged as the Premier League champions. Premier League is no longer predictable like what we have been watching in Serie A or Bundesliga where Juventus and Bayern Munich have been champions for several years in a row. In addition to the above-specified names, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Southampton are other big names in the first-division English League. Tottenham have finished their campaign second on the league table. Chelsea have suffered a lot and failed to make a great start to the last campaign. It led to sacking of their manager Jose Mourinho.

Chelsea or the Blues managed to drive themselves back from their woeful run under manager Guus Hiddink but due to their earlier drop, they failed to break into the top four. According to reports, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are among the 20 wealthiest clubs in the world. These leagues are most televised in a number of countries. The TV rights earn the clubs millions of pound. The prize money earned by the league winner is the best in any country. The players earn the most attractive wages that can be offered in any league.

History of English League

English League has become the giant one after starting as a small one in the 19th century. They have also earned success in the European competition. Years ago, the star players from Brazil and Argentina used to prefer playing in the Serie A or La Liga. They did not think twice to snub offers from Premier League in order to show their skill in other countries. The story is completely different now. Both the Brazilian and Argentinean players now love to ply their trade in the Premier League. In fact, the star players from several football-playing countries are now eager to prove themselves in England.

English football league is marked by both pace and skill. Every year, a new club wins the Premier League title and that makes the charm of watching the league alive.

Lionel Messi is arguably the best soccer player in the world. He has won the B’lon Dor three times in 2009, 2010, 2011 and has played with the club FC Barcelona for years winning La Liga five times and Champions League three times while he was there.

His honors and success are substantial and have a lot to say about him as a player but today we’re going to dive deeper into Messi’s life to talk about his behavior open up a more intimate conversation about the young man.

He’s not very outspoken, neither is he very loud or overbearing when he is interviewed. He seems more withdrawn when he’s in public and he’s very soft spoken. To understand why he is this way you have to go back and look at the history and his beginnings at his training ground at La Masia in Spain.

The Argentinian caught the attention of scouts at a very early age. He was a young boy then. He was recruited and sent over from Argentina leaving his family and friends behind. When he first came to La Masia to train he was described as very quiet and shy, often indicating the longing of his parents. The first few years at La Masia were very hard for him as he wasn’t in the same boat as the other players because his family wasn’t very close to him distance-wise. Most of the other children were from Spain but they were very supportive of him and tried their very best to cultivate and nurture the growing Argentinian.

He grew up playing soccer and it’s his relaxation and also his job. Soccer is not a job to him as it is simply what he does at play. As he grew older he continues playing.

The environment at La Masia encourages humbleness. They never try to make money or fame an important aspect of life, instead they try very hard to create an environment that provides for a player to grow up well rounded. The go to school together and learn together. Part of the reason is because at La Masia you earn respect through humbleness. Academy Director Carles Folguera said, «… you can be humble if your surroundings are but it’s tough.» At La Masia they encourage a lot of camaraderie. Folguera also stated, «..the most important qualities for the boys is comradeship and humbleness.» Seems like this has been drilled into them at La Masia as part of their player creation process.

Coming from a poor background of a father who was a steelworker and a mother who was a cleaner, the Argentinian had a lot to thank for at La Masia. His former coach Guardiola was very happy to be at La Masia at the age of 13 because they were a very organized establishment that they «helped me grow up» and had «very good food.» From this you can see that there were fond memories to be had at La Masia, it’s a place where you needs are taken care of and coming from a poor family you have a lot to be thankful for such as having a good place to learn, play and train and also have good food to eat. Aside from that at La Masia there is 75 staff members including doctors and trainers to help with the needs of the players as they grow older. These all inclusive associates help develop a more balanced personality that does not need to feed on fame or fortune to feel appreciated and respected as the «family» has already ascertain and taken care of all your needs. All you have to do is play.

Messi still idolizes other players. His favorite soccer player he followed as he grew up was Pablo Aimar, someone he used to watch videos of and try to mimic his skills. To this day he still idolizes this man, someone who Messi has beaten in terms of records of achievement. At the age of 23 a TV show interviewed Pablo Aimar on his thoughts of Lionel Messi and had the interview recording replayed to Lionel Messi as he watched in awe and silent joy. This shows that he’s still a young person inside, someone who is very much still adhering to those feelings and emotions he had as a child.

So as you can see, La Masia never turned off the need for a person to hide their individuality and childishness. There are other things that are more important to La Masia such as respect through humbleness that bring out a different and very docile, humble and respectful person upon graduation of the program. Lionel Messi simply happens to be one of many very well rounded and nice players that graduated to play for Barcelona and other teams.