Awful away form continues to hinder Diego Maradona’s side
Ever since CONMEBOL first introduced their lengthy everyone-plays-everyone (twice!) World Cup qualifying system for France 1998, Argentina have coasted through - finishing first twice and joint-top on the other occasion.
This campaign, however, has been different, and yesterday’s 2-0 loss away to Ecuador leaves them just two points clear of their equator-straddling opponents in the final automatic qualifying place, with four games to go. Those include trips to Paraguay and Uruguay and a home clash with Brazil. Yikes.
The side who finish fifth meet the fourth-placed CONCACAF side in a play-off. That would usually be a limited nation like El Salvador but, thanks largely to Sven-Goran Eriksson earning his latest payoff, Mexico occupy that position.
Since arriving with the fanfare usually reserved for a Geordie Messiah last year, Diego Maradona hasn’t exactly
Carlo Ancelotti is now odds-on to take charge in the summer
Following David Beckham’s revelation that Carlo Ancelotti is learning English, the AC Milan boss has been cut to just 4/6 with Sky Bet to be appointed Chelsea’s next permanent manager.
However, while acknowledging that winning the Champions League twice is an impressive achievement, The Spoiler doesn’t believe that the Italian has had enough success domestically to justify being Chelsea’s first choice.
But what do you think? Let us know who the Blues should go for with a vote and comment below:
Is the Swede about to get involved in the relegation dogfight?
Yesterday Sven-Goran Eriksson was one of the favourites for the Chelsea job but this morning he has leapfrogged Avram Grant and Alan Curbishley to emerge as the frontrunner to succeed Tony Adams at Portsmouth.
The former England boss is currently in charge of Mexico, who face the USA in a World Cup qualifier tomorrow night, and while you would expect him to walk if Chelsea came calling, the Portsmouth link remains unconvincing.
After being knocked back by Kaka and his ilk, it’s becoming clear that Manchester City will have to build their team of superstars from those who hold a big day in greater regard than loyalty and dignity.
Perhaps Robinho, Craig Bellamy and co should look at the example set by Athletic Bilbao’s Joseba Exteberría. The Basque legend - who has notched up over 400 appearances for Athletic Club since 1995 - recently signed a one-year extension to his contract that will see him play for free.
The Spaniard won’t go to sleep tonight on a huge pile of money surrounded by beautiful women (isn’t that what most Premier League stars do?), but he will have earned a helluva lot more respect from the European football community.
With this in mind, take a look at The Spoiler’s Mercenary XI. And before all the City fans start getting their sky blue knickers in a twist, no players from the blue side of Manchester made the cut…
Carlo Cudicini
Cudicini might frown at his inclusion in a list containing such a disloyal and greedy bunch, but we struggled to find a true mercenary to stick between the sticks. Cudicini gets the honour, however, as a player rivaling former Chelsea colleague Winston Bogarde for lack of ambition. Before the arrival of Petr Cech in 2004, Cudicini was Chelsea’s first choice shot stopper and one of the best keepers in the league (acknowledged by his ITV Premiership Goalkeeper of the season award for 2003/04). Since Cech has displaced him as first choice and now the Italian only manages a handful of appearances a season. Chelsea’s number two keeper should have more ambition than collecting a wage for bench warming - a man of his talents would make a decent number one at most European clubs.
Pascal Chimbonda
Chimbonda put in a transfer request at Wigan Athletic straight after the final whistle of their last game of the 2005/06 season, earning him a move – and a pay rise - with Spurs. Last January the Sun reported that he told pals, “Kevin Keegan has approached me and they’ve offered me more money. I am definitely leaving Spurs. It’s all about the money. I don’t care about the final, I don’t care about the cup.” He got his wish joining Sunderland in the summer, and he is now engineering a move away from the Black Cats, with Lyon a touted destination.
Winston Bogarde
Following spells at Barcelona and AC Milan, Winston Bogarde joined Chelsea in 2000. After Gianluca Vialli was replaced, however, he found himself surplus to requirements. Chelsea were keen to offload him but no one would match his £40,000 wages and Bogarde was reluctant to take a pay cut. “Why should I throw fifteen million euros away when it is already mine? At the moment I signed it was in fact my money, my contract,” he protested. He sat it out in the reserves for four years and continued to train with either the youth or reserve teams, safe in the knowledge he would still receive his pocket money. When his contract expired, with 11 appearances in four years and a reputation as the greediest and least ambitious man in football, he retired after a lack of interest in his services. Bogarde clearly has no qualms about his time in West London: “I may be one of the worst buys in the history of the Premiership, but I don’t care”.
Shooting Stars presenter Bob Mortimer once gave the nation a musical summary of Celebrity Big Brother housemate Ulrika Jonsson, assessing her relationship with the beautiful game:
“She’s football crazy/ She’s football mad/I can’t think of a single footballer/Ulrika hasn’t had”
In the context of the serial WAGs of today (like six-time Danielle Lloyd), this seems a little harsh, as the former weather girl has had just two prominent footballer relationships. She produced an elusive sex tape with Stan Collymore before accusing him of domestic abuse, and said “I fell in love with a little old man,” when fellow Swede Sven Goran-Eriksson engulfed her in a bizarre love triangle with Nancy Dell’Olio.
The richest club in the world are closer to breaking the bottom three than the Big Four
At the start of the season everyone was discussing the impact Sir Alex Ferguson’s protégés were going to make in the Premier League but less than halfway into the season, almost all of them have struggled.
Steve Bruce is the exception and his Wigan team are ninth but Roy Keane left Sunderland, who won 4-0 today, in the relegation zone while Paul Ince has gone eleven games without a win and is five points from safety with a Blackburn team that finished seventh last season.
But the one who has almost slipped under the radar is Mark Hughes. Obviously Manchester City’s chances of relegation are minimal considering they will spend big next month. However, Hughes inherited a team that finished tenth last season and spent close to £80 million over the summer so to be just two points above the drop, a gap Newcastle could eradicate with victory tomorrow, is clearly unacceptable.
Hughes won just two of his first fourteen games in charge of Blackburn before establishing himself as one of the country’s most promising young managers so should Manchester City give him time or is he simply the wrong man to take the Citizens to the next level? Let us know with a vote and comment below:
Premier League referee prone to the occasional error
After Newcastle became the latest team to be denied important points as a result of a mistake by referee Rob Styles, The Spoiler decided to look at who else have fallen victim to his calamitous decision making in recent years.
In goal is Shay Given, who made what deserved to be a match-winning save from Stephen Ireland last night but wasn’t because Manchester City were afforded another opportunity to break down Newcastle’s ten men and scored.
Our left-back is Jlloyd Samuel, whose great tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo last month was punished when Styles pointed to the spot. Accompanying Habib Beye, who is a makeshift centre-back due to Styles’ habit of making costly errors against right-backs, is Stoke’s Ibrahima Sonko, who was adjudged to have fouled Obafemi Martins in Reading’s 3-2 loss at St James’ Park in December 2006, a decision his boss Steve Coppell labelled “a guess-timate”. Steve Finnan completes the defence after Rob Styles famously pointed to the spot last season when Florent Malouda ran into the Irishman with Liverpool beating Chelsea 1-0.
Loading ...