Rafael Van Der Faart

First off, I wish to wholeheartedly apologise for that James Richardson-esqe pun – it was awful.

While my next artile is in the process of being written, I thought I’d keep the blog updated, and throw up this video of of Oranje bench against Romania. Unlucky for van der Vaart that the cameras happened to be on him when the whole incident took place…

Cristiano Ronaldo – Does Anybody Really Care Anymore?

Since what seems the dawn of time, Real Madrid have been heavily linked with Manchester United’s twinkle-toed winker, Cristiano Ronaldo. Unfourtanetly for those of us who aren’t A) Man United fans B) Real Madrid fans or C) Sky Sports News addicts the Portuguese international has done nothing to put an end to the speculation which has dragged on since before the Champions League final.

First we had Madrid, as is tradition with the Spanish giants, publicly acknowledging their main targets in the press. This was met with fury from Alex Ferguson, whose club then hypocritically threatened to report Los Merengues to FIFA for their conduct. After more speculation, which was more due to the players refusal to rule out a move than to the actions of Real Madrid, United eventually made an official complaint about the Spaniards, which the world governing body have refused to take any action over.

Then ‘Big’ Phil Scolari, the Portugal coach got in on the act, reportedly advising his young star to joing Madrid. In a turn of events that can only be described as ‘coincidental’ Scolari was appointed as the new boss of Chelsea, rivals with Man Utd. for next seasons title. Much to the annoyance of all connected with the Red Devils

But the one person who deserves the most stick over this saga is the player at the heart of it all, Ronaldo. In all the interviews he has done, he has never once stated whether he was going to stay or go, or stated his intention to honour his contract. At first it was thought (well I thought it anyway) that the playmaker was using the rumours as leverage to win a new, higher paying contract, but now it looks like he actually has no loyalty to United, or indeed Sir Alex Ferguson, who argubaly made him into the player he is today, transforming him from poncey winger to one of the worlds best. He has thrown the United fans adoration of him, right back in their faces. He says “I don’t want to talk about my future because I’m focused on the match against Germany, I will talk about my future after the tournament.” Yet he has been quoted as saying “I really like playing in a white football kit”. Members of his family have stated that he will join Madrid, and rumours surfaced in the last few days the United agreed a deal with Madrid weeks ago, without telling Ferguson.

So what are his motives for a move to La Liga champions? It can hardly be for a ‘new challenge’, surely retaining the UEFA Champions League would be enough of a challenge for the player? Maybe it’s the lifestyle afforded to players in Spain? For years many of Liga’s top stars have led less-than-professional lifes off the pitch, with nightclubs, alcohol and women (unless of course, you’re the ‘other Ronaldo’) the order of the day. One extremely strong pull factor for Ronaldo is undoubtadly the money; Real are apparently willing to pay Ronaldo €300,000 a week, after tax!

It has gotten to the stage where most people wish Cristiano Ronaldo would make up his mind, one way or the other but the rumours are bound to carry on for weeks. The only ‘silver lining’ to the cloud that is the end of the European Championships is that this tedious mess will all get sorted out.

Man United fans: Should the club cash in? Are you annoyed by Ronaldo? Or should the club offer him whatever it takes to keep him at the club?

Raise a Glass to the ‘fairytale’ of Ivan Klasnic.

Ivan Klasnic’s 53rd minute winner for his country against Poland, marked the end of a long, hard road for the German born striker.

In Janurary of 2007, Klasnic suffered liver failure and was rushed to hospital. His mother Šima donated her liver, but the Werder Bremen player’s body rejected the new organ. On the 23rd of March, he went back under the knife, this time receiving a liver from his father. The operation was a success and he was told he “would be able to continue playing football again”. On November 24th, 2007 after an 11 month absence Klasnic returned to the Werder Bremen team, playing 65 minutes against Energie Cottbus. A few weeks later he scored twice in Bremen’s 5-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

In March 08, Slaven Bilic recalled Klasnic to the Croatia national team, in preparation for the European Championships held in Austria and Switzerland. Starting against Poland, he became the first ever player to play at a major football tournament after a kidney transplant.

Croatia coach Bilic described Klasnic’s return to the top level of the game as ‘the perfect success story’. ‘We all prayed for him. We called him on the phone to encourage him, but it was actually the other way round, he encouraged us. His faith was very strong,’ Bilic said. ‘So that now not only is he healthy but he is at a very high level and he managed to be one of the top scorers at Werder Bremen in one of the strongest leagues in the world, and he played excellently there. That’s the perfect success story.’

To play football, the striker must wear a fibreglass protective shield around his chest. But despite his current successes, the man from Hamburg is taking everything one step at a time, “I’m happy that I’m here at all. As I said once, this is like a bonus from God. It’s like a dream. I thank God that I’m alive and that I can play football.”

Taking the Biscotto!

There is a lot of talk about the climax to Group C, the so called ‘Group of Death’ at Euro 2008. Both the French, and the Italian’s fear the ‘biscuit’. A ‘biscotto’ happens when two sides agree, without a word being spoken, on a result which suits both teams.

Going into the final day of the Group, both France and Italy (who play each other) both need a win and realistically need Holland to defeat the Romanian’s to progress. Holland have already qualified after demolishing the Azzurri 3-0, and Les Bleus 4-1. While the Romanian’s have held both Italy and France to draws. It has been speculated by the media in recent days, that Holland would allow Romania to win the game, thus knocking out the supposed better teams.

In the not to distant past, the men from the Mediterranean have been on the receiving end of an alleged ‘biscotto’. As recently as Euro 2004, Italy went into their last game against Bulgaria needing a win, and hoping there would be a victor in the other group match between neighbours Sweden and Denmark. (To understand the sort of relationship these two have, just look at who they gave their points to in Eurovision – each other). Unsurprisingly the Scandinavians drew 2-2 and Giovanni Trappatoni’s men were out of the competition. Italian wonder-keeper Gigi Buffon sent a plea to the Dutch camp and MvB, “I couldn’t stand another fixed match like that 2-2 draw between Denmark and Sweden four years ago. “I trust in the sportsmanship of the Dutch, and I also hope Marco van Basten remembers he is a friend of Roberto Donadoni’s and of Italy in general.” And in a column in Gazzetta Dello Sport, Van Basten’s coach at AC Milan, Arrigo Saachi also called on the Dutch to play fair.

Romanian gaffer Victor Piturca has also had his say in the matter. Asked about the situation, he responded, “I don’t know what they (the bookmakers) think but maybe they think that the Netherlands don’t want to play France and Italy (again). They are quite logical. That is how the Dutch should also think. For their own good they should not play against France and Italy in the semi-finals.”

Publicly, Dutch coach Marco van Basten has played down talk of a conspiracy, “We want to play a good game and we want to take it very seriously, we are going to confront the game with the same concentration and attention that we did for the last two games. We have a very professional group – 23 are internationals and they are all serious professionally and good players.” But privately, he must be atleast considering making whole-sale changes to his starting XI, just like the Portuguese did. Indeed, by beating two of the pre-tournament favourites so convincingly, he has earned the right to approch this game in whatever way he sees fit.

Days ago it seemed Raymond Domenech was thinking about throwing in the towel, and experimenting for the future, “There could be a strategy for the future by abandoning the idea of qualifying, and giving playing time to other players,” he said. “But there is also a small chance of qualifying by trying our best, without experimenting.”

Italian midfielder Daniele de Rossi noted, “The biscotto is a nuisance, something that is in your head. Because even during the game you are always thinking a little bit about the other result. It is important for us to think only about our game.

The only thing Les Bleu and the Azzurri can do is concentrate on winning their game, and leaving everything else to the Gods, for as De Rossi points out “The Netherlands can win 10-0, but if we do not win, it is no good.”

House Prices Continue to Fall, But the Price of this Spanish Villa Will Keep on Rising

Going into Euro 2008, Valencia’s Spanish striker David Villa was the subject of transfer speculation linking him to big clubs across Europe, with most papers agreeing that the English Premier League was the most likely destination. Indeed, Valencia themselves would rather sanction a transfer to an EPL club, rather than one of their Spanish rivals.

On the 4th of June, the Telegraph reported that the explosive striker was available at a knock down price of €21.5mil (£17mil), Los Che had originally valued their star man at €35.5mil (£28mil). The fall in valuation was due to a number of factors from the catastrophe that was Season 07/08. Dutchman Ronald Koeman reveived a large golden handshake (rumoured to be €8mil/£6.3mil) to vacate his position as Manager, the loss of revenue amassed from the Champions League due to their early exit from the group stages, and money put into construction of the Nou Mastella (estimated at between €250-300mil), due to be ready for the 09/10 season.

But Valencia’s bargaining position has been strongly helped by the Spaniards form at the ongoing European Championships. In Spain’s opening game against Guus Hiddink’s Russia, El Guaje bagged a hat-trick, and followed that up with a 92nd minute winner against a more impressive Swedish team.

So from a lead off position of ‘take what we can get’, it is highly likely that the Copa Del Rey winners may get more than their valuation of €35.5mil due to the amount of clubs linked with him in recent days and weeks. So where will he end up? Compatriot and club mate Carlos Marchena believes the forward could be persuaded to join former manager Rafa Benitez at Liverpool, and Villa did nothing to say say this wasn’t a possibility, “Liverpool and Chelsea are both big clubs with a lot of attraction,” said Villa. “Liverpool have a Spanish coach and I also have a lot of friends there. “When Rafa was coach at Valencia and I was at Zaragoza there was contact about me joining Valencia but I couldn’t arrive until the year after he left there.” However, with Benitez keen to sign Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, for a fee which looks like it could be anything between €19m and €25, it is unlikely the Merseyside club could raise enough to finance a deal. Many fans also believe Liverpool striker Fernando Torres and David Villa are too similar to play together. The Spaniards rout of Russia seemed to put this argument to an end, but it reared it’s head again after Spains game against Sweden.

Arsenal and Tottenham have also been linked. It is reported that Spurs see him as a replacement for Man United bound Dimitar Berbatov. He has also issued a come and get me plea to Arsene Wenger, “I watch the Premier League a lot and the team I’m most attracted to is definitely Arsenal. Their brilliant one and two-touch football and the whole style of rapid counter-attack which dominates the top level of the Premier League now is the one that suits my game best of all.” But Wenger has cooled speculation linking Arsenal with a move for Villa, “We are not in the transfer market for David Villa, he has said some very complimentary things about us which we take as a big honour. I rate him highly as a player but I will not make concrete investigations for anyone at the moment, I feel up front I need to give time to Walcott and Bendtner because they have made big improvement for me this season. Theo is coming on so I need to give them a chance or they will not come out.”

Of course Chelsea, with their seemingly unlimitied amounts of money have also been heavily linked with a move for the Valencia player in the British media. Speaking to Guillem Balague, Villa said, “money means nothing. Of course, everybody works to earn money, but if you are not happy, material things mean nothing. My only target in life is to get better at my job” . Whether David Villa is tempted by money or not remains to be seen.

What is clear though, is that due to current form, and enough clubs involved to start a huge bidding war, the prolific striker, who has scored 18 goals in 33 appearences for Spain, and 141 goals in 289 clubs games at Sporting de Gijón, Real Zaragoza and Valencia C.F, will go for a lot more than the €21.5mil reported just over a week ago.