Russia Favourites To Get World Cup In 2018

We are just two days away from finding out who will be hosting the World Cup in 2018 and 2022. The countries in contention of getting the opportunity to host the 2018 World Cup are Russia, England, Holland/Belgium and Spain/Portugal. As all of these teams are European, no European country can bid for the 2022 World Cup. That's why, as you might have noticed, the standard of countries bidding for the 2022 World Cup is quite poor.

Personally, as an Englishman, I would love to see England get the World Cup for 2018. Unlike some of the other bidding countries, there is no need for FIFA to worry about stadiums being ready on time because all of the stadiums are set (well most of them anyway). The only thing, I think, that is going against England, is that they have already hosted the competition in 1966. I'm sure FIFA would like to pass the honour around.

Russia are favourites, and why not? They have some great stadiums, but unlike England, if they do get the honor, they are planning on building many new stadiums. I know they will have eight years to build them but I would prefer to have no pressure at all. So for me, it's a straight sprint between England and Russia to see who will be hosting the 2018 World Cup.

Two other bidding countries have been flying under the radar a bit, and both of those are joint bids. You have Holland/Belgium and Spain/Portugal. I'm not really surprised the Holland/Belgium bid hasn't been getting a lot of attention but I am surprised that the Spain/Portugal bid hasn't. So I wouldn't be surprised, unlike some, if Spain and Portugal get it.

I didn't talk about the 2022 World Cup bids, purely because, in football terms, I don't know enough about each country.

World Cup 2018             World Cup Bid 2022
England                           Australia            USA
Russia                             Japan
Spain/Portugal                 Qatar
Holland/ Belgium              South Korea

I would love to hear your comments and predictions that you may have.

Barcelona v Real Madrid, Messi v Ronaldo

Tonight, Barcelona play Real Madrid at the Nou Camp. This is one the greatest, if not the greatest rivalry in world football. I guess that is why it is dubbed by some "El Classico".

Now, more than ever, the debate on who is the best player in the world is on everyones mind. Messi and Ronaldo have been imense for both club and country and it is hard to decide on
who I think is the better player. I think Messi is better. Why? Well they both do amazing things on the ball but I think Messi looks for the ball more and is more in the game than Ronaldo is at times.

As for the their respective teams, Barca and Real Madrid, it's hard to call between them. Both of them have attacking players that any club in the world would love and each defence ain't half bad either. So for this reason I'm going to go with home advantage and say that Barca will win. Either way, I'm hoping for a classic, and why can't it be. The best players, best managers. It shouldn't disappoint.

As for Mourinho, this will be his first taste of the "El Classico". Knowing Mourinho, the pressure shouldn't get to him. He went there last year and won over the two legs after some great defending. I'm sure the Barca fans are looking forward to seeing him after the controversy last year when he ran on pitch after reaching the Champions League final with Inter.

I would love to hear your comments if you have any.

Is It Time For Ancelotti To Go?

It may sound harsh saying he should go. But for the first time this season, Ancelotti and the Chelsea players will be sitting down on a Sunday night watching X Factor results or Match of the Day 2, knowing that they are not top of the table. That's because they could only manage a draw against Newcastle today.

After such a fantastic start, it has just gone downhill. It was looking great, after just five games they had a goal difference of +20. Drogba  couldn't stop scoring and no one could get past Cech and the rest of the defence. But since Drogba missed the match against Aston Villa midway through October, he can't score for his dinner. We saw today a  perfect example that the defence can be dodgy at times, and that there is a lack of communication in the lead up to Carroll's goal.

Obviously, I don't think he should go, but you never know with Abramovich. He sacked Mourinho after a loss against Aston Villa and a draw against Rosenberg in the Champions League.

There defence is not the problem I feel, it's the lack of goals, and especially with some of the attacking players they have, they should be scoring many more. The last time they won by more than one goal was against Wolves on the 23rd of October.

This leaves the Premiership wide open and leaves everyone guessing who is going to be lifting the title at the end of May. Up next for Chelsea is Everton at Stamford Bridge, and judging by Everton's woeful peformance yesterday against West Brom, this should be a chance for Chelsea to get back to scoring ways and more importantly, winning ways.

Feel free to leave any comments you may have.

Arsenal and Man Utd Keep Pressure On Chelsea

Today, Arsenal and United both leap-frogged Chelsea as they got victories in their matches today. Arsenal were victorious against Aston Villa in an entertaining match at Villa Park that finished 4-2 to the Gunners, while United ran riot against Blackburn, with the help of Berbatov, as they won 7-1.This means that nothing less than a victory at St. James' Park against Newcastle will give Chelsea top spot.

The early kick off of the day was between Arsenal and Aston Villa at Villa Park. It was a slow start to the game until Arshavin scored a fantastic goal out of nothing. Nasri then scored a first time volley with the help of a slight deflection just before half time. I'm sure Arsene Wenger didn't want deja vu from last week. They nearly did but in the end ran out comfortable winners and at times played some wonderful football. 2-4 it finished there.

Now onto Old Trafford, where Bebatov got his second match ball of the season with five goals. Once he got the first goal inside three minutes, you sensed there was only going to be one winner. Sure enough, they scored six more. Blackburn fans shouldn't be too disheartened. Maybe they made it a bit too easy, but it was more the brilliance of United that we have been waiting for this season. Now United are two points clear at the top.

I wouldn't be surprised either if they stay there because Chelsea have to travel north to a tricky match against Newcastle and we all saw what happened last weekend against Birmingham. This will be a really interesting match I think with both sides looking to get back to form after Newcastle lost 5-1 to Bolton last weekend, while Chelsea have lost three of their last four fixtures in the Premiership. If we thought the Premiership was wide open before the weekend, it definitely is now.

I would love to hear any comments you may have.

Stupid, Stupid Mourinho

On Tuesday night, Real Madrid had a very comfortable victory over Ajax beating them 4-0. This victory meant they were safely through to the knockout stages. But in the final five minutes or so there was a bit of controversy.

So I'll set the scene for you. In the 85th minute Real Madrid are 4-0 up, cruising along, and have a free kick just inside there own half which Alonso is about to take. While taking the free kick, he was very hesitant to actually kick the ball. He was running up to the ball and then stopping. Obviously he was trying to make it seem like he had no options. After about two or three warnings, the ref had had enough and gave Alonso his second booking of the night and sent him off. If this was me, I would be furious, in the ref's face wondering why he gave me the yellow. Alonso, on the other hand, walked off with no complaints.

We are now into added time and Real Madrid have a goal kick. This time Sergio Ramos (who was also booked) was taking it. Why? I don't know. Long story short, he basically does the same thing as Alonso, as if it was an audition for a play and they were both trying to get the same part. Eventually, Ramos receives his second yellow as well.  Now yet again, I would be furious, but not only does Ramos just walk off with no complaints, he also shakes the ref's hand. I know we all under estimate the academic ability of the Uefa board with some of the decisions they make but they're not that stupid.

The idea behind this whole plan was that both players would get themselves sent off, miss the next game ( a meaningless game against Auxerre ) and return to the knockout stages with no yellow cards under their name. 

The two players have been charged, along with Mourinho ( the master mind behind the plan) , Casillas ( for giving Ramos and Alonso the instructions) and Dudek ( for giving Casillas the instructions to tell Ramos and Alonso). 

Speaking of Real Madrid. A little reminder that they are playing Barcelona at the Nou Camp at 8:00pm on Monday night on Sky Sports 1

I would love to hear any comments you may have.

Fair Play Tottenham

Tonight, Spurs confirmed their place in the knockout stages. Not only is that an achievement in itself but I think it's fair to say that they have done it with relative ease.

Being a City fan, it broke my heart when I saw Crouch scoring the winner against us in the last ten minutes to guarantee themselves fourth spot. Since the start of the campaign, with the exception of a very shaky first half against Inter Milan, there was never a moment where a man or woman wearing a Tottenham jersey should have been worried about not making the knockout stages.

For me, based on current form, they have the two best midfielders in the Premiership. Of course, I'm talking about Gareth Bale and Rafael Van Der Vaart. In the second half against Inter at the San Siro, it wasn't Inter v Spurs, it was Inter v Bale. He was sublime. If you looked at all three of his goals, they were identical. He was murdering Maicon. If he didn't kill him at the San Siro, he definitely did at White Heart Lane. He set up two of the goals and ran circles around Maicon. As for Van Der Vaart, yet again he has been excellent, he has been incredibly consistent and for just £8 million too. What a bargain.

So where to from here for Spurs, I think a a quarter final finish is on the cards (obviously considering who they get in the round of 16). That will leave the owners in no doubt, satisfied with Harry Redknapp. But sure, if they can beat Inter, why can't they beat everyone else.

And finally, surprise, surprise Man united also qualified for the knockout stages with a 1-0 win over Rangers.

I would love to hear any comments you may have.

£25 Million Down The Toilet

After just a season and a half with the club it seems Emmanuel Adebayor's City career is coming to an end. It was looking like a great signing at the start of the 2009-10 season but after a ridiculous celebration and a stud mark on Van Persie's face against Arsenal, it just went downhill.

So I think it's fair to say that he has been a flop but in fairness to Mancini, it wasn't him who signed the Togolese man. Obviously Adebayor hasn't really fitted in Mancini's plans but he was doing quite well under Mark Hughes. Mancini's game plan has been pretty simple, have at least two defensive midfielders and Tevez up on his own.

You can't really blame him either, as we know the Italian league is famous for it's defence-minded play and it has worked in his playing days and for him as a manager. But he might have to change his plans after a fantastic display at Craven Cottage on Sunday.

A hat trick against Lech Poznan must have given him a little bit of hope but I think Adebayor gave up all hope when he saw Jo was starting ahead of him on Sunday. So it's no use having him on the transfer list if there is no one interested. Juventus look favourites to get him on loan but I wouldn't be surprised if there the only one's looking into signing him.

I would love to hear any comments you may have.