Tag Archives: edin dzeko

ten words or less #53

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President Obama and that LA Galaxy

president obama received his official galaxy shirt from landon donovan and a spanish conquistador david beckham.

Now that league champions have been crowned, and European places are (almost) finalized, everyone’s attention has briefly  transitioned from on-field matters to off. Transfer speculation is in full swing, managers have been hired and fired, and agents are busy trying to count their chickens before they’ve hatched, Even the American President has gotten in on the action.

And like every other seasons’ end, I’m struggling to finalize post drafts that I’ve been working on for weeks/months. Some will be trashed, while others might yet see the light of day. So as I busy myself with making such important decisions, here are ten of my favorite  links from the last week to satisfy your quench for footie-related goodness.

Maradona suing Italy for trying to collect his back taxes. – kckrs.com

In case you’ve not seen it, here’s The Two Escobars. – youtube.com

A minimalist’s history of the World Cup. - andrefidusi.com

City might be making another Džeko if they sign Llorente. – inbedwithmaradona.com

Fake country Sealand play their first “international” match. – bbc.co.uk

Spurs’ new Under Armour kits are… surprisingly acceptable.
- reddit.com/user/IamHereForYou

How the players reacted when Hodgson was named England manager.
- theoffside.com

What it takes to put on a live MLS broadcast. – philly.com

United’s signing of Bébé always smelled fishy. – theoriginalwinger.com

Canada and Umbro team up for centenary kit sexiness. – blog.umbro.com

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all the money in the world, but what to spend it on

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despite the claims of many, and even myself from time to time,  spurs are not yet a “big club.” as difficult of a statement as that is to admit, it’s unfortunately not that hard of a statement to back up.

one big signing does not make a big club. not even super super vdV.

sure, they’re sitting in 4th in the table at the halfway line, a position many thought would be too difficult to reach again. and yes, i’m fully aware that the lillywhites not only qualified for the knockout rounds of the champions league, but also won the group ahead of holders inter. yes, van der vaart has been the signing of the season so far in the premier league. and so what if gareth bale is the man i would be most inclined to sleep with most in-form player on the planet.

they’re all great things that define big clubs, ones that i surely point out to my friends more than is necessary, but none of those things really matter. not yet anyway.

what truly makes a “big club,” is a clubs ability to do all of those things on a sustained basis. the real madrids, chelseas and bayern munichs of this world are considered the big boys because they are always considered to be (at least one of) the favorites in every competition they enter. consistently finishing in the lofty table positions, regularly doing well in europe, habitually bagging big time players, and keeping the best ones you already have… that’s what puts them ahead of the eternal door-knockers like tottenham, sevilla, roma and aston villa.

tottenham’s rise to prominence this season and last has, no doubt, been meteoric. but just like a meteor, this run has been very brief. (admittedly, if you’ve been following the premier league for a decent amount of time, you know this isn’t exactly true. spurs have been actively chasing this elusive position for quite some time… way back in time, since the martin jol days of 2005.)

also, tottenham haven’t exactly been major players in the transfer market, at least not how i would hope. until very recently, they were only major players as a selling club. though i have to admit that the tidy sums we acquired in exchange for berbatov (sad to see him go) and carrick (glad to see him go) have been put to good use in building the current successful squad. the yids never threw money around like mad men; just small, sensible purchases. you can only be a big club if you’re paying out 30 million quid per player… right man city?!

so you can imagine how hard my jaw hit the table when i read that harry redknapp has been given the keys to the white hart lane safe this january. someone check and see if that’s the real daniel levy making all of these insane statements.

they’re kinda consistently performing well at this point, and now we’re supposedly able to spend like the big boys?! maybe if they make an intelligent purchase (meaning a world class striker or right back), tottenham hotspur could really be on their way to being a true elite level team! this is awesome! we will be legitimate title contenders! we’re going to win everything! come on you spurs!!!

wait… oh crap…

who are they going to buy?

…..

the only prominent name on the market was edin džeko, but citeh are looking to inflate the market a bit again by overpaying wolfsburg for him. and thus, every other decent option’s price just went up a bit. a less fashionable idea would be to make a move for the unsettled adebayor, but signing two ex-gunners in a season seems sinful. macheda won’t getting the starting time that sir alex is demanding for him. madrid misfit karim benzema, perhaps? too expensive and possibly overrated. renewed bids for luis fabiano maybe?  i don’t know. and quality right back options include: wayne bridge (meh), jonathan spector (blah), or perhaps maicon (comical).

as for the the two moves that have been touted the most in the lead up to january, for everton’s steven pienaar and l.a. galaxy’s david beckham… i’m actually ok with those despite the fact we don’t really need any more midfielders.

the picture everyone's using even looks a bit like a spurs kit.

beckham makes sense for a few reasons. first, he’ll make a great 60th minute sub, coming on for a gassed lennon and slinging in at least five more quality services than lennon did in twice the time. put in crouch and let becks serve him up. secondly, his experience in the champions league could be vital for a team that’s short on experience at that level. young players will learn from him.

the move for pienaar should hinge on whether or not they get beckham. if they land the pretty boy, they will need to nix this move. either way, the south african would definitely be a versatile addition to the club’s increasingly overloaded array of midfielders. he could easily push lennon for a starting role on the right flank, perhaps causing both of them to raise their games. he could be used on the left should bale ever lose his invincibility cloak. and he’s shown he can play centrally, assuming modrić, jenas, palacios, sandro and huddlestone are all hurt.

looking at it again though, beckham is a short term gamble and fixes nothing in the long run. and the guy is old as hell, with even older legs. spurs currently hold the unofficial title of the flashiest, fastest side in the premier league with bale and lennon on the wings. would beckham be able to keep up, screwing up the team’s mojo on the pitch?

and while pienaar is a sensible buy for the supposed price (£2 million), do spurs really need another midfielder? will either player really make that big of a difference? and odds are the normal january price inflations means that tottenham really can’t afford to buy the types of players that would truly make an impact.

it’s a sellers market, right when tottenham are finally ready — and able — to make a splash.

the missing

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it’s the game’s biggest stage, and that stage features the world’s biggest stars. well, most of them anyway.

every four year’s, hundreds of millions of adoring fans to watch the brightest stars of football shine during the world cup. unfortunately, some of those star names don’t get the final invite to the the big ball because their team suck, or their team is a little unlucky, or their coach simply won’t bring them along.

whatever the case may be, south africa 2010 will be devoid of some of the best players in the world. it’s kind of like kanye west not being at the grammy’s; you know he’s talented enough to be there, but he just hasn’t earned it.

ibrahimovic will have some excellent company with which to watch the world cup on the tube this summer.

in fact, we came really, really close to almost having the two best players in the world in messi and ronaldo due to their teams drastically underperforming in qualification. luckily, by some divine influence, both of them stumbled their way into the tournament, sparing fifa some major embarrassment.

but we’re not here to talk about who squeaked their way into the tournament. let’s talk about the best players who had the door slammed into their face.

zlatan ibrahimovic - sweden / barcelona
arguably the biggest name on this list, it’s really not that surprising that big swede isn’t booking his flight to south africa. despite zlatan’s obvious talent, can you name a single other player of true quality in the swedish ranks? i sure can’t. and considering that ibra can’t seem to decide if he actually wants to play for the national team, he’s not exactly going to be the one to lead the charge to the finals.

ryan giggs – wales / manchester united
while giggsy’s younger, speedier red devils teammate antonio valencia might be the better player at this point (debatable), i’m going to go with the wise, old welshman for this list. why? two reasons: 1) despite a glittering club career, giggs has never made an appearance at the world cup finals as wales are confined to minnow status, and 2) at the ripe age of 36 he is still one of the most dangerous and creative players in the EPL. i know my praise won’t mask his disappointment of never making it to the big dance, but he deserves the nod either way.

roman pavlyuchenko – russia / tottenham
even though he’s been buried on the bench for a majority of the season at white hart lane, pav’s recent form is hard to ignore. with five goals in his last three games, it’s no wonder former russia manager gus hiddink wanted pav in form for their qualification campaign… unfortunately for roman and russia, he wasn’t.

edin dzeko – bosnia / wolfsburg
so when you play for bosnia, qualifying for the world cup is about as likely as slobodan milošević not commiting genocide. despite making it to the finals in germany four years ago under the banner of serbia & montenegro, the newly independent serbian side is just not quite as solid. however, the future is bright for serbs. led by dzeko, who is one of the most sought-after strikers in the game, they should be considered a threat during the 2012 euro qualification process.

stephen ireland – ireland / manchester city
when the irish were knocked out of the world cup by thierry henryy’s infamous handball assist in the waning moments of their second leg qualification play-off with france, it plunged a country already renown for their heavy drinking into a drunken furor. so close but so far, as the saying goes. and the fact that they made it so far without the nations best player should be a testament to the team’s strength. the mercurial stephen ireland of manchester city has been in personal exile from the irish national team for some time now, and my guess is he would have continued it even if they had qualified.

antonio cassano – italy / sampdoria
what makes cassano different than everyone else on this list? his national team is qualified for south africa, yet he won’t be making the trip this summer with the azzuri. after tumultuous spells at roma and real madrid, the oft controversial cassano has found his form in sampdoria, prompting numerous calls from the media for his return to the national team. however, italy coach marcelo lippi has thus far refused due to his reputation as a team cancer.

luka modrić - croatia / tottenham

modric seems shocked that his croatia didn't qualify... i'm shocked too.

the croatians were a shock exclusion from south africa, being the highest ranked national side not qualified for the tournament (11th as of march 2010). the absence of the spurs playmaker during qualification, due to a broken leg, likely played a part in the team’s poor results. i could have easily put a couple of the croatians on this list (niko kranjčar, dario šimić, eduardo da silva, etc.), but modrić is the engine that drives his club and country, despite being the size of your average pet hamster.

goran pandev – macedonia / inter milan
the diminutive forward has had a rough go over the last few years for both club and country. despite a tremendous goalscoring record, he was frozen out at former club lazio due to a rocky relationship with management. however, his return to inter has been fruitful with the macedonian netting three times in nine appearances. in the national team shirt, pandev shouldn’t ever expect much success as the macedonians just don’t have the infrastructure or talent to compete at an elite level.

andrei arshavin – russia / arsenal
this gunner will be one of the more notable outcasts for this summer’s main event. his flashy style and creativity made him one of the most attractive transfer targets after russia’s deep run at euro 2008. the russians are stocked full of high level talent and had an excellent manager in gus hiddink, making their absence from south africa even more surprising.

emmanuel adebayor – togo / manchester city
adebayor drives me crazy, and i often say that i don’t intend to write about him on my blog if i can help it. but there’s doubting that the city striker is one of the best strikers not making his way to the world cup finals. probably all the better for togo, seeing as how the team were brutally attacked at the africa cup of nations in angola.

honorable mention
shay given – ireland / manchester city
mikel arteta – spain / everton
petr cech – czech republic / chelsea
hamit altintop – turkey / bayern munich
antonio valencia – ecuador / manchester united
josé bosingwa – portugal / chelsea

so in short, i apparently think strikers are the only good players out there. i’m sure i’m completely missing someone on this list, but then again, this is a list of people who are missing out. if you can think of anyone i left out, feel free to share.