English referee, Howard Webb. We applaud you.

Howard Webb is not like most other English football professionals. He actually did make it to Euro 2008!

Not only did he make it but he is doing rather well there too.

Last night in a tight, highly charged game between Austria and Poland he awarded an injury time penalty to the joint hosts which gave them an equalizer against the Poles.

Many people where quick to comment on the penalty award, of course the Poles believed that they where victims in some sort of conspiracy to ensure one of the host nations at least had another meaningful game in the tournament.

I think it was an excellent decision. Just seconds before Mr. Webb had warned the Poles about their jostling and shirt pulling in the box and they, as most professional footballers these days, paid absolutely no attention to the official and immediately grabbed the shirt of his opponent once again.

Yes I know we see this game in game out without punishment but the fact is it’s a foul. And the only reason we do see it game in game out is because referees don’t have the guts to punish the players as Howard Webb did.

I am thrilled to see UEFA have backed him up and agree he was in the right to do as he did.

I think Mr Webb will now be regarded and respected during games by players much as Mr Colina was for many years.

Footballers need to learn the rules and abide by them, yelling and screaming at referees should be an instant red card in my opinion. Never in rugby union would you see an official stand for any such abuse.

So I just wanted to say well done Howard Webb, Sideline Soccer salutes you.

I was just searching for a video of the penalty award and was going to ask you all to comment on what you thought of the decision. I searched you tube and it just resulted in many abusive videos compiled by Poles (most of them probably living in the UK!!) launching hate messages at Mr Webb.
Isn’t it funny how they seem to have forgotten that they where totally outplayed in the first half and their own goal was clearly offside. IDIOTS!

Please comment on the decision.

Germany defeated but not yet pole axed!

Croatia deserve huge credit tonight for their performance against the favoured Germany in Euro 2008.
They played some swift well controlled football and exposed the gaps in the German defence to earn a well deserved 2-1 victory.

Germany found it hard to live with the pace of the Germans and their tag as favourites must surely now wave in the balance, although this is the Germans we are talking about, only a fool would rule them out of it.

Germany did prove one thing once again though. If you give Schweinsteiger a sniff of goal he will happily bang one in. He got his third of the tournament as they tried to pull themselves back into the game.

As an Everton supporter I have to say I am really pleased for Slavin Bilic, he’s done a superb job with his team and they must remain dark horses. One thing for sure, nobody will relish having to face them as they look to work as a superb unit from back to front.

Swiss are the first team to roll! Euro 2008

Switzerland rolled out of the Euro 2008 competition this evening, beaten 2 -1 by the Turks.

On a water logged pitch, the two teams battled it out in the first half whilst it hammered down with rain. If this had been a league match it would of been called off after about 10 minutes but I think the referee was waiting to make a judgement at half time.
Unfortunately for him the Swiss scored and only a mad man would have denied them a chance to win. The home fans where absolutely bouncing and in fairness the Swiss where by far the better team. Even if the game did resemble a water polo match more than a football match at times.

At half time the groundsmen worked for the full 15 minutes trying to drain water off the ppitch and that may ultimately be what has sent the Swiss out.
The rain stopped and the pitch eased up a little which suited Turkey much better.
second half they where the better team and once they got back on level terms, despite Swiitzerland threatening on more than one occassion, I always felt Turkey would come out on top.

So Turkey live to fight another day and will fancy themselves to go through after this.

Euro 2008 – Portugal vs Turkey, Opening day shock in store?

3 days to go and counting!!!!

The opening day of a major tournament is quite often a cagey affair with no teams wanting to be the first to concede in a championship.

The opening games on Saturday are Switzerland vs Czech republic and Portugal vs Turkey.
I can’t see there being too much to get excited about in the opener and expect it to be a 1-1 draw, both teams have a couple of decent players but neither have anything that makes the pulse race and get me jumping off my feet.
The second game on that opening day of Euro 2008 though is a different story. Portugal are many peoples favourites, with the remarkable Christiano Ronaldo lining up to drive his country men on to greatness. Let’s not put them down as a one man team though as they are anything but. They have oodles of talent throughout in the likes of Deco, Nani, Gomes, Postiga and Carvalho and that is why I am thinking that perhaps the best time to play these guys is in the opening game. Hit them before they have a chance to get into their stride. A couple of games in they’re going to be hard to beat as players find their form and the team starts playing a high tempo, smooth passing game. Turkey therefore are in for a difficult opener but not an impossible one.

If they can hit the Portuguese early on and stun them with an early goal I fancy the Turks to cause an upset right there on day one!
Turkey, fresh from a 2-0 win against finland, are quietly fancying themselves to do a job on Portugal an I for one won’t be surprised to see them get that job done. My prediction Turkey 2 – Portugal 1 

Fifa Vote “Six plus five”

Just in from Sky Sports:
Fifa have voted in favour of the ’six-plus-five’ rule which would place restrictions on foreign players.

The president of football’s world governing body, Sepp Blatter, hopes to see the initiative implemented by the 2012/13 season.

The ruling would limit the number of overseas players any one team can field in their starting XI to just five.

Fifa have grown increasingly concerned by the number of foreign stars infiltrating Europe’s top leagues, with the English Premier League standing out as the most obvious example.

Despite fears from the European Union that the introduction of the rule would contravene freedom of movement regulations, Blatter insists that Fifa would proceed “within the limits of the law”.

My View

I strongly agree with the decision to implement a Six plus Five system. I think the british game is in absolute turmoil and needs clubs to invest more in UK youngsters and to nurture them through the ranks until they are professionals.

Many people say that British teams already invest heavily in youth, setting up academies at their training grounds and running initiatives within their local commuinties. However these initiatives, as good as I think they are, are not football driven they are quite heavily health and fitness awareness initiatives and are actually just a PR program for the clubs. Don’t let me make you think they are not worthwhile though, because they are hugely valuable but are not going to help find the next Ryan Giggs ir Wayne Roonies of this world. As far as the academies go, again they go a long way to helping kids get an insight to the professional game but the fact they are signing kids from ages of 6+ these days means any natural talent is coached out of them before they have a chance to know it exists.

The six plus five rule would enforce teams into investing not just money but resource into ensuring home grown talent is given priority once again.

I as a Welsh man follow the fortunes of all the British teams and to see them all miss out on this summers European Championships is quite upsetting, but maybe it’s the kick up the backside all of our F.A.’s need.

I honestly believe “MOST” of the people serving on our F.A.’s originally took the position because they have a real love for the game, however once in they seem to adopt a “Fat Cat” mentality that ruins them and influences their decisions. They see themselves as more important than the game itself, well based on the recent results they all deserve a kick up the jaxie!!

The six plus five rule could take another 5 years to implement, teams like Arsenal who play a majority of overseas players must be pretty worried about it basically they have to rebuild their squad if this comes into effect.

Anyway I just wanted to be one of the first ones to announce the decision, although don’t be surprised if the Idiots in the EU rule it illegal and put an end to it before it even gets started!

Fifa Vote “Six plus five”

Just in from Sky Sports:
Fifa have voted in favour of the ’six-plus-five’ rule which would place restrictions on foreign players.

The president of football’s world governing body, Sepp Blatter, hopes to see the initiative implemented by the 2012/13 season.

The ruling would limit the number of overseas players any one team can field in their starting XI to just five.

Fifa have grown increasingly concerned by the number of foreign stars infiltrating Europe’s top leagues, with the English Premier League standing out as the most obvious example.

Despite fears from the European Union that the introduction of the rule would contravene freedom of movement regulations, Blatter insists that Fifa would proceed “within the limits of the law”.

My View

I strongly agree with the decision to implement a Six plus Five system. I think the british game is in absolute turmoil and needs clubs to invest more in UK youngsters and to nurture them through the ranks until they are professionals.

Many people say that British teams already invest heavily in youth, setting up academies at their training grounds and running initiatives within their local commuinties. However these initiatives, as good as I think they are, are not football driven they are quite heavily health and fitness awareness initiatives and are actually just a PR program for the clubs. Don’t let me make you think they are not worthwhile though, because they are hugely valuable but are not going to help find the next Ryan Giggs ir Wayne Roonies of this world. As far as the academies go, again they go a long way to helping kids get an insight to the professional game but the fact they are signing kids from ages of 6+ these days means any natural talent is coached out of them before they have a chance to know it exists.

The six plus five rule would enforce teams into investing not just money but resource into ensuring home grown talent is given priority once again.

I as a Welsh man follow the fortunes of all the British teams and to see them all miss out on this summers European Championships is quite upsetting, but maybe it’s the kick up the backside all of our F.A.’s need.

I honestly believe “MOST” of the people serving on our F.A.’s originally took the position because they have a real love for the game, however once in they seem to adopt a “Fat Cat” mentality that ruins them and influences their decisions. They see themselves as more important than the game itself, well based on the recent results they all deserve a kick up the jaxie!!

The six plus five rule could take another 5 years to implement, teams like Arsenal who play a majority of overseas players must be pretty worried about it basically they have to rebuild their squad if this comes into effect.

Anyway I just wanted to be one of the first ones to announce the decision, although don’t be surprised if the Idiots in the EU rule it illegal and put an end to it before it even gets started!

Chelsea Fc – Managerless, who will touch them?

With the departure of Avram Grant this week I can’t help but think that the Chelsea managers job, although probably one of the most financially rewarding jobs in world football, is going to be harder to fill than people might think.

When Mourinho left the club and Avram Grant was given the position of Chelsea Manager, I was quite shocked.
I knew about his background in football, his domestic success in Israel proved he was an intelligent manager, but still to suddenly be instilled as manager of Chelsea in their position at the time raised my eyebrows more than a little.

After a couple of months in the job Avram had quietly stamped his own feel to the squad, continued to grind out decent results and more importantly and remarkably began to win over the Chelsea faithful who still pined for their maestro Jose.

There was none of the controversy from Grant that Jose had following him around. In fact from what I saw over the last season Avram Grant conducted himself impeccably, he finally got Ballack playing football again, something he hadn’t done so far in his time at Chelsea, and more remarkably he dragged Chelsea in the final weeks to compete point for point with what I believe to be the best Manchester United team Sir Alex Ferguson has ever assembled.

Add to that a first ever champions league final appearance that went down to the lottery that is penalties and I’d say it was a remarkable season for Chelsea and Avram Grant. I’m not even going to mention the carling cup final!!

But Mr Abrahomivich wants more, he wants all those trophies and more and unfortunatley he seems to surround himself with people who will say anything to keep him happy. I am absolutely positive Roman has not got to where he is in life through being easily led by hangers on but football is a million miles away from the oil business and he needs to identify an asset when he has it.

So there are a few names in the hat for the job but there’s certainly nobody banging on the Chelsea door shouting “Give it to me!” which has got to be a worry for the Chelsea fans. Rikjaard has been mentioned which I think is ridiculous, he’s just pulled apart the spirit of a great Barcelona team much as he did in the Holland camps when he was a player. Mark Hughes?? well I am a massive fan of Sparky but would he really allow the Chelsea board to control him as much as they like to control a man, he didn’t let it happen for Wales!

So whilst I’m sure there will be plenty of people knocking on Mr Grants door offering him lucrative contracts I’m not too sure there will be as big a queue knocking at the bridge.

So I guess it’s true money can’t buy everything……yet!