As the England players begin their journey home from South Africa today, they will have time to reflect on where the tournament went so badly wrong for them, and where they can go from here. Here's one fan's thoughts as to the failings of his national side...
However anyone chooses to look back at this World Cup, one thing you can say for absolutely certain is that England have again let themselves down and failed to perform when the heat was really on.
What reasons are there for this though?
Perhaps one could be Fabio Capello, a man seen as the saviour of English football before the World Cup, but now widely vilified given England's early exit. Though Capello is still undoubtedly an excellent manager, and should be gven the chance to continue on as England boss, he has made some unquestionably strange decisions recently, both in the build up to and during the tournament.
Firstly, one that sticks in the forefront of my mind was his decision to bring Jamie Carragher into the squad.
Carragher, having already retired from international football in 2007, rejoined the squad at the wish of Capello and his assistant Franco Baldini.
A few years ago, the decision to have Jamie Carragher in the squad would have seemed justified.
Now though, it seemed an odd choice, with whatever injury problems England had, as Carragher's massive lack of pace seemed to be a worrying feature of his game, and was coming off the back of probably his poorest season ever for Liverpool.
Another problem many England fans have had with Capello in this tournament is his choice of tactics and personnel, including his substitutions. With 20 minutes left to play in England's catastrophic second round defeat to Germany, his side were in desperate need of a goal. Capello brought of Jermaine Defoe, probably the man most likely to score for England with Wayne Rooney so out of sorts, and instead introduced Emile Heskey.
One cannot argue with the fact that Emile Heskey has performed a solid job for England on a number of occasions, but he is certainly not the man to bag you a goal or two and turn a match around.
Though much of the blame will be laid at Fabio Capello's door, it is without doubt also the fault of the players too.
Players like
Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Wayne Rooney perform consistently well for their clubs, and yet as soon as they are on international duty, they seem to be overawed with the situation and scared to try anything at all, in case of making a mistake.
And as far as Wayne Rooney is concerned, one can only imagine why his performances and attitude throughout the tournament has looked so abject. Many reports have claimed he was not fully fit, but this is not what we were told by the England management team.
Do these players have the desire to really step up and make a difference at international level?
You would hope so but on the performances in this tournament you wouldn't be too sure.
As with any tournament, all of the successful teams also need a huge amount of luck, something in which England were also lacking.
They will feel incredibly hard done by, and quite rightly, for Frank Lampard's "goal that never was" against Germany, but it should not mask the fact that we were out-thought, out-manouvered, and out-played.
The Germans completely destroyed the hesitant and frightened looking England back line, playing on the counter attack and making England pay for commiting too many men forward. To that end, there really can be little arguments.
What is becoming more and more frustrating as an England fan though is the fact that it is more than likely that nothing will be done about it.
Also worrying is the fact that the FA still seem to be doing very little is nuturing young talent, and in fact seem to be coaching talent out of players like Rooney or Gerrard, and then wonder why they can't perform.
England seem to be set in their ways and things will have to change for the country to move on to better days.
Only time will tell where England will move onto from here.
With Capello, or without, big changes will certainly need to be made.
by James Crouch & Joe Purvis Arsenal – 3rd Player of the Season: Cesc Fabregas – another impeccable season, the driving force behind Arsenal’s stronger title challenge. Young Player of the Season: Nicklas Bendtner – finally starting to realise some of his potential, and popped up with a number of important goals throughout the season. Season Summary: An improvement on last year for the Gunners, but they still need to make some big summer signings for a more sustained title bid – 4/5
Aston Villa – 6th Player & Young Player of the Season: James Milner – a fantastic season for the young midfielder, moved into a more central role and has been reaping the benefits ever since. A likely member of England’s World Cup Squad. Season Summary: Another good season for Villa, with Europa League qualification secured and a brave showing in the League Cup Final – 4/5
Birmingham City – 9th Player & Young Player of the Season: Joe Hart – undoubtedly the best goalkeeper in the Premier League all season, and now a member of the England squad in South Africa. Season Summary: Excellent campaign for the newly promoted side, including excellent performances home all season, including against the bigger sides – 4.5/5
Blackburn Rovers – 10th Player of the Season: David Dunn – has revitalized what seemed to be a stalling career this season. Young Player of the Season: Phil Jones – The 18-year-old has shown great maturity after breaking into the team, including a magnificent debut performance against Chelsea and Didier Drogba. Season Summary: A solid season for Blackburn, mainly thanks to their outstanding home form, though they could easily fall towards the relegation places still next season – 2/5
Bolton Wanderers – 14th Player of the Season: Gary Cahill – an excellent season for the young centre-back, including England call ups and rumours of inclusion in the World Cup squad. Young Player of the Season: Jack Wilshere – on loan from Arsenal, has done little to damage his reputation since moving for the second half of the season. Has enjoyed the pressures of the Premier League having been given more first team opportunities. Season Summary: A better second half of the season for Bolton, having switched from Gary Megson to Owen Coyle in January – 2/5
Burnley – 18th Player of the Season: Graham Alexander – the penalty kick maestro has never given anything other than 100% for his club, whilst being one of the oldest men in the league too. Season Summary: A disappointing finish for Burnley, having started the season relatively well. Brian Laws’ appointment as manager turned the club onto a downward spiral from which they never recovered – 1/5
Chelsea – 1st Player of the Season: Florent Malouda – showed magnificent form in the second half of the season, finally reaching his potential he has so often failed to show at Chelsea, and putting in a number of match-winning performances. OR Didier Drogba – still arguably the world’s best striker on his day, ended as the League’s top scorer once again, and still lifts his whole team when he plays well. Season Summary: Chelsea put off-field problems behind them to regain the Premier League title for the first time since 2006, giving Carlo Ancelotti a fine end to his debut season as a Premier League manager, and still on course for a League and FA Cup double – 5/5
Everton – 8th Player of the Season: Steven Pienaar – an excellent season for the South African attacking midfielder, and now has the weight of his country’s hopes on his shoulders for his home world cup this summer. Young Player of the Season: Jack Rodwell – a wonderfully mature and exciting midfielder, coming through the Everton ranks as a local lad like so many others. A wonderful goal in Everton’s superb home victory over Manchester United as well. Season Summary: A decent enough season for The Toffees, though they will be disappointed to have missed out on European qualification. Will they struggle now with the stronger looking likes of Manchester City, Spurs or Villa coming through? – 3.5/5
Fulham – 12th Player of the Season: Bobby Zamora – what a season for the well travelled striker, pivotal in Fulham’s European fairytale, and so unlucky to miss out on England duty, having ruled himself out due to injury. Young Player of the Season: Chris Smalling – a good breakthrough performance for the young central defender, now must get ready for his big summer move to Old Trafford. Season Summary: Though their league form hasn’t been overly brilliant this year, their European form has been outstanding, knocking out some of Europe’s heavyweight clubs, and coming so close in the Europa League final. Will be praying to keep hold of manager Roy Hodgson, whose work since taking over the club has been nothing short of brilliant - 5/5
Hull City – 19th Player of the Season: Jimmy Bullard – has been the one shining light in an otherwise poor Hull City side, though will be likely to move on in the summer as Hull get ready for life back in the Championship. Season Summary: The horrific form Hull City showed in the second half of last season followed them for much of this, and can have few arguments about their relegation. May struggle to come back up any time soon if bigger names move on – 1/5
Liverpool – 7th Player of the Season: Yossi Benayoun – often seems to pop up with goals and good performances when chosen, so why didn’t Rafa Benitez pick him more? Season Summary: A real season to forget for the red half of Merseyside, having missed out on Champions League qualification, and looking lethargic and poor throughout the year. Benitez looks almost certain to leave in the summer and they will really struggle if Gerrard or Torres moves on – 2.5/5
Manchester City – 5th Player of the Season: Carlos Tevez – started slowly after his high profile summer move across Manchester, but after he hit his side he never looked back, scoring 29 goals in all competitions. Young Player of the Season: Adam Johnson – joined from Middlesbrough in January, and immediately made the right wing spot his own. Now in Capello’s 30 man training squad before the World Cup, a couple of good friendly showings could see him on the plane to South Africa. Season Summary: A season of ups and downs for the high profile, big money club, will be pleased with their performances throughout the season, yet narrowly missing out on 4th spot will disappoint them too. Have the potential to be massive in the next few seasons – 4/5
Manchester United – 2nd Player of the Season: Wayne Rooney – who else? Has been an inspirational force for his team, carrying them throughout the season and scoring 26 league goals in the process. Now carries his country’s hopes going into the World Cup. Young Player of the Season: Darron Gibson – the young Irish midfielder has matured a lot this year, earning international call ups, longer runs in the first team, and rave reviews whilst he’s been at it. Season Summary: A solid if, in the end, disappointing season for United, having missed out on the title on the final day. The emergence of stars like Nani and Valencia will please Sir Alex Ferguson, but the continuing troubles of Dimitar Berbatov may cause concern – 4/5
Portsmouth – 20th Player of the Season: Jamie O’Hara – On loan from Spurs, O’Hara has been the driving force behind Pompey this season, putting in a number of determined, eye-catching displays. Season Summary: Though Portsmouth off field troubles have confined them to the Championship next season, their heart and determination to give their all throughout the season cannot be questioned, and they still have the FA Cup Final against Chelsea to look forward to. Their debts will still be a massive cause of concern to their supporters though – 3/5
Stoke City – 11th Player of the Season: Glenn Whelan – the Republic of Ireland central midfielder has been a strong and hard working presence for the club all season, and has been rewarded with a long run in the national side. Young Player of the Season: Ryan Shawcross – the young central defender has been given a chance in the England squad thanks to his good performances all season, though he will want to forget his poor challenge against Arsenal that broke young Aaron Ramsey’s leg. Season Summary: Another fine season for Stoke, leaving them with another solid, mid-table finish. Tony Pulis’ work at the club cannot be underestimated – 2.5/5
Sunderland – 13th Player of the Season: Darren Bent – proved many of his doubters wrong this season, ending as the second top English scorer in the league with 24 goals. OR Lorik Cana – the tough tackling Albanian central midfielder has proved an instant hit at Sunderland, earning himself the club captaincy in his first season almost immediately in the process. Season Summary: A decent enough first season as Sunderland manager for Steve Bruce. With a couple of good signings they could look to push on towards European places next season, but should they lose a couple of their big names, they could be in trouble – 3/5
Tottenham Hotspur – 4th Player of the Season: Michael Dawson – probably the best and most reliable centre-back in the league all season, and has been rewarded with his outstanding form with a call up to the International squad, and a place on the plane to South Africa looks likely. Young Player of the Season: Gareth Bale – moved to left midfield from left back mid-season, and never looked back, consistently performing as one of the league’s top players, and bagging a number of priceless goals in the process. Season Summary: Spurs have finally reached their Holy Grail of 4th place and a Champions League spot, and will be looking forward to their European adventures next season. No-one can underestimate the job Harry Redknapp has done since taking over with the club in the relegation spots last season – 4.5/5
West Ham United – 17th Player of the Season: Scott Parker – has been the one stand out performer for West Ham in what has really been quite a dreadful season. May now have his spot in South Africa. Season Summary: A season to forget for The Hammers, Zola has now been sacked, and they will hope to push away from the relegation spots next year, but will need to make some good summer signings to do so – 1.5/5
Wigan Athletic – 16th Player of the Season: Charles N’Zogbia – has proved his quality this season with a number of eye-catching performances, particularly in their brilliant comeback against Arsenal. A move to a bigger club over the summer has been rumoured. Young Player of the Season: Victor Moses – having signed from Crystal Palace in January, has shown his vast potential as a future star with a series of good performances. Could well be one for the future for England. Season Summary: For Roberto Martinez’ first season as a Premier League manager, has not been completely disastrous, though there have been a couple of catastrophic defeats, particularly 9-1 to Spurs and 8-0 to Chelsea – 2/5 Wolverhampton Wanderers – 15th Player of the Season: Kevin Doyle – the Republic of Ireland striker has chipped in with a number of important goals since moving from Reading in the summer. Has proved to be a real hit and solid performer whenever called upon. Season Summary: An excellent season for the Midlands based side, many predicted them to struggle after promotion, but they have gone about their business quietly and efficiently – 3.5/5
Chelsea are crowned Premier League Champions 2009/10
To go to the official Premier League Website, click here.
And so that concludes the 2009/10 Premier League Season Review, and, for a while at least, this blog as a whole. Please let me know what you think about this post and any others, and give me any ideas, comments or suggestions you think might come in handy.
Tottenham Hotspur have finally reached the Champions League after years of trying, secured this evening with a 1-0 win away to fourth place rivals Manchester City. Spurs knew that if they could just secure victory against their rivals, a Champions League spot would be secured with one game to go, and they secured the most important moment in the club's recent history thanks to a Peter Crouch goal in the 82nd minute.
Having started marginally the better team, Manchester City would have fancied their chances of securing the victory that would take the battle for fourth place into the final day of the season, this coming Sunday.
But the main talking point of the first half ended up being a dissallowed goal for Tottenham. Ledley King was harshly judged to have fouled Gareth Barry in jumping to head home a corner, and the general consensus was that the goal should have stood.
Heurelho Gomes, the Tottenham goalkeeper, pulled off a string of top draw saves at the other end to keep the scores level, including an excellent diving effort to keep out a long range Adam Johnson shot, and a sprawl across goal to claw the ball away after a deflection from Gareth Bale, preventing what looked to be a certain own goal in the process.
After the break, both teams looked tired, and Tom Huddlestone seemed lucky to be only awarded a yellow card after what looked like a stamp on Manchester City midfielder Nigel De Jong.
Both sides had half chances throughout the half, but Crouch, who had already hit the post in the first half with a close range header, looked to have wasted a golden opportunity when his header from a wonderful Gareth Bale cross went straight at the legs of City goalkeeper Martin Fulop, who was able to save.
But, with eight minutes remaining, Crouch atoned for his earlier misses, and scored a priceless goal; reacting first after a deflected Younes Kaboul cross was pushed into his path by Fulop and heading into the top corner, though Craig Bellamy, marking Kaboul, could most certainly have done better to stop the cross coming in.
As Spurs held out for the victory, and dreamed of potentially meeting some of Europe's biggest clubs in the world's premiere club competition next season, they could be happy in the knowledge of a deserved win, secured with a performance superior to that of the much more expensively assembled City side, who will now have to make do with a Europa League spot next year.
For Spurs, though, they will certainly be thrilled by the fact that they have secured their place in the Champions League, and with it at least £30m of prize money.
City manager Roberto Mancini, brought to the club to secure them 4th spot, may well be worrying about his long term future though, as the Manchester City board certainly haven't been scared of making radical changes when they see fit.
Spurs manager Harry Redknapp, however, deserves a huge deal of credit for the way he has turned around the club, after joining early last season with Tottenham struggling in the relegation zone, and now, just 18 months on, ready for the big time.
Redknapp was understandably delighted with his team's success. He said: "It's fantastic. It's been a terrific season for us, we've played some great football along the way and we deserve it."
That is most certainly true. Spurs are about to start mixing it with the big boys. And in all honesty, they deseve nothing less.
When thinking of great goalscorers, people think of the likes of Pele, Gerd Muller, or Alan Shearer. Few, though, would mention the name Josef Bican.
This is a man who is largely unknown in the football world, being named in some quarters as being "criminally underrated".
Czech-Austrian forward Josef Bican is estimated to have scored around 800 goals in all competitive matches during his long and fabled career. This would make him the all-time most prolific scorer in the history of football.
The reason this story seems so surprising is that so little is spoken about Bican, and the fact that many people throughout the football world know little about him, if anything at all...
Born in Vienna in 1913, into a poor Czech family, Bican's earlierst footballing memories are those of a tough start, with his family so hard up he was unable to afford shoes, and so played barefoot, with a ball made of rags. This, he later said, in fact helped his ball control and other aspects of his game. This is where Bican's footballing odyssey began - playing noon til night on the streets.
At the age of 18, he was signed by Rapid Vienna, one of the country's biggest clubs. This is where Bican's story really begins...
Bican was known not only for his unprecendented footballing ability as a whole, but in particular for his pace (he was known to be able to run 100m in 10.8 secs), and his finishing.
Josef Bican's goalscoring ability though was quite incredible. As all footballing fans will know, scoring around one goal every two games is a highly impressive ratio. One in one is very rare, and absolutely magnificent also.
Mr Josef Bican, in total played 49 matches for Rapid Vienna. I'll let you guess the number of goals he scored... 50?... 60?...
No. Josef Bican scored 108 goals in just 49 appearances - over two goals a game. To put it in layman's terms, imagine a team where, with Bican playing, they could be nigh on guaranteed two goals, before the match had even kicked off. THAT, is why I so firmly believe Bican is so underrated.
But, wait, he didn't stop there. Having moved on from Rapid Vienna, Josef joined Slavia Prague, a Czech club. Bican scored an incomprehensible 395 goals in just 217 appearances for Slavia Prague.
You really just cannot understand why more has not been said about this wonderful footballer.
At the time, as Bican's exploits became more and more well known and heard about, he became a target for some of Europe's largest clubs. Juventus were close to securing his signature, but he turned them down and opted to stay in Prague as he was advised that communists would soon take over in Italy. Ironically, though, communists took over in Prague just a couple of years later. Bican refused to join them though, just as he had with the Nazi Party in Austria.
In order to try and improve his attention among the communists, Bican joined FC Hradec Kralove, a communist side. Eventually though, Bican was forced to leave the club and the city by the Communist Party, and so went back to Slavia Prague, or Dynamo Prague, as they were then known.
Bican saw out the rest of his playing career there, eventually retiring at the age of 42, before starting a managerial career.
Bican's magnificent career only recently began to be recognised, after the communist regime in his home country was crushed in 1989.
Josef Bican died in 2001 at the age of 88. He is believed to have died happy, knowing that his place in the game was finally in some ways recognised.
Below is a profile of Josef Bican from football podcast "The Football Ramble"
Recognise that man? No, I thought not (well, maybe the few ardent West Ham fans amongst you might...). This man is Tony Carr, the current Director of Youth Development at West Ham United Football Club, and the man credited with producing talent that has earned West Ham up to £80m in transfer fees over the last 10 years, and a group of players forming the backbone of the England squad for this year's World Cup in South Africa.
You may hear more about Carr in the coming days, as he has been rewarded for his services to the East London club with a testimonial, featuring the players he has helped to nurture and turn into some of the biggest names in English football.
Think Tony Carr, and these are some of the names you should be thinking... Frank Lampard, current England captain Rio Ferdinand, his predecessor John Terry, Jermaine Defoe... and others.
The other most well-known players of the list -Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Glen Johnson, along with the others already mentioned, have 345 international caps between them, and are all expected to be in Fabio Capello's squad for this summer.
Carr's philosophy is not one as complicated and intricate as you may think, commenting: "The ethos of the football club has always been to produce the best local young talent that they can attract. Although it's getting tougher, we are still trying to maintain that ethos." The 61 year old Carr is known for his values of hard work, discipline and fun, and these are surely all things that have helped and aided the career of so many top class footballers.
Having joined the West Ham academy in 1966 as a young and upcoming striker, cleaning the boots of 1966 legends Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, his career was unfortunately ended due to a bad injury. His personal loss, though, was West Ham's gain, as he joined the club's staff as a youth coach in 1973.
One thing is for sure though. If England finally break their 44 year hoodoo this summer, Tony Carr could certainly play a big part.
On a day of shocking accusations in the snooker world, the Premier League title race kept up pace, while Chelsea and Manchester United will have to wait until the final weekend to discover their fates.
The world of snooker has been thrown into controversy, with Sunday newspaper News of the World claiming that current world number one John Higgins has reportedly agreed to take a £261,000 bribe to throw matches later on this year.
Scotsman Higgins has been immediately suspended by World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn, who has launched an investigation, whilst saying he was "absolutely mortified", and calling the story a "huge shock".
The story was released after a group of undercover journalists pulled off a 'sting' in the Ukraine on April 30.
John Higgins has, though, already released a statement. He has denied the bribe allegations, and argued that he just went along with what was being said to try and "get out".
For a full video of Higgins statement, and the controversy surrounding it, click here.
In other major sports news, the race for the Premier League title
took another big turn today, as Chelsea pulled off a 2-0 win away
to Liverpool to leave themselves in the driving seat over Manchester United. Despite this, the current champions' still held on for a 1-0 win against Sunderland.
Having started the match cautiously, but towards the end of the first half, Chelsea were gifted a goal, as a sloppy Steven Gerrard back-pass allowed Didier Drogba to nip in and steal Chelsea's opener,
after rounding Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina.
And ten minutes after the break, Frank Lampard added a second, sweeping home a finish after a fine team move. Manchester United's 1-0 win over Sunderland came thanks to a first-half Nani goal, though their performance, as with Chelsea's, seemed to be full of nerves.
The title will now be decided on the final day of the season, next Sunday, as Chelsea host Wigan Athletic, and Manchester United welcome Stoke City to Old Trafford.
It promises to be a blockbuster.
See the whole shocking John Higgins sting video below.
The annual ICC World 2020 has kicked off in the West Indies, and the cricket is already engrossing and exciting for diehard fans and new spectators alike. The 2020 Cricket World Cup is perhaps the most popular tournament in cricket, and the opening game was a thriller straight away.
With perhaps two of the strongest teams in the tournament - New Zealand and Sri Lanka - kicking off the competition, fans would have been hoping for a fun-filled start, and they weren't dissapointed.
With Sri Lanka having posted 135-6 from their allotted 20 overs, mainly thanks to a brilliant 81 from 51 balls by Mahela Jayawardene, the match was balanced on a tight rope going towards the end of the final over, with the New Zealanders still needing 10 runs to win.
Nathan McCullum, though, turned out to be the hero for them, hitting 16 off 6 balls, including a six off the penultimate ball of the match to secure his side the victory.
Us cricket fans can just hope the tournament will continue to provide us with excitement like this throughout. Keep posted on here for regular updates from the tournament.
