Futsal player, Falcao, scores for Brazil in a match against Romania (which Brazil eventually won by 12-0) in Futsal Grand Prix International Tournament held in Brazil. The Spanish newspaper, MARCA, anointed it the greatest indoor football goal ever. Some bloggers, like The Spoiler (who we read religiously), got so carried away that they decided it must be Falcao, who starred for Brazil at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. That would make this guy in the video 55 years old.
It’s worth reposting blogger Ethan Armstrong’s (of EPL Talk) take on the dispute over naming rights:
The transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid is not the only end of an era at Manchester United. An Educated Right Foot blogs on the passing of another era at the club:
It has for years been the axis around which Man United have flourished, but it looks like the end is nigh for the stars of [the] 1992 FA Youth Cup. David Beckham left for Real Madrid in 2003, while Nicky Butt went the other way, to Newcastle in 2004. Meanwhile, with lesser clubs interested in their aged legs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville look set to follow this summer. That leaves Ryan Giggs, who somehow won Player of the Year this season, but whose performance in the Champions League final, more or less, made him look better suited to the Welsh team than ever, and essentially epitomised his form over the last few years: slow and wasteful. I wouldn’t expect him to play much of a role in next season’s campaign. Goodbye, then, lads. We hardly knew ye.
Whether you like Cristiano Ronaldo or not, you can’t hate on the fact that about 80,000 people turned up for his “unveiling” (basically a news conference) at Real Madrid earlier today. Ronaldo may have his detractors against the claim that he is the world’s best player (he is certainly its most expensive), but he has now confirmed his status as a football pop star with all the attendant signs: the media circus, the screaming fans, the tabloid behavior.
On a related note: With Barcelona outplaying Manchester United in the European Champions League and now Kaka and a number of top players joining Ronaldo in Spain, is Ronaldo also right that the Spanish La Liga will displace the English Premier League as the most demanding football league in the world?
Reuters Football Blog reports on Inter Milan manager, Jose Mourinho (who has a gift for the soundbyte), discussing the ‘discipline” of footballers from various backgrounds:
“The Brazilians are the most difficult and ill-disciplined. If you organise a meeting for 10, they don’t care if you let them enter or not. The English arrive at 9.55, the Italian, even if he comes at 10.01, arrives in a hurry and is fed up.
The Portuguese are there at 10 or 9.59. A Frenchman, who is always right, comes at 10 but thinks there was no actual reason to be punctual. Russians arrive at 10, not a minute before and not a minute after. They need to be guided.”
The weekly news and business magazine, The Economistpublished a story this week on South Africa’s preparations for next year’s World Cup. The magazine, not known for singing South Africa’s praises, not only concluded that South Africa is on track and that “… the doubters are so far being proved wrong.”
When, in 2004, South Africa was chosen to be the first African country to host football’s World Cup many fans around the world were doubtful. South Africa would mismanage it, they said. It would be a commercial flop. They mooted Australia as an alternative should South Africa’s organisers fail to get their act together. Five years on, the doubts have diminished as new stadiums rise up across the country. Indeed, next year’s tournament may turn out to be the most profitable yet, thanks to the sale of broadcasting rights …
English fans want to quickly forget the 4-0 loss to Germany in Monday’s UEFA European Under 21 Championship Final in Sweden. And Sandro Wagner, a 21-year old former Bayern Munich midfielder now at another German Bundesliga club, MSV Duisburg, played a big part in the unraveling of the England team. Wagner scored twice for Germany in that game. (It’s not clear whether the Bundestrainer, Joachim Löw, has plans to take him to South Africa next year). This was his second goal. The German commentator loses it.
[By the way, this is a new weekly Friday feature on this site. Send us your votes for Goal of the Week]