The 14th European Championship for teams sanctioned by the UEFA is scheduled to be played between 8th June and 1st July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

Spain are the current holders of the cup – they defeated Germany in the final in Austria / Switzerland version of the tournament in 2008.

The groups and the schedule of the Euro 2012 have been announced and the groups are as follows:

Group A: Poland, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic
Group B: Holland, Denmark, Germany, Portugal
Group C: Spain, Italy, Republic of Ireland, Croatia
Group D: Ukraine, Sweden, France, England

You can see the team by team preview of Euro 2012 from a couple of weeks ago and here we’re covering the football gear to be used by the national teams in the tournament.

Before we look at what kits the players will be donning for the competition, lets look at the official Euro 2012 match ball:

adidas Tango 12

The official match ball that will be used for the duration of the tournament in Poland and Ukraine in the coming summers is the adidas Tango 12. It is a brand new ball inspired by the famous line of adidas Tango balls.

Here’s a picture of the ball. As soon as it is made available, we will have it up for grabs in the Soccerlens Store.

Official UEFA Euro 2012 Match Ball: adidas Tango 12
(Click to enlarge image)

All the football gear and kit manufacturers have lined up for the biggest tournament in Europe and they present to you the Euro 2012 shirts:

Croatia

Coming soon to the Soccerlens Store…

Czech Republic

Chelsea stopper Petr Cech, Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky and Galatasaray forward Milan Baros will probably be featuring for the last time in a major tournament and surely, they will all want to end their careers on a high.

Czech Republic will wear a Puma manufactured red shirt with white and blue details. They will be playing in Group A.

Czech Rep. Home Shirt

Click here to buy Czech Republic Euro 2012 home shirt.

Denmark

Coming soon to the Soccerlens Store…

England

England captain John Terry came under much scrutiny before the start of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa but this time around, things seems to be relatively smoother. Fabio Capello will be looking to exit the job with grace.

England are placed in Group D and will play their opening fixture against the French national team. The Three Lions will wear a plain white shirt, manufactured by Umbro.

England Home Shirt

Click here to buy England Euro 2012 home shirt.

They will wear navy blue away shirts with light blue collars.

England Away Shirt

Click here to buy England Euro 2012 away shirt.

France

France are also placed in Group D and they will play their opening fixture against England. The French squad is relatively younger blood from last time around. Karim Benzema is set to lead the attack as Franck Ribery will takeover the creative part.

Les Bleus will wear a Nike manufactured navy blue shirt. The only details on the shirt are the Nike swoosh and the team emblem.

France Home Shirt

Click here to buy France Euro 2012 home shirt.

The Frenchmen will wear a white away shirt with black horizontal stripes – kind of like the prisoners.

France Away Shirt

Click here to buy France Euro 2012 away shirt.

Germany

Euro 2008 finalists, Germany are seeded in Group B and it is the toughest group in this tournament. Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski will be looking to steal the show with sound backing from the rest of the squad. Joachim Low will be looking to leave previous disappointments behind.

Germans will wear a very attractive white shirt with diagonal black, red and yellow lines on the front and black adidas pin-stripes on the shoulder.

Germany Home Shirt

Click here to buy Germany Euro 2012 home shirt.

Greece

Coming soon to the Soccerlens Store…

Holland

Coming soon to the Soccerlens Store…

Italy

Participating in Group C, Italy will open the tournament with a match against the world champions. Juventus’ fantastic shot-stopper Gianluigi Buffon will look to play this tournament through as Daniele De Rossi and his midfield will have to take the pressure off of defence and supply Mario Balotelli up front.

Italy will wear the Puma manufactured blue shirt with a white collar containing details in the colours of the Italian flag.

Italy Home Shirt

Click here to buy Italy Euro 2012 home shirt.

Poland

Coming soon to the Soccerlens Store…

Portugal

Coming soon to the Soccerlens Store…

Republic of Ireland

LA Galaxy striker and national team captain Robbie Keane will look to lead Ireland to at least give a tough time to the giants of Group C. He will need all the expertise Shay Given, John O’Shea and Darron Gibson have to offer.

Ireland will wear a white away shirt with green details. The kits are manufactured by Umbro.

Rep. of Ireland Away Shirt

Click here to buy Republic of Ireland Euro 2012 away shirt.

Russia

Arsenal striker Andrie Arshavin will captain a Russia side out of which only four players ply their trade outside of the country. Tottenham forward Roman Pavlyuchenko, Vfb Stuttgart forward Pavel Pogrebnyak and Everton midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov are the three other players who play outside of Russian Premier League. Yuri Zhirkov’s services will also be available.

Russia will wear an adidas manufactured red shirt with a blue and white diagonal stripe going down the front.

Russia Home Shirt

Click here to buy Russia Euro 2012 home shirt.

Spain

Reigning world and European champions, Spain will play Euro 2012 in Group C. Since the triumph in the World Cup, the Spaniards haven’t been in top form but they should never be underestimated with the quality of the squad they possess.

Head coach Vicente del Bosque will be looking for a repeat performace from his team which features five Real Madrid players and eight Barcelona players. Another three Barca players have been called-up for the squad recently (Martin Montoya, Thiago Alcantara and Pedro).

Spain will wear a red jersey proudly featuring a single golden star above their team emblem. The kit is manufactured by adidas.

Spain Home Shirt

Click here to buy Spain Euro 2012 home shirt.

Sweden

Coming soon to the Soccerlens Store…

Ukraine

Andriy Shevchenko captains the Ukraine side and the former AC Milan and Chelsea striker will look to impress in front of his home crowd. Ukraine are in Group D and will face tough competition from Sweden, France and England.

They will wear an adidas manufactured yellow shirt with blue details.

Ukraine Home Shirt

Click here to buy Ukraine Euro 2012 home shirt.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Update: Groups Draw details and the official match ball of Euro 2012 added. Scroll down to view.

With the 16 teams competing in Euro 2012 now selected and the qualifying process complete, all eyes look to Poland and Ukraine as time ticks down. The seeding for the selection of the group stages has been completed also, with the draw for the pool stages happening in Kiev on December 3rd. English and Irish fans will look for a favourable draw, but both nations will know that the competition is packed with top teams.

Pot 1 consists of co-host Poland and Ukraine, world champions Spain and a technically gifted Netherlands side; most participants will be keen to draw the hosts rather than the other two powerhouses.

SPAIN

Spain’s mantle as the top team in the world has been slightly diminished of late, as poor results in friendlies against Spain and Costa Rica have tarnished the end of 2011 for La Roja. Vicente Del Bosque has a plethora of players to choose from however, with a strong base from Barcelona and Real Madrid making up the majority of the team.

The Spaniards midfield is still as menacing as ever, with Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas and Xabi Alonso world class players that opponents will struggle to compete against; however Xavi is still Spain’s main man and will orchestrate long periods of possession for the world champions.

NETHERLANDS

Holland impressed during the qualifying rounds, and again must go into the tournament as one of the favourites. Bert van Marwijk’s men, similar to Spain, have had an under-par end to the year however, as the Oranje lost their last qualifying game to Sweden and were put to the sword by Germany in a recent friendly, losing 3-0.

Despite this the squad is full of talent and a number of young players are battling the established names for a place in the starting XI. Although their defence at times can be questioned, their attack cannot.

Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder will look to provide chances for red hot striker Robin van Persie. The Arsenal man is proving himself to be one of the top hitmen in Europe, and will look to fire his nation to glory.

POLAND

On of the downfalls of hosting a major tournament is the fact that you do not get to take part in qualification, and Polish fans will hope that Franciszek Smuda’s men do not suffer due to a lack of competitive fixtures. Solid performances in friendlies over the last 12 months have seen the host draw with Germany and beat the likes of Belarus and Hungary; the home crowd will also play a key part in their chances.

Borussia Dortmund attacker Robert Lewandowski was a key figure in the German club’s Bundesliga success last season, and will be counted on to get goals for the Eastern European side.

Poland are co-hosts.

UKRAINE

Ukraine have had inconsistent form over the last year, and with the glory days of Sergei Rebrov and Andriy Shevchenko over, Oleg Blokhin has had to look to the youth in his side.

Dynamo Kiev forward Andriy Yarmolenko holds the weight of expectation on his shoulders, as the 22-year-old has shown the necessary promise to fill the boots of the generation before him.

Ukraine are co-hosts.

England find themselves in the second tier of the seeding, alongside old enemy and highly-fancied Germany; 2006 World Cup winners Italy and an unpredictable Russia team make up this quartet.

ENGLAND

England have been inconsistent over the qualifying rounds, and despite showing their quality at times can also lack creativity and the ability to break teams down. Fabio Capello will be buoyed on by an unbeaten qualifying campaign and friendly victories over Spain and Sweden, but will look for more from his team if they are to pose as realistic challengers.

Wayne Rooney’s absence in the pool stages will be a real blow for The Three Lions, and the Italian coach will be under pressure to find a replacement that can fire the side into the knockout rounds. Scott Parker has really matured over the last 12-18 months, and the Tottenham man could showcase the determination and will to win to inspire his team-mates; a North London central midfield partnership alongside Jack Wilshere could just prove the balance England needs.

GERMANY

Germany, as always when a major tournament rolls round, must be considered as serious contenders.

Joachim Low has comprised a squad with an enviable mix of experience and youth, and a flawless qualifying campaign proves testament to the side’s motivation to succeed.

The German side is packed full of quality, but playmakers Mesut Ozil and Mario Gotze in particular have vital attributes in creating chances for sharpshooter Mario Gomez.

ITALY

Italy traditionally have blown hot and cold when it comes to international tournaments, and the Azzurri this time round have shown inconsistency and a lack of a real killer instinct in the qualifying rounds.

Cesare Prandelli has a football mad nation keen to recapture the glory days, and a wide ranging player base to choose from – however the side in blue will most likely adopt cautious tactics and look to win fixtures by the odd goal.

Mario Balotelli looks to have been given a real chance to start up front in the absence of Giuseppe Rossi and Antonio Cassano, and may lead the line alongside Juventus’ Alessandro Matri.

However the key man for Italy will be at the back, where Giorgio Chiellini will look to emulate great Italian central defenders of the past, and organise a stubborn rearguard upon which the midfield and attack can build upon.

RUSSIA

Dick Advocaat’s Russian side will fancy their chances of upsetting some of the bigger names, as the proximity of the tournament favours the Eastern European side. A solitary defeat in qualification has shown that Russia are an emerging superpower in the game, and they undoubtedly harbour a number of excellent players.

Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko are struggling currently at their North London clubs; the experienced duo will need to find their form to inspire a talented but not yet proven team.

The third pot is made up of four seasoned and competitive nations, as Portugal, Sweden, Croatia and Greece lie in wait. The likes of Zlatan Ibrahmovic and Cristiano Ronaldo are first rate players in supposed third rate teams, but none of the participants in this pot will be pushovers.

PORTUGAL

Portugal were beaten to the top of Group H by Denmark, but the Iberian nation powered past Bosnia and Herzegovina in the playoffs to book their place at Europe’s top table. Coach Paulo Bento has ruffled some feathers since taking charge of the team, with veteran duo Ricardo Carvalho and Jose Bosingwa retiring from international football after falling out with the former midfielder.

Despite the absence of the experienced pair, Portugal still have an abundance of quality, with the likes of Nani and Joao Moutinho sure to terrorise opposition defences. Their key man is obviously Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, and if the 26-year-old  can replicate the form and goalscoring ability he shows for his club on the international stage, Portugal will take some beating.

SWEDEN

The Swedes have a technically gifted and balanced side, made from a mix of players playing in their homeland and the top European leagues. Erik Hamren’s side qualified as a top runner up in qualification, and had they not had Netherlands in their group may well have topped a pool.

Temperamental but clearly gifted Zlatan Ibrahimovic hold the nation’s destiny in his hands.

Although Ibra was ineffective in the recent game against England at Wembley, his club record tells a completely different story. It will be a long-shot, still, to believe that he can single-handedly take his nation all the way through the competition.

GREECE

The Euro 2004 champions look to have recovered form and showcased some excellent football in an unbeaten qualification process.

Fernando Santos’ squad still has some remnants from the triumphant side from seven years ago, which is complemented by exuberant youngsters breaking into the international fray.

PAOK striker Dimitris Salpingidis has learnt from some of the senior goal-getters in recent Greek history, and has the ability to cause opposition defences a headache.

CROATIA

Slaven Bilic’s men made the finals by comprehensively beating Turkey 3-0 in the playoffs, and should not be written off. The Croats follow Luka Modric’s direction, and the Tottenham playmaker has the ability to hurt any side in the world, whilst Bayern Munich attacker Ivica Olic will be keen to add to his tally of 15 international goals.

Modric’s club teammate Niko Kranjcar and Bolton Wanderers’ Ivan Klasnic will also be available for selection. Both of them last played for the national team in October against Latvia.

Finally, Republic of Ireland find themselves in the lowest tier of seeding for the tournament, but will have expected this. Giovanni Trapattoni’s men are bunched alongside an under-performing France, dark horses Czech Republic and Denmark.

FRANCE

France have not shown enough quality to make it into the top pots, and the French public will not be happy as being deemed as a fourth-tier side. A late goal against Bosnia and Herzegovina ensured Les Bleus automatic progression to the tournament, but their form in qualification was nothing to write home about.

Laurent Blanc is widely seen as the man to spark a renaissance, and the coach undoubtedly has talented players to call upon. Experienced international heads such as Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema will harbour most of the responsibility for leading their nation’s dreams – but look out for Sochaux playmaker Marvin Martin.

The starlet has rose to fame over the last 12 months, and his craft and guile has prompted many in the game to compare him to Zinedine Zidane; it could be Martin’s time to announce himself to the world game.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

The Emerald Isle will be competing in the European championships for the first time since 1988, and a wave of expectancy has washed over the country since a 5-1 aggregate victory over Estonia ensured Ireland’s place at the finals.

Giovanni Trapattoni still relies on old heads Richard Dunne, Shay Given and Robbie Keane, but faith should be put in some of the younger players such as Aidan McGeady to compete at the highest level.

DENMARK

The Danes qualified for the tournament by topping Group H ahead of Portugal, and Morten Olsen’s men will go into the competition full of confidence.

If the Scandinavians can get off to a good start they will be a match for most, and in Christian Eriksen they have one of the brightest prospects in the world game. The Ajax midfielder will look to impress to force a transfer to one of Europe’s biggest clubs, and has the energy and guile to win a game for Denmark.

CZECH REPUBLIC

It is fair to say that the Czech Republic are not the force that once saw them challenge for international tournaments in the 2000′s, but Michael Bilek’s men will still provide a tricky test to their opponents next year.

Arsenal’s Tomas Rosicky captains the side and is a talisman for the nation, but the Czechs are going through a transitional period as a number of the under-21 players make the step up to the seniors.

However, still the elders of the team, like Milan Baros, carry the hopes of their nation.

So there you have it; although there is a lot of football to be played before Euro 2012 starts in earnest, most of the major players in the continent will have one eye on the finals. With the groups being drawn in the forthcoming weeks excitement over the tournament should build, as there are many nations that could realistically experience glory next year.

Groups

Group A: Poland, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic.
Group B: Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Portugal.
Group C: Spain, Italy, Ireland, Croatia.
Group D: Ukraine, Sweden, France, England.

Euro 2012 Schedule

Match schedule
All kick-offs CET, Ukrainian time is one hour ahead

Friday 8 June 2012
#1: POL v GRE, 18.00CET, Warsaw
#2: RUS v CZE, 20.45CET, Wroclaw

Saturday 9 June 2012
#3: NED v DEN, 18.00CET, Kharkiv
#4: GER v POR, 20.45CET, Lviv

Sunday 10 June 2012
#5: ESP v ITA, 18.00CET, Gdansk
#6: IRL v CRO, 20.45CET, Poznan

Monday 11 June 2012
#7: FRA v ENG, 18.00CET, Donetsk
#8: UKR v SWE, 20.45CET, Kyiv

Tuesday 12 June 2012
#9: GRE v CZE, 18.00CET, Wroclaw
#10: POL v RUS, 20.45CET, Warsaw

Wednesday 13 June 2012
#11: DEN v POR, 18.00CET, Lviv
#12: NED v GER, 20.45CET, Kharkiv

Thursday 14 June 2012
#13: ITA v CRO, 18.00CET, Poznan
#14: ESP v IRL, 20.45CET, Gdansk

Friday 15 June 2012
#15: SWE v ENG, 20.45CET, Kyiv
#16: UKR v FRA, 18.00CET, Donetsk

Saturday 16 June 2012
#17: CZE v POL, 20.45CET, Wroclaw
#18: GRE v RUS, 20.45CET, Warsaw

Sunday 17 June 2012
#19: POR v NED, 20.45CET, Kharkiv
#20: DEN v GER, 20.45CET, Lviv

Monday 18 June 2012
#21: CRO v ESP, 20.45CET, Gdansk
#22: ITA v IRL, 20.45CET, Poznan

Tuesday 19 June 2012
#23: ENG v UKR, 20.45CET, Donetsk
#24: SWE v FRA, 20.45CET, Kyiv

Wednesday 20 June 2012
No matches

Thursday 21 June 2012
#25: 1A v 2B, 20.45CET, Warsaw

Friday 22 June 2012
#26: 1B v 2A, 20.45CET, Gdansk

Saturday 23 June 2012
#27: 1C v 2D, 20.45CET, Donetsk

Sunday 24 June 2012
#28: 1D v 2C, 20.45CET, Kyiv

Monday 25 June 2012
No matches

Tuesday 26 June 2012
No matches

Wednesday 27 June 2012
#29: W#25 v W#27, 20.45CET, Donetsk

Thursday 28 June 2012
#30: W#26 v W#28, 20.45CET, Warsaw

Friday 29 June 2012
No matches

Saturday 30 June 2012
No matches

Sunday 1 July 2012
#31: W#29 v W#30, 20.45CET, Kyiv

Official Match Ball

In 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the adidas Jabulani caused a few problems for goalkeepers and out-field players because of its unique flight and all the new technical advancements. Adidas have now revealed the official Euro 2012 match ball and called it the adidas Tango 12.

Hoping that it will be more human than it’s predecessor, Tango 12 has been inspired by the famous line of adidas Tango balls. Here’s what the ball will look like:

Also see: Euro 2012 News | Euro 2012 Statistics | Euro 2012 Fixtures | Euro 2012 Football Gear.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The likes of Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and England have all booked their places in Euro 2012 already, but four tickets to the festivities in Poland and Ukraine still have yet to be punched.

That will be taken care of in the next week, with eight teams who finished second-best in their respective groups look to play their way in through the two-legged qualifying playoffs. There will no doubt be a great deal of online betting on all of the action, but there’s plenty to look forward to whether you’re a supporter of one of the teams involved or a neutral.

Bosnia-Herzegovina v. Portugal

Considering how close both of these teams came to qualifying for the tournament automatically and how tight this tie could be, one can only imagine the level of disappointment there will be for the team who comes out on the short end.

If it’s Bosnia, they’ll be left to ponder another playoff defeat against Portugal after having fallen to them 2-0 on aggregate in the 2010 World Cup playoffs. They also might rue a slow-ish start to qualifying, as they picked up only seven points from their first five matches before they went on a run of four wins in a row to keep their automatic qualification hopes alive going into their finale against France at the Stade de France. The biggest sting, however, might be from being unable to hold a late lead in that match, as they allowed France to equalize on a late Samir Nasri penalty and earn a 1-1 draw, which saw Les Bleus claim Group D by a single point.

If it’s Portugal, they’ll be kicking themselves for two early stumbles, a 4-4 home draw against Cyprus, in which they allowed an 89th-minute equalizer to a side who went on to pick up only one more point in qualifying, and a 1-0 defeat to Norway in Oslo. And they, like Bosnia, didn’t get the required result in their Group H finale, as they went down 2-1 in Copenhagen in Denmark, who claimed a surprising group win.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Portugal have the edge in talent, with world-class stars in Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani leading the way. And Paulo Bento’s side also gets a significant boost with the return of Real Madrid defensive duo Fabio Coentrao and Pepe, who both missed the final two qualifiers, including that defeat to Denmark.

However, the fact that they lost both of their toughest away matches in qualifying is a real concern, as Bosnia won’t be easy to break down in the first leg on home soil. And while Portugal have superior quality and quality depth, Bosnia aren’t lacking. Manchester City man Edin Dzeko is in fantastic form, Miralem Pjanic has assists in each of his last four matches for Roma, and Hoffenheim duo Vedad Ibisevic and Sejad Salihovic are both fit again after missing extensive time this season through injury.

Czech Republic v. Montenegro

Neither the Czech Republic nor Montenegro were particularly impressive in qualifying, but mediocre as their qualifying runs might have been, one of them will be celebrating a place in Euro 2012 next week.

Montenegro, who finished second behind England in Group G, benefited from a fast start. They won each of their first three qualifiers, and after recording an impressive away draw against England, were already on 10 points halfway through qualifying. They would only pick up two more points in their final four qualifiers, but a come-from-behind 2-2 draw against England in their penultimate qualifier proved to be enough, as they edged out disappointing Switzerland by a point.

Group I was never in doubt, with European and world champions Spain rolling to a perfect 8-0-0 record, but the battle for second between the Czech Republic and Scotland went down to the final round of matches. The Czechs were up and down during qualifying, but they would finish two points ahead of Scotland, thanks to a 4-1 away romp in Lithuania in their finale.

Ultimately though, the real difference might have been a highly controversial 2-2 draw in Glasgow in September. In that match, the Czechs scored two late equalizers, the latter from the spot late in stoppage time after being awarded a penalty for what appeared to be (read: definitely was) a dive by Jan Rezek. That controversial penalty call in their favor was followed by a controversial penalty no-call that also went in their favor, when Scotland’s Christophe Berra went down in the box after a challenge by Roman Hubnik only to be booked for a dive.

But undeserved as some might consider it, it looks likely that the Czech Republic will be spending June in Poland and Ukraine. While this current side lacks the quality of some of its more highly-rated predecessors, they have the advantage over Montenegro in talent and experience.

Milan Baros & Tomas Rosicky

There is, however, a big question mark about keeper Petr Cech, who might miss Friday’s first leg in Prague after suffering a broken nose in Chelsea’s weekend win at Blackburn. Montenegro aren’t a particularly frightening team in attack, having scored only seven goals in qualifying, but Cech is undoubtedly one of the best keepers in the world, and his presence is a definite plus for the Czech Republic’s hopes.

He’s having a special mask created that could allow him to take part, but if he isn’t able to go, Hamburg keeper Jaroslav Drobny will get the starting nod.

Cech’s fitness could be a decisive factor in this matchup, as we likely won’t see too many goals over the two matches. Montenegro allowed only one goal in their first five qualifiers and seven total in eight matches, while the Czech Republic allowed only eight goals in eight matches, with six of those coming in three matches (the two against Scotland in Glasgow and four in their two matches against Spain).

Estonia v. Ireland

Ireland haven’t been to the European Championship since 1988, when they were eliminated in the group stage in their only appearance in the competition proper to date. They’ll be heavily favored to end that drought against Estonia, who are completely unfamiliar with being in this position, but you can be sure Ireland won‘t overlook the former minnows.

We’re accustomed to seeing Estonia near the bottom of the standings in any qualifying tournament, and it looked like their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign would end the same way after a 2-0 away defeat against super-minnows Faroe Islands in June left them on seven points with three matches remaining. Going into the September round of qualifiers, Estonia were fifth in Group C behind Italy, Slovenia, Northern Ireland, and Serbia.

Robbie Keane

A late 2-1 win in Slovenia ignited hope, and they then finished with two October wins against Northern Ireland, the latter a 2-1 win in Belfast that saw Estonia score two late goals to overturn a 1-0 deficit. Those three straight wins, combined with all the right results elsewhere, saw Estonia edge out Serbia by a point after Serbia lost in Slovenia in their finale.

But can they go one step further? Anything can happen, especially since Ireland, who finished two points behind Russia in Group B, are dealing with several selection issues. Shane Long and Liam Lawrence are missing from the squad due to injury, while John O’Shea (injury), Kevin Doyle (suspended), and Leon Best (child’s birth) will miss the first leg in Tallinn, and Shay Given, Richard Dunne, and Keith Fahey are both dealing with minor injuries.

Estonia also won three of their five away matches in qualifying, including an impressive 3-1 win over Serbia. And though they don’t have any stars (though midfielder Konstantin Vassiljev, who scored five goals in qualifying, is a real threat), they are a resilient bunch, with four of their qualifying wins (and their lone draw) coming by virtue of goals inside the final 20 minutes.

Still, you have to favor Ireland, who won’t be easy to break down defensively. They notched five clean sheets and allowed only seven goals in qualifying, with a 3-2 defeat to Russia in Dublin being the only match in which they allowed multiple goals. And in attack, Robbie Keane is fit again after an adductor injury suffered last month against Andorra sidelined him for a few weeks, and Doyle will be back for the second leg in Dublin.

Turkey v. Croatia

After a solid qualifying campaign, Croatia should feel confident going into their showdown with Turkey, who had a far bumpier path to the playoffs.

Croatia missed out on top spot in Group E, finishing two points behind Greece, with head-to-head results against Greece being their undoing. But they won seven of their ten qualifiers, and they were relatively tight at the back, allowing only seven goals.

Turkey edged out Belgium to finish a distant second behind Germany in Group A, and they only secured their place in the playoffs in their last qualifier, with a harder-than-expected 1-0 win over Azerbaijan in Istanbul, combined with Belgium‘s 3-1 defeat in Germany, sending Turkey through.

They notched only one away win in qualifying, that being a 3-0 win against eventual last-place finisher Kazakhstan in their group opener. There were also their struggles against Azerbaijan, as they scraped through on home soil and lost 1-0 in Baku, and they needed a late, late, late – and fortuitous – Arda Turan goal to beat Kazakhstan in Istanbul in September.

Guus Hiddink

Turkey will be without Real Madrid midfielder Nuri Sahin, who only made his return from a long-term injury layoff on Sunday, and he’ll certainly be missed. So, they’ll need Turan to be at his best to optimize their chances of success.

Croatia would fancy their own chances even if Sahin was available for Turkey, as Luka Modric is refocused and back at his best, and strikers Mario Mandzukic and Nikica Jelavic are both in excellent form at the moment. There also might be some added motivation for Croatia, who will be keen to replace the bitter memory of their heartbreaking Euro 2008 quarterfinal defeat to Turkey with a much, much happier one.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The 1960s just might be football’s golden decade. George Best, Garrincha, Pele in his prime and much much more. Recently on the Total Soccer Show podcast, we picked our starting XI from the 1960s. None of of us were alive back then, but thanks to television, YouTube and brilliant books like Jonathan Wilson’s Inverting the Pyramid, we were able to weigh the various options at each position and argue out the perfect starting XI to represent 10 of the most glorious years in the history of the beautiful game.

Play/Download the show

Listen to the show to hear how we arrived at our unbeatable lineup, or read about the starting XI below:

Goalkeeper: Lev Yashin
Dynamo Moscow and Russia
Who else? Gordon Banks might have won the World Cup, but Yashin is still talked about as probably the greatest goalkeeper of all time. “The Black Spider” wore leather gloves and a cloth cap, but he invented modern goalkeeping by yelling at his defenders to get them organized and coming out of his box to use his feet as the first sweeper-keeper. Still need convincing? Yashin apparently made over 150 penalty saves in his career.

Right back: Djalma Santos
Palmeiras and Brazil
The right back spot was a choice between two Brazilans. Though Carlos Alberto Torres would captain the 1970 World Cup-winning team, Santos was chosen for both the ’62 and ’66 tournaments, and provided the assist for Vava in the 1962 World Cup final by crossing a high ball into the glare of the sun. Not as adventurous as later Brazilian right backs (including Carlos Alberto) but gets the nod for defensive solidity. And a scary photo.

Left back: Giacinto Facchetti
Inter and Italy
The 6′ 3″ Facchetti played left back in the catenaccio-loving La Grande Inter team of the ’60s, which won multiple Italian titles and back-to-back European Cups. But though he could definitely defend, Facchetti was actually the key to Inter’s killer defence to attack transitions. Inter played a sweeper, two marking centre back, and a right back, but Facchetti had the entire left flank to himself and would bomb forward, cut inside and shoot with his right foot, basically inventing the European attacking fullback.

Centre back: Bobby Moore
West Ham and England
As the Total Soccer Show‘s sole Englishman, I thought I’d be the only one selecting England’s 1966 World Cup-winning captain. Turns out I wasn’t. Moore’s composed defending is famous worldwide, because very few have made relieving opponents of the ball look so simple and then strolling up field with it look so easy. Moore had a great run in the mid-’60s, winning the FA Cup in ’64, the European Cup Winners Cup (bring it back!) in ’65 and then the World Cup in ’66. That, plus England have not had a defender who can successfully pass the ball out of the back since.

Centre back: Bill McNeill
Celtic and Scotland
The Lisbon Lions had to be represented here, so Celtics’s 1967 European Cup-winning captain would be the stopper in our lineup. Billy McNeill, or “Cesar” to Celtic fans, was a hard man, a leader and a never let you down defender, meeting every high ball with his head, intercepting every pass and stopping every attacker in his tracks by getting a well timed foot-in. McNeill and Bobby Moore will have to argue over the captain’s armband in this team, but either man will do a fine job.

Box-to-box midfielder: Josef Masopust
Dukla Prague and Czechoslovakia
There isn’t a lot of footage of Masopust, so his selection is based on what we’ve read and the very little YouTube we’ve seen. But from everything we’ve heard and read, Masopust could defend and attack, would happily cover the length of the field several times over, and was instrumental in leading Czechoslovakia all the way the 1962 World Cup final. We also felt that any Team of the ’60s should represent the incredible talent of the Soviet nations in that decade.

Attacking midfielder: Bobby Charlton
Manchester United and England
Imagine Frank Lampard in his prime. Now imagine him about five times better at absolutely everything. Now give him a silly haircut. That’s Bobby Charlton, who could pick up the ball from anywhere, carry it forward at pace by dribbling with either foot, and then unleash an powerful, laser-guided strike into the top corner, again with either foot. And that’s how Bobby Charlton is England’s all-time top scorer despite not actually being a striker.

Right wing: Garrincha
Botafogo and Brazil
“The Joy of the People” was a terrible, terrible professional footballer. Fond of a drink and unable to absorb any tactical information—legend has it he was allowed to play table tennis while the rest of the team talked tactics. But it didn’t matter. Because the bendy-legged winger (bendy-legged due to childhood polio) literally went past fullbacks for fun. So much so, he’d sometimes wait and let them recover, just so he could beat them again. Brazil never lost a game when fielding Pele and Garrincha, so any respectable Team of the ’60s should do the same.

Left wing: George Best
Manchester United and Northern Ireland
We know, Best was mostly a right winger and shouldn’t be pushed out to the left. But we couldn’t have a team of the ’60s without Garrincha and we couldn’t have a team of the ’60s without the magician that was George Best. So we compromised. Best’s career tailed off in the ’70s, but the ’60s were Best’s decade: the fame, the female company and—most importantly for this list—the football. Possibly the best way to describe Best going forward with the ball is “justified arrogance”, which is what gave him license to do things no one else thought of doing, like playing one-twos off opposition defender’s shins.

Support striker: Pele
Santos and Brazil
You may have heard of him. Pele introduced himself to the world as a teenage sensation in 1958 and reached apotheosis at the 1970 World Cup, but “O Rei” actually did all his best work inbetween, in the 1960s. Pele won the Copa Libertadores and Intercontintental Cup with the legendary 1962 Santos team, won the ’62 World Cup with Brazil and was considered so dangerous in the ’66 World Cup that the only solution for Portugal was to kick him, hard, until he left the field injured. Want to hear about Pele the player? They key is not to think of him as just a striker, because he could also drop deep and create. But it’s impossible to pick one attribute because Pele could do it all, and he did it best in the 1960s.

Striker: Eusebio
Benfica and Portugal
Only a little fella’, but 5′ 9″ Eusebio was built like a bulldozer. You could not muscle him off the ball. Add to that a fine touch, a nose for goal and the only shot in the world that could rival Bobby Charlton’s for power and accuracy (would love to see a long distance shootout between those two!) and it’s crystal clear why Eusebio was a European Cup-winner with Benfica in 1962 and the top scorer at the 1966 World Cup with nine goals. His partnership with Pele—supplied by Garrincha and George Best—wouldn’t just be the greatest attacking lineup of the ’60s, it might be the greatest, and most entertaining, of all time.

Find out more about these players, and the players that just missed out: Play/Download MP3.
Like what you hear? Subscribe to the Total Soccer Show podcast via iTunes or subscribe via RSS.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

In my previous article, I argued that the process by which we decide who the world’s best players are has been grossly distorted.

A combination of mainstream media hype (backed up with its ‘statistics’ – often little more than a ruse to get people gambling) and a nostalgic longing for the return of the great playmaker – a natural human urge towards hierarchy and order expressed on the pitch by those players who, commentators love to remind us, ‘dictate the tempo of the match’ (Spain) or ‘make the difference’ (England) – has reduced the role of the fan to that of consumer.

Abandoning our reason, we channel our passions into the banal tunnels dug by sensationalist pundits salivating over inane comparisons, half-witted ‘match analysis’ and pure marketing hype.

We’re forgetting that the beauty of football lies in the sheer multiplicity of possibilities abounding on the field; the best player does not always run the fastest, score the most or tackle the hardest. They need not even play for the best teams.

Now, with the increasing tendency towards a more ‘total’ form of football, we can appreciate more than ever the sheer variety of players whom we can admire and applaud. Here’s the first part of a list of the best 25:

1. 25. Thomas Muller



A classic German international, Muller’s poise, pace and shooting mean he is comfortable in virtually any attacking position. A fine World Cup on the back of a remarkable breakthrough season at Bayern Munich got him noticed beyond the Bundesliga; Bayern’s struggles this year have kept him out of the international spotlight, but you’d be hard pressed to find a more efficient forward in world football today.

Video: Thomas Muller Best of 2009/2010 at Bayern Munich

2. 24. Robinho



The prodigious Brazilian’s troubled career appears to be settling, at last, in Italy. The forward’s movement and trickery appears, strangely, to flourish more in Serie A than either the English Premier League – where he was considered a flop at Manchester City – or La Liga.

Video: Robinho Highlights

3. 23. Radamel Falcao



The Colombian international is the focal point of a Porto attack which has swept all before it in the Portuguese Liga and the Europa League this season (he is the top scorer in both). The striker’s devastating scoring exploits are beginning to draw comparison with those of Mario Jardel; a player with good movement, excellent finishing, a good deal of power and sound decision-making, Falcao also boasts a frightening ability to score memorable back-heeled goals. Big offers are expected over the summer.

Video: Radamel Falcao Goals

4. 22. Arjen Robben



It has often been said that only niggling injuries has held Robben back from being recognised as one of the best wingers in history. Having played at Real Madrid and positively shone at times for Chelsea, one might be forgiven for thinking the Holland international has gone off the radar a little at Bayern Munich. Nothing could be further from the truth. The dazzling Dutchman is still one of the deadliest wide men in the game.

Video: Robben Still Has It

5. 21. Carlos Tevez



Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes Sir Alex Ferguson has made in recent years was that of the British public at large: namely, thinking that the combative Argentine is little more than a second option for Wayne Rooney. Cleverer and stronger in front of goal than the Englishman, Tevez has since flourished across at Manchester City, but appears to be hankering for a move back to Argentina. The Premiership will be that little weaker without him.

Video: Carlos Tevez 2009/2010 Manchester City Goals

6. 20. Ramires



After a slow start to his Chelsea career, the Brazil international is turning into an instrumental player for the London club. The fact that he seems to always get used as a foil for someone else in midfield (at former club Benfica, he was used to help an extremely attacking 4-4-2 function by combining the role of right-winger with defensive midfield) overlooks his ability to make timely runs into the box to score crucial goals, as well as good technical ability which has seen him stand out against nominally similar players like Michael Essien.

Video: Ramires vs Blackburn (15 Jan 2011)

7. 19. Luka Modric



The Croatian international sometimes gets left in the wake of Gareth Bale’s trailblazing runs or Rafael van der Vaart’s spectacular goals, but he is a fundamental component of the most exciting Spurs side in years. Bursting with flair and ingenuity on the ball, Modric epitomizes the importance of a player who can construct moves from deep, picking put the runs of more advanced forwards. The kind of player who makes things happen without always being noticed. The kind of player who belongs on this list.

Video: Luka Modric Compilation

8. 18. Fabio Coentrao



One of the most exciting prospects in Europe, Coentrao’s career began on the left wing. Manager Jorge Jesus controversially converted him to left-back early last season and since then, the Portugal international has blossomed. His ferocious pace and relentless desire to bomb forward at any opportunity are perfectly balanced by a never-say-die attitude which masks his (improving) technical shortcomings as a defender. With a sweet left foot and an eye for goal too, Coentrao is arguably the most complete full-back in the world.

Video: Fabio Coentrao: Marauding Left-Back

9. 17. Fernando Torres



Though this may seem like a strange time to be sticking Torres anywhere near a list of the best players in the world, greatness doesn’t vanish overnight. It doesn’t even disappear over the course of one season. Rather, what we are seeing with Torres is the combination of a) a gradual decline, which has perhaps come a couple of years earlier than you might expect for a player of his age; b) poor form, which has lasted, loosely, since the end of last season; and c) difficulty adjusting to new technical systems – this is a player who has had to endure the dismal tenure of Roy Hodgson, the shift to Kenny Dalglish and then a move to Chelsea all in one season. Expect him to recover, if gradually.

Video: Fernando Torres 2009/2010 Compilation

10. 16. Gareth Bale



Though the ‘Balemania’ earlier this season has thankfully subsided, the Welshman’s meteoric rise has to be recognized as one of the most exciting developments in English football this season. The PFA Player of the Year’s pace, power and unstoppable left foot have marked him out as one of Europe’s most sought-after players. Could he cut it abroad? Judging by the manner in which he sliced open Inter Milan, you’d have to imagine ‘yes’.

Video: Gareth Bale 2010/2011

11. 15. Sami Khedira



The German international is arguably the unsung hero at Jose Mourinho’s new-look Real Madrid – while Ronaldo hoards the acclaim with goals and Xavi Alonso gets the purists drooling with passes, Khedira’s all-round ability in midfield goes relatively unnoticed. Strong in the tackle, good on the ball and with a remarkable ability to read the game for a relatively young player, the German international is arguably the most important member of Madrid’s midfield. His versatility is particularly important when Mourinho adopts a more cautious, lopsided midfield diamond which relies heavily on a central midfield player being able to combine his role with that of a wide player (see also Ramires, number 20 on this list).

Video: Sami Khedira in 2010

12. 14. Nani



Perhaps it’s the fact that he’s a Portuguese winger who ‘goes down too easily’. Perhaps it’s because his name sounds reads like ‘Nanny’ to the English eye. Perhaps it’s because he isn’t Ronaldo. Who knows why the mercurial Manchester United wide man is not being universally lauded for a series of fine displays which have carried Manchester United towards the Premier League title.

True, the Portugal international does still have the occasional tendency to gallop around like a headless chicken but, for the most part, the ingenious trickery, pace and goal threat are now combined extremely effectively. More productive as well as more creative than Antonio Valencia, who appears to have shunted him to the left flank, Nani’s sheer unpredictability mark him out as a winger in the classic sense of the word.

Video: Nani 2008/2009

13. 13. Dani Alves



True to the spirit of a list which recognises players who are able to perform in more than one position at once, Alves does more than merely conjure images of Cafu. Having displaced Maicon at right-back for th Brazilian national team, the Barcelona man is now widely regarded as the best right-back in the world. His ability to defend the right flank yet appear to spend an entire game in the opponent’s half is a testament to the sheer pace and stamina of the man, whose phenomenal work ethic provides Barca with a vital outlet out wide.

Video: Dani Alves 2009/2010 Highlights

14. 12. Ezequiel Lavezzi



Arguably one of the most under-rated players in European football. Lavezzi’s combination of pace, power and trickery has finally been harnessed by Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri, who allows the Argentinian a floating role coming in from the left flank. The sheer competition for places, combined with his until now uncertain role has kept him out of the national team’s first eleven, but Lavezzi – whose abundant skill is not always matched by great finishing – is the kind of rough diamond (see Riquelme, Veron, Ortega) who inspires the adulation of fans in his home country. Here’s a snippet of what the man can do:

Ezequiel Lavezzi: 2010/2011 Compilation

15. 11. Xavi



Not much needs to be said about the Barcelona and Spain playmaker. Allying superb vision to a sure touch and the battling spirit so typical of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona, Xavi is arguably the one player able to distract the attention of pundits away from Lionel Messi to and extent which unfairly detracts from the merits of other members of the side. The mark of a great player.

Video: Best of Xavi Hernandez

And here are the The Top Ten

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Castrol Performance data shows that Lionel Messi has been involved in more goals than Cristiano Ronaldo in the top five European leagues this season.

Both have surpassed everyone this season in terms of goal involvement. Having scored one more goal than Ronaldo, Messi has also been far more creative with 17 assists, more than twice as many as the Portuguese international.

Goals + Assists – top five European leagues 2010/11

Ronaldo has had more shots than any other player (212) but he has been less clinical in his finishing than Messi who converts one in every four attempts. Messi also attempts more passes (over 30 more than Ronaldo per game).

Ronaldo v Messi – 2010/11 La Liga

*excludes blocked shots

Ronaldo has found it difficult to score, create a goal or win against Messi.

Castrol Performance data shows that Cristiano Ronaldo has yet to score or deliver an assist against Lionel Messi at club level.

Ronaldo v Messi – competitive encounters

The two players have met on seven occasions (six times at club level and once on the international stage) and Messi has been on the winning side five times, whereas Ronaldo just once, back in April 2008 with Manchester Utd. With Real Madrid, Ronaldo has lost all three of his encounters with Messi.

Ronaldo broke his duck against Messi with a goal for Portugal against Argentina in a friendly last February but still ended on the losing side, courtesy of a goal and an assist from Messi.

Also See:

Great Football Player Rivalries
La Liga Statistical Review: Barcelona v Ronaldo
Real Madrid v Barcelona Preview
Why Victor Valdes is better than Iker Casillas
Real Madrid v Barcelona: Comparing Carvalho v Pique
Real Madrid v Barcelona: Alonso v Xavi stats and the art of playmaking

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The final eight for the Europa League has been assembled, and surprisingly no club from England or Italy will feature in the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, for the first time in their history, Portugal will be represented by three sides in the final eight of the same UEFA competition, with Porto, Benfica and Braga all in with a chance of advancing.

Here is the quarter-final schedule:

7 April and 14 April

Porto v Spartak Moscow
Benfica v PSV Eindhoven
Villarreal v Twente
Braga v Dynamo Kiev

And the semi-final draw:

Here’s a look at the four mouth-watering quarter-final ties, and how they will be won and lost next month.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

As Argentina and Portugal line up to face each other in a battle to decide who’s got the better player / fine-tune tactics for more important games / make some money, we look at a head-to-head comparison between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi (Part #439571291).

Oh, and if you’re interested in the game, you can watch it live online, as well as all other international friendlies being played out today – click on our watch live football online page for more details.

RONALDO HAS NEVER SCORED AGAINST MESSI

Cristiano Ronaldo has never scored or assisted a single goal when facing Lionel Messi in a competitive match, losing the last four in a row, whereas the Argentine star has scored twice and set up another two goals against his Portuguese counterpart.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s poor record against Lionel Messi – all competitions

The two players have met on six occasions – always at club level – and Messi has been on the winning side four times, whereas Ronaldo just once. To make matters worse for the Portuguese starlet, he has only seen his team score once when facing the 2009 & 2010 Ballon d’Or: a Paul Scholes goal at Old Trafford on 29^th of April 2008 in the Champions League semi-final return leg.

The two players have both scored 24 league goals this term; however Lionel Messi has needed three games less to reach this tally. The two Liga titans are hoping to break the all-time season-record of 38 goals, held by Telmo Zarra and Hugo Sánchez.

Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi’s goals – Spanish La Liga 2010/11

Both players seem have managed to put their disappointing World Cup campaigns behind them: Lionel Messi failed to find the net in South Africa last summer despite playing 450 minutes and firing  21 shots. While Ronaldo scored once, in Portugal’s 7-0 win against North Korea.

Messi to win then, hmm?

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Sitting through the four respective last-ditch World Cup 2018 pitches this morning was nigh-on insufferable at times, as if trapped in a hellish junior management sales exposition that was doomed to cycle on for the rest of human existence.

First up, Holland and Belgium, who’s bid president Ruud Gullit opened up by informing the room that their option would be ‘safe’ and very little else, with luminaries such as Johan Cruyff (to warn the ancient FIFA delegates about the adverse effects that PlayStations can have on a child’s life prospects) and Guus Hiddink (who flatly regaled us with memories of Euro 2000 – not the best strategy considering that, if I recall correctly, it wasn’t all that long ago) following closely behind.

In short, if the Dutch/Belgians manage to pull this one out of the bag, you better start battening down the hatches, as some kind of Faustian evil will surely be unleashed upon the world as part of the bargain.

Next came the Spain/Portugal bid, in which Spain’s FIFA ExCo member Angel Villar Llona blatantly tried to exacerbate any anti-English swell within the FIFA ranks by issuing a timely reminder that their rival’s national media had called the organisation a lot of nasty names over the past few months:

“I love Fifa dearly but those I love the most are my colleagues in the ExCo. Recently we have been criticised by many media outlets. Unfortunately for them Fifa is a clean institution.

Fifa values honesty, Fifa works for football and for the world and all my colleagues here present are all honest, hard-working football people and the people not here are also honest and hard-working.

You have already heard enough slander in the media, the bidding process is clean regardless of what they say.”

What’s the Spanish for ‘kiss-arse’?

Portuguese prime minister Jose Socrates and Spanish president Jose Luis Zapatero then rounded out the fairly uneventful showcase by reminding the world that their respective countries currently enjoy more sunshine than Russia and England combined, fairly punctual trains and a swathe of middling, moderately priced hotels.

With Cristiano Ronaldo pulling out at the last minute and their dual footballing heritage large left untouched, it’s little wonder that the Iberian effort has slipped so readily into third place in the betting – and that’s despite all that Qatari ‘help’ they may or may not have received along the way.

England's 'Three Lions': Prince William, Cameron and Beckham

Third onto the podium was jolly old England who, thanks largely to a sob story from David Beckham, five minutes of dead-pan stand-up comedy from Prince William and some politely conniving sales patter from prime minister David Cameron, produced a hideously pandering, yet undoubtedly effective pitch to the gathered FIFA representatives.

For all the plaudits shovelled upon England’s ‘three lions’, the hub of the entire pitch was arguably Manchester City’s community bod Eddie Afekafe, who seemingly came from nowhere only to convincingly hammer home the important role that football continues to play in the lower strata of English society:

“Football changed my life. I grew up in one of the roughest parts of Manchester, most of the guys I grew up with were in gangs – some still are, some are in prison. What they didn’t get, but I got, was an opportunity – and that was through football.

“I’m just one story, choose England today and England will deliver many more stories like mine. It’s a new idea, it’s a big idea and it’s one everyone supports – from the prime minister to the Football Association, from the Premier League to the players.”

FIFA president Sepp Blatter immediately praised the English presentation, calling it both ‘excellent’ and ‘remarkable’ – thus resulting in a flurry of betting on England, as they quickly became installed as bookmaker’s favourites to be bestowed with the 2018 hosting duties later this afternoon.

And if gambling surges don’t constitute clear harbingers of impending doom these days, then I really don’t know what do.

Russia rounded up the morning’s entertainment with a bizarre, Putin-less display of diabetes-inducing B-movies set to terrible Euro-house, screaming female pole vaulters, Winston Churchill mis-quotations, hearts, minds and a series of strange allegories between winning the right to host a World Cup and the fall of the Berlin Wall 21-years ago.

As always, answers on a postcard please.

UPDATE: FIFA have just confirmed that Russia will be hosting the 2018 World Cup and that Qatar will be hosting the out-of-the-box 2022 tournament. What a wonderful advertisement for the power of the petro/gaz/oil dollar.

Roll on 2026!

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

In a turn of phrase more befitting an episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E than an interview regarding the upcoming World Cup 2018 voting ceremony in Zurich, the chief executive of the Spain/Portgual bid, Miguel Angel Lopez, has claimed that ‘all the fish are sold’ and that the Iberian campaign may have already (theoretically) garnered at least 7 and as many as 8 of the 22 votes available.

Lopez, who had previously allowed Spanish FIFA executive committee member Angel Maria Villar Llona to deal with the public duties relating to the Spain/Portugal bid, insisted that he is now ‘moderately confident’ of securing the next World Cup – although he also acknowledged, during an extremely brief interview with Bloomberg, that the voting which is scheduled to take place in Zurich next week is almost bound to be a close-run contest:

“It won’t be a big win in our favour or a big loss against us.”

England’s bid team are hoping that a last-minute lobbying offensive from the likes of prime minister David Cameron, England’s gilded show pony David Beckham and heir to throne Prince William may be enough to claw back the ground (i.e. votes) that they seem to have lost thanks to the various corruption exposés carried out by the British media into FIFA’s particular modus operandi – although Lopez believes that it will be a case of too little too late.

Indeed Spain/Portugal are intending to roll out their footballing big guns for the final push, with Lopez formally asking Real Madrid to let Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas (the captains of Portugal and Spain respectively) to attend the vote – with Real manager Jose Mourinho also invited to tag along.

Real Madrid pair Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas

However, even if the Merengues trio are freed up to travel to Zurich, Lopez admitted that their appearance would probably be too late to still have any kind of influence on the vote, adding cryptically:

“All the fish are sold.”

…before presumably using the one hand he wasn’t using to conceal the hilt of a pistol to slide an unmarked briefcase, filled to the hilt with incriminating documents pertaining to the Cold War, across the large formica table at which he was huddled.

‘Twas not so very long ago that the Spain/Portugal bid was investigated by FIFA following claims of collusion with Qatar’s 2022 bid, in which it was alledged that the Iberians may have secured an ill-gotten bloc of at least seven votes.

However, FIFA’s Ethics committee ruled last week that there were no ‘sufficient grounds’ to provide a ruling either way, a dead rubber that Lopez is taking as a sign of definite absolution:

“If there was something to find, [FIFA] would have done more. They did what was necessary, but their procedures showed nothing.”

Yet still, Lopez retains a high level of optimism over the fact that he can count on the support of the four Asian delegates that currently sit on the FIFA executive committee – namely president of the Asian Football Confederation Mohamed Bin Hammam, Thailand’s Worawi Makudi, Japan’s Junji Orgura and South Korea’s Chung Mong Joon.

Spain/Portugal are also hoping to capitalise on the hard work of their conquistador forefathers, in claiming the manifest rights to the votes of the  three South American executives involved, as Latin America is, according to Lopez, their ‘natural territory’.

So, as you can delineate for yourselves, thanks to FIFA’s exhaustive investigation into the Spain/Portugal/Qatar bids (which consisted of two emails being sent, in case your were wondering) there is absolutely no room left for collusion in the World Cup voting system.

Aren’t they good?

Also See:

FIFA World Cup Voters
Vote Rigging 101

From Soccerlens.com - Football News