CHELSEA is on the look for a new manager! Old news, Avram Grant gets the sack. Fresh news, Didier Deschamps reckons that he is the new man for the Chelsea job. Didi, who once played for the Blues during the 1999/2000 season and won the FA Cup the same year, says that Chelsea has expressed interest in securing his services and now believes that, the job that everybody supposedly loves to hate, is his for the taking. Kicks 4 Kicks! believes that the job may well be his for now. But he probably will not last a complete season!!!
REAL MADRID is pushing their luck to the furthest in their audacious attempt to land Manchester United's prized possession, Cristiano Ronaldo. As soon as Manchester United lifted the Champions League trophy, Bernd Schuster bombarded the press and public with cries that a certain Ronaldo will end up at the Bernabeu one day. While Sir Alex is not amused, Ronaldo himself suggests that he might play in Spain one day, he has not ruled out that possibility, but insists that he is happy at Manchester United for the moment. Kicks 4 Kicks! says, Ronaldo to end up at Real Madrid in the next 3 years!
JOHN TERRY has been named England's captain for the upcoming friendly fixture against USA. Fabio Capello gave the Chelsea man the armband, citing his leadership qualities as top class, and believing JT is the man who will lead England against USA. However, Capello has refused to name his captain who will walk England out against Trinidad & Tobago. England's captain for EURO 2008 has also not been decided upon, and judging from the possible candidates (ie. Barry, Ferdinand & Gerrard), looks like the man who slipped on his penalty kick may have a consolation to his Champions League woes! Kicks 4 Kicks! say, give Terry his consolation prize and make him England's captain!!!
FERNANDO TORRES is the latest hottest property (apart from Cristiano Ronaldo) in English football, having re-written a goal scoring record for being the top scoring foreigner in English football in a debut season. His 24 goals in the league sparked rumours that Chelsea (not again?!) will attempt to bid for the Spaniard with a 50mil pds offer. Tom Hicks has decided to clear any doubts by claiming that Liverpool will never sell Torres to anybody. Torres has reiterated that he is happy at Liverpool and frankly speaking, Kicks 4 Kicks! thinks that Chelsea will never land Torres in his lifetime. Absolutely rubbish!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Raúl González - Forgotten or Finished?
ONE of Spain's most prolific goalscorer, the man who is also affectionately known as El Angel de Madrid, Raúl González... a few days ago, Spanish football was rocked by the news that Raúl has been left out of the national squad for the EURO 2008.
The man behind this decision...Luis Aragones. While Aragones has been in charged, Raúl has been left out of the national squad on numerous occasions. This sparked rumours that with Aragones in charge, Raúl will never get to feature for Spain again.
Raúl is perhaps one of Spain's most decorated footballer, apart from the great Alfredo Di Stefano, and his exclusion will definitely be under scrutiny should Spain fail to deliver the goods in EURO 2008. Taking a lookback at his well-illustrated career, Raúl has not failed to break most of Spain's footballing records.
Raúl has been made team captain for his club Real Madrid since 2003, scoring 205 goals in 483 games. Even though that record only means that Raúl is the club's 2nd top goalscorer, he is still the only man with the most goals in the UEFA Champions League with 61 goals. His records do not stop there. Raúl is also Spain's top scorer with 44 goals and has accumulated a total of 102 appearances for his national team.
Raúl is definitely Spain's golden boy and while his exclusion has already raised certain eyebrows across the world, what does this all mean?
At the age of 30, Raúl is arguably at the prime of his career. A few injuries have kept him off the field most of the time throughout 2006, but he came back storming in 2008, amassing 37 appearances in La Liga and scoring an incredible 18 times. His return in form has greatly assisted Real Madrid in retaining the La Liga title in 2008 and it is a terrible shame that his goalscoring accolades have failed to earn him a place in Spain for EURO 2008.
In his place comes the 2 dark horses, Sergio Garcia from Real Zaragoza and Daniel Guiza from Real Mallorca.
Sergio Garcia is the only player in the national squad whose club team was relegated to the Secunda Division. A surprising call by Aragones, however Garcia's versatility in his style of play is the only highlight for Real Zaragoza.
Daniel Guiza is not only a debutant in his first major tournament for Spain, he is also La Liga's top goalscorer in 2008 with 26 goals in the whole season. Of these 26 goals for Mallorca, 19 of them came away from home and that is a new league record by the way.
Fortunately for Spain, Raúl's exclusion has injected new blood into what already seems like a world-class strikeforce. With David Villa and Fernando Torres expected to spearhead the Spanish team anyway, one must start to question if including Raúl will have benefited Spain in any way. That can only be answered after EURO 2008, as Spain continues to be branded as a top class footballing nation and yet to win a major tournament since 1964 when they were champions of Europe then.
Raúl González, as the footballing celebrity's career closes yet another chapter in his books, will only have to look forward to the World Cup in 2010. How that chapter will be written, we can only wait and see...
The man behind this decision...Luis Aragones. While Aragones has been in charged, Raúl has been left out of the national squad on numerous occasions. This sparked rumours that with Aragones in charge, Raúl will never get to feature for Spain again.
Raúl is perhaps one of Spain's most decorated footballer, apart from the great Alfredo Di Stefano, and his exclusion will definitely be under scrutiny should Spain fail to deliver the goods in EURO 2008. Taking a lookback at his well-illustrated career, Raúl has not failed to break most of Spain's footballing records.
Raúl has been made team captain for his club Real Madrid since 2003, scoring 205 goals in 483 games. Even though that record only means that Raúl is the club's 2nd top goalscorer, he is still the only man with the most goals in the UEFA Champions League with 61 goals. His records do not stop there. Raúl is also Spain's top scorer with 44 goals and has accumulated a total of 102 appearances for his national team.
Raúl is definitely Spain's golden boy and while his exclusion has already raised certain eyebrows across the world, what does this all mean?
At the age of 30, Raúl is arguably at the prime of his career. A few injuries have kept him off the field most of the time throughout 2006, but he came back storming in 2008, amassing 37 appearances in La Liga and scoring an incredible 18 times. His return in form has greatly assisted Real Madrid in retaining the La Liga title in 2008 and it is a terrible shame that his goalscoring accolades have failed to earn him a place in Spain for EURO 2008.
In his place comes the 2 dark horses, Sergio Garcia from Real Zaragoza and Daniel Guiza from Real Mallorca.
Sergio Garcia is the only player in the national squad whose club team was relegated to the Secunda Division. A surprising call by Aragones, however Garcia's versatility in his style of play is the only highlight for Real Zaragoza.
Daniel Guiza is not only a debutant in his first major tournament for Spain, he is also La Liga's top goalscorer in 2008 with 26 goals in the whole season. Of these 26 goals for Mallorca, 19 of them came away from home and that is a new league record by the way.
Fortunately for Spain, Raúl's exclusion has injected new blood into what already seems like a world-class strikeforce. With David Villa and Fernando Torres expected to spearhead the Spanish team anyway, one must start to question if including Raúl will have benefited Spain in any way. That can only be answered after EURO 2008, as Spain continues to be branded as a top class footballing nation and yet to win a major tournament since 1964 when they were champions of Europe then.
Raúl González, as the footballing celebrity's career closes yet another chapter in his books, will only have to look forward to the World Cup in 2010. How that chapter will be written, we can only wait and see...
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