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Extra Time with Dave Clarke

3/30/2012

Can someone explain to me why the Man City-08 fans cheered Carlos Tevez when he came on as a substitute in the game against Chelsea-03? Tevez for one reason or another has let his manager, his teammates and the City fans down with his actions, attitude, and intransience since refusing to come on as a substitute in the Champions League. And yet he was applauded on to the field like a legend returning to the scene of his earlier triumphs. City fans, like those of most clubs are fickle, so should we be surprised at the reception they gave Tevez?

What do FA Cup winners Portsmouth in 2008, Carling Cup winners Spurs in 2008 and Carling Cup winners Birmingham City in 2011 have in common? They won trophies while having mediocre league seasons and the cup success papered over the cracks in their respective teams. Portsmouth and Birmingham were eventually relegated and are now playing in the Championship. Spurs hardly won a game after their triumph over Chelsea, at Wembley, leading Juande Ramos to be fired when he could only inspire them to the infamous “two points in eight games” the following season. Are Liverpool following in their footsteps as they slip towards another poor league campaign? The League Cup and possibly the FA Cup may deflect attention away from their league woes, but real football analysts know something is wrong at Anfield Road. How is this for a damning statistic, Liverpool are now closer to the relegation battle than the title race. Will winning the FA Cup to add to the Carling Cup be enough to buy Kenny Dalglish another season?

Fifty-thousand fans, five goals, three red cards, one yellow card, one penalty, a manager sent to the stands, accusations of refereeing bias, sectarian singing, religious, political, nationalistic and football triumphalism. Rangers versus Celtic at Ibrox Stadium was compelling viewing. The derby was a tremendous advert for all that is right and all that is wrong with the Scottish game. The better team won on the day. The better team will win the league title.

Gareth Bale is going through a season and performances that are similar to the early years of Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United. Bale is playing like he believes his own hype. He has become a selfish player who feels he can score at will and play with a freedom that is more important than his role within the Tottenham Hotspur system. In time Ronaldo matured and began to play with the best interests of his team in mind and became the second best player in the world. Bale is a long way off such a lofty status, but if he learns from Ronaldo’s progress he might just become a truly world class player.

Claudio Rainieri was fired as manager of Internazionale, a little later than predicted by Extra Time. Which one of Andre Villas-Boas or Fabio Capello will take over at the San Siro? Capello fits in better with the history of the club, but AVB might be the better strategic and long term appointment. That would leave Capello free to take over at Stamford Bridge and be a mentor to the real manager of Chelsea-03, John Terry.

US Soccer has been on a good run of late, but El Salvador brought the association back to earth in Olympic qualifying. The US Under 23 team under the guidance of Caleb Porter and Claudio Reyna needed a win over the Salvadorans to advance to the CONCACAF semi-finals for Olympic qualifying. The US led 3-2 deep into injury time, but conspired to concede a terrible equalizer. The goal eliminated the Americans who now miss out on the chance to win an Olympic gold medal in London this summer. US Soccer also misses out on a valuable marketing and public relations platform for the game in this country.

The more things change the more things stay the same. Spurs went to Stamford Bridge and failed to beat Chelsea-03. An away team was denied a blatant penalty at Old Trafford against Man United. Two Celtic players were sent off at Ibrox against Rangers. An Italian team played ‘catenaccio’ to stifle Barcelona in the Champions League.

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Extra Time with Dave Clarke

3/20/2012

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There are times when soccer ceases to be as important as those in the game purport it to be and certainly nowhere near as important as Bill Shankly’s quote made it out to be. This weekend’s events at White Hart Lane and Hampden Park are such instances. At Spurs, Bolton Wanderers midfield star Fabrice Muamba collapsed in the FA Cup Fifth Round game and as he fought for his life the game was abandoned. Every fan of the game wishes him the best. Unfortunately, the father of Kilmarnock star, Liam Kelly died shortly after collapsing at the Scottish League Cup Final where he saw his son’s team beat Celtic to win the trophy.

Referees receive a lot of criticism for how they officiate games and Howard Webb has had his fair share in the past year. However, Webb deserves tremendous credit for his handling of the Spurs-Bolton game. As Muamba lay stricken on the ground at White Hart Lane and paramedics fought to save the player, Webb dealt with the situation professionally. He was calmness personified and did the right thing in abandoning the game. Credit must also go to the Spurs fans for their support for Muamba and the round of applause that followed the announcement of the game being called off.

The Rangers FC public relations machine is in overdrive and pushing the agenda that Scottish football cannot live without the financially stricken club. Nonsense! And so it was proved at Hampden Park on Sunday. Kilmarnock deservedly beat Celtic to lift the Scottish Communities League Cup, the first time the club has won the trophy. With a financially restrained Rangers there will be more triumphs like the one Kilmarnock enjoyed for clubs such as Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hearts and Hibs. These four clubs have great support, great tradition, and great histories and will fill the void left by a financially crippled Rangers. The return to success of clubs like these and Killie can only be good for the Scottish game.

David Moyes, Everton’s manager has deservedly received constant praise for the manner in which he has led the club in his 10 years at Goodison Park. The Everton fans are among the most loyal in English football and have rarely questioned their Scottish manager. However, his team selection and subsequent 0-3 defeat at Anfield against Liverpool in the Merseyside derby left many second guessing Moyes. The manager had prioritized the FA Cup game at home to Sunderland, a call that did not go down well with Everton fans especially after being hammered by their rivals in red. Sunderland frustrated the Toffees and earned a reply at the Stadium of Light. If Everton and Moyes do not advance to the semi-final to play coincidentally, Liverpool the decision to field a weakened team in the league game may come back to haunt him.

Man United took advantage of their rivals being idle to hammer Wolves 5-0 and extend their lead at the top of the EPL while also improving their goal differential. United’s win increases the pressure on Man City-08 who host Chelsea-03 in a midweek game. On the same night Arsenal face a tricky trip to Everton while Spurs host Stoke City. As the final whistles sound around the three grounds on Wednesday night the title and Champions League races will become more clearly defined. At this point in the season Extra Time predicts the top of the table will look like this at the end of the season: 1-Man United, 2-Man City-03, 3-Arsenal, 4-Spurs, 5-Cheslea, 6-Liverpool and 7-Newcastle United.

Chelsea-03 have had a mini resurgence since firing their manager Andre Villas-Boas. Why the turn around? The simple answer is to blame everything that went before the appointment of Roberto DiMatteo on AVB. It is quite obvious that there was a clash of personalities on the training ground and in the dressing room. Villas-Boas should receive some of the blame, but the majority of it should go to the players who have been cheating for most of the season. They are a disgrace to their profession and if there is such a thing as football karma they will be eliminated by Benfica in the Champions League, Spurs or Bolton in the FA Cup and miss out on a European place for next season by finishing behind Arsenal, Spurs and Newcastle. There would be nothing more galling than to see the smug John Terry walking up the steps at Wembley to lift the FA Cup, or worse still at the Allianz Arena to lift the Champions League trophy.

The top two teams in La Liga are Barcelona and Real Madrid and both are in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The top two players in the world are Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who play for Barcelona and Real respectively. The top two teams in England are Manchester United and Manchester City-08 who were both eliminated by supposed inferior opposition in the Europa Cup. Does Spain now have a case to be considered the superior league?

Why is the UEFA Champions League seeded in qualifying, seeded in the league stage and manipulated in the draw for the last 16, but is not seeded for the quarter-finals and beyond? It makes no sense. UEFA left itself open for Barcelona playing Real Madrid in the draw, but thankfully it did not happen. The competition should be seeded all the way through the final, or not all. Had the draw been seeded according to UEFA’s own coefficient (in brackets) it would have produced a semi-final draw of Barcelona (1) or Apoel (109) versus AC Milan (6) or Bayern Munich (8) and Real Madrid (3) or Marseille (27) versus Chelsea (5) or Benfica (17).

The actual draw is Apoel/Real versus Marseille/Bayern and Barca/Milan versus Chelsea/Benfica. Real Madrid were the lucky ones to draw Apoel, the team every other team wanted in the draw. The silence from Jose Mourinho has been deafening. The Special One has in the past said that UEFA have conspired against his Madrid team to the benefit of Barcelona. Not so this time.

Week two of MLS was another good one for the league with some great games, good coverage and excellent attendances and atmospheres to match. The NBC coverage of Philadelphia versus Colorado was top class and created a very favorable impression of the league, the quality of play and the atmosphere in the stadium. The only question for executives is why they used Robbie Earle as an analyst when he has no MLS experience? Does soccer on American television really require an English accent on staff to sell it to the nation? There has to be at least one former MLS player with a media background who can come across as articulate, knowledgeable and would do as good a job as Earle.

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Extra Time with Dave Clarke

3/14/2012

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"We're delighted to be in the draw," said Aberdeen manager Craig Brown after he led his team into the Scottish Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 win at Motherwell. "All the teams are fairly even,” he added. Sorry Craig, but they are not. Celtic will play either Hearts or St. Mirren who are a resounding 36 and 44 points respectively behind the league leaders in the SPL. Brown’s team trail Celtic by 42 points while their opponents in the last four, Hibs are a whopping 52 points behind the champions elect. Craig, in what universe are the teams fairly even?

Celtic recently announced meagre profits of $283,000 for the last financial year. At the time the amount was released it was ridiculed in the Scottish and English media and on fans Internet forums. Since the announcement of Celtic’s fiscal status Rangers have gone into administration amid mounting debts while Man City-08 announced losses of $299 million, Man United losses of $173 million and Chelsea-03 losses of $110 million. All things considered Celtic are doing quite well while the financial performances of the other four demonstrate why Financial Fair Play rules cannot be introduced soon enough.

Can we put to bed two myths about Arsenal? The first, that they don’t spend money on player salaries or transfer fees. If that is true, then how is it that their overall salary expenditure is one of the highest in world soccer, and more than twice that of their big rivals Tottenham, the team with which they are competing for third place in the EPL? And if they don’t spend money then how to explain that Gervinho ($16.5m), Chu Young Park ($3.9m), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain ($12m), Mikel Arteta ($15.7m), Per Mertesacker ($12.5m) and Andre Santos ($9.7m) were all signed last summer for a total outlay of $70.3m? The second, that Arsene Wenger’s policy to play youth in the Carling Cup will pay dividends down the road by bringing through players to the first team. During the run to the 2007 final and especially in the aftermath of Arsenal’s semi-final win over Spurs, Wenger and the club’s fans stressed the role youth development played in the club getting to the final. Of the team that lost the final to Chelsea only four players – Manuel Almunia, Theo Walcott, Abou Diaby and Johan Djourou – are still at the club. The rest have all moved on. So much for youth development!

Claudio Rainieri’s days at Internazionale of Milan are surely numbered. While his team won the tie on the day, they failed to advance to the Champions League last eight having been eliminated on away goals by Marseille. Inter wasted numerous chances to build on their one goal lead and paid a heavy penalty when the French side scored out of nothing in the final minute. CL elimination and failure to qualify for next year’s competition will mean that Wesley Sneijder will be playing in England next season. What odds on his strike partner Diego Milito joining him there?

I am very fortunate to have seen the likes of Pele, Diego Maradona, George Best and Johann Cruyff play live. My memories of all four players are fading, but courtesy of digital media their skills will be forever the click of a mouse away. The only two of the true greats of the game I never saw live were Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas. These six players will always be on any list compiled when discussing who the best player the game has ever seen is. It is now without doubt that Lionel Messi belongs on the list and perhaps even at the top. Pele (Brazil 1958 and 1970) and Maradona (Argentina 1986) validated their careers with World Cup wins and there are those who say Messi must do the same to be mentioned in the same breath as them. Pele and Maradona never won the UEFA Champions League which is now the world’s most important tournament. In fact, other than a cameo role with the New York Cosmos Pele did not play outside his native Brazil. I rate Pele and Maradona highly, but in my opinion Messi is now better than both.

If ever a case could be made that the EPL is not as tactically advanced as its Spanish and Italian counterparts it is in a quick analysis of the four most recent Arsenal games against Newcastle United, AC Milan, Liverpool and Spurs. Milan took a 4-0 lead to the Emirates and while they conceded three goals they looked more comfortable in the final 20 minutes maintaining their slender one goal lead. They kept the ball, dictated the tempo of the game, took the emotion out and with it the pressure, and limited Arsenal to precious little in the way of space or opportunity. Both Newcastle and Liverpool conceded injury time winners to Arsenal with some schoolboy defending and questionable tactics in the buildup to both goals. Spurs threw away a two goal lead at the Emirates and capitulated amidst an onslaught from a rampant Arsenal. Spurs did not have the wherewithal to slow the game down, shut Arsenal down or take their lead into the halftime break. Were Fabio Capello, Jose Mourinho or Pep Guardiola in charge of the three English sides the results would likely have been different.

Major League Soccer kicked off this week and the quality of the football in the opening games combined with fan and media interest augurs well for the coming season. MLS and American soccer is often the butt of jokes in the European and domestic media, but one would be hard pressed to find many games with as good an atmosphere as was in evidence when Portland beat Philadelphia Union at Jeld-Wen Field. That the game was entertaining and produced some excellent goals in the Timbers 3-1 victory was a bonus.

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Extra Time with Dave Clarke

3/5/2012

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The Jurgen Klinsmann reign as manager/coach of the US National Team achieved it finest result to date with a 1-0 win over Italy in Genoa. Clint Dempsey enhanced his growing reputation with a clinical finish to give the unfancied US the victory. Neither team was at full strength, but that should not take away from what was a fantastic result for Klinsmann’s team. Yes, the performance could have been better, but Italy are expected to dominate possession when at home. That the US found a way to beat one of the game’s traditional powers augurs well for the upcoming World Cup qualifying campaign.

Stuart Pearce took charge of England for the first time in their 2-3 loss at home to Holland. The former England star is expected to return to his role as coach of the Under 21’s, while Harry Redknapp, the bookies, the media and the fans favorite will take over sooner rather than later. They should be careful what they wish for in wanting Redknapp as manager. He showed in Spurs embarrassing loss to Arsenal and capitulation to Man United that in the really big games he is tactically inept. England under Redknapp will play an expressive and expansive game and beat most mid-level opposition, but when it comes to beating the really big teams when it matters most (World Cup quarter finals and semifinals) Redknapp’s England will be outthought, outplayed, and outclassed.

The Celtic juggernaut keeps on rolling and Neil Lennon’s team are now closing in on winning the SPL for the first time in three years. The way results are going and the schedule is working out Celtic may go to Ibrox Park with a chance to secure the title at the home of bitter rivals Rangers. The SFA, SPL and the local police are hoping such a scenario will be avoided, but even if it doesn’t Celtic fans will go there and have a party. They have been celebrating the financial demise of their city rivals and there will be no letup in their taunting when they meet Rangers.

Liverpool overcame Championship opposition to win the Carling Cup and go some way to justifying the vast amounts of money Kenny Dalglish has spent in the last year. Liverpool’s win is reminiscent of Spurs’ 2008 victory over Chelsea in the same competition. It was a sign that they could compete with the big boys in one off cup games, but could not sustain the level of performances over an entire league campaign. It took Tottenham a further two years to secure a Champions League place and it may be a similar length of time before Liverpool are serious challengers to the top four or five.

Andre Villas-Boas was on borrowed time as manager of Chelsea after a poor run of results in February. The loss at West Brom was the final straw for Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich who fired his young Portuguese manager. Why hire AVB in the first place if he was not going to be given the time to overhaul the team? The manager has paid with his job; however, some of the senior players at Stamford Bridge should have been held more accountable for their poor performances, especially those of an English persuasion.

It looks like five teams – Wigan, Bolton, Wolves, Blackburn and QPR – are fighting it out to avoid relegation from the EPL. The CL race is now two from four with Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle fighting it out for the final two places. The English and Italian titles will go down to the wire with Man United against Man City and Milan against Juventus too close to call in both races. The Spanish, German and Scottish titles have been decided even at this early stage with Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Celtic the runaway leaders.

The third round of Asian World Cup qualifying wrapped up this week with ten teams advancing to the next phase of qualifying. Iran, Iraq, Australia, Uzbekistan and South Korea topped their respective groups with Japan, Oman, Qatar, Jordan and Lebanon qualifying as runners up. The success of Lebanon was the highlight of the stage and was even more impressive in that they qualified at the expense of traditional powers Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

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Extra Time with Dave Clarke

Extra Time with Dave Clarke

Extra Time with Dave Clarke

Extra Time with Dave Clarke

Dave Clarke

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