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June 2010 - Posts
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After watching an exciting end to the Champions League and Barcelona pipping Real Madrid to the title with the highest ever points title, after all the waiting and expectation, the World Cup has been a big disappointment.
Players have failed to perform, matches have been slow and depressing, while the refereeing also appears to have suffered. It has all been summed up by an ultra-defensive Brazil who are looking strong but at the same time likely to send you to sleep.
"I would never pay to watch this Brazilian team play," said Cruyff, "they have talented players but they play in boring style and are not very interesting. It is an embarrassment for the fans and the tournament as they are one of the teams that people have come to see."
While in the past Brazilian stars like Pele, Socrates and Romario have stood out at World Cups, this year the players likely to be remembered are defender Lucio and keeper Julio Cesar. Coach Dunga has certainly done well in building a team in his image.
Of course it hasn't only been Brazil, England came to South Africa with plenty of expectation and now there is plenty of analysis at what went wrong - was it Capello or Rooney? Were the players generally not interested or were they simply not good enough.
Rooney's former team-mate Ronaldo also might as well not have turned up. People could be forgotten that the 90m euro player was actually on the pitch as Portugal limped out against a Spain style who did the minimal to win.
Argentina offer the most hope for entertainment with Messi, Tevez and Higuain showing their skills on the pitch while Maradona is always good value for money for his reactions on the sidelines. They play Germany this weekend but while they are favourites to win there are question marks over their defence and especially Dimechelis so don't be surprised with an upset.
The main reason why the World Cup has been a disappointment is that fans are now used to watching Champions League football and a higher level of competition with the best players in the world together, but also the players have gone to South Africa clearly tired and feeling the strain after a long season. One element that can be addressed is the bringing in of technology to decide contentious decisions and it seems as though Fifa are finally listening to reason.
Finally the biggest positive so far for Barça fans has been the form of new signing David Villa who has been banging the goals in for Spain
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Manchester City forward Robinho could be used in an exchange deal involving Barcelona's Zlatan Ibrahimovic who would join the Premier League club.
Robinho's future has been in limbo after finishing the season in Brazil following a disappointing spell with City in which he never showed the necessary commitment to succeed. Having arrived from Real Madrid, he suddenly found himself in a team with much lower expectations and in a city very different from what he was accustomed to. However, rather than adapting he looked for a way out and took every opportunity to return to Brazil.
One thing is for certain, that Robinho will not return to Manchester and he has made it clear that he would like to return to Spain to prove himself after failing to impress also at Real Madrid where he left under a cloud.
Guardiola is known to be an admirer of Robinho and he thinks that he could fit in well to Barca's style of football unlike Ibrahimovic who has struggled this season. For that reason Barça are looking at the possibility of a swap deal and Dani Alves, a close friend of Robinho's, says that his international team-mate will be at the Nou Camp next season.
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Barcelona are considering making a move from Ajax defender Gregory van der Wiel.
The 22-year-old has played in the Ajax first team for the last four years and is already a Dutch international. Sports director Txiki Begiristain sees him as a useful cover for Dani Alves at right-back but due to his versatility, pace and tactical strength he can also play at centre-half. However, after a good campaign for Ajax he has attracted admiring glances from teams around Europe and his price is now thought to be in the region of 10 to 12m euros.
Meanwhile, Barça are keen to sew up the signing of Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas. Their initial offer of 35m euros was turned down by Arsenal and the club said it had no plans to work with the present Barça board but this has not put off president Joan Laporta who says that they are still speaking with the London club although it appears that so far there has been no new breakthrough. It is likely though that Barça will make a new bid substantially higher than the first so as to bring in the player sooner rather than later.
One player who won't enter into a swap deal is Toure Yaya who is set to sign for Manchester Cuty and play alongside his brother Kolo.
Toure is definitely on his way out of the Nou Camp and City are in the process of arranging a deal in the region of 20 to 25m euros, less than Barça were jhoping as they set out to make as much as 35m euros from his sale.
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