Being an Argentinean footballer with attacking pretensions bestows a lot of expectation. As soon as a new icon bursts onto the scene there are always the inevitable comparisons with the former cocaine snorting, obesity prone legend that is Diego Maradona.
El Diego is the yardstick against which all others are judged. Some have come close, but most haven’t.
Are you in favour of a strong national team? Of national team players playing for the top clubs in your country's league? Of youth players being trained and then getting access to the first team at their original club? Do you want players who have come through the youth system at a club to sign their first pro contact with that club? Do you like short shorts?
It's that man Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter asking the questions in a recent statement on FIFA's website. Ok, he didn’t ask about short shorts this time, but he did say that if you answered "yes" to these questions, then 'like me you are in favour of the '6+5' rule'
The business end of the Champions League got underway last night and both of the English teams on show were to find their ties hanging very much in the balance by the evening's end... The results of Arsenal and Manchester United's labours may have both ended in draws but such is the nature of a two-legged knock out competition that their prospects for continuing into the semi-finals are looking markedly different.
Portugal is one of the most unequal countries in the world, where the rich are obscene and the poor have to survive on a minimum wage of €450 a month.
Nowhere is this inequality more evident than in the Liga Sagres, with the top teams playing in state of the art 50,000 seater stadia while the league’s lower sides play at grounds that would barely pass muster in the conference.
Estrela Amdora’s Estádio José Gomes reputedly holds 12,000, but it doesn’t look like it could and it very rarely holds more than 1,000. Even this weekend’s local derby with Benfica saw only 3,000 fans show up, a piss poor figure considering the grounds are only about two kilometres apart.
Spot the Ball went off on international duty last week but failed to report back for training this morning.
So we’ve suspended it for two weeks and fined it two weeks’ wages.
Filling in for it this week is Spot the Footballer, a promising product of the 90minutesonline youth academy.