At last we can say that our Road To Wembley finally has reached Wembley, but because of the arrangements that have been made by the FA this season, we're not quite at the FA Cup Final yet.
This weekend sees the semi finals taking place of the 2007/08 competition and we're specifically interested in the one taking place tomorrow between SPAOTP's featured team, Barnsley, and Cardiff City. Today, however, we've already seen Portsmouth edge past their opponents, West Bromwich Albion, to reach the Final in May.
So what of Barnsley then? Well we were quite flippant in the last round that our world-renowned jinx would see them lose to Chelsea, but we were wrong. Barnsley battled and battled just as they'd done in previous rounds and managed to get a winning lead through Kayode Odejayi who scored from close range with around 25 minutes left on the clock.
Though Chelsea attacked throughout thanks to the likes of Joe Cole and Nicolas Anelka, Barnsley's defence remained solid, organised and resolute.
A 1-0 win was therefore the order of the day and so Barnsley's band of happy men get to stride out onto the Wembley turf tomorrow knowing a performance like their previous matches in the FA Cup this season (not the Championship, mind you) will earn them a place in the Final against Portsmouth. We say 'not the Championship' because their league position has slipped from 16th at the time of the FA Cup Quarter Finals to 21st at present.
They're now level on points with Southampton who occupy the first of the relegation spots and since their last FA Cup outing they've only notched up one win out of four in the league. Things are looking grim for The Tykes so a good run-out at Wembley tomorrow could give them the boost they need to avoid the Championship trap-door.
So let's will them on to success against Cardiff tomorrow for their sakes and ours. It's been a long and winding road to reach the Final during this series and most of the time we've had to say goodbye to a team just as soon as we've adopted one in each round. If Some People Are On The Pitch can keep Barnsley for a third successive match it'll be something akin to a miracle, quite frankly, but miracles can happen...
It's therefore time to settle back and enjoy the semi final tomorrow in the hope that Barnsley can weave their magic once again, but rest assured for the Final next month there'll be a lengthy and at times emotional look back on our Road To Wembley as we review how far we've come prior to this season's big finalé. Join SPAOTP for that if you can...
Saturday, 5 April 2008
Friday, 4 April 2008
The Friday List of Little or No Consequence #56
Going for gold
38 players who have competed in the Olympic Soccer Tournament
1. Stephen Appiah (Ghana, 2004)
2. Faustino Asprilla (Colombia, 1992)
3. Dino Baggio (Italy, 1992)
4. Bebeto (Brazil, 1996)
5. Oleg Blokhin (Soviet Union, 1972)
6. Tomas Brolin (Sweden, 1992)
7. Roberto Carlos (Brazil, 1996)
8. Hernan Crespo (Argentina, 1996)
9. Rinat Dasaev (Soviet Union, 1980)
10. Kazimierz Deyna (Poland, 1972)
11. Landon Donovan (USA, 2000)
12. Dunga (Brazil, 1984)
13. Luis Enrique (Spain, 1992)
14. Edu (Brazil, 2000)
15. Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon, 2000)
16. Quinton Fortune (South Africa, 2000)
17. Brad Friedel (USA, 1992)
18. 'Kily' Gonzalez (Argentina, 2004)
19. Gabriel Heinze (Argentina, 2004)
20. Junichi Inamoto (Japan, 2000)
21. Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria, 1996)
22. Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany, 1988)
23. Alexei Lalas (USA, 1992)
24. Grzegorz Lato (Poland, 1976)
25. Javier Mascherano (Argentina, 2004)
26. Benni McCarthy (South Africa, 2000)
27. Hidetoshi Nakata (Japan, 2000)
28. Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria, 1996)
29. Andrea Pirlo (Italy, 2000)
30. KarlHeinz Reidle (Germany, 1988)
31. Claudio Reyna (USA, 1992)
32. Rivaldo (Brazil, 1996)
33. Romario (Brazil, 1988)
34. Ronaldinho (Brazil, 1996)
35. Ronaldo (Brazil, 1996)
36. Jan Tomaszewski (Poland, 1976)
37. Taribo West (Nigeria, 1996)
38. Ivan Zamorano (Chile, 2000)
38 players who have competed in the Olympic Soccer Tournament
1. Stephen Appiah (Ghana, 2004)
2. Faustino Asprilla (Colombia, 1992)
3. Dino Baggio (Italy, 1992)
4. Bebeto (Brazil, 1996)
5. Oleg Blokhin (Soviet Union, 1972)
6. Tomas Brolin (Sweden, 1992)
7. Roberto Carlos (Brazil, 1996)
8. Hernan Crespo (Argentina, 1996)
9. Rinat Dasaev (Soviet Union, 1980)
10. Kazimierz Deyna (Poland, 1972)
11. Landon Donovan (USA, 2000)
12. Dunga (Brazil, 1984)
13. Luis Enrique (Spain, 1992)
14. Edu (Brazil, 2000)
15. Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon, 2000)
16. Quinton Fortune (South Africa, 2000)
17. Brad Friedel (USA, 1992)
18. 'Kily' Gonzalez (Argentina, 2004)
19. Gabriel Heinze (Argentina, 2004)
20. Junichi Inamoto (Japan, 2000)
21. Nwankwo Kanu (Nigeria, 1996)
22. Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany, 1988)
23. Alexei Lalas (USA, 1992)
24. Grzegorz Lato (Poland, 1976)
25. Javier Mascherano (Argentina, 2004)
26. Benni McCarthy (South Africa, 2000)
27. Hidetoshi Nakata (Japan, 2000)
28. Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria, 1996)
29. Andrea Pirlo (Italy, 2000)
30. KarlHeinz Reidle (Germany, 1988)
31. Claudio Reyna (USA, 1992)
32. Rivaldo (Brazil, 1996)
33. Romario (Brazil, 1988)
34. Ronaldinho (Brazil, 1996)
35. Ronaldo (Brazil, 1996)
36. Jan Tomaszewski (Poland, 1976)
37. Taribo West (Nigeria, 1996)
38. Ivan Zamorano (Chile, 2000)
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Beijing Bound
Call it the 'Poor Man's World Cup' if you like, but the Olympic Men's Soccer Tournament is a competition that is worthy of its place in the football calendar. This being an Olympic year, we've not got long to go before the next one rolls around and the good news is we now know who's going to be taking part in Beijing this August.
Sixteen teams will be involved, all of whom will be split into four groups of four with the top two from each group qualifying for the quarter finals and the ensuing knockout stages leading to the Final.
China, the hosts, have qualified automatically and probably just as well as they haven't reached the finals of the Olympic soccer tournament since 1988. They go into the First Round draw on April 20th along with the qualifiers from all six FIFA continents including Brazil and Argentina from South America.
Brazil missed out on the last event in Greece but return this time as one of the favourites along with reigning champions and near neighbours Argentina. The Argentineans were a revelation in Athens, playing a free-flowing, attack-minded style of play that saw them score seventeen goals and concede none.
Arguably the most eye-catching player in their team was the top scorer in 2004, Carlos Tevez who, we understand, has gone on to do quite well since. With players like Riquelme and Messi likely to have a similar effect on their 2008 campaign, don't be surprised if the gold medals go to the Albicelestes again.
Africa will be sending an impressive triumvirate of talent to the Games this summer. Returning to the big stage are 1996 Olympic champions Nigeria, 2000 champions Cameroon and newcomers to the tournament, Ivory Coast. All three were among the big names at the recent 2008 African Cup of Nations and all three are capable of causing an upset when this year's competition gets underway.
The Olympic Soccer Tournament is renowned for giving the world its first sight of many stars of the future and Nigeria's victorious team in Atlanta twelve years ago is a good example of this. Among the players who went onto become household names were Taribo West, Celestine Babayaro, Sunday Oliseh, Jay-Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu and Victor Ikpeba. If their current squad can boast potential like that, they could be bound for greatness in Beijing.
There's one or two new names to conjure with alongside the tried and trusted. Accompanying the ever-present USA from the CONCACAF section are Honduras who surprisingly got their place at the expense of the usually-ever-present Mexicans. Mexico showed their gratitude to team coach Hugo Sanchez for his inability to gain qualification for his team by giving him the sack. Perhaps they Mexican Waved him goodbye as they did so - who knows…
Another new name at Beijing 2008 is New Zealand who finally have the chance to compete thanks to Australia's migration to the Asian confederation. It'll be only the All White's second ever Olympic outing since 1952 when they made the huge journey to Melbourne to take part. Obviously not a team that likes to travel long distances very much…
Speaking of Australia, they've been more or less a permanent fixture in Olympic Soccer since 1988 and they'll be competing again in August when they'll be hoping to match their 1992 semi-final finish that ended at the hands of Poland. Representing Asia alongside Australia and China are Japan and South Korea, one of whom should get as far as the quarter finals if recent form is anything to go by.
Finally to Europe where four teams will be making the long journey to Beijing, but here again there are some surprises. If you're looking for the likes of Spain, France, Germany or Portugal, forget it. All of them fell by the wayside during the UEFA Under-21 Championships last June that acted as the qualification round leaving Italy (2004 Olympic semi-finalists), the Netherlands (appearing for the first time since 1952), Belgium (appearing for the first time since 1928) and Serbia, appearing for the first time in their own right.
With a considerable sense of irony, England reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Under-21 competition but as a distinct entity separate from Great Britain (hosts of the 2012 Olympics) they won't, of course, be appearing in this year's games. This caused a play-off to be held between the two third-placed teams, Portugal and Italy, and the latter won after a penalty shoot-out.
Quite a tenuous way of qualifying for the Italians who were only beaten by eventual champions Argentina in 2004 and picked up a bronze medal for their efforts. That must have stuck in the throat of Cristiano Ronaldo who made an appearance for the Portuguese four years ago and may well have done so in 2008 had his side been better at taking penalties against the Italians.
So there they are, the sixteen teams going for gold in Beijing this year. Some are going for Nigeria to win, many think it'll be Argentina, but all things considered you can expect a football tournament full of interest and excitement when the games begin this August.
Sixteen teams will be involved, all of whom will be split into four groups of four with the top two from each group qualifying for the quarter finals and the ensuing knockout stages leading to the Final.
China, the hosts, have qualified automatically and probably just as well as they haven't reached the finals of the Olympic soccer tournament since 1988. They go into the First Round draw on April 20th along with the qualifiers from all six FIFA continents including Brazil and Argentina from South America.
Brazil missed out on the last event in Greece but return this time as one of the favourites along with reigning champions and near neighbours Argentina. The Argentineans were a revelation in Athens, playing a free-flowing, attack-minded style of play that saw them score seventeen goals and concede none.
Arguably the most eye-catching player in their team was the top scorer in 2004, Carlos Tevez who, we understand, has gone on to do quite well since. With players like Riquelme and Messi likely to have a similar effect on their 2008 campaign, don't be surprised if the gold medals go to the Albicelestes again.
Africa will be sending an impressive triumvirate of talent to the Games this summer. Returning to the big stage are 1996 Olympic champions Nigeria, 2000 champions Cameroon and newcomers to the tournament, Ivory Coast. All three were among the big names at the recent 2008 African Cup of Nations and all three are capable of causing an upset when this year's competition gets underway.
The Olympic Soccer Tournament is renowned for giving the world its first sight of many stars of the future and Nigeria's victorious team in Atlanta twelve years ago is a good example of this. Among the players who went onto become household names were Taribo West, Celestine Babayaro, Sunday Oliseh, Jay-Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu and Victor Ikpeba. If their current squad can boast potential like that, they could be bound for greatness in Beijing.
There's one or two new names to conjure with alongside the tried and trusted. Accompanying the ever-present USA from the CONCACAF section are Honduras who surprisingly got their place at the expense of the usually-ever-present Mexicans. Mexico showed their gratitude to team coach Hugo Sanchez for his inability to gain qualification for his team by giving him the sack. Perhaps they Mexican Waved him goodbye as they did so - who knows…
Another new name at Beijing 2008 is New Zealand who finally have the chance to compete thanks to Australia's migration to the Asian confederation. It'll be only the All White's second ever Olympic outing since 1952 when they made the huge journey to Melbourne to take part. Obviously not a team that likes to travel long distances very much…
Speaking of Australia, they've been more or less a permanent fixture in Olympic Soccer since 1988 and they'll be competing again in August when they'll be hoping to match their 1992 semi-final finish that ended at the hands of Poland. Representing Asia alongside Australia and China are Japan and South Korea, one of whom should get as far as the quarter finals if recent form is anything to go by.
Finally to Europe where four teams will be making the long journey to Beijing, but here again there are some surprises. If you're looking for the likes of Spain, France, Germany or Portugal, forget it. All of them fell by the wayside during the UEFA Under-21 Championships last June that acted as the qualification round leaving Italy (2004 Olympic semi-finalists), the Netherlands (appearing for the first time since 1952), Belgium (appearing for the first time since 1928) and Serbia, appearing for the first time in their own right.
With a considerable sense of irony, England reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Under-21 competition but as a distinct entity separate from Great Britain (hosts of the 2012 Olympics) they won't, of course, be appearing in this year's games. This caused a play-off to be held between the two third-placed teams, Portugal and Italy, and the latter won after a penalty shoot-out.
Quite a tenuous way of qualifying for the Italians who were only beaten by eventual champions Argentina in 2004 and picked up a bronze medal for their efforts. That must have stuck in the throat of Cristiano Ronaldo who made an appearance for the Portuguese four years ago and may well have done so in 2008 had his side been better at taking penalties against the Italians.
So there they are, the sixteen teams going for gold in Beijing this year. Some are going for Nigeria to win, many think it'll be Argentina, but all things considered you can expect a football tournament full of interest and excitement when the games begin this August.
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
La Liga and the 39th Fixture
While the Premier League struggles to convince English football fans and the wider community around the world that a 39th fixture would give its product greater popularity, La Liga has taken a similar initiative and gone one better. From the 2010-11 season, Spanish teams will play an extra fixture in a series of venues around the globe to promote its already familiar brand.
In a statement released today, Tonto De Abril, LFP spokesman, revealed that negotiations have been taking place during the last nine weeks with numerous football federations around the world and a series of agreements are now in place. As a result, the following cities will host a '39th game' (or 'El Juego 39' as it's known in Spain) at the end of the 2011 campaign:
Bogota, Colombia
Umtata, South Africa
Lahore, Pakistan
Libreville, Gabon
Seoul, South Korea
Stuttgart, Germany
Halifax, Canada
Indianapolis, USA
Tomsk, Russia
Taipei, Taiwan
The sheer variety in these locations is quite deliberate, according to De Abril.
"We want to bring Spanish football to the many people around the world who so far could only have dreamed it or watched on their TV's. 'El Juego 39' has been welcomed in countries from Russia to South Africa and we believe our different cultures will combine to bring excitement to the fans of our respective nations."
The surprising element to this announcement comes amid defiant resistance to the idea first put forward by Premier League Chief Executive, Peter Scudamore. It's thought the Spanish authorities were prepared to do much more to promote the game in the countries where their own version of the 39th Game will be played in direct contrast to the English representatives who seemed merely intent on showcasing the English game and nothing more.
Reaction to the announcement in Madrid has been mixed with many people pleased to see the Spanish League promoted around the world in preference to the Premier League, while others were noticeably against the idea.
The popularity of the scheme, however, may rest on the date selected for the final game of the 2010-11 Spanish season to be played on. The suggestion of April 1st is proving to be controversial and is expected to be reviewed in the interim period.
In a statement released today, Tonto De Abril, LFP spokesman, revealed that negotiations have been taking place during the last nine weeks with numerous football federations around the world and a series of agreements are now in place. As a result, the following cities will host a '39th game' (or 'El Juego 39' as it's known in Spain) at the end of the 2011 campaign:
Bogota, Colombia
Umtata, South Africa
Lahore, Pakistan
Libreville, Gabon
Seoul, South Korea
Stuttgart, Germany
Halifax, Canada
Indianapolis, USA
Tomsk, Russia
Taipei, Taiwan
The sheer variety in these locations is quite deliberate, according to De Abril.
"We want to bring Spanish football to the many people around the world who so far could only have dreamed it or watched on their TV's. 'El Juego 39' has been welcomed in countries from Russia to South Africa and we believe our different cultures will combine to bring excitement to the fans of our respective nations."
The surprising element to this announcement comes amid defiant resistance to the idea first put forward by Premier League Chief Executive, Peter Scudamore. It's thought the Spanish authorities were prepared to do much more to promote the game in the countries where their own version of the 39th Game will be played in direct contrast to the English representatives who seemed merely intent on showcasing the English game and nothing more.
Reaction to the announcement in Madrid has been mixed with many people pleased to see the Spanish League promoted around the world in preference to the Premier League, while others were noticeably against the idea.
The popularity of the scheme, however, may rest on the date selected for the final game of the 2010-11 Spanish season to be played on. The suggestion of April 1st is proving to be controversial and is expected to be reviewed in the interim period.
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