My World XI for 2013

At the Ballon d'Or ceremony the FIFA World XI was unveiled, and many felt there were some huge snubs. I was among those people. The FIFA XI was as followed:

Goalkeeper: Manuel Neuer

Defenders: Philipp Lahm, Sergio Ramos, Thiago Silva, Dani Alves

Midfielders: Xavi, Iniesta, Franck Ribery

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Lionel Messi

Amongst those chosen I felt too much praise had been given to the two La Liga giants again. Here is my World XI:

Goalkeeper: Manuel Neuer; No argument here. Neuer was far and above the best goalkeeper in the world last year. He was a huge part of Bayerns historic trophy haul.

Defenders: Philipp Lahm, Thiago Silva, Dante, David Alaba; Removing the La Liga duo and replacing them with two Bayern players. Dante stepped right into the Bayern starting line-up and helped transform them into a team that was near impossible to score against, just ask Barcelona. David Alaba moves into the team after basically solidifying himself as one of the top 2 left backs in the world, and he's my age.

Midfielders: Franck Ribery, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Gareth Bale; No more Barcelona favoritism people!!! Xavi and Iniesta shouldn't have even SNIFFED the world XI. I replace them with Schweinsteiger and Bale. Schweinsteiger was by far the best box to box midfielder in the world last year and he was the heart of the 5 star Bayern team. Bale is the most debatable here. While having a great season it would be easy to leave him out and throw someone else in, but just by the eye test Bale was quite possibly the best player in the world not named Ronaldo or Messi towards the end of last year. His health was an issue, but his quality is nothing to scoff at. 

Forwards: Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Messi; I mean, c'mon. 

So there you have it, my World XI. We need to acknowledge that last season the spanish teams weren't the best in the world and don't deserve to have a crazy amount of players in these teams! Let me know what you think of the replacements. Who deserves to be in it, who doesn't, and why should your player be in instead!

Time for change at Barcelona

It's time to stop the ticky tacky passing and possession play and adapt to the way that soccer is being played now by teams much younger and much quicker than them. Barcelona's two recent defeats to AC Milan and Real Madrid have left many to wonder what is happening right now to Barcelona? Why are they in a slump?

The brilliance of Barcelona is hard to question. How can you argue with a team that has won 15 titles in the past 5 years. Barcelona has always been a team that is about possession and build up play. They frustrate opponents by keeping the ball with quick, crisp passing and by letting their superb midfielders feed whoever they have up front attacking for them. It has been proven, however, you can counter Barcelona's style with the exact opposite of their style, by playing all defense. Chelsea showed this in last years Champions League semifinals when they played 9-10 men on defense and stymied the Barcelona attack. Recently, AC Milan deployed a similar tactic, but with more offense than Chelsea and produced a 2-0 win over Barcelona heading into Camp Nou.

So what is wrong with the Barcelona system as of late? They are miles clear in La Liga so nothing right? Wrong. The Spanish La Liga is a weak league in general, fielding 3 quality clubs and the rest mid table to bottom table clubs in any other division. So it is no surprise that Barcelona ran away with the league title in sights this season, who besides Real Madrid can stop them? No one in La Liga because no other team besides Real Madrid has the talent to match the Catalans. The real problem I see is the lack of a pure striker. Barcelona has not needed a pure striker for the most part, as Lionel Messi emerged onto the scene as (arguably) the greatest player in the game today. But Messi has his flaws that other player for Barca do not mask. He is relatively weak, able to be knocked off the ball by bigger opposition. He is short, though Barcelona rarely plays air crosses, he can't reach a cross in the air over defenders 6 feet tall. But this is obviously all nitpicking at a player who virtually mastered his craft.

What we have seen throughout the past 2 games is something else though, teams that field a reliable striker or another superstar can bother Barcelona greatly. AC Milan used Stephan El Shaarawy and his pace and skill up front to bother the slow, aging Barcelona central defenders, and Real Madrid utilized their own goal machine, Cristiano Ronaldo, to cause massive problems in the back. Teams will soon start to realize if you field a dominant striker up front and can plant enough men on defense to basically form a wall against Barcelona, you can beat them. 

Another huge problem is the "Messi or bust" system Barcelona seems to go into when they are in trouble. The Argentinian may be amazing, but he can't do it all alone. Countless times I have seen Barcelona struggle to score against quality defenses, and when they get frustrated everyone that gets the ball looks to Messi. Is this a terrible strategy? Of course not, more times than not Messi will find the back of the net, but against rapidly increasing big, skillful, fast defenders a smaller player like Messi may find it hard to run past these players, which is where a central striker would come in handy. 

So who should Barcelona look into this upcoming transfer window if they fail in the Champions League because of the lack of a striker? The big name that comes to mind is Mario Gomez. With Mario Mandzukic taking over attacking responsibility for Bayern and the rumored transfers of Falcao and Robert Lewandowski said to be in the works, Gomez will struggle to find playing time. Gomez would fit the Barca system in a way not usually seen by Barca fans. He is a striker that doesn't need the ball at his feet when the going gets tough, he wants it in the box, in the air preferably, so he can put the goals away. Would he be a perfect fit? No, but with Sanchez/Pedro/Iniesta/Xavi/Messi feeding him the ball, the big German would be an invaluable goal machine for the Catalans.

What do you think? Is it time for a change at Barcelona?

Fathead Fc Barcelona Lionel Messi Wall Decals (Google Affiliate Ad)

Soccer Weekend in Review

What a weekend it was in the soccer world, with exciting matches, debuts, and drama.

Friday saw the first day since the transfer window closed and it solidified the teams, with the exclusion of contract releases, for the rest of the season. The window saw Mario Balotelli return home to Italy, Lewis Holtby join Spurs a bit sooner than expected, Arsenal fail to bring in a striker, Loic Remy join AND score for QPR, and David Beckham take his talents to Paris. Friday also saw the first of the matches since the closing of the window, with PSG easily handling Toulouse and Zlatan Ibrahimovic taking his goal tally to 20 in the league.

                                           PSG reveal their newest addition, midfielder David Beckham.


Saturday was the first full day of matches, and it came with a few surprises. The weekend saw the teams you'd expect to win do just that, win. Bayern Munich cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win over Mainz in the Bundesliga, with Arsenal and Manchester United leaving both their games late to each take 3 points over Stoke City and Fulham, respectively. Then came the surprises, Newcastle shocked Chelsea late at St. James Park on a 90th minute goal by French international Moussa Sissoko. Chelsea fell 16 points behind the Red Devils and 7 points behind second place Manchester City. In maybe the biggest surprise of the weekend Real Madrid fell to Granada on an own goal by Cristiano Ronaldo. It was CR7's first own goal of his career, and it couldn't have come at a worse time for Los Blancos as it saw them fall 16 points behind Barcelona in the league table.

                   Newcastle midfielder, Moussa Sissoko, celebrates after scoring against Chelsea on Saturday.


Sunday was a day filled with one of the most, if not the most, anticipated matches of the weekend. Manchester City took on Liverpool at the Etihad and it lived up to all it's hype. Newly re-energized Liverpool took the fight right to City, but conceded the first goal on a superb finish by Edin Dzeko. Moments later Daniel Sturridge brought it back to level on an absolutely stunning strike from outside the box that left keeper Joe Hart with no chance at a save. The game looked even, until Steven Gerrard hit a strike that reminded you that with all the talk of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, Stevie G is still the man. Hitting an absolute cracker on a half volley from 30 yards out, a dipping shot left Joe Hart with no chance. But minutes later Sergio Aguero hit back on the other side of the pitch, capitalizing on a HUGE mistake from Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina as he came too far out of the box, Aguero finished from an impossible angle to end the scoring and bring the two teams level. City fall 9 points adrift from cross town rivals United.

                     Liverpool Captain, Steven Gerrard, celebrates his fantastic goal against Manchester City.


Messi came to the rescue for Barcelona against Valencia in a game that should not have been as difficult as it was for the Catalans. Valencia took the lead on an Ever Banega goal, but conceded a penalty to Barcelona just minutes later which gave Messi the opportunity to equalize. Sharing the spoils in this match does not hurt Barca one bit, as they are so far ahead in La Liga.

                                                         Messi brings Barcelona level against Valencia.


In maybe the biggest news and debut of the week, Mario Balotelli made his return to Milan, this time as a member of the Rossoneri. Balotelli's impact on the attack for AC Milan was evident from the get-go as he scored a brace in his debut. He helped give Milan the lead 25 minutes in with a spectacular finish. After a lay off cross from Stephan El Shaarawy, Balotelli struck it on the half volley and left Udinese's keeper with no chance as Balotelli's close range shot was unstoppable. Udinese pulled a goal back through Giampiero Pinzi, but it was evident AC Milan had more goals left in them. In the 90th minute it was once again Balotelli and El Shaarawy combining for a goal, but in a different way. Balotelli played a through ball to El Shaarawy who was brought down in the box by Udinese defender Thomas Heurtaux. Stepping up to the spot was none other than Balotelli who slotted the penalty away with ease at the brink of stoppage time to grab the Rossoneri all 3 points. Balotelli's amazing performance and the way he and El Shaarawy linked up easily in their first match together should serve as warning to the rest of the Serie A teams, this is a completely different team than just a week ago.

                             Stephen El Shaarawy and Mario Balotelli lead AC Milan to victory over Udinese.

And that's all the major news from the weekend. What were your favorite parts? Leave a comment below or send me an email and let me know what you thought.

Can the league leaders in the major competitions keep up their good form?

Since the winter break has come around I have wondered if the major leagues points leaders can keep up their form and stay atop their leagues. Here's my take on how they have done so far and what they must do to keep their form.

Ligue 1 (France): Paris Saint-Germain

Sitting atop the table in France is new soccer powerhouse Paris Saint-Germain. With the additions of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Ezequiel Lavezzi, and Gregory van der Wiel, PSG have solidified themselves as a force to come for at least this season and next. Starting off slow in the league they hit stride with superstar striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic netting 19 goals in the league so far. With the recent arrival of Lucas Moura from Sao Paulo and the surprising signing of iconic midfielder David Beckham, PSG seem set to keep their spot atop Ligue 1. As long as Ibra can keep scoring and getting just a little support there is no reason that PSG should slip out of number 1.

Bundesliga (Germany): Bayern Munich

Sitting atop the table in Germany is powerhouse Bayern Munich. Off to one of the best starts in team history with 48 points and having only 1 loss in the league Bayern look set to stroll to their 22nd league title. The additions of Mario Mandzukic, Xherdan Shaqiri, Dante, Javi Martinez, and Claudio Pizarro have seen Bayern have an even deeper squad, something that plagued them last season. With the recent fitness revival of Mario Gomez and the spectacular play of Mandzukic, the strike force is even more deadly.

La Liga (Spain): FC Barcelona 

The leaders in Spain are (surprise, surprise) FC Barcelona. Sitting high atop the table, Barcelona are on pace to have one of their best seasons ever. With 58 points they are 15 points clear of arch-rivals Real Madrid and look unstoppable in the league. With Messi recently netting his 200th Barcelona goal and breaking the record for goals scored in a calendar year in 2012, Barcelona look to be in complete control in La Liga. Only a complete meltdown could kill their season, and we all know that won't happen.

Barclays Premier League (England): Manchester United

The Red Devils sit atop the Barclays Premier League, 7 points clear of cross town rivals Manchester City. Manchester United seem to be rolling, but a lack of defensive discipline could kill their title hopes. Having conceded their biggest amount of goals at this point in the season, and with goalkeeper David de Gea looking dreadful at times, Manchester United have relied on the strike force of Chicharito, Danny Welbeck, Wayne Rooney, and superstar signing Robin van Persie. Leading the league in goals, RVP seems to have picked up where he left off last season, on pace to score another 30 goals this season. United need to sharpen up their defense if they hope to survive comfortably in the second half of the season, but need not worry too much as long as van Persie and Rooney can keep scoring at the rate they are now.