Sunday, February 24, 2008

weekend roundup

a disappointing weekend finally draws to a close. if you are in england, it can be aptly summarised as: a tale of two leftbacks. gael clichy singlehandedly opened the door for man u to keep up the pressure, while wayne bridge literally handed the carling cup to tottenham. the moment the penalty went in, i knew chelsea were never going to win the carling cup. you watch enough games to develop a natural instinct for the way things would go.

before you get it wrong, this is not part of the disappointment; whether spurs or chelsea win the carling cup is of no significance to me, even though chelsea winning it would mean spurs are all but out of europe next season and that would be something to smirk about. but then again, i would like to only focus on ourselves. even if man u get relegated, if we dun win the title, i dun see why i have a reason to smile. all too often, we forget that the one to beat is ourselves, the one to look at is ourselves.

valencia are forever mired in the middle of the la liga. maybe it is time to say goodbye to silva, villa and joaquin. and maybe vicente. massive disappointment because there is talent in the squad, especially attacking talent. it is the midfield that is not ticking: the two center mids cant get things going, cant give the ball to the attacking four.

ajax brought some cheer, with a 3-2 win at breda, but 9 points with 8 games to go is really a massive chasm. jonny heitinga never fails to impress me. i think as a defender, he has gotten quite a few important goals for ajax this season. that is the extra quality he brings to the team, a fighter through and through.

on a brighter note, J-League is starting again, after the fiasco that is the east asian champs. it is really time for japan to stop taking part in it, if taking part in it means getting insulted. the team conducted itself with dignity. but i feel sorry for the fans, who have gone there in good spirit, yet gone away abused.

i read somewhere about a chinese professor saying the future of east asia lies in the approach china takes. i fully agree. if one side doesnt want to take a step back, we will have no end of it. the sad thing is that it's probably only a minority.

one of the biggest transfers that din take place this close season is that of yosuke kashiwagi. good for the relegated sanfrecce, but in my opinion, for the good of japan, he should have gone to a bigger team. they keep saying he is young, but he is turning 21 this december. half a year younger than fabregas. it isnt fair to compare this way, but if you look at it, relatively speaking, shouldn't he, as one of japan's brightest talents be already called up to the national team, be playing some sort of role for a really big team, if not an important role? playing in the lower division and at u23 level will not speed up his development. the best young talents must already be up there rubbing shoulders with the veterans. if not at a top team, at least a middle team. certainly not in J2.

contrary to many J-League watchers, i think Urawa Reds won't come close to winning the title. 75% sure.

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