The 200 best players in the world: 55 - 51

At last I reach the top 50.

Unfortunately as announced earlier I didn't have any much time to update the list during August and the time I have now as I've also said I want to use instead (transfer window closed and all) writing some fashionable late team reports/previews on what's still the new season.

So definitely not a massive Serie A preview team by team report like last year but rather do several interesting (mostly top I guess) teams from different leagues. Mainly Italy, England, Spain and Germany.

Right now there is an international break of course (where I'm personally looking forward to talented Belgium against Germany tomorrow) and I think it's a good time then to try and squeeze as many club previews in as possible (which as these things go could end up being not many at all - we shall see) before the leagues get started again and/or I get tired of it, where I'll then immediately will seek to continue and (finally) finish the list.

Right now I have to say though that the new season is a lot more interesting for me than the good old list anyway (I hardly even do changes any more either which is a massive change from earlier) which hopefully will also result in some decent productivity.

Which teams will be first? I have no idea!

Good suggestions are welcome.

Introduction to the list

200 - 101 (and every writeup+honorary mentions)

100 - 95
100: Jose Bosingwa - Chelsea - Portugal
99: André-Pierre Gignac - Toulouse - France
98: Andrés Guardado - Deportivo La Coruna - Mexico
97: Ricardo Carvalho - Chelsea - Portugal and Rio Ferdinand - Manchester United - England
96: John Terry - Chelsea - England
95: Mark Van Bommel - Bayern München - The Netherlands
94-83
94: Alejandro "Chori" Dominguez - Valencia - Argentina
93: Claudio Marchisio - Juventus - Italy
92: Michael Carrick - Manchester United - England
91: Darren Fletcher - Manchester United - Scotland
90: Miralem Pjanic - Lyon - Bosnia-Herzegovina
89: Santi Cazorla - Villarreal - Spain
88: Samir Nasri - Arsenal - France
87: Luis Suarez - Ajax - Uruguay
86: Mario Balotelli - Inter - Italy
85: Alberto Gilardino - Fiorentina - Italy
84: James Milner - Aston Villa - England
83: Mikel Arteta - Everton - Spain
82-77
82: Thierry Henry - Barcelona - France
81: Thomas Müller - Bayern München - Germany
80: Ivica Olic - Bayern München - Croatia
79: Branislav Ivanovic - Chelsea - Serbia
78: Nemanja Vidić - Manchester United - Serbia
77: Giorgio Chiellini - Juventus - Italy
76-68
76: Marcos Senna - Villarreal - Spain
75: Lass Diarra - Real Madrid - France
74: Francesco Totti - Roma - Italy
73: Antonio Di Natale - Udinese - Italy
72: Emmanuel Adebayor - Manchester City - Togo
71: Mirko Vucinic - Roma - Montenegro
70: Antonio Valencia - Manchester United - Ecuador
69: David Pizarro - Roma - Chile
68: Dimitar Berbatov - Manchester United - Bulgaria
67-62
67: Juan Manuel Vargas - Fiorentina - Peru
66: Robinho - Manchester City - Brazil
65: Patrice Evra - Manchester United - France
64: Michel Bastos - Lyon - Brazil
63: Seydou Keita - Barcelona - Mali
62: Javier Zanetti - Inter - Argentina
61-56
61: Ashley Cole - Chelsea - England
60: Andrea Pirlo - Milan - Italy
59: Mario Gomez - Bayern München - Germany
58: Karim Benzema - Real Madrid - France
57: Zvjezdan Misimovic - Wolfsburg - Bosnia Herzegovina
56: Rafael Van der Vaart - Real Madrid - The Netherlands

55:

Michael Ballack

Bayer Leverkusen

Midfielder - Germany





One of the best midfielders in the world for the last decade is back at Leverkusen where he got his big breakthrough more than 10 years ago.

Ballack even at his best was never flashy but as effective a player as almost any. His power, stamina combined with intelligence, considerable skills (passing, first touch as well as shooting) plus aerial ability made him able to excel anywhere from commanding play in central midfield to provide bundles of goals in the final third.

With great consistency that was all showcased time and time again in Germany. Whether for Leverkusen, Bayern or the Nationalmannschaft, Ballack was the unquestionable leader and mostly the best player too, and with a big ego to go along with all the ability he was in many ways yet another traditional almost imperious German football Kapitän. Just the way they seem to like them.


Then when Ballack moved to Chelsea as a 29 year old veteran much of the same was expected but never quite materialized itself with the same consistency. First of all there were injuries, second there were other midfielders so excellent that Ballack wasn't the talisman, more like a very good role player in fact, and that one of those midfielders Frank Lampard shared many of Ballack's characteristics while almost never missing a game, meant that Ballack for Chelsea never became the dominant midfielder everyone had grown used to.

It's interesting I think, that at least before physical decline really set in for Ballack, that Chelsea had perhaps the 3 most effective midfielders in the world at their disposal, Lampard, Essien and Ballack but in a classic case of there can only be so many chefs, some saw their roles reduced on a regular basis.

For Essien - at least when he wasn't totally wasted playing defender (ugh) - that wasn't a problem because even though the two-way ability has always been there clear as a bright day, he is of course as everyone knows superb and fully comfortable, indeed one of the very best defensive midfielders in the world, fully fine with being more selective with his powerful forward runs.

For Ballack however, at least in the early Chelsea days, still with so much to offer in and around the box, not being the key part of the attacking game that he always had been, must have been some adjustment.

Maybe you could even say that it was when the adjustment took place naturally, Ballack losing the power to be dominant at the highest level, that he was at his best for Chelsea. Providing the most value. With Essien desperately unlucky with injuries and Mikel with moments of liability never quite taking command of defensive midfield, it was Ballack who with good distribution and intelligent defending (and some attacking too at times) in a deeper role provided much needed consistency from there on the way to his first league title in England, enjoying what I thought was a very good season.

For the national team during World Cup qualification similar took place. Gone was the box to box goalscoring talisman and instead we saw a defensive controlling midfielder fulfilling his role very well. Particularly impressive was his performances in what I think counts as only two or three games in the last four years where I've seen Germany play defensive, the games against Hiddink's Russia, eeking out a couple of close victories.

Injury of course put a stop to that and with an even stronger defensive midfield emergence coming from younger countryman Bastian Schweinsteiger last season, performing brilliantly, it will be interesting if there is still room for the self proclaimed STILL captain on the German national team.

Even if different because the emergence of an actual German number 10 playmaker in Mesut Özil has made the old Ballack role sort of go away, there is of course even a new superb German two-way, box to box player really coming into his own in Sami Khedira (who I now would rank just inside the top 50 I think), so it's not like that position is anything near being a clear pathway back into the team for Ballack either.

At Leverkusen the early perhaps too ambitious signaled intent is not to put a straitjacket on Ballack and play him in his recent holding role but rather wish for the old Ballack being a key player, in attack as well.
There is no doubt Ballack is still skilled and strong but whether he still (maybe in the Bundesliga?) will have the engine for box to box play with real impact definitely remains to be seen.

54:

Aaron Lennon

Tottenham

Winger - England



Still only 23 Lennon began last season sensationally, showing I thought, consistently a higher level than ever before and in full flow fully delivering on the great promise he had shown years earlier.

His great pace and skill with the ball meant games where he was almost unstoppable to the point where was actually one of the best players in the league, game in and game out providing high class differencemaking, and when Tottenham's best player Luka Modric got injured already in August, not least Lennon (while not forgetting the other Spurs players who made the list or Bale the notable) helped carry the team to impressive victories.

Also very impressive to me nowadays is when a winger is comfortable in a 4-4-2 rather than the mostly more modern winger friendly 4-2-3-1.

For Tottenham when it's mostly playing with two outright strikers not helping out defensively to any great effect, it's good to see a smaller not very strong but very much fast and skilled type of player like Lennon mostly very comfortable, working hard, both when his team is in possession and when it's time to defend and cover his wing position making up/playing his part in the two defensive chains of four in the 4-4-2.

A lot of wing type of players would not be comfortable in a 4-4-2 with the defensive requirements of the current day player and in order to line up well defensively without the ball need the extra midfielder (over a striker) for protection and for the team to make up the needed defensive numbers. Contrary to formations with the extra striker on board where it's the opposite with the real danger there of actually taking away from the defensive numbers and potentially, if not very rigid (where it can still be a very effective defensive system) or with strong defensive play in positions where it perhaps isn't common, run the great risk of getting outnumbered when up against the very common five man midfield formations.

I can only really remember one game last season where Lennon in the Spurs 4-4-2 (Redknapp did actually change systems against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea) were given a runaround by a more flexible system. It was against Manchester United who with a curious almost wingless lineup and a midfield of Giggs, Scholes, Fletcher and Anderson, then Rooney as usual being everywhere, with outnumbering then fully in place made it very easy, for not least Giggs and Scholes with their quality passing, to make the Spurs midfielders resemble, at times, yes headless chickens.

Tottenham of course still do face plenty of 4-4-2s in England and in a battle of those, with their quality (not least superior two-way play from Modric, Palacios and Bale) will mostly prevail, but as already speculated heavily on by many people, what is going to happen in the Champions League when instead mostly up against different systems, not least the 4-4-2-unfriendly 4-2-3-1. That of the extra midfielder.

Of course numbers on their own don't say a whole lot necessarily and everything depends on different player characteristics making up those very numbers but any two of the Defoe/Crouch/Pavluchenko three starting, could make Spurs vulnerable against the typical 4-2-3-1s and it will be very interesting how well they (and Lennon facing this challenge) deals with it.

Ideally a striker upgrade fully able to spearhead a 4-2-3-1 and make the people around him better would have been brought in by now (say Fabiano who instead renewed his contract at Sevilla) but another option could actually be another very good attacking midfielder, one so good that he and what is already in place, will give a lone Spurs striker such good working conditions that the job just might end up being one that can be overcome.

Currently there are rumors of Rafael Van der Vaart in what would be a very late (maybe too late!) transfer deadline deal.

Could formations with both him and Modric + the impressive supporting cast in what has to be said is just a very strong midfield, be so good that one of the aforementioned Spurs striker trio could do, what's not really obvious capabilities when looking at them, a good enough job as a lone striker?

Crouch to me doesn't bring enough goalscoring, let alone when alone, and while I like his play together with a co striker I'm not sure his play working with midfielders is good enough. Defoe certainly brings the goalscoring but teamwork isn't good enough if we're talking the highest level and he just needs someone consistently close to him to find the space near goal that he then is really good at taking advantage of sniper style.

All in all Spurs current best bet might just be Pavluchenko then. I'm not sure that's entirely positive, again someone like Fabiano undoubtedly would have been much better, but he does have the physicality that Defore doesn't and a drive that Crouch can only dream of.
For the completeness that's actually there in the Pavluchenko body he could still just not be quite good enough in all his positive areas when at the highest level, but an excellent midfield might just lift him. Just enough. I definitely think it's worth a try (it's not easy to imagine VdV in a 4-4-2 anyway). At least in the Champions League.



For Lennon (yes back to him) a late December injury put a stop to his excellence and when he eventually came back he never really found the great form again. Including like many others at the World Cup.

I suppose there is a danger that I've been too quick to forget less good Lennon spells, including curiously enough under ex Spurs manager Ramos in systems on paper at least more suited for a modern winger, and that I became more than a bit blinded by a great spell of Lennon magic in the more traditional fast paced British 4-4-2 under Redknapp and his positive impact (in contrast to Ramos) with a more (much more) classic British style of football managing. On and off the field.

This season should tell a lot. Not just whether if Lennon can keep it up, but the club as well on two fronts, and the new physical, mental and tactical challenges that comes with it.

Will be interesting to watch.

53:

Andrei Arshavin

Arsenal

Attacking midfielder/Forward - Russia



An enigmatic player if there ever was one who's incredible attacking talent (control, dribbling, pace, balance, shooting, passing) suggests an even higher ranking but who's actual performances (especially last season) too often could justify a lower one.

He has supreme technical skills and explosive pace. And even if pictures such as the one below would suggest an athlete perhaps not always in the greatest physical shape when compared to others at this level he does have this mysterious often phenomenal but of course also undefinable 'Russia strength' and his balance for an example is very impressive.



But is Arshavin an intelligent man or football player I should say since that is what's more relevant here?



For both Arsenal (before that Zenit) and the Russian national team he would be a part of, even instigate, whether through clever movement delicate touches, passing combinations at such a high level that without to some extent great vision and football intelligence you wouldn't think it possible, yet his decision making at times is horrid and perhaps at best very erratic. He will create a shot for himself when it's the worst option or simply, as has become quite the worrying trend, the wrong kind of shot. For an example the most difficult option always. Like top corner always, MUST
HIT IT!



So to the disappointment of many (including me) after some scintillating displays early in his Arsenal career, last season was too hit and miss from Arshavin.
It's difficult to say if it's mental or tactical. Tactically I think he is someone who needs a good centre-forward in the middle to work with from out left and in key moments of faltering last season Arsenal (and Arshavin) didn't have that with neither Van Persie, or Bendtner for that matter starting, in the 2-0 and 3-0 defeats against Chelsea or the 3-1 defeat to Manchester United. In fact in two of those games it was Arshavin who found himself playing a middle striker role on right top, where he just isn't at his best.

In contrast compare Arsenal's (and Arshavin's I think as well) performances in the earlier 2-1 defeat to Manchester United with Van Persie in the middle and Arshavin to the left, and it was much better in what was a game they could actually have won versus the complete opposite during the course of the 3-1 defeat where they were completely outplayed and outrun.

Signing someone like Marouane Chamakh therefore was a must and with both Bendtner and Van Persie in early season injury trouble, to keep the consistent point collecting going, he is already very needed.

Arshavin is someone who clearly needs good company.



52:

Juan Manuel Mata

Valencia

Winger/Attacking midfielder - Spain



In a long line of young skilled attacking Spanish players to emerge in recent years Mata is good enough to be a standout.

On the wing of course he has plenty of pace, that's just a must, and especially with the ball and the pace his control enables him to maintain with it is impressive.

While Mata has very good technical skills, including dribbling, he first and foremost make the right decisions. That's far from always looking for a dribble, a shot or flashy trickery so he is not one to constantly try to beat his man or go for crosses. Rather he participates very well in attacks and often it's him in the end who with a great run into the box with or without the ball is the recipient of a scoring chance where he is a good finisher.

That's another impressive thing, he is effective both in the wing role and when central whether more as an attacking midfielder or almost second striker at times.
Both places with hard work, skills, movement and exemplary team work, knowing his role and the others.

I have a feeling he is complete enough to maybe even deserve a higher ranking but this season should tell us a lot about how good at 22 years of age that he really is. With Valencia's two biggest stars, Villa and Silva, gone, it's now Mata who looks to become the attacking center piece. Perhaps not even on the wing but in Silva's old more or less free playmaker role with a lot of the attack going through him.
I'm actually not sure Mata has the creativity and excellent passing to do that on the highest level, if I thought that, he should probably be ranked many places higher. Higher than Silva still to come on the list for starters, since Mata is more consistent, versatile, has better teamwork, defensively as well, and it will be very interesting to see if he can rise to the challenge.

No matter if he reaches that next level (this season) or not, Mata is already an excellent skilled versatile intelligent team player who will be great for many years to come. Fully worthy of a very good ranking.


51:

Javier Mascherano

Barcelona

Defensive midfielder - Argentina



Defensive master like few others. Mascherano has great work rate and tackling ability and during his time at Liverpool was a key player in some of the best defensive performances in recent years.

With his excellent defensive qualities but limitations in contributing going forward in almost any way, he in many ways embodied a Liverpool team that especially in the Champions League against good technical sides gained the reputation of maybe the toughest matchup around.

In the Premier League it was often similar, and at least (to some extent) until Xabi Alonso especially in his final year took his play to another level, it was a side you'd often see struggling to get enough going in attack to put away the same smaller sides the other top teams took care of mostly with ease, while against the very top teams you could see Benitez Liverpool compete at a very high level.

It's really no secret what Mascherano does well. He is an enforcer or spoiler if you will who knows every trick in the book (who won't hesitate to use them either) and whether his defensive job, and it is always a defensive job for Mascherano, is tight tactical defending holding together the midfield chains (straight lines Benitez style, notice his obsessive hand gestures signaling this to his players constantly throughout every game) and defending his zone or if it's more aggressive pressure, battling to win the midfield, winning tackles in the process, Mascherano will do as great a job as anyone out there.

What's most impressive about his work is his range of defending I think. Not meant like he gets out of position, that would be as bad for him as it would a centre-back, but in the concentrated area that is central midfield he really does seem to be able to do more defensively in more places more often than perhaps anyone else out there.

On this list in many ways (like on the pitch actually) Mascherano where he ended up (fitting I think right before the top 50) became sort of the ultimate defensive block for the attacking players. Or for that matter the best players with something to offer both defensively and going forward. The one defensive specialist that only the most special players would be able to go past up the list. The one excellent defensive player, providing us with one final defensive stand where even small chinks in the (attacking player's) armor, or a few questionmarks here and there, like with Arshavin and his consistency, would be enough to stop the rise up the list and instead get to be - ranked behind
Mascherano.

The 200 best players in the world: 138 - 135

This without a doubt is the entry featuring the highest average age.

Introduction to the list

The list:

New order

200-195
200: Alberto Zapater - Genoa - Spain
199: Nikola Zigic - Valencia - Serbia
198: Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid - Spain
197: Lucio - Inter - Brazil
196: John Obi Mikel - Chelsea - Nigeria
195: Sergio Busquets - Barcelona - Spain
194-193
194: Philippe Mexes - Roma -France
193: Anatolij Tymoshchuk - Bayern München - Ukraine
192-189
192: Theo Walcott - Arsenal - England
191: Aaron Ramsey - Arsenal - Wales
190: Pepe - Real Madrid - Portugal
189: Sergei Semak - Rubin Kazan - Russia
188
188: Alberto Aquilani - Liverpool - Italy
187-185
187: Clarence Seedorf - Milan - Holland
186: Diego Capel - Sevilla - Spain
185: Yossi Benayoun - Liverpool - Israel
184-182
184: Riccardo Montolivo - Fiorentina - Italy
183: Kolo Toure - Manchester City -Côte d'Ivoire
182: Yuri Zhirkov - Chelsea - Russia
181-177
181: Martin Demichelis - Bayern Munich - Argentina
180: Marouane Fellaini - Everton - Belgium
179: Cristian Zapata - Udinese - Colombia
178: Tim Cahill - Everton - Australia
177: Paul Scholes - Manchester United - England
176-173
176: Arda Turan - Galatasaray - Turkey
175: Ezequiel Lavezzi - Napoli - Argentina
174: Klaas Jan Huntelaar - AC Milan - The Netherlands
173-170
173: William Gallas - Arsenal - France
172: Shaun Wright Phillips - Manchester City - England
171: Pavel Pogrebnyak - VBF Stuttgart - Russia
170: Darijo Srna - Shakhtar Donetsk - Croatia
169-167
169: Bojan Krkic and Pedro - Barcelona - Spain
168: Ronaldinho - AC Milan - Brazil
167: Tranquillo Barnetta - Bayer Leverkusen - Switzerland
166-163
166: Stiliyan Petrov - Aston Villa - Bulgaria
165: Amauri - Juventus - Brazil
164: Dirk Kuyt - Liverpool - The Netherlands
163: Bruno Alves - FC Porto - Portugal
162-160
162: Lorik Cana - Sunderland - Albania
161: Carlton Cole - West Ham - England
160: Lukas Podolski - FC Köln - Germany
159-155
159: Felipe Melo - Juventus - Brazil
158: Craig Bellamy - Manchester City - Wales
157: Simon Kjaer and Daniel Agger - Palermo and Liverpool - Denmark
156: Alessandro Nesta -Milan-Italy
155: Aly Cissokho - Lyon -France
154-152
154: Walter Samuel - Inter - Argentina
153: Diego Lugano - Fenerbahce - Uruguay
152: Mauro Zarate - Lazio - Argentina
151-148
151: Sebastian Giovinco - Juventus and Luca Cigarini - Napoli - Italy
150: Taye Taiwo - Marseille - Nigeria, Rod Fanni - Rennes and Benoit Tremoulinas - Bordeaux - France
149: Domenico Criscito - Genoa - Italy
148: Fernando Llorente - Atletic Bilbao - Spain
147-144
147: Juan Roman Riquelme, Juan Sebastian Veron, Lucho Gonzalez, Pablo Aimar and Javier Pastore - Argentina
146: Alexis Sanchez - Udinese - Chile
145: Tom Huddlestone - Tottenham - England
144: Gerard Pique - Barcelona - Spain
143-139
143: Raul Meireles, Porto - Joao Moutinho - Miguel Veloso, Sporting Lissabon - Portugal
142: Bacary Sagna - Arsenal - France
141: Eljero Elia - Hamburger SV - Netherlands
140: Marko Marin - Werder Bremen - Germany
139: Giuseppe Rossi - Villarreal - Italy

138:

Raul

Real Madrid

Forward - Spain


and

Ruud Van Nistelrooy

Hamburger SV

Striker - Netherlands




That at 32 years of age there are several much better strikers than Raul, club and country, doesn't make him a bad player.

The previous seasons when he was relative healthy and unlike now actually started games Raul proved that he is still a really good goalscorer netting 20+ in both of those seasons.

This season however he has only started 8 games in La Liga and there are even rumors he'll be leaving Real Madrid at the end of the season. On the one hand if he feels he still has something to offer (and my ranking would suggest so!) I can understand if he wants to go somewhere he can get more playing time, but of course on the other hand anything than having this unique (especially post-Bosman) undisputed legend/champion/symbol finish his career at the club where he since the age of 17 earned that status, just seems wrong.

Raul still has that will to win and technique that for years made him one of the best in the world but the pace that is so needed to go along with that is if not lost then definitely diminished.
He'll still work hard off the ball in the attacking midfield area but with the ball these days he doesn't have the pace to be an effective player there and even though his team work is as great as always he's never been what you would call a great creative player when removed from his striker position, which several coaches did over the years.
No these days once and for all his effectiveness has been reduced to the box area and even there with less pace, individually he just can't create like he used to (for an example his own shot so to speak) and is much more dependent of the work of others compared to back when he was at his best.

Now that's not a disaster or anything, it's the reality for most players, strikers too, it just means that Raul at 32 years of age is far removed from the excellent level the likes of Higuain, Torres or David Villa currently are displaying.

Doesn't make him a bad player.

Then what about the man they called horse-face?

Ruud Van Nistelrooy who I confess is a last second entry, thought of in the middle of the Ze Roberto writeup, the last of its kind definitely, who wasn't anywhere near the list when I first compiled it and didn't even get much closer through one adjustment after another. Is he a bad player cause with age he is having an increasingly hard time staying healthy?

Yes health is a skill and if your health is bad it seriously hurts your value to your team and naturally your rank on this list. In Nistelrooy's case so bad it meant he almost didn't make it.

However what he brings when he plays, all in all I think is just enough to justify including him. Justify a much higher placing than this with so few games under his belt in the last couple of seasons, absolutely not, but here at 138 with another former great player both spiraling down the ranks? It made sense to me at least, so here he is. I do feel bad about having him ahead of the top ranks in the new order but that's the case with a lot of players.

Why he is on I'm sure is known to anyone reading this. It's the same reason it's always been with Ruud. The only difference is the massive negative that is his health, but as usual when where and whenever he plays, he is an amazing goalscorer. Right up there with the best in the world and very few can even rival his work in the box where he just continues to be extraordinary.

I'm not saying even when healthy he is as good as he used to be. Serious injuries has robbed him of the pace that made him close to unstoppable for PSV and the first seasons for Manchester United where you would even see him dribble and create goals on his own machine-like, but strength, placement and finishing skills in the box have made sure that despite all the injuries whenever he has played the goals would always come.

And they'll keep coming I predict, which also has to do with him being included. After rehabbing like a man possessed to continue his career he found himself way down the pecking order when he finally did come back at Real Madrid. The situation Raul is also in. Nistelrooy however got out and has landed in what I think is a very good situation in Hamburg, both for him and his new team.

With a lot of attacking midfield and forward talent already in place, some to be found on this list, a great presence in the box is exactly what Hamburg needed. And for Nistelrooy what better way to enjoy the last time of his career than in an attacking league with the kind of service that almost guarantees a striker as good as him to rain in the goals. In the process it might even land him a World Cup spot and national team comeback?

The great challenge won't be scoring, that comes easy to Ruud Van Nistelrooy, it will be staying healthy.

137:

Konstantin Zyryanov

Zenit Saint Petersburg

Midfielder - Russia



I just couldn't let go of including this wonderful player on the list and the only reason he is not ranked higher is some last minute restraint.

The Russian Premier League players are hard to rank since it's not a league I watch other than in glimpses. Glimpses only occurring when national icon Michael Laudrup takes the Spartak hotseat and whaddayaknow suddenly football from Russia was on danish television! That didn't last very long though and here I am back in the dark.

There is no doubt though that it's a league that's become stronger and stronger for quite a while now. That obviously wouldn't happen without many good players so not having any on the list would seem like a mistake.

I included Rubin Kazan captain Sergei Semak as sort of a cadeau to that team's success and at the time of writing the great job they did against the best team in the world, Barcelona.

To be fair though Russia has a number of central midfielders at a similar level who would have a decent case for one of the lower places and then there is Ruben Kazan's best player and unanimous 2009 player of the year in Russia, Alejandro Dominguez, who has since perhaps unwisely switched to forward rich Valencia, he is someone who is still to come on the list.

2008 player of the year Zhirkov (Zyryanov incidentally was 2007) I included when he was yet to make his Chelsea debut and in the new order have him at 176. Likewise tank center forward Pogrebnyak also having his first season outside of Russia, he too made the list.

Other high profile former successful Russian premier league strikers with good cases are Vagner Love and Roman Pavluchenko. The latter was coming of a terrible start for his new club Tottenham and under new manager Harry Redknapp was yet to be given much of a chance. That has since changed and if I was to include him right now I think he could go as high as 160-159-158, or something like that.

If it was 2008 Vagner Love would be hard to overlook but if as he apparently did, started to slump or play bad in what is still a non top league, I don't think you should be included on this list.
Instead with seemingly almost every decent Brazilian player going the opposite direction he made his way back to his home country where of course I have even less of an idea how he is doing. Therefore all in all no Vagner Love on this list!

But of course these are all former Russian Premier League stars which I guess is pretty telling. It's when they leave we get a chance to watch them after all. Just think about how many years the highest ranked Russian player on this list, Arshavin played without getting noticed outside of Russia and Zyryanov (who I will get back to!) even worse sadly "already" 32 years of age and soon, if not already, declining, him I only got to see when Zenit started outplaying teams in Europe in 2007 and the national team under Hiddink finally stopped under achieving that same period.
Take this quote from Arsene Wenger about Arshavin (who he would later sign of course) during EURO 2008:

"Russia is the only country where a guy like him comes to the attention of the world at the age of 27. Suddenly, you discover him. It's not possible. You know every 21-year-old in France, Germany, Italy etc, but in this case we knew his name – but we had to see him play in a tournament like this."

But what about the current best players (other than Zyryanov!)?

Well other than Rubin Kazan who I've already covered and where Semak was also named defensive midfielder of the year, the obvious place to look would be CSKA Moscov who are enjoying a great Champions League run but then as these things often go had a subpar league run, finishing 5th.
The main creative force on that team seems to be Milos Krasic and it's possible he could end up as one of the big omissions on this list but from limited viewing he is still not a player I have a great idea of and how good really is. Other possible stars of the future would be Keisuke Honda and former Russian young player of the year, still only 19, Alan Dzagoev.

Back in their defense however I'm a little upset I missed out on what could have been the most correct shared ranking of all had I just included identical twin beasts Aleksei and Vasili Berezutski.

Also in defense quickly establishing himself as one of the better left-backs in the league 18 year old Georgi Schennikov looks really good especially going forward in a Zhirkov kind of way but has big holes in his defensive game.

Perhaps it should also be noted that Krasic wasn't even the best right winger in the RPL last season.
That honor goes to pacy Vladimir Bystrov who played a big part in Spartak Moscow's resurrection from recent nightmares and tellingly he was also the most fouled player in the whole league.
In the middle of Spartak's run though he would make an in season 15 million euro switch to Zenit (yes lots of money in Russian football), the club where he started his career. There his great form continued, maybe even improved, but I've seen some reports that it was that switch which cost him the player of the year award that instead went to Dominguez.

Zenit this season (just starting in Russia) managed by former Roma 4-6-0 revolutionary Luciano Spalletti, will have both Bystrov and Zyryanov (as well as Denisov who is another very good looking player AS WELL AS former Torino best well kept secret -actual good playmaker- Alessandro Rosina) and if I was in any way religious I'd be saving a little prayer that they'll get through Champions League qualification so we get to see whatever comes out of this very intriguing mix. As well as getting to see wonderful play from Zyryanov for perhaps the final time.

Thankfully indications are that he is still going strong. He was named left midfielder of the year for starteres! A place where I haven't seen him play all that much but he is a very versatile player and with Bystrov checking in on the right that's where we'll see him from now on I guess.

Zyryanov with his great stamina and work rate he has been able to take care of central midfield work throughout his career and with his vision, intelligence and ball control he'll also create from attacking midfield whether it's on the wing or central.

Zyryanov (Zyrianov or Zuruanov, I'm seeing all three out there) is a unique mix of complete central midfielder, wing and playmaker all rolled into one great player.

136:

Simon Rolfes

Bayer Leverkusen

Midfielder - Germany



The Leverkusen captain has really struggled with injuries lately and is having to come back from knee surgery twice between last season and now.
He started this season well enough and early on was another great influence in steering Leverkusen to the top of the Bundesliga table but then injury reappeared and late January he underwent a second knee operation.

That these troubles after years of game in game out service have surfaced during a World Cup year of course makes it extra bitter for Rolfes and I wonder if his place in the squad, let alone as the starting central midfielder he was establishing himself as, isn't now in serious danger.

Recent German national team central midfield mainstay Torsten Frings is long gone from contention, coach Joachim Löw has made that clear some time ago, but there is still plenty of competition from old names and new.
If we start with the oldest first, Michael Ballack, has slowly but surely seen the more defensive midfield roles mastered at Chelsea find their way onto the national team as well and even the younger but still national team veteran, Sebastian Schweinsteiger, for club team at least, is occupying more of a central midfielder role than before this season at Bayern München and doing well.

The most interesting of the younger names such as Sami Khedira and especially the more attacking midfielders such as Mesut Özil, Toni Kroos and the versatile Thomas Müller aren't direct competition for Rolfes, but they're still players it would (or should!) be tempting to make room for various places in the attacking midfield, by placing certain starters Ballack and Schweinsteiger further back.



To describe what Rolfes bring to the team I like this quote that I found from Raphael Honigstein:

Sometimes you feel that German football specifically invented this type of player to lull the competition into a false sense of security before a tournament ("They've got who in midfield? Ha, ha, ha. Oh bugger, they're in the semis again").

It might not look impressive, the balance his teamwork brings to a team but it's valuable.

Most impressive is probably Rolfes stamina that has to be one of the best around and it makes sense that he is known as a workhorse also when it comes to training. If that stamina and the impressive work rate and ground covered that comes with it is the reason he can do his job without being a so called "midfield destroyer" I don't know, but much more important anyway than flying around in tackles is being in the right defensive position. Actually if you do too much of the first it could easily be a sign of the latter lacking. That's not the case with Simon Rolfes and that's a good thing.

He isn't just a runner though but has enough skills to be a good two way player and perhaps most noteworthy his nice first touch passing game that's very valuable to the players mostly in front of him.

If it wasn't for his current injury problems he would be ranked higher and both Leverkusen and Germany will be better with a healthy Simon Rolfes.


135:

Ze Roberto

Hamburger SV

Midfielder - Brazil



A long time ago when he first arrived in Europe, Ze Roberto was a left-back and if I remember correctly at the time Brazil's second choice at that position.

Of course it just happened to be so that the team who signed him Real Madrid in their typical way of doing things not so sensible when it comes to transfers had already secured Brazil's undisputed number one at that position none other than Roberto Carlos.
Carlos of course would go on to have a great career at Real Madrid before losing his speed and towards the end fading badly.
Ze Roberto on the other hand went on to only play a handful of games for Madrid cause there just wasn't room for him, but perhaps in part thanks to Roberto Carlos stronghold of the left-back position, sought new territory in midfield, central and wing, and is still going strong now 13 years later aged 35.

Unbelievably after Ze Roberto left Real Madrid they signed another one of the best left-backs at the time Croatian Robert Jarni who had been excellent for years but also found himself behind Carlos.

Anyway to get back on track Ze Roberto has had a good long career in Germany with many seasons in both Leverkusen and Bayern München where he won four championships and over the years has even amassed 84 Brazil caps.

If this was last season where he was a most of the time starter on an underachieving Bayern side I probably would not have included an old player like Ze Roberto on this list and would question if he had that much more to offer at the highest level, but for his new team Hamburg he is having a very good season. Especially in the beginning he was quite sensational before getting injured but it's not like he is playing bad since coming back.

For a 35 year old he isn't slow but he is definitely more at ease in central attacking roles these days, and have been for a while, where he can exploit and find space not with great winger like pace, but through great technical skills and creativity. Those are definitely his main assets and always will be but to really function in a central midfield role, even if attacking, in a top European league, the work rate has to be there, defensively as well, and Ze Roberto still brings that which is impressive.

There was some controversy when he missed a mid-season training camp like Brazilians heading back to Europe after visiting home sometimes do, but the lazy Brazilian football player cliche isn't one you can put on Ze Roberto. He is in excellent condition and puts it to use.

The season so far. Part 1: The big 4 or 5

Time to take an in depth look at what I've watched so far of football this season.

After the very very time consuming Serie A preview I don't think it' a bad idea to start somwhere else entirely. So let's start in Engerland (england engerland)!

Top of the table we find Chelsea who is off to an impressive start.
I already wrote quite a bit about Chelsea after the first few games I watched them play this season and I think it's safe to say they've improved some since then.

In those entries I was quite critical at what I saw as some flaws that could prevent what is an excellent opportunity this year to win the title.
Much of that was some bad often slow passing distribution in central midfield when Mikel was playing the "bottom" of the Ancelotti diamond, and that resulting in the team having more difficulty than they should defending width.
Even against a team like Hull. Against Manchester United in the Charity Shield it's more understandable.

But since then it's mainly been the excellent Essien playing that role and the passing game has been quite fluent and more direct.
The ball gets to the opponent's penalty area mostly with relative ease and that's where I think Chelsea with a number of the players they have are a more dangerous team than possibly anyone in the world.
Quite simply if they consistently get the ball up there, either through someone in the diamond making a run forward, Drogba going a little back irresistibly seeking the ball or through their great fullbacks, they're very hard to stop and in the Premier League it's difficult to see who should actually.

And even when/if the notorious slow Mikel is in midfield (and he is a great physical talent who should get playing time) Ancelotti can still put someone like Deco at the top of the diamond and ensure quality distribution that way. Lampard and Ballack given certain roles can make quality contributions there as well though with a price to pay when it comes to their consistent excellent play in the final third.
A price that Hiddink for an example interestingly enough was willing to pay in some of his use of Ballack.

Now I will still maintain that Ancelotti's team is more vulnerable defensively than what we saw under Mourinho and also when Hiddink had them organized very well towards the end of last season, but the EPL is overall still by large (even with some recent examples and trends signalling some change) a league where it isn't "just" the most well balanced team that ends up winning but a great dominating attack too.

Yeah they give away quite a few quality chances these days but they're creating themselves in abundance and as long as that all important distribution to the final third is working smoothly that will continue, and they'll be a decent favorite over their on paper weaker this season, top four rivals.

Two of those rivals faced each other in one of the more interesting games of the EPL season so far.
Manchester United against Arsenal.

Unfortunately for Arsenal in that game they were missing Fabregas who isn't just their best player but one who much of the play is build around and the only one who can take it to a level high enough where the team can be consistently successful. Without him it's just a different team. Interesting then that if you compare to how they looked against United in some of the games last season, that they looked quite a bit better here.
One clear plus for Arsenal here that they didn't have when they faced eachother in the Champions League and United proved clearly the better team, was the addition of Arshavin who is an elite attacking talent, but alot of it, sadly for fans of the gunners, I'd definitely put down to what it was that United was missing compared to those games last year.
More on that later when we get to Manchester United.

It's positive though for Arsenal that their central midfielders weren't outworked and outrun like they were in some of those games last year and I think both Denilson and Song have shown improvements in their play this season.
Diaby too, eventhough he had his own personal disaster in this particular game looks like a better player than last year.
Something of course which simply is a must for a club like Arsenal heavily counting on young talent. They have to live up to their upside or it's just a waste.

In a way Arsenal have been unlucky or if you're a more mean spirited person you could say simply inadequate for not having more depth. Either way in their two toughest games of the season against the two Manchester teams they've been without first Fabregas against United and then Arshavin against City.

Personally I thought it was a real lack of flexibility to continue with the 4-3-3 against City if the two wide forwards were going to be Diaby and Bendtner.
That's bordering on simply ignoring your player's characteristics over the system. Conventional coaching wisdom would say that it's the players and their characteristics dictating what system to play and not the system the players.
It's nothing new of course, to do it like Wenger did this game. Countless of coaches have done the same and for one match only I'm sure there can be found arguments not to change things around.
Still, as the match showed. As a look at the City team sheet SHOULD show. This was a match against a world class opponent where things had to be optimal. BOTH Diaby and Bendtner on the wings in a 4-3-3 is hardly optimal.
And whether it was there specifically the match was lost or not, the result was City being the overall better balanced team on the day. That showed. On a more positive note, individually in central defense William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen are playing great, so right there is all the foundation Arsenal need for an excellent central defense partnership.

Overall they "just" need the team to be more consistently well balanced. When Fabregas and Arshavin are both there. When the players for an effective 4-3-3 are all in place, there are few problems and they're a very effective team who can steamroll lesser teams and look great while doing it. On the surface, the greatest outside mighty FC Barcelona even.
Not least it has to be said, since it's a pet peeve of mine, against annoying teams like Wigan who face the big teams well bend over before the game has even begun with their terrible naive tactics.
But all in all like I talked about in an earlier entry on Arsenal I think a version of the 4-3-3 over previous years 4-4-2 IS definitely the right step when trying to create a consistently effective attack and the more they can look for inspiration at Barcelona, and what they've been doing so great, the better too.
Some might say it's bordering on crazy talk but I'd maintain that Arsenal is the only team with a chance to get close to that. And considering just getting close is enough to better almost anyone, it's certainly something that's worth a shot.
The system change was the obvious step one but let's not forget the pieces already in place.
Starting with Fabregas they have the closest thing to Xavi there is. Someone who even does some things better and who is a must for a team aspiring for overwhelming possession against their opponents.
Without a Xavi or Fabregas type of player it just has no chance of being effective with how good team defending has become.Arsenal also arguably have the poor man's Messi in Arshavin. They share quite a few characteristics and it could even be argued, though I think there is a significant gap there, that they have a poor man's Iniesta in someone like Samir Nasri.
They even have a striker in Bendtner who can do the needed non-traditional decent job on one of the wings.
Where it then really falls apart is if someone like Diaby plays there. That is just very un-Barcelona like.

That brings me to the striker. Robbie Van Persie who suprisingly, it seems doesn't see a whole lot of criticism or face many questionmarks.
People love his speed and technique. And that's understandable but let me try and throw in what's not so great if you set the bar very high which it should be for a team trying to beat what at the top of the table are still the toughest league competition in the world.
And if you compare what he is doing to the kind of things that a Samuel Eto'o and now Zlatan Ibrahimovic does for Barcelona. The kind of things that Arsenal would need as well, from their lone central striker in a possession based 4-3-3.

I really question if Van Persie has the physical attributes to be really effective there when it isn't play in transition.
And if he doesn't then it's something that even affects him negatively when it comes to his actual strenghts. Like say, combining nicely with Fabregas or Arshavin and using his acceleration to feed off that. But when playing in the center often in narrow space and no real holes to accelerate into, the physical strenght is needed to even get to that, so to speak.

To his credit, even if I think he has a negative attitude sometimes, he has started to do more traditional striker kind of work, including better movement without the ball, which is essential when not an overly powerful striker, but when playing central on top it's just not quite there yet at a high enough level.
A lot of that I think would be helped and maybe even turned into a strenght if there was more switching positions in the forward line. Not just with Bendtner who can be more a traditional lone center forward but with Arshavin too.
Again the inspiration being Barcelona where Messi is often wildly effective switching with the striker and spending some time central and on top. Van Persie is more dangerous too when he isn't restricted to near the central defenders just outside or just inside the box.

Of course, one very obvious positive I found when I first saw the new Arsenal 4-3-3 with Van Persie playing central instead of Bendtner was that it simply made sense to have Van Persie getting all the good scoring chances Arsenal usually create instead of someone like Bendtner who whether it's fair or not has become quite infamous for some poor finishing.
Van Persie being there instead, that SHOULD mean more goals coming from there! RIGHT?

It's not like Van Persie isn't getting shots at goal either. I heard of one stat (I can't find it myself) that the announcer here mentioned the last time I watched Arsenal, where Van Persie was the player with the most shots on goal out of everyone in the league.

So i ask, with just one goal so far isn't Van Persie that much a superiour finisher anyway, OR is he just not getting the really good, the realistic scoring chances?

Either way, it's obviously a problem and I call for more flexibility in the forward line to try and solve it!

Manchester United have rebounded nicely from their early shock defeat against Burnley.

That very flukish defeat actually lead some doubters going way too far, and on the usually entertaining Guardian Football Weekly podcast one of the contributors (unfortunately I don't remember who it was exactly) even forecasted that United wouldn't finish in the top 4! That's either very bold or very silly more likely.

Like with Arsenal I refuse to hand out too much credit for beating stupid Wigan, but while ignoring the controversy, as someone who usually root against United I was very annoyed too, what I can do is give them credit for the second half against City.
It was classic Ferguson Manchester United play with great wing play and fullbacks pushing forward exactly where it hurt the most.
For Manchester City that was the right side with Wright Phillips and Micah Richards who were nothing short of fully exposed by the excellent Evra pushing Phillips way way back where he wasn't comfortable and Giggs being up to his old tricks against Richards, who judging by this might still best fulfill his potential as a central defender instead.While watching I was suprised that Hughes waited and waited without doing any adjustments whatsoever while United had clearly taken over the game creating tons of dangerous situations.
He had flirted with danger in some earlier games too where opponents also too easily created chances but at least there the City forwards were being very dangerous themselves. Despite their goals that wasn't really the case for most of the second half. This was a team dominating them and Hughes failed to come up with or try even, anything.

Overall with Manchester United the only thing I'm quite sure of is that they're weaker this season than the last couple of years. The reasons for that are pretty obvious. Not only have elite players gone and not really been replaced but with them various tactical options too.
To me the Tevez- C. Ronaldo - Rooney forward line looked pretty unstoppable and down through the chains it ensured an incredibly well balanced team who both attacked, not least on the counter, but starting with Rooney and Tevez defended really well too.

Rooney I think is a top 3 player in the world. Maybe even the second best after Messi. The good news for United is that he is still around. With him there is hope. But put him with an amazing attacking talent in C. Ronaldo and a player like Tevez who to a lesser extent does some of the same things both ways that Rooney does, and you have not just hope of great results, but certainty.

As a very non United fan I don't even like to think about it, but consider how close they were to winning both their very tough league and the Champions League two years in a row.
Think about what a great job of team defending Chelsea did on Barcelona in the semis. A job so good that I think most of the time it knocks that Barcelona side out. Then think about how Manchester United throughout the season had been the best defensive team. Better than Chelsea.
Consider the speed and counter attack options they had up front that Chelsea did not.

This is a post I wrote on a sports forum before the final:

United does have great individual talent defensively but from watching Barca so much this year I really think that any team not defending as a TEAM, on a scale similar to what Chelsea did, will be an underdog. You just cannot leave them space.
Hiddink is not exactly known for playing that defensive, ever, yet this was the one time where he felt it was a must. That alone says alot.

Now ignoring the question of whether they will actually go for it or not, I think United certainly could come close to do a similar great job of TEAM defending to what Chelsea did, they certainly did well the last time they faced eachother, Barca have of course improved since then, and if they combine that with their "deadliest" transition game in the world, THEN I think they'll be favorites.

But I don't think any team not heavily geared towards defending, is a favorite to resist Barca's talent when that talent almost inevitably will have 55+ pct of possession.

Did Ferguson for once get it wrong? If he has commented on it since, I'd love to see it.What I do know is that the Tevez-C.Ronaldo-Rooney forward line didn't start and what I kinda wanted to say I guess by going back to all of this, was just how freakish good this Manchester United team were and how very close they were to become one of the best teams in history.
Something Barcelona then took from them and might very well improve upon even, this season if, they repeat.

Like I said, this season, Manchester United, I don't see them as any potential best team in history or anything like that, they do however have the best two-way player in the world, Wayne Rooney to build around, a manager who knows how to win the Premier League like no one else, and last but not least some of the rivals DO look weaker too.

There is definitely hope for Manchester United.

For Manchester City, overall I'm not sure if teamwise I have that much to add from even the last time they came up on this blog when they beat Blackburn.

Playerwise I fully expected Adebayor to score lots of goals. I tipped some people to bet on him as a topscorer even, since I thought he was at worst a top 5 favorite while the bookmakers had him quite a bit further down. Even behind Michael Owen comically enough.

A positive suprise has been Craig Bellamy who isn't just scoring but working very hard a lot of places on the pitch.

And in midfield I like Nigel De Jong who adds some balance to the side. That will be very needed when someone like Robinho is back in the lineup.

Finally in "engerland" even if we may want to we can't forget about lovely little Liverpool.

This was a team who through preseason as I watched questionmarks creeping up on virtually all the other top four sides that I was starting to lean towards making my pick for the title.

Even if, and I know some people are convinced that was the case, Liverpool did indeed run good last season with some rather fortunate results along the way, I liked how under Benitez from year to year there were clear signs of improvement.

Every year under Benitez the goals against had been around the same number. 25, 27,28 and then 27 last season. But at the same time the goals scored had been going up every single year, from 57 and 57 to 67 and last season a league best 77 goals scored.

For a team and a coach who rarely compromises defensive stability in favour of the attacking side of things, for them to get to a point where they improve what mostly has been described as a key problem holding them back, to a league leading best, I thought that was quite a dramatic sign. A very positive sign.

Enter evil evil Real Madrid and them stealing key central midfielder Xabi Alonso.
Always a good technical player, under Benitez, Alonso's physical tools and tactical awareness had improved to such a point where he was becoming one of the best central midfielders in the world and certainly with another one of those, the superb Mascherano, made up one of the best central midfield tandems around.

A tandem that not only ensured Steven Gerrard could play his best in front of them behind Torres, but who made the defensive four look good to. Made their job easier.
And in the case of someone like Jamie Carragher, who's been struggling quite a bit this season, probably a whole lot easier.

Trying to fill his shoes has been young brazilian midfielder Lucas. I think the jury is still out of him and the first indication of him doing a sufficient job will be when the Liverpool defense starts looking consistently balanced again.
So far Carragher has been on his heels way too much and even the normaly excellent Mascherano has at times struggled with the same defensive duties where he normaly has thrived. Not good signs.

Alberto Aquilani who they bought from Roma is yet to play this season. He has been a great talent for many years but has been held back by a lot injuries.
At his best he'll likely have even more to offer forward than someone like Alonso and if Benitez like I think he will, it's what he did with Alonso and others, will have him improve his physical ability and defensive play, we could, barring injuries, see a truly great player sometime in the future.

Elsewhere Liverpool has perhaps the best pure striker in the world in Fernando Torres, a great mainly attacking midfielder in Steven Gerrard and a very good two-way player in Dirk Kuyt.

Like Manchester United, Liverpool have hope.


I hope to have a part II focusing on Italy and Spain a little later.

More EURO 2008 thoughts

So much has happened since my last entry that I'm not sure where to start even.

Well as I predicted in my last entry Russia beat Holland, and then what I unfortunately didn't make an entry about, but which I also predicted, Spain then beat Russia.
Both of these games were really good examples of how it's not only in boxing but very often in football as well, that styles make fights. A great example of it and one of my favorite figths right there^^

But I already went through in detail why I thought Holland didn't match up well with Russia and as far as the Spain-Russia match was concerned it's even more simple.
Russia and Spain basically share the same major strenghts but Spain just does everyone of those a little better and in such cases where you have no unique strenght, like for an example a great defensive organizaion, to counter the opponent's strenghts, you just share strongpoints but the opponent's are even stronger, things can very easily turn one sided.
Russia at this point just does not have the defensive quality or experience for that matter to resist a team with as much quality possession as Spain.
One thing Holland did do well against Russia was actually suprisingly keeping the majority of possession against them and by doing that in many ways delayed the inevitable but as they did so they sacrificed their normal high tempo resulting in not really troubling the normaly vulnerable Russian defence to the extent it was needed, except for on set pieces.
A lot of the time, unlike with Spain, the dutch possession wasn't high quality but really more geared towards somewhat spoiling the Russian high quality. Slowing them down.

Spain tonight of course was the exact opposite and when the deadly duo upfront was dissolved because of a David Villa injury, what replaced it when Fabregas entered was a midfield probably more capable than any other of very high quality possession.
I must admit the prospects of seeing Fabregas, Iniesta and Xavi work their passing magic together had me drooling and no they did not disappoint.
The only negative would have been if they had gone stale and settled for just passing the ball around but both Silva and especially Iniesta stepped up their game and provided plenty of deep runs forward to support Torres. Xavi of course had already done so with the goal.
Fabregas was everywhere and behind them, in front of a solid defence, Marcus Senna had yet another virtually perfect game.
There was just no way that Russia would resist this kind of quality.
In many ways their own fluid passing medicine shoved right down their collective throat.
And they couldn't. Just like in the first game, easy win for Spain.

But credit to Russia for a great tournament.
The Holland match was great drama and the football throughout a joy to watch.
Ukranian Lobanovsky who fathered the Soviet total football would have been proud.
This team was right in his spirit.



Then there is the other half of the draw. By the way I'm saving an entry on the Italian failure against Spain and Marcello Lippi returning as the coach for later.
But what can you even say about Turkey?
It seems forever ago that I wrote that they just could not keep escaping jail, yet this was exactly what they did against Croatia only to ironically have Germany pull a similar trick on them in what was yet another crazy drama filled match.
Not made any better by the tv signal going out everywhere.

Now I don't know if the German team had a blackout in this game but they really did suck in many ways.
The pressure 4-4-2 was once again dropped and it seemed the balance was nowhere to be found.
Ballack played sort of a free role behind Klose and in front of the two central midfielders but when he does that you sort of only get half of what he is so good at.
You take a lot of the steel out and you take a lot of the hard work out.
One thing was for sure. Even with a well populated midfield Germany was still getting run over the majority of the game. Definitely not something you've seen a lot in recent years.
Credit to Turkey who probably played their best game by far in the tournament and I thought especially Aurelio, Turkey's Senna, and the right sided fullback Sabri played great.
Sabri was just dynamite throughout, a cannonball, and actually outplayed probably the best leftback in the world Philipp Lahm, for most of the game.
Then Lahm, after being thoroughly owned when Turkey equalized, bouncing right back and in spectacular fashion scoring the winner was quite simply the stuff of legends.


Hopefully I won't be too lazy to write a finals preview where I think I'll salute the missing in action German 4-4-2, its Italian connections and why I have feeling it will be desperately needed in a final that before the tournament and following the Portugal game, I thought they would win, but now I'm not so sure of.