Match Bans for Two

For the first time in the long history of English soccer, players were being punished for words that were spoken on the field. It was surprising to see that two world class players have been accused of racially abusing other players. Liverpool's Uruguayan striker, Luis Suarez has been handed an eight-match ban and a 40,000 pound fine by the Football Association after being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra. Chelsea's England defender, John Terry, was also accused of racially abusing  a player, Queens park Ranger's defender, Anton Ferdinand and was handed a one match ban. FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, set off a wave of outrage last month by claiming that racist abuse does not exist on the soccer field and suggests that any incidents should be settled by a handshake at the end of a match but I guess that didn't solve these problems.

Luis Suarez, 24, clashed with France defender, Patrice Evra, during a 1-1 draw at Liverpool's Anfield stadium on October 15th. Even though Suarez denied these allegations, there has been weak evidence against him to punish him. His manager, Kenny Dalglish was very surprised by the decision and said he was going to support him throughout the investigation. Suarez's club, Liverpool, has questioned whether the FA intend to charge Evra who also insulted Suarez in Spanish. There is a video of Suarez and Evra talking to each other multiple times in the match but it doesn't show that Suarez is guilty. Evra quoted after the match, " There are cameras, you can see Suarez say a certain word to me at least 10 times." Although The Professional Footballers' Association thinks that they have made the right decision, they clearly have no right to give such a long ban for a racial slur that they don't even know is genuine or not.

John Terry, 31, has also been accused of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand toward the end of the October 23rd match which was broadcasted throughout the world. The video showed him yelling two words and the word "black". Although Terry denies having said a racist remark, he vows to fight tooth and nail to prove his innocence. Ferdinand has not said anything after the match and it will be difficult for Terry to represent England for international football since he often partners up with Ferdinand's brother, Rio in defense. It will be difficult for him to be captain of Chelsea and England since this allegation will hurt his public image drastically.

The decisions taken on these two players, Terry and Suarez, promoted chaos throughout England since both cases don't provide definite evidence showing that these players have actually said what they have been framed for. I think that these players should be set free because there have been no comments from people who were against them. Evra and Ferdinand failed to comment after the incident which meant that they knew that what happened wasn't serious. Evra and Ferdinand knew it wasn't worthy of the match bans that Suarez and Terry received and rather stayed quiet to avoid getting themselves in trouble. FIFA will have to provide better evidence if they want to suspend or ban players from matches in the future or this will cause more of an outrage in the soccer world.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2077420/John-Terry-charged-Luis-Suarez-backed-Liverpool-What-pages-say-December-22-2011.html

The Return of Titi

The former Arsenal captain, Thierry Henry, who signed a short-term loan deal from the New York Red Bulls to Arsenal was captured by headlines again as he came off the bench to score the lone goal to beat Leeds United. Fans were questioning his ability to still score since he was much older than when he used to play for Arsenal, but Henry answered their question when he scored the only goal against Leeds United to help Arsenal get past the third round of the FA Cup. He showed that he still has the ability to score and be a team leader. Arsenal fan, Frank Gibbs, spoke in Henry's behalf after his superb goal, "I just can't believe this, he just came on as a substitute for 10 minutes and he already changed the game in our favor, it is truly unbelievable an the is an extremely gifted man."Henry, 34, will spend the nest six and a half weeks with Arsenal to combine with current captain, Robin Van Persie to compete for the league cup. Van Persie had strong words for Henry, " Some people might ask why he chose to come back, because he is already a legend here, but for me it tells you everything about him, especially that he loves the game."

Thierry Henry started off his career at Monaco when he was only 13 years old and scored six goal in his debut. He then signed a contract with Italian Serie A club Juventus for 10.5 million pounds. He was ineffective and only scored three goals in 16 appearances. After not doing well in Italy, he transferred from Juventus to arsenal for 11 million pounds reuniting with his former manager, Arsene Wenger.

Henry's stay at Arsenal made him a superstar by playing with other skilled players. although he scored an average number of goals his first season, He made a comeback the next season, in 2001 to win the league title and become the leagues top goal-scorer with 32 goals. Henry was so good that he was a runner up for the 2004 FIFA World Boot which was given to the player who scored the most goals. Arsenal went on to win the next two titles and Henry continued to gain recognition around the world. Eventually in the 2006-07, Henry was marred by injuries and he only scored 10 goal in 17 domestic appearances for Arsenal. He played for Barcelona and the New York Red Bulls from 2007-11, but always says Arsenal is his favorite place to be. Although he encountered these injuries, he is still renowned as a world class player. He had so many fans in Arsenal who supported him and thus helped unveil a bronze statue of Henry at the Arsenal Emirates Stadium on December 10 2011. Henry will truly never lose his scoring touch and will always be a role model for future players at Arsenal and throughout the world.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/9004550/Thierry-Henrys-comeback-makes-perfect-sense-for-Arsene-Wengers-depleted-Arsenal.html

USA Soccer Team Troubles

After losing to Mexico 4-2 in the Gold Cup after being two goals ahead, USA sacked coach Bob Bradley and replaced him with previous Germany Coach, Jurgen Klinsmann. Klinsmann, born in Goppingen, Germany, was a legend in soccer and now hopes to escort the U.S. national team to the next stage or two in its evolution. USA hopes that his impact can be game changing and explosive enough for USA to compete with some of the best teams in the world.

Klinsmann had said something that was strongly neglected by previous coach, Bob Bradley, which was to encourage MLS stars in America to train abroad and play for some of the greatest teams in Europe. He hopes that this will help these young stars such as Brek Shea, Tim Ream, and Juan Agudelo become better players by playing in more competitive environments. He hopes they will play abroad because he says that players under him can never achieve that same fever-pitch enthusiasm until they stretch themselves. His petition to get MLS players to join camps abroad seemed like a great move since these players started to mature and produce more during the pitch. He trusts his players to work out and make the right decisions and said, "I expect them to organize themselves, but I will always be happy to help."

Although Klinsmann encourages his players to train hard, he realizes that the team would need about "Ten Landon Donovans" to even think about reaching a minuscule goal such as winning the world Cup final or even reaching it. The big problem is that there was no reason for previous USA coach, Bob bradley, to be fired for his coaching. He led the United States to the Gold Cup and the World Cup quarterfinals. The real problem is that the USA national team has never produced a player such as Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez who is a world class player. There is no one extraordinary on the US team, every player is nothing but a typical youth player. Bob Bradley had nothing to do with how his players were unable to win major cups, but others thought he was the reason because of his defensive minded formation and eventually led to him being replaced.

Surprisingly, Klinsmann's offensive formation has caused players to score even fewer goals then they have scored under Bob Bradley and his defensive formation. Klinsmann's first game coaching the USA against Mexico, which was the biggest rival, showed his ability to coach when USA was able to draw level with Mexico and end in a tie 1-1. As more games were played, his record started to plunge and he started to lose the trust of fans. People have been furious with how the US has failed to produce goals with only scoring 4 times in 6 matches. All of this frustration has caused the US national team president, Sunil Gulati, to be questioned. He was the one who hired Klinsmann and is now under tension and chaos since the US team is doing even worse than it had done before. I assure you, a change will be coming up shortly to fix these goal scoring woes.http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/09/11/2400176/us-soccer-team-struggling-on-offense.html

Finally Success for Levante

Who plays for Levante? This question has been asked multiple times this year and it is because of their recent success in La Liga. Levante was originally founded in 1909 and was one of the best football clubs in Valencia, Spain. The team started out in Spain's 2nd tier team, the Spanish Segunda Divison, and and was promoted to play in La Liga after finishing as runners-up in the Segunda Divison. They managed to defeat two notable teams, their crosstown rivals Valencia CF and La Liga leader FC Barcelona. Although Levante was relegated to the Segunda Divison twice after that, they managed keep hold of their place in La Liga after the 2007-08 season.

Lucas Ocampos.. Ronaldo Jr?

Born and raised in Quilmes, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Lucas Ocampos had a role model that he liked very much. Many people would believe that role model to be Lionel Messi since he is from Argentina, but surprisingly his role model is Messi's top competitor, Cristiano Ronaldo. Ocampos has also drawn comparisons to his idol Cristiano Ronaldo due to his physique, role and style of play. Only at 17 years old, he is 6 ft 2 inches, speedy, and easily gets past his opponent using a series of tricks like Ronaldo. He first scored a brace (2 goals) against a youth team whose coach was so impressed that he immediately wanted to sign him. His amazing performance at the U-17 world cup last year earned him a call from soccer club, River Plate. He was seen as someone who was extraordinary in Argentina when he said, " I always watch Cristiano Ronaldo, because he plays on the line and cuts inside to produce a shot on goal. And he's very fast in one on one situations. I try to imitate him. Everybody wants to be like Messi, but Ronaldo is the one I like," because Messi was everyones idol in Argentina, so to follow someone else and that too being Messi's competitor was brave enough to do among others.

When he arrived at River's youth team to play as a second striker, Ocampos was set as a left winger, the main position of his role model. he found it to be a great place to play on the team because he could find more space to make use of his brilliant dribbling, great speed, and superb physique. He had shown great power and accuracy when scoring his first two river goals. He obviously watches Cristiano Ronaldo and mimics his moves a lot because you can see Ocampos cutting into central positions and shooting with his unbelievably powerful right foot.

He is gaining recognition everywhere, ranging from all over the world. some of the major teams that are trying to recruit him include, Real madrid, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United. He seems to handle this pressure just fine and says, " It strikes me that fans stop e on the street. And now I can't go to McDonald's or dance with my friends. I am a teenage like everyone else, but i will leave everything behind for river." It may due to his maturity that he was able to save a spot in the starting line up for River Plate and his success will soon be tested when he is recruited by a team from Europe. " Playing for River is the best thing that happened to me. I try not to think about other clubs and offers, otherwise I will go crazy." Well at least now he's not crazy, but soon the clubs who are crazy for him may soon lure him to play for big teams.

Fifa 2012 Ballon d'Or Award

The most prestigious award that a soccer player can get is the Ballon d'Or award and it is given to the world's best footballer. In 2012, there was a shortlist of three people who were competing for this award. Those competitors were Barcelona forward, Lionel Messi, his teammate Xavi, and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo. Lionel Messi who is only 24 years old had won the award the past two years and is looking to win the accolade for a third year in a row. Only two people have received the award three times, french striker Zinedine Zidane, and Brazilian striker, Ronaldo. Now Messi joins those other two strikers as the world's best soccer players. Cristiano Ronaldo who is only 26 years old won the accolade in 2008. Although the last competitor, Xavi, has never won the award before, he was still supported by many to win it this year. The result was announced on January 9th, 2012 and the award went to Lionel Messi who received 47.88% of the votes cast by national team coaches and captains for a third straight year. Ronaldo came in 2nd with 21.6% of the vote and Xavi came in 3rd with 9.23% of the vote. Messi dedicated his 3rd time receiving this award to his teammate Xavi, and said, " This one is very special because I want to share this with my friend and team-mate Xavi. He deserves it."

Although Messi won the award for the past three years including this year, I personally don't think he's the best soccer player in the world right now. I would have choose striker Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid to win the award for the past two years because he is simply the best player in the world in every aspect. Ronaldo can score in any way, either from a free kick, penalty shot, or a distance shot. Last season, he set a Real Madrid and Primera Divison goal scoring record by beating Madrid's Hugo Sanchez (38 goals) by scoring 40 goals, 9 more than Messi, and claiming the Pichichi award. He has truly mastered all of these abilities and showed this great form this season by currently being the La Liga goal scorer with 16 goals, two more than Lionel Messi. Ronaldo has been explosive by scoring in international games with Portugal while Messi is hardly ever seen in international games and is rather quiet. Ronaldo was also Tested to the Limit by Castrol EDGE where leading sports scientists used latest technology to test him in a series of challenges through vision, skills, strength, and agility. At the end of the four part test, it was determined that he had all of these abilities and was stated to be the best player in the world by Castrol edge and Arsenal's manager, Arsene Wenger. Some say Messi is the best player in the world, but I say Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world because he has truly lived up to his potential.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/3871/fifa-ballon-dor/2012/01/13/2844870/barcelonas-lionel-messi-winning-the-2011-fifa-ballon-dor-was-not-