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Summer is over. That only means one thing: the Champions League is back. This year’s joint favourites, Barcelona and Chelsea, have fast become bitter rivals in this competition. That rivalry is certain to intensify since they were drawn into the same group at this early stage of the tournament. The format is as follows: 32 teams contest the group stage, divided into eight groups of four. The group winners and runners-up advance to the knockout stages, the eight third-placed teams move into the UEFA Cup third round, and the eight fourth-placed teams are eliminated. Here is an overview of all the groups with predictions on who we expect to win each group.

Group A: Barcelona (-118), Chelsea (+125), Werder Bremen (15/1), Levski Sofia (250/1)

Maybe the Chelsea-Barcelona rivalry won’t be quite as intense at this early stage. Both teams will advance from this group and there is a good chance they will meet again at a later stage of this competition. Chelsea look noticeably shakier this year. Their previously impenetrable defence looks slightly more lax. That will bode ill for the Blues. But unlike the past few years, with two Premiership titles under their belt, this season Jose Mourinho’s explicit goal is to win the Champions League. Still, we have to side with Barcelona here. They are goal scoring machines and should demolish Bremen and Levski, and they are more than capable of scoring against Chelsea. At close to even money, they are worth backing to win this group.

Group B: Bayern Munich (+125), Inter Milan (+163), Sporting Lisbon (6/1), Spartak Moscow (40/1)

Inter is a big price here and are worth backing. They have added strength, quality and depth to their squad and after the Calciopoli scandal were belated awarded last year’s Scudetto in Serie A. Sporting Lisbon are no pushovers, but Inter can and should get past them. There is one slight worry though. Bayern Munich is the sort of team that can run up the score against weak opponents like Spartak Moscow. If Bayern and Inter are level on points, Bayern could well win this group on goal difference.

Group C: Liverpool (-161), PSV Eindhoven (+450), Bordeaux (5/1), Galatasaray (10/1)

Although they are odds-on, it’s hard to look past Liverpool in this group. They are a well-organized side and lifted the CL trophy two years ago. Manger Rafa Benitez is experienced at European competition and should navigate his team through this group with ease. PSV are a shadow of the team they were last season. There is a good chance they won’t finish in the top two of the Dutch league, let alone replicate their above average Champions League form of recent years. Bordeaux and Galatasaray are second-rate clubs in this competition.

Group D: Valencia (-125), Roma (+150), Shakhtar Donetsk (20/1), Olympiakos (29/1)

It’s hard to understand why Roma are underdogs in this group. They are favoured to win this year’s diluted Italian league. Their squad is a lot stronger this season both on paper and judging by their Serie A results so far. But the Romans face tough Spanish competition in this group. Valencia have a disciplined and experienced Champions League side. They are deadly on the counterattack and stifle the offence of their opponents. This looks like a coin flip between Roma and Valencia, so we’ll take the Italians at odds-against. Keep and eye on Olympiakos. They won’t win this group, but, like many Greek teams, they can be dangerous in their home games.

Group E: Lyon (-125), Real Madrid (+163), Steaua Bucharest (10/1), Dynamo Kiev (50/1)

The collapse of Juventus has benefited no team more than Real Madrid. The Spanish giants picked up a handful more Galacticos and one of the world’s top managers, Fabio Capello. They are serious contenders for both the La Liga and Champions League titles this year. But they will have to get past their nemesis in this tournament: Lyon. The French side are perennially underestimated by the bookmakers despite excelling in European competition. We’ll happily back them again to win this group and possibly the whole thing.

Group F: Manchester United (-275), Benfica (+650), Celtic (13/1), FC Copenhagen (50/1)

Man Utd couldn’t have asked for a more favourable draw. But luck is what they’ll need to get any further than this stage. At this short price, it’s not worth betting on the Red Devils to win the group. Copenhagen are a dangerous team, having knocked Ajax out of this competition. They are a huge price to win the group and are worth a small punt. Benfica are solid as ever in Portugal and experienced in the Champions League. They should claim second spot.

Group G: Arsenal (-161), Hamburg (9/1), Porto (9/1), CSKA Moscow (10/1)

Arsenal were the surprise team of the Champions League last year, going all the way to the final and defying expectations with each match. This year, they seem to be overestimated. The Gunners have not yet settled into their new Emirates Stadium. The squad look noticeably uncomfortable and will take more time to jell. In light of the above, it’s worth looking at the others. CSKA are a huge price at 10/1 and the 2005 UEFA Cup champions must be backed to win this group. Russia is an intimidating place for visiting teams and the Muscovites are more than capable of claiming results from their travels.

Group H: AC Milan (-333), Lille (6/1), AEK Athens (25/1), Anderlecht (33/1)

Milan should cruise through this group with relative ease. They are capable of dismantling virtually any team in the world and opponents like Lille, AEK and Anderlecht are hardly dangerous challengers. Lille are solid in France and might hold Milan to a draw in their home leg. As usual, Greek side AEK will be tough at home too, but they are hopeless on their travels. Anderlecht don’t deserve to be in this competition. Even at this short price, take Milan.

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There are teams still competing who shouldn’t be there and others that are just happy to be there. There are no truer examples than England’s two remaining representatives, Liverpool and Fulham.

Liverpool, who is having a very disappointing season by their standards, lost narrowly 1-0 away to Lille, while Fulham were very lucky to escape with only a 3-1 defeat against Juventus.

Liverpool went into the tie last night with a history as rich as any English club in European competition. Their famous red soccer uniforms have graced the European soccer stage since in 1964, and they have won the European Cup or European Champions League no less than five times, as well as taking part in two losing finals, the most recent three years ago against Barcelona, and the other, the infamous final against Juventus in Brussels in 1985. The Reds have also won the UEFA cup and the UEFA Super cup three times, a record which puts them up there among the European greats.

So why is it that you feel almost uncomfortable seeing Liverpool play in the Europa League, while you seem almost surprised to see lowly Fulham still there and holding their own?

When comparing the clubs, you can’t help comparing the record of their respective managers. Liverpool’s Rafa Benítez came to Annfield as a relatively young man, yet with an already proven pedigree in Europe, having taken Valencia to the La Liga championship in 2002 and 2004 and the UEFA cup the same year.

His first season in Merseyside was one that legends were made of, and he led Liverpool to victory in that remarkable final of 2005, where they came back from 3-0 down to Milan, to win on penalties. It looked like the glory days of Shankly and Paisley were back from Liverpool and the championships would begin to roll in again. Yet since then, the Reds have failed to reach their potential and Benitez’s ability to take them there has been increasingly under question. Speculation has it that Liverpool would like to try someone new in the manager’s role but the club’s hapless owners can’t afford to pay Benitez the almost £20 million that they would have to if they let him go. These days Benitez looks increasingly more like a manager with a plan that he only understands.

On the other hand, Fulham manager 62-year old Roy Hodgson knows exactly where he came from and possibly where he is going too, Hodgson is a real journeyman manager, had managed teams all over Europe and the World, including Inter Milan and even the Swiss National Team. He was brought to Craven Cottage by Fulham’s millionaire chairman, Mohamed Al-Fayed, when the club were struggling, probably as a stop gap. Since then Hodgson has turned the club’s fortunes around considerably. Today they are a solid middle of the table team in the English Premier League and in the eighth round of Europa League. To some teams that a great position to be in, and to others it’s a disaster. It’s all a case of what you expect and the difference is that football expects a lot from Liverpool and a lot less from Fulham.

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Pro Evolution Soccer 5 is one of the most popular sport video game in many countries around the world. In Japan, it is popularly known as Winning Eleven 9 while in the United States is World Soccer Winning Eleven 9. The PES5 is part of Konami’s series of Pro Evolution video game.

On October 21, 2005, the Xbox and PlayStation 2 version of the game was released. After a week, the PC version was released. This series includes the British teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, Rangers and Celtic. It also includes leagues such as La Liga of Spain, Eredivisie of Holland and Seri A of Italy.

The PES5 series allows players to edit anything in the game like the players, stadium names, logos, kits as well as the teams. This series features improved graphics and animations and almost resembles the real life players. In addition, the AI has greatly been improved and it has the ability to predict and react to any move a player do. A Training Mode is included which players are required to earn points to be able to unlock some secrets of the game.

Another interesting feature is that the weather condition is as close as in real life situations wherein the weather is unpredictable. This feature can be configured based on your liking whether you want to rain or snow.

This video game offers a lot of great features which Pro Evolution Soccer 5 fans would surely love and enjoy playing. This is a game which will give you the challenge just like the real professional player.

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The biennial Africa soccer cup of nations comes alive on 10 Jan. 2010 with great promises. It would be a showcase of most of the soccer talents from the African continent, ranging from those plying their trades in the English premiership, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, Italian serie A, Brazilian league, Asian leagues, to those in the African leagues.

The traditional national teams like Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d’ivoire, Congo, Tunisia, Algeria, Mali and Zambia would all be there to entertain the teeming followers of the African soccer fiesta. Countries favoured to lift the trophy at the end of the tournament include Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’ivoire, Cameroon, Algeria, the defending champions Egypt and the host nation Angola which is an emerging soccer giant in the African continent.

The likes of Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel, Salomon Kalou, Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure, Eboue, Peter Osaze Odiwingie, Vincent Enyama, Samuel Eto’o, Zidane, Mohammed Abu Tarika, Taiye Taiwo, Obafemi Martins, Dominic Adiyiah, Opoku Agyemang, etc. would all be paraded by their respective countries. Millions of soccer fans world-wide would be glued to their television sets to feed their eyes with artistic soccer display throughout the period of the Africa cup of nations’ championship 2010. Samuel Eto’o would certainly be the centre of attraction: being the highest goal scorer of all time in the African nations cup history a lot would be expected from him. Would he deliver again this time around? Or would someone else equal or break his record? That would be an uphill task for any player at the moment. Another player that would also attract much attention is Didier Drogba of Chelsea Fc who is currently the highest goal scorer in the Barclays English premiership. With Drogba scoring close 20 goals in the first half of the league a lot of soccer fans would expect him to do very well in Angola.

The question on everyone’s lips is ‘who lifts the trophy at the end’, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’ivoire, Cameroon, Egypt or Angola? The end shall tell as each of the above-listed countries has the wherewithal to lift this year’s Africa cup of Nations’ trophy. As the various teams file out to confront each other and entertain their teeming spectators, they should remember to approach each game in the spirit of ‘fair play’ as the game of soccer is built on the grounds of fostering unity and love amongst the competing nations, and should not be a theartre of war or a do-or-die affair. As the tournament finally winds to a close on 31st Jan. 2010, one thing is sure- there would be a new African champions, but who would that be? Till then.

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FIFA’s recent award of the Ballon d’Or 2014 (World Player of the Year) to Cristiano Ronaldo proves that the accolade is more about politics and personal popularity than about performance on the field.

Although players from several nationalities are nominated and win the award, they always all play for European clubs while those active in other leagues such as in South America and Mexico are generally overlooked. The best player is chosen by players and managers based on favoritism rather than merit which often creates unworthy winners. Thus the award has lost its recognition and become the object of amusement and ridicule.

The Ballon d’Or was established by a magazine called France Football in 1956 to recognize the history-makers of the game. But that is not what it has turned out to be.

LA LIGA

Between January 1 and December 31, 2014 in this competition Lionel Messi scored 35 goals in 36 matches (11 with the right foot, 23 with the left and the other with the head) while Cristiano Ronaldo scored 38 but with less versatility as only 4 were with his head and unfavorable left foot.

In addition Messi created 97 chances, 24 more than any other player and completed 164 dribbles, 63 more than the nearest rival Iker Muniain of Atletico Bilbao (MAILOnline – Why Lionel Messi should win Ballon d’Or after a record-breaking year with Barcelona; by Kieran Gill, January 12, 2015).

EUROPE

Messi conquered the continent on November 25 when he became the all-time top goal scorer in the Champions League in Nicosia, Cyprus. It was his 23rd European city, his 16th European country and recorded the 24th different stadium in which he had scored (MAILOnline etc.)

WORLD CUP 2014

At soccer’s most important competition Messi led Argentina to the final, was voted Man of the Match in 4 games (the most of any player in the competition) and won the Golden Boot as the best player of the tournament.

He had the most impact on the competition. His goals were all match-winning goals which propelled Argentina to the final. He was the third joint highest goal scorer with 4 goals and 1 assist, created the most chances, had the most successful dribbling runs, made the most deliveries into the box and produced the most through balls of any player.

In contrast, Ronaldo was a non-factor and only scored a late goal against minnow Ghana and had an assist against the USA.

HISTORY MAKER

Messi’s performance in 2014 was what the Ballon d’Or is all about, namely, history-making performances. On March 16, he became Barcelona’s all-time top goal scorer (371). One week later he became the El Clasico (matches between Real Madrid and Barcelona) top goal scorer (21) with a hat- trick.

He scored his 400th career goal on September 27 against Granada and surpassed a 59-year-old record to become La Liga’s all-time top goal scorer (253) on November 22. Three days later he overtook Raul by scoring a hat-trick to become the top goal scorer in the history of the Champions League (74).

Given all these achievements one would think that of the three nominees Messi was the most deserving to win the award. Instead he not only lost to Ronaldo but he and the other nominee Manuel Neuer got less votes combined (31.48 %) than Ronaldo (37.66%).

In 2013 Ronaldo won nothing and Franck Ribery won everything but nevertheless Ronaldo beat him.

How can all this be explained?

POLITICS BEHIND THE VOTING

FIFA’s criteria call for national managers, captains and media officials to vote for the most outstanding performer of the previous twelve months.

Not unexpectedly players vote for their team-mates and compatriots. In the 2014 contest for example, Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany) gave all three spots to Germans, Manuel Neuer, Phillip Lahm and Thomas Muller.

Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid) voted for his former team-mates Diego Costa and Thibaut Courtois.

Vincent Kompany (Belgium) voted for team-mates Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard as the world’s two best players with Arjen Robben third.

The best example of the politics in all of this is illustrated by Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) who declared without giving a reason that he regretted voting for Ronaldo instead of his team-mate Neuer. This ‘change of heart’ can only be explained as coming from a player who wants to save face with team-mates in the dressing room rather than from a voter with any real conviction.

The same criticism applies to managers who only vote for national players. For example, Argentina’s manager Gerardo Martino gave all three places to his fellow countrymen namely, Lionel Messi, Angel di Maria and Javier Mascherano, Belgium coach Marc Wilmots voted for Belgian Thibaut Courtous for third place, Didier Deschamps (France) gave the final spot to French striker Benzema and Holland’s Guus Hiddink gave top honor to compatriot Arjen Robben.

Players will get a lot of votes if they are popular ‘with the boys’ and can play to the cameras to advertise commercial products. Those who defend the choice of Ronaldo as best player point to the fact that in the second half of 2014 he scored 32 goals. The problem is that 9 of those goals were penalties so his non-penalty goals were 23, the same amount as Messi who had no penalties. Ronaldo is nicknamed «Penaldo» because of his mastery of drawing and scoring penalties.

In a World Cup year such as 2014 your performance in that tournament is what defines you. On the world’s biggest stage Ronaldo was a nonfactor and his supporters excuse this by saying he was carrying an injury. If that is true that is unfortunate but injury is a misfortune, not a privilege and he can only be judged on actual performance and not on speculation as to what he might have achieved had he been fully fit.

The Player of the Year award has lost its authenticity. But it does not have to be so. It is not a personality or school prom contest. It is supposed to recognize performance on the field. Maybe the officials of FIFA should themselves become the judges, give more consideration to non-European clubs and use criteria like achievements and fair play to choose the winner. This would not be a perfect system but would be preferable to the present one which is deeply flawed and cannot be taken seriously.

Victor A. Dixon

January 18, 2015

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