Roy Keane’s Finale at Manchester United?

The Ranter looks back over a glittering career and to an end that hopefully won’t drag on too long.

There’s a passage in Roy Keane’s suitably frank autobiography in which, to paraphrase, the fiery Irishman admits he wasn’t the best player in his junior team, not even in the school side but that in living, breathing and fighting football he succeeded on determination alone.

It’s a misrepresentation of the Cork master’s talents but a fitting summary of a career that is surely now drawing to a close.

Born in Cork, Ireland, 10th August 1971, Roy Keane is Satta King Result most probably entering his final season as Manchester United captain; perhaps even his last in English football. Over the past decade he has cajoled, bullied and fought his way to the top.

His vein pumping, fist clenching all-action style has always been the surface of Keane. But below that has been a master tactician, the epitome of the modern midfielder’s art – as the great Marcelo Lippi once called him, “Manchester United’s heartbeat.”

In the final year of his contract at Manchester United it looks increasingly likely that Keane will either retire or move on in May 2006. Keane’s influence is as great as ever but successive injuries have blunted his physical abilities to the point that manager Sir Alex Ferguson has changed his side’s tactics to offer the Irishman more protection.

With Keane injured until winter sets in and rumours of Bayern’s Michael Ballack’s January arrival at the club increasingly believable, Keane could even find himself on the bench come the New Year. It is with this backdrop that the crackerjack midfielder recently announced his expectation of leaving the club at the end of the current season.

All hands to the plump

My grandmother used to swear by the following advice, if you burn your mouth eating soup, you’ll know to blow it the next time, which is unusually good advise from a clearly deranged pensioner.

After opposing Chelsea earlier in the season, i’m now flip-flopping like a fish in a Japanese restaurant. Conventional wisdom tells us that a team can not go through a Premiership season winning every match, but nothing in life is impossible, with the exception of a Peter Crouch hat-trick.

With nine wins out of nine matches under their belt, you can now back Chelsea at 40/1 to win the remainder of their Premiership matches; although the safer bet will be that Jose’s men remain unbeaten for the rest of the campaign at 4/1.

Chelsea’s performance against Bolton last week was sublime, but like the wife on our wedding night, I feel I have to comment on the disappointing tackle. Michael Essien’s challenge on Tal Ben Haim was the only real negative in a superb display, back Chelsea at 4/11 for an easy win at Goodison Park.

The average footballer is not the smartest tool in the box, take Robbie Savage, you’ll struggle to find a more average footballer than him. He’s on £30,000 a week and he still can’t find a hairdresser.

Robbie goes up against Birmingham City for the first time since his acrimonious departure last season. After facing taunts of ‘money grabber’ from City fans, and ‘geographically challenged hippy’ from a respected betting journalist, Savage will be more fired up than usual for this one. You can back Robbie to be sent off at 16/1.

The controversy surrounding David O’Leary’s celebration at the end of the Birmingham derby last week is understandable, I haven’t heard of a grown man running towards a pensioner with a big smile on his face since the Wayne Rooney story broke. Aston Villa are still on a high after their derby heroics, take the even money about back to back Villa victories.

Somewhat surprisingly, there have only been 10 goals in the last six meetings between Spurs and Man U, although it would have been 11 if it wasn’t for a serious dose of oldtrafforditis from Mark Clattenburg last season. As the plump one is returning to the United starting line up, goals are guaranteed. Man U are a cracking bet at 1/2.

Middlesbrough have been rocked by the news that Abel Xavier has failed a drugs test. Having seen him play, I’m betting they were not performance enhancing. Boro have been inconsistent all season, West Ham are looking better and better, get on the Hammers at 6/5.

Mexico came from behind to beat Ghana 2-1 at Craven Cottage and might possibly have saved Hugo Sanchez his job as national team coach.

The former Real Madrid and Mexico legend had been on deathwatch all week, after the nation’s U23 team, which Sanchez also coaches, failed to qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, after losing to Guatemala and drawing with Canada earlier this month.

On Monday, the Mexican federation meets to consider Sanchez’s 18-month reign, and are widely expected to send him packing. If anything might have changed their mind however, it was El Tri snatching a win from the jaws of defeat at Fulham.

John Mensah hauled back Mexican Satta King substitute Adolfo Bautista as he muscled his way into the box with a minute to play, and Pavel Pardo converted the penalty to send the Mexicans home victorious.

The scoreline was harsh on a Ghana side who had dominated the majority of the second half and overpowered their CONCACAF opponents in the midfield exchanges.

Michael Essien looked to have sent the Black Stars to victory with his spectacular 55th minute strike from 25 yards past Mexican goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez, but the Chelsea star turned villain in the 77th with some slack play in front of his own goal which led to an equaliser.

The £24 million-pound player was over-casual as he jogged back with the ball, two Mexican attackers in close attendance.

Essien’s back pass was not underhit, but the greased surface took its toll as debutant goalie Patrick Antwi miscontrolled the spinning ball, allowing Carlos Salcido to slide in and then tap it into an unguarded net.

“A stupid mistake,” Ghana coach Claude Le Roy described it as afterwards. “You cannot take any risks in the last 30 yards in high-level football.”

This moment of schoolboy soccer provided delicious entertainment to the colourful and noisy Mexican expats suffering a wintry English night from the Stevenage Road stand.

The conditions were wet and chilly, the opposite of Accra or Mexico City, and with Brazil playing Sweden across town at Ashburton Grove, and England taking on France on television, the crowd at the Cottage was never going to be huge.

But the Ghanaians and Mexicans in attendance created a carnival atmosphere, a tribute to London’s multicultural preeminence, and what a difference these two peoples made to an otherwise gloomy English evening.

From the moment the opening bars of Mexico’s concerto-length national anthem caused the green-shirted players to stiffen their arms across their chests, it was never going to be a usual day at Craven Cottage.

The African fans raised a tumult of noise straight out of the recent African Cup of Nations, hosted by Ghana, while their opposition counterparts performed the wave named after them, ten minutes in.

Mexico almost stole the lead in under 20 seconds when Manchester City star Nery Castillo surged up the right wing and centred for Antonio De Nigris.

The Ankaraspor striker hit it first time but saw his shot saved by the legs of a relieved Richard Kingson.

The Central Americans, ranked 16th by FIFA to Ghana’s 15th, started the better but soon Ghana had got their measure. Anthony Annan and Essien began to boss the middle, carving through the flimsy stockade erected by the pinned-down Pardo and pint-sized Fernando Arce, while the muscular Junior Agogo ensured the Mexican back four stayed on their toes.

Yet on the stroke of half time it was the Tricolores who almost snatched the lead. Castillo sprung the Ghanaian offside trap and rounded Kingson, but with a goal looking certain, Mensah played the hero with a last-ditch tackle to stop the ball crossing the line.

After Essien’s opener ten minutes after the break, Ghana slipped into cruise control and started funnelling players forward in search of a second, but got no closer than a string of long-range efforts off-target.

Mexico had looked decidedly second-best, particularly in midfield, but their two late strikes served as a reminder that football is unpredictable and that it is goals, more than who is the best team, which win games.

Ghana coach Claude Le Roy, a familiar face having coached Cameroon, Congo and Senegal before, thought referee Rob Styles had been less than even-handed and rued the volte-face of the contest.

“I don’t know why he had something against us,” Le Roy said of the referee. “A lot, a lot of big mistakes. We are a very creative and fair team. I don’t know why he took so many decisions against us.”

“We were in the game when Michael scored the first goal,” he said. “Then we gave the chance to the Mexican players. At this time they were no more in the game. That is the permanent story of football.”

Sanchez appeared relaxed for someone apparently facing the axe, answering softly the prods from the various Mexican journalists arranged around him, some of them sniffing blood before the kick-off.

“Yes, I have to say openly that we failed, but that is a separate chapter,” Sanchez said of the Olympic setback, adding that he was now looking towards the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, which for Mexico begin in June.

“I’m asking for there to be patience and teamwork, which is the only way to get results.”

Perhaps it will all be too late. Missing out on the Olympics was a matter of national soccer shame for a country overtaken by the USA in the last decade as the premier football country of CONCACAF.

One Mexican fan held up a sign saying ‘Hugo – one more and it’s over’. Maybe it already is and the Federation’s mind is made up, but if so, at least Hugo left with a win.

Scoring:

GHA – Essien 55′

MEX – Salcido 77′

MEX – Pardo pen. 88′

GHANA – Richard Kingson (Birmingham City), John Paintsil (West Ham), Eric Addo (PSV) , John Mensah (Rennes), Afful Harrison (Asante Kotoko), Haminu Dramani (Lokomotiv Moscow), Anthony Annan (Stabaek), Michael Essien (Chelsea), Laryea Kingston (Hearts), Sulley Muntari (Portsmouth), Manuel Agogo (Nottingham Forest).

Subs: Owusu Abayie (Celta Vigo) for Kingston 46′, Patrick Antwi (Liberty Professionals) for Kingson 46′, Andre Ayew (Marseille) for Dramani 46′, Eric Bekoe (Asante Kotoko) for Agogo 81′.

MEXICO – Oswaldo Sanchez (Santos Laguna), Ricardo Osorio (Stuttgart), Aaron Galindo(Eintracht Frankfurt), Carlos Salcido (PSV), Fausto Pinto (Pachuca), Nery Castillo (Manchester City), Fernando Arce (Santos Laguna), Pavel Pardo (Stuttgart),, Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul), Antonio De Nigris (Ankaraspor), Andres Guardado (Deportivo La Coruna).

Subs: Guillermo Franco for De Nigri 46′, Jimmy Lozano (Cruz Azul) for Pinto 67′, Antonio Naelson for Arce 67′, Adolfo Bautista for Castillo 80′

Sifting through the ruins of Triesmangate

Ah, the Daily Wail, England’s daily register of phobias and general paranoia and the paper which once cheered Hitler, what a mess you’ve made.

In search of a bog-standard sex scandal, the Mail thrust a preTriesmantty penny (£100,000) into the hands of a woman with a history of mental health treatment, who, according to the Daily Mirror’s Sue Carroll, “makes a King’s Cross slapper look like Mother Teresa…in the court of public opinion she’s somewhere below Medusa and just slightly above Lucretia Borgia.”

Hear, hear. Melissa Jacobs is the worst type of satta king chart female, of human being in fact -one who places short-term selfish financial profit above the trust of a friend and the hopes and dreams of millions who wanted the World Cup in England, where it has not ventured since 1966. Given the globalisation of the sport that country invented, it could be decades before the tournament comes around again. Secretly recording a friend who confides in you in order to make money and ruin their career is a despicable form of personal betrayal. But Jacobs’ damage to England’s World Cup hosting hopes is truly unforgivable.

Triesman was a twerp for flirting with a younger woman but so what? Does that mean England cannot host the World Cup? How conceivably can this act of entrapment be justified as being in the public interest – it merely hands our bidding rivals a huge fillip and wastes the millions of hours worked and pounds spent on handing our nation football’s crown jewel.

If England is denied the hosting rights because of one selfish loser no-one has ever heard of and never will again, may every serpent in hell feast upon the harridan’s evil soul for all eternity. And may all who are connected with the Daily Mail vow never to touch its filthy pages again, seek the forgiveness of Jesus forever or throw themselves off Beachy Head forthwith. This was an act of treason by both slapper and tabloid, sacrilege even – football is our national faith for goodness sake.

But leaving the morality aside (this is a British tabloid after all), FIFA has been put on the back foot by Triesman’s stated belief that Spain will be influencing referees with Russian money at the World Cup. As quickly as the FA rushed to issue apologies, the associations they had offended hurried to poo-poo Triesman’s ‘absurd’ claims…but no smoke without fire. The suggestion sounded perfectly plausible given the history of influencing match officials from Mussolini in 1934 through Guruceta Muro, the Spanish ref bribed by Anderlecht in 1984 to Italy’s Calciopoli affair of 2006 and the two German refereeing scandals in recent years. England has traditionally been the least believing nation when it comes to accusations of bought officials, but all that might have to change now. The Italian furor over Byron Moreno, the bonkers Ecuadorian official in charge when they lost to South Korea in 2002, does not seem so extreme after all.

Western Cape

Newlands Rugby Ground

UWC Soccer Field

Stellenbosch Rugby Ground

UCT Rugby Ground

Bellville Rugby Ground

Athlone Stadium

Johannesburg

Orlando Stadium

Dobsonville Stadium

Rand Stadium

Cecil Payne Stadium

Rabie Ridge Stadium

Ruimsig Stadium

Durban

SJ Smith Stadium

Chatsworth Stadium

Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium

King Zwelithini Stadium

Princess Magogo Stadium

Other regions

2010 World Cup Base Camps.

Johannesburg

Bafana Bafana – Southern Sun satta king result Grayston Hotel and will train at Sandown High School

Honduras (Indaba Hotel Fourways)

Mexico (Thaba ya Batswana)

Netherlands (Hilton Sandton),

North Korea (Protea Hotel Midrand)

Serbia (Sunnyside Park Hotel)

Slovenia (Hyde Park Southern Sun)

Australia (Kloofzicht Lodge near Muldersdrift)

New Zealand (Serengeti Estate near OR Tambo)

Switzerland (Emerald Resort and Casino in Vanderbijlpark)

Pretoria

Argentina (High Performance Centre)

Germany (Velmore Hotel in Centurion)

Italy (Leriba Lodge outside Pretoria)

Slovakia (Villas Luxury Suite Hotel)

United States (Irene Country Lodge)

KwaZulu Natal

Algeria (Monduzur in San Lameer)

Cameroon (Oyster Box in Umhlanga)

Greece (Beverly Hills Hotel at Umhlanga Rocks)

Ivory Coast (Riverside Hotel)

Nigeria (Hampshire in Durban),

Paraguay (Woodridge Country Estate in the Midlands)

Portugal (Valley Lodge in Hillcrest)

Western Cape

Brazil (Fairway in Cape Town)

Denmark (Simola Hotel Country Club in Knysna)

France (Pezula Resort Hotel and Spa in Knysna)

Japan (Fancourt Hotel and Country Club outside George)

North West

England (Bafokeng Sports Campus in Rustenburg)

Spain (North West University campus in Potchefstroom)

South Korea (Hunters Rest Hotel in Rustenburg)

Mpumalanga

Chile (Ingwenyama Conference Centre)

Eastern Cape

Ghana (Rhoode Valley)

Northern Cape

Fan Parks in the Western Cape Area

Fan Parks are situated in central areas in the venue cities so that the general public can watch all the games. Entrance to the Fan Parks is free and it is expected that these Fan Parks will attract a lot of visitors.

In Germany 2006 one Fan Park attracted 500,000 spectators to watch one game. To avoid large transport infrastructure expense, training venues will also double as public viewing sites.

Fan Parks in the Western Cape

The Grand Parade, Somerset West Road

Stellenbosch, Bellville Velodrome

Swartklip, Atlantis

Khayelitsha, Nomzamo Yethu (Hout Bay)

Training Facilities in the Western Cape

Newlands Rugby Ground, UCT Rugby Ground

UWC Soccer Field, Bellville Rugby Ground

Stellenbosch Rugby Ground, Athlone Stadium

J. League Results 3-4 April 2010.

Sunday 4 April

Jubilo Iwata 4 Gamba Osaka 3

Kawasaki Frontale 2 FC Tokyo 1

Vegalta Sendai 2 Kashima Antlers 1

Saturday 3 April

Albirex Niigata 0 Omiya Ardija 0

Cerezo Osaka 3 Kyoto Sanga 1

Montedio Yamagata 1 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 0

Nagoya Grampus 2 Vissel Kobe 0

Urawa Reds 2 Shonan Bellmare 1

Yokohama F Marinos 1 Shimizu S-Pulse 2

J.League Table

Shimizu S-Pulse P 5 Pts 11

Kashima Antlers P 5 Pts 10

Vegalta Sendai P 5 Pts 10

Urawa Reds P 5 Pts 10

Kawasaki Frontale P 5 Pts 10

Leading Scorers

Ryang Yong Gi, Vegalta Sendai 4

Chong Tese, Kawasaki Frontale 4

When Argentina’s Primera División commences next month referees will be armed with a vanishing spray to keep defensive walls ten-yards back at free-kicks.

The aim is that refs will pace out the yards at dead-ball situations and spray a line on the ground to stop the defenders from encroaching on the set-piece taker.

The line on the pitch will then disappear within a minute without leaving a Satta Matka lasting trace on the pitch. The scheme was successfully trialed in the second division last season and now the Argentina Football Association (AFA) has approved its use in the top flight.

The spray is contained in a 115 gram light weight aerosol can which means referees can carry it on them at all times. It is hoped that the scheme will speed play up by preventing the common disputes which crop up at dead-ball situations.

The AFA hopes the measure will put an end to the days of retaken free-kicks and needless bookings for walls creeping too close to the ball.

The invention is the brainchild of sports journalists Pablo Silva who first had the idea eight years ago when playing in an amateur league.

Silva’s team were 1-0 down when they got a free-kick on the edge of the box in the dying minutes of the match. When the kick was taken it crashed into the wall who had advanced to within three yards of the set-piece taker.

When the referee took no action despite a wave of protest the seedling of the idea had been planted in Silva’s head.

“We lost the game and, driving home later with a mixture of anger and bitterness, I thought that we must invent something to stop this.” Pablo Silva said

Silva also wondered if the problem was confined to football in Argentina or if the same thing happens all over the globe. He decided to undertake a study of behaviour at free-kicks in the professional game worldwide.

“We have observed more than 1,500 matches all over the world and we have studied how long it takes to take the free kick and how far the defensive wall moves forward.

“We have proved this is not just an Argentine problem, it happens everywhere.” Silva conceded.

He hopes that the spray he developed with chemical engineers will catch on all over the world and benefit football as a spectacle.

“Hopefully this can contribute to enforcing the current rules and improve the time that the ball is in play.” Silva said wishfully.

A similar spray has been used in some cup competitions in Brazil for several years now but proved unsuccessful when it was introduced to their league seven years ago. Pablo Silva claims his spray will be much more effective and has been developed separately from its Brazilian counterpart.

“The Brazilian one appeared in 2002 and the substances are completely different. One has nothing to do with the other.” Silva said adamantly.

Watch out for the new invention in Argentina’s Primera División A Torneo Clausura 2009 which commences on 8th February. Keep your eyes peeled though, blink and you’ll miss it.

The next few months are vital for players hoping to go to the World Cup and this is a big week for South Koreans with dreams of making the final 23 that makes the plane in June. Not only does the European transfer window open for a month, meaning that players could be heading to Europe or those already there could move around, but satta matka coach Huh Jung-moo is taking 25 players to South Africa, the host country of the 2010 tournament, for some acclimatization, training and friendlies.

There are a number of absentees however. Players based in Europe will not be heading south as the European season is still ongoing. So instead of games in Johannesburg and Durban, the overseas stars will be busy with their domestic commitments in England, Scotland, Germany and France.

The problem is that not all of them are busy. The likes of midfielder Cho Won-hee have been in the worst of both worlds. They left Korea for European experience and so miss a number of training camps and exhibition games that take place at home and remove themselves from the watchful eye of the coaching staff. That is not a big deal if you are in the big leagues and testing yourself against some of the best players in the world week in and week out. Coach Huh would love to spend time with the overseas players more often but is quite happy to let them go in the knowledge that when they do return, they return as better players.

But when those players are not playing regularly, it becomes a problem. Cho joined Wigan Athletic of the English Premier League in early 2009 and has barely featured – just making four appearances in that time. He has been a little unlucky though. Soon after arriving in England, he returned to Seoul for a 2010 World Cup qualifier against North Korea. He injured himself in that match and so could only make his debut for his new team right at the end of the season.

Worse was to follow. Steve Bruce, the former Manchester United captain, left Wigan in the off-season to take the vacant Sunderland job. Bruce had publicly talked of Cho’s abilities a number of times and seemed to be a fan of the midfielder. These things happen but it came at a time when Cho had not yet established himself at the club.

New boss Roberto Martinez is a young gun, a coach that had showed potential in the lower leagues in England before finally getting his chance in the top tier. He has been less keen on Cho and the player has started only two games all season – one which hasn’t been a great one for the club. Surprisingly however, Cho did start the final match of 2009, a trip to the home of champion Manchester United to face compatriot Park Ji-sung. It was a night to forget for Cho as his team was crushed 5-0.

Earlier this week Cho arrived back in the Land of the Morning Calm to rejoin Suwon on loan. Whatever happens, he is unlikely to be returning to Wigan.

The future of Seol Ki-hyeon is still up in the air. Seol, a star of the 2002 World Cup, made just five appearances for Fulham in 2009 and just two of those came in the Premier League. It is some time since Seol was a regular Taeguk Warrior but he has been called up of late by coach Huh. The attacker knows that he needs playing time to make the plane in South Africa.

“There have been rumors of his release several times, so we do not see it as too serious. We will find out what is going on first,” Seol’s management agency said last month.

“Although Seol belongs to the player clear-out list, his contract does not expire until next summer. We need not be in a rush.”

The 30 year-old has never played in the K-league and that isn’t about to change soon, according to the agency.

“Currently, it is not in the cards. If there is a team interested in recruiting Seol, I wonder if it could pay his transfer fee of 2 billion won (around $1.7 million).We will look for another team in the Premier League or another European league.”

There is sure to be some movement this month all around the world as players look for playing time before the World Cup.

“You can’t be in business and ignore the Asia markets,” Alexi Lalas told John Duerden in Soccerphile’s exclusive interview.

In the process, Lalas hit the nail on the head of why the Premier League is so keen to bring ‘Game 39’ to the table.

English fans pay scant attention to Asia’s love of its football, and I would not mind betting that only a minority of domestic fans are aware that the early kick-offs at the weekend are scheduled with Asia in mind.

They should wake up. On the same day as the FIFA v PL showdown in Zurich was to have taken place, Manchester City were in the Asian press because their Thai owner Thaksin Shinawatra has returned home to face corruption charges, protesting his innocence while speaking of turning the Blues into that now redundant cliche, ‘a global brand’. The persistent pull of the billions of potential consumers in Asia was going to push players and Indian Matka owners into the Premier League sooner or later.

And with the sudden advance of technology, the dollars in the East are finally within reach of the clubs in England. The idea of fans waiting until Monday’s newspaper to find out Saturday’s overseas results are now a quaint memory. The only real handicap the PL has in its global takeover bid is the huge time difference and vast distances to Asia, which prevent its players travelling regularly there to play football.

Although the spectre of a Formula One-style global roadshow has been raised by the Game 39 project, realistically any English team could only play about a tenth of its games in Asia over one season, which would of course mean the club’s local fans would miss out on seeing certain teams in town.

The news that the Premier League had voluntarily backed down and cancelled its Zurich meeting after they and the FA had failed to reach agreement, cheered me and the millions of other fans dead against their scheme, but I am not naive enough to believe the idea of overseas games is about to go away.

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore may argue he was only trying to help the smaller teams by pre-empting any attempts by the big four to sign exclusive deals, but this argument does not hold water.

The big four already take their players to their target markets overseas in pre-season to stuff their coffers.

And I cannot see them unilaterally going overseas to play each other during the season, while the other clubs stay at home. Should such a scenario occur, it would surely be the end of the Premier League and the start of a European League for the rich clubs.

Then again, many of us deep down think that is where we are headed anyway.

The climb-down from Game 39 might be a crumb of comfort in the excessively-commercialised world of soccer we now find ourselves in, or merely just a stay of execution.

Still, it was sweet to see the money men for once rebuffed by those who put football first in their thinking.

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