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For the third season in succession Chelsea found themselves pitched against the current European champions, Barcelona in group A. Werder Bremen and Levski Sofia make up the quartet and it would be a huge surprise if either of those teams progressed.

In group B Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Sporting Lisbon and Spartak Moscow will do battle. Bayern have been weakened by the loss of Ballack to Chelsea, but should still be good enough to get through. Inter Milan have strengthened at the expense of their scandal hit rivals in Italy and will be hard to beat.

Group C sees Liverpool, winners in 2005, returning to the scene of their Istanbul triumph to play Galatasaray. Turkish football seems to have gone off the boil and Gala might struggle against both PSV Eindhoven and Bordeaux.

Group D pitches Valencia, Roma, Olympiakos and the dangerous Shaktar Donetsk, and the first two should make the last sixteen.

Group E sees the most successful European team ever, Real Madrid against Lyon, Steau Bucharest and Dynamo Kiev. Real begin the campaign under the returning Fabio Capello and they should improve on last season’s dismal performance. Lyon under Gerard Houllier are still improving and should qualify.

Group F coughs up an Anglo-Scottish clash. Manchester United sent a reserve team up to Glasgow just before the season started and duly thumped the Scottish champions 3-0. Not many give Celtic much chance against United’s first XI who have started the season on fire. Benfica look dangerous again. They knocked both United and Liverpool out last term and will need to be respected. FC Copenhagen makes up the quartet and may surprise a few people.

Group G features Arsenal, last year’s beaten finalists, and they take on Porto, CSKA Moscow and Hamburg, not an easy group on paper for any of them and Arsenal will have to improve on early poor results at their brand new stadium. But expect them to qualify. No London team has ever won the European Cup/Champions League and Arsenal are desperate to beat their rivals Chelsea and Spurs (they’re in the UEFA cup this time) to that particular honour. But Arsenal have lost several notable players such as Pires, Campbell and Bergkamp and though they have young rapidly improving players like Van Persie and Walcott, it is hard to envisage them picking up the trophy this time round.

Group H sees the banned, but reinstated AC Milan host surprise qualifiers Lille, AEK Athens and Anderlecht. Expect AC to win the group comfortably, and the others to all take points from one another.

For those who like a bet, early odds quoted go: Barca 4/1 favourite, Chelsea 5/1, Real 9/1, AC Milan 10/1, Man Utd 11/1, Inter 13/1, Arsenal and Liverpool 18/1 and 20/1 plus on all the others. You can still get a free $30 bet at betfair.com by inputting the code 6CHE3VPWJ when required.

So who will land the pot of gold of the Champions League this year? Barca have added Thuram and Zambrotta from Italy, but they were surprisingly smacked 3-0 by their compatriots Sevilla in the Super Cup, the match between the Champions League and UEFA cup winners. Barca displayed a surprising weakness in the centre of their defence and John Terry and his pals at Stamford Bridge are certain to have noted that. Best of the outsiders is the fast improving Lyon.

Chelsea have added Ballack and the wonderful Shevchenko, and may be Ashley Cole too. As I have written elsewhere, I think Chelsea can do it this time. They would surely trade the Premier League title for the Champions League. But what do I know? I’m still working for a living. Make up your own mind. Good watching.

We have reached the climax of the 2010 FIFA soccer World Cup in South Africa, and the moment of glory is fast approaching, when the winner of the tournament would be declared. The battle is between two European nations – Spain and the Netherlands. Each of the teams has given a very good account of themselves since the tournament began on the 11th of June; and come 11th of July, we shall all know who emerges champions.

When the tournament started on the 11th of June, not too many soccer enthusiasts beamed their satellites on Spain or the Netherlands. Their satellites had been directed toward Brazil, Argentina, Germany, England, Italy and France. All six countries have won the world cup at least once; and looking at the strength of their teams and the quality of players they came with, it was logical for them to have concluded that one of them would win.

However, thoughts, logic and wishes soon got separated from reality as some of the big names like Italy (defending champions) and France were eliminated in the group stage. England followed in the second round; Brazil and Argentina took their exit in the quarter finals stage, leaving Germany as the clear favorites after they bundled out Argentina 4-0.

On Wednesday 7th July, Spain ensured that the remaining favorite, Germany, was sent home, leaving only Spain and the Netherlands to decide where the world cup goes to this time around. It is now very clear that the world is expecting a new champion because the two teams remaining have never tasted world soccer glory before; none has ever kissed the FIFA soccer trophy.

But who wins this year’s edition?

The two sides have done remarkably well; they have shown class, discipline and technical efficiency. On paper, the Spaniards have an edge over the Dutch; they are the reigning European champions and the bulk of the team is made up of former UEFA champions, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Considering what they did to Germany in their semi finals match, they are surely not a push over.

The Spaniards have got a potent striker in the person of David Villa, with 5 goals in 6 matches; and also a good mid field and defense supported by Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Pedro, Charles Puyol and Sergio Ramos. They also have a goal keeper (Casillas) who has not conceded many goals from the commencement of the tournament.

The Dutch on the other hand, have a reliable striker, Wesley Sneijder, who has so far scored 5 goals; and a dependable mid field marshalled by Bronckhorst. They also have reliable attackers like Arjen Robben, Robin Van Persie and Kuyt.

We therefore expect a very fluid, attacking football, balanced with tactical discipline from both sides. The outcome of the game would be decided by the technical crews, and also by the number of opportunities utilized by both sides. Wastage has to be minimized by anyone who hopes to emerge as the crowned champions. Selfishness on the part of the strikers has to be checked as well. Temperaments must be controlled, and all kinds of diving and false alarms must be avoided if they are to give their teeming fans something to enjoy; and they should be ready to win the match convincingly to the delight of all spectators.

We earnestly await the crowning of a new world champions come Sunday 11th July 2010. We wish the finalists best of luck in their quest to win the trophy for the very first time.

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.

This question has been on the minds of many football fans as they witnessed the performance of the 25-year old Egyptian forward over the course of the season. Sir Alex Ferguson had once told that Inside Forwards are more dangerous than traditional forwards. The Egyptian seems to be trying to prove Ferguson’s remarks true. He has shown explosive bouts of pace, exceptional fitness levels, extraordinary shooting accuracy and the form of his life.

So, once again, does Mo Salah have a shot at winning the Ballon d’Or? Not Quite Yet!

The reason is rather simple- Liverpool as a team have not won any silverware this season as of yet. So does this count? Yes, it does. Despite all his exploits, the team has not been successful in any major competition apart from the UEFA Champions League. Liverpool just won the first-leg of their semi-finals against AS Roma 5-2. Salah proved to be instrumental in this trashing of his old club yet again as he ended the match with 2 goals and 2 assists. He had managed to score seven goals in his 7 outings in the Champions League during the leadup to the Semi-finals. He has shown out of the ordinary striking form through-out the Premier League season. But unless Liverpool win the Champions League, his dream of winning the Ballon d’Or will remain just that, a dream.

But things have not always gone according to script for the Egyptian. His initial entry into the Premier League was with Chelsea, who bought him from FC Basel. But he could only make 13 appearances and score 2 goals before being loaned-off to Italian side, Fiorentina. He was then loaned to AS Roma who bought him from Chelsea for a complete transfer. He enjoyed considerable success at the club. Liverpool then bought from Roma before the start of the 2017-18 season. Many of the experts voiced their doubts about Salah’s ability to adopt to the Premier League. But all of them have been silenced now, given his performance and sheer attacking prowess he has shown.

Salah also helped Egypt qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2018, their first appearance since the 1990 World Cup. He emerged as Egypt’s top scorer during the qualifying tournament and scored both the goals in the all important match against Congo. He has so far scored 43 times for Liverpool during this season and is only behind Ian Rush in the all time top goal scorer’s for the club in a single season.

Mo Salah has already been named as the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the year. So let us hope Liverpool will maintain their momentum and take their current form into the second leg against AS Roma.

«Los Galacticos» means the stars. When we talk about it, automatically we talk about one of the biggest clubs in Europe, Real Madrid FC. The term referred to that club about 4 or 5 years ago because it consisted of a lot of stars or great players. Those stars were in the shapes of Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo. Madridistas or Real Madrid supporters used to name them «Los Galacticos I» but nowadays there are «Los Galacticos II» with different stars. Although both of them consists of a lot of great players but I think it’s quite difficult for them to match the achievement of «Los Galacticos I». Here are my reasons why I say so.

First of all, The stars in Real Madrid now are relatively new in Spanish football so they still have to make some adjustments. For example, Ricardo Kaka, we know that he is a great playmaker when he played for AC Milan in Italy. He played as a central figure in Milan’s midfield. However, Spanish football and Italian football are two different leagues and they have different styles of football. I think so far, Kaka and also many other new stars haven’t shown their best forms in Real Madrid.

Next, so far they haven’t been able to play well as a unit or as a team. They do score a lot of goals but I think many of the goals come from the stars’ individual skills. Take a look at Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals. Many of his goals come from free kicks or long-range shots, his special skill.

All in all, Even though Real Madrid stars are now named «Los Galacticos II», these stars are still unable to match with the stars of Real Madrid 4 or 5 years ago in terms of achievement and the way of play. They still have to work hard to prove that they deserve to be called as «Los Galacticos II».