Ball, Ball, Ball, Footie, Footie, Footie

[Paddy]

Any thoughts on how his performance in the ACN might go towards him getting a work visa or is he looking at two seasons in Greece instead of one?

The rules on whether a player is granted automatic entry are clear. He must have played in 75% of internationals for his country in the two years before the application, while the player's country must regularly make the top 70 world rankings.

Sounds black and white. The confusion arises when a club attempts to reverse a permit rejection by convincing an appeal board of the player's ability to make a significant contribution to the development of the English game.

From here. That article gives an interesting account of cases where initial rejections (note, the above rule only applies to automatic entry) were granted on appeal due to the strength of the arguments. It gives an example of Ayegbeni Yakubu and how it was successfully argued that he hadn't played the required number of games for his national side only because he fell out with his coach.

Angola aren't in the top 70. In fact, they're 72nd according to the FIFA World Rankings

I really have no idea how long a player must be resident in the EU before they are granted a work permit due to residency, but it's bound to be a few years.

My belief (and hope) is that he'll be available to play for United next season, because of the language of Alex Ferguson, that they're sending him out just for the remainder of the season to gain First Team Experience in Europe.

Could be wishfulness, though

[The Man Who]

Just on Manucho's transfer fee, I'm convinced I saw somewhere that it was in the region of or 3.5 million pounds, which is reasonable. I bet if it had waited until after AFCON it would have rocketed a bit.

[lessthanluke]

They lost 3-0 to Wales, which truly is embarrassing.

Wales!! About time we won a football match

[The Inquisitor]

How was that first Fabio Capello match? was it fun? did Englad play well?

I read he did not field a very defensive minded XI... but you should know by now not to expect an entertaining act at Wembley every time they play. Capello builds his team from behind. Rock strong teams, but dull footie.

Good thing is... he wins.

[Isis]

Compared to the mess we were under McClaren, today was a massive improvement but honestly, Brown and Jenas?!! WTF!!!!

I KNOW. And Upson. Totally WTF. Almost not even worth watching at all with such a pile of mediocre cack representing the country.

And the lame BBC commentary gets worse and worse, and more and more cringe-inducing with every international I watch. If they are not going to tell you who has the ball and what they are doing with it (which seems to be SO out of fashion these days) they can STFU because I am not in the least interested in their self-indulgent, meaningless bullshit waffle.

Oh, yeah, and according to Lawrenson, because the man of the match is voted for online it's obviously voted for entirely by geeks. He didn't go as far as to say that geeks know nothing about football but I think that's what he was implying.

[cteresa]

Loras, considering Capello, I was checking his record the other day, and honestly he does win, but considering the teams he managed and how many years he managed them, I dunno nice but statistically for those teams ity´s not that impressive. This is sort of a compliment to you, btw. Barcelona throwing away 7 points lead - remember that this year. Wait, wikipediaing it, 7 years with Milan, 2 with Real madrid, 5 with Roma (one scudetto. nice. mourinho did far better with porto in 2.5 years), two with Juve ( oh, gosh that that title counts?) . His great great team was perhaps still Sacchi´s? Ok, nice for you guys, 100% league record with him as manager, but is he really that mythical?

The fact that you have a Portuguese-speaker for a manager helps as well- No language barrier. Did you catch his goal against Egypt? Easily the goal of the tournament. He basically had maybe two touches on the ball before he took the shot from well outside the box with a defender crowing him too. Amazing!

got to check it. I saw one of his goals which had a touch of inzaghi there ( in a good way!)

Ah, I see where you're coming from; there are certainly other factors than just crowd support that play into a true "home advantage". However, fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you feel about it, refs may also favor other African sides as well as S. Africa. As far as group draws, and other "advantages" implemented systemically; you're right, S. Africa will probaby be the only ones getting the true benefit's of those things.

well, hope is empowering, just like Pod am warning, more than just a title, a journey of progress, of improvement is something worth celebrating as well. About referees, hope the refereeing is good and fair to all, but please, if we are going to generalize, a problem with african teams is often discipline and maybe playing a bit too rough. That is probably the major reason why some national leagues are so different from others, the things refs let pass differ so much. I wonder a bit if professional referees and maybe swapping referees between major leagues would not be an interesting idea.

Any thoughts on how his performance in the ACN might go towards him getting a work visa or is he looking at two seasons in Greece instead of one?

Paddy, the rankings are from before the ACN started right? With some victories maybe Angola´s ranking can raise on the next monthly ranking a couple spots to the all important top 70, if so, good shot no? Rankings rise and fall, wonder how bureaucracy handles that or if a matter of good timing will work.

About last night´s friendly, Italy is good and well practiced a machine that works (perhaps being world champions has a correlation with that). Sorry guys, but *they* are getting out of the group of death. Portugal is, still, on renewal, trying something new ( this time Makukula. problem is we don´t know how to play with a real #9) which is not really working. There is time, and there has been precious few time for team practicing together which is important when trying to renew a team. We will see in June I guess. Considering the swiss, they call that their best stadium?!? tv transmission was a bit dodgy also. It´s looking a bit unprofessional for the euro, IMO. and totally fangirlish-ly from some tiny part of my brain, thinking of a brazillian friend of mine who always thinks of it first, Portugal-Italy, zomg the prettiness, the eye candy. The cheekbones, shoulders and hairstyles on both sides ( and we were even without Nuno Gomes). Ignore Petit and Maniche please, we love them for other reasons. .

[Maltaran]

Regarding the top 70 thing - the club can appeal to the Home Secretary if they get turned down over that (in fact, Manchester City are doing just that over an Iraqi player they tried to sign in January - Iraq are IIRC 71st. They're going to try and get him a work permit in the summer.)

[Falagar]

The Egyptians are out-classing Côte d'Ivoire. I think the Brits have an expression that covers this pretty well: Bloody Hell!

[Horus Ex Machina]

The Egyptians are out-classing Côte d'Ivoire. I think the Brits have an expression that covers this pretty well: Bloody Hell!

Damn! Once again I jump on here before watching the game. Oh well. Let me go watch it now.

[Falagar]

Damn! Once again I jump on here before watching the game. Oh well. Let me go watch it now.

Sorry about that.

Cameroon and Egypt in the finals...wonder what the odds were. ^^

[Horus Ex Machina]

Sorry about that.

Cameroon and Egypt in the finals...wonder what the odds were. ^^

Why am I still here?????????????????????? THis is all my fault!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not you're fault Falagar. My internet was down from this morning until about an hour ago, so I couldn't watch the games live, but that's no excuse for why I haven't watched now. So what were the details?

And you're correct, I'd never thought that CIV and Ghana would lose before the finals. A bit dissappointed with that result.

Regarding the top 70 thing - the club can appeal to the Home Secretary if they get turned down over that (in fact, Manchester City are doing just that over an Iraqi player they tried to sign in January - Iraq are IIRC 71st. They're going to try and get him a work permit in the summer.)

Nashat Akram. I remember reading about that. He should get this.

[DJDonegal]

So the Premiership want to play some games abroad?

[Falagar]

Why am I still here?????????????????????? THis is all my fault!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not you're fault Falagar. My internet was down from this morning until about an hour ago, so I couldn't watch the games live, but that's no excuse for why I haven't watched now. So what were the details?

And you're correct, I'd never thought that CIV and Ghana would lose before the finals. A bit dissappointed with that result.

CIV 1, Egypt 4. Missed the first half myself but it seemed like CIV had most of the game, even though Egypt was in the lead (0-1 before break). Egypt increases their lead; CIV counters and scores what seems like a few seconds later (brilliant goal). But by having to press on they weaken their defense (not their defenders' best day), a major error by one of the becks and poor goalkeeping (the main keeper was injured in the first half and had to be substituted) gives Egypt a 2 goals-lead with 20-something minutes left to play. CIV tries another surge, though not very effectively, and with only a few minutes left Egypt nets another one.

Seemed a pretty even match to me, with CIV being the most aggressive while Egypt were more dangerous when they first attacked. Still, from what I saw, Egypt deserved the win (though perhaps not by that much). Not a good day for Drogba...

[Padraig]

Loras, considering Capello, I was checking his record the other day, and honestly he does win, but considering the teams he managed and how many years he managed them, I dunno nice but statistically for those teams ity´s not that impressive. This is sort of a compliment to you, btw. Barcelona throwing away 7 points lead - remember that this year. Wait, wikipediaing it, 7 years with Milan, 2 with Real madrid, 5 with Roma (one scudetto. nice. mourinho did far better with porto in 2.5 years), two with Juve ( oh, gosh that that title counts?) . His great great team was perhaps still Sacchi´s? Ok, nice for you guys, 100% league record with him as manager, but is he really that mythical?

I think its impossible to make little of Capello's record. Other managers have great records but they only manage a team in one of the major European leagues (i.e. Spain, Italy, England)? Sure, he didn't win a lot with Roma but Roma never win anything otherwise. He won 4 Italian titles in 5 years with Milan. He might fail with England but his reputation up to now has been hugely deserved.

[Jon AS]

So the Premiership want to play some games abroad?

From a business perspective, that would probably pay off, but adding another game to the English season and making it a draw with the top teams seeded seems like a bad idea for the Premiership as a sports competition.

[cteresa]

From a business perspective, that would probably pay off, but adding another game to the English season and making it a draw with the top teams seeded seems like a bad idea for the Premiership as a sports competition.

Really horrible idea. It´s whorish to say the least, sort of destroys the point of a league. Any chance FIFA will forbid it? (because, yeah, they might be evil but sometimes they do good).

[Paddy]

"whoreish" ? come on.

I think it's a great idea. Maybe it would be better if it wasn't an extra week of games. Possibly make it two weeks of games and make each team give up 1 home game and 1 away game for it, rather than make it an extra week of football.

But I dont see why anyone should have a problem with the Premiership wanting to make more money overseas. The UK market is pretty much at saturation point and if the Premiership dont do it, some of the other leagues will.

I dont understand how it destroys the point of a league when... it doesn't. Sure, the Scottish league operates a split league format to keep down the number of games, and that's still a proper league.

Seeding the top teams, well, I can't really see a problem with that, but I'd like to know what the justification is for that idea. Is it to ensure that no one match will overshadow any other? Or so that the change has less chance of making an unfair impact on the title race.

[mormont]

Paddy: you don't think that playing games overseas, away from your clubs' home ground and indeed your clubs' home country, for the specific and only purpose of making money, is 'whoreish'? I mean, you might not think it's a bad idea but it is certainly selling yourself for money - that is, rather explicitly, the point.

[Jon AS]

But I dont see why anyone should have a problem with the Premiership wanting to make more money overseas. The UK market is pretty much at saturation point and if the Premiership dont do it, some of the other leagues will.

The trouble is that the English calendar is already rather crowded, adding one more game just cuts down regeneration time for the players some more (it does take some time to fully recover from the excertion of a modern professional football game, after all) and you then even have to add something like 8-10 hour flights on top of that, not to mention dealing with different time zones. I think the quality of football in these games (and the ones immediately following them) would suffer.

Seeding the top teams, well, I can't really see a problem with that, but I'd like to know what the justification is for that idea. Is it to ensure that no one match will overshadow any other? Or so that the change has less chance of making an unfair impact on the title race.

Err, wouldn't seeding be much more likely to have an "unfair" impact on the title race? I mean, imagine the top team drawing the 6th placed one while the second draws the dead last one. That sounds rather unbalanced to me.

[cteresa]

"whoreish" ? come on.

Well, my english vocabulary is shaky, there are perhaps more elegant words to describe prostitution like behaviour, but could not think of any better. Come on, Paddy, making up extra games, away from home, destroying the symmetry of everybody playing each other home and away by introducing new games ( which are unbalanced meaning somebody will play the bottom team 3 times, and also unbalanced by some foreign locations being far more tiring than others) to make more money? It´s ridiculous. It´s whoreish.

But I dont see why anyone should have a problem with the Premiership wanting to make more money overseas. The UK market is pretty much at saturation point and if the Premiership dont do it, some of the other leagues will..

No dear, I assure you, I can´t see either serie A or the spanish league willing to consider doing something like this - or the others. Making money and profit is important, but when it starts to affect the purpose, the ideal of a league, sorry it´s whorish. The whole idea is pretty alien and repulsive to me. I mean, hold friendly tournaments, or some special thing like the european supercup, or that world club whatever FIFA insists on. league games created on purpose? yuck. And think of it, if I find it repulsive, if you are worried about respect and recognition ( because no player playing in England ever won World Player of the Year, nor do the track record at the Ballon d Or looks impressive, and yeah Owen sort of a fluke that year anyway) how seriously are sports reporters in France or Italy going to think of the premiership if they pull stunts like that?

I dont understand how it destroys the point of a league when... it doesn't. Sure, the Scottish league operates a split league format to keep down the number of games, and that's still a proper league.

Point of a league to me is, every team plays everybody else home and away - it´s how we do it on this sport. Team with more points is obviously the best and champion.

Seeding the top teams, well, I can't really see a problem with that, but I'd like to know what the justification is for that idea. Is it to ensure that no one match will overshadow any other? Or so that the change has less chance of making an unfair impact on the title race.

it will obviously have an unfair impact on title AND relegation race - randomly or we are expected to believe that. Some team will play the 20th team, another will play the 6th best. I hope FIFA or UEFA throw a fit on it - they might, this is ridiculous. FIFA can certainly arbitrate on what games are to be considered official, and UEFA has every right at least to impose rules on how league positions are considered for entrance in the CL and UEFA cup. Or in any case 2011 is a long way away, if they do bring limiting foreigners rule, that might again affect the foreign interest on each league...