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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Balotelli must be more professional, says Rosicky

The midfielder feels the AC Milan star has plenty of potential and says he will improve even further if he changes his behaviour, Tomas Rosicky believes there is much more to come from Mario Balotelli - but only once he has "calmed down" on the pitch. The two players go head-to-head on Tuesday in World Cup qualification Group B as the Czech Republic take on Italy and the Arsenal midfielder hopes the Balotelli will begin to mature and fulfill his potential.

"I know Balotelli pretty well. Mario has a lot of potential. However, he will be even better if he calms down a bit on a professional level," Rosicky told Tuttosport. "Of course, his age plays a role in his behaviour, but he has already shown that he's a very interesting player at City and Milan. "Italy are very strong tactically and they have two superb strikers.

Balotelli made the headlines for all the wrong reasons in the previous encounter between the two nations after he was dismissed in the second half after receiving two yellow cards within the space of four minutes. Czech Republic currently sit third in Group B with nine points from seven games, trailing leaders Italy by eight points and second-placed Bulgaria by one point.

Barcelona would not pay €100m for Bale

Barcelona president Sandro Rosell says he would never have allowed the club to pay the €100 million fee which Real Madrid spent on Gareth Bale. The Wales international secured his protracted move to Santiago Bernabeu shortly before the end of the summer transfer window, though the sum involved has attracted significant criticism, with Barca coach Gerardo Martino claiming it showed "a lack of respect for the world we live in."

While Rosell admits the timing of Martino's comments was ill-advised, he has voiced his own disdain for the world-record fee, claiming that his own club could never match such sums on a single player. "I wouldn’t have paid €100 million [for Bale]," he told TV3. "Barcelona cannot allow for that. If we pay €100m, people would go crazy. Madrid is a private institution and if their socios allow it, then I have nothing to say.

"We need to tell Tata that he can’t always say what he thinks, but he was speaking from the heart." Rosell was quick to praise Madrid for their decision to allow Kaka to return to AC Milan on a free transfer, however, stating that the departure of the likes of the Brazilian and David Villa from Camp Nou are useful in freeing up the wage bill.

"Madrid selling Kaka to Milan for nothing was a good move. That’s one huge salary off the books at least. Just like selling Villa was a good move for us," Rosell said. The 49-year-old also revealed he has been in touch with Tito Vilanova, who is continuing to battle cancer following his relapse earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Barcelona were handed a boost after Sergio Busquets returned to training on Monday. The midfielder, who injured his thigh in the 3-2 Liga win over Valencia, has stepped up his recovery after being forced to withdraw from the Spain squad for the matches against Finland and Chile.

Blatter: Summer World Cup in Qatar is a mistake

The Fifa president concedes he knew it would be problematic to host the event in the summer and will meet with governing body's board next month to argue for a winter tournament. Fifa president Sepp Blatter has admitted it may have been a mistake to give Qatar the World Cup in 2022, knowing full well that the tournament being played in the summer would cause serious problems.

The Arab nation was awarded the World Cup in 2010 but there have been significant concerns raised about players and supporters' safety holding the event in summer months where temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius. Blatter, in February 2011, insisted the World Cup in 2022 would be held in the summer, but has had a change of heart and will next month make a proposal to Fifa's Executive Committee to alter the dates of the event to the winter.
"After many discussions, deliberations and critical review of the entire matter, I came to the conclusion that playing the World Cup in the heat of Qatar's summer was simply not a responsible thing to do - despite the fact that I know full well that Qatar has the means to develop the best cooling technology.

When it was suggested to him that he already knew it would be impossible to host the World Cup in the summer in Qatar, Blatter told insideworldfootball: "That may well be so, and it may well be that we made a mistake at the time.

"That is why I went public and suggested that the Fifa ExCo should review the period when the event shall be staged and see what consequences it would have to play in winter."

Key figures in the Premier League and Bundesliga chief Christian Seifert, as well as other European leagues, have raised concerns over the club calendar in Europe, which would face upheaval for three to four years should the change go ahead.

Nevertheless, Blatter will go to Fifa's board in early October to propose the event be changed to the winter.
"Once the Executive Committee of Fifa has agreed to that, we can take the next step which will include a close look at the international calendar and establish what consequences the change would have. And we would naturally need to speak to and consult with all interested parties and stakeholders."

Blatter had said in July that he is confident the move will be accepted: "The executive committee will certainly follow my proposal. Then we will have dealt with it for good."

Monday, September 9, 2013

Madrid fought until the death for Neymar - Rosell

Barcelona club president Sandro Rosell has revealed that rivals Real Madrid tried to convince Neymar to move to Santiago Bernabeu this summer right until the eleventh hour. The Brazilian forward sealed a €57 million switch to Camp Nou after making it clear he favoured a move to the Liga champions, but that did not prevent los Blancos from attempting to disrupt negotiations even when the contract was being signed, according to Rosell.
"When we reached an initial agreement with Neymar's father, the player had already passed a medical with Madrid, so we joked we would not bother with our own check-up," he told television station TV3. "When we were signing the contract, Madrid were sending emails to Santos."

The Blaugrana president was also quashed the notion of their being any possibility of Real Madrid club captain Iker Casillas replacing the out-going Victor Valdes, despite the Spain No.1 having failed to regain his first-team place from Diego Lopez. "Casillas will not sign because he is an icon of Real Madrid and I could not see him with the club badge on his chest, the same way I wouldn’t like to see Xavi in a Real jersey," said Rosell.

Finally, the 49-year-old revealed that tensions have dropped between La Liga's top two since Jose Mourinho's departure for Chelsea, but hinted he would miss the Portuguese's presence in Spain. "Since then the tension has dropped, but his press conferences were entertaining," he added. "In the European Super Cup I was siding with Bayern Munich. Pep Guardiola is the best coach in history."

Jordi Alba will become better than Roberto Carlos, says Capdevila

Espanyol defender Joan Capdevila believes Barcelona defender Jordi Alba has the potential to become even better than Roberto Carlos and develop into the best left-back in the world. The 24-year-old scored in Spain's 2-0 victory over Finland on Friday to make it five goals in 24 games for Spain and Capdevila is impressed with the former Valencia man's fine performances.

"Jordi is an incredible talent," Capdevila was quoted as saying by Marca. "He's on course to fast become the best in the world. He'll be better than Roberto Carlos." Meanwhile, the Brazilian himself has nothing but praise for Alba, too, and feels the Barcelona defender and Real Madrid's Marcelo are arguably the best in the world in their position.

"Along with Marcelo, he's the best left-back out there. "His explosive pace makes him important in both defence and attack. He's a proven goalscorer." Alba has been Spain's first-choice left-back ever since displacing Capdevila during the qualification campaign for Euro 2012.

Zidane: Ribery and Ronaldo should share Ballon d'Or

Zinedine Zidane says he would like to see either Cristiano Ronaldo or fellow countryman Franck Ribery pick up the Ballon d’Or award this year. Ribery was crowned Uefa Best Player last month after inspiring Bayern Munich to the treble last season, pipping fellow nominees Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the prize. And Zidane believes the 30-year-old deserves global football's top individual honour for 2013 along with Real Madrid star Ronaldo, instead of current holder and four-time winner Messi. "I hope it will be one of those two, both really deserve it,” stated the Madrid sporting director to TV programme Canal Football Club.

"If there were two Ballon d’Or, I would give them one each. As it is, there is only one, but I do not decide!"
Zidane went on to voice his support for striker Karim Benzema, following the criticism levelled at the 25-year-old as a result of his 20-plus-hour goal drought for France. "We know he has not scored for a long time for France," Zidane continued.

"What I hope is to always see Benzema performing at a good level because he is a talented player who can give a lot to France and Real Madrid." The World Cup-winner also talked about his relationship with coach Carlo Ancelotti and insisted that his new role on the backroom team at Santiago Bernabeu has not caused any rifts within the current coaching set-up.
He explained that what interests me and him still have to learn about that. "I had him [Ancelotti] for two years at Juventus. He has evolved professionally, but as a person, he is always the same, devoted and open-minded."

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Ronaldo's absence is disappointing, admits Thiago Silva

Brazil defender Thiago Silva admits he is disappointed that Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo will not be available to face his side on Tuesday, The Paris Saint-Germain stopper, fresh from the Selecao's 6-0 friendly win against Australia on Saturday, had hoped to come up against the 28-year-old following his devastating hat-trick against Northern Ireland on Friday but has been ruled out because of tendinitis.

"I'm not happy that he [Cristiano] is out. It's always a sad thing to see a fellow footballer getting injured. We had that today with Marcelo. A player of Cristiano's calibre should always be fit to play, because that makes any match automatically better."

David Luiz, who partnered Silva at the back on Saturday believes Ronaldo's absence gives Brazil impetus.

Brazil bounced back from the Switzerland defeat with an emphatic victory over the Socceroos, with goals coming from Jo, Neymar, Ramires, Alexandre Pato and Luiz Gustavo. Silva will expect to be tested much more in Tuesday's friendly than he was on Saturday but insisted that credit must be given to the way Luiz Felipe Scolari's men defended as well as attacked.

"We didn't have a difficult life today because of how well our defence worked, it's important to highlight that," he continued. "Let's not say that they didn't make it past our back line because of their lack of quality, but because we did a very good job at keeping them from it. We had a really strong man-marking [system]."

Emmanuel Emenike glad to score after injury lay-off

The new Fenerbahce striker made his return after eight months and scored the opening goal against the Flames Emmanuel Emenike got injured at the semi-final stage of the last Nations Cup and has not featured since that injury but he made his return to the Super Eagles on Saturday.

It was in a Group F final qualifying match against Malawi and he scored in the 45th minute to help his team to a 1-0 half-time lead. “Definitely good to be back to the national team and to come back with a goal was very good,” Emenike said after the match.

“We knew we had to be relaxed as they needed to win and all we needed was a draw.” Emenike also revealed that scoring at the end of the first half actually relaxed the players for the second half. “After we scored we knew that Malawi would come out to try and get the equalizer and then we scored the second goal,” he added.

Luis Suarez in new cheat storm

The Liverpool forward was once again the centre of attention as his controversial performance ensured Uruguay took a step closer to Brazil 2014. Luis Suarez is at the centre of a new diving controversy after Uruguay beat Peru 2-1 in a World Cup 2014 qualifier on Friday. Peru coach Sergio Markarian slammed referee Patricio Loustau for sending off Victor Yotun for a clash with Suarez in the first half at the Estadio Nacional de Lima.

The Uruguay forward theatrically fell to the ground following the clash with Yotun who was shown a straight red card. Marakarian told reporters. "What Yotun did was silly but I've seen worse, like elbows or persistent simulation that goes unpunished." Four minutes earlier Suarez earned his side a penalty - from which he scored - when he went to ground following a challenge from Christian Ramos, though, replays showed there was minimal contact.

Liverpool's striker is currently serving a 10-match ban for biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. Peru are now five points behind Uruguay, who occupy the fifth-place play-off position in the Conmebol qualifying pool.