manisoccer’s posterous

In the last years it was undisputed that the English Premier League was the best league in Europe and in the World. Last years' Champions League showed it very clearly. This year, the English teams still dominated the Champions League, although Barcelona won the final against Manchester United.

Now that the financial crisis has hit England the hardest, the question is whether the Spanish League will overcome the English league. I think as a whole the Premiership will still remain the league with the best teams if one looks at the whole league. However, Spain especially with Barcelona and Real Madrid might be able to overcome the Premiership.

Who are the best players in the world? Probably no doubt that they are Kaka, Messi and Ronaldo. Now Messi is in Barcelona and will probably remain there under Guyardiola for the next 10 years or so. Kaka is going to Real Madrid and Ronaldo? I think his saga around Real Madrid is not over yet and we will need to see how the summer evolves. If he will go to Real, it would mean that three best players in the world will play in Spain.

In order to really become a better league, Spain will need to have more depth of good teams. Currently there is Real Madrid, Barcelona and then there is nothing. It is a bit like the German league in which Bayern's domination prevents the league to become into a real power house. Spain needs a Big Four, like the English have with Manchester, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. It is exactly this rivalry that makes it necessary for the teams to constantly invest in new players. It is like the Space Program of the US and Russia during the Cold War. A constant fight for recognition, titles and power. With the financial crisis of Valencia and other teams in Spain, this looks still to be a bit far off.

One thing is for sure, La Liga has already definitely the best team in Europe with Barcelona.

Today over lunch I had a discussion with my friends regarding the best goal keeper of all time and currently. Since the transfer rumors seem to be a bit quiet for now after the big bang and since I am not that interested in seeing South Africa vs Iraq playing (no offense), this was a good topic for our lunch. (especially since the food was not great)

As a Bayern fan and neutral observer, the all time question is easily solved: It can only be Oliver Kahn. Now there might be people who will argue that it was Sepp Maier, Lev Yashin or Dino Zoff. Out of those I only saw Dino Zoff play and since I was too young to remember, I can only vote for Kahn. 

Oliver Kahn was the leading figure at Bayern in the last ten years. He was constantly playing on the highest level, made almost no mistakes and saved the impossible balls. Because of his grim look, strikers were afraid to come close to him and maybe rightly so. It was because of Kahn that Germany made it with a really bad team into the World Cup final of 2002 and it was because of him that Bayern won the Champions League in 2001. Kahn had only two mediocre years and that was in 2005 and 2006 when he started to date a 18 year old. That is never good for your performance.  If Kahn would have been a striker and not a goalkeeper hw would easily have broken Cristiano Ronaldo's record for being the most expensive player.

My friends obviously disagreed, but only because a.) they like to disagree with me on all football related topics b.) nobody besides Bayern fans likes Kahn and c.) they have no idea about football.

The question regarding the current best goalkeeper is a more tricky one. Two years ago I would have said Gianluigi Buffon from Juventus Turin. He had an amazing World Cup and was also the best Italian player during the Euro 2008. I think he is still good but he is outshined by two other goalkeepers. Interestingly enough they both play for teams that I can't stand, but still one needs to acknowledge their performances.

The first is Edwin van der Saar. Van der Saar has always been a good goalkeeper, but in his last years he became an excellent one. He makes almost no mistakes and sometimes even manages to save balls that are impossible to save. He is getting better the older he gets and I am really impressed with him and his performance although he is a Manchester United player.

The second is Iker Casillas. Not only is Casillas playing for Real Madrid, a team that I cannot stand since I am a Barcelona fan. Casillas is also Spanish, a country that has not a great goalkeeper history. Remember Andoni Zubizarreta ? He was one of the reasons Spain could never win anything. Now Casillas made a lot of easy mistakes when he was younger, but he is getting better and better. He is extremely fast and is saving some goals that I believe are for sure in.

Although he received 6 against arch rival Barcelona, he is for me currently the best keeper.

So the summer is in full swing and I am trying to cope with the fact that there is no real football going on. I am counting the days until the new season starts although it is not for another 6 weeks or so. These are the football topics that keep me currently busy:

1.       The transfer season is in full swing, although the good old days are gone where the whole world debates whether Real Madrid will finally get Cristiano Ronaldo. Even the Winter transfer season was more exciting when Kaka flirted with Manchester City. Real spoiled also this, by signing him early on into the summer. Now what is left for me as a Bayern fan is whether Franck Ribery will leave us. For some reason I have almost no hope that Bayern will be able to keep him. So it is only a question on where he will go.

2.      

Well there is some football currently going on in the form of the Federations Cup. Although you have some of the best teams competing with each other, like Italy, USA, Brazil and Spain, I just can't get excited about it. Maybe it is because my favorite teams Argentina and Germany are not playing. But I believe the real reason is that I can't stand friendly games. They do not serve any particular purpose for the spectator and no matter what the result, it is always "just a friendly".  In my opinion stars like Kaka and Fernando Torres had a long enough season, so they should rather rest and be fit for the new season.

3.       Iran : Without getting political, I think what was amazing is that the Iranian team wore green arm bands and what impact it had on the country. People in Iran are crazy about football and they took this act of sympathy for the opposition from their national team (or to be more precise from some players) very seriously. Shows once more how important the sport is.

4.       Amazing season ahead of us: After the next weeks without football, we will have an exciting season. I can't wait for the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona to start and see how La Liga will compete with the Premiership in the Champions League. And the best part of it, it will all end in the World Cup 2010 !!

Have a great summer,

Mani

span