In Attendance: Serie A - Inter Milan v Cagliari. 19th November 2011

As I have mentioned before, when I were a wee lad growing up, I, like many others of my generation, was a huge fan of Serie A on Channel 4 back in the 1990s. Terrestrial TV coverage of what was perceived to be the best league in the world at the world was the kind of footballing luxury the modern day armchair fan would come to look on with the greatest sense of nostalgia – especially given the small fortune one needs to shell out nowadays for the 'privilege' of watching Stoke City and the like.

During this Serie A golden era, Juventus and AC Milan were the two dominant forces – sharing eight titles between 1992 and 1999. However, this is not to say that every campaign was a predicable two team procession. Both sides needed to be on their toes to fend off the strong challenge coming from the likes of Parma, Udinese, Sampdoria and Fiorentina year on year.

You could almost always rely on the Italian league throwing up something of a competitive title race. The strength of the division wasn't merely restricted to the big two. For example, following their Scudetto success in 1996, AC Milan finished a lowly 11th position 12 months later. Similarly, Juventus ended the 1998/99 campaign in 6th place despite successive championships in 1997 and 1998 and THREE Champions League finals (96, 97, 98). The Roman clubs broke up the cartel at the turn of the century as, firstly, Lazio (2000) and then Roma (2001) were crowned champions of Italy.

The most notable absence on the illustrious list of league winners was AC Milan's city rivals. While the Rossoneri would regularly dine at the top table both domestically and abroad, Internazionale were left raiding the bins behind motorway service stations for whatever scraps that had been thrown away. It is safe to describe the end of the 20th century as a period of underachievement for the Nerazzurri. A title win in 1989 was followed by a lean decade that yielded just three measly Uefa Cup successes in 1991, 1994 and 1998 – also, quite incredibly, losing the 1997 final to Schalke on penalties. For most, that haul wouldn't look bad but for one of Italy's big names, it was a poor return, particularly given the vast spending of chairman Massimo Moratti following his acquisition of the club in 1995. The oil tycoon was certainly not afraid to splash the cash in his attempts to match the successes of City rivals AC. This period saw some stellar names turn out in the famous Black and Blue including Ivan Zamorano, Diego Simeone, Gianluca Pagliuca, Alvaro Recoba, Youri Djourkaeff, our very own Paul Ince. Aron Winter, Paulo Sousa, Roberto Carlos and of course, the jewel in the crown, Ronaldo.



The noughties saw the likes of Christian Vieri, Clarence Seedorf and Fabio Canovarro sign up yet success still very much eluded Inter. Moratti would also go through managers quicker than most men go through underwear with some 12 men burning their arses in the San Siro hotseat between 1995 and 2003. Roberto Mancini was then handed the reigns and it all suddenly went right as he oversaw the clubs most successful period since the 1960s, initially winning back to back Italian Cups in 04 and 05 before setting his sights on the big prize.

However, Inter's subsequent glory, and Italian football as a whole during this period, is punctuated by a huge asterisk. In 2006, the first of what was to be Mancini's three successive Scudetti was only awarded due to the fact the actual champions Juventus were involved in the infamous Calciopoli match fixing scandal which saw them stripped of the title and relegated to Serie B. City rivals Milan were also implicated, so too Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina. Inter themselves, as well as others, were investigated but exonerated.

What followed was a period of dominance for il Nerazzurri as they steamrolled pretty much all before them like some sort of black and blue erm... steamroller. Mancini's hat trick of titles didn't save him from trigger happy Moratti however, as he was dispatched in favour of a certain Jose Mourinho. In just two years, the Special One won consecutive league titles, the second in 2010 coming as part of an unprecedented treble including the Copa Italia and of course, the Champions League – a trophy they hadn't won since 1965.



As the charismatic Portuguese completed his fairytale ending with the club and rode off into the sunset, the mediocrity of the 90s returned with a bang as he was succeeded by long time adversary Rafa Benitez. In what seemed like an Italian revisioning of The Damned United, Benitez proved to be a disaster. The champs were now very much chumps and Rafa was shown the door before the Christmas decorations had even been put up at the team found themselves 13 points off the lead.

In one of the more strange football appointments, AC Milan legend Leonardo was given the job and managed to steer the club to a second place finish behind his former club and another Copa Italia win last season. However, a dismal attempt to defend the European Cup saw the club finish second in their group to Gareth Bale and a take a shoeing from their apparent European nemesis Schalke in the quarter finals. Leonardo thought 'sod this' and headed for Paris.

Former Genoa manager Gian Piero Gasperini was entrusted with the task of bringing back the good times to Inter but his frightfully overambitious 3-4-3 formation lasted a mere 5 games at the start of this season (losing four!) before he was given the boot. Former Chelsea boss Claudio Renieri has since been appointed.

===

Each year, a group of us celebrate a mate's birthday by traveling to some city in Europe to sample the local cuisine, sample the local beer, sample some more beer and then taking in a local football match. Having previously embarked on trips to the Alianz in Munich to watch Bayern and the Bernabeu to see Real Madrid, we decided this year to head to Milan. This particular weekend saw Inter take on Cagliari so that would be what we would be watching.

I'd previously only been to Italy once before way back at the tender and testosterone filled age of 15. A football tour in Rimini when my team-mates and myself would exaggerate our prowess as players in order to convince women to share intimate times with us. Naturally, this was largely unsuccessful but we did manage to win our matches on the pitch. Albeit friendlies against teams younger than us but a win is a win as they say. I also decided to purchase a football shirt. As weird coincidences would have it, the only one that remained in the shop I went to was that of Inter Milan so I had to have it (notwithstanding my supposed allegiances to Parma). Who would have known that on my very next visit to the country, I would be to watching them in the flesh? Spooky, eh?

We arrived at the very impressive and very imposing 80,000 seater Stadio Giuseppe Meazza (Otherwise known as the San Siro) early enough to buy cheap merchandise and grab a pre-match beer. The San Siro is a large arena and as such, the area surrounding the ground is quite vast allowing for the swathes of fans if ever a match is approaching anything near a sell out. Given that Inter were languishing in 17th place and Cagliari only slightly better in 10th and the start of play, this was hardly like to be the case this time around. Some sources online have the total attendance at 56,000 but from where we were sat, you couldn't convince me that the stadium was even half full.

If the club's poor form was keeping fans away, the match itself did very little to suggest they will be coming back in their droves. Admittedly, missing from the starting line up were big names such as Lucio, Maicon, Diego Forlan and Wesley Sneijder who pulled up with injury in the warm up. Diego Milito was on the bench.

As the home side started sluggishly and failed to impose themselves with any great conviction, it became almost inconceivable to think of them as Champions of Europe a mere 18 months ago. The first half was an uneventful snoozefest with the noticeable exception of Dejan Stankovic living up to his name by having something of a stinker. The Serbian midfielder seemed to be in an amusing competition with himself to see how often he could give the ball away.

Up top, new golden boy Giampaolo Pazzini struggled but this was in part due to inadequate service and the selfishness of Mauro Zarate who may or may not have been fitted with those blinders that racehorses often wear as he seemed totally incapable of ever spotting or trying to pass to better placed team mates. Apparently, Zarate has an assist bonus written into his contract to encourage him to be more selfless. On the evidence of the opening 45 minutes, he may have forgotten about the it.

The evergreen Javier Zanetti, a permanent fixture in the Inter side since those days in the 1990s and a more than loyal servant of well over 500 games and 16 trophies, was arguably the best player on the pitch in the first half. The Argentine veteran covered the entire left hand side of the pitch with the kind of ease that shouldn't be afforded to a 38 year old in the twilight of his career.

Pazzini had and long range effort tipped onto the crossbar by Cagliari goalkeeper Michael Agazzi and he repeated the trick from a Zarate free kick. Aside from this, there was very, very little to shout about for either side as they went in goalless at the break.

In typically classy Italian fashion, espressos are sold at half time in the San Siro. I was tempted to buy at least three to try and keep me awake after the dreariness I had been forced to endure.

One of our group remarked at half time how big the pitch looked. This was the illusion because the game was being played and snail's pace and both sides seemed to be reluctant to press the opposition a great deal. As a result, the players often found themselves with a lot of time on the ball but incapable of doing anything useful with it. Inter dominated possession but more often than not this would manifest itself in simply playing passes between the back four and the midfield.

Zarate was thankfully taken off and replaced summer signing Ricky Alverez. 10 minutes into the second half, an Alvarex free kick from the left was scrappily scrambled home by Ita-zilian midfielder Thiago Motta. Even from the other end of the stadium, there was more than a slight suspicion that Motta may have been offside. A scrappy, dubious goal seemed quite fitting for the occasion though.

Six minutes later, it was 2-0 as Alvarez on the right wing got the better of the left back before playing a 1-2 with Cambiasso then switching the ball to Coutinho who cut inside and hit a low right footed drive into the bottom corner beating Agazzi at his near post.

After that little spell of excitement, Inter saw out the rest of the match with little trouble. Cagliari pulled one back in the last minute through sub Larrivey but the damage was done and the game ended 2-1. Much to the relief of everyone unfortunate enough to watch it.


szólj hozzá: INT

Italian Football has always had a reputation for being somewhat slow and over-cautious so the tempo of the game was no surprise to me but what was really unusual was the lack of quality. Alvarez looked fairly lively when introduced but still looks raw. Granted, Inter were missing some key players and probably had one eye on, what looked like at the time, a key Champions League encounter in the week but it was strange that there was nobody in the heart of the team to truly dictate the play for them. The end result being they very much looked like a team floundering around the lower half of the table. The Tinkerman has a lot of work to do. All in all, I will unashamedly declare this to be one of the worst football matches I've ever seen in the flesh.

Once the top league on the continent, now the Italian league sits comfortably behind England, Spain and even Germany. A point highlighted by the fact that the poor performances of Italian sides in Europe in recent years has seen them lose their fourth Champions League spot to the Germans. Serie A has quite clearly suffered in the wake of the Calciopoli mess. The quality of the league has certainly diminished in recent years and unfortunately for Inter, their superiority has been both a symptom and a cause of it. Top players are still joining Italian clubs but they are hardly flocking over in the kind of numbers we used to see in the 1990s. A recent episode of Sky's Sunday Supplement programme saw so-called respected journalists arrogantly dismiss Serie A as something of an irrelevance.

All that said, anyone who has been keeping track with the Italian league this season (ESPN televise two games each weekend as well as highlights during the week) will know that the league is going some way towards regaining it's competitive edge. Inter's struggles appear to be an exception rather than the rule currently. As I write this, just a single point separates a resurgent Juventus, Lazio, champions AC and Udinese at the top of the table. Does this mean the league is improving? Maybe, maybe not, but if we look at the performances of their clubs in the Champions League so far this season, one would be hard pressed to argue against the abilty of their representatives this season. Having beaten Manchester City this week, Napoli look well-placed to advance to the last 16 ahead of the cash-rich citizens. AC Milan were unlucky to lose to Barcelona but still progress from their group. Even lacklustre Inter have qualified in as group winners with a game to spare.

Ultimately, I don't think there are many out there who wouldn't want to see a strong Italian championship once again. One can only hope Serie A can successfully overcome their problems and re-establish itself as league we all look upon in awe once more.


Ugly-ass trophy though


Follow me on that Twitter thing

Porto, Mourinho and Serie A: Weekened Observations 2nd-3rd April 2011: Part Two

Part One here

The formality that is the remainder of the Premier League would usually allow one to cast their eye further afield towards our more exotic neighbours from across Europe but alas, it seems that many of the other top leagues are striding toward equally uneventful climaxes.

This past weekend, the Portuguese Primiera Liga was settled with 5 weeks to spare after Porto stretched their lead at the top to an unassailable 16 points. To make matters worse, they were crowned having beaten arch rivals and deposed champions Benfica 2-1 at their own ground, the Estadio da Luz, in what can only be described as the football equivalent of walking into someone's house, using their toilet without flushing, fornicating with their wife while they watch before rubbing salt in the wound by... um... throwing salt in their eyes.



Having seen the old enemy win the league on their own soil, Benfica showed all the grace of a three year old as they turned off the lights and turned ON the sprinklers as Porto celebrated their triumph. Yeah, that ought to show ‘em!

The man who led Porto to their 25th league title was the little known Andre Villas-Boas who may or may not be familiar to Chelsea fans due to fact he was a key member of Jose Mourinho’s coaching staff during his time in West London. Having had no playing career of his own to speak of and less than two full years in management on his lonesome (this being his first season in charge of the former European champions) it would something of an understatement to say that Boas has certainly learnt well.
Naturally, this solo success has led to people speaking favourably of the man and already comparing him to his mentor. Liverpool were even reportedly sniffing around him as a potential replacement for Roy Hodgson over the winter.

Whether he continues to live up to such high praise is something only the psychic amongst us can answer and, Ok, winning the Portuguese title with Porto is hardly the toughest challenge for a manager but if his career accelerates along this trajectory then the self-proclaimed Special One will soon have some competition for that title.

Remember the name... Andre Villas-Boas.

Speaking of whom, Jose Mourinho had held the unique record of having not lost a home league game he had taken charge of since 2002. A remarkable feat spanning time at four clubs that came to a surprising end as the only chaser in Spain’s two horse race fell giving the Champion Catalonian thoroughbred a clear run toward the finish line. Yes, Real Madrid were defeated 1-0 at home by Sporting Gijon halting Mourinho's incredible run.

To be fair, Madrid were missing a number of key players including Cronaldo, Xabi Alonso and the world’s most offside full back (allegedly), Marcello. You have to think that both Jose and Real hierarchy who currently don't really see eye to eye were almost certainly prioritising the Champions League and their first leg match against Tottenham on Tuesday. You have to say it worked out quite well for them.

The weekend was expected to take a vastly different turn as Barcelona faced a trip to Villarreal who were expected to be something of banana skin and not simply because of their all-yellow kit. Instead, Barca came away from El Madrigal with a vital 1-0 win to go 8 points clear at the top of La Liga with just 8 to play - including a trip to the Bernabeu that you might even say that can actually afford to lose.

The winning goal was scored by Gerrard Pique who is to Central defenders what the Bugatti Veyron is to showroom full of Vauxhall Corsas. Good in the air, strong in the tackle, positionally impeccable as well as being good on the ball and offers a goal threat when he gets forward. His beautiful little chest down and volley would have had many a striker looking on in envy. Can I coin the term ‘complete defender’ here? I think I will.

Oh, and if there was ever any doubt about how the universe favours certain people over others, the World Cup winner is currently also banging Shakira.


Both know the importance of being solid at the back...

In Germany, despite not winning the league for almost a decade, Borussia Dortmund's dominance in the Bundesliga this season has meant for something of a non-existent title race. Having led the table since well before Christmas, Die Schwarzgelben are currently 7 points clear with some 6 games to go.

Meanwhile, over in Italy, it has been difficult to deny that the once formidable Serie A is now a mere shadow of its former self, thanks mostly to the Calciopoli scandal and the unchallenged dominance of Internazionale in recent years.

This season however there seems to something resembling an actual title race going on and of all the leagues mentioned about, the only one that looks even remotely like it could go down to the wire.

Saturday night saw the most meaningful Milan derby for many years as Inter, two points behind their arch rivals at the start of play, took on table topping AC. Of the many sub-plots that often surround this game, the most significant on this occasion of course had to be the fact that the Nerazzurri are now managed by former Rossoneri hero Leonardo. Having worn the red and black for four years from 1997 to 2001, the Brazilian also managed AC as recently as last season before being cast aside by the club's owner and 'Bunga Bunga' patron Silvio Berlusconi despite a credible 3rd place finish.

Surprisingly, Leo then showed up at Inter last December and has since done a half decent job of repairing the damage that Rafa Benitez managed to do to the abovementioned Jose Mourinho's treble winning side of last season.

The was to be no dramatic homecoming for Leonardo as Milan ran out 3-0 winners with a brace from Alexandre Pato and an Antonio Cassano penalty to ice the cake. The win opened up a 5 point gap between the sides. However, their overall lead was cut down to three by the time the weekend was out after a swashbuckling Napoli side climbed up into second place following their epic 4-3 win over early season pacesetters Lazio in what was one of the games of the season in ANY league.



Uruguayan Striker Edison Cavani's hat-trick will have Neapolitans reminiscing about a previous South American import in the form of one Diego Armando Maradona.

Ok, he might not be the next drug-fueled lunatic with the gift of being one of the greatest players of all time but if they end up lifting their first Serie A title since those crazy days of the late 1980s then Cavani could well be held in similar high regard to El Diego given his contribution to their lofty position. His 25 league goals so far this campaign is already a record haul for any striker over a season in the history of the club.

With just eight games left, many will be hoping that Napoli can continue to push for top spot and that Inter can bounce back (although their Champions League humiliation would suggest that their powers of recovery are about as swift as a leprosy sufferer...) to make at least one championship race across Europe vaguely worth paying attention to in these closing weeks of the season...


Follow me on Twitter

Golden B*llocks

As the season pulls into the the final straight with league tables taking shape, cup competitions in their closing stages, title races getting more exciting, relegation battles more nail-biting, managers being sacked, teams in administration and Liverpool actually winning, the supposed biggest football story, not for the first time, centres around David Beckham.

It looks like Becks' dream of representing England in South Africa this summer have been dashed as the former captain twanged his Achilles tendon while turning out for Milan Old Boys at the weekend. Since the injury, news and sports news channels alike have provided wall-to-wall coverage of everything from the man in question limping away from Milan to the surgery itself in Finland to the diagnosis of injury. He'll be out for six months apparently.



Notice how I managed to sum up all the relevant information in just 76 words and didn't need to send a correspondent to stand outside the Finnish hospital in question to fail to add anything new or interesting to this story? Sky Sports News and poor cold Gary Cotterill, take note.

On a personal note, I've never been a big fan of David Beckham. Ever since he burst onto the scene for The Salford Bay Rowdies back in the mid-nineties there was always something that rubbed me up the wrong way about him. It wasn't the pretty boy looks, the Colgate smile or perfectly styled hair. Fair play to the guy for looking good; I can relate... Ok, maybe I can't but I feel I need to get it out of the way that my anti-Becks stance is not based on his appearance.

My dislike for young David was more than that I had for other Rowdies player. Perhaps it was because his ascension coincided with the pinnacle of my dislike for all things Manchester red following their second double in just three seasons back in 1996.



When he scored THAT goal against The Team Formerly Known As Wimbledon FC, I sneered in my early adolescence, refusing to be impressed and maintained that the goal itself was good but 'not that good' (Halfway line goals had been scored for years and continue to do so without such over the top fanfare) and ultimately meaningless considering the Rowdies had long since wrapped up said match. Furthermore, Neil Sullivan was in goal. I would have had more faith in my laundry basket to save the shot. The constant daily replays went on for what seemed like an eternity (Bare in mind, this was before even the days of Sky Sports News and YouTube!) and only exacerbated my contempt but at least I knew that this latest prissy-haired United player would only be confined to the back pages, right? RIGHT?

Wrong!

All of a sudden, David Beckham was all over the gossip columns being linked with celebrity women all over the place. From actresses to, of course, pop stars. Eventually he hooked up with one fifth of one the greatest musical abominations of all time and the rest as they say, was history. 'Posh and Becks' had entered the English lexicon never to depart (what is it that made Victoria Adams so posh in the first place by the way? Have you heard her speak??).


Overnight Celebrity

I'm pretty sure that for the genuine sports/football fan, Monsieur Beckham's private life meant absolute bugger all. Yes, he was a pin-up for teenage girls up and down the land but he wasn't the first and certainly not the last footballer to be so. So why the continued fascination? At the end of the day he was just another footballer with a famous wife yet the coverage they received would make you think they were royalty! This more than excessive bombardment simply fuelled my dislike for the boy.

Eventually, I thought, this kind of thing would die down surely. The next flash in the pan football golden boy will soon be upon us and before we know it we'll all be sitting around saying 'David who'?


Zero to Hero

But then France '98 rolled around and the moment that transformed his life/career into the outrageous circus that we have to unfortunately put up with today. Had Beckham not been sent off against Argentina, he would not have been roundly vilified by the entire country and we would have had none of the almost sacrilegious talk of his so-called 'resurrection'.




As an aside, despite of my personal bias against him, I always maintain that the decision to send Beckham off was a harsh one. The tabloid witch-hunt which followed was out of order considering it was a very, very weak decision by the referee. Always need a scapegoat in this country though, don't we?

What followed were tales of how he bravely defied the odds and spat in the face of adversity. Clawing his way up from rock bottom to become England Captain and stand atop the mountain.

Such sycophancy from the same people who decided he was the spawn of Satan after the controversy of St. Etienne .

Then came the glitz, the glamour, the marriage and the blatant attention-grabbing names of the children. The boy from Leytonstone had been replaced by an brand. 'Brand Beckham' if you wish. Commercial contracts came in by the truckload.

Once upon a time, kids would watch a football match and try and imitate the skills of their heroes in school the next day. But such was the proverbial pulling power of our Dave that it was his ever-changing hairstyles that would be replicated in playgrounds up and down the country rather than his footballing ability.

And it wasn't just children. Hell, even I bought a pair of white Adidas Predators following a Beckham endorsement. The term 'metrosexual' became the norm as men realised there was nothing wrong with them if they chose to look 'pretty'.

Beckham pretty much paved the way for the football celebrity/wag culture we have to suffer today. The recent John Terry and Ashley Cole scandals are merely a by-product of Beckham's manipulation of the media for his own exposure and personal gain.

But alas, it seems I have become guilty of the very thing I criticise. I've been babbling on for ages and have barely mentioned what he is actually paid to do for a living.

All this fuss made over the man might have some merit if he could actually be classed in the upper echelon of footballers. David Beckham is without doubt a good footballer but great? Not for me thanks.

Mentally, he is almost peerless. There are few players as hard-working and committed as Becks (no-one gives more for the shirt blah, blah, blah) but for actual ability the man is seriously lacking. Being able to kick a ball (By which I mean his excellent range of passing and set-pieces) should not mask the fact that he is severely limited in many other areas of his game. A one-dimensional player who cant tackle, has no pace, cant beat a man, is rubbish in the air and is questionable from the penalty spot doesn't not deserve the praise he gets as a player. At the risk of indulging in the improbably, if FIFA ever implemented a no over-head-height rule, where would Beckham be? If someone like Wayne Rooney were surrounded by such fanfare it would still be grating but understandable giving his undoubted footballing qualities.

It's as if the celebrity has infiltrated the football side of things to the point where the adverts he appears in and what his wife is wearing are considered 'Sports News'. For someone of such limited talent it is bizarre that every move he makes in the world of football is treated like some ridiculous soap opera? Aside from the furore following France 98, a simple dressing room row with his manager (because such a thing NEVER happens in football...) made both front and back page news and had far too many column inches speculating about a mysterious scar about our hero's eye.


Going Global

The Rowdies later sold Beckham to Real Madrid to become one of their 'Galacticos'. Cue mass hysteria. The fact that Beckham was being mentioned in same breath as the Figos and Zidanes and Ronaldos of this world was laughable and it's no secret that Mr. Spice was merely in place to sell shirts. Was it a coincidence that Madrid's form dipped dramatically after Beckham signed? One token league title at the end of his tenure to me does not equate to a successful spell in the Spanish capital.

Concerning that title, one of the great myths about Beckham was that once again, he faced up to the adversity of being dropped by Madrid manager at the time Fabio Capello only to come roaring back to help his club secure the title. Actually, anyone who actually watches Spanish football and saw the title run in that season would tell you that Beckham's contribution was nothing compared to that of the free-scoring Ruud van Nistelrooy, the midfield stability of Mamadou Diarra, the emergence of Gonzalo Higuain and the goal-keeping solidity of Iker Casilas. In fact, the game that actually clinched the title saw Beckham SUBBED while Real were 1-0 down. The player who replaced him, Jose Antonio Reyes, ended up bagging 2 goals in an eventual 3-1 win.

Beckham then decided to take semi-retirement and follow the dollar, dollar bills to LA to play for a team comically referred to as 'The Galaxy'. Beckham's reasoning was that he, with his profile, was to help enhance the popularity of soccerball in the states. Instead what has happened is that you have a load of people walking around wearing replica shirts with BECKHAM on the back, 90% of whom have probably never even watched a minute of MLS (Which incidentally, is probably of no better standard than the Saturday league I play in). What has really been enhanced here? The popularity of football in the States or the popularity of 'Brand Beckham'?

Fast forward to the present day and needless to say it the experiment was a resounding failure with even his team mates criticising his contribution. The had led to him running back to Europe with his tail between his legs to make rare cameo appearances on loan for an ageing and poor AC Milan side. People would argue that if he's not good enough to start for this side, then what business does he have in a team with serious ambition of winning the World Cup?


One man, three lions, no glory

But yet, up until Sunday's unfortunate injury, he has managed to somehow stay in the England fold and courting controversy over his ever-increasing number of England caps.

Being so self-absorbed and more concerned with what he is doing off the pitch while being devoid any leadership of leadership qualities on it meant that I was never on board with giving him the armband. However, I've never had an issue with Beckham PLAYING for England. His set-piece and crossing ability tends to bear fruit on occasion and I feel it says more about his potential replacements that he is still in consideration. Wright-Philips has regressed, Pennant (who?) was never good enough, Bentley couldn't seem to maintain his Blackburn form at Spurs, Lennon finally learned what 'end product' was but became crocked and Walcott still has a long, long way to go.

Last February, Beckham reached a personal milestone of England caps (equalling the 108 won by the late, great World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore) and yet again, this could not pass without an unnecessary amount of coverage. People felt it necessary to draw no end of comparisons which, in my opinion should be put to bed with the simple fact that Bobby Moore won the World Cup in an era of no substitutes while Becks' most recent caps have been nothing more than generous tokenism by Capello. Furthermore, with the exception of Germany '06, Beckham had flattered to deceive in the previous international tournaments in which he featured. The penalty against Argentina in 2002 was indeed a great moment but not even the most one-eyed Beckham fan can say he performed with any distinction in the far east.

Beckham's other great moment was the last minute free-kick against Greece to qualify for Japan/Korea and it would be remiss of me to ignore that but the fact that almost a decade on this is still the best moment of his England career (an EQUALISER against GREECE!!) makes you wonder why his selection or non-selection is such a point of contention.


Green and Golden Balls

But then again, what is straightforward in the life of Beckham? Just last week, after the Rowdies thumped AC Milan 4-0, the main talking points were not about how good the performance was, how good Wayne Rooney was/is, how far the mighty Milan have fallen but rather the fact that Mr. Beckham chose to wear one of those stupid green and gold scarves at full time. MAN WEARS SCARF ON COLD NIGHT IN MANCHESTER made front page news not just in the red tops but also the broadsheets. Of course, the reason for this was that it seemed to suggest Becks was throwing his support behind the pointless anti-Glazer protests currently taking place whenever United play. The man himself has since come out and claimed he never knew the significance of the scarf despite, in his words, being a Manchester United fan. I very much doubt he has been sitting in a cave with his fingers in his ears and his eyes shut because pretty much everyone in football knows the significance of those colours.

In truth, he may or may not be supporting the cause. It's irrelevant either way. What in fact he was actually doing by donning the scarf was making sure that the night and the 'story' was about David Beckham and the actual football was merely a side issue. Not for the first time either.