Hi football fans, word out is that Chelsea are focusing on two options for the vacancy they have available after the sacking of Avram Grant. These two options are none other than Roberto Mancini and Frank Rijkaard who both lost their jobs recently.
With their other targets already preoccupied or having moved elsewhere these two are favorites to land the job. Guus Hiddink pledged his future to the Russian national team , Mark Hughes opted to caoch Manchester City, Jose Mourinho ruled out a return and was appointed coach of Inter, and Milan have declared that they will not let Ancelotti leave. Therefore if you were Chelsea who would you pick Rijkaard or Mancini.
Both these managers have been successful but Frank Rijkaard has the better track record, although Mancini has been more successful in recent times winning three back to back scudettos, while Rijkaard has been titleless in the last two seasons with Barca which ultimately cost him his job.
With Roman Abromovich wanting to see a classier style of football being played at Chelsea and his urge to win the Champions League, if I were Chelsea I would appoint Rijkaard, who has won it unlike Roberto Mancini. I would also appoint Rijkaard for his coaching philosphy and style, which includes playing very attacking football as a cohesive unit. In his system there are no stars and every player is important to the team. This kind of philosophy builds personal morale and subsequently team morale. I'm not particularly sure what coaching philosophy Mancini holds but given the way Barca played when they were in their prime I would choose Rijkaard hands down.
Chelsea are set to conduct interviews with both managers during the kick off of Euro 2008, so as to get some time out of the limelight for once. Regardless of whoever they appoint as coach, I believe either manager would be a good choice. Maybe they could have Rijkaard as head coach and Mancini as assistant or vice versa, as the assistant manager role is also vacant after Henk Ten Cate was also fired. However i could hardly see such prolific managers wanting to coach in an assistant role.

Ah yes, Cristiano has finally broken the silence on his future by declaring that he desires to play for Madrid. The gifted winger also stated that nothing was up to him and that he will move if Madrid pays him and United the money they stated they would offer. He also said that he will not be speaking about the matter again when asked.
This comes as no surprise to me, although it may be a shock to some Manchester fans. I mean, come on folks let's be realistic about this thing, Manchester United and Real Madrid are on two different levels, with the latter being more prestigious. I know many people will have their various opinions on this matter but this is the truth.
Going to Madrid will mean more money for Ronaldo but not necessarily more playing time. Madrid is a club who doesn't care who you are, you have to prove your worth and fight for your spot. Even club favorite Raul has to do it. For Ronaldo that should not be a hindrance but an opportunity to prove himself and show that he is up to the challenge. That is what makes great players great.
The coming weeks will definitely be interesting now that Ronaldo has declared that he wants to move. The owners and officials at Manchester are rather defensive in their stance to keep the player by threating to report Real Madrid to Fifa. As a result Madrid's president Ramón Calderón made an offical announcement stating that he nor the club does not wish to buy a player, if the club does not want to sell and that Real Madrid was not about to damage the relationship that they have with Manchester United. Let's see if he sticks to his words.
Personally I believe that if a player wants to leave a club there is no sense in trying to keep him. If he really wants to leave and you insist he stays and be stubborn, like the Glazer family, owners of Manchester United have been acting, the player can react to the club in the same way and choose not to give his best performances to the club. In my opinion it does more harm than help, but I really can't blame United for wanted to keep their best player. If he does leave they will be left with a huge hole to fill.

With Euro 2008 coming up on on June 7th, I just want to run through briefly who I personally believe are going to be favorites for the tournament.

Italy
Let's start with the current World Champions, Italy. With Totti out of Euro injured Italy will particularly look to Pirlo to lead the team, and I believe he is quite capable of doing so. It is quite unfortunate however that Fabio Cannavaro has been ruled out as he has sustained an injury in the team's last friendly game which would probably cause some defensive woes, but Italy is a team which is known for its solid defense, and therefore there should be a suitable replacement. The players to watch in this team are Pirlo, Del Piero, Zambrotta and Luca Toni. Look for Pirlo to dictate the midfield, Zambrotta to come up big in the defense and Luca and Del Piero to bang in the goals, as they both have been the top scorers in their respective leagues this season.

Germany
People hardly consider this team when they think of big teams but Germany is a very big side. Dating back to 2002, Germany has made the World Cup final loosing out only to Brazil and they finished third at the last World Cup by beating Portugal. Ballack, Klose and Torsten Frings are the stars for this side, so look out for big performances from these players.

France
There's no more Zinedine Zidane but France continues to produce amazing talent. After loosing out to Italy at the last World Cup, France will most definitely want to crown themselves champions of Europe. Look out for the young, talented Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri, Bundesliga's best Frank Ribery and veteran striker Thierry Henry.

Spain
Finally my favorite team, Spain, the great underachievers of Europe. Yes, they do not have many trophies as they have only won just one European title in 1964 but I just love the way they play. One journalist referred to the way they play as "tika taka" which means pass and go. I just love to see nice touch football and for this reason Spain is my favorite European team. Look for hitmen El Nino, Fernando Torres and El Guaje, David Villa to come up with big performances, along with the "midfield midgets", as I like to call them Xavi and Iniesta and Arsenal talisman Cesc Fabregas. The biggest concern for Spain right now would be the defense, hopefully they can get it together before the competition starts.

Euro 2008 should be great and although these teams I have mentioned may be the favorites, this is football, and we all know what they say, anything can happen.

Milan have officially signed Gianluca Zambrotta from Barcelona yesterday. No details were given but the club posted an official announcement on their website.
I am kind of sorry to see Zambrotta leave Barca so soon but I am at least glad that he transfered to another club which I personally like a lot.
Zambrotta joins Milan in an attempt to strengthen their defense after the club failed to qualify for the Champions League next season. My view is, great, Milan has strengthened their defense but in the process Barca has somewhat weakened theirs, however it is still yet early days and there is still time for Barca to sign probably two quality defenders in this transfer season. They have reportedly been linked with Martin Caceres from Villarreal and Christian Chivu from Inter. Whoever they sign I just want the defense to be sorted out because for me that is the main area of concern within the team. So with that said, good luck to Zambrotta, Milan and Barca.

I just want to know if anyone has heard of Fifa President, Sepp Blatter 6+5 rule. The rule which is scheduled to be implemented by 2012, restricts the number of foreign players in a starting lineup to 5.
Blatter is pushing this rule because he believes it will restore national identity to European Leagues who he believes is stifling young talent within their own countries by buying so many foreign players. He also believes the rule will help to get other leagues especially in Africa and South America back on track as these leagues are declining due to the best players from these countries playing in Europe.
Although the rule has faced stiff opposition as it violates European law on the freedom of workers, the president has received the backing of FIFA's delegates with 155 supporting, just 5 against and 40 abstaining from the issue.
Personally I like the free movement of players and I don't really want to see things changed but the 6+5 rule is quite interesting as it will seek to loosen the grip that particularly 5 countries within Europe has on the world's best players. With the implementation of this rule it will be very interesting to see if other clubs other than in Spain, Italy, England, France and Germany can rise among Europe's elite.
The league which I believe will be hit hardest by this rule is the English Premier League where of the 471 first-team players 60% or 280 players are not eligible to play for England. With that said many EPL fans probably don't fancy this rule but only time will tell if it will be implemented.

Today Roberto Mancini's agent declared that he is no longer coach of Inter and that Jose Mourinho is likely to be given the job as early as tomorrow. Even though Mancini has been successful, leading the club to three consecutive Scudettos, it is believed that he lost his job mainly because he was unable to deliver in the Champions League. The same reason for which Jose Mourinho was fired for at Chelsea.
Jose Mourinho who has been in the hunt to coach a big club in either Spain or Italy after ruling out a move back to England, as he believes personally that these two leagues are the best in the world, could see his wish come true as he is expected to take Mancini's place.
Mancini on the other hand is likely to make a move to Chelsea as he has been one of their targets to coach the team after the sacking of Avram Grant.
This is all very interesting to me and I am looking forward to seeing both of them especially Jose Mourinho coaching again. He is sure to bring great life and controversy back into the world of football. Look forward to it.

Guys I was looking around today for something to write about and I saw some news that made me excited. If you are a football fan who only watches big competitions to see who will win, then you need to think again about considering yourself a true football fan. Whenever I watch football I look to see who is going to be the next big thing and I have watched a player in the Champions League who I'm sure will be a big hit soon.
He is none other than João Alves de Assis Silva or just Jô for short. The first time I saw Jô playing was in the group stages of the Champions League for CSKA Moscow against Inter. He had speed, power, skill and he scored two brilliant goals in both games against Inter. He impressed me a lot and I knew that very soon a lot of clubs would be interested in him.
With that said he is being targeted by Manchester City, Everton and Tottenham from England and it is now reported that Valencia have just shock things up as they have entered the race for the striker.
However his consultant Kia Joorabchian has claimed that one of the top four in England could make a move for Jô because he is that good and personally I agree.
Preferably however I would like to see Jô playing for one of the top clubs in Spain and even though Valencia have struggled this season, they are one of them. With his help they can definitely return to the top four in the table next season and begin playing Champions League football again.
What's rather amusing to me is that Jô is a de Assis though a de Assis Silva and not de Assis Moreira like Ronaldinho, if there's anything in a name we could see the rise of yet another Brazilian superstar, he just needs to find the right club. So with that said Jô to the world, keep an eye open for this player.

Today the news is that Samuel Eto'o suits the needs of Milan more than Ronaldinho and subsequently he is higher on their shopping list. After finishing in 5th the Italian giants are ready to tweak their squad for next season.
It is reported that Barcelona are ready to listen to offers for both the gifted Cameroon striker and Ronaldinho as Pep Guardiola looks to make his mark on the team.
Eto'o is most likely a brighter prospect for them as he is a year younger than Ronaldinho and they are probably thinking about how they would fit Kaka and Ronaldinho within the same team, but ultimately i think they want Eto'o because when he is on his game he scores a lot of goals.
However although he is a brighter prospect for Milan, they know that he will cost them. Eto'o is reported to cost somewhere in the region of 40 million euros. Giving his key role in the team Barca won't let him go cheap so the number is not surprising.
Even more likely to move from the Nou Camp than Ronaldinho and Eto'o is Zambrotta, as the defender has expressed his desire to play in Itlay once again. It is reported that the two teams only need to agree a fee for the player and he will most likely be on his way.
In conclusion it is still very interesting to see who will stay and who will leave Barcelona this summer. As a Barca fan, I like so many others am left to wonder what kind of team will we have next season as Zambrotta, Eto'o, Ronaldinho and Deco are all likely to leave, but fear not Barca fans, we still have talented young stars like Messi, Krkic, Dos Santos, Yaya Toure and Iniesta. With the addition of more talented players who most likely will be bought with the transfer money received from our current stars the club will definitely rise again. FORCA BARCA!!!

Below each article you will see the number of comments followed by the word "comments" click there and that is where you make your comments. Feel free to leave a comment anytime. Enjoy!

I have some somewhat unfortunate news.Chelsea yesterday decided to sack Israeli coach Avram Grant. Despite Grant leading them to within two points of the Premier League title and to the Champions League Final. Obviously it wasn't enough for Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich who is reported to be good friends with Grant.
It is also reported that Abramovich would like to see a better style of football being played at Chelsea and therefore has been linked with ex Barca coach Frank Rijkarrd, who is reported to be the favorite for the job. Sven-Goran Eriksson, Brian Laudrup, and Roberto Mancini have all also been linked with the job.
I feel kind of bad for Grant as he had a tough task from the minute he took over from Jose Mourinho at Chelsea. He was in noway like Chelsea's former manager who was charismatic, outspoken, who the fans loved dearly and above all won back to back titles at the club, the Carling Cup and the FA Cup. From the very beginning he had big shoes to fill and his appointment at Chelsea always looked temporary. I'm sure we'll see him managing soon as some club will most likely be impressed with what he has achieved after being given his first shot at the English Premier League. Good luck! To Avram Grant.