FIFA Confederation Cup 2009

FIFA Confederation Cup 2009 - A Rehearsal for South Africa World Cup 2010

The FIFA Confederation Cup 2009 is going to kick-off today. South Africa will host this year competition. The competition will actually act as a rehearsal for next year FIFA World Cup which will be hosted by South Africa. 32 teams from all around the world will travel to South Africa to compete in the FIFA World Cup 2010 Final. It will be a huge event watch by billions of people around the world. 8 teams from continents across the globe will be competing in the FIFA Confederation Cup. The competition consists of teams from winners from respective continents, current FIFA World Cup winner, and host nation for the next FIFA World Cup. This will enable FIFA t further evaluate the readiness of facilities such as stadiums, media center, accommodations and transportations for next year FIFA World Cup. Any needed improvement still can be done before the start of one of the world biggest and popular event.

Here is the list of the competing nations for FIFA Confederation Cup 2009.
1) South Africa - Host
2) Italy - World Cup Winner
3) Brazil - South American Champion
4) Spain - European Champion
5) USA - North and Central American Champion
6) Egypt - African Champion
7) Iraq - Asian Champion
8) New Zealand - Oceania Champion

The 8 nations are divided into 2 groups. In Group A, we have Spain, the European Champion and host nation South Africa. Both are expected to qualify from this group. Spain is on a 32 matches unbeaten run and rank first in FIFA world ranking. Iraq and New Zealand are the remaining teams in the group. All the 3 teams should not posses any threat to Spain and they should not have any obstacles topping the group. Spain should qualify for next year final in South Africa. New Zeland will have to go through play-off with a team from Asia to see who go through. Iraq already knock-out from the final stage of Asia qualifying round.

Group B consists of Italy, Brazil, USA and Egypt. Predicting the two teams to qualify seems easy, Italy and Brazil. But USA and Egypt are not easy meat either, both teams have the ability to produce upset results. Brazil seems vulnerable in South America's World Cup qualifying matches. Even though they top the group, it was a hard fought matches all the way. Italy does not seem impressive lately but they manage to get results to top their World Cup qualifying group as well. USA and Egypt also still in the running for places for next year competition. But Egypt are bottom of their group and very likely to miss out next year competition. USA is doing better are in a better position to qualify for nest year, which I think they should not have any problem with.

Group A
1) Spain
2) South Africa
3) New Zealand
4) Iraq

Group B
1) Italy
2) Brazil
3) USA
4) Egypt

Here are the mathces for the FIFA Confederation Cup 2009 in South Africa. We will be able to see some of the contenders for next year FIFA World Cup 2010 in action.

















All he current headlines are devoted to Perez's mission f assembling the new Galactico team but this competiton will shift the attention from the two major transfer news at the moment Cristiano Ronaldo moves to Real Madrid and Kaka transfer to Real Madrid.


Related post:
1) Fifa Confederation Cup 2009 Updates and Review

Cristiano Ronaldo moves to Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo moves to Real Madrid is almost near to certainty as Manchester United website revealed that they have received a word record £80 million ($131.6 million or €93.9 million) bid for Ronaldo. The club has accepted the bid and the transfer should be completed by end of June 2009.

This is the statement from Manchester United website.

“Manchester United have received a world-record, unconditional offer of £80million for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.

At the request of Cristiano - who has again expressed his desire to leave - and after discussion with the player's representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player.

Matters are expected to be concluded by 30 June. The club will not comment until further notice.”


Florentino Perez is making his ambition to build a new Dream Team of Real Madrid and he is making his promise into a reality. The new Galacticos” team is on its way to completion but the real strength of the team on the field is still hard to predict. Perez has to understand that a football team can not sole build on attacking football. Perez must strengthen Real Madrid’s defense to make the team more balance. He will have to look for good and reliable defenders. Otherwise, Real Madrid will have to score more than they concede to win a game. Their weakness in their defense was exposed during the 2-6 demolition from Barcelona at Bernabeu in May.

Yes, I agreed that Barcelona played a very attractive possession and attacking football. But they do have reliable players at the back which can defend and attack. If Real Madrid would like to get more positive results consistently, they must include one or two reliable person at the back.
It is still very early to say anything yet as Perez is still adding stars players into his new Galacticos team. But Spanish league will surely be more interesting next season and it will still be a two horse race between Barcelona and Real Madrid. I am very eager to watch next season El Clasico, clash between the two giants of Spanish football.


How will the transfer affect United?

There was suggestion that Ronaldo’s deal has been pre agreed last year by previous president, Roman Calderon. The deal has been concluded long before this transfer saga (Perez ambition of assembling the new galacticos team) begins as he has been a long target of Real Madrid. The money from Ronaldo could be reinvested back the money from Ronaldo sale. Sir Alex Ferguson might splash out the cash to purchase Frank Ribery of Bayern Munich (£40 million) and Antonio Valencia of Wigan. United staggering £700 million debt might have played a part in the decision to accept Real Madrid’s huge offer.

I am interested to see whether Sir Alex will be given the money from Ronaldo’s transfer plus an annual transfer budget estimate around £25 million. Sir Alex will have huge spending power for reinforcement for his squad. Several key players such as Edwin Van der Sar, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville have reach the twilight of their careers. Ferguson needs to look for suitable people to take over their place. Last season has shown that Ferguson managed to integrate some new players into the team without these old horses. Players like Frederico Marcheda, Darron Gibson and Rafael have performed well when given their chances to prove themselves. However, filling the void created by the loss of Ronaldo’s immense talent may prove difficult.


Related post:
1) Kaka on his way to Real Madrid

Kaka on his way to Real Madrid - Transfer Completed!

Kaka joined Real Madrid for a world record transfer fee

Speculation that Kaka on his way to Real Madrid has ended. Kaka has revealed that he has joined spanish giant Real Madrid on late Monday during a press conference in Recife, Brazil. The 27-year-old Brazilian have been signed for around £59m ($94.05m), which beats the world record transfer fee of £46.7m ($75.3m) paid by Real to Juventus for Zinedine Zidane in 2001.

Speaking at a press conference in Brazil, Kaka said: "I can officially say I'm a Real Madrid player. My professional link with AC Milan finishes now, but my sentimental link will never end." Major news media has feature Kaka's transfer to Real Madrid as their headlines. Kaka also revealed that the move to Real Madrid is also a decission to help Milan financially. The current world financial crisis has also affected Milan and the opportunity to cash in from the sale of Kaka to ease the club financial burden are most welcome by the club management and Kaka himself.

According to Kaka, Real Madrid is putting a competitve team together for next season. The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, David Villa and Franck Ribery have all been linked with the Spanish club. Perez has the ambition to ptu together an all stars team to wrestle back the premiera liga title from Barcelona as well as winning the European Champions League next season.

If Perez successfully gather all the talented players on his wanted list, Real Madrid will surely be a tough opposition for any team provided all of the stars are able to gel together on the pitch. Titles are won on the pitch with positive result not on paper for the players a team have. However, I believed the team building around Kaka will go far in both domestic and European competitions.

Liverpool Going Into Financial Meltdown?

Words of Liverpool in financial crisis are spreading around like wild fire after accountants KPMG expressed concern over the level of debt being incurred by Kop Football Holdings, Liverpool's parent company, after posted losses of £42.6million. Most of it came from £36million interest payments on loan of £350million. However, source close to Anfield owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett dismissed any claim of financial crisis. But the Reds face having to offload a string of key players if they cannot find fresh investment by next summer at the latest. Hicks and Gillett might have to sell of the club if failure to get extension to the loan expiring July. Liverpool might have to sell Javier Mascherano for £22miilion part-exchange transfer to Barcelona and team-mate Xabi Alonso for £20million move to Real Madrid. Liverpool challange for domestics and European honours will be greatly diminished if they are force to offload their stars. After several season incharge of Liverpool, Benitez has build a Liverpool side with improved consistency, solid defending and excellent attacking play. They will be a force to be reckon with for the comming season if Benitez could get the money to purchase the reinforcement he needed, notably Valencia duo of David Silva and David Villa.


For next season, the question is not whether Liverpool will be competing in the Premier League and Champions League but is more of who is running the club (owner) and how it is structured. As a Premier League and Champions League contender, Liverpool posses huge marketing power which can provide good return of investment for advertisers. So there is no doubt that it will be able to attract potential buyers in case Gillett and Hicks decide to sell their interest in the club. Another way for the American owners to get some cash is to sell of their interest in their American sports franchises or cash in on some of liverpool's most saleble assets. The later decission will surely bring disaster to Liverpool as they will lost 2 of their star players, Javier Mascherano and Xabi Alonso. Selling both players without major replacement will reduce Liverpool title credential significantly comparing to Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

So lets hope all will turn out well for Liverpool as well as for English Premier League which Manchester United has dominated for the last three season. A more competitve Premier League is good for every football fans.

Kaka on his way to Real Madrid

Recent development has suggested that Kaka is on his way to Real Madrid. The deal appear almost a certainty. It will break the previous transfer record of £47 million Real Madrid paid for Zinedine Zidane. The transfer fee is estimate around £62 million.

Florentino Perez is still making his way for another major signing a part from Kaka deal. He is preparing to launch a staggering £75 million bid for Cristiano Ronaldo, the current World Player of The Year. There were claims that Manchester United and Real Madrid has a pre-agreed agreement for Cristiano Ronaldo to move to the Bernabeu by 1 July 09. The truth remain to be seen and rumours about Ronaldo moving to Real Mardrid will continues.

Milan supporter will feel disappointed that their best player will be leaving San Siro. Milan will be short of attacking options if Kaka is to leave Milan. Pato has not leave up to the expectation and Ronaldinho performance was far from his best. Filipo Inzaghi is in twilight of his career and his contribution for next season seem to be limited.

Selling Kaka for a world record fee might be a good business decission. The money gain, can be used for purchase of several decent signing to strengthen the squad. Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor seem to attract intrest from Milan. Adebayor tranfer could cost Milan £17.5 million, just a fraction of Kaka transfer fee. Milan could strengthen the defence after the retirement of Paolo Maldini with the money from Real Madrid. I am not sure whether Adebayor will deliver the goals for Milan or not? He seem to have reputation of missing chances in front of goals.

As replacement to Carlo Ancelotti, Leornado is given a tough task of rebulding Milan after the departure of their long service captain Paolo Maldni and best player Kaka. How is he going to cope with the departure of Kaka? Chelsea are willing to forked out £30 million to get Pato service. Should Pato also leave to Chelsea, Leornado will have to deal with the consequences of replacing 2 of his best attacking players at the same time.