Last night LDU - Liga Deportiva Universitaria - from Quito, Ecuador, defeated the Brazilian side of Fluminense in the penalty shootout to win the 2008 Copa Libertadores title and secure the South American spot in the FIFA Club World Cup.

An impressive achievement for sure but now the question is simple: Can this humble team cause one of the greatest upsets in the history of football and beat the super-powered Manchester United?

I honestly doubt it.

In the last 10 years the title of "Best Club of The Planet" only ended in the hands of a South American team 4 times and it was only with Boca Juniors, twice, and two other Brazilian clubs, São Paulo and Internacional.

LDU has some really talented players (Guerron, Bolaños, Vera, Manso and Bieler) but without the financial resources of the big teams from Europe or even from Brazil or Argentina it will be very hard to keep these players on the squad until December.

Guerron, the most talented on the list, is the first one to leave. He has already signed with Spanish side of Getafe. That transfer by itself is a huge loss for Liga.

La Liga de Quito and Pachuca are, in my opinion, at the same level and both teams might face each other in a possible semifinal to decide who will be the one to play a possible final against Manchester United.

This is football. Everything is possible even when it's 99% improbable.

Here is how the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup table looks like so far:

So once again Mr. Sepp Blatter wants to control the number of foreign players in the european teams.

Great idea but very much improbable that will be approved by the UEFA members. And that's about it.

But I decided to write (and read your opinions) about it.

Mr. Blatter's idea is not just bullocks. It does have a good intention behind it. He claims (and he's right) that the way the big clubs are right now make it impossible for a smaller team to fight for a league title. And that is very bad for football, very bad for the national teams but very good for global business for those big clubs.

When we see a team like Arsenal for example. 25 foreign players and only 12 Brittish on the 2007-2008 squad.  With Internazionale  Milan from Italy it's even worse. Out of the 29 players on the regular first team only 4 are Italian. It's not rare to see Inter playing with a starting XI that features only Marco Materazzi as an italian born player (well and then he gets a red card and Inter ends up with 10 foreign footballers on the pitch).

It is a pleasure for the fans to see their team win titles and sweep their rivals off the map for one season but when it happens like in France where Olympique Lyon (10 foreigners) is about to win the French League for the 7th time in a row, I start to understand (and partially agree) with the FIFA President.

The main difference between me and SOME other people that write here at OleOle is that I'm absolutely NEUTRAL.

I love good football and I know some of you will say "if you love good football you should love the foreign presence because they give quality to the Brittish teams". 

They do. The English sides of Manchester United and Chelsea fought for the league this season and going to play for the continental title thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo, Tevez, Vidic, Anderson, Ballack, Drogba, Cech, Essien, etc... 

Of course there is also Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Wayne Rooney BUT neither of the two teams could rely on an all-Brittish squad to get this far in the tournaments. WE KNOW THAT!

And as the powerful clubs become richer, more international and consequently more powerful we see the National Teams becoming weaker and weaker. England out of the Euro ... hmmm... that might say something... 

So, (try to) leave your passion aside just for little bit and think how much more exciting would be if we had other teams besides Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and ManU in England, Real Madrid and Barcelona (and sometimes Valencia) in Spain, Juventus, Inter and AC Milan in Italy, Olympique Lyon in France. 

What's your opinion on this? 

All right, so Kaká is the best player of the world right? Messi got second place. There's not a lot to contest specially after we saw how Kaká played in the FIFA Club World Cup final against Boca Juniors. He is definetly the best footballer of the year.

Then we have Marta. A 21-year old tiny and shy girl who simply demolishes defenses. She couldn't care less how tall, strong or rough a defender can be. All she wants is to take that ball all the way and score goals. Best female footballer of the year.

Brazil won the Copa America one more time against all odds. Playing with a young brave team without Ronaldinho, Kaka, Ronaldo or Adriano and with a coach who had no previous experience in the job. Argentina had all its stars a brilliant team, an extremely inspired Riquelme, a magical Messi but they could not defeat Brazil and were beaten 3 x 0.

Now I get to the point: How is it possible that Argentina is on top of FIFA's Ranking?

Oh well, that's why I always hated algebra!

But I promise I'll settle down if someone gives me a reasonable explanation.

I have been watching a few games of the English Premier Football League and one conclusion came to my mind: the British style of football is outdated.

 I know a lot of my fellow English friends are gonna be very upset with me but this is my very honest opinion and I’ll explain how I got to this sad conclusion.

When you analyze the dynamics of modern football you will end up talking about teams like Chelsea, Real Madrid, Milan, Barcelona, Boca Juniors, São Paulo just to name a few. These teams represent a huge evolution in strategies, efficiency, and ability. An almost perfect balance of defense and offense without taking away the finesse that the sport requires. But when it comes to National Teams we don’t see that same balance.

Some National Teams were able to evolve and some others just got stuck in their own tradition. That’s the case of England.

I don’t like to analyze football using numbers but they will play an important role in this case so let’s check them out:

Even though being the inventors of football, England only started playing in the World Cup in 1950. Since then the event happened 15 times and England qualified for 12 of them. (England did not qualify for the 1974, 1978 and 1994 WCs)

In those 12 participations England only won 1, in 1966 when they were the hosts. The next best result was a 4^th place in 1990.

England never won the European Championship. The best results were a 3^rd place in 1968 and they also got to the semi-finals in 1996. That’s it.

I know that England gave the world of football some amazing players: Gordon Banks, Bobby Charlton, Alan Shearer, Gary Lineker,  David Beckham, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney… but the question is: how many of them could actually lead the English team to a title? Well, Gordon Banks and Bobby Charlton did in 1966…

I’m not a fan of the British style of football. I grew up admiring Gary Lineker but I haven’t seen any transformation in the English team since then. I saw “the promise” Michael Owen become not more than a promise, I saw David Beckham rise in the eyes of the media but didn’t see him being really effective for the country, and I’m still waiting to see something amazing from Wayne Rooney.

England is out of the Euro 2008 so we will have to wait for the 2010 World Cup to see some changes. Well, that’s if they qualify (?)

What do you think should change in the English team to make them a winner team?

Is the massive presence of foreigner player in the Premier League a problem?

Is the fact that all players in the National Team only play in England a problem?

Do you think if England “exported” its players to countries like Spain, Portugal, Russia, Italy… the game style would be improved?

Let us know what you think…

 Hoping for some future Glory...

Hey friends,

I'm here in Belo Horizonte, Brazil for a ACL surgery (the price of an eternal soccer addiction) and also to have the chance to re-energize myself with the mystery of the great players of the world.

The Brazilian National Championship is almost decided with São Paulo with more than 95% of chances to take the tittle for the second year in a row.

Sometimes it's hard to understand how a country with a horrible difference between rich and poor, a very unfair economy can still create the best players in the world.

The structure of Brazilian Football is bad. A lot of corruption and personal interest leads teams like Flamengo, Corinthians, Atletico-MG, etc... to bankrupcy and abscure deals. But in the end the talent prevails.

And it seems that in 2014 the most sucessful country who ever played this game will have once again the chance to host a World Cup. If I dream of going to South Africa in 2010 I can't even consider missing a WC in Brazil. I can already imagine games at Maracanã, at Mineirão, at Morumbi...

This country breaths football, this country has 200 million coaches and a handful of Ronaldinhos and Robinhos are born EVERYDAY.

But the question is: Should a country with so many problems of violence, economy, politics, education, public health... spend so much money to host a World Cup? What are the pros and the cons if Brazil is really picked to host the 2014 World Cup?

All right friends,

We finished the first category and it was a very good discussion to select the BEST ARGENTINE player. But not surprisingly the winner was Diego MARADONA with 46% of the votes and Lionel MESSI came in second place with 31%. 

Both of them - MARADONA and MESSI - are qualified for the final election!!!

Now let's move to the next category. FRANCE.

REMEMBER THE RULES: You just place your vote according to your opinion on who was/is the best player for this category. You have one week to place your vote.

The 2 most voted will move to the final election to decide the best player ever!

To vote you can click on the link at the bottom of this post or click on the picture and it will take you to the voting page.

If you also decide to leave a comment you will be entered to receive a retro jersey (it can be a 1970 PELE jersey or another famous one that will be my present to a lucky participant)

NOW IT'S UP TO YOU!!!

Juste Fontaine

Jean-Pierre Papin

Eric Cantona

Michel Platini

Zinedine Zidane

Thierry Henry

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

AND DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT!!!

Hello my friends,

As there is this eternal dispute for the player football player ever I came up with the idea of a segmented poll.

It's gonna work like this:

I separated the best players (the ones that people most argue about) into countries or categories.

Some countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, England ... will be a category on their own and some countries with less entries will form a category on their own.

You will have 1 week to submit your votes for each category and after that the 2 top voted players will move to a next round.

In the end of the whole process we will be able to find out who are the top 10 best players of all times.

And if you also decide to leave a coment on the my blog posts revealing your opinion about the players in that category your name will be on a rafflefor a chance to win a 1970 Pele Replica Jersey... It will be a prize from me for your participation.

So we will start today with ARGENTINA.

Here are the nominees and bellow the pictures you will see the link to VOTE. (Don't forget o VOTE)

Alfredo Di Stefano

Diego Maradona

Gabriel Batistuta

Juan Roman Riquelme

Lionel Messi

Mario Kempes

NOW IT'S ALL UP TO YOU!!!

CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Here is what she said:

"There's no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves," Solo said. "And the fact of the matter is, it's not 2004 anymore. … It's 2007, and I think you have to live in the present. And you can't live by big names. You can't live in the past. It doesn't matter what somebody did in an Olympic gold-medal game in the Olympics three years ago."

I just wrote a comment on her myspace page in which she apologizes for saying this. I believe Hope Solo is a fantastic goalkeeper. She has talent, she is solid and she wants to win. The only thing is: you should not do your laundry outdoors. I undersatand her being upset with coach Ryan. His decision was the most retarded decision I've seen in a long time. The reasons he gave were ver amateur. He said Brianna Scurry stopped Brazil during the 2004 Olympic Games and she could do it again. Of course she could!!! If she had been playing during the tournament!!! But Hope Solo was playing extremely well, she was confident and if he couldn't trust her agaist Brazil he should have at least given Brianna some playing time in the other games.

But nothing of that is an excuse for a profesional player to use a microphone to say what Hope Solo said. Not that what she said didn't make sense but it doesn't make things better either. The game was over, Brazil would have won anyways because they played beautifully. Marta was unstoppable. So why say something that is not gonna help anything?

She caused a very uncomfortable situation just like Greg Ryan created when he benched her. And as my grandma used to say: Don't try to fix a mistake with another one.

What do you guys think????

PS.: You can read Solo's apologies on her myspace blog:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=119877178&blogID=314148328

Let me start this one with some facts and a question, a serious question:

 If your team has a solid goalkeeper who played all the previous games in the International competition you're in and hasn't allowed a single goal in 300 minutes would you bench this person even though there isn't any injury or technical deficiency or relationship problems?????

If you answered NO you're a sane intelligent person but if you said YES you and Coach Greg Ryan from the USA Women's Team can start writing a book on new crazy game strategies.

The only problem is that I don't think anyone will buy that idea after what happened in the BRAZIL vs. USA in the World Cup Semifinal.

I was not going to post until the competition was over. I've been waking up at around 4am to watch some great games and this one was not just great. IT WAS FANTASTIC. So I had to write and avoid being influenced by any result that will come in the Championship Game.

The USA is by far the number one team in the women's rank of soccer. Since their first World Cup Tittle in 1991 and with the golden generation of Michelle Akers, Kristine Lilly, Julie Fouldy and the amazing Mia Hamm, the United States has always excelled in showing the best female soccer in the world. 

They won 2 World Cups and 2 Olympic Gold Medals. Until today they had been unbeaten for 50 straight games. They have a very good mix of experience (Kristine Lilly still playing) and youth (Abby Wambach) but it all changed this morning.

Womens Soccer in Brazil is not badly structure, it is simply NON-EXISTENT. There is no profesional league, no sponsors, no media coverage, no audience. Most of the players, just like the men's team, come from very poor background but they have to suffer with a lot of prejudice. Many families would rather see their daughters working as maids than playing soccer.

But there is still room for magic.

Have you ever heard of Marta??? Well, I have. I haven't paid a lot of attention on her until the last Olympic Games when she was only 18 years old and was already INCREDIBLE.

Well, if you didn't watch Marta play yet you have no idea what you're missing. I mean, maybe I can help you. Get the skills of Ronaldinho, the speed of Robinho, the pass quality of Beckham, along the quality of being a great team player and you have MARTA.

When Marta plays her game (and she often does) Brazil is a very dangerous team but when Aline controls the defense flawlessly, Elaine and Maicon run up and down the wings, Formiga and Daniela block any attempt of play making in midfield and create themselves a lot of plays, and Cristiane decides that's it's time for a revenge then BRAZIL BECOMES UNBEATABLE!!!

Please... Brazil Soccer Federeation (aka CBF) INVEST IN THOSE GIRLS... Regardless of the result in the Final Game the world would be happier watching more Martas, Cristianes, Danielas, Formigas....

As for the USA, the investment continues. That is a growing experience. The roots of the Women's Soccer Team are very strong here. A strong wind can blow some leaves and bend the branches but the tree will always stand.

Brazil won this one with no questions ... (We just need some really logical answers from Mr. Greg Ryan for the first question of this post)

Brazil was the best team... 4-0 is unquestionable and the numbers are there!

GO BRAZIL!!!

I hope they take this one!!!  

I had expectations that Brazil would win this game but I knew Mexico would play a lot better than they played in the Gold Cup. They always play better against Brazil and Argentina but I just thought the young brazilian team could put on a better spectacle.

During the first minutes of the game the teams studied each other and it took 20 minutes until Mexico got closer to Brazil's goal and when they did...

A fantatisc, a genius play by Castillo opened the score!!! He put the ball over a brazilian defender and before it hit the ground he kicked it into the net. One of those magical soccer moments.

Brazil got totally lost after Mexico's goal and to make things worse, Doni - the goalkeeper who should not be part of this team (I don't know why Roma got that guy) - watched a curvy but low ball fly over the wall and hit the end of the net in a free kick taken by Morales, and that was only after 27 minutes into the first half. Mexico 2 X 0 Brazil.

The rest of the first half can be summarized with the sound of the mexican supporter singing "ole" to an excellent ball control from their team and an appatic Brazil.

End of first half: Mexico 2 X 0 Brazil

The second half was a totally different game: Brazil brought in two almost unknown players to many people: Afonso and Anderson.

Robinho moved to the midfield and started to create very dangerous plays with short passes, one-twos, and good crossings but the attack would always stop in the hands of the inspired goalkeeper Ochoa, the strong mexican defense or the bad luck of its own forwards.

End of story:
* Brazil seemed like suffering from World Cup recurring virus: a bunch of talented players who can't complete passes, who can't create plays and only decide to play with passion after suffering one or two goals... WAKE UP BRAZIL!!!

*Mexico was able to overcome the exhaustion of playing the Gold Cup and didn't allow Robinho to perform. Also was able to create good plays and keep the ball under its control for most of the game. Rafa Marquez and Ochoa showed a lot of talent in what they do: defend... ARRIBA MEXICO!!!

In time: Mexico could have scored at least 2 more goals that would possibly shred Brazil's morale for next game but Castillo and Bravo missed two incredible chances in excellent counter-attacks.

Tomorrows Game --> USA vs. Argentina ...

my prediction: well, my crystal ball hasn't been accurate but I'd risk to say Argentina will sweep USA ... 4 X 1

Hasta Mañana