That weekend felt draining. I don’t think I’ve experienced so much footballing information in such a short space of time. Saturday started with the England hangover. Everyone has their own opinion as to why England continued their poor form with another failure. England fans weren’t the only ones feeling angry. The USA’s fans awoke to their own frustrations. They felt, quite rightly, that their side had been denied a 3-2 victory against Slovenia which would have capped an excellent turnaround having been two goals behind. Maurice Edu’s late goal was harshly ruled out by the referee.

Having had 5 goals on Friday, Saturday went one better and delivered 6. The opening game of the weekend saw the Dutch beat Japan 1-0 thanks to a Wesley Sneijder goal. The Dutch were impressive without seemingly getting out of first gear. Dutch fans might be concerned that they couldn’t add to their goal tally but the performance of Dirk Kuyt and an impressive substitute cameo from Ibrahim Affelay will keep morale high.

The second game saw an African heavyweight, Ghana meet the Socceroos, Australia. As in their first game, Australia harshly went down to ten men when Harry Kewell was sent off. This happened when Australia were already a goal up thanks to Brett Holman poking home after Wigan’s Richard Kingson spilled a shot. The game’s key moment happened on 25 minutes when Kewell handled on the line. It seemed a combination of arm and chest that could not be avoided. Kewell was shown red and Asamoah Gyan confidently scored the penalty as he did in Ghana’s first game. It proved to make for an exciting game. Australia worked very hard and had some excellent chances to get a second goal. Ghana were the more dominant side and had more chances than Australia but few were particularly good. The game ended with Ghana topping group D and Australia bottom.

Saturday ended with Denmark beating Cameroon 2-1 in an exciting game. Cameroon took the lead through Eto’o but that was pegged back by Bendtner. Rommedahl got the winning goal. The result was significant as Cameroon became the first country to be knocked out of the World Cup.

Along came Sunday…the England debate still rolling on with no sign of ending or answers. Then the French decided the World Cup needed drama.

The French Football Federation announced Nicolas Anelka had been sent home from the World Cup after a bust up with coach Raymond Domenech. Anelka has always liked an argument and a sulk, at least he can now finally say he’s played at a World Cup. That news broke on Saturday. The French took it up a notch on the Sunday. Domenech was in the middle of doing a live interview on TF1 whilst into the studio in flip-flops and shorts strolls Frank Ribery. Ribery, on the verge of tears wanted to deny any suggestions of a bust up with teammate Gourcuff that was alleged to have happened on board a flight.

The host of the interview was Bixente Lizarazu, the former French full back. He then engaged in an argument with Domenech after the French coach insisted the French players boycotted the press in 2000. Lizarazu accused him of being a liar (true – only Deschamps boycotted the press then).

As if the French had ended their drama for the day!? A rumour emerged that the entire French squad had pulled out of training and walked onto their bus. News filtered through that French captain, Patrice Evra had clashed with fitness coach Robert Duverne. Domenech had to separate the pair as Duverne stormed off and the players went onto their coach. Within twenty minutes, Jean-Louis Valentin, a French official quit his role citing that it was all getting ridiculous and was too much for him.

Another thirty minutes passed and a brief statement from the French players said they refused to train as they opposed Anelka’s exclusion from the squad. The French players were annoyed the Anelka-Domenech row had become so public and believed there was a traitor amongst the squad. Evra confirmed the squad don’t believe Duverne is the traitor and Duverne confirmed Evra was not rude or abusive but that he was merely trying to convince Evra to train.

The day began with Ribery’s unexpected apology to the French nation live on TV and ended with President Sarkozy calling the entire French squad to account.

England don’t like living in the shadow of the French and so John Terry’s press conference pulled England into the headlines alongside the French. John Terry gave an honest and frank press conference. He admitted England were not good enough. He admitted England were bored due to Capello’s strict rules. He admitted players’ would be speaking out at the team meeting on Sunday evening. John Terry suggested that the some of the player’s suggestions at the meeting that evening might upset Capello and that if that was the case it wouldn’t bother the players. This meeting that was to review the Algerian nightmare soon got spun by the press into a ‘crisis’ meeting. Terry suggested that the players may hint that they’d like a change of shape and personnel in the England starting XI.

Terry acted as if he was still England captain. He acted like a leader. It was probably what England needed – someone to give them direction. Terry was rash, he said some clumsy things, he contradicted himself a few times but the emotion he showed will have gone a long way to convince fans that the players care and want to fix the situation.

The question of player power must also be asked. Some of the world’s top managers would not have accepted some of the things Terry said. Terry openly said that he didn’t care if Capello would be upset by some of the things the squad would say to him later that evening. At a time when Terry emerged as a leader, Capello must stamp his foot down to remind the squad that he is in charge.

(I should point out that having suggested Terry was a hero yesterday, the press today seem to be suggesting that Terry has made a complete mess of the situation and have taken a very negative slant on it).

(Additionally, Lampard is speaking live now and suggesting that the meeting didn’t quite follow the path Terry suggested it might. Lampard is desperately trying to save Terry’s blushes after admitting the meeting was almost entirely about the Algeria game and that what Terry said was wrong and didn’t happen).

There was also some football played on Sunday!

I enjoyed Slovakia vs. Paraguay. The South American side won 2-0 and played some good football. It was refreshing to see an actual 4-3-3 formation with three clear forwards. Slovakia were surprisingly negative and were outplayed. Both of Paraguay’s goals were good finishes, from Vera and Riveros (who is to join Sunderland after the World Cup).

The second game saw Italy take on New Zealand. Unbelievably New Zealand took the lead through Shane Smeltz – a player who has played non-league football in England. Arguably Smeltz was offside but I’m not sure that anyone bar Italian fans cared. We had ourselves an amazing story. It took just over 20 minutes for Italy to equalise. Tommy Smith pulled down Daniele De Rossi, a soft penalty given and Vincenzo Iaquinta scored. That’s how it remained. Italy dominated the game but like England failed to excite or create good chances. The European curse continued. Do European players play too many games?

The final game saw Brazil take on Ivory Coast in a potential corker of a game. Brazil won 3-1. They played well and showed flashes of brilliance but the Ivory Coast were poor. They looked too reliant on an unfit Drogba and had no clear plan b. Luis Fabiano scored two very good goals and a third was rounded off by Elano after a good move. Drogba did get a late conciliation goal for Brazil. The game however was marred by the sending off of the under-performing Kaka for two bookable offences. Both offences were yellow cards but the second yellow card was for an elbow to Keita in the stomach, yet the Ivorian went down holding his face. Cheating from the Rivaldo school of ‘going-down’.

So the weekend closed with the South American teams doing well. Italy making England’s position look not so bad. The French and the English in ridiculous situations but for once not involving each other. The former best player in the World had been sent off. And a European had actually won a Major Golf tournament (well done Graeme McDowell).

The new week starts with sunshine in London for the beginning of Wimbledon and the prospect of two more big upsets today as Portugal play North Korea (looking to emulate 1966) and Spain play Honduras…bring it on!

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The build up to this World Cup has been as much about who may not be there as to who will be there. Players have been ruling themselves out of matches or getting serious injury scares. It seems that a high proportion of these players, often influential players, are based in England and play in the Premier League.

Consider five groups international players can slot into: PL players who are fit and have been selected; PL players who are selected but have picked up big concerns; PL players whose injury status meant selection was impossible; PL players who have been selected unfit; and non-PL players who were selected but have picked up injuries. Straight up one can point out that any argument I make is flawed in that my focus is on quite clearly Premier League players. I’m sure it is possible to do a similar experiment with many of the world leagues. However, the Premier League is the world’s biggest league with the world’s best players – a very high proportion of players selected to play at the World Cup come from the Premier League.

Into those groups we can add names. The Premier League players who are fit and have been selected I will ignore as there are many. Into Premier League players who are selected but have picked up big concerns goes: Cahill (Everton, Australia), Altidore (Hull (loan), USA), Behrami (West Ham, Switzerland), Skrtel (Liverpool, Slovakia), Palacios (Tottenham, Honduras), Drogba (Chelsea, Ivory Coast), Ferdinand (Man Utd, England), Bendtner (Arsenal, Denmark), Ballack (Chelsea, Germany), Heitinga (Everton, Holland), Gerrard (Liverpool, England), Nani (Man Utd, Portugal). Without going into individual cases all of those players are either out of the World Cup through injury having been selected or are very big doubts.

Into Premier League players whose injury status meant selection was impossible I will only give a few examples: Brown (Man Utd, England), Hargreaves (Man Utd, England), Zamora (Fulham, England), Anderson (Man Utd, Brazil), Bosingwa (Chelsea, Portugal), Woodgate (Tottenham, England).

Into Premier League players who have been selected unfit can go: Torres (Liverpool, Spain), Rooney (Man Utd, England), Barry (Man City, England), Fabregas (Arsenal, Spain), Essien (Chelsea, Ghana), Mikel Obi (Chelsea, Nigeria).

Finally, into non-Premier League players who were selected but have picked up injuries can go: Pirlo (AC Milan, Italy), Robben (FC Bayern, Holland), Julio Cesar (Inter Milan, Brazil), Forlan (Atletico Madrid, Uruguay), Karhan (Mainz, Slovakia), Streller (FC Basel, Switzerland), Iniesta (Barcelona, Spain) – Iniesta was selected unfit.

Too many Premier League based players are included in these lists. It begs thinking about whether Premier League players play too much.

The structure of football in England means that a player can play 38 league games, 14 domestic cup games (excluding replays), and between 15-19 European games – totalling a potential 67-71 games in a season. That is a very heavy schedule.

In a World Cup year, the number of games a player plays is even more crucial. To the clubs it is the same as usual, the season is no different. To the governing bodies, in England – the FA, their motives are split. They want a competitive domestic system but they also want the national side to progress.

What can be done about the amount of football played in a World Cup year to try and stop these injuries from occurring? The two most common suggestions are to start the season earlier and incorporate a winter break. This would not change the number of games played but would allow for the players to have time off either at the end of the season or mid-season to recuperate. La Liga has adopted a full-time winter break. Such an idea has been advocated by club managers here. Sir Alex Ferguson said in January of this year:

“My experience tells me that when you get to December, it is draining for players to continuously play matches every Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday. It is difficult to play football through heavier grounds in cold weather. By December, everybody needs a break. With a break in January you can repair the small injuries the players pick up. Even the coaches need a mental break. Why don’t we use the whole of May to make up for the loss of matches that are held in January?”

Of course, Ferguson has the progress of Manchester United at heart when he made those comments but they become applicable to the national sides too.

One other suggestion I have heard is to cut the number of teams in the Premier League to 18 and have only one domestic cup. I don’t advocate this idea – other countries have leagues with 20 teams in, the Premier League should be no different.

When clubs do try and rest players in the Premier League, even if the motive is not for the sake of the national team, the idea is not supported by the FA. Wolves were fined £25,000 for fielding a changed line-up at Old Trafford which included all 10 outfield players being switched. Mick McCarthy believed Wolves would not win the game with his strongest team out so wanted to save them for the next, more important game against Burnley.

The Premier League clubs will be concerned by how many of their players will come back from the World Cup and find a season starting in the very near future. Many will not have a proper break from football and be thrust into pre-season training soon after returning. Such is the concern that Manchester United have admitted that all their players at the World Cup will be given a month off and the club have accepted that they will be forced to start the new season without some important players.

This all makes for nice reading – in hindsight we can make suggestions to counter all these injuries that are happening to players associated with the Premier League. However the reality is a little bit different.

Premier League based players are professionals. They are monitored, primed and shaped to play a lot of football at an intense level. Players in Europe’s other top leagues will be playing as much football as Premier League players. There are more Premier League based players at the World Cup than from other leagues therefore the proportion of players injured who play Premier League football is higher.

The biggest factor I believe is conditioning and the nature of the Premier League. English domestic football has become frantic, quick, strong and very competitive. Players who want to play in England at the top level must be at the top of their game. There is more chance of a player being injured in the Premier League than other leagues for this reason.

When a Premier League player now goes on international duty he will find the standard of football and the speed of the football fall from what he is used to. Premier League players are conditioned to play at a high tempo. At a World Cup, the training sessions are so controlled that the players are finding they are have to hold back. The matches are so different from what they play week in week out that the body has to make an adjustment. No longer are tackles flying around. The players find they have a tiny bit more time on the ball. These conditions lead to injuries.

I would argue that the Premier League has become too strong. No longer is international football the ultimate form of the game. Injuries will occur at international football – because of the strict conditioning a Premier League player is used to; their bodies are so in tune to the hustle and bustle of the Premier League that when it stops, the body can’t handle it.

I find it amazing that the FA do not try and support a more drastic type of break in the season, especially in a World Cup year. The Premier League may be the strongest league in the world but it may also be prohibiting some of its biggest stars from appearing on the biggest stage in football.

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Real Madrid considered the summer spending spree by snapping up French forward Karim Benzema from Lyon – after the two clubs agreed a £35Million fee based upon appearances. The news will come as a further blow for Manchester United who were keen to sign the French forward – as a replacement for Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo.

Real Madrid released a statement on their website earlier this evening:

Real Madrid C.F. and Olympique Lyonnais have reached an agreement for the transfer of Karim Benzema. The player will have his medical examination in the next few days, which will be followed by the signing of the contract with his new club.


The 21-year old French international striker will play six seasons for Real Madrid.

Benzema has taken French football by storm since he made his debut in the 2004/05 season. He scored 17 goals last season in 36 games in Ligue 1 whilst hitting 5 goals in 8 games in the Champions League. Benzema is being touted as the next big French superstar and could follow in the foot steps of France’s top goalscorer Thierry Henry. Benzema, assuming he stays fit, will be part of the French squad next summer for the World Cup in South Africa.

Karim Benzema netted twice against Le Mans help Lyon to a 3-1 victory. The result now gives Lyons a three point lead at the top of Ligue 1 – with Bordeaux trailing in 2nd place.

Lyon now have 59 points with only eight games left, three ahead of Bordeaux, who needed a very late Marouane Chamakh goal win 1-0 at home against Nancy. Visiting Nancy played the last 40 minutes with ten men after the sending-off of Frederic Biancalani.

Benzema, who had not scored since February 21st, scored the second and third goals of the game – after former Newcastle defender Jean-Alain Boumsong scored in the 17th minute. The goal drought was obviously playing on Benzema’s mind as he spoke to French television “I never doubt myself but every striker has to go through a scoring drought in his career. Sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes you’re not,”.