Besiktas is an example for Portuguese clubs

Besiktas which is a Turkish club, recently signed three Portuguese players.
That is two more than some Portuguese clubs, mentioning no names, Benfica! Sorry it slipped out.
That right there tells you, what is wrong with Portuguese soccer when you have teams in Turkey, Greece, Romania, Belgium, England and Italy have more Portuguese in their starting lineups than some SuperLiga Portuguesa teams. Even Real Madrid has three.

What concerns me is that the players that signed with Besiktas were all looking to return home.
Quaresma, Hugo Almeida, and Manuel Fernandes all had made public their interest in playing for Portuguese teams. Quaresma and Almeida were linked with Benfica, but the club looked to Argentina to find players instead. The same thing with Sporting who were linked to former Benfica player, Fernandes.

This all goes back to a simple solution that Platini had. Make teams have to field players who come from their academies like Barcelona, Lyon, Ajax, and sometimes Sporting do.
Perhaps a rule where teams have to start five, maybe six or more players who were trained in their youth teams.

I just find it ridiculous when Benfica plays with only one Portuguese player.
What about Inter Milano last year when they fielded a starting 11 with no Italians, Arsenal with no English, hell, Arsenal had no British even in the bench.
I know that it is hard now a days to find players who are loyal to their clubs, but investing in young local players will go a long way for accomplishing just that.

Benfica and Varzim sign a deal

Portuguese champions Benfica have signed a protocol with Varzim, this financial deal will give Benfica first rights over any player that Varzim has.

This deal will come in handy when Benfica tries to sign the cousin of Fabio Coentrao, Varzim starting left back, Rui Coentrao.
Rui Coentrao plays in a very similar way to his cousin, Rui also began playing as a left winger before being placed at left back, but they both share other similarities.
Both are from Vila do Conde, and they both began their soccer careers at Rio Ave.
Rui Coentrao left Vila do Conde for Lisboa just like his cousin, but Rui joined Sporting at a young age. He was later dismissed by Sporting, and decided to join the arch rivals of Rio Ave, Varzim.
He is already a member of the Portuguese Under 19 team, and I have no doubt that in the near future, he will be playing in the Selecao.

Rui Coentrao is one to keep an eye on.......

Christmas

I have not blogged in a while, but with the snow blizzard that we just got in Boston, I have found some time to write about a couple of things.

The first one is how impressed I am with how good the Portuguese League has been so far this season.

A lot of teams are playing well, and a number of players are puttting up some worthy performances.

It is no wonder that so many European clubs are looking to Portugal for their Christmas shopping lists. Even the lower division teams have plenty of scouts at their games. Genoa was on hand at a few Belenenses games, presumably they were looking at Pele, the defensive midfielder.

Louletano, the third division club have plenty of interest in Joao Reis, the "new Figo". Benfica, Inter Milan, Arsenal and Chelsea have all inquired about him.

The second one has to do with the Bowl Season for college football. As much as I love watching the bowl games, this reminds me that the college football season is almost over.

Finally, a word about Christmas, it was a good one this year.

Plenty of good times with the family, nice little bonus from work, what else can you ask for?

Maybe a move to sunny California, or Florida..........

New England Patriots

Are the New England Patriots the best team in the NFL? The answer is yes, they are.

Going into Chicago, facing that defense in that weather, putting up 36 points, and holding the Bears to just 7.

The Patriots are looking scary right now, are they better than they were in 2007?

Urban Meyer resigns

The search for a new head coach at Miami has just gotten harder, as the Florida Gators are now searching for a new head coach as well.
Urban Meyer has resigned, and now one of the top programs in the Nation is looking for his replacement. We can only assume who is going to get the job, but it will be probably some of the same names that are candidates for the Miami job.
Dan Mullen is the strongest candidate, but he claims that he is happy at Missisippi State. Mushamp from Texas will interview.
Charlie Strong is a good choice, as is Mike Leach.
The next few days should be promising

Shameful and disgraceful

Shameful and disgraceful would be how I would describe the performance that Benfica had in this years UEFA Champions League edition.



In a group that had Benfica, Lyon, Schalke, and Hapoel Tel Aviv, Benfica finished third in the group with two wins and four losses.

Along the way, Benfica was shut out in away matches, they could not score even one goal outside of Lisbon.

Not impressive. Benfica should have done much better, I actually feel embarrassed by the way that they played. They clearly should have won this group.

Let us wait and see what happens next year...........

If we can qualify, that is........

Miami fires Randy Shannon

I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised that the U fired Randy Shannon.
The results have been less than impressive, I will admit, that certainly includes the loss to South Florida.
However, there are other things that matter as much as winning, let us see, things such as a high graduation rate, and that the criminal acts are down.
Mr. Shannon was able to change the program for the better. He is leaving the program a lot better than it was when he came in.

Who to replace him?
Who ever it is that the University of Miami brings in, he will have to be a disciplinarian, I believe that it is the only way that you can bring out the best out of all the talent in South Beach.
The U is a historic program, and is surrounded by lots of great talent.
Some good names to keep in mind for the head coaching job are Dan Mullen, the current head coach at Mississippi State, or Mike Leach, the former head coach at Texas Tech.
I can imagine Mike Leach running the spread offense at Miami. That would be awesome to see!
The next few days should be interesting.

Barcelona beats Real Madrid 5-0

As I watched Real Madrid get routed by Barcelona, I could not help but be amazed.

I almost felt pity for Real Madrid. Pity mainly for the Portuguese in the Real Madrid squad. Real does have more Portuguese players than say Benfica, and they do have Jose Mourinho.

It made me wonder for a brief second if "the special one" has lost his touch.
It was for a brief moment only, as I realized that Barcelona is the best team in club soccer.

What I really like about Barcelona is the culture at the club.
Their best midfield players, Xavi and Iniesta, arguably two of the best midfielders in all of soccer are not your average superstar soccer players. They do not live a rock star lifestyle.
I remember reading a story about how a new player that was signed at Barcelona was pulled aside by Xavi when he arrived at practice driving a brand new Hummer. Xavi told him that this was not the Barcelona way! Xavi never did say who the player was, but I am guessing that it was either Ibrahimovic, or Hleb.

Barcelona is more than a club as their fans love to tell everyone, they love to produce their own players through their youth academies, players such as Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Puyol, and Pedro all came up from the club.
They feel the club when they play, I think that this is what is missing from most teams, they do not have enough players who identify themselves with the club.
This is something that you cannot just buy, Barcelona for example, is the pride of the Catalans, and all of their players understand that.

This is one the reasons why Barcelona is the best team in the World.