Will Germany invade Italy for fourth UEFA spot?

The demise of Italian football could be rubber-stamped at the end of the forthcoming season.

Should the Serie A teams competing in European football fail to out-perform those of the Bundesliga, the fourth Champions League qualification spot will be stripped from them and awarded to the Germans.

The number of European places are determined by the UEFA League Coefficient. It ranks the leagues of Europe by the results of their teams in the Champions League and the Europa League (previously UEFA Cup) over the past five seasons.

Points awarded each season – two for a win, one for a draw – are divided by the number of teams that participated for that nation in that season. For the league coefficient the season's point totals for the last five seasons must be added up. In the preliminary rounds of both the Champions League and Europa League, the awarded points are halved.

Bonus points are allocated for: qualifying for the Champions League group phase and Europa League round of 16 (4 bonus points); Reaching the second round of the Champions League; and reaching the quarter, semi and final of both Champions League and Europa League.

Only three nations possess four Champions League spots - England, Spain and Italy. As it stands, Italy have 62.91 points. Germany are now trailing them by just under seven points, at 56.69.

Dropping out of the top three would serve as a huge embarrassment to the notoriously proud Italians.

The level of quality in Serie A has been questioned continuously over the past five or six years. The quality in Germany, however, has increased remarkably in the last couple of seasons.

The previous Bundesliga campaign proved surprisingly enticing. In a highly competitive year, Wolfsburg historically claimed the club’s first league title, trouncing Bayern Munich 5-1 on the way. The side boasted the most successful strikeforce in the league’s history. Bosnian hotshot Edin Dzeko and Brazilian Grafite racked up a 54 goal-haul – littered with outrageous efforts.

Serie A, in contrast, was won by Inter for a fourth consecutive season. Their closest competitors, Juventus and AC Milan, jointly finished ten points behind Mourinho’s side.

Since then, both the former World Player of the Year - Kaka - and the league’s top scorer - Inter’s Ibrahimovic - have left for Spain.

There is still hope for the Italians. The deal that saw Ibrahimovic’s departure to Barcelona has brought the explosive Samuel Eto’o to Serie A. The Bundesliga’s second-hottest talent (behind Franck Ribery), Diego, has left Germany in favour of Italian side Juventus.

Another ‘green shoot’ for Serie A is the intriguing incident that occurred on an AC Milan team-bonding session.

Club owner (and Italian PM) Silvio Berlusconi, is rumoured to have demanded jaded superstar Ronaldinho to stand on a table in front of his teammates and promise to ‘live right’ and rediscover the form that resulted him in becoming the biggest attraction in world football. A potentially patronising experience that is said to have emotionally-touched the Brazilian.

If the former great keeps his promise, Italian football might just be rescued.

Read more...

Brand & Gallagher Talk Sport

Well, Football anyway. Having downloaded and listened to the show last night, I felt it worth more than a mention.

Being a huge Brand fan, in a comedy sense and in appreciation of his football columns published in The Guardian, I was eager to hear his return to 'the wireless' in a one-off show special for TalkSPORT since "Sachsgate" (the real crime of which being the end of his ridiculously funny weekly Radio 2 show).

Those who tuned in on sunday night, and there was a 250% boost in web traffic due to its online popularity, were treated to not only hilarious banter between Russell and co-host Noel Gallagher, but also an insight into their footballing beliefs; Noel championing Sven-Goran Eriksson's philosophy on football after Sven phised, post 6-0 defeat at Chelsea, "It is better to lose one game 6-0, than to lose six games 1-0."

Also broadcast were anecdotes involving figures in the game. One of which I particularly enjoyed, as a Liverpool fan, being Noel's history of guitar signing for Manchester United players; consisting of Mrs. Rooney sending Noel a £2,000 Les Paul guitar for him to enscribe with a message for Wayne's forthcoming 21st birthday, to which Noel responded returning the gift re-sprayed blue with "Dear Spongebob" and the lyrics to Blue Moon scrawled over it. Wayne returned this favour by sending Noel a press shot of him scoring in the latest Manchester derby, only for Noel to send it back with a Spongebob sticker over his face.
Gary Neville also sent Noel a guitar for which he was to sign. Noel simply reposted, along with the guitar, proclaiming "How you ever got 50 caps for England is beyond me!".

The one-off show featured ex-Man City and West Ham player Steve Lomas, who, via a string of offbeat questions such as "Who had the best bus driver?", announced City to be a better club than 'The Hammers'. It was also revealed how Lomas was involved in a no holds barred brawl backstage at an Oasis gig, battling the likes of Neil Lennon and Keith Curle, the night before City lost to Aston Villa and were relegated from the Premier League.

All in all, it was a fantastic show, combining insightful football chat and Russell's unique humour between the hours of 9 and 11 pm. I am definitely hoping it returns with a regular slot on TalkSPORT, and am sure it will.

For those yet to listen to the Brand & Gallagher show on TalkSPORT, just follow the download link: http://new.talksport.net/blogs/view.asp?id=110588

Read more...