January Comes to an End, with a String of Suprises !!!!!!!!!

The Transfer Window came to a close, with a couple of sackings and a good amount of signings in the last couple of days of the month. The leagues continued as normal, with teams trying to utilize their new signings. The English teams dominated the market, as most signings were made there. International Friendlies are also arriving closer, the main focus on two games: 1st THE DERBY OF THE WORLD - Italy vs Brazil - 4 times world champions vs 5 times world champions respectively; 2nd Spain vs England - EURO 2008 champions vs the upcoming English Team under new coach known as the The Football Don - Fabio Capello.

Italy vs Brazil

Italy - 4 times world champions - Champions of the last world cup- team to play with the oldest players. Italy never shined on the international stage for the past twenty years till the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Italy was always known for its last minutes loses. They never seemed to achieve the success they deserved, till Marcelo Lippi entered the frame. Marcelo Lippi had earned recent success with the club team Juventus, winning the Italian Calcio twice in a row. He retired from his post in Juventus and opted to coach the national team. His first year in the team he led Italy to world cup glory and gave the Italians finally what they wanted. Marcello Lippi gave up his post after the world cup, as he wanted to take some time off. Coach Roberto Donadoni took his spot and he failed to achieve the success on the international stage as Marcello Lippi had done. Donadoni was fired from his post a year after he got it, and Marcello Lippi entered the frame again. Once again Italy are back to their old ways, winning matches and now their next challenge - Brazil.
Brazil - 5 times world champion - a team which has dominated the world stage since the first world cup - a team which has produced the finest players ever - a team which has never failed to disappoint. Brazil has always shined on the international stage, its local league may not be that famous, but it has sent enough players to the other leagues to make it a powerhouse on the world stage. Not known for its prosperity, but known for its talent, players like the legend Pele, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Ronaldo, Adriano Rivaldo etc. are now just impressing all the fans with there tricks. Brazil are now being coached under retired World Cup hero Coach Dunga. Coach Dunga last played in the 1998 world cup , where Brazil lost to France in the finals. Dunga Started coaching Brazil right after their 2002 World Cup triumph, when coach Luiz Felipe Scolari stepped down from his position to take over the Portuguese National Side.
Italy vs Brazil is going to played in the Wembly Stadium, London England. An experienced coach of Italy vs the in-experience of coach of Brazil. The Brazillian line-up for the game hasn't seem to change much , but their have been some surprising additions and exclusions to the Italian national team. Veteran and in form striker Alessandro Del Peiro has been excluded from the team and so is another in form striker Antonio Cassano has been excluded. Italian and AC Milan legend Paolo Maldini at the age of 40 - the oldest player to be playing the game - most probably will play against Brazil as a tribute game. Fans all over the world voted on www.goal.com/en just to convince Maldini to play one last game for Italy after he retired in 2003. Lets see how entertaining the Derby of the World turns out to be.

Spain vs England

Euro 2008 champions - Spain - a team that has never triumphed on the international stage till 2008. Spain has been team, which has tons of amounts of talents but when it came to a big competition, they would never produce the results. Spain's league has dominated the European stage but once again, Spain's national team never showed the same success. It was in 2008 when Coach Luiz Arogonez took over the team and entered Spain into the European stage with a team filled with a mixture of youth and experience. He gave young players a chance to inject their pace and agility and the older players to control the mind game and read the game for the younger players. This mixture seemed to have paid off as Spain were the only team to be undefeated in the whole competition. Since then Spain has pretty much beaten the likes of Italy, Argentina, Germany and now they face their next touch opponent England.
England - 1 time world cup winner in 1966 - a team with talent but no- coordination. England since its world cup triumph has had no good results. They have never reached the final stages of any major competition. England were knocked out of the 2002 and 2006 World cups in their quarter final matches against Brazil and Argentina respectively. They have changed many coaches but no success seems to be coming. After the firing of Coach Steve Mclaren, England decided to assign the head coach post to none other than the most successful Italian coach ever - The Don - Fabio Capello. Fabio Capello is the only coach that has won a trophy with every team he has ever coached. This achievement tempted the English board to sign the Italian born coach. They hope the tradition continues and hopefully they expect England to win at least one of the two upcoming major competitions. The upcoming game against Spain will be a test for the coach as England have not played any big games under him.
The Line ups were pretty much the same as what football pundits expected. The only major exclusion which have raised quite a few questions are the exclusion of top English striker Wayne Rooney. It has still not been confirmed whether Rooney is missing the game due to injure or coaching decisions. We just have to wait and see.