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After sweeping everything before them playing some of the most breathtaking football in recent memory, the interesting question for Barcelona would be – can they get any better?

The frightening answer is yes. Pep Guardiola’s team could well achieve footballing “perfection”.

Arrigo Sacchi, the innovator who coached AC Milan to a pair of European Cups, once declared that the next step in the evolution of football would be the conversion of the entire pitch to one midfield area. The teams at the vanguard of tactical rejuvenation would be able to count on players to line up in a range of positions on the field of play but actually function as midfielders; closing space and passing accurately within their sectors, using the ball intelligently, moving well off it.

In simpler words – an entire team of midfielders who know how to play the ball – on and off it. Away with “specialist” roles such as centerbacks or even targetmen.

Guardiola is gradually ridding the team of ‘specialists’, in a positional sense, and nurturing a squad who will treat the entire pitch as a midfield area. Rapid possession win-backs, quick passes, every man, potentially, the playmaker.

A delightful team to watch. And an even more exciting European season look forward to!

Lionel Messi. Small man, big talent. Image via Guardian UK.

Not many would argue with the fact that FC Barcelona is widely considered as one of THE best football team in the world, and by quite a huge margin too – most notably proven in their 5-0 drubbing of Real Madrid earlier in the Spanish La Liga.

While other clubs find no other option but to throw money at trying to build a winning team, Barcelona, set up as a non-profit, member-owned cooperative, continue running circles around their opponents. What’s Barcelona’s secret that other cash-laden clubs find so hard to emulate?

Long-term education, says Xavi – emphasizing the importance of one-touch football:

“Most of our players are from Catalonia and have been here a long time. Education. Players have had 10 or 12 years here, that’s the difference. When you arrive at Barcelona the first thing they teach you is: think. Think, think, think quickly. Lift your head up, move your head, see, think. Look before you get the ball. If you’re getting this pass, look to see if that guy is free. Pum. First time.”

“Look at Busquets. He is the best central midfielder there is playing one-touch. Watch him, you’ll see that he doesn’t need more. He’s controlled, looked and passed in one touch. Some players need two or three touches and these days, given how physically demanding football is and how fast players are, that’s too much. That’s slow. Look at us: Alves, one touch. Iniesta, one touch. Messi, one touch. Piqué, one touch. Busquets, me, seven or eight players with one touch. Fast. In fact, [the youth coach] Charly [Rexach] always used to say: a mig toc. Half a touch.”

Brazilian Falcao, one of the world’s best futsal players take on the Manchester City youth team in a ball skills match-up.

Rooney, City Legend. Haha!

Football fans are known to be a passionate lot, but some take their support to stupidly new levels:

City fan Simon Hart, who spent £500 having a massive image of Wayne Rooney etched into his back with the words “Rooney – City Legend” beneath it last autumn when the England striker seemed set to leave Manchester United.

Needless to say, Rooney decided to stay at Old Trafford leaving Hart with egg on his face as well as ink indelibly injected into his back.

“It would have been so sweet to ram it down their throats after all these years of getting the s****y end of the stick,” said Hart. ”Now I’ve been shafted by United again – and I’m stuck with Shrek’s ugly mug on my back.”

And another classic:

Marin Levidzhev fought a two-year legal battle to force Bulgarian authorities to let him change his name to “Manchester United”. Magistrates refused to allow him to do so, but did allow him to rename himself “Manchester Levidzhev” – a half-way measure that left him feeling short-changed.

“I feel as if I am only at the half-time break,” he said. “I won’t feel right until I get all my name changed to Manchester United.

Thanks, Jonathan Lim.

Undeniably one of Malaysia’s greatest footballing talent, the late Mokhtar Dahari once shared a stage with a certain 21-year-old Argentine, Diego Maradona. It was a friendly between Selangor and Boca Juniors in 1982, which ended in a close 2-1 loss for Selangor.

Mokhtar Dahari, Selangor vs Diego Maradona, Boca Juniors

The younger generation of Malaysian fans growing up on a steady diet of Manchester United and European football might not know it, but in the 70s-80s, the Malaysian national squad was one of Asia’s strongest teams, regularly handing out beatings to the likes of South Korea and Japan.

Mokhtar’s career highlights include scoring both goals in a 2-0 win over Arsenal, and then waltzing through a bunch of English defenders ala-Maradona in a 1-1 friendly:

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Super-Mokh passed away in 1991 at only 37, and Malaysian football has never been the same since.

Liverpool employed it throughout much of Rafa Benitez’s reign at the club and Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan won the Champions League with it. Now, World Cup teams are finding success by employing 2 holding midfielders in a 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 formation, or variations of it such as 4-2-3-1.

Spain, Holland, Germany, Ghana, Argentina and Brazil to name a few – are all teams that have made it through to the late stages of the World Cup, with similar line-ups.

Looks like the days of 4-4-2 are numbered… maybe that’s why we no longer find glorious “strike partnerships” of the past such as Romario-Bebeto, Sutton-Shearer and Cole-Yorke?

Lim Teong Kim, former Malaysian footballer and current assistant coach of Bayern Munich Under-19. Image via The Star.

As 20-year old Thomas Muller ran riot in Germany’s matches against England and Argentina at the World Cup, not many know that it was a Malaysian who had a hand in his rapid rise to stardom.

Enter Lim Teong Kim, former Malaysian international and currently an assistant coach at Bayern Munich’s Under-19 team. Lim was Malaysia’s first footballer to ply his trade in Europe for Hertha Berlin in 1987.

During his playing days, Lim also helped Malaysia to winning the SEA Games gold in 1989 (Malaysia then took another 20 years to win it again, in 2009).

Lim’s take on Thomas Muller and Holger Badstuber, another graduate of Bayern’s youth system that saw success in South Africa:

“Muller was not as gifted as some of his teammates in the youth teams but he made it big because of his dedication to training and matches. This is the same case with Badstuber.”

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Earlier this year, the New Straits Times had also done an interview with Lim Teong Kim, picking his thoughts on developing Malaysian football in general. Worth a read, the opinions of a man who’s career is at the top of the footballing pyramid.

Here’s another one from the Star, back in 2007 but sadly, nothing much has changed in Malaysian football.

When football is still the same here after so many years, how can we expect to see any changes to the game or standard? Why criticise the present batch of players and keep banging them on their heads for failures when no one cares for the development of the game?

Cristiano Ronaldo in Nike's "Write the Future" ad. Image via Nike Football.

They were supposed to have been heroes – honoured with knighthood, immortalized in statues, and have babies named after them.

Unfortunately for the players that starred in Nike’s “Write the Future” ad, they will all be heading home from South Africa on an early flight – if they made it there in the first place.

Call it the Curse of the  Nike ad.

Notable names in the ad which had “field action” include Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba, Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro, England’s Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott, France’s Franck Ribery, Brazil’s Ronaldinho, and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

They either got injured prior to the World Cup, failed to make their squads, or were booted out early. England was trashed 4-1 by Germany in the 2nd round. Italy could not get their gears running, while France imploded spectacularly. Both failed to make it out of their relatively easy groups.

Even Roger Federer, shown chasing ping pong balls against Rooney, ran out of luck in Wimbledon, getting knocked out in the quarter-finals.

About the only “successful” star is basketball player Kobe Bryant. Kobe recently won his fifth NBA title.

Update 03 July 2010: On Tuesday, Nike released another “Write the Future” version, this time featuring a stand-alone Robinho. Barely days later, Robinho scored for Brazil against Holland, but they were knocked out 2-1.

The adidas ad, on the other hand, although with less fanfare than Nike’s, seem to be kinder to its players. Both Leo Messi (Argentina) and David Villa (Spain) have played starring roles for their teams so far, and they still have a chance of lifting the World Cup.

It COULD have been England 2 Germany 2. Photo via BBC.co.uk

Everyone’s screaming for it, but implementing goal-line technology is not as simple as it sounds.

Here’s a surprising truth: neither Sepp Blatter nor FIFA hold full power in setting the games’ regulations. Instead, any decisions to amend the rules, such as backpasses, yellow cards and penalties are voted on by FIFA together with its partner, the International FA Board (IFAB), in a long-standing tradition that has lasted since 1904.

What’s IFAB, you ask?

The IFAB is a separate entity (formed even before FIFA) that consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Yup, you read that right. A country that was comprehensively booted out of South Africa, and three that could not even qualify for the Euros, let alone the World Cup, have the powers to set the Laws of the Game that affect the entire footballing world, including the likes of Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Italy.

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Why Football Is The Number One Sport In The World

On the other side of the coin, it is worth remembering that FIFA’s seemingly archaic style has also played a very important role in maintaining football as the world’s most played and loved sport.

The rules (and any changes to it) has always been made to scale down to the lowest common denominator.

That means weekend heroes like you and me, and the 10 year old kids playing for their schools, can all play the same game as the pros do – measured by the same rules.

There is no need for countdown timers (NBA basketball), special equipment (hockey, badminton) or additional referees (American football) to play the sport.

Introducing goal line technology would mean a separate set of rules for those who can afford it (wealthier leagues like BPL or Serie A), and everyone else. Surely, that will be against the spirit of the game?

Furthermore – where do you draw the line once it’s implemented? Use it for offsides? Handballs? Can the videos be tampered with? What happens if the technology is – gasp – faulty?

As it is, I get twitchy waiting for the football to resume every time players get fouled. I cannot imagine waiting an eternity of 2-minute pauses for every ten played – as referees walk to the cameraman, watches the replay, and considers a decision. I’d have more entertainment watching Twilight reruns!

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The Beauty of Controversy

Let’s  face it – Maradona would not be as legendary without his Hand of God in 1986. The England-Germany rivalry would not be as intense without 1966′s “did it go in or not” incident.

50 years from now, most will not remember that Matthew Upson was the scorer of England’s solitary goal in their 4-1 defeat to Germany. Many will not even remember that Thomas Muller, all of 20 years old, contributed 2 for the Germans.

In 2060, what will people remember and still talk about? Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal.

Because it’s the beauty of controversy.

Update 19 July 2010: Congratulations to Spain, worthy winners of the World Cup in an underwhelming Final!

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As quickly as it arrived, the World Cup group games are all over. Here’s the updated schedule for all the knock-out matches, in Malaysian time.

Round of 16

June 26, Saturday
URU v KOR (2-1)

June 27, Sunday
USA v GHA (1-2)
GER v ENG (4-1)

June 28, Monday
ARG v MEX (3-1)
NED v SVK (2-1)

June 29, Tuesday
BRA v CHI (3-0)
PAR v JPN (0-0, 5-3 pen)

June 30, Wednesday
ESP v POR (1-0)

Quarter-finals

July 02, Friday
NED v BRA (2-1)

July 03, Saturday
URU v GHA (1-1, 4-2 pen)
ARG v GER (0-4 wtf!)

July 04, Sunday
PAR v ESP (0-1)

Semi-finals

July 07, Wednesday
URU v NED (2-3)

July 08, Thursday
GER v  ESP (0-1)

Third/Fourth

GER v URU (3-2)

Grand Final

NED v ESP (0-1)

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The full games schedules, also in Malaysian timing, is also available as an Excel file download from Gvishnu.com.

Note:

* All dates and times are correct according to sources from FIFA, SoccerNet and Astro. The author will take no responsibility over incorrect times, missed games, and moneys lost. If you are unsure, check with your bookie!

* By Malaysian timing, it does not mean that the games will start 45 minutes later!

* All the results for the World Cup group games