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A forum for all 'english-speaking' fans of Gabriel Omar Batistuta, which EVER team he's involved with! To make it easier to reply to posts, please don't start a new thread if there is already an existing thread related to your topic. Let's try to keep all the same news 'together'. Thanks! |
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Daryl
 IP: 201.238.90.169 Jul 29, 08 - 3:59 PM |
Messi poses threat to Ronaldo
Messi poses threat to Ronaldo’s reputation By ROBERT MILLWARD, AP Soccer Writer 15 hours, 17 minutes ago Buzz Up PrintLONDON (AP)—No wonder Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson insists Cristiano Ronaldo would be wrong to play for Real Madrid. The Portuguese star probably would be overshadowed by Lionel Messi. Ferguson actually believes Ronaldo is at the best club anyway. But the fact that the winger would be compared week by week in the same league as Messi most likely would hurt his chances of proving himself the world’s best player. Messi is at the center of a tug of war between Barcelona and Argentina’s team for the Olympics. He played brilliantly for his club in warmup games in Scotland. After scoring and mesmerizing the Hibernian defense in Barca’s 6-0 victory in Edinburgh on Thursday, he went on as a second-half substitute against Dundee United on Saturday and collected a hat trick in a 5-1 victory at Dundee United. Weaving inside and outside defenders, Messi had them going in different directions and chasing his shadow. By the time they realized where he had gone, the ball was in the back of the net. “He was fantastic to watch and what a difference he made to the game,” said Dundee United manager Craig Levein, who played for Scotland at the 1990 World Cup. “It’s not often that we lose 5-1 and I’m smiling watching the opposition playing football. He was just a real delight to watch.” Although these aren’t the toughest opponents Messi will face next season, the 21-year-old Argentine showed he has the skills and the goal-scoring ability to dwarf even the likes of Ronaldo. Ronaldo relies more on his speed and is better in the air. Messi has the edge in dribbling in tight situations. He draws defenders toward him and out of position, then leaves them trailing with short bursts of fancy footwork, either scoring himself or setting up others. Ronaldo certainly outshone Messi last season. He scored 42 goals for United and helped the Red Devils win the Premier League and Champions League, ousting Barcelona in the semifinals. But he missed a third-minute penalty kick in the first leg at Camp Nou and, in those two games, Messi looked the better player. Messi has also been hampered by injuries. In 2006, he tore muscle fibers in his right thigh in a Champions League game against Chelsea and missed the rest of the season, including Barcelona’s victory over Arsenal in the final. Last year, he had two long spells on the sidelines with leg injuries. Without him, Barca finished well behind Madrid in the Spanish title race. Barcelona’s new coach, Pep Guardiola, prefers to take the heat off Messi and stresses the importance of team play. “I understand that everybody thinks that Messi is different, of course he is different, but I have to treat him the same as the others,” said Guardiola, who replaced Frank Rijkaard at the end of last season. “I don’t understand football only with one player. I understand football as a result of the work of the group. For him to do the things he does, he needs someone to bring the ball to him, to create opportunities to score.” Now Messi is fit and appears to be getting back to his best form while Ronaldo has an ankle injury that will sideline him until early October. While Messi doesn’t yet know whether he will go to the Olympics, Ronaldo doesn’t know which team he’ll be playing for next season. Ronaldo says he wants to move to Madrid, and the Spanish club is eager to get him for what would certainly be a world-record transfer fee. But United is holding him to his contract, which still has almost four years to run. Messi is unlikely to be leaving Barcelona. His value to the club and its bid to regain both the Spanish league and Champions League titles are behind its reluctance to let him go to China. After Messi was placed on Argentina’s Olympic squad, Barcelona said it had not given permission for him to go. FIFA, which has instructed clubs to release the players for China, has appointed a judge who is to rule Tuesday. Several German clubs have also refused to release players for the Olympic tournament, which begins in 10 days. Messi is vital to Argentina and Barcelona. Guardiola wants Messi when his team plays in the qualifying round of the Champions League, which coincides with Olympic soccer. But Argentina is defending the Olympic title and is offering Messi the chance to win a gold medal. If the judge’s decision goes the way of the Olympic teams, Messi could be one step ahead of Ronaldo. While the Portuguese star sits at home wondering where he’ll play next season, Messi could go into the season an Olympic champion. ................................. MADRID (AFP) - Barcelona could take Argentine playmaker Lionel Messi on tour to Italy and the United States later this week even if FIFA orders the Spanish club to release him for the Olympic Games, a newspaper reported Monday. FIFA are expected to issue a ruling on Tuesday to settle a dispute between the Argentine Football Federation, who have called on the 21-year-old for the Olympics, and Barcelona who want to keep the player for early Champions League matches in August. Barcelona-based sports daily El Mundo Deportivo reported Monday that the world football governing body will likely side with the Argentines but the Catalan club will then take the dispute to the sport's highest appeal body, the Court of Arbitration for Sport. In the meantime Barcelona will take Messi on upcoming tours of Italy and the United States, it added. Barcelona heads to Italy on Wednesday where they will face Fiorentina in a friendly before heading to the United States two days later. The squad will face Mexican side Chivas de Guadalajara in Chicago un Sunday and the New York Red Bulls three days later in New York. Messi was the star of the two friendlies which Barcelona played during their pre-season training camp last week in Scotland. He contributed one goal during their 6-0 win over Scottish side Hibs on Thursday and hit a hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Dundee United two days later. FIFA have insisted that the release of under-23 players is mandatory but that clubs can refuse to release over-age players. The Olympic football tournament takes place from August 6-23 but Barcelona have a Champions League qualifier on either August 12 or 13. yahoo sports.. Daryl  
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Richie
IP: 155.198.184.64 Jul 29th, 2008 - 9:22 PM |
Re: Messi poses threat to Ronaldo
Thanks alot Daryl! It's hard to say who is "better", but it's hard to argue with Ronaldo scoring 40+ goals last season! However, if I had to choose who I'd prefer to watch I'd take Messi every day of the week! He's just a sublime talent, and does everything with skill as opposed to Ronaldo's speed and power. Not as magical as Maradona but probably the closest I've ever seen! |
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Daryl
IP: 201.238.90.169 Jul 30th, 2008 - 6:42 PM |
Re: Messi poses threat to Ronaldo
Np mate.. :) FIFA orders clubs to release players 3 hours, 20 minutes ago ZURICH (Reuters) - World soccer’s governing body FIFA has told clubs they must release any players aged under 23 selected for next month’s Beijing Olympics after rejecting a protest by three European teams. In a statement issued to the clubs and the media on Wednesday, FIFA said Players’ Status Committee member Slim Aloulou had ruled as a single judge that the release of players was mandatory for all clubs. German Bundesliga sides Werder Bremen and Schalke, and Spain’s Barcelona had argued against the need to release players because the Olympics were not included on FIFA’s international match calendar. “The single judge determined that the international match calendar is not of relevance in establishing whether clubs are obliged to release players,” FIFA said in its statement. “In view of the longstanding and undisputed practice (since 1988, clubs have always accepted the release of Under-23 players for the competition), he deemed that recourse to customary law is justified.” The statement added that the Olympic Games was a “unique opportunity” for all athletes “and that it would not be justifiable to prevent any player younger than 23 from participating in such an event.” Werder and Schalke have already filed complaints with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following the call-ups of Schalke defender Rafinha and Werder playmaker Diego into Brazil’s Olympic squad. MESSI READY CAS said last week it would wait until after FIFA had made its final decision before examining the complaints. Barcelona, whose influential forward Lionel Messi has been called up by Argentina, said on Monday they would also go to CAS if FIFA ruled against them. The Olympic football tournament runs from August 6-23, a period when many European clubs are beginning their domestic league seasons or playing qualifying matches for European competitions. Barcelona are scheduled to play a two-legged Champions League qualifying tie in August. Prior to FIFA’s announcement, Messi told Spanish media that he would hook up with Argentina as soon as possible if the governing body insisted players should be released. “I want everything to be sorted out,” he was quoted as saying on the Barcelona website (www.fcbarcelona.com) on Wednesday. “I understand the position of the club because a lot is at stake… But they also have to understand that it is my dream to play for my national team at the Olympic Games.” “From the beginning I’ve said that I want to play for my national team and I’ve never had problems until now…. If I get there and CAS says I have to come back then I will come back. “For the moment I want to be with my national team and my team mates.” Although generally involving players aged 23 or under, Olympic squads are also allowed to nominate three overage players. FIFA has already acknowledged, however, that the release of those players was not compulsory. (Editing by John O’Brien) Yahoo Daryl |
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Daryl
IP: 190.59.3.15 Aug 5th, 2008 - 1:00 AM |
Re: Messi poses threat to Ronaldo
Messi to take Ronaldinho's number 10 at Barca: club Aug 3, 5:15 pm EDT Buzz Up PrintMADRID (AFP) - Barcelona's Argentine striker Lionel Messi will take over the number 10 shirt that was last worn by Brazil's Ronaldinho, who was transfered to AC Milan, the club said Sunday. The number 10 shirt is usually the privilege of the club's star player. Messi, 21, has until now worn the number 19, which has not been assigned to any other player for next season. Brazilian Daniel Alves, a pre-season signing, was given the number 20, formerly worn by Portugal's Deco, who has gone to Chelsea. Messi has joined the Argentina national squad for the Olympics in Beijing and will miss the Catalan club's US tour. The Argentina international has been at the centre of a tug of war between club and country with Barcelona trying to retain him for their Champions League qualifier tie in August. >.............. Olympic soccer getting Messi—or just messy By ROBERT MILLWARD, AP Soccer Writer 1 hour, 44 minutes ago Buzz Up PrintLONDON (AP)—With just days to go before the start of the Olympic soccer competition, some of the world’s best players are caught in the middle of a court fight between their national teams and their club teams. It’s another typically farcical situation that seems to hit soccer just when the world’s most popular sport is trying to improve its battered image. Barcelona doesn’t want Lionel Messi to be in Argentina’s lineup even though he was picked in the squad a month ago. German clubs Schalke and Werder Bremen are trying to bring home Brazilian stars Diego and Rafinha and a final decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport should come Wednesday. Leaving aside women’s Olympic soccer, which doesn’t have these problems but is also struggling to broaden its list of realistic gold medal contenders, the men’s tournament has never had the same impact as athletics, swimming or gymnastics when the games come around every four years. That’s probably because competitors who take part in those other sports, although they have their own world championships, get far more fame from winning an Olympic gold medal. Soccer is different. The World Cup is its equivalent of the Olympics and although the likes of Nigeria’s Nwankwo Kanu and Argentina’s Carlos Tevez are proud of winning Olympic gold medals, they’d get far more adulation if they had World Cup titles. The Olympic men’s tournament is restricted to players age 23 or under with teams allowed to call up three overage stars. Yet look at some of the stars who have graced the Olympics. The Brazilian team of 1996 in Atlanta included Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Bebeto and Rivaldo, who all played in the World Cup final two years later. Argentina’s lineup in Atlanta included the likes of Roberto Ayala, Javier Zanetti, Diego Simeone, Hernan Crespo, Ariel Ortega and Jose Chamot—all became regulars on the powerful national team. Italy’s team from four years ago had Andrea Pirlo, now one of the most highly rated midfielders in the game and the winning Argentina lineup had Tevez, now scoring goals for Manchester United. Going back in Olympic history, Uruguay’s gold medal winning team from 1928 in Amsterdam was the nucleus of the side that won the first World Cup two years later on home turf. But then Olympic and World Cup soccer went in different directions and the sport’s impact at the Olympics dwindled. The game became professional and, because only amateur—non-paid—athletes could only compete in the Olympics, the stars were unable to go to the games. But there was another twist which did the reputations of soccer and the Olympics no good at all. After World War II, many of the teams from behind the so-called Iron Curtain got around the word “amateur” by putting their players in the armed forces. That meant that effectively they were full-time players but allowed to play in the Olympics and what followed were a list of gold medal winning teams from Hungary (1952, ‘64 and ‘6  , the Soviet Union (1956), Yugoslavia (1960), Poland (1972), East Germany (1976) and Czechoslovakia (1980).The Hungarian side that triumphed by winning all five matches in ‘52 in Helsinki included a stunning lineup that thrilled fans wherever it played— including 6-3 and 7-1 victories over England in friendlies. Ferenc Puskas, one of the game’s all-time greats, was the star of stars, some of whom, Puskas included, fled to the west to break away from the restrictions imposed by the Communist regime. It was only when pros were allowed into the Games in 1984 that a western European team, France, ended that streak and won the title. But that competition in Los Angeles was, like the rest of the games, hit by a Soviet-led boycott of the Olympics anyway and organizers also imposed a restriction that anyone who had played in a World Cup could not take part in the Olympics. Now the restriction is by age. FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, has imposed it to prevent the Olympic competition ever rivaling the World Cup. That seems very unlikely. To the clubs, the men’s Olympic soccer competition is irrelevant, inconvenient and gets in the way of their attempts to prepare their players for the domestic season. To the national teams, it gives them a chance to put young players in the spotlight of an Olympics and the chance to win a gold medal which should have the same value as the ones likely to go to swimmer Michael Phelps, who is trying to beat the seven won by Mark Spitz at Munich 1972. If Barcelona loses its appeal on Wednesday, Messi could well go home with an Olympic gold medal. But more people will remember Phelps. |
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Katy
IP: 80.7.116.42 Aug 6th, 2008 - 11:54 PM |
Re: Messi poses threat to Ronaldo
Great Daryl, thanks for all that! I've been away, so I'm not too sure what is going on in the footie world, but I'm pretty sure Ronaldo is staying with Man Utd. The article is correct though, he WOULD be over shadowed by Messi, in Spain, without a doubt!  Glad Messi has been given the #10 shirt, he deserves it!  So does the Olympics football start today then??? I'd better catch up on all I've been missing!  THANKS again! 
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Katy
IP: 80.7.116.42 Aug 7th, 2008 - 2:24 AM |
Re: Messi poses threat to Ronaldo
Daryl... I've started a new thread, just for the Olympics! It seems the ruling is that Messi can't play, but Bastia says he won't let him go home! Can we carry this discussion on in the Olympics thread now... is that OK with you???
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