A platform for success?

There’s a certain odious and backwards character that springs to mind when Kazakhstan is mentioned, and one who I was at pains not to mention here – certainly not in the introduction at least.

 

You know the chap I mean, I don’t need to write his name.

 

But Sacha Baron Cohen’s mankini-clad creation couldn’t be a further misrepresentation of life in Kazakhstan and thanks to its vast natural resources the country, and in particular the capital Astana, is modernising at a frightening pace – they even get the Vicar of Dibley on the telly.

Liverpool Need to Look Beyond Gerrard and Torres

When Fernando Torres limped off against Real Madrid in the Champions League last week, you knew Liverpool were going to find goals hard to come by on Saturday, even against a struggling Middlesbrough side who had only kept five clean sheets all season in the league prior to hosting the Reds.

Up for the Cup?

If there was any ever doubt that UEFA needs to revamp the format of its cup competitions, then just pick up this morning’s newspapers and peruse the starting line-ups of Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur. After battling through the muddled group stages that required jetting across the continent to reach the knockout phase, both teams have reprioritised at the business end of the season, and Europe’s second best club competition doesn’t rate highly on either teams’ interests.

Take Five, Sepp

Sepp Blatter has obviously never been to London Road on a wet and windy Tuesday evening to watch Peterborough United play. If he had, he’d realise 15 minutes is more than ample for anyone to stand on the terraces during halftime as inane announcements crackle over the PA system and a group of 11-year-old girls twirl batons in the air. This week the FIFA president, and football’s most powerful man announced his next plan to “improve” the game: adding an extra five minutes to the quarter of an hour break. How, exactly, will this benefit the game?

Fisher: price £500

Last week hapless Fisher Athletic lost 2-1 at home to promotion chasing Eastleigh in the Blue Square South division. Nothing unusual in that, the Fish had lost their last 11 league games, but the post-match talk wasn’t of how to turn the club’s fortunes around, it was the story of how the side were managed by Donna Powell, the first woman to take charge of a men’s team in English football.

No Pain in Spain

There weren’t too many positives for Fabio Capello to take out of England’s insipid display in Sevilla last week. The Three Lions went down with barely a whimper as they were taught a Spanish master class in possession football by the technically superior European champions in Andalusia, but was it really necessary to shift the friendly match from Madrid?

 

All eyes, or ears, were on the crowd, rather than the pitch at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, and for once it wasn’t the travelling English fans under scrutiny.