As we get ever closer to the next football season I thought it would be worth having a look at the hopes, fears and expectations that I have about what lies ahead. Can we expect the best or the worst? Will we be dancing in the streets or crying into our beer?
Hopes
Firstly, I hope that Watford are promoted to the Premier League, get promotion in the Wiltshire League (I coach them!) and the Premiership is a feast of flowing, attacking football. I hope that at least six clubs are in the title race and that once again an English team wins the Champions League. (It would be nice if the rest of Europe could provide some decent opposition this year! :))
I hope England are unstoppable in the World Cup qualifiers and play a brand of football that has the rest of the wo…
Star midfielder Michael Ballack said he had nothing left to prove in the latter part of his career and backed Chelsea s 30-somethings to have the last laugh over Manchester United s Alex Ferguson.
The 31-year-old newly-wed dismissed Ferguson s comments about Chelsea s age as pre-season chatter, insisting there was still room for improvement under new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Our team can still improve. If you are 30 or 31 you are not old, said Ballack after joining Chelsea s tour here.
Last year Maka (Claude Makelele) was 34 and he played very well. I have nothing to prove, this type of thing happens over the summer, people talking about each other.
And Ballack said new signing Deco, 30, could prove the difference as Chelsea aim to make up for nar…
On his return from Euro 2008 yesterday Fernando Torres has promised to win trophies for Liverpool this season.
He was commenting on the fact that the trophy he won with Spain at Euro 2008 was the first and he added that he hoped that it wouldnÂ’t be the last either.
The twenty four year old who scored thirty three goals during the 2007/8 campaign praised his manager Rafa Benitez for the assistance that he gave him in his development during the season which went a long way to assisting him and Spain to win the European Championship.
Torres concluded by saying that he was desperate for Liverpool to win their first of hopefully many trophies to come.
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Spain battered Norway 3-0 over the weekend to give themselves a great start to UEFA Euro 2024 qualification.
Countries across the continent have spent the last few days kickstarting their road to Germany. Some will obviously favour themselves to succeed more so than others, but this part of the process always throws up a few surprises.
We didn t see any on Saturday, though, as the Spaniards tore through Norway with ruthless efficiency. Today, we ll be taking a look at a few of our biggest takeaways from the action.
The unspoken hero
It s always important to bring through new talent, and more often than not, it s younger talent. However, former Newcastle and Stoke forward Joselu broke that trend in this particular encounter. The 32-year-old, who is the oldest pl…