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Pekerman årets træner....

El argentino Pekerman fue elegido el mejor DT de América en 2013

BUENOS AIRES -- El argentino José Pekerman, al frente del seleccionado de fútbol de Colombia, fue elegido por segunda vez consecutiva como el mejor entrenador de América, en la tradicional encuesta que todos los fines de año realiza el diario montevideano El País.

El técnico del conjunto nacional cafetero sumó votos en los últimos días y superó sobre el final a sus compatriotas Jorge Sampaoli, DT del seleccionado de Chile, y Gerardo Martino, campeón con Newell´s y hoy puntero de la Liga Española con el Barcelona.

De acuerdo al país, Pekerman "le devolvió a Colombia la identidad, el buen juego, la confianza, y esos aspectos llevaron a que la selección cafetera haya clasificado nuevamente a un Mundial tras 16 años".

De las 28 ediciones que lleva la encuesta, la mitad de las veces fue ganada por técnicos de Argentina. El actual DT de Boca, Carlos Bianchi, es el que más veces resultó ganador, al sumar cinco "coronas".

Også godt nytår til alle herfra.

Også godt nytår til alle herfra.


Lige over Dibben - godt at se du kom godt ind i det nye :-)

Report: Roma close in on €5 million deal for Coritiba defender Abner

Roma are closing in on a deal for Coritiba defender Abner, according to reports.

The 17 year-old will be out with a cruciate ligament injury until April, but Roma have still pressed ahead to secure an agreement.

Sky Sport Italia suggests a €5 million offer has been accepted by Coritiba, with the deal expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Abner appeared just once as a substitute for Coritiba last season, but was a notable performer at the FIFA U-17 World Cup, where Brazil reached the quarter-finals.

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A year to remember and a year to forget for Brazil

2013 was always likely to be one of those years for Brazil. With a certain international tournament lurking like a spectre, the country attracted the world’s gaze perhaps more than ever before.

The spotlight illuminated heartening highs – not least the embattled patriotism of the Confederations Cup win and the protests that provided the backdrop – but also plenty of causes for concern. Here is a potted review of the last 12 months.

Continental drift

Brazil’s dominance of the Copa Libertadores continued in 2013. Inspired by the evergreen Ronaldinho, mercurial scruffbag Bernard and (yes, really) former Manchester City striker Jô, Atlético Mineiro romped to victory in South America’s most prestigious club competition.

Eschewing the renovated Mineirão in favour of the cosy, bear-pit-like Independência stadium, Cuca’s side perfected a frantic, high-energy gameplan that came to be known as Estilo Galo Doido – Crazy Rooster Style. It was the first chapter of what would turn out to be a golden year for football in Belo Horizonte with Cruzeiro winning the Brazilian title in style.

To the streets

As the world’s media arrived in Brazil for the Confederations Cup, the country was enveloped by protest and dissent. What began as a small-scale demonstration over a proposed rise in bus fares blossomed into a mass movement, with people taking to the streets to demand better public services, more responsible government spending, less corruption and myriad other things.

While scenes of violence hit the headlines, the prevailing feeling last summer was overwhelmingly positive. Brazilians found their voice for the first time since the days of dictatorship, and seem bent on affecting overdue change. A repeat in 2014 seems inevitable.

“We have a team”

The Brazilian public was not the only sleeping giant to stir in June. Whipped into shape by proven copeiro (cup competition expert) Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Seleção were superb at the Confederations Cup, winning every game and inspiring hope that the World Cup could be a memorable one for home fans.

Their final performance against Spain, in particular, felt like a turning point. “We have found a way of playing that will help us make the most of home advantage,” Tostão wrote in Folha de S.Paulo. “We’ve reached a higher level than anyone expected.”

It remains to be seen whether Brazil have peaked too early, but they will enter the tournament among the favourites – a victory in itself given the travails of Felipão’s predecessors, Dunga and Mano Menezes.

Stadium issues

Off the field, however, Brazil’s World Cup preparations have been rather less successful. With spending on the competition a long-standing concern (contrary to government promises, much of the money has come from the public purse), scrutiny was always likely, and the country has routinely failed to pass muster.

Delays have been common and lengthy; six of the 12 arenas have yet to be inaugurated. The roofs of two stadiums – the Fonte Nova and the Mané Garrincha – have given way, requiring rebuilding. Workers have died in incidents in Manaus and São Paulo. Diverse problems were reported at the Mineirão, the Arena Pantanal and the Arena da Baixada.

Nor have the issues been restricted to the World Cup stadiums. The Engenhão in Rio (built less than a decade ago) was decommissioned for safety reasons, while sections of Grêmio’s sparkly new home were left empty for months after their fans’ beloved ‘avalanche’ celebration caused a safety barrier to buckle.

These aren’t exclusively World Cup issues of course, and FIFA’s rigorous safety standards will surely mean that all goes rather more smoothly come June. But the cost – both economic and human – of the shiny stadiums is unlikely to be forgotten any time soon.

Common sense

The idiocy of some of those involved in the Brazilian game has been apparent again this year: from the violent thugs who ruined the final weekend of the season to the fat cats who cannot stop tinkering with the football calendar, there has been more than enough folly to go round.

Thank heavens, then, for the emergence of Common Sense FC, a de facto players’ union seeking a rejig of Brazil’s hectic footballing calendar, better treatment of players and plenty more besides.

While their demands are unlikely to be met wholesale in the short term, the group at least provided hope that some of the ills of the game can be remedied over time. When the World Cup goldrush is over, their efforts will be needed more than ever.

Colo Colo oficializa el regreso del centrocampista Jaime Valdés

SANTIAGO DE CHILE -- Colo Colo chileno informó oficialmente sobre la repatriación del centrocampista Jaime Valdés, a quien fichó por dos años, tras haber jugado trece temporadas en el fútbol italiano y portugués.

"Jaime Valdés ya es jugador de Colo Colo. El jueves 2 de enero será presentado oficialmente. ´Pajarito´, bienvenido al Eterno Campeón", publicó el club chileno en su cuenta de Twitter.

El ´Pajarito´ Valdés, que cumplirá 33 años el próximo 11 de enero, proviene del Parma, el último club con el que jugó en Italia, país al que llegó a jugar el año 2000, fichado por el Bari, que adquirió su ficha al Palestino chileno, el equipo en que se formó y en el que debutó en 1998.

Valdés es el segundo refuerzo confirmado por el Colo Colo para la temporada 2014, tras haber presentado la semana pasada al defensa argentino Julio Barroso, proveniente del O´Higgins, flamante campeón del torneo chileno de Apertura.

En Italia, Valdés, que jugó el Mundial Sub-20 del año 2001 con la selección de Chile y en 2010 estuvo también en un par de convocatorias de Marcelo Bielsa en la selección absoluta, jugó además del Bari, en la Fiorentina, el Lecce, el Atalanta y el Parma, con una estancia en el Sporting de Lisboa en la temporada 2010-2011.

Los dirigentes del Colo Colo, que no sabe de títulos desde el año 2009, mantienen también gestiones para repatriar al delantero Fabián Orellana, que juega actualmente en el Celta de Vigo español.

Fabián Rinaudo estaría por unirse a la U de Chile

SANTIAGO DE CHILE -- La Universidad de Chile tendría listo el fichaje del centrocampista argentino Fabián Rinaudo, actualmente jugador del Sporting de Lisboa, según aseguran el miércoles diversos medios deportivos locales.

De 26 años y con algunas presencias en la selección de su país, Rinaudo sería en la U de Chile el sucesor del internacional Charles Aránguiz, quien dejó el club al término del 2013, requerido por el Udinese italiano, que es el dueño de su ficha.

La partida de Aránguiz, para muchos el mejor jugador del fútbol chileno el año recién terminado, creó un problema en el medio terreno azul, que Rinaudo tiene la capacidad de resolver, según los dirigentes y el técnico del equipo universitario, Marco Antonio Figueroa.

La poca continuidad que el centrocampista había tenido en el último tiempo en el Sporting de Lisboa facilitó las negociaciones para su llegada a la U, en condición de cedido en 350 mil dólares, con una cláusula de compra de su ficha al final del período.

La Universidad de Chile, además de afrontar el torneo local de Clausura en el primer semestre, jugará la Copa Libertadores, en la que debutará el próximo 30 de enero frente al Guaraní paraguayo, en busca de avanzar a la fase de grupos.

Rinaudo llegaría a Santiago el próximo viernes para someterse a los chequeos médicos de rigor, el mismo día en que su nuevo equipo visitará al Rangers de Talca, en la primera jornada del Clausura.

El centrocampista es el segundo refuerzo fichado por la U para este año, después del defensa Matías Caruzzo, también argentino, procedente del Boca Juniors.

Are Brazilian managers an endangered species?

For Latin American and Portuguese news crews running around the Costa do Sauipe resort in northeastern Brazil during the buildup for the 2014 World Cup final draw, life was hectic. Argentines, for example, needed to be sure they kept tabs on the Albiceleste manager Alejandro Sabella; at the same time they "doorstepped" fellow countrymen Jorge Sampaoli and Jose Pekerman for a reaction on Chile´s and Colombia´s expectations before and after the draw. The Portuguese had to worry about "Quinas" manager Paulo Bento, but also make sure that former Real Madrid commander and Sir Alex Ferguson deputy Carlos Queiroz, now in charge of Iran, would also be covered, as well as Greece´s "mister" Fernando Santos.

For Brazilian hacks, though, life looked pretty idle by comparison. For the first time since the 1994 World Cup, only the man in charge of the Selecao -- in this case, Luiz Felipe Scolari -- will be representing the country in any technical area.

It´s tempting to look at this picture as a sign of Brazilian managers´ devalued standing in world football. While interest from the European club scene has been cold since Scolari´s nine-month tenure at Chelsea, demand for Brazilian professionals at the international level always seemed to be steady. Five of them were sitting in the dugout during the 2006 World Cup: Carlos Alberto Parreira with the Selecao, Zico with Japan, Scolari with Portugal, Marcos Paqueta with Saudi Arabia and Alexandre Guimaraes with Costa Rica.

That number was more than halved in South Africa, where Dunga was in charge of Brazil and Parreira coached the host nation, which could and should have been interpreted as a warning sign.

Determining the reason behind this fall in popularity isn´t easy. Unlike at the club level, where life is much more immediate and issues like language barriers prove more problematic, a less crowded calendar usually helps the case of foreign managers in charge of countries. It´s easier to accommodate an interpreter, for example, something that those imports working with Asian or Middle Eastern sides will invariably need.

Also, when it comes to the fact that no country with a foreign manager has ever won the World Cup, there´s little sign of a drop-off, either; at least half of the 32 countries taking part in Brazil 2014 will have a manager from another nation in charge of their boys.

This is a touchy issue that invariably will heat up tempers in Brazil. One would be surprised by how tribal fans, club directors and even some managers become when the lack of opportunities in European football, to name just one arena, is debated. In a recent TV talk show, former Selecao and Real Madrid manager Vanderlei Luxemburgo argued that the money in European football speaks louder than the quality of the managers´ work.

"[Jose] Mourinho had hundreds of millions of euros to put together the Inter Milan team that won the 2010 Champions League," claimed Luxemburgo, a bad-tempered and inaccurate comment given that the Italian club actually registered a transfer surplus that year despite spending over 50 million euros for the services of Gabriel Milito, Wesley Sneijder and Samuel Eto´o.

Also, money doesn´t seem to be the main reason underpinning the success of other South American managers abroad. Though Chilean Manuel Pellegrini now has a powerful transfer kitty at his disposal at Manchester City, his reputation was built at minnows Villarreal, where three top-four finishes and a Champions League semifinal in five years raised eyebrows. At Atletico Madrid, Argentine Diego Simeone is spurring them to punch above their financial weight in La Liga despite the two-headed Real-Barca behemoth.

"Most of the other South American managers will accept to go down a level or two in order to manage in Europe," said Luxemburgo in another interview. "No Brazilian coach working at the top level in our country, where the league is much better than our neighbors, needs to do that."

He is right in that regard: Brazilian managers have never been richer back home. Turnover has shot up since 2003, fueled mainly by inflation in TV rights, and it had an effect beyond raising players´ wages. Club managers in Brazilian football in 2013 also boasted higher earnings, not that far off from high-profile European jobs. Former Olympique Marseille manager Abel Braga was unveiled in December as the manager of Internacional, the 2010 Copa Libertadores champions -- the southern club will pay him around 1.85 million euros a year for the privilege.

Sections of the Brazilian media have already started to firmly question Luxemburgo´s stance and criticize what they see as insularity in their domestic football. They point not only to the Selecao´s mediocre results in the past two World Cups, where two quarterfinal exits were marked by a stiff and stale brand of football, but also to how Neymar´s Santos were destroyed by Lionel Messi´s Barcelona in the 2011 World Cup Club final, as well as the recent defeat of continental champions Atletico Mineiro at the hands of minnows Raja Casablanca at this year´s tournament.

"For what Brazil represents in the history of football, it is indeed puzzling that more opportunities have not opened up for Brazilian managers," says Parreira, these days working alongside Scolari with the Selecao. "Having said that, we can say that the formation of Brazilian managers is still quite empirical. In Europe there´s a great focus on courses and a more academic approach," reckons the 1994 World Cup winning manager.

Former Real Madrid manager Vanderlei Luxemburgo has argued that the money in European football speaks louder than the quality of the managers´ work.
This is not to say that perceptions are not somehow distorted in Europe as well. Brazilian managers have constantly complained about the view that the quality of Brazilian players trumps the work of the men in the dugout.

"I´d like to see guys like Mourinho and [Pep] Guardiola come and have a go at working in Brazil with the restricted budgets we have here," challenges Luxemburgo.

Funnily enough, he almost got his wish. When Mano Menezes was fired as Brazil boss a year ago, the name of the former Barcelona manager was touted as a possible replacement; if you believe claims by Brazilian sports newspaper Lance, he did show some interest in the gig. The idea, however, was rubbished by many of Guardiola´s Brazilian colleagues, and the reaction included a dig from Scolari, who implied the presence of Messi made the Catalan´s job much easier. Given the aforementioned sense of injustice among Brazilian managers, this would be a classic case of saying that chili powder in other people´s eyes must feel quite refreshing.

In the end, the fact is that after Leonardo´s dismissal from Inter Milan in 2011, Brazilian managers have not been linked to relevant international jobs. There was some about Tite being scouted by Inter after he led Corinthians to the Libertadores and the Club World Cup title in 2012, while Menezes was briefly linked to Porto. But the odds of both still managing a Brazilian side in six months’ time would repel even a compulsive gambler.

A history of Brazilian hits and misses overseas

Otto Gloria

At Benfica, Rio-born Gloria oversaw a transformation from 1954-59 that sowed the seeds of the success they would reap in the 1960s. It was reportedly due to Gloria´s pestering that Benfica started scouring the Portugal´s former African colonies in search of players, which led them to bumping into a boy from Mozambique called Eusebio. The Brazilian was back in charge in 1968, when Benfica made it to the European Cup final against Manchester United at Wembley. Gloria´s finest moment, however, came at the 1966 World Cup, where Portugal thrashed Brazil in the group stages before narrowly and controversially losing to England in the semifinals.

Luiz Felipe Scolari

Scolari took Portugal to the Euro 2004 final and to the 2006 World Cup semi-final. Though he turned down England, he did take on a challenge at Chelsea. After a promising start, some bad results and a backstabbing festival in the dressing room shortened his career at the Bridge. The incident clearly left its mark; in a recent interview to the English press, he refused to rule out a return to the Premier League after the 2014 World Cup.

Carlos Alberto Parreira

His tactical discipline wasn´t pretty to watch, but in 1994 he helped Brazil to their first World Cup title in 24 years. Soon afterward, Parreira moved to Spain but didn´t even finish the 1994-95 season at Valencia. His next job at Fenerbahce lasted only a single season. Failure aside, Parreira does hold the record of six World Cup appearances as a manager with five different countries: Brazil, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Kuwait.

Zico

Arguably one of the best players never to win a World Cup, the "Little Rooster" managed to take Fenerbahce to the Champions League quarter-finals in 2008, the best result by a Brazilian manager in the competition. With Japan, he won the 2004 Asian Cup but didn´t clear the group stages in Germany, 2006. Zico, however, never had his big break in major European league and currently manages Qatari side Al-Gharafa.

Sebastiao Lazzaroni

After overseeing Brazil´s poor 1990 World Cup campaign, where his 3-5-2 struggled to score a single goal past Costa Rica and Scotland before crashing out against Argentina, Lazzaroni headed to Fiorentina -- who had signed the Brazilian before the tournament. Nine victories in 38 Serie A games led to his dismissal in 1992. During his time at Fenerbahce, however, he at least managed to break Man United´s 40-year unbeaten home record in European games in 1996.

Leonardo

After moving straight into the AC Milan boardroom following retirement in 2002, Leonardo inherited the managerial job in 2009 once Carlo Ancelotti went to Chelsea. His season started poorly -- Milan suffered a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Inter Milan -- but some encouraging results (away wins at Real Madrid and Juventus) offered some hope. But Milan were knocked out of Europe spectacularly by Manchester United and failed to win the Scudetto. Surprisingly, Inter came knocking in December 2010 and he stayed for half a season, landing a Coppa Italia before resigning in July 2011.

As Ronaldinho declines, Pekerman prepares for a World Cup assault

One of the themes of 2013 on our side of the Atlantic has been the disparity between South American club and national team football.

The national teams look formidable, with an unprecedented strength in depth. Indeed, a few months ago Paraguay, who finished bottom of the table in the continent’s World Cup qualification campaign, took a young side to Germany and came back with a 3-3 draw. It is not only home advantage that makes the South American sides amongst the favourites for next year’s World Cup.

Meanwhile, the club game is, in global terms, embarrassingly weak: look no further than Atletico Mineiro’s desperately poor campaign in the recent Club World Cup, where the Brazilian side, champions of the Copa Libertadores, lost to Raja Casablanca and were somewhat fortunate to beat China’s Guangzhou Evergrande to claim third place.

Atletico looked well off the pace, and so did their star player, Ronaldinho, who scored two stunning free kicks but otherwise looked a pale imitation of the man who was once the undisputed best player in the world. And yet Ronaldinho -- by a convincing margin -- has been voted ‘King of the Americas’ in the prestigious annual survey organised by the El Pais newspaper in Uruguay.

This brings to an end the reign of young pretender Neymar, who had won for the previous two years and who managed to come second this year, despite heading off to Barcelona in mid-July once he had played such a superb role in Brazil’s Confederations Cup triumph.

The award is only supposed to take into consideration performances on this continent but with Neymar receiving such an expressive vote, and Ronaldinho winning the award when he is palpably years past his best, it all points to a clear conclusion: the journalists who voted did not have many quality options to choose from.

It is difficult to see the decision to give the prize to Ronaldinho as anything other than hoping against hope. A decade ago he was so outstandingly brilliant, in a glorious, exuberant manner that seemed to express all of football’s creative possibilities. Every time he played he would put us in touch with our own inner child, remind us of the deep yet simple joy to be gained from kicking a ball around. Who wouldn’t want that to last forever?

So we keep wanting to believe that we are going to see it again; that a revival is just round the corner. In the early stages of the Copa Libertadores -- back in February, March, April and a bit of May -- it was possible to retain some of that belief.

There were odd moments of extraordinary brilliance from Ronaldinho; flashes of genius that brought back memories of his Barcelona prime. It reminded me of being 15 years old again, sitting up all night back in 1980 believing that Mohammad Ali really could make yet another comeback and dance his way all around Larry Holmes.

But, as it was back then, this proved to be a fight that was too sad to watch. There is only one winner in the battle of sportsman against time especially if, as in the case of Ronaldinho, the athlete has not been true to his own talent.

Back in April, Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari arrived at the same conclusion as his two predecessors: Ronaldinho no longer possesses the physical capacity to impose himself on a top level game.

The evidence was there in the closing stages of the Copa Libertadores, when his impact was limited. Atletico’s opponents in the final were Olimpia of Paraguay, whose entire wage bill would not come close to paying Ronaldinho’s salary.

In a hard-fought, evenly matched final, the financial disparity was never apparent. Nor was the old quality evident -- magnificent free-kick aside -- when Atletico lost to Raja Casablanca in Morocco.

Even so, at the end of the game the Raja players all but stripped Ronaldinho naked, claiming his boots and shirt as keepsakes of their success. They all wanted a reminder of having been on the field, and beaten, the man who once was the best. Their generation grew up with him; they were celebrating their own childhood and so, perhaps, were the journalists who elected Ronaldinho ‘the King of the Americas.’

But if Ronaldinho stands almost no chance of playing a part in the main event of international football in six months’ time, the same is not true of the coach of the year, Colombia boss Jose Pekerman.

He has undoubtedly done an excellent job in steering Colombia to their first World Cup since 1998, giving an identity to a promising group of players.

Pekerman is steeped in the passing style of his native Argentina, a manner of play which has always been fundamental to the roots of the Colombian game. He was an excellent choice for the job, stepping in at a difficult time -- three games into the qualifying campaign -- and immediately making an impact.

But the real test is to come. Pekerman has said that the 2014 tournament will mark Colombia’s definitive entry into the ranks of the world’s top footballing nations. The stakes, then, are high. Can he ensure that his players cope with the euphoria their performances have generated? It has so often been a Colombian problem in the past. And, under pressure, can he make the right decisions?

The wonderfully attractive Argentina side he put together could surely have gone further than the quarterfinals in the 2006 World Cup. There were some baffling selections -- the omission of Javier Zanetti, for example -- and, of course, there is the question of the substitutions he made in the quarterfinal against Germany, which Argentina lost on penalties.

Lionel Messi’s first World Cup ended in failure, as he watched from the bench, unable to influence events: leaving him out looked like a mistake at the time, and looks worse still in hindsight. Messi was unused while journeyman centreforward Julio Cruz was introduced; Pekerman is very unlikely to admit it, but he surely blundered with his substitutions.

If he can get it right this time, then he will be in the running for best coach of 2014: a year, with the World Cup returning, when being voted ‘King of the Americas’ really will mean something.

Honduras’ Platense inks GK Sheridan to deal

PUERTO CORTES, Honduras – Honduran side Platense announced Monday the signing of American goalkeeper Chris Sheridan to a six-month contract.

The 21-year-old played university football with Eastern New Mexico University in 2010 and 2012. He was on the 2013 roster of the Premier Development League’s Houston Dutch Lions, but did not appear in any games.

“It is a beautiful opportunity,” said the 6-foot, 4-inch netminder, who joins a team that is looking for its third league title and first since the 2001 Clausura. “I am very happy to be here in Honduras six months and be a Platense player.”

Platense, which fell to Deportes Savio in the first round of the 2013 Apertura playoffs, is enjoying an active offseason. Honduran international forward Georgie Welcome, Colombian forward Jhon Castillo, midfielder Fredy Medina, forward Kervin Jhonson, midfielder Víctor Mina, forward Randy Diamond, goalkeeper Jacobo Flores and midfielder Rigoberto Padilla have all been added to the 2014 Clausura roster.

NOTES: Platense opens Clausura play on January 12, when it hosts Vida.