Three and in – not just another football blog

If the noises coming out of South America* are to be believed, we are on the eve of the retirement of one of football’s greats.

After a weekend in which we drooled over a wonder strike from Wayne Rooney, the footballing fraternity prepares to bid farewell to a man who scored goals of such audacious quality on a fairly regular basis.

Forwards are often divided in to two categories: great goalscorers, and scorers of great goals. Ronaldo was undoubtedly both.

Yes, in his latter years he piled on the pounds. There was more gelato than golazo. But fat is temporary; class is permanent.

Kevyn Doran on Vimeo has put together this rather exhaustive retrospective. Take a glance at a career littered with goals.

*not all of the noises, of course. As continents go, it’s fairly noisy. But some of the noises, particularly those on twitter. Which don’t really make any actual audible noise. But you know what I mean.

Robert Pires might not have contributed much to Aston Villa yet, but he continues to make himself a hero to Arsenal fans:

Clearly a lot of animosity between the pair. Hard to explain, until you remember that it was Pires who dived to win a crucial penalty against Harry’s Pompey back at Highbury. Managers, like elephants and Martin Tyler, never forget.

There have been some classics down the years but I think it’s going to take something really special to beat this cracker between Waterford United and Mervue United in the Irish Airtricity League.

It was interesting to hear Fabio Capello say that English player were ‘tired’ during this World Cup. Yet as the BBC pointed out some of Germany’s best players played more games this season, how does it add up?

There is, of course, the winter break, which is probably most beneficial to international teams in years when there’s a big tournament but could there be more to it? This has been doing the rounds for a little while but this is Graeme Souness talking on RTE TV in Ireland about how training at altitude ‘killed’ him before Mexico 86.

It would certainly explain England’s leggy, lethargic performances, but if what Souness says is true it will be of great benefit to the players respective clubs when they start their pre-season training. It certainly makes a lot more sense than reports that the players were just bored and didn’t want to ‘play for Capello’. They were playing for their country, regardless of who was in charge.

And going back to what we’ve spoken about before, having a little distance when it comes to punditry, how much sense does Roy Keane make here? He might not be everyone’s cup of tea but he’s certainly not afraid to say what he thinks. His analysis of England’s squad going into this World Cup is spot on, in my view (via balls.ie)

As everyone looks to point the finger at Fabio Capello, who of course must take his share of the blame, it’s interesting to hear a former professional who has played and won things at the highest level speak about the players the way he does.

I’ve always had my doubts about Emmanuel Adebayor’s suitability as a BBC pundit. To the list of qualities that include unqualified and incomprehensible we can now add ‘forgetful’.

I particularly like the way he tries to deal with it under the table, like a schoolboy.

And so it seems that Rafa won’t be Gaffer at Anfield for much longer. Join me on a Youtube-dominated trip down Memory Lane, as we review the highs and lows funny stuff from Rafa’s time at Liverpool.

The hall-mark of Benitez’s early days was his ability to tactically transform a match from the sidelines. Here, for example, he uses the international language of gesture to ask Steven Gerrard to dig a tunnel to Goodison Park, swear at everyone, then return.

Benitez’s gesturing was so authoritative that even Sky’s in-game graphics were at his command.

It’s no wonder the players respected him. He used to play for Real Madrid, don’t you know.

It all started to go wrong for Rafa as the pressure of the 08/09 title race took its toll. The signs of stress were obvious: he grew the sort of dreadful goatee only a disturbed mind could permit, and his weight suffered.

Still, at least if Rafa does leave Anfield his summer, he’ll be able to leave with his dignity intact.

…Oh:

Bolivian football channels Street Fighter II. It’s a few months old but doing the rounds.

Stewards can often have a bit of trouble when fans decide to invade the pitch. Not this time though.