45 Million and Counting

No, that is not the number of times Zidane's ass has been kissed in the media since July 9th. Or how many times I have watched Fabio Grosso's penalty kick to win the World Cup. That is the what the crisis at Juventus has netted them as of today in selling off the worlds top players. Gone, Zambrotta and Thurman to Barcelona. Lost Cannavaro and Emerson to Real Madrid. And while I cannot hide my sadness that my National players will not enter their own stadiums to the cheers of Gladiators upon the start of the upcoming Serie A season, I wonder if there has ever been a player Diaspora like this. Sir Alex and the rest of the gaffers in England must be wondering why, just why they cannot recruit any of these players to England. But I will answer that later on.

And the selling will continue with Buffon off to Milan, Vieira set to reach terms with Inter while they also try to sign Ibrahimovic and Trezeguet to be offloaded by next week. Its sad with all this player movement from the team where we have seen so many of these players becoming great. But not as sad as the Chelsea signing of Roberto Carlos so the owners son can watch his favorite player at $tamford Bridge every weekend and maybe, just maybe on occasion get a free kick on target(notice I did not say score).

Seriously, though with the quality of the players that the Spanish giants have signed, the European landscape is altered again...this time dwindling the group of ultra-competitive teams across Europe vying for the Champions League down to just a hand full. Look for Bayern and maybe one other team to team to be able to keep up and compete this upcoming season for the Champions League.

But hey, somewhere, of course in England someone is signing Nicolas Anelka as I mentioned some idiot would do many months ago. But the bottom line is what a coach like Fabio Capello, just maybe in the post-Galatico phase of Real Madrid, they might actually just focus on playing the game again and win something. And if they could only get rid of a fat Ronaldo(ok, now I sound like the Brazilian Press, I am now sure from the early training videos that Fabio Capello may be, just maybe, be the man that ultimately says to the world, Becks take you and your wife off to the MLS, we do not need another prancing midfielder who disappears for the entire game but re-appears for the photo opps.(this comments might seen rude and needless but now that I cannot bash the Swedish-Savant and grown tired of my own Zidane-tirades, I might need a new target).

Real Madrid will still have some problems in defense but with Cannavaro, Ramos, Cichino and another stiff(see Woodgate, Pavon, see entire 2003-2006 Madrid Defense) Capello has just secured a strong defense with two flank options in Ramos and Cichino that can make those runs and keep teams pegged back. Barcelona has just added Thurman to help Carlos Puyal in the middle and with Zambrotta on the side, have also revamped a defense that was suspect last year. Now if they get some striking support for Et'o, now that Ronaldihno has gotten over the disappointment of seeing his statue burned to the ground upon his return from the World Cup(some would say he never left?), you have the top two teams in Europe contending for the Champions League making Spain, not England(as the only the English Press would lead you to believe) the dominant league in Europe. Eclipsed in all this, is that Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United will once again only pretend to compete for the Champions League and be able to offer their players an incredible array of fish and chip platters as parting gifts. Although with a weaker landscape in Europe this year, they should be able to cash in.

Dare I say it, if England is the greatest domestic league in the world, why is that their teams have not signed anyone truly great this summer(with the exception of Andriy Shevchenko)? The argument for great cannot be made for Ballack, Kalou but granted Rosicky will let Arsenal once again play the most entertaining and tactically sound and free-flowing ball in England, English teams will not compete for the Champions League. I tell you, the readers of AzzurriDreams why England's league is lacking... because England for all its prowess and open and entertaining style, in this league, their is a lacking technical and tactical capabilities of the Italian and Spanish Leagues. The long ball just does win games(Ask the Swedish-Savant and Bruce Arena, to name a few).That is why the truly creative players(the Dutch excluded) typically opt to not play there. Now trying to convince the England media to leave what happened in Istanbul...well in Istanbul will be difficult. We will reduced to watching European matches in the next two to three years without Juventus and Milan contending but I still do not think it will be enough to bring the English league up to par with the other league I have mentioned...but hey we all have the Charity Shield and the Carling Cup to look forward to this year in England.

AzzurriDreams