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Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Wayne's World: from teen tempest to a man united... and the Egyptians quake


IT seems like just yesterday we were worried about Wayne Rooney's knee.
Today he's unstoppable, the World Cup is ours, Egypt will be flattened on Wednesday, pyramids and all.
Yes, a day can be a long time in football, especially when the England squad are gathered at The Grove with the nation's media in attendance before Wednesday's friendly against Egypt at Wembley (where the surface, according to James Milner, is as bad as World Cup venue Nelspruit, but that's another story).
Yesterday, after Sir Alex Ferguson had warned of a possible knee problem, the Wonder that is Wayne emerged to say all the right things, calming the nation from Defcon 1 to a state of calm serenity.
And as I said here three weeks ago when John Terry was stripped of the captaincy, Rooney emerged before the microphones looking every inch like the man who will lift the World Cup at Soccer City on July 11.
Well, we can dream can't we?
The Wisdom of Wayne knows no bounds. The wild Evertonian has become a man united.
Thus spake Rooney, the 24-year-old who looks like he always has but appears to have matured in every other way: "I feel good. I feel every game I'm going to score. I do feel unstoppable."
Which is exactly what all those nice foreign coaches were saying about him in Sun City last week. Good to hear our spearhead is sharp and confident.
He was even able to explain why, after his headed winner in the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa on Sunday, he has changed his method of scoring. From four headers in 345 games to eight in nine. Echoing my point yesterday about Valencia versus Cristiano Ronaldo, he said: "This year, with Antonio Valencia, the delivery has been better than previous years. But I've been working on my heading. My movement and timing has got better. It has all come together and that is probably why I am scoring more with my head.”
Ah but we've seen this before. A player in top form then suddenly, under the blazing Sun, people like Ashley Cole, John Terry and Wayne Bridge (not to mention their partners) begin to wilt.
No problem there either. After begging the Wembley fans not to boo former captain Terry, he says: “I don’t feel any pressure. I have had to deal with pressure since I was 16. You get used to it. I deal with it in a way I feel comfortable.
“What I will do is try and play my best, give my all. I am ready for the World Cup. I am in the best form of my life. I am ready
"It is difficult as a footballer because you know people look up to you.
"You are role models, whether you like it or not, and you need to try and be aware of that and try to do your best on the pitch and try and do things well for kids to see.
"When I first joined Manchester United I would go out to nightclubs, but it is very rare that I would go out to a nightclub now. It changes with age. I made that decision myself. I got into a few things that I shouldn’t have when I was younger and I tried to change that.
"I am settled at home now. It’s good. I am enjoying my life with my family. I spend a lot of time at home with them and that has obviously benefited me. When you are home you get your rest and it is definitely helping."
And yes, I agree. It all sounds too good to be true. But let's not worry about that. Roll on Egypt. Tutankahmun, Cleopatra, Sphinx, Anwar Sadat, your boys are in for one hell of a beating.

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posted by Neal Collins at 07:49 0 Comments Links to this post

Thursday, 25 February 2010

I got it wrong calling Bridge a wimp on Sky News. He's done the honourable thing. Unlike John Terry


I GOT IT wrong on Sky News this morning. I called Wayne Bridge a wimp when they rushed me in to Isleworth for a first response to the news. The statement was gloriously straightfoward and to the point. And it has got the entire football-speaking world talking.
The Manchester City left back, this week backed for a World Cup berth by coach Fabio Capello, said: "I have thought long and hard about my position in the England football team in the light of the reporting and events over the last few weeks.
"It has always been an honour to play for England. However, after careful thought I believe my position in the squad is now untenable and potentially divisive.
"Sadly therefore I feel for the sake of the team and in order to avoid what will be inevitable distractions, I have decided not to put myself forward for selection.
"I have today informed the management of this decision. I wish the team all the very best in South Africa."
First thought? This has happened to me. When my twins, now 22, were three, their mother left me for a younger bloke, the brother of a friend. All his mates played for the French Horn, our rival team in the village. On the common a few Sundays later, we had to play them. Everybody knew the story. I wanted to kill the guy and his mates. He had relentlessly pursued my wife knowing she was suffering from post-natal depression.
I wanted to run away, never mind walk away like Bridge. But I knuckled down, played the game, got through it. Proved I still had a life, pride, honour. The guy's still out there, my ex-wife and I are friends but I brought the kids up without her support for 18 years. I'd still like to catch him in a dark alley. He knows who he is. But that game, that confrontation - not without its flare-ups - helped me get through it.
And that's what I thought Bridge should have done. Knuckle down, confront the demon Terry, a former best-mate (see picture above) who had an affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the mother of his child.
So I told the world (at least that tiny bit of it which watches Sky News) I thought Bridge had wimped out. It was re-run several times this afternoon. Ah, the expert analyst. Superb. Not.
Tracy, my new wife, took me to task. She feels Bridge has done the honourable thing. Withdrawn to give England a chance. To keep the dressing room on a level keel.
Whether Bridge plays for Manchester City against his old team and former best pal this weekend is not the point.
What he's done, she said, is sacrificed his place at the World Cup for England's sake. I saw it in that awful masculine way. By standing down he had let Terry humiliate him again.
Wrong. Terry should have been the one to withdraw but as he hasn't and is such an important part of the World Cup plan for Fabio Capello, Bridge made the brave decision to walk away.
Imagine the pain that bloke has been through. Nobody is actually sure when the affair between Terry and Perroncel began. But it ended in an abortion and a pay-off. Whether Bridge had actually moved up north by the time Terry started his diversions on the way home from training or not, we don't know. But the flirting had been going on for months.
There was talk of other affairs, of further lurid details, but all that came to a halt when Perroncel and publicist Max Clifford decided not to run with her side of the story amid rumours of a £750,000 pay off.
We will never know the full extent of Terry's betrayal. And remember, Perroncel was close to his wife Toni, mother of twins of a similar age to his boy, too.
Bridge's heart is broken. His spirit low. Trust in Terry, the senior player, crushed. But he has returned to play for City and his boss Roberto Mancini insists he is the best left back in the country with Ashley Cole, another Chelsea man of loose morals, out following ankle surgery.
But when the side to play Egypt next Wednesday is picked on Saturday night, Leighton Baines is likely to get the call now. Bridge has given up his chance of immortality in South Africa this summer.
And for that he must be applauded. Quite how we greet Terry at Wembley next Wednesday I'm not sure. But here's a thought. If Terry, forced out as captain over this whole tawdry affair, gets injured before the World Cup, will Bridge return?
I for one certainly hope so.


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posted by Neal Collins at 18:16 3 Comments Links to this post

Monday, 15 February 2010

Why Chelsea continue to dominate the headlines... for all the wrong reasons


MUST be a hell of a dressing room at Chelsea. If you believe everything the tabloids are currently throwing at us every morning, it's packed with international footballers taking pictures of themselves naked to blonde models.

First we had the John Terry story - his affair and subsequent abortion with Wayne Bridge's ex-partner Vanessa Perroncel resulted in him losing the England captaincy.

Then, when French underwear model Ms Perrroncel had been paid an alleged £750,000 to stop, The Sun switched targets to Ashley Cole, married to the nation's darling, Cheryl Tweedie.

Today were are told he sent naked pictures of himself to a SECOND blonde, and apparently Cheryl didn't spend much time together on Valentine's Day.

Page five of The Sun has a magnificent picture of ultraslim Cole, pictured from the chest down with just a pair of underpants on. Mouthwatering stuff it ain't.

Elsewhere, on page nine, Terry and wife Toni are pictured in a pool in Dubai, where they are patching up their marriage. Allegedly. In front of the cameras.

Other papers add further spin to the Chelsea goings-on. The Mail claims Ashley and Cheryl are now living apart and has accused Terry of play-acting throughout the trip to Dubai.

Of course the former England captain had to miss Chelsea's FA Cup fifth round tie over Cardiff to sort things out with Toni, his childhood sweetheart.

While he was away, having blundered in their last Premier League game against Everton (Terry was at fault for both Louis Saha's goals in a shock 2-1 defeat), the Blues crushed Cardiff to reach the quarter-finals on the road to Wembley.

And that of course, resulted in a last eight clash with Manchester City, who drew with Stoke over the weekend and will need a replay to reach Stamford Bridge next month.

Why is this relevant? Because Bridge moved to City last January, leaving Vanessa in London with his son. Somewhere around this point in our tawdry tale, his former pal Terry began stopping off at their Oxshott neighours for post-training hanky-panky.

Over the weekend, the News of the World assured us Bridge refuses to respond to Terry's calls or texts about his betrayal. But now we have the prospect of Bridge v Terry in the Premier League on February 27, the pair of them in the England dressing room together for the friendly against Egypt at Wembley on March 3, followed by the FA Cup quarter final the weekend after.

Yes, having been at loggerheads for a few months, they'll now be forced to see eachother three times in a week.

The tabloids are lapping it up. I assume the fans are too. A Man City source tells The Sun today: "Wayne acted with dignity and he doesn't need anyone to tell him what this FA Cup game would mean.

"If City needed any extra motivation to beat Stoke and get back to Stamford Bridge, this will be it."

Meanwhile Ashley Cole, whose broken ankle sustained against Everton last week has left a place for Bridge at left-back in the England team - possibly for the World Cup too - has to hope Cheryl will invite him for a let's-make-up holiday in an expensive overseas resort sometime soon. Though he will be in a plaster cast after undergoing surgery on Friday, so it may be uncomfortable for both of them.

The real football stories - like Crystal Palace being robbed of victory over Aston Villa by a dodgy decision , England struggling to overcome Italy in the Six Nations and David Beckham preparing to take on Manchester United for Milan in the Champions League tomorrow, must remain on the back burner.

That's what happens when you have the Premier League leaders’ high profile stars making silly mistakes away from home.

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posted by Neal Collins at 14:11 0 Comments Links to this post

Friday, 12 February 2010

The moment Ashley's World Cup was thrown into doubt... and according to The Sun he's in trouble off the park too


THIS was the moment the World Cup dream may have been shattered for Ashley Cole, ironically against Landon Donovan, the man he would have marked in England's opening game against the USA at Rustenburg on June 12.
Everton's on-loan Yank Donovan is blameless - he played the ball and Cole damaged his ankle in the 57th minute as Chelsea slid to a shock 2-1 defeat at Goodison on Tuesday night.
I broke the story that he was out for three weeks yesterday after scans, today comes news that the 29-year-old former Arsenal left-back is off for surgery on the injury.
His World Cup is now in serious doubt. Spurs boss Harry Redknapp was the first to react, saying: "Ashley is probably the best left back in the world. He's got three months, let's hope he makes it for the World Cup."
With Wayne Bridge two games into his comeback from injury, City boss Roberto Mancini came out strongly this morning insisting he was the best in the position for England. He said: "Wayne is a big man. It's important for him to play in the World Cup, the first eleven for the national team.".
But of course that would put him alongside axed captain John Terry, disciplined by Capello for having an affair with the mother of Bridge's child, Vanessa Perroncel. When this all broke there was talk of Bridge wanting to give up international football. Not any more judging by Mancini's enthusiasm this morning.
And that's got the whole world talking. Everyone knows footballers have copious affairs - Ashley Cole himself is on the front of The Sun today over sending naked pictures of himself to some model or other - but what happens in the dressing room when this sort of situation crops up?
Will the England players be model professionals and ignore the obvious tensions for the sake of the nation? Will there be petty squabbling and nasty tackles at training?
Some of the Manchester City players wore Team Bridge t-shirts when the story broke a fortnight ago, while Chelsea players, who saw Bridge move to City a year ago, would line up for Team Terry.
And of course the big man himself, after a stinker in the Everton defeat where he allowed Louis Saha to score twice, is in Dubai for Valentine's Day with his wife and three-year-old twins for Valentine's Day. The club has given him permission to miss the weekend FA Cup clash against Cardiff to patch up his marriage.
Boss Carlo Ancelotti said today: "I'm very disappointed. Ashley is a very important player for me. I hope he will be quick to rest and he will come back before the end of the season. It is a realistic possibility. He will go surgery today.
"I think that in three months he will be ready for play, also for England. I think he can play in the World Cup."
And Terry? Ancelotti said: "He will be back for the next game against Wolves. I think he will come back strong and make a recovery." Terry and Bridge? "It's not my problem this."
Question is, will Capello avoid the issue and play Gareth Barry as his emergency left-back against Egypt on March 3? Or will he go for the regular understudy and call Bridge into the starting eleven?
Cole has been Capello's first choice at left-back, playing 16 times while Manchester City's Wayne Bridge has played nine, Joleon Lescott five and Aston Villa midfielder Barry three.
Me? I'd pick Bridge. Let him have it out with his former mate if necessary. Word is he hasn't been taking calls from Terry during the uncomfortable situation which has arisen in the last fortnight.
Bang their heads together, Fabio. This is England's year. An easy Group C, the Yanks, Slovenia and Algeria. Back to Rustenburg near the training ground for the first knock-out game if we win the group. And then it's the quarter-finals.
Even Sven Goran Eriksson got us that far on a regular basis. This is England's year. South Africa won't be too hot. And after three weeks of preparation at the best training facility in the country at the highest altitude available, nobody will be more ready.
As long as the off-field disputes are firmly thrust behind them.


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posted by Neal Collins at 14:21 0 Comments Links to this post