Team Review: Belgium

As the Fifa World Cup is fast approaching this coming June, I really wanted to start breaking down some of the national teams that will be seen on the big stage. Not only breaking down, but predicting the starting lineups before they are released for good at the end of May. When it came to picking a team for this first review I didn't have to rack my brain for too long. I decided to take a closer look at the country of Belgium. They are a very young team, and many people believe they are the dark horses of this years World Cup. We should all be looking for them to surprise a fair amount of us when it comes time for the tournament to kick off.

Now when we look deeper into the roster of the team the first thing you notice is how young it is. Every position is extremely young and talented meaning this won't be Belgium's last World Cup run for awhile. As for the personnel that they possess, they have some of the worlds top class young players. In goal, they have Simone Mignolet and Thebuis Courteius. Both keepers have led their respective teams Liverpool and Athletico Madrid to the top of their leagues and they are phenomenal keepers. In the backline Belgium possess from very solid defenders. Vertonghen, Vermaelan, and Kompany make up the core of this Belgium defense. The midfield and attack is even better than the defense. Players to note are Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard a 23 year old rising star who has been compared to both Messi and Ronaldo. They also have Axel Witsel, and Naingollen to finish up the midfield, and then up top the deadly duo of the young prodigies Benteke and Lukaku finishes up the team. This team is deep all the way through. They lack a little bit of depth that some of the other teams have, like the Spain's and Germanys of the world, but what they lack in depth they make up in a skill and young talent.

This is a team that may like the experience that older teams possess, but what they lack in experience is more than made up for in the talent of this squad. Like I said early I look for them to do big things at the upcoming World Cup and I can't wait to sit back and watch the young talent go to work.

The Future of Soccer in America

Ever since I've started soccer and to this very day, the United States has trailed in the rest of the worlds wake when it comes to soccer. In every other country around the world soccer is by far either the number one or number two sport in the country. In America its maybe the 4th, and even that might be stretching it a little bit. Not only are there many more soccer players and teams in other countries, but the quality of soccer doesn't even compare between the USA and the rest of the world. Now, this may be beginning to feel extremely negative, but I'm here to say that there is some hope. There has been a steady improvement from what soccer used to be, to what it is today in America.

Now a days, soccer is becoming much more popular, not only at the youth level but also from a fans point of view at a professional level. More teams are being added every year to the MLS (Major League Soccer) and more people are beginning to watch. A big help to this is the recent trend of some of the best players in the world coming over to play in the MLS once they finish their careers in Europe. Players like Thierry Henry, David Beckham, Clint Dempsey, and Jermaine Defoe have all come from playing over seas to finish their careers in the MLS. This adds a great deal of hype and popularity to the sport, which is much needed. As more kids continue to grow up around the game of soccer it will grow bigger than ever. The youth of America holds the fate of the future of soccer in their hands. They determine whether or not soccer prospers or fails in America. The more kids that begin to promote soccer and play it, the better reputation that the game will have. This is also helped on by the major players coming over to finish their careers in the United States. Hopefully a combination of the two things will see soccer soar.

With a growing pool of soccer players in America coupled with the increasing popularity of soccer in college as well as in the pros, it's not a surprise that soccer is making a case for one of the favorite sports in America. I mean after all it was only a matter of time before we caught on to the rest of the world, right?

UEFA Champions League: Quarterfinal Review

With the completion of the all the Champions League quarter final second leg games this week, there was a lot of hype and buzz following the results and what transpired. It was a very thrilling week of soccer, and ended with some very surprising results.

In the first match up, Paris St. Germain against Chelsea, Chelsea barely squeaked by and into the semi-finals. They were down 3-1 on aggregate after the first leg, and needed to win 2-0 in order to advance. It was an intense game and when Chelsea's best player went off in the 15th minute with a leg injury, the task looked daunting. Never fear though, Andre Schurrle came on and scored almost instantly to give some hope to the home team. This game came right down to the closing stages. Just as everyone thought all chances of winning were gone, Demba Ba scored in the 89th minute to send Chelsea into the next round.

The second match, Real Madrid against Borussia Dortmund, was another nail biter of a game. Real Madrid had won the previous game 3-0 at home and all they needed to do was hold of a Borussia Dortmund team that had been plagued by injuries, and wasn't even playing their best players. In what was almost the comeback of the century, Marco Reus scored two goals for Dortmund in the first half, making the aggregate 3-2 in favor of Real Madrid. Unfortunately the comeback couldn't be completed as Real Madrid held on by a sliver to escape into the semis.

The third game was played yesterday and it featured Manchester United against Bayern Munich. In this game Manchester United were the heavy underdogs from the very beginning and that's why everyone was surprised that they managed to get a 1-1 tie in the first leg at home. They had their backs up against the wall though, as they had to play at the Allianz Arena. United shocked everyone when they scored in the second half to take a 1-0 lead, which would have sent them through, but Bayern responded just 22 seconds later to tie it at 1-1. Then, 2 minutes after that Thomas Muller sealed the deal with another goal, and later on Arjen Robben put the icing on the cake when he put Bayern up 3-1 and into the semi-finals.

The fourth, and final game was probably the biggest upset of the entire tournament. FC Barcelona, the heavy favorite, had tied Athletico Madrid, their Spanish rivals at home in their previous game, but was looking for revenge in this final game. In just the fifth minute, Koke scored for Athletico, and that goal would see them into the Semi-finals. Athletico completely outplayed Barcelona and deserved to win for sure. This is the first time ever that Athletico Madrid has made it to the UEFA Champions League Semi-final, and for the past 5 years, the team that knocks out Barcelona has gone on to win the entire tournament. Lets see if Athletico has what it takes!

So that wraps up what has been a very exciting two weeks of UEFA Champions League quarter-final action. As the fans, we can only hope that the Semis carry as much action and great soccer as we've seen so far. The draw to see who will play each other will be taking place this Friday, so make sure to tune in for that.

The Art of Buying Low and Selling High: FIFA 14

In the ever popular video game FIFA 14, which I did a review on when the game was released in September, the goal is to start from scratch with some of the worst soccer players in the world, and build up the best possible team. Each soccer player in the world has a card on the game. The card has an overall rating and stats for six different categories, like dribbling, shooting, and defense for example. Depending on how good the player is in real life determines how good there card in FIFA 14 will be. As you can guess the better the card the more it will be worth in the game. Now the way the game works is you start out with zero coins. As you play games you gain coins, and what you can do with those coins is buy players to start building a better team. Now there are millions of players playing FUT (Fifa Ultimate Team), and therefore lots of players on the market to buy. People originally get these players from spending actual money to buy fifa points, which is a form of FUT currency used to buy fifa packs. In the packs you can get players, and if you're lucky enough to get a really good player you can sell him for a lot of money. Now as players flood the market this is when you can purchase players for your teams, or even better to make a profit.

The art of buying low and selling high is an age old tactic in the game of FIFA. How it works is you want to make sure you buy a player when they are at a low point in their price, and then wait for the market to rise again in order to sell the player and make a profit. This works exactly like the stock market in the real world. Now as for when players prices will drop. This usually happens when a really good TOTW is out or when there are going to be very good players released in packs, like TOTY or TOTS (Team of the Year and Team of the Season). When these kinds of players are out, you can only get them in packs, meaning that tons of people will be opening loads of packs hoping to get these new players. What they'll do is flood the market with all the regular players at this time and the mass amount of the players will cause their price to go down in the market. This is when you want to capitalize and buy the players for cheap, and then just wait for the market to return to normal and sell the cards for a bunch of profit! This works like a charm and is a great way to make lots of money on FUT!

Can Chelsea Recover?

Was Chelsea burning out during this season? As a fan of the team I follow them religiously, and I have begun to notice that players seem to be tiring and the team is lacking that extra spice they had in previous times during the season. I feel like the wear of the season has taken a toll on the players and they have begun to perform at less than the standards that us Chelsea fans are used to seeing. It's obvious with the shocking results that the team has been getting and if they don't get focused soon they are going to find themselves sliding out of contention for the Barclays Premier League Title. Here are a few reasons why I think they will soon be out of this slump though.

For one the blues have the one and only Jose Mourinho. The man is a legend among soccer managers and if anyone can get chelsea out of their slump he's the man for the job. He has won countless titles with countless different teams, and really knows how to get what he wants out of his players. With him at the helm I don't see Chelsea skidding for much longer.

Second, the new signings that just were made for chelsea. The team recently released Juan Mata to Manchester United, a shocking transfer to say the least. But at the same time they brought in two new very solid players that will be sure to have an impact on the field. The first player is Nemanija Matic. They signed him from benfica, and he used to be a Chelsea player back when he was young. This is a good signing because it gives some depth at the holding mid position, something that chelsea need with an aging frank Lampard. The second signing was a young star by the name of Mohammad Salah. He is egyptian and played for the swiss team FC Basel. He had scored numerous goals on chelsea when they had played back in previous meetings and he is a great signing for someone who can play on the wing and in the midfield.

These are just some of the reasons why I don't think Chelsea Fans should be worried at all about what's to come from their team. They still have plenty of fuel left in the tank and I hope to see a late push to win the title this year.

The Key to Success

Without a doubt Manchester United is having one of there worst seasons in the history of club. They have dropped into 7th place in the Barclays Premier League this season and if you ask anyone they will say that the team is terrible this year. Under the management of David Moyes the team has tanked from the best team in the Premier League to a mid table contender. I feel like David Moyes has not run things well since taking over the helm from Sir Alex Fergusen. If I were in charge I would do things a lot different and I think this is what David Moyes has to do in order to find success at a pivotal point in his career.

For one he needs to fix the midfield problem that Manchester United has this year. I have to applaud him for actually going out and getting Juan Mata from Chelsea. That was a very good move and you have to give credit where credit is due, but there is still much that needs to change in order for Manchester United to get back to winning ways. There are numerous players that I think they should try to go out and get in order to make them a title contending team. The top player at this list is Ikay Gundogen from Borussia Dortmund. He is the all around package player for a midfielder and is exactly what Manchester United needs to replace Carrick and some of the older guys in the middle of the park. Gundogen's contract is running out in 18 months and the summer transfer window would be a great time for manchester United to snatch up this star player. As well as Gundogen, Manchester United should also think about going after his teammate Marco Reus, the German winger/midfielder from Borussia Dortmund. Reus is one of the best players in the world and he's only 24 years old to boot. He would be exactly the kind of player that would be needed to strengthen this wilting United team. 

These are just a few things that need to change in order for Manchester United to even start to take a step in the right direction, and if they fail to do this, then who knows what might happen with David Moyes job.

What Separates the Good From the Great?

Throughout the history of soccer there always comes along a team/s that turn the game around for the next decade to come. For the latest decade it has been the revolution of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and Barcelona. By investigating what these teams do or have done to reach these next levels, we can also see how the game of soccer has taken on a new shade of color over these last few years and reveal the secrets to success in the ever growing game of soccer.

For the longest time soccer has been a game of play down the sideline and cross. This style is evident from the English soccer still present today. Eventually a new era began to arise. This was brought along by the Brazilians and the Spanish when they began to establish their own style of play. The term for this style is "tiki-taka" and was coined by a Spanish reporter after having watched the Spanish team Barcelona in action. This changed from the kick and run way of play to a very more controlled, possession oriented style of soccer. Not only is this new way to play more effective, but it also requires a level of difficulty that hasn't been seen in any other area of the game. This is the main reason why so many teams fail to achieve this, and this is what makes the good teams great. So why is this style of soccer so much better than anything else that has graced the game? Well, it requires a level of discipline that is only seen in the best of teams. The entire team needs to move as a unit and work together, and nothing can ever be forced. Every pass is simple and carefully calculated and the soccer ball has to always be moving. One of the best ways to beat a team is to never let them touch the ball, and that's exactly what this style attempts to do. By being patient and keeping the ball for 75% of the game, it greatly limits what the other team can do with it.

This style of soccer has been ushered in by some of the world's greatest teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich. It is because of this distinct style that they came, they saw, and they conquered. They will remain dominate for years to come, until the next genius mastermind of the game comes along and introduces the next unbeatable strategy that outshines the old and makes them succumb to the next revolution.