The Ball Becomes Clearer

Over the course of the past two weeks, with four rounds of games taking place, the contenders, namely Arsenal, City and Chelsea, and the "pretenders," primarily Liverpool, but also Tottenham and Everton, were separated. As the race for the top clears, the dog-fight that is the relegation battle got only thicker, with only 9 points separating 20th place Sunderland from 10th place Hull City.

The busiest time of the year for Premier League clubs started off on the 21st of December, which saw Liverpool win at Cardiff 3-1, sending top of the table. City beat Fulham 4-2, starting their rise to the top. United also won 3-1 at home against West Ham. Sunday saw Tottenham recover from the 5-0 beating they took from Liverpool the previous weekend to beat Southampton 3-2.  Everton also kept pace with the leaders by beating Swansea 2-1 in Wales. Then came the big clash, Mourinho v Wenger. That day Mourinho bested the Frenchman, compressing his Chelsea side into a tight, united defensive unit, capable of breaking out on a moments notice to score on the counter. Arsenal were entirely baffled, and Chelsea, picking up half the possession that the North Londoners had, doubled both the Gunners shots and shots on goal. Although the game ended in a 0-0 draw, Chelsea were clearly the better team. Some said that the game was a disappointment, but it shouldn't take anyone by surprise that a Mourinho team, on the road, against a league leader, fought a defensive battle.

The next round of games came on Boxing Day, with United starting the day off with a tight win at in form Hull City, 3-2. Both Chelsea and Arsenal won, beating Swansea and West Ham respectively. Then came the match of the day, Liverpool at City. The Reds opened the scoring when one touch play from Jordan Henderson and Luis Suarez resulted in Raheem Sterling being put through the back line; he rounded Joe Hart, and just as he prepared to take the shot, Fabio Coutinho stole it from him, claiming the goal for himself. City tied it up when, off a corner in the 30th minute, Vincent Kompany rose up, pushing off Martin Skretl, and heading the ball into the net; Joe Allen tried to keep it out, by the goal was meant to be. Then, in stoppage time of the first half, City started a break; Jesus Navas put Alvaro Negredo through, and the Spainard chipped Simon Mignolet; the goalkeeper really should have kept the ball out, but instead palmed the ball back into the net. Twice Raheem Sterling nearly equalized for the Reds, but once was flagged for offside, in what proved to be a very poor call, and the second time skyed the ball. The Reds were unlucky to come out of the Ethiad empty-handed.

The weekend round started with both City and United winning 1-0 games on Saturday; that day was also highlighted by Hull City's 6-0 thrashing of Fulham. Sunday saw Arsenal win a gritty 1-0 game at Newcastle, allowing them to top the table again. Everton and Tottenham kept pace with the leaders still, but the day was truly highlighted by Liverpool and Chelsea's clash. Mourinho came out on top of his protege, Brendan Rogers, 2-1. Martin Skrtl opened the scoring for the Reds off a 3rd minute free kick; the ball came first to Branislav Ivanovic and Luis Suarez, at the near post, and bounced down in front of goal. Skrtl reacted quickest, and Cech was caught out by the deflection. Eden Hazard equalized in magnificent fashion, curling the ball past Simon Mignolet sublimely. Samuel Eto'o put the Blues ahead in 34th mintue, getting on the end of an Oscar cross to tap the ball just past Mignolet. Much was made in the week of Howard Webb's poor referring decisions, but in the end, Chelsea deserved all three points.

On New Years Day, not much changed; Arsenal stole two goals late at home against Cardiff to stay top of the league, while City won at the Liberty Stadium against Swansea, 3-2, to stay a point behind them. Chelsea put on a masterful display at Southampton, coming out 3-0 winners. Thus the top 6, following the busy Christmas period, looks like this: Arsenal (45), City (44), Chelsea (43), Liverpool (39), Everton (38) and Tottenham (37). While it looks as though the bottom 3 are still in the race, in reality Liverpool are the only real contender of the three. Right now, it's a three horse race between Arsenal, City and Chelsea.        

World Cup Group Stage Draw

The World Cup draw is always one of the most looked forward to events of the soccer calendar. It precedes the actual Cup by half a year, but it is a major factor in determining the course of the Cup. This year there was controversy surrounding the "X-Pot," Fifa's odd new addition to the draw. In the end, the US was drawn into the group of death and Spain and the Netherlands will play a rematch of 2010's Final.

Group of Death

The group of death is undoubtedly Group G: Germany, ranked number 2 in the world, and bronze medal winners in 2010; Portugal, ranked number 5 in the world, and carried by Cristiano Ronaldo; USA, under the leadership of Jurgen Klinnsman and with the world's most powerful country at their backs; and Ghana, the team built around Europe based stars Michael Essien, Kevin Prince Boateng and Sully Muntari. This is by no means "overrateed." The quick first glance at the group, looking at the teams on paper, it is clear that the US are out, while Ghana could give Portugal a run for their second place money. However, I believe that the group will be a better contest than that; this is probably due to the fact that I am American, and desperately hope that the red white and blue have a change, which they do. I will preview each group more in depth as the year progresses, but for now, I will say that the Americans and Ghanaians must not be underestimated; Portugal has weaknesses, as it relies heavily on Ronaldo, which it should, and it's defense is weak. This group will only get more interesting as the international breaks in the upcoming months occur.

The Weak Group
Clearly the weakest group of the draw is group E, containing France, Honduras, Ecuador and Switzerland. Now, keep in mind that this is the world cup, and that all the teams involved are quality. However, of all the groups, this is the weakest. France struggled to qualify, Switzerland had the benefit of an easy group containing Iceland, Slovenia and Norway, Ecuador, while starting out very hot in qualification, have won just once in the last 10 games of qualification, and Honduras, while a possible dark horse, are from CONCACAF, which is one of the easier continental qualification pools. This group should not be the most rigorous, but it could bring some drama: might France be eliminated in the first round again? These teams have quality, and it could happen.

Look over the next weeks as I will be previewing each group in depth, including schedules, team strength and coaches. 

Gedion Zelalem: Arsenal and America's Future?

One of the revelations of Arsenal's Asian pre-season tour was Gedion Zelalem; a German of Ethopian descent, who has lived and played in America for several years, played 3 games in the tour, against Vietnam, Nagoya and Indonesia. His play drew the attention of many startled people, pundits and fans alike. And while the season started and attention was drawn away from him, his play hasn't left my mind. With Mesut Ozil now having arrived, most people would think that Zelalem, still 16, would be going to the reserve team, or out on loan; but in fact, the German creators' arrival is probably the best thing that could happen for Gedion.

Most people have been comparing Zelalem to Cesc Fabergas, or even Michael Laudrup; indeed, all three share the common ability to see spaces, to put balls into the spot where their teammate is going, setting up the player for a beautiful goal. But it seems from research that Zelalem isn't as small as the former, measuring up pretty well against the 6 foot 3 Arsene Wenger, and, from the videos on the internet, is more defensive minded than the later. Both Fabergas and Laudrup seem happy to score, and just as happy to set up the goal. Zelalem, in those three games with the first team, showed not that he had an eye for goal, but that rather, he could cut out the oppositions play. He seems just as content to make the first pass in an attack as he is to make the last. You can see this perfectly in the build up to Arsenal's third goal, against Indonesia. Zelalem made just a simple 10 yard pass, straight to his right, but it proved to be the catalyst for the attack, allowing a player to make a run that he couldn't have made a pass to. It looked simple and thoughtless to the naked eye, but proved to be brilliant. Later in that same game, he put a ball through the back line to put the striker through on goal; although the assistant referee would flag for offside, which would be shown to be a poor call, the pass was beautiful, setting up a sure goal. That game alone showed the midfielder's versatility.

As noted above, most pundits have made comparions of Gedion to Fabergas and Laudrup; I think, however, he is more like Andrea Pirlo, the Italian playmaker. Pirlo is what the Italians call a regista, or deep lying playmaker; the midfielder is slated as a defensive midfielder, but really plays more of a creating role, sometimes cutting out plays, and sometimes picking balls up from the defenders and goal keepers; both times he will create attacks from the back forward, either playing a short or long pass to stimulate the more attacking players of the sides. Gedion reminds me of the Italian because of his willingness, at least in the games he has played, to play a defensive role; several times in the games he stopped budding attacks, whether outside his own box or the opponents box, and won the ball back for his side.

Gedion will soon prosper in the side now that Mesut Ozil has arrived; the German fills a slot that Zelalem would have to otherwise had to compete for with players like Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla and Tomas Rosicky. He can fit comfortably into one of the two defensive midfielder slots, in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Think of Arsenal's bright future; Zelalem and Wilshere at the back, Ozil, Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain vying for the next three spots, and Olivier Giroud up front. That would be a formidable team, one that would be a consistent title contender.