Time to Think Ronaldo, Rooney

A lot has been said, written and drawn about Christiano Ronaldo, culminating today with Manchester United's official statement that the player in not for sale. Reading the British press' self-fulfilling prophecy, it is no wonder that this boy wonder is wondering if there is no place for him in next season's United first team.

Make no mistake. The boy is no angel. But in an age where seasoned professionals, and even FIFA president Sepp Blatter, freely admit that too much is at stake not to do so, should the blame be on his shoulders? For general consumption, let it be known that he was wearing the colours of Portugal and not England nor Manchester United during that fateful encounter. If indeed Ronaldo were decked in Her Majesty's colours, and Portugal were at the wrong end of a result, I wonder if the uproar (especially that of the British press) would be quite as loud.

Both Ronaldo and Rooney are young, undoubtedly talented and not in the least perfect. Both have been selected to carry the burden of United's future. It is therefore time, I think, for these two talents to sit in a room, devoid of agents and collumnists, and think about the future ahead of them. Football is a sport for eleven, not one. And when they are on the pitch, they are the only ones doing the talking. Not the pundits and certainly not the Sun...

So much for World Cup Blogging

My recent experience with Blogger has been anything but satisfying. Test postings using my new E61 via email failed because somehow they ended up as drafts and my efforts to post using the Blogger plugin on my browser yielded nothing. I am thinking of moving back to MSN places...

Ing...ger...lund Bore

... Still waiting for an Englishman to score... (English) football must have left for home ... :(

The heat it was claimed, was the cause for the English to fade so much in the second half. So much for advance planning... I think the only notable achievement that can be attached to Sven Goran Eriksson is the 5-1 demolition of Germany. Well, there is also the debasement of dignified standards within the FA if Mr Eriksson's exploits are anything to go by and of course his believe that Theo Walcott will light up this World Cup the way Pele was introduced to the world...

Enough snipping at SGE.

At this juncture, Argentina and Ivory Coast stand up as real contenders on the basis of their play. Urgent yet innovative and with a hint of flair in passing, I can see these two teams, especially Argentina, going quite a fair way in the competition. As for Brazil, guess we will know soon enough if Cafu has enough miles in his engine to lift the trophy one last time!