If you ask José Luis Astiazarán, the President of the Spanish League of Professional Footballers, then the answer is an unequivocal “yes”. Why? Because, according to him, Spain’s success is a result of “hard work with youth setup” that the LFP has done to promote “homegrown” talent in Spain. This principle enabled Spanish players to have the experience of playing at the “highest” level every weekend. Err- is anyone else scratching their head at this bold statement?

Then again, this is the same man who declared Spanish football as “objectively the best league in the world” and La Liga “superior to England” after Spain won the European Championship in 2008.  Yes, I know, its his job to promote La Liga.  But, as a Ligue 1 fan (who didn’t even get a mention!), you can already imagine my opinion of the man after hearing those bold statements…

Even if I put aside those very strong biases – I find it hard to follow the logic in his statements. First of all in 2008, several of Spain’s players – including the final goalscorer, Fernando Torres played in England, along with – Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa, Pepe Reina and Cesc Fabregas.

And even though many of those players have now returned to Spain – I still find it hard to stomach some of these claims.  Yes, it is impressive how many of the national team’s players choose to play in Spain. But can a national team that only has players from 6 of its domestic league’s teams really be credit to the league?  Even looking at it that way is pretty generous.  Because in reality, 50% of the Spain national team is composed of two teams- Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The club breakdown of the Spain national team at the 2010 World Cup was as follows…

• Real Madrid (5):  Casillas, Albiol, Alonso, Ramos and Arbeloa
• Barcelona (7):  Pique, Iniesta, Puyol, Xavi, Valdes, Busquets, Pedro
• Valencia (4):  Villa, Silva, Marchena, Mata
• Villareal (1):  Capdevilla
• Sevilla (1):  Navas
• Athletic Bilbao (2):  Llorente, Martinez

Plus the three players who still play in England:  Fabregas (Arsenal), Reina (Liverpool) and Torres (Liverpool).  (Please note, some of these players club affiliations have changed since the World Cup….)

So if the league’s job is to promote a two-horse race year and year- I think they are doing a swell job.  But, if they are claiming to promote competitive football among all of the league’s teams to strengthen the league overall- I’d say they still have their work cut out for them.  Sid Lowe put it best in his article on the subject (which I recommend you all read!) when he said…

I think its safe to say that the German team that exited the World Cup managed to win not only a few games but also the hearts of a lot of fans-including mine.  And, trust me, no one is more surprised about this than me.  For a variety of reasons, I was definitely in the “anyone but Germany…and Italy” camp before the World Cup.  But after watching them play, I was won over by their heart, selflessness and dedication to each other.  And though football fans are always sad when great players can’t participate in the World Cup- I felt that Germany (in the end) benefitted from Ballack’s absence.  Michael Ballack is undoubtedly an incredible player who has led Germany to (almost) Glory- such as their ride to the semifinals in the 2006 World Cup or the finals of Euro 2008.  But, it became obvious even to casual observers of the German team that while the rest of the team was moving forward to a “new approach” of football- Ballack remained faithful to the “old guard” and the “old ways.”  (Yes, Michael, some people do like to see their loved ones during the tournament.)

When Ballack was injured, Philipp Lahm was named captain of the German team- a task he accomplished admirably.  Leading this team was a tricky task- and not because of anything to do with the actual players- but because of the press about the team.  Before the tournament, the diverse make-up of the team led to questions being asked about their “German-ness” and how a team of players from such diverse backgrounds could work cohesively together.  Needless, to say, I think the proof was on the field – as the German team were an exemplary example of how a team should work together.  And instead of crumbling under pressure, Lahm embraced his role as a leader- focusing on creating an environment where the players could blossom instead of being stifled.  And he clearly doesn’t want to give up this role- he made that clear both at the World Cup and in recent interviews with German press.

“The job is a lot of fun for me,” Lahm told the German newspaper Bild. “If you do your job on the pitch and have it under control, as I do in my position, then you want more. And you want more responsibility

Its hard to say what could of been- but I’m not sure if this cohesiveness would have been able to exist if Ballack had led the team instead of Lahm…

But, if recent interviews with Ballack are any indication, he does not agree.  All signs indicate he believes he will be returning to the German National Team- and with the armband.

“I am the captain of the national team,” said Ballack. “Philipp Lahm has made his claim at a moment that I feel is inopportune. I was injured and could not defend myself.

In my opinion, the fact that Ballack is trying to press himself back into the national team fold doesn’t bode well for his ability to promote a unifying team as a power struggle is undoubtedly a mood-killer as players are forced to take sides.  Bastian Schweinsteiger recently put his iron in the fire by standing with Ballack – against his Bayern teammate, Lahm.

“For me, it is Ballack who is the captain. Philipp took on the role solely becasue Michael was injured,”

I’m not sure how this will eventually end.  Its a tricky situation the German Federation will have to navigate with extreme sensitivity to ensure they honor Ballack’s commitment and past contributions to the team while also not disturbing the synergy the team created in South Africa.

To keep tabs on all the developments in the German team, visit the Germany World Cup Blog!

In about a week, and once the first controversial call has been made, googling a referee’s home address, scouting the area with streetview, writing death threats and painting little Hitler mustaches on his face will become one of the Internets favorite past times.

Carrying out these hate and anger filled tasks is of course much easier, when you emotionally distance yourself from your target as much as possible. Which isn’t that difficult, as referees are usually presented to us as rather flat anonymous characters, who are just getting in the way of enjoying a football match.

Giving a more in-depth and balanced insight into the work of referees and their private lives with friends and family, is the documentary feature Les Arbitres (The Referees – or Referees at Work/Kill the Referee) by French filmmakers Yves Hinant and Jean Libon.

A film crew followed a couple of referees and their families around during the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland. Thanks to the support of UEFA, the film makers were also given access to the recorded headset conversations between the referees during a match.

So, what do we learn from the documentary? As the above clip shows, we learn that Swiss referee Massimo Busacca doesn’t like all the gesturing of Greek midfielder Karagounis. We also learn that the role of the fourth official is really only to try to distract the referee with useless small talk about the weather. They can’t count down to zero properly either. A larger part of the movie is dedicated to English referee Howard Webb, whose officiating of the Austria – Poland group stage match wasn’t particularly well received by Polish fans – to put it mildly – and who was subsequently given the standard Internet treatment. We meet his family, see a debriefing by UEFA and their analysis of the mistakes and are generally given a feel for some of the things that take place behind the scenes during a major tournament. And without spoiling too much, Peter Fröjdfeldt is the Matthew McConaughey of referees.

Les Arbitres has toured a couple of film festivals so far. I haven’t yet read anything about a potential date for an English DVD/BD, but it has been released on DVD in Germany in time for the World Cup. As part of the launch PR, the German video portal MyVideo is streaming the documentary online. As a lot of the action centers around Howard Webb, it’s in English for the most part. The more Italian, French and to some extent Spanish classes you took at school the better. I think English + Italian will allow you to watch 90% of the movie. Otherwise you may need to type some German subtitles into Google Translate. Every ten minutes, the site will interrupt the movie to try and sell you a Toshiba TV, promising you your money back, should Germany win the World Cup, but I think it’s still worth taking a sneak peak.

>> Referees at Work (German subtitles)

Well, we’re a little behind schedule, so very sincere apologies for that. But we had quite a few entries that made us laugh. So, after careful consideration, the final five are below. Take a look and then vote for the winner at the bottom:

These two French ladies tummies used to say “GOAL” and “GOAL”. But then France scored just one goal in the whole tournament.

Howard Webb was not popular in Poland after giving a last minute penalty against them.

The Switzerland vs Turkey game was a tiny bit wet.

Not 100% sure why Fernando Torres is wearing a dress, but we loved the 666 number on Michael Ballack’s shorts, and Jogi Löw’s sign asking his former boss for help in the final.

Apparently there was an incident in the tunnel involving Patrick Vieira and Patrice Evra after France were beaten 4-1 by the Netherlands.

Vote for the winner here:

Poll will close at 7am EST / 12 noon GMT on Monday 4th August 2008.

Martin Kallen, chief operating officer for the event organisers, said that in comparison with the 2004 finals in Portugal the 2008 event had seen improvements “in almost all areas”, including satisfactory television viewing figures, high public transport usage and the lack of any major security incidents.

Success all around.

Now about that 250m Euros… Let’s see… With allocations for graft, corruption, general greed and administrative pocket lining, that leaves us with a total of $1.92 to advance football-related programs.

Oh! Wait! Never mind! Scratch that! I’m thinking about FIFA and Sepp Blatter! This is UEFA and Michel Platini! So their plans for the money are a little different.

European football’s governing body said that is an increase of $42 million from Euro 2004, and would be enough to pay for its youth and women’s competitions until 2012 as well as refereeing and coaching programs.

The remainder will be distributed among UEFA’s 53 members and toward administrative costs.

So…let me get this straight. They’ll be using the money…for…for the good of the organization?

What a novel concept.

(Sepp? Jack Warner? Are you listening?)

We may have mentioned this before, but Euro 2008 is coming. We’re going to have the whole thing covered on our Euro 2008 page, with team blogs, liveblogs and all the usual World Cup Blog shenanigans.

We’ve also got a free Euro 2008 Wall Chart for you. Just click on the image above to get the full size version, which you can then print out and pin to a wall. It’s got the complete tournament schedule with kick off times both local and US.

If you’re unfamiliar with tournament wallcharts, here’s what you do: As the games are played you enter the scores in the boxes provided, and then fill out the bracket for the knockout stage once you know who’s qualified. It’s a great way to stay on top of what’s happening at Euro 2008, and also a nice little souvenir for afterwards.

Also, we still have a couple openings for Euro 2008 team bloggers. Right now we’re looking for someone to captain the Russia blog and the Czech Republic blog, and we might even have an extra spot on the Spain blog should the right person come along. If interested, give our blogger guidelines a read and get in touch.

As the tournament builds up we’ll have an eye on everything from beer bottles with custom team flags to debates over squad selection.

So this week, with all the Euro 2008 teams in action, you can catch all the news and views around Wednesday’s friendlies at Euro 2008 on WCB. Also Chris will be covering one of those friendlies with a LiveBlog of Spain vs Italy on Italy WCB. No prizes for guessing who he’s supporting though.

Austria, Croatia, Greece, Romania, Turkey…

…then we want to hear from you. It’s not a paid position, but it is a chance to share your writing and your opinion with a big audience. Plus it will instantly make you more attractive. Guaranteed*

If you’re interested, please read our bloggers guidelines and then shoot an email to daryl[at]worldcupblog.org.

*not actually guaranteed

With Euro 2008 just beginning to appear on the horizon, we’re going to start picking out some great moments from European Championships history. And what better way to start than with Marco van Basten’s goal from 20 years ago. It was the 54th minute of Netherlands vs USSR in the Euro ‘88 final in the Munich Olympic Stadium, West Germany, with the Dutch already leading 1-0 through a Ruud Gullit goal.

When Arnold Muhren’s deep, high cross comes in from the left it looks like Van Basten doesn’t have the angle to score. But he does anyway, with this magnificent volley. The technique just looks perfect, the way he waits and waits and waits for the ball to drop to drop and hits a dipping volley into the far top corner. That made it 2-0 and secured the Netherlands’ first (and so far only) major international title. Van Basten also finished the tournament as top scorer with five goals.

Usually, the English red-tops will throw their dubious support behind whichever home nation that makes it. But none of them did this time. Failing that they’ll follow the Republic of Ireland as they did at USA ‘94. But again, no dice this summer. So what’s a tabloid to do, if they want to replace all those lost sales?

Well, credit The Daily Mirror for innovation. The paper’s sports department is looking for a team to follow at Euro 2008 and have opened it up to a reader vote. Just write or email in and tell them who to support.

Maybe this will spark a trend throughout the whole of Great Britain this summer. How great would it be if every British newspaper (the broadsheets too) chose a different Euro 2008 team, and then supported them throughout the tournament?