The World Cup Blog A-Z of 2007, Part One

December 31st, 2007 | by: Daryl | Comments Off

It’s the last day of 2007, so here’s an alphabetical look back at the last twelve months in world football. There’s so much happened that it’s impossible to cover all of it, so please remind me of anything that’s been missed out in the comments. Part one covers A to M, with part two to follow later.

A – Australians were united in their hatred of Dick Advocaat, who signed on as national team head coach, before pulling out when he got a bigger offer from Zenit St Petersburg. “I couldn’t refuse this offer,” he explained. “It was quite a lot of money, to be honest. It was not double, it was more. Much more.” Special mention to Roman Abramovich too, who made it clear that Chelsea was his club by doing away with Jose Mourinho.

B – David Beckham made two comebacks after being ditched by two different teams. First the Real Madrid team that eventually won La Liga and then to an England team that still failed to make Euro 2008. In between that, he briefly got the attention of the American sports media with his move to Los Angeles Galaxy, only to lose momentum with an ankle and then thigh injury.

C – The Club World Cup took place in Japan again, and while still not the mega-tournament FIFA want it to be and still unfairly weighted to the big teams, Milan’s 4-2 win over Boca in the final was enough to suggest this is a trophy with a future. Other big news was Corinthians shock relegation from Brazil’s Serie A and the tragic killing of a policeman at the Catania vs Palermo game in Italy.

D – Brazil coach Dunga was under pressure to deliver at the Copa America, especially after allowing Ronaldinho and Kaka to spend the tournament with their feet up. Despite a bad start, Dunga’s team won the whole shebang, defeating a much-fancied Argentina team 3-0 in the final.

E – A disaster of a year for England. Led by the shiny-toothed but inept Steve McClaren the Three Lions lost away to Russia and then at home to Croatia and failed to qualify for Euro 2008. McClaren inevitably lost his job and became a national pariah, while the FA went big and hired Fabio Capello to clean up McClaren’s mess.

F – 2007 was the year of the fat footballer, or at least of footballers being called fat by other people who aren’t professional athletes. Ronaldo, Adriano and Ronaldinho were all labeled overweight at some point in 2007.

G – Many people outside the US couldn’t name a single MLS team in 2006. But thanks to their big money acquisition of David Beckham, every football fan now knows at least one team name and that’s the Los Angeles Galaxy. The bigger irony is that while Galaxy were the league’s biggest draw, they were also one of the worst teams.

H – With 13 goals in 11 games, Northern Ireland striker David Healy became the highest ever scorer in European Championship qualifying but it still wasn’t quite enough to get Northern Ireland to Euro 2008.

I – Australia were the hot tips for the 2007 Asian Cup, but that was until they met Iraq, who beat Graham Arnold’s team and everyone else on their way to a heroic Asian Cup victory. More fancied, but equally victorious were Invincibles of Inter Milan who won 17 straight games on the way to the Serie A title.

J – Jail was where Joey Barton spent the last few days of 2007, after being charged with assault and denied bail.

K – One player dominated the 2007 awards, and he belonged to Jesus. Kaka picked up pretty much every individual award going, including the prestigious Ballon d’Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year. Also getting attention was Kerlon’s seal dribble, which earned him a viscous clubbing.

L – Little Lanus won the Argentine championship, upsetting big boys like Boca Juniors and River Plate.

M – The biggest personality of 2007, and maybe the biggest personality ever, was Jose Mourinho. Whether hiding his dog from the police before the FA Cup final, getting famously fired despite delivering titles to Chelsea or offering a masterclass in publicity by dangling himself in front of the FA like a golden carrot, Mourinho was always in the news. Read Mourinho’s own review of the year here. The player to cause the most excitement in 2007 was Barcelona’s Leo Messi who went from promising youngster to one of the dominant forces in La Liga. Most memorable was Messi’s replication of Diego Maradon’a famous 1986 wondergoal.

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part two (N-Z) to follow later…