Nasri Doesn't Cut It For France. Big Mistake?

Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri is not on the 23-player list to play the 2014 World Cup with France. After missing out on the 2010 competition, Nasri is set to miss out once again! 

Nasri, 26, had a great season with Manchester City, winning the English Premier League title. He scored 11 goals in 46 games. He played a major role in the winning season, scoring important goals and delivering many assists. But that is apparently not enough for France coach Didier Deschamps. 

Nasri knew that he wasn't going to play the World Cup as he explained a few days ago to British reporters.

"I respect his choices. He makes his choices, that's the way it is," Nasri said Sunday about Deschamps. "I'll go on holiday and watch the World Cup on TV."

In my opinion Nasri would have been a great addition to the French squad. He brings something else to the game with his vision and great passing ability. He is a great player and would have been a better choice than Loic Remy who was selected by Deschamps. 

It seems Nasri knows that too as he believes that being a starter in his club should be a sign that he is a great player. 

"If it's not enough to be a starter in a club like Manchester City and win two titles (in two years) then it's too bad for me," Nasri said. 

Nasri pays his bad character and bad temper he showed after France's breakdown in Ukraine (0-2). Deschamps and him always had a difficult relationship, but according to Nasri, that should not be a problem as long as you are performing on the pitch, and I agree! 

"I don't have much to reproach myself with. I had one bad game in Ukraine, just like most of my teammates. Everything else is false excuses. I had played in many clubs and I never had any problems on or off the pitch. Now, you can't be friends with 23 players in a squad. That's the way it is." 

Do you think, like me, that Nasri should have been on the team for the World Cup? 

(Keep in mind that Nasri is on the extended list of 30 players and could still make it if one midfielder or attacker gets injured.)         

  

Is Suarez The Best Striker In The World?

You either love him or hate him, but it's hard to admit that Liverpool striker Luis Suarez is not an outstanding player. The 27 year-old Uruguayan has scored 30 Premier League goals this season and was awarded the Football Writer's Association Player of the Year award as well as the Professional Football Association Player of the Year award. He is the first non-european player to receive the award.

In one of the toughest--if not the toughest--leagues in the world, Suarez shows that he is a deadly striker capable of breaking any defense and finding the net from anywhere on the pitch. 

The striker will have the opportunity to show his talent on the European scene next season as Liverpool is qualified for the next UEFA Champions League. This is the main reason Suarez should remain at the club this summer and not leave for Real Madrid (who tried to lure him in last summer). Suarez even pleaded to leave the club. Good thing Liverpool kept him! 

Suarez is one of those strikers that are unbelievably smart, skilled, and with an incredible work rate for someone whose main job is to score goals. Suarez has a thirst for victory and a rage to win every challenge and 50/50 balls that makes him a constant threat for the opponent. It doesn't matter where he gets the ball, he always makes something good out of it. Suarez also assisted 12 goals this season, making him one of the best passers in Europe. For more cool stats, check this!

Suarez has wonderful finishing abilities: From long range to close range, with his left or right foot, even his head, Suarez can score in any position. With 30 goals this season, he is only one goal away from the record of most goal scored in a season (31 goals held by Alan Shearer and Cristiano Ronaldo). An even greater achievement since the Uruguayan hasn't taken a single penalty this season. He also missed the first six games of the season! 

So is Suarez the best striker in the world? If you don't consider Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as "pure strikers", which I don't, then yes, he is. Without a doubt. Suarez will try to give Liverpool their first title since 2003. 

And hopefully, he'll be able to show what he can do to the world in a few weeks in Brazil!

Is Manchester United Really Bad Or Simply Unlucky?

This is the question one can ask himself after watching Manchester United lose yet again this season. The Red Devils lost on their home field to Sunderland (0-1) on Saturday, May 3. 

This was the 11th loss for Manchester United, making it the worst season in the history of the club. The club will not qualify for any European Cup: A first in 20 years! 

So is Manchester United simply terrible this season or very unlucky? If you watched their games this season you could ask yourself the same question. It seems that the team does everything it can to win, especially at home, but just can't score. The team averages a possession of 60 percent, shots on goal at least 10 times in a game, and has a 1.44 goal for average, which means the team scores at least one goal every game. 

Against Sunderland, Manchester United players tried and tried, over and over, but never found the net.  The full-backs played many balls in front of the goal, but no one was there to finish. The Red Devils only had one clear opportunity to score when Van Persie deflected a cross coming from the right side and missed the net for a few inches. This is surely not enough to win a game. 

The main issue with the Red Devils this season is their defense. Sunderland could have won the game 3-0 if they hadn't hit the post two times in the second half. Manchester concedes an average of one goal per game, and lost seven games on a one goal margin this season. As a comparison, the team only lost five games last season. However, they still allowed 43 goals (for 40 this season), which shows that the defense was already terrible last year. 

The injuries of Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney could explain the bad showing this season. Van Persie had 30 goals last season for 17 this year. Without them, Manchester struggled to score goals. 

On top of that, Manchester had some really unlucky days, sometimes hitting the post two or three days in a game, or getting strange refereeing decisions. Many games should have gone their way, but slipped away from their grasp. That's also the beauty of football! 

United is having the worst season in the history of the club. A season that led to their brand-new manager, David Moyes, getting fired. Manchester will have to start over again next season with yet another manager. 

It seems that the departure of the legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson has dried out United's thirst for victory...         

Nine Men Benfica Holds Off Juventus; Valencia Almost Pulled It Off!

It was a thrilling Thursday night for European football! After the two great Champions League games, the Europa League semifinals were full of goals in one game and tension in the other. 

Benfica Holds Off The Old Lady

Let's start with the tension from the Juventus stadium as the Old Lady needed to win to clinch a spot in the final. However, Benfica had other plans and fought until the end to hold a well-deserved 0-0 draw. 

Down to 10 men at the 60th minute, the Portuguese side showed strength and discipline to stop the ever-flowing wave of Juventus attacks. Benfica even had to play the last 10 minutes with only nine players after an overhead kick by Pogba ended up in Garay's face and Benfica did not even any subs left.

Juventus had trouble creating opportunities to score despite a world-class Paul Pogba. The French man was all over the pitch and was with no doubt the best Italian player last night. But Pogba's tricks and efforts were not enough, especially since Juventus' strikers were not in good form. Tevez tried a lot, but never found the target. As for Llorente (substituted by Osvaldo at the 75th), he wandered around the box for most of the game, never being able to pull free from Luisao's marking. 

Juventus should have regrets after this game as they had all the cards in hand. They won't have the opportunity to play the final in their own stadium on May 14. Benfica will play their second consecutive final.

M'Bia Saves Sevilla From Disgrace

Arriving in Valencia with a two-goal lead, Sevilla had made a big step toward the final. They probably believed they were already in Turin when the referee blew the kick-off. Maybe they had also forgotten that Valencia had recovered from a three-goal deficit against Basel in the quarterfinals! 

Valencia had no options, they had to score. And they did. They had a 2-0 lead at halftime, already making it 2-2 on aggregate. 

The third goal from Matthieu at the 69th minute were the Graal to the final and Valence held it until the 94th minute!

The minute chose by Stephane M'Bia to put on the savior suit and head the winning goal into the net! M'Bia, goal scorer in the first leg, will probably have a statue of himself in Sevilla tomorrow. 

The final will then showcase two footballs that are fairly similar. One team from Portugal, another one from Spain. Two Spanish teams in the Champions League final. In other words, proof that the Iberian football is a la mode! 

Who will win the UEFA Europa League title?  

Mourinho Criticizes His Own Style!

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho seems to have a--really--short memory. The technician complained about West Ham United's defending approach after his team failed to score a goal in the 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, Jan. 29. 

Mourinho even said that West ham played 19th century football. 

"This is not the best league in the world, this football from the 19th century. The only other thing I could bring was a Black and Decker hammer to destroy the wall," said Mourinho in press conference after the game.

Poor Jose! His team had to play against 11 defenders, 11 players in the last 20 meters of the field. A real wall dressed in front of West Ham's goalkeeper. It is surely unfair...Hold on a minute! Isn't that how Mourinho's Inter Milan played against Barcelona when they won the Champions League in 2010?

Against the best team in the world, against a team far better than his, Mourinho did the exact same thing. He asked all his players to stay in font of their goal and to only played in counter attacks. He even forced Samuel Eto'o to play second right-back to help out! In other words, only Barcelona was playing and Inter was waiting. That wasn't a problem at the time for Jose Mourinho, but it seems to have become one after this game.

"It's very difficult to play a football match when only one team wants to play," he said. "A football match is about two teams playing and another team not playing." 

Really? In both games against Barcelona, Inter only had 30 percent of possession. Is that "playing" the game? They did not even try in the second leg. They just kept kicking the ball away and let Barcelona come back in front of their box.

But Mourinho is a genius. He said that a game starts at the press conference before the match and finishes at the press conference after the match. Except this time he did not win. West ham United manager Sam Allardyce did.

"He can't take it, can He?" Allardyce said. "He can't take it because we've outwitted him. He just can't cope." 

Allardyce added that he loved "to see Chelsea players moaning at the referee, trying to intimidate him, Jose jumping up and down saying we play rubbish football. It's brilliant when you get a result against him. Hard luck, Jose!"

Finally, Mourinho admitted that if he had been in West Ham's position, he might have done the same thing. We are proud of you, Jose!