Admit it, you love Cristiano, even while hating him

What more can be said about the Portugeezer?

He's the best player in the world at the moment - he took his country to the World Cup next summer, has broken all types of records, scores great goals, has a model as a girlfriend, an eight-pack, 42 nice cars, 16 homes and more money and talent than most of us will ever have.

He's so good, but he's also someone it can be hard to like. You can love his talent, looks and girlfriend, but Cristiano is someone that is hard to like. He comes across as arrogant, aloof and miserable - which is hard to understand with everything he has. The media intrusion must be hard to deal with every day, but smile a bit more - like you did when you scored the hat-trick last night.

People love him and hate him, but not many seem to like him.

And because of that, I'm posting this...

Can France do it? Will Zlatan miss out?

A World Cup with no Zlatan? Or one without Ronaldo? Add that to no Ribery, Benzema, or the crazy French.

It wouldn't be worth watching would it?

People (I'm not calling them fans) want to see the best players, but part of the drama is who is not there, and how they failed. England won their group, but still got a hard time from the media; Switzerland may be the weakest top seed, but they won their group and qualified easily; Mexico are set to be there even though they have had more chances than any other team.

But those teams will be there next summer, and no one will care how they did it. If France or Portugal are not there, you can bet people will remind them every day until the tournament ends.

I think the home teams in European qualifying will all win tonight, and while that will mean the end for Iceland, the margin of victory in the other games will determine who goes through.

France need to score early, or there will be a new generation of Ginolas and Cantonas, who are still blamed for them not making it to USA '94.

Romania got the away goal, so have a good chance to score 2 and qualify at home to Greece.

Sweden have to score 3 in my opinion as Cristiano always has a goal in him. If Portugal score, they should qualify on away goals, but Zlatan has something up his sleeve, I just know it.

I've been wrong on everything else though, so stay tuned for another 4 teams to be going to Brazil by the close of business - which 4 is anyone's guess!

Zlatan or Ronaldo - and you can't have both

So the big game tomorrow in the European playoffs for the Brazil 2014 World Cup has to be Greece v Romania. Can't wait for that one!

Then there's Portugal v Sweden. Cristiano against Zlatan. The two superstars have 48 goals between them this year, and 7 hat-tricks. With Lionel Messi injured, these two are the best two players in the game right now.

Zlatan has it all - the goals he scores are unbelievable, but his technique is phenomenal. He's such a character and has a personality that Brazil needs next summer.

Ronaldo is moody, elusive and more model than footballer. But what a footballer. He has everything, and has to be considered one of the greats of the game already - and he's only 28.

But we can't have both. Never team could win their group, although Sweden had a much tougher task after being paired with Germany. And the luck (or should we say bad luck) drew the two teams together. I wouldn't be bothered if Sweden or Portugal weren't there, but if Ronaldo and Zlatan aren't there, they will be missed.

France should beat Ukraine over two legs. They have quality at the back and in midfield, with Ukraine posing little threat in my opinion. Iceland are huge underdogs against Croatia, but they are the feel good story of European qualification. Greece and Romania is a game that doesn't excite me at all, which probably means it will be the best one. Neither team will do much in Brazil, but then I said that when Greece won the Euros in 2004!

I'm taking Sweden to win over the two legs, with Greece, Iceland and France joining them. Cristiano has it all already, and he'll sulk for a while, but then console himself with his model girlfriend, millions of dollars and addiction to sunbeds.

Liverpool and Newcastle heading in different directions

It's back, it's back.

No-one cared about those pesky qualifiers, allowing Mexico yet another chance to qualify, or anything like that.

All we wanted was club football back. Ok, that's not technically true as there were some great games, high drama and a few good goals too.

***

The Premier League kicks-off with Newcastle v Liverpool - which has some great (relatively) recent history - but now pits too teams who seem to be going in different directions. Liverpool look like a fun, exciting team to watch, with players that will always create chances. Newcastle have Loic Remy,  Hatim Ben Arfa and Yohann Cabaye. That's it. When they don't play well, they look a shocking team. Papiss Cisse seems a shell of the player he was, and I don't expect much after coming back from trying to help Senegal qualify for Brazil 2014.

The drama at Newcastle is not really in the dressing room, but in the board room. Alan Pardew doesn't know if he's coming or going. If someone can explain what Joe Kinnear does, I'd love to know. It's not personal with him, he just doesn't have a place in modern football. He could be the boss of the Crazy Gang, because things were different then. I doubt he knows much about how the game works now, and maybe knows less than the 'confused' Spurs-fan chairman Mike Ashley.

Suarez and Sturridge are firing for Liverpool right now, but I think they miss Coutinho. Creating chances for them isn't a problem, but they need more from Victor Moses, Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson once the fixture list starts piling up.

West Ham v Man City is the other game that stands out to me, but most of my interest will be in whether teams can find some consistency after the International break. Arsenal were playing well, Spurs need a win and Gus Poyet has to get his team going. The next month should be interesting.

***

I hope Gareth Bale gets going against Malaga - the pressure isn't on yet, but it will be if he doesn't start producing by Christmas. Barcelona and Atletico are still 100%, with 8 wins from 8 in La Liga. Let's see who falters first.

Roma v Napoli tonight kicks of the weekend nicely, with Porto v Sporting Lisbon an interesting game in Portugal. 

There's so many games on this weekend, that I think the delivery man is going to be kept busy. 

Obrigado, Deco

Beset by injuries, the elegant playmaker elects to retire

The Brazilian-born-turned-Portuguese citizen Deco announced his retirement from football today after suffering through some oft-injured seasons while plying his trade with Fluminense in Brazil.

The left-footed midfielder, 36,  showed his brilliance to the world under the guidance of one Jose Mourinho when Porto lifted the Champions League in 2004, which eventually sealed his move to Barcelona where he played in a three-man formation in the middle of the park alongside Ronaldinho. Later, he made the trek to Chelsea, which, at the time, was managed by 'Big Phil' Scolari.

But injuries took a toll on Deco when he decided to make the return home to Brazil, restricting him to limited appearances though he still was able to contribute to Flu's domestic titles twice in the past three years.