Don't Get Apocalyptic About Football in 2012

If this is the apocalypse, gimme some

It's been almost five months since I've posted something fresh to my blog. That's downright apocalyptic, which is apropos given it's after all 2012. Kinda sad for footie fans if the Mayans are right. After all, we're stuck with 2010 as the last World Cup--aside from Spain establishing itself as the best national team in a generation, the Mundial didn't give us much more. The U.S. bombed out, and even that wasn't enough to cost Bullet Bob Bradley his job until 2011! A loss to Mexico in the Gold Cup final apparently means a lot more to the ever-provincial US Soccer Federation.

Barcelona, meanwhile, continues to dominate club football. Real Madrid has its most potent club in a long time and cannot make a dent in Pep Guardiola's armor. Jose Mourinho's Year-2 legacy of winning big as a sophomore is in serious jeopardy if the last Classico was any indication. Cristiano "ARod" Ronaldo just can't get over the Messi hump. It's a messy situation.

The Champions League? Still sucks. Which is too bad. I still want the 64-team NCAA Tournament-style knockout tournament to come back. I think that still satisfies the Platinis of the world who want the minnows to cash in. It also satisfies the giants who if they're dedicated enough, can stomp through the early rounds and make for a juicy Sweet 16 and beyond. Maybe someone should buy Platini and company tickets to this year's NCAA Final Four. Maybe it will spur him on. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

So what do we have to look forward to this year? A Porto-Sporting Sweet 16 in the Europa League? How cool would that be? Only thing cooler would be a Sporting-Braga final. But that's just silly me being silly selfish.

Euro is this summer. Hopefully the solar flares won't be kicking up too bad in Poland and Ukraine and ESPN won't lose its' feed a la the 2008 Euro. The GOD group, i.e., Portugal-Holland-Germany-Denmark (Seriously, what sick fuck thought this shit up?) is unquestionably cementing Euro's status as the best football tournament in the world. What a bloodbath those group games are going to be. Portugal and Holland hate each other (see 2006 World Cup). Germany and Holland have history. Portugal cannot beat Germany--and apparently cannot beat Denmark either. And Denmark, yeah, it beat Germany to win the '92 Euro for whatever that's worth.

All I know is that if Portugal somehow escapes the group stage, somewhere along the way it will play England -- and beat England -- in penalty kicks. Make book on it. Otherwise, it's difficult to bet against a Spain-Germany final, which is a tasty treat for sure given the young Germany powerhouse that country is building, and Spain, of course, being Spain.

And then it's downtime until Dec. 21, which could be the be-all, end-all of ... The Club World Cup?

How Special is Andre Villas-Boas? Chelsea FC Soon to Find Out

Chelsea Supporters: Which doesn't belong and why?

It's time to address new Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas.

A lot has been written about this 33-year-old and none of it is fair to the man--most of all his hiring at Chelsea. You can't blame him for jumping at the opportunity, but this just smacks of a guy being a little impatient and suffering from a little bit of an over-inflated ego. It also smacks of a desperate owner desperate to once again catch lightning in a bottle as he did with Jose Mourinho.

Boy it didn't take long for another instance of the seemingly never-ending comparison between Villas-Boas and the Special One. You can't help put the two in the same sentence, PB&J style. They just go together. Not only was AVB JM's assistant at Porto, Chelsea and Inter, but he even freaking lived near Bobby Robson, Mourinho's mentor when Robson was Sporting manager in the early '90s. It's like Mourinho ordered a Clone from that freaky planet in Attack of the Clones.

Villas-Boas has been hot on Mourinho's trail for almost 20 years, mirroring nearly ever accomplishment only in record time. His resume is littered with "Youngest to win this" and "Youngest to win that" superseding Mourinho's records on many of those accounts. It seems wherever Mourinho drops a cracker, Villas-Boas is there to sniff it out, pick it up and do something better with it.

So the comparisons are there, even if they're unfair to ol' AVB. Rough thing for him is that along with those comparisons come expectations. Mourinho won six trophies in four seasons at Chelsea, including running titles in 05 and 06, this coming on the heels of six with Porto in two seasons, including a Champions League and UEFA Cup title. That's hard to do even on the XBox playing FIFA 11 in Amateur Mode.

The expectations for Villas-Boas are going to be excrutiatingly demanding. Chelsea hasn't won the Premier League in ages it seems, and since the '08 Champions League final loss, it hasn't been back to that promised land since. In the meantime, have we mentioned Mourinho won the Champions League in 2010? Yikes, this is worse than Pete Carroll following Bill Parcells with the Patriots back in '98. Poor Pete had no chance, and he wasn't even close to a Tuna Clone.

It's no secret Roman Abromovich covets the Champions League trophy more than a new missile for his yacht. He's latching on to Villas-Boas and hoping the kid can deliver. Not sure why, however. Villas-Boas is no slouch and there has to be something good there, but let's look at exactly what he's done:

• He dominated the Portuguese league with a team that had won six of the previous eight championships;
• He dominated largely with players who were already on the team; players such as Falcao and Hulk were signed before his reign; (To his credit he won handily after losing Raul Meireles and Bruno Alves, and brought in Joao Moutinho.)
• Arguably, the Portuguese Liga is at its weakest with a massive gap not only between the first two (Porto won the title by 21 points) but between the top five where 41 points separated first from fifth. 
• He has coached two top-tier club teams--Academica Coimbra (who?) and Porto;
• He has not lost a Portuguese club match since the 09-10 season. 
• Porto set five top division records under his watch last season

Impressive on many fronts; but very misleading on others. I don't know what to expect from Chelsea this season, but it's going to be agonizing to watch at times I fear. What if Chelsea doesn't have at least 15 points from its first seven matches? What if it draws, say Porto, in the Champions League and loses its opener at the Dragao? And what if Abromovich's impulsive nature got the best of him--again?

I think AVB jumped the gun too soon, though I can hardly blame him for taking the job and the money at Stamford Bridge. Though there's no direct connection between Mourinho and AVB at the moment, there's always going to be a lasting link between the two. And if Mourinho can somehow figure out how to beat Barcelona this year, and Chelsea can't get it done in England or Europe this season, the damage to AVB's career may be years in the fixing.

Champions League Draw: Of Consipiracies and History

Ain't it curious that Jose Mourinho always seems to get an interesting pairing in the Champions League? Ain't the Champions League draw always curious?

I mean, I ain't into no conspiracy theories here (although I do have a crush on Secret Agent Dana Scully), but it does seem that Mourinho and his big mouth and his flamboyant coaching style and his good teams always do seem to hit at least an interesting story line in the Champions League.

Let's look at past history (cue the X-Files theme)

• 2008-2009 -- Inter v. Chelsea (Jose v. Ancellotti)
• 2006-2007 -- Chelsea v Barcelona (group stage after knockout matchup year previous)
• 2006-2007 -- Chelsea v Porto (knockout)
• 2005-2006 -- Chelsea v Barcelona (knockout)
  
• 2004-2005 -- Chelsea v Porto (group stage, year after leaving Porto as defending champion)

Since winning the European title with Porto in '04 and moving from Portugal to the Premiership, Mourinho has slammed headfirst into old ghosts and monster draws. Not that he can't handle it (wait a minute, his teams haven't gotten out of the knockout round for three years now), he has twice gone to the semifinals since winning it, but it seems curiouser and curiouser that lot if life ol' Jose gets.

Not that I'm sayin' anyone is out to get him. I mean, look at ol' David Beckham. No sooner does Becks hint that he's going to back to Milano for another stint with A.C., do the football gods pair him up against his old boss and his old club Manchester United. What a co-inky-dink.

Man, we're so lucky that the balls just happened to fall this way and that the draw ended up the way it did. What a hoot.

I mean how lucky are we from an outsider's point of view to have been granted our biggest Christmas football wishes. I mean Mourinho and Ancelotti, the new Chelsea boss, hate each other! How cool that they'll be up against each other in the knockout round. Imagine!

And Beckham. Back to Old Traffod. Super Cool! And here I was slamming the Champions League for being boring and uninteresting. Shame on me!

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Mailbag Meandering on Tevez Ruling,South Africa World Cup, Mourinho and More

I've been rude. Like single dudes who live alone and infrequently receive guests, I don't get many comments on my posts. But to those who do take the time to leave thoughtful--even thoughtless--comments, I should do better to acknowledge them.

So in a shameless attempt to encourage more correspondence with this space, I'm going to open the mailbag this morning and share some of the better comments and attempt to answer each with some analysis, thought and wit.

Here goes:

9lives wrote in response to West Ham, Carlos Tevez Ruling a Dangerous Precedent:

Well written article. I take the viewpoint that the initial ruling was wrong, that a club who broke the rules should have been deducted points. Middlesbrough called off a game about 11 years ago because they had a depleted squad through illness. They were punished with a 3 point deduction that contributed to their relegation. One cannot of course state with any degree of accuracy that a player contributed any more than his potential replacement might have. But that's why rules are there; to maintain an equal playing field and a degree of fairness.
With regards to Atwell's shocking decision last weekend, it's accepted that these decisions even themselves out over the season. All we can do is accept that flawed logic. The Sheffield United case is different - they never had the opportunity to "even" the playing field by recruiting a player who was not entitled to play for them. Cheers.

Reply: Funny how the experts trotted out before Lord Griffiths couldn't manage to keep their own teams afloat as managers; whatcha say Graham Taylor and Frank Clark? As for my writing, me mum was big on penmanship.

Anonymous wrote in response to Unrest Around 2010 World Cup in South Africa Mounts After President Resigns:

The fact is that SA has its fair share of issues to overcome - but the country is about far more than the sum of its problems. SA is still the closest any African country will get, in a comparison to 1st world hosts. The importance of bringing an event like this to Africa is not so much about providing a spectacle for rich countries, but about providing sustained upliftment for a society whose largest problems can all be traced back to poverty. Whatever the cause of that poverty, the fact is that the only way out of it is forward movement, not retrospection and nay-saying.
So you might need to take a little longer to get to your game - but think about the guy who had to drive you there, his family and his children. Think about the fact that he will be earning a living because of you.
Isn't it maybe worthwhile putting the good of a nation, and it's people before your personal schedule? It is easy to stand on the fringe and criticize, rather show your support for a collective effort and commit to attending the event.

Reply: True, this is a character boost for South Africa, and if the tournament goes off without a hitch, likely it would spur a spike in tourism and bump the economy a bit. But let's inject a bit of realism via rhetorical questions here: Is the World Cup going to solve South Africa's poverty crisis? Or crime? No one wants to yank the World Cup away for the sake of doing it; no one! But isn't a just black eye to the country if the infrastructure isn't ready and organization is a shambles?
As for me getting to the games on time, I'll be plopped on my couch watching the matches -- unless of course you're offering to bring me over. I accept...

Jonathan Wallace wrote in response to: Mourinho: Master Manipulator, Master Manager, Masterful

Exactly! Its nice to see someone else appreciate him for what he represents. Unbridled confidence. If more people possessed it, the world would be a better place for it.

Reply: I'll say it again, Mourinho is a manager of men, and not necessarily always his own. He's picking scraps with guys from clubs big and small; Juventus' Claudio Ranieri was his latest target. Apparently, Jose doesn't think Ranieri speaks the English too good. Classic.
And no, Jonathan Wallace is not my brother, father, nor is he my uncle.

And finally, Aravind responds to Starting Eleven Football Blog Roundup:

Pretty impressive collection of blog posts. Well done dude. I'm subscribing.

Reply: Awesome Aravind; consider yourself an army of one. And no, Aravind is not my brother, father, nor is he my uncle.

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Mourinho: Master Manipulator,Master Manager, Masterful

With a journalism background, I'd like to think I'm pretty sensitive to B.S. I'd like to think I have this little internal sensor that goes off whenever someone is trying to sneak one past me. Most times, I'm on the money.

Can't the same be said for the rest of humanity, unfortunately.

While most people can be cynical, very few do it professionally.

That's why it's astounding the uproar and attention a pissing match between Inter manager Jose Mourinho and Catania chief executive Pietro Lo Monaco gets in the press and on message boards. Mourinho is probably a better manipulator of the media and fans than he is a football manager -- and that's saying something.

Mourinho won't likely win any sportsmanship awards, but when it comes to gamesmanship, he's an ace. Immediately his antics deflect attention his way, and away from his players. When he rebuffs Catania as an also-ran in Serie A (they are, aren't they?), he becomes the story and not the fact that his team barely slipped past an also-ran on a phantom goal. Manipulation.

Plus, he's gosh-darned entertaining. Take this gem about Lo Monaco from Gazzetta dello Sport:

"Monaco who? I known Bayern Monaco (Italian for Bayern Munich), Monaco of Monte Carlo and the 'monaci' (Italian for monks) of Tibet, the Monaco Grand Prix. ... If this Monaco wants to get on the front page, he should know I don't hand out free publicity. I don't like to instigate, but I don't like to be provoked. And I know I'm someone who sells, who gets attention. Take that Lo Monaco. He got himself on CNN for free. Fantastic, no?"

See, I don't mind the bravado. I don't mind the bluster and I don't mind the "Special" claims. Why? Because he walks the walk. What's the famous Chelsea t-shirt? 6 Trophies, 3 Seasons? Tack on two titles in Portugal, a domestic cup there and oh yeah, the UEFA Cup and Champions League title, and the guy has plenty to boast about.

So why does it bother us so? Why don't more people find him refreshing and entertaining? I'm not a Porto fan, nor an Inter fan; I guess I am a Mourinho fan. And it's probably because I like big personalities, I like winners and I like people who back it up. I don't like underdogs and minnows spoiling the World Cup by somehow sneaking in via Oceania and then losing all three group matches 4-nil. Not my idea of fun.

I've said my piece, but I'll leave you with a final thought from Mourinho:

"In whatever work you do, you can't be afraid of risks or anyone. It's normal when an architect finishes a projects he thinks it's an incredible masterpiece, even if we look at it and think it's very ugly. That's the professional life of someone in a competitive job. It's a life philosophy. I respect everyone. Actually, it really upsets me when people say Mourinho is the best coach in the world. I really don't agree. But I don't think anyone is better than me at my job."

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Chelsea Hires Scolari; Best Portuguese Available

Back in the day, the Boston Celtics used to get accused of drafting the best available Mormon every year in the college entry draft. The list of evidence supporting that theory is long: Danny Ainge, Fred Roberts, Greg Kite, Michael Smith.

Chelsea Football Club is taking page out of the Celtics book with its managers, grabbing the best available Portuguese-speaking manager. Luis Fillipe Scolari, a Brazilian and current Portugal manager, confirmed he will take over at Stamford Bridge starting July 1. Can't knock the Blues, it certainly worked with Jose Mourinho.

Scolari certainly has the credentials; a World Cup title in 2002 and quite possibly the Euro 2008 title as well. Unlike Mourinho, however, he will have to go from managing a national team to the club level--and do so at the highest club level in the world. Expectations will be enormous, coming off the Champions League final and being one game shy of winning the Premiership.

There are a lot of parallels between Mourinho, the new Inter coach, and Scolari. Both are strong personalities, very purposeful, and unlikely to tolerate much interference from above. Chelsea was apparently already able to squeeze Big Phil a little bit. Chelsea wanted Scolari to announced the deal prior to the start of Euro, reports A Bola, but Scolari balked and eventually capitulated that he'd do so if Portugal reached the quarterfinals, which it did yesterday.

In the end, Scolari is a great successor to Mourinho, unlike Avram Grant. His resume lifts Chelsea into the world's elite again, and the English papers are surmising Scolari's hiring is an admission of guilt from Chelsea owner Roman Ambramovich.

Interestingly, his first foe may be Mourinho. Will the former manager poach the Chelsea players he led to six trophies during his stay in London? How awesome will the tug-of-war be over Lampard, Drogba, Carvalho and others? Luckily for Scolari, his new owner has deep pockets. and luckily for his new owner, Scolari has already tacitly been on the job; remember all the jabs at Cristiano Ronaldo, and the subtle hints that the Manchester United superstar should indeed explore his options at Real Madrid. Very slick Big Phil.

The blogs are rampant with Scolari news:

101 Great Goals has a great recap of the view from the English papers.
SidelineSoccer wonders whether Scolari has the chops to manage a world-class club.
The Telegraph blog compares Mourinho and Scolari and figures Big Phil can handle the heat.
Blue Champions, a Chelsea fan blog, covers what's good and not so good about Scolari.
Soccerlens wonders if Scolari can take Chelsea farther than Avram Grant.
The Shed End is relieved the manager search is over.
CaughtOffside wants to hear from Chelsea fans on the Scolari hiring--six words only.

Who Follows Jose Mourinho to Inter Milan?

If Jose Mourinho is installed as Inter Milan manager later this week as expected, which players will follow football's pied piper to Milan?

It's already been reported that Frank Lampard is the apple of Mourinho's eye. The Mirror says Mourinho will sign for three years and earn 7 million pounds per season. It's been no secret the affection many of his former Chelsea and Porto players have for the Special One. And precedent has been set that he's not shy about poaching players to establish a foundation at a new locale.

So with that in mind, here's an educated guess at who's coming to Inter if Mourinho is the new boss--and who's leaving?

In:

Frank Lampard
Didier Drogba
Ricardo Carvalho
Ricardo Quaresma
Alexander Hleb
Deco

Out:

Crespo
Figo
Adriano
Recoba
Ibrahimovic

Notice the dearth of Italian talent on either list, in particular the "In" list. An issue? I'd love to hear from Inter fans on whether that matters?

Either way, Mourinho is there through

Roberto Mancini Sacked at Inter Milan; Special One in Line?

It's all but official that Roberto Mancini has been sacked at Inter Milan and gadfly Jose Mourinho is in the wings waiting to take over. The Telegraph reports that Mancini--back-to-back-to-back Scudetto winner--was let go last night and that Mourinho "can't wait to start." The International Herald Tribune has confirmation of Mancini's firing from the coach's agent Giorgio De Giorgis.

"The president had this idea to change, I don't know what the reason was, but it's over now and there's no going back. Did Mancini expect it? No, certainly not."

IHT also tosses Mancini's name into the Chelsea manager sweepstakes. No huge surprise there. Three straight championships don't buy the job security they used to. Mancini takes a 30 million pound payoff with him. Goal.com blames a player revolt for the dismissal, citing discord with Adriano, Patrick Vieira, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Hernan Crespo and Luis Figo.

Mancini is 43, has coached twice at Lazio (he played for the Rome club as well) and at Fiorentina. He made 36 national team appearances for Italy, and played the majority of his career at Sampdoria where he scored 173 goals.

The Offside looks at Inter's three titles under Mancini, and seems to suggest that they had a lot to do with the bribery scandal that gripped Italy earlier this decade.

Soccer Statistics points out Mancini's shortcomings in the Champions League.

Football Transfer bemoans Mancini's departure, and wants the Special One elsewhere in Italy.

Interesting Poll Results

Some of you who stop by regularly may notice that I regularly put up a poll. It's usually a fun thing for me, and I can pretty much guess how it's going to turn out.

The last one has me flummoxed, however. I asked where you think Jose Mourinho may end up, and while this is hardly scientific or even remotely close to a worthy sample, four of the nine who voted said Liverpool.

Honestly, I would have expected Barcelona to be the runaway winner, and if there was going to be an underdog winner, I would have pinned my hopes on the Portuguese national team; but Liverpool?

I'll repost the results here since the poll will eventually disappear:

Liverpool 4 votes (44%)
Barcelona 2 votes (22%)
Portugal 1 vote (11%)
Benfica 1 vote (11%)
Porto 1 vote (11%)
AC Milan 0 votes (0%)
Other 0 votes (0%)

9 TOTAL VOTES

I'll speculate here that I have some loyal readers who are Liverpool diehards and those folks voted with their hearts. My head still tells me Barcelona or even AC Milan, which got ZERO votes in my informal survey.

But it would be interesting to see him land at Anfield; perhaps from there he could carry out his "kill Chelsea" promise.

Jose Mourinho Spurs Lyon; Destination Barcelona

So the headlines are everywhere today that Jose Mourinho turned down a coaching offer from perennial French champions Lyon. Pardon me while I yawn.

Bernard Lacombe, adviser to Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas, told France Football magazine that Lyon hit up Mourinho immediately after his ouster/departure at Chelsea. Mourinho said no thanks. We say, no kidding.

What's the news here? How many clubs approached Mourinho without grandstanding it the way Lyon is today? A dozen? Shame on any capable club that did not approach Mourinho.

It's still a safe bet that Mourinho is destined for Barcelona, with AC Milan sitting in the wings as a secondary contender. It's there where he'll close out his club career before taking over the Portuguese national team in time for the 2010 World Cup or 2012 Euro.

Can he win a Champions League at Barca before the World Cup? Right now, that's the big piece of silverware missing from his mantle and the sour taste in his mouth from his Chelsea days after getting bounced twice in the semifinals.

BTW, France Football intimates Mourinho already has his Barca deal, essentially done under the table.

In the meantime, Great Red North speculates that Mourinho could ultimately end up at Anfield.
Global Futbol goes one better, not only putting Mourinho at Barca, but moving Frank Rijkaard to Chelsea, replacing Avram Grant.

Is Jose Mourinho Waiting on a Bigger Prize?

Jose Mourinho reportedly took himself out of contention for the England job this week. With A.C. Milan’s shoddy form in Serie A, in particular at home, it seems inevitable Italian will be prominent on Jose’s menu for the next few years; possibly as early as the January break?

Mourinho, through his agent Jorge Mendes, said on Monday that his representatives met with the FA about the job, but ultimately decided against it, though he did call it a “wonderful job.”

It’s a classic negotiating ploy and it looks like Mourinho played it perfectly by feigning interest in the England job while driving up the price with the real apples of his eye: monster clubs like Milan or even Barcelona. I’ve written it before that Mourinho considers coaching on the national level and old man’s gig and that it was unlikely he was ever sincere in his interest in coaching England. Mourinho, in the end, is probably a better candidate than Fabio Capello or Marcello Lippi, if for no other reason, his command of the language and his intimate knowledge of English football.

That said, if Mourinho is some day destined for managing on the international level, it will be with Portugal. Luis Filipe Scolari will be at the helm of Portugal through next summer’s Euro and that will likely be it for the Brazilian. Expect Mourinho to whet his appetite enough on the domestic level until then, before settling in for the stretch run toward the 2010 World Cup.

By then, Portugal will be loaded for a world title and he might be enough to push it over the top. Consider, in 2010, Ronaldo will be dead-smack in his prime at 25 years old; Ricardo Quaresma will be 26; Nani, Miguel Veloso and Joao Moutinho, 24; Deco and Maniche could assume the veteran Luis Figo-type roles at 32. Other veterans will include Ricardo in goal, Paolo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho on defense, and Simao Sabrosa up front.

That’s the real golden generation, and with Mourinho at the rudder, a world title might be in the wings.

Check out josemourinhoblogspot.

101greatgoals has more as well.

Jose Mourinho and England: A (Not-So) Perfect Match

Jose Mourinho wants the England job. Jose Mourinho doesn't want the England job.

John Terry wants him. Michael Essien wants him. Brian Barwick wants him--maybe--if John Toshak says it's OK.

The FA's floundering over naming a replacement for Steve McClaren is getting comical, especially as word filters out about the ad hoc advisory board Brian Barwick has assembled to consult on whether Mourinho, Fabio Capello or Martin O'Neill are qualified. If your phone is ringing, it could be ol' B.B.

In the meantime, crazy like a fox Mourinho is using all his special powers to manipulate the process. He allows his press advisor/agent/lacky/friend Eladio Paremes to leak word that he'd be honored to be approached by England. Taking the job is another thing entirely.

Mourinho has said that coaching national sides is an old man's job and he's not ready for that stage of his career--yet. Mourinho has unfinished business in club football. He wants another Champions League title, preferably with a Barcelona or A.C. Milan club of that stature. Clearly, he's using the FA to pump up potential offers from the real apples of his eye.

Barcelona is an interesting option. They continue to flail in Spain and Frank Rijkaard's days maybe numbered. There's a lot of "special" on that team already with Messi and Ronaldinho; adding Mourinho completes the picture nicely, no?

In the meantime, England's hopes are high Mourinho returns in some fashion to their country. Apparently, football is not as interesting as it used to be.

Of Liverpool, Rafa Benitez and Money Well Spent

Here's the biggest no-brainer, duh-analysis you're going to get about Liverpool's 4-1 over F.C. Porto yesterday in the Champions League: Money Rules.

Those of you who long for the days when players were entrenched at their clubs, playing for the love of the color of the shirts on their backs, forget it. Captain Obvious calling: "Those days are over." Euros, pounds, dollars make the football go 'round, and it's never been more true than right now, especially in the FA.

Rafa wants more money to buy more players, after getting a boatload to buy players in the offseason. Yesterday, Liverpool--well Rafa anyway--got a return on its investment when Fernando Torres potted two goals. The win over Porto not only saved Rafa's job, but put Liverpool in prime position to keep moving forward in the Champions League, which I hear pays better than the UEFA Cup!

But on the other end, Liverpool's American owners want to put a cap on Rafa's spending during the coming January transfer period. They also suggested that Rafa concentrate on coaching and less on his Christmas player-wishlist. This of course came on the heels of Rafa's very public tongue-lashing of his bosses, proclaiming they don't understand the ways of the footballing world, much less how the transfer period works. Well, put the claws away ladies! Neither of you is correct; and both of you are correct.

Today, however, Rafa has the cache over the Yank duo of bill-payers. He's got legions of Liverpool supporters on his side, a European championship trophy on his mantle, a second-place medal around his neck, an FA Cup on his mantle too--and don't think Liverpool can't come back and win the Premiership this year. It's hard to knock success and even harder to justify sacking a manager who's winning and capable of winning more. He's got a viable plan for winning, and proved it yesterday. That kind of direction and focus is invaluable; could Liverpool afford to watch him leave and take that ability to another European team? When Jose Mourinho left Chelsea, his stock was never higher. The same would be true for Rafa, who, like Mourinho, could name his price at Inter for example and his absence would be lamented for months by Liverpool fans, just like their Chelsea brethren.

Winning cures many ills, but it's money well spent that makes the football go 'round. Rafa spent his owners' money well. Fernando Torres had a brace of goals, Liverpool looks right to qualify for the knockout stages where Rafa knows how to win--um, just ask Mourinho. Rafa is money well spent.

More on Liverpool and Rafa:

Thousands march in support of Rafa
Rafa's thank-you to Liverpool fans
"I want to be involved at Anfield"
Benitez brushes off transfer row