Football Has No Place At The Olympics

I do not know about you, but I just cannot get excited for football at the Olympics. 

The draws were made yesterday for the group stages but the same nerves and excitement were not there as when the draw is made for the World Cup or European Championships. Waiting impatiently for England to be drawn out of the hat, fingers crossed tightly hoping to avoid the big guns; Brazil, France, Argentina, Italy and all the rest. 

It just was not there. 

At first I thought the obvious. Maybe it was because England are not competing, instead a Great Britain team is competing (or England plus Gareth Bale.) But then I realised that was not the answer. 

The answer is that football should not be in the Olympics. 

Sports people are united by the Olympics. The summer event is the pinnacle of their career; it is what they strive for. The dream of winning a gold medal in their specific field is what they train and build towards for four years. Many competitors have been dreaming of the Olympics since they were young children. They grew up seeking a gold medal. For them there is nothing bigger than the Olympics. 

That is the problem with football in regards to the Olympics. The World Cup is the pinnacle of a footballer's career; it is the accolade that every professional footballer dreams of winning. This is the same as golf, which is joining the Olympics in four years’ time, it has majors. These majors are what golf players want to win - not gold medals. Tennis is also the same with its four grand slams. 

It just cannot be right that footballer's and tennis players are taking a look around the Olympic village and treating it like a bit of fun. It is almost an insult to the athletes. 

And I have no doubt if you ask any footballer if they would rather be at the Olympics or in Poland and the Ukraine this summer for the European Championships, it will always be the latter. It is just not right. The Olympics are not a priority for them. 

Yes, in athletics, there is a European Championship at the end of June, but it is really for those people who won't make the Olympics. No athlete would swap the Olympics for a European Championship. 

You can understand quite easily why Arsene Wenger of Arsenal and Manchester United's Alex Ferguson have been very dismissive of Olympic football. 

I follow football and tennis throughout the year, and I know some good players have competed in both sports at the Olympics over the years. But when it is the Olympics I do not watch it and I do not try to find out how they are getting on. 

People will get excited that Rafael Nadal is playing at the Olympics as they may not be able to get tickets to Wimbledon. I understand that, who wouldn't want to see one of the best ever tennis players. David Beckham may well be in the Great Britain football side as one of the three over twenty-three players. It may be the last time to see Beckham play on an international stage, for many it might be the first time they have seen him play in the flesh - I cannot fault people for buying the tickets. 

It just does not do anything for me personally. 

Also I cannot take the players seriously. They are there for the wrong reasons. They want to be part of the Olympics because of what it means to everybody else, not because it means something special to them. I am sure many would rather be on their summer holidays. The Olympics is not such a meaningful occasion for them as it is to the majority of others competing in other sports such as rowing or cycling. 

I am glad that football will act only as a sideshow to the main event. The highlight of the Olympics will, and always has been, the athletics. And this is exactly how it should be. They are the real stars of the show, and it belongs to them. 

The only reason that the International Olympic Committee continues to give football a place in the games is the money that it makes. Football is the sport of the world and it is watched by billions around the world. Therefore if you give it a place in the biggest sporting event in the world people are going to pay to come and watch it. However this year football is the only sport that still has tickets available, whereas the gymnastics and athletics have all sold out. 

But at the end of the day it is not up to me. Great Britain is competing at the Olympics whether I like it or not. I believe the country will get behind the team but only because it is being hosted in England. By the time the 2016 Olympics come around I do not believe anyone will be the slightest bit interested. I just hope that if we do somehow win a medal that it does not detract from the other lesser known sports - the ones that deserve a place in football. I know many journalists will rather write about the football as it is a sport they cover every week of every year not just every 4 years. It is a sport they know about. It is much easier to write about Wayne Rooney then an athlete in the shot-put who they have never heard of before. 

For me I shall be watching the athletics, cycling and rowing. The sports that for me make the Olympics the Olympics. 

World Snooker Championship Preview

After a marathon season the World Snooker Championship 2012 is finally here (well tomorrow anyway.) The best 32 players will battle it out over the next 17 days to lift the most prestigious crown in the game.

'The most open championship for years'

For me this is the standard way to 'big' up the event and I am all for anything that does that. But do they have have a good point this time around. As I look down the list of past winners there are only a couple of exceptions, most notably Shaun Murphy and Joe Johnson, it has always been a player with a winners pedigree that lifts the trophy at the end of 17 long and gruelling days and I don't seen any reason why that will not be the case again this season.

The expansion of the tour and the number of events that players are playing in over the last 12 months, there is an ever-expanding group of players with such a pedigree. Mark Allen is the latest and most notable addition to this list - he finally ended his wait for a ranking title a few weeks ago after knocking on the door for what seemed like an age and he is a big player in the championship now. Stuart Bingham is another player who also broke into the winners club when he won the Australian Open at the beginning of the season.

More noticeably there are a group of competitors who have broken there way back into the winners circle after a lengthy period of time away. The obvious two being Stephen Lee and Peter Ebdon. Ronnie O'Sullivan also returned to winning ways, all the more important as his top 16 ranking was hanging in the balance, with a long overdue win in the German Masters. This was his first main ranking tournament win for three seasons. All three now come into calculations for the World Championship title.

We then have the usual solid group that are there or thereabouts every year. Ding Junhui, Neil Roberton, World Numer One Mark Selby and to some extent now, Judd Trump. These are the new group of players who are constantly winning events.

On the fringes of this group are the sleeping giants with big tournaments under their belts but haven't found the right formula to win a main event this season. Surprisingly John Higgins is in this group, but being the current holder and the most suited player to longer framed matches he will be in the final 4 at the very least. Joining him in this group are the well-tuned Stephen Maguire, Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams, Matthew Stevens, Ali Carter and Graeme Dott. Three of them have already won the world title.

Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty are sitting in the 'veterans' club this year hoping for one more tilt at a world title, and a fairytale ending to their illustrious careers.

We then move on to the players that are capable of beating anyone on their day and all have the experience to battle through the 17 days and finally lift the much coveted title of World Snooker Champion. In this group are Marco Fu, Ryan Day, Dominic Dale, Martin Gould, Joe Perry, Barry Hawkins and Mark Davis. There are also those with points to prove such as Andrew Higginson and Dave Gilbert who have both had narrow defeats against strong opponents on their only Crucible appearances to date.

Add to all the above the new kids on the block, whose leader this year is without doubt, Belgium's revelation Luca Brecel. He has able assistants with him including the ever-improving Welshman Jamie Jones and Chinese duo Liu Chuang and Cao Yupeng. Let us not forget Liang Wenbo who has finally found his form returning and you can see how hard it has become to predict a winner.

So all in all I have managed to name all 32 players that will be competing for the trophy over the next 17 days. In the past the same 5 or 6 names come up as potential winners, Graeme Dott and Shaun Murphy aside, it is usually from this group that the champion emerges. However this year could be different. I still expect John Higgins and Mark Williams to be there towards the end, O'Sullivan also if he turns up in the right frame of mind. But look out for Judd Trump again, Andrew Higginson, Ryan Day and also the youngsters.

To be honest, look out for all of them, on their day and with a bit of luck, anyone can win it!

Best ever Premier League save: Peter Schmeichel

With every great goal and game, there has to be a great save.

In my opinion Peter Schmeichel's save in keeping out Liverpool's Don Hutchinson in 1993 has to be the very best.

The Liverpool midfielder was 10 yards out and could not have caught his shot any sweeter but Schmeichel threw himself to his left to parry the ball behind.

If it does not win the Premier League 20 Seasons Award Best Save, I would be very surprised.

Liverpool v Manchester United

1992/93

Premier League

The save in mention is in the video along with the rest of the contenders for the award. 

Best ever Premier League goal: Dennis Bergkamp

In my opinion the greatest player to play in the Premier League and this has to be his best ever goal.

 Arsenal v Newcastle United

 2001/2002

 Premier League

Chelsea v Tottenham: It took just seconds to see how bad a mistake Martin Atkinson made

Football fans all over the world would have been wondering how Martin Atkinson gave Chelsea their second goal.

There is no getting away from it, it was a dreadful decision. Replays, which were available for us all to see within seconds, proved what a terrible judgement call it was from Atkinson as the ball clearly did not cross the line.

Most unusual was that Atkinson gave the decision himself. A goal/no goal decision is usually left solely to the assistant referee who would have been looking straight along the goal line, appeared to be taken by Atkinson alone.

It's ironic that he has been invited to Euro 2012 - as a goal-line assistant.

You can usually tell from the reactions of a player if you have possibly made an unbelievable error, when you have the reaction of a whole team like Tottenham yesterday, you know you have made an unbelievable error. Aaron Lennon, Scott Parker and Kyle Walker all showed their clear frustration at the decision.

It's not the first time Atkinson has been at the centre of a goal-line technology debate. Just five weeks ago he refused to award a goal to QPRs Clint Hill against Bolton after claims he had scored. Again video replays, available in seconds, showed it was a clear goal.

With goals, referees usually use the defence of poor viewing angles for missing such incidents, but for some unexplainable reason yesterday, Atkinson did not. He made a bold decision, arguably a match changing decision, and got it wrong.

But what people must remember, and as Harry Redknapp said himself, he made it honestly. He did not plan to make that big decision, the incident happened, he made a big call but unfortunately for Atkinson it was completely wrong.

'To miss something is understandable, but to see something that did not happen is unacceptable.'

That is something that all referees are told. They can not see everything, it's just impossible. But the worst thing they can do is start seeing things that did not happen.

Mistakes like this creep up now and again and will continue to appear until goal-line technology is introduced. As far as most, referees even more so, it can not come quickly enough. Unfortunately for Atkinson it did not come quickly enough.

This, that and the other: Newcastle beat Liverpool in a highly controversial match

A big win for Newcastle as they continue their push for European football and even more impressively for a place in next years Champions League. Although no disrespect to Newcastle if they do make it into the Champions League then it backs up the latest debate that English football is currently struggling.

Newcastle's win against Liverpool was the sixth league game out of their previous seven that Liverpool have lost.  This is form that is going to see Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool's most celebrated player, start to fear for his job. Even if he will not admit this.

There were however some major talking points throughout the game and of course they all put the attention on the match referee, Martin Atkinson. So lets run through them.

Andy Carroll dive: Blatant. Went round the keeper who clearly did not not touch the Liverpool striker. In my opinion dives like this should be punished with a red card, not a yellow. If Martin Atkinson had not seen this was a dive, he would have red-carded the Newcastle goalkeeper and awarded Liverpool a penalty. It would have completely changed the game. Why should the attacker be allowed to get away with this? It is clear and blatant cheating.

Liverpool penalty appeal: No doubt a penalty and a red card for Danny Simpson. After Andy Carroll knocks the ball towards goal, Simpson clearly and deliberately moves his arm towards the ball to stop it crossing the line. He knew what he was doing and denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, which we all know is punishable with a red-card. However it was impossible for Martin Atkinson the referee to see this. But if he had, it would have been a very different game.

Pepe Reina red card: Unsure. After James Perch tripped Pepe Reina, the goalkeeper reacted badly by running at Perch and barging him. He then lowered his head towards the opposition player. It appeared to make contact with the Newcastle man, but the second camera angle shows there was no contact. Perch's reaction was awful, just as bad as Andy Carroll's dive. However Reina should know better.

Newcastle second goal: Offside. As Denba Ba plays the ball through, Papiss Cisse is clearly in an offside position. Hatem Ben Arfa tries to play the ball; if he had then Cisse would have been onside as it would be a different phase of play. But he does not touch it, therefore it is still the same phase of play and Ba is therefore offside.

Overall it was a mixed afternoon for the officials. But the result only continues to show Liverpool's frailties. However they are in an FA Cup Semi-Final and they have won the League Cup. This should just about save Dalglish for one more season.