England Football Irony

Liverpool completed England domination in UEFA Champions League after beating Inter 1-0 at Giuseppe Meazza after Fernando Torres struck an incredible volley that separates the 2 giants. Liverpool victory means we will be seeing 4 England teams in the UEFA Champions League quarter final. Placing 4 teams in the quarter final could only mean one thing and 3 in the last year's semi final could only mean one thing, England rule European football. Is it true?
Looking at the last 4 years of UEFA Champions League we can say that England has been the king of European football. In 2005, Liverpool became the winner after a beating Milan on the night that won't be forgotten by any football fans. In 2006, Arsenal played in the final for the first time in their history only to see Barcelona lifted the throphy. Last year, we saw 3 England teams in the semi final. Glancing at the fact above, anyone would agree at how England dominate Europe. This year, the same domination happens. We might as well see All English semi finals which is something rarely happens.
Anyway, I will never forget how England can only watch Euro 2008 from TV this summer. This brings a question to my head, what the hell is going on? How can a nation so powerful in the UEFA Champions League can only be spectator in Euro 2008? The EPL always claim themselves as the best league in the world, both in the aspect of quality of play and business which is something I agree about. The EPL always perform quite high quality level every week with fans spread throughout the world. Star players gather here, a place where they get irreasonably high salary. League competition is a way to produce a strong national team, a team that can bring joy and dignity to every it's citizen. The FA should do more evaluation about their system of competition. What's the point of having the so called best league in the world when you don't have a strong national team?

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Odd Milan

Last Tuesday's Champions League last 16 tie saw AC Milan's heavy lost to EPL side Arsenal. The score was 0-2 (I ber you already aware about that). The scoreline was something usual in the last 16 of Champions League. What I meant about heavy is how the match went. There was nothing much Milan can do against Arsenal who did all the attack. Milan were busy to defend and can't handle Arsenal's preesure especially in the midfield. Milan on that night wasn't the same team I know in the past few years.
A lot of people that the root of Milan's failure this season (I don't mean only in the Champions League but also in the Serie A) is their aging players. Everybody knows how old Carlo Ancelloti's squad is this season. Even the 40 years old Paolo Maldini is still playing regularly. I agree with those people who say that having too many aging players wouldn't bring much to the team except an easily exhaust squad. In the Arsenal game, we can see how Milan's players can not compete with the speed and mobility of their opponent's which are a lot younger. The goals were scored in the last 6 minutes when concentration dropped to the very low limit. Young footballers wouldn't have this problem while older ones tend to drop concentration more easily.
How about the Rossoneri fans, then? Surprisingly, they keep silent about their team's current achievement. I know that empty San Siro is a common scene this season. This may be an indication of disappointed fans. But, to be honest, I expect more from Milan fans. I never heard them speak their mind loudly regarding their team's poor form. I also never heard them organize a protest outside the training ground like the Roma fans did couple years ago. This quite amaze me. I know that Milan do have some ultras fans which are considered as the hardline fans, but they didn't let them heard hard enough. I'm not a Milan fan but I expect them to put more pressure on the management.
Speaking of Milan management, I have to say that I can't understand what they are thinking right now. They weren't aggresive enough in both transfer windows. There was no sign at all to bring in young players as investment for the future. I know Pato is an extremely talented young player but I also believe Milan should have brought more players. As I said earlier, their squad is aging and the management didn't do anything about it.
Added to my confusion about Milan, they still keep Ancelloti and even guaranteed his place next season no matter what happen! This is something beyond my wildest imagination. A manager is the person who has the most responsibility. He should be fired if he can't make his team to perform as expected. To be honest, I don't Ancelloti is the right man. He should be fired if Milan can't finish this season at 4th place.

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