At the UEFA Awards in Monaco, it was a clean sweep for the trophy holders, Inter Milan.

Category after category saw an Inter player end up holding the trophy.  Brazilians Julio Cesar and Maicon got the Goalkeeper and Defender of the Year respectively.  Dutch Wesley Snijder, fresh of the 2010 FIFA World Cup final, was awarded the Midfielder of the Year and Argentine Diego Milito took home not only the Forward of the Year award but also the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year distinction.

Will any of these players repeat the honor next year?  Maybe.  With the trade rumors still going around about a possible move to Real Madrid for Maicon, a possible reunion with Jose Mourinho might mean a return trip to the Champions League final.  Julio Cesar’s prowess at goal is unmatched so I won’t be surprised if the honor is again bestowed on him. The Midfield and Forward positions will be more contested for sure.  There are a lot of players due for a great season in Europe and it will be fun to watch who steps up and maintains throughout the whole year.

After Thursday’s star-studded Champions League draw in Monaco, this is how the groups look:

Group A
-Inter Milan (Italy)
-Werner Bremen (Germany)
-Tottenham (England)
-FC Twente (Netherlands)

Group B
-Lyon (France)
-Benfica (Portugal)
-Schalke (Germany)
-Tel Aviv (Israel)

Group C
-Manchester United (England)
-Valencia (Spain)
-Rangers (Scotland)
-Bursaspor (Turkey)

Group D
-Barcelona (Spain)
-Panathinaikos (Greece)
-Kobenhavn (Denmark)
-Rubin Kazan (Russia)

Group E
-Bayern Munich (Germany)
-AS Roma (Italy)
-Basel (Switzerland)
-CFR Cluj (Romania)

Group F
-Chelsea (England)
-Marseille (France)
-Spartak Moscow (Russia)
-Zilina (Slovakia)

Group G
-AC Milan (Italy)
-Real Madrid (Spain)
-Ajax (Netherlands)
-Auxerre (France)

Group H
-Arsenal (England)
-Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
-SC Braga (Portugal)
-Partizan (Serbia)

My favorites to go through to the next round from each group are in bold.  Group G has been declared the Group of Death and is sure to provide some great football.  Matchday 1 is September 14/15, 2010.

The stage is set for the Group Stage draw.  Now is when we find out who is playing who and what are the chances of our favorite teams to get out of this stage and progress.  The computer will begin drawing the names from the pots listed below with no teams from the same league going to the same group.  Tune in to uefa.com at 12 noon EST (USA) to watch the draw live from Monaco (6PM local time).  May your team be placed in an easy group!

POT 1:
Inter Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Lyon

POT 2:
Werder Bremen, Real Madrid, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Valencia, Marseille, Panathinaikos.

POT 3:
Spartak Moscow, Tottenham, Rangers,  Ajax, Schalke, Basle, Braga, Copenhagen.

POT 4:
Bursaspor, MSK Zilina, Hapoel Tel-Aviv, FC Twente, Rubin Kazan, Auxerre, Cluj, Partizan Belgrade

With the last matches in the qualifying stages completed, now it’s on to Monaco and the Group Stage draw on August 26, 2010.  The last entrants in the draw include SC Braga (Portugal), Ajax (Netherlands), Tottenham (England) and Wermer Bremen (Germany).

Braga went to Sevilla with a 1-0 lead and was able to win on an impressive performance by Brazilian Rodrigo Lima (who had a hat-trick) with a 5-3 aggregate.  Some of my Portuguese friends were very excited with the win but I pointed out to them that Brazilians should be the most ecstatic since of the 11 players on the field, 8 were Brazilian/Other.  In this instance, I wished for FIFA’s “six-plus-five” rule to take effect in ALL of Europe.  This rule which was adopted in 2008 and later abandoned in 2010, establishes that each team should start with at least 6 players eligible to play on that country’s national team, therefore putting a limit to the number of foreign players.  Of course, it didn’t go well with the European Leagues and the European Union intervened saying that it was against labor laws.  In effect, teams like Braga are buying their way into the Champions League and there’s nothing in the FIFA rules that prevents them from doing so.  Anyway….

Tottenham  also made its way into the Champions League Group Stage for the first time in history thanks to a hat-trick by Peter Crouch. Ailing Jermaine Devoe added another goal to overcome the deficit which they’d brought from the first leg.

I am anxiously awaiting the draw….

Only two weeks into the English Premier League season and there’s been not one, not two or even three, but FOUR games that resulted in a 6-0 score.  Chelsea has two of those games with Arsenal and Newcastle following with one each.  As a result, 3 players have had hat-tricks in games: Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Theo Walcott (Arsenal) and Andrew Carroll (Newcastle).  In total 64 goals have been scored in 20 games.  Although the number may not be impressive, what is of note is that there have been so many games with scores of 3 or more goals to nil.

I am not impressed that Arsenal or Chelsea, beat bottom dwellers/newcomers West Bromwich Albion, Wigan and Blackpool so thoroughly, but I have to say that Manchester City showed that all the money they spent in the off-season was justified in their 3-0 win over Liverpool.  Man City will definitely be a contender as they have showed great chemistry.

Will Chelsea have another 6-0 game this weekend? It’s probable as they face lowly Stoke City.  Who else will join in the race?  My guess is that Man City will not want to be left out and since they are facing another bottom dweller in Sunderland, this will be as good a time as any.  In the meantime, I am expecting that it will continue to rain goals in the EPL.  What more could a fan ask for?

The stars are aligned…

Well almost.

After a crazy summer of transfers in the best European soccer leagues, seasons are set to start mid August for the English Premier League, Spain, Italy, France and Portugal.  These are just the ones I’ll be keeping a close eye on.

However, transfer season is still not done.  Although, the Cesc Fabregas saga is finished (for now) with him agreeing to stay at Arsenal, there are lots of other rumored transfers going around.  I am also glad to see the completion of the deal for Mario Balotelli (keep an eye out for the 19 year old Italian who some are dubbing the next Cristiano Ronaldo) which was starting to drag.  Manchester City figures to be a big contender for the Premier League title if we have in consideration all the moves and money spent.

Other possible transactions not completed before the season, include Maicon (from Inter Milan to Real Madrid) and Fernando Torres (Liverpool to Chelsea), among others, might happen come January.  In Spain, Real Madrid with their new coach, Jose “The Chosen One” Mourinho have made a flurry of additions.  It seems that he wanted to bring most of the players who helped him win the Champions League at Inter Milan this past season to Real Madrid.

The summer that gave us Spain as the first time World Champions, also saw some of the South Africa World Cup great performers featured in these transfers.  Namely, Spain’s David Villa (the almost winner of the Adidas Golden Boot) went from Valencia to Barcelona increasing their finishing power and David Silva from Valencia to Manchester City; Argentina’s Angel di Maria from Benfica to Real Madrid; Mexico’s Giovani dos Santos from Galatassaray to Tottenham and Germany’s phenom Tony Kroos from Bayern Leverkusen to Bayern Munich.

I, for one, am very curious to see how these transfers pan out.  Will Real Madrid’s new Team of Stars fair better than the previous one?  Will Mourinho continue the streak?  Will Manchester City win the Premier League?  Will Arsenal regret keeping Fabregas?  Will this be the last chance for Torres at Liverpool?

To get the answer to all these questions, I’ll have to be glued to my TV on the weekends and what fun it promises to be….

Some changes on the Top 10 with Italy, France and Croatia falling off.  Portugal went from 3rd place to 8th.  The USA moved up one spot and my beloved Cape Verde Islands moved up 6 spots to position 108 thanks to a scoreless draw against Portugal in a friendly prior to the World Cup.  Keep moving up Blue Sharks!!!! Check out the full table below:

…. Thomas Mueller (Germany)

David Villa (Spain), Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands) and Diego Forlan (Uruguay) all finished with 5 goals but were edged out by Mueller on assists which are, by rule, the tie breaker.

Mueller, an exciting player to watch, was also named the tournament’s Best Young Player. For now he is a Bayern Munich player, but with these awards and performance at the World Cup, his stock is definitely on the rise and other European leagues are bound to come calling soon.

Congrats, Mueller!!!

The final weekend of the 2010 FIFA World Cup was an exciting one as the final game featured de facto favorites, Spain, and improbable finalists, Netherlands.

But first, on Saturday, the stage to decide 3rd place was set in Port Elizabeth between Uruguay and Germany.  If Germany had impressed with its high scoring offense, Uruguay did it by their perseverance and sheer luck (see game against Ghana).  It turned out to be a high scoring affair which the Germans ended up winning by a score of  3 – 2 on a goal at the 82nd minute by Sami Khedira.  Diego Forlan had the opportunity to tie the game as time expired and La Celeste was left with the 4th place consolation prize.

The final on Sunday, in contrast, was a highly defensive game that marked La Furia’s first title on a goal by Andres Iniesta in the 116th minute.  This game was a veritable yellow card festival with British referee Howard Webb (he with the quick trigger) issuing 13 yellows.  John Heitinga was the unlucky recipient of 2, therefore having to leave the game and his team to play with 10 men late in the extra period.  Both teams had their opportunities and Arjen Robben was denied by Iker Casillas on at least 2 occassions.  Leading scorer Wesley Sneijder also had some opportunities but with the Spaniards closing in on defense and holding to the ball for most of the game, it became even more of a defensive game.

In the end, Spain, Euro 2008 title holders became the 2010 FIFA World Cup champions.  Besides Brazil, these teams have always been favorites of mine so, even though I had predicted a Spain win, I felt torn in the final game and a bit disappointed for the Dutch who never seem to quite get there.  Oh well, better luck next time….

Most have been complaining about this World Cup because the perennial  favorites (i.e. Brazil and Argentina) were absent in the finals and the best players in the world (namely Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo) did not perform, but I enjoyed because it gave me a chance to see young promising teams like Ghana and some exciting new players like Germany’s Thomas Mueller.

Standings as of 7/7/2010 (includes only players still in the competition):

Player	Team	Goals
Wesley Sneijder	Netherlands	5
David Villa	Spain	5
Miroslav Klose	Germany	4
Thomas Mueller	Germany	4
Diego Forlan	Uruguay	4
Luis Suarez	Uruguay	3
Lukas Podolski	Germany	2
Arjen Robben	Netherlands	2
Arne Friedrich	Germany	1
Cacau	Germany	1
Mesut Oezil	Germany	1
Dirk KUYT	Netherlands	1
Giovanni Van Bronckhorst	Netherlands	1
Klaas Jan Huntelaar	Netherlands	1
Robin Van Persie	Netherlands	1
Andres Iniesta	Spain	1
Carles Puyol	Spain	1
Alvaro Pereira	Uruguay	1
Maximiliano Pereira	Uruguay	1