Merci Eric; Barcelona pay tribute to the departing Abidal

 

Barcelona defender Eric Abidal made his final, highly emotional, appearance for the Catalan giants tonight in a 4-1 win over Malaga at the Nou Camp, after it was revealed his contract was not to be renewed for the forthcoming season.

 

For those who do not know his incredible story, he had been diagnosed with a tumour in his liver in 2011, but had further complications meaning he had to undergo a transplant in 2012. Both times however, the Frenchman battled through, and made a return to the pitch, amid a flood of well wishes from around the world of football. He played the full 90 minutes of Barcelona's 2011 Wembley triumph over Manchester United, and in a touching show of unity club captain Carles Puyol lifted the European Cup with Abidal.

 

His cousin, Gerard, was the donor when Abidal required a transplant in 2012. Support came from both his biological family, and his football family, with tributes again flooding in, and Barca dedicating their win on that day to Abidal. Again, the dedicated defender recovered, and returned to play a few games for Barcelona B. Two months ago he made his return to first team action, replacing Gerard Pique, he then went on to play a few full 90 minutes.

 

Thank you, my cousin. Abidal pays tribute to his cousin Gerard, who was the donor in his successful liver transplant.

It has been announced that Barcelona will not be renewing Abidal's contract, and the two would part company after tonights fixture. His name was chanted for most of the game, the decibels rising as the game cointinued, reaching its peak when the Frenchman made his appearance as a substitute.

 

No doubt, there will be a fair few clubs clambering for Abidal's signature, after the 33 year old declared he would love to play on after this season. Barcelona have insisted that there is always an opportunity open for him to return as a coach when he finally decides to hang up his boots. After 6 trophy laden years at the Nou Camp, Barcelona released this emotional tribute to Abidal on their Youtube channel on the 30th May -

 

 

For now, it is not known where he will be playing next season, but we can say for sure wherever it is Abidal will play to the best of his abilities, and with all his heart. The words 'legend' and 'respect' are thrown around far too often on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook nowadays, but Eric Abidal is one who truly deserves it.

 

From Goalmouth Scramble, thank you Eric, you've been an inspiration for many, and earned the respect and adoration of the world. All the best for the coming seasons.

The new Cardiff City kit causes a stir

Nothing can really compare to the outrage we saw last season from Cardiff faithful, protesting the Bluebird's controversial home kit, changing from the traditional blue to a 'lucky' red. In the end the move paid off, with the club being promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their history and completing a Welsh quadruple with Swansea, Wrexham and Newport County all tasting success.

 

But you'd think the Cardiff bigwigs would have learnt their lessons from last years complications, shall we say. The kit designs must be given the green light from them before release after all. 

 

Evidently not, as the world saw with the release of this from manafacturers Puma.

 

 

The shirt itself looks acceptable, although it would arguably be better if it was blue, even though it is a widely used Puma template. But that isn't the problem for the Cardiff fans. This season  they turn their attentions to the shorts, and for good reason.

 

Lets be honest, it looks like the shorts have been recycled from another kit and then had the Cardiff crest sewn on to them. One would think they would have kept the black colour scheme that they wore in the Championship winning season, but instead opted to go with a deep red colour. The powers that be at the football club have assured fans that its purely to make the club stand out from the others in the Premier League, with other teams in red; Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United wearing white, red and black shorts respectively.

 

All it has successfully done has brought the proud Welsh club ridicule among the footballing community and outrage from their fans. In a quick turn around, the club has turned to the season ticket holders to select new shorts from four choices. Among them is the original claret/maroon shorts, along with matching red, white and black. It is thought that the decision will be made in the next week.

New England kit by Nike

Well... Where do we start with the new England jersey unveiled yesterday?

 

Let's be brutally honest, it looks like Germany's 1966 kit, complete with the dark coloured round neck collar. It doesn't seem the best of moves from the FA, who are of course celebrating their 125th anniversary, to choose a colour scheme so closely linked with their biggest footballing rivals.

 

The dark colour in question has been revealed as being a very dark navy, as opposed to the black it was originally thought to be. I bet that makes everyone feel so much better about their national team wearing a glorified copy of a retro Germany jersey!

 

Germany legend, Franz Beckenbauer modelling the classic Germany kit of the 1960s.

 

The new England jersey, unveiled by Nike yesterday.

The MLS odd couple, Manchester City join forces with the New York Yankees

On one hand we have Manchester City, proud football team from the north of England, full of star names like David Silva, Yaya Toure and England goalkeeper Joe Hart, to name but a few. Club favourites include Colin Bell, Mike Doyle, Niall Quinn, and after 'that goal', Sergio Agueroooooooo!

 

On the other, we have the New York Yankees, the most successful team in Major League Baseball with a team of stars like Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano. Discussing famous players is like reading from the Cooperstown hall of fame; Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gherig, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford.. The list goes on.

 

But what's the connection between the two you may ask?

 

The two sporting giants are set to team up to bring an MLS franchise to New York City. The franchise has been debated for some time, with the stadium planned for construction in Flushing Meadows, Queens. This is much to the annoyance of the New York Mets, the cities other MLB franchise, who play their games at Citi Field, near to the planned site of the new stadium.

 

The deal is thought to be worth upwards of $100,000,000 dollars (about £66m) and the franchise will commence playing in 2015, but it looks like they won't have a stadium for opening day. It is thought that the team will have a temporary home until the issue is resolved.

 

The New York metropolitan area is already a legendary sporting hub. The Jets and the Giants carry the New York name in the NFL, while the Rangers and the Islanders carry the city's name on the ice. The New York Knicks, who British readers will be familiar with after their game at the O2 Arena, join the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA. The Yankees, situated in the Bronx, and the Mets from Queens hold 29 World Series titles between them (27 of which belong to the Bronx Bombers). The New York Red Bulls, although based in New Jersey, carry the name of the city. In the past the city has been home to the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers, relocated to California in the westward expansion of the 1960s to San Francisco and Los Angeles respectively.

 

New York City Football Club will be the 20th franchise in the MLS and New York's 11th team in the big five sports of baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer, if we are to count the recently reformed New York Cosmos in the second tier of American soccer.

 

Keep an eye out for the club's official kit, colours and badge, which will be announced soon, and no doubt brought to you here.



Match Report: League Two Play-Off Final, Bradford City 3-0 Northampton Town

Bradford City returned to Wembley this afternoon twelve weeks after their first visit this year; a heart-breaking defeat to Swansea in the League Cup Final. This time they took on Aidy Boothroyd's Northampton Town in the showpiece of this season's Football League Two.

Both teams had overcome strong tests in the semi-finals in the shape of Burton Albion and Cheltenham Town respectively, surely setting up a thriller at Wembley. For Bradford City after their fairy-tale run all the way to the League Cup Final, it was just another game, arriving at the national stadium dressed in their game day tracksuits. For Northampton Town however, this was their cup final, walking around on the Wembley pitch pre-match in smart black suits.

After the usual formalities of a footballing showpiece including the presentation of the teams to dignitaries and singing of the national anthem, all eyes turned to what they came for; the game of football ahead of them.

After end to end football in the first ten minutes, both teams settled into the flow of the game. While Northampton seemed to sit back, they successfully repelled the first wave of Bradford's counter attacking style.

Bradford get the breakthrough

The breakthrough came on the 15 minute mark, a combination of poor defending and great build up play from Bradford set up a great opportunity for James Howson. The striker duly obliged, converting the cross from the right with a sublime looping header over Northampton's hero from the semi-finals Lee Nicholls.

The lead was doubled barely four minutes later when Rory McArdle popped up in the box, sending a powerful header in the bottom corner of the Northampton goal. The assist again came from a cross from the right hand side, the Cobblers had seemingly not learned their lesson from the first goal.

Northampton's situation went from bad to worse just before the half hour mark. Gary Thompson's cushioned header across the face of the goal was slammed home by the onrushing Nakhi Wells, scoring his eighth goal in as many games for Bradford. It seemed that even with the vast experience of Clarke Carlisle in their ranks, the Cobblers defences crumbled when the ball fell in their box. Lee Nicholls, picking the ball out of the back of the net for the third time in less than thirty minutes, would have undoubtedly seen the stunned and dejected Northampton fans seated behind his goal.

 

Nakhi Wells fires home on 28 minutes

As Bradford went in to half time cruising with a three goal advantage, the biggest lead in any play-off final at any level, Northampton had it all to overcome. Where the club will be playing next season rested on Boothroyd's team talk, in which he must have referenced a certain eastern European city, on a certain night in 2005, arguably the greatest comeback in football, also from 3-0 down. Phil Parkinson's job one can imagine was a lot easier, and probably encouraged his players to build on the strong foundations they had built in the first half.

 

Second half

Northampton come out of the blocks strong at the second time of asking, but were yet to register a shot on target on Jon McLaughlin's goal. The first ten minutes of the second half were much like the first, end to end football and a few opportunities for both sides. A huge roar erupted from the claret clad end of Wembley on 55 minutes, however it wasn't a goal celebration, but the introduction of the Cobblers' leading scorer this season, the powerful fan favourite Abebayo Akinfenwa.

A minute later, Bradford fans paid a touching and emotional tribute to the 56 football fans, 54 from Bradford and 2 from Lincoln City, that tragically lost their lives in the Valley Parade fire of 11th May 1985.

The second half could have spelled disaster for Northampton, with Bradford squandering a good opportunity, and a wicked deflection from a being plucked out of the air by Nicholls. But the Cobblers somehow kept the deficit to a manageable 3 goals, although the clock was becoming their enemy.

A man of the match winning performance from Bradford's Nakhi Wells was recognised by the Yorkshire club's travelling faithful with a standing ovation when he was substituted with the job almost complete on 84 minutes.

As four minutes were added on at the end of the second half, Northampton fans started trickling from the ground, readying themselves for the trip home in heart-breaking silence. Those who stayed were dejected; even the most wildly optimistic of fans would not have thought three goals in four minutes was possible. As time slipped slowly away, the other end began to take on a party atmosphere, erupting in joy at the final whistle.

 

Staggering attendence

47,127 fans were present at the national stadium, with both ends packed with supporters of both clubs, but there is a strong possibility there were quite a few neutrals also attending. It is worth noting that the Europa League Final between Benfica and Chelsea at the Amsterdam Arena only drew 46,163 supporters. The game was a great advert for the Football League, seeing as this was the showpiece of the fourth tier of English football.

Congratulations go to the winners Bradford City, and commiserations go to the runner up Northampton Town. And praise go to both sides for creating such a great advert for the Football League. Bradford's promotion is their first since their promotion to the Premiership in 1999, and comes almost 12 years to the day that they bowed out of the top flight of English football. The season has almost been a fairy-tale for the fans who have stuck with their team after relegation and the brink of administration and relegation to non-league, being rewarded with two trips to Wembley, the arguably more important game returning them to the third tier. For the players, however, the game today was the final push after a 64 game marathon, only Chelsea has played more games. For now, they can relax before returning to training to take on League One next season. The achievements of Northampton cannot be overlooked; a Wembley appearance for a club on the brink of relegation to the Conference for the last few seasons is a huge success, and hopefully a foundation for more success next season.

 

Bradford celebrate promotion to League One

 

Atletico triumph in bad tempered Madrid derby to win first Copa del Rey since 1996

Atletico Madrid secured their first win over their bitter cross city rivals Real Madrid last night with a 2-1 win in extra time. It was the first time in FOURTEEN years that Atletico had managed the feat, but this victory will live long in the memory of the Atletico fans.

Real Madrid had home advantage, the Copa del Rey was their last chance of securing silverware this season, and most importantly, the last 8 derbies had gone in favour of Mourinho's men. It was clear to see Atletico were the underdogs going in to the game, although their ranks boasted a wealth of big names, including the Colombian hitman Radamel Falcao.

Before the game an echo of boos spread round the Bernebeu aimed at Real boss Jose Mourinho, in what could possibly be one of his last games at the helm. Most of these boos erupted from the end that housed the sea of red and white clad Atletico fans, but many came from his own, once adoring, fans. It was no surprise the Special One was reluctant to leave the dugout, often caught on camera sporting an emotionless facial expression which will no doubt enrage Real fans even further.

Few could believe Mourinho had opted to start without the returning Iker Casillas in goal, and the normally solid albeit hot-headed Pepe in defence. Despite the setbacks Real took a big step in the right direction as Mesut Ozil's whipped corner was met by Cristiano Ronaldo, sending a powerful header beyond the reach of Thibaut Courtois.

Atletico equalised in the 35th minute after Falcao's fancy footwork proved too much for Raul Albiol, who couldn't stop the Colombian playing a perfectly weighted through ball to strike partner Diego Costa. Costa's low drive beat the outstretched arm of Diego Lopez in the Real goal. So, the blame for the equaliser laid at the controversial replacements for Casillas and Pepe, who maybe could have averted it, if they were playing.

Tempers flare

Jose Mourinho made a rare appearance in the technical area after a decision went against him, and after a war of words, soon left again after being dismissed. Real Madrid's night of shame continued with a straight red for goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo, who seem to fling his boot at the face of Gabi, whose amateur dramatics were second to none on the night. In the wake of the red card both benches erupted, resulting in some unsavoury scenes on the touchline, with clear punches being thrown. At the other end, Atletico keeper Courtois was pelted with lighters and coins by the Real fans, with one striking the Belgian in the back of the head.


Cristiano Ronaldo is dismissed for an intentional high boot.

As the match went into extra time, Atletico held the advantage. Manager Diego Simeone was able to talk to his team, but Jose Mourinho was somewhere in the depths of the Bernabeu, unable to pass anything on to his players. Atletico took a well deserved lead in the eighth minute of extra time, Miranda reaching the ball before the stranded Diego Lopez.

Real could not find a way back into the game, even after Atletico lost their one man advantage after Gabi received his marching orders.

It has been a crazy 18 months for the red side of Madrid which has seen the club win the 2012 Europa League, the European Supercup which saw them demolish Champions League winners Chelsea. To top it all off, the club has won the Copa del Rey, its first since 1996, against their bitter rivals on their own turf.

Mourinho's worst season

A dejected Jose Mourinho has branded this season, which has seen him finish trophyless for the first time in management, as the worst of his distinguished career. Real have finished second best to Catalan giants Barcelona in La Liga, missed out on a Champions League final with a defeat to Borrussia Dortmund, and have now finished runners up to Madrid rivals Atletico in the Copa del Rey.


Atletico Madrid players and coaching staff celebrate victory.

Goalmouth Scramble are now on Twitter!

 

 

Acting on the plan of action from yesterday I am pleased to announce that Goalmouth Scramble is now on Twitter. After playing around with some usernames, and finding out @GoalmouthScramble was unfortunately too long to be accepted, I settled on @6YardScramble. However, if anyone thinks of another username we can use, don't hesitate to get in touch.

 

I'll be tweeting everything you might expect to find on the blog, albeit in 140 characters or less. At present we have one follower, so get following!

 

If there's any changes to the Twitter name, or anything else else on our new found social media platform, it'll be posted on our dedicated Twitter page that can be found on the left of the screen.

The scramble continues...

Dear readers,

 

Sorry for the severe lack of posts lately. Well, I say lately.. 2 years is a long time, especially in the ever changing world of football. My blogging has had to take a back seat for the time being, with my time more wisely devoted to studying for my degree.

 

But... I'm pleased to announce Goalmouth Scramble is back in business at long last!

 

Over the summer, the main aim is to get the blog back on track, bringing you news and views from the tail end of the 2012/2013 season, summer transfers and pre-season friendlies and tournaments.

 

In addition, I hope to make a few changes to the blog and its running.

 

If anyone has any ideas, suggestions or improvements please don't hesitate to contact me.

 

But for now, here's a general outline of initial ideas...

 

- An official Goalmouth Scramble twitter account

- Another writer contributing to the blog

- A weekly round up of the world football news

 

We're just in time to start discussing the Football League Play-Offs, Chelsea's recent European triumph and the recent announcement from David Beckham regarding his retirement from football.

 

Watch this space!

 

 

P.S - You didn't really think we'd forget to mention Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement did you? We'll be paying tribute to the outgoing Manchester United boss in our own special way in the very first post since our return!