THEY'LL BE DANCING IN THE STREETS OF GABORONE..

Not only will a large percentage of the local population have been dancing on Gaborone's streets this past evening, but many more will doubtless come tumbling out of cupboards around the country during the course of this coming week after Botswana's national side, known as the Zebras, confirmed their qualification for next year's Africa Cup of Nations with a 1:0 win away to Chad.

Jerome Ramatlhakwane earned his place in Botswanan football history by scoring the 50th minute winner, and his fifth in the Zebras' qualification camapign in total, at N'Djamena's Stade Nationale. Botswana, managed by Stanley Tshosane, have not been prolific goalscorers in their group, netting just seven goals in their six games so far (the other two coming from Oteng Mongala and Joel Mogorosi), though they remain unbeaten and have won five games so far.

Their total of 16 points includes surprisingly defeating Tunisia twice (by 1:0 home and away) and the double against Chad, alongside defeating Togo in Gaborone and drawing away against Malawi. There are those who may put Tunisia's defeats down to the current turbulent political situation in the country, but seeing as the Zebras won in Tunis last July, that argument surely holds no ground. The fact that both Tunisia and Togo competed in the 2006 World Cup and have been regularly competing in the most recent editions of the African Cup of Nations only serves to make the Botswanan national side's achievement that more impressive.

The Zebras are sitting pretty with 16 points at the top of Group K, an unassailable seven points clear of their nearest challengers Malawi with only two games to go, at home to Malawi in June with the final group game away to Togo in September. Malawi currently sit second in the group, and it may well go down to the wire between themselves and Tunisia (currently on 7 points) with Togo and Chad now seemingly all but elliminated.

It will be their first appearance at a major tournament, having previously been eliminated in either the preliminary round or group stages of all previous World Cup and African Cup of Nations tournaments in which they have taken part since their first attempt in 1994. They declined to participate in the qualifying stages for the 1998 World Cup.

The 2012 African Cup of Nations will be co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, with the tournament's opening match taking place in the Equatorial Guinean coastal city of Bata on 21/1/12.

Most of the national squad play in domestic football, apart from goalkeeper Modiri Marumo,defender Mogogi Gabonamong, Ramathlhakwane, and Botswana's most popular player and current top-scorer in the Botswanan national side, Dioketogo ("Dipsy") Selolwane, who all play in South Africa.

The top local side is Township Rollers, who celebrate their 50th anniversary this year, with 10 domestic titles to their name, and who seem a good bet to duplicate last season's championship-winning perfomance this time round as well. Gaborone's finest are currently nine points clear of second-placed Mochudi Centre Chiefs in the BeMobile Premier League, with Francistown outfit ECCO City Greens a further five points adrift in third.

Botswana's club sides have not impressed in African club competitions down the years, with only the Rollers progressing past the preliminary round, and that on one occcasion. Nevertheless, it will be an experience and a half for the Zebras, and congratulations to them, too. It is something of which the country's entire population of two million people should be proud of, regardless of how far they progress. The Zebras now have ten months in which to prepare for the African Cup of Nations, and their friendly in Marrakech against Morocco this coming Thursday will be first of many tests to come, but the coming time is something for Botswana's inhabitants to enjoy, cherish and look forward to.

NATWEST ISLAND GAMES 2011 ENTRY LIST - LATEST

Preparations are gathering pace for the 2011 NatWest Island Games, to be held between Saturday 25/6/11-Saturday 1/7/11, and several islands have entered both the men's and women's football tournaments. To date, 16 islands have entered the men's tournament, while 10 have entered the women's tournament.

The entry list is as follows, with "parent" countries in brackets:

MEN'S TOURNAMENT: Aland Islands(Finland), Alderney (Channel Islands,UK), Falkland Islands (UK), Froya (Norway), Gibraltar (UK), Gotland (UK), Greenland (Denmark), Isle of Man (UK), Isle of Wight (UK), Jersey (Channel Islands, UK), Menorca (Spain), Prince Edward Island (Canada), Rhodes (Greece), Saaremaa (Estonia), Western Isles (UK) and Ynys Mon/Anglesey (UK)

WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT: Aland Islands (Finland), Gibraltar (UK), Gotland (Sweden), Greenland (Denmark), Hitra (Norway), Isle of Man (UK), Isle of Wight (UK), Jersey (UK), Saaremaa (Estonia) and Western Isles (UK)

Surprise omissions to the list appear to be the Shetland Islands (UK) and Guernsey (UK); the latter would perhaps have been expected to feature reasonably strongly in the men's competition.

It was reported in an earlier blog a few months ago that Saint Helena were intending to send a team to compete in the men's competion. However, the Saints do not appear in the above list of competitors, received yesterday from Kay Batty, General Secretary of the Island Games Association, which is based in the Isle of Man, who stated that, as far as the current list of competing islands goes, "..Saint Helena are not entering a football team."

The list, however, is not yet definite, though, according to Mrs Batty, the fixture-list for the football tournament will be compiled sometime during the next few weeks by the Isle of Wight Organising Committee, and will hopefully be made available to view on this blog.

More on the Island Games to follow in due course, including a potted history  of the men's competition.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to Kay Batty for kindly passing on the information included in the blog; any errors are the author's and the author's alone.

FOOTBALL AS IT SHOULD BE PLAYED

It is always a pleasure to talk, and write, about a game one has just seen, provided that the game has been of the highest quality, and the game played between Arsenal and Barcelona on 16/2/11 is one such occasion that deserves to be written about.

Barca scored first in the first half through David Villa via a defence-splitting pass from an excellent Lionel Messi, before Arsenal levelled through a Robin van Persie strike from a narrow angle just outside the six-yard box found its way past Victor Valdes in the Barcelona goal. Moments later, Andrei Arshavin, he who should have his index finger cut off, scored the winner for Arsenal from close range and, instead of his usual irritating celebration, threw his shirt over his head.

A deserved win for Arsenal, but only just, as there were comparatively few shots on goal from either side throughout the game.

No matter. The technical quality was breathtaking from start to finish. There were maybe five corners taken in the whole of the game, maybe fifteen throw-ins taken to boot, but it was, in spite of five yellow cards dished out by my man of the match, Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli - who refereed the game stylishly and unobrtusively, always using the advantage rule to full effect- thoroughly enthralling.

Robin van Persie had the first real chance, well saved by Valdez, after some fine masterly dribbling work by young Master Theo Walcott and a nifty ball through by Cesc Fabregas, both of whom performed to the highest level throughout (in Walcott's case, until he was substituted by The Gunners' Danish Honey Monster, Nicklas Bendtner, before van Persie's equaliser).

Arsenal's third keeper, Wojchech Szczesny performed more than creditably throughout, but he was given no chance after 26 minutes when Loinel Messi's intricately threaded through-ball found the foot of David Villa, who did the expected by side-footing the ball to the Pole's left.

In between Villa's opener and van Persie's well-taken equaliser, there were indeed few chances of note, but the football was both technically enthralling and intoxicating, not to mention sporting in the extreme. Fouls were rare, and, as mentioned, Rizzoli had the game well and truly under control, ably assisted by his linesmen. Talk about pass and move; the first 20 minutes were breathless, with the ball barely leaving the ground, and although the tempo slowed somewhat as the game went on, the manner in which the game was played barely altered, and the pass and move style from both teams throughout the game was an absolute joy to behold.

What a difference from the game in the Giuseppe Meazza/San Siro last night, if reports are to be believed. (Your correspondent did not see the game between AC Milan : Spurs due to educational committments.) A goal from Der Crouchmeister (ahem, Peter Crouch) made all the difference, as did a rather reckless two-footed tackle from AC Milan's Mathieu Flamini on Tottenham's Vedran Corluka.

According to some of those who saw the match, it changed the whole athmosphere of the game, with Gennaro Gattuso having a couple of run-ins with Spurs' assistant manager Joe Jordan, so much so that Gattuso and Jordan had verbal (and physical) run-ins during the remainder of the 90 minutes, which led to Gattuso rather tamely head-butting Jordan after the final whistle.

If both were let loose in an enclosed space last night, my money would have been on Joe Jordan to come out on top. They would have still been looking for bits and pieces of Gattuso in the second tier of the Giuseppe Meazza.. Never mind the handbags in Milan, though, I am looking forward, to 8/3/11, to seeing the footballing ballet in the Nou Camp that is surely to come between Barcelona and Arsenal. Can't wait.

WHAT ARE YOUR WISHES FOR THE GAME OF FOOTBALL IN 2011?

Many in the media and on blogs such as this one concentrate their efforts at year's end with looking back at the year just gone. I have decided to look the other way - forward. Some of you reading this blog may say that it is a bit late to publish something covering a look ahead to 2011, but, hey, it's my blog and I'll do exactly what I want with it.

I decided to ask some friends and acquaintances who love and worship the great god football what they wanted to see happen to the sport in 2011, and the answers were many and varied. Gemma told me that she thought that Spurs would win the 2011 Premier League, while also stating the hope that "[Roman] Abramovich would leave Chelsea, that the club would go bust and that Old Trafford would burn to the ground". Now, I must say that although most of those of a Red persuasion (such as myself) and a great many other football fans all across the British Isles would most probably concur, this wasn't quite the answer I was looking for.

Robski, himself a referee, expressed the hope that cameras would be placed on the goal-line at all major tournaments. This was a recurring theme throughout many answers received. Gero probably earned himself a place on Robski's Christmas-card list by agreeing with the call for goal-line technology, but probably more so for being of the opinion that referees should be respected and that those guilty of carrying out bad tackles should be given a 10-match ban. The noble Gero had much more to say, but I mislaid his wish-list, which in retrospect, may not have been such a bad thing as it was big enough to keep me in Blogland until April, and as one of his hopes was that Liverpool would be relegated. In any case, sorry, Gero.

Shaun may well join Gero in Rob's good books with his request that players who swear at match officials should be instantly red-carded, adding that, when sanctioned, "players should be men about it".

Meanwhile, goal-line technology was busy racking up the points in the wish-list, with Frank, Ton and Remco  all advocating is introduction, with Remco also introducing the introduction of cameras following play along the touchline (such as is used in American Football) in order to ascertain when someone has strayed offside. He also said that, in professional football at least, the option should be open for each team to "challenge" the referee's decision 3 times per half per game.

Ton's wife, Petra, wished for a more sporting year on and off the pitch, for more honesty from players and match officials alike, and for an end to abuse of match officials by players. She also said that every footballer should get a chance; those who fail to make the grade should be given help to find a club more suited to their level of ability. Players should be paid much less than they are, she went on, and unsporting players should be banned for life.

Ton himself, meanwhile, said that professional clubs should have a back-up plan to assist players who don't make the grade, and that 6 out of the 11 players who take the field on match-day should be nationals of the league competition they are playing in. The January transfer-window should be abolished, and those clubs whose debts aren't brought under control during a 3-year period should have a transfer embargo imposed.
He also called for fair-play above everything else, as did Maurice.

As, indeed, did Henk, who is also praying for a Bayern Munich : Barcelona final in the Champions League: "At least we'd get a good game", he said. He would also like to see some "good football; lightning-fast football".

FIFA didn't quite escape everybody's attention in my little survey. Silke, apart from expressing the unlikely hope that Sankt-Pauli would win the Bundesliga, also told me that corruption would always exist in FIFA and UEFA. Possibly, but I would like to see it stamped in football, full-stop, with life bans and imprisonment for those convicted of corruption.

Richie is keeping his fingers crossed that Sepp Blatter gets struck by a bolt of lightning, and would like the World Cup taken from Qatar and "given to somewhere like the US". (I can't see the latter happening, but I hope and pray that Sepp will go on an advanced driving course this year..)

And now, it's my turn on the swings. I would, first of all, like to thank those named above who took the time to answer the call to contribute; your help was, and is, greatly appreciated. It was hardly a scientific affair, but my survey did throw up a few unexpected ideas as well as the more familiar subjects. My thanks also go to Roberto Muylaert, biographer of the 1950 Brazilian World Cup goalkeeper Moacyr Barbosa (more on Barbosa in another blog shortly), who was the only person out of a list including footballers such as Lionel Messi and Alessandro Del Piero, managers and referees past and present and others involed in, and writing about, the game of football, to actually send me a proper answer to my original question.

I must say that I disagree with goal-line technology; I much prefer the notion of an umpire standing on each side of the goal, as in Gaelic Football. This could be used as a first step in becoming a referee, should the umpire wish to do so. I believe that umpires could be used from the lowest levels of football right up to and including the World Cup Final; it keeps the human aspect of decision-making very much alive, and I would like to think that there are at least 3 honest people (umpires plus linesman) in every amateur club!

I would like to see the Champions League and Europa League scrapped and revert back to the old formula; two-leg knockout ties right from the start, with a completely open draw. It's good for the smaller clubs, as they could potentially profit from a big pay-day (gate reciepts and TV money), and they would also receive some free publicity and a place in the sun.

Unsporting behaviour also featured prominently in my survey. Two-footed tackles must be outlawed, as must be diving. A direct red for the first, and a yellow for the second. (Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben and Luis Suarez must be medal hopefuls for their respective countries at the 2012 Olympics; 10-metre springboard, anyone??)

The same goes for players who incite opposition supporters, especially after scoring a goal; for example, Rafael van der Vaart, El Hadji Diouf and Andrei Arshavin all deserve to be taken into the centre-circle and ceremonially given a good slapping and then a yellow card for such things, with Arshavin getting the index finger on his right hand sliced off at the quick for good measure.

Football hooligans should also be banned for life from attending football games at whatever level, and there should be no recourse to appeal. Racism, xenophobia and homophobia in the game must also be stamped out, and those guilty of same, on or off the field of play, should also be banned from football for life. The media have their role to play as well, but do not always do so.

In other words, I agree with Henk, Ton and Maurice said about fair play being paramount, on and off the pitch. This was also a view shared by Roberto Muylaert, who also hoped for much more attacking football and "less of the defensive football we are seeing today." That would be a good start, and goes to show that a simple statement can say a lot. However, it is all very well for those involved in the game to talk about fair play. It is up to them, and to us all, players, fans, media and so on, to show it.

THE SACKING OF ROY HODGSON

The English managerial merry-go-round just keeps merrily turning, with Liverpool's Roy Hodgson being the latest high-profile casualty, having departed Anfield on 8 January by "mutual consent"; this, of course, being the mannerly way of saying that he was sacked.

He follows other managers (and what of Avram Grant?), such as Roy Keane, told by Ipswich Town to pack his bags, leave and take his dog with him, Brian Laws, who was shown the door at Burnley, and the manifestly unlucky Chris Hughton, who more than deserved a contract at Newcastle United but instead got the sack. Hughton's replacement, Alan Pardew, was then given a 5 1/2 year contract by Newcastle's owner, Mike Ashley. Hughton was the guardian of the Toon Army's hopes and fortunes, and loved by the supporters on Tyneside; Hodgson got barely six months at Anfield and was seemingly loathed by one and all among the Kop faithful.

Hodgson's short-lived reign as Liverpool manager was, admittedly, a less than glorious time, with the Reds winning 7 out of 20 Premier League games and being knocked out of the League Cup, at home, by fourth-tier side Northampton Town. In Hodgson's defence, he employed a ghost team that night, preferring to give several reserves and a clutch of youngsters a run-out before a less than capacity crowd at Anfield.

It has been said, in the media and in the street, that Hodgson's style of play was too negative, that it was better served at clubs such as Fulham, that he didn't stamp his authority and/or style of play on the Liverpool squad, and that he was simply too nice. BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson was of the opinion that Roy Hodgson was "a thoroughly decent man, a very nice man, but the wrong man at the wrong time."

Hodgson was, thanks in part to the media, thanks in part to an increasingly impatient fan-base, a dead man walking. More often than not, however, there were eleven dead men wearing Liverpool shirts on various Premier League grounds not just this season, but last, a throwback to the last, desperate, days of Rafael Benitez's time as manager at Liverpool before he fluttered off to Inter Milan, only to be sacked himself just before Christmas.

Benitez, as everyone knows, won the European Cup/Champions League (call it what you will; the choice is yours) with Liverpool in 2005 with a team largely filled with players recruited by his predecessor, Gerard Houllier. The Reds reached the final two years later, only to lose to the team they so heroically beat in 2005, AC Milan. Apart from that, and the 2008-09 season, when they finished just behind Manchester United, the last six years have mostly been a time of non-achievement.

When Hodgson took over at Anfield, Liverpool FC were still embroiled in an ownership struggle, the club were broke, and many of the decent players the club had (Benayoun and Hyppia, for instance) had moved on. He was able to sign a couple of players, but Maxi Rodriguez and Meireles apart, they haven't really been up to scratch. Many have criticised Hodgson for signing a couple of "duds", but he was provided neither with adequate funds nor enough time to get a team together. He was left to make do with what he had, which was precious little in terms of quality.

The squad he inherited - Gerrard, Torres, Kuyt and Carragher excepted - simply didn't add up to much. Hodgson chopped and changed as best he could, and, to his credit, utilised a number of youngsters mostly ignored in the Benitez era, such as Kelly, Ecclestone, Jay Spearing and David N'Gog, who is starting to show some promise. There should be a clearout at Anfield, and it shouldn't have started with Hodgson himself.

It's amazing what a European Cup win can do. Rafael Benitez lived off one such triumph for 5 years, and everybody proclaimed him as the new Messiah. Hodgson has been derided as a manager of limited ability. His Fulham side reached the final of the UEFA Cup/Europa League in 2009. He has managed clubs to domestic honours all over Europe. He has also managed Inter Milan (and lasted longer there than Benitez), and taken Switzerland to the World Cup Finals. Not bad for a "dilutey", I think you will agree.

However, Hodgson has gone, unjustly hounded out of a job, to be replaced by Kenny Dalglish, hero to all of a Red persuasion and keeper of the Anfield flame, who not only played for the club over 13 years, but also managed the side at the start of the 1990s. Now he's back, but the results have been, how you say, less than impressive. It is still early days, but one cannot see an improvement before the end of the season.

Journalist David Conn has described Liverpool as a club in "slow and inevitable decline"; I fear that we are indeed watching the slow decline of a club, one which reached the heights of European greatness but may shortly become the next Preston North End, and might not win the league title again in my lifetime. Very little, if any, of this, is Roy Hodgson's fault - personally, I find the way he has been treated to be nothing but shameful. He might have been the right man for the job; we shall never know. One thing is for sure; he was certainly Liverpool manager at the wrong time.

ITALY AND SPAIN - WHO WILL FINISH TOP?

Now that the winter break is upon us (well, in countries such as Italy and Spain), it is time to sit back, put the feet up and take stock, at least at the request of my football-loving compadre, Remco Mulder, a fervent follower of both AS Roma and Ajax; someone who has been hounding me for weeks on end for my prediction as to who who will finish top of the tree in Serie A and La Liga.

Who I hope will finish top of the respective leagues - Juventus and Athletic Bilbao, just in case you are wondering, dear reader - is, well, rather different than who I think will finish top. Having said that, Remco will have noted that AS Roma's position has drastically improved from when he first asked me to put something in writing in October. Then, last season's runners-up were in the bottom 3 and looking more like candidates for relegation than challengers for lo scudetto.

Now, at the time of writing, they have worked themselves up to fourth place, though still 7 points off the pace with AC Milan leading the pack. This season's surprise package, Napoli, plus Lazio and Juventus are sandwiched in-between. Current title-holders Inter Milan are in seventh place, some 13 points behind AC Milan, and seem unlikely to mount a challenge sufficient enough to garner more than fourth place. Meanwhile, Palermo are sitting pretty in sixth place and are more than capable of upseting the odds. Sampdoria, Udinese and Genoa occupy the remainder of the top 10 places.

One-time giants Parma and - surprisingly enough -  Fiorentina are hovering above the relegation zone, though both should survive at the expense of those already ensconced in the bottom four: Cesena, Brescia, Lecce and Bari. Bari are the only club currently in the bottom four who didn't come straight up last time, having finished in tenth place last time out. Three of the aforementioned four will go down; Brescia are my tip to save themselves.

Back to the top three; AC Milan are your correspondent's tip to win what is turning out to be a stop-start Serie A, with points being dropped all over the shop in the top 8. Lazio should end up finishing second, a drastic improvement on what they would consider a disastrous showing last season, when they could only finish twelfth. Juventus should finish third, thus improving on last season's seventh place and consolidating themselves once more among the top 4.

AS Roma will finish fourth, having had too much to do to come back from such a perilous position so early in the season, but also having done enough to progress at least to the quarter-final stages of the European Cup, ahem, Champions League - having said that, they have to get past Ukrainian side Shaktyar Donetsk first. No easy task. AS Roma seem still to be a team in transition, a young side, but one which promises much; however, it will not be enough for this season.

Meanwhile, in Spain, the top three positions in La Liga are looking somewhat easier to predict that those in Italy. Between the current top 3 sides at this moment in time, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Villareal, they have lost only 6 games this season. Barcelona are 2 points ahead of Real Madrid, with Villareal already some way back, themselves 5 points clear of fourth-placed Sevilla.

What to say? A repeat of last season's finishing positons? Yes and no. Barca to finish top - how can anyone argue with that at this moment in time, with the Catalans playing some of the most refreshingly effective football seen in years? Real to finish second - also playing some good football, but they still can't always seem to get it together at just the right moment - and, yes, Villareal to stay in third, improving on last season when they finished seventh, just ahead of last season's third-placed side Valencia, who are currently in fourth spot, heading Espanol on goal difference. Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao may yet beat Espanol to a place in the European Cup or the UEFA Cup, I mean Europa League (I really should stop being so traditionalist) next season.

Who to go down, though? Last year's Segunda Division champions, Real Sociedad, should do much more than enough to beat the drop, though Real Zaragoza are already looking firm candidates for the drop. Any two of the usual candidates - Racing Santander, Real Malaga, Sporting Gijon, plus this season's new boys Levante and last season's surprise mid-tale finishers UD Almeria - could join them. Opinion? Real Zaragoza, Levante and UD Almeria to go down.

Of course, we are sitting in the winter break and a lot can happen between now and May, but sometimes, just sometimes, things can end up being so predictable..in Spain, at any rate. Italy is looking just a little less clear-cut, and there may well a fine store of surprises to come, but Serie A should still be AC Milan's to lose. Well, Remco, I'm off to bed. Buonanotte..

WILL SAINT HELENA SEND A TEAM TO THE ISLAND GAMES?

One of the biggest news stories to have come out of the British territories in the South Atlantic Ocean this year was the news that the island of Saint Helena is to get its own airport, which is scheduled to be built by the end of 2012.


Until then, the island's inhabitants will have to leave and return to the island by the only means available: the Royal Mail steamship RMS Saint Helena. This also goes for the island's athletes, who are due to compete in the 2011 version of the Island Games, a competition held every two years involving small islands from across the world, which will be held this coming July on the Isle of Wight.