For a moment that was the 'headline' on the Sporting Life's website in its main football section. It's in view of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers which will really begin in earnest for Europe.
Actually, World In Motion is actually also the theme song for England's 1990 World Cup campaign. Sung by British group New Order actually (the search results of the song). And as much as I just want this entry to be about the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, there's a handful of domestic football news also to deal with.
On Friday speaking to the press from the UEFA headquarters where he was attending the annual Elite Coaches forum, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is not worried by the takeover of local rivals Manchester City by billionaire Arab owners, who have pledged to take the Eastlands side to the top of the Premier League. That's the not the only thing as he expressed doubt over the practicality of imposing regulations on club ownership. But for his Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger, he was all in favour of tighter regulations. As much as I had expected that former Newcastle fan favourite Alan Shearer will withdraw himself out of the manager job at his former club, he really did. Shearer, who is now working as a pundit for the BBC, would like to be a manager at some point and when he does, he also want to control who comes in and out of the club. Kevin Keegan left over his lack of control on transfers, a similar complaint to the one made by Alan Curbishley who resigned as boss of fellow top flight side West Ham on Wednesday.
And speaking of West Ham, they have signed Uruguayan left-back Walter Lopez who came on a free transfer having left River Plate of Argentina during the summer. Former Chelsea star Adrian Mutu has said before that he wanted to appeal what he called an 'unjust' and 'inhumane' fine (it's in regards to FIFA ordering him to pay his former club a massive amount in connection to his failed cocaine test in 2004 while he was still at the club). Yesterday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed the current Fiorentina striker is to appeal a 17.2-million-euro (25.3-million-dollar) fine from FIFA. Also with Chelsea though this time the player in question is on loan at Holland's FC Twente. Serbian defender Slobodan Rajkovic has been banned for 12 months for spitting at the referee following his side's 2-0 defeat by Argentina in a group match at the Beijing Olympics. It applies to all national and international matches including club competitions.
It's for real this time. I know I am totally quoting what I said in my final paragraph during the preview of the Germany-Poland's Euro 2008 group match (which Germany won 3-0 in that) but, it will be England coach Fabio Capello's competitive debut after five international friendlies with the side. And he is aiming to relieve the pressure. Even all the more it's facing Andorra (after the Euro 2008 qualifiers) and back at the same stadium where back then England had to wait for almost an hour before the 3-0 win. The Italian is used to such pressures already but, this will be very different altogether from his past coaching jobs, even if one of the clubs on his CV is Real Madrid. With Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney's goal-scoring drought for the national side stretching back to 11 months ago when he scored against Russia, Fabio Capello believes Wayne Rooney must end his England goal-drought against Andorra on Saturday to shatter the mental block affecting his performances for the national team.
Also with Capello, he has called on club managers around the country to show him respect by not launching public criticism at the national team. And the Italian also made it clear he only wants players in his squad who are fully committed to the cause. In short for the England captain John Terry, it's time to deliver. Before the team-news, the view from the oppposition and, Andorra is aiming to frustrate England again.
And the team-news I got is, Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has been ruled out of the match against Andorra. That means in Ferdinand's absence, John Terry is likely to be partnered at the heart of the defence by either Matthew Upson or Joleon Lescott. Coach Fabio Capello said he thought Ferdinand would probably be fit for Wednesday's crunch clash against Croatia in Zagreb.
On the German football front, French international Franck Ribery will return to full training with the rest of the Bayern Munich squad on Tuesday. He said that he had scans on Wednesday and can only say that everything was going well. And if one want to really believe what Spanish newspaper Marca is saying today, Real Madrid has made an offer for Bayern Munich's Lukas Podolski and it has been agreed. Okay, I know Real's coach is a German in the form of Bernd Schuster and Podolski has said before on his woes at the club (warming the bench). But um, Real? But then again, this is Marca...which almost all summer wrote about Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo is coming to Real Madrid.
Football thought of the day: It's actually been a long time since I last had my favourite football quote of the day and there's one I thought maybe I want to share. England coach Fabio Capello speaking ahead of the 2010 World Cup qualifier against Andorra on the pressures of his job (this is from the UEFA website) - "I know this is the situation and it is my job. If you can't take the pressure you can't be in this job. For me the pressure is normal and this is my job." The second sentence especially caught my eye.
Cuba v United States: don't mention the politics (The United States face Cuba in Havana on Saturday; the first time in over 60 years that they have played on the Caribbean island and given the political tensions between the two countries it is a fixture that has caught the imagination of the media — unusually for two countries where soccer is far from the national obsession. The problem, for reporters, with stories like this is that the politics is the only really interesting aspect to the game but no-one involved will ever say anything remotely spicy on the topic. It is one of those situations where reporters try in vain to get some words on the off-the-field context while the players, quite understandably, insist it is only about the three points, just another game etc, etc.)
Wright-Phillips builds links with Guatemala (New Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips recently traded the training ground for a Guatemalan hillside, as part of his charity work.)
Iashvili preaches strength in unity (Ahead of European qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, FIFA.com spoke exclusively to Karlsruhe and Georgia striker Alexander Iashvili.)
Pitroipa: We can't afford to relax (Jonathan Pitroipa is delighted with Burkina Faso's form in South Africa 2010 qualifying but, as he told FIFA.com, they simply cannot afford to relax.)
The meddling men upstairs who the managers love to hate (“If you ask British managers what a director of football is, a lot would probably answer, ‘A spy,'” Gordon Strachan, the Celtic manager, said. “I don't want to be disrespectful, but I think they're mainly a way for chairmen to make sure they know what's going on throughout their club.”)
The girl from Doncaster who became the toast of Abu Dhabi (The daring takeover of Manchester City was masterminded by a financier who once turned down a marriage proposal from Prince Andrew. Cahal Milmo reports)
