Henrik Larsson

Henrik Larsson is another living proof that football is not necessarily about money, fame and glory, even though, nowadays, these elements play a big part in determining the course of events in our favorite sport. The 35 years old Swedish has left English giants Manchester United FC to join again his old team, Helsingborgs. He went to Manchester on loan this winter, during the season break of the Swedish League, promising to his family, fans and club he would be back in Spring, when the season starts again. So he did.

At Manchester United this year he has had a very peculiar role. Red Devils have been short of strikers, due to injuries and to almost unique situations. They have been looking for a player to sign, possibly a talented one and someone who had not yet taken part to this year’s UEFA Champions League. The identikit perfectly fitted Henrik Larsson who had just come back to play in Sweden after a successful couple of seasons spent at Barcelona FC, where he gave his contribution to win 2 Spanish Ligas and 1 Champions League, producing 2 remarkable and decisive assistances in the 2006 final against Arsenal. In January 2007 he got in touch with Manchester’s manager Alex Ferguson and said he would join the club but just for the Swedish season winter break. Now he has left Manchester United to come back to Helsingborgs and he’s missing the chance to add more trophies to his cupboard, as the English club has a good advantage to win the next Premier League and is in the quarter finals of the Champions League. But a promise is a promise and Henrik wanted to respect it.

Not that he hasn’t won enough trophies in his long, successful career. He has played for 8 seasons with Celtic Football Club, scoring 173 in 221 appearences, winning 4 Scottish Leagues and 5 cups, and, on a personal level, the Golden Boot, which is assigned to the football player who scores the highest number of overall goals (including national and international competitions) in Europe. He is the only non Scottish to have been included by fans in the all-time Celtic top 11. Having already mentioned the trophies in Spain, he also helped Dutch Feyenoord Rotterdam to win 2 Dutch League cups.

His international career has been very successful as well, he has led Sweden to gain the bronze medal in 1994 World Cup in the USA, has scored 36 goals in 93 caps and is one of the six players who have been able to score in 2 different World Cups, one 12 years after the other.

He’s always been an example of fair play as well, and loved and respected by fans and teammates. After his move back to Helsingborgs he might have lost the chance to earn more money and fame but surely he has gained respect and esteem by every true football fan in the world.

Football streaming channels – Live football on Friday 23, Saturday 24 and Sunday 25/02/2007

This weekend is full of live football on p2p applications as usual. Check the channels out:

Friday 23/02/2007

19:30 GMT VFB Stuttgart – Hertha Berlin on Gol TV, MK_Sport, Sport channel 1, Guandong, Makaiko Sports, BWIN

Saturday 24/02/2007

12:45 GMT Fulham – Manchester United on Espn, Guangdong, Supersport 2, Guangzou, Jiangsu, Shenzen, Shandong, BTV6, Shangai

14:30 GMT Bayern Munchen – Wolfsburg on BWin, Sport Channel 1

14:30 GMT Hamburger SV – Eintracht Frankfurt on BWin

14:30 GMT Hannover 96 – Borussia Dortmund on BWin

14:30 GMT Bochum – Alemannia Aachen on BWin

14:30 GMT Energie Cottbus – Arminia Bielefeld on BWin

15:00 GMT Charlton Athletic – West Ham United on Starsports, Sport Channel 3

15:00 GMT Liverpool – Sheffield United on Espn, Guangdong, Supersport 3, BTV6, Wuhan, Guangzou, Jiangsu, Shenzen, Shandong, Shangai, Caifu/SipTV, Sport Channel 2

16:10 GMT Toulouse – Marseille on Goal TV2

17:15 GMT Watford – Everton on Starsports, Fox Soccer Channel, Supersport 3, Sport Channel 4

19:30 GMT Atalanta – Palermo on Guangdong, Shangai, Sport Channel 3

21:00 GMT Atletico Madrid – Real Madrid on Guangdong, Shangai, Sport Channel 1

Sunday 25/02/2007

13:00 GMT Wigan Athletic – Newcastle United on Espn, Guangdong, Sport Channel 3

14:00 GMT Roma – Reggina on Sport Channel 1

14:00 GMT Catania – Inter on Fox Soccer Channel

14:00 GMT Fiorentina – Empoli on Sport Channel 2

15:00 GMT Blackburn Rovers – Portsmouth on Starsports, Sport Channel 4

15:00 GMT Chelsea – Arsenal on Supersport 3, UKTV, Sports CN, TV3 Norway

16:00 GMT Tottenham Hotspurs – Bolton Wanderers on Sport Channel 3, Espn, Fox Soccer Channel, Guangdong, BTV6

16:00 GMT Getafe – Sevilla on Sport Channel 1

16:00 GMT Schalke 04 – Bayer Leverkusen on BWin

16:00 GMT Borussia Moenchengladbach – Werder Bremen on BWin

18:00 GMT Gimnastic – Valencia on Sport Channel 2

18:00 GMT Bordeaux – Valenciennes on Goal TV 2

19:30 GMT AC Milan – Sampdoria on Sport Channel 1

20:00 GMT Barcelona – Athletic Bilbao on Guangdong, Shangai, Sport Channel 4

20:00 GMT Paris Saint Germain – Saint Etienne on Sport CN, KTV3, Goal TV 2

Zidane – a 21st century portrait

On Saturday night, back from the pub, I watched this amazing piece of football and cinema at the same time, Zidane – a 21st century portrait. I find the idea itself behind the movie to be great. The movie is the result of the editing of the footage taken by 17 cameras following just the French champion Zinedine Zidane during a match occured on the 23rd of April 2005 between Real Madrid and Villareal at Santiago Bernabeu.

Of course this is not one of the most exciting movies I have ever seen in my life, it’s not really entertaining as you don’t happen to watch the match, you pretty much understand what goes on and the focus moves from Zidane to the ball when there is a goal, but you mostly see just Zidane, even when is standing on one side of the pitch, hands on his hips. You mostly see him walking and standing and it’s not about him being a great football player, rather than a member of a team of 11 guys on his own in such a big (and boringly quiet for 90% of the time, I must say) stadium as the Bernabeu is. You rarely see him talking and interact with the others and rarely touch the football itself. And the last minutes of the movie couldn’t have been better, it’s like if it was preconceived… but I won’t ruin it for those who haven’t seen it yet.

You can still see bits of his skills, Zizou also performs an assistance for Ronaldo which alone should make you willing to watch this. The quality of the image throughout the whole movie is great and the soundtrack is amazing and couldn’t have been more appropriate. Mogwai, the Scottish post-rock band, have created a brand new album only for this movie. Here you get some taste of their music, which in my opinion is just astonishing. This is called “Hunted by a freak” and it’s included in Happy songs for happy people (2003)

Despite of the advices I received before watching it, I absolutely recommend this hour and a half of pure football loneliness, class and editing talent to whoever is so crazy like me to spend 90 minutes of their lives, maybe even more, every week just to watch a rolling ball over a green pitch.

Football streaming channels – Live football on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10/02/2007

Eventually, we are back to played football again, as hoped. Check out the amount of live football available on p2p over the weekend.

Saturday 9/02/2007

12:45 GMT Reading – Aston Villa on ESPN, ESPN HK, Supersport 3, GDTV, SHTV, QSIV, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shenzhen, Hubei, Wuhan

14:30 GMT Schalke 04 – Hertha Berlin on CCTV 5, Sport Channel 1, Gol TV, MK Sports, BWIN

14:30 GMT Stuttgart – Werder Bremen on CCTV Soccer, BWIN

14:30 GMT Bayer Leverkusen – Eintracht Frankfurt on BWIN

14:30 GMT Borussia Moenchengladbach – Achen on BWIN

14:30 GMT Hamburger – Borussia Dortmund on BWIN

14:30 GMT Mainz 05 – Energie Cottbus on BWIN

15:00 GMT Newcastle – Liverpool on ESPN, ESPN HK, Supersport 3, Shandong, Jiangsu, QSIV, SHTV, GDTV, Shenzen, Hubei

15:00 GMT Manchester United – Charlton Athletic on Sport Channel 4, SIPTV, FSC, Super Sports 3, Starsports

15:00 GMT Chelsea – Middlesbrough on Starsports SEA, Super Sports 3, UBC 37

16:10 GMT PSG – Monaco on Sports CN

17:15 GMT Portsmouth – Manchester City on Sport Channel 4

19:00 GMT Real Sociedad – Real Madrid on Gol TV

21:00 GMT Real Betis – Sevilla on Gol TV

Saturday 9/02/2007

13:30 GMT Bolton – Fulham on ESPN, Guangdong, Shangai, RTS2, Supersport 3, Wuhan

14:00 GMT Fiorentina – Udinese on Betfair

14:00 GMT Torino – Reggina on Starsports

16:00 GMT Arsenal – Wigan Athletic on ESPN, Guangdong, 0-TSN, Supersport3, Wuhan, Caifu, SIPTV

17:00 GMT Lens – Sochaux on Goal TV 2

18:00 GMT Barcelona – Racing Santander on Guangdong, Shangai

20:00 GMT Atletico Madrid – Athletic Bilbaoon Guangdong, Shangai

20:00 GMT Bordeaux – Marseille on Goal TV 2, Sports Channel 2

Football streaming channels – Live football on Wednesday 07/02/2007

A good number of friendly international matches is on today, check them out:

Wednesday 07/02/2007

19:00 GMT Germany – Switzerland on SIPTV, CCTV5

19:10 GMT Croatia – Norway on TV3 Norway

19:30 GMT Poland – Slovakia on SLT

19:45 GMT Netherlands – Russia on Super 3, Live TV4

20:00 GMT England – Spain on Sports TV4, Starsports, Starsports SEA, Shandong, Shenzhen, QSIV, BTV6

20:00 GMT France – Argentina on GDTV, SHTV

Filippo Raciti – Italy land of hypocrites – update

Especially thanks to Lorenzo and his readers, we have some more elements regarding yesterday’s post. This is basically gonna be a translation from Italian of stuff I have been made aware of by his updates page.

First, as a proof of Italy’s hypocrisy we now know that regular football will be played next weekend (10th and 11th of February), probably most of the stadia won’t open their gates to supporters because of lack of safety conditions (didn’t they know this beforehand?) but this won’t stop violence, this is guaranteed.

Furthermore, most of the Italian newspapers report that the autopsy has unveiled that Filippo Raciti’s liver has been smashed by an object long about 10 centimeters and star shaped. This is the picture I have found on Lorenzo’s page.

The article where they explain how he died is available on Repubblica, but it’s in Italian. I have also found an article on Reuters’ website which has a short list of all the violent deaths in the story of Italian football.

Filippo Raciti – Italy land of hypocrites

Instead of posting new channels for the rich football Sunday, yesterday I took a day off because of what happened in Sicily during the last weekend. A police officer, Filippo Raciti, died following fights between police squads and Catania supporters. The match between Catania and Palermo was to be celebrated in Serie A after several years and the Sicilian derby is a really hot match but this doesn’t explain the death of a 38 years old man.

This article on BBC clarifies the events of last Friday and gives some hints over what the authorities are gonna do about the problem of violence in Italy.

It goes without saying that in such a country you need someone to die to start thinking about problems or social issues. It could also be considered a matter of luck not to have had more than one dead in this tragic football weekend. Now the Italian Football Association has stopped matches for undetermined time and they are to take, together with politics, extreme measures against this violent phenomenon. The thing is, is it football violence in Italy something new? Well. of course the answer is no. Just one week before Raciti’s death, an amateur football match was shocked by another man’s death, Ermanno Licursi, who was part of the managing board of a team from Italian southern region Calabria. He was killed in a fight on the pitch. The reaction to his death has been to force every following match to start with one minute of silence. A very useful minute of silence, given the fact that has been observed in Catania right before Filippo Raciti’s death. How many young Italian football supporters, not necessarily hooligans, have died in the past? How many people have had their lives ruined because of something happened at a football match? There was no need to come to this point, obviously.

And what do the authorities do? The last legislative act about football has been the infamous Pisanu law, supposed to reduce violence in Italian football and whose only effect has been to keep people away from the stadia (and therefore have them seated in front of tv…). The most important effect of this law on people has been preventing them from buying tickets on the day of the match, because their names have to be printed on the tickets and then checked at the entrance of the stadium. In this way, supposedly, and together with some hell of a CCTV system inside every stadium, authorities control every single person in the stadium, because to every ticket is assigned a seat, on every seat someone whose name and surname are known. But then why names on the tickets are never checked? And even more, if the minister would had studied the situation in Italian stadia he would have known that none actually takes a seat in the hottest areas of the stadia and, even less, respect their assigned spots. Italian laws on football are so strict that there is a lawyer, Lorenzo Contucci, who on his own website affirms that they might violate the constitution. And all Italian fans are gonna get is even stricter laws, which will possibly keep them away from live football matches even more than now. They talk about applying an “English model” over Italian football but Italians are not English and not every thing goes as it should in UK football.

Maybe they should instead wonder why on a Friday afternoon there are 100 people who attack a police squad. Maybe they should investigate on people social conditions in Italy, because violence is part of the society. Maybe they should take a look at the deaths in everyday life. But now poor Filippo Raciti is, unwillingly for him and his family, the star and the case will just bring more strictness, more prison and more violence. Because football is not violent, our society is, and even more in Southern Italy.

There should also be some focus on the Italian mysteries: this policeman died and in 3 different days 3 different reasons have been mentioned to have caused his death: a powerful explosive device on Saturday, a big stone on Sunday, a metal stick today, on Monday. None of the media stream has dedicated attention to this -only in Italian, sorry-

where the doctor, who is manager of the hospital responsible for the autopsy of the corpse, states that the inhalation of the tear gas CS has been the main factor in determining his death. The doctor also says that something else must have affected the heart of Raciti. Wikipedia states about the CS:

although described as a non-lethal weapon for crowd control, many studies have raised doubts about this classification. As well as creating severe pulmonary damage, CS can also significantly damage the heart and liver.

Was it “friendly fire”?

R.I.P.