Another week in football, another few thoughts...
1. Spain's dominance isn't over, but the cracks are getting wider.
After what was a surprisingly excellent Confederations Cup full of exciting football and flamboyance was completed with a fitting home win for Brazil as a Maracana inspired Selecao rattled the world champions and won 3-0.
The surprise however, was not how good Brazil were - with players like Neymar, Oscar, Dani Alves it shouldn't be shocking that the team occasionally wins a few - it was how bad Spain were.
The silky smooth passing was replaced by erratic possession and indecision, while Brazil were intense, penetrating and incisive, pulling the defence out of position and finding holes with ease. One wonders if Italy had Mario Balotelli fit and firing then maybe the Azzurri could have punished La Roja too.
The loss led to many knee-jerk tweets that declared the Spanish choke-hold over international football to be removed, similar to the gleeful reaction to Barcelona's Champions League thrashing at the hands of Bayern Munich. The response was, if you ask me - over eager - but not completely untrue. The grip at the throat of the sport is still maintained by Spanish hands, but it's loosened slightly.
While still the best side on the planet, Del Bosque perhaps needs to swallow his pride and develop a back up plan just in case playing six midfielders doesn't work, because if you take away the passing, Spain are revealed as a side that lacks some key footballing fundamentals. 90% of the time of course, you can't take away the passing because they're pretty damn good at it, but while Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique is the defensive pairing there is always the chance of taking advantage of a positional error or a bad tackle and while the average height of the team nestles around the 5'6/5'8 sort of area, you will always have a chance at set pieces. Brazil also proved like Bayern did to Barca that with effective use of width and the ability to not be intimidated by the waspish pressing then you can cause both sides a lot of problems.
Circumstances were not in the Spaniard's favor, clearly exhausted after the penalty shoot-out victory over Italy and being without Xabi Alonso is a loss that is not to be understated but the fact of the matter remains that Spain just look more vincible than at any point under Vicente Del Bosque.
2. AC Milan put a "Not For Sale" sign on Stephan El Shaarawy, but we've heard that before.
Milan fans rejoiced when Thiago Silva became the highest paid footballer at AC Milan after signing a five year, €45 million deal worth €9m a year before he became the highest defensive transfer sale ever when he left for PSG for €42m, turning rejoicing voices into angry and confused ones.
Now, a year after the exodus that saw Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva leave the side to "balance the books" Milan fans should be cautious after hearing news that the Italian giants have declared Stephan El Shaarawy as "not for sale". Galliani once said Ibrahimovic and Silva were "100%" staying at the club while Riccardo Kaka' was "unsellable" in 2009. Stranger things have happened.
So, after vice-president Adriano Galliani declared "anything is possible" in the market two weeks ago throwing the youngsters position at the club into disrepute, his affirmation of the youthful striker's place at Via Turati should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Galliani's "summit" with "Il Faraone" may have been a motivational to a player that did not have the best second half to the season, only scoring one goal in Serie A while his new strike partner Mario Balotelli netted 12 in 13 after arriving in January.
However, we are not living in a world anymore where AC Milan can resist big offers for players, who are now seen more as financial assets than trophy winners at the San Siro. There is a long time yet, and "Not For Sale" could very much become "We couldn't refuse" in August.
3. Echoes of Roberto Baggio at Bologna as Antonio Cassano signs for Parma
The situations are eerily similar. After years of frustration and falling out with coaches who didn't want to build their teams around him, Roberto Baggio left Arrigo Saachi and Milan for Bologna and had the best season of his career, scoring 24 goals, becoming Serie A's top scorer and achieving his aim of making the World Cup in France '98, and justifying his selection immediately with this beautiful assist in the first group game against Chile.
After 2 and a half years shared between both Milan clubs, Antonio Cassano moves to Parma to sign for a club that will start him in every game and a coach in Roberto Donadoni that will build around his new star fantasista. Don't be surprised to see FantAntonio on the plane to Rio next season. I eagerly anticipate the Youtube moment that will follow.
4. Thiago Silva at Barcelona is a move that makes so much sense it probably won't happen
With Puyol's injuries, Barcelona need a long term centre back option who is actually a centre back. While Sergio Busquets may have the tactical nous and height for a defensive position, he doesn't have the tackling ability or the strength and while Javier Mascherano has the tackling and positional sense, his height disadvantage gives Catalan club a clear weakness when dealing with good crosses and aerial duels. It's no surprise then, really, that both are actually midfielders. Not defenders. Hear that, Tito? NOT DEFENDERS. I'm not even going to discuss Alex Song.
The signing of Thiago Silva for a rumored €35m would give Barcelona a world class centre back for at least the next 5 years who offers passing, physicality, pace and height. It's actually so logical, you should probably bet that Barcelona go out and sign another pass happy, positionally challenged midfielder and stick him in there. "Ola Senor, is Gareth Barry available?"
5. Borussia Dortmund are still going to be quite good
Champions League finalists and world renowned "plucky underdogs" Borussia Dortmund must have had fans on the edge of cliffs writing notes to loved ones after news that Robert Lewandowski was close to following Mario Goetze out of the club and into the loving arms of German supervillians Bayern Munich. However, things are definitely looking up as the German side are close to completing a deal for 24 year old Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, who scored 19 goals in 37 games for St Etienne last season, while conversations had with Shkatar to rival Liverpool for Mkhitaryan are being had, as well as Ajax starlet Christian Eriksen. Lewnadowski to Bayern has cooled down while Dortmund are also determined to hold onto star defender Mats Hummels and coach Jurgen Klopp. I wouldn't overly worry if I was a Dortmund fan.
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