Some thoughts on Energie Cottbus vs Dynamo Dresden (Bundesliga II)

Just 53 days after winning promotion to the second tier of German football, eastern club Dynamo Dresden kicked off the new season in the Bundesliga II with a 2-1 away defeat against Energie Cottbus. But Dynamo will have every reason to be encouraged with their performance.

Tipped by many to struggle at the bottom of the table this season, the first match against fellow eastern outfit Cottbus, sixth last season, was always going to be tough. In particular, having lost three of the key-players in their promotion charge, with top-scorer from last term Alexander Esswein signing for Bundesliga side FC Nürnberg, Dani Schahin, who scored eight in twelve in the league during his loan spell, returning to parent club Greuther Fürth, and influential midfielder Timo Röttger signing for RB Leipzig; “Die SG”, not one of German football’s richer outfits, are expected to face a tough season. 

Is Federer finished?

After the six-time champion’s second quarter-final defeat in a row at Wimbledon, many are now claiming that Roger Federer’s time at the top is almost up. But the truth is the Swiss maestro has been a level below the sport’s best for the last 18 months. 

Roger Federer is still one of the best players in the game. Although he turns 30 next month, the 16-time grand slam champion and family man still lives for tennis. He appears more relaxed than he used to, perhaps down to his family life, which attitude played a big part in his remarkable run of form at the French Open this year, and, admirably, his love for the game and appetite for success has not waned. While his age and desire are not factors in speculation over his decline, it’s on the court where Federer has lost something.

Typically so ruthless when in a winning position, as possibly the greatest front-runner the game has ever seen, his loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Wimbedon was the Swiss’ first ever defeat from leading two sets to love. His record prior to that was an astonishing 178-0. One the one hand, that record surely had to end at some stage. On the other hand, it was a moment highly symbolic of Federer's past year and a half. 

The resurgence of the Davis Cup?

The competition is still important, just ask Novak Djokovic

The Davis Cup returns this Friday with two of the world’s top four players back in action, in a competition often shunned by tennis' biggest names. Both Roger Federer and Andy Murray, whose participation in the tournament has been something of a rarity over the past few years, will compete again for their respective countries.


With the men’s game so strong currently, winning a major singles title is now harder than ever. The Davis Cup has become increasingly sidelined, with calls to revamp the competition resurfacing each year. But given that new world number one Novak Djokovic has drawn so much confidence from, and attributed much of his astounding success in 2011 to winning the Davis Cup with Serbia last December, could it be that Federer and Murray’s return to action might represent a shifting trend in attitude towards the Davis Cup? Or is it merely a case of the two continuing their flippant, pick-and-choose attitude towards the competition, but just for the same matchday this time?

Football Magazine "Man and Ball" goes live

http://www.manandball.com/

Man & Ball is a new quarterly digital magazine appearing 28 June 2011. 

Issue One: Let Sleeping Gods Lie, will be FREE to download, blending fiction with some great football writing.  It chronicles Nigel's initial attempts to sort out the mess in which the game now finds itself.

Articles include:

My own attempt to discuss East German football since reunification.

Stefan Bienkowski on Pablo Emilio Escobar and drugs in Colombian football in the '80s.

A piece by Gary Al-Smith on Arsenal fans in Africa.

Mohamed Moallim on forgotten Dutch legend Ruud Krol.

A guide to the Copa America by Emelie Okeke.

Martin Palazzotto on the worrying trend of the increasing size of athletes.

Samuel Garuda lifts the veil on football's governing body and tells us what FIFA actually does.

Why fans love to hate sometimes, and why Andrew Thomas loves to hate Jack Wilshere.

Tomasz Mortimer looks at Hungarian football, at international and club level, from the fifties through to 1966 (mostly fictional).

And David Hartrick's "The Chairman Diaries"


GO DOWNLOAD

http://www.manandball.com/

Football Farrago

Two songs for summer

 Pumped up Kicks - Foster the People

Lorelai - Fleet Foxes

'King' Kenny's league table (since 12 Jan 2011)

The form of the league’s 'big six' since Dalglish took over from Roy Hodgson as Liverpool boss on January 12.

Team (as 11 September)	P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
Man Utd	22	15	3	4	32	48
Chelsea	21	14	4	3	21	46
Man City	20	13	2	5	20	41
LIVERPOOL	22	12	4	6	21	40
Arsenal	21	8	8	5	2	32
Tottenham	20	7	8	5	-2	29

French Open Preview

With seven tournament victories out of seven, and 37 consecutive wins in the process, Novak Djokovic has not only utterly dominated tennis in 2011 so far, he has also won a great many admirers in the process. This supremacy has come in a generation many consider as the greatest of all time. Djokovic has improved his game to a level few considered possible: The Serb is now the game’s fiercest hitter and, added to that, he has become fitter and quicker even than Rafael Nadal. His relentless power, combined with his great energy, has been marvellous, and Nadal has been unable to cope over the last two tournaments. 

Perhaps the best part of the current generation of tennis stars, arguably the greatest the game has ever seen, is the humility of the current world’s best. On the court, they are machines. The spellbinding brilliance of Roger Federer during the 2000s raised the bar so high that, in order to compete, a player would have to reach super-human levels of quality, accuracy and consistency. Then the stunning year that Nadal had in 2010 left us wondering how the rest of the tennis world could possibly respond. In an era blessed with some great talent across the top ten, the reality was that when Nadal produced his best nobody could come close to him. But recent tennis history has taught us to expect another phenomenon just around the corner, and Novak Djokovic’s start to 2011, defying all expectation and reason, has delivered just that phenomenon. But, off the court, Djokovic is also extremely popular, demonstrating in his recent victories an admirable humility, humour and grounded passion for the game.