The Leagues

First things first. To get the most out of your soccer season, you need to start small. Narrow your focus and you will have a much better time.

The first choice you have is what league to follow. The big 3 leagues in Europe are the English Premier, La Liga (Spain) and Serie A (Italy). Virtually all the top players in the world play in one of those 3 European leagues.

If you are looking for North American television coverage, you’ll probably have the best luck with the English league and Serie A (through Telelatino), although the French league is carried by some French Canadian specialty channels. However, while French football is great at an international level, their domestic league is considered a tad below that of the top 3. It will be tough for you to catch any La Liga games.

Styles of play vary from league to league. It is considered the English game is a bit more physical than the Italian or Spanish leagues. Italy has the added drama of playing out like a soap opera, so if you like tension and drama off the pitch, Serie A might be a good one for you.

The Teams

Once you have picked a league to follow, leave your neutral status behind and pick a team. Doesn’t matter if you know anything about them or not, just pick one and follow them. The season is much more interesting if you have someone to root for. And, being a neutral, if you pick wrong then next season you can drop em and start again.

If you decide England, the big 4 teams are Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea. Those 4 teams win practically everything there is for English teams to win. After that, Newcastle, Aston Villa, and Tottenham seem to have sizeable fan bases, but be warned. If you follow any one of those teams, they have a tendency to break fan hearts.

Each of the big 4 have their own personality and style of play. Manchester United are an attacking club who will score lots of goals. Arsenal can move the ball like no other team. They have flow and when they are on they are a real pleasure to watch. But they are young and probably will falter a few times this season. Chelsea is considered a team built by money with lots of big names and there are a few footie fans who scoff at the success of Chelsea in recent years saying they have bought their way to the top. Liverpool is considered something of a blue collar team. If Don Cherry were into soccer, Liverpool would be his team. Mind you, with the recent influx of Spanish players into their lineup, Liverpool is becoming a side that can play with some style.

If you are looking for Canadian angles, Tottenham has Canadian international Paul Stalteri on their roster, while Newcastle has David Edgar in the ranks. Portsmouth, West Ham, Middlesbourough and Blackburn also have Canucks in their development or reserve teams, but don’t expect them to see much action this year.

In Italy, the big clubs are AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus and the rivalries are fierce. AC Milan are the current European champions, beating Liverpool in the Champions League last season (more on that later). As far as I know, there are no Canadians in Serie A right now.

In Spain, there is a big Canadian presence at Deportivo La Coruna in midfielder Julian De Guzman, one of the shining lights in Canadian soccer. Deportivo is an important club in Spain – they finished first in 2000, but they pale in comparison to the top 2 Spanish clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Between the 2 of them they have capture 17 of the last 20 La Liga crowns.

The Players

If you decide to choose a pro team to follow team on national lines, you should know that pretty well every top flight team picks and chooses players from around the world. Gone are the days when English teams were primarily English players. The same can be said for Spain and Italy, so it is hard to pick a club team based on national ties.

Here is where some of the current crop of star players are at.

• Manchester United: Wayne Rooney, Christiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs
• Arsenal: Robin Van Persie, Cesc Fabergas
• Liverpool: Stephen Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Peter Crouch
• Chelsea: Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack, Andriy Shevchenko, John Terry
• AC Milan: Kaka, Ronaldo, Allesandro Nesta
• Juventus: Gianluigi Buffon, Pavel Nedved, Alessandro Del Piero
• Inter-Milan: Patrick Viera, Luis Figo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic
• Barcelona: Ronaldhino, Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi
• Real Madrid: Raul, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Fabio Cannavaro

In my next post: The Champions League and the major competitions in Europe.

ManU (which has posted the rumor on their website, possibly giving it some legs), Liverpool and Chelsea have all been mentioned as possible destinations for the wily midfielder, who has been central to the success of both Barca and Portugal.

Barcelona are said to be interested in a player swap with Chelsea and Liverpool, coveting Blues midfielder Frank Lampard and Liverpool’s Xavi Alonso.

What is truly astonishing is the size of the contract. £128 million over 5 years. That is $248 million US dollars. Or, close to 1/4 of a BILLION US dollars. Let’s emphasis that again – 1/4 of a BILLION dollars. That works out to roughly $50 million per year, which, according to Forbes 2004 highest paid athletes list, moves Becks from 8th to 3rd highest paid professional athlete in the world.

While some may see the MLS as “something of a bone yard, a place where ineffectual, bloated has-beens in the twilights of their careers can collect easy paychecks”, I still think Becks move to LA has the opportunity to energize North American professional soccer. Becks has to opportunity to put soccer on the major sports map in Southern California, much like Wayne Gretzky did with NHL hockey in 1988. If that trade wouldn’t have happened, you probably wouldn’t have major hockey franchises in Nashville or Phoenix, let alone Anahiem or San Jose. Granted, Gretzky was in the prime of his career and Becks is heading into the twilight of his. Only time will tell if Becks will have the same effect.

Really, can you blame the guy? As one of the early posters on the BBC’s 606 Boards said:

Becks has won the FA cup, Premiership, Champions league, been captain of his country, scored a goal from the halfway line, played for 2 of the best sides in the world, been an icon of football for 10 years….If he wants to go and play in America, and have the lifestyle of constant sunshine, parties with celebrities day in day out, Hollywood mansions, and be recognized as the best player in the MLS, I don’t blame him.

Yup, can’t blame ‘em.

This is a really tough choice. All three are great players and, despite the fact that Drogba dives me, er, drives me nuts, I still have to admire a great player.

If recent form is any indication, Drogba should be a shoe in. He has been on fire for Chelsea, and he was instrumental in bringing the Ivory Coast to the World Cup, where they were strong opponents for both the Dutch and Argentina in the so called “Group of Death”. Plus, he led the Ivory Coast to the Nations Cup final. And lets not forget that Chelsea won the Prem last year (ugh, that was hard to type).

Eto’o had a great run last year with Barca to drive them to both a European Championship and a Spanish title, and he was La Liga’s top scorer. He was also the top scorer at the Nations Cup, but he did miss a penalty against (ironicly) the Ivory Coast that cost Cameroon a trip to the final. Also, Eto’o hasn’t played competitively since September due to injury. Combine that with the unfortunate fact that Cameroon failed to qualify for the World Cup, gives both Essien and Drogba a slight edge in my books.

For me this season, Essien has been the real eye opener. While not as flashy as Eto’o or Drogba, his contributions to both Chelsea and Ghana cannot be underestimated. I believe he is a more complete player than either Drogba or Eto’o and he has the rare ability to control a game and set the pace. While both Drogba and Eto’o can capitalize on opportunities, Essien is the kind of player who creates those opportunities. And Ghana’s form at the World Cup was especially impressive. Unfortunately, injury kept Essien out of the Nations Cup, which probably explains why Ghana did poorly. He’s that important. And for that reason, I cast my vote for Michael Essien.

As an Arsenal fan, all I can say is that I hope Granade is right.