LONDON: Every time England go out of a major tournament early — which has been every tournament since Euro 96 — some new solution is raised. They need to be more like the Dutch. Or more like the French. Or more like the Spanish. Or more like the Germans. We need to hold the ball more. We
need to remain true to our traditional strengths. We need a quota on foreign players. Our players need to go abroad more. Recently, a new panacea has been suggested: A winter break.
Germany has a winter break and they are world champions. Spain has a winter break and they were dominant before the Germans. The Premier League, the argument runs, is uniquely tiring. Our players are exhausted by the time they get to a major tournament. If they have a break midway through the season, it would give them a chance to recover, so they could attack the World Cup or the European Championship refreshed.
It is an appealing argument. After all, numerous coaches have blamed the wearying nature of England’s top flight — more competitive, fewer easy games, a more aggressive, physically demanding style of football — for the relative underperformance of English clubs in European
competition over the past few seasons. There is some — although not unanimous — medical evidence that players would be less susceptible to injury with a couple of weeks off.
Set against that is the fact that for many fans, Christmas football is the best football. Crowds are bigger and infused with festive spirit. Because so many people in the UK go back to their family homes for the festive season, games become annual reunions with old friends, people who perhaps live on the other side of the world who you see once a year.
Football in Britain has always had a community aspect and this is perhaps the strongest remaining example of that.
This is a subjective point, I realize, but for me one of the joys of English football is the range of conditions as the seasons pass, from the bright optimism of August to the sun-drenched despair or joy of May, through the dark and misty nights of the autumn and the collective breath of the crowd steaming in the crisp air of December and January. To take away the Christmas programme would be to remove a large part of what soul English football has left — and frankly, if that is tough on players, they are well enough remunerated to deal with
it. Nobody these days is expected to play through a quagmire or on a frozen surface that might directly contribute to injury.
And then there are the practical considerations. Give clubs a break and would the players really rest? Or would they be flogged around the world for a series of money-spinning friendlies? The English calendar is packed anyway: Where would the games go? Do we really want a shorter summer break with the season beginning in July? Much of English football’s wealth is derived from broadcast rights: Would
television companies really accept a blank couple of weeks in December or January?
And would it, anyway, really work? After all, there was no winter break when English clubs dominated European competition between 1977 and 1984, or between 2005 and 2012. Has the game really changed so much in five or six years? If anything the trend has been the increasing power of the super-clubs and, for a whole host of socio-economic reasons, the Premier League big six, powerful as they
are, are not quite as powerful as Barcelona and Real Madrid.
But what about the national team? What about the examples of Germany and Spain? Well, yes, but what about Italy, who have a winter break but have not even qualified for the next World Cup. What about all those years before 2008 when Spain had a winter break and won nothing.
Short-term correlation is not cause. And besides, the nature of modern football is that plenty of non-English players play in the Premier League. Was Mesut Ozil any less effective in 2014 for the want of a winter break?
The winter break has become a fetish, an easy answer to a more difficult question of English underachievement. There is very little evidence it would do any good, and the cost to the game’s soul would be enormous. Jingle on.
Premier League’s winter wonderland is part of the sport’s soul
Premier League’s winter wonderland is part of the sport’s soul
Man City seek to end mini-slump as Liverpool soar
- Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have become so accustomed to success that three straight defeats feels like a major crisis
- Ruud van Nistelrooy takes charge of his final game as interim manager of Manchester United and winless Wolves play fellow strugglers Southampton
LONDON: Injury-hit Manchester City are desperate to snap their losing streak in their final Premier League game before the international break as Chelsea aim to deepen Arsenal’s misery.
Elsewhere in the English top flight, Ruud van Nistelrooy takes charge of his final game as interim manager of Manchester United and winless Wolves play fellow strugglers Southampton.
Here are some of the key talking points ahead of the action this weekend.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have become so accustomed to success that three straight defeats feels like a major crisis.
Last week City, who face Brighton on Saturday, were ousted from the League Cup by Tottenham.
Their 32-match unbeaten run in the Premier League came to an end at Bournemouth before Sporting Lisbon beat them 4-1 in the Champions League — ending another long unbeaten stretch.
Guardiola’s men, gunning for a fifth consecutive Premier League title, are just two points behind league leaders Liverpool but will be wary of losing further ground.
Midfielder Bernardo Silva says the club’s multiple injury worries are not an excuse for their poor form but he admits the international break, which starts after the weekend, comes at a good time.
“At the moment with the injuries that we have and the psychological part as well, it will be good to have that rest, but before that we have a big game again,” he said.
One positive for City in their defeat to Sporting was the return of Kevin De Bruyne, who came on as a late substitute after seven weeks out of action.
If results go against them, Arsenal could find themselves eighth in the Premier League by the time they kick off against London rivals Chelsea on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta’s men have picked up just one point from their past three league games and lost their midweek Champions League clash against Inter Milan 1-0.
Arteta was upbeat despite the defeat at the San Siro, where captain Martin Odegaard made a welcome return to action after being absent since late August.
But defeat against in-form Chelsea plus a win for Liverpool would leave Arsenal, runners-up in each of the past two seasons, 10 points off top spot.
Thierry Henry said on CBS Sports that if Liverpool and City win at the weekend and Arsenal lose, his former side could be out of the title race.
“It would be extremely difficult because you (would) have too many teams to catch... I don’t see two teams collapsing,” he said.
Arne Slot has won 14 of his first 16 games in charge of Liverpool in all competitions.
The club had a relatively kind fixture list at the start of the season but they show no signs of letting up — taking seven points from games against Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton in recent weeks and boasting a perfect record in the Champions League.
Liverpool have also beaten two Premier League teams, West Ham and Brighton, on their way to the League Cup quarter-finals.
Former Feyenoord boss Slot brushed off a question about whether he was finding his new job “easy” after Liverpool’s thumping 4-0 win against German champions Bayer Leverkusen this week.
“Every team that plays against us is in the top of their game,” he said. “And if you want to win that, you always have to be consistent in your intensity, and that’s not always easy but that is what’s needed.”
Liverpool have a tough run of fixtures coming up, starting with Aston Villa at home on Saturday, but so far they have proved they have what it takes.
Fixtures
Saturday (1500 GMT unless stated)
Brentford vs. Bournemouth, Crystal Palace v Fulham, West Ham vs. Everton, Wolves vs. Southampton, Brighton v Manchester City (1730), Liverpool vs. Aston Villa (2000)
Sunday (1400 unless stated)
Manchester Utd vs. Leicester, Nottingham Forest vs. Newcastle, Tottenham vs. Ipswich, Chelsea vss. Arsenal (1630)
Bucks snap losing streak with Jazz rout
- Lillard rattled in four three-pointers and shot 12-of-22 from the field en route to his third straight 30-point game to help Milwaukee claim only their second win
- Minnesota Timberwolves scored a 135-119 blowout of the Chicago Bulls on the road while the San Antonio Spurs proved too strong for Portland Trail Blazers, winning 118-105
LOS ANGELES: Damian Lillard scored 34 points as the Milwaukee Bucks snapped a run of six straight defeats to bag their first home win of the season with a 123-100 victory over the Utah Jazz on Thursday.
Lillard rattled in four three-pointers and shot 12-of-22 from the field en route to his third straight 30-point game to help Milwaukee claim only their second win since a season-opening defeat of the Philadelphia 76ers last month.
Giannis Antetokounmpo added 31 points with 16 rebounds while Bobby Portis bagged 19 off the bench as Milwaukee clinched a badly needed victory after a miserable start to the campaign.
The 2021 NBA champions started the game with a 1-6 record that has left them one place off the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
Utah looked ready to compound Milwaukee’s problems after taking a 61-57 half-time lead at the Fiserv Forum.
But the Bucks finally clicked into gear with a devastating third-quarter performance, outscoring Utah 31-16 to build what turned out to be an insurmountable lead as they finally gave their home fans something to cheer about.
“It feels great,” Lillard said. “Getting off to a rough start, it’s easy to get down on yourself and start to panic a little bit and worry.
“Tonight we just came out with the right mentality. They hit some threes, but we stuck with it, shared the ball and finally we caught our stride and take over the game.
“We just got to be able to use this as momentum going forward.”
In other games, the Minnesota Timberwolves scored a 135-119 blowout of the Chicago Bulls on the road while the San Antonio Spurs proved too strong for the Portland Trail Blazers, winning 118-105.
In Chicago, Anthony Edwards sparked the Timberwolves to a come-from-behind win, scoring 33 points including five three-pointers with eight rebounds and six assists.
Chicago had dominated for long periods, leading the game from early in the first quarter until midway through the fourth.
But Minnesota erupted to devastating effect in the final period, turning the game on its head after outscoring Chicago 45-24 to cruise home.
Six Timberwolves players finished in double figures, with Julius Randle delivering 22 points and Rudy Gobert adding 21 points.
French international Gobert saluted Edwards’ decisive contribution.
“Every year his playmaking has got better and better and now this is the year where I feel like he’s really able to see what’s happening on the floor,” Gobert said.
“It’s just on me to get him open or get open myself and finish the play.”
Nikola Vucevic led Chicago’s scorers with 25 points, with Coby White adding 24.
In San Antonio, eight Spurs players tallied double-digit points totals in a victory over Portland.
San Antonio took to the floor once again without the presence of legendary head coach Gregg Popovich, who was taken ill last weekend with an unspecified health issue.
Maccabi Tel Aviv fans clash with reported pro-Palestinian protesters at Ajax Europa League match
- Israel’s PM aware of ‘very violent incident’ against Israelis in Amsterdam
- Netanyahu directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist citizens there
AMSTERDAM: Supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv clashed with apparent pro-Palestinian protesters before and after a Europa League soccer match between their team and Ajax outside the Dutch team’s home stadium in Amsterdam on Thursday night, media and officials said.
The clashes reportedly erupted despite a ban on a pro-Palestinian demonstration imposed by Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, who had feared that clashes would break out between protesters and supporters of the Israeli soccer club.
Details of the incidents remained unclear, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been informed of the details of “a very violent incident” targeting Israeli citizens in Amsterdam, his office said on Friday.
He directed that two rescue planes be sent immediately to assist citizens there, it added in a statement.
Israel’s national security ministry has also urged its citizens in Amsterdam to stay in their hotel rooms following the attacks, the prime minister’s office said in a second statement.
“Fans who went to see a football game, encountered anti-Semitism and were attacked with unimaginable cruelty just because of their Jewishness and Israeliness,” Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a post on X.
Israeli media reported that Netanyahu also called his Dutch counterpart about them.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has asked the Dutch government to help Israeli citizens arrive safely at the airport, Saar told his Dutch counterpart Caspar Veldkamp in a phone call on Friday.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, also condemned the violence in a post on the social media platform X.
There were no immediate reports of arrests or injuries from the clashes outside the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, the city’s main arena and Ajax’s home stadium. Ajax won the Europa League match 5-0 after leading 3-0 at halftime.
Peru arrests the country's football boss as part of a criminal investigation into fraud
- Agustin Lozano is the second Peruvian football boss to be detained since 2018
- Prosecutors said football boss and others tried to wrest lucrative broadcast rights from Peru's first division soccer teams
LIMA, Peru: Peruvian police arrested the head of the country's football federation Thursday as part of an investigation into allegations that he abused his position to extort local clubs into ceding their television rights.
Agustin Lozano is the second Peruvian football boss to be detained since 2018 when his predecessor was investigated for his alleged role in two murders for which he was later absolved.
Lozano was escorted handcuffed into a police vehicle outside his home in the capital, Lima, as several journalists stood by. He promised to clear up any misunderstanding and asked that the public reserve judgements.
Six other people connected to the suspected conspiracy were also arrested.
Prosecutors, in a 140-page court filing seeking Lozano's arrest, said the football boss and others tried to wrest lucrative broadcast rights from Peru's first division soccer teams. Clubs that didn't cede control were threatened with being relegated from the top tier of Peru's soccer clubs, according to the document obtained by The Associated Press.
Lozano is also suspected of illegally spending $1.8 million in federation funds to transport 142 people not associated with the football organization to Doha in 2022 for a playoff match between Peru and Australia to see which side qualified for the World Cup in Qatar that year, according to the court filing.
A prosecutor overseeing the case told local radio that Lozano had been under investigation for over a year. Although he has not been criminally charged, authorities ordered his arrest because they deemed he is a flight risk and could obstruct their investigation.
Lozano has had run-ins with the law before. In 2023, prosecutors sought his arrest as part of an embezzlement investigation from his days as mayor of the northern city of Chongoyape.
Under Lozano's leadership, Peru's national football team is in second to last place among South American men's teams seeking to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Pakistan win toss, bowl in 2nd ODI against Australia
- The hosts lead 1-0 after a tense two-wicket win in Melbourne on Monday
- Pakistan named unchanged side with fast bowler Naseem Shah declared fit
ADELAIDE: Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan won the toss and opted to bowl in the second of a three-game one-day series against Australia in Adelaide on Friday.
The hosts lead 1-0 after a tense two-wicket win in Melbourne on Monday.
Pakistan named an unchanged side with fast bowler Naseem Shah declared fit after leaving the field during the first match, apparently with cramp.
Australia made one change with veteran Josh Hazlewood returning in place of Sean Abbott to join his long-time pace partners Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc.
Jake Fraser-McGurk and Matt Short again open the batting in the absence of Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head and will be keen to make their mark after falling cheaply in the opening match.
Teams
Australia: Matt Short, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Steve Smith, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Hardie, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (capt), Kamran Ghulam, Agha Salman, Irfan Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain
