Football's Next Rising Stars - Part 3: Xherdan Shaqiri

Born in the city of Gnjilane, formerly Yugoslavia but now part of eastern Kosovo, Xherdan Shaqiri is of Albanian decent, but at a young age his family moved to Switzerland and settled in Basel.


That is where the midfielder started his youth career, first coming into notice at the U-15 Nike Cup in 2007. After he won player of the tournament honours, interest poured in from abroad. Eventually he decided to stay and signed his first professional contract two years later.

To read more click on the link below...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2012/01/30/michalakos_blog/

Football's Next Rising Stars - Part 2: Ricky Van Wolfswinkel

The perfect build for a striker, tall and slender with great upper body strength, comparisons to Dutch goal machine Ruud Van Nistelrooy have always been close by. The most obvious being his ability to strike with lethal force inside the eighteen yard box. Ricky van Wolfswinkel has developed largely outside the spotlight, playing for a couple smaller clubs in the Eredivisie, the Dutchman has been for the most part unknown outside the Netherlands.

To read more click on the link below...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2012/01/25/michalakos_blog/

Football's Next Rising Stars - Part 1: Isaac Cuenca

The words potential and future get thrown around a lot in soccer.

Sometimes all it takes is one great performance to be thrown into the spotlight, with many budding youth stars falling by the wayside because they can never live up to the hype, and buckle under the pressure and media scrutiny. But every so often, a select few stand out and make an impact.

This is my first instalment of a five-part series focusing on a select few that have gone in large part unnoticed.

To read more click on the link below...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2012/01/23/michalakos_blog/

African Cup of Nations Preview

The African Cup of Nations kicks-off this Saturday with co-host's Equatorial Guinea headlining the opening match of the tournament against Libya at the Estadio de Bata. Cue the talk of witch craft, curses and the odd animal sacrifice. The crown jewel of African football, this being the 28th edition, will run from January 21-February 12.

Surprisingly it will not feature the defending champions from Egypt. The Pharaohs finished dead last in their qualifying group. The 3-peat champions are not the only big name to miss out. Cameroon and Nigeria are also absent.

Now it is time to focus on the participants that have made it through the long journey to compete for their continents biggest prize.

To read more click on the link below...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2012/01/19/michalakos_blog/


 

Remy is Thierry Henry Reborn

Times have been tough for Les Bleus. Embarrassing performances at the Euros (2008) and the World Cup (2010) has seen France plummet down the FIFA rankings (currently 15th). Under-performing players on the field and controversy off of it, goal scoring has been a huge cause for concern, scoring once in each of their last two major tournaments and failing to register a victory. Laurent Blanc brought change after being appointed manager, most notably the inclusion of the heir to the throne vacated by the legendary Thierry Henry.

Loic Remy has many similarities to Henry, blistering pace, ball control and more importantly great vision. Having all three makes him special, giving him the capability to be deployed either as a striker or winger.

To read mor click on the link below...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2012/01/16/michalakos_blog/

Dortmund Building Dynasty

Westfalenstadion is the largest football stadium in Germany, with one of the most intimidating atmospheres in Europe. Die Sudtribune is housed inside, it is the largest free-standing grandstand still in existence and known as the "Yellow Wall", 25,000 die-hard supporters call it home and do a great job acting as the twelfth-man. The Borussian's have been waiting patiently for a winner, memories of the 90s golden generation was slowly fading, but those dreams became a reality on April 30th of last year.

To read more click on the link below...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2012/01/11/michalakos_blog/

Malaga's Amazing Rise

Malaga is nicknamed Costa del Sol (Coast of the Sun), full of beautiful beaches with cool breezes coming in from the Mediterranean to calm the subtropical sun, Andalusia is truly serine. The city seems best suited for the life of a rich footballer -- warm climate, trendy night life, and for the more cultured, it is the birthplace of Pablo Picasso. Sadly all these do little to draw any top footballers in due to the team’s lacked ambition and more importantly adequate funding.

All this changed in June 2010; the club was bought by a member of the Qatari royal family for a paltry 36 million Euros, considering a net worth totaling in the billions. Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al Ahmed Al Thani and his advisors spoke about a five-year plan that would redevelop Malaga and see them competing at the highest levels and challenging for titles.

To read more click the link below...

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2012/01/07/michalakos_blog/

Top 5 Surprise Teams

Everyone loves an underdog story, something that catches us by surprise and defies the odds if only for a short time.

Click on the link below to view my Top 5 surprise success stories of the season.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2012/01/02/michalakos_blog/