Ukraine wins UEFA Country Ranking in 2009.

Who would have thought the Ukraine and not England are first in the UEFA Country ranking for the season 2008/09. Ukraine wins the ranking, thanks to the good results by its clubs in the UEFA Cup. For the first time since Ukraine's independence will there be a Ukrainian club in a final of a European competition.

Shaktar Donetzk and Dinamo Kiev are playing the semi-final, with the winner meeting either Werder Bremen or Hamburger SV. The UEFA Cup is often belittled for being the losers cup, for teams that are not good enough to qualify for the Champions League. The competition, however is often viewed as a the real measurement of football power in Europe. The lack of strong English competition in the UEFA Cup, is evidence that the Premier League is loosing its dominance over European football. The top four clubs, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool are so in England that they have dwarfed any competition within their own league. The result is that any other team, but the top four has problems competing with average clubs from the rest of Europe.

In the past the UEFA Cup, has been a window into the future showing the emergence of new football powers. Russia has been dominant in this competition over the last few years, with Zenith St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow, going all the way winning the competition in 2008, and 2005 respectively. The UEFA Cup therefore reflected the growing wealth of Russian football, and showed the world that Russia is a reestablished power in World Football. Turkey's football progress was also reflected by strong play in the UEFA Cup, Galatasaray Istanbul became an international institution after the club won the 2000 version of the competition. Before England became dominant in the Champions League, there clubs showed strong displays in the UEFA Cup.

This years result could be the indicator for a shift in European football. The strong result of Ukrainian clubs show that despite the recession in Eastern Europe its clubs are still strong enough to compete. It also shows that the Bundesliga is once again emerging as a football power. The Bundesliga is now on the way to replace Italy in the top three in the UEFA 5 year ranking and therefore regaining their fourth Champions League spot starting with the 2010/11 season.

The UEFA Cup itself is also entering new waters the competition is going to be renamed the UEFA Europa League. With a simpler format and with the cup winners of every nation the UEFA Europa League promises to be an interesting supplement to the Champions League.

Peter Cech no longer a great?

Peter Cech, once considered one of the brightest goalie prospects in Europe can no longer considered being a great. Chelsea truly a top ten European Club, have to ask themselves if Cech is still a viable number one goalie. Yes, Cech was fantastic two years ago, but since his injury he has not been able to reproduce his stellar play. Some of you might say I am cruel, an injury like the one Cech received needs time. Yes, a fractured skull is a terrible injury, and that Cech is playing again is a miracle in itself. Since the goalies return from injury, he has not been the same.

Today's game against Liverpool was just another example. How often can a goalie be scored at 4 times in a viable Champions League match, and the team still walk away as victors? The only reason Chelsea advanced on Tuesday is that their goalie was even worse. Cech was the only reason Liverpool had a chance to advance, the fact that Liverpool failed can be pinpointed down at their own goalie Jose Manuel Reina, whose play was truly catastrophic.

The question for Chelsea now is what to do with a goalie who lacks the convidence of a number one starter? Do you sell a player who fractured its skull came back? Do you bench him? The fact is that Chelsea want to win trophies, and that trophies are won by fantastic goaltenders. When was the last time a team won the Champions League without a great goalie. The goalie is the cornerstone of every teams defence, the rock that can make the difference between win and defeat. Chech is no longer that goalie!

The thing that Chelsea needs to do now is to wait until Chech's contract runs out, thank him for his services for the club, tell the fans that they could not meet the goalies financial demands, and bring in a goalie who can win games. The other option is to sell him to Barcelona who have been interested in his services for a while.

A possible replacement would be the German Robert Enke, who is dissatisfied with his club Hannover 96, which have no chance for any major titles. Another possibility would by Gianluigi Buffon, however he has been in injury troubles. Without a doubt Chelsea will be looking for a new goaltender very soon.

Bayern destroyed by Barcelona, or destroyed by themselves?

Barcelona against Bayern, this used to be a matchup that promised football at the highest niveau. Two team on the same level battling each other. Not this year, after 45 minutes at the Nou Camp Stadium at last Wednesday's game between the two clubs it seemed that the world had ended for Klinsmann, for Hoeneß and for Bayern. The team was just absolutely humiliated by Messi, Henry, and Eto´o. 4-0 seemed like a light result and hide the fact that Bayern should have been down much more at that point. That the final result was 4-0 seemed to be the most fortunate aspect of a truly forgetable evening for the Munich squad.

Now many will say that this result shows the difference between Bayern a Bundesliga club, and Barca a Premiera Division club. Many will point at the financial differences, and state that Bayerns squad is not strong enough for Europe. Others will say that with all the injuries Bayern had no chance at the first place. All of the above is not true, however, Bayern ranks above Barca at the richest clubs at the world list, Bayerns squad is strong enough to compete in Europe and even with the injuries should have been strong enough to at least hold Barca at bay. Yes a Philip Lahm is probably the best Left Back in the world, van Buyten playing is always a force and Lucio is not without reason the number one defender of the Brazilian national team, not to forget the absence of Miroslav Klose who could have truly helped a Bayern that seemed to be without offense that night.

But the reasons for this defeat are much deeper. Klinsmann has failed to install a winning mentality into the Bayern squad. The Bayern players on the field seemed like eleven bunnies facing, eleven tigers. Gone was that typical Bayern winning mentality that we are so used to, and that many football fans in Germany so much hate. During the game it seemed that the Bayern defense was without organization, to far away from the strikers. Lionel Messi was unchallenged, true the boy is amazing, but even he must have been amazed by the room he was given that night. Klinsmann has vowed to make every player better every day, but why is it then that Breno, who had been considered the worlds best defense talent 2 years ago, has shown no improvement since he signed for Bayern. Why is it that Podolski who plays so well for the national team, has failed so miserably under Klinsmann.

The same goes to Rensing a promising young goalie, who had been taken out of the squad by Klinsmann on the day of the Barca game. Perhaps staying with the goalie when most of the defense is already absent would have given the team more stability. It was perhaps the Rensing decision that killed Bayern in Barcelona last Wednesday. Now don't get me wrong I believe that Barcelona played a great game, fantastic even, but are they four goals better then Bayern? No definitely not, this result is not the result of a fantastic Barcelona display, but the result of poor decisions on the part of the coach. Keep in mind that only a few days before that faithful night in Barcelona, Bayern was even more mistreated by VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, who managed to score 5 goals against a Bayern squad that looked even worse in that game. In comparison the Barca game was perhaps an improvement.

So what now, Bayern actually won this weekend 4-0 against Frankfurt. Well might some of you say perhaps Klinsmann is not doing everything wrong. Frankfurt, however, is not Wolfsburg, and is most certainly not Barca. Yet players should always believe in miracles, and hope for the best, but no words from any of the Bayern personal of trying the unthinkable and winning against Barca 5-0, 6-1 or whatever it will take to advance. No the word is that Bayern is going to try to pull out of the Champions League with dignity. I say, even as an 1860 fan, what a shame, and hopefully next year Germany will be represented by three teams that have managers who actually care.