Bert van Marwijk Made Right Decision with de Jong

Manchester City midfielder Nigel de Jong has come under fire after he broke Newcastle United winger Hatem Ben Arfa's leg with a scissor-like challenge over the weekend. Courtesy Paul Blank

By Kevin Koczwara

Nigel de Jong’s tackle on Newcastle midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa made me cringe. As de Jong slid into his challenge my mind shifted to Stuart Holden. The Netherlands and Manchester City midfielder broke Holden’s leg in a friendly between the United States and Holland on March 3.

Holden nearly missed this summer’s World Cup with the U.S. because he sat out six weeks with a broken leg. He landed on Bradley’s final 23-man roster, but he never saw the field for the Yanks in South Africa.

Xabi Alonso felt de Jong’s pain during the World Cup. He and Holden should head a committee on the Dutch midfielder’s lack of passion and reserve in the middle of the field. Alonso received a Lui Kang-like kick to the chest during the World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands. Alonso continued to play the rest of the match, which Spain won, 1-0, in extra time. de Jong recieved a yellow card from referee Howard Webb for the drop kick. It should have been a red card.

City’s Time Has Come

Courtesy S Parish

By Cameron Dickinson

Last season Tottenham finally broke the Big Four’s dominance over the Premiership’s automatic bids to the UEFA Champions League and, in the process, emerged as a potential force in the title race for the quickly approaching Premier League season.

Spurs’ title hopes are more than just a fading hope. They have a vibrant young team full of pace and skill up front, coupled with one of the best centre-back pairings in the league in Michael Dawson and Ledley King and, of course, they have the added pulling power that only top European football can bring.

World Cup Part 3: Group E

By Kevin Koczwara

I am writing Group E as one blog post because the Dutch are a tough bunch of players to understand. They don’t live up to their potential or make life easy for themselves–the internal fighting and temper-tantrums never help there chemistry and chances.

This group also poses some other interesting questions: who will overlook the Danish squad and forget that they are one of the most formidable teams in the tournament–they play like the stingy Italians? Can Cameroon repeat their run into the Quarterfinals with their athletic and underrated squad? Is Japan going to surprise everyone and come in second in the group and move on, or will they be the chopping boys of the group?