Drogba to end Chelsea career

Just yesterday, as it had been expected for quite some time, Chelsea FC announced that Didier Drogba will not be renewing his contract with the club after it expires in a couple months from now. This is sad news for many of us as he has become a legend for CFC. Drogba has been imperative during the successful years of the club, scoring 10 goals in 10 finals, and becoming the only man to score 4 times in 4 matches at Wembley. In his 341 appearances for the club the Ivory Coast international helped Chelsea secure three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups and in his last game the prestigious Champions League, scoring 157 goals in the process.

Drogba inspired Chelsea's victories against Barca and Bayern with decisive goals against both teams, ensuring that chelsea be crowned European champions. during these games, he proved to still be able to play amongst Europe's elite, but at 34 years of age Didier has already given more than enough for Chelsea. He has now reached the top, after winning the UEFA Champions League there is not much more Drogba could achieve with the blues, so it seems it is a good time for the Ivorian to end his days at Stamford Bridge.

Torres wants to take centre stage now, and with the African set to leave he and some of the younger players will have the chance to step up.

Drogba will be remembered as a legend at Chelsea, and the way he celebrated at Munich, milking the moment as much as possible, showed that he was ready to leave the club... as a Champion.

Blue is the Colour

It was considered the last chance for Chelsea's old guard to win this so desired title, and in the season that the world considered as a big stain in the abrahmovic era, Drogba, Lampard, Terry, Cole, Cech and co. proved that confidence is the only stain that couldn't be wiped out, and confirmed their legendary status in the process.

After everything the blues had to go through this season it just seems like Champions League glory was ment to be. Some say Chelsea's destiny was written on the stars, others say their triumph was all luck, I say we have to give Di Matteo and his squad full credit. Obviously Chelsea had some luck during the tournament, but we can all agree that nobody can win this competition without some help from the football gods. After all it is the same luck Barcelona had when they beat Chelsea in the 2009 semifinal, and United in the 2008 final when Terry slipped during the penalty shootout at Moscow.

When nobody gave them a chance, Di Matteo's blues beat Napoli 4-1 in overtime to overcome a 3-1 defeat in the last 16, then went on to secure a place in the final four on a thrilling saga against Benfica, ensuring chelsea would get a chance to avenge the scandal of Stamford Bridge. Against all odds Chelsea then beat previous champions and arguably the best team in football history, Barcelona

Many criticized Chelsea for winning against Barca the way they did, some saying it was a disgrace. I consider it an exemplary performance of organization and tactics. Against the blaugrana the blues showed that they are a well bounded team, coming together like carbon atoms to form solid diamond, and becoming an unbreakable defending force. This proved to be enough to stop the likes of Leo Messi, Xavi and Iniesta, and when the opportunity came, Chelsea finished clinically to beat the former champions 3-2 on aggregate, earning them a ticket to Munich.

Overcoming Barca took its toll for the blues, as they lost their "captain, leader, legend" John Terry, Ramires, Ivanovic and Meireles due to suspension. This left caretaker boss Di Matteo with an even more challenging task ahead of him. Aside from having to beat german giants Bayern München, who beat Real Madrid in the semifinal, he would have to do it in Munich.

Many didn't give chelsea a chance, but against all odds the blues came victorious in the end, and they deserve to celebrate. They have earned it! We cannot criticize chelsea for winning the way they did, I am sure that if Barcelona or Bayern had a chace to win the trophy winning like chelsea did they would take it. After all it comes down to the final score, not how good you are on paper or how attractive your playing style looks on the pitch. The way Chelsea have faced the big clubs in the UEFA Champions League this season deserves as much respect as Barcelona's, Bayern München's, or any other club's tactics, as it has been proven successful against Europe's most prestigous clubs.

Guardiola Steps Down

Wow! So the great mastermind behind the mesmerizing style and incomparable success of what has arguably been the greatest team in history of football, Jose Pep Guardiola, announced that he won't renew his contract with the blaugrana at the end of this season.

Throughout the four years that he coached at Barcelona Jose Pep Guardiola achieved 13 major trophies including 3 consecutive La Liga titles, 2 Champions Leagues, 2 Club World Cups and 2 Super Cups, and he still has a chance to win his 2nd Copa del Rey before the end of his contract this season. The young coach not only achieved great success consistently throughout his regime at Camp Nou, but also dominated rivals like Real Madrid with his eye-catching style of play.

Some might argue that all Guardiols's success was only due to the group of players he was lucky to have in his team and that anyone with such lineout would be able to win titles, but we all have to realize that even though he did have an amazing team, they wouldn't have been able to get anywhere without a mastermind leading them. Take chelsea, a team not at the same level as barcelona but certainly with a world class squad. The blues were no good without a suitable boss in charge, but when a leader that could handle the big names took over, the same players that were considered out of form began doing the unthinkable, and proved everybody wrong. With that in mind, next season the same Barcelona will probably not be able to achieve as much success as they did under Guardiola, and for that matter I don't think that what Pep accomplished will ever be repeated in the future.

For those of us that follow the game closely, it is clear that Pep Guardiola has earned a break from performing at the highest level, and all we can do is hope that he will come back to the big stage soon, as football needs the man who showed the world in every game that it is in fact a beautiful game.

Lightweight Obsession

Over the past couple years weight has "sprinted" its way up the priority list of football boot manufacturers. we have gone from adding an extra ounce of weight to the sole of the boot in order to have a more powerful shot to lightweight insoles because any extra padding might slow you down on the field.

the hole idea of an ultralight football boot emerged with the introduction of concept boots by Nike (Mercurial SL) and Puma (V1.815). Since then the world of football boots has developed an extreme case of anorexia, where nothing will ever be light enough.

This obsession picked up in 2010 with the revolutionary (and advertisement packed) launch of the adizero, the boot that changed the meaning of F50 from ultimate personalization to lightweight performance.

The adizero were a massive hit during the WC, and puma followed and topped adidas' extraordinary achievement with their own take at the world's lightest boot: the V1.10 SL.

and so the race began, holding the title of "lightest boot" has become as much of an obsession for all manufacturers as it is for Roman Abramovich to win the UCL.

As a result adidas has now modified all their line-outs to meet the lightweight requirements and even went a step further to create an SL version of their already "superlight" boots, resulting in players all over the world having to pay more money for less boot (just think about how many of the pro's actually wear SL versions of adidas' boots).

Adidas are not the only example of this, as Nike also created their Elite series that failed miserably because of their outrageous prices.

All kinds of brands are being sucked into the lightweight obsession, as an example Pele Sports currently holds the crown of lightest boo in the world with the Trinity 3E

Now don't get me wrong, the hole idea of an ultralight football boot doesn't bother me at all, in fact I prefer to wear minimalist boots that have as little extra material as possible. The problem comes when we take the concept out of proportion and start replacing all the traditional heritage boots with their "SL" counterpart. Puma with the king SL, Mizuno with the Morelia neo, and to top it all off Adidas with the adi-not-so-pure 11pro and the upcoming meteor that is the LZ, that will mark the end of the real Predator that we all know and love.

The idea behind lightweight shoes is that if your legs have less weight to carry you don't get as tired and will sprint faster for longer periods of time. In my opinion if you sacrifice comfort and support for lightweight your feet have to do all the work to keep you stable which in some cases could mean more energy being used on stabilization and less on sprinting. At the end of the day if it is true that every gram is going to drag you back then you shouldn't wear shin-pads, or socks, or even a shirt because all that added weight will slow you down.`

The bottom line is, if you are fast, you are fast no matter what shoes you wear (as an example Messi terrorized defenders in La Liga wearing Tiempos before the idea of a sub-7 ounce shoe crossed anybody's mind) and if you are not a pair of "SL" boots wont make you catch up with Usain Bolt in a 100m sprint.

From The Spot

Breathing heavily and filled with adrenaline, you step up and claim the sphere like it is your own child. Nobody will take this chance from you after working so hard for it. You carefully place it on the edge of the white spot and take a few steps back. Its the calm before the storm. You look up and realize the three posts seem much closer together now that there is a titan between them. After almost 90 minutes of giving all you have your heart is trying to escape from your chest but with a deep breath of fresh air you manage to put it at wrest. As the official demands everybody to stand behind the white line you get a chance to fix your socks and set your mind straight. You hear the titan heavily clashing his hands together but you have been preparing for this moment. Suddenly the world around you starts to fade out. The heavy breathing from the awaiting stampede behind you disappears and it is now just you and the so familiar sphere. You have been practicing this act every night and from the moment you stepped up to the spot you knew how it was going to end. You have been writing your destiny throughout the restless nights on the grass, letter by letter, strike by strike. When the high pitch whistle screams through your ears you take a deep breath, calmly jog up to the spot and strike like you have done many times before. It doesn't matter how small the gap is between the titan's long arm and the right post because all you needs is that narrow gate in the bottom right corner. As you look up you hear the cold white metal's noise. after the so familiar sound the ball caresses the net behind the beaten soul laying on the ground and you lift your arms in relief and satisfaction.