Players win games, teams win championships. Manchester City, who have spent over 150 million dollars this summer already, evidently think that if they get enough star players, they will win enough games to lift the title at the end of the season.

The Premier League club, bankrolled by billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour, has made the biggest splash in the summer transfer market, bringing in Yaya Toure, David Silva, Jerome Boateng, Aleksandar Kolarov and most recently Mario Balotelli. However, as impressive as these signings are, will they gel into a unit that can fight for the Premier League title? I personally don’t think so.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and a championship team isn’t either. Manager Roberto Mancini will have less than three weeks to make his new players assimilate his tactics and his playing style. In my view, this is not nearly enough time and by the time he gets it right, it may be way too late.

Let’s have a look at what his starting eleven could look like on opening day.

GK Shay Given
DF Aleksandar Kolarov
DF Kolo Toure
DF Joleon Lescott
DF Pablo Zabaleta
MF Yaya Toure
MF Gareth Barry
MF David Silva
FW Mario Balotelli
FW Carlos Tevez
FW Emmanuel Adebayor

There is a lot of quality in this side. No doubt about it. However, none of these players were at the club at the end of the 2008-2009 season and many haven’t even played a single minute for the club. Basically, this is a group of individuals right now, rather than a team, and going back to the first line in this article, I don’t think they will be able to work together enough to come out on top when the season is done and dusted.

You may be thinking right now that Chelsea won the league in Jose Mourinho’s first season when he brought in nine new players, so City could also do it. Yes, they could, but Jose Mourinho is at least five times the manager Mancini is, he has more motivational skills and a stronger personality. He is infinitely better at convincing players that they need to do things his way while Mancini is more passive and diplomatic. I could easily see the atmosphere in the Manchester City dressing room getting tense if some of the star players don’t get enough playing time, and I could easily see Mancini not being able to diffuse the situation. The signing of Balotelli could be particularly problematic. He is a great talent but also carries a lot of emotional baggage. The Italian international has proven time and time again at Inter his ego needs constant stroking and he may struggle to fit in at Eastlands.

So expect the traditional contenders to battle for the title this season in England. I expect Manchester City to finish in the top four, but they won’t win the Premier League. At least not yet. Money can’t buy you love and it can’t buy you championships either.

adidas, international sport apparel company and FIFA 2010 World Cup™ partner, is the first brand in Africa to utilize the Matrix Light Box, the European aluminium fabric-framing system with LED-back lighting, sold exclusively by Clarion Printed Products.

Clarion installed the first Matrix Light Boxes in South Africa for its client at the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, for the duration of the soccer tournament.

Clarion has been named sole agent in Africa for the Matrix Light Box and Frame systems. Matrix Frame develops frames for fabric banners that can be easily inter-changed and re-used for different promotional campaigns and events.

Matrix Frame is already a well-established fabric-framing system seen across Europe and in the USA in most major fashion retail environments, car showrooms and supermarkets. The framing system is also used extensively by major exhibition companies.

“When presented with the Matrix Frame, we knew it would help adidas elevate a world cup campaign idea. Seeing the framing system was a great and rewarding surprise for us – the ability to interchange campaigns using the Matrix Frame going forward is an added bonus,” said Bradley Stern, senior trade marketing manager for adidas SA.

The Matrix Light Box features low-energy LED back-lighting that is long-lasting and low maintenance. The lights can last for up to 50 000 hours. Added benefits include no heat or UV radiation, resulting in superb and eco-friendly illumination for your banners.

Matrix Frames can be used as room dividers, decorative displays or information walls. Due to their adaptability, the frames are perfectly suited for the exhibition environment.

Various profiles are available for the system depending on clients needs. Matrix Frames can be adapted to suit any environment and can be easily modified into free-standing, hanging, ceiling or wall mounted systems with single or double-sided graphics. They blend into every retail environment and can easily be made into any size required.

The benefits of using a Matrix Frame are that it allows for a quick change of image; it’s easy to assemble; recyclable; and light therefore easy to ship.

“We are very excited to be associated with the Matrix Framing system, not only because we believe it to be superior to the current offering, but also for the vast knowledge and experience that Matrix brings to our company in terms of what has been achieved in the past and of the huge possibilities that exist going forward, “said Blake Currie, managing director at Clarion Printed Products.

“We have no doubt, as already seen in the work that we have completed to date, that Matrix shares our company’s values of quality, reliability and service, and that our clients have already benefited from this and will continue to benefit from this in the future.”

Clarion’s portfolio includes global and local brands such as British American Tobacco, BP, Sasol, Caltex, Triumph International, Woolworths, Levis, Tiger Brands, Pioneer Foods, Famous Brands, Old Mutual, and adidas.

Matrix Frame originated in the Netherlands.

As the plastic horns of the vuvuzelas finally fell silent on Monday morning, and the numerous vendors in each host city selling scarves and flags of the teams took the day off, it’s the first time in six years that there is no soccer to look forward to in South Africa. Since the announcement was made in 2004 that South Africa would host the 2010 World Cup, the excitement and anticipation for the games has been immense, but now that it’s over, it’s time to start looking beyond the tournament and into the future of South African soccer.

According to a New York Times interview with Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of the World Cup organizing committee, “South Africans are very proud of what the country has achieved and everyone in South Africa is walking tall.” He continues, “For years, many South Africans have been told that they are inferior, that they are not good enough. The nation has crossed a huge psychological barrier.”

The country has made significant progress since attaining the World Cup hosting honors. But the fact remains that the national team performed poorly by failing to make it past the first round. In order for soccer to succeed in the country, the national team needs to improve greatly. Around $80 million to $100 million from the World Cup will be given to the South African Football Association, but it’s still not clear exactly how the money will be used.

Surprisingly, the South African Premier League has the seventh-richest TV contract in the world. While the television rights don’t lie, the issue troubling South Africa is that the teams lack properly funded academies to develop the young talent coming through. On top of that, the league has a difficult time attracting players from other African nations. With the better leagues setup elsewhere on the continent, and the strong financial pull of Europe, the problem will only become worse unless the infrastructure in South African soccer improves.

One way the country looks to continue progress for the nation’s youth, and in turn its soccer development, is through the 1Goal campaign. This campaign is aimed at using soccer to ensure that education is available for everyone in the world. FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Queen Rania of Jordan established the campaign and hope it makes a lasting impact long after the World Cup ends.

The most important thing for South Africa to focus on is establishing and maintaining a winning national team. The seeds of growth are there and the funds are now available to invest in the youth development of the country. Jordaan tells the New York Times, “The way we can sustain national support is to get a winning team. It’s as simple as that and as difficult as that. Get a winning national team, and you will have national support. No one is going to celebrate defeat.”

Guest post by Kyle Simpson writes for Medical Billing and Coding Training where you can find more information about a career in medical billing and coding.

After the World Cup ends, it is time to look back and analyze the competition thoroughly. The best way to learn about the game, its players, and its future is to look at its past. Right now, the 2010 World Cup is fresh in our memories and what a glorious World Cup it was. Spain won it for the first time. Holland made it to another final without being crowned victors. Germany proved that skillful youth could overrun even the most experienced players. And South Africa as a nation showed the world all about their country and culture.

What the players and fans return to when the World Cup is over is different for every country. The hope, or in some cases despair, regarding a country’s national team is something that will be on the minds of every individual nation. One thing is for certain, in about two months time, in Europe, South America, and Asia, soccer returns to its usual seasonal leagues and South Africa is no exception.

Many players that play for the South African national team play their club soccer in the South African Premier League. Compared to the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga, and the Italian Serie A, the South African Premier League may not be the first name that comes to mind when thinking of great leagues around the world. Yet the South African Premier League has the seventh-richest TV contract in the world. Despite these numbers, there’s an obvious disparity between the popularity of the league, and the talent coming through it.

It’s no secret that South Africa performed poorly, although admirably, at the World Cup. They played with spirit and heart, but they lacked quality in most positions on the field. They are the first host nation to not make it out of their group and advance past the first round. For the nation’s team to succeed, the infrastructure in the Premier League needs to be in better working order.

Despite the large television viewing audience, South Africa is still very much a rugby-centered country. The interest in South African soccer after this World Cup has nowhere to go but up. Since the World Cup was announced to take place there in 2004, the country has had a lot of time to make sure their soccer would be noticed on the world stage and beyond. It’s a great thing to host the World Cup, but the country needs to ask, “Now what?”

The new and improved stadiums should hopefully boost the attraction for players to play in the league. And with the influx of money from the World Cup, they should have plans to increase and enhance the league from this position forward. Maintaining and building a strong Premier League is the priority for South African soccer after this World Cup. Despite being a small country, they have much on their side to become a great soccer nation in the future.

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Over 3500 footballers take their game to the next level and enhance life skills at competitive tournament in Soweto

Bafana Bafana athletes Itumeleng Khune, Teko Modise and Siphiwe Tshabalala joined 16 team finalists of the Nike City Cup Tournament at the Football Training Center in Soweto today.  After 16 days of competitive games, Skoom Boys won the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Doornkop Stars.  Over 3,500 footballers between the ages of 16 and 19 years old competed in the seven-a-side tournament which aims to identify highly talented young players and increase awareness of life skills.

Twenty-four of the best players from the tournament will be selected to join an elite training program which prepares them for the opportunity to join an elite football academy. The academy, jointly created by the English Premier League and Nike, gives players from around the world the chance to develop their skills at a professional level.

In addition, each player of the winning team received a one year Nike hamper and a Cell-C starter pack and cellphone, as well as a replica trophy.

“We have hosted an extremely successful City Cup and discovered talented footballers from Gauteng,” says Eric Tinkler, former Bafana Bafana international midfielder and Nike City Cup Technical Director. “The tournament has given 3500 kids from the local community an opportunity to play competitive football in a world-class environment and also develop valuable life skills”.

The tournament kicked off on the 10th of June 2010, and saw 512 Gauteng-based football teams register to participate. The Center is part of Nike’s commitment to the communities of South Africa to give 20,000 young footballers a year the chance to develop their football talent while also having access to HIV/AIDS education through football life skills programming.

“Nike is definitely aiding player development in the country by exposing these youngsters to a higher level of football,” said Mzamo Masito, Brand Director, Nike South Africa. “Nike has supported the community in a phenomenal way, and their commitment to football in South Africa has been unbelievable.”

The 16 days of City Cup interspersed over a month, allowed for the footballers to be active during the local schools holidays.

Global sports brand PUMA® has donated R250 000 worth of its Africa Unity Kit to a soccer clinic which was founded by a policeman to serve children from informal settlements in Johannesburg.

Constable Olebogeng Ntaolang, of the Honeydew police station north-west of Johannesburg, established the soccer clinic to combat teenage delinquency in the community. He was delighted to receive the donation which included Africa Unity shirts, as well as boots, socks, shorts, goalkeeper gloves and soccer balls.

“It is fantastic to be able to support the programme which Constable Ntaolang has put in place with the youngsters of Cosmos City and surrounds. He is doing amazing work with the players who seem to be growing from strength to strength,” said Brett Bellinger, the Marketing Director of PUMA SA.

Ntaolang started the soccer clinic with little more than his enthusiasm and a commitment and quickly attracted over a hundred boys. They train twice a week at the Nooitgedacht 88 Primary School and play as the Ikage (“build yourself”) team in the Rand Central League. The long term aim is to obtain their own land to build a formal clinic which includes quality education facilities for the players.

Explaining the significance of the Africa Unity Kit donation, Bellinger said the kit is sanctioned by FIFA as the official third kit of PUMA-sponsored African teams including continental champions Egypt and World Cup qualifiers Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Algeria. “In fact the kit we have donated is the actual playing kit that these teams would have worn had they been required to use the third kit during the World Cup,” he said.

The kit features an Africa Unity badge depicting two hands locked in a solidarity handshake, and the brown colour on the shirt was created by mixing African soil samples. A percentage of the profits from the sales of the kit and related products support Puma’s Play for Life campaign which is run in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – to fund wildlife and habitat conservation in Africa.

“The PUMA Unity collection was launched earlier this year in support of UNEP and the International Year of Biodiversity, which is 2010. So with this donation, PUMA is not only providing the Ikage team with the highest level technical playing kit there is available, but also raising awareness of the importance of Conservation in 2010,” Bellinger said.

The Play for Life campaign enables fans to cast their vote on FACEBOOK.COM/PUMA for their favourite conservation project to benefit from the ‘Play for Life’ fundraising efforts. Projects include:

• Support for Elephants in Ivory Coast and Liberia
• Promoting Community Participation in Gorilla Conservation
• Forest and Biodiversity Conservation in Democratic Republic of Congo
• Rhino: Back from the Brink?
• The African Lion: King Without A Kingdom
• Wildebeest and Zebra Migration Routes: Africa’s Fractured Superhighways

A goal lane of champions to commemorate the 19 goals scored in Tshwane during the six games of the World Cup that took place at Loftus Versfeld, has been established at the Tshwane Events Centre.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Tshwane Business and Agricultural Corporation, Wim du Toit says the lane of champions immortalises the nine teams – Ghana, Uruguay, Denmark, Cameroon, the USA, Chile, Spain, Paraguay and Japan – that scored.

The other participating teams were Serbia, South Africa and Algeria.

“South Africa has maximised this wonderful opportunity – the World Cup – to the fullest.  More than one million people came to our country in the last month and more than 32 billion people over the globe saw what we had to offer on television.  The mouths of the critics – here and abroad – have certainly been silenced.  This has indeed been an African World Cup of note.”

Officially opening the goal lane of champions today, Du Toit said as an integral part of the economic and social development of the City of Tshwane, the centre is committed to leaving a living legacy of the history that was made in South Africa’s capital city.

“We felt it fit to honour those countries and players by immortalising their names in this permanent goal lane of champions.  For generations to come, visitors to the Tshwane Events Centre will be able to rekindle the memories of one of the greatest experiences in South Africa and in Tshwane.

“However, the lane of champions goes beyond an ordinary monument.  It contributes towards a sustainable environment – hence the planting of 19 indigenous trees.  Apart from immortalising the winning goals in mortar and metal, the trees will assist in reducing the carbon footprint that events like the World Cup generate.”

Du Toit says the centre’s commitment to a sustainable environment is not new.

“When the greening of events centres became the norm, we took the lead and today we recycle more than 20 tons of waste every year via a four-recycle system – cans, glass, paper and plastic.

“Besides the centre’s grass cuttings, the nine tons of hay and animal waste generated during one of the centre’s largest events – the Tshwane International Show – are used as food for the 45 000 earth worms at the centre’s new earth worm farm.  The farm generates much-needed vermi-compost to nurture the extensive grass areas and more than 600 indigenous trees on the 39-hectare property.

“The construction of a biodiesel and gas plant is in the offing, while a nursery is being built to grow seeds from the vast array of plants and trees.

“Experiments on new products such as led fluorescent lighting aimed at bringing down electricity consumption are also part of the greening exercise.

“In 2010 we are operating green offices with less paper and electrical consumption, using  battery and electric vehicles on site, building a grey water catchment dam, buying green where possible and will measure and report on our sustainable green progress.

“Today is thus also reaffirming our commitment to go even greener.  We are finalising our environmental management strategy and will announce this in the near future.  And you will be our judges, so watch this space,” Du Toit said.

One thing you can be sure of when watching the World Cup is that you are witnessing the greatest players in the world. Some come into the World Cup already household names, while others look to turn the tournament into a showcase for their skills. No matter what the situation, the World Cup is a beautiful thing to watch as it highlights who makes it, and who doesn’t, when it comes to the world’s stage.

The World Cup 2010 has so far provided a fantastic opportunity for many of the great players of the world to excel, but a number of “big name” players failed to live up to the hype coming into the tournament. A great example would be Ronaldo, of Real Madrid and formerly of Manchester United. In the 2008-2009 season, Ronaldo was voted the world player of the year; having scored an extraordinary 42 goals for Manchester United and propelled them to an 18th league title. He is undoubtedly one of the world’s best players, and he started the World Cup as a heavy favorite to score a host of goals and help lead Portugal to new heights. Ronaldo walked away from the tournament after going out at the round of 16, scoring only one goal that was amongst seven scored by Portugal against hapless North Korea. He had very little impact on his team’s games, and was very disappointing overall.

Another star that didn’t shine was England forward Wayne Rooney. While he has lit up the English Premier League the last few seasons with Manchester United, he was touted to be one of, if not the best player at this year’s World Cup. Most of England placed the hope of their country’s success on the young striker’s shoulders, and the burden looked as if it weighed a thousand pounds every time he took to the field. He was a shadow of the player that plays every week for United as he failed to score any goals and had no real influence on any of England’s four dismal matches.

A few others who failed to shine at this tournament were Lionel Messi, Kaka, and Didier Drogba. That being said, the World Cup is not just a place for already established players to shine, but also for new players to make their mark. Diego Forlan has played an immense role in Uruguay getting to the semifinals. He is regarded as a great player, but no one expected him to do this well. The same goes for Holland’s Wesley Sneijder. Also a wonderful player, he has been the inspiration and leading scorer for the Dutch with four goals. It may not have been a tournament for the stars to shine, but it’s been a great pleasure watching new stars form in the galaxy of soccer.

Guest post by Leah Thompson a writer for Futon Covers for Less. Browse the internet’s largest selection of futon covers including leather futon covers at the lowest prices.

It goes without saying that results are key to the game of soccer. Attaining a positive result, no matter how you get there, is the most important part of playing. The 11 players on the field at any one time work together to organize, defend, and score goals to secure their team a victory. Perhaps even more significant than these 11 players is the person guiding and teaching them how to organize, where to defend, and the best tactics that will allow them to score. This person, the team’s coach, is the one pulling the strings in a win, as well as a defeat.

While being the coach of a major country in the World Cup is often coveted and prized, it is also a difficult and sometimes thankless job. Many coaches have the support of their players and country before the tournament, and during, but the moment that team gets knocked out, many of these coaches are dropped and turned on at lightning speed. Dunga, the coach of Brazil, was lauded for getting his team to achieve results when not playing their best soccer. But as soon as Brazil was knocked out by Holland in the quarter finals, Dunga was unceremoniously fired as the national team coach and seen as a major disappointment.

Brazil did not perform completely badly, but the tactics and personnel were called into question during and after that game. Unfortunately, no matter how the team performs, the coach is almost always the one to receive the blame. He is the one that picks the team, the formation, the tactics, and supposedly motivates the team for success. When success is not reached, it can be the players that receive criticism, but often it is the coach. They believe in their methods until the very end, and when they don’t quite come off the way they envisioned, that country’s football federation feels the need to sever all ties before the next round of qualification begins.

The rate at which coaches are changed over in this game is astonishing. Before someone is even given a chance to correct mistakes during a poor run of form, they are axed without sympathy. The old days of sticking with a manager through thick and thin are well gone. The new era of the sport needs results, and needs them quickly. Some deserve to get fired when they are discovered to have run the team incompetently, but many are hampered by situations out of their control, such as injury, poor performances, and unlucky calls. Whatever the case may be, every coach is aware that his job is in no way secure unless the results prove otherwise.

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Platinum Stars FC has announced that head coach Steve Komphela is leaving the club, with immediate effect.

Mr Komphela and the club part ways with mutual respect and admiration.

Komphela succeeded in attracting a number of young players to join Platinum Stars, and the long term prospects of the club look very good as a result.

Platinum Stars will announce his replacement well ahead of the upcoming 2010/11 Absa Premiership season.