Roberto Mancini

Mancini was fired as Manchester City’s manager on Monday, exactly one year after ending the club’s 44-year quest for domestic supremacy. He departs after three-and-a-half years, two major trophies and one long-running saga about his job security.

“Despite everyone’s best efforts, the club has failed to achieve any of its stated targets this year, with the exception of qualification for next season’s UEFA Champions League,” a club statement said.

“This, combined with an identified need to develop a holistic approach to all aspects of football at the club, has meant that the decision has been taken to find a new manager for the 2013-14 season and beyond.”

Two words in City’s statement, ”failed” and “holistic,” are more important than all others, for they sum up Mancini’s exciting, yet turbulent, reign at the Etihad Stadium.

Overall, Mancini was no failure as City’s manager. Winning the Premier League and FA Cup ensures that label can’t stick. The tangible success City achieved on his watch ended generations of fans’ suffering, and his reputation remains intact in England, Italy and beyond. He won’t see out the last four years of his £7.5 million-a-year [$11.5. million] contract, but he’ll begin his job search with a pocket stuffed with one year’s salary severance pay. Napoli, AS Roma, Inter Milan, AC Milan, PSG, AS Monaco and Chelsea are just a few of the clubs that are reportedly interested in hiring him. Others will emerge in the coming weeks.

But Mancini’s time at City wasn’t exactly successful either. He joined the world’s richest club in December 2009, spent close to £300 million ($458 million) assembling his squad, won and lost leagues and cups and couldn’t advance past the group stage of the UEFA Champions League … before he lost his job.

The real failure is that the 2012-13 campaign will go down as a missed opportunity for both Mancini and City. They stunned Manchester United and other domestic rivals by winning the league last season. Had they built on that success and progressed on the field, all the talk would be about City’s looming era of domination and its bright future under Mancini. Instead, both club and manager must assess what happened, reset themselves and put things right next season.

City’s stalled for a number of reasons, many of which concern the second keyword: “holistic.” There was a fundamental disconnect between how Mancini behaved and how he should have behaved in these unique times and circumstances.

Mancini’s job was under threat as late as April 2012 when it looked like United would win the league. United collapsed, City surged to victory and Mancini was rewarded with a lucrative, five-year contract extension. Normally, this would have strengthened his position, as the new deal represented the full support of owner Sheikh Mansour and chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak.

But everything changed — first in August when Ferran Soriano was hired as City’s new CEO, then in October when Soriano recruited another former Barcelona administrator, Txiki Begiristain, as director of football. The club started moving forward and Mancini wasn’t the one driving. He acted like he was, and that won him few friends when (and where) it counted.

Mancini’s man-management shortcomings saw him clash with star players — including captain Vincent Kompany and goalkeeper Joe Hart – both publicly and privately. He repeatedly blamed City’s failure to strengthen in the summer transfer market, particularly its fizzled pursuit of Robin van Persie, as the main reason for its weak title defense (doing so both in public and in private).

Mancini’s inability (or unwillingness) to strengthen ties between City’s youth and senior teams is another oft-cited reason for his dismissal. The same can be said about his personal relationships with senior officials, especially youth director Brian Marwood in addition to Soriano and Begiristain.

By most accounts Mancini was aloof and abrasive with players and bosses inside the walls of the club, while he came across as combative and domineering when discussing them in public. Could he still train players, prepare for opponents and manage egos in the dressing room? Yes, but his attempts at exerting total control at the very time when he lost itleft him isolated, an island unto himself. Mancini either would not or could not adapt to changing circumstances. Players and bosses saw this months ago. It was made clear to the public Monday.

Some say Mancini’s firing was too harsh or ruthless and that he should have been given another year on the job. City was out of the Champions League in December, Mario Balotelli (Mancini’s troubled but talented “son”) was sold to Milan in January and United all but wrapped up the league title by late February. City bosses would have been well within their rights to fire him two months ago. They might have looked better had they done so before news of their courtship of Manuel Pellegrini turned Mancini into an object of sympathy. Mancini’s clandestine 2009 arrival creates a strange symmetry to the whole affair.

The end of Mancini’s era is holistic failure on his and the club’s part. There’s a thin line between success and failure at the elite level of the game, and Mancini’s final season shows what can (and often does) happen when all members of an institution aren’t pulling in the same direction. City finished second in the league, runner up in the FA Cup — a record which fails to meet the demands of the club’s 10-year plan.  Blame the owners. Blame Soriano, Begiristain and Marwood. Blame Kompany, Hart and the other players. Certainly blame Mancini. For years, City has had a reputation as a bit of a madhouse. The estimated $1 billion Mansour has poured into the club since 2008 hasn’t really changed that perception, and that is one expensive and holistic failure in itself.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

His 86th-minute effort deflected off United midfielder Phil Jones and nestled into the goal. It was ruled an own-goal for Jones, but the glory went to Mata and Chelsea.

The moment reflected Mata’s fully grown stature — both at Chelsea and in the Premier League. Just when it looked like the tepid meeting between two giants of the English game would cruise to a goalless end,  the Spanish playmaker stepped up and decided the contest’s outcome. Less than two years after joining from Valencia, Mata has become the Blues’ most important and influential attacking player and made him self an essential component of the club’s success.

Mata’s progression from expensive import to PFA Player of the Year award finalist is largely due to personal qualities which he successfully applied to his professional life. The 25-year-old enjoys traveling to new places and experiencing different cultures and he knows the importance of adapting to those new surroundings, especially over the long term. The love of exploration helped convince Mata that Chelsea was the right place to develop as a player and a person in the summer of 2011 when he completed a £23.5 million ($36.5 million) transfer.

“When you change country, the language, the city, change your league, change even your style of football — and it’s not the same in England as in Spain — then you are a little but, err, scared in the beginning,” Mata told the Telegraph. “It’s different and you don’t know if you are going to be able to change yourself to adapt. I changed a lot, changed the lot! But I think that sometimes during your career you have to decide to change things to improve. For me, it was a good time to do it.”

Mata married his ability to explore, adapt and integrate with a fierce hunger to improve as a player and win games. This mix guided him to his comfort zone at Chelsea during a turbulent 2011-12 season. He was billed as an exciting winger when he came to first came to Chelsea, and it was club officials — not the request of incoming manager Andre Villas-Boas — who drove the pursuit of his transfer.

When Mata he joined the club,  the responsibility for Chelsea’s goal output fell firmly at the feet of club legends Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, while Fernando Torres, Daniel Sturridge, Flourent Malouda and Salomon Kalou were expected to contribute to the tally. Mata the winger was expected to work his way into the rotation gradually, but Mata the man had other ideas. He scored on his Premier League debut and cemented a place in the starting lineup shortly thereafter.

Chelsea fired Villas-Boas in March 2012, replacing him with Roberto di Matteo. Mata flourished under the new manager who moved him from a wide position to a central one with great effect. With Mata scheming behind a lone striker, Chelsea won the FA Cup and Champions League in that magical spring.

Mata was Chelsea’s most-used outfield player last season, making 58 appearances in his maiden voyage in the English game. He earned the trust of teammates and fans in that successful first season, and Chelsea waved goodbye to Drogba and Kalou (and permanently relegated Malouda to the reserves) last summer.

The new season brought new troubles to Chelsea. The Blues started slowly, and di Matteo was fired in November. Rafa Benitez took over, and Mata continued to progress under yet another manager. Benitez deploys Mata in the middle, but he often shifts him to the left or right as game situations dictate. Mata has license to roam, prod and devastate the opposition. He feels at home in this position, as Manchester United learned (not for the first time this season).

“I like to play ‘between the lines [between opponents' midfield and defense],’ it is where I feel most comfortable,” Mata said. “Even when I was playing in the wide areas I didn’t consider myself a pure winger like [Arjen] Robben or [Damien] Duff when they were here.”

Early success earned Mata the trust of his manager(s), teammates and fans. That trust brought him not only plaudits, but also responsibility as Chelsea’s chief architect of goals. Mata bears the burden with an exciting grace, and he responded with 19 goals and 33 assists in 60 appearances this season. His consistent output, durability and dependability have prompted some to compare him to another Chelsea legend, Gianfranco Zola.

Sky Sports reports Benitez recently noted the similarities between Mata and  Zola.

“Game intelligence. That is the key,” Benitez said. ”He’s very clever, he finds space and his quality is very good. He has the vision. He can score goals, he can pass. That is game intelligence. That’s the reason why these players are more expensive. It’s more difficult to find them.

“Gianfranco Zola was this type of player, not too big but game intelligence to get into the box.”

Mata’s international career should follow an arc similar to that of his club career. He has played 23 games for Spain since 2009. His resume includes FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship titles, although he was a squad player on those all-conquering teams. Spain is approaching a transitional moment, and it will increasingly look to Mata for leadership and goals as the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta and David Villa give way to a new generation of Spanish heroes.

Meanwhile, Chelsea’s victory over United put it in good position to secure a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League. The club is expected to add another superstar to its attacking corps this summer, with names like Hulk, Radamel Falcao and Neymar linked with expensive transfers. Like Mata in summer 2011, whoever comes to Stamford Bridge will have to adapt to culture, style of play and the stars that already reside in West London. The traveling man Mata will certainly be there to offer some useful tips — even before he sets up that first goal.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Bayern Munich hammered FC Barcelona in both legs of their UEFA Champions League semifinal, winning by an aggregate score of 7-0. The scoreline is a fair reflection of the manner in which the German club dominated its Spanish opponent over the span of two games in the spring of 2013.

The lopsided result spawned reactionary headlines and stories proclaiming a “changing of the guard” at the top of the world soccer pyramid and the “end of an era” for Barcelona and its team of champions.

While the “changing of the guard” theory has merit, Bayern’s (and Borussia Dortmund‘s) results and performances over the next 18-24 months will either prove or refute that idea. The stunning semifinal result only makes it clear that Bayern is better than Barcelona at this moment in time. Power at the apex of European club soccer has shifted from Spain to Germany, but time will tell if it is a temporary (or even momentary) switch.

This piece isn’t about a power shift. It’s about Barcelona’s decline or perceptions thereof. While the Bayern machine overran Barcelona for 180 minutes, there are two essential points to keep in mind. First, this Bayern Munich team is considered the greatest in the club’s illustrious history (winning the Champions League will clinch that title), and it is peaking at the right moment. Second, Barcelona has been weakened by a series misfortunes that have recently caused both form and results to slip. When these two factors converged in Munich and again in Barcelona, there was only going to be one outcome.

Barcelona faced Bayern with only one established first-team central defender. Gerard Pique lined up next to 22-year-old Marc Bartara, who has played five full league games in his career. To make matters worse, a pelvic injury hobbled holding midfielder Sergio Busquets in the first leg. He didn’t appear in the second. Those absences were the least of Barcelona’ s worries, as superstar forward Lionel Messi was mortalized by a hamstring injury in the first leg. He was an unused substitute in the return leg.

Barcelona happened to face one of the great teams in recent history without key figures, and one shouldn’t expect that to be a regular occurrence in the future. Barcelona could have overcome these absences with better squad management or more effective transfer activity. Club officials should correct these man-made errors this summer.

While many predicted Barcelona’s defensive struggles, no one could have anticipated that head coach Tito Vilanova would miss a large and ultimately decisive portion of the season. In late December, Vilanova suffered a relapse of throat cancer which had struck him in 2011. Emergency surgery and subsequent treatment effectively kept him off the sidelines (and out of the dressing room) until late March.

Barcelona had reached rarefied heights in the months leading up to Vilanova’s relapse. It had the greatest first half of a season in La Liga history, picking up 55 if a possible 57 points and scoring 64 goals in the first 19 games of the 2012-13 campaign. The slick passing and hungry defensive pressing that has come to define Barcelona’s era of dominance was on full display last fall. Many were asking aloud if Vilanova’s Barcelona was better than his predecessor Pep Guardiola‘s, which had won 14 trophies in the previous four seasons.

Exactly what effect Vilanova’s absence had on Barcelona’s players is hard to quantify. Throughout the winter, club officials assured fans that all was well with Jordi Roura (Vilanova’s top assistant) leading the way and that Vilanova would return in due time. Barcelona initially responded well, but results started to suffer after Vilanova went New York City for more treatment in late January.

AC Milan gave Barcelona a genuine scare in the Champions League round-of-16, as did PSG in the quarterfinal. Closer to home, Real Madrid eliminated Barcelona from the Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup) on Feb. 26 and won the latest installment of “El Clasico” four days later. Madrid, Milan and PSG weakened the air of invincibility that had surrounded Barca in February, March and early April. Bayern Munich swept away whatever remained in recent weeks.

In March, Messi said losing Vilanova’s thoughtful and determined presence was indeed detrimental to Barcelona’s pursuit of glory.

“Nowadays the Coach is really important,” Football Espana reports he told TVC Sports. “Since Tito hasn’t been here we’ve really noticed it. We respect Jordi Routa because he’s our stand-in coach and he’s trying to help us win everything we can. But our boss was Tito and it was a blow when he went.”

Vilanova recovered in time to guide Barcelona against Bayern Munich, but any damage his three-month absence had been done by then. Barcelona is a close-knit group, and Vilanova’s relapse surely took an emotional toll on the players over the course of those uncertain weeks and months.

While Barcelona’s difficult winter and spring won’t spell the end of this cycle, the days when it could turn up and sweep all opposition aside are over. Chelsea (last season), Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have shown that a physical approach, combined with tactical discipline and ruthlessness in front of goal is the way to beat Barcelona’s and its unique style of play, known simply as “tiki-taka.”

Barcelona will reportedly shop for an experienced central defender this summer. Mats Hummels, Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen have been linked with the club in recent months. Should Barcelona sign one of those three, a goalkeeper to replace Victor Valdes and a top striker to complement Messi, it can spend the entirety of next season perfecting a “plan B” to combat their opponents’ blueprint for victory.

Barcelona reached the Champions League semifinal for a record sixth-straight year in 2012-13, and there’s a good chance it will make it seven next season. There are too many good players — leaders, champions and legends — at Camp Nou to think that this cycle will turn to dust after this emphatic defeat. When Barcelona truly declines, it will do so gradually over the course of seasons as many great teams have seen. Barcelona is not a team in need of revolution or even forced evolution. It needs to freshen up in the summer months and prepare for yet another campaign in search of trophies at home and abroad.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Muller was the most influential player in Bayern Munich’s 4-0 thrashing of FC Barcelona — quite a statement considering the occasion and players with whom he shared the field.

Bayern Munich hosted Barcelona in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal matchup. The meeting between the two superpowers featured names familiar even to casual followers of the game.

Bayern Munich and Germany captain Philipp Lahm led his team alongside longtime sidekick Bastian Schweinsteiger. Frank Ribery and Arjen Robben ran the flanks, as they have done in the two most recent World Cup finals.

Barcelona fielded a team of players that have won a host of trophies for club and country in recent years. Gerrard Pique, Xavi and Andres Iniesta are fixtures of this late stage of the Champions League, as is Brazilian fullback Dani Alves. Lest we not forget, a guy named Lionel Messi was out there. He was clearly limited by his recent hamstring injury, but he still played 90 minutes.

However, Muller stole the show. He may not have dominated and dictated the flow of the game, but he was a central figure in the contest’s decisive moments — namely the goals. He opened the scoring in the 25th minute by popping up at the far post to head Dante‘s headed cross past goalkeeper Victor Valdes. Early in the second half, he channeled his inner Dante to create the second goal. Like his teammate, he out-jumped Alves at the far post and headed the ball straight to Mario Gomez who tapped it home (he appeared to be offside, but we’ll have more on that later).

Robben made it 3-0 in the 73rd minute with a cool finish, but Muller was the one who made it possible. He body checked Barcelona defender Jordi Alba as he tried to contain Robben in the area. With no defender closing him down, Robben had enough time to pick and hit his spot with an accurate, left-footed shot to the far post.

Muller himself made it a rout by scoring the fourth goal in the 82nd minute. He outraced a trailing defender, slid and tapped home David Alaba‘s cross to effectively seal Bayern’s place in the final. Adding to the legend is the fact that, the Bayern talisman had suffered an injury a few minutes earlier and signaled to the bench that he needed to be substituted. The ball never went out of play, so Muller had to stay on the field. It’s a good thing he did, as he celebrated his way to the bench when Claudio Pizarro replaced him after the goal.

Sure, there’s more to life and soccer than goals. When Bayern didn’t possess the ball (Barca had it for 63 percent of the game), Muller helped his team keep that “perfect” defensive shape. When he did apply pressure, it became difficult for Barcelona’s holding midfielder Sergio Busquets and defenders Pique and Marc Bartara to contribute anything to their team’s attack. Muller’s involvement in each of the goals is merely a simple way to highlight his devastating effectiveness, but his tactical discipline and boundless energy did not go unnoticed.

Muller is only 23 years old, but he has already amassed an amount of big-game experience that most players won’t match over the course of their entire careers. At club level, he has played in two Champions League finals (scoring in one) and two German Cup finals. This is in addition to the many crucial Bundesliga games he has played in the last four campaigns, two of which ended with Bayern sitting atop the league.

Tuesday’s result doesn’t necessarily herald the end of Barcelona’s era of dominance or a changing of the guard at soccer’s apex. An unfit Messi, a backline which included untested 22-year old Marc Bartra and the small matter of three controversial goals poke too many holes in that theory.  These two teams will play the second leg next week and anything can happen.

What is beyond doubt is Muller’s continued excellence, and that should scare anyone not in the Bayern or Germany camp. In less than four years, he has progressed from being an unheralded product of Bayern’s youth system to a genuinely world-class player. He is capable of playing with and against the game’s brightest stars on its grandest stages and deciding the outcome of soccer’s biggest games.

Tuesday’s contest wasn’t so much a changing of top teams. It was more of a subtle shift in the ranks of the elite players — the best of the best. Lahm, Xavi, Iniesta and others mentioned above are either approaching or passing the age of 30. Their physical skills and influence will begin to erode. It happens to every player at some point in their career.

In the coming years, a new crop of players will step forward and become leaders and difference makers Europe’s top teams. They will join Muller, who is already there. His continued progress will be a determining factor in the success or failure of Pep Guardiola‘s tenure as Bayern’s head coach.

German soccer has been on the rise in recent years, and pundits are predicting a bright future for that country’s clubs and national teams. But the future is now, and Muller must be the face of it. From what he has achieved so far in his career, it looks like it’s only a matter of time before he wins the FIFA Ballon d’Or. That will probably happen sooner rather than later.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Coming into the contest, Manchester United had amassed a 15-point lead over second-place Manchester City thanks to a stunning run which has spanned the bulk of the season. The Red Devils had won 25 of their first 30 league games and hadn’t lost any of their past 18, dating back to November. City, by contrast, has struggled to reproduce the form and consistency that saw it capture last season’s league title.

But for 90 minutes, Manchester City reminded a global audience that, on any given day, it can be as good or even better than that “killing machine” that is present-day Manchester United. Sergio Aguero‘s stunning solo goal gave City a 2-1 win and a measure of solace heading into the final weeks of the season.

Much of the postgame chatter pointed to next season, as City manager Roberto Mancini pledged that his team will challenge for the 2013-14 title (he also sounded certain that he would still be in charge by then). But what should we make of the present?

Despite the loss, United leads City by 12 points with just seven games left to play. It’s a forgone conclusion that United will win this season’s title with City finishing in second by some distance. Monday’s result, coupled with the outcomes of the Manchester derbies of 2011-12 and 2012-13, suggests that the real gap between City and United may be less than the 12-point difference in the standings. City’s troubled season can be seen as a blip, or the result of a series of on-field and off-field mistakes that players, Mancini (and his staff) and club hierarchy made since lifting the Premier League trophy in May. It’s only natural that a fast-growing institution like Manchester City Football Club would experience growing pains and bouts of mismanagement that have a real effect on results.

City’s players showed that they can beat the league’s best on Monday, giving us every reason to believe that they will challenge for next season’s title. While many are expecting a summer clear-out that will see a number of players leave the club, Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Gael Clichy, Yaya Toure and David Silva are almost certain to stay for at least another season and perform at an elite level. It’s likely that City will supplement that core group with a number of expensive and high-profile signings this summer who could tilt the balance of power back  in its favor.

United’s squad is brimming with talent and Sir Alex Ferguson should remain in charge for at least another season. United will continue to progress and remain the league’s most formidable team under Ferguson’s watchful eye. The structure in place at Old Trafford, combined with the club’s growing financial clout, almost assures that this trend will continue for the foreseeable future.

A stable United and resurgent City doesn’t bode well for the rest of the league. This season’s title charge was essentially a two-horse race, and it wasn’t a very good one. The Manchester duo took their battle for supremacy down to the final moments of last season, finishing level on points. There was a 19-point gap between them and third-placed Arsenal. When this season ends next month, the distance between the second and third-placed teams will be significant — it currently stands at 13 points.

There is a great deal of truth in the old adage which says the league standings don’t lie. Unless the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool make significant progress — and do so at a faster rate than United and City this summer — fans and neutrals will be treated to another two-horse race between the Manchester clubs for the title in 2013-14. That will make a third straight season where that is the case, taking some of the shine off of a league which prides itself on being the world’s greatest and most competitive. In fact, it just might make the buildup to and fallout from next season’s campaign a bit anticlimactic.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Sunderland fired Martin O’Neil on Saturday, after a home loss to Manchester United left it sitting one point above the relegation zone with seven games to play. Chairman Ellis Short replaced O’Neil with Di Canio, hoping the Italian’s arrival will lift a demoralized  squad which has only earned three of a possible 24 points over its last eight games.

At stake is a place in next season’s Premier League and the extra £30 million ($45.3 million) in cash that will flow into the club’s accounts under the terms of the league’s new television deal.

Di Canio’s political views have already turned the first days of his tenure at the Stadium of Light into an unending firestorm. His alleged fascist leanings run counter to the socialist roots of the club and city, but the political controversy won’t sink the union between club and manager.

While many Sunderland fans have misgivings about Di Canio’s politics, the storm will almost certainly lose strength in the coming days. Di Canio and Sunderland have already issued a statement denying the manager’s alleged views. The next big story or narrative twist will occupy the attention of most media outlets (it always does), leaving the Di Canio, the players and staff to get on with their work.

Clubs often see a “bounce” in results after hiring a new manager, as liberated players are often doubly determined to prove their worth to the new man in charge. Sunderland doesn’t need much of a bounce to survive. Victory in either of the next two games (away to Chelsea and Newcastle) will give Di Canio instant credibility and momentum with the players and fans. Games against fellow strugglers Aston Villa, Stoke City and Southampton are also part of Sunderland’s run-in. Winning three of its final seven games would give the club 40 points, which is a reasonable benchmark for safety. One could argue that replacing O’Neil with anyone (of a decent reputation) would have the desired effect. Di Canio will be the main beneficiary of this fortunate timing.

While Di Canio is a safe bet in the short-term to steer the club clear of relegation, his methods and personality could be his undoing over the long-term. His only previous managerial experience was a largely successful 21-month stint in charge of Swindon Town, where he was, by all accounts, a strict disciplinarian who exercised total control over his players’ lives. Those ways worked wonders with a collection of unheralded youngsters and journeymen, but there’s no certainty that the richer, more cosmopolitan group he inherits from O’Neil will accept such an approach after the fog of war against relegation lifts.

Ever enthusiastic, energetic and full of self-belief, Di Canio vows to bring his controlling  management style to the top flight, according to Sky Sports.

“You have to know how to manage your players,” he said. ”It is obvious you have different egos in the Premier League, but you have to have strict rules, discipline, and work hard on the field during the week otherwise the product you deliver on Saturday is not good. That won’t change. It’s not just Paolo Di Canio’s opinion, all managers around the world think the same.

“If everybody interprets the game wrong because they do not train properly during the week or because there is no discipline you have an anarchists’ team, and if there is anarchy maybe the players try to do the right thing but doesn’t work in the way it should.

“Yesterday was the first training session and it was a shock for them. But they showed fantastic commitment and we are going to change a bit our philosophy in the way we approach our training sessions, because if you do not prepare yourself the best in your training session you can’t do a good job in a Saturday or Sunday game.”

The real gamble isn’t that Di Canio’s politics will sink his tenure before it gets off the ground. Nor is it that his notoriously passionate and confrontational style won’t go over well with some Sunderland players and relegation will follow. The real risk lies in the long-term partnership between manager and club.

Short took over the club in 2009, and Sunderland hasn’t consolidated its position in the Premier League since then. It finished 13th, 10th and 13th in the seasons preceding this troubled one. It is on its fourth manager under Short (only O’Neil and Steve Bruce were full-time hires), and Di Canio is by far the least experienced and most mercurial of the bunch.

It’s likely that Di Canio’s reign will begin with great promise, but personality clashes with those above and below him will ultimately undermine his efforts. The chances of a man who, in the words of his previous employer, manages “by hand grenade” seeing out the length of his two-and-a-half-year contract or having enough success to warrant an extension are slim. Therein lies the real danger for Sunderland. After all the early controversy and a relegation fight or two, it might find itself in the position of looking for a manager who can turn it into a Premier League mainstay and challenger for a place in Europe in two years’ time. If that turns out to be the case in 2015, it won’t speak well for the eight seasons which followed Sunderland’s most recent promotion to the top flight (in 2007-08). Instability rarely serves a soccer club well. Hiring an explosive type like Di Canio only welcomes more of it to Sunderland over the long term.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Should world soccer’s governing body heed Costa Rica’s call, invalidate the U.S. Men’s National Team’s win and order a replay the FIFA World Cup qualifier, it will be within its right to do so.

While FIFA can scrub the result from the record books, it can never strike the memory of the game from the minds of the players, fans and wider sporting public.

Friday’s contest took place in near whiteout conditions in Commerce City, Colorado ( just outside of Denver), as a snowstorm started two hours before kickoff and raged throughout the game. It blanketed the field at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park with snow, despite the best efforts of the grounds crew.

Neither team could play much actual soccer. The the wintry weather made controlling and kicking the ball almost impossible for the seasoned professionals on the field. But the U.S. prevailed in the end thanks to newly minted captain Clint Dempsey, who scored the game’s only goal in the 16th minute. The U.S. battled the conditions, opponents and their own demons to preserve the shutout. It was one of the most memorable games in U.S. soccer history, and the victory made the whole occasion absurdly beautiful for American partisans.

It’s impossible to tell how FIFA will decide. It only said it is studying “the content of the letter and next steps will be determined in due course.” It’s even harder to say how FIFA should rule on this case, as there are too many unknowns (as of Monday afternoon) to make a definitive statement. ESPN reports FIFA regulations state that the protesting team’s captain must immediately lodge a protest to the referee in the presence of the other team’s captain. If that actually happened, Dempsey didn’t talk about it after the game. There are other procedural factors to consider.

“Costa Rica also had to file written protests with the match coordinator within two hours of the final whistle, and to FIFA’s administration by registered letter within 24 hours, ‘otherwise they shall be disregarded,’ the regulations state. FIFA had yet to determine whether Costa Rica had followed those procedures,” ESPN continues.

After 30 minutes of play, the game was clearly becoming a farce. When referee Joel Aguilar halted play around the hour mark, I assumed he would abandon the contest. But the Salvadoran official resumed the game. Whether or not Aguilar should have called off the game is a subject for endless debate. It’s more of a matter of personal taste.

Contrary to popular opinion, neither team benefited from the conditions. The American players are from all over the country, and their places of upbringing don’t necessarily make them more appreciative of the cold and snow than the Costa Ricans. Besides, any professional club almost anywhere on earth would stop or move practice inside when confronted with weather like we saw on Friday. Soccer players don’t play in that kind of weather … unless they have to.

Analyzing performances is another thankless (borderline fruitless) task in a game like this, but a few things stood out. The Sporting News’ revelations of divisions and discontent within the U.S. camp dominated the lead-up to the game, but the players and coaches didn’t let the potentially explosive report distract them from the task at hand. They displayed an abundance of commitment, focus and determination in securing the famous and ugly victory. Their collective performance was a credit to their professionalism.

Dempsey continues to be the Americans’ most important player, as he has been for the majority of the current World Cup cycle. The star forward flourished in his first game as captain by doing what he does best — popping up near the opponents’ goal with a perfectly timed run and putting the ball in the back of the net — and a few extra things, according to U.S. Soccer.

“You just got to make sure you’re being smart out there, making sure you’re putting out a good shift and leading by example,” Dempsey said. “Maybe when you lose the ball, you’re chasing down lost causes. It’s in the back of your head a little bit more to give a little bit of that extra effort.”

The U.S. Men’s National Team is in transition, and the road to the future is full of bumps and potential pitfalls. Head coach Jurgen Klinsmann has embraced and promoted the concept of “urgency” since taking charge of the U.S. team in August 2011. He was a picture of urgency as he was pressing Aguilar to let play continue. His players responded, even embodied, their coach during the tense final half hour of the game. Last month’s loss to Honduras, combined with the upcoming game in Mexico City made the Costa Rica contest a must-win for the U.S. They responded and eased the pressure of the moment.

If FIFA orders a replay, the U.S. should be confident in its chances of winning and doing so by a greater margin. Any potential replay would take place later in the year. The U.S. would be further removed from its transition troubles and closer to peak form, fitness, sharpness and chemistry (which has a target date of June-July 2014).

If the result stands as is, the U.S. soccer and sports community will continue to celebrate that iconic game known as “snowmageddon.” The country will remember that night when it turned on ESPN just after someone shook up a snow globe and watched. When it settled, Dempsey, Klinsmann and friends were standing in the middle of it all, enjoying their finest moment to date.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

That paradox comes to light as the English soccer star announced that he will retire after the 2012-13 season. Tuesday’s news was met with a mix of acclaim, respect, nostalgia, melancholy and derision, among other sentiments.

Although his most glorious days came at the front end of his career, he persevered through a persistent string of injuries to walk away on his own terms at the ripe old (in striker’s terms) age of 33. It’s fitting that such a famous figure would provoke a wide range of opinions when it comes time to deliver a verdict on his playing career. Like life itself, his career was full of wonder, woe, joy and pain.

Owen’s retirement decision comes as no major shock. He failed to stay healthy and make an impact at Stoke City — the club he joined as a free agent in September. Stoke represented his last chance to prove that he could withstand the rigors of Premier League soccer and contribute at the top level, and that didn’t happen in 2012-13. He has only made seven appearances for the Potters, scoring one goal (which was his 150th in the Premier League).

Owen recently told the BBC that this season has been “frustrating” for him. When healthy, he has spent more time on the bench (or on his own couch watching burglars prowl on his property) than on the field. In September he said that he wanted to play two more seasons in the Premier League. He has no intention of joining a team in a lower division, and a move to an Australian club failed to materialize. As the season nears its conclusion, retirement seemed to be his best, and perhaps, sole option.

The final chapter of Owen’s playing career may be a failure, but it can’t tarnish what he achieved at its outset. After a standout career at various youth levels, he graduated to Liverpool’s first team and scored in his debut in May 1997. The following season, he was the Premier League’s top goal scorer and became an England international in early 1998 — at age 18. His status as a global superstar was confirmed that summer when he scored that wonder-goal against Argentina at the FIFA World Cup in France.

His ascension continued for the next 10 months, as he terrorized defenders with his blistering speed, poise, confidence and deadly finishing ability. But a hamstring injury he suffered in April 1999 ended his season and forever altered the trajectory of his career.

“Getting that massive injury at Leeds has probably changed and shaped my whole career,” Owen told the Telegraph last year. “Since I was 19, I’ve been compromised. If I did that now, it would be surgically repaired like it’s brand new. I wouldn’t even know I had an injury. Back then you just let it go.

“I basically run on two hamstrings on my right leg and three on the other. I’m losing a third of the power. If I hadn’t done that, 90 percent of the other injuries wouldn’t have happened.”

Owen’s balky hamstring flared up time and time again at the turn of the century, but he remained a key player for Liverpool and England. His goal-scoring feats powered the Reds to glory in the 2001 FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup, and his hat-trick for England against Germany later that year helped him become the first English player to win the European Footballer of the Year award since 1979.

By the time Real Madrid bought Owen in 2004, he had already scored 158 goals at club level and 24 for his country. He was a 24-year-old superstar with a well-earned reputation for scoring big goals in big games. He fit in with Ronaldo, Raul, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham and other “Galacticos” in his one season in Spain. Although he was used mostly as substitute, he continued to score at an impressive rate.

When Owen returned to England in 2005, most thought his best years lay ahead, but his career had already started to decline by then. Injuries derailed his time at Newcastle (2005-09), Manchester United (2009-12) and Stoke City (2012 – present). Of the 220 goals he scored at club level, only 48 came after his August 2005 return to England. His national-team career suffered a similar fate. He tore his ACL in the opening game of the 2006 World Cup. The injury kept him out of action until April 2007, and he would play his last game for England in early 2008.

Despite the injuries, unfulfilled promise and unspectacular ending, Owen’s career was a smashing success. He set goals for himself and reached them. He scored them as well. He is the fourth highest goal scorer in the history of England’s national team. His teams won a host of trophies and he earned some of the most prestigious individual awards the game has to offer.

He only underachieved because the injuries (and there were far too many to list) took away his biggest asset — speed — and his best years. We can only imagine what he could have done in the second half of his 16-year career with two good legs. Most assume that he would have overtaken Bobby Charlton as England’s all-time leading goal scorer (49).

Owen doesn’t bother asking “what if?” He has too much to be proud of to do that.

“In the meantime I’ve won the European Player of the Year and a load of trophies while compromised,” he continued. “I could look back on my career like everyone with ‘what if this or what if that?’. If I’d still been in one piece from the 1998 World Cup and gone through my career, what type of player would I have been?’

“Some people think I was blighted with injuries, but I’ve played hundreds of games. Part of me thinks I’ve been the luckiest person in the world, too. I’ve played for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle, Man United, got 90-odd caps for England, 40-odd goals. I don’t need to work again, got four great kids. I’m not that unlucky.”

Owen’s journey reminds us of some of life’s essential truths. Things never turn out exactly like we think they should. It’s even rarer that they happen exactly as we expect them to. Fans who were a certain age when a teenage Owen burst onto the scene assumed that he would go on to become one of the greatest goal scorers in history — not just in England, but anywhere. If those fans saw his early exploits and projected them out, his name would undoubtedly join those of soccer legends past, present and future.

What neither they nor Owen saw was how much damage those early hamstring injuries had already done and would continue to do. Those fans were too busy watching him score prolifically, win awards and reach the top of the game. They probably hadn’t been exposed to some of the world’s harsh realities — the ones that see lives and careers blown off course at a moment’s notice.

Should the melancholy of today outweigh the unbridled joy of a decade ago in the minds of fans? Not necessarily. Owen never became a legend, but he became something more fitting: he was and is an example. Throughout his personal injury hell, he remained a model professional, earning the respect of teammates and coaches at some of the world’s biggest clubs. Some may not care for his cold and distant outward demeanor, but those closest to him have nothing but the best to say about him. He may not have gotten that second season at Stoke City, but his wife, children, horses and possible future as a broadcaster, national-team ambassador or coach will soften that blow. Owen is at peace with the oddly shaped arc of his career. It should remind us all not to take the great moments of any player’s career for granted. A glorious present does not last forever.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

5:30 p.m.: The 2013 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference has come to a close.

Thank you for following the events of the last two days.

Check NESN.com next week for a deeper look at some topics that emerged from this year’s conference.

5:20 p.m.: The Los Angeles Clippers trade for Chris Paul wins the award for best transaction.

5:15 p.m.: The San Francisco 49ers win the award for best analytics organization.

5:10 p.m.: The lifetime achievement award goes to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.

“We all have different responsibilities,” Belichick said. “I certainly respect the mathematical and statistical ways of looking at the game and trying to use those methods and results to improve our product on the field.”

4:45 p.m.: We’ve reached the end of the last panel of the second and final day of the conference. An awards ceremony celebrating achievements and advances in sports analytics will take place at 5 p.m.

4:30 p.m.: Zarren says “I don’t think there’s any question that we would be better if Rajon [Rondo] was playing.”

He adds that the Celtics are learning a lot from the loss of the star point guard. Other players have to step up and do different things.

“Some of those, they’re good at, others they may not be so good,” he adds.

4:20 p.m.: The panel agrees that the defensive side is the hardest part of the game to quantify.

Pritchard and Van Gundy think that the team’s overall defensive scheme dictates how players perform.

“Unless you know exactly what we want defensively, you cannot possibly determine what’s going on in terms of defensive players,” he says.

Buford says a good way to analyze defenses is to measure how often defenses break down.

4:15 p.m.: Van Gundy argues that players don’t want or need a bunch of numbers. He believes coaches can pour through numbers and data points, but players need to keep things simple.

“Cluttered minds make slow feet,” he says.

4:10 p.m.: Are players ready for a general manager that has no first-hand basketball experience (as players themselves)?

The panel cites the Houston Rockets as an example that it can work.

4:05 p.m.: Pritchard says “10 or 20 percent” of building winning teams involves player selection. The rest is developing them and getting them to buy into the team’s culture.

4 p.m.: Van Gundy says good coaches aren’t the ones who best understand analytics. The best ones get their players to go out and perform.

He stressed the human aspect that’s involved in leading teams in most of his comments, arguing that “this isn’t a video game.” He says coaches build cultures and styles of playing the game, and the exceptions they make (following the numbers) often has a negative impact on the effort.

3:50 p.m.: Van Gundy thinks that eventually every team will have a lot of information. What will separate teams is how they use them.

3:30 p.m.: The final panel discussion of the day will cover the analytics of basketball.

Advanced scouting and analysis has changed the way many NBA teams do business before, during and after games. Moderator Pablo Torre will lead a discussion featuring R.C. Buford of Spurs Sports and Entertainment, Indiana Pacers general manager Kevin Pritchard, ESPN analyst Stan Van Gundy and Celtics assistant general manager Mike Zarren.

2 p.m.: Agoos warns against using data alone to analyze players, as there are too many other factors. He says it has to be part of the decision-making process.

It’s similar to what panelists who represent other sports had to say.

1:45 p.m.: Can the panel use analytics to settle the Messi-Ronaldo debate? No they can’t and neither can hundreds of millions of soccer fans around the world.

Context matters too much in debates like these, according to Wooster. Anderson believes it doesn’t matter on the practical level.

1:35 p.m.: Stein asks the panel what metrics fans should follow to better understand the game.

Larcada says timeliness is more important than specific data points. Anderson looks for team performances, particularly on defense.

Wooster believes the analysts that can measure intangibles and translate that into wins will give teams a competitive advantage.

The panel is having a tough time answering Stein’s question.

1:30 p.m.: Wooster says Michu was scouted by six Premier League teams, but Swansea City was the one to sign him and reap the benefits.

1:25 p.m.: Wooster says that the short-termism among managers and coaches discourages them from changing behavior and adopting a more analytical approach.

Agoos thinks it’s up to ownership to hire and promote coaches that are well-versed in analytics to make that change.

1:15 p.m.: Anderson cites the fact that soccer has gone from having “very little data to mountains of data” almost overnight.

The trick is for clubs to present it to their coaching staff in a way that makes it “actionable.”

Wooster says coaches are starting to lean on analytics in their pregame preparations. He adds that “the paradox in football [soccer] is that the most important things are the hardest to measure.”

1:10 p.m.: ESPN is using heat maps and other forms of data visualization which have been well-received by on-air talent and fans, according to Larcada.

1:05 p.m.: Anderson believes that fans and online media have adopted stats much quicker than the clubs themselves have.

Wooster thinks the long-standing culture in the game has slowed the acceptance of analytics because “that’s how it’s always been done.”

12:55 p.m.: The next panel we’ll watch concerns the beautiful numbers.

Elite-level soccer has been traditionally averse to using analytics, but that is starting to change. ESPN’s Marc Stein moderates the discussion that covers how teams and leagues are using numbers in the game. Joining him will be MLS technical director Jeff Agoos, author and Cornell University professor Chris Anderson, ESPN’s Albert Larcada and Prozone business development director Blake Wooster.

12:35 p.m.: The biggest takeaway from the ESPN panel is that numbers themselves can’t tell the entire story, but they can be used to illuminate certain points.

12:20 p.m.: ESPN is developing a college football power index and a college football QB rating system that helps people quantify the game in a new way.

12 p.m.: The next panel examines how ESPN uses analytics to tell stories.

One panelist referred to his job as being a “professional myth buster.” They strive to educate and entertain the audience.

11:20 a.m.: Del Rio says “sometimes you know — statistically what’s best … but I don’t want to educate the whole league.”

That’s why coaches sometimes choose not to defend their decisions to the media or public.

11:15 a.m.: Edwards says telling a defense to allow an opponent to score is risky. He thinks it sends a bad emotional message, and if a coach does it more than one or two times in a season “you’ve lost your defense.”

Del Rio disagrees. He thinks if making that call gives his team a better probability of winning, the players will support the coach — as long as he explains why he’s doing it.

11:05 a.m.: Burke thinks the game has changed to the point where offenses can “move the ball at will.”

He thinks offenses are much better than they were a generation ago, and that makes coaches much more likely to go for it on fourth-and-short situations.

Being unpredictable is an asset for a head coach. “You gotta be Sadaam Hussein on the sidelines,” Burke says.

Edwards says the best quarterback sneakers are the ones that wait for a little crease to open up and sneak through it.

10:50 a.m.: Del Rio says Maurice Jones-Drew wanted to score on a play when the Jacksonville Jaguars were in a tight game against the New York Jets.

Del Rio, then the Jaguars’ head coach, told Jones-Drew not to score on a play if he had the chance, but the running back said “coach I have to take care of my fantasy people.”

Del Rio managed to convince Jones-Drew to take one for the team.

10:40 a.m.: Burke believes parity in the NFL ensures that any team can compete and execute any one play, but the differences between good and bad teams are an accumulation of the total volume of plays that they run over the course of a season.

10:35 a.m.: Del Rio points to the probability charts that Advanced NFL Stats produces, but he says coaches are drilled in the old-school book that tells them to kick the field goal and take the points.

He adds that the media reads from that same book and judge coaches’ decisions according to it.

10:25 a.m.: The format of this panel follows ESPN’s Around the Horn.

The first play they’re debating was Justin Tucker’s fake field-goal attempt in the early part of Super Bowl XLVII. Edwards says the play was a 4th and nine situation, but the reality was that it was 4th and 17 (because of where he got the ball).

Edwards adds that “football is about personnel.” Numbers like 40 times are great, but the humans on the field are more important to executing the play.

Del Rio points to momentum as a factor in deciding whether to kick the field goal or go for a first down.

10:10 a.m.: We’ll shift our focus back to the NFL in the next panel. “Monday Morning Quarterback: In-Game Decision Analytics” will explore how football coaches and managers gain a competitive advantage using data.

ESPN’s Tony Reali will moderate the panel, which includes Advanced NFL Stats’ Brian Burke, Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitrioff, and ESPN football analyst Herm Edwards.

9:55 a.m.: The pooling of the revenue for MLB Advanced Media was the best business decision the league has made in the last 10 years.

He says it’s akin to the NFL’s decision to pool television money in the 1960s.

9:45 a.m.: The real competition is other forms of entertainment or a technological environment where people grow up with short attention spans.

Kasten says baseball must perfect the “second screen experience” at the ballpark to attract a new generation of tech-savvy fans. The natural breaks in the game allow fans to interact with the teams without missing any of the action.

9:40 a.m.: Skipper doesn’t look at lockouts (or strikes) as one side winning or losing.

Silver says he doesn’t see the deal that gave NBA players a 50-50 split of the revenue as a victory.

“We’re still not at the point where all the teams are profitable, but we’re hoping to work toward that point.”

9:35 a.m.: The job of the commissioner is to be “the steward of the best interests of the game,” Kasten says. “They work for the owners, but their job is to benefit all the interested parties.”

Kraft believes commissioners have to act like a CEO, as they manage brands worth tens of billions of dollars.

9:30 a.m.: Silver says teams want to “kill each other on the court,” but they’re partners in business off the court. They share best practices in business operations.

9:25 a.m.: Kraft says his family bought the Patriots at the dawn of the salary cap era in 1994.

They thought the time was right because they would be able to compete on the basis of their skill and expertise, as opposed to how much they could spend.

9:20 a.m.: Kasten says sports franchises are valued (and priced to sell) on “day-to-day, year to year numbers.”

Owners all believe they can fix, improve and make a return on their investments “down the road, but not necessarily annually or year to year.”

9:15 a.m.: The panelists agree that business operations at the team and league level have grown and gotten more complex.

Skipper adds that profitability is no longer a dirty word in the sports business. It’s become one of the key measures of success, which wasn’t always the case.

9:05 a.m.: When asked if owning a sports franchise is the coolest job in American business, Kasten starts with the dark side of the job.

Media dissecting every minute detail is a tough part of the business and he adds that Forbes’ franchise valuations “drive us [owners] nuts.”

9 a.m.: The first panel is set to begin. The topic is “The Changing Nature of Ownership.”

ESPN’s Peter Keating will moderate the discussion. The panel includes L.A. Dodgers president Stan Kasten, Kraft Group president Jonathan Kraft, ESPN president John Skipper and NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver.

8:30 a.m. ET: The games people play are changing before our eyes, as those on the inside freely admit. Among the factors driving these changes is a deluge of data.

The second and final day of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference promises to be full of insights and opinions on how data is changing the sports world.

Owners, staff and officials from the highest ranks of the sports world will be on hand to discuss some of the great changes in the sports and entertainment industry. Managers and coaches will discuss how data is affecting their strategies before, during and after games. We’ll even learn how elite soccer clubs are embracing the data revolution after.

Throughout the day, we’ll be on hand at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center to bring you the highlights of the day’s discussions.

Click here to review discussions from day one of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference>>

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @mkomard, his Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Photo via Facebook/Los Angeles Dodgers

6 p.m.: We’ve reached the conclusion of the first day of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. We’ll be back Saturday for day two. Be sure to check NESN.com starting at 9 a.m. to see what topics are covered in the country’s biggest meeting sports data analysts.

5:55 p.m.: When asked about over-saturation of sports on television, Walsh points to increased audience sizes and competition from other outlets as proof that fans are actually underserved.

5:45 p.m.: The common challenge that teams in the NBA and Major League Baseball share is how to make teams profitable, Postolos says. Broad revenue sharing is one way leagues are facing this test.

5:40 p.m.: Walsh says that a lot of research will on concussions will come out in the next 12-24 months. He’s sure decision makers will take notice and act on it.

5:30 p.m.: Media is the biggest international opportunity at the moment, de Picciotto says. The next is taking brands globally (through sports). Finally, the movement of talent across borders gives players and fans a chance to see athletes from around the world.

He also thinks gambling has the potential to generate vast amounts of revenue, but it could kill sports as well.

On the question of performance-enhancing drugs, he says essentially need to keep up with societal values.

5:20 p.m.: Walsh asks how to use analytics to value sports properties — especially in increments of time.

PepsiCo has a proprietary model, according to Storms. “Nobody knows our business better than we do,” she says. The company uses a multi-stage process to evaluate the impact of any potential sponsorship or endorsement.

She concludes that there’s no way to measure the exact amount of product that sports partnerships move, but PespiCo is closer than it has ever been to doing so.

5:15 p.m.: Carter says leagues partner with media and sponsors to try and “surround the fan.” She adds that the old model of signage at a stadium no longer works.

5 p.m.: Walsh says we need innovative thinking about the playing of the game and the experience of the consumer.

He points to the fact that players are bigger, faster and stronger than they were decades ago, yet the size of the playing surfaces (specifically in the NFL and NBA) remain the same. “Why not make fields bigger to provide more excitement for fans,” he asks.

4:50 p.m.: The business of sports is our final panel of the day. Industry leaders will talk about the money side of this multi-trillion dollar industry.

Kraft Sports Group vice president Jessica Gelman will moderate the panel. She will be joined by Soccer United Marketing president Kathy Carter, Octagon president Phil de Picciotto, Houston Astros president George Postolos, PepsiCo vice president of global sports marketing Jennifer Storms, and ESPN executive vice president John Walsh.

4:45 p.m.: Schatz says the most overrated players are the ones whose athletic ability doesn’t translate into football success.

He points to D’Angelo Hall who is fast and has good hands but is poor in coverage.

He says Tony Romo is underrated because he is consistently one of the six or seven best quarterbacks in the league and one of the best in the fourth quarter … “as long as the game is not on national television.”

4:40 p.m.: The 49ers use analytics to better understand the tendencies of coaches — how they manage the clock and when they call time outs.

4:35 p.m.: Pioli says mutual respect is lacking in football when asked how to convince an NFL head coach to listen to an analyst who has never stepped on the field.

He says a coach must have an open mind, but it’s important how analysts present, deliver and communicate their information.

4:30 p.m.: Kremer asks how to quantify injuries and off-field problems. What value do you attach to those events?

No two injuries are the same, but Shatz argues that, en masse, players  are better at recovering from injuries in today’s game than they were in the past.

As for the character question, Pioli approaches it on a case-by-case basis, saying there’s no real way to measure something like that.

Pioli discusses the new player assessment tool being used at the NFL combine. He wants to know as much about a player’s mental makeup — specifically his levels of work ethic and level of selflessness (or selfishness).

4:25 p.m.: Demoff says the middle class is shrinking because teams are better at scouting and developing young players. Teams are now paying a premium for players they call “difference makers.”

4:20 p.m.: Demoff says the salary caps affect the schemes teams use. They “ultimately look for undervalued players and get as many of them as you can.”

He said more teams started playing 3-4 defenses a few years ago because nose tackles were undervalued. Now the best nose tackles command $12 million salaries, so teams are reverting to the 4-3 because the market allows them to get more bang for their buck with tackles to fit that system.

4:15 p.m.: Marathe calls the Patriots the “kings of replenishing.”

In the age of the salary cap, it’s impossible to keep a team together over the long term. “If every player took a 15-percent discount on their market rate, we still wouldn’t be able to keep them all,” he says.

He adds that the Patriots have been incredible at churning players yet remaining successful.

Pioli says that the Pats’ practice of stockpiling draft picks increases their chancing of landing good players. “Every pick is a gamble,” he said before adding that taking more gambles increases the chances of landing good players.

4:05 p.m.: Pioli says it’s tough to come up with a measurement to predict a player’s chance of success.

“Football is such an interdependent game. The success of a play has so many variables and depends on 11 indiviudals.”

Marathe expands on it, saying that trades don’t often work out because a player can succeed in one system, but look totally out-of-place in another.

3:55 p.m.: Pioli is no fan of the combine because there’s a difference between “pure speed” and “playing speed.”

He finds values in measurements. He says Tom Brady is such an accurate passer because he’s got huge hands.

Marathe talks about “hidden value” of 40-yard dash times, citing the case of Jerry Rice. He says Rice had an average overall 40 time, but his speed between 20-40 yards (what insiders call “the flying 20″) was one of the highest ever.

He said it translated into separation speed on the field. Rice was rarely, if ever, caught from behind.

3:50 p.m.: Demoff and Marathe say their teams are looking to hire analysts. The Rams are still working out how to deeper integrate analytics into their organization, while the 49ers have used one on the salary cap side for over a decade and are now using them on the football side.

Pioli says analytics have played a role in the game for ages. “Gut” decisions are based on prior experience and analysis, he says.

We’re just calling it something else now.

3:40 p.m.: Are you ready for some football?

The National Football League is undergoing an analytics revolution of its own. The Football Analytics panel will discuss how NFL coaches and teams are using data to evaluate players, map out strategy and make in-game decisions.

Andrea Kremer will moderate the panel. She will be joined by St. Louis Rams executive vice president of football operations Kevin Demoff, former Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, San Francisco 49ers chief operating officer Paraag Marathe and Football Outsiders founder Aaron Schatz.

2:40 p.m.: Robin van Persie does his exploring in the half second before the ball comes his way. It’s how he always seems to be one step ahead of defenders (despite not being particularly fast or quick) when he gets the ball in the final third of the field.

2:30 p.m.: Jordet says Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have the highest frequency of “visual exploratory behavior,” meaning the two stars look around and gauge their surroundings before receiving the ball.

He says the midfield players who complete the highest number of forward passes are the ones who do the most exploring. In other words, they’re reading the game and playing it at the same time.

He bases the research on Sky Sports’ player cameras.

2:25 p.m.: We’re going from one extreme to the other. Baseball and statistics are inseparable, but soccer has been slow to adopt statistical analysis.

Geir Jordet, director of psychology at the Norweigan Centre for Football (soccer) Excellence is presenting some new research on “The Hidden Foundation of Field Vision in English Premier League Soccer Players.”

He explores the concept of field vision. How can some players make the right pass every time they get the ball? We’re about to find out.

1:50 p.m.: The panel discusses how difficult it is to predict how a young player will perform in the big leagues. There’s no exact science or measurement device that will predict which players will overperform or underperform at the top level.

1:40 p.m.: Posnanski says there’s a real divide in the way journalists cover baseball. He thinks younger writers — especially on the internet — are more versed in the “new language” of analytics, while mainstream media still focuses on wins, losses, errors and other 100-year-old statistics.

He thinks baseball coverage is currently changing and will continue to change with the times.

1:30 p.m.: Zaidi says analytics are changing the way the game is played and how managers manage.

McCracken adds that managers tend to want to avoid risk. If he plays a star player and the player doesn’t deliver, “it’s the player’s fault.” If the manager plays an untested rookie and the youngster fails, “it’s the manager’s fault.”

1:20 p.m.: When asked what the newest developments in baseball analytics, Keri says that teams are increasingly privatizing and keeping data in house. McCracken thinks this will slow the growth of the baseball analysis.

He goes on to say that video analysis is the next frontier in the field.

Zaidi says baseball analysis is too tied to outcomes rather than skills themselves. The A’s are trying to move in the direction of skill-based analysis rather than outcomes (which are the results of those skills).

1:15 p.m.: Zaidi drew chuckles from crowd when he said Billy Beane calls him “The Emotional Stat Guy.”

He adds that baseball decisions are very complex and there are a lot of disagreements, but Beane has to make the final call at the end of the day.

1:10 p.m.: Posnanski says that baseball provides new things to measure and quantify almost every day. Where some sports might see diminishing returns from the avalanche of data, he thinks that won’t be the case in baseball.

McCracken thinks the data can be dangerous. Some take a new stat and run with it without “completely understanding” the data that they’re seeing.

12:55 p.m.: We’re getting set for one of the most anticipated panels of the first day — on baseball analytics.

Sabermetrics are gaining influence among baseball’s decision makers. Grantland staff writer Jonah Keri, NBC Sports writer Joe Posnanski, statistical analyst Voros McCracken and Oakland Athletics director of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi will discuss how teams are using analytics to gain a competitive advantage. ESPN’s Lindsey Czarniak will moderate.

11:20 a.m.: Polian and MacMullan talk about the Manti Te’o hoax and its effect on the player.

The former Colts general manager thinks the hoax won’t have a negative impact on his career over the long term.

“The hoax that he was a victim of  is a story, and it’s a gigantic story —  people can’t get enough of it,” Polian says. “Does it affect Manti Te’o the football player? I would submit to you absolutely not.”

MacMullan agrees with that assessment, but she thinks the hoax has had negative effects on his preparation for the NFL combine.

“He was probably not capable of preparing the way he would have liked to have because of all the outside noise and all the outside things that have happened to him.

“I don’t know this for a fact, but perhaps he may have under-performed at the combine because anyone that went through what he went through, regardless of how much you think he was involved or not involved, it had to have been devastating. There had to have been a lot of sleepless nights. There had to have been a lot of days he probably didn’t eat, and I’m sure a lot of days he didn’t work out the way he wanted to.”

11 a.m.: Pagliuca talks about the perspective owners and managers need. The best ones see things over an 82-game season “like a movie.”

Polian talks about a parallel universe we live in. Fans and media expect perfection over the course of an 82, 16 or even 162-game season. Professionals know that perfection is “almost never achievable,” and coaches teach against mistakes that are part of the business.

10:50 a.m.: Burke and Van Gundy have spoken about the most difficult aspect of their jobs as coaches and general managers.

They agree that the hardest part is cutting players — guys that “bleed for you” as Burke says. The human element, specifically the bonds that form in the locker room are tough to break.

10:45 a.m.: Burke likes hard coaches. They’re his favorite ones. But the former Toronto Maple Leafs president and general manager says “the harder the coach is, the shorter his shelf life.”

10:40 a.m.: Pagliuca tells us that one of the best decisions the Celtics have made (since he’s been one of the team’s owners) was not firing Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers in the 2006-07 season.

10:20 a.m.: Van Gundy is discussing the Dwight Howard saga in Orlando. He says Howard asked for him to be fired and was causing a problem in the Magic locker room.

He wished Magic management would come out with a statement — either back him with a new contract or fire him — and end the distraction. They didn’t.

Polian says Jim Finks, Red Aurebach and Branch Rickey are the three greatest executives in history. He adds that coaches are useful for a maximum of 10 years. The ones that are able to “recognize and prepare them [players] are the ones that last longest.”

10 a.m.: “It’s Not You, It’s Me: Break-Ups in Sports” is our first panel of the day. Moderator Jackie MacMullan will lead a discussion about high-profile trades, public disputes over hirings and firings and other media spectacles.

John Buccigross, Bill Polian, Steve Pagliuca, Brian Burke and Stan Van Gundy will explore how high-profile changes affect on-field performances.

9 a.m. ET: In the span of seven years, the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference has become the place to be.

Sports insiders,  executives and leading researchers from around the country and beyond descend on Boston for two days  to discuss role of analytics in the sports industry with each other and thousands of students.

The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center is the site of this year’s conference. Nate Silver, Brian Burke, Adam Silver, Mark Cuban, Jonathan Kraft and Michael Wilbon are just a few of the panelists that will be on hand to give and receive insight into how sports are being changed by “big data.”

We are on hand for the 2013 conference, looking to see where the next breakthrough in sports analytics will come from. Join us here on March 1 for the latest on sports data analysis.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @mkomard, his Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Photo via Facebook/MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference

Those closest to him may not have been shocked when he publicly revealed that he was gay, but the soccer world received his announcement as if a bombshell had been dropped on it. Therein lies the problem.

Rogers’ revelation was such a big deal because there remains a stigma around the issue of homosexuality in the macho world of men’s professional soccer. Instances of homophobia and intolerance are reportedly the norm, rather than the exception. Would it be headline news if one of your colleagues or someone in your industry came out of the closet? Probably not, but it is for a male professional soccer player.

There are no openly gay male athletes in Major League Soccer or any of North America’s four major team sports. Anton Hysen is the only openly gay professional soccer player currently playing in Europe. He plays for Utsiktens BK in Sweden’s third division. In 1990, Justin Fashanu became the first British-based player to reveal his homosexuality. He played for 22 clubs in his 19-year career before committing suicide in 1997. Rogers became the second British-based player to come out of the closet on Friday.

In some ways, (professional) soccer’s attitudes toward members of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning)  community reflect those of society at large. In others, the pro game lags far behind the wider world on this issue.

Rogers’ announcement and the reaction to it gives insight into how he and other LGBTQ players view themselves within the context of soccer and how soccer sees members of this marginalized group. That he chose to leave the game as he is entering his peak years says more about what needs to be done rather than the progress that has already been made.

The 25-year-old American bore his soul in a thoughtful 400-word post on his personal blog. He puts the game into perspective noting how it fueled his hopes, dreams, ambitions and achievements. By playing, Rogers “escaped” the pain and fear that comes with living in “secret,” but his considerable talents thrust him into a new prison from which he now seeks refuge.

“Now is my time to step away [from soccer],” Rogers said. “It’s time to discover myself away from football. … I realized I could only truly enjoy my life once I was honest. Honesty is a bitch but makes life so simple and clear. My secret is gone, I am a free man, I can move on and live my life as my creator intended.”

Rogers accomplished a lot in the game despite hiding a secret from those with whom he spent most of his time. A standout in the youth and college soccer ranks, he left the University of Maryland and turned professional with Heerenveeen in August 2006. After six months in the Dutch club’s reserves, he returned to the U.S. to embark on a Major League Soccer (MLS) career but he stayed on an upward trajectory.

Rogers was an MLS Cup winner with the Columbus Crew in 2008, also earning “Best XI” honors that year. In 2010, he was one of the final cuts from the United States’ FIFA World Cup squad. In January 2012, he joined Leeds United, hoping to make a name for himself in the ultra-competitive English game. His on-field success proves that he is a talented, brave and mentally strong player — perhaps more so than his straight colleagues since hiding his secret required a great deal of energy and focus on a daily basis.

The U.S. international used the ambiguous phrase “step away” to describe his next move. It’s unknown if he’s retiring for good or if he will return to the field. Many want him to continue playing, perhaps so he can become the face of LGBTQ athletes, but that doesn’t seem likely at this point in time. He won’t assume the mantle of “trailblazer” for LGBTQ athletes in mens’ team sports.

His statement leads us to believe that’s not what he wants for himself. Now that he’s a free man, he no longer needs the escape or prison soccer provides either. Maybe he’ll see soccer differently in light of the outpouring of support he’s received from players, coaches, administrators and fans (on both sides of the Atlantic). Maybe he won’t.

Rogers saw the stark contradictions between what his upbringing taught him and what his life experience showed him some time ago. This realization jarred him — as it does many young people around the world — and he set about reconciling those differences. The shame isn’t that he has decided to step away from soccer and do it. The real shame is that, unlike straight players, he (and many other LGBTQ athletes) felt he had to set aside his dreams of the World Cup and “making his family proud,” in order to explore and address life’s contradictions.

Whether he actually can or cannot live a “simple” and “honest” life within the game is not as important as the fact that he felt that he cannot do so. It’s frightening to think that the same stigma which causes Rogers to make an “either/or” decision extends well beyond the sidelines into schools and workplaces everywhere.

The reaction to the announcement reveals existing attitudes that many figures in the game have toward homosexuality and the LGBTQ community, but it remains to be seen if Rogers will prompt a cultural shift within the game. It’s one thing for high-profile players and figures from the FA, PFA, MLS and MLS Players Union to come out in support of a gay athlete. It’s another thing for their attitudes to filter into the dressing rooms, fields and stands where players spend so much of their professional careers. Rogers’ decision to step away coupled with the scarcity of openly LGBTQ players suggests that homophobia is a major issue facing the game despite the presence of allies.

For Rogers, soccer was an escape. It was there that he hid from pain and frustration caused by living in secret. But he eventually needed to escape from the escape. We can only hope that the game has a different role in the lives of other LGBTQ players in. They should see the field as a sanctuary or refuge, a place where they can drop the stigma, be themselves and get on with the serious business of scoring (or preventing) goals and winning (or losing) games.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

On Saturday night, boxing returned to the TD Garden for the first time since 2007. If those in attendance — promoters, fighters and boxing fans — have their way, the Garden will host many more matches in the months and years to come.

Fans paid good money to watch New England’s finest boxers (both professional and amateur) fight at the region’s premier indoor facility. While some came for the sport itself, others came for the spectacle. Regardless of their motivation, the entire 4,200-strong crowd was treated to a full-fledged boxing revival meeting in Boston.

“Bring boxing back to Boston” was the rallying cry, but it was clear by the end of the night that boxing never left the city. While the sport may not enjoy the popularity it once did, and the new Garden doesn’t host regular bouts like the old one did, the region’s vibrant boxing community flocked to “the Hub” in celebration of the sport’s rich tradition in New England. They left with ignited hopes for the future.

Fight night was a two-pronged event with a curtain cutting the arena in half. On one side sat sports memorabilia vendors who sold their goods. Former world champions Marlon Starling (from Hartford, Conn.), Vinny Pazienza (Cranston, R.I.) and Mickey Ward (Lowell, Mass.) signed autographs before the action started. On the other side was the boxing ring, floor seats and a crowd packed tightly into the Garden’s lower section. The upper section was dark and empty and everyone was close to the action.

Organizers deserve applause for their efforts. Relative to team sports that enjoy wider participation, the region’s boxing community is small and close-knit. Many of the fighters know each other personally, and the crowd was full of their friends, family and supporters. Organizers took that community’s intimacy, combined it with star power and the bright lights of the big stage to produce a unique event. This mix made “TD Garden Night at the Fights” authentically local and unforgettably special.

The five amateur and four professional bouts gave fight fans everything they’ve come to expect, appreciate and even despise about the sport. There was some blood and brutality, but also technical proficiency — even excellence in some cases. The Boston Bruins Ice Girls served as ring girls, providing the eye candy between rounds. There was a phantom bell in one fight and controversial decisions from the judges in another. Fans seemed to enjoy every minute of it, especially the thrilling main event between welterweights Danny O’Connor and Derek Silveira.

O’Connor cruised to victory over 10 rounds, but won the fight on a curious split decision from the judges. The Framingham, Mass., native was happy to improve his record to 20-1, but fighting at the Garden meant so much more than another win. O’Connor has made it a personal mission to raise boxing’s profile in Boston, and Saturday was better than he could have imagined.

“It’s amazing,” he said. “I wanted to tear up when I was walking out. It’s a moment that I’ve dreamed of for so long. For it to actually happen and to really feel what it’s like, it’s indescribable  It’s a dream come true. If I never pick up a pair of gloves for the rest of my life, I can always come back and say, ‘I fought in the Boston Garden. I was the main event and I won.’

“Everything about this is a dream come true. I couldn’t imagine being here, but like I said before I can’t even come close to taking all the credit. There is so many more people who made this happen.

“I mean just before when I got injured and the fight was postponed, I thought it was going to be cancelled. But the staff at the Garden stepped up and understood how much of a dream it was. They were willing to postpone it and do all the work again, so I can’t take credit for this.

“I just got to go in the ring and do what I love to do, so many other people made this happen and I just thank them. Representing the city of Boston is the biggest honor I carry, as a person, so I just want to represent it well and make everyone proud. Hopefully one day bring some world championship belts back to the city and one time, maybe, the next time I fight here it’ll be for the world championship belt.”

“TD Garden Night at the Fights” didn’t end O’Connor’s crusade, but it was certainly a personal high point. The local boxing fraternity and sorority shared the moment with him on a night that paid homage the sport in New England. The region has produced a number of good fighters in recent years who never had the chance to fight at the Garden. Their hopes and dreams, both realized and unfulfilled, were on display inside the ring.

Fans joined the trio of retired champions to watch generations of pugilists in action. Amateur stars went first, then gave way to the professionals. Billy Traft (Dorchester, Mass.), a 33-year-old Boston police officer, won the third bout of his fledgling  career. Time may not be on his side, but the former Golden Gloves champion is living his dream of fighting professionally. Exciting 23-year-old Ryan Kielczewski (Quincy, Mass.) improved to 15-0 with the only knockout of the night. He graced the Garden with his talents for the first time Saturday, and it’s likely that he’ll do it again. And then there’s the 27-year-old O’Connor who, in the prime of his career, has assumed the flag of Boston boxing and proudly waves it around the world.

These fighters and fans from all corners of the region came to “the Hub” wanting to bring boxing back to Boston. The size and energy of the crowd proves that it never left the region, but it makes one wonder if the success can be sustained. The event in itself was great, but time will test its legacy.

Will the next generation of fighters get this chance? Will these local fight fans have to wait another five years to watch boxing at the Garden? Will they support the next event with their time, money and energy? Crucially, will they be joined by new fighters and new fans who might help fill the upper section of the arena? Only time will tell, and those are questions for another day. However it turns out, “The Hub of Boxing” has a nice ring to it. It has an even better feel.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Facebook, Twitter at @mkomard, or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Photo via Facebook/TD Garden

Of all the out-of-work managers soccer coaches out there, Guardiola was the most in-demand and high-profile. Chelsea, Manchester City, AC Milan and PSG were among the clubs that have pursued him since last spring. Bayern’s successful chase represents no less than a coaching coup.

Guardiola’s personality and track record, combined with the structure, tradition and philosophy already in place at Bayern should make the coming era a successful one at Germany’s richest and most storied club.

He signed a three-year contract which expires in 2016, and optimists expect that he will have led Bayern and the Bundesliga (Germany’s first division) boldly into the future by then. They expect him to deliver multiple Bundesliga titles and UEFA Champions League glory, as well as the love and admiration of the soccer world. Bayern considers itself on par with Barcelona, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Europe’s other superclubs. The German giant hopes the Guardiola era will prompt the rest of the world to do the same.

The Guardiola to Bayern story is so appealing because it seems out-of-place in this day and age. People often say that money and power rule the modern game (and the world it represents), but Guardiola’s choice flies in the face of that assumption. The 41-year-old could have earned more money at Chelsea, City or PSG. Those clubs would have offered him total control over soccer matters as well. But Guardiola reject them in favor of the structure and stability that the Bayern post offers, according to FIFA.com.

“He chose Bayern because of all the teams from which he had offers it was the best,” Guardiola’s agent Josep Maria Orobitg reportedly told EFE Radio. “We were looking over the offers and this isn’t the team which offered the most money. It was chosen for the organisation there, for the potential that he sees, and for their players.”

Bayern Munich is no ordinary club. It’s got one of Europe’s best stadiums and commercial operations as cash cows. It also has one of the world’s best squads, as appearances in the 2010 and 2012 Champions League finals can attest. It’s an institution whose identity and philosophy have been shaped and molded over generations. Talent, professionalism, German efficiency and constant success are just a few traits commonly associated with it. Players and staff  – be they new, old, foreign or domestic — learn and live by Bayern’s codes from the moment they join the club. Guardiola’s new bosses – chairman Uli Hoeness, CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and honorary president Franz Beckenbauer embody, defend and promote Bayern’s values more than anyone else.

Those three run the show, and Guardiola wants it that way. In fact, he needs that way. He considers himself to be more of a coach than a manager. His strength lies in leading and motivating his players, leaving the business of running the club to others. When he takes charge on July 1, he won’t be tasked with transforming the club. His responsibility is to implement his own ideas while staying faithful to Bayern’s philosophy and playing style. Decisions on player recruitment and development will be made in concert with the club’s holy trinity, as it has been done for the better part of the last two decades.

From the outside, it looks like the Guardiola hire heralds a new dawn for Bayern. He’ll replace 67-year-old Jupp Heynckes, who will retire at the end of the season. Next fall, Bayern will have one of the world’s best and most successful coaches roaming the sidelines. He’ll add star power and new storylines to Bayern and the Bundesliga. An interesting rivalry with Borussia Dortmund head coach Jurgen Klopp is already in the making, as the two clubs, led by bright and talented young coaches, expect to duke it out for Bundesliga and European supremacy in the coming seasons. If Germany’s national-team head coach Joachim Low takes charge of a German club after the 2014 FIFA World Cup, it would give the Bundesliga a level of coaching gravitas which would rival any of Europe’s top leagues.

“Guardiola is one of the most successful coaches in the world and we are sure that he can make not just Bayern, but all of German football shine,” the Telegraph reports Rummenigge said.

It remains to be seen if landing an iconic figure of Guardiola’s stature will have the same effect within the club. His first order of business will be to examine the squad and make some hard decisions. What role will key figures like Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and Mario Gomez play as they approach and pass their 30th birthdays? One of Guardiola’s first decisions after taking charge of Barcelona in 2008 was to get rid of Deco, Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o (a year later) — the core of the club’s 2006 Champions League-winning team. Which, if any, of Bayern’s current stars will share a similar fate?

Bayern has an exciting group of players aged 26 and under that will form the core of Guardiola’s teams. Thomas Muller, 23, is  contender for German player of the year. If Guardiola can affect his career like he did Lionel Messi’s, then Muller should go ahead and invest in a cabinet big enough to hold a Ballon d’Or trophy or three. Guardiola will also integrate other young players into Bayern’s first  team, as he did to great effect at Barcelona. Beckenbauer and co. expect Guardiola to create the blueprint for success in the era of Fincancial Fair Play.

Guardiola is a unique figure in the game. He has a reputation for being not only an intelligent thinker but also a decisive man of action. Zlatan Ibrahimovic derisively referred to him as “the Philosopher” … as he was being shoved out of the Barcelona door on Guardiola’s orders. Guardiola won praise for his calm and reassuring demeanor, but he was also known as a strict disciplinarian. The Barcelona native left his hometown club and took his family to New York City for a year-long sabbatical, suggesting that he has a curious and adventurous side. These contradictions don’t detract from his standing in the game. They are part of what makes him the forward-thinking leader for whom the elite clubs of Europe have been competing in recent months.

The German challenge gives Guardiola a chance to learn a new culture. Values like sustainability and efficiency are en vogue in the 21st century, and German soccer is Europe’s hotbed of both. Bayern hopes that he will add a “Spanish flair” to its very German way of doing things, creating a new product that will set the soccer world alight with its excellence. He will become only the fourth non-German to lead the club in the last 30 years because Bayern felt the need to look outward in search of a brighter future.

Guardiola could have waited for his friends at Manchester City to put an acceptable structure in place. He could have rushed to PSG or Chelsea to create one himself. But he is no builder at this point in his career. The curious and pragmatic Catalan ventures to an alien culture looking to learn from it and tweak it to achieve great success. Should they part ways in 2016, Bayern and Guardiola will be better off for having experienced each other.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Ba has paid a heavy price for it, but his unstoppable rise could change how clubs decide which gambles to take and which ones to avoid.

The Senegalese striker’s story is one of risk and reward. He’s assumed most of the former and is set to reap the largest share of the latter.

Ba didn’t reach this point — joining Chelsea FC, the reigning champion of Europe — by himself. His family, friends, advisers and other clubs have helped him manage the risk. They stand to benefit from his success as well.

The cloud over Ba has taken many forms and changed over time. As a teenager, many wondered if he had the ability to make it as a professional soccer player in Europe. At least six clubs in two countries declined to sign him before he eventually landed a spot on a team in France’s lower leagues.

He played for three clubs in France’s fourth and third divisions before joining Mouscron in the Belgian first division. Success in Belgium earned him a 2007 move to Hoffenheim, an up-and-coming club in Germany’s second division. It was there that he answered questions about his ability, but new ones concerning his durability arose.

Ba suffered a broken left leg in 2006, and doctors inserted a pin in his leg to stabilize the area. He underwent surgery in 2009 to remove the pin, but the ligaments in his left knee were damaged during the procedure. He recovered from the injury, returned to the field and continued to shine for Hoffenheim. By the end of 2010, higher-profile clubs wanted to sign him.

The physical exam is one of the final pieces of any transfer. They are mere formalities for most players, but they have become dreaded and defining moments in Ba’s recent career. The knee problem caused him to fail physicals at Stoke City and Stuttgart, shelving multimillion-pound transfers. Since then, clubs have been unable to insure Ba’s contract because of the knee issue. Clubs that signed him did so on terms that guaranteed him little money (relative to his overall compensation and contribution to the team).

But Ba was determined to leave Hoffenheim and make it to the top. He “gambled” and joined West Ham on a “pay-as-you-play” contract in January 2011. Included in that contract was a clause that allowed him to leave for free if the club was relegated from the Premier League. When West Ham went down, he activated the clause and moved to Newcastle on a free transfer. His Newcastle contract was a partial “pay-as-you-play” deal, and it too included a release (reward) clause. He could move to another club for £7 million ($11.4 million) — a small fee for a player who had proven his ability to score goals in England’s Premier League.

At each step in Ba’s recent career, clubs saw Ba’s injury risk and protected themselves financially. Ba accepted this as a fact of life, but in return for assuming the risk, he retained ability to determine his own future. The release clauses exposed clubs to a new kind of risk — losing a key player for a fraction of his true value.

Ba was not a well-known player when he arrived in England two years ago. Things have changed, as only Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie have scored more Premier League goals than him since then. He scored seven goals in 12 games for West Ham. He scored a further 29 goals in 54 games for Newcastle. The 13 league goals he scored for Newcastle this season represent just under half of the club’s total. Newcastle manager Alan Pardew spoke glowingly about Ba throughout the months-long transfer saga, adding that Ba joined Chelsea with the club’s “blessing.”

Ba’s value skyrocketed, and his advisers have been shrewd enough to capitalize on it. Critics attach labels like “mercenary” to Ba’s name and accused his advisers of behaving like “sharks.” They may be right, but being a “mercenary” isn’t always a bad thing. Anyone who works for a living does so to earn money, from the bus driver to the soccer scribe. It may not be the only motivator, but it’s certainly one of them.

Ba plays professional soccer not only because he loves the game, but also to support himself and his family — one that includes seven siblings. He also supports families in the Senegalese villages from which his mother and father hail. These people were in his life when he was kicking a ball around the suburbs of Paris. They were there when club after club rejected him. They are there now that he has signed a three-and-a-half year, £80,000-a-week contract with Chelsea which, coincidentally, is less than half of what Rooney and van Persie earn.

Ba’s payday is a community payday, and it should be. His community remained committed to him when German and English clubs were shying away from the player with a cloud lingering over his head. Ba draws strength and inspiration from his family and the Islamic faith it practices. They helped him cope with rejection and vulnerability, driving him forward on a daily basis. Why shouldn’t the family breadwinner share his fortune with the ones who walk alongside him?

Like any fear, much of Ba’s perceived risk has been an illusion. Despite feeling constant discomfort in the injured knee, Ba only missed 17 games in seven seasons. He never missed a game or practice session at Newcastle, and the club was willing to make him its highest-paid player if he signed a new contract. The contract he signed with Chelsea closes that gap between Ba’s perceived and actual vulnerability to injury. The insurance companies will disagree, but the reality of his injury history suggests his injury risk is the similar to other players’. Chelsea has decided to pay him accordingly.

Chelsea has assumed the risk, and it stands to gain the rewards. It is getting a striker with power, pace and precision in front of goal. Ba fills the immediate need of a goal-scorer to compete with Fernando Torres, pushing each other to greater success. The modest transfer fee and contract are a pittance compared to gambles of Chelsea’s past. The risk on Ba’s form and fitness look decidedly low compared to the ones involved with Adrian Mutu, Andriy Shevchenko, Fernando Torres and others.

Ba’s story is not complete. The Chelsea move is only the start of a new chapter. He’s 27 and on a team that is competing for trophies. The faulty dial has been fixed, and Ba must raise his game to a new level if he wants to close the earnings gap between himself and his goal-scoring peers.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

The AC Milan midfielder walked off the field after fans of the opposing team, Pro Patria, racially abused him and some of his teammates during an exhibtion game in Italy on Thursday. Other Milan players followed Boateng’s lead, and the game was abandoned.

Incidents of racial abuse have blighted the world’s game for decades, and calls for soccer’s governing bodies to step in and eradicate it are growing louder.

The question of how players should respond to incidents of racial abuse has divided opinion. Some say they should ignore it and play one, while others have called for games to be stopped. In 2006, Samuel Eto’o was racially abused by fans of Spanish club  Real Zaragoza. The Cameroonian striker wanted to leave the field, but his FC Barcelona coaches and teammates convinced him not to.

Boateng’s is thought to be the first incident of racial abuse which lead to the abandonment of a game (one involving top-level players). Leading figures in the soccer and beyond have applauded the 25-year-old’s actions and called on authorities to follow suit.

Some of their reactions appear below.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Regardless of the platform, it’s your messages that fuel our desire to look out into the world and call things as we see them. So please, please, please keep us in mind when you have opinions to share or questions you want answered.

I’d love for NESN soccer to be the home of the soccer question and answer. Given our resources, I think it’s the most fruitful approach to analyzing the sport. It helps us know which stories to tell. The more we interact and engage, the better we’ll understand the game and the world in which we live.

See a good soccer story we haven’t touched? Let us know. Love or hate something we’ve said or written? Make your voice heard. Critics and E-Thugs, troll and burn away. We need your contributions. They challenge us and keep us honest.

We’re human beings here, and we can take it. Besides, praise or a word of thanks from one person generally outweighs the flames and vitriol from a thousand. And I can’t let the holiday season pass without sending a big “thank you” to our supporters — those of you who’ve sent a kind word our way. Your encouragement keeps us going, day in and day out. You are like family. It’s an honor and a pleasure to do this every day because you make it so. Thanks.

Anyways, Consider this a call to arms — but peaceful like. And without further ado, here it is — back by popular demand — the NESN Soccer mailbag.

I want to ask you if it’s sure that Wesley Sneijder will join PSG in January, as you wrote in your article?
– Panagiotis Koumian, Greece

Hello, Panagiotis. It’s not certain that Sneijder will end up at PSG, but it’s almost certain that he’s leaving Inter Milan in January. His relationship with the club is broken, and I don’t see any way they can reconcile.

PSG was among the first clubs with which he was linked ahead of the January transfer window, and it’s a logical destination for him. The French club has the money and the project to attract a player of his caliber. Watch Javier Pastore’s situation. He was one of the first of PSG’s galacticos, but he’s not an automatic starter under manager Carlo Ancelotti. If PSG offloads the struggling Argentine next month (AC Milan is a rumored destination, but Inter could be waiting in the wings), it will create an opening for a player like Sneijder to fill.

Also, there is a rumor coming out of Italy that he’s agree to join Tottenham, and the clubs are trying to agree on a fee. That one’s unconfirmed at this point.

Where do you think he [Wesley Sneijder] will end up?
– Kyle Caldarelli, Elkton, Md.

Hi, Kyle. Sorry for making you wait for my answer, but I figured I could give a better answer here than on Twitter.

Sneijder’s is the transfer saga to watch in January, as he’s one of the few world-class players who is available for a reasonable price. Also, he hasn’t competed in the UEFA Champions League this season. It’s almost unheard of for a player of his quality to be in this situation, and I’m expecting a bit of a scramble for his signature.

His salary is what’s driving him out of Inter, as the Italian club is learning to exist in what I call “Serie A’s Age of Austerity.” He reportedly makes €6 million ($7.8 million) per season, a figure that top clubs in England, Spain (Barca and Real Madrid), France (PSG only) and even Germany can meet. Also, the reported transfer fee of around £12million ($19.4 million) is reasonable for most top teams to spend.

Tuesday’s news about him agreeing to terms with Tottenham makes me think one of two things are going on: He’s either willing to come down from that figure, or Tottenham is ready to break the bank. Given the club’s history under chairman Daniel Levy, I think it’s the former.

Money won’t be much of an issue with his move. Tottenham has the early lead, but that’s could be changing at this very moment. I’d expect other clubs to match the transfer fee and throw more money Sneijder’s way. It’s really his choice at this point.

I like to use the process of elimination to answer these sorts of questions, so let’s take a look. In Spain, Barcelona seems highly unlikely given their set style of play and embarrassment of riches in the midfield and attack. Real Madrid would be an option, but his old friend Jose Mourinho is on his way out. Also, given Sneijder’s previous stint at the club, I’d rule that one out too. I don’t think any other Spanish team can afford him at this point.

Juventus is the only Italian club I could see him joining, and I just don’t see it happening.

In France, it’s PSG or bust based on his salary. See the previous question for my thoughts on that one.

He’s also been linked with Anzhi Makhachkala, the mega-rich Russian club. Samuel Eto’o would probably love to link up with his former Inter teammate, but manager Guus Hiddink‘s impending retirement will probably reduce the chances of that happening.

There two options in Germany — Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund — that are not out of the question. It would be tough for him to displace Bayern’s current crop of stars, so I’d be shocked if he went there. But the Bavarians can afford him. Dortmund is an intriguing option, as the reigning Bundesliga champion is in the last 16 of the Champions League. It has some money to spend, but not too much. Sneijder is at the top end of what it can afford.

That leaves us with the English clubs.  Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham have been linked with him in the past. City has a wealth of attacking players already. Samir Nasri (signed last season) and David Silva (who recently signed a new contract) play his position. He could drop deeper and spell Yaya Toure, but it’s unlikely that he’d sign just to become a utility player.

Manchester United is in a similar position with Wayne Rooney, Shinji Kagawa and Tom Cleverly playing where Sneijder is often deployed. Chelsea is in a similar state, as Oscar, Juan Mata and Edin Hazard are fighting for minutes. Victor Moses and Marko Marin are pushing for minutes as well. It’s not to say Sneijder wouldn’t play ahead of any of these players. It’s just that each club seems to be committed to each of these players.

Tottenham is a likely English destination, but there is another one just down the road. Arsenal rarely spends in January (or ever), but that’s going to change in the coming years. Arsene Wenger needs a creative influence in team, and Sneijder could do the trick. The Gunners already have the money to compete with Tottenham. They also have a motive: vindictiveness.

The short answer is Arsenal, Tottenham or PSG. Thanks for the question, Kyle.

And I also wish you to tell your opinion about the winner of the FIFA Ballon d’Or.
– Panagiotis Koumian, Greece

The finalists are Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Cristiano Ronaldo. I think the world of Iniesta, and he was deservedly named the best player at Euro 2012. But Ronaldo and Messi were on another planet in 2012.

Mourinho would pick Ronaldo because he won La Liga … and to keep his star player happy. Patrice Evra likes Ronaldo because he was great without the supporting cast that Messi has. Both make valid points, but if there’s a time to downplay team accomplishments and focus on the individual, it’s now.

Ronaldo was slightly ahead after his good showing at Euro 2012, but Messi’s pulled away from August – December. He’s scored 36 goals in all competitions, while Ronaldo (and Madrid) failed to keep pace. Sure, goals aren’t everything, but when a player breaks a 40-year-old record goal-scoring, we have to pay attention. I’ll expand on this in the next week or so, but it’s Messi.

Can Chelsea win the Premier League title under Rafa Benitez?
– Christopher, Atlanta, GA 

Anything is possible, but I don’t think Chelsea is strong enough to sustain a title assault. The “old guard” is missing their top Drog (Didier Drogba), and they’re another year removed from their best days. I expect Chelsea to have another blip or two in the coming months, leaving little chance of winning the Premier League.

Also, Manchester United is already seven points clear, and I think they’re only going to get better in the second half of the season. The title is United’s to lose, and if it does, City will be there to scoop it up … again.

Thanks for the question, Christopher.

What did Santa Bring you for Christmas?
– David, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Hi, David. Santa was great as always. He brought me all the practical things I need, but never have the good sense to go out and get myself. These include some clothes, a whole bunch of food and drink, two epic parties and a bit of rest. I’ve got to thank my family for another great holiday season — easily the best in four or five years.

That’s all for this week. Thank you very much for all the support. I wish you a happy holiday season and all the best for the new year.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

UEFA held the draw for the Champions League Round of 16 on Thursday. The event created rich storylines, which will be discussed and debated for the next two months. The round won’t kick off until mid-February, but fans are already bubbling with anticipation.

It’s too early to fill out brackets. There will be another draw before the quarterfinals, which will plot each team’s potential route to the final (May 25, 2013 at Wembley Stadium in London). The Champions League Round of 16 has a magic of its own, as it has been known to set teams up for success or failure in the season’s final two months.

Let’s take a look at the matchups:

Galatasaray AS (Turkey) vs.  FC Schalke 04 (Germany)

This one’s a toss-up. Which Schalke will turn up in “hell” on Feb. 20 is anyone’s guess. If it’s the Schalke that shot out of the gate and played so well from August through October, the Germans have a good shot at reaching the quarterfinals. The problem is, Schalke has fallen off a cliff in recent weeks. It hasn’t won since Nov. 21, Head coach Huub Stevens was fired and replaced by Jens Keller. Maybe leading lights Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Lewis Holtby will remain at the club through the January transfer window, maybe they wont. The Bundesliga is on its winter break, and Keller has about a month to mold and shape his struggling squad.

Galatasaray leads the Turkish Super League heading into the winter break. It might sign a couple of big names in an effort to reach the quarterfinal for the first time since 2001.

Celtic FC (Scotland) vs. Juventus (Italy)

Attack dogs face the underdogs in this one. Celtic is flying on a cloud of positive emotion after reaching the Round of 16 for the first time since 2008. Unfortunately, it drew mighty Juventus. Manager Neil Lennon understands the magnitude of the challenge.

“In terms of glamour it’s a beauty; in terms of qualification it’s going to be very, very tough,” he told UEFA.com.

Celtic Park (a.k.a. Parkhead) was a fortress in the group stage. Juventus visits on Feb. 12, and Celtic must make the most of home-field advantage if it is to continue its Champions League adventure.

Juventus spent five years in the wildersness, but the “Old Lady” of Italian soccer is back on top. The defending Serie A champion even withstood manager Antonio Conte’s four-month touchline ban and advanced from the group stage. Juventus is a dark-horse contender to lift the European cup, but it must navigate its way past Celtic without the services of Giorgio Chiellini. The Italian international tore a calf muscle, and the injury could sideline him until late March.

Arsenal (England) vs. Bayern Munich (Germany)

Arsene Wenger must be cringing after UEFA handed Arsenal another tough opponent in the Round of 16, but these things happen to teams that fail to win their group. Arsenal has spent much of the season engulfed in pseudo-crisis, and the Arsenal manager is hoping it will have ended by Bayern Munich visits on Feb. 19. Beating last season’s runner-up will silence some of his doubters, but the Gunners must dramatically improve over the next eight weeks to pull it off.

Arsenal forward Lukas Podolski will have something to prove. He failed to make the grade in three years at Bayern — that spell representing the only blip in his career. He hasn’t exactly set the Premier League alight since joining Arsenal last summer, so the Bayern test is a great chance for the German international to prove his worth.

Bayern Munich stormed through the first half of the Bundesliga campaign and won its Champions League group as well. Its squad has quality, depth and experience to spare. Finalists in 2010 and 2012, it looks to win the Champions League for the first time since 2001. The Bavarians should take their English frustrations out on Arsenal, but they are not taking the Gunners lightly.

“I think we enter the tie as slight favorites, but we would be making a mistake by underestimating them,” Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said.

This is one of the matchups to watch in the Round of 16.

FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) vs. Borussia Dortmund (Germany)

Dortmund won the Champions League 1997. It was nearly bankrupt by 2005. It’s been a long march back to the top, but the German club announced its arrival by finishing ahead of Ajax, Manchester City and Real Madrid to win the vaunted “Group of Death.” Dortmund won a lot of admirers with its group stage performances, including Shaktar head coach Mircea Lucescu.

“Dortmund won the strongest group in this season’s competition and that gives you an idea of how good they are,” he told UEFA.com. “Maybe you wouldn’t call Borussia superstars but their team play has been perfectly fine-tuned.”

The Ukrainians impressed many by finishing ahead of Chelsea (last season’s winner) to reached the Round of 16, but things might be different when it meets Dortmund on Feb. 13. Shaktar will not be in rhythm when the Germans come to town, since Ukraine’s Premier League takes a three-month winter break. Shaktar’s last competitive game was on Dec. 5. Its next is the first leg of the Dortmund series.

It could also lose influential Brazilians Willian and Fernandinho during the January transfer window. Premier League clubs are reportedly eyeing both players. Willian says he’s ready to make the jump. Fernandinho hasn’t publicly pushed for transfer, but that doesn’t mean he’d turn down a move to one of Europe’s top leagues.

Dortmund should prevail in this one.

AC Milan (Italy) vs. FC Barcelona (Spain)

Barcelona eliminated Milan in last season’s quarterfinals, but that might as well have happened a lifetime ago. Milan’s age of austerity has seen a host of stars leave the club. Robinho and Pato could follow their former colleagues in January. Milan is building around on a new core group, led by free-scoring forward Stephan El Shaaraway. But beating Barcelona this season is little more than a pipe dream.

“We are improving and I am sure we will continue to do so until February,” Milan sporting director Umberto Gandini said. “We face a perfect machine even if they had more problems than usual this season in the group stage. Let us just hope we will qualify this time. This is the highest hurdle we could face, but if we manage to jump it we can go all the way.”

Barcelona has been dominant since 2008, and it was thought that this season’s team would be its best ever. That talk ended Wednesday when Barcelona announced that head coach Tito Vilanova suffered a recurrence of cancer. It’s unknown when or if he will return to the bench, and the situation could destabilize the club. But Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and friends will remain in place, so Barcelona is a safe bet to reach the quarterfinal stage.

The untrained eye will see this as a glamorous matchup, but Milan’s cost-cutting has removed a lot of luster from the occasion.

Real Madrid (Spain) vs. Manchester United (England)

This is the premier matchup in the Round of 16, as two teams with legitimate aspirations of winning the Champions League meet.  Cristiano Ronaldo’s return and the managers’ (Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson) duel make headlines, but there’s more at play in this matchup.

Infighting has plunged Real Madrid into turmoil, and winning the Champions League is the only thing that will redeem what is turning  into a lost season. Mourinho doesn’t have a few months to cure whatever ails his team. He’s got seven weeks. Rumor says he’ll leave the club at the end of the season and losing to United could prevent him from lasting that long.

Things look a lot better from Ferguson’s seat. Forwards Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney are scoring for fun, the returns of Nemanja Vidic, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling should improve a leaky defense, and there is genuine competition for places in the midfield. United leads the Premier League heading into the festive period, and it’s showing no sign of slowing down.

These teams last met in 2003, when (original Brazilian) Ronaldo bagged a hat-trick for the ages. Cristiano Ronaldo scored 118 goals in 292 games for United before joining Real Madrid in 2009. The Portuguese superstar has improved since his £80 million ($131.6 million) transfer. He’ll be raring to display that progress in front of old friends and a global audience.

Valencia (Spain) vs. Paris Saint-Germain (France)

Money is at the heart of this matchup. Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) has all of it. Valencia needs all it can get.

PSG has signed a handful of stars in an effort to become a European heavyweight, but it hasn’t worked according to plan. The dressing room is reportedly divided, and manager Carlo Ancelotti is under pressure. Will PSG be more of a team in February? Or will the whole thing crumble under the weight of expectation?

Valencia has a rich history in the competition, but that won’t matter in 2013. After a slow start to the La Liga campaign, it fired manager Mauricio Pellegrino and replaced him with Ernesto Valverde in early December. It’s hard to assess the Valverde effect at this point and even harder to predict what Valencia will look like when PSG visits on Feb. 12.

PSG should win this one, but it won’t be easy.

FC Porto (Portugal) vs. Malaga CF (Spain)

Malaga is the newcomer to the ranks of Europe’s elite, which is no small feat. Its preseason was marred by financial concerns and the sale of Santi Cazorla to Arsenal. However, manager Manuel Pellegrini overcame those problems once the season started. Malaga is fourth in La Liga, boasting the meanest defense in the Spanish top flight. It won its Champions League group, but that didn’t result in a favorable draw in the Round of 16.

FC Porto’s second-place finish in Group A is deceptive. The Portuguese champion was every bit as good group winner PSG, as it proved in two thrilling games against the French upstart. In fact, a ghost from the other side celebrated Porto’s victory over PSG in October.

This matchup won’t capture a lot of attention, but it’s worth watching. Both teams are skillful, energetic and there is no clear favorite.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

The European Union will still exist, and the Euro will remain the dominant currency in the region. In fact, the Eurozone will probably expand, and its member countries will be more tightly integrated than ever before. Such is the force of history.

With this in mind, UEFA’s decision to stage Euro 2020 in a number of cities across Europe, instead of in one host country, makes perfect sense. It embodies the spirit and ideals of European Unity (capital U)  and will promote the idea of a single European state well into the middle of the 21st century.

In 1960, the first UEFA European Nations’ Cup was held in France. Europe was rebuilding after the second major war of the century devastated the continent. Only four teams participated, and the Soviet Union won it all. Its triumph mirrored its status as the continent’s leading superpower of the day. Times have changed. The Soviet Union no longer exists, and Europe’s nations are uniting both economically and politically.

2020 will mark 60 years since that first “Euro” (as the tournament is commonly called). More teams than ever will participate — the competition will expand from 16 to 24 teams in 2016. Euro 2020 will have a larger geographical footprint than ever before, as more fans will experience the event first-hand than ever before. It could also be the most profitable edition yet.

After the FIFA World Cup, the European Championship is the world’s premier international soccer event. The forward-looking move will join the European Union and sports at the hip. Led by president Michel Platini, UEFA turned its back on tradition with Thursday’s announcement. As expected, it was largely met with outrage, scorn and ridicule.

As is the case with European unity itself, there is no going backward. The pan-Europe Euro 2020 will happen because it was a nearly unanimous decision among the members of UEFA’s executive committee. Their motives were undoubtedly financial, taking the amount of Euros generated or saved into consideration.

Hosting the European Championship is an expensive endeavor  Host countries often need to build or upgrade ten or more stadiums in preparation for the event. Some countries must upgrade their infrastructure, building or renovating roads, rails and airports. Platini’s plan will see many countries collectively shoulder this financial burden, which is important during this period of economic uncertainty.

The summer showcase also generates a lot of money, as fans of every team travel in great numbers and spend their way to a good time. Fans will still follow their national team in 2020, but the economic boost that tourism brings won’t be limited to one country. Cities across the continent will share in the spoils. Those travelling fans may even save money, depending on where their teams are playing in relation to where they live.

Many of these cities are located in countries that have little, if any, chance of hosting the tournament. Fans in these locales will get a once-in-a-generation opportunity to experience the thrill of a major international soccer tournament coming to town.

Platini and his UEFA minions are playing up the financial aspect of the Europe-wide Euro 2020. Maybe it’s an economic no-brainer. Maybe it isn’t. That’s for the bean counters to determine. The “Euros for Europe,” as Platini calls it, will be about much more than money. The world will be watching as a continent revels in the month-long celebration of soccer. The global audience won’t see Poles, Germans, Swedes or citizens of any other country highlighting their individual cultures or societies for a month. It will watch Europe express its love for the game as one people. That will open the eyes of the world to the new reality on the continent, and the wider world will never see Europe the same as it once did.

This change started in 1992 with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, which created the European Union. The sea change has been subtle in many ways (from an outsider’s perspective), but it will be crystal clear when Euro 2020 kicks off.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) hired Luiz Felipe Scolari as head coach of its men’s national team on Thursday. When Scolari signed a contract to lead Brazil through the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the CBF got its man, and the man got the job he really wanted.

Scolari is a legend in his country, having led Brazil to its fifth World Cup title back in 2002. He’ll be joined at the hip by another domestic coaching giant. Carlos Alberto Parreira, who led Brazil to the 1994 World Cup title, will be the team’s technical director.

Their task is simple: Get Brazil out of its current rut, unite and please its hundreds of millions of fans and lead the team to glory in 2014.  Brazil will host that tournament, and failure is not an option.

But the CBF is making a huge mistake. It leaves the job of improving and perfecting a deeply flawed team, one ousted coach Mano Menezes constructed over the last two-and-a-half years, to two conquerors of a bygone era.

Scolari, 64, and Parreira, 69, are products of the time when pragmatism and brute force ruled the day. But international soccer has changed since 2002. The pendulum has swung back toward the domain (albeit not solely) of the skillful little man, the romantic and the dreamer. We have the likes of Spain, FC Barcelona, Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi to thank for this.

Brazil still holds a dear place in the hearts of soccer’s romantics, but hiring Scolari and Parreira – two coaches who won, but didn’t win in Brazilian-enough style to please the masses and keep their jobs — could usher the yellow jersey out of the  dreamers’ hearts and minds, perhaps forever.

Brazil is living in the most important moment of its soccer history. The old joke says “Brazil is the country of the future … and always will be.” But times are changing. The country has emerged as a world leader in providing food and energy, and has begun to assert itself both diplomatically and militarily over the last 10 years.

Victory in 2014 is supposed to exorcise the demons of the past. Brazil hosted the World Cup in 1950, but lost to Uruguay in the final in front of 200,000 fans. The 2-1 defeat caused a national trauma, the effects of which are still felt to this day. Lifting the solid gold trophy at the newly renovated Maracana Stadium would tighten the bonds between Brazil’s past, present and future — in soccer and beyond.

Many ask if Brazil will be ready to host the tournament in time for kickoff. Construction of roads, rails, ports and stadiums lags behind schedule. Many more ask if the national team will be ready to win the tournament in less than two years’ time. It’s highly unlikely that this will be the case.

The Brazilian teams from 1994 to 2006 were chock-full of champions. Those players were in leading roles at Europe’s biggest clubs and winning the most prestigious individual and team honors. There were a number of stars willing to share the burden of leadership (on and off the field) and the results speak for themselves, as Brazil appeared in three of four World Cup finals during that time period. Today’s Brazil is different. A few very good young players are coming through the ranks, but there’s a dearth of players in their prime years who are playing key roles at Europe’s biggest clubs.

Menezes didn’t simply overlook a bunch of great players. Dani Alves, 29, is still at Barcelona, but should Brazil count on the buccaneering fullback to lead the way? Kaka and Ronaldinho are well past their best. Robinho, 28, peaked four years ago. He and Adriano are the poster children for Brazil’s lost generation. Injuries have kept 23-year-old Pato on the shelf for the better part of the last three years. Perhaps all of them will recover their best form over the next 18 months, but don’t bet on that happening.

Questions surround Scolari’s managerial ability at this point in his career. He was considered one of the world’s best coaches from 2000 to 2008, but he’s achieved little in the last four years. A failed stint as Chelsea manager was the most high-profile slip. He guided Palmeiras to the Brazilian cup this year, but that competition was ignored by Brazil’s best teams, who were competing in the Copa Libertadores instead. Scolari jumped ship in September, and Palmeiras was relegated two months later.

Scolari’s twin gifts are implementing a pragmatic approach and leading and motivating players with something akin to fatherly love (many national-team players during his previous reign were brought up in fatherless homes). His methods worked spectacularly well 10 years ago, but the world has changed and his players have changed. His approach might not have the same dramatic effect as it had in 2002. For example, Brazil’s star player today is Neymar. The 20-year-old is inseparable from his father. Also, Scolari may be able to insulate his team from the enormous pressure that will only increase ahead of the World Cup. But can he dramatically improve them as individuals? It’s not a national team manager’s job, so let’s say no.

Scolari is no white knight riding to the rescue, and the circumstances surrounding his hiring may not add to the reservoir of goodwill the public has toward him. Menezes was fired because the CBF wanted someone to use “new methods” to prepare the team for 2014. Scolari and Parreira don’t exactly fit that billing.

Also, Scolari said he hadn’t spoken to the CBF about the job as recently as Wednesday. It’s strange that he was accepted the position less than 24 hours later. The white-haired tactician was hand-picked by new CBF president Jose Maria Marin, who must host and win a first-class World Cup to keep his job. Misleading the public is a dangerous approach for both men to take. The masses will remember it if and when results don’t meet expectations.

Brazil’s status as keepers of the beautiful game’s sacred flame was created in the 1960s, cemented in the summer of 1970 and reaffirmed in 1982. It maintained that reputation (deservedly or not) for the last three decades, but it has been some time since Brazil thrilled neutrals with a beautiful style of play. Brazil’s victories in 1994 and 2002 were achieved by mixing the old and new ways of playing, but history doesn’t celebrate like it does those that came before them.

In 2012, Brazil has fallen behind Argentina and Uruguay in the South American pecking order. Europe’s best teams are considered to be ahead of the South American trio. If Brazil fails to win in 2014 or capture the fans’ imagination with the “beautiful game,” it will lose its status as the world’s ideal national team — and the Nike money that comes with it.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Ajax, a leading Dutch soccer club, has historical ties to Amsterdam’s Jewish community. Its fans often refer to the team and themselves as “the Jews.” Feyenoord is a longtime rival.

One of the Dutch ringleaders calmly explained that he has no problem with any Jew anywhere. His were purely anti-Ajax taunts, and the others concurred. I accepted their explanation, put down my (proverbial) sword and went back to having a good time.

Sure, I was 3,400 miles away from home, outnumbered and behind enemy lines. I was also younger and not quite the fighter I am today. Nevertheless, I regret not continuing that argument.

Antisemitism in soccer has reared its ugly head once again. This time it took place on the big stage of England’s Premier League.

Sunday’s game between visiting West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur was ruined by the actions of a group of West Ham fans. Tottenham’s historical and traditional links with London’s Jewish community date back to the late 1890s, and many of its fans — be they Jewish or not — embrace those ties (Ajax fans do similar things). Nevertheless, a minority of the 2,800 traveling Hammers used overt displays of antisemitism to insult their rivals, as the Telegraph succinctly explains.

“Just a matter of days after Tottenham fan Ashley Mills was stabbed before Thursday’s [UEFA] Europa League game in Rome, West Ham supporters sang ‘Viva Lazio’, ‘Can we stab you every week?’ and hissed on several occasions, apparently mocking the mass execution of Jews during the Second World War. Fans also chanted ‘Adolf Hitler, he’s coming for you’ at the Tottenham crowd,” the report says.

Their actions have been universally condemned, two West Ham fans have been arrested and one of them, a season ticket holder at West Ham’s Upton Park, has been given a lifetime ban from attending games.

Both clubs are collaborating on identifying and punishing the perpetrators. They’re working with the Football Association (FA) and the Metropolitan Police to exact justice and make White Hart Lane, Upton Park and every other soccer stadium in Britain more welcoming places to watch games for the masses and more hostile to those who are perceived to be among the “idiotic” fringe.

The flaw in this approach is that it aims for the wrong targets, asks the wrong questions and demands that those least equipped to deal with the situation exact justice on behalf of the reasonable among us.

Those West Ham fans who were involved in the ugly scenes may not have been racists. Perhaps they don’t adhere to the philosophy that, as Bob Marley said, “holds one race superior and another inferior.” After leaving the stadium, they didn’t ransack any synagogues. Nor did they attack they anyone perceived to be Jewish. We don’t know if they regularly engage in activity that makes it impossible for Jews to live happy lives in London or beyond.

These individuals may not be die-hard racists, but they are no beacons of tolerance either. Using Tottenham’s Jewish heritage as an object of abuse disqualifies them from wearing that badge.  Judging by their thoughts words, and deeds, it’s more accurate to call them “bigots” — people who regard and treat members of a group with hatred or intolerance. There is a major difference between racists and bigots, as I’ve argued in the past. Racism was built and sustained over thousands of years, and has only recently been discredited by the force of history. But bigotry, its natural offshoot, remains all around us and is far more difficult to eliminate.

This is clearly a case of “banter” gone way too far and way too wrong. Fans everywhere hurl insults and abuse at the opposition. They might not mean what they say about what the goalkeeper’s mother does for a living. If they do, they’re usually wrong. Banter falls under that cherished category of “free speech,” and it shouldn’t be the job of soccer clubs or soccer’s governing bodies to regulate or curtail freedom of speech or expression.

There is a line of decency that “banter” too often crosses, and it’s unclear exactly where that line is. Some fans laugh at chants about a manager being a pedophile. Those same fans react in horror when they hear songs about plane crashes in Munich. Some consider monkey noises and Nazi salutes disgusting. Some Lazio and West Ham fans might not. We may not know where the line of decency is, but we almost always know when it has been crossed.

One of the more respectable people I know says we should draw the line at the soccer itself. Does that mean songs about Fabrice Muamba nearly dying on the field are fair game? The problem with that line is that it usually is drawn around the edges of our own tribe.

So who should draw that line? Who should enforce the laws of decency and punish those that violate them? The FA , UEFA and FIFA are no bastions of progressive and forward-looking action. They weren’t created to play that role, nor should they be the first lines of defense when it comes to combating hatred or bigotry. Some argue that it shouldn’t be the job of police. In most countries, it’s not.

When these organizations take hard-line stances and adopt zero-tolerance approaches, the wrong people often feel the most pain. The reasonable and decent majority of fans are victims when stadiums are closed and clubs are branded with scarlet letters.

We don’t need the police or soccer administrators to tell us that hatred and bigotry is wrong. Nor do we need every English-language columnist on Earth to remind us. We know we’ve gone too far when we say and do things in groups of two, 20, 200, 2,000 or more, that we would never say or do when surrounded (and confronted) by those that don’t agree with us.

A reasonable standard already exists. It’s called “Political Correctness.” Its shortened form, “P.C.” is often used derisively, like it’s such a bad thing. But once we stray from the realm of “P.C.” we seem to fall down that rabbit hole (hearing songs about Arsene Wenger, Hillsborough, Munich, “Yids” and monkeys), which takes us into the cesspool Mike Judge expertly depicted in the film Idiocracy.

What do we do when the line is crossed? Who do we call? UEFA? FIFA? Ghostbusters? When normal fans see and hear idiots going too far, should they say something? Should they fight on behalf of decent, like-minded people? That would make them “P.C. Thugs” by definition. I don’t have the answer to these questions. I’m just a mild-mannered sportswriter, I suppose.

Shall we let idiocracy reign in the stands of Premier League, MLS, college and high-school stadiums? Or does decency have a rightful place in sports? Perhaps individuals should start with the golden rule, draw their own lines and have the courage to confront and challenge hatred and bigotry wherever and whenever they see it — in all forms.

And they shouldn’t wait five years to do it. That’s not good enough. It’s not a matter of defending what’s politically correct. It’s defending what’s correct.

Have a question for Marcus Kwesi O’Mard? Send it to him via Twitter at @NESNsoccer, NESN Soccer’s Facebook page or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

Photo via Facebook/Gareth Bale 11