OK, no more messing around. With this weekend's Spanish and Italian kickoffs, all the big boys will be in action. So this is the final Power Rankings in which we're allowed to have some early-season fun.
Take, for instance, Manchester City's first appearance in nearly two years. Or the Citizens' crosstown rival, United, dropping out as the Red Devils search for some early consistency. (Wild prediction: Both situations will be rectified soon.)
How about the boot for Liverpool, which hasn't done anything to merit such punishment? But what a kick-in-the-crotch of a week for Rafa Benítez's gang, getting screwed out of a win against Chelsea by the refs and being denied the addition of another difference-maker, Gabriel Heinze, by the English Premier League.
What about the reemergence of a retooled Bayern Munich? A meteoric rise for scary-as-hell Barcelona? Time for everyone to put their money where their mouth is.
As always, blistering insults are always welcome on my Throw-Ins blog on FanNation, where you can also read about my guest appearance on Luis Arroyave's Red Card blog.
Note: All rankings, records and statistics are through Aug 22.
| World Soccer Power Rankings |
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1 |
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AC Milan
Hard to give props to the Rossoneri for winning the Berlusconi Trophy again, which, let's face it, is tailor-made for them. It's an exhibition started by their owner, named for his father, and even though it's supposed to be contested by two top clubs, it's been Milan vs. Juventus for the past 13 years running. Still, the defending Euro champs showed some mettle against a classic opponent and Champions League final hero Pippo Inzaghi was back to his old tricks. Milan has slowly improved during the preseason and the fireworks start Saturday when the Serie A season begins.
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6 |
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FC Barcelona
An undefeated preseason of domination has optimism higher at the Camp Nou than it has been in months. Lionel Messi continues his march to superstardom, while the Power Trio -- Ronaldinho, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto'o -- is actually working well together. Of course, even Eto'o admitted the obvious last week: "At times we're selfish." And the Cameroonian stud hereby wins this week's award for Least Newsworthy Sound Bite.
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8 |
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Sevilla
Sevilla sure is doing a good impression of an elite club. Its 6-3 aggregate smackdown of No. 6 Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup was impressive, especially the 5-3 result on the road in the second leg. Meanwhile, the club is rightly drawing a line in the sand over coveted star defender Daniel Alves, and manager Juande Ramos wants to stay at the Sánchez Pizjuán for now.
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5 |
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Chelsea
Yes, the referee gave Chelsea a gift with that bogus penalty call on Liverpool's Steve Finnan last Sunday, but the Blues are still the only member of England's Big Four to grab more than six points through their first three games. And at the risk of another pummeling from you (oh kind, gentle readers), they sort of move up by default here.
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Bayern Munich
The dormant world superpower is off to the most impressive start of perhaps any club in the world -- you'd have to demand nothing less from a $94 million makeover. Six of Bayern's seven goals from its opening two games have come from new acquisitions, pretty good evidence it's on the right track. And that 4-1 crusher over Bundesliga contender Werder Bremen was exquisite -- Franck Ribéry in particular is going to become a huge hit at Allianz Arena.
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4 |
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Real Madrid
So much for a new leaf. On the heels of Real's loss to Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup, in which the team looked disorganized and lifeless, Spanish media is reporting the club held an emergency summit. Bernd Schuster supposedly wants another striker pronto, and the wish list includes Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Diego Milito and Ajax's Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Meanwhile, Heinze and Arjen Robben join the circus. Can't we just have one settled season at the Bernabéu?
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2 |
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Boca Juniors
The bite is gone from La Bombonera. It took the defending South American champs three tries to log their first victory of the Argentine season, and they looked extremely dispassionate in doing so. It goes without saying that the Xeneizes miss Juan Román Riquelme, but they're also worse without underrated tough guy Daniel Díaz -- who joined Argentine-heavy Getafe of the Spanish league -- on the back line.
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9 |
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Pachuca
Readers keep killing me for including los Tuzos here, but I defy you to find me a club that has made a better run in every tournament in which it has participated over the past year, regardless of the level of competition. That's the sign of a club in a seat of power. Pachuca takes every game seriously and doesn't phone in a single match. Once again, it has stormed out of the gates in the underrated Mexican league and remains one of the best attacking teams around.
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7 |
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Inter Milan
Is the fact that Inter lost the unofficial curtain-raiser on the Serie A season -- the Italian Super Cup -- to AS Roma cause for concern? No. Is the fact that Roma may still be in the Nerazzurri's heads as they gear up for a molto difficile defense of their league title? Yep. "It is just a defeat," said new Inter defender and Christian Chivu after the 1-0 loss to his former team. "There were certainly mistakes and things we will need to work on, but this game did come when we are all still in our preseason training." That's an attitude adjustment just waiting to be instituted.
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| 10 |
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Manchester City
No, we're not putting the first-place Citizens here just for The Limey's Jon Pickstone -- well, not entirely. And we're not sure how long this will last, as it's far too early and City isn't playing in any European tournaments this season. But coach Sven Göran-Eriksson has built an exciting, entertaining side in the sky-blue half of Manchester that has blazed out of the gates with quality wins over two good opponents, West Ham and dreaded Man United. Burning question: Will new owner Thaksin Shinawatra keep throwing the cash around to keep emerging superstar defender Micah Richards? Or jettison him to the Big Four like so many other homegrown City products?
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Honorable mentions: AS Roma, Liverpool, Săo Paulo, PSV Eindhoven, FC Porto, Valencia, Ajax Amsterdam, Rangers
Dropped off: Manchester United, Liverpool
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