Wobbling into the New Year

Who's frustrated, vindicated, unappreciated entering 2003?

CNNSI.com columnist Gabriele Marcotti offers his thoughts as soccer enters a New Year.

WOBBLING

Louis Van Gaal's reputation

The Dutchman went from being a visionary tactical genius to an enigmatic misunderstood grump. After failing to get a talented Holland to the World Cup, he returned to the Camp Nou (where he was never loved, but grudgingly respected), only to encounter more grief as Barcelona continues to slide down the Liga table.

His boss, Joan Gaspart, is only slightly more popular than Luis Figo in Barcelona these days and every indication is that the two will sink or swim together. Given how highly rated he was in his first tour of duty at Barca and before that at Ajax, Van Gaal has a long way to go to restore his good name.

DESTINED

Santos' whiz kid pairing of Diego and Robinho

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So good, they're scary. They not only delivered Santos its first title in nearly two decades, they also sent European scouts and agents into a frenzy. The terrific teenager terrors will make the move across the Atlantic at some point and they may even play a part in Brazil's next Copa America campaign.

FRUSTRATED

Inter chairman Massimo Moratti

What does this man need to do to win the Scudetto? He has spent hundreds of millions of dollars, he has been patient with his coaches, generous with his players and gracious (usually in defeat) with his opponents. Last May he watched Inter blow the Italian title in improbable circumstances on the last day of the season, then three months later he watched his prodigal son, Ronaldo, turn his back on the club.

Surely he must be due some kind of good fortune, no?

VINDICATED

Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger

He's not everybody's cup of tea, but 2002 belonged to the Gunners, at least domestically, as they reeled off an incredible streak of success that included the league and FA Cup double. He has thwarted his arch-nemesis, Sir Alex Ferguson, at every turn recently and, for now at least, seems to have the upper hand.

UNDERAPPRECIATED

Bayer Leverkusen boss Klaus Toppmoeller

OK, so things haven't gone his way of late, but it would be wrong to forget that, for five magical months, his team played the best soccer in Europe this side of the Bernabeu and came within an inch of winning both the Bundesliga and the Champions League. After Bayern simply walked in and took his two best players -- Ze Roberto and Michael Ballack -- he has a tough rebuilding job ahead, but he's the kind of guy it's tough to root against.

SITTING PRETTY

AFC Ajax

It's the biggest gathering of young talent since La Quinta del Buitre came of age nearly 20 years ago. Chistian Chivu, Nigel De Jong, Rafael Van der Vaart, Andy Van der Meyde, Steven Pienaar, Mido, Hatem Trabelsi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic ... coach Ronald Koeman is loaded with future stars. If he can hang on to them, he could do what Van Gaal did a decade ago and challenge for the European crown.

BACK WHERE HE BELONGS

Ronaldo

So he could have been a little more classy in the way he left Inter Milan. And it would be nice if he managed to play week in, week out, like most normal footballers. But let's face it, after four years in the wilderness, anyone who enjoys talent will be happy that the Great One has returned to the game. Is he the player he once was? Or will he have to be content with flashes of genius? Either way, it's great to see him back.

STUCK IN THE SHADOWS

Raul

He's Spain's all-time leading scorer, he has won the Champions League three times, he's won scoring titles and Liga titles and, at 25, he's in the prime of his career. So why is he always playing second banana? When will he get the credit he deserves outside of Spain as well?

ENTERTAINING, AGAIN

AC Milan

Having ditched the safety-first approach of yesteryear, Carlo Ancelotti has laid out a side that plays entertaining, free-flowing soccer of the kind that had not been seen in Milan since the days of Arrigo Sacchi and Marco Van Basten. Some might think it's easy to play good soccer when you've got a murderers' row of talent in Manuel Rui Costa, Rivaldo, Andriy Shevchenko, Clarence Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo and Pippo Inzaghi, but the truth is that Ancelotti had to first overcome defensive dogmas, both his own and those of Italian soccer as a whole.

IN THE DRIVERS' SEAT, AGAIN

Guus Hiddink

It's not just the fact that he took South Korea to the World Cup semifinals or that his PSV Eindhoven side is the only Dutch team capable of slowing down Ajax. It's that Hiddink manages to customize his playing style to the talent at hand: rabid and up-tempo with Korea, studied and deliberate at PSV. He may stay at PSV just long enough to win another title, before jetting off to another high-profile bench somewhere.

 

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