Feli-pow!

Apologies to David Villa's fantastic hat-trick, Zlatan Ibrahimovic's wundergoal, Greece's war of attrition approach to football, Portugal's qualification for the knockout stage, and Switzerland's agonizing defeat, but I have bigger fish to fry.

This is an international tournament but the biggest news so far has to do with club football. After telling the unlucky and uncharismatic (I think I made that word up) Avram Grant he would not return as Chelsea manager, there was a great deal of speculation as to who would take the Blues into the future. My personal choice was to see Frank Rijkaard take the helm, but it was not to be...and I'm not even mad because:

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

Luiz Felipe Scolari will be defending the Bridge!


Things are looking up for Chelsea with this man at the helm


An announcement was made late Wednesday while I was watching the Switzerland v Turkey match on ESPN. Euro 2008 will be "Big Phil's" last competition with the Portuguese national side.

I think this is a great appointment for Chelsea as Scolari led Brazil in 2002 to the World Cup championship. Any time you can put down that you are a World Cup champion on your CV, you are a pretty big deal. Also, he likes to play an attacking style, which I think suits Chelsea very well.

In addition to his tactical prowess, big Phil has a solid clientele list as the manager of two high-profile international sides with Portugal and Brazil. He currently manages 3 Chelsea players with Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, and new signing Bosingwa. There have been rumblings that Carvalho might link up with old Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho at Inter, but hopefully the appointment of Scolari can convince Carvalho to stay as he is an integral part of the backline at Stamford Bridge.

Barcelona and Portugal central attacking midfielder Deco has been linked by the media with Chelsea and perhaps now that Deco's national manager has gone to Chelsea, it looks increasingly likely that Deco might follow him to West London. I really like Deco and he has bags of talent, but I am worried about where he would fit in terms of chemistry. With Frank Lampard "deputising" the midfield alongside a reinvigorated Michael Ballack and flanked by Joe Cole and Florent Malouda, I don't know where Deco would stand in that midfield. That could all change if Lampard's proposed move to Inter materializes.

Reading Soccernet.com this morning word on the street is that Scolari would like to bring another protege to Chelsea...Kaka. If this happens it would be an absolute coup no matter the price. Kaka has shown at the club and national level what a world class talent he is and I would love to see him strut his stuff at Stamford Bridge.

Alright I gotta go catch the rest of the fixtures from the group of death, but I dont know if I will be able to report on the happenings though as I am packing up for a nice little vacation to the sandy beaches of Virginia Beach (that sounds redundant). I hope to have internet down there so I can keep up on all the latest transfer info...bring on Kaka!