Club or Country?

Just as the season seemed to be gathering momentum, the dreaded international break has arrived. For most fans it is time to once againdon the famous Three Lions, and attempt to come together as one for theEngland team. However for some this may not always be the case. Inrecent times the love for the national side seems to have dwindled andlarge percentages now see the England games as a distraction from the‘more important’ domestic leagues.
The club-versus-country debate will always be a contentious issue, andwill always provide a hot topic of conversation in pubs around thecountry. I’m sure if asked to choose between a Liverpool title success andEngland winning the World Cup there would be a split in opinionamongst the Liverpool faithful. Personally though, the decision for mewould be easy. The prospect of seeing Steven Gerrard lift the PremierLeague trophy in front of a packed Anfield at the end of May issomething I would not trade for the world (cup). However, what isinteresting is the opinion of the players themselves. Would and shouldplayers but their club before their country?
It is a difficult question to answer but one that should not be ignored.For most, as a child the dream is to captain their own country. Nomatter what sport or what nation, from a young age most sports peoplehave that same desire to be their nation’s finest. But does this feelingever change? Does this desire ever get replaced by another one? A desirethat involves leading your club to the pinnacle of the sport, bringingjoy to its thousands of passionate fans. Or can that national pridenever be replaced, no matter how much the individual is paid, or howlong they are at the club? Questions I know that are hard to answer, butones that do lead to intrigue.
For most players, playing for their national side is the biggest honourthey can receive. It is the highest level they can achieve in football.But when they play for a club, there is always the question of whetherthat player can play for a ‘better’ more successful team. How can it bejudged if a player has reached the pinnacle at club level?
Throughout the recent transfer window there were mutterings ofdiscontent from some members of the Liverpool squad who insisted theyhad the desire to play for other teams in other countries, and wouldhave to reconsider their position at the club. Now of course any playeris entitled to say and do as they wish, but would you ever see this kindof behavior on the international stage? A current international playercould not turn around to his coach and say he is unhappy with the levelsof success his nation are achieving, and that he wishes to leave foranother more successful nation. That is because once a player decides torepresent that country he has committed himself and his talents for thatcause permanently.
Surely the same should be said of deciding to sign for a club. Once aplayer signs a contract with a club, just like their country, thatplayer should think of only that club and no other team. After all it isthe club who pay that player’s wages, it is the club whose fans singtheir name on a Saturday afternoon, and it is the club who theyrepresent week in week out.
Of course there are many players who do in fact conduct themselves inthis manner, and one would like to think that there are a number of themcurrently playing for Liverpool. Unfortunately however, it is not alwaysthe case within football and ultimately, at club level a player willalways have the choice of which team they represent, and withoutquestioning any player’s professionalism, it may well make theirdecision between club and country simpler than ours.

Why Pepe is Crucial to Reds Title Bid

By ANDREW RILEY Steven Gerrard got all the plaudits after the win at Bolton but one man who has escaped any such praise is someone who has started the season in exceptional form is Pepe Reina.
His importance to Liverpool is huge. Although many Reds fans willacknowledge that for Liverpool to have any chance of competing for thetitle Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres must stay fit, what has notbeen so widely discussed is the potential loss of Reina.

His record speaks for itself; he is the quickest Liverpool goalkeeper in the club’srich history to reach 100 clean sheets (197 games, three fewer than Liverpoollegend Ray Clemence). If the 26-year-old Spaniard were to get injured,then Benitez would have to call upon the less-than-convincing DiegoCavalieri, who in his few appearances for the club has looked decidedlyshaky.
Already this season Reina has produced a number of world class saves,with his save from Bolton’s Matty Taylor on Saturday being the latest ina string of fine shot stops.

With the scores at 1-1 and only moments left until half-time, Taylor produced a stunning free kick that was arrowing towards the top corner, only for Reina to pull off a one-handed super save that kept his team level going in at the break. It was without doubt a massive turning point in the game.
Although question marks may still remain when it comes to decisionmaking and collecting crosses, Reina has slowly developed into one ofthe Premier league’s and world’s best, and at the age of 26 he is stillsome way off the age where goalkeepers traditionally reach their peak.Reina can only get better and his next aim will be to oust the equallytalented Iker Casillas from the No.1 shirt for Spain.
Once the injuries clear and Benitez begins to settle on his preferredcentral partnership, Pepe’s form and presence in the starting XI thisseason, may well be the difference between being title contenders andbecoming champions