I was browsing through ESPNsoccernet.com, as usual, and stumbled upon 2 interesting articles that they had in conjunction of their 10-year anniversary being online. Well, with nothing much in hand to do in the office for now, I decided to do a little cut & paste on both articles (as if 1 article wasn't enough; I know, greedy me) regarding ESPNsoccer's Player of the Decade & Manager of the Decade. Maybe those of you who're reading this right now will want to spend just a little time voting for yourself & have your own say/opinion on whoever that is you feel should be given the honor of being Player/Manager of the Decade. Now, see what the verdict given by the pros were & see if your predictions were correct.

PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Close to 100,000 of you voted with almost a third of you plumping for three-time FIFA World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane. Strutting majestically into second-place is another Frenchman, Eric Cantona, while in third place is Ronaldo, one of the most explosive and exciting players of a generation.

1. Zinedine Zidane

As the very best player of the last decade Zinedine Zidane rightly tops our poll. In fact, Zidane deserves a place alongside the very greatest in football's pantheon.

When he retires, which will most likely be in 2007 when his current Real Madrid contract expires, a third name will reinvigorate the now hackneyed question; Who was the greatest player of all time? Zidane will take his place alongside Pele and Maradona.

Unquestionably Zidane is the player of the modern era, so complete and astonishing are his abilities that he is certain to transcend generations to become a legend.

His career began back in 1988 with Cannes, and included four years with Bordeaux, but it was not until 1996 that the mercurial Frenchman's class became evident to the wider footballing world following a move to Italy and Juventus.

In his first season with 'La Vecchia Signora' Zidane lifted both the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup; a modest haul of ultimately inconsequential baubles, perhaps, but greater honours, both individual and collective, were to follow.

In the five years before his £45.6 million world record move to Madrid in 2001 Zidane beguiled the world time and again, his mastery of the game leaving supporters, team-mates and opponents spellbound.

Zidane was instrumental in Juve's dominance in the late 1990s, helping the Turin club to back-to-back Italian Championships in 1997 and 1998, as well as the Italian Super in 1997, the runners-up position in the 1997 and 1998 UEFA Champions League, and the runners-up spot in Serie A in 2000 and 2001.

One quality marking great players apart from good players is the ability to turn in their best performances under pressure and on the highest stage. Zidane did just that in Paris' Stade de France in 1998.

In the biggest, and arguably best game of his career Zidane illuminated the World Cup Final, scoring twice against defending world champions Brazil and inspiring the host nation to famous 3-0 triumph.

Later that year Zidane received the first of his FIFA World Player of the Year awards; the second followed in 2000 after he had played a pivotal role in Les Blues' European Championship success, a competition in which he was named player of the tournament.

In 2001 when the Real Madrid regime demanded a new 'Galactico', as the best player in the world, Zidane was the obvious choice. Ever since he has been an integral part of Real's domestic and European ambitions; proving his worth by scoring an exquisite volleyed goal to win the 2002 Champions League final in his debut season.

While awards and trophies are the accoutrements of a successful career, a list of achievements cannot do justice to Zidane as a player; it serves only to highlight his value to a team, but it fails to sum up the essence of a magical player.

In each of the most important disciplines for a forward-minded midfielder Zidane excels. His strength and vision, his feints and dummies, his touch and dribbling, his guile and craft, his range of passing and, of course, his vicious shot and unerring accuracy; Zizou offers a master class in all.

Not since Diego Maradona has one player mastered every facet of the game so completely. That Zidane is still plying his trade is a gift for every football fan; enjoy him while you can.

2. Eric Cantona

Does Eric Cantona find himself in the runners-up place in our poll by virtue of Manchester United's legions of fans, or is he finally benefiting from historical revisionism?

In truth it is probably a little of both.

Second only to George Best in United fans' affections, Cantona is part of Old Trafford folklore thanks to his role in the clubs success in the 1990s, his enigmatic persona and belligerent ability. That supporters would vote for him is not a surprise.

That Cantona has benefited from the votes of non-United fans' is notable given that during his playing career he was almost universally loathed.

The strutting, barrel-chested striker displayed an arrogance which even into the middle phase of his career manifested itself in acts of petulance and violence; it was not until the autumn of his playing days that it was channeled solely into displays of sublime skill and leadership.

Perhaps time has allowed Cantona's detractors to reconcile their distaste for his arrogance (and somewhat tarnished disciplinary record) with an appreciation for the flair and skill he brought to the Premiership.

That he only played during two of Soccernet's 10 years matters not, play he did, and his impact on a young Manchester United team cannot be ignored.

His career began in 1983 with Auxerre, and included spells of varying degrees of tempestuousness with Martigues, Marseille, Bordeaux, Montpellier and Nimes before the quintessential enfant terrible quit the game after a catalogue of run-ins with the French authorities.

Soon he was persuaded to resurrect his career in England. When Sheffield Wednesday refused to take a punt on the relative unknown, Leeds United stepped in and were rewarded; Cantona swiftly established himself as a cult hero after helping the Elland Road club secure the 1992 League Championship as well as bagging a hat-trick in the Charity Shield against Liverpool.

However, with Cantona failing to hold a regular place in the Leeds team, Alex Ferguson swooped and signed the Frenchman for a mere £1 million. It was Ferguson's best ever signing.

Cantona became the fulcrum of the Manchester United side that dominated the Premiership in the mid-1990s, he was instrumental in ending United's 26-year wait for a league title in 1993, in the league and cup doubles of 1994 and 1996 as well as in his final Premiership title triumph in 1997.

Without Cantona's influence and inspiration it is unlikely Manchester United would have developed into the on and off-field force they did.

3. Ronaldo

Would Ronaldo's position in our poll have been higher had injury not truncated his career? There is no disrespect in placing behind Zidane and Cantona, but in his prime Ronaldo was incontrovertibly the most exciting player on the planet.

Ronaldo had everything a football fan hopes to see in a Brazilian superstar. A player with outrageous skill and flair, the pace of an Olympic sprinter and a range of finishing from deft six-yard tap-ins, to rapier-like shots and bending efforts from distance. Ronaldo was the complete striker.

After moving from Brazilian outfit Cruzeiro to join Bobby Robson's PSV Eindhoven Ronaldo caught the attention of Europe's top clubs by scoring 42 goals in 46 league games. A move to Barcelona followed in 1996 where he continued his extraordinary goal-scoring, bagging 47 goals in all competitions in his sole season with the Catalan side.

A valuable commodity Ronaldo was next acquired by Inter Milan for the 1997/98 campaign where he continued his goal plundering with 25 Serie A strikes.

And his achievements did not go unnoticed as he was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1996 and 1997, but just as Ronaldo looked set to dominate the game for years to come fate was to deal him a cruel hand.

He started the 1998 World Cup brightly, scoring four goals before being struck down by a mystery illness and suffering a fit of some kind just hours before the final. Rightly or wrongly Ronaldo played, but, clearly unwell, the world's finest player struggled and Brazil succumbed to France.

The following four years were a catastrophe for Ronaldo; two major knee injuries and a series of operations severely limited his appearances for Inter, with the entire 2000/01 season written-off.

But recovery and redemption came at the 2002 World Cup where a fully-fit and rejuvenated Ronaldo fired eight goals to secure the Golden Boot as Brazil won their fifth World Cup.

In 2002 as Real Madrid searched for the next 'Galactico', just as with Zidane a year earlier, Ronaldo was the only choice.

Today, older and less svelte than in his youth, Ronaldo remains a formidable striker, still capable of dazzling drives, and with 21 goals in La Liga last season, still deadly in front goal.

But it is his early days in Europe ahead of the 1998 World Cup that Ronaldo trully excited and mesmerised.

Hmmm...Ronaldo, huh?? I never thought he was exceptionally good, I was thinking along the lines of maybe Thierry Henry -even though I don't like Arsenal- or maybe even Ryan Giggs. Well, actually anybody else really, just not Ronaldo. Okay, here's the scoop for Manager of the Decade.

MANAGER OF THE DECADE

As part of our tenth anniversary celebrations we asked you to vote for your greatest manager during the decade Soccernet has been online. You cast your considered opinion in your thousands - 75,865 to be exact - and there was one unequivocal winner; Sir Alex Ferguson commanding nearly half of all votes cast.

Arsene Wenger, not for the first time, came second behind the Scot whilst young pretender and self confessed 'Special One' Jose Mourinho has to be content with third place; though you can't help but imagine that in the same poll for our 20th birthday he will fancy his chances of improving upon that.

You spoke, we listened and below we profile Messers Ferguson, Wenger and Mourinho; the three managers you think are the best from the last decade.

1. Sir Alex Ferguson

By first smashing the Old Firm stranglehold on Scottish football with Aberdeen, and latterly in creating an all conquering dynasty at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson makes a compelling case for being crowned the greatest British manager of all time, let alone of the modern era.

However, it could have all been very different were it not for the intervention of one of his lesser-known players, Mark Robins. A Third Round FA Cup replay against Nottingham Forest in 1990, with United languishing in the league and having recently lost 5-1 to their city rivals, represented Ferguson's last chance to rescue a season going down the pan. Despite finishing a creditable second in 1988, the previous season had seen them slip to 11th and now, over three years into his United tenure, patience was a pretty scarce commodity.

Forest had a goal disallowed before Robbins popped up to grab the only goal and keep United in the cup and his manager in a job. Four months later saw another cup replay, this time against Crystal Palace after a dramatic 3-3 draw at Wembley, and another 1-0 win, Lee Martin the scorer. The Cup was Ferguson's and United's and precious time was bought. Time, as history bears out, very well spent.

Statistics rarely tell the whole truth but Ferguson's leave little to be argued about. 25 major trophies with Aberdeen and United; the first a Scottish League title in 1980, the most recent the 2004 FA Cup, is bettered in number in British football only by the legendary Jock Stein, a man Ferguson took over from to lead Scotland to Mexico for the 1986 World Cup after the great man's untimely death. It is inconceivable to think Ferguson, just one behind at present, will not equal and then surpass the man responsible for bringing the European Cup to these shores for the first time. In England only Bob Paisley with 16, who inherited Bill Shankly's already successful Liverpool team in the late '70s, comes close.

But more than baubles and medals, Ferguson's influence on the domestic and European game - he was voted best manager in Europe at FIFA's 1999 awards - has been such that a more revered, or indeed feared, manager in recent times is hard to find.

Born in the tough Glaswegian district of Govan in 1941, Alexander Chapman Ferguson worked in the Clyde ship yards until the age of 23, playing amateur football to a decent standard. So much so that he signed professional terms with Dunfermline before catching the eye of his boyhood heroes Rangers, moving for a then record £65,000.

An uncompromising forward, Ferguson's playing career was not characterised by great achievement - he was blamed for his part in a Scottish Cup final rout at the hands of Celtic in 1969 - and by 1974 his first step into management took him to East Stirling.

Quickly moving on to St Mirren, one promotion later and Aberdeen came calling. In the appropriately uncompromising surroundings of the Granite City, Ferguson's true talent was to flourish.

In eight seasons at Pittodrie Ferguson's side, including today's Old Firm rival managers Gordon Strachan and Alex McLeish, was built with little financial backing and overcame the traditional Glasgow powerhouses to dominate the game north of the border in the '80s.

Three titles, four FA Cups and a League Cup were secured but the crowning glory came in 1983 with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Real Madrid in the now defunct European Cup Winners Cup, the last European trophy won by a Scottish team.

After his brief sojourn with Scotland they, along with Barcelona, Tottenham, Rangers and Arsenal wanted him full-time but instead Ferguson moved to Old Trafford where he took charge of Ron Atkinson's underperforming side.

Ferguson undertook some painful but necessary changes of both structure and personnel at the club, demonstrating the ruthless determination that would bring him great success, at the same time as alienating those not committed to the United cause, by shipping out crowd favourites such as Norman Whiteside and Paul McGrath. The youth system was overhauled but would not bear fruit for some time and the early years were difficult ones, until that FA Cup success.

A European Cup Winners Cup final win over Barcelona in 1991, shortly after English clubs had been allowed to compete again, proved another potent for what was to come but it was the title that United had employed Ferguson to win. It duly arrived in 1993 inspired by Eric Cantona and Peter Schmeichel - brought to the club for less than £2 million in characteristically shrewd transfer dealings - ending 26 years of hurt for United fans and launching a period of unqualified success.

A second title followed the next season and another inspired signing, Roy Keane, bedded into a winning side but the end of a barren 94/95 revealed more of Ferguson's genius. As now the pre-eminent team in the land, other sides were out to get United and Ferguson used this to cultivate a siege mentality similar to that he had created at Aberdeen - an 'us against the world' ethos - that has carried them through the few difficult times they have faced.

Ferguson never publicly criticises his players (defending them, on occasion, when actions have been indefensible) and saves the famous 'hairdryer treatment' for behind closed doors. The result is a team that will run through walls for him and fight to the end of every game.
His team building is second to none. And by 1995 it was time for another reconstruction.

Dispensing with the likes of Mark Hughes and Paul Ince (who Ferguson perceived to have got too high an opinion of himself, something his staunch socialist upbringing and subscription to the team ethic would not stand, as David Beckham was later to discover) he brought through his 'Fledglings' - the Neville brothers, Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and, already a first team regular, Ryan Giggs - to the derision of many.

'You'll win nothing with kids,' respected pundit Alan Hansen famously said. He will never be allowed to forget it as Ferguson's second great United side ripped through the domestic game and Europe, culminating in the treble season of 1999 and the holy grail of the European Cup that Ferguson, like Sir Matt Busby before him, had become obsessed with winning.
Two more championships followed immediately - making Ferguson the only manager to win three English titles in a row - before he changed his mind about a proposed retirement in 2002.

Now in the process of assembling what he hopes will be a third all conquering side - a task made all the more difficult by the efforts of traditional sparing partner Arsene Wenger and the emergence of the Russian revolution at Chelsea - Ferguson has reason to believe that youngsters Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo can help forge a future for themselves as well as cementing his own staggering legacy.

In all Ferguson has won eight Premiership titles, five FA Cups (including three doubles), a League Cup and the two European titles with United. A master of the mind games, even the cerebral Wenger has been rattled by his barbed criticisms at times (Kevin Keegan famously reduced to a quivering, gibbering wreck); an arch tactician; peerless man manger and above all genuine, passionate football man - love him or hate him, and there are plenty who fall into each camp, Ferguson is unquestionably the greatest manager of the last decade, and possibly the one before too.

2. Arsene Wenger

Though the pair have carved up most of the domestic honours between themselves in recent seasons, Arsene Wenger and Ferguson could scarcely be any different. Erudite and urbane, Wenger is characterised in the press as a studious professor to Ferguson's gruff, school-of-hard-knocks-educated throwback to a different footballing age.

Only his nemesis has outperformed Wenger on the domestic stage since the Premiership's inception. Three league titles and four FA Cups since 1998 is no mean achievement for a man whose arrival in North London prompted one local newspaper to run the headline: 'Arsene who?'

Similarly to Ferguson, Wenger's own playing career was unremarkable at best, his limitations condemning him to season upon season in the lower leagues of France's amateur ranks. He did rise to top flight football with Strasbourg, but in their championship winning season Wenger made just three appearances and soon he realised a playing career was beyond him and quit the game to study for a degree in Economics in his adopted city.

But he could not keep away from the game for long and after a spell as youth team coach, once more at Strasbourg, his self-confessed obsession with the game earned him a first crack at management with Nancy. They were swiftly relegated.

Success did arrive, however, during a seven year spell in charge of Monaco, where both the league and domestic cup were won as well as relative achievement on the European front for a small side who consistently competed in the latter stages of the European Cup. Suddenly Wenger was in demand but he chose not to leave, even spurning the advances of Bayern Munich, until he was sacked in 1994.

Unperturbed, Wenger headed east, to Japan, and struggling Grampus Eight whom he transformed from relegation fodder to title challengers inside twelve months.

Arsenal, in something of a rut after Bruce Rioch's short and ill-fated spell in charge, turned to this 'unknown' and he set about radically changing the culture at Highbury.

Memories of Arsenal's success of the 80s and 90s were fading, as were a number of ageing English players who formed the backbone of those sides. Wenger brought a different approach to training and a fresh emphasis on diet, nutrition, sports science and psychology to a club with a fierce drinking culture. Those reluctant to change were shipped out - replaced largely by cut price compatriots of the manager - whilst those who stayed were rewarded with extensions to their top flight careers.

Aside from his much vaunted meticulous attention to detail, Wenger's real worth has come in the transfer market. Nicolas Anelka, Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars were all bought for a fraction of their sell-on fees and formed the backbone of his first double winning side of 1998.

Further evidence of his eye for talent (and a bargain) was evidenced by the way first Patrick Vieira and then Thierry Henry were plucked from Serie A bench warming duties and turned into world class stars.

Arsenal's 'invincible' season of 2004, in which they strolled to the Premiership title without losing a single game, confirmed Wenger's name but his true greatness arises from the fact that each of his sides, built with a fraction of the resources of his immediate rivals, have played with an attacking verve almost unparalleled.

The only blot on the Frenchman's copy book comes courtesy of a habitual failure to translate domestic superiority into success on the European stage. The desire to right this wrong burns in Wenger as fiercely as it ever did in his great rival Ferguson.

3. Jose Mourinho

Jose Mourinho may not have been in the management game for long, but the outrageous success he has enjoyed, coupled with his keen ear for a pithy soundbite and an innate ability to court controversy, has thrust the cocksure Portuguese to the forefront of the game in the last half decade.

The son of Felix Mourinho, a celebrated goalkeeper who was custodian for the Portuguese national side, Jose was keen to follow in his father's footsteps but, for the moment, his talent did not match his ambition.

Encouraged by his mother to enrol in a business school, he instead signed up at a physical education college and through these qualifications, and his linguistic prowess - he speaks five languages - landed his first job in the game as a translator for Bobby Robson at Sporting Lisbon.

Watching and learning, he graduated to the role of coach and when Robson moved to Barcelona in 1996, he took Mourinho with him. Robson left barely a year later but Mourinho stayed at the Nou Camp to work under Louis van Gaal, whom he credits with having instilled in him the importance of preparation and the need for a miserly, organised defence above all else.

His first tilt at management did not work out as, just nine games into the 2000-01 season, a fall out with the board precipitated his departure from Benfica. In the same season he took the reigns at lowly Uniao de Leiria and midway through the following campaign had elevated the perpetual strugglers into a top five position.

Porto lured him away in January of 2002 and ushered in a period of greatness that the self assured coach has shown no signs of ending since.

In the following two years Mourinho won virtually everything going - two league titles, a domestic cup, Uefa Cup and European Cup (missing out on consecutive doubles only by virtue of being runners up in the cup in 2004).

Money talked in 2004 when Chelsea prised him away from his homeland to take charge at Stamford Bridge as a two trophy haul in his first season, including the club's first title in 50 years, bore testament to his ability. The fact that unprecedented funds were made available to him in the transfer market did little to mask his impact on the team.

Obsessive attention to detail, a canny understanding that comes from being a diligent student of the game since his youth and a charismatic leadership style mark him out as, to use his words, not just out of the bottle but a special one - with his best years, possibly ahead of him.

Having signed up for another five years with the London club, the intriguing subplot to the English season of new kid on the block Mourinho versus the old lags of Wenger and Ferguson is a strong rebuttal to the notion that the English league is becoming staid and boring.

With these three around, it can never be so.

Ahahahakz!! I predicted those first 2 old bags to be top 2 but the last one whom I predicted was Rafael Benitez what with all the work he did with Valencia. But Jose Mourinho got it instead. No worries, though. It's just an online result. All taken from ESPNsoccer.net, your one-stop online soccer site for all things soccer. Ahahahakz!!

Anywayz, Luis hasn't emailed me today; I'm pretty sure she's caught up with work & stuff. Her project is due soon & from which, she'll start her attachment the same time as Khai while I finish mine about a week earlier. Can't wait for attachment to finish, though. I think I'm closing in on the halfway mark. Woooooot!! And, probably a few more days to my first paycheck. Nyehehehehehe.

Also, 3 more days to Phat Nite '05 as the countdown continues. Gotta find something 'clubby' to wear on that day. And the next day, Such's 21st party!! Whoaaaa...2 birthday bashes in 2 weeks, 3 party events in 2 weeks. Talk about a packed August!!

Laterz...
Lenny JC