why cristiano ronaldo was outshined by messi in the 2009 champions league final in rome:

quite simply put, he was whining about the tactics that fergie used to apply in the game. Ronaldo can only shoot really well from one direct angle and thats the 45 degree angle coming from the right wing. generally speaking thats how he got a majority of his goals. that and pens, free kicks and the aerial cross from rooney. the issue with uniteds offense for the last... 3 seasons is that they discovered ronaldo could pretty much make goals as long as rooney would muscle up and be target man and make the pass to ronaldo as he ran in off the right wing, beating his marker and getting a nice direct shot without any center backs in the way as rooney would have been double teamed. this formula worked perfectly until the fiasco at the estadio dragao where porto learned to defend ronaldo more and press up to choke off the supply lines to ronaldo. thats why when he did get his shot he knocked it in because he wasnt being marked as it was a clear counter attack.

but i digress. ronaldo is like iverson. he drags them in with his stepovers, tests them. then runs off them from the right wing. Now the issue arrives when he was in the CL final and he was played as set man while rooney was pushed to the wings. the idea of this was to confuse barca's pressure defense (which is their bread and butter) and to break off of their defensive limitations. only to find that carlos puyol at RB would contain rooney and thus cut off ronaldos supply. then after the 10 minutes of united besieging the barca goal, barca got on the counter attack, eto'o knocks a goal in against uniteds impregnable defense, and the game truly begins. the best thing about the united team was their defense. every other part of their offense was murky at best. united would have the best centerback pairing and keeper in the world with rio, vidic and van der sar. their leftback in evra was a good roaming yet defensive player, and at right back they would have neville (semi-liability) wes brown (i dont know about him) and that player would stay to the right and hold the fort while ronaldo would slingshot past. whereas on the other side evra would cover in width and nani or carrick would take turns being the second man to cut off the trapping player on the left from the other side.

now. in this we see just how quickly barca decimates them.

1. toure is sent to centerback to use his physicality to knock ronaldo off the ball, which is pretty much how they contained him.

2.busquets and pique had developed some mental link and would rotate from center back to holding at will.

3.iniesta, xavi and messi control the tempo of the game from midfield. barca would start 4-3-3 but would end up playing a semi distorted diamond formation, with messi setting henry more to a secondary striker and eto'o as a CF, messi would then distribute from a Right Central attacking mid and iniesta would shadow him from the left. then messi would either run in to provide width (because puyol was marking rooney) or jump in off of eto'o to grab a loose ball. Messi was the energizer bunny here, keeping the ball alive and attacking and redistributing.

however the main engine in this game was Xavi. far be it from me to insult iniesta (he's two years from second best player in the world in my opinion)
but without xavi in the midfield, the passing would not have been as crisp and accurate. Xavi got in through balls, and many other chances the best being his cross to messi which sealed the game.

overall this proves that pep guardiola may very well be the best strategist in football.

he beat guus hiddink (though barely, and he did get a defensive containment at camp nou) sir alex ferguson (with counter-tactics) jurgen klinnsmann (which wasnt too shabby) and a decent lyon team (not as good as 3 seasons ago). he also won el clasico in destructive style as well as the copa del rey and la liga.

unfortunately the managing game in spain is not as strong as in italy and england.

italy and england collectively boast in the last 5 years: Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Marcelo Lippi, Fabio Capello, Carlo Ancelotti, Giovanni Trappatoni, etc. etc.

whereas la liga can only say: frank rijkaard and... some decent mid table competitors, Luis Aragones, rafa benitez and vicente del bosque. otherwise, spanish managing has been a nightmare. which leads me to my final point:

the reason that spain has a rotating door for managers is because there are NO GOOD ONES.

 and the ones that burst through become amazing. but this may also attribute to spain's lack of performance in international tournaments. Simply put: their managers stink. and they cant inspire the team and thats why the team cant jump back. they are leaderless though exceedingly talented. and thats why this incarnation of the spanish team will win the world cup.
thats right. im making my pick.
my winner this year is spain, because ATM, spain is loaded with great players, good leaders in Xavi, Casillas and Puyol, led by the magnificent Vicente Del Bosque who got the best out of Real madrid winning two CL titles and some la ligas, and hes the best man in the hot seat right now for spain. i pick spain, because everything can only go right. He has iniesta and Xavi in a very talented and able midfield. Torres and Villa in a super duo of equally clinical strikers. Then he has casillas, sergio ramos and puyol holding the line. then there are talents like fabregas, xabi alonso, david silva, marcos senna, dani guiza, pepe reina. i mean the only way this team can lose is if the injuries pile up.
otherwise this is a team of devoted winners who can finally break spain's world cup win virginity. because honestly. the brazilian shemales and the italian whooors have been all too clingy to the cup.

but to reiterate all my points.

Pep Guardiola marshalled Xavi, Puyol, and Toure/pique/busquets to hold down united while eto'o stabbed him and messi pulp fiction style shot him in the head. Rooney and ronaldo were restrained and beaten by puyol/toure/pique/busquets and Xavi distributed the knives. 

This however is unfortunate for Pep as he must continue to succeed in the champions league to fight worhty opponents. Because managing-wise, spain is lacking which also contributed to their poor performance in the world cup.

finally,im just going to say it. But I think Steve Bruce is the next carlo ancelotti.