Robi scores, Brazil progress

Brazil's serene progress through the World Cup continued last night with a 3-0 win over Chile. There was some disappointment that Elano still had not recovered from the injury he suffered against Ivory Coast, but this was tempered by the personal success of Robinho.

After Juan headed Brazil 1-0 ahead, Robinho was involved in the second goal. He picked the ball up on the left touchline, ran at the Chilean defensive, dragging them towards him before moving the ball to Kaká. Just like Brazil's first goal against Ivory Coast, Kaká quickly pushed the ball between two defenders, Luís Fabiano received it and rounded Claudio Bravo to score.

The third goal was scored by Robinho himself. Ramires surged through midfield and was tackled on the edge of the Chilean box. The ball fell to Robinho who opened his body out and strummed the ball with his right foot into the far corner. It was remarkably similar to his goal from a similar position against Portsmouth in the 6-0 win in September 2008, for those that remember. A reminder, as that was, what a natural finisher de Souza is in those types of positions.

Robinho and, I hope, Elano will face Nigel de Jong's Holland on Friday afternoon.

Elano, Sven reunited in Soccer CIty

A special moment tonight for City fans as one of our finest players of recent years - Elano - played and scored in front of the world at Soccer City. All the more meaningful, though, was his emotional reunion with Sven-Göran Eriksson, the man who brought him to MCFC in that fantasy summer of 2007. To see the two of them together, albeit on opposite sides, in such a showcase occasion felt important.

And Elano did very well. He was well involved in that right-inclined midfield position, as Brazil dominated possession against a fairly limited Ivory Coast side. Luis Fabiano put them two goals ahead, and Elano scored the third early in the second half - darting into the box, receiving a cross from Kaká and sweeping the ball past Boubacar Barry with his left foot. But just as Brazil were threatening to step up from excellent to glorious Chiock Tioté jumped onto Elano's shin, who was stretchered off. I am praying it's bruising rather than a break.

There was other City involvement too. Robinho played, and had a few good moments but never quite recovered from the shame of a selfish 35 yard shot in the second minute when he ought to have slid Fabiano in. There was a comic moment late in the second half when the game had descended into discord and drama: Robinho was fouled, went to ground writhing and rolling but on seeing that none of his team mates had surrounded his assailant he had to jump back up and take the throw in. And of course the Touré brothers, who might play together at City next year, did well enough in difficult circumstances.

Elano inspires Brazil win

In all my dreams for this World Cup, this was fairly prominent: a Brazil inspired by two City legends. This was just the first game, and against the weakest side in the group. But if the rest of the tournament is like this it will be a delight.

This was not the easiest win for the Seleção against a very well regimented North Korean side. They defended in numbers, threw themselves in front of everything in the vox and kept them out for the whole first half. Elano, willing to shoot from range, posed a threat, as did Robinho's quick footwork at times.

But the breakthrough came with help from Elano. Early in the second half he slid Maicon on the overlap, who reached the byline and shot with the outside of his right boot, angling the ball with ferocity behind the keeper and in. I think he meant it.

An assist for Elano was good. But his goal was even better. Robinho, growing in confidence, picked the ball up and played the perfect pass between defenders, Elano strolled on to meet it and casually placed it into the bottom corner. It was a goal of almost insulting ease, and reminded me just how much I missed them. Elano especially. Since he went I've missed him like a dead pet. I'm more keen for him to succeed in South Africa than any other individual.

After a goal and an assist in his first game, I'm dreaming he can keep this up into the final.

City legends score in friendly win

Brazil played a friendly yesterday against a Benjani-inspired Zimbabwe side.

They won 3-0 with goals from MCFC legends and Mark Hughes-antagonistes Robinho and Elano. See the goals here.

Report from the Telegraph's Jonanthan Liew here.

Ela, Robi make Seleção squad

Two MCFC legends - Elano and Robinho - have made Dunga's final squad of 23 for the World Cup.

Sylvinho, Jô, Geovanni and Glauber did not.

Putting the 'lad' in 'Galadasaray'

Danny linked to a story of Elano's sad failure to make the most of his talents at Galatasaray thus far. He has failed to live up to his fanfare and could well be sold in the summer. It's a real shame for all of us who want to see him do well.

I don't have the same attachment to Jô, though, and therfore I'm finding his travails really quite amusing. He's facing the same problems he had at City and at Everton - the incompatability of his partying, drinking, free-wheeling lifestyle with the demands of being a professional footballer at an elite club. He's got himself into trouble twice already for his parties.

None of this reflects too well on Frank Rijkaard. Like his Barcelona side, Galatasaray have descended into a discordant mess of competing egos, heavy partying and lazy Brazilians. But Rijkaard's Barcelona won two La Ligas and one Champions League before it all went wrong. Rijkaard's Gala have cut out the success and gone straight for the decline.

On the other hand, it does sound fun. Throw Giovani dos Santos, Harry Kewell, Lucas Neill and Milan Baroš in on top of the former blues and there's some serious jokers there. I've given up on getting an extra ticket for Arsenal v City, but if anyone's got a spare for the Galatasaray Christmas party 2010 please get in touch.

Cunningham makes Republic squad

MCFC Academy graduate Greg Cunningham has been named in the Republic of Ireland squad for their friendly against Brazil next week. He joins MCFC goalkeeper Shay Given and MCFC legend Richard Dunne in the 23 man squad.

It shows how highly the young left back is rated. I don't know much about him, but he looked solid enough in his 45 minutes at Scunthorpe in the FA Cup fourth round. And he only turned 19 three weeks ago so he's certainly very young. It will be interesting to see if he replaces Ryan McGivern as our best young left back from the other side of the Irish Sea. (McGivern is from Newry, and represents Northern Ireland.)

City legends Robinho and Elano are in the Brazil squad for the game.

Jô joins Elano at Gala

Our one time record signing Jô has had his loan deal with Everton cancelled and has joined Galatasaray for the remainder of the 2009/10 season. With a Premier League scoring record of six in 36 and disciplinary issues at both City and Everton I imagine this brings to an end his career in England. If Galatasaray do not buy him in the summer I am sure that no English club would touch him. A return to eastern Europe awaits.

It feels right, though, that he has been reunited with his compatriot and former MCFC team-mate Elano. Both found themselves sharply at odds with the Mark Hughes regime in that discordant autumn of 2008 - both failed to adjust to the new standards in training, both were fined wages for indiscretions, both looked out of place in a side based on pace and will. For those City fans that hope the Mancini era will herald a return to the pre-Hughes relaxation and fun factor, Galatasaray will provide a fascinating 'might have been.'

And it's a great place for him. He joins not just Elano but Shabani Nonda, Harry Kewell, Milan Baros, Tobias Linderoth and now Lucas Neill in the Premier League could-have-made-its at the Ali Sami Yen. Crucially for Elano and Jô they are managed by Frank Rijkaard, a man who achieved great things with a group of lazy Brazilians at Barcelona.

Our first World Cup winner

I know I'm jumping the gun a bit here, but we're about to make our first signing of the Roberto Mancini era, our first signing of the decade, so forgive my being a bit excited about it.

And one of the main reasons for my excitement is that it marks another first: the first World Cup winner ever to play for Manchester City. Never before has anyone with a World Cup winner's medal played for City, never mind winning one while being a blue. We haven't even had anyone play for us who then went on to win a medal after having left. So this is a big deal. (Vieira will be the second player currently in the EPL with such a medal - guess the other in the comments.)

Patrick Vieira, of course, was part of the France side who triumphed in France '98. He was not a regular, but he played all of France's third group game against Denmark, and came on for the last fifteen minutes of the final against Brazil. Not a huge contribution, true, but not no contribution either, and certainly enough for the medal.

He's not, though, the first man with a World Cup winner's medal to be involved with City. In the 1995/96 season we were managed by Alan Ball - who won the World Cup with England - but we famously thought that a point was enough against Liverpool on final day and were relegated.

The holy grail is to have a player win the World Cup while playing for the club, something we've never really come close to. There was a time for indignation at the exclusion of Bert Trautmann from the victorious West Germany squad of 1954, but I think that's passed now. This time, though, we've got a decent shot: Robinho, Gareth Barry, Carlos Tévez and Nigel de Jong will all go and all have good chances of winning. We have no Spain internationals, but if Vieira does well enough to make the plane then we're in a good position.

Back to Vieira, and a similar topic: he is only the third player to have won the European Championship and then come to City. He was part of France's triumph in 2000, as was Nicolas Anelka - who joined us only two years later. The third is Peter Schmeichel, who won it with Denmark in 1992, a whole ten years before he joined Kevin Keegan's City (there are some parallels between our signing Schmeichel and Vieira - to be covered some other time.)

Then there's the Copa America. Again, nobody won it while playing for City, but two won it soon before joining us. Elano and Robinho both played for Brazil in their 2007 triumph - a few weeks before Elano signed, just over a year before Robinho did.

Finally, the African Cup of Nations - which starts this weekend - is an area where we have a very good record. For a start, it is the only international tournament I can find which has been won by a contemporary City player. Lucien Mettomo won the 2002 African Cup of Nations while at the club, and his Cameroon team-mate Marc-Vivien Foé joined City four months after their joint triumph. Both Mettomo and Foé had won it previously in 2000, before either of them joined City; and Hatem Trabelsi won it in 2004, two years before Stuart Pearce signed him.

There will be more, and more useful, Vieira stuff once we've actually signed him.

Four City players play for England

Unprecedented scenes yesterday afternoon - as four of our very own blues wore the white of England in the 1-0 defeat to Brazil.

Gareth Barry was probably the least poor, followed by Wayne Bridge, and then Joleon Lescott and then Shaun Wright-Phillips. Barry remains the only blue sure to make the final squad.

The game was won by a Nilmar header from a laser-guided long pass by some guy called Elano. Apparently he plays in the Turkish league. Do you reckon we should try to sign him in January?

Ireland sides with Hughes over Elano

The most interesting thing to come out of the Abu Dhabi tour so far - Stephen Ireland has been talking about the mood in the camp last year, and how Elano failed to get behind Mark Hughes' changes:

"He [Hughes] had it tough," Ireland recalls. "Some players didn't want to be there. Some players just didn't want to buy into it. Elano and Jô, they didn't want to put in the extra effort and it wasn't like it was that hard. It wasn't like you were being run like a dog, just that it was more professional and more based on team spirit, and these players didn't want to get into that stuff."

Elano was subsequently sold to Galatasaray. "Under Sven, Elano got away with anything," Ireland continues. "It was Elano's world, to be honest. The gaffer came in and there were massive changes, and Elano couldn't adjust. He's a great guy, a nice guy, I got on great with him, and he's a very talented player, but he could have added a lot more to his game and been a lot better than what he is."

I appreciate that over the year I've done this subject to death. Just the other week I wrote about Hughes' comments on the issue. Just to recap, I side with Hughes entirely on these issues. The Brazilian clique were disgraceful last season in their attitude, and Hughes was right to rout them as he did. His personal battle with Elano - the embodiment of all that Hughes perceived to be wrong with the Eriksson regime - was one of the key stories of 2008/09. Stephen Ireland, while relatively successful under Eriksson, embodied the key features of the Hughes mentalité (hard work, making the most of your talent, physical fitness, winning attitude) just as Elano did the same for Eriksson (occassional brilliance, lapses of laziness, unworldliness, individuality etc.)

So for Stephen Ireland to be as vocal and as public in support for Hughes over Elano is no real surprise. But this sort of public grievance-airing is unusual, at least in Garry Cook's professionally run MCFC. So it does offer an interesting insight into what things were like last season. And it gives steel reinforcement to my belief that Hughes was right to sell Elano.

Elano opens Gala account

City legend Elano scored his first goal for Galatasaray today, in their 4-1 defeat of Kayserispor.

It was a stunning volley from long range, the sort of goal Elano scored more often for Brazil than he did for City. You can see it here.

Vass backs Elano capture

Here's Darius Vassell, now of Ankaragücü, backing Süper Lig rivals Galatasaray's decision to buy fellow City legend Elano:



Vass scored his first goal for Ankaragücü in a 1-1 draw with Manisaspor last week.

Elano criticises Hughes

In The Sun:

"I'm very, very sad to be leaving Manchester City.

"I loved the club and I loved England. I'm sad to leave all the friends I made and the fans.

"I wanted to stay but circumstances forced me out. I wasn't used properly by the manager.

"People within the club know what happened to me because I'd had very, very good times there.

"The manager has built a team the way he likes and, because of this, I expect him to win the Premier League this season."

10/10

If there's one thing we should be truly grateful to Elano for, it's for sucking the fear out of penalties. He was the best penalty taker I have ever seen in blue, and the ten out of ten record he left with is something of real note.

Those ten, from the start: Bolton, Birmingham, Sunderland, Villa, Brighton, Villa, Aalborg, Hamburg, West Brom, Blackburn.

Even if Gareth Barry takes over next year (rather him than Robinho), I won't be as confident.

Elano leaves

Big, sudden news this morning: Elano has left City, and joined Galatasaray on a permanent deal.

I said that there would be tougher goodbyes than Valeri Bozhinov and this is one of them. While his departure this summer was almost inevitable after he demanded a new contract and Hughes demurred, it's still a surprise to see it happen so quickly.

Unlike many City fans, though, I cannot honestly say that I am disappointed to see Elano leave. He was unquestionably a great talent, and had it within him to be a Kinkladze or Benarbia of our times. After his magical first few months, it appeared as if he might: his vision, his passes, his set-pieces were of the highest quality. It must also be remembered how much of a relief it was, after the dire and depressing Stuart Pearce era, to see some genuine quality in a City player.

We thought Elano would herald a new era of football at City, and, while the season as a whole was no failure, Elano dramatically tailed off after November and he took the rest of the team with him. He started 2008/09 well with a few early goals but the arrival of Robinho and emergence of Stephen Ireland limited his first team opportunities. Out of the side he failed to impress with his attitude and was dropped from the match day squad for the trip to West Brom in December.

An injury to Shaun Wright-Phillips did see him make a return to the side in the spring, where he replicated his form of autumn 2007. Two freekicks were inches away from putting us into the UEFA Cup semi-final, a miraculous pass set up Robinho at Goodison Park, and he continued his immaculate record from the spot: ten out of ten in two years.

There can be no avoiding the fact that he had more bad games for us than good ones. His was a talent that revealed himself not even in spells but in sparks. Certainly a talent unfulfilled at City, but one that we were privileged to enjoy nonetheless. And he now joins a side managed by Frank Rijkaard, a man who has achieved great things with lazy Brazilians. We may meet them next season.

City stars in new South American squads

Elano and Robinho are both in Dunga's Brazil squad for their friendly against Estonia in Tallinn on August 12.

There is only one City player in Diego Maradona's Argentina squad, when, of course, there should be two.

Elano on his way out

Ian Herbert has an interesting story in today's Independent - that Elano has been left out of our Vodacom Challenge squad and could be set for a loan move to FC Köln.

There has also been interest from La Liga, with Real Zaragoza among the clubs linked with him. Elano thrilled Eastlands with his early displays under Sven-Goran Eriksson in the 2007-08 season but has lacked the work ethic to impress his succcessor, Mark Hughes. His public insistence that he warrants an extension to his current contract, which expires in 2011, has not helped either.

After a January in which there were suspicions the player's representatives were agitating for a move – Hughes was made aware of alleged interest from Lazio and Milan – Elano worked his way back into the side but competition at City is formidable.

Elano's departure had been long coming, ever since his strangely public contract spat. Elano demanded a new contract if he was to stay, Hughes said that he didn't need one. Once this had passed, it was clear that Elano would go.

I'm sure Hughes would like this tied up asap - as well as other departures - Evans, Ben Haim and Benjani are the obvious ones but I'd watch out for Etuhu, Logan, Caicedo and the Bulgarians too.

Brazil knock Italy out of Confeds

World Champions Italy were knocked out of the Confederations Cup this evening, losing 3-0 to Robinho's Brazil.

All three goals were scored in an eight minute period at the end of the second half, with Luís Fabiano scoring two before an Andrea Dossena own goal. The much-vaunted Italian defence could not live with Fabiano's physical presence; he scored his first when no defender stopped him from picking up Maicon's scuffed shot and slotting past Buffon.

Robinho was involved in the second when he broke down the left, found Kaká whose pass was dummied by Robinho to Fabiano, who scored into an open net. And the third was all Robinho's creation: he charged down the left again, and rather than shooting he squared to Ramires. The pass was intercepted, though, by Andrea Dossena who could only slide the ball into the goal.

Robson continued to see a lot of the ball in the second half, but his delivery was never quite as good as it could have been, and the score remained at 3-0.

Elano was on the bench.

Brazilian discontent

Duncan Castles in The Sunday Times raises a worrying prospect: that Elano's probable departure this summer could disillusion Robinho. We always hear about how good friends they are, and so Hughes' marginalisation of Elano is only likely to have a negative impact:

Manchester City’s transfer activity isn’t keeping everybody happy at Eastlands. Robinho has reportedly asked advisers to secure him a move to Barcelona as City pursue Samuel Eto’o and Carlos Tevez. The Brazil international signed for a UK record £32.5m only last September but his time at Eastlands has seen him develop an ongoing uneasiness with Mark Hughes.

Robinho has also been angered by the manager’s handling of compatriot and close friend Elano. For his part, Hughes is understood to have felt undermined by the Brazilians’ attitude at a time when other coaches, notably Jose Mourinho, were asked if they were interested in taking over at City.

Given how quickly Garry Cook came out against the 'Robinho to Barca' stories last week, I'd be surprised if Robinho does leave this summer. I'm sure, though, that Elano will be off to become one of the best players in Serie A next season - Castles mentions that Inter are interested. Does this mean that the club are confident that Robinho will in fact be ok with being the only Brazilian in the squad? Or are they complacent about the possible outcome from this eventuality? Robinho's very good at lots of things, but 'being sensible' isn't exactly one of them.