For the last six weeks, I have been in Dubai. The reason I went was I had tried hard to get a ticket to Moscow to see the final of the Champions League. I failed and somehow ended up in Dubai, returning to Singapore just in time for the start of Euro 2008.

Dubai is a strange and wonderful place. It reminds you of the motivation of why men succeed. It's about flaunting wealth and the privileges that having truckloads of money can bring. Truly in this desert city lies the resurrection of the splendour of the Arabian Nights.

Being in such surroundings because of the Champions League final strikes an ironic chord. The value of money and its effect on the English game is clear for all to see. It has caused a divide between the biggest clubs and the wannabes. It has created such an elite structure that it has, in effect, ruined the texture of the game as recalled by the romantics.

'John Terry's spot-kick miss underscored the symbolism of the triumph of money over passion. It marked the tragic end to football as a romantic notion'


The Big Four are all filthy rich clubs backed by even filthier richer shareholders. Liverpool have of late been attracting attention from this part of the world, where everyone lives with the proof that wealth can buy dreams.

Because of that, for years now no other team outside the Big Four can even smell a whiff of life at the top. Each year, fuelled by loads of money, the best will always attract the best, with Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool leading the way.

And there I was fully attempting to move heaven and earth for a chance to see Manchester United and Chelsea - arguably the biggest spenders in all of Europe - competing against each other at the pinnacle of the tournament whose genesis is the milking of television money in the first place.

It was like wanting to be in an extravagant Trump-like arena watching an argument between two billionaires challenging each other to see who can burn money faster.

In the end, the game turned towards the team which boasts the best player in the world right now, the team which, in the previous summer, spent the most. And in the end, the player who was dubbed the cost-nothing-local-lad and home-grown-amidst-the-swelling-ranks-of-football-mercenaries caused his team to lose the final by missing his penalty.

On reflection, John Terry's spot-kick miss underscored the symbolism of the triumph of money over passion. It marked the tragic end to football as a romantic notion. It is now cash - and lots of it - which is a sure means to reach the Promised Land. It can build, rebuild and build again, transforming teams from the natural to the supernatural and beyond.

Just like Dubai really.

Since returning to Singapore, I haven’t watched much of Euro 2008, partly because most games are played at an ungodly hour in relation to this part of the world, but mostly because international fare has proven to be mind-bogglingly boring in the past. I did catch highlights of the opening game between Switzerland and the Czech Republic and thought this tournament would be more of the same old rubbish.

Of course, detractors will point to Germany’s win over Poland, Portugal’s win over the Czech Republic and Spain’s win over Russia as signs of better times to come. But, other than Holland’s trashing of the otherwise dour and defensive Italy thus forcing the Italians to be more positive for future games, I just can't see Euro 2008 promising attacking and entertaining football.

The teams that have lost thus far have, with all due respect, been expected to lose. The teams that have won well would have wanted to make an early impression to cause a psychological blow to their opponents in the next round, where most teams' attacking verve would tend to fade anyway when the true favorites meet one another.

I hope to be proved wrong.

France, of course, owes me that duty to prove me wrong. With probably the best all-round squad in the tournament boasting a good blend of youth and experience, they even impressed Arsene Wenger as his favorites to match the Germans and win a third Euro title.

The French boast a wealth of talent and flair, promise and verve and experience and youth. In fact, they boast such wealth of pretty much everything that they compel the neutral to believe they are the pinnacle of football. On paper, no-one is better.

But everyone remembers the 2002 World Cup when being holders and favorites and boasting the top scorers in the English, French and Italian leagues, they crashed out without even scoring a goal. Could that happen again?

The French have the most to prove this time around. Fading superstars Patrick Vieira, Claude Makelele, Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka have their careers and reputations on the line. Coincidentally, all of them have appeared in - and lost - recent Champions League finals, with only Makelele and Anelka winning with Real Madrid very early on in their then-promising careers.

Despite their wealth, the French are flattering to deceive. It's like being lured to a Champions League final which promises glamour a-plenty only to be let down by the second-half fading prowess of the current world’s best player and peter out to a lame draw to be settled by penalties.

It’s like watching an explosion of wealth being bestowed on a soulless receptacle that glitters but ultimately disappoints.

Just like Dubai really.