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How much would you pay to take part in the World Cup next summer? For Luca Toni, this wasn't a theoretical question.

The Italian striker was desperate to move to a new club after being frozen out by Bayern Munich manager Louis van Gaal. The Bundesliga side was happy to let the 32-year-old go for free, despite the fact that his contract runs until 2011. There was only one very big problem: at 10 million euros a year, Toni's astronomical wages scared of all the interested clubs in Spain, Italy and England.

Is Italian football well and truly launched on the slippery path of Decline and Fall? Or will on the field happenings in 2010, in either the UEFA Champions League or the FIFA World Cup, provide a welcome boost for the battered morale of the national game?

This is, of course, that time of year when we columnists like to reflect on the year just ended, assessing its likely impact on the year about to come. Before I do that, however, let me recall one of my best footballing moments of 2009 - that came in March when I travelled up to AC Milan's celebrated Milanello training centre to interview Paolo Maldini, then preparing to play out the last two months of his extraordinary career.

The focus on African football over the last few months, and indeed for the foreseeable future, is firmly on the national teams.

The 2010 World Cup is a summit the continent has never scaled before and promises a new, and positive, window on an area of the world previously better known for conflicts, famines and other misery. More immediate, is the excitement of the African Nations Cup finals, the 16-team tournament that starts in Angola on Jan. 10.

The trouble with winning everything is that the only thing left to do is lose. When Barcelona came back to beat Estudiantes in Abu Dhabi it completed a year in which they won every single tournament they entered: La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Champions League, the European Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the World Club Championships.

The club had prepared special t-shirts for the players that declared: "Tot guanyat, tot per guanyar" - Everything won, everything to win. Pep Guardiola, though, turned to one of his assistants and asked: "What do we do now? Where do we go from here?"

Japanese national team manager Takeshi Okada is turning into a frustrated figure as the countdown to the World Cup clicks ever closer to June's kick off.

Since publicly declaring his target is to steer his team to the semifinals in South Africa, the former Yokohama Marinos manager now faces the unenviable task of moulding a side capable of achieving such a lofty aim.

Alex Ferguson says that for a professional footballer, every game is a statement of his worth. It's an inspiring thought. But all games are not of equal importance. Some are bigger than others - one of the hallmarks of the truly great player is that he tips the balance in the really big matches.

Of the hundreds of thousands of games played, there are a few that resonate for decades, showering the victors with glory and covering the losers with scars that last a lifetime. Perhaps the outstanding example is the final game of the 1950 World Cup.

I have said before that I am all in favour of the implementation of video replays, and nothing I have seen of the AAR experiment has changed that opinion. If anything, it has made my belief stronger. 

There is so much riding on games today, be it in league competitions, the Europa League, the Champions League or the World Cup. How can FIFA continue to stick its head in the sand by rejecting the use of video replays to aid the referee? 

Andres Iniesta may just be the best midfielder in the game today, his sublime passes, exquisite playmaking ability and overall versatility making him a crucial player for both club (FC Barcelona) and country (Spain).

Indeed, Iniesta was a key figure in Barcelona's treble-winning season, scoring important goals (including one against Chelsea in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League) and earning praise from Rooney after helping the Catalan club defeat Manchester United in the Champions League final in May.

While the rest of the football world takes a well-deserved break at the end of the year, the English inventors of the beautiful game thunder on.

Boxing Day, as the second day of Christmas is called in the UK, sees a full Premier League programme and the following Monday, only 48 hours later, they will all play again - until the last patches of green are wiped out and the first metatarsal bone gives way.

Landon Donovan may not be the only U.S. international heading for Europe to hone his skills in the run up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As Donovan gets set to join Everton on a short-term loan, Stuart Holden is also being tempted to follow his lead.

Holden, a 24-year-old Scottish-born midfielder with the Houston Dynamo, is being pursued by a number of clubs but if he goes he won't be back anytime soon. Holden is caught in a tug of war between remaining loyal to Major League Soccer and the temptation of returning to his roots.

It was, said Espanyol midfielder Verdu, a "fiesta". Oleguer Presas described it as "lovely". And the sports daily AS described it as a "triumphant return."

The Catalan 'national' team celebrated Christmas by thumping Argentina 4-2 Tuesday at Barcelona's Camp Nou; they had put more goals beyond Diego Maradona's side than the Spanish national team had done last month (a 2-1 win for the European champions). But this time it wasn't Maradona's side - not officially, at least - and one man in particular was unimpressed: the man whose return it actually was, Johan Cruyff.

The undoubted highlight of working as a football journalist in South America is the opportunity to get a sneak preview at the stars of tomorrow.

Every time I go to a game I'm always thrilled by the idea that there might be a little known young player out there taking his first steps on the way to global stardom. And in all the time I've been doing it, the stand out is a little guy from Argentina via FC Barcelona by the name of Lionel Messi.

Ten years ago at just about this time of year, your correspondent sat down in a rather grim, underground office at Lazio's Formello training ground with then-Lazio coach, Swede Sven Goran Eriksson.  

Things were going well and it seemed possible that Lazio might be on the eve of great things, might even go on that season to win (as indeed they did) the Serie A title for only the second time in their history.

Pim Verbeek has rarely been reluctant to tell the Australian football establishment what he thinks throughout his two-year tenure as coach of the Socceroos.

Since taking over as Graham Arnold's replacement in late 2007, the Dutchman has refused to candy coat his comments about the state of the game Down Under.

I trust Landon Donovan has a sense of humour. For his sake he'll need one when he joins Everton on loan in the New Year.

Merseysiders have a razor-sharp wit - it's almost part of their DNA. I lived, worked and played amongst 'Scousers' for five years and it took time to adapt and adjust to their unique sense of humour. It is part of the culture and has to be accepted for what it is.

Quite predictably, a Group of Death was quickly identified after the FIFA World Cup Draw on Dec. 4 in Cape Town.

Group G will consist of Brazil (ranked 2nd in the world), Portugal (5th), Ivory Coast (16th), and North Korea (86th, but possibly a dangerous unknown). The first challenge will obviously be to just survive and advance, but what about the group's overall tournament prospects? 

In the autumn years of his career, Jens Lehmann was supposed to take it easy. The former Germany and Arsenal goalkeeper signed for VfB Stuttgart in 2008 with a view of playing a couple more seasons at a decent level before retiring to his lakeshore villa near Munich.

But the 40-year-old's almost pathological will to succeed soon came to the forefront again. Last season, he angrily tore off the headband of teammate Khalid Boulahrouz in the midst of a match.  In another game, he threw the boot of an opponent onto the roof of his goal net.

Portugal defender Pepe is out with a knee injury. So too is the Netherlands' Robin van Persie. American striker Charlie Davies will be fortunate to ever return to professional soccer after suffering multiple injuries as a passenger in a fatal car crash. 

With all of these injuries occurring in the lead up to the 2010 World Cup, it begs the question - do players worry about getting injured prior to a major tournament, and does it affect the way they approach the game? 

Usually at around this time every two years, the cacophony of whining from club managers reaches deafening tones. It coincides with many of Europe's top clubs having to release their players for the African Nations Cup finals, whose dates clash with key junctures in many of the leading leagues.

Ahead of this year's tournament in Angola, however, the din is somewhat muted. Probably because it is a tire cold mantra that no longer commands the kind of airplay or headlines it used to.

You knew it was serious the second he fell. You just hoped it wasn't this serious.

Pepe's right hand shot up immediately, calling for attention; the Portuguese's left reached for his knee. The following day, the worst possible diagnosis was confirmed. The Real Madrid centre-back had torn his cruciate ligament and will probably miss the rest of the season. He may miss the World Cup, too.

So then, who mugged the Old Lady?

As we head into Italian football's traditional winter break, the Old Lady of Serie A, namely Juventus, finds herself in a surprisingly negative position.  Four defeats in five games (against Bordeaux, Cagliari, Bayern Munich and Bari) not only saw Juventus eliminated from the Champions League but also prompted some uncomfortable long-term questions.

Last week Dunga addressed a conference of coaches in Rio de Janeiro. His theme in the run up to the 2010 World Cup was how he has gone about things since taking over the Brazil national team following the disappointment of Germany '06.

The squad that was eliminated by France in the quarter-finals had included a number of players who were present in France '98 when Dunga was captain - and even a couple from USA '94. So it was time for the new coach to carry out a process of renewal.

The World Cup has a habit of renewing old acquaintances, of bringing together players, coaches or nations whose histories are closely linked.

It's unlikely Diego Maradona will remember too much about his meeting with Huh Jung-moo at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico as the Argentineans kicked off a run that would see them reclaim the title.

They are the only World Cup finalists who display a letter as well as numbers on their jerseys. The letter, of course, is "H", presumably a reference to the country the players represent rather than a description of the esteem in which they are held.

Honduras is back at FIFA's global party after an absence of nearly 30 years. A soccer-loving public, living in a land mired in political uncertainty, sees its players as heroes and perhaps a much-needed escape from reality.

A first World Cup draw on African soil was not particularly kind to the continent.

Cape Town last Friday hosted the pairings of the 32 finalists and high hopes for some sort of African success at the 2010 finals were tempered quickly as the teams were separated into their various groups.

When the World Cup draw was held on December 4th, we saw some intriguing first round match-ups plucked out of the hat.  

Of course, everyone is talking about the Group of Death, which will see Brazil face North Korea, Ivory Coast and Portugal in Group G. Most people assume that Brazil will win the group and that Portugal will have a real battle on their hands to overcome Ivory Coast for second place. 

For once, a moral tale from Italy's Serie B. 

It all happened last weekend when relegation battlers Ascoli entertained another struggling club, Calabrian side Reggina. The fun and games got out of hand after just 14 minutes when Reggina's Uruguayan defender Carlos Valdez pulled a muscle as he was bringing the ball out of his own penalty area.

The World Cup has seen the odd pair of brothers taking part in the competition over the years.

Everybody remembers Ronald and Frank de Boer, linchpins of the Dutch side of 1998. Twins Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan (Italia '90) are legendary figures in Egypt, and the two Toures, Kolo and Yaya, will make their second successive tournament outing with the Ivory Coast next year.

On June 23, something completely unprecedented is set to happen in Johannesburg's Soccer-City Stadium, however.

It couldn't have been much easier, they say. Spain will be happy with that, they say.

'They' say a lot of things that are complete nonsense of course - and all the more so during a World Cup draw where suddenly everyone is expected to know things about 32 nations, many of which they don't know very much about; some of which they know nothing at all about. Thirty-two nations they probably couldn't care less about - and four nations that they'll now suddenly have to start caring about.  

Last week's World Cup draw left the planet gripped by an event that will not get underway for another seven months.

Meanwhile, the FIFA Club World Cup is just about to kick off and the globe keeps spinning on its axis without missing a beat. Many football fans are not even aware that the event is taking place, let alone that this year it has been switched from Japan to Abu Dhabi.

My CBC Sports colleague Nigel Reed was working in a TV studio five floors above me when the World Cup draw was over, but I swear I heard him screaming at the top of his lungs.

You could hardly blame Nig for responding in such an enthusiastic manner, as England was placed into the easiest of the eight first-round groups, alongside the United States, Algeria and Slovenia.

FIFA raised a few eyebrows this week when they announced the seeding procedure for the 2010 World Cup. 

Previously, top seedings were awarded based on a complicated formula involving three years of world rankings, and two prior World Cup results. 

I read an interesting article written by Jonathan Wilson from the Guardian newspaper in England. Wilson is the author of Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics, and he is well known for his thoughtful analysis of soccer tactics. 

The article in question discussed the place of symmetry in the evolution of soccer tactics, and raised the point that balance is a much more important tactical consideration than symmetry. 

It has been a long process but I think I have finally forgiven Peter Bonetti. The mental scars of a 10 year old whose world has just ended take years to heal.

Mexico 1970 is where I come in as a fan of the international game. I would love to say I remember 1966 and all that, but my sole recollection of England's finest hour is World Cup Willie, the first tournament mascot, not Bobby Moore receiving the Jules Rimet Trophy from The Queen at Wembley Stadium.

Will they stop the match? In the build-up to one of the biggest games of the Italian season, that is the question. As we prepare for this weekend's Derby D'Italia in Turin between Juventus and Inter Milan, one player has dominated the countdown.

Through no fault of his own, Inter's talented 19-year-old striker Mario Balotelli finds himself in the eye of the storm. A black player born to a Ghanaian couple living in Palermo but later adopted at the age of three by the Balotelli family from near Brescia, Balotelli has repeatedly been the object of abuse from opposing fans, abuse that seems both racist and unacceptable.

Less than two weeks ago, 15 people were arrested in Germany in connection with "the biggest match-fixing betting scandal in the history of European football", according to UEFA's head of disciplinary services, Peter Limacher.

Two hundred games in nine different countries, public prosecutors allege, were fixed; all of them in 2009. They include preliminary rounds of the Champions League, Europa League, first division matches in Turkey, Bosnia and Hungary, as well as second division and amateur matches in Germany and Switzerland.

So, Leo Messi is 2009's Ballon d'Or, the latest winner of France Football magazine's European Footballer of the Year award.

Olympic gold medal winner, Champions League winner, La Liga winner, Copa del Rey winner; top scorer in the Champions League (the youngest ever, with nine goals in 12 games), top scorer in the Copa del Rey, and scorer of 23 league goals, 38 in total - so many of them breathtakingly brilliant. Messi made the extraordinary routine.

It seems funny, or perhaps sad to think about it now, but four years ago, in the build up to the World Cup in Germany, the Brazilian press was full of claims that Ronaldinho would use the tournament to show that he was even better than Pele.

At the time it didn't seem so far fetched. Going into the World Cup he was the number one star with the winners of the Champions League, FC Barcelona. He had been the junior member of the World Cup winning attack in Japan and South Korea in 2002, and at 26, he appeared to be at exactly the right age to stamp his influence all over the action in Germany.