Envy inducing pictures, strange family tree-fellows, Dutch soccer having a laugh. From the staff at SB Nation Soccer, five items from the world’s Soccerverse to love on Friday, January 7, 2011:
Five To Love - January 7, 2011: Chad Ochocino’s Lucky, Dutch Soccer’s Ironic, Leonardo’s Not Rafa, England’s FA Gets One Right
1. Chad Ochocinco is now Chad NueveSeis - I've given him an upgrade, though I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's the equal and opposite reaction to my envy, because earlier today the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver posted a bunch of pictures which implicitly say "star NFL wide receivers get to do things like this: wake-up and roll over to Real Madrid training to say high to Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo, and José Mourinho."
After the jump, more Chad Ochocinco envy, the England FA being sensible, the shared Eriksson-Mancini gene pool, Dutch voetbal irony, and Leonardo - Forza Leonardo.
Ronaldo wasn’t the only player cornered by this random, rabid Madridista:
 |  |  |  |
| Xabi Alonso | José Mourinho | Kaká | Sergio Ramos |
|---|
It must be nice. One off-season you're doing Dancing With The Stars, the next you're doing legitimately interesting things like flying to Spain to hang out at Madrid's training sessions. Did the NFL provide the spring board? Or was it that dancing show?
Two other things: First, in the face he’s turning into Robert De Niro, but José Mourinho’s body is starting to mimic his puppet’s. That head has gotten far too big for that torso. Why not?
Second, Chad Ochocinco is a normal-sized, perhaps slightly small National Football Leaguer. Kaká and (especially) Cristiano Ronaldo are just as big. Those guys are NFL wide receivers running around the Bernabeu.
2. Leonardo’s Perfect Inter Debut - Yesterday’s 3-1 win over formerly second place Napoli not only made “Rafa” archaic jargon around the San Siro but also revitalized the Nerazzurri long-shot title defense. They’re still 13 back of first place Milan, though with two matches in hand, five consecutive scudetti on their resumé, and “the best Inter of all time,“ it’s difficult to completely write the holders off.
3. Roberto Mancini and Sven Göran Eriksson: Brothers from other mothers that have probably never met - Manchester City will meet their former coach on Sunday when FA Cup action sees the Citizens visit second division Leicester City. It will also be a reunion for Roberto Mancini and his mentor, the Manchester City boss having played under, learned from Eriksson during the Swede’s time at Sampdoria and Lazio. In addition, Mancini had a brief spell with Leicester at the end of his playing career, though that’s being overshadowed by Mancho’s first coaching battle with his mentor ... brother?
“He stayed there for one year,” laughed Mancini. “That is enough, no? He left a seat for me. Sunday will be the first time one of my teams has played against one of Sven’s. It will be very interesting because he is like my brother. I have known him for around 15 years. He is a fantastic coach and a fantastic man.”
I wonder how Sven feels about this. You have this kid who you nurtured, helped develop as a manager, and before your first on-field meeting, he’s forgone all appropriate reverence and is meeting you eye-to-eye? Well!
4. Bert van Marwijk’s “fair play” helps win Dutch coach an apparently entirely earnest award - No, seriously. The man who led his team to a record level of clearly premeditated infractions in this summer’s World Cup final has won the Machiavelli award for instilling a footballing approach that “propagates the values of sport as fair play.” I sincerely hope that I’m not overlooking some level of irony - that Voetbal International isn’t having a The Onion moment. This is too good to make up.
5. Noteworthy: The English FA gets one right - Pablo Zabaleta's not going to be punished for being impaled by Bacary Sagna's goldilocks:
Zabaleta was red carded for absorbing this on Wednesday. The English FA has rescinded the red card, canceling what would have been a three match ban. Sagna's stands, though it would be nice to see the Arsenal fullback get an extra game for his lack of innovation.
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