Brazil has not lost a match in which Robinho scores and he made the Dutch net bulge twice in the first half hour. The first one denied as Alves was offside but on the half hour mark, Robinho latched on to a through ball from Felipe Melo to bend one past Stekelenburg. Brazil one nil up and looking menacing as they repeatedly danced round the Dutch midfield and defence.

The Champions League is providing plenty of interesting stories, for example, do you remember Vincent Enyeama? He was the Nigerian goalkeeper in the 2010 South Africa World Cup, and he basically stopped Messi from scoring his first goal of the World Cup.
Well, Enyeama became the third goalkeeper ever to score in a Champions League match when he slotted in his penalty for Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

Let the games begin as all the legends start giving their two cents ahead of the World Cup quarterfinals in South Africa.

Dutch Johann Cruyff harshly attacked what has been Brazil's game during this World Cup, considering it too defensive and assuring that he'd "never pay" to see Dunga's team, seeing it "embarrassing for all the fans".

Robinho & Companheiros would like to welcome you back to Seleção Bootcamp, a uniquely Fútbolita tradition! Está pronto? Let's go!

The boys have all arrived in London for the friendly against Ireland on Wednesday and are staying at Hotel Dorchester, sipping earl grey tea as we speak.

All smiles for Brazil

Brazil take on the Republic of Ireland this afternoon in their last fixture before the World Cup in South Africa. Coach Dunga has said that the time for experimenting is over and that he has already decided the majority of 23 players he'll be calling up later this year.

As if to prove it's still anyone's title for the taking, Lyon stepped up to the plate last weekend to take temporary charge of Ligue 1, swiftly followed by Marseille on Wednesday night.
As reported by us for some time now, Bordeaux have been hanging onto top spot by their very fingertips, but over the last few weeks the chasing pack have been prizing off those fingers one by one to the point where this week Bordeaux fell to fifth, and it was their two biggest rivals that took full advantage.

Goleiros:Julio Cesar (Inter)Gomes (Tottenham)Doni (Roma)
Laterais:Maicon (Inter)Daniel Alves (Barcelona)Gilberto (Cruzeiro)Michel Bastos (Lyon)
Zagueiros:Juan (Roma)Lucio (Inter)Luisão (Benfica)Thiago Silva (Milan)
Meio-Campo:Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos)Felipe Melo (Juventus)Josué (Wolfsburg)Kleberson (Flamengo)Elano (Galatasaray)Ramires (Benfica)Kaká (Real Madrid)Julio Baptista (Roma)
Atacantes:Luis Fabiano (Sevilla)Nilmar (Villareal)Robinho (Santos)Grafite (Wolfsburg)

Brazil Final Squad

Coach: Dunga

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Club GK Júlio César 3 September 1979 (aged 30) 47 Internazionale GK Doni 22 October 1979 (aged 30) 10 Roma GK Gomes 15 February 1981 (aged 29) 9 Tottenham Hotspur DF Lúcio (c) 8 May 1978 (aged 32) 89 Internazionale DF Juan 1 February 1979 (aged 31) 73 Roma DF Maicon 26 July 1981 (aged 28) 56 Internazionale DF Luisão 13 February 1981 (aged 29) 40 Benfica DF Daniel Alves 6 May 1983 (aged 27) 33 Barcelona DF Gilberto 25 April 1976 (aged 34) 32 Cruzeiro DF Thiago Silva 22 September 1984 (aged 25) 4 Milan DF Michel Bastos 2 August 1983 (aged 26) 3 Lyon MF Gilberto Silva 7 October 1976 (aged 33) 86 Panathinaikos MF Kaká 22 April 1982 (aged 28) 76 Real Madrid MF Júlio Baptista 1 October 1981 (aged 28) 45 Roma MF Elano 14 June 1981 (aged 28) 41 Galatasaray MF Kléberson 19 June 1979 (aged 30) 31 Flamengo MF Josué 19 July 1979 (aged 30) 26 Wolfsburg MF Felipe Melo 26 August 1983 (aged 26) 16 Juventus MF Ramires 24 March 1987 (aged 23) 11 Benfica FW Robinho 25 January 1984 (aged 26) 73 Santos FW Luís Fabiano 8 November 1980 (aged 29) 36 Sevilla FW Nilmar 14 July 1984 (aged 25) 15 Villarreal FW Grafite 2 April 1979 (aged 31) 2 Wolfsburg Players on Standby No.

I'm not taking too many risks here, the Selecção has won 28% of the past World Cups (5 out of 18)...So what are the pros here:

• Dunga is in firm control of his team. I don't think there will be late samba dancing in South African night clubs.
• There don't seem to be ego problems within the team, anyway Dunga would not permit it.

Brazil took on Zimbabwe as their first of two World Cup teasers before the big time. The match was pretty tough, as the African team didn't ease up on fouls and played a very physical game.
GK Julio Cesar even left the match injured, but sources close to him say there isn't a problem and that he'll surely line up for Brazil in about 2 weeks' time for the debut of the world's biggest football team ever.

Luís fabiano and Lúcio in training for Brazil

Brazil take on Tanzania in their final friendly before their World Cup campaign gets underway in just over a week.

While the competition have been losing key players through injury, nothing serious has befallen the Brazil squad in their build up to South Africa.

Dunga is introducing a wonderful left back phenomena, Michel Bastos. Bastos plays in Lyon as winger, but with Dunga he plays a left back. He is 26 years old, he is very skillful, energetic...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Dunga is introducing a wonderful left back phenomena, Michel Bastos. Bastos plays in Lyon as winger, but with Dunga he plays a left back. He is 26 years old, he is very skillful, energetic...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Ellis ParkIt's a frosty two degrees Celsius at Ellis Park today. No need to convert to Fahrenheit its cold folks.
It seems strange that the communist North Korea participates in such a tournament.
The first ten minutes have seen some fancy footwork for both sides. Brazil isn't dominating possession like you'd expect yet.

Dunga and Bielsa set to go head to head

Brazil take on Chile in the Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg this afternoon (15:30 Brasilia/19:30 London) for a place in the last eight in the World Cup.

Kaká is back from suspension but Felipe Melo is expected to miss the tie through injury.

Brazil march on thanks to Kaká and Luís fabiano

Goals from Juan, Luís Fabiano and Robinho against a spirited Chile, ensured Brazil a place in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Dunga's men will now take on Holland on Friday. Brazil were without injured midfielders Elano and Felipe Melo who may be back for the next phase.

Not much of anything Arsenal-specific going on yet today, but the World Cup returns, and we have only 8 matches left in the tournament. But they're 8 big ones, starting with the 2 matches to be played today:

Netherlands v. Brazil(4:00 p.m./10:00 a.m.)

Synopsis: This is a big marquee match-up.

Poor Asamoah Gyan. The forward had been a mighty leader for his side throughout the tournament, scoring in every game save the 1-0 loss to Germany and truly leading from the front. His missed penalty in the final minute of extra time will haunt him for years, but I hope his team-mates and coach are reminding him that his contributions during the tournament more than negate the error.

Michel Bastos (2 Aug 1983) plays winger or left back for the Brazilian national team and Olympique Lyonnais. Bastos, who played left back during this summer's World Cup, had an immediate impact on his squad's offensive productivity. Bastos was dangerous out of the back and frightened opposing defenses on the Brazilian counter-attack.

Lyon's Michel Bastos owns a deadly left foot. The Brazilian is never afraid to strike the ball and has scored some spectacular goals with his left foot which is his trademark. Check out Bastos' stunning free-kick against Celtic for the Emirates Cup.

Before the World Cup I posted a page about the new coming star Michel Bastos with a lithal left foot. He was a left wing, but Dunga gave him the left back position. Apparently, it was a disaster,...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more!

Before the World Cup I posted a page about the new coming star Michel Bastos with a lithal left foot. He was a left wing, but Dunga gave him the left back position. Apparently, it was a disaster,...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more!

Ya se nos ha marchado el 2009. Futbolísticamente hablando, si estamos leyendo esto, hemos vivido la mayor gesta lograda por un club en toda la historia. Conquistar todos los campeonatos importantes en liza es algo de admirar y desde aquí mi mayor felicitación al FC Barcelona.
Pero como el fútbol es presente y ya hemos cambiado de año e incluso de década.

Fabio Santos taking a beating in our last encounter with Metz in the CdL, the entire squad would limp out of Gerland later that night.

Round-of-16 Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Stade de Gerland, Lyon.
12:45 EST (18:45 CET, 17:45 GMT)

Well, for those of you who missed it, OL got off to an ambigous start in last week's CdF fixture against Strasbourg this weekend.

Quarter-final Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Stade du Moustoir, Lorient
11:00 EST(17:00CET, 16:00GMT)

Well, Sunday saw OL stumble out of the CdF. While I'm not really upset- the referee did gift Monaco's Nene that intial penalty that led to the first goal- I am a bit disillusioned for other reasons.

In the stands frequently brings you top quality articles and updates you on the major leagues in Europe but I thought that maybe I should give a brief update on whats going on in France and Portugal. If theres any leagues that people want me to do an update for (within reason), I will aim to do so.

Talk about a potential upset in the making. Lyon have a chance to break Madridistas' hearts if they can pull out a favourable result at the Bernabeu. Its five seasons running that Madrid have been ousted in the Round of 16 and they don't want to make it six.

Lyon have a 1-0 lead going into Wednesday and denied Madrid the important away goal.

When was the last time Real Madrid made it through to the Quarter final of the Champions League ? Right, you probably cannot remember. Its now been six, yes six years since the former European powerhouse appeared in the last eight of Europe's prestigious club tournament and coming into tonight's game on the back of a 1-0 deficit, coach Manuel Pellegrini will make sure his quarter of a billion Euro stars see off Lyon.

These two French giants will be hoping to put on a good show for French football in their Champions League game this week. After a very high scoring weekend in Ligue 1, only one of these two sides came out on top. Lyon were able to afford to rest some of their bigger players in preparation for this game as they grabbed 3 points against bottom-side Grenoble.

FC Girondins de Bordeaux 1-0 Olympique Lyonnais (agg: 2-3)
Marouane Chamakh's goal at the end of the first half was not enough to prevent the visitors reaching the semi-finals for the first time.
Olympique Lyonnais withstood a barrage of pressure to clinch a gritty aggregate win against FC Girondins de Bordeaux and book their place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League for the first time.

Two big names in French football, Willy Sagnol and Bixente Lizarazu have been in the news recently for suggesting that Bayern should have gone for Lyon's hottest property, Hugo Lloris when they had the chance.

Both were part of the successful Bayern team that last won the CL in 2001 against Valencia in a penalty shootout.

After yesterday's win by Inter over Barcelona (3-1) tripped up most of the group, we come to the game that I thought would be the harder of the two to predict - Bayern Munich v. Lyon.
There's probably a perception among some that a French team simply can't get farther than this, although Monaco disproved that on one occasion a few years ago.

Unsurprisingly, a Clone was in contact after our pithy dissection of Theo Walcott this morning.
He thought it unreasonable to compare Little Theo with all players as, obviously, a crosser of the ball takes more risk.
True.
So, below are the percentage of successful passes/crosses made by ALL the wide players in the Champions League Quarter Finals and Semi Finals 1st Leg.

>> Click Here To Watch Lyon Vs Bayern Munich Live Now <<

Lyon Vs Bayern Munich Live Streaming & Match Preview
Champions League Lyon Vs Bayern Munich Live Online Click Here
Tuesday, 27th April 2010
Kick Off : 19:45 BST
Venue : Stade Gerland, Lyon France

This Champions League semi-final second fixture between Lyon and Bayern Munich will be played at the Stade Gerland on Tuesday 27th April 2010, kick-off set for 7:45 PM.

The lineups are now out for the Lyon-Bayern Munich Champions League semifinal leg 2, starting in 30 minutes on Fox Sports Midwest. Bayern heads into the game up 1-0, but they're playing at Lyon, so the lead is far from safe. Bayern's coach Louis Van Gaal has promised that they won't sit back, so this contest should be an interesting one.

Goal-ah-Olic!

Ivica Olic, the Croatian striker scored a perfect hattrick with his right foot, left foot, and a header as Bayern swamped hapless Lyon.

The Bavarian giants have proved time and time again in their CL campaign that they are second to none when it comes to scoring big goals.

High voltage, danger. The Montpellier-Ol game, closing the 35th day, was the highlight of a series of matches, all crucial in the fierce battle for the Champions League spots.

To set the stage, Marseille and Auxerre first opted for a very convenient draw; then Bordeaux finally decided that, after all, winning again was also fun; and Lille did what they know best, that is scoring a brace of goals.

Dunga has confirmed the players to defend Brazil. All as expected, except Gomes as the sub GK, Ronaldinho Gaucho out, and Adriano out (deservedly so).
The list:
Forwards:
Robinho (Santos)
Luís Fabiano (Sevilla)
Nilmar (Villarreal)
Grafite (Wolfsburg)
Attacking midfielders:
Ramires (Benfica)
Elano (Galatasaray)
Kaká (Real Madrid)
Júlio Baptista (Roma)
Defensive midfielders:
Felipe Melo (Juventus)
Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos)
Josué (Wolfsburg)
Kleberson (Flamengo)
Defenders:
Juan (Roma)
Lúcio (Inter Milan)
Luisão (Benfica)
Thiago Silva (Milan)
Fullbacks:
Maicon (Inter Milan)
Daniel Alves (Barcelona)
Gilberto (Cruzeiro)
Michel Bastos (Lyon)
Goalkeepers:
Julio Cesar (Inter Milan)
Gomes (Tottenham)
Doni (Roma)

Arqueros
Julio César (Inter)Doni (Roma) Gomes (Tottenham).
Defensores
Maicon (Inter) Daniel Alves (Barcelona)Michel Bastos (Lyon)Gilberto (Cruzeiro)Lucio (Inter)Juan (Roma)Luisão (Benfica) Thiago Silva (Milan).
Mediocampistas
Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos)Felipe Melo (Juventus)Josué (Wolfsburg)Kléberson (Flamengo)Elano (Galatasaray)Ramires (Benfica)Kaká (Real Madrid) Júlio Baptista (Roma)
Delanteros
Luis Fabiano (Sevilla)Robinho (Santos)Nilmar (Villarreal) Grafite (Wolfsburgo)
.

Dunga released today the names of the 23 lucky footballers who will be fighting after Brazil's 6th World Cup title. No surprises, except Grafiti in Adriano's place (Thank you for listening to my prayers, Gods of Football, and showing me I was wrong). Brazil's boss kept the same base he has been working with in the past 3 years and did not fall into popular pressure to take Santos' kids: Neymar and Ganso.