#AupaMirandes (Come on Mirandés!)
Miracle is the word that comes to mind as Mirandes go to Bilbao in the second leg of the Copa
del Rey semi-final. Marcelo Bielsa's Athletic Bilbao won 2-1 at Mirandes' Estadio Anduva last week,
and the odds are overwhelming leaning towards them to reach the final, where they'll play Barcelona
or Valencia.
Two goals from Fernando Llorente has given Athletic Bilbao a 2-1 first-leg advantage in their
Copa del Rey semi-final against giant-killers Mirandes, and seriously dented the Cinderella dreams
of the third division team.
Llorente scored twice in the first half to seemingly put Athletic firmly in control of this
tie.
Got, Not Got: Damned Utd. vs. Cinderella McKenzie You Shall Be First to the
Ball
Soon after the events of The Damned United, things were all smiles again at Elland Road with
Jimmy Armfield in charge and Cloughie's 44 days little more than a nightmarish memory. Why, just
last week we posted up a previously unseen teamgroup off the cover of Got Not Got, showing joker
Duncan McKenzie toppling over all the legendary bad-tempered hackers and horrors amid a barrage of
gruff chuckles.
Despite temporary setbacksCinderella always triumphs in the end. The Pantomime season
started on Sunday this year with Cinderella at the Britannia Palace with your very own Mr.
Christopher Foy playing Baron Hardup. There are several candidates for the Ugly Sisters, Petunia
and Nasturtium. (Petty and Nasty) Shawcross and Whitehead will do for me.
North Carolina withstood a late-charge from Charlotte to hold onto a 1-0 win and capture its
second College Cup in school history on Sunday afternoon at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala.
Ben Speas scored the decider in the 65th minute while the Tar Heel defenders barely kept the
49ers off the board in the waning minutes as the first-seeded squad ended the Cinderella run of
their in-state opponent.
The championship favorites take on the ultimate Cinderella story as No. 1 ranked North Carolina
faces Charlotte in the NCAA Men's College Cup Final today in Hoover, Alabama (4pm, ESPNU).
The Tar Heels entered the tournament as favorites, and showed their quality in beating a tough
UCLA side in penalties in the semifinal.
There are moments of true magic in the beautiful game of football. This year, perhaps no one
knows this better than SSC Napoli in sizzling form in the Serie A, and now having sealed their spot
in the final sixteen of the Champions League! Napoli's debut in the Champions League has been
nothing less than a Cinderella story.
The clock has struck midnight on Levante's cinderella start to the season as the former leaders
suffered their third consecutive defeat in a row, this time at the hands of Atlético Madrid.
All five goals came within a rollercoaster final 25 minutes as Atlético won 3-2. Xavi Torres
equalised for the visitors shortly after Pizzi had put the hosts ahead, but Adrián López's fourth
goal of the season and Diego's 83rd-minute effort ensured Atlético moved up to ninth.
Undefeated and 8th ranked Kansas State appeared to be a Cinderella candidate down the stretch of
the college football season. However, you can scratch that idea. Oklahoma destroyed Kansas State on
Saturday and showed why they used to be ranked No. 1 in the nation.
Oklahoma got out to a 14-0 lead before Kansas State scored 17 straight.
Images via Tumblr.
In a car much cleaner than his defensive Spanish NT defensive partner, Sergio Ramos' shady drop
off last Thursday has added fresh fuel to rumours that he and Spanish TV presenter, Lara Alvaraz,
are giving their relationship another go.
Lara first popped up on our radar nearly a year ago, but her whirlwind romance with The Ramos™
was unexpectedly short-lived.
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to rumble? After 34 weeks of ups, down, shots, goals, and
more Adrian Healey than most can handle, we have finally arrived at the promised land of American
soccer: the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs.
This year will, as I'm sure you know, be different from those past.
Butch fancies linking up with his old boss Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella and Prince Charming, Karren
Brady and Paul Peschisolido – they all pale in comparison to the loving double-act of Ray Wilkins
and Carlo Ancelotti who were unceremoniously ripped apart last season. But like any good
chick-flick, it's the fleeting chance of a happy [.
There's nothing wrong with a little bit of positive outlook when moving clubs, hoping to make
the most of one's experience, no matter the daunting task ahead.
It's also a properly good idea to know one's opponents. Diego, on a one-year loan to Atletico
Madrid, apparently does not.
"I am glad to join Atletico, I was really eager to play here because this is a great club and I
could not have arrived at a better moment," Diego said to reporters at his unveiling.
Rare am I for the Premiership during the week, but yesterday's game between Manchester City and
Swansea City had an appealing feel of, oh I don't know, torture and execution about it heading in.
And who doesn't like a good bludgeoning?
The mighty Welshmen held on for as long as they could, at least until halftime, before
succumbing to Edin Dzeko's lanky-legged goal-scoring ways ruined their Cinderella parade.
Image: Caroline's Facebook.
We knew this day would come, Kickettes, just not this soon.
Recent nummy-Mummy to child numero dos, Caroline Celico, has released her first gospel LP
featuring songs composed by the 'artist' herself (explanation on the air quotes after the jump),
with special guests such as Claudia Leitte, husband Kaká and Andre Valadão.
So as wonderful as the Women's World Cup has been, the Copa America has been just epic from the
standpoint of a simple question: "Who?"
Was anyone expecting that much the summer after a full Euro season + World Cup year? Nay.
Gaslights are all on, have been on, and the needles are about to break off.
There are a few things we want from footballers: good football and the occasional soundbite.
Bout it. And checks, should they feel genesis.
Insight into their taste in music? Hardly. Must be like combing through a 14 year old girl's
iPod looking at you, Cesc & Iker.
FC Copenhagen, one of the surprise Cinderella stories of the year, has turned in all their good
karma for the bad variety: as their season is @#$%ing pointless, they'll have some fun by allowing
the players to play DJ at the Parken during games through the remainder of the Danish season.
Kenneth Faried might play for tiny Morehead State but he's a big name in the college basketball
world. That name got even bigger on Thursday when Kenneth helped lead Morehead State over
Louisville with 12 points, 17 rebounds and one game-saving block at the end to preserve the 62-61
victory. Get used to watching Kenneth Faried play because he's headed to the NBA.
A few years ago, a friend invited me to see a documentary on the New York Cosmos. I must admit. I
found the movie, Once In A Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos to be quite
entertaining. It was a cinderella story of an American soccer club that appeared out of nowhere,
did the unthinkable by signing the best player in the world and then crashed out of existence in a
larger-than-life fashion.
With South Korea waiting until the final possible moments for their heroics and ultimately it
not panning out, Australia may have taken this as a warning, getting their foot on the pedal early
very early. All of four minutes into the game Harry Potter Kewell put them one goal to the
good.
It's something of a shame that there wasn't some sort of elaborate Asian Cup bracket, because
looking at the quarterfinal matches it reads across the board as though it could've been drawn up
on paper. Japan, Australia and South Korea were arguably the three favorites heading in, with
shouts from Iran and Qatar, all three have to be favorites to make the semifinals, along with the
Uzbek upstart (Jordan's miracles may have run dry) and the insane training regime which has spawned
a new Asian power.
The Kansas City Chiefs were the Cinderella story of the NFL playoffs. No one thought they'd make
the postseason, much less host a game. But the Baltimore Ravens put an end to their Cinderella run
by destroying the Chiefs by a final score of 30-7. After the Chiefs took a 7-3 lead, the Ravens
went on a 27-0 run to end the game and advance to face the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Asian Cup doesn't get a tremendous amount of pub outside the continent itself. It isn't even
afforded the luxury of being whined about as club teams lose their stars for a few weeks in the
middle of the winter (ahem, Africa).
But it does have appeal, if you're willing to look in the right places.
