Winning a cup competition can bring out strong emotions. In the case of Chelsea interim manager Rafa Benitez, a dramatic victory in tonight's Europe League final appeared to stimulate a fetish for men with long hair. His first port of call after the final whistle was to approach Benfica manager Jorge Jesus from behind and [.
When the final whistle blew at Wembley Stadium Saturday afternoon, a wide range of emotions
quickly came and went. First was relief, Oscar's header went wide. Then came incredulity – did I
really just see what I just saw? Euphoria followed. Is one allowed to cry when in a euphoric state?
I hope so, because I was blubbering – what Oprah calls the "ugly cry.
This 'ere is the work of artist James Hible, a couple of A1 posters entitled 'Football
Anecdotes: The Beautiful Game?' which documents everything about the modern game that fills our
James with venomous rage. As the man himself explains:
"Football is a big passion of mine and what these posters highlight is the problems affecting
the beautiful game.
Brain sent me a response to the article the article he inspired concerning mental toughness
which I posted just last week. Half-Ref asked if I could get a response from Brian Baxter, the
Sports Psychologist I was able to sit down with early in the year. Brain sent me an email after
that and this is his response: (The Brian who responded was not Brian Baxter)
Here's my take on the article:
I like the answers that some of the other posters have given
In short, mental toughness can be taught, as long as the athlete(s) want to learn it.
Alessandro Del Piero has signed a two-year, €2 million-a-year contract with Sydney FC, thus
making the Australian A-League team only the third club side that the Italian footballing demi-god
will have represented throughout his 22-year professional career.
It was a crazy, PAZZO, night for Juventus fans last night as they
swarmed onto the pitch and celebrated their Scudetto win at the Nereo Rocco stadium. Unfortunately
for Milan, the dream was over when they fell to a 2-4 defeat to Inter in the
derby, a match that was drama-filled right to the very end.
With Robin van Persie's transfer finally completed, we finally see this long drawn out butÂ
unusually calm transfer saga draw to a close. And not surprisingly, lots of United fans are
excited at the prospect of van Persie signing with us, as they rightfully should be. Any time a
player who has scored 30 league goals in a season is about to sign with your club, delight and joy
are the emotions that one should be feeling.
Oh dear, here we go again! Despite being told to keep schtum on the issue by his Liverpool
bosses, striker Luis Suarez has had a right pop at Man Utd on Uruguayan TV, blaming the Red Devils'
'political power' for influencing the FA's decision to ban him over the infamous Patrice Evra race
row.
Gianfranco Zola says the pain of Chelsea's Champions League Final defeat to Manchester United four
years ago will help them as they take on Bayern Munich tomorrow night. When OTP caught up with the
Stamford Bridge legend, we asked him whether Chelsea can defy the odds in Europe one last time and
defeat Bayern in [.
Manchester United informed Michael Owen that they would not be renewing his contract after three
years with the club. The 32-year-old made just four appearances for Man United last season and
though he says he will play on elsewhere, his time with the club was special. And so, we look back
on the many great memories we have of Michael Owen at Manchester United.
It has been ten days since the last time we had a Portland Timbers game to watch, but with the
changes that have been made in the interim, it seems like an eternity. Emotions will be running
high for the Portland faithful today, as, for the first time since April 2011 -- a run of 51 league
matches -- a Timbers game will start without Troy Perkins in goal.
Ouch. This is certainly going to hurt the Portland Timbers back line over the next three
matches, as Hanyer Mosquera is often the one doing the most to stop oncoming attacks. His absence
will surely be felt.
For those that don't know, Mosqo is being fined and suspended for punching LA Galaxy player Jack
McBean (yes that's his real name) in the late part of last Sunday's game.
Emotions are high right now. We have fans calling for firings. Timbers Army capos yelling at
players. Players being restrained from said capo. There's a lot of stuff in the air right now and I
think it's time to just get it all out in the open with a good ol' venting thread.
So, essentially, this is your place right now to get WHATEVER you have on your mind with regards
to the Portland Timbers players, coaching staff, front office, management OR the Timbers Army out
in the open.
"The Dutch fans marched from the fanzone to the stadium before the game against Germany
tonight in Kharhiv. I was at the game watching it with them and their emotions were incredibly
intense as the German fans continued to cheer. Here's a photo of me with a Dutch fan (wearing the
best and craziest hat) during the march.
And thus ended the career of New England Revolution stalwart Shalrie Joseph, not with a bang but
with a whimper.
Regardless of if you felt Shalrie was worth his new DP contract (I didn't), he is one of the
greatest Revolution players ever and one of the top defensive midfielders to ever play in MLS.
Post match behavior by Seattle Sounders forward Eddie Johnson earned a fine from the Major
League Soccer Disciplinary Committee. His "inappropriate gesture" towards Chicago Fire fans earned
the punishment from the league's five man anonymous group.
Johnson released a statement through the Sounders media relations staff
"I sincerely apologize to the Chicago fans, my teammates, MLS, and the Sounders' supporters for
my actions and poor judgment I used on Saturday.
A pre-match message from a long-standing member of the Cult Football family:
Ciao a tutti !!!
Italy has already won by reaching the final. Having said that, we still have a chance but Spain
is by any means the favorite, for many reasons: experience, talent and luck (luck they didn't have
in the past 30 years.
These past few weeks have given us plenty of reasons to argue with our friends or that guy
that's 20 years older than everyone else at your pub that EURO 2012 could be the best tournament
around. But here we are with one game left.
Football is best described as a game of emotions and we've definitely seen some of them on show at
the Euro 2012. From tears in Germany to euphoria in Madrid, exasperation in Lisbon to anticipation
in Milan (they made it!), here's our pick of some of the most unforgettable moments from the
semi-finals this week.
Poland need a win to make it to the quarterfinals as they face Czech Republic in their final
group stage match. The match will take place at the Wroclaw Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw, Poland
with kickoff scheduled for 20:45 local time.
Czech Republic manager Michael Bilek
"I hope Tomáš will play, but we have alternatives.
I'm sure we can all remember him
I was watching the opening game from Euro 2012 between Poland and Greece and I couldn't help but
notice the determination every player had for their national team. Everybody has his own reasons
for winning: patriotism, team spirit, recognition, fame, money and so on.
Wow! What an opener! Euro 2012 started with a blast for sure, for all those who said that Group
A was the one to avoid because of boring games it was shock for sure. We started with short but
very colorful opening ceremony which ended with cracking mural in the stadium with all 16 flags of
the competing nations and words "Respect".
England international Leighton Baines has told reporters of his pride at making Roy Hodgson's
final squad for Euro 2012, and insists he's happy to fill whatever role is required to help the
team. Baines admits that he'll likely play second fiddle to Chelsea left back Ashley Cole, but
relishes the opportunity to appear in this summer's tournament.
Meet Dominika Gawron (left) and Dorota Rak (right), your two vivacious Polish Futbolitas of Euro
2012. From today, both our fabulous Euro Futbolitas will be travelling the country and bringing YOU
insider updates, photos and experiences of the Euro 2012 tournament as it progresses in Poland.
TweetFrance defender Patrice Evra is in hot water with the French FA after a video emerged of him
wiping his ass with the France shirt! The incident occurred during Les Bleus' 2-0 friendly win over
Serbia last week a match in which the outspoken former French captain was benched. Never one to hid
his emotions, [.
TweetBig England fan Ian Wright has given England the perfect send-off ahead of Euro 2012 with a
Churchillian-like speech which is sure to stir the emotions. Entitled, 'what if', Wright takes just
1m:59 seconds to touch on what Roy Hodgson's men need to ensure they end 46 years of heart and
'bring football home'.
Thinking about what to write this week, I wrestled with two potential introductory statements.
One would be to take you through the moments leading up to, and after, Chicago's opening goal from
my perspective. The other option is similar to the first, except its just a string of unforgivable
obscenities punctuated by a tear-soaked laptop.
It seems like just yesterday that the Fire dispatched the Revolution for 3 points. With a
midweek game against DC United at RFK Stadium, the turnaround is a quick one for the Men in Red. I
exchanged questions with Martin Shatzer over at Black and Red United to get some insight ahead of
tonight's matchup.
If you watched the USA-France Olympic opener on Wednesday, either in person or from your couch, you
were no doubt entertained. Four goals in the first 31 mintues? Crazy stuff. A two-goal deficit
overcome, then adding two more? Nuts.
No matter what emotions your experienced watching the game, it was a great way to not only kick off
the women's soccer competition but also the overall Olympic competition for Team USA.
When a player that fans wanted to keep moves away from a club, the player is usually the first
to be blamed for being greedy, heartless or just a flat-out heel. But after completing his joint
move to PSG with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva has decided to make it clear that he didn't want
to leave Milan and he wasn't lured away by PSG's riches.
Ugliness Aside, Earthquakes-Sounders Game Was Just What USOC Needed
There's a ton of one-sided reporting going on about what happened in Tuesday's match at Kezar
Stadium (maybe we're guilty of it too). But Quake, Rattle and Goal does a good job of wading
through the mess and pointing out that the high emotions are probably indicative of something
bigger.
Relationships are tough. The wide range of emotions that flood one's psyche can cloud the senses
and make things seem better (or worse) than they really are. Remorse, nostalgia, jealousy,
betrayal, lust – well on a soccer blog, that last ...
Visit http://www.majorleaguesoccertalk.com for the rest of the story.
Two massive games in Indonesia on Sunday. Sriwijaya defeated Persipura 1-0 thanks to a penalty by
Keith Kayamba Gumbs. The crowd for this top of the table clash? 44,000!
The win sees Sriwijaya stretch their lead to a lot.
In the earlier game a late equaliser by Maman Abdurahman left Persija fans disappointed in front of
50,000.
A deal with the devil by Richard B I've always felt it's all too easy to look at things in
isolation. After all, whether it is the most relevant or critical one, it is often the most recent
memory that sticks in the mind and affects our emotions and judgement the most. Maintaining a
balanced [...]
Football's about to get really important. The Champions League final looms, and the European
Championships are not so far away either. Millions will be euphoric; millions will be heartbroken,
and the way one's emotions swing depends as much on the 22 players out on the field as the man in
the middle.
Stewart Downing's debut season at Liverpool has been a rollercoaster of emotions. Now you can
relive his finest moments on this special DVD. Video via Pies. Image via 101GG.
"Just days away from the club inducting him as the seventh member of the Ring of Fire, Jeff
Crandall welcomed Fire legend C.J. Brown back to the All-In Podcast on Monday. Jeff and C.J. talk
his reaction to the news that he'd be inducted into the Ring of Fire, what the honor means to him,
how he still keeps up with the club and what his emotions are going into Wednesday's ceremony and
match.
