Lyon's 2-1 Champions League victory at Anfield on Tuesday night sparked mass hysteria amongst
the Liverpool faithful. While almost everyone points the finger at the absence of Steven Gerrard
and Fernando Torres in recent weeks, even more people are blaming manager Rafa Benitez. There is no
doubt about it: people are calling for Rafa Benitez's head.
They call him Mr. Chelsea, and Blues skipper John Terry certainly lived up to that billing when
he recently decided to take control of the financial aspect of the women's football team at
Stamford Bridge. The economy certainly hit the Chelsea ladies very hard as a significant portion
of their funding from previous years was slashed this season.
With the Ballon d'Or nominations finally releasing this weekend, the headlines have mostly been
devoted to the fact that world champions Italy have no representation whatsoever. But why blame the
press for paying excessive attention to an irrelevant detail? After all, the award itself is
destined to be heading Lionel Messi's way, which means very little is there to be talked about in
terms of debating the winner, right?
Como era de esperarse, el Santos de Brasil en la Libertadores Femenil se ha coronado Campeón en
esta primera justa de la Libertadores Femenil. Con una goliza, real goliza, Santos derrotó 9 a 0 al Universidad de Asunción. Las Brasileñas celebraron con euforia su campeonato, a pesar de haber ganado todos sus encuentros,
las Brasileñas festejaron con gran alegría este campeonato. Click to continue reading...
While Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas has clearly enjoyed his Spain side cruise to the World Cup
2010 finals with a perfect record (and no goals conceded at home), he has spoken to
Arsenal.com to offer some backing to a couple of his teammates who won't be appearing in
the showpiece event next summer.
Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has become the latest Barcelona star to egotistically
pronounce the treble winning club's's dominance over their global rivals. Following Sweden's bitter
loss to Denmark this weekend, where the spotlight was stolen away from him thanks to Nicklas
Bendtner's scintillating performance for the Danes, Ibrahimovic has taken his frustrations out on
former club Inter Milan.
Patience is a virtue, and for two of the Premier League's best players, that patience has
finally paid off. The crazy thing about it all? These two players are on the same team! And the
lucky team is Sunderland.
It was just last season that Sunderland were in the heat of the relegation battle.
Daniel Agger is generally known to Barclays Premier League fans as a technically gifted Danish
defender whose progress has often been halted by injuries. Similarly, Alberto Aquilani is usually
perceived by English fans as an immensely creative Italian midfielder who has often been deceived
by his proneness to injuries.
With the first quarter of football almost over in most leagues around Europe, now is a good time
to measure the current progress of some of the giant clubs on the continent. Actually, analyzing
the success or failure of clubs in general won't be nearly as exciting as identifying a more
specific object of analysis.
You all know the Spanish media, don't you? If you don't, I'm really glad for you, you aren't
missing a thing. If the British gutter press loves hiding stuff in order to keep their targets
(those previously paid ones, yeah) clear and their readers cheated, the Iberian one does the very
same thing, but with [. Click to continue reading...
As the Olympiacos team bus got closer and closer to the Finsbury Park area, I am sure veteran
goalkeeper Antonios Nikopolidis began to relive some of the greatest moments of his career at the
highest level. From his invaluable contribution in Greece's historic Euro 2004 win to his
consistency during his club's league triumph over the last three years, Nikopolidis is no stranger
to success at a grand stage.
Rewind back to 2003 and you'll see that Jonathan Woodgate had everything. From critical acclaim
to a huge fan following, he had all the essentials required to go down in the Newcastle folklore as
one of the very best defenders of all time. However, the only obstacle that could stop him injuries
came into play very early into his career at St.
Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy returned after a long
spell on the sidelines to provide an assist and score another in his side's emphatic 5-0 victory
over La Liga minnows Xerez. While the focus of the game initially remained on
another former Manchester United star, Cristiano Ronaldo who
scored twice to make it six goals in his four
appearances it was his Dutch teammate who eventually created most of the
headlines.
Edin Dzeko is back with a bang! The Bosnia international
striker, who spent most of the summer pushing for a dream move to AC Milan, has
finally underlined his commitment to Wolfsburg with an outstanding decisive brace
away to Schalke 04.
The first defeat of the season is always the most tricky one to deal with. Perhaps that explains
why some feel that the earlier it comes, the better. At the beginning of the 2007-08
season, a determined young Arsenal squad made a typically flying start to
the campaign.
There is absolutely no doubt that Fulham's gritty displays of late are
deserving of their newfound reputation as the people's club in the Premier League.
The masses can relate to their mid-sized squad and down-to-earth players while tourists from all
over the world simply cannot resist the amazing atmosphere at the conveniently located
Craven Cottage.
Arsene Wenger's rapidly increasing dependence on youngsters within his squad
reached new heights this midweek when he chose to start off the Champions League group
stages with rookie Italian goalkeeper Vito Mannone
between the sticks.
With the commencement of the UEFA Champions League group stages this midweek,
an important piece of news was relegated to the back of most reporting outlets. Perhaps another
reason behind the lack of coverage for the story in question was the refusal, on part of most
football lovers, to recollect any part of the uninspiring internationals
break.
Arsenal striker Eduardo, who has recently been a frequent
victim of jeering from rival fans around the nation, has finally been vindicated over a diving
accusation that marred his reputation of a sincere and hardworking striker. The Croatia
international, who was banned for an attempt to deceive the officials by going down
without any contact during Arsenal's Champions League clash against
Celtic last month, was exempted from blame on the grounds of a lack of clear
evidence.
This weekend's headlines were stolen by Emmauel Adebayor even before a ball was
kicked. Saturday morning, Adebayor finally lashed out at his former club Arsenal,
moments before the Gunners kicked-off a challenging visit to the
Eastlands.
For Premier League fans around the world, the last couple of weeks have been
almost too painful to endure as something very important seems to have disappeared out of our
lives. But with yet another international period finally in the
books, we can once again look forward to the return of our most beloved brand of football this
weekend.
Seldom has a talented football nation witnessed the kind of humiliation that the Czech
Republic has suffered in the entire last year. In a World Cup
qualification campaign where they were placed in perhaps the most competitive of groups
alongside Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, and Northern Ireland,
perfection was almost always essential for the Czechs.
Some moments are never meant to be forgotten. The entire world of football witnessed one such
shocking moment a little less than two years ago in London. On a rainy evening at
Wembley, hosts England were expected to advance to the finals of
Euro 2008 with just a draw needed against visiting Croatia.
A great majority of the football world has grown used to laughing off Arsene
Wenger's dramatic remarks over major incidents in recent years. This is precisely why the
Arsenal manager was largely ignored when he labeled the accusations over
Gunners striker Eduardo's recent "dive" against
Celtic as a "witch-hunt".
If you are Paul Hart - by far the bookies' favorite to become the first sacked manager in the
Premier League this season - you would need a miracle to save Portsmouth from relegation at this
point. Four games into the new season, Pompey are yet to scrap up a single point, which is a clear
indicator of how the team roster was in desperate need of major bolstering on the final day of
transfers.
Officiating in modern day football has already received its fair share of flak. Of course,
whenever a certain team is at the receiving end of harsh refereeing decisions, its passionate fans
jump at the opportunity to hit back at the match officials with great force. In this article,
however, I will not go ahead with the oft-repeated idea of accusing the referees of lacking the
ability to call big games without the heavily proposed use of technology.
This summer may have seemed a bit boring as far as transfers go, but things are finally heating
up. Manchester City and Real Madrid were the overwhelming big spenders during the blistering hot
summer months, but with only a few days remaining the "smaller" clubs are working hard to fill out
their squads for the fall and winter.
I don't know about the rest of you, but when it comes to sports, I'm a numbers guy. I love
statistics! It could be as simple as how many points Manchester United is away from winning their
fourth Premier League title in a row (that number should be three points lower after Wednesday, but
Burnley really messed with that stat) or as complex as what Everton's home record is when Yakubu
scores with his right foot opposed to his left.
European champions Barcelona ended their dominant pre-season with a frustrating 1-0 defeat at
the hands of a defiant Manchester City side in front of around 90,000 fans at Catalonia's huge Camp
Nou Stadium. While I will stay consistent with one of my previous articles by conceding that
pre-season results carry little materiality, tonight's game should go a long way in demonstrating
just how foolish it is to write off Mark Hughes' flamboyant, new-look Sky Blues.
As Chelsea strolled out of Sunderland on Tuesday night, most of Sunderland's players headed home
with their heads down and their tails between their legs. One man, though, is enjoying a phenomenal
start to life at a new club. That man is none other than Darren Bent.
In the first half Darren Bent gave the Black Cats a 1-0 lead over Chelsea.
This coming season promises to be the most exciting in years. Of course, every coming season
promises to be the most exciting in years. This is one of the many truisms of English Football.
Last season we gaped open mouthed as Manchester City clumsily wooed Global Franchise Entities with
the promise of dreams and Ferrero Rocher.
Tigres es campeón de la Superliga 2009
ganándole en penales al Chicago Fire del "Temoc". De verdad que el territorio
gringo le sienta muy bien a Tigres al ganar otro "trofeito", ahora no fue una ensaladera, fue un
sacacorchos, como dijo el buen Mendex.
