The current champions Barcelona finished with a 1-1 draw against Stuttgart in the Champions League clash. Stuttgart took the lead in the match with the help of the header by Brazilian striker Cacau but Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Barcelona leveled the score with a crucial goal. The draw means that Stuttgart now has the difficult task of scoring in the Camp Nou if they are to reach the quarterfinals.
Continue reading Champions Barcelona held a draw by Stuttgart
The Winner of the World Cup 1998 and also the finalists in 2006, France team is not among the top eight seeded teams for the draw that was held this Friday. The news was announced by FIFA and Jerome Valcke when its general secretary made it clear at a news conference that it was due to the world rankings that France missed out a place and not because of the controversy that has been surrounding the side since the infamous handball goal against Ireland.
Sergio Aguero is apparently very happy at Atletico Madrid, though he has also insisted that he is very pleased at the fact that he is being linked to Chelsea. The speculations ran high over the summer that Aguero was moving to Stamford Bridge and that Atletico had refused a bid of £35 million. Sergio Aguero made the most of the opportunity to impress Carlo Ancelotti, the Chelsea boss, the other night when he played beautifully to score two stunning goals against the Premier League club in a match that ended in a draw with the score of 2-2.
Continue reading Sergio Aguero blandished by Chelsea interest
Fabio Capello, the England manager, made it very clear that he is open to speak to any player who feels unhappy at being left out from the team. England has already qualified for the World Cup next year by achieving an emphatic victory over Croatia last Wednesday. They beat Croatia 5-1 at Wembley. The England manager has enjoyed 100% success so far in the qualifying Group 6 having already made it to South Africa with another couple of games to spare.
James Milner, the English winger has denied any theories that may suggest that Luka Modric was intentionally injured before the all important world Cup qualifier slated at Wembley next week.
The Croatian midfielder suffered the injury in a tackle with Lee Bowyer who plays for Birmingham. The midfielder broke his leg in the process and this has come as huge upsetting news for the Croatian officials as they know their next match against England can very well decide their fate for the World Cup.
The first weekend of the Premier League lived up to its reputation of producing some great games and the Big Four produced some intrigue and kept the speculations alive. The most startling outcome of the weekend was a 6-1 thrashing received by Everton at the hands of Arsenal at Goodison park. The Arsenal team played beautifully and at no point seemed to be troubled by the Everton side that had finished at fifth position in the last season of the Premier League. Although Arsenal is known to face problems later in the season, they could not have hoped for a better start.
ESPN left behind the disappointment of not being able to get the rights for the UEFA Championship league games by purchasing the rights from GolTV to televise a good number of matches of Spain’s La Liga. La Liga is a huge hit on the Spanish language television. GolTV broadcasts 24-hours of soccer from across the world and has been telecasting games from the Spanish League from several years.
Real Madrid’s new acquisitions, Ronaldo and Kaka have only added to the charm of La Liga. The telecast of the matches would be shared on the ESPN family network. 360.com would show around 114 games while ESPN Deportes gets 95 and ESPN2 will show around 20 matches. The deal is set to increase the distribution chances of Deportes and also help GolTV to get a good return on its investment.
The United States Men’s national team is all set to create history in the on-going Confederation Cup when they take on Spain, which is ranked as the world’s number one in the semifinals. Being in a group which had Brazil and Italy, the U.S. team has certainly managed to surprise quite a few people. However, it would be a tough test for them as they play against Spain who have ousted 15 teams in a row and have not been defeated for as many as 35 matches.
The last meeting of the two teams was in U.S. where Spain won 1-0. The U.S. team owes its success to Bob Bradley who has certainly transformed the entire team. Although the Confederations Cup semifinal is important, U.S. team must be relishing the thought of making it to the ultimate level-the World cup.
The confederation Cup is surely proving a great launching pad for the United States team before the 2010 World Cup. The team is almost certain to play two more games depending on the result against Spain for either 1st or 3rd place. The Spain team looks in great form and in the right frame of mind. They defeated New Zealand by 5-0 in their opener and easily came over Iraq and South Africa to reach the semis.
The United States team therefore has to pull up its socks and come up with something very special in order to keep their hopes alive in this tournament. This is the best chance for the team to create history.
The Champions league witnessed match between Chelsea and Barcelona at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. UEFA has received delegate’s and referee’s report. Not only this, they are also in the process of collecting additional evidence so that they can decide on the disciplinary action against Chelsea. The result will be declared next week. While the London club faces the charge of being unable to control its players, the four Chelsea players are charged individually for pestering Norwegian referee Tom Henning Overbo and for comments post match.
Player Diddier Drogba argued with the referee in tunnel and on the pitch. He is likely to face the sternest action. When fourth penalty appeal was turned down by the referee, Michael Ballack ran 40 yards to confront with him. He was given a yellow card for the same. Skipper John Terry criticized Overbo and will be charged for this. The fourth player is Chelsea full-back José Bosingwa. He is convicted of calling the referee a thief who was bought. Jose has no doubt apologized for commenting like this.
The controlling body might ban Drogba to play some matches. However, they will be taking video evidences for their decision. Referee Overbo is out of England after the match is not commenting anything on the incident as asked by UEFA. Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink tried to question referee’s decision but was of no use. The UEFA spokesman said “We never comment on the performance of the referee.” We all are waiting for a fair decision from UEFA’s general secretary David Taylor as we all believe that the chaotic scenes have disgraced Champions League.
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