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Italy Vs France

June 18th, 2008

 Italy Vs France: World Champions survives the group of death

June 17 2008. After two classic confrontations in as many years, European giants and World Cup 2006 finalists, France & Italy, again logged horns against one another. However, there were lots at stake for both these teams, as the final place in the Group C (Group of Death) was up for grabs. With Netherlands already making it to the quarters with two thumping wins over both these giants, it was a win-win situation for both these teams.

Experts felt that it was going to be another thrilling game in between both these teams with heated confrontations and the players did not disappoint one bit.

For the first quarter of the game, it seemed that the game could go either way with strikers from both the teams taking shots on the goal at their will. However, the game tilted into the hands of the Italians, who got an opportunity in the form of penalty in the 25th minute after a foul was committed on Luca Toni by France and Barcelona defender Eric Abidal. The situation got worse with the France defender sent off for his rusty challenge.

The Penalty

Although there were several contenders for taking the penalty in the Italian Side, but with the pressure of the situation and the misadventures in penalties leading to the game, Andrea Pirlo was given the job. Mr. ice-cool did not disappoint and hit the back of the net past France goalkeeper Gregory Coupet to make it 1-0 for Italy.

It became a hurdle too tough to overcome for France, who continued showing resistance in the second half. However with the deflected free kick from Daniele de Rossi in the 62nd minute sealed the game for the world champions and booked their ticket in the quarter finals.

It did not have the same chills of the World Cup final, yet it was not far from being one of the best games in the EURO 2008.

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2008 UEFA Champions League Final – Manchester united vs Chelsea: Match of the Year

June 9th, 2008

2008 UEFA Champions League Final – Manchester united vs Chelsea: Match of the Year

UEFA Champions League is believed to be the greatest football tournament of Europe with the best clubs of all European countries fighting it out for claiming the top spot in the continent. This year, two of the best clubs in UK and probably Europe, Manchester United and Chelsea, fought in the final at Moscow.

This was yet another enthralling encounter between these two giants, who had saw each other thrice before this match and were even on all grounds. With the Premier League in their pocket and an impressive outing in the Champions, Manchester United had the advantage. Still, Chelsea was not going to surrender easy

Manchester United dominated the first half with Christiano Ronaldo scoring within 30 minutes. However, Chelsea struck back with a goal from Frank Lampard going pass the outstretched hands of Edwin Van der Sar in the late moments.

Second half saw the United defense tumbling and the tide turned towards Chelsea for most parts. There were many opportunities missed by the latter, which could have sealed the game. However, the game moved into extra time with both teams tied 1-1.

It was visible that the situation was tensed in extra time and when Carlos Tevez through the ball out of hands, situation went out of hand. In a heated confrontation, Didier Drogba, star Chelsea striker, slapped Nemanja Vidic and was sent off. This was the probable turning point of the game, as he had been responsible for a late strike in another encounter between the two.

With no result possible even in extra time, the match went down to penalty shootouts and when Christiano Ronaldo missed a penalty, it spelled doom for United. However, with courageous goalkeeping by Van der Sar, who saved shots from John Terry, Mr. Chelsea, and Nicholas Anelka, along with brilliant penalties taken from United players, they did the inevitable and became the Champions of both UK and Europe.

Although United won, football, as a sport, was victorious. There is no doubt that until now, it is the ‘Match of the Year’.

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Posted in Champions League, Chelsea FC, EURO 2008, General, Man U, UEFA Cup

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Euro 2008 Update

June 8th, 2008

 Euro 2008 Update

On a day of efficient rather than all out cavalier soccer, Portugal and Czech Republic took a large step towards securing their places in the knockout stages of the Euro 2008 championships. At the end of matchday1, Portugal and the Czech Republic lead Group A with a victory each and they will be hoping to continue that form over the reminder of this footballing extravaganza.

 

The first match of the Euro 2008 championships saw the Switzerland soccer outfit put up a strong fight against the Czech Republic only to lose out to a Sverkos goal in the second half. After losing Alexander Frei to injury in the first half, the large Swiss home crowd must have expected the worse as the Czech Republic poured into attack from all sides. However, a strong rearguard action from Switzerland took the match all the way to the wire and despite losing the clash, there are plenty of positives that the Swiss national team can pick up as they look to enter into the knockout stages of the European championships for the first time in history.

 

The other clash in Group A saw Portugal put in an efficient performance to down fighting Turkey 2-0. Despite possessing some of the very best flair players in Cristiano Ronaldo, Simao, Deco and Nani, it took a wonder strike from Real Madrid central defender Pepe to help Portugal take a lead. Pepe had a goal ruled out earlier for offside and his performance will surely go a long way in securing him a permanent berth alongside Ricardo Carvalho at the heart of the Portuguese defence. Raul Meireless added a second one in the 81st minute to strike a dagger into the hearts of the Turkish players who now have a mountain to climb if they are to make it to the quarterfinals of the Euro 2008 finals.

 

The next round of matches sees Germany take on Poland while home outfit Austria take on promising Croatia.

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Posted in Champions League, EURO 2008, General, UEFA Cup

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Manchester United win on penalties

May 22nd, 2008

 Manchester United win on penalties

Manchester United won their 3rd UEFA Champions League after beating Chelsea on penalties after both team locked at 1-1 at the end of regular and extra time. Manchester United came here with impressive records with their and they maintain their records after winning the match. Take look records of Manchester United.

 

  • Manchester United never lost any finals in Europe and after the win they maintain this record.

  • Manchester United come here with unbeaten run without losing any matches and complete the season without defeat.

  • Manchester United was the home in team in Moscow and they came with record 12 consecutive home wins in the Champions League and they carry on their good run as home team.

 

Manchester United started well in first half and dominated Chelsea with excellent passing and attacks lead by their midfielders. Ronaldo took the lead for Manchester United in 26th minute from Wes Brown’s brilliant pass. Chelsea levels the match in last minute of first half and makes game alive for second half. Manchester United had a few good chances but Cech saved all of them.

 

Chelsea started well in second half and creates some decent chances and Lampard hitting the underside of the bar which was the best chance in second half. There was no goals in regular time and extra time then match goes in penalties where Manchester United won by 6-5. Drogba was red carded which cost Chelsea their first title because he is regular choice for penalty shootout. It was silly mistake by him.

 

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Posted in Champions League, Chelsea FC, General, Man U, UEFA Cup

Spurs In Trouble

December 7th, 2007

<p>From the consecutive wins enjoyed by Ramos in Sevilla, he is now more than ready to see another win in the UEFA Cups. However, it remains obvious that the Spurs were unconvincing and that plenty of improvements are still needed by the team if they hope to make it at a constant top spot.

However, both matching teams were obviously lacking in confidence. This was also evident during the game. During the first half, no opportunities and not much excitement were displayed by neither team. Even the weather itself didn’t help the competition since the recent rains suffered by the Belgian region made playing conditions harder than usual.

The errors committed by Younes Kaboul cost a spot within the squad. But Anderlecht attempted to penetrate into the defense ultimately causing Didier Zokora, the midfielder, to hang on the center back.

Still, the Spurs managed to become a little tight within the game as the clumsy team mate was eliminated beside Dawson. However, Dawson later on was the one who messed up during the game.

During three minutes within the game, the Spurs were able to level through Jermaine Jenas fall as he was toppled down by Van Damme and Berbatov. Still, Zitka was sent towards the wrong spot from the penalty home.

Although the Spurs win seemed to be on a positive note already, the opponent team’s Jermain Defoe’s effort to tip the bar over into the other team’s advantage became successful.

Things also seemed to really be not in favor of the Spurs. Before the match was over, some crowd trouble added up to spice up the scene.</p>

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Posted in General, UEFA Cup

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Bordeaux Scores A Much Awaited Win

December 7th, 2007

The much awaited win finally came to Bordeaux as they joined Helsinborg in the UEFA Cup due to a 2-1 win last Thursday.

Although Marouane Chamakh was able to hold an advantage footing for the French team, Henrik Larsson was able to counter the advancements just a few minutes later after the point advantage was taken.

Everything turned around for the Bordeaux side as Adama Tamboura gave his orders for marching towards the visitor.

For the Bordeaux team, Jussie was able to score as the winner during the game’s second half. Although Helsinborg was primarily able to get the top spot to secure their progress within Group H, Bordeaux still managed to topple over their seven point advantage and thus take that prestigious spot from them.

Bordeaux was able to manage a good game after 12 minutes as Chamakh fired off the ball into the 12 yards’ bottom corner towards the outside field after Carlos Henriqued had played.

Helsinborg was able to level the scores within four minutes as Christoffer Anderson was able to corner Larsson thus giving the veteran striker a chance to score frm the penalty area’s right side.

Although Florian Marange could still have taken the game towards their team’s favor, the shot he took from the penalty area’s edge was just wide. Pierre Ducasse’s free-kick was headed by Marc Planus but in the end, it got smashed by Gabriel Obertan’s efforts.

In the end the Bordeaux goals made at the latter part of the game caused the team to have a sure win under its belt.

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Germany Updates and Preparations For Euro 2008

December 5th, 2007

Football games on the league are set to resume once again this coming June 7, 2008.  Although Miroslav Klose and Co. are expected to head on the games, it is predicted that things won’t go totally easy for them. For the Group B, matches between Germany against contenders like Poland, Croatia, and Austria can be expected.

It seems though that things are looking out well for the German team as they can expect their old staff to be back as the games begin once again. Valuable players such as Michael Ballack and Philipp Lahm have actually begun to participate it matches once again. Although Bastian Schweinsteiger is currently doing some time out to nurse a knee injury, he is also among the others who are expected to make a comeback for the new season if all goes well and he doesn’t take a bad beating out of any matches before the league starts. The German team is also counting on Bernd Schneider and Jogi to make matters at even more pleasant tones for the team as well as for its game reserves.

Even if things won’t be as easy as expected for the Germant team, Jogi Loew and his crew is getting themselves all prepped up to face the recent challenges of the looming competitions. Fans can expect a lot of action-packed and exciting things to watch out for in the coming games.

On a different note however, the German coach Joachim Loew have been recently complaining about the stadiums which will be used to host the Euro Games in 2008. He says they are not enough to bring in fans of different teams and he also thinks of the German team’s own supporters who might have trouble getting themselves tickets to watch the games.

He was said to be very particularly concerned with the people capacity of the Klagenfurt stadium. This is located at the southern part of Austria and was known to be capable of holding up to 30,000 audiences. This is where the German team is set to play its matches against Poland on the coming 8th of June while on June 12, his team will be playing against Croatia.

Reports said that Germany has been allowed with only 6,000 tickets on both matches to be held at the said stadium. It was going to be a big problem however, as thousands of German supporters are expected to full force display their loyalty to their home team by being as vigilant enough to fly off to Austria just to bear witnesses in the games to be held. These circumstances pushed Loew to remark that the stadium is small and would not meet audience expectations.

The audience capacity of the said stadium really falls short in comparison to other well known football venues. Vienna stadiums can usually house 55,000 audiences while Basle can accommodate up to 42,500. These mentioned stadiums have been set to be the fields of play for the Austrian and Swiss teams respectively. This is where their pool and elimination games are set to be held.

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