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April 2011
The Archives
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04.30.11QPR and Norwich almost set for England’s top flightQ.P.R. will play in England's top flight for the first time since the 1995-96 season after beating Watford 2-0 today. Celebrations could possibly be cut short as the London club face action over the ownership of Argentine midfielder Alejandro Faurlin. It emerged that the transfer fee was paid to a third party - which is against the regulations put in place by the English FA after the similar situation involving Carlos Tevez when he was a Hammer a few years ago. Q.P.R. could find themselved deducted points and could miss out on promotion. Norwich are very close to securing themselves promotion. ...
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04.27.11Europa League semi-finals edge four teams closer to DublinLook at all the great footballing cities that have played host to Europa League/UEFA cup finals : Seville, Lisbon, Istanbul, Turin...er...Ipswich? Anyway, Dublin joins this list as the Aviva Stadium (or Dublin Arena as it will be known that night) is the venue for the 2011 Europa Cup final. There will be at least one Portugese team in the Ballsbridge venue on May 18th. Thursday night sees Braga travel to the Estadio da Luz to face Benfica. While La Liga side Villareal make their way to Porto's Estadio do Dragao. Should make for two interesting games (and perfect viewing after yet ...
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04.26.11Champions League semi-finals preview (part 1)And then there were four. Manchester United travel to Gelsenkirchen where they face Schalke 04. It's the fourth time in five seasons Sir Alex's men have reached the semi-finals while the Germans have never before seen this far of the competition. Schalke's Raul has found a new lease of life since moving to Germany and the all-time Champions League leading goalscorer will be looking to help make even more history for the Royal Blues. However, with fantastic Champions League and Premier League form, United will be pulling out the big guns - though they will be missing Berbatov and Fletcher. The ...
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04.21.11Peñarol’s gigantic flag and Ramos’ butter-fingersTwo things that have caught my eye on You Tube this morning. Firstly, at the recent Ireland v Uruguay friendly at the Aviva, I was sitting amongst a lot of Uruguay fans. Loud and passionate about their football, I noticed that most of them were wearing yellow and black jerseys. I asked one of them in my limited Spanish who the team were? "Peñarol!" came the reply "we love them as much as Uruguay". I was impressed with that level of support for the Montevideo club. But I didn't realise that Uruguayans love the club so much that they bring a ...
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04.18.11Two brothers…two nationsLast summer in the 2010 World Cup, Kevin-Prince Boateng and half-brother Jerome made football history when they became the first set of brothers to feature in opposing teams at the competition. Milan's Kevin-Prince took to the field representing Ghana while Man City's Jerome wore the famous Germany shirt last June (the Germans went on to win 1-0). Of course, the two former-Hertha BSC players aren't the first pair of brothers to play for different nations. Everton's Tim Cahill proudly wears the Australian jersey - the country of his birth. And he does a fine job for the 'socceroos' too. Younger brother ...
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04.14.11Football’s greatest rivalries: Bohemians v Shamrock RoversI've previously talked about Milan v. Inter, Galatasaray v. Fenerbahce, Roma v Lazio and more. This edition of 'football's greatest rivalries' will focussing on Ireland's two most successful clubs and how instense the tie can be when they come head-to-head. Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers first faced each other just under a century ago at Dalymount Park. Over the years, from amateur status to professional clubs, interest and attendances snowballed making it the biggest game in the country which it still is today. It became, in footballing terms, viewed as the southside of Dublin (Rovers) against northside of Dublin (Bohs). Always ...
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04.12.11Champions League quarter-finals preview (part 2)A lot of goals in the first leg of the quarter-finals. Eighteen goals over the four games to be exact. And Messi didn't score one of them. The new impressive Donbass Arena is the venue where Shakhtar Donetsk play host to Barcelona. The Catalan giants scored five in the first leg at Camp Nou which makes the Ukrainians job closer to the impossible. Shakhtar will be thankful Andres Iniesta will play no part in the game through suspension but they will have to be on their game to stop some of Barça's other talent. One goal seperated Man United and Chelsea at ...
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04.08.11Football’s greatest rivalries: Galatasaray v FenerbahceThe Turkish are passionate about their football. They truly are. So when bitter rivals Fenerbahce and Galatasaray go head-to-head, the city of Istanbul turns into chaos. Well, maybe that's me exaggerating it a bit. But certainly Fernabahce's Sukru Saracoglu Stadium and Galatasaray's new Turk Telecom Arena are chaotic in terms of the atmosphere in and around the stadia on matchday not to mention the tension on the pitch when this fixture takes place. Known locally as Kitalararasi derbi (or the Intercontinental derby), it is one of the most fiercly competitive derbies in world football. 'Fener' have beaten their city rivals 140 ...
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04.07.11Never mind the Rooneys. Here’s Stankovic.Some great games in the Champions League this week. The British media mostly focussed on Crouchie's red card, Spurs' thrashing, Wayne Rooney's swearing (even though that occured in a Premier League game), The Special One etc. The Italian media concentrated on one particular incident in the Inter Milan - Schalke match. Dejan Stankovic's goal. Of course, scoring in an open goal is easy. What's not easy is doing it from the half way line. On the volley. Under pressure. Even the Serbian's technique when striking the ball was impressive. Have a look yourself in the video below and see what you ...
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04.04.11Champions League quarter final preview (part 1)And then there were eight. The first leg of the Champions League semi-final takes place this week with four outstanding games on offer. On Tuesday, Schalke travel to the San Siro to face Inter Milan. The Nerrazzuri will be looking to bounce back after the weekend's defeat in the Milan derby but the Germans certainly are no pushovers as they proved in the last round in the Champions League, defeating Valencia (who have impressed in this season's La Liga). Since then, Schalke have changed managers. Could this upset the team's European form? Harry Redknapp takes his Tottenham side to the surroundings of ...
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04.03.11Ones to watch #6 : Alvaro MorataReal Madrid president Florentino Pérez's famous galactico policy in the early 2000's meant that youngsters coming through the ranks of los blancos might find it hard getting into the team alongside the Beckhams, Zidanes, Figos and the likes. However some (though very few) did. Perez is currently in his second stint as Madrid president and his so-called second galactico era is in full swing with Madrid forking out absolute millions for the likes of Kaká, Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo. Young players like Pedro Leon and Sergio Canales are all enjoying life on Madrid's most senior roster - though neither are graduates. ...
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04.01.11100 goals and counting…for the ‘keeperLast week, all the newspapers in Brazil were celebrating in the headline of Sao Paolo's Rogério Ceni claiming his 100th league goal. I know what you're thinking: 100 league goals for a 37 year-old isn't a big deal. Well, Ceni is Sao Paolo's goalkeeper. The former Brazilian international now holds the prestigious record of having scored the most goals for a goalkeeper in the history of the sport. Paraguay's flamboyant José Chilavert is in second place being two goals behind Ceni. What made the milestone goal even sweeter was the fact that it was the winning goal in a 2-1 win ...
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