Messi claims Olympic gold

August 25, 2008

Messi magic and an Angel Di Maria finish brought Argentina a 1-nil win, and a well-deserved Olympic gold, over Nigeria on Saturday, August 23.

Messi brilliantly worked himself away from the tough Nigerian defense and fed the ball to Di Maria to coolly slot it in the Nigerians’ net in the 58th minute.

Although most conditions during the Beijing Olympics had been uncharacteristically cool and all football matches played during the night-time, the final men’s match was played at in 35-degree weather during the afternoon. FIFA instituted breaks in the middle of each half for the sake of the athletes’ health.

The weather, however, did not affect goalscorer Angel Di Maria’s outlook on the match.

“It was a dream game. All I could think of was thank God the ball went over the line and now thanks to that I have a gold medal,” Di Maria said.

And Di Maria and his teammates truly deserve that gold medal. Argentina remained unbeaten in Beijing, and played brilliant attacking football in order to keep that record.

With this win, Argentina continues to prove its dominance in youth team tournaments. The nation is now holder of two consecutive Olympic titles (2004 and 2008), as well as two consecutive U-20 World Cup titles (2005 and 2007).

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Healy completes Sunderland switch

August 24, 2008

David Healy has finally sealed a transfer to Roy Keane’s Sunderland from Fulham in recent days. The 29 year old striker, Northern Ireland’s record goal-scorer with 34 international goals was unsettled for 12 months with premiership side Fulham, playing in very few games in the 2007/8 season and starting even fewer. After helping the side narrowly avoid relegation to the Championship along with 3 northern ireland counterparts Aaron Hughes, Chris Baird and Steven Davis (on loan to rangers at the time), manager Roy Hodgson bought several new strikers including Bobby Zamora and Andy Johnson, giving Healy very little scope for coveted first team appearances.

Although Healy has worked miracles at international level often, he has frequently struggled to impress in the day to day environment of club football. After starting out at Manchester United, he has also represented Preston North End, Leeds United, Fulham, and now has the opportunity to prove himself at club level in the top league in England. It is now thought Healy may be able to gain valuable first team experience under once Manchester United team mate Roy Keane, however a lack of games has affected his fitness and he rarely lasts the entire 90 minutes. Healy has the quality of a top level striker of course, and he has proven that on the international stage, however as he is 29 this may be his final opportunity to put down a marker as a club player.

Manager Keane has spoken highly of Healy and this gives fans of the striker hope of starting places instead of the usual frustration of seeing their hero on the bench , or sometimes not even in the squad! Healy is not the type of player who can run rings around players and make a sudden impact on any game, however he is a lethal finisher who needs a run of games to establish himself as the superb talent he is. Hopefully with patience from the fans and Keane, Healy can finally prove his doubters wrong and impress in arguably the best league in Europe.

Aside from Healy, Northern Ireland midfielder Steven Davis has finalised a dream £3 million move to his childhood heroes Rangers, linking up with fellow international striker Kyle Lafferty. After being on loan since January, Davis became a crowd favourite at Ibrox with his energetic, attacking and entertaining performances, including impressive displays in the UEFA Cup, Scottish Cup, CIS Insurance Cup and the SPL.

It was known that Davis would relish a permanent move to be agreed with Rangers, however he still seemed to feature in Roy Hodgson’s plans in the centre of midfield at Fulham. A deal was expected to go through since the opening day of the Premiership however, when 23 year old Davis was left out of the starting eleven. With much needed money arriving at Ibrox through the sale of 2007/8 player of the season Carlos Cuellar, Rangers had no second thoughts in buying Davis.

An exciting season beckons with two young Northern Ireland stars at the centre of one of the “big two” clubs in Scotland. The main man Healy is enjoying a fresh start at the highest level, plus plenty of talent will be on display for fans to keep an eye on in the Premiership and SPL, including Warren Feeney on loan at Dundee, George McCartney in defence at West Ham, not to mention the duo of Northern Ireland skipper Aaron Hughes and Chris Baird remaining at Fulham.

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Rakitic hits 2 for Croatia against Slovenia

August 24, 2008

The Croatian National team has played their first game together since their defeat at the Euro 2008. They met with their neighboring country Slovenia, in Maribor, to get in some practice before the big qualifying day. They were without the presence of some key players and shortly after the start of the game, Niko Kranjcar picked up an injury and had to leave the field; but our Croatian team pulled through.

The match started out looking like it had already been decided when Slovenia scored in only the 4th minute; but in the 37th minute, Croatia’s Ivan Rakitic netted the ball making it 1-1. In the second half, Darijo Srna scored and put Croatia up by one goal. Slovenia was quick to act and soon after evened the score once again. Then, needing one goal to determine who would win, Rakitic answered the call and Croatia left victorious. For Rakitic’s two goals he received the Man-of-the-Match award along with Slovenia’s Schalkea. Dario Simic also received an award for playing his 100th game with the Croatia National team. Now with a confident victory pocketed, they should be ready for their World Cup qualifier on the 6th of September, where they will meet Kazakhstan. They will play on home soil in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia; so let’s see what luck that will bring.

Croatia was not the only country to meet in a friendly on Wednesday, the 20th. Our European champions, Spain, played their first national game without Luis Aragones, and the new coach, Vicente Del Bosque, led them to a 3-0 victory over Denmark. Some more impressive friendlies from Europe are: Russia tied 1-1 with the Netherlands, Italy tied 2-2 with Austria, Germany beat Belgium 2-0, and Portugal took a 5-0 lead over the Faroe Islands. From the United Kingdom: England tied 2-2 with the Czech Republic, the game between Scotland and Northern Ireland ended scoreless, and Wales lost 1-2 to Georgia. Now that everyone is practiced and ready to go, let’s get the World Cup qualifiers under way!

Jill Guthrie

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Brasil win Olympic Bronze

August 23, 2008

Brasil win the bronze medal with a 3-nil victory over surprise finalists Belgium.

Diego opened scoring in the 27th minute after darting past last man Tom de Mul and connecting with a cross from Rafinha to tuck the ball inside the far post.

Lanky striker Jo added another two goals at the quarter-til and quarter-past hour marks.

The 5-time World Cup winners have yet to claim Olympic gold. The Brasilians lost out on a chance for gold to rivals Argentina by the same scoreline in a semi-final match that had them down to 9 men. This is Brasil’s second third-place Olympic finish.

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New Manchester United 3rd football shirt

August 22, 2008

Manchester United have announced that their new 3^rd shirt for the 08-09 season is to be released on the 16^th of September.

The design for the new Man Utd 3^rd shirt has not yet been released with the design being revealed on the 28^th of August.

Although the design of the shirt has not been officially released it is believed to be a royal blue colour and have writing around the club badge saying ‘May 29^th 1968’ and ‘40^th Anniversary’ which will commemorate the 1968 European cup win over Benfica.

Whether the new 08-09 Man Utd 3^rd shirt will be as popular as the old black one we will have to wait and see but adopting colours of their greatest rivals Chelsea at the moment will surely start a bit of banter.

The shirt is available for pre-order at http://www.uksoccershop.com/index.html

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FIFA’s Top 10 on the World Ranking List

August 22, 2008

#1, Spain
With this years Euro came Spain’s first title win since 1964. They patiently waited 44 long years to lift the cup, and now Espana has come out as only the third country to win twice at the European Championships. With their win came not only the fancy silverware, but the title of best in the world. They won every game in the group stages and won the final with only one goal scored in the 33rd minute by none other than Fernando Torres, who made over 45 million dreams come true. The Spanish forward is now said to be “the best striker in the world”, and rightfully so.

#2, Germany
The Germans entered the Euro tournament hoping to add a third trophy to the shelf, and their goal was almost achieved, but Spain stepped in and tired them out before the end of the final. In the World Cup Qualifiers, they have been grouped with Azerbaijan, Finland, Liechtenstein, Russia, and Wales. Now, second behind Spain, they are ready to take on the world.

#3, Italy
The Italians put on a good show this summer, but Spain stood between them and the road to the semi-finals. It was their first loss to Spain in 88 years, and they played a wonderful quarter-final that ended in a penalty kick shoot-out. Top class goal keeper, Buffon, let in four goals while Spain’s Casillas only let in two. The Azzuri deserve a round of applause for their hard work. Despite their second round exit, we will see them in two years.

#4, Netherlands
The Dutch, who gave us one of the world’s best footballers, Johan Cruyff, broke into the top eight of the quarter-finals where they clashed with Russia. They managed to score one goal but it just wasn’t enough to hold off the Russians. In the World Cup they will be without two of their star players, Rafael Van Der Vaart and Ruud Van Nistelrooy, but they will still have a good setup and a strong team.

#5, Croatia
Our Croatian team has come a long way up the list since March of 1994, when they were ranked in 125th place. In 1998, they ranked 4th and in 1999, moved up to 3rd for bringing home the bronze from the World Cup. Their average ranking is around 28th, but by the end of this July, they ranked 7th and are now in 5th. This is their best ranking since the 1998 World Cup; they now out-rank the two South American giants, Brazil and Argentina. Surely this shows the progress coach Bilic and his men have made.

#6 and #7, Brazil and Argentina
Two of the world’s best South American teams now rank 6th (Brazil) and 7th (Argentina). Argentina held the title for nearly a full year, until the Euro final in Vienna when Spain took the gold. South America has already kicked off their qualifiers for the World Cup. Argentina and Brazil went head to head on June 18th, and it ended in a tie. Each team has played at least two games already. Brazil is off to a bit of a rough start with one loss and one tie. Argentina, on the other hand, has one win and one tie.

#8, Czech Republic
In 1976, as a part of Czechoslovakia, they won the Euro cup and finished in third on two different occasions. In 1996, they played their first European Championship as the independent nation of the Czech Republic, in which they made it to the finals. True, this year the Czech Republic went out on the first round 3-2 to Turkey, and they only bagged one win against Switzerland; but they still showed the makings of a great team.

#9, Portugal
The Euro 2004 was played on home turf, but they were beaten at their own game by Greece. Portugal entered this year’s Euro with high hopes and they made it to the quarter-finals, but only to fall 3-2 to the Germans. It was a very close well played game from both sides, but one final goal from Michael Ballack did it. Even with their talented players such as, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricardo Quaresma, Nani, and Simao Sabrosa, they couldn’t even up the score in the last 30 minutes. Now everyone will be rested and ready to tackle any obstacles that the World Cup Qualifiers bring.

#10, Russia
After Russia’s poor performance at the 1996 and 2004 Euro, they were hoping to repeat their victory from 1960, when they were a part of the Soviet Union. This year, on their side was Guus Hiddink, a Dutchman who makes an excellent coach. Hiddink led the Russian team to the semi-finals where they met Spain for the second time. Their opening game with Spain went down 4-1, ending with a hat-trick from David Villa and one goal from Cesc Fabregas, while Russia’s only goal came from Roman Pavlyuchenko. Their semi-final match ended nearly the same way with a score of 3-0. Even with Spain wearing their ‘unlucky yellow jerseys,’ they were again just too much to handle. With Russia’s two quality players, Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko, on the team they will have no major problems in the World Cup Qualifying.

Jill Guthrie

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USA win Olympic Womens Title

August 22, 2008

The USA women won their third Olympic title with a 1-nil extra-time win over Brasil.

Brasil dominated the two halves of regular time, with the ball rarely leaving the US’s own half. American defenders were left dead in their tracks by Marta and Cristiane for most of the night, only to be saved by US goalkeeper Hope Solo.

In extra-time, however, the US got a chance in the 96th minute and midfielder Carli Lloyd scored a rocket from just outside of the box.

Marta did everything she could to get Brasil back in the game, but luck does not seem to be on her side in tournament finals.

The two-time women’s footballer of the year’s free kick in the final minutes of the match bent just wide of the goalpost, as did a header from a final Brasilian corner kick.

Marta also lost out against Germany in the Women’s World Cup final in 2007, and the UEFA Women’s European Champions League in 2008.

In the Bronze medal match, Germany beat out Japan 2-0 for the bronze.

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Andorra vs England Travel Information

August 21, 2008

Flights to Andorra

If you are looking for flights to Andorra to follow England on their first group match of qualification for the 2010 World Cup finals then have a look at the site below. The site offers excellent prices on flights to Andorra whether you are looking for cheap flights to Andorra or first class flights to Andorra. The match is taking place in the Olympic stadium on Barcelona so have a look at the flights below.

Hotels in Andorra

If you are looking for a hotel in Andorra have a look at the comparison site below which will show you the range of hotels in Andorra whether you are looking for a cheap hotel in Andorra or if you are looking for a 4 or 5 star hotel in Andorra. The game is taking place in the Olympic stadium in Barcelona clisk below to have a look at hotels.

England Football Tickets

If you are looking for England tickets have a look at the site below, you have a variety of options available to you whether it be just to buy your England tickets or if you want to buy an England travel package.

England Football Tickets

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