World Cup Qualifiers

Austria vs France

France got thrashed 3-1 by Austria at the weekend's World Cup Qualifiers. France conceded two first half goals via set-pieces which they never recovered from. Both the goals scored by Austria in the first half looked almost identical - ball pumped into the penalty area from an indirect free-kick from the halfway line and somehow got deflected into the net. The France defense failed to deal with both the set pieces and conceded two soft goals. Sidney Govou pull one goal back for France in the 61st minute to make it 2-1 and stage a possible comeback. However, centre defender Mexes tackled Marc Janko rugby style in the penalty box which the referee spotted and gave a penalty to Austria. Ivanschitz duely converted the penalty to end any hopes of a comeback.

Mexes performed terribly in that match. Not only did he give away a penalty, he was also at fault for the first goal when he failed to mark Janko when the ball was floated into the penalty area. Mexes was hailed as a successor to Thuram, yet his performances looked amateur. Let's wait and see whether he will eventually live up to the billing of a great centre defender.


Cyprus vs Italy

World champions Italy needed a late goal to seal the win. The end score was 2-1 and Italy coach Marcello Lippi must thank striker Antonio Di Natale for scoring both goals to ensure his first competitive match in charge after returning ends in a win. The Italy coach blamed the intense heat for Italy's inability to score more goals for a comfortable victory. Italy will be playing at home the next game against Georgia, but they will be without injured Alessandro Gamberini, Fabio Grosso and Gattuso. If Italy failed to win convincingly at home, Marcello Lippi will not have the heat to blame anymore.


Argentina vs Paraguay

It is the 5th time in a row that Paraguay has hold Argentina to an away draw in a World Cup Qualifier. Paraguay had some help from two Argentina players to at least hold the South America powerhouse at their own turf. Gabriel Heinze put through his own goal after only 13 minutes, heading the ball past goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri. He also collided with Abbondanzieri, who was taken off injured and replaced by Juan Pablo Carrizo. With a goal down and first choice goalkeeper injured, the situation is already ideal for Paraguay to snatch points from Argentina. However, Carlos Tevez decided to hand Paraguay more advantage as he got himself sent off the second time in three international games after two violent tackles.

Argentina now have a mountain to climb. They looked incapable of finding the equalizing goal. However, Argentina have a player blessed with talent and an eye for the killer ball - Lionel Messi. He slipped a perfect through pass to teammate Sergio Aguero who placed the ball into the far corner for an equalizer. Argentina can count themselves fortunate to at least salvage a point.


Chile vs Brazil

A 3-0 win over Chile lifted some pressure off Brazil coach Dunga. Luis Fabiano notched two goals for Brazil, who had not scored in their previous three games and Man City's record signing Robinho was also no target. Ronaldinho continued his poor display (or pure lousy luck) when his spot kick was saved superbly by goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.

The match itself was physical and rough. Brazil and Chile each had a player sent off in the second half. The end results did not reflect Chile's quality as they created as many chances as Brazil but failed to finish over the moves like Brazil did.

Chile lost their last five matches against Brazil while conceding 21 goals in the process. History did not favour them and history was proven correct as Chile once again lost to Brazil, shipping another 3 goals.

Obscene Amount of Money

Man City Want Buffon for €70m

That is an atrocious and obscene amount of money to buy a player. Even though Buffon may be the best goalkeeper in the world, there is no reason to bid for him. Buffon currently holds the record for being the most expensive goalkeeper in the world after Juve spent £32m in 2001 to sign him from Parma. If the €70m deal goes through, he will break his own transfer record by more than double the amount!

Manchester City's new owners, Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG) have announced that they want to attract only the best players to Eastland and they are willing to spend like Roman Abramovich's buy-out of Chelsea did five years ago. ADUG have stated their intention for Manchester City to be fighting for trophies in every tournament and money to them is not a problem.

With such huge finanacial backing, eyes will be on manager Mark Hughes to see if he will be able to take the pressure and deliver the goods. It will be interesting to see if this new financial strength will tempt Juve to sell their experienced goalkeeper - Gianluigi Buffon.

UEFA Champions League - 2008/09

With the UEFA Champions League starting in a few weeks' time, let us see which is this season's Group of Death and which 2 teams from each group has the highest chance to progress past the group stages.


Group A
Bordeaux
CFR Cluj-Napoca
Chelsea
Roma

Group B
Anorthosis Famagusta
Inter Milan
Panathinaikos
Werder Bremen

Group C
Barcelona
FC Basel
Shakhtar Donetsk
Sporting Lisbon

Group D
Atletico Madrid
Liverpool
Marseille
PSV Eindhoven

Group E
AaB
Celtic
Man United
Villarreal

Group F
Bayern Munich
Fiorentina
Lyon
Steaua Bucuresti

Group G
Arsenal
Dynamo Kiev
FC Porto
Fenerbahce

Group H
BATE Borisov
Juventus
Real Madrid
Zenit St Petersburg

Above are the groups drawn out. In my humble opinion, this year's Champions League draw is more balanced. All groups look difficult to progress from (except probably Group A and Group B), however Group D, Group F and Group H looks particularly hard. However, experience and the manager's acute tactical awareness is the key to winning the Champions League.

Therefore, below are the 2 teams from each group whom i feel should progress due to their experience, players and manager.

Group A - Chelsea & Roma
This is probably the easiest group of all and both Chelsea and Roma boast undisputed talents, experience on the big stage and good managers.

Group B - Inter Milan & Werden Bremen
Inter, with Mourinho at the helm should have no problem progressing past the group stage. Werden Bremen face strong challenge from Panathinaikos. Panathinaikos is a Champions League regular and the players and manager know what is required to win on the big stage. However, Werden Bremen should overcome Panathinaikos and pip them to the second placed slot of the group.

Group C - Barcelona & Sporting Lisbon
All 4 teams are Champions League regular, so it boils down to the players and the manager. Barcelona has an unproven manager, but with so many quality players in their ranks like Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o and Xavi, just to name a few, progressing is a must. The second place slot is up for grabs and I personally feel the Sporting Lisbon will be the team to triump.

Group D - Atletico Madrid & Liverpool
This is the hardest group to predict. It will be a close fight all the way to the last match of the group stages. The reason i chose Atletico Madrid & Liverpool is because both have players proven on the stage and both have a healthy mix of young and experienced players.

Group E - Man United & Villarreal
Celtic seems to be past their best and AaB is a relatively unknown team. So count on Man United & Villarreal to progress.

Group F - Bayern Munich & Lyon
After missing out on Champions League football last season, Bayern Munich will want to showcase their talents once again and prove that they are still a force to be reckon with. The second slot is almost impossible to choose. Either Lyon or Fiorentina will occupy that slot. It will be close. Both teams have the quality but i picked Lyon because they have been playing on the big stage for a long long time whereas Fiorentina only appeared last season.

Group G - Arsenal & FC Porto
All 4 teams are strong. All 4 teams have Champions League experience. Arsenal should progress without much problem, their attacking talents and pacey players will be the key. The second berth will go either to FC Porto or Fenerbahce. FC Porto recently lost their most important player, Ricardo Quaresma to Inter and Feberbahce sold Kezman and lost Ghana captain Appiah who quit the club after a fall-out with the management. FC Porto should progress as they have a stronger team.

Group H - Juventus & Real Madrid
After 2 years away from the Champions League, Juventus is back. After being relegated to Serie B after corruption row, Juventus bounced back to Serie A immediately the next season and in their first season back in Serie A, they secure a Champions League berth. A remarkable achievement if you ask me. Their experienced players like Zanetti, Camoranesi, Nedved, Del Piero and Trezeguet together with young talents like Sissoko, Giovinco, Amauri and Iaquinta should ensure they progress past the group stage. Real Madrid should progress with so much talents in their ranks. However, both Juventus and Madrid should not take as season's UEFA Cup winner St Petersburg. St Petersburg sent out a warning early on by beating Manchester United 2-1 in the Super Cup.

Surprise Trans

Manchester City
OH MY GOD! Did Manchester City just pulled off the transfer of the season? Manchester City outbid Chelsea for the services of Brazilian winger Robinho. The deal which is said to be around £32.5m came as a big surprise to many as Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich seems to have a rather deep pocket and is willing to invest money to buy players.

However, Manchester City was recently bought over by Dubai's UAE who has an estimated fortune of $50 billion. There seems to be a new powerhouse in England and the Big 4 must be worried. Before successfully signing Robinho from Real Madrid, Manchester City manager Mark Hughes has also tried in vain to lure Valencia's David Villa, Stuttgart's Mario Gomez and even tried to hijack close city rival Manchester United's long time transfer target Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham. All the luring failed but there's always light at the end of the tunnel as Manchester City sealed the fifth biggest transfer in the history of football to sign Robinho.

All in all, Manchester City is determined to put up a strong challenge to break into the Big 4 as they made several quality signings this summer, namely Shaun Wright-Phillips, Jo, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Tal Ben Haim and Glauber Berti. Add in the Martin Petrov, Elano and Micah Richards who were originally in the team, Manchester City looks strong and set for honours with Mark Hughes at the helm.


Manchester United
A surprise signing of Robinho to city rivals Manchester City was unveiled earlier in the day. Manchester United was not to be outdone and signed Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham for £30.75m. The long running saga finally comes to an end and Manchester United still got their player in the end. Berbatov will bring to Manchester United his silky skills and a big targetman in the box that they so sorely lack. A proven quality in the EPL, Berbatov will be a hit in with the Red Devils fans, that is if he can gel with his new teammates..... and stop sulking.


Newcastle
The Magpies bolster their striking options by signing Spain U-21 striker Xisco from Deportivo after Martins got injured in the game against Bolton. Xisco signed for Newcastle for an undisclosed fee and is set to join former teammate Fabricio Coloccini at St James Park.


Liverpool
Rafael Benitez completed the signing of Albert Riera from Espanyol but allowed Steve Finnan to go in the opposite direction to Espanyol. Andriy Voronin has also joined German side Hertha Berlin on a year-long loan after dropping down the pecking order.

Weekend - Saturday & Sunday's Match Reports

Hello fellow soccer fanatics out there, its time for updates on the weekend's soccer again. Gonna summarise the matches as Serie A and La Liga has already started and I intend to cover them as well. They are considered one the big leagues too you know. Oh well, let's start with EPL-

Bolton 0 - 0 West Brom

3 world-class saves, 2 goals ruled offside, 1 uncertainty of whether the ball crossed the goal line and 0 goals. That about summarises that whole match. In the first half, Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen dived and saved at fingertip from a Morrison's curling shot from 25 yards while West Brom goalkeeper Scott Carson was not to be out done and produced a equally impressive save from a Riga freekick that was going into the top corner. Jaaskelainen again denied West Brom max points when a Do-Heon Kim 30 yard drive hit the cross bar and bounce down onto the line into the path of Miller but Jaaskelainen was on hand to parry the effort away from point blank range.

Nearing the end of the game, Davies looked to have secured the win for Bolton when his fierce shot flew into the roof of the net, however it was correctly ruled out for offside. In the last minute, Davies again had an effort ruled offside and the game ended in a goal-less draw.


Everton 0 - 3 Portsmouth

Jermaine Defoe was the star of the match. He netted a brace and added in an assist to round off an impressive performance for England boss Fabio Capello to seriously think about bringing back Owen. Defoe opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a typical predatory goal and assisted Glen Johnson 5 minutes later with a superb pass. In the 69th minute, Defoe showed his class when he chipped the ball into the net with deadly accuracy and brilliant technique. David James also laid strong claims to be back as England's number one when he saved Yakubu's penalty 2 minutes into the second half. Having lost their two opening matches, Pompey bounced back and sent Everton into a deeper crisis, having lost two home games in three weeks.


Hull 0 - 5 Wigan

Wigan thrashed newcomers Hull in a one way traffic game. Hull never seem to threaten Wigan too much but their defending was disastrous. As early as the 4th minute, Wigan took the lead in bizarre fashion as a mis-kicked corner from Kilbane dropped to the near post, Hull defender Ricketts, in a hurry to clear the ball, slipped and somehow sliced the ball into his own net. Wigan widened the gap 10 minutes later as a Hull corner was cleared to Zaki and he flicked the ball to Valencia on the half-way line, who burst clear through the wide gaps in the Hull defense and slot the ball under goalkeeper Myhill and into the net. A consistently impressive Zaki ended any hope of a Hull comeback as he scored the third goal from a Valencia pass, while strike partner Emile Heskey took advantage of a suicidal short backwards header to round Myhill and pass the ball into an empty net. Zaki compounded Hull's misery and added his third goal in three games for Wigan in the 80th minute when he smashed the ball off the crossbar which cannoned downwards and cross the line from a shot outside the penalty area. The rout is completed and the Tigers were made to look like tamed pussy cats.

Middlesbrough 2 - 1 Stoke

Boro won but they scarely deserve it. They were wasteful in front of goal and Downing even managed to miss a spot kick, shooting the ball against the crossbar. Stoke had defended resolutely for 35 minutes before midfielder Faye made a rash tackle on Boro's Shawky and was shown a straight red card by referee Mike Dean. Boro scored from the resulting free-kick, Alves curling the ball pass the goalkeeper and into the net. Aliadiere, Tuncay, Downing and Alves are all guilty of wasting goal scoring chances. If they had taken their chances, they would have killed off the game latest by 10 minutes into the second half. However, they were almost made to pay if not for Tuncay.

In the 71st minute, new signing Hoyte scored an own goal on his debut. He was under intense pressure from Kitson when a cross came in and he could only bundle the ball into his own net. With 5 minutes remaining, Tuncay controlled a mishit shot from Digard and fire pass goalkeeper Sorensen to snatch the win.

West Ham 4 - 1 Blackburn

Paul Ince suffered his first defeat as Blackburn manager and what a thrashing his team got. A Davenport header from a corner and a Samba own goal gave West game a 2-0 lead just 20 minutes into the game. Jason Roberts scored and pulled Blackburn back into the game and the score remain 2-1 till half-time. Roberts failed to take his chance shortly after the break as his penalty was saved by West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green. Green saved again from a Emerton close-range header to protect West Ham's slim lead. West Ham waited till late to seal the win as Bellamy latched onto a through-ball from Lucas Neill and shoot pass goalkeeper Robinson at the start of the 5 minutes stoppage time. Chalton Cole still had the time to blast a fourth goal with the last kick of the game. The game ended 4-1 and Blackburn's misery was compounded as their star striker Santa Cruz was injured.


Arsenal 3 - 0 Newcastle

The Gunners are back to their winning ways with a 3-0 hammering of The Magpies. Arsenal are a different team with Fabregas back and it showed as passes were flowing. However, the night belonged to Robin Van Persie as he netted a brace; one from the penalty spot and another from a superb backpass from Eboue inside the penalty box. Arsenal was awarded a penalty when Charles N'Zogbia handled after 18 minutes from a cross by Adebayor. Arsenal's third goal came from youngster Denilson as a flowing move starting with Nasri tapping the ball to Adebayor and he laid it sideways where Denilson shoot past a defender and a wrong footed Shay Given. Arsenal could have been further ahead but the bar had denied Van Persie as his shot from almost on the goal-line ricocheted off the underside of the bar at the near post.

Shay Given was at his best to prevent Newcastle from being beaten too badly as he produced an excellent reaction save at point-blank range to keep out Toure's header and diving at full stretch to keep out a Nasri curling free-kick. Given is an execllent goalkeeper and Newcastle would have conceded more goals if not for his heroics. The game ended 3-0 which reflected Arsenal's superiority.


Chelsea 1 - 1 Tottenham

Spurs got their first point of the season while ruining Chelsea's perfect start to the season by holding them to a draw at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea had dominated the start, peppering the Spur's goal with several long range shot, two in particular was on target and perfectly executed. The first was from Frank Lampard, who received a Joe Cole flick and upon sighting Spurs goalkeeper Gomes off his line, chipped the ball perfectly to dip under then crossbar but Gomes tracked back in time and tip the ball over. The second was a 25 yards piledriver from Essien which rattled the crossbar. The ball was cleared for a corner. From the resulting corner, Belletti diverted the ball into the net with his left thigh after Bent failed to connect with and clear the ball before it reach Belletti.

Chelsea looked good for their lead, however, on the stroke of half-time, Tottenham levelled through Bent. A challenge on Modric by Lampard caused the ball to roll into the path of Bent which left him on a 1 on 1 situation with Peter Cech. Bent duely slot the ball under a diving Cech and into the net. The game that followed after the break was a scrappy affair as both Tottenham start to find their rhythm and trouble Chelsea. However, Chelsea looked dangerous on the break and Tottenham had defended with seven or even eight men behind the ball. Chelsea was still dominating possession but failed to breakdown the Tottenham rearguard and the scoreline shows 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes.


Sunderland 0 - 3 Manchester City

Roy Keane's expensively assembled squad looked lost and devoid of ideas and creativity. They lack bite in attack and did not create any straight forward chances to trouble the Man City goalkeeper. Their defense looked to be in disarray as men were left unmarked and large gaps were left in the defense. The end state after 90 minutes? The Black Cats got a whipping by the boys from the blue side of Manchester. Manchester City opened the scoring through Ireland who stabbed the ball home after a Michael Johnson's cross was cleared into his path inside the penalty box just before the break.

Five minutes into the restart, Manchester City widened the gap when an unmarked Shaun Wright-Phillips, back for a second stint with a 9 million pounds price tag from Chelsea, tapped the ball into an empty net after Jo drilled the ball across the goal-mouth. Eight minutes later, Wright-Phillips again scored after Michael Ball had lifted the ball over the defense. Wright-Phillips first burst into the scenes with Manchester City before he was sold to Chelsea and he is back to relaunch his career. His 2 goal debut will no doubt do his confidence some good and he is fast becoming a Manchester City favorite if he keeps up his performances.


Aston Villa 0 - 0 Liverpool

A win was all Liverpool needed to go top of the table was Chelsea was held to a draw in the earlier game. However, Villa appear in no mood to roll over and let Liverpool win and both teams seem to cancel each other out. Villa's rearguard was marshaled by a solid Martin Laursen, Captain of The Villains. Villa looked a match for Liverpool in all departments and moments when they threatened to score. The most notable one was a pass from Ashley Young to John Carew who was only about eight yards out from goal and his placed shot was saved by Jose Reina. Liverpool themselves threatened constantly with Kuyt looking dangerous.

Liverpool suffered a setback after 27 minutes when their star striker, Fernando Torres was substituted after pulling a hamstring when chasing after a loose ball. With both team cancelling each other out, the match turned out to be rather boring and a big disappointment.