Posts Tagged ‘Semi Finals’

The draw for the world cup has been made and it’s looking good for England. They’ve been drawn in what’s considered an easy group so hopefully it will be an easy route through to the knockout stages. England may have an easy group, but the 5 time world cup winners Brazil don’t have such an easy ride. Brazil are drawn in group G with Portugal, Ivory Coast and North Korea.

Ivory Coast, they have only qualified for the World Cup once before in 2006 so though they are relative new boys to the competition they aren’t to be underestimated. The team has a number of Premier Leagues stars, including Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue, Salomon Kalou and the brilliant Chelsea striker Didier Drogba. They are known as being a tough team to beat and Brazil won’t be underestimating them.

Portugal who only qualified through the plays offs so were un-seeded. However they are still considered one of the strongest teams in Europe and have a host of top class players including Cristiano Ronaldo, the 2008 World Player of the year and the most expensive player ever bought when Real Madrid paid £80million for him in the summer of 2009. The Portugal team still include players from the 2006 team which made it to the World Cup semi finals, with Brazilian Manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.

North Korea will be considered the easiest team to beat as they have less stars than the others, with pretty much their whole team plying their trade in Korea. It’s only the second time North Korea have qualified for the world cup with the first time being the world cup in England in 1966. They did cause an upset in the tournament by beating Italy 1-0.

Though Brazil have been given a tough draw it’s still a group they should easily qualify, being the number 1 seeded country in the world. This Brazil team may not have the flair that you expect from a Brazilian team but they still enough world class stars to rival any team. The player Brazil really will be relying on to produce the class is former world player of the year, Kaka. From his midfield position Kaka can boss the whole game and produces moments of genius every time he plays. He’s not the only star of the team though, adding some flair to the team is Robinho of Manchester City, Dani Alves, the attacking full back from Barcelona and Ronaldinho who on the top of his game is unbeatable. The difference with this Brazilian team is as well as the flamboyant players they have a core of solid reliable players and this has made the 2009 team the strongest Brazilian team defensively for some time.

There’s no doubt it’s going to be a great world cup and there will be many betting on Brazil to win the cup. So get your football shirts and world cup Havaianas Flip Flops and get supporting your team. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rachel Jane Williams

Once again there are three English Clubs in the semi finals of the Champions League and all three have arrived playing some of the best football of their respective seasons. Under normal circumstances, bookmakers would make an English Club winning the Trophy an ‘odds on’ bet, but such is the talent of the Barcelona team, that they are finding it difficult to take them on, therefore, it is the Spaniards who are currently favourites to win the most prestigious trophy in European football.
Barcelona under coach, Josep Guardiola, have been breaking record after record this season. They have become a goal machine, scoring five times or more in nine matches and have broken the La Liga scoring record in the process with stillseveral games remaining in the season. If Guardiola is the inspiration off the pitch, then it is surely the brilliant Argentinian, Lionel Messi, who is the inspiration on it.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United might well be officially the best player in the world, but Messi is for many the unofficial version and will undoubtedly claim the crown from Ronaldo later in the year. Messi controls the tempo of the team and it appears that everything he touches turns to gold, whether it be shooting, passing, dribbling or just space making. There has not been one team this season who has found the answer to controlling him and if one is not found soon, then Barcelona may as well be given the trophy now and none of the remaining English sides will fancy facing him or his team mates, particularly Chelsea who face barca in the Semi Finals.
Chelsea will be the first of the English teams to take on them in the forthcoming semi final. They play the first leg at Nou Camp and Barcelona have already been installed as odds on favourites to win the leg. Chelsea however, under coach Gus Hiddink are a rejuvenated outfit, with a defence that on its day is second to none. They have players of the calibre of Michael Essien, who they will place on Messi in the same way as he was placed to great affect against Steven Gerard of Liverpool in the quarter final first leg at Anfield where they won convincingly 3-1.
If Essien can negate the threat of Messi then Chelsea will be in with a great chance to shock the footballing world, particularly as their key striker, Didier Drogba and key midfielder, Frank Lampard are back to their scoring best.
In the other tie, Manchester United will take on old rivals Arsenal in a two leg all English tie that quite frankly could go either way. United, barring a little glitch last month have been the most consistent and efficient team in the Premier League this season, while Arsenal, who have been injury hit have now got back most of their key players and are on a long run of 19 unbeaten games.
Whatever the outcomes of both matches, it is fair to say that the best four teams in Europe have all justified their presence and all are extremely capable. However, it looks like Barcelona will justify the faith of the Bookmakers and win the trophy for the third time in their history. However, with five fascinating games to go, including the final in Rome on 27th May their are sure to be plenty or twists and turns and excitement for the fans.

10. Luis Figo, a world famous football star, who played for FC Barcelona from 1995 till 2000. He was arguably the fans’ most favorite player in FC Barcelona, until 2000. That’s when “it” happened, Barcelona’s biggest rivals, Real Madrid, decided to splash the cash and break the transfer list fees record by getting Luis to Real Madrid.

The move caused outrage among Barcelona fans, Madrid got him for a world record fee of 38 Million Pounds. And that’s when the fun begins, during the match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, when Luis Figo stepped up to take the corner kick, a pig’s head was thrown at him from Barcelona’s side. Another incident took place during the 2004 EURO Cup Final between Greece and Portugal. A Portuguese fan ran out on the field, managed to outrun the police, and heading towards Luis threw a Barcelona jersey at him, as the whole world was watching.

9. 1996 – African Challenge.

1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, The most surprising gold medals went to the hands of Nigerian football stars after they overcame Brazil in thrilling semi-finals, with a 4-3 score. The finals was between Argentina and Nigeria, well over 2 billion people were watching it, of course most of them thought that Argentina will have no problems getting the gold medal, but most of them were wrong. Argentina was in the driver’s seat after leading 1-0. The goal came on a 3rd minute, scored by Claudio Lopez, on the 28th minute Nigeria managed to equalize, as Babayaro scored a perfect finisher. So it was 1-1 on half-time. In the early second half Hernan Crespo gave Argentina the lead again and Argentina was on the way to get the gold medals, but “not so fast” said Amokachi as he scored the equalizing goal and again gave Nigeria hope. Match was almost over and everybody thought it was going to be decided by the penalty shoot out. 90th minute and Amunike gave the lead to Nigeria, it was a shock for Argentina, time was almost over, Argentina had no chance, so it ended with a final score 3-2. Nigeria won the gold medal, for the first time in Olympic Games history.

8. 1960, First ever UEFA European Football Championship (EURO) held in France. It was won by the USSR, beating Yugoslavia 2-1 in a tense final in Paris. It is however quite interesting to note that earlier in the competition Spain had withdrawn from its quarterfinal match against the USSR due to political reasons. As an interesting fact, USSR also scored the first goal in the EURO history, during the qualification games.

7. 1998/1999 English Premier League season, Manchester United got all trophies possible that season. They became the first ever team in football history to do so in one season. First they got the Premier League title, finishing first in the league table, then they took the F.A. Cup title by beating Newcastle United 2-0, and of course the most famous UEFA Champions League final, when United managed to come back from a 1-0 defeat, and score not one but two goals in an injury time beating Bayern Munich 2-1; it was considered to be one of the greatest comebacks ever witnessed.

6. 2002 World Cup, Korea/Japan. Korean fans will never forget that historic moment, when Guus Hiddink took them all the way to the Semi-Finals of 2002 World Cup. Korean national football team became the first ever Asian national football team to reach semi-finals of World Cup. Nobody expected the underdogs to go that far, as they beat Portugal 1-0 in a group stages, then a famous 2-1 win over Italy, drawing with Spain in a quarter-finals and then beating them 5-3 on penalties. In the end however they couldn’t take on Germany in semi-finals, and they lost 1-0. In the game for the third place Korean team met Turkey, but again they lost. Eventually the Republic of Korea finished 4th in the 2002 World Cup, which was still a great success for the country’s football team.

5. June 2003, Chelsea FC was bought by the Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovich for a record fee of 140 million pounds. Back then it was the biggest sale of an English Football club. Straight away Roman wanted to make Chelsea the best and strongest club in the world. He began buying players for a record braking transfer fees. First season with a new owner Chelsea FC finished as a runner-up. But next year, the 2004/2005 English premier league season, Chelsea became champions of England, for the first time since 1954/1955 season. 2005/2006 Season they took the premier league trophy again as they were crowned the champions of England for the second time in a row. These 2 seasons were the most successful 2 years in the club’s history.

4. January 11th 2007. It was confirmed that David Beckham will be leaving Real Madrid to play for the United States “soccer” club, Los Angeles Galaxy. Beckham’s decision was a shock to many, as one of the world’s best football players moves to United States of America, where “soccer” is not that popular. He was the first big player to enter Major League Soccer.

3. 6th February 1958, the Munich air disaster. It was the darkest day in Manchester United Football Club history. On the board of the plane was Manchester United football team along with the club supporters and journalists. 23 of the 44 passengers on board died. Captain James Thain, the pilot tried to take off twice, but both attempts were aborted due to engine surging. When a third take off was attempted, the plane failed to gain adequate height and crashed into the fence surrounding the airport and then into a house. Now every year on this day Manchester United holds a memorial to the people who lost their lives in the Munich air disaster.

2. 2006 World Cup Final produced one of the most famous moments in football history, when Zidane’s head-butted on Italian defender Marco Materazzi. It was Zidane’s last international appearance for the French national team and 3 billion people around the world were watching it. The next day newspapers all over the world were not writing about how Italy won their 4th World Cup title, but they were writing about how Zidane pulled the “stunt” on Marco. Definitely that was one of the biggest moments in the history of football.

1. Edison Arantes do Nascimento, aka Pele, the world’s most famous name in football. Football is probably the most famous sport in the world, and Pele is the man who made it what it is today. Pele made 669 appearances in club football, scoring 626 goals. He also made 92 appearances for Brazilian National football side and scored 77 goals. He made his first club appearance when he was just 15 years of age. He made his first international appearance for Brazil when he was 16, and won his first World Cup when he was just 17. Pele is hailed in Brazil as a national hero. The number one moment in football history is when Pele managed to score his first international goal for Brazil, just three month before his 17th birthday.

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As the spring approaches we get closer to the final knock out round of the UEFA Champions League. The first two teams of each group will move into the quarter finals scheduled from April 1st to the 9th. From the first last round which recently finished on March 5th the following are the two teams with the higher points : from Group A Porto(11) and Liverpool (10), Group B Chelsea (12) and Schalke (8), Group C Real Madrid and Olympiacos both with 11 points, Group D Milan (13) and Celtic (9), Group E Barcelona (14) and Lyon (10), Group F Man. United (16) and Roma (11), Group G Internazionale (15) and Fenerbahçe (11), and Group H Sevilla (15) and Arsenal (13).

The semi finals will take place from April 22nd to the 30th and the final will be staged in Moscow on May 21st, 2008. Defending champion AC Milan accumulated a total of 13 points but suffered a 2-0 defeat by the Arsenal club in one of the English group sharpest performances ever witness. Also, Manchester’s United victory over the French group Lyon led to more encouraging comments towards the “Red Devil” – Cristiano Ronaldo who scored the winning goal at the 30th minute.

The Catalan Club – the Barça had a strong opponent to overcome the Celtic in a last clash at the Nou Camp. Both groups had a goal and worked hard to stay alive in the competition. The display of high-quality talent shown by the players was inspiring; Barça’s Messi, Eto’o, and Ronaldihno were power houses which gave excellent results besides the entry to a new stage in the competition.

Let’s not forget the crucial game between all-time favourite nine-time champion Real Madrid and the AS Roma; basically a shocker match with a final score of 2-1 in favour of the Italians. Real had its issues before the game as coach Bern Schuster reported he could not count on Dutman Arjen Robben due to a recent injury and the big question mark of the dynamic Dutch duo Sneijder and Nistelrooy; this last one reported not well fit to play.

Lately, the Italian team has kept a good rhythm in the Italian Serie A as they continue to reduce the point gap from the rest of the teams and aside have reached the final knock out round in the Champions League for a second consecutive year.

The Italian Fabio Canavaro who currently plays for the Spaniard Merengue club stated this would had been the missing piece he has been searching for. He’s won several Cups but not the main prize. FIFA’s one time European and World Player of the Year awards winner admitted his heart is home but his thoughts are with his current club and he will do whatever it takes to get to Moscow in May.