Arsenal - ManU Nike Commercial

Awesome Arsenal - ManU Nike Commercial

Just Do It !!!
Just Watch It !!!

2 days to go!!

We are almost there.......Its the 8th of August and in a couple of days, when referee Graham Poll, puts his whistle to mouth, Tottenham and Sunderland will set the ball rolling to start off one of the most eagerly awaited English Premier League ever.



Yes, every time it looks like--"This" time is the most awaited EPL. But, to me there have never been as many contenders to the EPL. Well, speaking from my brain, I would say Chelsea are favorites--simply because of the depth in their squad. There have
been very few notable exclusions apart from Robben(Has his transfer to Madrid finalised?), and yet they have signed Florent Malouda, Sidwell, Telal Ben Haim. And I wont be surprised if Ballack and Sheva have a bigger impact this time round.




Generally, the foreign players take an year or two to settle down in the EPL. Everyone do their normal business. Terry will be a rock, Cech will be reliable as ever, Dargar,oh sorry Drogba will continue from where he left last season.....etc etc. But, to me, what puts them ahead of Man Utd is, the one year of English football experiance that Ballack and Sheva will carry. No one ever doubted the quality that these two possessed. I think these 2 are too good players to perform badly for two season in a row. (Lots of 'to's eh!!)

Manchester United to me, are second favorites, marginally behind Chelsea. While they will welcome with open arms, the Paul Collingwood of English football--Owen Hargreaves





and the highly talented Nani(I assume he is highly talented since he is from Portugal and the Brazilians speak Portugese right!!) and Pederson(was that the other guy's name?), they will be praying that their solid back four of Vidic, Fedinand, Evra and Neville carry on from where they left last season. I thought, the form and more importantly, the injury free'ness of these four was a reason often overlooked because of the huhaha behind Cristiano Ronaldo.






No doubt, Mr.Basu had a great season, but defence is such a non-glamorous part of football, that I wont blame people if they forgot the United back four.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that it is very very unlikely that these four will be as injury free as last season and hence the defence might just struggle.

Liverpool......well I thought I would leave this for Raja or Abhishek to complete. Anyway, I will make an honest attempt to assess their chances. On first sight, it looks like they are too much dependent on Gerrard. But they have made a couple of decent signings, in Babel and Benayoun. While Babel brings some fresh legs into the Liverpool strike force, Benayoun's experiance of playing in England and the





creativity he posesses might just be what Liverpool may be looking for. Solid defence and disciplined football has always been their forte, and i dont expect that to change. Like Shave and Ballack, I expect Kuyt(probably Liverpool's best player last season) to improve and the arrival of fellow dutchman, Rayen Babel, might just make him feel better. I think Torres will be a flop. Big statement?? May be. But, anyway.....lets see.


Totenham look good, with the ever improving Berbatov threatening to replace Henry as premiership's best striker. They have been improving consistently over the past few years. This might be the season, where they might break into the top four.

Last season's surprise package was Portsmouth. Remember, they were second in the league for a couple of monhts into the season. And to finish in the top 10 after almost being relegated the previous season was a commendable achievemnt. This season's surprise package could be West Ham. Yes, they have lost Tevez. But a look at their strike force of -- Bobby Zamora, Dean Ashton and Carlton Cole and the midfield of Freddie Ljungberg and Scott Parker tells me that they could be a force to reckon with. Dont be surprised if they make a top 8 finish


I will come to MY team in another post!!!

Van Der Sar – Man, U did it!!

Nobody was sent out, No serious injuries, No physical combats and performances at par, and thus there was dawn of the football season. Manchester United and Chelsea met at the Wembley to fight for the Community shield and the so much celebrated rivalry was revisited in a nonetheless dramatic fashion.

Chelsea was weakened by absence of the in-form-of-his-life striker Drogba and skipper Terry. And Ballack and Shevy couldn’t be spotted as well, giving chance to a lot many players to play a full length game against their famous rivals. Man U drew first blood, when in the 35^th skipper Ryan Giggs put one behind the net on a Patrick Evra assist.

Chelsea came back in the game as Malouda did some exceptional work to take the ball past Van Der Sar with a left foot flick causing him a sprain in his thigh. Later he was substituted by Claudio Pizzaro.

The game went to the penalties and Van Der Sar rocked. He saved consecutive penalties shot by Claudio Pizarro, Frank Lampard and Shaun Wright-Philips while Peter Cech wasn’t able to wall out the hits of Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney.

The victorious goal keeper told in an interview "It's a little revenge for the cup final and also gives us a boost before the start of the league. I've never saved three penalties in a row. I was 5-2 down on penalty shootouts during my career, so this makes it 5-3.”

Rhain : The Wonder Kid

He is Nine.

His shots are compared to Rooney's.

His tricks are compared to C.Ronaldo's.

He is Rhain Davis.

This Brisbane born, Australian wonder kid has been signed by Manchester United.

His grandfather sent a DVD of the youngster in action to the Premiership Champions. Sir Alex Ferguson was impressed enough to invite him to move to England and train with the club.

He is required to earn a full-time scholarship with United, which is awrded to promising 12-year old football geniuses.

Have a look at why United was impressed.

Istanbul to Athens!!

While the never-ending cricket season continues, the football season is coming to an end. Manchester United have regained the coveted Premier League. The FA cup final promises to be a cracker. While United will be looking to add insult to injury on Chelsea, Maurinho will be looking for his first FA cup win in probably his last attempt as rumors say that the Porugese is on his way out of Stamford Bridge.





Meanwhile in Spain its getting too close,

CLUBS P W D L F A GD PTS
Barcelona 33 19 8 6 63 29 34 65
Real Madrid 33 19 6 8 51 31 20 63
Sevilla 33 18 7 8 57 31 26 61
Valencia 33 18 5 10 47 32 15 59

The Catalans' superior goal difference means that, they can afford to drop a couple of points and yet retain the La Liga title.

But I have not yet talked about the big one. (Ab ek phata hua, Dk se bhi zyada) All galis, roads, flights, trains lead to Athens (Desi- remember last year's bet on Liverpool/Lyon. Probably you should have betted on them this year) But, to me Milan are the favorites. No, not the revenge factor.



I just feel they are a much better side. Gattuso and Pirlo will do Gerrard what they did to United's Ronaldo. The back four looks solid despite the average age touching the 33-34 mark. Inzaghi and Gilardino are taking the chances when they come in spite of being not-so spectacular. I think till now, the players I have mentioned, Liverpool have an answer. If you have Pirlo we have Gerrard, if you have Gattuso we have Alonso, if you have Maldini we have Risse, if you have Inzaghi we have Crouch. But I think you might have guessed by now, Liverpool wont have answer to the question if you have KAKA!!






Its the old hindi cricket commentator's comment 'Inki jitni tareef ki jaye utna hi cum hoga'!! I know, there will be some Liverpool fans who wont agree to what I am saying. But, I think we should wait for the 23 night now before further discussions. Anyway, while its hard for the two teams to provide us the same drama which they did two years back, even if its 10% as exciting, it should be fun. It does promise to be an absolute cracker.

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Rooney, Kaka! Kaka, Rooney!

The fight for European supremacy continues as Milan took on Man U in England in the first leg of UEFA Champions league’s first semifinal last night. Manchester united, injury struck and card struck came on without Gary Neville, Ferdinand and Vidic and Evra and Heinze took the defensive responsibilities. Milan knew that they just have to hold the fort in this match and with all the injuries and cards ManU will have a tough task in the next leg.

Saurabh, anand and dk decided to run a parallel game of scrabble as the referee blew the whistle, we set the board and got ready and then came the noise, GOAL, already. Five minutes in the game, and a Ronaldo head gets the ball behind the bars. Controversial though, whether it should have been a Dida own goal, who in attempt to keep the ball away from heading Heinze touches the ball in the net. Manchester united one up.

I am always on the losing side when Saurabh takes on scrabble, but it was my lucky dayJ, Saurabh was already angry on Man U’s pass-it-long tactics as I made progress. And suddenly we discovered God, Kaka, making the defence realize that they lack some players, single handedly took one to the brink and finished it beautifully. 22 minutes in the game and its open yet again. Saurabh happy, anand happy and Vivek gets up.

Kaka makes his presence felt again and doesn’t take long to do the same, 15 minutes later, on again he dodges the defenders, leaving Heinze and Evra colliding, one on one with Van Der Sar makes it 2-1, beautiful goal!! On away ground Milan is leading inside the first half and scrabble lays secluded in some corner of our room, poor game!

Soon with a carry over yellow card already, Evra gets himself booked, making the Milan visit next week a tourist bonanza as Milan pushes them. Half time changes, discussions, strategies happen and Man U strikes back in 59^th minute. Rooney gets it for his team making the score 2-2, game on! (I am winning a scrabble game for the first time, yo yo yo)

A yellow to Kaka, one to Giggs, one to new kid Bonera, the game looks all set to go winnerless, Rooney gets the crowd erupted by hitting one in injury time, and I have won my first game J and Manchester united pulls this game back from behind leaving behind the Kaka-embarrassment to strike a claim for the European championship.

Is it going to be a complete Chelsea Vs Man U season everywhere, let’s find out tonight!

Image source : UEFA

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A Prelude to Glory!

UEFA Champions League Semi Finals!!!!

Tonight Manchester United hosts Milan and tomorrow Liverpool goes to Chelsea's Home . Just before the semis, people speak:

"We're not far from winning the Champions League, even if it's not this season then next," the striker told uefa.com. "The team is getting more experience. We don't give up and we will win it." – Drogba

“We have enough quality but you can say that about all four teams in the semi-finals – everyone has to be at their best and show it on the pitch," – Sir Alex Ferguson

"They play wonderful football, especially here, so what happened against Roma will have no impact on our dressing room and how we approach the game. I'm proud to be here and be captain of my team. We're motivated by the fact we want to win the Champions League, which has been our main aim throughout this season. We have always been a leading club in Europe, and Italy, over the last 20 years and we want to show why."- Maldini

Source : UEFA

Embarrassment, Pride, Despair, Boomerang.....

....Roma, ManU, Valencia, Chelsea respectively.
UEFA Champions league Quarter finals second leg, a lot of curiosity and expectations and an exaggerated result in the match that we were lucky to see, courtesy ten sports. After losing 2-1 in Italy last week, Manchester United had different plans and they never would have expected them to work so blissfully, we all make guesses and nobody could have guessed that the scoreline would be as strange as 7-1. Carrick began the assault with a great strike from outside the box, followed by goals from rooney, smith and ronaldo. Suddenly the scoreline read 4-0 and the 'who reaches the semis' excitement almost died and it was visible that Romans knew it. The second half was no different and ManU continued to haul Roma, as Carrick and Ronaldo completed braces and score was 6-0 with some time to full time left. A cross from Totti and a good first touch from De Rossi displaced that lone zero to one, but there was no reason for a smile, forget the celebrations. Substitute Evra joined the list of Goal scorers and made Roma players feel as bad as they could and the final whistle finally blew at 7-1 and ManU are through to the semis.







And, Chelsea! Boy, they are having some time. Conceding an away goal in their home match against Valencia(1-1) they certainly were under some pressure last night and Morientes made things tougher by helping Valencia draw first blood and the aggregate became 2-1 Valencia leading. And when Chelsea came back from the half time snacks (the world has all the rights to know what pills Jose has for metamorphism), and early in second half Shevy pulls one back and its even-stevens in the quarter finals. And when it looks like a great stage for an normal time stale mate followed by extra time and perhaps penalty shootouts Essien wraps it up by a traditional 90th minute Chelsea goal, toggling the last Spanish team out of the champion’s league and booking a place in semis for themselves.

And the English authority over European football redefined last night!

Why do people like Chelsea and jose?

The blog could also have been like “Why do people hate Chelsea?”, but for many of the so- called "regulars at the EPL", the question is unanswerable, very instinctive, visceral, something that is as trivial vis a' vis the process of breathing itself. Whenever a newcomer(a viewer that is) starts to feel the heat of the premiership, the natural instincts drive his loyalty towards the stronger teams having good players. For me, an Indian by origin, who had all the options to choose from, chose to be a partisan of Manchester United F.C. only because it had the great names like David Beckham,Ruud Van Nistelrooy and the legendry Roy Keane. Manchester United is not a team that was built in a day. ManU like other great teams has a history to be proud of. It took a couple of months for the interest to metamorphose into passion.
The most challenging part vis a' vis managing a football team is to build the team. Manchester United, Arsenal,etc. are already have elite ranked players. The job of managers of the teams who come in place of the relegated teams are perhaps the most difficult. They are not rich clubs. Perhaps their full year’s tranfer budget is less than a week’s wage budget of a rich team like Chelsea. Managing such teams is a challenge. Even teams like ManU and Arsenal have budget restraints.
Ever since Chelsea was bought by Roman Abramovich for 60 million pounds in 2003, the clubs fortune has changed. The club’s gaffer has invested over 300 million dollars and has incurred losses of 100 million dollars to the club. As far as Mr. Abramovich is concerned, it is no more than buying his children peanuts on a hang out. So forget the fact that Jose Mourinho is no businessman. The prodigal gaffer has time n’ time again created new records in the transfer market. The Andriy Shevchenko transfer has topped all EPL records at 30 million pounds. No other manager in the world will pay 30 million pounds for a 29 year old striker. Then again, with Ricardo Carvalho -27 million dollars, Essien- 24 million pounds, etc. and there are records still to be broken. There is nothing in the transfer market that money cannot buy, for everything else there is Mr. Roman Abramovich.
The real fans of football want to watch good football. We want to watch players who have a talent to develop into world class players. But what happens when a talent goes in a team where it is not recognised.Chelsea, undoubtedly, has one of the most deadliest squads in the world. But in the process what it is doing is keeping talented players away from the field. An epitome of the same is Shaun Wright Phillips. One of the main reasons of his exclusion from the England world cup squad is because Sir Sven Goran didnt have enough of his on field performances to look at.
Having the world’s best coaches to teach the world’s best talents, having the world’s best scouts to find the world’s best raw talents.Keeping world class players at every position and for also for the back up positions of the team doesnt test the manager’s skills.All you have to do is let them out in the field and there is always a very low probability that they’ ll loose. Even a ten year old can manage a team like that.
So where does Jose Mourinho come in…??? The prodigal gaffer!!!All in all, for a team like Chelsea,whose wage budget exceeds many team’s transfer budget,it is not the manager but the perennial river Moolah flowing that manages and wins matches.

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World after UEFA Matchday 7 - I

Matchday 7, first leg, teams travelling around the europe and eight pretty close matches, I don't say this, this stats speak, 1 draw of the opening day and 3 on the following, and the victories also of just single goal margin. Platform is pretty well laid for the first week of february encounters. Lets have a brief look at the matches.

Day - 1

Celtic hosts European giants Milan, and share honours on their home ground, Celtic is an unpredictably good team strengthened by players like Nakamura and Naylor and they were able to keep Milan devoid of any outside success that they were hoping, but life will not be easy for the scottish when to travel to Milan. No prizes for guessing, my money on Milan. (Celtic 0-0 Milan)

Gunners, love you hate you. Being an avid Indian cricket fan, Arsenal has to be my favourite club, it's so much like Indian cricket team, too unpredictable for their ability. PSV, lost their last game and came back strongly to beat the previous year finalists just to keep their hopes on, but remember, I said unpredictable, and at home gunners can be demoralizingly brutal, PSV wants a draw, Let's see. Ah, 60-40 Arsenal! (PSV 1-0 Arsenal)

History and Revenge, Controversies and Chaos, game on! Lille home, Giggs dido and Manchester United continues the 20 year celebration of great manager-giri. Life seems to be difficult for the French club after losing their backyard encounter. And if Lille plays this years quarter final, book a DVD of Manchester United - Lille 7th Mar match already, because it will be a miracle.(Lille 0-1 Man U)

And finally the match we Indian could see live (Thank you so much Ten Sports), Two historic European champions ( Read UEFA retrospect articles) and a expectedly fan treat on plate. The match started and it started raining goals! Raul, then Lucio equalizes, then Raul again (lucky he, it should have been Helguera's) making it 2-1 and then Rudd van taking it to a comfortable 3-1, and it says only 34 minutes, and when it looked like a landslide, Van bommel appeared and made the scene look different a late goal and the scoreline says 3-2. A real victory but with 2 away goals makes Bayern happy, they just need to get a 1-0 victory when real visits them. Wearing a cannavaro t-shirt right now, but I think it will be Bayern to proceed. (Real 3-2 Bayern).

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UEFA Champion's League Schedule

Analysis, Criticism, Predictions, Teams, Coaches, Practices, Transfers, Rivalries, Away Goals, Fans, Articles and another hundred kinds of blah blah, the game is back and those 90 minutes which matter the most. So all those critics, experts Shhhhhhhh, sit back, grab your beer cans and watch the action. And ask your secretaries to schedule your meetings accordingly!

Matches on 20 Feb and 7 March

Celtic - Milan

PSV - Arsenal

Lille - Man. United

Real Madrid - Bayern

---------------------------

Matches on 21 Feb and 6 Mar

Roma - Lyon

Barcelona - Liverpool

Porto - Chelsea

Internazionale - Valencia

Who's getting your support?

UEFA Champion's League in Retrospect- Episode III

Clubs D'Honneur

Bayern Munich

The Bundesliga giants have been the next most respectable side if looked statistically. Winning the tournament 4 times, and three of them coming in consecutive years 1973-74, 74-75, 75-76 thanks to the greats Georg Schwarzenbeck, Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeness, Gerd Müller and free kick specialist Franz Roth. They helped Bayern to end the long awaited first title. The fourth title came late in 2000-01 where they beat Valencia in a nail biting 5-4 penalty shootouts, and “king kahn” holding nerves till the very end. This year they look a formidable side, and in spite of the domestic problems within the team and within the league, the team looks to give Real Madrid a run for their money when they play in the first knockout match next week.

Ajax Amsterdam

This club from Holland joins Bayern with a tally of four European championships in hand winning in 1970-71 and then consecutively in 1971-72 and 1972-73 beating Panathinaikos, Inter and yet unlucky Juventus and the star of this era was Johan Cruyff aka Pythagoras In Boots. A comeback in 1994-95 and another title for them, but after that they were not able to impress their fans back home. This year they are fighting it out in the UEFA cup with their home rivals PSV play Arsenal in the knockouts.

Teams that have won twice: -
Benfica, Juventus, Barcelona, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, FC Porto, Inter.
Teams that have won once: -
Celtic, Hamburg, Staeaua, Marseille, Feyenoord, Aston Villa, PSV, Red Star, Borussia Dortmund.

Image Source : wikipedia

Real Madrid : Beckham Off Ronaldo On ??

Now that one transfer is certain there are rumors about the second.

David Beckham will leave Real Madrid and join Major League Soccer side LA Galaxy at the end of the season. He will sign a five-year deal, reportedly worth £128m. His contract with Real Madrid ends on 30 June 2007.

"Real asked me to make a decision regarding their offer to extend my contract.After considering several options to stay in Madrid or join other major British and European teams, I have decided to join LA Galaxy.", said Beckham.

Beckham promised he would continue giving his 100% for Real till he is with them.

Meanwhile, there have been some rumors regarding Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United) moving to Real Madrid.


Spanish media have reported that the 22-year-old Portuguese international will be the big summer target for Real Madrid, who were also heavily linked to the player last year.

Ronaldo, whose current contract ties him to Old Trafford until 2010, has said in the past that he would like to leave England for Spain.

Talking to reporters Manchester United assistant coach Carlos Queiroz said he wouldn't find better conditions there than those which he already has. Ronaldo 'has nothing to gain'

So,will it be Beckham Off - Ronaldo On ??

Image Source : BBC Sport, 4THEGAME.com

Ooooooooohhhhhhh wat a FINISH !!

It's Henry with the head...into the nets..and thats 2-1 to Arsenal...the ManU fans cant believe it....





Arsenal fans had a reason to smile though their team was put on the back foot by their opponents earlier in the game.

Manchester United started off well trying to create chances in the initial part of the first half, but not after much time switched to a defensive approach.

The first half saw some good shots countered by some equally good goal keeping, especially by Lehmann in the injury time after the first half.



The start of the second half showcased the rising energy levels of players from both the sides and it was in the 53rd minute when Ronaldo's pass sent Evra away down the left who curled it in the box followed by a brilliant header from the United Striker Rooney putting his side upfront..
ManU 1 Arsenal 0..



Arsenal tried hard to get back into the game but failed to get past the United defence. Rosicky fired in shots from outside the box at several occasions but all flew away from the goal. It seemed that despite all the hard work Arsenal would not be able to equalize.

Arsenal fans had some hope when v.Persie came in as a first substitute replacing Hleb.

It was in the 83rd minute when Fabregas whipped in a cross and Henry dummied it to v.Persie, who scored the much needed equalizer..
ManU 1 Arsenal 1



Man fans seemed disappointed unaware that there was more in store for them.

The game was heading towards a draw with ManU getting to extended their lead over Chelsea to seven points.

But it was in the last minute of the 4 minutes injury time when

"It's Henry with the head...into the nets..and thats 2-1 to Arsenal...the ManU fans cant believe it...."

Thierry Henry directed Eboue's cross with a powerful header into the nets giving van der Sar no chance and it was ManU 1 Arsenal 2...


Ooooooooohhhhhhh wat a FINISH !!

Image Source : FOX Sports and espnstar