FIFA Congress adopts “6 + 5″ resolution
May 31, 2008
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The 58th FIFA Congress meeting held in Sydney has adopted a resolution about “6 + 5″. You may be wondering just what is that all about.
The six plus five proposal is where at the beginning of each match, each club must field at least six players who are eligible to play for the national team of the country or club. There are no restrictions on how many non-eligible players are contracted to a club nor on substitutes. It would be possible to end a match with three plus eight.
The resolution is seen as illegal in the European Union however the legal basis of the Treaty of Lisbon which comes into force on 1 January 2009 makes it more likely to be adopted in Europe.
FIFA is trying to stop the practice of club teams being dominated by foreign players. In the English Premier League it is quite common to see the top teams fielding maybe 9 of 11 foreign players in the starting lineup.
FIFA is looking to implement the changes over time starting with the 2010-2011 season. It will be a 4 + 7 limit in 2010-2011, 5 + 7 in 2011-2012 and finally the 6 + 5 for 2012-2013.
Leave a reply with your thoughts on the FIFA resolution.
French Open tennis day 7 preview
May 31, 2008
Day 7 at the French Open will see the tournaments top seeds for men and women in action on court Chatrier.
Maria Sharapova is second to play against Karin Knapp who is seeded 32. This is the first time the two players have met. The winner will advance to the fourth round at the French Open.
Roger Federer plays the fourth match of the day on centre court when he faces Mario Ancic. The tall Croatian was the last player to defeat Federer at Wimbledon. This victory came in 2002. Since then Federer has had the measure on Ancic with four straight wins included a win at Roland Garros in the 2006 quarterfinals.
The first match on centre court sees two Russian women looking to move into the fourth round when no. 4 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova plays no. 25 seed Nadia Petrova. Kutnetsova would be favoured to win this match. She is 3-1 in the head to head with Petrova with the last win coming on clay in the 2007 Berlin Open.
French fans will be hoping that the good form of the French men on centre court will continue when Gael Monfils plays Jurgen Melzer. The Austrian is looking to better his 3rd round result in the 2005 French Open. On the other hand Monfils is hoping to match his best effort at the French Open by reaching the fourth round. The two players have met once before. That match was on grass at the Queen’s Club in 2006. Monfils won 7-6, 7-6 on that occasion.
No. 5 seed in the men’s tournament at Roland Garros David Ferrer will be tested by former world no. 1 player Lleyton Hewitt. Although Hewitt may run out of steam as he has not played much in recent times due to a hip injury. He is a fighter so you never know. Hewitt leads the head to head 1-0 following a round of 16 win at Wimbledon in 2006.
Jelena Jankovic has her third round match to complete. She leads Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 4-2.
Other interesting matchups include Stanislas Wawrinka versus Fernando Gonzalez. The no. 9 seeded Swiss player will be looking to consolidate his place in the top ten on the ATP rankings and has good recent form on clay after reaching the semis in Barcelona and the final of the Rome Masters. The head to head is 4-0 in favour of Gonzalez although all his wins came in 2006.
For the full schedule of French Open matches visit Roland Garros dot com.
French Open tennis day 6 results
May 31, 2008
It was not a good day for the Williams sisters at Roland Garros on day 6 of the 2008 French Open. First Serena was bundled out in straight sets. She lost to Katarina Srebotnik 6-4, 6-4. Later in the day Venus also exited the open with a 7-5, 6-3 loss to Flavia Pennetta.
The women’s top seeds had no such trouble. No. 1 seeded Maria Sharapova was once again made to work, however she came through her match against Bethanie Mattek of the USA with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win. Last years beaten finalist and no. 2 see Ana Ivanovic won in straight sets over Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-1.
14th seeded Agnieszka Radwanska defeated France’s Alize Cornet 6-4, 6-4. Patty Schnyder (10) defeated Emilie Loit 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-2. Carla Suarez Navarro defeated Australia’s top ranked female player, Casey Dellacqua 6-3, 6-3.
In the men’s tournament it was business as usual for Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Nadal easily moved into the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Jarkko Nieminen. Djokovic also moved into the fourth round following his 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 win over Wayne Odesnik.
Center court was kind to two Frenchmen with Michael Llodra picking up a win over Simone Bolelli 7-6(2), 6-4, 7-6(5). Coutryman Paul-Henri Mathieu defeated Argentina’s Eduardo Schwank 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(9).
Broncos win thriller over Eels
May 30, 2008
The Brisbane Broncos welcomed back Darren Lockyer from injury and left it to him to snatch the game in the dying seconds at Suncorp Stadium.
If Luke Burt had his kicking boots on things may have been different. As it turned out the match was one of the most exciting so far this season.
The Eels got off to a dream start when Feleti Mateo went over after 5 minutes to give his team a 4-0 lead. The conversion by Burt made it 6-0. The Eels fans did not have to wait long before their team crossed again. This time it was Joel Reddy who scored in the ninth minute to make it 10-0.
Brisbane got into the game when their no. 2 went over for what was to be the first of four tries. The try to Denan Kemp made the score 10-4 to Parra.
Just when it seemed the Eels were going to maintain their edge a try was scored by Justin Hodges. A penalty goal in the 35th minute saw the teams go into halftime with the visitors ahead 12-10.
Early in the second half it was Parramatta again who started the scoring when Luke Burt scored and converted his try to make it 18-10.
From here it was all the Broncos until the 73rd minute. Two more tries by Denan Kemp and a penalty goal made the score 26-18 to the home team.
It was now that Parramatta made a late charge. A high kick to the left corner saw Krisnan Inu rise above his Broncos opponent to take the ball and plant it down out wide to score.
Parramatta now were just four points behind with the score 26-22 and 7 minutes to play. Just to make it more exciting it was Inu again who scored a fantastic try following a chip and chase by the Parra no. 6 Feleti Mateo. The Inu try was scored just inside the left corner and gave Burt a chance to be a hero. His shot missed and the match looked set to go into extra time.
Here is where Lockyer stepped up. With just second left on the clock he took the ball from a scrambled pass out of dummyhalf, he summed up the situation and chipped a kick for the flying Kemp who with several Parra players attempting to tackle him slid over the line for his fourth try of the match and more importantly the match winner.
The final score was 30-26.
What a great game this was to watch. It remains to be seen if the Queensland selectors rush Lockyer back into the team for state of origin game 2.
Bryant shoots Spurs out of NBA finals
May 30, 2008
Kobe Bryant has scored 39 points to play a key role in eliminating the defending NBA champions, San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs came out firing and had a comfortable 13 point lead after a 28-15 first quarter. Tim Duncan and Michael Finley combined to give the Spurs 15 points in the opening period.
The second quarter started with the Spurs further building their lead after a 15-1 run in the first 7 or so minutes. At this point they were up 33-16. Jordan Farmar finally got things going for the Lakers with 3 straight baskets to edge back into the match.
By the end of the first half the Lakers had worked their way back to 48-42. Kobe Bryant was now starting to have more of a say in the proceedings and ended the half with 13 points.
The Lakers have shown in other games that they can chase down a lead and they again proved that in this game. Youth and speed can help when up against an older team.
Apart from a lead in the opening minutes the Lakers did not get their noses in front until it was 61-60 with 1:11 left in the third quarter. The Lakers slowly pulled away however could not shake the Spurs. With 2:45 to go on the clock the score was 85-82 in favour of Los Angeles.
It was not until the last two minutes that the Lakers got the edge and went on to claim their spot in the NBA finals for the first time in 4 years.
The Lakers must now wait to see who they will face in the finals. Boston has the lead in the series over Detroit who play on Friday night in Detroit. If the Pistons win at home the series will be decided in Boston on Sunday.
Women’s Olympic volleyball teams decided in Tokyo
May 29, 2008
Eight teams gathered in Tokyo for a tournament from 17-25 May. The prize was an Olympic berth for four of the teams.
After all the teams played each other in the round robin format it was Poland, Serbia, Japan and Kazakhstan who booked their spot in the 12 team Olympic volleyball tournament.
Kazakhstan were the surprise team to qualify for the games in Beijing. Korea would have been the more fancied team to join Japan at the Olympics however the central Asian team made a late run to steal a spot. Going into the last two matches they were winless.
On the last day Korea, Thailand and Kazakhstan were a chance to grab the last spot which was awarded to the best Asian team to not finish in the top three spots. Korea missed their chance to seal the Olympic berth after a loss to the Dominican Republic 3-1. Kazakhstan defeated Thailand to end the tournament with a 2-5 record.
Who would go to Beijing as Asia’s qualifier came down to points. It was Kazakhstan who had the better points ratio and the ticket to Beijing.
The twelve teams to contest the women’s Olympic volleyball tournament are: China, Italy, Brazil, USA, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Poland, Serbia and Japan.
Celtics tease Pistons in game 5 win
May 29, 2008
Boston in the third quarter of their Eastern Conference final match had Detroit on the ropes. They held a commanding 17 point lead with 3:32 left on the clock in third quarter.
Did Boston go to sleep? or did Detroit wakeup? In the remaining minutes of the match Detroit worked themselves back into the match and with just 8 seconds left in the match they were just 1 point behind with the scores at 102-101 in favor of the Boston team playing on their home court.
The Celtics now lead the series 3-2 with game 6 back in Detroit on Friday. If the Celtics can steal another away win they will be going to the NBA finals for the first time since 1987 when the team included Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale.
In this game it was another Kevin who came up with the goods. Kevin Garnett scored 33 points for his team. He was backed up by Ray Allen who knocked in 29 including a key jumper with one minute left in the match.
Detroit will now need to make sure they are on their game when they play on their home court in the next match. If they have an off night they will be eliminated from the 2008 NBA playoffs.
FIFA World Cup qualifying Australia v Iraq to go ahead
May 29, 2008
Earlier this week FIFA announced that Iraq had been suspended from the governing body of football. This came following the Iraqi Govenment’s decision to dissolve the Iraq Football Association along with all other national sporting bodies in Iraq.
The announcement meant that the Australia-Iraq World Cup qualifying match scheduled for Brisbane this Sunday was off. This came as a great disappointment to all involved, especially the fans.
The Football Federation of Australia stood to lose up to $3 million if the match did not go ahead.
In news today FIFA lifted its suspension of the Iraqi national football team. FIFA said that they received a letter from the Iraqi Government saying that the football federation had been excluded from the decree.
FIFA has warned that the matter is not closed and that it could re-impose the suspension.
Iraq are the reigning Asian champions having won the title last year in Jakarta. Australia were soundly defeated by Iraq 3-1 in the group stage of the competition and will be keen to show the football world that they are better than the results showed in the Asian Cup.
Australia with four points currently sit at the top of the World Cup qualifying group that also includes China and Qatar. Iraq will be keen to score full points against Australia as they are in last spot after a draw and a loss in their first two games.
The match is due to kickoff at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium at 5pm Sunday June 1.
Lakers one match from NBA finals
May 29, 2008
The Los Angeles Lakers have held off a late charge from San Antonio to win game 4 of their match against the defending NBA champs. With 56 seconds on the clock the Lakers were ahead 93-86. The Spurs got to 91-93 with 28 seconds to go however that was the end of the scoring.
The Lakers are now ahead in the series 3-1. With a home game on Thursday the Lakers would be odds on to wrapup the series and move into the NBA finals.
Kobe Bryant once again lead the way in the scoring for the Lakers with 28 points. It was a good team effort as the scoring was spread across the team.
San Antonio had three players that did the bulk of the scoring. Tim Duncan was top scorer with 29. Tony Parker and Brent Barry also make good contributions with 23 apiece.
For the Spurs to stay in the finals they will now have to go to Los Angeles and upset the Lakers on their home court.
As the sun finally shone on Roland Garros
May 29, 2008
After little play the past few days due to the rain the players finally got to spend enough time on the clay at Roland Garros to complete the first round of play.
Defending three-time champion Rafael Nadal had a solid win over Thomaz Bellucci to move into the second round. The final score was 7-5, 6-3, 6-1.
In the women’s draw six seeded players were eliminated in the first round. The highest seed to lose was France’s Marion Bartoli (9) who went down to Casey Dellacqua 7-6(4), 6-3, 6-2. Others to lose were Nicole Vaidisova (15), Shahar Peer (17), Sybille Bammer (20), Alona Bondarenko (23) and Virginie Razzano (24).
Women’s top seed Maria Sharapova was lucky to move into the second round. In her match against fellow Russian Evgeniya she was taken to 8-6 in the third set. The final score was 6-1, 3-6, 8-6. After the match the world no. 1 player said “I was very close to losing this match.”
In the men’s side of the draw eight seeds went out in the first round. 13 was unlucky for Juan Monaco as he became the highest seeded player to be ousted in the first round. He lost to Robin Soderling 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.
Hopefully better weather is ahead for the French Open as there are still games to be played to get the tournament back on schedule at Roland Garros.
