Champions League Gerrard rocket brings up goal 100 for Liverpool
October 2, 2008
Steven Gerrard has brought up his 100th goal for Liverpool in style. He struck a rocket of a shot in the 76th minute from a free kick. This came in the UEFA Champions League match against visiting PSV Eindhoven.
Liverpool got off to a brilliant start when Dirk Kuyt scored after 4 minutes. The goal came after a good shot by Fernando Torres was blocked by the diving keeper. Kuyt grabbed the long rebound to shoot home.
The next Liverpool goal cam at the 34th minute mark. Torres made a good run down the right wing before sending in a cross for Robbie Keane to nicely deflect into the left side of the goal. Finally the €25m signing had scored for his new team following the transfer from Tottenham Hotspur FC in the summer. Like Peter Crouch several years ago this may open the floodgates for Keane.
PSV did not manage to get a single shot on target until the 78th minute. The result was a goal. It came after a good cross was whipped in at an angle from the right to Danny Koevermans. His one touch sent the ball past Reina into the back of the net. At the time his team were already down by three goals so the match was as good as over.
Liverpool deserved their win as they controlled the ball well and had many more scoring opportunities. Not long befre Gerrard scored his great goal Torres was gifted a good opportunity. A PSV back pass was the perfect through ball for the Spanish international. He advanced to the goal with just the keeper to beat however the tight angle made it difficult. From a similar spot in the Euro finals he scored however this time he shot wide.
Liverpool now have two wins from as many starts compared to last season when they had just one point from two matches. In the other match in group D Atletico joined Liverpool at the top of the group with a 2-1 win over Marseille.
CFR 1907 Cluj managed to hold Chelsea to a 0-0 draw in group A.
Barcelona were lucky to come away from their match with a win after an injury time goal by Messi shattered Shakhtar as they lost 2-1. Shakhtar lead one nil from the 45th minute until two later Barcelona goals changed that. Messi scored in the 87th minute and the fourth minute of extra time.
UEFA Champions League matchday three will be played on 21-22 October.
Arsenal lose top spot after shock loss to Hull City
September 28, 2008
Premier League newcomers Hull City have prevented Arsenal from going back to the top of the ladder after a surprise win at Arsenal’s home ground. Liverpool and Chelsea had taken top spot earlier in the day after both had 2-0 wins against Everton and Stoke City.
Arsenal playing the late game would have gone to the top of the ladder with a win over Hull City who are playing in the Premier League for the first time. The result brought an end to Arsenal’s unbeaten run of 17 months at home. Hull City is now just one point behind Arsenal on the Premier League ladder with 11 points from 6 matches.
Arsenal took the lead in the 50th minute thanks to an own goal by Hull City. Geovanni levelled the scores with a spectacular effort on the 61 minute mark. The winning goal came just five minutes later when Daniel Cousin’s headed home.
For a full Arsenal - Hull City match report visit the Premier League website.
In the 208th Merseyside derby it was the men in red who got over the men in blue. Liverpool’s Fernando Torres struck twice to give his team a 2-0 victory.
For a full Liverpool - Everton match report visit the Premier League website.
Chelsea went top of the English premier league table after they defeated Stoke City 2-0. Chelsea are level on points with Liverpool, both teams have 14 points. Chelsea are ahead on goal difference. The win came thanks to the first goal in Chelsea colours for Jose Bosingwa and a goal setup by Bosingwa that was scored by Nicolas Anelka.
For a full Chelsea - Stoke City match report visit the Premier League website.
After a poor start to the season Manchester United have edged closer to the top of the Premier League after a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers. The first goal was scored for Man Utd from the penalty spot when Cristiano Ronaldo beat the keeper on the 60 minute mark. Wayne Rooney who came on as a substitute scored six minutes after joining the game. His goal was scored at the 77 minute mark of the match.
For a full Man Utd - Stoke City match report visite the Premier League website.
Manchester United and Chelsea draw leaves Arsenal at top of English Premier League
September 22, 2008
On Sunday in the English Premier League Manchester United travelled to Stamford Bridge to take on Chelsea. The clash saw the top two teams from the previous Premier League season and the Champions League go head to head.
Chelsea were looking to take top spot from Arsenal while Manchester were keen to take full points to close the gap with the top teams.
Manchester United opened the scoring when Ji-Sung Park scored after 18 minutes. It was looking as though Chelsea’s long unbeaten run at home was going to come to an end before Kalou scored on 80 minutes.
With the 1-1 result Chelsea joined Liverpool on 10 points just one behind top placed Arsenal. Manchester United is still in the bottom half of the ladder on 5 points from four matches.
Were Liverpool robbed in their Premier League match against Stoke?
September 21, 2008
In their Premier League match against Stoke, Liverpool appeared to have made the perfect start when Steven Gerrard sent the ball into the back of the net from a free kick. The players were celebrating before finding that the goal had been disallowed. It was possibly for Dirk Kuyt being offside.
The commentator for this game said it was a bad decision, Rafa Benitez was not impressed and even Stoke manager Tony Pulis admitted his side was fortunate to escape “with a decision that went our way at Anfield”.
Just why was the goal disallowed, we do not know for sure. People that saw the play said Kuyt was not offside.
The result is that Liverpool ended up only getting a draw from the match. They now have dropped from top spot on the Premier League. Hopefully at the end of the season it will not come down to a two point margin that costs Liverpool the title.
What do you think about the decision? Were Liverpool robbed?
Liverpool claim first league win over Man United in Benitez era
September 14, 2008
Rafael Benitez was appointed manager of Liverpool in 2004. Since that time his team had not managed a league win against Manchester United. On Saturday that changed as Liverpool pulled off a 2-1 victory over the best team in Europe.
The match did not start well as Carlos Tevez side footed in a Dimitar Berbatov pull back after just three minutes. Liverpool levelled the match thanks to an own goal when United keeper Edwin Van der Sar palmed a clearance against Wes Brown. He then saw it roll into his net to give Liverpool a goal.
Liverpool were playing without two of their star players in the starting line-up. Both Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard were on the bench. Gerrard came into the game on the 68th minute while Torres was not used. Despite this the Liverpool team showed they are contenders for the title.
The winning goal came from the boot of substitute Ryan Babel in the 77th minute. He received a pass from Dirk Kuyt and then fired home to send the home crowd into a frenzy.
The win saw Liverpool on 10 points take top spot in the Premier League until a win by Chelsea later in the day meant Chelsea are on top by goal difference. Arsenal are in third spot with 9 points with Hull City in fourth. Manchester United are way down in 13th spot with 4 points from 3 matches. They have a game in hand.
England thrash Croatia in FIFA World Cup qualifier
September 11, 2008
In the most recent qualifying campaign before the FIFA World Cup England failed to earn a spot in the European Cup finals played earlier this year. This was partly due to two losses against Croatia, including a 3-2 loss at home on the final day of qualifying.
Going into the match in Zagreb the English would have been keen to make amends for the past failure. Before the match the Croatians had not lost at home in its short history. They opened the 2010 World Cup qualifying at home with a comfortable 3-0 win over Kazakhstan. The English on the other hand a less than impressive start against Andorra where they won 2-0.
What was to follow will no doubt have delighted English fans. Many will be asking is this the new England? It is after all the beginning of a new era under the guidance of Fabio Capello.
In the match England erased all memory of the previous losses to Croatia. They also ruined the home teams 31 home game unbeaten streak. Theo Walcott would turn out to be the hero of the day. He scored his first international goal on the way to a memorable hat-trick for England as they defeated Croatia 4-1.
The youngster was given the nod ahead of David Beckham and as it turned out it was a wise decision. Wayne Rooney did a good job setting up the goals for Walcott as well as grabbing one for himself.
The Walcott goals came in the 26th, 59th and 81st minutes. Rooney scored in the 63rd minute. Mario Mandzukic scored a consolation goal for Croatia in the 77th minute.
Robert Kovac was sent from the field in the 51st minute after he hit Joe Cole with his elbow when making a challenge.
Time will tell if this is a new chapter in the story of English international football. Recent years have not been that inspirational for a country that prides itself as one of the best. At the club level the top clubs such as Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool have shown that they are the best. Now is the time for this club level dominance to transfer itself to the national team.
In other World Cup qualifying action the main upset was Portugal’s loss at home to Denmark. The score was 3-2 in favor of the visitors. France made a return to the winners circle with a 2-1 win over Serbia.
The next qualifying matches for the Europe zone take place on 11/10/2008. Germany at home to Russia is probably the standout match from the scheduled fixtures. Sweden and Portugal should also be interesting.
European qualifiers for 2010 Football World Cup kick off
September 7, 2008
The European zone of the football World Cup has started its qualifying matches over the weekend. With the World Cup finals in South Africa still 641 days away it signals the first step for many of the big guns of Europe as they begin their quest to hold up the World Cup trophy in 2010.
Some of the surprises to come out of European matchday 1 was the defeat of France at the hands of Austria. The Austrians surprised the 2006 runnersup with a 3-1 win. Following this performance France may be hard pressed to even make the finals in South Africa.
The 2006 winners needed a last minute goal to take the maximum points against Cyprus. It was 1-1 until a 90th minute goal by Antonio di Natale saved the world champions from an inglorious opening to the qualifying campaign.
England playing their first competitive match under new coach Fabio Capello were not that convincing against Andorra. They did however win 2-0 thanks to two second half goals by Ashley Cole. Also in group 6 Ukraine snatched a late win with a 93rd-minute penalty goal to Andriy Shevchenko against Belarus. Croatia looked the most impressive in the group with a 3-0 win against Kazakhstan.
For the full list of European World Cup 2010 qualifying results from the weekend head over to the FIFA website. The next matchday in on 10 September.
Liverpool sneak through to Champions League group stage
August 28, 2008
Liverpool has taken until the 118th minute of their second leg Champions League playoff match against Standard Liege to score a goal that sees them advance to the prestigous group stage.
The goal was scored by Dirk Kuyt after a cross was supplied by Ryan Babel. It was more significant for the Dutch star as he was playing in his 100th match for the club.
To miss the group stage would have dealt Liverpool a financial blow as the revenue generated from the group stage is quite lucrative and has been relied on in recent years to improve the Liverpool squad.
Liverpool will be keen to make the final in May 2009 to be played in Rome as this was the stadium where Liverpool’s Emlyn Hughes lifted the club’s first European Cup back in 1977.
Standard Liege can be proud of their effort to hold the might of Liverpool to just the one goal however they would also be bitterly dissapointed to go so close to forcing a penalty shootout that could have gone either way.
The draw for the 2008/09 Champions League group stage will take place from 1800 CET on Thursday 28th August at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum.
For a full list of stage 3 Champions League results you can visit the UEFA website.
44 year wait finally over for Spain as they claim the Euro 2008 trophy
June 30, 2008
In 1964 Spain won their first European title. In 2008 a 44 year wait for Spanish fans is finally over. In 1984 the Spanish team reached the final of the European Cup but since then they have failed to live up to expectations, that is until now.
A fantastic Fernando Torres goal in the 33rd minute where he outpaced Philipp Lahm before chipping delightfully over goalkeeper Jens Lehmann to score the only goal of the match. A pass from Xavi Hernández had released Torres on his way to scoring.
Several minutes earlier the post had denied Torres after he had shook off Per Mertesacker to create some space for a header only to see it bounce back off the upright.
The fact that Spain had not been this far in a major tournament since 1984 was seen as more of an inspriration rather than a burden as they entered the final against Germany.
At the start of the match the German team had been boosted with the news that their captain Michael Ballack would take part in the match after earlier talk of him being forced out with a calf injury.
Germany started the match looking better than Spain, however as time passed the Spaniards gradually took control of the match.
In the end Spain has finally delivered on the talent that comes out of the country. Now it remains to be seen if they can go on with things and claim the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Final round of Asian qualifying for FIFA world cup 2010
June 29, 2008
The 10 teams that qualified for the final stage of Asian zone qualifying now know their opponents in what will decide the four teams to qualify for the 2010 FIFA word cup in South Africa. A fifth team could also qualify if they defeat the Oceania playoff team.
The teams were drawn into two groups of 5 teams. Australia and Korea Republic were seeded in the different groups and could not be drawn together. The groups are below.
Group 1: Australia, Japan, Bahrain, Uzbekistan, Qatar
Group 2: Korea Republic, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Korea DPR, United Arab Emirates
Match schedule (TBC):
(The ten teams, divided into two groups of five, will play home-and-away. Home teams given first:)
Matchday 1: 6 September 2008 - 3 v 2, 5 v 4 (1 bye)
MD 2: 10 September 2008 - 4 v 1; 5 v 3 (2 bye)
MD 3: 15 October 2008 - 1 v 5; 2 v 4 (3 bye)
MD 4: 19 November 2008 - 5 v 2; 3 v 1 (4 bye)
MD 5: 11 February 2009 - 4 v 3; 2 v 1 (5 bye)
MD 6: 28 March 2009 - 2 v 3, 4 v 5 (1 bye)
MD 7: 1 April 2009 - 1 v 4; 3 v 5 (2 bye)
MD 8: 6 June 2009 - 5 v 1; 4 v 2 (3 bye)
MD 9: 10 June 2009 - 2 v 5; 1 v 3 (4 bye)
MD 10: 17 June 2009 - 3 v 4; 1 v 2 (5 bye)
Australia and Japan will continue their World Cup rivalry after facing each other in the group stage in the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany. On that occasion Australia got the points.
Australia and Qatar opponents in the previous group stage are paired up once again. Australia will be hoping to have repeat of the impressive wins against Qatar.
The two Korean teams are together again for this stage of qualifying after coming through from the same group.
There will be no easy matches in the race for a spot at the 2010 World Cup.
Who are your picks to advance from the Asian zone? Leave you comment below. Also if you want to share this article you can use the ShareThis link below.
