All Entries In Football Category
By Arsenal cruised into the draw for the group stages of the Champions League with a 6-0 aggregate victory over former England manager, Steve McClaren's Dutch side, FC Twente.
Liverpool had Dirk Kuyt to thank for their qualification. A poor Liverpool had to wait until the 118th minute of tonight's game before Kuyt pounced on a Ryan Babel cross to give them a 1-0 victory on the night, and on aggregate, over Belgian outfit, Standard Liege.
They both join England's two automatic qualifiers, Manchester United and Chelsea, in Thursday's draw. 17 nations are represented in this year's draw, and no 2 clubs from the same nation can be drawn in the same group. By co-efficient Manchester United are actually the 5th ranked club in the tournament, but are seeded number 1 as holders. All 4 English clubs are in Pot 1, along with 2 of Spain's 4 entrants, 1 of Italy's 4 entrants and 1 of France's 3 entrants. Scotland's only surviving entrant, Celtic, are in Pot 3.
The draw will be made at 18:00CET and the teams involved are as follows:
Pot 1:
1 Manchester United FC (ENG, holders)
2 Chelsea FC (ENG)
3 Liverpool FC (ENG)
4 FC Barcelona (ESP)
5 Arsenal FC (ENG)
6 Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
7 FC Internazionale Milano (ITA)
8 Real Madrid CF (ESP)
Pot 2:
9 FC Bayern München (GER)
10 PSV Eindhoven (NED)
11 Villarreal CF (ESP)
12 AS Roma (ITA)
13 FC Porto (POR)
14 Werder Bremen (GER)
15 Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
16 Juventus (ITA)
Pot 3:
17 Olympique de Marseille (FRA)
18 FC Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS)
19 FC Steaua Bucureşti (ROU)
20 Panathinaikos FC (GRE)
21 FC Girondins de Bordeaux (FRA)
22 Celtic FC (SCO)
23 FC Basel 1893 (SUI)
24 Fenerbahçe SK (TUR)
Pot 4:
25 FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
26 ACF Fiorentina (ITA)
27 Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
28 FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
29 CFR 1907 Cluj (ROU)
30 Aalborg BK (DEN)
31 Anorthosis Famagusta FC (CYP)
32 FC BATE Borisov (BLR)
I've just watched England grab a thoroughly undeserved 2-2 draw against the Czech Republic at Wembley in their final friendly game before their 2010 World Cup Qualifying campaign starts.
Milan Baros had put the visitors ahead after 21 minutes before Wes Brown equalised just before half-time with his first ever goal for England. A minute into the second half and the Czech Repblic are back ahead thanks to a brilliant curling free-kick from Marek Jankulovski. Joe Cole got England back level with a scrambled equaliser in injury time at the end of the game.
To be honest, England never really looked like winning the game and the Czech Republic can rightly feel disappointed that they didn't leave with a victory. England's only highlights were Wes Brown, who had a really good game, and Joe Cole, who came on after 55 minutes. From watching the game I have to wonder about some England players and their downright refusal to pass the ball. I counted at least half a dozen times when either David Beckham or Gareth Barry were calling for the ball in midfield with nobody near them and they were ignored.
England next play against Andorra in Barcelona on 6th September and should win that game. Andorra aren't a strong nation and England should be able to beat them. However, 4 days later, they play away in Croatia and on tonight's performance they will need to improve dramatically to get anything out of that game.
I know that the English Championship and Leagues returned last weekend, along with the Scottish League; but for most, the return of the English FA Carling Barclays Premier League for the 2008/09 season today marks the true start of the new season.
I was disappointed with Peterborough United losing away to Southend in League One last weekend and then going out of the Carling Cup in mid-week by losing to Bristol City. Hopefully, they can get back on track by beating Leyton Orient this afternoon. I'm not going to predict that they'll win the division but I'm hoping they will be there or thereabouts come mid-May.
In the top flight, West Bromich Albion visit Arsenal in the first game of the new season at lunchtime, live on Sky Sports. The rest of the programme kicks off as normal at 3pm. Sunderland host Liverpool this evening in the live game on Setanta Sports. Tomorrow sees Chelsea host Portsmouth followed by Manchester United hosting Newcastle United. Both games are on Sky Sports.
In terms of the season as a whole it would appear that the three newcomers, Hull City, West Brom and Stoke City, along with the likes of Wigan Athletic, Fulham, Bolton Wanderers and Middlesbrough could all find themselves struggling in the bottom half of the table.
At the top of the table you really cannot look beyond the usual suspects of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool fighting it out for the title. Tottenham Hotspur have made some significant moves in the transfer market and could end up forcing their way into the mix also. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Aston Villa, Everton, Blackburn Rovers, Newcastle United and Manchester City all had an effect on the title race. I can't see them breaking into the mix by they could definitely get results to upset the apple cart.
Ultimately, and I'm no expert, I think that Stoke City, Hull City and West Brom will find life in the top division too hard and will end up going back down to the Championship come the end of the season.
At the top of the table I'm predicting Manchester United to win the title again; I couldn't say anything else as a fan really. I think Chelsea will finish 2nd and Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham will fight it out for the two remaining Champions League spots in 3rd and 4th. With the unlucky third of the three finishing 5th and qualifying for the UEFA Cup. The 2 main domestic Cups could end up anywhere but I think they'll both be dominated by the top six or seven clubs in the League. The Johnstone Paints Trophy will hopefully find it's way to London Road; the home of Peterborough United.
In terms of this season's UEFA Cup I think there are too many strong sides in the competition for an English Club to win it. I could see it going to Spain with Sevilla FC, Valencia CF or RC Deportivo La Coruña, to Italy with AC Milan or Napoli, to Portugal with SL Benfica or even to France with Rennes . It could all depend upon the eight teams that end up in the knockout stages of UEFA Cup after finishing third in the Champions League groups. The UEFA Cup Final will be held on Wednesday 20 May 2009 at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul.
The same four English clubs that qualified for last season's UEFA Champions League have qualified again this season. All four clubs have proven they have the ability to go all the way and will all face tough competition from Europe's elite. Europe's top clubs such as Real Madrid CF, FC Barcelona, FC Internazionale Milano, Juventus, Olympique Lyonnais, FC Bayern München and Sporting Clube de Portugal will all feature prominently. However, I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with multiple English participants in the latter stages again and I am once again picking Manchester United to win the trophy. The Champions League Final will be held on Wednesday 27 May 2009 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
A friend was kind enough to pass me some Manchester United memorabilia earlier this year; as thanks for some work that I had done for them. However, I now find myself in the position of needing to raise some cash to fund a trip later this month and have taken the unfortunate decision that the memorabilia may help raise the necessary funds. I would really have liked to keep them but needs must.
If you're a Manchester United fan then please check out what I'm selling on eBay.
Manchester United have won the first silverware of the season by beating Portsmouth on penalties in the 100th Community Shield. United have won the Shield a record 13 times and have also shared it 5 times. Ryan Giggs became the first player in history to win the Shield 7 times.
United thoroughly deserved the win and should really have won the game before it went to penalties. Darren Fletcher missed a good chance near the end of the first half and Carlos Tevez was pulled down in the Portsmouth box with less than 15 minutes left; but nothing was given.
With the new football season less than a month away the time has come for the papers to start hyping their Fantasy Football games. Over the past few years I've played in the Telegraph Fantasy Football along with a bunch of work colleagues. I received an email this morning about the Guardian Fantasy Football, which is free, and since I'm not working at the moment I've decided to join up. You're given a budget of £100m and have to pick a squad of 15 players. My current first eleven is M Almunia, L King, P Evra, M Skrtel, S Warnock, G Barry, C Ronaldo, R Giggs, D Bentley, R Santa Cruz & D Berbatov. My substitutes are M Schwarzer, S Campbell, A Smertin & J Elmander.
You can sign up here and I have created a league called "Bowch's Blog League" which I have already invited a load of friends to. If I haven't invited you and you would like to participate then drop me an email and I'll give you the password.
My mate Mark is a huge Manchester United fan and something of a stats nerd; which is something I would never have pegged him as when we were younger. Anyway, he has been running a website for about 10 years now and had recently decided it needed sprucing up.
We've sat down a few times together over the last couple of months and had come to a decision to transfer all the content over into Movable Type from Frontpage. However, after I'd transferred about ½ of the content we re-evaluated and came to the decision that Movable Type was really not suitable for the task. After further delving with Frontpage we've came up with a really elegant solution that uses more of Frontpage's core features.
The site did have a sort of uniformed design already; a header, footer, left sidebar and a right sidebar on most of the pages. The rest of the pages just had the header, footer and left sidebar. However, all the pages used inline frames for the header, footer and sidebars.
Mark has spent most of this week playing with Frontpage and has managed to come up with a set of templates that can be assigned to the entire site. The beauty of the system is that Frontpage will update all attached pages if he updates the templates. The test pages he had uploaded looked good but for one or two niggles. I've been up there this evening and have modified the templates to give them a more fluid ability. The newly updated test pages now display great at any resolution of 1024x768 or higher. Previously the right-hand sidebar had expanded to take up all the remaining screen width. Now, the entire page dynamically resizes to take advantage of the extra screen width.
An added advantage is that rather than the updating process taking most of the next month or so we can get it done in only a few nights. I'm due to pop back up to have a look at something else for him next week and fully expect the site to be fully updated to the new template design.
One of the other things we were going to do was add a redirect on his old webspace to point to the new domain. Unfortunately, his old ISP has deleted the old Index pages and won't allow him to upload any files to the space. This has prevented him from installing any sort of redirect. I think the next course of action is to delete the entire site from the old webspace and hope that Google trawls the site again soon, finds no content there, and removes the entries from it's database.
Anyway, the newly relocated site can be found here.
Chelsea are set to smash the world record transfer fee with a £119m bid for AC Milan's Brazilian midfielder Kaka.
The press has been going nuts over the last couple of days regarding comments attributed to Cristiano Ronaldo likening himeself to s slave. This is not what he said.
What actually happened is that in an earlier interview Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, had previously stated that Ronaldo should be allowed to leave United and likened modern football contracts to slavery.
Ronaldo, hobbling on crutches along a pavement in Portugal, was asked if he agreed with Sepp Blatter's comments that he should be allowed to leave Manchester United and go wherever he wishes. His reply was "Yes, I totally agree with Mr Blatter's comments." There was no mention of Blatter's comments about slavery in the interview that took place.
The British media picked up on Ronaldo's reply, took it out of context, and implied that he felt he was a slave at Manchester United. Another case of the British media distorting the facts to suit their own ends and sell more papers.
As a Manchester United fan I'm annoyed in the extreme at Real Madrid's conduct over the last month or so in publicly courting a player under contract at another club. Roman Calderon, Real's president, can deny trying to cause unrest, but the coverage Marca, a Spanish paper, have had over the matter and the fact that every Real player has been instructed to big up Ronaldo whenever interviewed, suggests more than what Madrid are saying. FIFA's investigation of the matter and subsequent decision that Real have done nothing wrong makes a mockery of the tapping-up situation. It would appear that FIFA are saying "If you want to sign a player but don't want to approach his club, just let the papers know and they'll do the job for you."
Ronaldo is being vilified at the moment but the truth of the matter is that he has always expressed a desire to play for Real Madrid one day. All during his time at United he has said this. United fans may have hoped in the past that the day would be long in the future, if at all, but the reality is starting to appear that it could be very soon.
Carlos Quieroz leaving United to take over as Portuguese national manager doesn't help United in their cause but one can only hope that Ronaldo listens to Sir Alex and realises that the best place for him to develop further as a player is currently still in Manchester.
I'm hoping Ronaldo stays for at least one more year, and would hope that he stays until Fergie retires at least. But, I'm a realist, and if he insists on leaving now then United should agree to let him go and try and get a stupid amount of money out of Madrid. Madrid have previously said that they would pay upto €100million before backtracking and saying they would go as high as €70million. If I were the United hierarchy I would reiterate that Ronaldo is not for sale and even if he were then €100million would be a good, although unsuccessful, initial first bid.
Spain have won their first major football title for 44 years by beating Germany 1-0 in the final of Euro 2008. The winning goal was scored after 33 minutes by Liverpool's Fernando Torres and 1-0 doesn't really reflect the dominance that Spain had throughout the game. Germany were very lacklustre and they really cannot complain about the result. In fact, truth be told, it could easily have been 3-0 or more. Early on in the tournament the Netherlands were really the grabbing all the headlines but Spain have also played really well throughout the tournament and more than deserve the title.
Last night's first semi-final saw Germany beat Turkey 3-2 in a game that Turkey twice pulled back to level pegging. Truth be told, Turkey were much the better side for periods of the game and Germany could have had no complaints if they had lost.
Tonight's second semi-final saw Spain beat Russia 3-0 in what was a free-flowing, attractive game. All 3 goals were scored in the second half and the Russians can really have no complaints about the result.
Sunday night's final between Germany and Spain should be a pretty good game and I'm going to predict that Spain will win a very tight game. It could possibly go to extra time or perhaps even the dreaded penalties.
The second semi-final will be between Russia and Spain.
Russia beat Netherlands 3-1 after extra time on Saturday night, in a game that I didn't see. However, Russia apparently were very impressive.
Spain overcame Italy on penalties after a 0-0 draw. I had said that this would either be a very good game or that the Italians would defend and invite the Spanish to try and break them down. It transpired that the Italians played a very defensive game and although both teams had opportunities, 2 hours later and the game went to penalties.
Of the 4 teams I had picked to make the semi-finals only Spain have and on that basis I will pick them to win the second semi-final. I think Germany will probably win the other game, but you just can't write off the Turks.
The first semi-final of Euro 2008 will pit Germany against Turkey. The game will be played next Wednesday; 25th June 2008.
Germany beat Portugal 3.-2 last night and Turkey beat Croatia on penalties following a 1-1 draw after extra time. I had picked Portugal to win the whole tournament and had picked Croatia to get past Turkey.
Following my lack of success in the first two quarter-finals don't be surprised if Russia beat Netherlands and Italy beat Spain to give me an 0-4 record.
The quarter finals of Euro 2008 will feature the following four matches:
Portugal vs Germany
Expect to see a different Portugal side from the one that lost their final group game when the core of the team was rested. Germany didn't have such a luxury after losing to Croatia and had to field a full strength side in their last group game. As long as the Portuguese players don't get dragged into a physical battle with the much bigger German side I can still see Portugal progressing.
Croatia vs Turkey
Croatia surprised a lot of people by beating Germany in their group and are rewarded with a game against Turkey. I haven't been all that impressed with Turkey and I think Croatia will edge a scrappy game.
Netherlands vs Russia
I, like everybody else, have been blown away by the Dutch performances so far. Masterful victories over France and Italy were followed by a relaxed, but still victorious, outing against Romania. I'm not convinced Russia were a better side than Sweden but they managed to get out of the group anyway. I honestly can't see the Russians winning this game and I'm backing the Dutch.
Spain vs Italy
A potential mouth-watering prospect for Sunday night. It really depends if the Italians turn up and play or just sit back defensively and try to snatch a winner, has been their modus operandi in the past. If they sit back I envisage a dour game with the Spanish valiantly trying to break them down. However, if the Italians come out and play a nice, attacking game then I can see this being a very good game. This game could go either way but I think the Spanish will prevail.
Tonight has been a night of shocks in football.
First, Switzerland, already eliminated from Euro 2008, salvaged some pride by beating a below strength Portugal 2-0. In an amazing finish to this evening's other Euro 2008 game Turkey came back from a 2-1 deficit with ten minutes left to shockingly beat Czech Republic 3-2 and progress. An uncharacteristic blunder by Petr Cech in the Czech goal gifted Turkey the equaliser before they got the winner with less than five minutes to play.
In the South American 2010 World Cup Qualifiers Paraguay maintained their spot at the top of the table by beating Brazil 2-0, even after having had a player sent off. In the other qualifier broadcast by Sky this evening Argentina struggled and had to rely on a last gasp equaliser to draw 1-1 at home with Ecuador. Ecuador, who had lost their previous 2 games by a combined ten goals, had taken the lead with just over twenty minutes left and it appeared that they had weathered the storm to end Argentina's 28 game unbeaten home streak in World Cup Qualifiers. However, Argentina equalised with the very last kick of the game.
All the teams at Euro 2008 have now played twice and there have been 1 or 2 shocks so far.
Group A:
Portugal, my original pick, continue to look good, and have already qualified from their group as winners. They play Switzerland tonight with nothing to play for. The other 2 teams in the group; Czech Republic and Turkey also play tonight; at the same time. The winner of that game will go through as runners-up of the group. If they draw, the game will go to penalties to decide who goes through.
Group B:
After drawing their first game against Austria, Croatia went and surprised everybody by beating Germany. They now sit atop this group and if they manage to avoid defeat against Poland tomorrow then they will qualify. If they beat Poland they will qualify as group winners. If Germany beat Austria or even just draw then they will qualify. If Austria win then they will qualify.
Group C;
The Netherlands look unstoppable in what was dubbed 'The Group Of Death'. They followed up their sensational demolition of Italy with an even better thumping of France. They have qualified for the next stage as the winners of their group. France and Italy meet later this week and the loser will definitely be going home. The winner will be hoping that the Netherlands continue in the same form and beat Romania. If Romania win that game then they will go through and both Italy and France will be going home.
Group D:
Spain followed up their emphatic defeat of Russia with a scraped win against Sweden yesterday and have qualified from this group. Russia and Sweden will play each other on Wednesday with the winner advancing to the next stage. A draw favours Sweden. Greece, the defending champions, are rooted to the bottom of this table and have already been eliminated.
I'm sticking with my original pick of Portugal but you cannot discount either the Netherlands or Spain.
The first round of matches at Euro 2008 concluded today with Sweden beating Greece 2-0. Before the tournament began I had been saying that I was backing Portugal and was pleased with their first game victory. They play the Czech Republic tomorrow and victory would all but guarantee a second round berth.
Other countries that have impressed during the first round of matches are the Netherlands; 3-0 winners over Italy, and Spain, 4-1 winners over Russia. Germany didn't impress in beating Poland 2-0 and Sweden seemed to struggle first half before finally beating defending champions Greece 2-0 this evening. France and Romania failed to impress in their 0-0 draw and Italy were outclassed by the Dutch.
All 16 teams still have 2 games to play in the first round of group games, but, my money would still be on Portugal. However, I think Netherlands and Spain will also be thereabouts; and you really cannot discount Germany and whichever team between Italy and France manage to make it out of their group.
Celtic were crowned champions of Scotland for the third consecutive season this evening thanks to a 1-0 win away at Dundee United. Rangers, who had started the night level on points but with a 4 worse goal difference, lost 2-0 at Aberdeen. For long periods of the season Rangers had been in pole position but a couple of poor results handed the advantage to Celtic, and they refused to let it slip.
Manchester United have beaten Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after drawing 1-1 after extra time. Cristiano Ronaldo put United ahead after 26 minutes and United could have had 2 more before Frank Lampard levelled the score just before half-time; thanks to a fortuitous double deflection. Chelsea bossed the second half but couldn't make their advantage count. Both teams had chances in extra time and Chelsea's Didier Drogba was sent off for a stupid slap on Nemanja Vidic.
Crisitano Ronaldo had his penalty saved by Petr Cech before John Terry slipped whilst taking his penalty and hit the post. The tie was decided when Edwin Van Der Sar saved Nicolas Anelka's penalty and handed Manchester United their third European Cup. Iin the 50th anniversary year of the Munich Air Disaster there cannot be many better tributes to the Busby Babes.
Tonight is the night. A night of destiny for either Manchester United or Chelsea. Tonight is the Champions League Final. Kick-off is 7:45pm BST; 10:45pm Local Time. The game is being shown live both on Sky Sports and ITV1 in the UK. It'll be carried live globally by a myriad of other channels.
There's no disguising who I'll be rooting for. It's won't be the blues of Chelsea. I'm a die-hard Manchester United fan and I'll be glued to the TV for the entirety of the game. If anybody tries to contact me, they will be ignored. The only way I'm leaving the front of the TV is if the house burns down around me.
The press conferences yesterday gave some indication of the mood of both teams.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was 15 minutes early for his and happily joked with Wes Brown and Rio Ferdinand before proceedings started in earnest. In buoyant mood throughout, he made reference to not letting down the Busby Babes, exuded confidence in his team and ominously predicted that they can get better. He ended proceedings with a beaming smile and his arms spread wide, "I love you all, I've come to spread peace."
By contrast, Chelsea manager Avram Grant was in a glum and dour mood when he arrived for his press conference 15 minutes late. He responded very defensively to a stream of questions regarding his relationship with Chelsea's owner, the support he has received from the club and questions about his future. Whilst Ferguson is fully aware of the huge part he has to play it would appear that Grant feels differently, "I am a very small part of this."
Both teams should have full squads to choose from when the teams are announced prior to kick-off; although a rash challenge by Claude Makelele on Ashley Cole in a training session caused some concern for Chelsea. Cole resumed training after some treatment but moved gingerly and eventually left training early.
A statement released on Chelsea's official website stated "In a challenge with Claude Makelele in front of hundreds of cameras and the world football press, Ashley Cole hurt his right ankle. He was treated, it was tested, then strapped - but after consultation between Grant, club doctor Bryan English and physios Dave Hancock and Thierry Laurent - Cole resumed and took full part in the final training game - only disappearing down the tunnel after the players had listened to Avram's address and been stood-down for a final kickaround."
Come 10pm this evening; or thereabouts, the destiny of this season's Champions League trophy will have been decided. Hopefully, as a Manchester United fan, I will be celebrating by then.
Congratulations to Portsmouth who just beat Cardiff City 1-0 in the FA Cup Final at Wembley. The goal was scored just before half-time by Nwankwo Kanu after a mistake by Cardiff's goalkeeper Peter Enckelman. It wasn't a particularly good or exciting game but all credit to Harry Redknapp's team.
Portsmouth will join Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City in the UEFA Cup next season.
The Premier League season that just ended was the first in the new 3-year tv deal and as a sign of how much extra money has gone to teams this year, Bolton, who finished 16th, received £32m; the same amount that Manchester United received last year as Champions. Derby, who were relegated with the worst record ever in the Premier League, received £29m. A total of £940m was paid out this year; with £815m paid to Premier League clubs, £77.5m going to the Football League and another £47.5m going to charities and other good causes in Britain and abroad.
Over the next two season Reading, Birmingham City and Derby will receive £11.4m in "parachute payments" to ease the burden of relegation.
Television revenue for 2007-08 season (2006-07 in brackets)
- Manchester United £49.3m (£32m)
- Chelsea £45.6m (£30.9m)
- Arsenal £47m (£29m)
- Liverpool £45.4m (£28.4m)
- Everton £42.1m (£25.3m)
- Aston Villa £42.3m (£22m)
- Blackburn Rovers £40.2m (£22m)
- Portsmouth £40.4m (£23m)
- Manchester City £39.7m (£21m)
- West Ham United £36.8m (£21.1m)
- Tottenham Hotspur £36m (£27.3m)
- Newcastle United £39.2m (£21.2m)
- Middlesbrough £34.2m (£20.5m)
- Wigan Athletic £33.4m (£18.4m)
- Sunderland £33.6m (£6.5m*)
- Bolton Wanderers £32m (£24.6m)
- Fulham £31.3m (£20.4m)
- Reading £30.6m (£23.6m)
- Birmingham City £29.8m (£6.5m*)
- Derby County £29.1m (n/a)
Total £815,175,812 (£502,533,570)
* denotes parachute payment for clubs promoted from the Coca-Cola Championship.
Manchester United won 2-0 at Wigan and Chelsea could only draw 1-1 with Bolton; resulting in Manchester United winning the Premier League by 2 points.
At the foot of the table Fulham survived but Birmingham City and Reading joined Derby County in being relegated.
Roll on the Champions League final in a week and a half.
Today is the final day of the FA Premier League season and the title can still be won and lost.
Manchester United and Chelsea both sit atop the table on 84 points. Manchester United are away at Wigan Athletic and Chelsea are at home against Bolton Wanderers this afternoon.
If Manchester United beat Wigan they will almost certainly be champions. The only way Chelsea can win the title if Manchester United win today is if they beat Bolton by 18 goals more than Manchester United beat Wigan. Possible, but highly improbable.
If Manchester United only draw against Wigan then Chelsea just need to beat Bolton and they'll be champions.
If both Manchester United and Chelsea draw their games then Manchester United will be champions.
If Manchester United lose at Wigan then Chelsea just need to draw against Bolton to become champions.
If both Manchester United and Chelsea lose their games then Manchester United will be champions.
At the foot of the table only Derby County have been relegated so far.
In order to survive, Birmingham City need to win today and hope that both Reading and Fulham lose.
For Reading to survive they need to get a better result than Fulham. If Fulham and Reading both win then Reading need to win by 7 goals more than Fulham win. Not impossible, but considering their positions, highly unlikely.
Fulham have the best chance of the three to survive. If they win, they survive. If they draw then they are safe as long as both Reading and Birmingham don't win. They could still be safe if they lose as long as Birmingham and Reading both lose also. However, if they lose by 7 goals more than Reading then they would be relegated.
There is also the possibilty that Fulham and Reading could both survive. They would both need to win and then it would need Chelsea to absolutely destroy Bolton.
Chelsea will play Manchester United in the Champions League Final in Moscow on Wednesday May 21st.
The first half of tonight's game wasn't particularly inspiring; in fact I fell asleep during it. Liverpool played very poorly in the first half and Chelsea went into half-time with a deserved 1-0 lead thanks to a superb finish by Didier Drogba. The second half saw Liverpool play much better and Chelsea seemed to vanish. An excellent finish from Fernando Torres saw Liverpool equalize on the night and force extra time.
The first half of extra time saw Chelsea have a Michael Essien goal disallowed for offside and then a mistake by Sammi Hyppia which gave Chelsea a penalty that Frank Lampard converted for a 2-1 lead. Another superb strike from Didier Drogba, after good work by Nicolas Anelka and half-time in extra time saw Chelsea leading 3-1 on the night. A trip by Didier Drogba on Sammi Hyppia early in the second half of extra time should have resulted in a penalty for Liverpool but the referee waved away the claims. A late strike by Ryan Babel with less than 5 minutes left pulled it back to 3-2 but Liverpool couldn't find a way to equalize.
I would have preferred to see a Manchester United - Liverpool Champions League Final but beating Chelsea in Moscow will probably feel even better.
For the last 30 minutes I've been a bit of a nervous wreck; hoping and praying that Barcelona wouldn't get an equalizing goal that would take them through to the Champions League Final. Both teams played a lot of the game on the front foot and both sides could have scored a couple of goals.
I've been a bit critical of Paul Scholes in recent weeks; I thought he'd been playing poorly and giving the ball away much more than he should. The goal he scored tonight forgives him of all of that. Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown were excellent in the centre of defence and Carlos Tevez was tireless all over the front line.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's second semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool. I'd prefer Liverpool to go through but with an all-English final assured I'm not really going to be too bothered if Chelsea succeed and go through to face Manchester United in Moscow.
A hard fought draw for a below par Manchester United has opened up a three point lead for them over Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table. Both teams have 3 games left and they meet next weekend at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium.
For long periods it looked like United were not going to get anything out of the game; especially with Blackburn's Brad Friedel making a string of excellent saves near the end of the match. United felt they should have had a penalty within the last 10 minutes when the ball struck Brett Emerton's elbow but with about 5 minutes left Carlos Tevez headed in from a corner to cancel out Roque Santa Cruz's first half goal.
Even if United lose to Chelsea next weekend they have a vastly superior goal difference and the title would still be in their own hads. They round out the season with games against Wigan Athletic and West Ham United. However, their next game is the Champions League Semi-Final 1st leg vs Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Wednesday evening.
Tonight, Manchester United successfully joined Liverpool and Chelsea in the semi-finals of this season's Champions League. This is the second season in a row that 3 English clubs have made the semi-finals and marks the 4th season in a row that an English side will reach the final.
The 2 semi-final first legs will be held on 22nd and 23rd April with the second legs on 29th and 30th April. First legs are:
- Chelsea vs Liverpool
- Barcelona vs Manchester United
I've just watched the France - England game and can honestly say it was a poor game and England can feel disappointed that they lost the game. England didn't play particularly well and with such a lacklustre display they definitely didn't deserve to win the game, but can feel that they, maybe, deserved a draw. France looked dangerous going forward, but the defence seemed to cope well enough.
David James didn't really have much to do other than pick the ball out of his net after the penalty that won the game for France. The back four was pretty solid throughout other than the momentary lapse that led to the penalty from which France scored. Rio Ferdinand and John Terry were solid again. Ashley Cole is probably the best choice we have at left-back although his distribution is questionable at times. Wes Brown wasn't at all impressive and his distribution was woeful at times. I'm a Manchester United fan but Glen Johnson impressed me more in the brief spell he got. I'm not totally sure that we have a natural successor to Gary Neville yet.
In midfield Owen Hargreaves was solid and dependable; probably our best player. Gareth Barry also had a really good game. Steven Gerrard was pretty decent. David Beckham, winning his 100th cap, spent good periods of the game watching the game go by him and spent a lot of the game underused, but the moments he did get the ball, his distribution was as good as ever. David Bentley came on after an hour in place of Beckham and did well. England, for whatever reason, decided to play a lot on the left side of the pitch in the first half and it was rather compact at times. However, Joe Cole was pretty good out there. Stewart Downing replaced him for the second half and I really have to question his continued selection. The guy can't bring a ball under control, can't pass the ball and definitely can't cross the ball. I doubt very much that he can even run or tackle. I'm not a Chelsea fan but it's patently obvious that Joe Cole is the best left-sided midfield player that England has.
Up front, Wayne Rooney was exposed for much of his time on the pitch. Playing by himself, he tried his best but was often crowded out by the defence. It just felt that the balls in to him were not of sufficient quality and support from midfield was lacking. Michael Owen and Peter Crouch came on for the second half and were both pretty unimpressive.
All in all it was a pretty laboured performance. I think the core of the side is there but we need somebody at right back to replace the absent Gary Neville and we need to stop playing just 1 up front. As good as Wayne Rooney is, he can't work miracles against quality defences on his own. He needs a partner up front, be it Michael Owen, Peter Crouch or even somebody like Jermaine Pennant or Jermaine Defoe.
Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal
Didier Drogba scored twice in the last 20 minutes to cancel out Bacary Sagna's first ever goal for Arsenal; scored on the hour, and give Chelsea 3 vital points near the top of the table.
United are top with 73 points and the result has helped Chelsea leapfrog over Arsenal and maintain the 5 point gap Manchester United had on them at the start of the day. Arsenal are a further point behind in 3rd. Liverpool are still 4th; but 14 points adrift of United. All 4 teams have 7 games remaining. United will feel confident but they still have to entertain Arsenal and visit Blackburn Rovers and Chelsea within their final 7 games.
Manchester United 3 - 0 Liverpool
I've just watched the first game of Sky's double-header and as a Man Utd fan I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a pretty even first 30 minutes until Wes Brown popped up and scored. Then just before half time Fernando Torres was fouled and ended up getting booked for complaining. Javier Mascherano came running across from halfway across the pitch to complain to the referee. After previously been booked for a foul and spending most of the first half harping on at Steve Bennett, the referee, he ended getting himself a second yellow card, and sent off; reducing Liverpool to 10 men. Bennett's reaction did seem a wee bit over the top but given the fallout from Ashley Cole's behaviour in midweek it can be somewhat understandable. Cristiano Ronaldo scored with a header from a corner in the second half and Nani scored a quite sublime goal late on to make it 3-0. Liverpool can probably feel a bit aggrieved at the referee but United really were dominant.
I'm now going to go and watch the 2nd game: Chelsea vs Arsenal.
The draw for the Quarter Finals, Semi-Finals and Final of the Champions League have just recently been drawn in Lyon.
Quarter Finals (1st/2nd April 2008 & 8th/9th April 2008)
1. Arsenal vs Liverpool
2. AS Roma vs Manchester United
3. FC Schalke 04 vs FC Barcelona
4. Fernerbache SK vs Chelsea
Semi Finals (22nd/23rd April 2008 & 29th/30th April 2008)
a. Winner 1 (Arsenal/Liverpool) vs Winner 4 (Fernerbache SK/Chelsea)
b. Winner 3 (FC Schalke 04/FC Barcelona) vs Winner 2 (AS Roma/Manchester United)
Final (21st May 2008)
Winner b vs Winner a
Both the quarter finals and semi finals will be played over 2 legs with the final being played at a neutral venue, the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.
First impressions are that if Chelsea get past Fenerbache it would mean that an English club would definitely reach the final with their semi-final opponents either being Arsenal or Liverpool. And if that happens then Manchester United would need to get past both AS Roma, whom they met in the group stages this season, and the winner of the Schalke/Barcelona tie to get to a possible all English final.
Today's Manchester derby ended in a shock 2-1 win for the blue half of the city. This was the fifth game that Wayne Rooney had missed so far this season; he was suspended, and United have lost all 5 times.
Prior to the game starting both teams were lead out by a lone bagpiper and as they gathered on the edge of the centre circle both managers laid a wreath. The minute silence in honour of the 23 victims of the Munich air crash was impeccably observed by everybody in the ground.
In honour of the occasion City wore shirts devoid of any sponshorship and United wore 1958-styled shirts numbered 1-11 with no logo or sponsorship on. The names of the victims were displayed around the ground on the pitch-side advertising boards prior to kick-off. However, I was really disappointed that, after all the hooplah over paying respect by removing the sponsorship logos from the shirts, they still ran their normal range of advertising on the boards during the match.
As the game itself wore on it became obvious that City were going to be very strong defensively and it also became more apparent that United were just not on song. City went in at the break 2-0 up and both goals had a wee touch of fortune about them, but I'm taking nothing away from City; they played really well. United got their equalizer in injury time at the end of the game, but, by then, it was way too late.
United are still 2 points behind Arsenal, who will be hoping to extend their lead to 5 points when they play Blackburn on Monday night.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster.
British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to takeoff from a slush-covered runway at the Munich-Riem airport in Munich, Germany. 23 of the 44 passengers on board the aircraft died in the disaster.
The flight was operated by British European Airways (BEA) as an "Elizabethan" class Airspeed Ambassador charter aircraft G-ALZU Lord Burghley.
Eight of the victims were Manchester United footballers:
- Geoffrey Bent
- Roger Byrne
- Eddie Colman
- Duncan Edwards
- Mark Jones
- David Pegg
- Tommy Taylor
- Liam "Billy" Whelan
Three were members of the club's staff:
- Walter Crickmer, the secretary
- Tom Curry, the trainer
- Bert Whalley, the coach
Eight were newspaper representatives:
- Alf Clarke of the Manchester Evening Chronicle
- Don Davies of The Guardian
- George Follows of the Daily Herald
- Tom Jackson of the Manchester Evening News
- Archie Ledbrooke of the Daily Mirror
- Henry Rose of the Daily Express
- Eric Thompson of the Daily Mail
- Frank Swift of the News of the World; the former Manchester City and England goalkeeper
Two were members of the BEA crew:
- Captain Kenneth Rayment, the co-pilot
- Tom Cable, a steward
Two other passengers also died:
- Bela Miklos, the travel agent
- Willie Satinoff, a supporter
Thursday was football's transfer deadline day. In the past my hometown team; Peterborough United, have tended to be rather busy on deadline day. However, today there has be no announced business from them. In fact, their main activity during the entire month was just signing Joe Lewis from Norwich City for £400k on 8th January.
My main club, Manchester United have also been very quiet this month. Other than signing Manucho from Petro Atlético for an undisclosed fee their only other main deals have been the sale of Ryan Shawcross to Stoke for £1m on 18th January and the sale of Phil Bardsley to Sunderland for £2m on 22nd January.
I've just watched one of the best games of football I've seen in a long time.
Tottenham Hotspur just beat Arsenal 5-1 in the second leg of the Carling Cup semi final; progressing by a 6-2 aggregate score. The game was very open and swung from end to end for virtually the entire match. Although Spurs were at full strength and Arsenal rested some key players the result is still quite a shock.
Spurs will now play the winners of the second semi final; either Everton or Chelsea, who conclude their tie on Wednesday evening. Chelsea lead the second semi final 2-1 after the first leg and Everton have it all to do.
The final will be played at Wembley on 24th February.
There can't be many people unaware that England have failed to qualify for next Summer's European Championships in Switzerland and Austria.
Went back home at the weekend; first time in over 30 years. Went to watch Peterborough United vs Morecambe. Was a good game. Finished 1-1.
Tonight is the Champions League Final in Athens between Liverpool and AC Milan.
Went to the Manchester United vs Portsmouth FA Cup match today.
Drove down to Manchester yesterday afternoon.
Well, the season is almost upon us and it's time to pick Fantasy Teams again.
Just read mcphee's blog and discovered that Averil has sold the Sutton Park.
Normally a result like this would fill me with joy, but not tonight.
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