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The media didn’t write much about this man’s death. It didn’t occupy reams of newspaper space. .

Trevor Berbick, for the uniniated was the last man to beat the Louisville Lip, Muhammad Ali. That was probably this Jamaican boxer’s greatest claim to fame. He also, was the person Mike Tyson beat for his first heavyweight title. So the guy in short, is the link between the eras of Ali and Tyson, two of the world’s most well recognised boxers of their generations.

He held the world heavyweight title for a brief while, winning it from Pinklyn Thomas and losing it to Mike Tyson. He had 33 KO’s out of 50 wins from 62 fights, with 11 losses and one draw. He often had problems with the law, and was deported from the USA twice.

He died in a church courtyard in Jamaica, after an assault by a man left him with a gaping hole in his head.

My grandmom is one person I respect a lot. She is a person who has ventured quite deep into alternative medicine and herbal therapy. I am not somebody who is into that, but I do follow what my grandma does, because some of her findings can be pretty interesting

One day, she was speaking about the Goji berry. I hadn’t heard of it all in my life, but her description of it made me want to research a bit more about it. And here I am, with some of my findings ( Ok, they are from Googling only )

The Goji berry, as some of you might know, grows on the plant Lycium Barbarum. The plant is native to certain remote regions of China, Mongolia and Tibet. Have a look at some of the berry’s properties —-

1.) 4 special polysaccharides which fortify your immune system

2.) 19 different amino acids- a feat not matched by any plant known to man

3.) More vitamin C than oranges. The goji berry should be used more in textbooks IMO

4.)Anti oxidants like beta carotene and zeaxanthin.

Himalayan Goji Juice is something really brilliant , I think .And you can check Doctors’ opinions on Goji. I am going to go and buy goji Juice soon . I’ll report on how I am doing in the due course of time. Maybe I should start a section devoted to sports nutrition soon

What do you guys say???

    It will be the first time in the history of the ICC Champions Trophy that we will see no Asian team in the last four. Hosts India, who were the last remaining Asian representatives produced an insipid display as they crashed out to World Champions Australia in Mohali.

Now, among the four semifinalists, the all conquering Aussies are the only ones not to have lifted the trophy yet. Will they add to their vast kitty by winning this one?? Only time will tell…They will have to get past fierce rivals New Zealand in Mohali while the South Africans will play the West Indies in a repeat of the 1998 final.

And I doubt whether we will see packed stadiums in the remaining games. Barring the matches where India have played, the crowd hasn’t been anything much to speak about. This could result in serious loss of revenue for the BCCI, which would definitely not have thought that India would get knocked out in the group stages.

It just all seems to have gone wrong with India. The last few months have seen a slide in fortunes. Chappell needs to reinvigorate this side if they are to pose a challenge in the World Cup. And the way the Champions Trophy has gone so far, I have to say that this World Cup will be a very interesting one to watch.

Arsenal 1-1 Everton ( Cahill, Van Persie)

Some terrible Arsenal defending lead to the first goal from Cahill. The Toffees defended resolutely, but Van Persie’s free kick gave Arsenal a point after some furious bombarding of the Toffees goal.

Bolton 0-4 Manchester United ( Wayne Rooney *3, Cristiano Ronaldo)

United seem to be getting better with every game. They made light weight of what was supposed to be a tough game. Best news for United, Roo’s back and firing.

Fulham 0-1 Wigan (Henri Camara)

Wigan deserved the win for their excellent performance in the first half.

Liverpool 3-1 Aston Villa ( Kuyt, Peter Crouch, Luis Garcia, Agbonlahor)

Easily the best performance from Rafa’s Reds this season. 3 first half goals ending Martin O Neill’s side’s unbeaten run

Newcastle 0-0 Charlton

Newcastle dominated, but for all their possession, they had nothing to show in terms of goals and points.

Portsmouth 3-1 Reading ( Gunnarsson OG, Kanu, Pedro Mendes, Doyle)

Reading have been on a bit of a downslide after their loss at home to Chelsea. Easy home win for Pompey.

Sheffield United 0-2 Chelsea ( Lampard, Ballack)

You don’t miss penalties against a side like Chelsea, and if you do, they make you pay. That is precisely what happened to Sheffield after Webber missed his spotkick. Lampard scored from a FK. I can’t remember when he last did that Ballack scored from a header from the far post.

Watford 0-0 Tottenham

Lively game, but no goals at all.

West Ham 2-1 Blackburn ( Sheringham, Mullins, Bentley)

Great relief for Alan Pardew as his men put on an inspirational performance to down Blackburn 2-1. 100th Premiership home win for the Hammers ( 150th overall). Teddy does it again, and proves that he still has a lot to offer, despite being on the wrong side of 40.

Pakistan’s ouster makes them the third Asian team to be knocked out of the Champions Trophy. Only hosts and 2002 winners India remain, and they could also be knocked out come Sunday, when they will face world champions Australia.

The pitch did not appear to show us much apart from a tinge of grass in the beginning. Graeme Smith won the toss and chose to bat, a deviation from the usual decisions of fielding first that we have come to expect from captains. It was a calculated move from the South African skipper. There was no Robin Peterson and he had chosen to go with an all pace attack, thereby reducing greatly the dew factor. In the first over itself though, the pitch unleashed the demons within, with Gul sending Smith and Gibbs back. It wasn’t long before the Proteas slid to 27/3 and 42/5, and Smith started to rethink whether his decision was right. However the lack of depth in the Pakistani bowling showed and Mark Boucher and Justin Kemp slowly but surely resurrected the South African innings. Boucher top scored with 69, and Kemp hit an uncharacteristically slow 64, which was worth its weight in gold. Younis Khan made some tactical errors, like not bowling Gul fully. He waited for wickets to fall, rather than making them fall, and the Proteas ended up with a very respectable 213/8.

Ntini, Pollock and co. attacked the Pakistani batsmen like hungry wolves chasing lambs. Only Yasser Arafat managed to contribute something worth while and Pakistan folded up for 89, their lowest ever score against the South Africans. That wasn’t surprising , given the nature of the pitch, which gave one the impression of playing in the WACA rather than in India’s dust bowls.

The Proteas make their way into the semis. I do see a couple of chinks in their armoury , which the likes of say Australia would be well placed to exploit. Their backup bowlers have always had it easy since Ntini and Pollock do the hard work upfront. If you negotiate Ntini and Pollock for say something like 60/1 for the first 15, then a score of greater than 250 is easily on the cards.

Cricket fever is on a high as the ICC Champions trophy reaches its climax. And as I continue my quest for finding interesting sites on the net, here is one which caught my eye.

Ice Cricket, as you can tell by the name, is played on ice. This game though, is played in Europe, in one of its most picturesque capital cities, Tallinn. Yup you got it right, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. I doubt many inhabitants there would have heard of the game, but there is no dearth of ice there..I can tell ya The wicket is carved out of ice and the boundary is marked to keep bewildered locals off the field. You have to use an indoor ball, and most importantly, not forget your spikes.

The matches can be played on a lake, on the Baltic Sea or even in an old Soviet Missile Factory depending on the snowfall. Pretty neat, eh

Tours4 Sport are the organisers and they work in tandem with the Estonian Cricket Association to ensure that the game goes on without a hitch.

Here are some dates listed on their site

Thursday 8th February 2007 -
Sunday 11th February 2007
(Universities, Colleges and Students)

Thursday 22nd February 2007 -
Sunday 25th February 2007
(Clubs, Vets and Corporate teams)

Thursday 8th March 2007 -
Sunday 11th March 2007
(Clubs, Vets and Corporate teams)

Ice Cricket Tournaments in Estonia,
4 days from only £195

Next time you feel a little bored and want to try something totally new, give this a go !!! You are bound to have a great time.

And at 195 pounds, it won’t pinch your pocket too much

No, I am not talking about the Demi Moore classic! Those who watched the Windies bat against India under the lights in Motera will understand! At every crucial juncture, they offered to lose the game, but needless to say, they won it quite comfortably. Albeit a bit too late for an Indian heart to accept………

Capture this:

1. You haven’t won a away game for a year now.

2. You have collected 5 points on the road from your last 17 games.

3. 11 first team regulars are on the physio’s table.

4. There is no fit left midfielder at the club.

5. Your 6 mn- rated star striker plays left midfield.

6. Beanie, the horse, seems to have lost its charm.

So what do you do next? Yes, you go away to Wigan and lose 0-4 . Thats what happened to City at the weekend; their worst defeat for 3 years now! It was a simply a spineless performance by the Blue half of Manchester, and as a fan, i felt ashamed to watch 11 non-committed players chase shadows at the JJB. The Chairman, John Wardle, has called the performance “embarrassing”. I call it “shameless”.

I often scorn at these fairweather football fans who support Chelsea just for the money they have and all that jazz. But now I know why they chose Chelsea and not City, because Chelsea win games week in week out, and the fans are content, City dont win games; they cant buy an away point these days.

Whatever it may be, I like Stuart Pearce. He calls spade a spade and is ready to accept blame for under-par performances. I have read many articles on the City defeat but the gaffer’s attitude makes me feel comfortable. I know that City is indeed in right hands.

Quoting Stuart Pearce, “The fans have always backed this football club from start to finish. It is down to me to say to the players ‘You have to match the passion that the supporters have for this football club’.”

The results are not painful, but the lack of passion shown in that blue jersey is! I hope that we turn things around soon. I really do. And I know that Psycho is the right person.

Go Psycho!!!

See what Pearce had to say.

Chesterfield 2-1 West Ham ( Larkin, Folan/ Harewood)

Easily the biggest surprise of the evening. Real shock for Alan Pardew’s men and this will only worsen things at Upton Park.
Everton 4-0 Luton ( Cahill, Keane OG,  Mcfadden, Anichebe)

Leeds 1-3 Southend (  Moore/ Hapell, Hooper*2) 

Not the best conditions under which Wise will come in.

Leicester 2-3 Aston Villa ( Stearman, Kisnorbo/ Angel, Gareth Barry, Agbonlahor)

Notts County 2-0 Southampton (Edwards, Lee)

Port Vale 0-0 Norwich ( 3-2 on Penalties)

Sheffield United 2-4 Birmingham ( Akinbiyi, Montgomery/ Bendtner, Jerome, Larsson, Campbell)

Watford 2-1 Hull (  Young, Priskin/ Barmby)

W.B.A 0-2 Arsenal ( Jeremie Aliadiere*2 )

Wycombe 2-2 Doncaster ( Oakes, Easter/ Fort, Lee) 

One of the best ways to unwind is go and have a game of golf. Not surprisingly, many business deals are inked out on golf courses too. I was scanning the net for some golf resorts and some excellent ones cropped up. Here is one such resort.

Condado de Alhama is a new resort and is situated in Costa Calida in the region of Murcia in South eastern Spain. Spain and golf connected me to Severiano Ballesteros for an instant . It is situated in a virgin place, but has excellent connectivity to the rest of Spain and Europe.It has about 2,500,000m2 of greens and fairways together with 800,000m2 (an area equivalent to 400 football pitches). Thats’ some area , isn’t it ?

A five star resort from Polaris world, it has three championship courses, all designed by Jack ” the Golden Bear” Nicklaus. Two Bear’s best ( the first in Europe) and one signature course.

Man, I’d love to tee off on any course designed by the greatest golfer of all time. It is managed by Overseas Property Shop.

I’ll be off there soon. Hope to see some of you guys there too .

In today’s virtual do or die match between South Africa and Sri Lanka to be held at the Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad, expect a close encounter between these two teams. They will be playing to keep themselves in the hunt for a semifinal spot. The Sri Lankans are likely to have the edge as they have a better record and they are good playing under these conditions.Watch out for Murali.He is likely to be the dangerman as he has done very well, plus the fact that the men from Africa don’t like the turning ball too much.

Srilanka will like their big guns to come good. Some of their batsmen have got good starts but haven’t gone ahead to convert them to big ones. Much will depend on how Sanath, Sangakkara and Jayawardene play. If one of them gets going, we can expect some fireworks from Tom Moody’s boys.

On the other hand, South Africa, who suffered an embarassing defeat to the Kiwis in their opening game, cannot be taken lightly.They also have some fine players, who on their day can be match winners.The Africans will have to apply themselves well against the Lankan spinners. Both the teams after winning the toss will be in a bit of a dilemma as to what to do. Ideally both teams would like to bat first and post a decent total on the board .But they have to take into account the dew factor which is likely to affect the team that bowls in the evening.

All said and done, hoping for a entertaining game of cricket between 2 evenly matched teams– a treat for the neutrals and connossieurs of the game.

Leeds have been given permission to talk to former Milwall and Chelsea  midfielder Dennis Wise and his assistant Gus Poyet  regarding their managerial vacancy.

Wise currently manages Swindon town and has a clause in his contract which allows him to leave if interest comes in from Premiership and Championship clubs ( Swindon to be compensated with one year’s salary). Swindon are currently second in League 2.
Leeds are without a manager after Kevin Blackwell was sacked. Caretaker manager John Carver also left the club, Leeds said in a statement.

  It was ” the clash” of this weekend and sadly it did not match up really as a contest. The statistics may give you an impression that the game was a pretty tightly fought encounter, but it wasn’t. United were head and shoulders ahead of their rivals in all aspects of the game and throughly deserved their 2-0 victory.

Dirk Kuyt was allowed a free header close to the half hour mark, and sadly for the Reds, the ball bobbled safely into Van Der Sar’s hands. That was easily their best and last real chance of the afternoon. Paul Scholes, playing in his 500th game for the club, put United ahead when he latched onto a Ryan Giggs cross. Reina got a hand to the shot, but Scholes ensured it found the back of the net on the followup. It was an emotional goal for the midfielder, who also scored on his debut  against Ipswich .

Rio Ferdinand scored the second one, smashing it past Reina after getting away from Riise. Rio seems to be making it a habit to score against Liverpool-remember his last gasp strike last season !!!. United were extremely committed and played well, whereas Liverpool lacked focus, direction,commmitment and a host of other things. IMO the best Liverpool player was Mark Gonzalez and he got substituted early in the second half.

Deserved win for United and Liverpool I am sorry have lots and lots of work to do if they  have to salvage their season.

  This was a must win game for both sides and more so for Australia, given their reputation. At the end of the game, England must feel like kicking themselves for letting the Aussies off the hook.

This was the same pitch which which saw over 500 runs scored in the game between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. After Australian skipper Ponting put England in, Strauss and Bell  worked their way upto 83 runs without the loss of a wicket. At that stage a score of around the 250 mark seemed probable. But then Bell fell and Pietersen and Flintoff followed. The Aussies used the short ball well to unsettle both of them. Flintoff is a proven match winner on his day, but the Lancashire lad just doesn’t have enough match practice under his belt.

Needless to say, one thing lead to another and England were down at 150 odd runs with a wicket left in no time. Anderson played a couple of decent shots to propel England to 169. Paul Collingwood, IMO one of the better batsmen in this English squad ,remained unbeaten and ran out of partners.

The Aussies suffered some early hiccups when they were reduced to 34/2 with both Gilchrist and Ponting back in the hut. But that was the last chance the English saw as Damien Martyn stroked his way to 78 on his 35th birthday. Hussey gave him able company and Symonds and he saw the men from Down Under home.

Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas has put pen to paper an 8 year old, thereby pledging his future to the London based club till 2014.

I think it is his way of saying thank you to Arsene Wenger, who has made him from just another person at the Barcelona youth academy to a midfielder who will instantly walk into the first 11 of most squads.

But this virtually ends any chances of him returning to Spain or to put it more simply Real Madrid, who were reportedly interested in him.

Do you think it is the right decision by Cesc, or a wrong one. I’d say the former

Click here for the review of the game on October 31: FC Barcelona vs Chelsea review

This game was one of the most eagerly awaited ones on matchday 3 of the Champions League given the rivalry between these two outstanding teams and their managers– and at the end of it, it was Jose Mourinho who walked off with a smile on his face.

Chelsea played extremely well and thoroughly deserved their victory. They kept the midfield packed and rarely allowed the Catalans to get into the attacking third of the midfield. As soon as a Barcelona player got hold of the ball in the Chelsea half, several Blue shirts would hound him like wolves. As a result, Barcelona never got the space they needed to orchestrate their moves, and they got strangled. They never troubled Chelsea, despite having more possession. Boulahrouz marked Ronaldinho extremely well, and the Brazilian did not have much of an impact on the game. Hilario didn’t have too many saves to make, and the ones he had to didn’t trouble him too much at all, barring the Messi one.

Chelsea were swift on the counterattack, but were guilty of being offside once too many. Drogba’s goal was another excellent strike from the Ivorian, remniscient of the strike against the Reds in the Premiership not too long ago. Shevchenko had a couple of very glorious opportunities to end his drought, but he couldn’t convert them. Earlier in the game, Marquez put in a great last ditch tackle to deny the Ukranian, and later his shot was off target. Chelsea had many chances to double or even triple, but Valdez produced some brilliant saves to keep the margin at 1.

In the end, the better side did win. Kudos to the Blues on their win

Other Champions League results-

Bordeaux 0-1 Liverpool (Peter Crouch)

Galatarasay 1-2 PSV Eindhoven ( Ilic, Jan Kromkamp, Aruna Kone )

Inter Milan 2-1 Spartak Moscow( Julio Cruz*2, Pavluchenko)

Important win for Inter after having lost their first two games.

Olympiakos 0-1 Roma ( Perrotta)

Sporting 0-1 Bayern Munich ( Bastian Schweinsteiger)

Schweinsteiger got sent off too

Valencia 2-0 Shakhtar ( David Villa Sanchez*2)

Werder Bremen 2-0 Levski Sofia ( Naldo, Diego)

As a cricket fan, I simply loved the game today. The entire talk going into this game was about Australia being invincible, and the Islanders not being a shade of the side that ruled the world under the leadership of Lloyd and Viv Richards et al. Nobody gave West Indies a chance in hell to even come close to this Aussie outfit. But as fate would have it, the defending champions crushed a brash, abrasive Aussie side.

One man who made most of his chances was Runako Morton. While Shiv C decided to score off the cricket pitch, Morton did the same on the CCI track. He batted very well with Lara in the middle overs and kept the match alive as a contest. As the old adage would have it, “One man’s loss is other man’s gain.” Lara’s knock was an excellent one- cautious at the start, workman-like in the middle and a flurry towards the end.

The Windies bowled very well, with Taylor and Bravo providing the icing on the cake in the end overs. Bravo has really come a long way; the precision with which he bowls those slow full length deliveries right at the death can stifle the hell out of a lot of good players and Hogg & Lee aren’t the best in the world with the bat, so one couldnt really have asked them to score off him. Meanwhile, the beleagured Oz side heads off to Jaipur facing the ignominy of being knocked out of the tournament by(yes, you guessed it right) none other than the good ol’ Poms. Go Pommie Go!

theblacksheep is a Manchester City fanatic. And hence I intend to post more about the club from the Eastlands. In the near future, I will post previews, reviews and all the gossip you will need to know about the Blue half of Manchester.

And for the uninitiated, City are currently with nine points from as many games and are eleventh in the table. Next, they face Wigan at the JJB in six days time.Till then, keep cheering for this “Blue Billion” !

It was a complete meal for the Kiwis today. They had their cake and ate it too with a bright red cherry on the top. The win doesn’t draw my attention today but the batting of Kiwi skipper certainly does.

Fleming is blessed with a fluid style of batting, his strokes resembling a ballet dancer in full flow. His batting is a treat to the eye, his uncomplicated strokeplay doesnt fail to capture your attention. Then there is the “third” kind. Batsmen who make cricket look as if it is the most akward sport played on earth. They shuffle across the crease so prominently that they end up confusing their left leg for their right and their leg stump for their off. I have nothing against this category, but , given a choice I would not like to watch them labour around on the field of play!

Hence, I had this urge to classify 5 top batsmen in each category. Take your picks too:

The “Graceful” Brigade.

1. Stephen Fleming

2. Kumara Sangakkara

3. ME Waugh

4. Sachin Tendulkar

5. VVS Laxman

The “Complicated” Ones

1. Shiv Chanderpaul

2. Jimmy Adams

3. Marvan Attapatu

4. Justin Langer

5. Hashan Tillekeratne

And from what I saw yesterday, Mike Yardy is not far behind. Truly, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder

 The likes of Linford Christie, Petr Korda and Dougie Walker now have two Pakistani cricketers for company.

In what is rumoured to be the first ever dope test conducted in Pakistan cricket, fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have tested positive in an internal dope test for the anabolic steroid, Nandrolone, which increases muscle mass.

Pakistan has been hit by several controversies in the recent past, and this one will come as a big blow to their already not so confident Champions Trophy side. Although the PCB has said that the players are made aware of what substances to take and what not too, it remains to be seen whether  injury hit Akhtar and Asif had prior knowledge that they were taking the steroid.

A ban if imposed ,could end the career of  Akhtar who is no stranger to controversy . Already without Inzamam, it remains to be seen how Pakistan perform in their opener against the Lankans.

Sad day for cricket though….

Finally it was show time as the real thing began at Jaipur today. With Zimbabwe and Bangladesh sent back home after the qualifying stage was done with, we all anticipated an absolute humdinger at Jaipur to kick off the group stages.
Dravid won the toss and took a rather bold step by putting the opposition in…………..This eventually paid off c’est grace , inspired spells from Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel in particular who bowled in that suffocating channel. After the dubious lbw of Ian Bell it was all down hill for the Englishmen as they slumped to 55/5. Then the spinners got into the act n Powar picked up 3 too.

Chasing 126 to win , India got off to an absolutely flying start with the Sachin-Sehwag duo smashing Harmison around, until Sehwag edged one to 2nd slip……….the flamboyant batting continued though with Sachin , who seemed 2 have rediscovered his trademark joie de vivre.

Irfan Pathan promoted to no.3 also got into the act smashing the ball to all parts of the ground. However once Pathan was dismissed, the Indians made hard work of the chase losing 6 wickets.

All in all, an excellent outing for team India (except for that hiccup towards the end) which will provide them a great deal of momentum going into their next game against the Windies which again promises to be an exciting prospect. England on the other hand have to regroup quickly as they have to win both their matches to stay alive in the tournament.

Its really hotting up now!Hope to see some more quality cricketing action over the next couple of weeks.

Not the most entertaining game of football, but it certainly wasn’t uneventful. Chelsea might now have to face arch rivals Barcelona, having lost one keeper in the opening minutes and one in the dying minutes.

Petr Cech was stretchered off early in the game after being caught by Stephen Hunt, and late in the game, with less than two minutes to go, Carlo Cudicini suffered what appeared to be a concussion after colliding with Sonko. John Terry took up keeper responsibilities for the final two minutes.

Chelsea took the lead through an own goal by Ingemarsson, and although Reading pressed and pressed for an equaliser, they lacked the quality to prise upon the Chelsea defence.

Lets hope it is nothing too serious with the two keepers

This wasn’t a contest at all. Agreed that both the teams had qualified, but I had expected a more keenly contested match. And in the end, this one turned out to be as one sided as some of the other matches involving Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.

Farvez Maharoof put on an inspired spell of bowling as he claimed 6 wickets for 14 runs to send the West Indies packing for 80 runs. With the exception of Hinds, Lara and Mr.Extras nobody got into double digits

Sri Lanka lost inform opener Tharanga for a first ball duck but Jayasuriya and Jayawardene ensured that there were no further hiccups as the target was knocked off in 13 overs and 2 balls.

Sri Lanka, joint winners of the trophy once, are peaking at the right time. Their group, which also consists of South Africa, Pakistan and New Zealand will be a very interesting group to watch as all the four teams can beat the best on their day.

Everton striker Andy Johnson has won the Barclays player of the month award for September. Johnson has been one of the reasons for Everton’s fine display this season, with the Toffees currently5th in the table.

Johnson scored 4 goals in as many games in September, but missed England’s last two games against Macedonia and Croatia due to injury. Johnson was also the highest English goal scorer in the Premiership when he played for Crystal Palace.

Well done Andy, you deserve it. Hope you get many such accolades in future

Andorra 0-3 Macedonia ( G.Pandev, Noveski, Naumoski)

Good win for Macedonia. Andorra continue their tag of “whipping boys”

Bosnia 0-4 Greece ( Charisteas, C Patsatzoglou, Samaras, Katsouranis)

Belarus 4-2 Slovenia ( Kovba, Korilenko*2, Korytko//B Cesar, K Lavric)

Croatia 2-0 England ( Eduardo, Gary Neville OG)

France 5-0 San Marino (Saha, Henry, Anelka, Trezeguet*2)

Nice to see all of France’s strikers on target, especially Anelka.

Georgia 1-3 Italy (G Shashiashvili/// De Rossi, Camoranesi, Perotta)

Valuable points for the world champions after their initial stuttering start to the campaign.

Holland 2-1 Albania ( Robin Van Persie, A Beqaj OG/// D Curri)

Iceland 1-2 Sweden (Vidarsson/Kallstrom,Wilhelmsson)

Kazakhstan 0-2 Finland ( Hyypia, Litmanen)

Liechtenstein 0-4 Denmark ( Tomasson*2, Gravgaard, Jensen)

Luxembourg 0-1 Bulgaria (Tunchev)

Malta 2-1 Hungary (Schembri*2,//Torghelle)

Northern Ireland 1-0 Latvia ( Healy)

Poland 2-1 Portugal ( Smolarek*2//Nuno Gomes )

Republic of Ireland 1-1 Czech Republic ( Kilbane//Koller)

Russia 2-0 Estonia (P Pogrebniak, D Sychev)

Slovakia 1-4 Germany ( Varga/ Podolski*2, Schweinsteiger, Ballack)

Turkey 5-0 Moldova ( Hakan Sukur*4, Sanli Tuncay) 

Ukraine 2-0 Scotland ( Kucher, Shevchenko) 

Bad result for the Scots after their upset win over the French.

Wales 3-1 Cyprus ( Koumas, Earnshaw, Bellamy// Yankis Okkas) 

     England’s much talked about change to 3-5-2 went completely poof as they lost 2-0 to Croatia. Dinamo Zagreb striker Eduardo Da Silva, nicknamed Dudu, scored the first and the second was a bizarre own goal byGary Neville.
Croatia kept up their impressive record at home with the win, and England have some serious soul searching to do. There is no point playing Lampard at this moment, because he is woefully out of form. I do not deny that he is a good player, but he has been given quite a large rope already. Michael Carrick had an off day. Robinson, despite his error in conceding the own goal, was easily England’s best player on the night as he pulled off several great saves to keep England in the game till Eduardo scored. There was no urge to attack and England got their basics completely wrong. You do not win games by defending. You do not keep passing the ball back where there is no need to

Anyway Gary Neville’s OG was a bit of a comic situation. He passed it back and as Robinson went to clear the ball hit a divot and rolled into the net.

There are some hard decisions to be taken if England need to progress. McLaren showed he is not afraid to do so when he dropped Beckham. The same , I am afraid needs to be done with Frank Lampard. Dropping him might do him more good, and he will return with rejuvenated hunger.

England 0-2 Croatia ( Eduardo, Gary Neville OG)

Lowly Macedonia held England for a goal-less draw at Old Trafford. theblacksheep suggests a few changes going into the all imporant game in Zagreb:

1. Get your centre midfield pairing right. Both Lampard and Carrick were poor at Old Trafford. Perhaps, they were competing amongst themselves to be the worst player on the pitch. They are two very similar players with almost same attributes. Cant have two players doing the same job. Scott Parker should definitely start in centre of midfield. If Lampard fails again in Zagreb, he might have to go the Beckham-way.

2. SOS: We need RIO. Ledley King isnt a bad defender by any stretch of imagination. But he cant bring the ball out of defence. Whereas Rio, is a master at getting the ball forward in tight situations. Ledley and John seem content to pass the ball back to Robinson which slows down the tempo of the game enormously.

3. Where’s the Carl Lewis ? The current England side resembles more of a amateur rugby team. There is not an iota of pace in the side (Rooney, too, is not firing). All half-decent international teams have players who can beat full-backs and get behind defences with their pace. England have none. Downing can’t run and Gerrard tends to drift to the centre leaving the right side terribly exposed. Some pace needs to be injected; SWP, Defoe and Johnson must get on the pitch early.

And to top all the problems, Gerrard is supended for the game. SWP should be a natural replacement on the right for Gerrard. Parker should and will replace Carrick. A hopelessly out of form Frnak Lampard will again be the midfield lynchpin. There have been reports of Mac going for a 3-5-2. Poor ol’ Gary will miss out if the team is chosen that way. And Michael Carrick will get another chance to prove to the world why he is the worst buy of the pre-season at 18.6 mn $ !

I know many of you know the Boston, London and New York Marathons quite well. I haven’t run in any of them, but accompanied my granddad to a senior citizen’s run at the local marathon.
My Granddad isn’t an accomplished runner by any stretch of imagination, but he is always game for a challenge. He completed the race and even gave  rest to his walking sticks for a while

The winner of the men’s marathon was not a Paul Tergat nor was the woman a Paula Radcliffe, but they won in pretty respectable times.

Quite a lovely experience, you guys have a similar story to share??

I often wonder why FIFA and PE tend to be more popular than games like Championship Manager and Football Manager . It’s probably because more people tend to like being the player , rather than doing all the donkey work from the sidelines. I mean, given a choice, more people would like to be Thierry Henry than Arsene Wenger right .Guess it is human nature ….
I however belong to the other category, for whom football manager games are more than an obession. Have played all the editions of CM so far and liked CM 03-04 the best. And I have come to form a very special bond with Mr.Anatoli Todorov

And news for all ya fellow CM addicts. Championship Manager 2007 is releasing on the 13th of October in stores in the UK. It has indepth player talks and match analysis, and is reported to have a level of detail and realism unseen in previous editions.

Pre order your copy if you like too .

Jonathan Woodgate has suffered a leg injury in training and is reportedly doubtful for the weekend game against highflying Everton.

Tension for Gareth Southgate :D.

Picture courtesy www.sporting-heroes.net

 Check out this – Sports Book Review. 

The domain name is an excellent one, kudos to the owner on that one . The site is a current PR4 and has a page strength of 4/10.
It has some very unique features :

1. Sports book review
2. Sports betting blog
3. Sports betting forum

The site is basically a resource site for sports book reviews by actual users so that the general public can browse through and find the most suitable books for their betting needs. The blog section, which contains some well written previews, is constantly updated and some of the articles there are damn good.

There are lots of sports blogs on the net now ( wordpress, blogger plus the guys with their own domains). Most of the blogs do give their opinion on the soccer matches of the weekend and I have just thought of a friendly competition between all of em. We’ll have the weekend games to predict and all you need to do, is enter the scoreline you think is most likely to happen. Games which take place only on Saturday, Sunday and Monday in the UK will be considered ( GMT)
For example Arsenal vs Manchester United.

Arsenal 1-1 Manchester United or Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United.

The points system is as follows:

One point for getting the result of the game right.

Two points for predicting the number of goals scored by each team.

So if you predict 2-0 to Arsenal and it does end that way, then you get 2+2 + 1 =5 points. 5 is therefore the maximum you can get for each game.

I’ll calculate the scoring each week, and put up an overall leaderboard too. To kickstart it off here is the list for this weekend’s games. Bear in mind that predictions should be made atleast one hour before the kickoff of the first game on Saturday.

Cheers and do let me know if you have any suggestions

This weekend’s games:
Arsenal vs Watford
Villa vs Tottenham
Liverpool vs Blackburn
Man City vs Sheff Utd
Boro vs Everton
Portsmouth vs West Ham
Reading vs Chelsea
Wigan vs Manchester United
Newcastle vs Bolton

This game’s result wasn’t a shocker to anybody, but the way some of the Zimbabwean batsmen got out makes me wonder if they should be here given the turmoil the game is in their country. Only Prosper Utseya, Tafadzwa Mufambisi and Elton Chigumbura reached double figures. Kevin Curran’s young side notched up their 6th sub hundred score in the new millenium, a feat neither the coach, nor his wards, will be too proud of.

The West Indies achieved their task of of 86 runs in 14.2 overs with the loss of Chris Gayle and the defending champions have definitely made a statement with this thumping . Gayle was named the MOM for his 3 wickets and 41 runs.

As for Zimbabwe, I doubt whether their soul searching will ever end.

  So, the mini World Cup of Cricket kicked off at the PCA stadium in Mohali with 2002 edition joint winners Sri Lanka taking on Bangladesh. The crowd wasn’t anything to speak of, with barely a few people in the stadium. But the limited fans who were there were pretty enthusiastic though. Especially the ladies cheering for Lanka

Sri Lanka didn’t play their best, to be honest. But in the initial stages of a tournament, I think you can excuse that . Upul Tharanga played pretty well, although he slowed down a bit in the initial stages of the 90’s. His conversion rate from 50’s to 100’s is pretty good, 5 out of the 8-let’s see how he does against the biggies.

Bashar missed a trick or two by allowing Sangakarra and Tharanga to settle, after getting rid of Jaywardene. And if you consider the Lankans were at 193/2 after 32 overs, 303 looks a little less than what they would have wanted. They lost their way a bit after that, but recovered with a bit of slogging in the last two overs.

As for Bangladesh, same old story. Nafees and Ashraful went after consuming too mnay overs. They did maintain their rate of 5, thanks to the likes of Farhad Reza, Aftab Ahmed and not to forget Dilhara Fernando :p

Saqibul Hasan, for all the newspapers described as a lone warrior, is good square off the wicket, he plays the square cut well, but nothing else IMO. He looks in the Jimmy Adams mode to me. He doesn’t have a wide variety of strokes and isn’t a treat to watch, but he can occupy the crease.

Anyway, commendable effort by Bangladesh, but they have lots of work to do if they are to rise to the top.

Three bloopers spotted by an ardent fan who lives in India

1.) Aftab Ahmed was once called Mohammad Aftab.

2.) The Vaas runout , if it had happened would not have saved 10-15 runs.

3.) Saqibul Hasan reached 50 before he actually did, according to a commentator.

 David Beckham will hang up his boots in 2008, according to Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon. The Madrid right winger, whose contract runs out next season is expected by Calderon to put pen to paper another deal till he decides to quit.

Beckham has largely been restricted to the substitutes bench at the Bernabeu this season under Fabio Capello, although he was one of the better performing Galacticos during the last few years.

Beckham, who wasn’t included in the English squad after Steve Mclaren was appointed as coach, was captain of his side till their loss in the 2006 quarterfinal against Portugal in Germany, where he limped off to be replaced by Aaron Lennon early in the second half.

First game on the 3rd of November against Sheffield United, we won 2-1. It was the third round of the league Cup

Screenshot of the game 

Then beat Tottenham Hotspurs 3-0. Spurs are always a team I struggle to beat in the EPL, for some reason, mainly due to Simon Davies, Robbie Keane and Helder Postiga.

All three goals in the second half, and we scored three out of 19 shots on goal.

Game shot 

Champions League : Knocked out at the Quarterfinal stage by Dinamo Kiev

Fa Cup : Winners, beat Chelsea 2-0 in the Final

Premier Division : Winners

The 2004 season has started off pretty well.

Community Shield Runners up.

1st in the league as on 10/11/2004 with 15 points from 6 games.

Gareth Barry, Dejan Stankovic, Daniele Bonera and Ylidiray Basturk the notable guys coming in.

Hugo Viana, Gary Speed and Tony Caig the notable guys out.

Bolton 2-0 Liverpool ( Gary Speed, Ivan Campo)

A great result for Bolton at home and a third consecutive away defeat for the Reds. Goal 1 should not have gone in the first place, with Reina being wrongly penalised for handball. And for reasons best known to him, the former Villareal goalkeeper chose to dive the side his wall was protecting, and the ball went the other way from Gary Speed’s free kick. That goal was Bolton’s only shot on goal in the first half. A Kevin Davies cross early in the second half was met by the head of Ivan Campo. The ball rebounded off the bar and over the line to double Bolton’s lead. And as much as Liverpool tried, they were frustrated by the tactics of their opponents. Bolton as we know are a very physical side and Dirk Kuyt was left with a bloody head and was substituted for Crouch in the 49th minute.

Charlton 1-2 Arsenal ( Darren Bent, Robin Van Persie*2)

Three hardearned points for Arsenal and Charlton will feel aggrieved that a certain Mr. Clattenberg refused to award them a clear penalty for William Gallas’ handball. But the goal that decided this game was an absolute stunner from Robin Van Persie early in the second half, with the ex Feyernoord winger conjuring a beautiful volley from an Emmanuel Eboue cross. Charlton took the lead through U-21 striker Darren Bent with their first shot on target , much like Bolton earlier in the day. Van Persie equalised in the 32th minute and then went on to score that magic goal, which is definitely a contender for the goal of the season.

Everton 1-1 Manchester City ( Andy Johnson, Micah Richards)

A late goal by England starlet Micah Richards saved Manchester City the blushes and gave them a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park. Everton took the lead through Andy Johnson, who found the net for the 6th time in seven games off Phil Neville’s cross. None of the City defenders tried to intercept the cross and Johnson did the needful, slotting it past Nicky Weaver just before half time. 1 point gained for City and 2 lost for Everton.

Chelsea 1-1 Aston Villa ( Didier Drogba, Gabriel Agbonlahor)

Both the teams keep up their unbeaten record, although Chelsea will feel a little aggrieved at not getting more than a point. Didier Drogba put the Blues ahead, but Gabriel Agbonlahor, who also scored in Villa’s last game equalised. Villa came under real pressure in the second half, with Salomon Kalou missing a glorious opportunity at the end, but 1-1 it stayed.

Sheffield United 2-1 Middlesbrough (Rob Hulse, Phil Jagielka, Yakubu)

First win in the big league for the Blades, courtesy Jagielka’s injury time stunner.

Manchester United 2-0 Newcastle ( Ole Gunnar Solskjaer *2) 

Newcastle should thank their stars they got out of this one with only two conceded. Given the dominance of United, the game could have well shown a 6-0 or even 7-0 thrashing.

Blackburn 2-1 ( Benni McCarthy, David Bentley// Emile Heskey) 

Emile Heskey opened the scoring for the Latics off an Emmerson Boyce cross but David Bentley equalised at the stroke of half time. Jason Brown came off the bench for Brad Friedel and saved a Svetoslav Todorov penalty. And then, McCarthy, who had earlier wasted lots of chances scored the winner to give Rovers the win.

West Ham 0-1 Reading (Ki Hyun Seol) 

Another stunner from the sniper, and West Ham continue their absymal form.

Tottenham 2-1 Portsmouth ( Danny Murphy, Jermaine Defoe// Kanu) 

A blatant dive resulted in the goal which sealed the game. Harsh luck for Pompey though, they didn’t deserve to lose two in a row.