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The Galloping Major is dead . Yes friends, the legendary Hungarian striker Ferenc Puskas is no more. He died today at 6 am GMT in a Budapest hospital, having been in intensive care since the 13th of September. He was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease since the dawn of the 21st century.

The man is as revered in the world of soccer as Don Bradman in the game of cricket. He was born on the 2nd of April 1927. That year was also the year when Cardiff City won the FA Cup, the only non -English club to do so.  A possible indicator that the baby was definitely going to make waves in the footballing world.

Puskas started off with Hungarian club Kispest, which later became Honved after it was taken over the Hungarian ministry of Defence. He helped the club to 5 Hungarian league titles, and was top scorer in any league in Europe in1948 with 50 goals. He had a thunderous left foot which repeatedly found the back of the net, and his presence on the pitch always signalled trouble for opposition defenders.

Puskas scored on his national debut in a 5-2 win against Austria. He played 84 games and scored 83, averaging almost a goal a game. Along with Zoltan Czibor, Sandor Kocsis, Jozsef Bozsik, Puskas formed the core of the Hungarian team which dominated world football in the late fourties and early fifties. Their dazzling tyle of play led them to be called the Magic Magyars and they are widely regarded as the best team never to have won a World Cup. Puskas led his side to the gold medal in the 52 Olympics in Helsinki. The English team of the 50’s will not have too many fond memories of them for the Magic Magyars hammered them 6-3 and 7-1 in England, thereby becoming the first foreign team to beat England twice in their own den. They had an unbeaten 32 game run which was halted in the 1954 World Cup final where they lost to the Germans. Puskas , despite no being fully fit scored once, and had a goal disallowed 2 minutes before the final whistle.

The Hungarian revolution in 1956, just before the home leg against Athletic Bilbao in the first round of the European Cup made Puskas leave Hungary. He faced a FIFA ban for the next two years which made his few games played for Espanyol unofficial. At the age of 31, he joined the Los Merengues in Madrid. He and Alfredo di Stefano formed a lethal striking combination and opposition defenders ran for cover as goals started to rain for Real Madrid from all directions.

He scored 4 in the 1960 European cup final, a 7-3 win over German club Eimtracht Frankfurt, a game considered to be one of the best in European history. He won 4 ” Pichichis” for Real Madrid, and went on to become one of the club legends. He also scored 2 hattricks against the club’s most famous rival,FC Barcelona.

Puskas also played for Spain in the 1962 World Cup, where he did not manage to score.

Puskas guided Panathanaikos to the European Cup final in 1971 as manager, and also went on to coach his beloved Hungary.

He was voted as the 20th Century’s sixth best player by the International Federation for Footballing History and Statistics.

Adieu Puskas Ocsi…You will be forever in our hearts.

Group E :

Israel 3-4 Croatia ( Robert Colautti*2, Yossi Benayoun// Eduardo Da Silva*3, Darijo Srna)

A defensive error lead to Srna scoring from the spot. Kranjcar set up one Eduardo goal. Eduardo is a naturalised citizen and so is Colautti.

Macedonia 0-2 Russia( Vladimir Bystrov, Andrei Arshavin)

The two results mean that Croatia is now on top of Group E. England drew with the Dutch in their friendly ( Rooney, Van Der Vaart)

Group D :

Cyprus 1-1 Germany ( Yannikis Okkas/ Michael Ballack)

Shock result of the night

Republic of Ireland 5-0 San Marino ( Robbie Keane *3, Kevin Doyle, Andy Reid)

The Irish mark their final appearance at the Lansdowne stadium with a comprehensive win over whipping boys San Marino.

Group A :

Portugal 3-0 Kazakhstan ( Simao*2, Cristiano Ronaldo)

Some much needed points for Luis Felipe Scolari’s side

Belgium 0-1 Poland(Radoslaw Matusiak)

A defensive error from Daniel Van Buyten costs the Belgians dearly.

After much speculation about who would be the first Premiership manager to be sacked in the 2006-2007 season , here is the man——. It isn’t Stuart Pearce or Alan Pardew, but it is Iain ” Rocketman” Dowie. Yes the Charlton manager
Dowie joined the club after the departure of Alan Curbishley in May 2006. He previously coached Crystal Palace and Oldham Athletic before arriving at the Valley.

Charlton are currently bottom of the table after 12 games, and I doubt whether the sacking of Iain will help them. 12 games is too short a time to judge any manager’s capabilities and I think Dowie was a bit hard done.

Dowie’s most significant signing was the ex Atletico and Chelsea striker, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink ( On a free transfer). He won 2 games during his stint at the Valley.
Assistant Les Reed has been put in charge of the club temporarily and Mark Robson has become his number 2.

Do better times await the men@ the Valley. Let us wait and watch

Chelsea 4-0 Watford ( Didier Drogba*3, Andrei Shevchenko)

Excellent performance by Chelsea after their loss to Tottenham last week.

Everton 0-1 Aston Villa ( Chris Sutton)

Former Celtic striker Sutton claims three points for Villa. Great result for Martin O’Neill after the drubbing Chelsea gave them in the Carling Cup.

Manchester City 0-0 Newcastle 

City keep another clean sheet at home, but also fail to score.

Middlesbrough 0-1 West Ham ( Massimo Maccarone) 

West Ham’s run of 2 wins comes to an abrupt end.

Portsmouth 1-1 Fulham ( Andy Cole/ Zatyiah Knight) 

Another good result for the men from Craven Cottage after they beat Everton last week.

Sheffield 2-2 Bolton ( Hulse, Kazim Richards/ Diouf, Davies) 

Bolton concede 2 late goals to see 2 points snatched away.

Wigan 3-2 Charlton ( McCulloch, Camara, Jackson/ Bent, De Zeeuw OG) 

One high scoring game, this one !!!!

Theblacksheep, one of our contributors here, will be a very happy man today

He is a Manchester City fan and has always waxed eloquent about the abilites of Micah. He had predicted quite some time back that Micah would make it to the English squad before the end of 2006, and his prediction has come true. His other prediction, that Richards will one day become England’s first choice right back, might also come true.

Anyway coming back to the topic, the prodigal 18 year old defender from the blue side of the city of Manchester has earned a call up for the friendly against Marco Van Basten’s side. Richards has made only 3 England U-21 appearances so far and made his Premiership debut last October against the Gunners. However, the lad, a product of City’s much talked about youth system, has been a revelation in the Premiership and is easily one of the City’s best players at the moment. There was talk that he might move to one of the bigger clubs, but he is currently contracted to City till 2010.

If Richards does play on Wednesday, he will become Manchester City’s youngest player to be capped at international level. The lad is a natural centreback, but is equally at ease on the right hand side.

England have lost to the Dutch in their last three friendlies, and will be keen to reverse the trend.

England squad for the game against Holland

Forwards- Wayne Rooney, Andy Johnson, Jermaine Defoe, Darren Bent, Peter Crouch

So after some exciting Carling Cup action in midweek, we are in for another exciting Premiership weekend.

Here are my predictions for this week’s game

Manchester City 1-0 Newcastle

Chelsea 3-1 Watford

Everton 1-0 Aston Villa

Middlesbrough 0-2 West Ham

Portsmouth 2-1 Fulham

Sheffield United 1-2 Bolton

Wigan 1-0 Charlton

Blackburn 1-2 Manchester United

Reading 0-2 Tottenham

Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool

The Aussies have won their first Champions Trophy in India, but the manner of their celebrations hasn’t gone down well with the hosts.

The Aussies were given their trophy by Sharad Pawar, president of the BCCI. Mr. Pawar is a respected politician in India and apart from being head honcho of the Nationalist Congress Party, is also Indian agriculture minister. In their eagerness to pose with the trophy and get on with the celebrations, Ponting allegedly pointed for him to leave, while Damien Martyn nearly pushed him off the stage.

The incident was captured on TV, and therefore the whole of India saw it. Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and other greats have condemned the action of the men from Down Under, saying that it smacked of disrespect. This is a black mark in what was otherwise a very good event for the Aussies. They probably didn’t realise who Pawar was, but even then respect should atleast have been shown to a man who awards you the trophy.

This comes in the aftermath of Darrell Hair’s dismissal and therefore it is quite clear that everything is not hunkydory between Cricket Australia and the BCCI. Voting from the subcontinental bloc effectively resulted in Hair’s removal, and the ICC decision was criticised by James Sutherland.

  Sunday was witness to two London derbies. One saw West Ham taking on Arsenal and the second saw Spurs take on Chelsea. And in a mini upset of sorts, both the underdogs stole the thunder from their fancied rivals.

Spurs had never won at White Hart lane in 16 years against Chelsea and found themselves with mountain to climb when they fell behind to an exquisite goal by Claude Makelele. Chelsea then laid siege to the Spurs goal with Robinson forced to make some splendid saves, notably from Lampard and Ballack. A headed Didier Drogba goal was disallowed too. Spurs were granted much needed relief when Michael Dawson’s header found its way past Hilario into the back of the net.

The second half was as eventful as the first, if not better. Irish striker Robbie Keane tormented Khalid Boulahrouz before the former Hamburg defender slipped. Keane cooly sent the ball across. The ball bobbled to Aaron Lennon, who turned to evade Ashley Cole and then sent the ball into the top corner with a left footed shot.  Spurs were leading, and oddly, the Blues were trailing. Berbatov had a glorious chance to put Spurs 2 goals ahead, but his shot missed the target. The derby wasn’t short on emotion and Graham Poll had many opportunities to pull cards out of his pocket, which he duly did. Mourinho brought on Kalou for Boulahrouz, who lasted a duration of 22 minutes on the pitch after having been brought on at half time for Ferreira. With the Blues still trailing, skipper John Terry was sent off after earning a second yellow. This saw Michael Essien shift to a centreback role as Chelsea desperately pressed for an equaliser. Lampard’s shot was deflected by King and Arjen Robben’s effort, unfortunately clipped the post.

Tottenham did some valiant defending in the end minutes as Chelsea bombarded them with attacks. They managed to protect their lead though and recorded a victory which will remembered by their fans for a long long time.

Mourinho wasn’t very happy with the standard of refereeing. He argued that Ghaly should have been sent off  for elbowing if Terry was sent off.  I liked the words of the commentator toward the end ” Aaron Lennon, reportedly a Chelsea transfer target was on target for Spurs.”

And speaking of the Arsenal game, I haven’t seen Wenger so angry in a long time. He refused to shake hands with Pardew and the players were involved in some altercations towards the end.

 It was the only trophy which was not present in the cabinet of the all conquering men from Down Under. And yesterday, the ICC Champions Trophy became the newest addition to the already crowded Aussie cabinet.

The Aussies won their first World Cup in the subcontinent in 1987 and 2006 saw them win their first Champions Trophy. A victory made sweeter by the fact that they lost their first game to the Windies and then won all their games ( which were effectively knockout games).

Brian Lara won the toss and choose to bat. Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle started to go bang bang as the Aussie bowlers came in for some serious hammering. Brett Lee was spanked for 36 off his three overs as the ball flew to all parts of the park.Chanderpaul dragged one back on to his stumps, and Sarwan fell soon after. Gayle continued batting though and the score read 79/2 after 9 overs. I am sure Ponting would have had serious doubts on whether to take the next powerplay, given the murderous mood Gayle was in. But then Bracken produced a gem of a delivery to bowl Gayle-a delivery which probably won the Trophy for the Aussies. The delivery was the turning point of the game and a match which promised so much at an stage, went into a rot. The Windies were shot out for 139.

The stage was thus all set for the Aussies. Gilchrist and Ponting fell without contributing muych though. Watson and Martyn started off cautiously and then rain struck. Rain in November in Mumbai is as rare a sight as humans in the Antarctic, some people tell me

It looked that even God didn’t want the Aussies to win. But the rain eventually stopped and a revised target was set under the Duckworth Lewis method. The Aussies broke no sweat and  Martyn and Shane Watson guided them  home.

I have to say that the West Indies weren’t the best team to be in the final. They did raise their performance when it was required, but they disappointed one and all in the final. They flipflopped from looking an unbeatable team one day to a team not deserving to contest a final the other. To cut a long thing short ‘ Bennett King’s men are consistently inconsistent .

Only consolation for the Windies. Gayle being named player of the tournament. This performance would have given them hope of performing well at the World Cup to be held at home a little while from now.

Pic courtesy sporting-heroes.net

Various sources in the British media report that Chelsea have made Tottenham right winger Aaron Lennon their key transfer target.  They will reportedly offer cash and Shaun Wright Philips in exchange.

Lennon who will take over from Beckham on the right flank for England, is a pacy winger who showed great glimpses of his potential during the World Cup. The former Leeds man  hasn’t played in Mclaren’s squad because of injury.

One hopes Lennon doesn’t go the Shaun Wright Philips way. Tottenham like Manchester City, boast of some of England’s brightest young talents. Wright Philips lost his spot in the English squad because of lack of match practice, warming the Chelsea sidelines. IMO, he should stay at Tottenham for some more time and mature, however glitzy the offer from Roman’s bankers may look.

Another thing which I am a bit confused about is this– David Beckham has been rumoured to move to White Hart Lane. In the rare eventuality that it happens, and this deal goes through too, it means Beckham and Wright Philips will again fight for that spot in right midfield.

  It was a repeat of the 1998 Mini World Cup final, and in the end, Hurricane Gayle lashed the South Africans who were left scampering for cover.

Graeme Smith chose to take first guard which seemed to be a pretty good wicket to bat. The Proteas made two changes- Loots Bosman coming in for the out of form Boeta Dippenaar and Robin Peterson returning for Charl Langdevelt. Smith fell when he was starting to look good and that marked the entry of Jacques Kallis. Kallis and Bosman didn’t anything very significant to try and increase the rate. They didn’t run as hard as they probably should have and by the time both of them departed, the run rate wasn’t as good as it should have been. AB De Villiers and Herschelle Gibbs probably shared the best partnership in the South African innings. It went on at a fair clip, and South Africa progressed steadily. I felt that both the batsmen should have started accelerating a little earlier than they did. Anyway De Villier’s runout IMO was the turning point of the game. Had he stayed on with Gibbs, South Africa might have well touched something in the region of 280. And the bat was only a millisecond away from crossing the hallowed line. Technology came to the rescue of the Windies and De Villiers was run out. The batsmen who followed didn’t make much of an impact, barring Mark Boucher.   One can though forgive them , given the stage the match was in. The end result was that the Proteas attained a competitive score of 259/8, some 20 runs short of what they should have got.

I wouldn’t go too much into describing the West Indian innings, because once Hurricane Gayle hit Micky Arthurs’ side, there wasn’t much they could do. Every bowler, from Pollock to Peterson, was sent to the ropes, and no one was spared. Chanderpaul and Gayle added 154 runs before the Guyanese opener retired hurt. Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo and Runako Morton fell cheaply, but Gayle stayed on till the end to guide the Calypsos to their third ICC Champions Trophy final. Gayle’s innings was as good as it can get, with textbook shots complemented by unorthodox ones. There were shots which reminded the bowlers how strong the lad was

Anyway, off to Mumbai for the final. It was here that the Windies beat the Aussies in their group A encounter. Can they repeat the same in the final and defend their trophy??

Quite a few of you guys might have noticed my earlier post about a resort which combines golf with pleasure. Here is another one which caught my eye.

This resort is a luxury lodge situated in the Sidlaw Hills of Angus, Scotland. Yup, the same nation that gave us Colin Montgomerie and Dorothy Campbell. It is situated on the doorstep of the Highlands and isn’t too far from St. Andrews, the mecca for golfers. Ideal place, right

They have a specialised osprey viewing centre. So you can take your dinner at their fine Reval restaurant and watch the Ospreys have theirs too. There is a 18 hole golf course, and you can try your hand out at fishing for brown and rainbow trout in the fresh waters of the Loch.

Their function suite can cater up to 300 guests, and with the beautiful Scottish countryside in the backdrop, it is a preferred choice for weddings.

Its self catering luxury lodges can accomodate upto 9 guests ( apart from you) . Plus there are some fantastic features like indoor sauna and hot tub on the balcony. When it comes to lodges in Scotland, it really doesn’t appear to get any better than this one.

Next time, you head off to Scotland, try and check this one out 

I really haven’t posted in quite a while about golf, the reason plaintively being that there is too much cricket and soccer to distract me these days

However Jeev Milkha Singh winning the Volvo Masters does deserve a mention. Jeev is the son of legendary Indian athlete Milkha Singh, for those who haven’t heard of him. He won the Volvo Masters of Europe, the season ending tournament on the European Tour. Now that is some achievement, considering that he pipped the likes of Sergio Garcia and Padraig Harrrington to top spot. That win propels him into the top 100 golfers, no small achievement for a man from a country not too well known for its golfers.

Speaking about golf, an unused 11 acre site is going to be converted into a golf course for kids in New York. Kids as young as 5 will hone their skills there. Who knows…we might find another Tiger from there . Before you wonder whether this is a joke or part of some golf humour series, lemme assure you that it is not. This news is 100% true and the project is being funded by a combination of private and public money.

I’d  better read up some golf articles to brush up too . That might give me some theory knowledge only, but after reading about kids improving their skills , I need to be abreast too

Real Madrid 1-0 Steaua Bucharest( Banel Nicolita OG)

Olympique Lyonnais 1-0 Dinamo Kiev (Karim Benzema)

The two results mean that Group E’s qualifiers are determined- RM and Lyon go through.Lyon are yet to concede a goal this season in the CL.
Man Utd 0-1 FC Copenhagen ( Marcus Allback) 

Benfica 3-0 Celtic ( Caldwell OG, Nuno Gomes, Karyaka) 

Bad day for both British sides. Benfica are now two points away from Celtic. Gary Caldwell had an absolute nightmare of a game. Swedish striker Marcus Allback , with his and Copenhagen’s first goal in the CL, ensures that United still have work to do.

CSKA 0-0 Arsenal

FC Porto 3-1 Hamburg ( Gonzalez, Lopez, Bruno Moraes/ Rafael Van derVaart) 

CSKA stay on top of the group, with Porto and Arsenal equal on points. One tough group this one….

AC Milan 4-1 Anderlecht ( Kaka*3,  Gilardino/ Juhasz)

AEK 1-0 Lille ( Liberopoulos) 

 Milan have almost assured themselves of a spot in the last 16 with this win. AEK keep their hopes alive by winning in Athens.

  I received a lot of hits from the king of search engines from users wanting a review of the game. They were actually directed to my review of the leg at Stamford Bridge. Anyway here we go with a review of the game at Nou Camp.

The Nou Camp can be a difficult place to play in, especially for visiting teams, more so if they are English. No English team has ever won on Catalan soil FYI . And at the end of the game, Drog the Dog’s injury time equaliser robbed Barcelona of a win and ensured that the Blues stayed on top of Group A. Drogba was the same man who found the back of the net a fortnight ago at the Bridge, and the Ivory Coast striker slid the ball past Valdes in the dying seconds, with John Terry assisting .

The game was an ill tempered one, with 10 yellow cards being flashed. 6 of them went to Chelsea, and one of them ensured that Frank Lampard will not play on matchday 5.

Barcelona took the lead through Portuguese midfielder Deco in the third minute, who dashed down the left, cut in and sent a right footed shot past Hilario. Hilario then produced a superb save from a Xavi shot, which was made by a Ronaldinho pass. Valdes himself  saved Arjen Robben and Michael Essien’s efforts to keep the Catalans ahead. Referee Stefano Farina had a hard time in the first half, with tackles and pushes all over the place. Barcelona even thought Ashley Cole should have been sent off, but it later emerged that his supposed to be first card was for Lampard.

Frank Lampard equalised for Chelsea in the 51st minute, producing an splendid chip over Victor Valdes  from the tightest of angles. But Barcelona took the lead only 6 minutes later through former Blues player Eidur Gudjohnsen. Ronaldinho skipped past Boulahrouz on the left flank, and sent in a cross for the Icelandic striker to find the net from close range.

Gudjohnsen however, was stretchered off the field 15 minutes from time, after a challenge from Ricardo Carvalho lead to him falling awkwardly.

Drogba’s goal means that Bremen, who won 3-0 at Levski Sofia, are ahead by 2 points from Barcelona. Riijkard’s side will now have their work cut out to qualify from Group A