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All Time Dream Team

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:20:49 +0000

---------------------Yashin-----------------------
-------------Moore---Baresi---Maldini-------------
-------------------Beckenbauer -------------------
-------Garrincha---Di Stefano---Cruyff---Maradona--
---------------------------------Pele-----------------------------
------------------Eusebio------------------------------------

Bench: Banks, Nesta, Platini, Zidane, Van Basten.

1. Yashin
6. Moore
4. Baresi
3. Maldini
5. Beckenbauer
7. Garrincha
8. Di Stefano
14. Cruyff
11. Maradona
10. Pele
9. Eusebio

2. Banks
13. Nesta
12. Platini
21. Zidane
18. Van Basten

Coach Rinus Michels

Porto vs Manchester City

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:15:19 +0000

City welcome back midfielder Yaya Toure and defender Kolo Toure for the round-of-32 first-leg tie. The brothers, who have been playing in the African Nations Cup, are due to link up with the City squad in Portugal on Thursday night.

Striker Mario Balotelli is also in contention after serving a domestic suspension but fellow forward Carlos Tevez, back from his self-imposed exile in Argentina, is not registered to play.

Man City (from): Hart, Pantilimon, Richards, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Savic, K Toure, Clichy, Kolarov, Nasri, Milner, Johnson, Y Toure, Barry, De Jong, Pizarro, Silva, Aguero, Balotelli, Dzeko.

New Players In Euro 2012

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:00:57 +0000

Italy, France and England played poorly in the last 2010 World Cup, despite their reputation as European soccer powers. Now they are preparing for EURO 2012 qualification and besides new coaches for France and Italy, those countries are also trying to find new blood to boost their performance. Teams like Italy and France rely on old men too much, like what we saw on the last Cup. Now they have young players and those players of course, try their best to lift up their national team reputation. Italy now has Balloteli, and some names like Marco Motta, Bonnuci ( I am not that familiar with the last two names), and England has Joe Hart, City GK who performed brilliantly at the EPL City`s opening match, and Theo Walcott, France has Adil Rami, Jeremy Menez and others to show after their seniors were given a ban. What do you think of these players? how sure are you that they can do show their best for their national team? We hope there will be new stars in Euro 2012

The Official FC Barcelona Thread

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:49:17 +0000

Catalonia's section.

Welcome to SP's FC Barcelona Thread, the home of fans of the Catalan lovers, hope you enjoy!

Futbol Club Barcelona is a football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The team was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Spanish men led by Joan Gamper. The club has become a Catalan institution, hence the motto "Més que un club" (More than a club). The official Barça anthem is El Cant del Barça by Josep Maria Espinàs.

FC Barcelona is one of only three clubs never to have been relegated from La Liga and the most successful club in Spanish football after Real Madrid, having won nineteen La Liga titles, a record twenty-five Spanish Cups, eight Spanish Super Cups, four Eva Duarte Cups and two League Cups. They are also one of the most successful clubs in European football having won thirteen official major European trophies in total, including ten UEFA competitions.[1] They have won three UEFA Champions League titles, a record four UEFA Cup Winners' Cups, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cups (the forerunner to the UEFA Europa League) and three UEFA Super Cups. In 2009, Barcelona became the first club in Spain to win the treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League. The club is also the only European side to have played continental football in every season since its inception in 1955.

The club's stadium is the Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe with a capacity of 98,772 seats. Barcelona enjoys a high rate of popularity; about 25.7% of Spanish population support the club,[2] while according to a recent survey Barcelona is the most popular football club in Europe with around 44.2 million fans.[3] With 170,000 socis (members) in September 2009,[4] the Catalan club is also placed among the top football clubs in the world with the most registered members, and the number of penyes, the officially-registered supporter clubs, reached the number of 1,888 worldwide in August 2009. The fans of FC Barcelona are known as culés. The club shares a great rivalry with Real Madrid and contest in one of the most famous football matches worldwide, known as El Clásico.

During the 2007–08 season, FC Barcelona was the third richest club in the world with a revenue of €308.8 million. It was also one of the founding members of the now-defunct G-14 group of the leading European football clubs and its modern replacement, the European Club Association. The club also operates a reserve team, FC Barcelona Atlètic, while there was a youth team until 2007, FC Barcelona C.

As of July 1, 2009, FC Barcelona was ranked first in UEFA team ranking.[5] According to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), Barça has been the most consistently successful club in the world since the organisation began collecting statistics, in the period 1991-2008.[6]

Survival for Wigan is crucial

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:18:58 +0000

Quote

Roberto Martinez fears relegation will spark an exodus of talent from Wigan with winger Victor Moses leading the way.

The Wigan boss is locked in talks to extend the contract of the former Crystal Palace star, a man he has compared to Barcelona's Lionel Messi.

But Martinez has revealed that the 21-year-old will only consider staying on after his contract runs out in 18 months if the club remain in the top-flight.

"There have been developments," said Martinez.

"I am sure we are going to be able to extend his contract.

"He said he wants to stay but we have got to secure our top flight status.

"You do not see many players like him. Charles N'Zogbia is one, Messi is another."

http://www1.skysport.../11095/7524508/

Tottenham - 4th Spot or Title Challengers?

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:15:40 +0000

Tottenham’s 3-1 victory away to West Brom coupled with Manchester United dropping points against Newcastle, has left Spurs just two points behind the Champions with a game in hand. They remain a further five points behind pacesetters Manchester City who were relatively fortunate themselves to leave Anfield with a point. Was it a case of a perfect weekend for Tottenham, with their two main title rivals dropping points as they picked up the all three?

Certainly on current form they can’t be dismissed easily. Indeed recent performances have led to many in the media, as well as manager Harry Redknapp, to pose the question of the North London club being genuine challengers for the Premier League title.

The ease with which Tottenham took apart Aston Villa on Monday night at White Hart Lane demonstrated the strength and excellence of their first eleven and in particularly their midfield quintet. However, against West Brom the story was different. On Monday, Villa offered little and were dispatched in a straightforward manner. West Brom posed far tougher questions and in many respects Spurs rode their luck, particularly with regard to some first half refereeing decisions.

Robbed of the two principal creative players from that midfield, Redknapp was forced into a rare shuffle of the pack. For a trip to a dangerous side, under the astute stewardship of Roy Hodgson, it was a difficult game to have to bring new players into the fold. Yet as all top teams do they came away with the points without two of their best players. And after a ‘backs to the wall job’ in the first half, in which they missed Modric and Van der Vaart and were lucky to come out of on level terms, they were still able to grind out an impressive away win. It was the sought of victory that title-winning teams produce.

There is no denying the side has recovered well from their first two games, which left them propping up the table following heavy defeats from both Manchester clubs. On current form an aggregate 8-1 defeat would seem more than unlikely if they were to play the pacesetters again.

The addition to the squad of experienced Premier League duo, Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor, has added a bit of required steel in the midfield and a strong physical presence up front. Their arrival has led to a more settled line-up being put out by Redknapp, who in turn is reaping the rewards of consistency in an age of rotation.

Indeed since those two opening games, 8 players started the subsequent 9 Premier League matches. Their consistency in midfield and up front has resulted in a tremendous development of understanding, treating the White Hart Lane faithful to some fantastic flowing football. It is just like the rewards Newcastle are enjoying in terms of defensive displays garnered from playing a consistent back five. Both clubs fantastic starts to the season are no doubt indebted to their stability in terms of personnel.

In addition for Spurs, key players have returned to fitness and form such as Luka Modric, the subject of a big money move to Chelsea over the summer. His absence, along with fellow central midfielders Sandro and Huddlestone in those first games led to fringe players, Kranjcar and Livermore, starting in central midfield. It also meant an unknown and ultimately fruitless front pair of Van der Vaart and Defoe, which was unable to greatly trouble the quality back-lines on offer at both Manchester clubs. The pair did not have the physical presence to impose themselves on these defences and with a makeshift midfield; Spurs were unable to build a platform to play to their strengths on the ground. Performances and results since have shown the impact of the two additions and the strength of this Spurs’ first eleven.

Yet despite the many obvious benefits of sticking fairly rigidly to a starting 11, it is not without its pitfalls. Players missing at the start of the season through injury, such as Sandro and Gallas, who were both in impervious form at the fag end of last season but are now unable to force themselves into the reckoning. In addition both Huddlestone and Dawson will be looking to play significant roles in the campaign when they return from injury. Redknapp will have difficulty, as all modern managers of top teams do, in keeping all the players happy whilst maintaining this consistency.

There have already been rumors of discontent and interest in Defoe, who is a player that can get into a rich vein of scoring when given consistent games but has been reduced to a marginal role. Sandro in particular, after developing his game and adapting to English football so successfully last season will be needing plenty of games to continue for his future development, which is what Spurs invested in.

Regardless of the practicalities of balancing a squad, there is no denying the quality that Tottenham are producing at the moment. The fans, and possibly Modric himself, will be enjoying the irony of looking down the table at the club that successfully managed to turn his head in the summer to the extent that his departure seemed almost inevitable. They way the 2 clubs are heading that looks set to remain the case when they meet on the 22nd of December.

Now it is Spurs and not the West London counterparts who will appear best placed to challenge the Manchester duo. Especially given the disarray Chelsea now find themselves in, with victory at homes to Wolves unable to cover the underlying cracks.

This post has been promoted to an article

Did you see that goal?

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:11:44 +0000

Post a video of the recent good goal you saw. At the end of the season, we'll create a video with all goals sorted in respective continents and categories.

Only videos. No download links.

I'll start.

Should the World Cup winner automatically qualify for the next World Cup.

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:09:04 +0000

I believe that the World Cup winner does deserve a berth in the next World Cup (I hold the same opinion regarding the European Champions League, to which this discussion likewise pertains). With the way that the system is set up right now, all that you earn is a trophy. There is no higher competition that the trophy will enable you to aspire to. But with the way that the system once was, it caused the various competitions to be linked together. The multiple separate competitions became one unified competition, causing each individual World Cup tournament to double as a qualifying round for the next tournament. Winning the tournament gave you more than just a trophy; it gave you a spot in a higher competition inasmuch as winning the Major League Soccer Supporter's Shield gave you a berth in the Concacaf Champions League.

Under the current scenario, it doesn't get any better than this. But under the previous scenario, it just kept getting better.

Best German Talents

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:06:07 +0000

Lewis Holtby

Personal information
Date of birth 18 September 1990 (1990-09-18) (age 20)
Place of birth Erkelenz, West Germany
Height 1.74 m
Playing position Winger and Playmaker

Club information
Current club FSV Mainz 05
(on loan from Schalke 04)
Number 18

Lewis Holtby (born 18 September 1990) is a German footballer of English-German descent who plays for FSV Mainz 05 on loan from Schalke 04 in the 1. Bundesliga

Holtby's father, Chris Holtby, is an English former soldier from Liverpool who was stationed at the Rheindahlen RAF base in Mönchengladbach. Holtby's mother is German. Lewis, like his father is a fan of Everton and has said it would be a dream come true to play for them.

Lewis said: “My father was born in England and was an Everton fan since the age of five. He immediately infected me with the Everton virus! Since then I have been an Everton fan and have always followed their games.

first Saison for Achen
2.Bundesliga - 33 Games - 8 Goals - 10 Assists

1.Bundesliga Saison for Holtby
Schalke/Bochum - 23 Games - 2 Goals - 4 Assists

the new Saison
Mainz - 5 Games - 2 Goals - 3 Assists

SSC Napoli vs Chelsea

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:57:44 +0000

The confident Partenopei side is ready to host struggling Blues, as Andre Villas Boas looking for a change in fortunes for the London outfit. Napoli will take on Chelsea in the first-leg of the last 16 round of UEFA Champions League at Stadio San Paolo on Tuesday, February 21. The Azzurri come into this game on the back of an impressive 3-0 win over Fiorentina at Stadio Artemio Franchi at the weekend. On the other hand, Andre Villas Boas is finding it hard to hold onto his job after a 1-1 draw against Birmingham City in the FA Cup recently. The two teams will lock horns for the first-time in their histories.

Napoli

The Partenopei side have been extremely impressive in their debut Champions League campaign, and finished runners-up to Bayern Munich in the Group A. They have not lost a home game in their last 11 matches, but they have not been in the best of forms since the turn of year. The primary reason behind Napoli’s success in Europe has been their defending in the group stages of the competition. Walter Mazzarri’s men conceded only six goals in as many matches during the group stages.

Chelsea

The Blues have a horrendous record while playing in Italy, having won only one of their last seven matches on their travels to the peninsula. Chelsea have won only two of the ten Premier League games since last December. The London side is misfiring in all departments of their game, as they have been vulnerable in defence, slow in the midfield, and Fernando Torres is not providing Daniel Sturridge with the support in attack. AVB might look to take a gamble with injured captain John Terry in this possible do or die tie for the young manager.

Prediction : Napoli will be too strong at home for Chelsea and will probably get the win. Chelsea would be hoping to get atleast an away goal which may help them to get the result at SB.