Archive for the ‘Sport’ Category

Cristiano Ronaldo has won the title of “European Footballer of the Year”, just two days after his bizarre sending off in the match against Manchester City.

Strange handballs aside, Ronaldo is arguably won of the greatest players of all time. It’s easy to compare him to the likes of Pele and Maradona when they were in their prime, and his skill with a football is unmatched in the world right now. You know those guys who do those keepy-uppy tricks and balance the ball on their feet/shoulders/heads, Ronaldo can do all that, but the difference is he’s running at full sprint at the same time.

I don’t think there is a defender in the world who thinks they can take the Portuguese star on, one-on-one. Ronaldo skips past the likes of Terry, and numerous other defenders like the ball is glued to his feet. His free kick’s are also legendary. I don’t think there is anyone else in the world who can smack a ball with such precision, hard as you like over 30 yards on the planet. He makes Beckham look like a non-league amateur.

If you look at the list of guys who have won the ballon D’Or in recent years he’s better than them all:

2007 Kaka
2006 Fabio Cannavaro
2005 Ronaldinho
2004 Andriy Shevchenko
2003 Pavel Nedved
2002 Ronaldo
2001 Michael Owen
2000 Luis Figo

From the looks of that list, the next guy could be Ronald McDonald. And you can fully expect loads of Manchester United fans naming their kids after the best footballer in Europe.

His 42 goals last season also made him top goal scorer in Europe, earning him the Golden Boot – not bad for a midfielder. It’s also easy to forget this guy is just 23 years old, which means he should be terrorising defenders for at least another 6-7 years.

My own personal football season (my five-a-side kick-about’s) came to a crashing halt last night, with an ankle injury. I was playing great, best game in weeks actually, I’d scored four times already, and when going for a 50-50 ball, I came out worst, as I got booted in the side of my right ankle, closely followed by a loud “pop”. I had got my foot round the ball, just before the other guy, and that was that, I was down on the (freezing) ground in agony. I limped like a wimp off the pitch for a five minute breather before coming back on, but I could barely kick the ball. So that’s me till after Christmas I reckon. Gutted.

The football was completely rubbish last night as both the Manchester United and Arsenal games were both extraordinarily boring affairs, with little action from at the ends of each pitch. The Celtic game was a little better, and you have to feel sorry for Gary Caldwell’s unfortunate own goal right at the death.

Man United looked like they were playing for the draw, creating a useless display that none of the players should be proud of. You have to feel sorry for Ronaldo at times, as he gets the cr#p kicked out of him every time he plays. That’s the problem with talent; people let their envy get the better of them.

The Arsenal game was marginally better, if only for William Gallas’ performance, his first half mistake saw his own post rattled, and his disallowed goal was karma playing tricks on him. I don’t know how they won, and their was certainly an indication of hand ball to control the long ball that turned into the goal, but they won and now they are through to the next round.

Celtic, what can I say, not to great in Europe, never won away from home and looked unlikely to win last night, and before their goal in the 52nd minute of the game I think they were doing pretty good. After the goal was a catalogue of errors, and the equaliser made Celtic fans’ hearts sink to a new low, and when the own goal blasted into the net, you had to feel sorry for the supporters who travelled all that way to watch their team get dominated.

In other sports news, I hear Formula 1 boss Bernie Eckleston has some insane scoring ideas for the next season of the mildly popular sport. Fr years the sport involved cars going round the track with little or no overtaking for long periods of time, and everyone getting either 10,8,6,5,4,3,2,1 points according to their finishing position.

Eckleston’s mental idea involves a bronze, silver and gold medal for the top three in the race with the person with the most wins at the end of the season declared the winner – eh?

This doesn’t work in three major ways:

1. What’s the point of having silver and bronze if they have no effect on the championship?

2. Where is the incentive to get any points for any of the teams who are not in the top end of the sport?

3. The season could be over before the end much earlier if a driver won 8 of the 14 races right away.

Oh, and 3.1. What if it’s a draw?

This is a stupid idea that will hopefully never be approved, however, its Eckelston’s sport, and he can do what he likes to it.

Scotland lost last night which of course I’m gutted about, but England and Wales both won, so as far as mainland football is concerned 2 out of 3 ‘aint bad.

Sadly my predictions were way off for the England match, I said 3-1 to Germany, but the second choice team of players did good to pull the victory out of the bad – Terry must be thanking his lucky stars right now after his massive mistake to give Germany a gift of a goal. My Scotland prediction was close to the mark (1-1), and I think my team did great because they held it to a nil nil draw for 82 long minutes, which in Scottish terms is practically a win. Well done to Bellamy and Wales for sorting out the Danish and making their fry-up this morning extra special.

So, with the media having kittens about how good England are right now, do they have any chance of ever clinching world cup glory with England at this time?

I think that as far as England are concerned, this could be their time, and as a Scotsman it pains me to say that, but Capello has invigorated the team so much, and they genuinely look like they could walk away world cup winners.

It all depends on fitness and if the players want to work together effectively. Rooney spend as much time off the pitch as on it, Owen is gone forever IMO, Lampard and Gerrard clearly dislike each others playing styles, Beckham is getting a bit past it, but then you have guys like Defoe, Bent and Shawn Wright-Philips who had an exceptional games last night (definitely my pick for Man of the Match), Walcott and the rest of the new breed.

I think that they are doing well under Capello, but the English Premier League managers will only take so much of his arrogance before they tell him exactly ‘where to go’. I think Capello was out of line giving Benitez a hard time last week over the Gerrard issue, and I get the feeling other managers, like Sir Alex Ferguson or Martin O’neill could have something to say if he keeps acting like that.

Regardless, I like that they could do well in the world cup, they just need to hold it together. We’ve seen them crack under the pressure that the media heaps on them in the past, and it’ll doubtless happen again, but it’s just about focus.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, are in the same sort of boat. Scotland have proved they can play with the big boys, with the last couple of years showing vast improvement, and a big leap in the FIFA rankings. The problem is up front we are terrible. McFadden and Miller are Scotland’s only real goal scorers, and as they spend time on the injured list repeatedly, that means a lot of nil nil draws for the tartan army.

Wales and N. Ireland, two teams that show glimers of solid play, and have good results every so often, but I would be really surprised if they qualified for the cup. Well just have to wait and see.

So lots of football on tonight, but two main games that anyone needs to be concerned with: England Vs Germany and Scotland Vs Argentina.

I’m just going to put t right out there: England are going to be in serious trouble. With the news that Walcott is out now with a dislocated shoulder and anyone with a degree of decent ability gone, I wouldn’t be surprised to see 3, 4 or even 5 go past the keeper. Let’s have a look at who’s out of the match; Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Emile Heskey and Joe Hart.

That’s a massive loss to the squad that now consists of; Carson, Robinson, James, Bridge, Davies, Johnson, Terry, Lescott, Mancienne, Richards, Upson, Barry, Carrick, Downing, Bullard, Parker, Wright-Phillips, A Young, Agbonlahor, Bent, Crouch, Defoe. ouch!

So England still has Terry but after his foot troubles the other day I don’t expect him to make it past the first 60 minutes. The real threat toward Germany comes from forwards, Wright-Philips, Bent and Defoe. They are going to have a serious problem in midfield, with the loss of Gerrard and Lampard, but to be honest they are terrible when they play together, so it’s a good chance for Barry and Bullard to make a real name for themselves.

The match I really care about is the Scotland Vs Argentina one. The press are all over this just as much as the England game which is great to see. I think that Maradona’s presence will make his players perform brilliantly, but a quick check has shown that Scotland are 4/1 odds on to win tonight. The Butcher thing is getting a bit stupid though – get over it please. It should be about Scotland not about his never-really-existed rivalry with the little coke-snorting midget.

Regardless, Scotland will have a tough time with the players they are missing, Craig Gordon’s just been pulled out, then you’ve got Darren Fletcher, James Morrison, Ross McCormack, Steven Fletcher and Kenny Miller all sitting on the sidelines. That’s Scotland’s best keeper, midfielder and striker all out, which means were left with Aberdeen striker Lee Miller and Dundee United midfielder Scott Robertson, who just got called up last minute.

I hope that both England and Scotland win tonight but realistically this is how I see it going down:

Germany 3 England 1
Scotland 1 Argentina 1

I’m particularly gutted as I won’t be able to watch the Scotland game, as I live in England and don’t have Sky TV, so I’ll be watching the England match with the sound turned down, and I’ll have my DAB radio on with the Scotland game on. It might sound confusing, but it’s for my country dammit!

My office heating has broke, so i’m freezing right now. Because my fingers are numb, the majority of my text has required some serious spell checking, so appoligies if i miss one. It’s Monday, or as I like to refer to it: An average Joe talks about how good the football was at the weekend.

Enjoyed the weekend a lot. My beloved Bolton Wanderers won their game on Saturday, with Jussi Jaaskelainen now a serious contender for goalkeeper of the year. The match was good, and I felt (mildly) sorry for Hull City, but it’s entirely fair to say that Giovanni met his match. The saves Jussi pulled off were out of this world, but his whole game presence was phenomenal. He always knows when to come for the ball, and isn’t scared to jump at someone’s feet. Great keeper.

The Manchester United versus Arsenal game was the best of the season so far. Proper end-to-end stuff, with action all over the place, and you would have bet your house on Ronaldo scoring a goal from two yards out, but he’s just not completely back on form yet. Last seasons Ronaldo would have buried it without a flinch. I’m don’t really care much for either team, so as a neutral veering slightly towards Aresenal, I was happy.

Newcastle are in trouble. Losing again on Sunday is not what the fans want to see, but it happened, and I’m really starting to believe their going down this season. However, the league is a bit unpredictable this year, just two weeks ago Bolton were bottom, now were 11th so its really, if you’ll pardon the pun, open season.

I’m playing football tonight: A bit of five-a-side action. Played last week as well, and still have the cuts and bruises too prove it (it’s apparently a friendly kick about, but it never is). Hopefully this week, I’ll score more, as I scored only a couple of times last week, and they both were entirely average goals. The first goal was a total miss-kick that I scuffed into the bottom corner, and the other one was a one-step penalty for a hand ball in the semi-circle. I actually rather spectacularly miss-hit that one too, but somehow the ball skimmed its way through the keepers legs. Fluke.

It was amazingly cold last week too, so I’m currently debating whether to wear shorts or trousers, it’s a tough call as its outdoors, and as anyone who plays football knows when a ball is smacked off of your freezing cold thigh, its one of the suckiest pains you can have – not to mention the fact that you have to instantly man-up, even though your crying inside.

I used to plan how I was going to play when I was young. I’d say to myself that “I’m going to score in the top corner on the right-hand side of the net”, and then throughout the game, I’d have that aim in my head. Tonight, as I’m older and wiser?, I’m going to aim to not get smacked on the thigh if I can help it, come away with less bruise this week, and maybe not scuff the ball badly each time I get a chance.

Time to jump on the bandwagon methinks. Yesterday was a good day, as not only did Hamilton finally win the Fomula one world championship, Bolton gave Man City a resounding thumping. Get in!

The Formula One was great too watch, probably the most exhilarating of the year, and no on would’ve expected to go don to the second last corner of the last lap – Shakespeare couldn’t have written a better fairytale ending than that.

Now I know that Glock’s unexpected slowdown will be grumbled about for quite some time, and myself and the missus both agree that their must have been a frantic call from McClaren to the Toyata garage of Glock, quite simply asking “how much will it cost us for you to tell your driver to slow down a bit mate?”

It was a great end though, added to by the pre-emptive reaction of the Ferrari team - someone should’ve told them that “it’s not over ‘till the fat lady sings”. Also, special mention should go to the camera man in the McClaren pit lane for his continued focus on Hamilton’s ludicrously good looking girlfriend throughout the race.

To top off a great afternoon was the football, more precisely the Bolton thrashing of Man City. Ok so it maybe wasn’t as one-sided as I’m suggesting, but the fact is that Bolton needed that win so badly and it’s lifted the team from the foot of the table. Sweet.

I have to feel sorry for my dad, who got to watch about an hour of the race before heading to a 12 hour nightshift – and what will have no doubt been an impossible task to avoid the result. I know that feeling every Saturday night, because I try to avoid the football scores all day so that I can watch Match of the Day on TV and be genuinely excited about goals. Am I a sad case? Who knows, but I reckon I’m not the only one.

As it stands, I won’t be calling my dad until he calls me, I don’t want to be the one to give away the result if he has managed to avoid it, which if he has would warrant some kind of medal.

On a side note, I’ve heard a lot of folk moan about the fact the Lewis Hamilton’s dad must have spent loads of money to get him where he is, and perhaps he has, but its surely his right as a father to pour money into something his son wanted so badly. If anyone can remember, an 8-year-old Lewis was on Blue Peter racing John Leslie with radio controlled carts, the determination on his face even doing that would be enough to make any father want to give him the backing if he could, even if it meant taking extra jobs, and loans.

If you happen to be a world class football player, where exactly does true talent lie? Is it in your feet, your head, your heart? Or is it a combination of all three?

Over the year the world has seen its share of world class players. Guys like the diminutive Diego Maradonna, the brilliant (he was my favourite player as a kid) Roberto Baggio, to the heroes of today like the ludicrously talented Cristiano Ronaldo, have all left their mark, but do they all have one thing in common? It’s hard to tell.

Maradonna was always going to be remembered ad one of the best. His on pitch antics are as memorable as his off field antics. The little guy could cut his way through the best defences in the world with all the grace of a brick, but he had the amazing ability to find the net – albeit with his “hand of God” guiding him on one occasion. Even if he is/was a bit-of-a drug crazed maniac he can still play a solid game of football, as I remember he was still pretty nifty even for a short fat bloke during the “England vs. the Rest of the World” charity match.

Roberto Baggio was my hero as a young kid. When I was young, the Italian football programme was just starting on a Sunday morning, and I was hooked. My brother picked Inter Milan, so naturally, I picked AC Milan as my team. With Roberto Baggio in his peak, I remember being astounded by his skill with a ball, I watched him score goals from all over the pitch, and I wanted to play as good as him. I remember hearing that he was called “Il Divin Codino” – the Divine Ponytail. Maybe that was the source of all his talent?

You look at today’s stars of the game. Beckham was the poster ball of the game a few years back. He made the game what it is, with its flamboyant players, flash cars, and players knowing how to spend their excessive sums of money.

Cristiano Ronaldo is regarded as the best player in the world right now – with many proclaiming that he’s the best player in history. While this is of course arguable, there is no denying that he is an astounding talent. His ability to strike a ball goalward is second-to-none, with some of his freekicks considered the best in the world. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t wish they had a player like him in their team, even though he’s a diving git.

What makes a player good then? Maradonna was a little tank that used his body, and determination, Baggio used his flair and ponytail, and Ronaldo use his ability to see the way the game will play out a millisecond before hitting the ball, as well as his stunning ball control.

The main thing is they all have passion. You see teams with low moral getting hammered week in-week out, Spurs this season, Derby County last. They’ve lost the passion (fair enough Harry Redknapp has arrived to save the day) for the game. You need to have your feet, and your mind in tune with each other to become one of the greatest.

Its that old adage: you either have it, or you don’t. But to be honest, I don’t think you could ever truly know what “it” is.

How was your weekend? If you lived in the UK it was probably very wet, miserable and your team got beat during the weekends football.

Sound familiar? Well that’s because most weekends at the moment have been like that. Rain, more rain, some sleet, a bit of hail, even some snow in places, cloudy, and your football team getting beat.

Ok so maybe not everyone’s team got beat, but mines did, and by statistically, the worst team in the league. Spurs 2 Bolton 0. Gutted.

The worst thing to happen to Bolton was the departure of Big Sam a short while back (2007). Sammy Lee was a useless manager, and nearly killed off Bolton’s morale. Megson to be honest is just as bad. They need to bring back allardyce as soon as possible, otherwise they will go down this season (to be honest they’ve been on the brink for years now).

A title would be nice too; they’ve spent 69 seasons in the top flight over the years, and at no point have won the title. Perhaps the Midas touch of Harry Redknapp is required.

It’s frustrating as a fan of the club for many years now. All I’ve wanted to see is some glory. Its all to easy for fans of the game to latch onto one of the big clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool of Manchester United, especially if your not from England (I believe Manchester United are the most supported club worldwide, but I’m too lazy to check). I’m not from England, yet I have a family connection by way of sorts to Bolton, so I choose them well over fifteen years ago and have stuck by them through thick and thin.

With three managers since 2007, you have to wonder if that’s the real problem now, Big Sam had it stable, and things were improving. Maybe the answer is to find out if Charles Foweraker is still around an see if he fancies taking Bolton to the FA cup 3 more times (Foweraker was the clubs longest serving manager at 24 years – 1920-1944, and won the FA cup in ’23, ’26 and ’29).

Realistically, the club needs to find an investor willing to spend a few hundred million on the team, as apparently that’s how you win trophies these days, plus, I hear Jose mourino could be on his way back from Inter Milan next season, if I was the chairman, Jose would be getting a call.

I played football the other night and not just FIFA on the Xbox, real football (well, five-a-side). I’ve been playing every week without fail for the last month or two, and I’m getting progressively fitter.

The first game nearly killed me, as my fitness was at the level of a 75-year old chain-smoking woman. I ran around for about ten minutes before I had my hands on my knees cursing the fact I had another 50 minutes to play left. I made it too the end (just) but didn’t score a single goal. Gutted.

I’ve only played maybe six more times since then, but I can definitely see an improvement. I ran around non-stop for pretty much the whole match, and I’ve scored consistently every week. I used to be decent at the game; I played regularly for a couple of years, and only stopped playing for about 7 months, but it quite alarming how quickly your fitness deteriorates.

I love playing the game, the competitive spirit will never die in me, and now that I’m getting back to a decent level of fitness (I’m giving it 5 more games to be 100%) I’m looking into the possibility of joining a non-league club.

But am I good enough? Sadly there are no standardised tests you can take. When I was young I had the “Ryan Giggs: Soccer Skills” VHS tape, I used to watch it all the time, and it still stands up, because Ryan Giggs is a great player.

Maybe I’m too old to play. At 27, as far as football is concerned, I’m completely passed my prime. I could probably be a keeper, as I was always a bit nifty in goals, and I’m not scared of getting hit by the ball, but I’d rather be a defender, or a midfielder. I’m not really a striker if I’m being honest, I prefer to run with the ball, and cross it in, maybe take the freekicks, more of a short passing game (I used to watch a lot of Italian football when I was a lad), but I’m not the guy for hammering home the winner in the world cup final – although that would be nice.

So where to start, I’m going to head to the local team in my area, speak to the boss and try to arrange to get in on their training. I reckon that’s the best thing to do, and then at least I’ll know if I still play at my grand old age. Wish me luck.

The football at the weekend as great if you were a Hull City fan, pretty normal if you were a Chelsea fan, and an absolute joke if you were a Bolton fan.

Let’s start with Hull City’s wake-up call for a usually dominant Arsenal. Although technically more efficient, Arsenal were just a bit too lazy to pull this one off. Hull were considered underdogs right from the start, but as we often see in the FA cup 3rd round, underdogs can bite – really hard. Geovanni’s goal at 66 minutes was truly a contender for goal of the season, what an absolute scorcher! I still don’t know why Almunia even bothered to dive.

Chelsea breezed past Hulls promoted rivals Stoke City with a two-nil bore-fest. Anelka finally did something useful, and put the ball in the back of the net to secure the win and keep the blues at the top of the table. They play a very European style with Luiz Filipe Scolari starting to have his presence felt by the team. Sadly for neutral fans this ensures boring victory after victory. Must be great to be a Chelsea fan I guess.

The big talking point of the weekend is Rob styles ludicrous decision to award Manchester United a penalty after complete girl Ronaldo threw himself to the ground after a great clean tackle from Bolton’s defender. Styles cracked under the pressure of having to make the decision and pointed half heartedly at the spot. Bolton fans couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe it, and if you look at the Manchester United players, I don’t think they could even believe it. Ronaldo buried it, and Bolton lost their spirit and then subsequently the match.

Now if this isn’t a call for video evidence during matches, I don’t know what is. How many times have we seen stuff like this happen? Every week there is an offside decision, a handball moment, or a freekick that swings the balance of the game. The reason this has never been implemented is because the football big-wigs don’t want to ruin the beautiful game. What they may be forgetting is that when they allowed billionaire investors to buy over teams as little play things, the game was ruined instantly.

I honestly don’t see what the problem is. Technology is so far advanced that refs could wear watches with screens on them that allow them access to instant replays, our they could have radio’s in their ear that allows them to be told from a fourth official that something happened, failing that they should just show replays of any incident on the stadiums big screens and have the fans vote. Ok maybe not the last one, but the other two ideas would work just fine.

What do you think? Should we keep the game as it is, with its numerous bad decisions, and game changing moments? Or should we actually have a fair and balanced contest. I know what I’d choose.