Uefa Champions League Results (26/11/13 & 27/11/13)

Basel              1  -  0    Chelsea
Steaua            0  -  0    Schalke
Arsenal          2  -  0    Marseille
Dortmund      3  -  1    Napoli
Zenit              1  -  1    Atletico Madrid
Porto              1  -  1    Austria Vienna
Ajax               2  -  1    Barcelona
Celtic             0  -  3    A C Milan

 

Leverkusen    0  -  5    Man United
Shaktar D.     4  -  0    Real Sociedad
Juventus        3  -  1    Copenhagen
Real Madrid  4  -  1    Galatasaray
PSG               2  -  1    Olympiacos
Anderlecht     2  -  3    Benfica
CSKA            1  -  3    Bayern
Man City       4  -   2   Viktoria Plzen

Corinthians Stadium Collapse Killed Two

Two people were pronounced dead in Sao Paulo Brazil, when a crane fell on a portion of the Corinthians Arena Stadium, under construction for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. A third man is seriously injured in hospital.

The accident occured, when the last part of the stadium's roof which covers the north stand, was being installed.

Brazil - the host nation, was slated to play the opening match of the summer tournament, in the stadium on the 12th of June, next year.

The construction company has been running against time. Before this incident, it has Fifa deadline of end of December, but with this set back, they will need a little bit more time, probably.

FIFA has released a statement pertaining to the unfortunate accident,
''We wish to send our heartfelt condolences to the family of the workers, who tragically died today.''

''The safety of workers is the top priority for Fifa, the LOC (local organising committee) and the federal government.

''We know the safety of all workers, has always been paramount for all the construction companies contracted to build the 12 Fifa World Cup stadiums.

The statement added, ''Please understand that we are in no position to comment further at this stage, as we are awaiting further details from the authorities.''

Mean while, the Corinthians football club, who are billed to take over the stadium after the World Cup tournament, has also released a statement about the accident.

It simply stated, ''The board of sport club Corinthians Paulista, hereby deeply regret the accident earlier in Corinthians Arena. No other information at this time.''
Read also: africanfootie.blogspot.com

Little Facts About The 32 Countries

On the 6th of December, the world football governing body - FIFA will be holding the draw for the group phase of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Each qualified country will then know which countries they will be playing in their group.

But before the draw is held here are a little facts about the countries that will be participating in the summer soccer mundial. Nations number of appearances, best results, Fifa ranking and star player. I have to start with the host country - Brazil.

Wayne Rooney

Brazil (Host), Fifa ranking 11                         Spain: Ranking No. 1
Appearances: 20                                              Appearances: 14
Best Results: World Champions                     Best Result: Champions 2010
1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002                   Star Player: Andres Iniesta.
Star Player: Neymar.

Germany: Ranking No. 2                                 Argentina: Ranking No. 3
Appearances: 18                                               Appearances: 16
Best Results: Champions 1954,                        Best Results: Champion
1974 and 1990.                                                  1978 and 1986.
Star Player: Mesut Ozil                                     Star Player: Lionel Messi.

Colombia: Ranking No. 4                                  Belgium: Ranking No. 5
Appearances: 5                                                   Appearances: 12
Best Result: 2nd round 1990                              Best Result: 4th in 1986
Star Player: Radamel Falcao                              Star Player: Vince Kompany

Uruguay: Ranking No. 6                                    Switserland: Ranking No. 7
Appearances: 12                                                 Appearances: 10
Best Results: Champions                                    Best Results: Quater-final
1930 and 1950.                                                   1934, 1938 and 1954
Star Player: Luis Suarez                                     Star Player: Xherdan Shaqiri

Netherlands: Ranking No. 8                                Italy: Ranking No. 8
Appearances: 9                                                    Appearances: 18
Best Results: 2nd in 1974                                    Best Results: Champions
1978 and 2010                                                     1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006
Star Player: Robin van Persie                              Star Player: Andrea Pirlo

England: Ranking No. 10                                    Portugal: Ranking No. 14
Appearances: 14                                                  Appearances: 6
Best Result: Champion 1966                               Best Result: 3rd in 1966
Star Player: Wayne Rooney                                 Star Player: C. Ronaldo

Greece: Ranking 15                                              Bosnia: Ranking No. 16
Appearances: 3                                                     Appearances: 1st time
Best Result: 1st round                                           Best Result:  -
1994 and 2010                                                       Star Player: Edin Dzeko
Star Player: K. Mitrilou

Croatia: Ranking No. 18                                       Russia: Ranking No. 19
Appearances: 4                                                     Appearances: 10
Best Result: 3rd in 1998                                       Best Result: Quater-final
Star Player: Luka Modric                                     1958, 1962 and1970
                                                                             Star Player: Andre Arsjavin
Chile: Ranking No. 12                                         
Appearances: 9                                                    Ivory Coast: Ranking No.17
Best Result: 3rd in 1962                                      Appearances: 3
Star Player: Alexis Sanchez                                Best Result: 1st round 2006
                                                                             2010
                                                                             Star Player: Didier Drogba
France: Ranking No. 21
Appearances: 14                                                  Ecuador: Ranking No. 22
Best Result: Champion                                        Appearances: 3
Star Player: Franck Ribery                                  Best Result: round of 16
                                                                             Star Player: A. Valencia
Ghana: Ranking No. 23
Appearances: 3                                                     Algeria: Ranking No. 32
Best Result: Quater-final                                      Appearances: 4
2010                                                                      Best Result:1st round 1982
Star Player: Asamoah Gyan                                 1986 and 2010
                                                                              Star Player: S. Feghouli
Nigeria: Ranking No. 33
Appearances: 5                                                     Cameroon: Ranking No. 59
Best Result: 2nd round 1994                                Appearances: 7
and 1998                                                               Best Result: Quater-final
John Mikel Obi                                                     Star Player: Samuel Eto'o

United States: Ranking No. 13                             Mexico: Ranking No. 24
Appearances: 10                                                   Appearances: 15
Best Result: Semi-final 1930                               Best Result: Quater-final
Star Player: Michael Bradley                               1970 and 1986
                                                                              Star player: J. Hernandez
Costa Rica: Ranking No. 31
Appearances: 4                                                     Honduras: Ranking No. 34
Best Result: 2nd round 1990                                Appearances: 3
Star Player: Bryan Ruiz                                        Best Result: 1st round
                                                                              1982 and 2010
                                                                              Star Player: W. Palacios
Japan: Ranking No. 44
Appearances: 5                                                     Iran: Ranking No. 49
Best Result: 2nd 2002 & 2010                             Appearances: 4
Star Player: Keisuke Honda                                 Best Result: 1st round
                                                                             1978, 1998 and 2006
                                                                             Star Player:
                                                                             R. Ghoochannejhad

South Korea: Ranking No. 56                             Australia: Ranking No. 57
Appearances: 9                                                   Appearances: 4
Best Result: 4th in 2002                                     Best Result: 2nd round 2006
Star Player: Son Heung-Min                              Star Player: Luke

Read also: africanfootie.blogspot.com                 

Ronaldo Beat Ibahimovic In The World Cup Race

The much anticipated battle between football superstars, Cristian Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in their countries' - (Portugal and Sweden) World Cup play-offs, lived up to it's media billings. Ronaldo scored a hattrick on Tueday night, in their 3 - 2 win to help Portugal qualify on an aggregate of
4 - 2. Portugal also won the first leg in Lisbon with 1 - 0.

The match was very entertaining full of excitements, with the two big stars scoring all the goals in the two leg play-offs. Ronaldo scored the only goal in the first leg on Friday and a hattrick in the Friends Arena in Sweden. Zlatan scored the two goals for Sweden.

It was a thriller of a match, but unfortunately only one of the superstars and his team, will be going to the 2014 soccer mundial in Brazil and Ronaldo made sure that it was going to be him and Portugal.

In the other World Cup play-offs, France came back from their 2 - 0 defeat
against Ukraine to beat them 3 - 0 in Paris and qualify on aggregate of 3 - 2.
Croatia defeated Iceland 2 - 0 in Zagreb and qualified on an aggregate of 2 - 0, as the first leg in Iceland ended on a 0 - 0 draw.

Greece also qualified after a 1 - 1 draw in Romania. They go through on the aggregate of 4 - 2, they won the first leg in Athens with a 3 - 1 scoreline.

In the remaining two play-offs in Africa, Ghana lost 2 - 1 in the second leg in Cairo, but qualified on a 7 - 3 aggregate. They defeated Egypt 6 - 1 in the first leg in Kumasi, Ghana.

Read also: africanfootie.blogspot.com

Algeria defeated Burkina Faso 1 - 0 in the second leg play-off. They lost the first leg in Ouagadigou 3 - 2. The aggregate score was 3 - 3 but Algeria qualified on away goal rule.

All the 32 countries to participate in Brazil 2014 World Cup, are now known except for one that will be determined on Wednesday, in the inter -continental play-off between Uruguay and Jordan. Uruguay has a massive advantage going into the second leg, because they won the first leg 5 - 0.

I believe Uruguay will qualify, baring any miracle on the side of Jordan.
Mexico has already booked their place in the first inter-continental play-offs against New Zealand with a 4 - 2 win in Wellington. They went through on the aggregate of 9 - 3. Mexico won the first leg in Mexico City with 5 - 1.

The Countries that have qualified including the host - Brazil are :
Africa: Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and Algeria. The same five nations that qualified in 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Asia: Australia, Iran, Japan and South Korea.

Europe: Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia, Bosnia, Greece, France,
England, Italy, Russia, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland.
North/Central America &Caribbean: Costa Rica, Honduras and USA.
South America: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile and Ecuador.

David Haye To Retire For Good?

David Haye (33), the British former WBA world heavyweight champion, had a five hour marathon shoulder reconstruction operation, on Thursday in Germany. He was advised afterwards, to retire from fighting (boxing).

The pugilist said that, the news was a massive blow for him and that it wasn't the way he wanted to end the year. He said that maybe it wasn't  meant to be. He probably was refering to his come back from his first retirement in 2011.

''It's a crushing blow for me, this wasn't how I wanted to end 2013. Perhaps it just wasn't meant to be. The boxing gods keep hinting that maybe enough is enough,'' he said.

''The surgery and subsequent results are a bitter pill to swallow, because I truly felt I had a lot more to offer.''

''But I've been boxing for 23 years now, amateur and pro, and this has clearly taken it's toll on my body.

''I genuinely believed the shoulder injury wasn't that bad. But the doctor sent me for a detailed MRI scan and within 24 hours I was told the full extent of the damage. Twenty-four hours after that, I was in the operating theatre.''

David Haye  (with his heavyweight belts)

 

David Haye, who obviously was disappointed with the latest setback in his career, said that his plan for next year, was to win back the world heavyweight title. He said that 2013 was the unluckiest year for him, throughout his career.

''I had big plan for next year and the ultimate goal was to win back the world heavyweight title.''

''What I didn't anticipate, was that this year would be the unluckiest of my career and that a number of injuries would disrupt my plans so much.''

Haye became the WBA heavyweight champion in 2009, after he defeated the title holder, Nikolay Valuev. But he retired in October 2011, after he lost the belt to Wladimir Klitsscho of Ukrain in Germany.

Read also: africanfootie.blogspot.com

Then in 2012 he came back and in July he defeated Dereck Chisora, which was one of the two matches he fought since his returned. The two fights scheduled this year were both cancelled.

 The fight against Manuel Charr was postponed, because Hayes suffered a hand injury and the fight against Tyson Fury in September, was rescheduled for Febuary 8, 2014, because Haye again suffered eye cut in training.

Peter Fury, the uncle and trainer of his opponent, Tyson Fury, reacted in an unsympathetic manner to the latest news.

''From the moment Haye postponed in September, it was obvious this fight wasn't going to happen,'' he told the media.

''The public have been duped. Tyson will fight someone else in Febuary. We 'll get the show back on the road and we're glad we don't have to do business with these people ever again,'' he added.

David Hayes, seem to have resigned himself to fate, with the latest setback, which probably will see him retire for good, as was adviced.

''If I'm now destined to have won the European Championship, the unified world cruiserweight championship and the WBA heavyweight championship of the world - with a record of 28 fights, 26 wins, 24 victories coming via knock-out and only two defeats - then so be it.''

He said that he was proud of his achievements and consider his boxing career a massive success.

''I'm proud of these achivements and consider my boxing career a huge success.''

The boxing community are eagerly waiting to see what the decision of Haye will be. Is he going to retire or continue to fight. I think he probably will retire. What do you think he is going to do?

Some European Weekend League Results (09/11/13 And 10/11/13)

Dutch Eredivisie

Heerenveen         5  -  2   RKC Waalwijk
Vitesse                3  -  1   Utrecht
Ado Den Haag    3  -  0   Cambuur
Heracles              0  -  3   Groningen
Roda JC              1  -  4   Go Ahead Eagles
NAC                   2  -  1   PSV
Zwolle                1  -  1   Twente
NEC                   0  -  3   Ajax
Feyenoord          2  -  2   AZ Alkmaar

EPL  (English Premier League)

Aston Villa           2  -  0   Cardiff  City
Chelsea                 2  -  2   West Brom
Crystal Palace      0  -  0   Everton
Liverpool             4  -  0   Fulham
Soton                   4  -  1   Hull City
Norwich              3  -  1   West Ham
Sunderland          1  -  0   Man City
Tottenham           0  -  1   Newcastle
Man United         1  -  0   Arsenal

French Ligue

Monaco           1  -  1   Evian Thonon
PSG                 3  -  1   Nice
Toulouse         1  -  1   Ajaccio
Valenciennes  1  -  1   Montpellier
Lorient            0  -  0   Reims
Bastia              1  -  0   Rennes
Guingamp       0  -  0   Lille
Bordeaux        0  -  3   Nantes

Italian Serie A

Catania            1  -  0   Udinese
Inter                 2  -  0   Livorno
Roma               1  -  1   Sassuolo
Cagliari            2  -  1  Torino
Parma              1  -  1   Lazio
Chievo             0  -  0   Milan
Atalanta           2  -  1   Bologna
Genoa              2  -  0   Verona
Fiorentina        2  -  1   Sampdoria
Juventus          3  -  0   Napoli

German Bundesliga

Hannover 96     0  -  0   E.  Braunschweig
Schalke 04        3  -  1   W. Bremen
Wolfsburg        2  -  1    B.  Dortmund
M'gladbach      3  -  1    Nurnberg
Bayern             3  -  0    Augsburg
Leverkusen      5  -  3    Hamburg
Hoffenheim     2  -  3    Hertha
Mainz  05        1  -  0    E. Frankfurt
Freiburg          1  -  3    Stuttgart

Spanish La Liga

Osasuna          0  -  1   Almeria
Granada          3  -  1   Malaga
Real Madrid   5  -  1   Real Sociedad
Celta Vigo      0  -  2   R. Vallecano
Getafe             1  -  1   Elche
Athletic Club  2  -  1   Levante
Espanyol         1  -  3   Sevilla
Valencia         2  -  2   R. Valladolid
Real Betis       1  -  4   Barcelona
Villarreal        1  -  1   Atletico Madrid

Arsenal Can Win Champions League Title, Says Klopp

Arsenal won Borussia Dortmund yesterday, 1 - 0 in the Westfalia Stadium, in their second leg Champions League encounter.

The Arsenal in-form young Walsh player, Aaron Ramsey, scored the only goal of the match in the second half of the game. It was a hard fought duel between the two teams.

Dortmund came into the match slightly favoured over their London opponents, to win the match because they won their last eight home Champions League matches and was also riding very high on their dismantling of FC Stuttgart 6 - 1 in the German League over the weekend.

Champions League Trophy

It is a very known fact in the football community, that Borussia Dortmund is a very dangerous team to play against, because of their high quality attackers.

Arsenal came to Dortmund on a high note too, even though they lost the first leg 2 - 1 in London. They arrived on a high note, because they are on top of the EPL, with five points lead to the second placed Chelsea, after 10 matches.

Also their emphatic 2 - 0 defeat of Liverpool over the weekend, was a big confidence booster for the team.

The Dortmund potent attackers led by their lethal Polish international  striker, Robert Ledwandowski, put the visitors under pressure from the kickoff time, but the London club withstood them.

Read also: africanfootie.blogspot.com

Arsenal defence was very resolute throughout the match. All credit goes to the team as a whole for their wonderful performance, as they did what no other English team has ever done and that was to win Dortmund in the Westfalia Stadium.

Dortmund played good and created some chances, but was unable to convert to goals, mainly due to the exceptional performance of the Arsenal defence.

After the match Jurgen Klopp, the Dortmund coach said that, Arsenal can win the Champions League as long as they avoid Bayern Munchen. He said that, Arsenal is a young, healthy and good technical team and that they had just won a clever game.

''They could win it - as long as they don't play Bayern Munchen,'' he said.

''They are young, healthy and good technicians. They won a clever game tonight.''

''We created much more today up front, but they scored with their first chance of the match and we could not come back. This defeat could have been avoided.

''It's definitely going to get exciting from now on,'' Mr Klopp added.

Oh yes, he is correct, the group F is really going to be more exciting because either of the three top teams has a chance of qualifying. With two matches still remaining, Arsenal is on top of the table with 9 points, Napoli also has 9 points but Dortmund has 6 points. This is definitely a group to watch.

Uefa Champions League Results (05/11/13 & 06/11/13)

Real Sociedad         0  -  0    Man United
Copenhagen            1  -  0    Galatasaray
Shakhter Donetsk   0  -  0    Beyer Leverkusen
Juventus                  2  -  2    Real Madrid
Olympiakos            1  -  0    Benfica
PSG                        1  -  1    Anderlecht
Man City                5  -  2    CSKA Moscow
Viktoria Plzen        0  -  1    Bayern Munchen

Samuel  Etoo

Basel                         1  -  1   Steaua Bucharest
Chelsea                     3  -  0   Schalke 04
Borussia Dortmund  0  -  1   Arsenal
Napoli                       3  -  2   Marseille
Zenit St Petersburg   1  -  1   Porto
Atletico Madrid        4  -  0   Austria Vienna
Ajax                          1  -  0   Celtic
Barcelona                 3  -  1    AC Milan

Read also: africanfootie.blogspot.com
 

Some Major European League Results (02/11/13 & 03/11/13)

Dutch Eredivisie

RKC                 3  -  0   NAC
Twente             2  -  2   NEC
Ajax                 0  -  1   Vitesse
AZ                   2  -  0   Ado Den Haag
PSV                 1  -  1   Zwolle
Groningen       3  -  3   Roda JC
Cambuur         0  -  2   Feyenoord
Utrecht            2  -  0   Heerenveen
Go Ahead           -        Heracles
Eagles

Cesc Fabregas of Barcelona

EPL

Fulham               1  -  3    Man United
Newcastle           2  -  0   Chelsea
Man City            7  -  0    Norwich
Hull City            1  -  0    Sunderland
Stoke City          1  -  1    Southampton
West Brom         2  -  0    Crystal Palace
Arsenal               2  -  0    Liverpool
West Ham          0  -  0    Aston Villa
Everton              0  -  0    Tottenham
Cardiff City       1  -  0    Swansea City

German Bundesliga

Dortmund            6  -  1    Stuttgart
Nurnberg             0  -  3    Freiburg
E. Frankfurt         1  -  2    Wolfsburg
Hamburg             0  -  2    M'gladbach
Hertha Berlin      0  -  2    Schalke
Hoffenheim         1  -  2    Bayern
E. Braunschweig 1  -  0    Leverkusen
Augsburg             2  -  1   Mainz
W. Bremen          3  -  2   Hannover 96

Italian Serie  A

Parma              0  -  1   Juventus
Napoli             2  -  1   Catania
Milan              0  -  2    Fiorentina
Roma              1  -  0    Chievo
Verona            2  -  1    Cagliari
Udinese           0  -  3    Inter
Lazio               0  -  2    Genoa
Sampdoria       3  -  4    Sassuolo
Livorno           1  -  0    Atalanta

French Ligue 1

PSG                 4  -  0    Lorient
Lyon                2  -  0    Guingamp
Sochaux           0  -  0    St Etienne
Reims               4  -  2   Bastia
Rennes             1  -  1    Marseille
Evian Thonon  2  -  1    Toulouse
Ajaccio            1  -  3    Valenciennes
Nice                 1  -  2    Bordeaux

Spanish La Liga

Barcelona           1  -  0    Espanyol
Real Sociedad    5  -  0    Osasuna
Sevilla                0  -  1    Celta de Vigo
Almeria              1  -  0    Real Valladolid
Rayo Vallecano  2  -  3    Real Madrid
Getafe                 0  -  1    Valencia
Atletico Madrid  2  -  0    Athletic Club
Levante               0  -  1    Granada
Malaga                    -        Real Betis

Platini Wants World Cup Expanded

Michel Platini (58), the Uefa president has echoed the suggestion of the FIFA president Sepp Blatter (77), that the World Cup representation should be expanded with the number of countries representing Africa and Asia increased.

Platini was of the opinion, that instead of reducing the number of European representation in the tournament, the total number of participants should be increased from 32 to 40.

The former French star striker told The Times newspaper that, ''Instead  of taking away some European (representation) we have to go to 40 teams in the World Cup,'' Platini said.

He said that, ''We can add two African, two Asiatic, two American and one from Europe. I support this idea totally.''




Michel Platini  (Uefa President)

Mr Platini, who may contest FIFA Presidency against Mr Blatter in 2015, added, ''Football is changing and now we have 209 associations.''

''There are more countries, so why reduce? he asked. Forty is not so bad.

''You have three days more of the competition and you make more people happy,'' he said.

Earlier on Mr Sepp Blatter, had written in the FIFA weekly magazine that there was imbalance in the World Cup representation. He wrote that Africa and Asia are under represented. He believes that the flaw must be corrected.

Read also: africanfootie.blogspot.com

''This flawed state of affairs must be rectified. Africa the confederation with the most member associations (54), is woefully under - represented at the World cup.''

''As long as this remains the case, African sides may never win an intercontinental trophy, regardless of progress on the playing side.

''From a purely sporting perspective, I would like to see globalisation finally taken seriously and African and Asian national associations accorded the status they deserve at the FIFA World Cup.''

 ''It cannot be that the European and South American confederations lay claims to the majority of the berths at the World Cup (18 or 19 teams), because taken together, they account for significantly fewer member associations (63) than Africa and Asia (100), Blatter added.

The President of the world football governing body (FIFA), concluded by saying, ''At the end of the day an equal chance for all is the paramount imperative of elite sport.''

The suggestion of Michel Platini is not bad, except that Europe already has almost half of the current make up of the total number in the tournament(13). I think that Europe should not be given another slot, rather Africa having the biggest confederation should be given extra three instead of the two he proposed.

Brooklyn Beckham For Trial At Man United

Brooklyn Beckham (14), the first son of former Manchester United super star, David Beckham, has been offered trial by the club, for a place in their youth academy.

The club wants the youngster, to participate in a couple of training sessions with the team, before the academy will be able to assess, if he is okay to be admitted into the academy.

                                       Brooklyn with his girlfriend

The junior Beckham visited the club's training ground yesterday, (Thursday).

During his weekly news conference, the club manager, Mr David Moyes, refuse to address the issue, concerning the young Beckham, with the statement that they do not talk about young players.

Brooklyn with his father and brothers

 

He said, that he was not asked about any other young players and so he wouldn't be expected  to answer the question about the boy.

''We don't talk about young players. You don't ask me about any other young players,  so you wouldn't expect me to answer that, would you?'' he asked the reporters.

Read also: africanfootie.blogspot.com

Brooklyn was at the LA Galaxy Academy, when his father was playing for the American club. He has also trained with Chelsea and QPR youth teams, since the family moved to London.

In the first video, Brooklyn was with his girl friend, the 15 year old daughter of a London millionaire aristocrat.