The 2014/15 Season Champions League Draw

The Champions League draw for 2014/2015 season was held yesterday in Monaco, with a couple of the teams appearing to have an easy group, but that is only on paper. As we all know football is not mathematics, time and time again, the underated teams have shown that in football nothing is cast in stone.

There have been countless instances in football, where the under-estimated teams surprised everyone, by removing the big teams from the competition.

Champions League Trophy

In this year's draw there are no three big teams in one group, which makes it look, as if it is a forgone conclusion, that the two big teams in each group, will qualify in the group phase of the competition.

But as I already mentioned, it is very dangerous to assume that, because all the smaller teams are capable of pulling an upset, which is a very good thing for the beautiful game.

Without much ado, the following are how the draws stands.

Group   A                                 Group   B

Atletico Madrid                     Real Madrid
Juventus                          FC  Basel
Olympiakos                     Liverpool
Malmo                             Ludogorets  Razgrad

Group   C                                    Group   D

Benfica                             Arsenal
Zenit St. Petersburg          Borussia Dortmund
Bayer Leverkusen             Anderlecht
Monaco                             Galatasaray

Group   E                         Group   F

Bayern Munich                 Barcelona
Manchester City                Paris Saint Germaine
CSKA Moscow                 Ajax                
AS Roma                           Apoel Nicosia               

Group   G                        Group  H

Chelsea                             Porto
Schalke 04                        Shakhtar Donetsk
Sporting Lisbon                Athletic Bilbao
Maribor                             Bate Borisov                                     

Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com

Sports News In Brief

Tiger Woods (38), the former world number one golfer has announced, that he has separated from his coach, Sean Foley. He said that he will no longer work with him. Woods said in his website, that he thanked him as his coach and friend, but added that it was the right time to end their professional relationship. ''I 'd like to thank Sean for his help as my coach and for his friendship. Sean is one of the outstanding coaches in golf today, and I know he will continue to be successful, with the players working with him.''
Tiger who has won 14 major titles, is at the moment nursing a back injury, and is without a coach after the split.

Germany has won the Fifa Women Under - 20 World Cup, by beating Nigeria 1 - 0 in the extra time of the final, on Sunday in Montreal, Canada. It was a very entertaining and exciting match, with the Nigerian girls dorminating the first half of play. The Nigeria's Falconets squandered so many scoring opportunities. The very talented, pacey and reliable Asisat Oshoala, who scored 4 goals in the semi-final against North Korea, missed most of the Nigerian chances in the encounter. It seemed her finishing skills deserted her on the day. It was really not her day, to score a goal, but inspite of that, she had a good game and the team as a whole, did amazingly well in the tournament. The Germans also missed a couple of chances too, until a defensive error cost Nigeria the title, they were hoping to win for the first time. Lena Petermann scored the only goal of the match in the extra time.
Asisat Oshoala who was an outstanding star of the tournament, won the Adidas Golden Ball and Adidas Golden Boot (7 goals), while the German goalkeeper, Meike Kaemper won the Adidas Golden Glove. The fair play award went to the host nation - Canada.

The English Premier League (EPL), giant clubside Liverpool has signed the troubled, but gifted Ghanaian born Italian, Mario Balotelli (24), from his Serie A club AC Milan. He was contracted for a long time costing €20m. It was a big gamble on the part of the Merceyside manager, Branden Rodgers, by signing him, because of Balotelli's imature behaviours on and off the pitch. Rodgers is hoping that Mario has learnt a big lesson, with all the fracas he was involved in in the past. The manager believes that it was a smart business, to bring him to the Anfield. It maybe so, only time will tell.
''This transfer represents outstanding value for the club, and I think we have done a really smart piece of business here,'' Rodgers said. Balotelli who is elated to be coming back to the EPL after leaving about 18 months ago, said that he made mistake in leaving England. ''I'm happy to be back because I left England and it was a mistake. I wanted to go to Italy, but I realised it was a mistake.'' Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com

SOME WEEKEND EUROPEAN LEAGUE RESULTS

Dutch Eredivisie

Heerenveen     2  -  0   Excelsior
Willem 11       3  -  0   AZ  Alkmaar
G.A. Eagles    0  -   0   Dordrecht
Heracles          0  -  1   Cambuur
Ajax                1  -  3   PSV
PEC Zwolle    2  -  1   Vitesse
Feyenoord      1  -  2    Utrecht
NAC Breda    1  -  1    Twente
Ado D. Haag  3  -  0    Groningen

English Premier League (EPL)

Aston Villa       0  -  0   Newcastle
Chelsea             2  -  0   Leicester
Crystal palace   1  -  3   West Ham
Southampton    0  -  0    West Brom
Swansea           1  -  0    Burnley
Everton            2  -  2    Arsenal
Hull                  1  -  1    Stoke
Tottenham       4  -  0    QPR
Sunderland      1  -  1    Man United
Man City             -        Liverpool

German Bundesliga

Bayern            2  -  1   Wolfsburg
Dortmund       0  -  2    Leverkusen
FC Koln          0  -  0    Hamburg
E. Frankfurt    1  -  0    Freiburg
Hannover        2  -  1    Schalke
Hertha             2  -  2    W. Bremen
Hoffenheim     2  -  0    Augsburg
M'gladbach     1  -  1    Stuttgart
Paderborn       2  -  2    Mainz

Spanish La Liga

Malaga           1  -  0    Athletic Bilbao
Granada          2  -  1   Deportivo La Coruna
Seville            1  -  1    Valencia
Almeria          1  -  1    Espanyol
Eibar               1  -  0   Real Sociedad
Levante           0  -  2   Villarreal
Barcelona        3  -  0   Elche
Celta de Vigo  3  -  1   Getafe
Real Madrid        -       Cordoba
R. Vallecano        -      Athletico Madrid

French Ligue 1

Evian Thonon   0  -  0   PSG
Guingamp         0  -  1   Marseille
Lille                  2  -  0   Lorient
Bastia                1  -  0  Toulouse
Montpellier       2  -  0   Metz
Nice                  1  -  3   Bordeaux
Reims                0  -  2   Caen
Lyon                  0  -  1   Lens
St. Etienne         0  -  0   Rennes
Nantes               0  -  1    Monaco

Portuguese Premeira Liga

Sporting Lisbon      1  -  0   Arouca
Maritimo                 2  -  1   Academica
Vitoria Guimaraes   3  -  0   Penafiel
Pacos de Ferreira     0  -  1   Porto
Boavista                   0  -  1   Benfica
Belenenses               3  -  1   Nacional
Vitoria Setubal         2  -  0   Gil Vicente
Estoril Praia              1  -  5   Rio Ave
Moreirense                    -       Sporting Braga

Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com

It's More Dangerous To Bike Than Driving F1 Cars?

Max Verstappen, the 16 years old son of former Dutch Formula 1 driver, Jos Verstappen, will become the youngest Formula 1 driver, when he competes in the sport next year for Toro Rosso. The F1 team just signed him to race for them as from 2015.

Max will be 17 years when he takes the wheels for Toro Rosso. He will be almost 2 years younger than the current record holder, Jaime Alguersuari, who drove in 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix at the age of 19 years and 125 days.

Max Verstappen

The junior Verstappen is currently competing in Formula 3, and is in the second position on the over all standing table.

The young talented driver is not worried about jumping over from Formula 3 to F1 without much experience in the premier racing championship.

He said that he is a relaxed guy and can handle driving in the upper league.
''I'm a relaxed guy. I will handle it.'' The youngster also does not think that driving in F1 is that dangerous.

''I'm not that worried about it. The cars are really safe,'' Verstappen Jr said.

''I think it's more dangerous to bike through a big city than race in an F1 car,'' he added.

His father Jos Verstappen, drove for F1 teams such as Benetton where he was the team-mate of the sport legend Michael Schumaker, and Honda between 1994 and 2003.

Jos drove in 107 F1 races and finished twice on the podium. He is the most successful Dutch race driver.

Many have already started speculating, that his son will be more successful than him in Formula 1 sport, because of  his talent and he is very relaxed, and racing is his blood.

Anyway, only time will tell whether he will be successful than his father or not. I wish him all the best in his career.
Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com

Sports News In Brief

kell 'The Special One' Brooks (28), is the new IBF world welterwight champion, after defeating the defending champion, Shawn 'Showtime' Porter (26), in a 12 round bout in Carson, California. Brook's fight record is (33 - 0 - 0) of which he won 22 with KOs, while Porter's record is (24 - 1 - 1) of which 15 were by KOs. Porter who is from US fought in front of his crowd while Brook from Sheffield, England came with a large British contingents. The British judge scored the fight level at 114 - 114, the other two judges scored the fight 117 - 111 and 116 - 112, for Brooks. After the match the new champion said, that he did what he had to in order to win even though it looked scrappy. ''I looked scrappy but did what I had to do."

The Nigeria Falconets, has booked their place in the semi-final of the Fifa Under - 20 World Cup, that is on going in Canada by beating New Zealand 4 - 1, in the quarter final. Asisat Oshoala and Uchechi Sunday scored two goals each in the Nigeria victory. The Falconets continued with the same fast pace, which they used against South Korea, and within a twinkle of an eye from the kickoff time, Asisat scored the second fastest goal of the tournament in 31 seconds. She headed into the net, Ugo Njoku's perfect crossing from the right flank. Asisat's team-mate Courtney Dike scored the fastest goal in 18 seconds of kick-off time, during the group phase match against South Korea. Emma Rolston scored the only consolation goal for New Zealand. The two semi-finals will be played on the 20th, Korea DPR against Nigeria while Germany will take on France.

Serena Williams, the world number one women tennis player, has finally won the elusive Cincinnati tennis tournament, by beating the Serbian player, Ana Ivanovic, in the final 6 - 4, 6 - 1 on Sunday. Winning two titles in the month of August is going to help Serena in her preparation in defending the US Open, which she won last year. Earlier in the month she won Bank of the West tournament in Stanford, Carlifornia. After the match against Ivanovic, the new champion said to the media that, ''It was such a great week. I love this moment. I love holding up the trophy.'' On the Men's side, the Swiss legend, Roger Federer defeated David Ferrer 6 - 3, 1 - 6, 6 - 2. This makes it the 6th time Roger Federer is winning the Cincinnati Open.

Diego Lopez (32), the goalkeeper who tended the post for the La Liga giants (Real Madrid), last season has joined the Italian Serie A club AC Milan in an undisclosed fee. Lopez joined real Madrid in January of 2013, when the long time number one keeper, Iker Casillas broke his hand. Lopez was so good that when Casillas came back from injury, the then coach, Jose Mourinho and later the current coach Ancelotti, did not want to remove Lopez as the number one keeper. Carlo Ancelotti, Prefered to use Casillas in the Champions League. The Spanish club signed last month the Costa Rica international goalkeeper, Keylor Navas, from FC Levante. Real Madrid posted a statement of thanks to Lopez which read: ''The club would like to express its thanks for his dedication and professionalism, and to wish him luck in this new stage of his career.'' Diego Lopez, appeared 52 times in the Las Liga for the club last season. He won Copa Del Rey and the Champions League with the club.
Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com

Europe Best Player Award Shortlist

The European football governing body (Uefa), has shortlisted 10 top players from which journalists will select the best player in the continent, for their last season's performance (2013/2014). Out of the 10 names listed, 3 of them are now in the final, of which the winner will be announced on the 28th of August.

Cristiano Ronaldo

There is no surprise to the names that made up the final shortlisted 3 players. And without much ado the names are:

1.  Cristiano Ronaldo   (Real Madrid and Portugal)
2.  Arjan Robben          (Bayern Munich and Netherlands)
3.  Manuel Neuer         (Bayern Munich and Germany)

The other 7 players in the 10 listed and how they finished on points are:

4.  Thomas Mueller    (Bayern Munich and Germany)              39 points
5.  Philipp Lahm         (Bayern Munich and Germany)              24    ''
5.  Lionel Messi          (Barcelona and Argentina)                     24     ''
7.  James Rodriguez    (Monaco/Real Madrid and Colombia)   16 points
8.  Luis Suarez            (Liverpool/Barcelona and Uruguay)       13    ''
9.  Angel Di Maria      (Real Madrid and Argentina)                  12   ''
10. Diego Costa          (Atletico Madrid/Chelsea and Spain)      8  points

The past winners since the Uefa introduced the award in 2010 are as follows:

1.  Lionel Messi       (Barcelona, 2010/11)
2.  Andres Iniesta     (Barcelona, 2011/12)
3.  Franck Ribery      (Bayern Munich, 2012/13)

Who is going to win the award for 2013/2014? You can use the comment burton at the bottom of the article, to say who you think will win it and why you choose the player.  Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com

Some European Weekend League Results

Dutch Eredivisie

Feyenoord                1   -   1     Heerenveen
PSV                          6   -   1     NAC Breda
Twente                     2   -   2     Ado Den Haag
Dordrecht                 1   -   2     PEC Zwolle
Vitesse                     2   -   2     Cambuur
Groningen                3   -   1     Heracles
Excelsior                  3   -   2     Go Ahead Eagles
AZ Alkmaar             1   -   3     Ajax
Utrecht                     2   -   1     Willem  11

English Premier League (EPL)

Leicester City           2   -    2     Everton
QPR                          0   -    1     Hull City
Man United               1   -    2    Swansea
West Brom                2   -    2    Sunderland
Stoke                         0   -    1    Aston Villa
West Ham                 0   -    1    Tottenham
Arsenal                      2   -    1    Crystal Palace
Newcastle                  0   -    2    Man City
Liverpool                   2   -   1     Southampton (Soton)
Chelsea                           -          Burnley

French Ligue 1

Rennes                    6   -   2     Evian Thonon
PSG                        2   -   0     Bastia
Caen                       0   -   1     Lille
Lorient                    0   -   0    Nice
Lens                        0   -   1    Guingamp
Metz                       1   -   1     Nantes
Toulouse                2   -   1     Lyon
Marseille                0   -   2     Montpellier
St. Etienne             3   -   1     Reims
Bordeaux               4   -   1     Monaco

Portuguese Premeira Liga    

Porto                    2    -    0     Maritimo
Gil Vicente          1    -    3     Vitoria Guimaraes
Academica           1   -    1      Sporting Lisbon
Penafiel                1   -    3      Belenenses
Nacional               0   -    1     Moreirense
Rio Ave                2   -    0     Vitoria Setubal
Sporting Braga     3   -    0     Boavista
Benfica                 2   -    0     Pacos de Ferreira
Arouca                       -           Estoril Praia

Read also: Africanfootie.blogspot.com

Note: Please more leagues will be added as they begin their new season.
          Thank you.