Van Persie to Man City?

The richest club in the world Manchester City is preparing many new transfers in the beginning of the new 2012. Even thought the club is currently leading the standings in the Premier League, it wants to further increase the class of its team. Goal number 1 for "City" is the player of Arsenal Robin van Persie. Currently the Dutch forward receives some 80 000 pounds a week from Arsenal, but the team from Manchester is ready to give him the magnificent 200,000 pounds a week. The contract of van Persie with the "gunners" ends after a year and a half.

Since he came to Arsenal, van Persie has won only the FA Cup in 2005 and nothing else. The want for trophies may incline him to sign "City", as the future of the team looks very bright. Previously two players of Arsenal went to "Etihad Staduim" for the same reason - Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri. To make sure that the transfer happens, City has prepared 30 million pounds, which they hope will be sufficient to make Arsenal accept their offer.

This astronomical year van Persie has scored 33 goals in the Premier Legue, and is only 3 goals away from the record of Alen Shierer. The scorer is in great form, and is currently the reason for Arsenal's uprising in the past months.

David Villa Probably Won't Finish the Season after a Heavy Injury

Barcelona forward David Villa probably won’t finish the season because of a severe injury, announced the Spanish team. Villa received the injury during the match with Al Sadd at the 1/2-final stage of the Club World Cup as the worst predictions were confirmed: a fractured tibia in his left leg.

Villa was hospitalized in Yokohama, where he will be a thorough a close examination. Even his participation in the European Championships next summer is questioned by the Spanish media. These types of fractures require a recovery of minimum six months.

30-year-old striker had problems with the tibia for more than a month. Since his coming to Barcelona he has never been prohibited by a medic to participate in matches.

Drama on the field - Wisla and Salzburg advance, 2009 finalist and PGS out

Yesterday was the first of the two days for Europa league matches and again the football fans were fascinated by the results and the performances of some teams. Dramatic battles for every goal were what we saw in almost every pitch and it was astonishing how the teams of PSG and 2009 finalists Fulham were knocked out from advancing into the elimination stage of the tournament. Here's a lost of all the results from Wednesday noght matches:

Group F:

Slovan Bratislava 2-3 Salzburg

PSG 4-2 Athletic

Despite PSG' little chance for qualification for the last-32 stage they managed to overtake spanish Atletico in a clash with 6 goals. Even though half brake showed early signs for success, it was inevitable that they were going out after a great turnout of Salzburg against Slovan. After coonceding 2 goals from the brave hungarians Salzburg still managed to cope with the opponents strong play and get the 3 vital points that enabled the Austrian team to advance to the knock-out stage.

Group D:

Zürich 2-0 Vaslui

Lazio 2-0 Sporting

Lazio won a vital game that was enough to qualify them in Europa league. Portugese Sporting had to motivation for the match since they had already insured their place in the knock-out stage. Goals of Kozak(42) and Sculli(55) were just what the italian team needed to insure their place in the next round. In Switzerland, romanian Vaslui was unable to beat Zurich and manage to qualify for the first time in their history.

Group E:

Dynamo Kyiv 3-3 M. Tel-Aviv

Beşiktaş 3-1 Stoke

Besiktas was strong in their performance last night and managed to score 3 goals to beat english Stoke. After conceding an early goal from already qualified team of Toni Pullis, the Istambul team won a penalty and red card for M. Upson in the beginning of the second half and eventually scored it, along with a corner kick goal and a stunner from brazilian Edu. In Kyiv, Dynamo had little chances for succes in the tournament but after scoring 2 goals in the early 20 minutes, I made their match hard by 2 red cards of L. Almeida and Y. Khacheridi. Eventually Gusev saved the team from a dramatic and humiliating loss against the Israel team with a 80-minute goal for 3-3 deuce.

Group J:

M. Haifa 0-3 Schalke

Steaua 3-1 AEK Larnaca

Steaua insured their place in the elimination stage after beating cyprus AEK in Bukurest with 3-1 win. 2 goals of Nikolic in the second half did what Steaua was aiming for and with the lost of Laccabi against german Schalke, romanias succeeded in continuing for the fight for the Europa league Cup.


Group K:

Wisła 2-1 Twente

Fulham 2-2 OB

Glorious win of Wisla in Krakow against Twente Enschede was proof for the sensation in the group and the polish team qualified instead of english Fulham that failed to beat the weak denmark Odense with 2-2 deuce in West London.

Group L:

Sturm 1-3 AEK

Anderlecht 5-3 Lokomotiv Moskva

Since in this group there was little to decide fans didn't think something interesting will happen but furtunalety lot of goals have been scored. Greek AEK won in Austria against Sturm Graz with 3-1 in a glory match for nothing and proved to their fans their football duties. In a clash for the first possition in the group Anderlecht won with astonishing 5 to 3 goals against russian Lokomotiv. 8 goals, 1 red card a lot of emotions were the proof for the great battle won my austrians.

Alvaro de Miranda proves that winners are not born but made

Alvaro de Miranda from Brazil managed to achieve maximum points and get himself a place in the series Final with an amazing victory riding AD Ashleigh Drossel Dan in the sixth round of the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping Western European League at Geneva, Switzerland on Dec. 11th 2011. The second round of the competition was breath-taking because of the constant changing lead in the competition with the time among the best 16 horses and riders. Alvaro de Miranda had the advantage to go last and be aware of the time he had to beat and together with a superb round combined with a little luck, the old rider of 38 and his 13 year old gelding succeded in winning the tournament.With that win Miranda sets himself on the 18th place in the world ranking list. Now the Brazilian hero is making his new game-plan for the rest of the indoor competitions rest from the season. His aim is to earn a spot at the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping 2011/2012 final in Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands which is going to be organised next April.

Arsenal vs. Everton 125 years !

Arsenal celebrated 125 years in their home in North London - Emirates Stadium against Everton with 1:0. The winning goal was scored by the captian of the team Robin Van Persie, who proved again why he is the in the top of the table. Although it was a day for celebrating the game against Everton had its importance as well, actaully it seem that this was a tough fixture for the gunners. The goal was scored in the middle of the second half and was dedicated to the former Arsenal player Tiery Henry who whatched the game in Emirates. Everton prooved that despite of the fact that they are in the half of the table they still have one of the strongest defending line in the whole Premier league. For the fans tha match was very tense because the players of Arsenal couldn't create a lot of scoring chances. However the Gunners are still in the top 4 in the league table.

New Hope

Manchester United's season started excellent as they few spectucalar matches. They looked like they could even beat the dominating Barcelona and Real Madrid. Some people thought that Manchester United had not played better for a long time. However, then United started to make dissapointing matches starting with the loss from their city rivals, Manchester City by 1-6. They fall out of the Champion League and they were behind Manchester City by 5 points in the Primiership. On top of all United lost against Crystal Palace in the Carling Cup. Manchester United was able to take their matches by only one goal and their play was horrible. However, there is still hope for Manchester United to pick themselves up because of their win against Wolverhampton. The first goal fell in the 17th minute and it was by a beautifull performance by Nani who passed several players and then executed an excellent shot. The next goal was by Rooney and he managed to score in the 27th minute and Nani made the assist. Wolverhampton managed to decrease United's lead by scoring in the beginning of the second half. Nani scores for the second time by an assist of Jones. Rooney follows Nani as he scores his second goal for the match making the result 4-1. Manchester United's fans still have some hope as their team has a chance to reach Manchester City as they are only 2 point behind them.

The people from Volga on a visit in Thessaloniki

In the last round of the group phase in Europa League the Greek team P.A.O.K will be host to Rubin Kazan on Toumba stadium. In their local tournaments both teams are ranked as 5th. In their group, however, P.A.O.K. are right now 1st with 11 points, while the Russians are behind them with only 1 point difference. Tottenham are surprisingly for many fans 3rd, having 7 points, which still gives them the chance to replace Rubin Kazan on the second place. Tottenham are playing today against Shamrock and need a miracle to qualify. They need to get 5 goals difference so that they could have a chance to qualify and Rubin should fail to get a point from the game today.
During the last round PAOK won against Tottenham and this secured their participation in the next phase of the tournament. This was though concidered by many as something normal, because at that time they were competing for their place in the more prestigeous Champions League. In my opinion the game between PAOK and Rubin Kazan will end with a result similar to the one before, which was 2-2. Rubin, however, will be the team that will seek the victory from the game, because it will guarantee them the place in the next phase.

Barcelona on Club World Cup Final

Barcelona advanced to the final of the FIFA Club World Cup after a victory against the Qatar football club Al-Sadd. Barca earned an easy 4-0 win in the semifinal match. However, David Villa was substituted because of a tibia fracture, which means he will not be able to play before to the end of the season. The goals were scored by Adriano (25 and 43, Seydou Keita (64)and Maxwell (80).Barcelona will play on the final against the brazilian Santos on Sunday in a game that will determine the next holder of FIFA World Cup. Josep Guardiola chose 3-4-3 with Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano and Eric Abidal playing as defenders. Xavi Hernandez and Gerard Pique were not in the starting eleven. Seydou Keita played as a defensive midfielder. The other midfielders were Adriano, Thiago Alcantara and ANdres Iniesta. Lionel Messi, David Villa and Pedro were the three strikers. Since the beginning of the match Barca pressured a lot and the Al-Sadd players were not playing a lot with the ball. Messi, Villa and Iniesta tried a few shots, all of them blocked either by the keeper or the defenders. IN the 21st minute of the match Thiago passed to Messi, who continued the ball to VIlla, but his shot was unsuccessful. IN the 25th minute of the match the defenders of Al-Sadd made a stupid mistake. After a cross from Pedro the defence was not able to deal with it. The goalkeeper tried to clear the ball, but it bounced off Adriano's leg and went into the net. In the 36th minute Villa was pushed by a defender and fell badly, which severely injured his leg and led to his substitution with Alexis Sanchez. In the 43th minute Adriano surprisingly scored a second goal. Thiago passed the ball to the Brazilian and he scored with an accurate diagonal shot from 17 meters, after an inadequate reaction from teh goalkeeper. In the last seconds of the first half the Qatar team launched some dangerous attacks.
In the beginning of the second half Barcelona continued with the constant attacks. In the 55th minute Messi tried a shot unsuccessfully. IN the 64th minute the Argentinian genius passed the ball to Keita, who eliminated the keeper t oscore for 3-0. In the 80th minute the substitution Maxwell scored the last goal, shooting the ball between the keeper's legs.

Manchester City did their job but dropped out the Champions Leage

Manchester City finished their job and won with 2: 0 over Bayern Munich in their last match of the Champions League, but the three points they gained are not enough for the English to qualify for the elimination phase of the tournament. David Silva and Touré Yaya scored for the team from Manchester against the reserve team of Bayern, but that success was not enough for their team to continue, as Napoli won the derby with Villarreal in Spain and it threw out Man City.

The guests from Germany an experimental composition on "Etihad Stadium", since their first place in the group was ensured. In the 15th minute of the match, the boys of Roberto Mancini opened the score, but the goal was canceled because of a foul on Lescott against Hans-Jörg Butt. Three minutes later David Alaba was on the top of the attack, was given the opportunity to score in the emptied by Joe Hart goal, but from a relatively difficult position failed and managed to hit only the frame of the goal.

In the 37-minute David Silva scored for the "citizens" after a fantastic performance. Spanish national received the ball just before the penalty field and with tremendous shot with left leg scored for 1: 0. Only five minutes later he had a chance to double the score, but this time Butt saved. Former English National Jérôme Boateng also intervened to clear from the goal line after a shot from Sergio Agüero and didn’t let Man City to double their advance.

During the second half the team from Manchester continued its pressure and in the 52-minute sealed the final result. Excellent combination, started by David Silva and undergone Džeko and Touré Yaya in a shooting position, not and without the help of Badŝuber who failed to intervene the last pass. 15 metres in the penalty field it was not a problem for the African midfielder to send the ball in the goal. From this moment onwards for the hosts remained only to wait for the news from Spain. Unfortunately for the guys of Roberto Mancini, Napoli won over Villareal and continues in the tournament at their expense.

Show Jumping

Jumping is considered on fo the best known of the equestrian disciplines. FEI recognised it as a discipline where men and women compete as equals in both individual and team events. In nowadays Jumping competitions, horse and rider are required to complete a course of 10 to 13 jumps. That aims to test the rider's and horse's skills of accuracy and training combined in the round.
The purpose is always to jump in the round in the required sequence with no mistakes to make a clear round. If a bar of an obstacle is knocked down or if the horse refuses a jump there should be 4 penalty points added to the score of the competitor. The winner of the competition is the rider together with his horse that has the least number of penalties and makes the round in the best time. He may have to gain the highest number of points depending on the type of competition.

Tottenham Hotspur unnoticed great start

The team from London seem to be barely noticed around the big clubs of Manchester but has a terrific start of the season so far. They are currently third in Barclays Premier League and are 1 match down behind others. That means that if they win it the can become 2nd and a real thread for English Grands. Despite 2 lost games against Manchester City and Manchester United and 1 draw they set for a great season and well-player games so far. 10 wins are a real proof for teams' performaces and ambitions and with players like Bale, Adebayor, Van der Vaart and Lennon.

Manchester United disaster continues as they drop out of Champions League

Manchester United had proven their weak form against Basel and after 2-1 loss in Switzerland they didn’t qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League. United had to take a point to continue, but actually what happened was not good for them. The nightmare started in the 9^th minute when Shaquiri crossed to Frei who received the ball, which was supposed to be cleared by Smalling and Frei scored the opening goal. The middle of the first half ended and United had no good opportunities, and were extremely uncreative. In the 26^th minute Rooney had opportunity to score but his shot went wide. The end of the half was intense and Basel could have scored a second goal and practically end the match. The second half started and the host team was much more confident from the advantage they had and only Nani for Manchester United was doing something in the Red Devil’s attack. However, Rooney has missed many opportunities and United could have scored at least twice in the 65 and the 77^th minute. In the 84^th minute the match ended when Frei scored his second goal and the stadium literally blew up. In the 88^th minute Phill Jones scored for 2-1 for United but this goal didn’t prove anything because until the end nothing happened and United were thrown out of the tournament. United finished at 3^rd place and will play in Europa League, whiole Basel were 2^nd and continue their way through the last 16.

The Unbelievable Happened

The French team Lyon managed to achieve the unbelievable: to qualify for the 1/8 finals in the Champions League competition. The kids won their lst game in group D against Dinamo Zagreb 7-1. The other match in the group Ajax-Real Madrid finished with a 3-0 for the spanish. Before the last round of matches. Ajax had 8 points and Lyon - 5. The two matches between the two teams both finished 0-0. That's why the decisive factor was the goal difference. It was 6-3 for Ajax and 2-6 for Lyon.
Bafetimbi Gomis finished with 4 goals. Maxime Gonalons, Jimmy Briand, and Lisandro Lopez also scored. Mateo Kovacic added 1 for Dinamo Zagreb.

Mario Götze - the best young soccer player in Europe

Mario Götze is right now the star of the German champions Borussia Dortmund. He was officially awarded the "Golden boy" award for best young player in Europe, which is given to soccer players below the age of 21. Last year it was awarded to the Italian Mario Balotelli who is now a striker in Man City. The poll, which decided who will recive the award, was held by 30 journalists from the biggest sports media in Europe. It is organized by the Italian "Tuttosport".
Götze will be awarded "Golden boy" just before the game against Kaiserslauten this Sunday. So far in his career the German has played in 51 games of Borussia and has scored 11 goals in the Bundesliga, as well as 2 goals for the German national team.

A miracle match

Yesterday's matches of the Champions league were incredible. The two great teams from England Manchester United and Manchester City didn't manage to qualify for the next rounds. City was able to defeat their opponets, but their lead was not enough, while United failed to defeat Basel as they lost 2-1. However, when you forget these two poor performance there was a match that was incredible. Lyon had to score 7 goals in their next match or they would fail to qualify for the next round. They went up against Dinamo Zagreb. At the 27th minute one of Zagreb's players got a red card and the team was left with 10 players. However, that didn't seem to affect them as they managed to score at 40th minute. Lyon was able to even the score in the overtime as Gomis scored the goal. This looked like a good match for Gomis, but he himself couldn't know what a magnificent match he will make. The next goal for Lyon fell in the 47th minute as Gonalons managed to score. Gomis scored one minute later making the score 3-1. Still no one believed that Lyon will be able to pull of the miracle they needed. On the 51th minute Gomis manages to complete his hatrick as he scored his third goal. Gomis makes another magical play as he does a bicycle kick and hits the side bar. Gomis is able to score a 4th goal on 71th minute. Briand manged to score the 7th goal for Lyon and no one couldn't believe what Lyon managed to do.

The end of the tennis season

This tennis season has finally completely ended and it proved to be a quite amazing spectacle for all the different tennis fans around the world. Many different types of outcomes were witnessed through out the tournament and some were definitely less expected than the others. Novak Djokovic for example, was one of these anomalies. In the begging of the previous tennis session, Djokovic was far from being the favorite. His previous positions the last four years were always in third place in the general rankings at the end of the year and that was why everyone expected this year to be somewhat the same and have him finish in the top 3 or 4. In the end he really did finish in the top 3, but not at third place but as the No.1 tennis player for the season. Djokovic played in most of the tournaments during the year and he won most of them with a steady lead. All in all, this year's tournament was quite an astonishing event to watch and all of us tennis fans can hope that the next tournament will be just as good.

Sabres-Flyers

Last night's top match was between Buffalo and Philadelphia and it was a real thriller. Sabres started the match strongly as they scored three goals in the first period - goals by Ville Leino, Zack Kassian and Thomas Vanek, but luckily Flyers scored in the last second of the period. A crucial moment in the game as in the second period Philadelphia outsocred and outplayed its opponent. So we can see how one late goal in a period can affect the game and change the roles of the two teams.
In the third period the match got in another level and we saw the best of the hockey game. And in the last two minutes Sabres scored the equalizer. The match continued in OT when Claud Giroux scored the winning goal. So now after two matches won in OT Flyers are progressing in the rankings. At the start of the season I made a prediction that this year Stanley Cup will go to Phladelhia. So in this part of the season we can see what to expect from Flyers. So to conclude only time will show how the season will go for the orange-white team.

Nadal wins the Davis Cup match for Spain

Another win for Nadal in the latest Davis Cup tournament. His victory over Juan Martin del Potro, the argentinian contester in the tournament. With this victory, Nadal received first place in the tournament, and also Spain received yet another prized title in tennis tournaments. The match in its entirity was very difficult to guess how it will end, but at the same time it was also fascinatiing to watch such proffesionals fight for their countries and for themselves as well. Both players fought well in the match and of course Juan Martin del Potro was quite dissapointed from the outcome, but in the end both players left the match with good feelings for their accomplishments and also with a great deal of exhaustion.

Golden Ball 2011

Earlier today became the names of the three players who will compete for the Golden Ball for the 2011 year became clear. At a special press conference in Paris, organized by the Magazine France Football and FIFA, Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernández and Cristiano Ronaldo have been identified as the three nominees for the winner of the award. On 1 November was declared a list with 23 best players in the world, but now remained only three laureates. The winner will be announced on 9 of January 2012 in Zurich.

The Argentine star of Barça-Lionel Messi has a chance to become the second player in history, after Michel Platini, who wins the award for third time. Leo was selected for the No 1 in the last two years. The Frenchman was awarded in 1983, 1984 and 1985. In addition to him, two players were selected for the best three of all times-Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten. In addition, Messi, for fifth consecutive year fall among the three nominees.

Cristiano Ronaldo once again fights for the Golden Ball, after he managed to win the trophy in 2008-a year as a player at Manchester United. The Portuguese has two second places in 2007 and 2009.

Xavi is among nominated ones for third consecutive year. Last year, he remained in second place after Messi, and two years ago, he was third.

Marcus Ehning is one of the greatest show jumping riders in present. He is the winner of the 2010 Global Champions Tour. For that Marcus took 300000 a cheque as an addition to his prizemoney during the tournament. He was as well a very good awarded pony jumping rider. Marcus won 2 times team gold at the European Championships in 1990/91 with his pony Starlight. when he turned 16, Marcus finally started riding large horses. Orchidee, Opium and Talan were the most important horses in the beginning. These 3 horses ensured the win team gold at the European Championships four times.
With the horse For Pleasure Marcus was part of the Gold medal team at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The jumping horses of Ehning now are Sandro Boy, Gitania, When competing for Germany Nolte’s Küchengirl is also an important mare, which was ridden also by his brother Johannes.
Besides the top horses, Marcus also takes care of a new, young horses. About 10 horses are worked by him on daily basis. He was placed several times on GCT Grand Prix's in 2009 and managed to finish the year as World number one. After that he won his third World Cup Final on Plot Blue in 2010. This makes Marcus Ehning the only rider that have won this competition three times on three different horses.

Socrates: In Memoriam

Yesterday, December 5th, 2011, one of the greatest and most controversial football players passed away. To the world, he was known as Socrates.

A medicine graduate, he started his career in the Brazilian team of Botafogo SP. He quickly rose to prominence and became one of the most beloved players of the team. He then moved to Corinthians and joined the Brazilian national football team.

Socrates was an active person who had six children and wrote extensively in newspapers; his articles were not only about sports but also about politics and economics. He earned his medical degree while playing football at a professional level and practised his profession after retiring. Pele named him as one of the 125 top living fotballers.

However, he had severe problmes with alcohol and drugs. His health began to deteriote fast several years ago; he died of complications coming from his unfortunate addictions. At the time of his death, he was in the process of writing a fiction book about the coming World Cup in Brasil in 2014.

Spartak(Pleven)-CSKA(Sofia) and how football in Pleven came to life again

2001 - that was the year when one of the two grands of the Bulgarian football was measuring its power against Spartak on the Central Stadium in Pleven. Then, in front of the 18 000 spectators, CSKA and Spartak made a tough 0:0 which still was not enough for the team from Pleven to retain its place in "A" Professional Leaugue.
This saturday the team from Pleven was reborn. At noon, 15 000 viewers were waiting for the first blow of the referee. Spartak(Pleven), which is presently playing in "V" League, was facing the team of CSKA(Sofia), which this year is heading for a golden double. Everybody expected that CSKA would start with their attacks from the first minute, but it was actually for Spartak that took the initiative in the first minutes. A shot from Rudashki from Spartak passed a few centimetres away from the left bar of M'Bolhi. With the time the more experienced team of CSKA took the initiative, and the logical thing happened when in the 20th minute Boris Galchev from CSKA scored a breathtaking goal from 25 metres. The footballers of Spartak tried to respond to this goal, but they were lacking concentration and experience in front of the enemie's goal, and in the 38th minute Rudashki again missed the goal after a mistake in the defense of CSKA. In the second half, CSKA managed to score another two goals through Krachunov and Stoyanov, which came after a static situations.
None of the fans of Spartak(Pleven) were dissapointed from the loss, because the team, which is composed entirely from boys under 21 years, played really well against the present cup holder, and showed everybody that it deserves its place in the professional footbal.

Minesota Wild's Triumph

Unexpectedly or not it is true Minesota Wild is the Western Conference leader in the National Hockey League. Their new players Devin Setoguchi and Dany Heatley are helping them a lot and the new Wild team is looking stronger than ever. Many of the analisators in the USA doubt Wild's ability to continue its run, but game after game we see great performances and the making of one very good team. Many say that Wild's defensmen are not good enough, but I think their situation in the defensive side of the game is pretty solid and I do not exect them to lose the balance in defence. Their schedule in December seems not so hard and I expect them to stay at the top 3 till New Year, but my prediction is that in 2012 they will start to feel the pressure and maybe lose some of their positions. Something that happened with Dallas last year. I think Minesota will reach the playoffs and certainly this year will be a tough team to play with.

Another disappointment

Manchester United started magnificently as they were dominating in every match they played. They humiliated Arsenal and made several more fantastic matches. However, their performance quickly drop as they suffered a humiliating defeat from Manchester City. United has had many wins since then, but their performance were always very poor as seven consecutive matches they have only managed to score a single goal. In the recent match United played against Aston Villa as a guest and they again managed to score a single goal which brought them the victory. The person who managed to score was Phil Jones. Nani managed to cross the ball to the defender who with a volley sent the ball into the net. However, Aston Villa's defense was really poor and this was far from a beautiful goal. Also Hernandez got injured in the beginning of the match and it was a mystery who would substitute him as Berbatov suffers an injury, too. Valencia appeared on the field. The match was far from interesting as both teams didn't showed any skill or good play. The only thing interesting from the match was that the players and the fans gave out a tribute to the brazilian football player Sokrates who passed away. This was a beautiful gesture as the players and fans gave a one minute silence and cheered for the great player.

The three nominated for the golden ball are...

The three football players nominated for the golden ball are already announced. ON a special event in Paris, organized by the french magazine "France Football" and FIFA. Those three are Lionell Messi from Barcelona, Xavi Hernandez, again from Barcelona, and Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid. On 1st November, a list of the best 23 players in the world was announced, but 20 candidates were eliminated and only 3 remained. The winner will be known on 9th January, 2012 at a ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland. The Argentinian star of Barcelona Messi has the possibility to become the second football player in the world, after Michel Platini, to win the award three times in a row. Leo has already taken the prize twice. The French legend won in 1983, 1984 and 1985. Another two players also managed to win the award two times: Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten. Furthermore, Messi is nominated for five years in a row.
Cristiano Ronaldo wants to add another golden ball to his collection, he alraedy has one in it, won in 2008, when he was a Manchester United player. He also finished second two times: in 2007 and in 2009.
Xavi is nominated for third year in a row. Last year he waws second and two years ago he was third.

Juventus, Milan, Udinese, Lazio and Napoli - who will win it?

This year we are the spectators of a great italian football and amazing Seria A matches that bring our attention to the TV screen. Along with that we have the pleasure to watch attractive soccer since a decade and the ranking is also very surprising. Juventus are the leaders so far with not a sinlge lost game so far, but the teams of Milan and Udinese have a real chance of becoming 1st if the team from Torino makes a mistake. Lets have a closer look of each of these teams and the best 3 components of their game.

Juventus

-well playing defence(10 goals received)
- strong midfielders with lot of experince(Pirlo, Marchisio)
- the second best attack in Seria A

Milan

-best attack in the league because of great strkiers such as Robinho, Ibrahimovich, Cassano(no injured), Filipo Indzaghi, Alexandre Pato
-last 9 matches the team has 7 wins and 2 draw matches
- young players cooperate in a fantastic way with players like Seedorf and Nesta

Udinese

- best defence in the league
- brand new squad since the start of the year and a changed tactic compared to last season
- great captain and goalscorer - Antonio Di Natale

Lazio

- second best defence in the league
- variety of strikers with a lot of experince - Tomasso Rocchi, Miroslav Klose, Djibril Cisse
- good training ground and young players

Napoli

- great performance in the Champoions League
- saved most of the valuable palyers like Marek Hamsik, Edison Cavani and Lavezzi from being transfered in other clubs
- good winning strkie on their stadium - only 1 lost game there

Match Report : Manchester United : 1 Crystal Palace : 2

The team from the English Championship Crystal Palace reached a shocking success with 2: 1 as a guest of the champions in 1/4-the final match of the tournament "Carling Cup". The team from London threw “the red devils” out of the cup after a goal in the extra time after the regular time ended in a draw. The winning goal was scored by Glen Murray. At the time, however, that most likely the defender of the guests was in offside position. The team of Crystal Palace opened the result of the "Old Trafford" with a very beautiful goal, scored by Darren Ambrose. The half surprised Ben Hawkins with excellent shot from more than 20 m, aimed in the upper-right corner behind the goalkeeper of Man United. Only minutes later, however, Federico Macheda fell in the penalty area and embraced the opportunity to score from a penalty kick.

The team of Man United, in which Ferguson had put much of its youngsters such as as Ezekiel Fryers, Chris Smalling, Paul Pogba and Rayville Morison showed quite weak football, although a lot of positions in front of the enemy goalkeeper were wasted.

Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov was replaced at the break of the match. In place of Berbatov, who had most likely been injured, Morrison appeared. Berbatov, along with Macheda, was on the top of the attack. However, he failed to help his team create something interesting during the first 45 minutes.

The second part was also not particularly interesting, as the match perked up only about the goal of Ambrose and the penalty kick for the hosts. Former England youth footballer shocked “Old Trafford” with one of his goals, shooting of more than 20 m in the upper-right corner behind the goalkeeper. Only a minute later, however, Macheda fell in the penalty are after being pulled, and then scored from the awarded penalty. The game lacked more interesting moments, hosts pushed in the enemy field, but their opponents didn’t break.

So the extra time was given, as in the first 15 minutes of added time "Eagles" of London had a reason to celebrate once again. In the 98-minute Darren Ambrose centered from the left wing and Glen Murray made the score 1: 2 after a header. However, the doubts that Murray has been in an offside position remained.

After this goal the team of Man United, threw itself in the attack, but besides a major shortcoming of Macheda just a minute after the goal, failed to make a serious threat for Crystal Palace. So, the team of the guests reached the ½ final to the tournament and an eventual chance to play on “Wembley”.

Borussia Dortmund keeps its tradition to get new talents

The German champion will continue the tendency to get new and young talents to the team. During the new season the team will have a new member, which is right now one of the most prosperous and talented youths in Germany. The 17-year old Leonardo Bittencourt signed a contract to play for Borussia during the next soccer season. The midfielder used to play for FC Energie Cottbus, which plays in the 2. Bundesliga.
Bittencourt was also a prime target of one of the major opponents of Borussia - Bayern Munich. The midfielder will cost to Borussia about 2,8 million euro and his contract expires in 2016. „Es ist ein junger, talentierter Spieler", said Michael Zorc about Bittencourt. In English this means that he is a "young talented player" - the exact type that Borussia seeks for its team. I'll look forward to seeing him as a midfielder of one of the leading German teams.

KITTEL WINS OUT IN SUPER-TIGHT BATTLE IN STOCKHOLM

Patrik Kittel won a Swedish competition in the third round of the Reem Acra FEI World Cup™ Dressage 2011/2012 series in Stockholm, Sweden on 27th Nov 2011. But it was a hard win for him since the 35-year-old rider and his 11 year old gelding, Toy Story, only beated Tinne Vilhelmson-Silfven and Don Auriello by 0.1 of a percentage point, while Germany’s Isabell Werth (Warum Nicht FRH) and Helen Langehanenberg (Responsible) are after them with the third and fourth places respectively.
In this weekend full of interesting events and turns, the well known champion champion Werth finished in seventh place in Saturday’s Grand Prix that was won by Vilhelmson-Silfven. One big surprise was for Norway’s Siril Helljesen who steered her lovely mare, Dorina, into Grand Prix higher level classification.
But Kittel’s latest Freestyle competition victory emphasizes his great strength. He has 13 Grand Prix-level horses now at the base in Muenster, Germany which he has been working with for the last 15 years. “I’m very lucky to have so many right at the moment” he said this afternoon, “Toy Story does not have a great amount of experience but he is very talented and he really took me by surprise today!” he said to the press.

Starcraft 2 @ Dreamhack

Competition in computer games has become real big in the recent days as many more people start playing computer games and new tournaments appear. This has become to be known as e-sports. The previous week one of the biggest tournaments took place in Germany- Dreamhack. In the tournament they were many video games at which the players competed, but Starcraft 2 was the main focus of the tournament as there were 3 streams going on at the same time because of the nubmer of the games. There were over 70000 people watching live only for Starcraft 2. There were many suprises in the tournament such as NaniWa's victory over ,maybe the best zerg at the moment, Stephano. EGIdra got kick out of the tournament really early as he suffered a defeat from EmpireKas. There were many players from Team EG such as, Huk, Puma and ofcourse Idra. In the finals the terran player EGPuma faced of the prottos player LiquidHero. This was not only a battle between two players, but between 2 of the biggest clans in Starcraft 2. LiquidHero was able to take the first 2 games and then Puma reduced the lead by taking a game. However, the protoss was able to take the next game making the score 3-1. It looked like it would turnout to be not an interesting final, however Puma made a comeback. The terran player was able to take the next 2 games making the score 3-3. He took the first game by going for an unusual ghost opening and he was able to defeat Hero. In the second game he went for an early all- in by building 4 barracks. However, in the final game he suffered a defeat. The game was very close and Puma even had an advantage most of the game. However, he went up a ramp with his army and Hero managed to forcefield the ramp which was the doom of the terran player's army and his chances of becoming champion.

Liverpool beat again Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and are Carling Cup semifinalists.

Liverpool reached the semi finals, when beating Chelsea again at Stamford Bridge with 2-0. Both teams met in a match for the Premier League and Liverpool won with 2-1. This time the managers started their formations with many young player, thus allowing them to play this season, and giving them opportunity to show up. The match started with a slight territorial advantage for Chelsea, but Liverpool had no problems in defense. I the 7th minute Enrique crossed to Carrol who fell to the ground, and there were hesitations about a penalty but the referee gave none. However, in the 21st minute in a similar case Liverpool received a penalty and Carrol was there to take it. He took a powerful shot but Turnbull saved it and eventually Chelsea were still in the game. In the last moments of the first half Lukaku made a powerful and decent shot, which made Reina helpless but the ball went wide, and the two teams went at the brake 0-0. The second half started and Chelsea were the slightly better team. in the 55th minute Lampard almost scored a goal from 27 meters, and hit the bar, after which Luiz tried with a header but his shot was deflected and went into corner. Chelsea were attacking, but that oppened much field for Liverpool counter attacks and in one of them in the 58th minute, Bellami was through and gave the ball to Maxi who just scored from 3 meters and took the Reds in front.
The shock was full for Chelsea when in the 63rd minute Bellami crossed from a free-kick and the defender Martin Kelly scored his first goal for Liverpool and made the result 2-0. Chelsea tried to push and in the 73rd minute Anelka had a good opportunity to score, but Reina and Carragher managed to stop the striker's two attempts for a goal. Till the end of the match Chelsea attacked but their attacks were unsuccessful and soon the final whistle blew, officially qualifying Liverpool for the semi finals at Carling Cup. Liverpool will face Manchester City, which defeated Arsenal at Emirates Stadium with 1-0. The other semi final will be between Cardiff City and Crystal Palace.