Yesterday El Classico match between rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona was probably one of the most equal Spain battles. Despite the lost the home side showed how close they were to finally overwhelming their opponent. In many ways the game may have seemed "boring" to the fans that have been used to watch a goal show every match. But in my opinion it was a match that showed some very interesting things. First of all the performance of the Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo was absolutely incredible. But in a little bit different aspect. He was fighting for every single ball and doing his best to help his team beat Barca. It was evident that on that night Ronaldo was outstanding, despite the loss and despite all the criticisms he had to go through. In my opinion that exact night he became the team player. Yes that's right - the team player! the footballer Mourinho always wanted. There are many thoughts about him but he proved them all wrong. Just as he scored the first goal in the match(31st minute) he was taring himself in fight with Dani Alves and ultimately he made more tackles than any of the Real Madrid defenders. So what do you thin - is it true that Cristiano Ronaldo is selfish on the pitch?
Competitive gamer has become really famous as more and more torunaments appear. More and more people take this for their job as they can make a lot of money. In the past year the game that has been given the most money for tournaments is Starcraft 2. They are a lot of palyers that came from the original Starcraft, which was also the most competitive game at that time. However, new players emerge which have a lot of talent and are able to compete with the old pros that have played for more than 15 years. One of these players is Leenock. He is a 16-year old boy and he comes from South Korea, where Starcraft is like religion. He has been able to take down the best players of Starcraft 2 like IMMvP, OGS MC and Nestea. Leenock was also able to take down one of the best players now MMA. Leenock was able to win the MLG Providence at 2011. He has been doing very well at Code S, where the best players of Starcraft 2 play. He was able to take a second place at GSL November only loosing to the terran player Jjakajji.
The groups for 2012 (men) are the following: Group A: Greece, Denmark, Israel, Spain and Slovakia Group B: Austria, Romania, Turkey, Netherlands, The Czech Republic
In each of the groups 5 tournaments made by 4 teams are played - one tournament in each country and one team rests. They will take place from the 25th of may until the 24th of June. The final 4 will play on 30th June and 1st July and the host is still not determined. The winner will get the right to participate in the international qualifications for the world league 2013.
The groups for 2012 (women) are the following: Group A: Spain, Romania, Serbia, Hungary Group B: Bulgaria, Turkey, France, Switzerland Group C: Greece, Israel, Netherlands, The Czech Republic
As in the groups of the men here we also have 4 tournaments - 1 in each country, from the 1st of June till the 1st of July. The final four will play in the Czech republic from the 5th till the 7th of July . The first two teams in the end standing will have the chance to participate in the World Grand Prix in 2013.
Hello again. Another article about the hardest game on ice. Latest report from the NHL are the following: In the last months Rangers mainly dominate in the east closely followed by the champions Bruins but there is still much games left till the end of the regular season and everything is up for grabs. Washington and Philadelphia are also following them. In the west again Vancouver, Chicago, Detroit are the main suspects ,but there is something very interesting about the bottom of the standings. Anaheim Ducks after having just 10 wins from 37 matches are now on a very hot streak. Bruce Boudrue and his mighty ducks have 6 wins from 7 matches and their only lost was in Overtime. Sensational, the Ducks were 20 points away from the last playoff spot and now they are just12 away and with less matches than others. What a great prospect to see one flying Anaheim at the end of the year and I why not see the miracle come true. If it really happens we might see one of the greatest comebacks in a regular season in the history of the National Hockey League. So Go Ducks.
The last El Classico proved that Jose and Cristiano, the famous combination of arrogance, cannot stand the formidable pressure of Barcelona's team. It was a beautiful game, and Real had some real chances to defeat Barcelona, but at the end, the genius of Lionel Andres Messi proved that it comes from God himself. The attacker made a great contribution toward the humiliation of the White Ballet. Jose Mourinho, the Special One, the King of Coaching, the greatest manager the world has ever seen, had to face another defeat which showed that there are better teams than Real and that he is powerless against the might of Barca. Some people even say that he will lose his position of being the most special god in the galaxy; although he never becomes sad, such miserable defeats have the power to teach him to taste the bitter defeat. This would be a nice lesson for the Portuguese specialist. The Portuguese player and playboy Cristiano Ronaldo could also gain benefit from the humiliation and become a modest monk who does think he is the the greatest talent in football.
Well this was a very sad duel for Grigor. In the beggining of the match the game whent on considarably and Dimitrov was even wining in the first set 6-4. After that the match started going down considerably due to the fact that Grigor's physicue was starting to fall quite rapidly. After the second set when Almago made a comeback, Grigor put forth most of his strength in the next match and managed to finish it in the tie break. After that our tennis player had to leave the court in order to have some first aid done so that he can play, however up to the end of the macth, Grigor was almost in no possible condition to continue playing and that is why Grigor just entered the court to finish the match. Even though The match finished badly for Grigor, he showed that he at least had the determination to continue playing.
Michael Whitaker was born and raised in his parents’ farm in Yorkshire.He has a bigger brother John Whitaker. Their mother taught them how to ride in their farm. Michael soon started competing on ponies when he was seven years old. He became quickly a very experienced rider and started competing on big horses where he earned a reputation as a strong and determined rider. Michael Whitaker became the youngest ever winner of the famous Hickstead Derby when he was 20. In September 1993 Michael took over from his brother John as the world’s Number One for the first time in his career. Later in 1999 Michael was the highest placed British rider in the World Cup. He beat his own record in 2001. Michael Whitaker is one of the leading british showjumping riders of all time and he has competed in The Olympic games four times as well as 10 European Championships and 3 World Championships. He won many medals along the way. Michael Whitaker has also won many championships each year like the King Cup and the Hickstead Derby 4 times.
The team of Chelsea won with the score of 1-0 at home to Sunderland in the match on 21 th round of English Premier League. Frank Lampard’s goal was scored in the 13th minute - after a spectacular scissor kick by Fernando Torres, after which the ball hit the bar.
The game started with an incredible miss for "the black cats" - in the 3th minute a cross from the right was missed by all Sesenyon Stefan, Sebastian Larsson and James McLean which failed to direct the ball into the net of Petr Cech. Chelsea opened the score in the 13th minute when Juan Mata centered on the right and Fernando Torres with a great side scissors hit the crossbar. The ball came right back to Frank Lampard and he, although in a little lucky way, scored.
In the 31th minute Torres directed the ball with a header after a cross from Ramires, but Sunderland defender deflected the ball. In the 35th Nicklas Bendtner almost scored with a very dangerous shoot but the ball went just inches away from the bar.
Five minutes after the break Torres missed a chance to double the result, and in 56 minutes a great opportunity for Chelsea was wasted by Ramires. In the 57th minute and Mata also failed and a minute later the guest team requested a penalty for a foul against Bendtner. In the 64-minute McLean made another spectacular miss for Sunderland.
In the 73-minute Ghanaian midfielder Michael Essien substituted Lampard after a long absence through injury, and recorded his first game of the season. In the final minutes Craig Gardner and , once again, Bendtner missed another great opportunity to equalize the score and the blue team from London won the 3 points.
Chelsea is fourth in the standing with 40 points - 8 less than the leaders ManchesterCity (who have one less match) and Manchester United, and 6 points away from Tottenham. Sunderland is 11th with 24 points.
Vorsselmans was born on 28 June 1983 and brought up in Belgium. She started to ride at a very young age, and as a child grew up surrounded by horses. During her childhood Vorsselmans rode in Dressage discipline. Later she qualified for the national finals held in Mechelen, Belgium three times. After that Vorsselmans’ father gave her his Jumping horse adn then her focus started to move away from Dressage. When Vorsselmans was 18 years old she had to make a tough, very important decision. She had to decide wheather to continue her studies, or otherwise to pursue a life dedicated to riding horses professionally. Of course she chose the second option and Vorsselmans ended up at the Eurohorse stables of renowned Dutch rider and horse dealer, Axel Verlooy. Vorsselmans says she really learned to ride because of her time spent there. Verlooy currently employs Harrie Smolders and his son, Jos Verlooy, and, between the three of them, they operate a very successful equestrian outfit in Grobbendonk, Belgium. Vorsselmans currently trains at Stal Eurocommerce, where she has been employed since December 2010. Vorsselmans trains together with the big name in the equestrian sport Gerco Schrӧder at the stables, and she is confident that this is where her Jumping career will continue to expand.
Despite the innitially perfect start for veteran striker Thienry Henry in Arsenal he is now despised by many Arsenal fans. The reason - the agressive responce to a fan critising the weak performance against Suonsy. Arsenal lost 2:3, and the mad fans were to be expected. However it seems one of them turned too much for Henry's nerves. The veteran had been listening to the public's offences when he finaly replied in an angry tone that the fans should support the team at any times. The striker also asked the fan if he had the balls to say the same thing if he is down on the field next to Henry. Of course noone can be certain what were Henry's exact words, but one is certan - the yellow press will not leave him alone for the next couple of days. Headlines such as "Traitor"; "Not the Henry we know" are innevitable. Espetially when the press depends on bad rumours. But back to the topic - Henry will be staying in Arsenal a couple of more weeks before he returns to his "owner" team in USA. Untill then lets just hope he shows the classy game we are all used to see from the living (and playing) legend Henry!
Just two weeks after the triumph in Perth, Bulgaria has another reason for happiness. Our first racket Grigor Dimitrov and our top tennis woman started spectacularly Australien Open 2012. Symbolically or not Pironkova and Dimitrov were put on one and the same court today and luckily perforemed very well. Dimitrov was not so constant in his performance. He returned his cool and won the second set after that the mach was balanced. All came to the final 5th set in which one break was enough for the Grisha and he finally won the match. Great start of the year for Dimitrov. I really hope he will continue and hopefully come through his next opponent Nicolas Almagro easily. Pironkova easily won her match and we expect finally to perform on hard courts.
Fc Barcelona won a vital wan that can be crucial for the La Liga title in Spain. Yesterday they won at Nou Camp against Real Betis with 4:2. Late goals of Snaches and Messi in the last 15 minutes provided the three points and narrowed the difference to Ream Madrid to 5 points. Before the match Hosep Guardiola stated be if the team doesn't overtake Betis the title will be eventually lost. Barca struggled a lot to beat the Sevilla team after leading with goals of Xavi and Messi. The team conceded 2 goals and had a really hard time scoring when Sanches scored and relieved the team from the pressure of finishing equal. Real Madrid won a very hard game against Mallorca after scoring latre goals of Higuin and Callejon and maintaing leader position in the table. Win only 2 lost games and 15 wins the team looks strong enough to finally win the La Liga Title after a pause of over 5 years. Desperatly looking for a title is Jose Mourinho who is unable to beat Barcelo in almost all the matches he had against the Catalunian team.
Swansea had defeated Arsenal with 3-2 as hosts in the 21st round in the Premier League. The teams started playing and it was no wonder that Arsenal took the lead in the 4th minute. Van Persie controlled the ball and after a successful dribble in the penalty box, took a shot and scored his next goal for Arsenal. Soon enough Swansea brought the play into Arsenal's half. in the 16th minute, Dyer was fouled by Aaron Ramsey in the penalty box, and the referee had no hesitations showing the white spot. Sinclair showed no mercy and scored, equilizing the score. in the 29th minute van Persie had the opportunity to score again but his shot was deflected by Michael Vorm. Untill the end of the first half Arsenal and Swansea had some goal opportunities but Vorm and Szczesny `did well to keep the score 1-1. The second half started with a boom, and both teams demonstrated a dynamic play.After the first five minutes, which were mostly for Arsenal, Swansea mostly controlled the match. In the 48th minute Arshavin crossed to Benayoun, who striked wide. In the next 10 minutes Swansea won many corners and actually had managed to push Arsenal back and to search for the goal. And there came the minutes. In the 57th minute Dyer was found uncovered and with a loop shot he gave Swansea the lead. It took only 12 minutes for Arsenal to react when Walcott was found in great position and scored for Arsenal to equilize. After only 45 seconds Graham had scored the third for Swansea, putting Arsenal in shock. Arsenal were exhausted and didn't have much opportunities to score so they focused on the corners and free-kicks. In the 89th minute Rosicky tried to score extraordinary goal from a volley, but his shot went wide and high. After this win Swansea goes 10th place with 26 points, while Arsenal is 5th with 36 points.
Mini driver Peterhansel, who won six motorcycle Dakars for Yamaha in the Nineties, just won a fourth cars title as the grand champion coasted home safely, in the companion of his team-mate Nani Roma, who finished second overall and Giniel de Villiers of Toyota, who was third. It was the first win of the Dakar for Peterhansel since the race moved in South America, and it is his firts win win with the Mini team. His previous wins in the car section in the current century were all for Mitsubishi in 2004, 2005 and 2007.
Robby Gordon, the ammerican Hummer driver, finished the 29 km of the special stage between Pisco and Lima just for 22:43 min. Second to finish was Ricardo Leal dos Santos of Mini with 21 secons behind. Pole Krzysztof Holowczyc was third with 38 secodns late from Gordon. Peterhansel finished 10th and expressed his joy that he has won ten of these incredibly hard tournaments.
In the motorbikes Cyril Despres won without problems, but the stage day was marked by the death of a Columbian fan, who tried to follow the race on his motorbike.
Wayne Rooney is thought to be one of the greatest players of Manchester United. Now he is even considered to be the best player of the famous Red Devils. However, I want to disagree with this statement by saying that Rooney is probably the weakest player of the team. No one can deny the fact that when Wayne Rooney steps on the pitch he gives his whole heart into the game. He runs like an animal on the field and never lacks hard effort. However, his football skills lately have not been top notch. Even in the season when Rooney scored over 30 goals we have to note the fact that 1/3 of his goals were from crossing over and then the person that makes the assist is the most important. Many of his other goals were from shots from a distance or penalty leaving few goals where he played alone. This means that Ronney needs other players to help him score and he won't be able to score if there is no one to assist him. Now Rooney is playing horribly as he has missed 3 out of 4 penalties this season and people are wondering why does he continue to execute penalties. He has made no interesting goals and he lacks any interesting plays. Rooney was even caught partying the night before the match which shows his lack of discipline and respect to the team. It seems he has gotten to much into himself as he became the star of the Red Devils after Cristiano Ronaldo left the team. Even now Rooney is in a terrible shape, Alex Ferguson seems to always put him in the starting team, while players Dimitar Berbatov are substitutes after playing briliantly. This shows that Alex Ferguson must start coaching like he did before when he did not care about who is more famous and brought players which were in good shape. Rooney has become overrated and I don't see why people still like him and why he is not on the substitutes. He even said he would leave Manchester United just to raise his wager, which is one of the most pathethic actions any football players has done. Wayne Rooney must star playing actually good or be one of the substitutes and Sir Alex Ferguson's job should be in danger because of his decision to let Rooney still play.
Just a day after the beginning of the tournament and already the matches are quite heated up. If we look pass all the other popular matches such as Federer's and Nadal's which were quite one-sided, we can see some very interesting matches such as the match between Dimitrov and Sharday and also the match between Tomic and Verdaso. In the beginning of the match between Tomic and his opponent Verdaso, Verdaso managed to win the first two sets with some difficulty and especially the second set where they reached tie break and Verdaso managed to win. Later on however, Tomic managed to overturn the game and won the next three sets in an almost unbelievable fashion. In the end Tomic seemed quite happy about his victory over Verdaso while at the same time, Verdaso was really not in the mood after Tomic won the third set, which possibly ruined his game.
In the last couple of days a rumor that Dimitar Berbatov will join Bayern Munich. The English newspaper Sun stated that the German club will pay 8 million pounds (9.6 million euro) for the Bulgarian striker, who is currently playing for Manchester United, but is not regularly playing for his team. Berbatov was seen travelling to Frankfurt by a reporter of the newspaper yesterday. That even more strenghtened the posible transfer ot the player. Bayern Munich are searching for a new striker, because Ivica Olic will leave the team in the summer after the end of the current season. However, Manchester will renew the contract of the Bulgarian to the summer of 2013, which means he'll not able to join Bayern this summer as a free agent. Berbatov started in only 9 of the 31 matches of Manchester United since the beginning of the season. Alex Ferguson usually prefers Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck or Javier Hernandez instead of the BUlgarian. Bayer Leverkusen Anzhi Makhachkala are also teams interested in buying Dimitar Berbatov.
Joe Hart had already made top-class saves, keeping out efforts from Andy Carroll, Gerrard and Stewart Downing, but he was powerless against the England international's precision in the penalty kick.
Referee Lee Mason immediately pointed to the spot after Stefan Savic's irresponsible challenge caught Daniel Agger and Gerrard scored with a powerful shot from the awarded penalty kick in the 13th minute.
City were dismal in the first half, with Samir Nasri substituting Mario Balloteli before the half-time, but improved in the second period, with Liverpooldefending deep in numbers.
However, they were unable to find a way in Pepe Reina’s goal, with the Spain international making superb stop from a close-range Micah Richards header.
Lacking key men, including Vincent Kompany who began a four-match ban, and drained by the energy exerted at having to play for 78 minutes with 10 men against Manchester Unitedat the weekend, City were a shadow of their usual selves.
The only consolation came from knowing they could still reach final against either Crystal Palace or Cardiff if they can reverse this result in the second leg at Anfield in a fortnight.
Savic had a trick up his sleeve though as Agger forced his way into the box from the corner. The youngster panicked, attempted to clear when he was nowhere near favourite to reach the ball and Agger bit the dust.
Referee Mason awarded the spot-kick and Gerrard drove it past England team-mate Hart to put the visitors ahead.
That all this occurred inside the opening 13 minutes emphasised the difficulties City were having, and no one epitomised them more than Balotelli.
An injury doubt beforehand, the combustible Italian reacted in anger when Charlie Adam bundled him over, then tapped him on the head as he ran away from the scene. Balotelli belted the subsequent free-kick into the wall and then hobbled away for no discernable reason.
After a few more minutes of relative inactivity, during which he let a straightforward pass roll out for a throw-in and gave a free-kick as he tried to make amends, Mancini decided he had seen enough. Balotelli headed straight for the tunnel, bringing an end to another bizarre chapter in his career.
It was not until the last moments of the half that City finally roused themselves, only for Nasri to be denied by Reina and James Milnerto fire Richards' cut-back over.
This time around, they just encountered frustration as Reina stayed on his feet long enough to prevent Aguero getting a shot on target after the South American had spotted Martin Kelly about to play a blind backpass.
Unusually poor in a heavy defeat on the same ground eight days ago, Reina was also in the right place to deny Richards' close-range header after the stand-in City skipper had met Nasri's corner.
The disappointment was that instead of going for the jugular, against opponents so lacking in verve compared to their thrill-a-minute efforts earlier in the season, Liverpool grew increasingly more negative.
By the time Carragherreplaced Craig Bellamy 11 minutes from time to take up a midfield holding role, the visitors had six defenders on the field.
Little wonder City failed to make a chance of note as they continued to run into a red brick wall in what time remained.
Rolf-Göran Bengtsson from Sweden secured the world number one slot in the Rolex Rankings for the first time in his career and now celebrates. He has an individual silver medal from Hong Kong he has also made history by becoming the first Swedish world number one in an Olympic discipline. In the latest Rolex Rankings, Bengtsson has 81 points more than Eric Lamaze from Canada who is the reigning Olympic champion and he had topped the Rolex Rankings since 1 June 2011. Bengtsson, who will be 50 years old this year, will be celebrating his promotion to world number one at the Swedish National Federation’s annual awards ceremony in Stockholm.This evening the Swedes will be really happy to look back on a successful season of 2011. Bengtsson and his brilliant horse Ninja la Silla added the European gold medal to their silver medal from the Olympics from 2008 when they won the victory in the closing stages of the individual tournament which will decide the carrier of the title at the FEI European Jumping Championships 2011 in Madrid.
In last season's January transfers one specific transfer struck the fans. Liverpool paid 35 million pounds to Newcastle for the rights of the 19-year-old striker Andy Carro l. Today Liverpool fans ask- was it worth it? Was the most expensive transfer in Liverpool history worth it? Since his arrival Andy Carroll has scored a mere 4 goals. He has scored 4 goals for an entire year! Four goals for a striker for 35 million pounds is not enough. Lets think about what could be reasons behind this very weak performance. Carroll is a typical English striker- strong, withe excellent headings, and supreme abilities to guard the ball- the pattern that most successful British strikers follow. This would seem to fit Liverpool perfectly- with Stuart Downing and Jose Enrique supplying very good crosses, Andy should not have difficulties to score much more often. However, one should think of a specificity of today's game. In the last decade the game has progressed immensely. Especially in the Premiership, one can no longer make more than 3-4 steps dribbling without being pressured by at least one enemy player. Wing backs very often block crosses now, and this is the root of Carroll's issues- he is facing supreme defenders in the Premiership. Players like Assou-Ekoto, Ashley Cole, Patrice Evra and etc. do a very good job at blocking crosses. We can see this also in much larger pattern- such tipes of strikers are not very successful in today's football. Ibrahimovic is the only exception from this rule. The truth is that this tipe of football is dying. Fewer and fewer teams today employ wings and crosses to tall strikers like Carroll heavily. The future of football is much more quicker, with much more movements and short passes. And players like Andy Carroll just dont fit in such a scheme
