Schumacher: I was expecting a title with my return!

The legend in Formula 1 Michael Schumacher announced that with his return he was expecting to add up one more title to his previous 7. After a 3-year break the champion returned to race with the hope of continuing his glorious career but things didn't go as planned and Schumacher generally announced that he will withdraw forever at the end of season 2012.


I’ve thought long, three-year contract is difficult to maintain the motivation and energy. I’ve Had my doubts, because I have energy to continue, in 2006 said that my batteries were empty and now I’m in the red zone. While I do not know if recharging but I look forward freely, is a great deal, but in another sense."


"Now my immediate future is the six races remaining, as I did in 2006, ending a hundred percent this season. And then we’ll see, he had offers from teams to run and to work with them, but sometimes it’s better leave."


Either way, you wish the best to Michael, and wait to see if before the end of the season you can return to shine in his farewell.

South American Jumping competition

Riders from Brazil were in great shape at the FEI Americas and South American Jumping Championships 2012 on their home terrain in Passo Fundo. The hosts took all the team gold medals and  also three of the four individual titles. Alexandre Imschenetzky from Chile was the only one to break their luck when  he won the Pre-Junior Individual Championship in which the brazilians had to settle for bronze.

The event took place at the Centro Hipico e Haras MD in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil on 22 Sept 2012.  There's been many years since Championships of that class were last organized by the Brazilian National Federation.It was really exciting to watchthe starting program of the tournament. The very successful 2011 Championships which was in Guayquil, Eduador triggered the interest of the fans. There the 15 year old Emanuel Andrade from Venezuela managed to put himself in the top list after he took the Junior Jumping Award at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida, USA, earlier this year. 

These Championships succeed apparently in developing and encouraging the talent and skills of the the children and teenagers of jumping ridersin bothAmericas who look really promising in the future of the sport. There were many competitors from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. 

 

Felix Baumgartner jumped from the edge of space

The Austrian Felix jumped successfully during the mission Red Bull Stratos. He made his jump from 39 000 meters, thus beating the world record for highest free fall. He also managed to beat the record for highest speed by a human during free fall, surpassing the speed of sound. According to Discovery News, his speed was 1342 kph. He, however, did not beat the previous record for longest free fall, as he was in the air for 4 minutes and 19 seconds before he opened his parachute. The previous record was of 4 minutes and 36 seconds. After a 16 minute total fall, he landed safely in New Mexico. According to the Austrian newspaper "Krone" the main sponsor of the even, Red Bull, financed it with about 50 million euro.

Bulgaria Wins a Point in a Heroic and Controversial Match

Friday, 12 October, 11 p.m. The French referee had just blown his final whistle, and the Bulgarian team could congratulate itself on a point well earned.  Lyubo Penev's team got off to a good start and scored an early goal to confrim their advantage over the Danish side.  However, the French referee gave his precious contribution to the game by expelling Ivan Bandalovski.  After that, the Danes pressed the Bulgarian team and managed to score an equalizer till the end of the first half.  In the second half, the Bulgarian side showed exemplary defensive skills and did not allow Danmark to score another goal.  A controversy arised over the alleged racist cries of the Bulgarian side toward the Danish player Patrick Mtiliga.  The Danish football federation threatened to make a complaint to UEFA, in which case Bulgaria could be fined. This lastly happened last year, when we had to pay a fine of 40,000 euros because of insults toward the English players. 
Tomorrow, Bulgaria will engage the Czech Republic in a match of great importance. As of now, Bulgaria is on the second place in the group, followed by the Czech Republic and Armenia.  We wish our lads good luck and three points in Prague.

Marcelo seriously injured

Real Madrid's left back Marcelo broke a bone in his right ankle. It happened during a practice game of the Brazilian national team in Wroclaw in Poland. The injury is serious and the player would be off for nearly 3 months.
During the practice Marcelo felt pain in his foot and he was driven to the nearby hospital, where the injury was confirmed. He was allowed to leave the Brazilians, who are preparing for a friendly match against Japan, and go back to Madrid. There his treatment will continue under the supervision of Real Madrid's doctors.
The bad thing about Real Madrid's coach Jose Mourinho is that Marcelo is the second left back that isisinjured after Fabio Coentrao (who will be off for 1 month). This means Mourinho will have limited options in the left zone of the defence.

Milan Boss Flying to New York to Negotiate with Guardiola

AC Milan boss Silvio Berlusconi wants Josep Guardiola to become a coach of his team AC Milan. Guardiola is jobless at the moment after he left his club Barcelona. The most successful football coach in the last 5 years lives in New York. The Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport informs that Berlusconi ordered to the vice president of Milan Adriano Galliani to reserve a flight to New York, where he will meet with Guardiola. If the rumor is true, it would be very hard for Galliani to convince the 41-year old ex-Barca coach to come to Milan. It's because clubs from England are also interested in signing Guardiola, for example the winner of the Champions League Chelsea.
Besides signing Guardiola would cost a lot of money for Milan. The current Milan team does not enough high-quality players for winning the Champions League or the title in Serie A so new high-class players are needed. That contradicts with the financial strategy of Milan, which reduced its spendings and sold its most expensive players - Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Paris Saint-Germain. The salaries of most of the players were reduced as well and there was almost no money spent for new signings during the summer transfer window, which lead to unimpressive results in most of the matches. It's the worst start of the season from the Berlusconi era in Milan: 4 losses and just 7 points, 12 points behind Juventus and Napoli.
The current coach Massimiliano Allegri would be possibly fired if he loses the next match against Lazio. Mauro Tassotti would probably be appointed as the new one if that happens, but Guardiola remains the long-term solution for the problematic situation in Milan.

CSKA - SLAVIA Start and finish with a goal

The match starts and pretty much ends with a 40 second goal by Lucas Sasha for CSKA. After suffering this loss Slavia starts playing defensively until the very end. Slavia formed very little attacks and the ones they did were repelled by their opposition. CSKA plays mostly an offensive game and maybe even a bit too offensive since they made a lot of fouls and god more than their share of yellow cards. As if the game wasn’t bad enough for Slavia they suffered a goal during the added time, completely demoralizing them and taking away any chance they had at winning the game. The crowds were lively as always, chanting their teams songs throwing a few small bombs here and there swearing across the stadium at the opposing

Bulgaria faces Denmark in a vital 3-point qualification match

     The football national teams of Bulgaria and Denmark will play on the bulgarian national stadium"Vasil Levski" an extremely important match in the world cub qualifying stage. In the same group are the teams of Italy, Czech Republic, Armenia and Malta. The points earned by each team are as follows:

1. Italy - 4 points - 2 matches played(2-2 draw with Bulgaria; 2-0 win over Malta)
2. Bulgaria - 4 points - 2 matches played(2-2 draw with Italy; 1-0 win over Armenia)
3. Armenia - 3 points - 2 matches played(1-0 win over Malta; 1-0 loss from Bulgaria)
4. Czech Republic - 1 point - 1 match played(0-0 draw with Denmark)
5. Denmark - 1 point - 1 match played(0-0 draw with Czech Republic)
6. Malta - 0 points - 2 matches played(1-0 loss from Armenia; 2-0 loss from Italy)


     The football game of Bulgaria and Denmark with be played 21:00 sharp(BG time) and will have a significant impact on the final qualification results and points won. Football society in Bulgaria, including fans of the teams and supposrters among the managers of local clubs say that bulgarian football has won back it's position among the best in Bulgaria. Due to the hard work of the mational coach Dimitar Penev Bulgaria made a draw(2-2) with one of the strongest and most famous football nations in the world - Italy. This was an outstanding result for the bulgarian players whose regrets after the match showed that they were unhappy with the 2 points lost against such a strong team. Such words and performances by the coach and the fans had lifted the spirits of the nation for the next match against Armenia. Another fabulous work by both the manager and the bulgarians resulted in a 1-0 win against the armenians. 4 points out of only two matches played means that the fans revive their memories of the summers of 1998 and 1994 when was the last time the nation played in a World Cup Tournament.
  
     Even if the the bulgarian team finished second, after the super favourite Italy, and these are the expectations, than the team will have a 2 play-off matches and the unique opportunity the participate in a big tournament from 16 years.

     The other top teams

Balkan League starting in 2015

Today it became clear that UEFA has agreed to establish the so called "Balkan League" after the negotiations started about a year ago. The Croatian newspaper "Globus" announced earlier today the beginning of the new competition.
The talks were held today in the Montenegrian town of Budava, with the participation of representatives from 6 Balkan countries including Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Bosnia.
Last year UEFA was against the project, but the low level and quiality of the Balkan teams convinced them to establish the competition. First of all, it will greately improve the competatibility of the teams and will eventually help them reach further into the competitions on the Old continent. Lately, many Balkan countries experience difficulty sending teams to the Europe League and the Champions League. Also, many fans are eager to see their teams play on a Balkan scale, because the teams are equally balanced and people are able to easily travel to see their favorite teams play in Balkan derbies. Many people know the Balkan fans and it will be interesting to see the first games in 2015.
UEFA has not yet released the format of the competition as well as the prize for the winner. What we know so far is that the competition starts in 2015 with the participation of 16 teams from 8 Balkan countries.

NHL Lockout

Although it is October and it is cold in some parts of Europe and North America all of the hockey fans around the world are experiencing a second stoppage of the league in 7 years. A devastating act to the wide-audience of the NHL and the enormous tv contracts that were signed a year before. There are two sides in the conflict. The owners who are presented by the league, whose leader is Gary Bettman. The other side is the NHL Players Association who is leaded by Donald Fehr. Both of the sides want to gain a bigger share of the pie, especially talking about revenue. You may do not know that NHL is the only american-based sport league that had a strike or a lockout 3 times in its existence, this is Gary Bettman's second lockout. So as a regular fan you feel terribly to see another lockout especially after the great 2011-2012 season. In 2004-05 there was not a season, because in this year the lockout emerged again. The past shows that Gary Bettman is a man with ability to win his battles and he is ready to sacrifice another season. On the other side Donald Fehr is known for his experience in the lockout in baseball so in every way you see it we are in a tough situation where we see a conflict between two stubborn people wanting to win no matter what will cost them. NHL fans already are pissed of the league and how it deals with the situation. The fans are making inspirational videos and uniting against the cause, however the reality is that there is 70% chance that the season will not start. The most favorable outcome of the situation is that next year agreement will be signed and it will be in favor of Gary Bettman and the league, because players have to play, they have to earn money and to gain form in this way in some point the players will lose. From all that I said one thing is well known that today October 11th the NHL season is not starting as it was planned and the fans and players want a new agreement soon.

Ireland to play without Robbie Keane?

 

Ireland may have to play without their star player and captain Robbie Keane in the upcoming qualifier against Germany. The Irish captain has problems with his achilles, which will take him out of the match against the Germans. "I have problems with my achilles. I took a heavy hit during practice with my team and the pain has only increased since," said the Irish captain in an interview for the "Irish Times". Robbie Keane has passed medical tests which say that he cannot participate in Saturday's game. The Irish team will have to find another inspiration in order to win against the German team. The contenders for the position of Keane for the upcomming match are Shane Long and Jon Walters. In my opinnion, Shane Long will be chosen to sub for Keane in the match, as he is more experience the Jon Walters.

Federer continues fighting in the ATP Masters

The ATP Masters in Shnaghai is one of the interesting tournaments happening in October this year. After receiving positive feedback from ATP players from around the world, Shanghai was voted for the torunament of the year award for 2010 thus giving it a large boost in popularity and funding with the prise money this year being at about 3.5 million dollars. Federer is just one of the several professional players striving to win this tournament. Apart from hopping to win his 22nd title in the ATP Master 1000, he is also striving to keep up his performance and even improve on it in order to stay at the top of the professional players. Even now at this moment, he is playing against Stanislav Wawrinka who is fairing well against Federer, taking the first set 6-4 for him. And even the second set is seemingly tipping towards Wawrinka wininng. This just goes to show that not only Federer is striving to win this tournament and because of that we, as viewers, can see the players at  the best of their game shwoing the spectators how it's done.

Formula 1 Japan's race analysis and Korean expectations

This weekend a new race will be held in Korea. Sebastian Vettel won the last race in Japan and is preparing for the new one. The leader so far is Fernando Alonso, but now after the last victory of Vettel, Alonso has only a four points lead which means that a severe fight between these two drivers will form. Red Bull is better in this track, but a third consecutive win for Vettel is something that is a little bit too early to think of. This year the races have been tougher to the Red Bull drivers. A new threat has appeared for them. Lotus is emerging. Ferrari has been having some difficulties lately especialy with the recent collision with Kimi Raikkonen right at the begining of the race. Improvements on the car are needed and Felipe Massa can sense it. Alonso is looking to scoring more than his competators. Hamilton's chances are not that big for winning the title for Mercedes, but he still has some chances. In races like this anything is possible, so they he shouldn't give up at all. Even someone with a solid lead can make a collision and lose so much points. In the last race in Japan, he could not stop Vettel from winning, but managed to remain second and keep Mark Webber behind him untill the end. Handling problems had occured during the race, but in the end he became second which is still good. Hamilton has never had a victory in Korea. Each year something different happend and stopped him from succeeding. This year things might change. The race is going to be amazing, and watching it is really worth the time.

United's Revived Play

     After a somewhat rough start to the new season, having conceded a goal in 4 out of the first 5 Premier League matches, Manchester United are showing great performances these last few weeks. With the return of one of United's leaders - Wayne Rooney, the Red Devils have convincingly won their last three matches. Team manager Sir Alex Ferguson acclaimes the revival of United's great play to the new midfield lineup and formation. With Carrick on the back, Cleverly and Kagawa on the sides, and Rooney up in front, the midfield is governed by United's diamond formation, which leads to many opportunities for the attackers to play with the ball and hopefully score. This new strategy was highlighted in Manchester United's latest match against Newcastle, where Sir Alex Ferguson's team was in firm control of the midfield, which led to three United goals and none from Newcastle. Sir Alex Ferguson showed great optimism regarding the use of the same strategy in Manchester United's matches to come. Whether it will continue to be successful, it remains to be revealed.

Ireland to face Germany without Robbie Keane?

Ireland will be without its leader in the upcoming World Cup qualifier match against Germany. The captain of the Irish team has problems with his achilles and is going to have to recieve medical attention which will take him out of the match against the Germans. "I have problems with my achilles. I took a heavy hit during the team's practice and the pain has only increased since then," said the captain of the Irish team in an interview for the "Irish Times". Roby Keane has already passed medical tests which say that he will not be able to take part in the match and will have to rest for a couple of days. Ireland will have to find inspiration elsewhere if they have any hopes of beating the German team. They must not think about the absense of their captain, but rather focus on the game and give their all. With the absense of Keane, the question remain as to who will sub for him. The two contenders are Shane Long and Jon Walters, but I think that Shane Long will take this position. It is also unsure if Keane will play in the qualifier against the Faroe Islands, as it is uncertain how long his recovery will take. 

 

New Hope

The Bulgarian national team has been left in ruins. Since the golden age of our national team during the year of 1994 is when Hristo Stoichkov led the Bulgarian lions to the semifinals of the World Cup. They were the biggest underdogs, but still they managed to win the prestigious fourth place. After that there has been no success even close to that achievement. For many cosecutive years the Bulgarian team has not even been able to classify for either the World Cup or the European Cup. However, there is some hope for this year's classification for the World Cup. Bulgaria managed to defeat  Holland in a friendly match and since then everything has been goin really great for them. Bulgaria acquired itself a new trainer, Lubo Penev, and the results were imeddiately seen. The national team of Bulgaria was able to make a draw with the world class tam of Italy. Bulgaria even had way more chances to win as they dominated the second half. After that match Bulgaria managed to pull out a hard victory from Armenia as the match ended 1-0 in favour of the lions. Tomorrow there will be the match between Bulgaria and Denmark. All of the Bulgarian football fans are hoping that we will again be able to come on top. This qualification for the World Cup is going reall well as the Bulgarian team is better than they have been for a long time. Now we have a real chance of qualifying for the World Cup and that way end the losing streak.