Arsenal Defeated Olympiacos 2-0 in Champions League 2009-10

Arsenal clinched a 2-0 dominating victory over Olympiacos at home in a Champions League group stage match. Goals from Robin van Persie and Andrei Arshavin in the second half ensured three points for the Gunners. With this victory, Arsenal is currently leading the Group H point table with 6 points from 2 games.

Arsenal dominated throughout the match, but still Gunners needed 78 minutes to score their first goal. Wenger boys attacked one after another, but Olympiacos goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis denied Gunners a number of goals. Arsenal got their first goal from an organized attack. After receiving a pass from Carlos Vela, Eduardo sent a cross in the box which found unmarked Robin van Persie who did not have any problem to slot it into the open post. Arsenal doubled the lead in the 86 minute when Arshavin flicked a pass home without giving much time to the Olympiacos goalkeeper to understand the ball.

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BBC

Andrew Symonds to Set out for India to Participate in Champions League Twenty20 2009

Champions League Twenty20 2009 kicks off from 8 October and this is the inaugural edition of the tournament. Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds will arrive India next week in order to represent IPL 2009 champion Deccan Chargers in the competition. 12 teams from several cricket playing countries including South Africa, England, India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, West Indies and Australia will take part in the tournament.

Andrew Symonds has not played competitive cricket for the last four months as he is recovering from quadriceps strain. Naturally, his fitness will be a big cause of concern for Deccan who would also have to deal with his alcohol and disciplinary problems. Symonds was sent home after breaching team discipline following an incident related to alcohol and he was stripped off his Cricket Australia (CA) contract. Now, let us see if Deccan Chargers can handle all these problems of Symonds and bring the best out of him during the tournament.

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centralchronicle

Franco Di Santo Revealing Himself at Blackburn Rovers

Chelsea striker Franco Di Santo has started revealing his skill and talent at Blackburn Rovers where he is now spending a loan spell. His effervescent performance in Blackburn’s 2-1 win over Aston Villa last weekend was reminiscent enough to understand that Chelsea would recall his service in the Winter transfer window. In fact, that is what Blackburn Rovers manager Sam Allardyce believes at this moment.

Since his move to Chelsea from Audax Italiano in 2008, Franco Di Santo failed to win a place in Chelsea’s regular line up. However, the way the striker is going at this moment seems that he may give some tough competition to the regular Chelsea strikers like Drogba and Anelka.

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Daily Mail

Aaron Redmond Waiting for ODI Debut

You already know that New Zealand has lost their regular opener Jesse Ryder through a groin injury that he picked up during Kiwis’ 38-run win over Sri Lanka in a do-or-die group stage match of ICC Champions Trophy 2009. Aaron Redmond has now been called up to replace Ryder and the Otago opener has already reached South Africa for the rest of the tournament.

New Zealand has a crunch game against England tomorrow that they have to win in order to ensure their semi final progress. A defeat would eliminate New Zealand from the group stage of Champions league.

So, it seems that Aaron Redmond may get his ODI debut in a very important game and if so, he will feel some pressure of replacing an inform batsman like Ryder. He has already played 7 tests and 3 T20 matches for New Zealand and is now waiting for his ODI debut.

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Otago Daily Times

Daniel Vettori: New Zealand Can Become a Top Side

New Zealand is currently playing against Sri Lanka in a crunch game of Champions Trophy 2009. After losing the first game to South Africa, New Zealand now must win the next two including the current one if they are to make it to the semi final.

New Zealand’s recent form is not good enough to bet on them, but Captain Daniel Vettori is confident of reaching the last four. He has also said that New Zealand people has all the rights to question on their performance if they fail to reach the semi final in the tournament.

Nzherald reported:

"If we don't win one, then questions have to be asked," Vettori said forthrightly from Johannesburg.

"The team here is good enough to win. It's a strong side and a very balanced one and we have got to get past that potential tag and get results on the board.

"There's no reason why we can't be one of the best sides in the world. We have got a long way to go in test cricket, but in Twenty20 and one-dayers, this is a very good side."

Can you sound the determination in New Zealand captain’s voice? Well, I do it for sure. I also think that New Zealand has the ability to progress to the semi final, if their players can play at their best. I agree with Vettori on the fact that New Zealand has every reason to become one of the best sides in the world.

Arsenal and Liverpool Facing Each Other in Carling Cup 2009-10

Arsenal and Liverpool are going to face each other at the Emirates Stadium in the fourth round of Carling Cup 2009-10 next month. No doubt, neither side relished such a fixture at this stage of the tournament, but the recent draw suggests an affair between these two ‘Big Four’ teams. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger generally features his young generation players in the league cup and FA Cup in order to give them much-needed exposure to top level football. I do not think that Wenger would come out of his principle because Liverpool is the opponent.

Manchester United will visit to Barnsley, while Chelsea faces Bolton Wanderers at the same stage of the league cup. Aston Villa takes on Sunderland away from home, Tottenham Hotspur hosts Everton, Portsmouth faces Stoke City, and Manchester City hosts Scunthorpe in the fourth round of League Cup 2009-10. Another premier league outfit Blackburn Rovers faces Peterborough at home.

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AFP

Cristiano Ronaldo Now Showing his Class at Real Madrid

Real Madrid’s record-breaking Summer signing Cristiano Ronaldo has not taken much time to get his rhythm back at Madrid. The winger has already scored 5 league goals, scoring in all the four games Real Madrid played so far in the league this season. With 5 goals, Ronaldo is now jointly topping the highest scorers’ list alongside Lionel Messi and David Villa. Moreover, the Portugal international also scored two goals in Real Madrid Champions League opener against Zurich, and thus, taking is Real Madrid goal tally to 7 from 5 games in all competitions. Ronaldo is also very much delighted with his scoring form at his new club.

New York Times reported:

“Things are turning out well for me, especially in the opening minutes,” he was quoted as saying by sports daily Marca on Thursday. “I’m happy and I feel good but what’s most important is to help and keep winning.”

Ronaldo and Kaka scored in Real’s recent 2-0 win over Villarreal last Wednesday. Real fans are also very happy that another big money signing Kaka has also opening his scoring book in the match after joining Bernabue from AC Milan in Summer 2009 transfer window.

The significance of India vs Pakistan Champions Trophy match

India vs Pakistan Champions Trophy match is going to entertain millions of viewers around the world. It is a very significant match because first of all the two countries did not play with each other in any ODI match in 2009. Secondly, because of Mumbai terror attack in the end of 2008, India cancelled their tour of Pakistan that was scheduled to take place in early 2009. Since then the relationship between the two countries is very bad and it seems that the two countries are not going to travel to each others country in near future. The security condition in Pakistan is not so good and no foreign country is now at this moment interested to go there. On the other hand, it is not clear when Pakistan will travel to India. So, for the cricket fans this is like a special bonus and they will surely enjoy every ball.

Pakistan defeated West Indies yesterday but not so convincingly.

It is also significant for the TV channel STAR CRICKET. STAR CRICKET has the TV rights of Champions Trophy and I think that they can earn the maximum amount of money from India-Pakistan match. They can earn most amount of money because it is clear that maximum number of people will watch this match in this tournament.

It is also a big opportunity for sponsor companies like Hero Honda or RELIANCE to reach millions of people in India.

So, you can see that there is something for everyone in this match and we hope that it will be a very competitive one. 

Arsenal Defeated West Bromwich Albion 2-0 in League Cup

A second string Arsenal side pulled off a 2-0 victory over West Bromwich Albion in the third round of League Cup 2009-10. Arsene Wenger featured 8 teenagers in the game resting more than half of the regular players for the game. Well, if you are an Arsenal fan, I believe you don’t need to be surprised by this move of Wenger because the Gunner boss always feature young players in the league cup and FA cup matches.

Arsenal had to wait 68 minutes for the opening goal which came through Sanchez Watt. West Brom keeper blocked the Carlos Vela’s shot and it fell to Watt and the young striker did not make any mistake to slot it into the post. Vela doubled the Arsenal lead when he got the ball after Mark Randall’s shot made the wookwork.

Arsenal’s performance was really very impressive and it is an evident of the progress of Wenger’s young boys.

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BBC

Manchester United and Stoppage Time Controversy

Those of you have watched the Manchester derby of last Sunday might have been surprised to see 7 minutes of extra time played after 90 minutes. No doubt, the match was really enjoyable as both teams were dominating at some points of time during the game. However, I was just astonished to see Martin Atkinson taking 7 minutes to blew the final whistle. City manager Mark Hughes said that he just did not know where those 7 minutes came from. The same question has arisen in my mind too.

Well, there are many among the City fans who are claiming that the referee showed favoritism towards United that day. The match was 2-2 tied after 90 minutes, but United won the game thanks to an injury time goal from Michael Owen. I got two well-analyzed articles published in Telegraph and Guardian on this issue.

After studying all the premier league games of Manchester Untied from 2006-07 to today, Guardian found out that the amount of stoppage time when United was drawing or losing was considerably more than what the stoppage time when United was ahead of their opposition after 90 minutes.

Well, this information might lead you to think that there was something controversial in Sunday’s Manchester derby. To be honest, I do not want to make any statement on this regard, but I believe that it is a big mistake by the referee Martin Atkinson to sanction 7 minutes of stoppage time during that game.

Darren Gough Says, Andrew Flintoff’s England Career is Uncertain

Former England pacer Darren Gough fears that ECB would not pick up Andrew Flintoff in future. The England all rounder recently rejected a central contract offered by ECB. As far as he is concerned, ECB would not recall Flintoff.

Andrew Flintoff, who recently retired from test cricket, now wants to be a free lance cricketer so that he can take part in twenty20 cricket tournaments in several countries. Gough has said that if ECB stick to what they always said, there is no England hope left for the Flintoff.

Well, I think, England selectors would recall Flintoff very soon because I do not see any reliable all rounder in the England squad at this moment who can fill in for Andrew Flintoff. England’s poor limited over form has been evident in the current ODI series against Australia.

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Press Association

Lionel Messi to Stay at Barcelona until 2016 under Contract Extension

Lionel Messi, the star Argentine striker, has signed a new contract with Spanish giants Barcelona. Under the new contract, Messi will stay at the Catalan club until 2016 and the existing contract has a buyout clause of 250 million euros, exactly 100 million euros more than what was included in the previous contract that was supposed to run until 2014.

Messi, in his reaction to the contract extension, has said that he will never leave Barcelona. No doubt, it is definitely good news for the Barcelona fans. Messi is now 22 and has many years of action ahead of him. Moreover, he has been in excellent form and he is improving his game consistently. There is no doubt, Messi was instrumental behind Barcelona’s treble last season. The striker is the most favorite to win this year’s FIFA World Player of the Year Award.

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US Today

Real Madrid to Miss Xabi Alonso for 10 Weeks

Real Madrid will miss the service of their Summer signing Xabi Alonso for at least 10 days as the midfielder sustained a right leg injury during Madrid’s 5-2 victory away at FC Zurich in Champions league. The Spanish international could not even stay on the pitch throughout 90 minutes because of the injury. So, it is pretty much certain that Alonso will be sidelined for Real Madrid’s upcoming home and away matches against Xerez and Villarreal respectively.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid’s German international Christoph Metzelder has also been sidelined for 3 weeks after picking up a calf injury.

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New York Times

Arsenal Facing Injury Woes ahead of Wigan Athletic Clash

Arsenal may have lost two matches in a row in premier league, but the Gunners must have retained some confidence through last Wednesday’s excellent come-from-back victory over Belgian side Standard Liege. Arsenal will face Wigan Athletic on Saturday and it has been pretty much certain that the Gunners will miss the services of Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri, Carlos Vela, Johan Djourou and Denilson, who still needs at least one week to get over his back problem.

The only good sign is that Robin van Persie is most likely to come back with the Wigan match as the Dutch international is expected to recover from his knee injury. There is very little chance, Wenger said 10 percent, of Andrei Arshavin coming back in action in the next match. Moreover, regular goalkeeper Manuel Almunia and second choice goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski will remain sidelined for the Wigan match.

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tribalfootball

Australia Makes it 5-0 in ODI Series

Australia won the fifth of the seven-match ODI series against England yesterday. A captain’s knock of 126 runs off 109 balls from Ricky Ponting helped Australia make a successful chase for a 300-run winning target. England scored 299 runs batting first thanks to Eoin Morgan’s 41-ball 58, Denly’s 45, Strauss’ 35, Prior’s 37 and Shah’s 31 runs. In the absence of Brett Lee, Australian bowlers did not look impressive. Johnson, Watson and Hauritz took 2 wickets each.

Australia had a very good start thanks to two openers Watson and Paine. However, Ponting and Clarke contributed 133 runs for the third wicket and that was instrumental behind Australian victory. Clarke scored a well-played 52 off 64 balls. On his way to 126, Ponting showed some of his masterstrokes, hitting 14 boundaries and 3 over-boundaries. In the end, Cameron White’s quick fire 24 and Johnson’s 12-ball 18 guided Australia to victory.

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The Canadian Press

Airtel Becomes Title Sponsor of Champions League Twenty20 for 5 Years

Airtel has signed a five-year deal to become the title sponsor of Champions League twenty20 tournament. That means for the next five years the tournament will be titled as Airtel Champions League Twenty20. Airtel signed the deal with ESPN Star Sports.

clt20 reported:

Airtel signed the deal today with ESPN STAR Sports, the commercial partners of Champions League T20. The first edition of the Champions League will be played in India starting October 08, 2009. A total 12 teams from 7 test playing nations will participate in the inaugural edition. The 16 day league will have 23 Twenty20 matches.

There is no doubt, cricket fans are eagerly waiting for the tournament. With the increasing popularity of twenty20 format of cricket, it is pretty much understandable that the tournament will be a big hit.

Where would Sachin Tendulkar Stop?

Sachin Tendulkar scored another ODI century today as India won the Compaq Cup 2009 title, defeating host Sri Lanka by 46 runs in the tournament final. The master blaster has been in excellent form throughout the series and today he played a match winning innings of 138 off 133 hitting ten boundaries and an over-boundary. This has been Tendulkar’s 44^th century in ODI. In total, he has now 86 international century including 42 hundreds in test.

Now, the question is where Sachin Tendulkar would stop? Well, he is already 36 and I guess he might retire from cricket in next 2 years. The way he is playing over the last one year, it seems that he could easily make 50 centuries in ODI at the end of his career. Finishing with 100 international centuries in total does not seem to be impossible for Tendulkar at this moment. However, the problem is that the veteran is missing too much tournaments and series due to physical problems. So, I think, his health would be the biggest problem in achieving these marks.

New Zealand Cricket Signs New Contract with HRV for T20 Domestic Tournament

Twenty20 cricket is now the most popular among the three formats of cricket. Popularity of the format is increasing day by day. Naturally, organizers find sponsorships coming in a flurry when it comes to twenty20 cricket.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has recently signed a 3-year sponsorship deal with HRV, specialist for Home ventilation, for the domestic twenty20 tournament. By this deal, the tournament will be known as 2009/10 HRV Cup where six teams will take on each other twice on a home and away system. The top two teams will progress into the tournament final.

The tournament starts from 2 January 2010 and ends with the final match being held on 31^st January. Besides the local stars, international stars like Tillakaratne Dilshan, Owais Shah and Owais Shah will take part in the twenty20 competition.

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voxy

Durham Wins County Championship for Second Year in a Row

Durham has successfully defended their County Championship title as they defeated Nottinghamshire by an innings and 52 runs. Durham knew that a draw with the second-placed Nottinghamshire would be enough to ensure their second country title in a row, but Durham displayed a solid performance, and thus, winning the title in style with two games left at hand. However, Durham could go for making a record 10 victory in what would match with 2002’s Surrey and 2003’s Sussex.

Batting first, Durham scored 648 for 5 thanks to a double century from Venuto and three centuries from Coetzer, Chanderpaul and Benkenstein. In reply, Nottinghamshire batsmen could not match with the performance of Durham batsmen as they got all out for 384 as Plunkett picked up 6 wickets for 85. Coming to bat for the second time, Nottinghamshire could put on only 212 runs after losing all the wickets. Both Harmison and Plunkett picked up 3 wickets each in the second innings of Nottinghamshire.

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BBC

Javed Miandad: Players Should have 200 Percent Commitment

Former Pakistan great Javed Miandad has asked Pakistan cricketers to give their 200 percent while representing for Pakistan. Miandad was appointed as batting advisor of Pakistan national team following their devastating performance during the recent Sri Lanka tour where they lost both the test and ODI series.

Javed Miandad believes that working hard under the sun is not the only thing you need to succeed. Rather, you have to have a commitment to give your best. He thinks a team needs 200 percent of commitment from their players in order to bring out success. Well, I also agree with Javed Miandad on this regard, but I just want to add by saying that you also need complete dedication in whatever you do and this is the key to success.

Javed Miandad also asked Pakistan cricket administrators to build grassy wickets so that Pakistani cricketers would not have to worry for bouncy wickets. He thinks Pakistan would be better prepared for ICC Champions Trophy 2009, set to start from 22 September in South Africa where most of the grounds have bouncy wickets and the condition is helpful for the pacers.

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Sify

Christoph Metzelder: Real Madrid can Win Everything

Christoph Metzelder has said that the current Real Madrid squad has the ability to win all the titles coming in their way. He is also full of praise about new coach Manuel Pellegrini. The German international has said he is overly happy to be part of a side that has the players like Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The 28-year-old defender is now looking to win Champions League title this season at Real Madrid’s home ground. Here, it is notable that Champions League 2009-10 final will be held at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, the home ground of Real Madrid.

Terming Pellegrini a very special coach, Metzelder has said Real Madrid can succeed with a team of such strength and a coach like Pellegrini. Let us see if Real Madrid can really live up to the expectation of the fans.

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Goal.com

PCB Keen to Restore Bilateral Ties with BCCI Looking for Financial Gain

You know that in cricket money is mainly in India because of its huge fan base in the country. A home series with India is always lucrative for the organizers as well as the TV broadcasters. Other cricket boards get huge sum of money from TV Channels on the basis of the number of bilateral home series against India. The same thing goes to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) too.

However, PCB fell in trouble when Indian cricket board did not allow Indian team to go on a pre-scheduled test tour to Pakistan in January 2009 in the wake of Mumbai terror attack, leaving PCB to face a loss worth USD 25-30 million.

An unnamed PCB official recently said that PCB is trying to revive the bilateral cricket ties with BCCI in an attempt to strengthen its financial condition too. PCB is even also interested to organize a short series between India and Pakistan in a neutral venue. You know that no international cricket took palace in Pakistan since last March’s Lahore terror attack on Sri Lankan team bus, and thus, Pakistan losing the rights to host world cup matches in 2011. It was also revealed that PCB had talked to a BCCI official regarding a possible revival of bilateral cricket relationship between the two neighboring countries in South Asia and the participation of Pakistani cricketers in next year’s IPL.

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Cricket Next

Bangladesh Handed Jamie Siddons Contract Extension

Performance of Bangladesh cricket team is pretty much impressive lately. Perhaps, this is the reason BCB (Bangladesh Cricket Board) has decided to extend the contract of national team’s Australian coach Jamie Siddons. Upon this extension, Siddons will now remain Bangladesh coach until 2011 world cup.

Jamie Siddons replaced fellow Australian Dev Wahtmore in November 2007. There were many who were skeptical about Siddons as Bangaldesh coach initially, but the Australian has proved that he has so far guided Bangladesh team pretty much successfully. By saying this, I am not indicating the recent performances of Bangladesh team. There are many who might think that Bangladesh has done very well recently and that is why, Siddons has been successful.

However, I think, Siddons is successful because of his man-management ability and the way he guided the team. Moreover, I am not overly delighted with Bangladesh’s recent victories those came against second category West Indies side and Zimbabwe.

Besides cricket, football is another most popular game in Bangladesh.

Many people in Bangladesh are fan of Argentina football team and they are now eagerly waiting for tonight’s world cup qualifying match between Argentina and Paraguay.

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Reuters

Manchester City’s £25.5m Signing Carlos Tevez to Sit out for Arsenal Clash

Manchester City and Arsenal are facing each other next Saturday in a highly-anticipating premier league clash. However, Manchester City’s Argentina striker Carlos Tevez, who was signed in the summer transfer window for a fee of £25.5m, would miss the important match against Arsenal as the forward is struggling with a knee injury that he suffered while representing Argentina against Brazil last weekend.

Interestingly, City Brazilian striker Robinho is also doubtful for the visit to Arsenal as he also picked up a knock during the Argentina-Brazil match. The good thing is that his knock is not very serious and City boss Mark Hughes is expecting to get the service of Robinho.

However, if Manchester City misses both of their key strikers, then it would be a huge test for City to cope up with two such injury woes. In fact, we can see the depth of Manchester City’s squad through these two injuries.

Here, it is also notable that Carlos Tevez will also miss Argentina’s crucial world cup qualifying match against Paraguay on 9 September, while Robinho is missing Brazil’s match against Chile which seems to be a less important match as Brazil is already through to the world cup finals and Chile is on the verge of qualifying for next year’s world cup.

Impact of Lack of Money in Latin American Football

Earlier, I wrote an article on money and Latin American and African football in another blog named Asian Biz. In that article, I talked about the deteriorating condition of domestic leagues of Latin American and African countries.

After watching last Saturday’s Argentina vs Brazil world cup qualifying match, I could realize the fact that the quality of Latin American football is really deteriorating now. Even though both teams had a number of star players like Messi, Tevez, Robinho and Kaka, the kind of football the two arch-rivals displayed was not very exciting and enticing.

Having watched the match, I could also understand that the condition of domestic leagues in Latin America should be more disappointing because almost all the star players of this region are currently playing European leagues. The reason is nothing but money. European clubs can provide the star players like Messi with financial security and ensure a better life, while Latin American clubs can not afford to sign the players of this stature.

So, the moneyless condition could have a far-reaching effect on Latin American football which is considered to be one of the breeding ground of football. Many great players including Maradona and Pele came from Latin America.

It is true that the teams like Brazil and Argentina have still a number of quality players who have already become international celebrity, but they can not play expectedly because most of the time they play in different clubs of Europe and that is why, the national team can not have a right combination and lacks enough understanding among the players on the field.

SM Mehdi Hassan wrote an article on Bollywood movie Blue. If you are interested about Bollywood, then you can go and enjoy the article.