Showing posts with label Other Sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Other Sports. Show all posts

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Champions League semi-finals

The most prestigious competition in club football Champions League has reached the semi-final stage. Four big European clubs remain in the race for the trophy, among them is one club who has surprised a lot of football fans this season. Climbing their way up to the French Ligue-1 just a few years back from now, AS Monaco FC has shown great talent and willpower by reaching the semi-finals this season, already eliminating two big clubs from the competition in the playoffs so far. Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund were no matches for the Monegasques who scored a combined amount of six goals in the first and second legs against both teams. Scoring as many goals as Barcelona this season, Europe`s top scorers Monaco has shown us some very entertaining football throughout the season, and they should be considered as a serious contender for the Champions League title.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Monaco thump City in an epic comeback

The Champions league round of 16 was held in Nyon the 12th December last year. Finishing second in group C, Manchester City was to face one of the group winners. Pep Guardiola was surely very happy about the draw result. The Citizens would face the French club AS Monaco FC avoiding bigger clubs such as Barcelona and Juventus. With his experience of the European competitions, the expectations from Pep leading Manchester City to the Champions league glory this season were quite high. 

Monaco, on the other hand, had lots of ups and downs in the last 15 years from their last appearance in Champions league finals in the 2003-04 season. They got relegated to Ligue 2 six years later. The club's fortune changed when Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev bought the majority of the club in 2011. Just two years later, Monaco earned their promotion back to Ligue 1 with Claudio Ranieri as their new manager. In 2013, Monaco spent roughly £140 million on the transfer market to strengthen their squad (including the transfer of Radamel Falcao from Atletico). However, there were not many high expectations from the team due to their inconsistency and considering the amount of money pumped into Manchester City squad after they were bought by Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Chelsea advance to FA cup semi-finals

The last remaining quarterfinal of the FA cup was played yesterday evening as Jose Mourinho`s Manchester United traveled to London, to face Conte`s Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Both teams had been in a good form lately, Manchester United had not lost a league game since their last visit to Stamford Bridge on the 23rd October last year when Chelsea won the Red Devils 4-0, and Chelsea had lost just three league games throughout the whole season. 
N`golo Kan scored the only goal of the match to set Chelsea to the semis ©Getty Images

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Camp Nou miracle sees Braca in quarters

The first four teams advancing to the Champions League quarter-finals have been confirmed, and the remaining four round of 16-fixtures will be played next week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Arsenal`s Champions League campaign ended once again at this stage of the competition in a humiliating way, as they lost 10-2 on aggregate to their rivals from Germany Bayern Munchen. The second fixture between these clubs looked promising for The Gunners as Theo Walcott scored for the London club in the first half, raising hope for Wenger's squad towards the second half. Only ten minutes in the second half Arsenal`s captain, French center-back Laurent Koscielny tackles Robert Lewandowski in the penalty area and receives a red card. Lewandowski does not waste the opportunity and scores from the penalty shot, tying the game. With the one man advantage on the pitch, Bayern Munchen dominates the second half, scoring five goals behind Arsenals goalkeeper David Ospina. Winning both the first and second leg 5-1, Bayern Munchen proves that they are still one of the best clubs in Europe, and rightfully take the first spot in the top 8 of this year's Champions League. 

Friday, February 24, 2017

Champions League : Playoffs

The first leg of the Champions League playoffs has been played, and some teams are looking quite comfortable before the second leg that will be played in three of weeks from now.

The only big surprise so far has been Barcelona`s terrible form in Paris. Cavani, Di Maria, and Draxler were in top form and made breaking up Barcelona`s defensive lines look very easy. Losing 4-0 to Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona has the worst possible starting point for the second match played on Camp Nou the 8th of March. Even if Barcelona is known to dominate the pitch in their home games, it is hard to believe that PSG would give up four goals against them, especially if they keep pressing Barcelona high like last week in Paris. Discussion about whether or not PSG has what it takes to be a successful club in Europe has been going on for years now, and winning against Barcelona with four goals proves that they are capable of advancing far in this competition, perhaps even all the way to the final. Barcelona has to improve their game a lot for the second leg if they want to fight for the Champions League title this year.

PSG have been the dark horse of this season (Source:Reuters)

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

UEFA Champions League - The favorites

The most prestigious competition in club football, the UEFA Champions League is down to the last 16 teams, and the playoffs stage starts this evening. The defending title holders and one of the favorites to win the cup, Real Madrid, holds the record of most titles, winning the competition 11 times,  Los Blancos did not play very convincingly in the group stage, winning only three of their six games, but with a squad including Christiano Ronaldo, you can expect this team to advance all the way to the final again if they can knock out their opponent Napoli from the competition. Napoli lost just one game in the group stage, and are well equipped to challenge Real Madrid. Last year's runners-up tea, Atletico Madrid will face Bayer 04 Leverkusen, and should most likely advance to the next stage from this match. Winning five of their six games in the group stage, Atletico should find it easy to get to the quarter-finals.

Real Madrid would be looking to win the title for record twelfth time (AFP)

Monday, February 13, 2017

NHL: Stars of tomorrow

This season NHL has presented some sensational rookies on the ice. Already one year before the 2016 NHL-draft the speculations about who will be selected first overall was heavily pointing towards the young American center Auston Matthews. Due to his date of birth, he was not eligible in the 2015-draft, being two days too young. Ever since he has been topping charts and scout reports, making it no surprise at all that he got picked first overall in the 2016-draft by Toronto Maple Leafs. Matthews became the first U.S.-born player drafted first since Patrick Kane in 2007. Winning two U-18 World Junior Championship gold medals playing for the USA, the expectations for Matthews were high for his first NHL season, and so far he has delivered with his incredible play reading and raw skill. In the first game of the season, Auston Matthews showed everyone he was ready for the big league by scoring all of Toronto's four goals in their 4-3 win against Ottawa Senators, making history by being the only player who has managed to score four goals in his NHL debut match. 

Nylander (L) and Matthews (R) are two of the many brilliant rookie players around (AP)

Friday, February 10, 2017

NHL 2016-2017 - The playoffs

The National Hockey League (NHL) is well underway and approaching the playoffs stage which will begin in April. The best 16 teams combined from both the Western, and Eastern - the conference will be matched up and play in best of 7 series all the way through until the winner of the most prestigious trophy in the world of hockey -  The Stanley cup is decided in the final series.

The Western conference is divided into two divisions - the Central and the Pacific division. Eastern conference is also divided into two divisions - the Metropolitan and the Atlantic. The top three teams from all four divisions after the regular season will qualify for the playoff stage making it 12 teams altogether. The remaining four spots will be filled with two teams from each conference, referred to as "Wild Cards". They are the two teams from each conference who have managed to get most points apart from the three best teams in all four divisions.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

EPL: Approaching the end

The Premier league is past halfway and the battle in the bottom half is just as interesting as the top of the table where Chelsea currently holds the top spot, 9 points ahead of rivals Tottenham who also have had an amazing season so far and are placed second on the points table. Nothing seems to stop the Blues, and it is very unlikely that they would lose on such a big lead considering how well they have played throughout the season. 
20 teams fighting for one coveted trophy

Monday, February 6, 2017

Is it time for Wenger at Arsenal?

When you think of Arsenal, you think of Arsene Wenger. The 67-year old frenchman has been the manager of Gunners for 20 seasons now, making it a club record. Sir Alex Ferguson still holds the record of  9704 days as a manager for Manchester united from 1986-2013, still 2000 days longer than Wenger's reign in Arsenal so far.

Before signing with Arsenal, Wenger had coached in the French Ligue-1 leading AS. Monaco to victory in the Coupe de France, and two seasons in Japan as manager for the J.league team Nagoya Grampus Eight. When Wenger first arrived in London 22 September 1996 he wasn´t well known to the English football world and many supporters and even players were asking "Arsene who?". Wenger's first major move after joining the club was to make dietary changes for the players such as forbidding them to drink beer on their days off, preferring white meat over red meat, and suggesting that pasta would be the new pre-match dish. Wenger was also given control over the clubs players contracts, training sessions and transfers for the club, unlike any of his predecessors.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Chelsea gun down Gunners in London Derby

It`s Saturday and a big day in London, as the two biggest football clubs of the city meets for the second time this season. Conte`s Chelsea versus Wenger`s Arsenal both teams running for the Premier league title this season. Currently Chelsea is at the top of the table with 56 points, 9 points ahead of rivals Arsenal. A win for the Gunners would make the title race more interesting, but Chelsea has been in a very good form recently, only losing one game of the last 17 matches, while Arsenal managing to win only 5 of their last 10 fixtures.

Friday, February 3, 2017

Manchester City: Road to success

Pep Guardiola signed a 3 year contract with Manchester City on July 1.2016. The club has a really good record from the past 6 years, including two league titles, one league cup and one FA cup trophy, Pep would surely be a good choice for City. His record as a manager is nothing short of incredible. 20 trophies in 6 years including two Champions league titles is some record. He could possibly lead City to glory in the European Competitions as well unlike any other manager has done with City so far. 

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Frank Lampard retires at 38

English midfielder Frank Lampard 38, has decided to retire from professional football after an illustrious football career that spanned over 21 years. The announcement came from the player on Facebook on Thursday. Lampard, born in Romford, East London started his career in West Ham United and made his debut in January 1996 against Coventry City. He remained with West Ham until Chelsea signed him in June 2001.