photo credit: delphaber
The Glass is Half Full
South Africa can win the World Cup if they take serious advantage of the fact that they are the first African nation to ever host the event. If you look back in the history of the World Cup, nearly all the hosting nations performed their best when they were playing in their own nation. This has been true ever since the first World Cup when Uruguay won. England, Argentina, Italy, and France all won their first World Cup when they hosted the event. And plenty of hosting nations have been the runner-up of the event as well including Sweden and Brazil. So as long as the club can get off to a strong start and advance to the second round anything is possible. I am sure if that happens then the club will have some twelfth man help via the blaring horns from the supporters. Read more... (317 words, 4 images, estimated 1:16 mins reading time)
photo credit: CLF
South Africa
The Keeper
South Africa’s weakest department is between the posts with Khune as the likely starter of the squad. This will become a problematic area for South Africa and if the play is inconsistent in the net then it will end their hopes of advancing to the final 16 teams. Especially considering that they possess a less then great offensive unit as well.
Grade: D -
The Defense Read more... (370 words, 4 images, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)
Manchester United hammered AC Milan 4-0 to move into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Leading 3-2 after the first leg, Man Utd tightened their grip on the tie when Wayne Rooney scored again. With the goal Rooney became on the second player in history to score in both legs of a European tie against Milan.
Any hopes that Milan had of getting back in the game were killed a minute into the second half when Rooney ran onto a brilliant ball from Nani to score his 30th goal of the season and knock Milan out of the Champions League. Read more... (466 words, 3 images, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)
THE PAST
AC Milan is another one of those clubs that has one of the richest histories of football in the world. The club has won 17 Serie A titles and 7 Champions League titles and over the last one hundred years the squad has earned one of the most impressive trophy rooms in the entire world. The club’s most recent Champions League title came in 2006/2007 when the club beat Liverpool in the final 2-1.
THE PRESENT Read more... (290 words, 4 images, estimated 1:10 mins reading time)
Talk about being on a roll…
Arsenal added to its momentum with an intense 5-0 win over Porto. We could get into the ins and outs of the match, but I think it bears noting that Arsenal is on a roll of their own in the Premier League as well.
The club heads back to England having already put themselves into the Quarterfinals of the Champion’s League AND they have 3 easily winnable matches on their docket.
Hull City, West Ham, and Birmingham might want to take note and gird their loins–because Arsenal is coming for them. Read more... (313 words, 4 images, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)
This Tuesday, Arsenal will play host to FC Porto in the UEFA Champions League second match aggregate battle.
THE PAST
FC Porto is basically the Man U or Real Madrid of Portugal and the club has won 24 league titles in their existence. In fact the team has recently had such a nice run that the last time they didn’t win the league title was in 2004/2005. And when it comes to tournaments the Portuguese squad doesn’t exactly disappoint either. FC Porto has won the domestic cup 18 different times and the Champions League title twice. The last time the club won the honor was in 2004 when Jose Mourinho was the coach. It was his last year in Portugal before heading to Chelsea. Read more... (322 words, 4 images, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)
Liverpool’s chances to qualify for next season’s Champions League took another hit with a its first-ever loss to Wigan.
The loss left Liverpool in sixth place in the Premier League with 48 points, one behind Tottenham and Manchester City.
Hugo Rodallega was the hero for Wigan, scoring after a giveaway by Dirk Kuyt. The three points for Wigan moved them up to 14th place and four points clear of the relegation zone.
Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez, as expetced, was not happy after the game saying: Read more... (166 words, 2 images, estimated 40 secs reading time)
Another week and another huge game for the Arsenal. This time it is in the Champions League as Arsenal try to overcome a 2-1 deficit and defeat Porto to move into the quarter-finals.
Arsenal will have to do it the difficult way, without inspirational leader Cesc Fabregas who will miss the game due to a hamstring injury, as well as William Gallas who will also miss the game due to a calf injury.
But the good news for Arsenal is that Sol Campbell has recovered from the groin problem that kept him out at the weekend, and with Arshavin, . But with Arshavin, Nasri and Walcott all fit, Arsene Wenger will have a good squad to pick from. Read more... (578 words, 2 images, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)
THE PAST
South Africa has never made it past the first round of the World Cup and the hosting nation has only played in two in their existence. For decades South Africa was suspended from playing in the event by FIFA. The nation had a law that black and white players could not be on the same team and this prohibited them from being allowed to play in the event for many years. But the club played in their first World Cup match in France in 1998 and the following 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan. They did not qualify last World Cup though in Germany. Read more... (327 words, 4 images, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones just spent a fortune. How much money you ask? Try 1.2 billion dollars.
Mr. Jones broke open the mega piggy bank because he believes in the old Kevin Costner theory from the film Field of Dreams:
If you build it; they will come.
Jones believes that by giving the fans a never-before-seen stadium the fans will lineup in never-before-seen attendance records. In fact Jerry’s new pad in Dallas can fit over 100,000 people into the venue comfortably which is roughly over two times any other NFL stadium’s capacity. Read more... (297 words, 3 images, estimated 1:11 mins reading time)
