Zenit suffers a painful 2-1 loss to Real Madrid

Dick Advocaat’s dream of Champions League glory took a massive downward turn as Zenit Saint Petersburg suffered a heart-breaking 2-1 loss to Real Madrid at Petrovsky Stadium.

Los Blancos came out on the attack and tested Vyacheslav Malafeev early. However disaster was just around the corner when a Rafael van der Vaart cross at the four minute mark was unfortunately cleared into the net by surprise starter Tomáš Hubo?an for an own goal. A goal handicapped early, Zenit Saint Petersburg pushed forward looking for the leveling goal. At the twenty-fifth minute Andrei Arshavin orchestrated a splendid tying goal when he volleyed to an unmarked Danni in-close. However six minutes later the nightmare continued as with Zenit pushing forward for the lead, a defensive miscue gave Ruud van Nistelrooy a point-blank opportunity which he crisply deposited into the back of the net. With the score 2-1 in the visitors favour, Zenit drove ahead to level the match, yet opportunity after opportunity was squandered and they fell to their second successive Champions League defeat.

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CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2008/09 - TUESDAY GROUP QUALIFYING GAMES - REAL MADRID & VILLAREAL

REAL MADRID managed a very important victory away to the dangerous
Russian team ZENIT ST.PETERSBURG, 1-2 in their Group H qualifying
clash. The game was end to end stuff, well fought & the type of game Real
had to win fighting all the way. As is common in these types of games, the
element of luck played it´s part & it went the Spaniards way. The other
quick note is that RAUL started on the bench & did not get a run, some
many think it´s the end of the Raul cycle & being on the bench maybe
a more common feature in his game from now on.

All the goals came in the 1ºst half & Real got lucky early in the 3ºrd
min when Russian defender HUBBOCAN put in an own goal & Real´s
1ºst goal. The Russians got their act together & began putting in passes
& giving the Real Madrid defence some problems.

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Mauro Zarate taking Serie A by storm

Maradona, Caniggia, Sensini, Balbo, Chamot, Simeone, Redondo, Batistuta, Crespo, Veron. The list of great Argentinian players to grace the pitches of Serie A can go on and on. And pretty soon we might have to add another name to the list: Mauro Zarate. The 21 year old striker is on fire, leading the Serie A scoring charts with 6 goals in the first 5 games and giving defenders nightmares. At the beginning of the season it seemed like Delio Rossi wasn’t going to start Zarate right away, but an injury to Tommaso Rocchi forced Rossi to start Zarate and the Argentine has paid his manager back with excellent performances. He is definitely one of the steals of the transfer market.

Lazio actually had no plans to sign Zarate this summer, and were very close to not signing him at all. Corriere dello Sport has an article today that explains the whole story. Lazio were very close to signing Boca Juniors striker Rodrigo Palacio and Boca were going to sign Zarate. The deal was all set to be completed when Jose Alberti, and agent and Argentine football expert who helped bring Maradona to Napoli, intervened.

Alberti called up Lazio president Claudio Lotito and said, “Listen, why don’t you sign Zarate? He’s an incredible talent, believe me”. Lotito responded: “Inform me about the player, let me see some videos of him”. Alberti then told Lotito to go on youtube and watch some videos (amazing the technological world we live in today) and left him his cell number. After 30 minutes, Lotito called Alberti back saying: “I want to sign him right away, put me in contact with his agents.” And the rest is history, as Lotito started negotiations with Qatar club Al-Saad (who own Zarate) and got the striker on loan, with the option to buy at season’s end. And we all know Lotito will definitely be using that option come June.

So what’s next for Zarate? Well he’ll continue to be Lazio’s star up front and continue to try and score goals. If he keeps up the good form, maybe a call from Alfio Basile is next?

Here’s a video of Zarate’s first few games with Lazio:

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Jornada 4 Recap: Logjammin’ At the Top O’ The Table

Four matches have been played and only three points separate first place from tenth. While I don’t necessarily expect Nacional and Leixões to be top o’ the table contenders when it’s all said and done, as I’ve intimated in the past, the matches at the start of the season count for just as many points as the matches at the end. A fast start to a football season never hurts, regardless of whatever matches may lie ahead.

This week saw Porto get back to their winning ways after a disappointing draw with new boys Rio Ave last week. Benfica took this year’s first round of the Lisbon derby with Sporting by resoundingly defeating Paulo Bento’s side 2-0 at home. Trofense look sure to go right back down after being promoted this year with yet another trouncing, this time at the hands of smokin’ Manny Cajuda’s V.Guimarães. Here are the rest of the scores, superlatives, and le tableau.

Porto 2 - 0 P. Ferreira
Braga 1 - 1 Naval
V.Setúbal 1 - 0 Rio Ave
Benfica 2 - 0 Sporting
Marítimo 2 - 0 Académica
Nacional 1 - 2 E. Amadora
Trofense 1 - 3 V.Guimarães
Belenenses 0 - 1 Leixões

Hero of the Week — Vidigal, Estrela da Amadora — An away brace to secure the three points against current front runners Nacional is “Hero” material in my book. Although, as you’ll see in the highlights below, the Amadora keeper was no slouch either in doing his part to take home the victory.

Goats of the Week — Trofense — This is more of a “Goats of the Season Thus Far” award, but a 3-1 ass kicking at the hands of V.Guimarães in the fourth match of the season means they’re still without a point. I know they just got promoted, but did they miss the Liga Vitalis that badly that they’ve given up three goals in three of their first four matches?

Clean Sheets of the Week — Helton (Porto), Bruno Vale (V.Setúbal), Quim (Benfica), Marcos (Marítimo), and Beto (Leixões).

Table (After 4 Matches Played)
1.) Nacional - 9
2.) Sporting - 9
3.) Leixões - 9
4.) Porto - 8
5.) Benfica - 8
6.) V.Setúbal - 7
7.) V.Guimarães - 7
8.) Naval - 7
9.) E.d.Amadora - 7
10.) Académica - 6
11.) Marítimo - 4
12.) Braga - 4
13.) Rio Ave - 2
14.) Paços de Ferreira - 1
15.) Belenenses - 1
16.) Trofense - 0

I used to preview the matches whatever clubs were involved in the Champions League, but since we now have a writer for the Tripeiros Porto, he’s gladly assumed responsibility for handling that for his club. Go read his musings, and leave me alone!

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Futsal World Cup 2008 Preview

The 2008 FIFA (yep, them again) Futsal World Cup kicks off in Brazil today, running from September 30th to October 19th.

If you’re not familiar with futsal, then all you need to know is this: it’s brilliant. It’s basically five a side football, on a small, hard-surface court with a smaller, heavier ball that has a very low bounce.

The result is a game that’s all about possession, passing and tricks, as you can see in FIFA’s eye-catching promotional video here:

The big name to watch at the 2008 tournament is Brazil’s legendary Falcao. He’s widely recognized as the best futsal player in the world, but has yet to win the Futsal World Cup. The 31 year old Falcao will apparently retire from futsal after the World Cup, so this is his last shot to win the tournament with Brazil. So what better way to go out than winning the World Cup on home soil? (or should that be home plastic?)

Here’s a montage of the #12 in action:

Not too shabby, eh?

Brazil’s biggest threat will be holders Spain, who beat them in both the 2000 and 2004 Futsal World Cup final.

Here are the 20 teams qualified for the 2008 Futsal World Cup, drawn into four groups of five:

Group A: Brazil, Russia, Japan, Cuba, Solomon Islands
Group B: Italy, Portugal, Thailand, Paraguay, USA
Group C: Argentina, Ukraine, China, Guatemala, Egypt
Group D: Spain, Czech Republic, Iran, Uruguay, Libya

After a round robin, the top two teams from each group go through to the second group stage: where the eight remaining teams are drawn into two group of four (wouldn’t quarter-finals be easier?)

The top two from those two groups then progress to the semi-finals, and it’s straight knockout from there.

You can watch the games live via the FIFA website, but only in certain countries (UK: yes, US: no, Australia: no)

Good news if you live in a country not on FIFA’s good list: looks like every game will be streamed live online by your friendly neighbourhood internet pirates.

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