Cristiano Ronaldo Calendar 2009
October 7, 2008
Cristiano Ronaldo has done the unthinkable and has released a very saucy calendar, seemingly following suit from David Beckham’s own recent calendar. Strangely, both calendars are released on exactly the same date - 30th October. Surely the latest United no.7 legend isn’t going to complete head-on with David Beckham?
The Portuguese star’s calendar features many pictures of Cristiano Ronaldo naked, well practically naked anyway. This is sure to delight the many millions of Ronaldo fans around the world, both male and female.
Pre-Order The Cristiano Ronaldo Calendar At Amazon For £4.99
Pre-Order The David Beckham Calendar At Amazon For £4.99
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Losing for your country should hurt more, shouldn’t it?
September 10, 2008
Kev Fylan blogged about England’s fear factor being the root cause of their continual failures but Jamie Carragher’s autobiography reveals another possible explanation when he admits that he just didn’t care enough about playing for the national team.
The Liverpool defender, who retired from international football principally because he got fed up with playing out of position, said:
“Representing your country is the ultimate honour, especially in the World Cup. Not to me. Whenever I returned home from disappointing England experiences one unshakeable, overriding thought pushed itself to the forefront of my mind, no matter how much the rest of the nation mourned: ‘At least it wasn’t Liverpool.’
“I confess: defeats wearing an England shirt never hurt me in the same way as losing with my club. I wasn’t uncaring or indifferent, I simply didn’t put England’s fortunes at the top of my priority list. Losing felt like a disappointment rather than a calamity.”
For most England fans such an outlook may be hard to understand but for backers of Croatia, who England face on Wednesday, it will be beyond comprehension.
As a young nation, Croatian fans and players are among the loudest and proudest in the game. They don’t need to kiss the badge to show what it means to them.
As with the All Blacks in rugby, merely wearing the shirt says it all.
There are many in the England set-up who hold the opposite view to Carragher — just look at David Beckham’s continued involvement.
But is it possible that there are other players out there among the pampered millionaires for whom representing their country is something of a chore?
Funnily enough, Croatia’s victory at Wembley in the final Euro 2008 qualifier, which ended England’s chances, might well have been avoided if Carragher had decided not to throw his toys out of the pram. With a defensive injury crisis England had to use Sol Campbell and Joleon Lescott at centre back, and were badly exposed.
PHOTO: Portugal’s Ricardo Pereira saves from Jamie Carragher during England’s penalty shootout defeat in the 2006 World Cup quarter-final in Gelsenkirchen July 1, 2006. REUTERS/Jose Manuel Ribeiro
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FATIH TERIM:"I won’t leave the national team, but I could coach two teams".
September 9, 2008
Turkey’s national soccer team coach Fatih Terim talks during a press conference in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008. Turkey will face Belgium in a World Cup 2010 group 5 qualifying soccer match in Istanbul on Wednesday.
(AP Photo/)
Fatih Terim said, He is still with Turkish National Team but he could coach another team too!…
After the news, that his name was mentioned with Newcastle team, at the press conference in Istanbul Fatih Terim said , “He is staying behind his word ,and said he is still the coach of Turkish National Team”
He also said,”He would be open to coach a club team while coaching the National team.”
Turkish National team is ready to offer a new deal for him after the Belgium match.
According to Turkish media,Terim will be offered a 4 year deal worth 2 million euro a year . Newcastle already put a bit to his agent 2 years at 3 million a year, according to British media.
Next Newcastle Manager Betting hot item!,,,,,
According to online betting website,Tottenham Hotspur assistant coach Gus Poyet to be the Next Newcastle Manager after The Sun newspaper claimed that the Uruguayan is on the brink of accepting the coaching job.
Poyet, a 4/5 shot for the job with SkyBet,The second favourite for the job is still Turkey coach Fatih Terim, who is still 12/1 .Another candidate who has been well backed in the last 24 hours is Brazilian legend Zico. The former Fenerbahce coach yesterday indicated he would be interested in the Newcaslte job and as a result he was backed from 40/1 to 15/2 with SkyBet.
futbol, soccer, fussball, football, gol, goal, live scores, canl, live, puan durumu, puan cetveli, standings, results
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English football needs a Kevin Pietersen
September 9, 2008
England play Croatia on Wednesday and you know what? It won’t be a surprise, or a disgrace, if they lose.
Why? Because Croatia are a technically gifted, cleverly organised, highly motivated international team, who beat England twice to reach Euro 2008 and outplayed Germany when they got there.
I also half expect it to happen simply because England are so terrified of losing.
This fear of failure pervades the national team. It comes across in the insistence on tactical discipline and conservative team selection even against the weakest of opponents (think Joe Cole against Andorra) and the consistent failure of the team’s senior players to be their confident, inventive selves while on England duty.
For a while it was the same with the England cricket team but recently things have changed. Here’s what Kevin Pietersen said last month after taking over as captain:
“The recipe for success I’ve tried to use is to be confident and play without fear. To express yourself once you go over the white line and trust your instinct and your practice.
“That’s what I want my lads to do, to play without fear. International cricket can roll into a routine of train, play, train, play and I want the guys to get the passion back.
“I think fear has crept in a bit. The more you fear, the more you worry about stuff instead of being a clear-thinking person.”
How English football could do with someone like Pietersen — a player or coach who could inspire the team, help them shrug off their fear and let their talent shine through, accepting the fact that sometimes it’ s not going to come off and that, yes, you can lose to teams like Croatia, with no disgrace at all.
There’s a piece in the Guardian today suggesting that winning ugly might do Fabio Capello’s England a lot of good right now.
I’d suggest that playing well and losing might not be such a problem either.
PHOTO: Joe Cole (L) shoots and scores during England’s World Cup qualifier against Andorra in Barcelona September 6, 2008 REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh
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Should South Africa Coach Get Boot?
September 8, 2008
Now that South Africa has been eliminated from the 2010 African Cup of Nations, will South Africa coach Joel Santana get the boot?
A South African newspaper editorial from the Cape Times doesn’t seem to think so.
The South African Football Association must stay calm and resist the urge to fire coach Joel Santana after Bafana Bafana failed to qualify for the African Nations Cup in Angola in 2010.
Bafana lost 1-0 to Nigeria on Saturday, ending their hopes of sneaking in through the backdoor after a miserable campaign in Group Four. Yet Bafana were irresistible at times on a dusty and patchy EPRU Stadium pitch and played some of the best football seen by the national team for a long time. Yet they just could not find the back of the net.
The knee-jerk reaction now would be to fire the coach. The Brazilian coach has so far only managed to win one qualifying match. The 4-1 victory over Equatorial Guinea was also the only time Bafana managed to score in their campaign.
But Santana was always on a hiding to nothing after inheriting the team from his countryman Carlos Parreira only a month before the start of the qualifiers.
In his first international in charge, Bafana were outplayed by the Super Eagles in Abuja. They were played off the park that day and lost 2-0. After beating Equatorial Guinea, Bafana then travelled to Sierra Leone, where they lost 1-0 to the Leone Stars, drawing with them a week later in Atteridgeville. In both games they failed to score after creating numerous chances.
Bafana needed to win Saturday’s game to stand a chance of qualifying. Ace goal-scorer Benni McCarthy was back after missing the first four qualifiers. Nigeria were depleted and looked ripe for the picking.
A couple of old faces were back and everybody in the Bafana team was quietly confident that they can pull-off their first competitive victory over the Super Eagles.
And they nearly delivered.
Bafana played out of their socks. It was probably one their best performances in recent times. But yet again poor finishing cost them the game. After nearly 20 shots at goal, you would expect that at least one of them would find the back of the net. But it was not to be.
Now people are calling for the coach’s head after his team failed to qualify for their first Nations Cup since 1996. But what purpose would that serve?
Judged purely on results, Santana does not have a strong case. But appointing a new coach two years ahead of the World Cup and less than a year from the Confederation Cup would be counter-productive.
And what about the responsibility of the players? Santana can only do so much. Unfortunately he can’t hold a player like Siyabonga Nkosi’s hand while he is in the box.
On Saturday, Bafana played some breathtaking football at times. Tactically speaking, you could see that Santana had drilled the team the week before and that he has a vision for the team. For instance, he has been criticised for playing two defensive midfielders. Yet it did seem to work on Saturday. Kagisho Dikgacoi and Macbeth Sibaya created so much space for their attacking players it was almost embarrassing.
Unfortunately poor finishing and decision-making undid all the hard work. It was a shame, and the team must have been gutted after Nigeria scored with about probably their first shot on target.
The point is that firing Santana will be a step backward. He does have a vision and it seems the players are starting to buy into it. Saturday’s statistics on possession and shots on goal makes a compelling case for how well Bafana played.
If they can learn how to finish and score goals, perhaps they will be able to compete with the likes of Nigeria. But at international level players should able to score goals. It is not up to the coach to teach them that.
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