Archive for the ‘Team Talk’ Category

Last weekend, we saw 1 of the biggest World Cup qualifying clash when Argentina hosted Brazil in Rosario Central. A match between 2 coach, Dunga and Maradona, who has each captained their side during their player time and lead their team to win an honourable World Cup Medal in 1986 and 1994 respectively. Its also a battle between Kaka and Messi, key players of spanish biggest rival Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Before the match took place, Brazil was sitting top of the table with 1 point clear from Chile who is at 26 points after 14 matches. Argentina was 5 points behind Brazil, holding on to the last automatic qualifying spot in the group. Its was clear that Argentina will go for no other results than a wins, while on the other hand, a draw for Brazil is enough as they will comfortable maintain their chance of qualify for the World Cup.

Argentina eventually lost the match 1-3 to Brazil, with Luisao scored the opening goal for Brazil with a header at 23min, then Fabiano scored at the half hour mark, Datolo long shot goals gave the host some hope on the 65min, but within a minute, Fabiano added 1 more to make a brace with a fast counter attack and ended Argentina hope.

After the victory on Saturday, Brazil become the first South American team to book their place in the World Cup 2010. With Chile draw with Venezuela, Brazil now sitting comfortably at the top with 3 points lead and superior goal different. Fate is still not so cruel to Argentina, as Ecuador was beaten 2-0 by Colombia, and both of them are lying on the 5th and 6th spot with the same 20 points, just 2 points behind Argentina for the qualifying spot. Rumour and doubt start to arise in the football nation whether Maradona should leave his post.

But the biggest loser in this matches are not Argentina but Man City. While Man City preparing a showdown with Arsenal on this Saturday, 2 of their key players, Carlos Tevez and Robinho are back with an injury. Tevez suffured a twisted right knee while Robinho picked up a thigh injury during the match. Mark Hughes might have to rely on Bellamy and Benjani to lead the attack against Arsenal now. Man City are 1 of the only 3 teams which still maintaining all wins straights, and the only team which haven’t concede any goals yet. A victory for Man City in the coming match will greatly increase their chance on finishing in the top 4.

With Pizzaro and Shevchenko most likely to be shown their way out this summer, Chelsea will need another lethal striker to reinforce their attacking front with Anelka and Drogba. In the first game of the season, against Hull City, Chelsea had shown poor finishing even with the amount of chances they can create. On the top of their target list is Sergio Augero, who has scored an average of 1 goal every 2 matches for the past 2 season in Spanish La Liga.

With Aletico Madrid playing against Panathinaikos on Wednesday for the 1st leg of the qualifying round of the Champions League at Athens Olympic Stadium, Ancelotti has exactly 24 hours left to sign Sergio Aguero before he gets cup tied in the Champions League.

As the offer is too late for Aletico Madrid to accept now, the only chance for Chelsea to sign Maradona’s son-in-law, is to buy out “kun” as there is a contract release clause at €55m, probably meant to break the British transfer record.

Till now, Chelsea hasn’t been able to make a major transfer this summer, after their priority targets, Kaka went to Real Madrid and Ribery who remained with Bayern Munich. Should this deal fall through, it would be a major blow for Chelsea with their only new signing Zhirkov for the season.

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When we talk about which football clubs to support, the first clubs that comes to mind would be Liverpool FC and Manchester United. Liverpool has a strong history together with their famous anthem, “You’ll never walk alone”. On the other hand, Manchester United has won plenty of trophies under the charge of Sir Alex Ferguson for the past 23 years. With such achievements and long histories, it is no wonder that such clubs are able to command a massive fanbase from all over the world.

Yet, the fans of the newly-promoted club, Burnley, has proven to be the most dedicated in the Premier League. Clarets fan spend an average of more than 18 hours a week supporting their team. This is nearly 3 hours more than fans of the other big name clubs.

Fans of Spurs are next on the list of dedication followed by those of Liverpool, Arsenal and Bolton.

With ticket prices going up by as much as 26 per cent in the pre-season last year, more fans are ditching live football opting for the media instead. A survey has shown that one out of three football fans has decided to reduce their attendance at football matches, mostly due to the costs. Also, 33% of the fans of some top EPL clubs (mainly Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd) has stated that they would attend fewer matches this season as concluded in the survey.

Yet again, Burnley fans remain the most supportive as only 19% of their fans decide to cut back on catching live matches, while the remainder will still be cheering for their team at Turf Moor.