I Love Soccer

TEAM OF THE YEAR.

2008-12-18T22:30:00.000-08:00

Check out my first eleven players of the year, if any suggestions on who should or should not be here, drop your suggestions on the comment page and lets discuss it.

GOALKEEPER: IKER CASILLAS

Over the years, this young man has come to be regarded as ‘The Saint’ at the behemoth called El Santiago Bernabeu has been in fantastic form. It is no longer a secret that he has been the major reason Los Merengues have been competitive over the years. He’s got sharp reflexes and is arguably the best short stopper on the planet. The plethora of titles, awards and recognition this year is a testimony to the ability of this man. You remember when Spain was in a penalty shootout with Italy in the quarter finals of the Euro 2008? Besides being a fantastic goalkeeper, he is definitely one of the best players we have

RIGHT BACK: JOSE BOSINGWA

Jose Bosingwa has been one of the best transfers of the year. He has been in great form for Chelsea this season and a major boost to them. He has a very good control of the ball, he has a very good dribbling ability and he’s also a good crosser of the ball. He is known for going forward to help the attack and also come back when under pressure. He unusually keyed into Chelsea’s team and has become irreplaceable. lets watch out for him next year.

LEFT BACK: PATRICE EVRA

This is one position that was not difficult to fill. Very few players played at the level expected them and this made this stand out performance clearly made him my choice. He practically did what was expected of him. He may not be good in the air but he’s got his two feet planted solidly on the ground. He joins the attack and supports the defense altogether, very few can contend with him.

CENTRE BACK: NEMANJA VIDIC

Doggedness, strength, areal ability and a no nonsense approach describes the Serbian defender. He has a very good ball anticipation and even though his tackles are hard, they are however most times clean. Whether for club or country, his performance has been impressive and he’s a good partner for Rio

CENTRE BACK: CARLES PUYOL

He was a right back defender before he was converted to a central defender and he has been up to the task. Even though he had a poor season at Fc Barcelona, the blame is on the whole team. He was however able to show his efforts at the Euro 2008. He is strong in the tackle and good aerially, and he has ability to contribute to the attack. He is a committed and strong defender.

MIDFIELD: MARCOS SIENNA

Though his passport says he’s Spanish but sienna is a Brazilian by birth. He has the flair of a Brazilian and the doggedness of a European. He is known for his passing range and long shooting ability and he’s also a penalty specialist. On 27th April 2008, Senna scored an impossible goal from the centre circle against Real Betis in La Liga. That he deemed ‘the best goal of my life’ he really proved his worth at the Euro 2008. He was the perfect foil for the Spanish defense. Strong in the tackle and ability to pass well especially when bringing the ball out of defense.

MIDFIELD: XAVI

Xavi is a player that can play both as a defensive and a creative midfielder, he is however superlative in the creative part. He posed an innovative performance at the euro 2008 that got mouth gasping. He was the fulcrum between the defense and the forward line regularly supplying the strikers with vital passes and crucial assists. He scored the opening goal in the 50th minute in the semi-final against Russia. In the final, he slipped a well-timed pass to Fernando Torres who slotted in the winning goal against Germany. He was however selected as the player of the tournament. So he must be here.

RIGHT WING: CHRISTIANO RONALDO

The lists of awards won probably tells Christiano Ronaldo’s story more vividly. He can play well as a winger or as a supporting striker. His qualities are superlative and that makes it impossible for him to be left out. He uses both feet well, his aerial power is outstanding, speed and dribbling ability is a turn on and he is dangerous at set pieces. He personally contributed to the Manchester United double. Though he had a disappointing Euro 2008 but he is a rare talent which started a cold transfer war between Real Madrid and Manchester United. I am tipping him for the world footballer award.

LEFT WING: ANDREI ARSHAVIN

Arshavin is a versatile second striker who can play as an attacking midfielder and winger. He is best known for his close control, vision, playmaking ability and speed. His performance for Zenith St Petersburg and Russia at the Euro 2008 has thrown him into public glare with his name on the list of footballers on the round table.

STRIKER: FERNANDO TORRES

Torres, born in Madrid became interested in football as a child and joined the first team, Parque 84, at the age of five. He came to the English Premiership with no high hopes but he turned the camera on him and had 24 league goals to his credit (Liverpool’s top scorer) Torres is quick and can beat even goalkeepers (ask Oliver Khan) though he’s selfish sometimes but it can be argued that the greatest strikers in the world has a tinge of selfishness in them.

STRIKER: LIONEL MESSI

It is very rare to possess quick feet and still have close control of the ball. Well that’s one of Messi’s greatest asset. He has the ability to frustrate defenders and leave them in his trail, he also score goals. Great players like Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto’o, Frank Rijkaard, Victor Fernandez, Bernd Schuster, Guti, Raul, Gianluca, Zambrotta, Francesco Totti, Antonio Cassano, Diego Maradona and pele have one time or the other declared that they consider Messi to be the best footballer in the world. What else can I say the Legends have spoken.

RESERVES

Van Der Saar, Maicon, Terry

Lampard, Fabregas

Ibrahimovic, Ruud Van Nisterroy

Latest news on English Premiership

2008-12-11T21:11:00.000-08:00

Who Can Man United, Chelsea, Liverpool & Arsenal Draw In Champions League?

Defending champions Manchester United, last year’s beaten finalists Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal will learn their opponents for the last-16 round in the 2008/2009 UEFA Champions League, on December 19.

The draw for the first knockout round will take place on December 19 at UEFA headquarters in Nyon.

GROUP WINNERS / RUNNERS-UP
A AS Roma Chelsea
B Panathinaikos Inter Milan
C FC Barcelona Sporting Lisbon
D Liverpool Atletico Madrid
E Man United Villarreal
F Bayern Munich Olympique Lyonnais
G FC Porto Arsenal
H Juventus Real Madrid

Manchester United’s next opponent comes from the following teams:

Inter Milan
Sporting Lisbon
Atletico Madrid
Olympique Lyonnais
Real Madrid

Chelsea’s next opponent comes from the following teams:

Panathinaikos
FC Barcelona
Bayern Munich
FC Porto
Juventus

Arsenal’s next opponent comes from the following teams:

AS Roma
Panathinaikos
FC Barcelona
Bayern Munich
Juventus

Liverpool’s next opponent comes from the following teams:
Inter Milan
Sporting Lisbon
Villarreal
Olympique Lyonnais
Real Madrid

The first knock-out round games will be played on February 24/25 and March10/11.

Blow To Chelsea & Villarreal As AC Milan Snap Up Thiago Silva?

Reports in Italy have suggested that AC Milan have captured defender Thiago Silva from Fluminense.

The Brazilian international was said to be a target for Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Chelsea, while Spanish outfit Villarreal were believed to be the leaders in the chase of the 24-year-old not long ago.

However, the Mirror reports that Silva has reached a verbal agreement to move to the San Siro at the end of the season with a fee in the region of £8.5m said to be agreed between the two clubs.

Only on Tuesday, it had looked like Villarreal were set to sign Silva as his agent had claimed a favourable offer, but the mode of payment seem to have floored the proposed move.

Paulo Tonetto had told Marca: "The main obstacle is the method of payment. Otherwise we like the offer from Villarreal and so we will talk to their directors this week.”

Who do you think will win this year’s English premier league?

2008-12-09T04:19:00.000-08:00

Don’t be sentimental because you are a fan, for instance I am a Chelsea fan and THIS IS WHAT I THINK.

This is a very tight prediction at the moment but I think it’s still between the Big Four.

CHELSEA

Chelsea may seem consistent at the moment but they seem to be having two BIG problems this season

(1) Coming back when they are tailing.

(2) Playing against BIG teams (Under Pressure)

Though no team seems to be in top form at the moment but Chelsea is very consistent playing against lesser teams and that is going to be their magic this season. Meanwhile things could change when motivating players like Essien and Drogba come back from injury and hit their form.

ARSENAL

As for the gunners, Arsenal is facing a very though season in terms of results. Arsenal fans are tired of good play no result, Arsenal may be the best team that plays entertainment football but they sometimes get carried away and forget that Goal matters. But they have a BIG advantage this season, they play well against big teams but any small team cal beat Arsenal. Meanwhile things could also change if

(1) They are active in the January transfer season

(2) If they won’t have injury problems

Meanwhile I see them going far in UEFA champions league if 2 above.

MANCHESTER UNITED

Man Utd is having a defending champion problem this season, just because they are the defending champions makes them the team to beat, any team looks forward to beating Man UTD. They also have another problem which is the fact that C. Ronaldo will not be in form the way it was last season that’s just the truth. Look at Kaka and Ronaldinho, it was never the same way when they came back. Meanwhile he will be very helpful with assists. Man utd needs to

(1) Improve their Mid – Field

(2) Improve on team work when key players are out of form

LIVERPOOL

Liverpool has been in a very good form this season’s premier league they have a very good striking force but I don’t know if they could keep up their good form till the end of February…… let’s see. But like other teams they have their own issues. Liverpool may be consistent but there are team that knows how to play Liverpool (though they are not team to beat unlike Man Utd. Like others, they also need to

(1) Win consistently

(2) Tighten their Defense

These are just my Views but u can also say your views by dropping comments on the comments section and lets prove and argue.

Talking of the UEFA Champions League

2008-12-08T02:28:00.000-08:00

Champions League Tables

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UEFA Champions League : Group A Table

Wednesday, 26 November 2008 21:43 UK

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Roma	5	3	0	2	10	6	4	9
2	Chelsea	5	2	2	1	7	4	3	8
3	Bordeaux	5	2	1	2	5	9	-4	7
4	CFR 1907 Cluj-Napoca	5	1	1	3	4	7	-3	4

UEFA Champions League : Group B Table

Wednesday, 26 November 2008 21:45 UK

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Inter Milan	5	2	2	1	7	5	2	8
2	Panathinaikos	5	2	1	2	7	7	0	7
3	Anorthosis Famagusta	5	1	3	1	8	7	1	6
4	Werder Bremen	5	0	4	1	5	8	-3	4

UEFA Champions League : Group C Table

Wednesday, 26 November 2008 21:44 UK

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Barcelona	5	4	1	0	16	5	11	13
2	Sporting	5	3	0	2	7	8	-1	9
3	Shakhtar Donetsk	5	2	0	3	8	5	3	6
4	Basle	5	0	1	4	2	15	-13	1

UEFA Champions League : Group D Table

Wednesday, 26 November 2008 21:44 UK

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Atletico Madrid	5	3	2	0	9	4	5	11
2	Liverpool	5	3	2	0	8	4	4	11
3	Marseille	5	1	0	4	5	7	-2	3
4	PSV	5	1	0	4	4	11	-7	3

UEFA Champions League : Group E Table

Tuesday, 25 November 2008 21:41 UK

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Man Utd	5	2	3	0	7	1	6	9
2	Villarreal	5	2	3	0	9	5	4	9
3	AaB	5	1	2	2	7	12	-5	5
4	Celtic	5	0	2	3	2	7	-5	2

UEFA Champions League : Group F Table

Tuesday, 25 November 2008 21:44 UK

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Lyon	5	3	2	0	12	7	5	11
2	Bayern Munich	5	3	2	0	9	2	7	11
3	Fiorentina	5	0	3	2	4	8	-4	3
4	Steaua Bucuresti	5	0	1	4	3	11	-8	1

UEFA Champions League : Group G Table

Tuesday, 25 November 2008 21:41 UK

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Arsenal	5	3	2	0	11	3	8	11
2	FC Porto	5	3	0	2	7	8	-1	9
3	Dynamo Kiev	5	1	2	2	3	4	-1	5
4	Fenerbahce	5	0	2	3	4	10	-6	2

UEFA Champions League : Group H Table

Tuesday, 25 November 2008 21:40 UK

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Juventus	5	3	2	0	7	3	4	11
2	Real Madrid	5	3	0	2	6	5	1	9
3	Zenit St Petersburg	5	1	2	2	4	4	0	5
4	BATE Borisov	5	0	2	3	3	8	-5	2

Teams level on points are separated by:

1) The results of games between the teams in the tie (if tied, by goal difference and then by away goals counting double).

2) Goal difference in all group games.

3) Highest number of goals scored in all games.

4) Highest Uefa ranking over the previous five seasons.