Category Archives: Sport ๐Ÿ ๐ŸŽพ โšฝ๏ธ

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โšฝ๏ธ Four sides are up for the Premier League Title ๐Ÿฅ… ๐ŸŸ

17 Monday Mar 2014

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TEMPLATE ANALYSIS

So, in the year after the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson four sides that would have struggled had he remained manager are now bidding for the title of Premier League Champions.
Yesterday’s results that saw Liverpool humble the ageing giant that is now Manchester United,ย  and Arsenal grinding out a result against a Spurs side that showed plenty of energy but little else, means that the Premier League is wide open, and promises to be even more exciting this year than it was when Manchester City grabbed a winner in the dying minutes of the season to steal the title.
Only one of the top four has the distraction of Europe – though that should not be a problem for Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea, whose side’s shock defeat on Saturday to Aston Villa now means all bets are off.
Mourinho has the experience and steely determination to steer his side through two tough tournaments simultaneously, although his Chelsea side are not the sharpest in the Premier League – that is surely Manchester City who are now favourites to take their second title in three seasons.
Mathematically, Liverpool can’t win should Chelsea win all their games, although this remains a league where the bottom side can still inflict a defeat on the top one. And that leaves Arsรจne Wenger’s Arsenal who having lost to Bayern Munich despite a very encouraging performance, who are in with a shout for the FA Cup and who managed to make Tottenham look like a second league side despite their North London rivals having most of the possession.
Until yesterday’s win, most people had written off the Gunners’ chances.ย  But they remain contenders – whether they can make it count this season is of course another matter.

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โšฝ๏ธ TEMPLATE ANALYSIS The end of Manchester United as a football force? ๐Ÿฅ… ๐ŸŸ

16 Sunday Mar 2014

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TEMPLATE ANALYSIS

When Muhammad Ali was beaten by some one called Trevor Berbick, it was clear that the world of boxing was witnessing the end of an era.
Was the same happening at Old Trafford today where Liverpool outplayed the once mighty side called Manchester United to win 3-0.
There were three penalties – two of which were converted by Steven Gerrard – and the killer blow that ensured David Moyes’ men were out of it was made by their star striker Luis Suarez, who no doubt was the reason for the appearance of Diego Maradona in the crowd.
At least two of the penalties were questionable, but Brendan Rogers’ men had numerous other opportunities against an oppostion that despite fielding Robin Van Persie and the highly paid but sadly overrated Wayne Rooney showed no sparkle.
Currently, the Premier League Champions look a pale shadow of that triumphant side which looked unstoppable for season after season under the stewardship of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Of course, they need major surgery although the haste to sign Wayne Rooney for a massive contract or some of the other additions like Fellaini have not helped David Moyes’ cause.
Whether Van Persie will remain next season despite his claims to wanting to stay is another matter given the likelihood that the current Manchester United side may not even qualify for Europe – unless they win the Champions League title.
So are we looking at the end of an era?
Well, four sides are now clearly breathing and functioning in the absence of the great man. The board at Old Trafford will of course stick with their man but if they are in the same position this time next season and the side will look as hopeless as they did today they will find it difficult to justify keeping the under pressure Moyes.
At the moment, United look a top seven side side will little chance like say Spurs of breaking into the top four. That can change for a team the size of this club with the right signings. And one other thing Aberdeen have just won Scottish Cup, their first trophy since Ferguson left their club for an up and coming one called Manchester United.ย  Are the Old Trafford faithful who so memorably supported their side today despite an abject performance prepared to wait that long for their next taste of success?

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ARSENAL BLEW IT AGAIN

12 Wednesday Mar 2014

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TEMPLATE ANALYSIS

No one gave the Gunners a chance last night as they attempted to overturn a two goal deficit against the European Champions on their home turf.
Surely, lightning doesn’t strike twice, surely last year’s 1-0 win at Bayern Munich was a freak result.
Well, for the first twenty minutes or so it looked like Arsene Wenger’s nearly men were never going to get a sniff of chance at the opposition goal, as the powerful Germans played lockdown.
For the rest of the half Arsenal had their moments but nothing more.
And when Bayern’s Bastien Schweinsteiger grabbed a goal early in the second half, it looked like the floodgates had opened. But then something astonishing happened when the German forward Lukas Podolski literally brushed aside a Bayern defender and fired in the equaliser against his old club.
Podolski had expected to be booked but Arsenal had got back in and the manner had stunned the opposition who like the powerful national side folded now they were under the cosh.
After this Bayern looked ordinary as Arsenal had numerous opportunities to seal the deal. Trouble is they just did not have the quality up front to make that happen.ย  Mesut Ozil the man who had missed that penalty in the first leg and who could been the made the difference here had been subsituted for the second half of this leg for what later turned out to be a hamstring injury.
It could have been Arsenal’s day – a fact underlined by Bayern’s Thomas Muller missing a penalty in the last minute, after Lukasz Fabianski dived the right way and then dived again to prevent a follow up.
But Arsenal blew it – sure there were positives, Wenger’s men had made the superhuman Germans look ordinary, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was energetic, but he like the rest of the fowards just didn’t make it count.
And with that it another year out of the Champions league for the Premier League’s great underachievers.

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โšฝ๏ธ ENGLAND ARE GOING TO NEED MORE THAN GOOD LUCK AT BRAZIL ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ

06 Thursday Mar 2014

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ANALYSIS –ย Denmark is clearly rebuilding its football team – that was obvious to everyone who watched England’s unsatisfying 1-0 win at Wembley Stadium last night. They are not going to the World Cup in 98 days time. Trouble is, its Roy Hodgson’s team of unlikely lads that have that dubious pleasure. England showed no sign that they have moved on from the European debacle, when a flat and tired looking side folded as soon as they faced the first real opposition in the competition, namely Italy. This England side doesn’t look tired but it is still flat, lacks imagination and creativity at the front, and frankly appears clueless – each player struggling to find a role in a side that still hasn’t cemented into a team capable of going beyond the qualifying stages of a major tournament. Of course, there aren’t any great teams out there, but England are floundering and Roy Hodgson’s comments that he felt the national side were shaping up nicely show that he is either deluded or plain stupid.
The Danish manager wished them good luck last night.ย  On the evidence of their performance yesterday and during the last two ‘friendlies’ they are going to need a lot more than that in Brazil 2014.

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TEMPLATE COMMENTARY: The Tragedy that is Oscar Pistorious

03 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by in Africa ๐Ÿ—บ, Analysis ๐Ÿ™Œ, Comment, Media ๐Ÿ“ท, Sport ๐Ÿ ๐ŸŽพ โšฝ๏ธ

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TEMPLATE COMMENTARY

The man known to the world as the ‘bladerunner’ faces the fight of his life over the coming weeks as his very expensive defence team attempts to prove in the full glare of the media spotlight that he did not deliberately shoot to death his girlfriend.
The unworldly sounding South African model Reeva Steenkamp sadly gained the fame she craved throughout her life through the circumstances of her tragic death. Pictures and video footage emerging in the hours leading to Valentines Day 2013, clearly show that she was besotted with a man that had managed to overcome incredible odds to become one of the fastest men on earth.
When they were first seen together, they dazzled and astonished the celebrity circuit in South Africa and were taking the appearance of a golden couple before the events of that dark day.
What ever the outcome of this trial – which has been likened to OJ Simpson trial for the media circus and frenzy it has generated – only Pistorious himself will really know what was going through his mind, and whether he was really acting out of a mistaken belief that intruders had broken into his exclusive home.
Reeva’s mother says she will know whether she will forgive the man who shot to death her daughter when she looks him straight in the eye.

Whether the public in South Africa or outside will be able to forgive him or forget what he has done, regardless of the outcome of this trial though, is another matter.