Miroslav Klose, tied for the most World Cup goals all time now with 15. Quality. Not a guy who ever lit up the club stage in quite the same way, but always a man for the occasion. Klose has scored in 4 consecutive World Cups now. Only Pele, Uwe Seeler and Klose have ever done that
Ahh, England. It’s pretty much all over now after a second consecutive 2-1 loss, this time to Luis Suarez’s Uruguay. The South Americans looked a completely different side with their talisman back, even if he wasn’t fully fit, and twice the Liverpool forward capitalised on really weak defending.
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain as the old tune goes but the Spanish will still need their brollies for the storm ahead. So Spain are out of the 2014 FIFA World Cup after going down 2-0 to Chile this morning, shock horror.
Sometimes a keeper has a game so amazing that he seems unbeatable. Mexico’s Memo Ochoa had a game like that against Brazil, keeping Neymar and co. at bay for the full 90 minutes to squeeze a valuable point out of the hosts and transform himself into a national hero.
Cesc Fabregas is returning to London but he’ll be in blue, not red and white. Chelsea have secured the Spanish midfielder in a £30m deal from Barcelona. Arsenal fans are understandably pissed after their club turned down the chance to buy him back, and Barca don’t seem to pleased with him either...
How good has the World Cup been!? Usually the big show brings us a bunch of conservative teams playing not to lose and trying most of all not to concede. Nil-all draws and boring football. But in Brazil, the country best known for flair and creative footy, we’re seeing the opposite. Four days and 11 games in, we are yet to see a single draw.
Spain’s quest to retain the most valuable trophy in football got off to the worst imaginable start on the weekend. In fact, calling it ‘imaginable’ at all might be a stretch. Not even in their wildest dreams would most Dutch fans have believed what was to happen.
OK, amigos. Let’s do this. The standard pre-tournament hype article where the writer makes his predictions for the spectacle to ensue. You can take it all the way to the TAB if you want, I won’t even ask for my share if you win.
Diego Costa’s move to Chelsea is all but sealed and it may even be confirmed by the time that you’re reading this. Costa himself basically said so in a TV interview, with a £32m deal in the pipeline. Despite his recent injury troubles, he’s already passed a medical (and should be fine for the World Cup).
The world’s most popular sport, on sports grandest stage. It doesn’t get much bigger than the Soccer World Cup and it is less than a week away.
It’s the greatest team sports event in the world because it’s so exciting, so competitive and so unpredictable. But even at the FIFA World Cup there are still a few things that you can always expect to happen.
The first semi-major deal of the summer has gone through with Liverpool completing the signing of a Southampton star – though not the one they want most. Boyhood Reds fan and one time beetroot factory worker Rickie Lambert will return to the club he started at as a junior for a fee of around about 4 million pounds.
No messing around here. Straight down to brass tax. Who will win the 2014 FIFA World Cup?
So I had a horrible nightmare the other night, and it was a sobering reminder on how the World Cup affects me and all you football fans out there.
Hala Madrid, as they say.
92 minutes into this match and La Decima was still just a dream. Then the man who has been scoring goals at will, no not Christiano Ronaldo, but Sergio Ramos planted a trade mark header into the bottom corner to tie the match up at 1 apiece. Up until that point Real had pushed and pushed but couldn’t seem to crack the stubborn defence set up by Atletico Madrid. This was their first final in about 40 years or so and they weren’t going to give this match up without a fight. However after they conceded the equalizer there was only going to be one winner.
The game had started semi pear shaped for the underdogs as their marquee man Diego Costa went off with a reoccurrence of his hamstring injury. Obviously the horse placenta treatment he was getting to heal that hammy didn’t do the drink. I’ve learnt from my time on the TAB you can never trust a horse. Without their main strike weapon many would’ve thought this match was well and truly over, but Atletico definitely disagreed with that. Gareth Bale missed what some would say was a sitter after not giving the ball to Ronaldo on his right. In fact he left me screaming at the TV because I wanted my boy Ronaldo on the scorecard. Because of his greediness, god wasn’t happy and therefore punished the Welshman. Atletico bounded down field, earned themselves a corner and subsequently got a bumbling goal over the line after a mistake from St Iker. There was one hell of a buzz in the stadium when that goal went in. The game was finally taking shape and if Real were to win their 10th Champions League trophy.
Into the second half we went and even I was starting to get just a tad worried for my Real Madrid fellas. They weren’t creating as many clear opportunities as they should’ve been and boy was there some frustration. Just give Cristiano the damn ball!! But in all honesty the man making waves was Angel Di Maria for Madrid. He was in everything and was a right nuisance most of the time. A few long range efforts and the odd classy passage of play was all Real Madrid could muster together. I really thought Atleti were going to hold on and defeat their cross town rivals. They seemed solid on attack and under not much pressure at the back. Maybe this was their time...
However as we all know Ramos came and broke their hearts when the Trophy was just about to be engraved. Extra time was a non-affair with Real Madrid bossing the whole 30 minutes as Atleti were just left out on their feet, struggling for air, and survival. Once lord Bale grabbed his 100million euro goal, there was only one thing left to do. Get the home town hero on the board. And that they did. With not long to go, Cristiano took matters into his own hands and won himself a penalty because everyone else was just being selfish. He took the ball, marched to the spot and coolly drilled it into the bottom corner. Cue shirt off, and screams everywhere. Ronaldo sealed the deal and Real had finally won that elusive trophy that had kept them waiting for 12 years.
All in all the big guns didn’t really turn up on the day, the likes of Costa, Bale and Ronaldo, however they did so much for their teams leading up to the match, that they can be forgiven. In the end the best team in the competition probably did win, but you couldn’t help but feel for the Atleti lads. Their coach tried to take the result into his own hands by going after a Real defender after the final whistle, but that showed more intensity and passion then his side could muster in Extra time. For both these sides it has been a tremendous year, and for Real Madrid a year in which they have etched themselves in Football folklore.
Ohh what a night…
For 9 long years I have been waiting for just one piece of silverware. Well to be honest it’s been the last 6 years that have really been hard to take as I felt emotionally involved with the team you could say.
The Premier League season may be over and the curtain may have been drawn on the season with Arsenal winning the FA Cup but football never stops. In just the space of 48 hours huge decisions have been made off the pitch that will shape English football for the foreseeable future and beyond.
Ah, Arsene. Just when they started to say you were through you go and pull this one off. Why did we ever doubt you?
Magic. That’s the word they always use to describe the FA Cup. A stage where miracles are enacted and dreams are made true. Usually when people use that epithet they’re talking about some unlikely underdog story; David defeating Goliath and all that. And certainly for the first 15 minutes of this year’s final that Magic was there for all to see.