Newcastle and Tottenham fighting back

Tottenham continued their fight back to save relegation. They brilliantly came back to score two goals in the dying minutes to draw 4-4 with Arsenal. Like Spurs, Newcastle also fighting back. They defeated West Brom 2-0 to move out of relegation zone. Stroke City also moved out of danger zone with 1-0 win over Sunderland. Wigan and Bolton moved into the danger zone. Wigan lost to Fulham 0-2 and Bolton lost to 0-1 to Everton. This year the relegation fight will be very interesting but I believe Spurs and Newcastle will be out of it. Stroke, Fulham, West Brom, Wigan and Bolton will fight for the relegation.

On the top except Arsenal, other top clubs won their match. Chelsea and Manchester United scored facile victories against Hull and West Ham. Hull was clueless against Chelsea, who put their defeat against Liverpool behind to win comfortable 3-0. Manchester gave another professional display to win 2-0 against West Ham. Ronaldo scored both the goals.

Liverpool maintain their lead on the top after their hard fought victory against Portsmouth. Gerrard scored from a penalty in the 74th minute. Aston Villa moved to fourth position with 3-2 victory over Blackburn. In another match Middlesbrough defeated Manchester city 2-0.

This weekend the interesting ties will be Tottenhum vs Liverpool, Newcastle vs Aston Villa, Manchester United vs Hull, and Bolton vs Manchester City.

Will Liverpool Succeed?

Liverpool is new identity this year. After long long time they are showing that they are real challengers for the EPL title. They are coming back again and again. Against Wigan they came back twice to win 3-2 but against Chelsea they showed their real quality. They didn’t allow Chelsea freedom to move. Chelsea had no clue on how to break the defensive wall of Liverpool. They meekly surrendered their 86 match unbeaten run at home over four years and eight months. Liverpool, after their win against Manchester United and Chelsea, has to be taken seriously for the title. Liverpool the only unbeaten team in the EPL, are leading by three points over Chelsea and surprised team Hull.

Manchester United also dropped two more points against Everton. They are lying in the sixth place currently but they are still a strong contender for the title. Arsenal has defeated West Ham 2-0 and Everton 3-1 to be back on the track. They have to consistent when they face the big three.

Aston villa and made a strong start. They defeated Wigan 4-0 to lie in the fifth position. But the most surprise package is Hull. They won against West Brom 3-0 and West Ham 1-0 to lie in the 3rd position. Hull is making lot of noise but can they keep this tempo up. Manchester city is becoming more and more dependent on Robinho. They have to play more as a team to make any serious impact in the game. Spurs started their revival under the new coach Rednapp. They won their first match against Bolton. But it is long way to go for them this season.

Elsewhere in Europe, AC Milan is slowly recovering. They are lying in the fourth position with 16 points and just one point behind the leaders. Udinese is the surprise leader at this stage. Barcelona is getting their awesome form back and is just one point behind the leaders. Real Madrid is in the third position having same points as Barcelona.

Brazil Champion

Brazil regained the Futsal World Cup after gap of 12 years. They defeated Spain in a thriller. Twice Spain equalizes but lost in the penalty shootout. This is sixth time Brazil played Spain in the World cup. They won 4 times. Last year they lost to Spain in the semifinal. Brazil in the whole tournament played like a champion. They won all the matches they played in this World Cup.

Italy finished third by defeating Russia 2-1. Italy played well throughout the tournament. They have really coming to the age. Russia and Iran is the revelation of the tournament. Russia scored 62 goals just 2 less than Brazil. Pula is the top scorer of the tournament with 16 goals. Iran deserved a place in the top 4. Mostafa Nazari was spectacular in all the matches. He is the best goalkeeper of the tournament. Iran drew 5-5 with Italy with Edgar Bertoni struck in the dying seconds.

We haven’t got a new winner this year also but we hope to get in the next edition.

World Cup 2010: Argentina lose Basile

In the two rounds of World Cup 2010 qualifying match again there was a mixed performance. In South American group Paraguay has opened up 6 points gap with others. They won both their matches against Columbia and Peru by the narrowest margin 1-0. Brazil played beautifully against Venezuela to win 4-0 but played very ugly against Columbia to draw 0-0 at home. Basile resigns as Argentina lost against Chile 0-1. Argentina defeated Uruguay 2-1 in the earlier match. Venezuela bounced back after going down to Brazil defeating Ecuador 3-1. Bolivia defeated Peru 3-0 and drew with Uruguay 2-2 to move up the ladder. Still eight rounds to go lot of action is left.

England continued their superb form and won both their matches. They defeated Kazakhstan 5-1 and Belarus 3-1 to top the Group 6 standing. In Group 5 Spain like England is maintaining their 100% record. They defeated Estonia 3-0 and Belgium 2-1 to lead the table with 12 points.
In Group 1 Portugal is struggling. They drew 0-0 with 10 men Albania and with Sweden. Hungary defeated Albania 2-0 and Malta 1-0 to move to the 2nd place. Denmark is leading the group with 7 points. In Group 2 Greece lost their 100% record when they went down to Switzerland 1-2 at home. Israel drew with Latvia 1-1 to be in second behind Greece. Switzerland is lying in the third position with 7 points. In Group 3 Slovakia defeated Poland 2-1 to lead the group with 9 points. Czech Republic defeated Slovenia 1-0 to register an important win after losing to Poland 2-1. Czech surprisingly lying in the 5th position with one match on hand. In Group 4 Germany registered two important wins against Russia (2-1) and Wales (1-0). They are on the top of the group with 10 points. Russia defeated Finland 3-0 to move to the 2nd place with one match on hand behind Germany.

Lithuania continues to surprise me with their performance despite losing to Serbia 3-0. They defeated Faroe Islands 1-0. They are jointly on top of the group along with Serbia. Serbia registered two big wins against Lithuania (3-0) and Austria (3-1). France continues their dismal run and drew with Romania 2-2. Faroe Islands drew with Austria 1-1. Italy and Netherlands is leading Group 8 and Group 9 respectively. Italy drew with Bulgaria 0-0 and defeated Montenegro 2-1. Republic of Ireland defeated Cyprus 1-0. Netherlands defeated Iceland 2-0 and Norway 1-0.

USA, Costa Rica and El Salvador qualified for the next round but Mexico is struggling in Group 2. Mexico lost to Jamaica 1-0 and then drew with Canada 2-2. Honduras defeated Canada 3-1 but lost to Jamaica 1-0 to open up the group. El Salvador drew with Haiti 0-0 and defeated Surinam 3-0. Costa Rica defeated Haiti 2-0 and Surinam 4-1 to qualify for the next round. Trinidad and Tobago defeated USA 2-1 and drew with Guatemala 0-0 to keep their qualifying hope alive.

In Asia Japan is struggling with their form. Japan drew with Uzbekistan 1-1. Australia defeated Qatar 4-0. Iran defeated North Korea 2-1 and South Korea defeated UAE 4-1.

Futsal World cup : Second Round participants identified

The 6th Futsal World cup is being played in Brazil. The tournament started in 1989 in Netherlands. The Dutch Football Federation was also celebrating their centenary in 1989, so the event was held in a doubly festive spirit. Sixteen teams took part, setting a trend that has been followed in all tournaments since: six European sides, three from South America, two from Africa, two Asian sides and two from CONCACAF joined the one representative from Oceania to compete for the world crown. Brazil won the tournament defeating host by 2-1 in the final. USA and Belgium finished third and fourth respectively.

The 2nd FIFA Futsal World Championship, held in Hong Kong in 1992, proved to be great success. As in the first tournament, sixteen nations took part: six from Europe, three from South America, three from Asia, two from CONCACAF, one from Africa and one from Oceania. Brazil won the tournament second successive time defeating USA 4-1 in the final. Spain and Iran finished third and fourth respectively. Iran is the biggest surprise in this tournament.

The 3rd FIFA Futsal World Championship was organized with great style by the Spanish Football Federation in 1996. It was a very popular with the fans. Sixteen nations travelled to Iberia in search of glory: six from Europe, three from South America, three from Asia, two from CONCACAF, one from Africa and one from Oceania. Brazil won the tournament for the third consecutive time. They defeated the host nation 6-4 in a thriller. Russia and Ukraine finished third and fourth respectively.

The 4th FIFA Futsal World Championship was organized by Guatemala in 2000. The tournament ended the domination of Brazil. They lost to Spain 3-4 in a thriller in the final. Brazil defeated the host 29-2 the biggest winning margin broken recently by Russia against Solomon Islands in 2008. Portugal and Russia finished third and fourth respectively.

Brazil failed to enter the final for the first time in the 5th FIFA Futsal World Championship. The tournament was hosted by Chinese Taipei in 2004. Spain continued their dominance ion the tournament. They won the final against Italy by 2-1. Spain defeated Brazil 5-4 in the penalty shootout. Brazil defeated Argentina 7-4 to finish third their worst performance in the history of the tournament.

The 6th edition of the Futsal has now reached the second stage. Brazil and Russia qualified from group A. Brazil won all their matches including defeated Russia 7-0. Brazil defeated Solomon Island 21-0, Japan 12-1, and Cuba 9-0 to enter the next round. But Russia responded with two bug wins against Solomon Islands and Japan. They broke the all time victory margin record by defeating Solomon Islands 31-2. They crushed Japan 9-1 and Cuba 10-5 to enter the second round. Italy and Paraguay entered the second round from Group B. Portugal, Paraguay, and Italy finished with 9 points. But Paraguay and Italy qualified for better goal difference. Paraguay defeated Italy 4-2, Thailand 8-0, and USA 5-0 before losing to Portugal 2-3. Italy defeated Thailand 1-0, Portugal 3-1, and USA 6-1. Favorites Spain and Iran qualified from Group D. Iran has held two time champion Spain 3-3 in the first match and then defeated Libya (4-2), Uruguay (4-2) and Czech Republic (3-2) to qualify for the next round. Spain defeated Libya (3-0), Czech Republic (4-0) and Uruguay (3-0) to qualify. Argentina and Ukraine qualified from Group C. Argentina defeated Guatemala 2-1, China 5-0, and Egypt 5-2 and drew with Ukraine 2-2. Ukraine defeated Guatemala 6-2, China 4-2, and Egypt 5-1.

Liverpool: New Character

Character, Never say die, Fight to the end … these are the words that are being associated with Liverpool this season. I have seen them to come back against AC Milan in Istanbul from 0-3 deficit. But they were not consistent in previous seasons. They are showing lot of character. What a match they played against Manchester City. Down and out at half time they came back strongly at half time. They put lot of pressure on City and scored three goals to be joint leaders with Chelsea. Torres and Kyut is just outstanding. Will they win English Premier League or not that is question only time will tell?

Chelsea and Manchester United played very professional football to register comfortable win against Aston Villa and Blackburn rovers. Manchester United is lucky to get the first goal for the second successive week but they deserved to win. They are catching up the top 3 fast. Chelsea played great soccer against high flying Aston Villa and showed the difference between the top four and rest in EPL.

Arsenal is losing ground fast. They have to consistent to win laurels. But Hull is maintaining their good run. They defeated Spurs 1-0 to move to third place alone. But Spurs and Newcastle have to climb the mountain to stay in upper league.

Next we will see the next round of Fifa World Cup matches. I will come back on that later.

New Sun on Horizon: CFR Cluj-Napoca

English clubs are flying in the champions league. They are registering big wins in Europe. Liverpool started with a bang. They started with two facile wins against Marseille and PSV Eindhoven. They are lying second in the group D behind Atletico Madrid due to goal difference. Gerrard scored two magnificent goals in two matches. He has scored 100th goal for Liverpool.

Arsenal is playing entertaining football this season. I am not sure whether they can win any trophies or not but they very pleasant to watch. They destroyed FC Proto 4-0 on Tuesday with brilliant skill football. They have to be more consistent. Manchester United and Chelsea continued their run. Chelsea though was surprisingly held to a 0-0 draw against little known CFR Cluj-Napoca. CFR Cluj-Napoca from Romania is the surprise of all. They defeated Roma in Italy and now at home they held Chelsea. This is the team to watch who played third division six tears back. They are lying second in group A behind Chelsea due to goal difference.

Another surprising club is Anorthosis Famagusta from Cyprus. They are top of Group B along with Inter Milan. They crushed Panathinaikos 3-1 and drew with Werder Bremen 0-0. Like CFR Cluj-Napoca watch this team also.

Spanish giants are also having 100% record. Barcelona defeated Sporting Lisbon 3-1 and Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1. Real Madrid defeated BATE Borisov 2-0 and Zenit St Petersburg 2-1. Another team performing beyond expectation is BATE Borisov of Belarus. They almost snatched victory against Juventus.

I am disappointed with Zenit St Petersburg. They lost both their matches. I expected them to do much better. Still four rounds left and lot of things can happen. Let’s wait and see