Brazil failed to score for the first time in the group stage since 1978 as they were held 0-0 by Mexico. The hero of the Mexican team was none other than their goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa who pulled off some fabulous saves.
Brilliant ,Amazing game and how it finished 0-0. Ochoa’s save from Neymar in the first half was a world class save and it was reminiscent of Gordon Banks save from Pele in the 1970 World Cup which ended 2-2.
The 2014 World Cup is serving us all a feast of goals averaging 3 goals per game. The Highest scorers were the Netherlands with 5-1 when they astonishingly trounced 2010 World Champions 5-1. Mexico versus Cameroon was the only game with a solitary goal in which Mexico won scored by Oribe Peralta their top scorer in qualifying.Cameroon coach Volker Finke said .”We have five days to recover, “We will analyse this together because the match against Croatia is very important if we want to stay alive.”
Every game is important and after the first game completion of Groups A to D the other groups E to H will take centre stage starting tonight with Switzerland taking on Equador in a group E match.
Lets just hope that the teams from Group E to H will also serve us with their entertaining brand of good football and goals a plenty.
It’s been an exciting World Cup 2014 so far with its fair share of upsets and astonishing results.
The end result is what matters in football matches. True,everyone in the football fraternity sympathises with Rob Green for his”Howler” which also cursed former England keepers in David Seaman, Paul Robinson and Scott Carson. They have lived to tell their tales but the mistake by Rob Green in the England versus USA World Cup Game the Bookies certainly loved him. Why..??
During lunch yesterday we met a football punter who told audie61 minus the crew,” All earlier 1st round games today receive the handicap. How very true..!! However there were some patrons in the coffeeshop who opposed and said ,
My friend he was right yesterday and he must have made some $$$$$$. Lunch coming soon on him. The fact though at every World Cup or Big tournaments like the European championship we will hear of two or more familiar names packing their bags and leaving their home towns/cities. A lot of England fans were unhappy with the result but a lot of England punters must have
Blackpool 9 years ago was on the brink to drop out of the Football League. Now they are back in the Land of ‘Milk and Honey” the Premier League. Cardiff City was expected to join West Bromwich and Newcastle into the Promised Land but at Wembley it did not happen. Ian Hollaway the Blackpool Manager outwitted Dave Jones Cardiff Manager with his teams enthusiasm and never say die attitude even though they were twice behind.
Cardiff City has been in the the news as a consortium from Malaysia has bought into the shares of the club and expected them to be in the Premiership. Extracted statement,” Vincent Tan and his group’s recent purchase of a controlling stake in Cardiff City (by the way, Cardiff City is in the playoff for the Premier League) … and all of a sudden,The potential upside to a Cardiff City promotion is tremendous. It’s not going to be taps that we are going to open, it’s going to be floodgates .”
However it turned out to be a momentous day for Blackpool and we saw a scintillating game and a dramatic game with 5 goals in the first half. Blakcpool won 3-2 and many congratulations to them.
The consortium will need to bear with Championship Football for another season or more as Cardiff City will do well to even come as close as to even sniff Wembley turf. It gets even harder as there are always an “Indian Sign” hanging over the Wembley Play-off Losers.
It isn’t always rosy for any company to take over a football club riddled with debts eventhough the facilities are all first class.The structure might be in place but Cardiff will need more than a miracle worker or consortium to make her dream of Premiership Football alive. Back door through Football bookies or betting syndicates could just be an answer.Hmmm.
But British Football will not easily fall prey to what happened to Malaysian Football at its pinnaclein the 90’s. Whoever thinks that football is short term fast gains better just use their money some where else where it could generate faster gains.
The recent headline news of “Sports Betting License Approval” by the Malaysian Government was also to assist the consortium to advertise the company responsible as millions usually tune in every weekend to follow the Premeirship. This indeed is a Dampener and ‘Bad News” as far as Advertising Action Plans goes. However to the opposition voices in the legalised betting saga this Blackpool Win is a Blessing in disguise.
Blackpool for 39 years have lived their dream and today they have not only joined the Big Boys but the Reality is that they are Back to where they should be. The whole town and the community will welcome the Chelseas,MUs,Arsenals and Liverpools to Bloomfield Road (home ground) and they will enjoy every minute of it in the 2010-2011 season.
Cardiff City and the new partners so near and yet so far.They had expected a 90 Million Pounds Windfall by going to the Premiership but Blackpool Won on the Day……
Paul Masefield at Channel 812 ESPN was spot on. The Liverpool fans must be tearing their hair out,going ballistic and tearing up Rafael Benitez photographs into shreads and doing moon stomping on it. The word is “NUTS…and F…Hell according to my friend who is a Liverpool fan and he just doesnt understand what this Spanish Manager has got in his mind.
Its time for him “Rafa” to just quit and get out of Anfield. 4 points behind Manchester City and City has a game in hand with 5 games remaining. What the “tut tut tut” is he thinking off changing Torres a world class striker with 25 minutes left with Ngog. This is too much and for Liverpools sake its time for him to be replaced. Rafa got it all wrong and maybe he was thinking to protect Torres for the Benfica match in midweek.
The result 1-1 and if Torres was still on the pitch who knows he could have assisted even to play Babel or Ngog for the winner. Stevan Gerrard the captain was also caught on camera scratching his head in disbelief with the managers decision and also Liverpool fans worldwide .
Liverpool is really a club in turmoil with Rafa Benitez a dead man walking as the team lurch from one crisis to another, out of the title race, out of the FA Cup and now edging closer to missing the 4th Champions League spot.
Liverpool should be challenging for the Premiership instead now they are only considered as one of the teams for the 4 Champions League places. How very sad..!! Now wonder all the Liverpool faithful fans are throwing tantrums everynow and then. Rafa has overstayed…..
(The rants and fury of Rafael and Ferguson)
Its Sunday and the kickoff between Liverpool and Manchester United is only hours away. It will be at Anfield the home of Liverpool where the two most supported teams in the world will be locking horns and the worlds football fraternity and neutrals too will surely focus on this match.
Its an ADVERTISEMENT FIELD AND PAY DAY and with 36 titles between them who could ask for more? The football mega stars of Torres,Gerards,Giggs,Rooney will give centrestage to Michael Owen who was once a Liverpool favourite son but now wears the colours of rivals Manchester United. Will the fans give him a well deserved standing ovation or will they turn on their former favourite son ( Betrayal Huh..!!).
Also this game looks beyond the two Managers in Sir Alex Ferguson and Rafael Benetiz .(even his late father Paco said,”was a stubborn child. “It wasn’t humanly possible to convince him” What did they say about Alex Ferguson..we leave that to another day..Hmmm.. smells of a tinge of politics here.
Similarly it reminds of former favourite son of UMNO Anwar Ibrahim. Wonder whether Manchseter Uniteds ardent fan PM Najib will have a wager with his former colleague in UMNO Anwar on the result of this match? Will we ever know? Nowadays its just a phone call away and a Teh tarik and Nasi lemak (Malaysian favourite food and drink) will still get your Adrenalin pumping..
Tonight this game takes centrestage eventhough there are other games on offer with Manchester City taking on Fulham,Bolton against Everton and the London derby of West Ham taking on free flowing Arsenal at Upton Park.
What would we do for money..? Surely, the mosts obvious answer is that there is so much that I could do if only I have…….$$$$$$. We always measure success by the amount or large chunks of money in assets,properties,investments and hard solid cash.
The question on everyone’s lips this morning in Sarawak is not about money politics but football politics. If only Sarawak had the team of the 90’s in financial management this back page headlines would not have got me writing:- “CRISIS BIG EYE-OPENER: Alberts”.
Was it necessary to spell it out in full by a Foreign Coach? This is indeed shameful for the State administrators. In the 90’s the team not only had the financial clout but also strong patriotic sense in the states football developments. We strive to be No.1 and when we are second bests we look for solutions.
This type of news hitting the shores of Sarawak when the (DUN)Dewan Undangan Negeri is in session is indeed not welcoming. PM Najibs team Manchester United has just secured their 18th Championship. If MU was down in the dumps and facing all sorts of financial irregularities I’m pretty sure Najib would not even associate himself with MU. Success breeds Success and everyone wants to be associate with a WINNING ATTITUDE AND TEAM.
My informed sources said that the State Government has and is looking into ways of solving this financial mess and predicament. The CM has also been been informed of the associations and players plight. He wants the TEAM IN THE STATE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION to think more like a Commercial identity and not to fall back on Government coffers when they hit rocky and turbulent times. Its not a way to bail out as there are ways to generate income in football. One dont need an ADVERTISING GURU to teach you.
audie61 was speaking to the journalist who interviewed the former Coach Alberts and this statement is indeed a sucker punch for the State Financial Administrators,” Alberts said it was heartbreaking to see the Sarawak Team which he had tried to rebuild from scratch abandoned halfway due to lack of financial support. It was like building a house with the foundation already laid but then halfway you find out that there is no money to buy the BRICKS.
This is really SARCASM and the REAL TRUTH AND ITS A FACT..!! Are we not ashamed? Do we need Gill of MU to teach us to run our State association.? We need professional people and not people with the mentality that the GOVERNMENT WILL BAIL US OUT ATTITUDE.
Moreover, these which appeared in the local English daily,”Because of shortage of funds, FAS pays the players and coaches as and when it gets the money.It is learnt the players and coaches are owed for March and April but most of them had been paid in full for March except a few who only got half of their more than RM2,000 monthly salary.
The players and the three assistant coaches received their salaries for March a few days ago. The secretary of the association even said this,”said the team management was working hard to solve their problems and he thanked the government for being concerned about their plight.”
Do you know the answer? It’s Money,money,money but money does not make the world go round if the wrong people are in charge of it. They must be able to kickstart the whole machinery and ensure that it will generate more than what WAS LOANED OUT. The STATE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION needs to look into this fast or else it will be a major embarassment to the State Government. The State government is on good financial footing and where will they hide their FACES when they are questioned?
We say as always,”Lets hope that this embarrassing situation will not just away like the wind…If MU is Champion for the 18th time Sarawak Football should rise from the ASHES..GET THE TEAM WORKING…
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