Groups for World Cup 2014 in Brazil

So finally the world biggest sport extragavan is finally here. The FIFA World Cup 2014 to be held in Brazil.
There are some tough groups and some easy groups and offcourse there is the group of death.
This time there are two strong contenders for the group of death. Lets go throught the groups to find out.

Group A

Brazil
Croatia
Mexico
Cameroon

Athletico Madrid Win La Liga 2013-14

Finally a team other than Barcelona or Real Madrid has won the Spanish title. It has been almost a decade since another team has won. The credit should certainly go to Athletico Madrid Manager Diego Simeone who guided his team to the La Liga title after putting off Barcelona in the final game of the league. Barcelona needed to beat Athletico Madrid to snatch the league from Athletico Madrid's hand at the end of the season.

It was a tight title race this season for the Spanish League with the usual Barcelona and Real Madrid fighting out along with the ever growing Athletico Madrid side which has been really making big strides under
the management of Diego Simeone. Even after loosing their best player Radamel Falcao to Monaco they have managed to better their league position this season with Diego Costa being a relevation scoring goals for fun. He was under shadow of Radamel Falcao last season and after Falcao's departure to Monaco Costa has been exceptional. His goal scoring exploits have alerted top clubs with Chelsea being the front runners to sign him.

Manchester United Versus Arsenal at Old Trafford on 10th November 2013

Arsenal have been doing really well since they lost in their opening league game against Aston Villa.
They now face another test when they travel to Old Trafford to meet the reigning Champions of England Manchester United who themselves have been playing really bad under new manager David Moyes.
Manchester United in recent seasons have convincingly defeated Arsenal on a regular basis in the English Premier League with the 8-1 trashing still lurking in the 2011 season.But this time around Arsenal look like favorites to win as they lead in the EPL with 5 points at the top. They recently have impressed this season by defeating the inform team Liverpool who have a potent strike force of Suarez and Sturrigde(SAS) and they have defeated Borussia Dortmund at their home in the Champions League just a few days ago.

Super Sunday in EPL Manchester United vs Liverpool and Arsenal vs Spurs

Its the third weekend since the Barclays Premier League started and we have had one big game Manchester United versus Chelsea which was disappointing. But this weekend it is a Super Duper Sunday as two high profile matches or we can say derbies are there. Liverpool face their bitter rivals Manchester United at Enfield Stadium where this tie is considered the El-Clasico of EPL. The other match of the day is the north London derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspurs.

Bayern Munich win UEFA Super Cup 2013 by defeating Chelsea

Bayern Munich defeated Chelsea to take revenge for their defeat in the 2011-12 Champions League Final. This was a game which was more about the coaches going head to head rather than the teams with Pep Guardiola managing Bayern Munich and Jose Mourinho managing Chelsea. They resumed their rivalry from their days of being the managers of Sains top two rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid. The games versus the top two Spanish teams is known as the El Clasico and we did see a El-Clasico match when Bayern Munich and Chelsea played in the Super cup.

This was the first time that the Super Cup was played in Prague rather than the usual venue in Monaco. This was a one of the better Super Cups as two European Heavy weights were going each other. Usually one team is a considerably less popular team than the other as the second tier European competition ie Europa League is less glamourous and big teams dont take much interest in this competition as compared to the first tier Champions League.

Champions League Groups for season 2013-14

The much awaited Champions League group draw was held in Monaco and Arsenal are the side which had the worst draw as they were drawn in the group of death. Arsenal who qualified after going through an extra qualifier to get to the groups stages will be very unhappy as they have been drawn with last years finalized Borussia Dortmund and upcoming Napoli who have made some good signings after selling their prized asset Edison Cavani. They also play France's Marseille who arent bad either. The other english teams have a easier draw as Chelsea play Germany's Schalke , Switzerland's Basel and Steaua Bucharest. Chelsea and Schalke are favorites to go through to the next round.


Group A: Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad.

Group B: Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, FC Copenhagen.

Group C: PSG, Benfica, Olympiakos, Anderlecht.

Group D: Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Manchester City, FC Viktoria Plzen.

Champions League group draw tonight for 2013-14

Tonight the Champions League draw will be held in Monaco where 32 European teams will be divided into 8 groups with each group consisting of four teams. The teams are seeded according to performance in all European competitions over a five-year period, where the best teams go in the first pot and the worst seeded going to the fourth pot.

 Arsenal as always had to go through a qualifier to reach the group stages, but they have qualified for the champions league group stages for the 16th consecutive time. They had to play Fenebache from Turkey over two legs and they won the tie comfortably, but the qualifier was of no use as Fenebache were suspended from Europe after being found guilty of match fixing. Similarly Celtic the Scottish champions had to play two qualifier ties to get to the group stages and they managed a aggregate 3-2 win from the skins of their teeth defeating Shakhtar Karangandy of Kazakhstan.

Barclays English Premier League has finally started but in Hindi in India

Barclays English Premier League has started finally on 17th August. I was so excited and happy that finally the wait is over. As i stay in India i have been getting ads that we will be getting the commentary in our language ie Hindi. It looks like the matches will be only on the Star network instead of ESPN and Star Sports. I was angry and frustrated to hear that hindi commentary will be there as i hate to listen to hindi commentary. I have heard hindi commentary for cricket matches and i always change to english commentary as quickly as i realize its hindi commentary.

And another big jolt that i got was that they did not telecast the first match of the League Liverpool versus Stoke.

English Premier League fixtures for 2013-14 season

Below is the list of fixtures for the English Premier League for the 2013-14 season:

AUGUST  

Aug 17: 

Arsenal v Aston Villa

Chelsea v Hull City

Crystal Palace v Tottenham Hotspur

Liverpool v Stoke City

Manchester City v Newcastle United

Norwich City v Everton

Sunderland v Fulham

Swansea City v Manchester United

West Bromwich Albion v Southampton

West Ham United v Cardiff City

Aug 24: 

Aston Villa v Liverpool

Cardiff City v Manchester City

Everton v West Bromwich Albion

Fulham v Arsenal

Hull City v Norwich City

Manchester United v Chelsea

Newcastle United v West Ham United

Southampton v Sunderland

Stoke City v Crystal Palace

Tottenham Hotspur v Swansea City

Aug 31: 

Arsenal v Tottenham Hotspur

Cardiff City v Everton

Chelsea v Aston Villa

Crystal Palace v Sunderland

Liverpool v Manchester United

Manchester City v Hull City

Newcastle United v Fulham

Norwich City v Southampton

West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City

West Ham United v Stoke City

SEPTEMBER

Sep 14:

Aston Villa v Newcastle United

Everton v Chelsea

Fulham v West Bromwich Albion

Hull City v Cardiff City

Manchester United v Crystal Palace

Southampton v West Ham United

Stoke City v Manchester City

Sunderland v Arsenal

Swansea City v Liverpool

Tottenham Hotspur v Norwich City

Manchester United players to get free Chevrolet cars

Manchester United players to get free Chevrolet cars. Its another perk of being a Manchester United player other than playing for the Britain's top and one of the worlds top soccer team.

This is a good way to give your brand a huge exposure other than just putting your brand name on the team training kits. The American car maker Chevrolet have a  £357 million deal with Manchester United where the players will wear the Chevrolet branded jerseys starting from the 2014-15 season. Chevrolet is the Official Automotive Partner of Manchester United.

But there is a big IF put in by the Chevrolet deal if the players want a free Chevrolet ride!!

Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund Who will win the Champions League 2013

Champions League 2013 winners Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund?

Its a all German final in the finals of the Champions League 2013. Both teams have been favorites through out the competition with Bayern Munich being the firm favorites to win the final.

The match is at the Wembley Stadium in London tonight Saturday 25th may 2013 at 18:45pm GMT.
The match is at 12:15am IST(Indian Standard Time) on 26th May 2013 in India.
It will be telecasted in India on Ten Action and Ten Sports channels in India.

Bayern Munich will be under more pressure to perform better and win the trophy as they have failed to win the last two finals after being favorites in both the finals. They lost to Inter Milan in 2010 and then they lost last years finals to Chelsea.

Chelsea snatch the Europa League from Benifica after scoring at the death

Chelsea won the Europa League after Branislav Ivanovic scored in the 93rd minute of an absorbing tie.
Chelsea followed the Champions League final win last year with another European title last night.

Benifica started brightly and were just all over Chelsea and Chelsea were just about able to defend in the final third and keep the score to 0-0. Benifica were quick with their passing and movement and the Chelsea midfield were struggling to cope with the movement of the Benifica players.
Especially David Luiz was very poor as he could not keep hold of the ball and when ever Benifica had the ball he was like a headless chicken running on the pitch.
That put a lot pressure on Frank Lampard in the middle of the midfield. Benifica were brilliant in the passing but they were not shooting when they could have a sight at the goal but they played as if they wanted to pass the ball in the goal.

Europa League Finals : Chelsea v/s Benifica

Who will win the Europa League 2013 in Amsterdam??
Chelsea or Benifica

Tonight is the night when the Chelsea can create history by wining the two different European Competitions in successive years.
Last year they won the Champions League beating favorites Bayern Munich but became the first holders to exit the Champions League before Christmas. This time they need to beat Portugals top club to win the Europa League.
Chelsea are the favorites for this clash and to win the title of the 2nd tier Champions of Europe

Poor Manchester City loose to fancy relegation threatent Wigan in FA Cup Finals

There is the final nail in Roberto Mancini's coffin, he will surely be sacked as the manager of Manchester City after they lost to relegation threaten't Wigan Athletic by a single goal. He could have salvaged this season by wining at-least a FA Cup trophy and win 3 trophies in 3 season. Mancini hasn't been able to work his magic as he did last season. The new signings haven't worked except Nastasic and it looks like his final days at Manchester

But Manchester City were poor as they have been whole season and did not have the best of games as well just 2 or 3 really good chances. Wigan had a lot more chances and they played much better. They deserved to win as they looked like they wanted to win and had the hunger to lift a trophy. They were the underdogs for this game and the neutral were expecting a drubbing by Manchester City , but it was good to see a tightly fought contest which Wigan won with zest.

Sir Alex Ferguson Retires after 27 years as Manchester United Manager

Sir Alex Ferguson announced that he will retire from his post as the manager of Manchester United. There have been talks about his retirement for the past 3 to 4 years now and he finally leaves his long term post.
He has been the manager of Manchester United for the past 27 years in a age where managers leave or are sacked on a regular basis. Fergie as he is known has managed a top club for almost 3 decades and it has produced a huge numbers of trophies.

Sir Alex Ferguson has won 13 English Premier Leagues, 5 FA Cups and 2 Champions League trophies with other trophies like Carling Cup and Community Shields. He is one of the most successful manager not only for Manchester United but also in english football.
After loosing the league to Manchester City last season in the final minutes on the last day on goal difference , he signed Robin Van Persie and won the league convincingly with 4 games to spare.
He would have retired last season if United had won the league last season. But now he has announced his retirement with his last match at Wes Brom on 15th may.

Who will be the next Manchester United Manager?

The Great Escape : Borussia Dortmund survive late onslaught by Real Madrid to reach the Finals of Champions League

Borussia Dortmund reached the finals of Champions League by the skin of their teeth when they managed to win on aggregate by one goal after they had got a 3 goals lead from home to Santiago Bernabau.
It finished 4-3 in favor of Dormund who conceded 2 goals in the last 10 mins to almost snatch defeat from the hand of victory.

After conceding a away goal Dortmund started the game cautiously whereas Real Madrid were on the attack from the first whistle. It almost paid off inside two minute when Higuain was through on goal but denied by the goalkeeper. Another 2 chances fell to Real inside the first 15 minutes when Ronaldo could not beat the goalkeeper and Ozil fired wide.

Gareth Bale win PFA and Young player of the year award Defeating RVP and Cannibal Suarez for FPA

Gareth Bale has bagged the PFA player of the year plus the Young player of the year. The feat has only been managed by two other players : Andy Gray in 1976-77 and Cristiano Ronaldo in 2007.
Gareth Bale defeated the favorites Robin Van Persie and Luis Suarez. Suarez must have lost the PFA award after his biting incident against Chelsea. Gareth Bale must have won the PFA as he has been more consistent than Van Persie, Van Persie went on a 12 game run where he did not score.

Manchester United And Robin Van Persie Dampen Arsenal's Champions League chances

After wining the English Premier League last week at Aston Villa courtesy of a Robin Van Persie hatrick Arsenal had a good chance to get all three points against Manchester United to get their Champions League pursuit on track.
With pictures of almost all the Manchester United player parting up till early morning after their win on Monday night their would have been a hangover of winning the league and it was visible in the first half against Arsenal.

Evra was just asleep when Rosicky put a ball through for Theo Walcott, Walcott was slightly offside but the assistant said play on and Walcott put the ball in the goal past David deGea.

Liverpool thrash hapless newcastle united to renew their relegation fears

Liverpool produced a performance without their top scorer Luis Suarez to make a point that they can win and score goals 6 in this match. After Luis Suarez biting incident versus Chelsea Suarez was given a lengthy 10 match ban which meant Liverpool had to score without their top scorer.
And boy did they not only score at Newcastle but they had a goal feast to defeat Newcastle at home with 6 goals, Newcastle's highest defeat since 1925.

Chelsea have the upper hand in the Semifinals of the UEFA Cup against FC Basel

Chelsea are the only English team which are present in any later stages of European competitions this season and they look like they can repeat last season feat by wining the second tier European tie.
They were the favorites to go through to the Finals and they did manage to put in a good performance and it will take some performance from Basel to overturn the result in their favor.

Chelsea played well for most of the game and they did manage to win the game with the last kick of the game by courtesy of a Daviz Luiz free kick.
They were in control when they scored the first goal but some crazy referring where the referee awarded a penalty when nothing seemed to be wrong. Basel scored from the penalty and leveled the score.