Sunday, March 29, 2009

Hooliganism !
















Did you know that Hooliganism refers to unruly and destructive behavior. Such behavior is commonly associated with sports fans, particularly supporters of professional football and university sports. In some countries, the hooligan elements of a group of supporters are known as Category C. The term can also apply to general rowdy behavior and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The word hooliganism and hooligan began to be associated with violence in sports, in particular from the 1960s in the UK with football hooliganism, although one of the earliest known instances of crowd violence at a sporting event involved two chariot racing factions, the Blues and the Greens in the Nika riots which lasted around a week in Constantinople in 532 with nearly half the city being burned or destroyed and tens of thousands of people killed.

Friday, March 27, 2009

World Cup 2010 Qualification Round Battles Start Again !













There will be some great World Cup 2010 qualification round matches on 28/03/09, 29/03/09, 01/04/09 and 02/04/09.

Some key matches are:
  1. Portugal vs Sweden
  2. Spain vs Turkey
  3. Netherlands vs Scotland
  4. England vs Ukraine
  5. Wales vs Germany
  6. Italy vs Republic of Ireland
  7. Ecuador vs Brazil
For more details and more matches, check the following links from FIFA's original site:
  1. Qualification matches of March 2009.
  2. Qualification matches of April 2009.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Some key players will be missing the World Cup 2010 qualifying matches with their countries !













England, France, Spain and Germany are all facing some injuries in their squads for the upcoming World Cup 2010 qualifiers.

England's Ledley King is going to miss both England's matches (a friendly against Slovakia and a World Cup 2010 qualifier against Ukraine) because of a chronic knee injury.

France's Anelka will be away for 3 weeks because of a toe injury. He will be replaced by Paris St Germain's Guillaume Hoarau where Raymond Domenech called has him for the first time.

Spain's Andres Iniesta will be replaced by Valencia's Juan Mata because of injury.

Germany's Torsten Frings and Arne Friedrich will be missing because of injury alongside with Miroslav Klose.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Fabio Capello selects his squad for 28/03/09 and 01/04/09
















England coach, Fabio Capello, has named his squad for the friendly match against Slovakia on 28/03/09 and the World Cup 2010 qualifier against Ukraine on 01/04/09.

Capello recalled Tottenham's captain Ledley King and included Everton's Leighton Baines and Manchester United's Ben Foster along with striker Carlton Cole of West Ham United who made his debut with England against Spain last month.

Both Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard are now back where they have missed against Spain last month due to injury.

Below is England's full squad for the upcoming matches:

Goalkeepers:
  1. Ben Foster
  2. Robert Green
  3. David James
Defenders:
  1. Leighton Baines
  2. Ashley Cole
  3. Rio Ferdinand
  4. Phil Jagielka
  5. Glen Johnson
  6. Ledley King
  7. Joleon Lescott
  8. John Terry
  9. Matthew Upson
Midfielders:
  1. Gareth Barry
  2. David Beckham
  3. Michael Carrick
  4. Stewart Downing
  5. Steven Gerrard
  6. Frank Lampard
  7. Aaron Lennon
  8. Shaun Wright-Phillips
Strikers:
  1. Carlton Cole
  2. Peter Crouch
  3. Emile Heskey
  4. Wayne Rooney

No Cassano in the Italian squad !














Italy coach, Marcello Lippi, has named the Italian squad for the upcoming World Cup 2010 qualification matches against Montenegro on 28/03/09 and Ireland on 01/04/09.

Lippi did not call Sampdoria star Cassano, however, he called some new players including Roma's Marco Motta, Genoa's Salvatore Bocchetti and Sampdoria's Giampaolo Pazzini.

Lippi also called Roma's Matteo Brighi(where he did not play for Italy since 2002), Lazio's Pasquale Foggia, Atalanta's Sergio Floccari, and Udinese's Simone Pepe although the calls for him to be excluded.

Alberto Aquilani, Simone Perrotta, Mauro Camoranesi, Luca Toni and Alberto Gilardino were excluded from the squad because of injury.

Below is Italy's full squad for the upcoming matches:

Goalkeepers:
  1. Gianluigi Buffon
  2. Marco Amelia
  3. Morgan De Sanctis
Defenders:
  1. Salvatore Bocchetti
  2. Fabio Cannavaro
  3. Giorgio Chiellini
  4. Andrea Dossena
  5. Alessandro Gamberini
  6. Fabio Grosso
  7. Marco Motta
  8. Gianluca Zambrotta
Midfielders:
  1. Matteo Brighi
  2. Daniele De Rossi
  3. Pasquale Foggia
  4. Riccardo Montolivo
  5. Angelo Palombo
  6. Simone Pepe
  7. Andrea Pirlo
Strikers:
  1. Antonio Di Natale
  2. Vincenzo Iaquinta
  3. Giampaolo Pazzini
  4. Fabio Quagliarella
  5. Giuseppe Rossi

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Are the pieces moving or not ?


















What do you think ? Are the pieces moving ? If you concentrate on this image, you will find that they are moving, but, as a matter of fact, they are not! (Click on the image to take a closer look at it)