The Borussia Dortmund striker, who became Switzerland’s all-time leading scorer with 35 goals following his brace against Liechtenstein in a warm-up match last week, screwed a 25-yarder just wide after only 120 seconds.

 The Swiss see this as a real heat break due to the fact that they are the co-hosts of the Euro 2008 tournament. The Czechs were very lucky that they won this game, after such a horrendous start to this tournament one can wonder if they can even be mentioned in the same group as other contenders. The goal they got can hardly be considered a hard earned goal: 

 After a Czech free-kick was cleared, Tomas Galasek helped the ball back into the danger area and the 24-year-old reacted the quickest to latch onto the ball and poke a finish to the right of Benaglio from 10 yards. The shot may even gone in off his shin.   

Hopefully we’ll have better play throughout the tournament because for me, this was a huge disappointment for an opening game.     Credit to ESPN.com    

Manchester United was knocked out of the FA Cup today by Portsmouth. Portsmouth came into Old Trafford and beat the Red Devils with a score of 1 - 0. The goal came off a penalty kick with thirteen minutes left in the game. Sulley Montar was the player that scored the goal. This goal was the goal that placed Portsmouth into the FA Cup semi-finals over Manchester United. Portsmouth had this to say after the game:

“It was the worst draw we could have got but it was a great performance and a great result,” Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp told Sky Sports television. 

 

“We rode our luck but United are a fantastic team and we deserved our luck,” added Redknapp, who memorably led Bournemouth to victory over United in the 1984 competition.  

 

The fire kept up the great pressure throughout the rest of the game but was unsuccessful in their attempts. Blanco continued to pressure and try to ignite a spark within his team, but fell short. The fire didn’t seem to have any real urgency or passion in the game until the last ten minutes, which was dissapointing to see because the Revolution seemed to keep up the intensity and pressure throughout the whole game.

The Revolution will be playing the winner of the Kansas City v. Houston game on October 18th.

Picture from Sports Illustrated.com

“Soon you will see him, very soon. It will be a surprise for everyone. He seems like a model,” Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti told Italian media on Friday.

Ronaldo used to be made fun of for his weight at Real Madrid. They made nicknames for him, such as “el gordo”, which means the fat one. I remember that there used to be chants at the Real games saying “Hes big, hes round, hes worth a million pounds. Ronaldo! Ronaldo!”

In recent years, Ronaldo’s weight problem were caused by hypothyroidsm.

Hypothyroidism is caused by insufficient production of hormones by the thyroid gland and can lead to weight gain.

His new form of wait loss has consisted of pills and a new training program, which have made the AC Milan striker much fitter.

Manchester United is proud of its history of developing talented young players, and invests considerable time and resources into trying to find the best young players of the future,” the club said in a statement.

United only had to see 4 minutes of this young prodigy before recruiting him. The YouTube video has been seen over 800,000 times and the fans of the video are calling him the next Ronaldo. This is a regular activity in the club.

The club has downplayed such hype, pointing out that it recruits about 40 players of Davis’ age every year, and that Davis’ status with the club will be subject to the same annual review as any other youth player.

Davis has moved to England to play there with the Youth squad.

“Being here has been brilliant,” The Sun newspaper quoted Davis as saying. “The best part has been meeting a lot of the players, like Wayne Rooney.”

Davis was born in England and has a British passport. His grandfather lives in England.

Iraqi captain Younis Mahmoud scored the winner in the 71st minute when he climbed above the defence at the far post and headed a perfectly-weighted corner from Hawar Mulla Mohammed into the net.

The Iraqis may have won the game by a lot more if they had capitalized on more of their chances, thanks to sloppy finishing and some stellar goalkeeping from Saudi goalkeeper Yasser Al Mosailem. Saudi Arabia, in previous games, had no trouble putting the ball into the net as they were the best attacking team in the tournament. They netted 12 goals on their way to the finals. Their attacking side was no match for the best defensive team in the tournament, Iraq. Iraq only conceded two goals in 6 matches. Overall in the final match, many agreed that Iraq were the deserving side to win the game. Even the Saudi Arabia coach.

‘Iraq deserved to win today,’ Saudi coach Helio Cesar dos Anjos said. ‘They were very motivated and we knew the whole world was supporting this team.’

If anyone had told me that they thought Iraq would win the cup I would’ve said that they were crazy. Iraq has never had it easy when it comes to training and play qualifiers. Iraq has often had to play their games in neutral countries due to the war. Iraq’s players have never had it easy. On top of the unfortunate training conditions, they also have to deal with horrible personal life. Atleast 3 of Iraq’s players have lost family or friends in the last 2 months due to the war. The captain Mahmoud said that one of the greatest tragedies is that even though they won, they can’t even bring the cup back to their own country. Iraqs win will have forsure inspired a spark of achievement throughout all of Iraq. This achievement just shows that football can unite people in the most desperate circumstances.

This is just a quick clip of Younis Mahmoud.

” I chose a move to Atletico because they presented me with a very ambitious project,’ Simao told a news conference at his presentation.

‘My objective is to win things. I will work hard to do this, the club are signing good players and we should be in the top three in the league.’

Simao’s signing takes the season spending of Athletico over the 60 million euro-mark. The club recently sold their top scorer, Fernando Torres to Liverpool for 36 million euros. Athletico wasted no time in putting the money into some new recruits.

Along with Simao, Atletico have signed Uruguay striker Diego Forlan from Villarreal for 21 million euros, midfielder Raul Garcia from Osasuna for 13 million, Brazilian midfielder Cleber Santana from Santos for six million and Spain midfielder Luis Garcia from Liverpool for four million.

The 27-year-old became Benefica’s captain and leading scorer, heliping them win the Portuguese title in 2005. He has 55 caps for portugal and was voted Portuguese player of the year last year.

There is no change in the situation,” Sir Alex said. “He won’t be going to Liverpool as far as I’m concerned. I think the matter should rest there.”

Heinze still has 2 years to go on his Manchester United contract. Heinze has stressed through his agent that he no longer wishes to play for United.  In the club’s history, no one has every gone directly to Liverpool, their archrivals.

Roberto Carlos was greeted by hundreds of Fenerbahce fans at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport at midnight.

He said after medical that he was very surprised when he saw the crowd at the airport.

Roberto Carlos had been playing for Real Madrid in his 11th year when he signed this contract. Roberto Carlos recently won the Spanish La Liga championship. Roberto Carlos’ leaving was greatly shadowed by the leaving of David Beckham to the MLS. Roberto Carlos will not be forgotten at Real Madrid though. Carlos led them to 4 La Liga titles. One in 1996/97, 2000/01, 2002/03, and just recently in 2006/07. He led them to 3 UEFA Champions League titles and countless other cups and tournaments. Carlos also improved his importance with the Brazilian National side. He gave them 2 Copa America titles, and 1 Fifa World Cup, along with the help of Ronaldo. He is known most for his hard driven freekicks.