Back in Sports

I have not written anything in the sports section for a while now and I guess it is time for a new post. Much has happened since I last posted. Inter are the current Champions League holders, Atletico Madrid got the Euro Cup and the SuperCup, me and my team got to play on the main table at the streetball tournament Le Quai 54, a proud and important tournament as it is my last one. Yes sir, I’m retiring from basketball because of physical problems not because the love for the game has vanished or something.

But enough about me and my problems let’s take a look at what Steaua Bucharest is doing as the season in Romania has started for about 7 weeks now. They started with Victor Piturca as head coach in the summer, he managed to build a team out of players he knew very well but he only managed to remain at the head of the team only for two weeks as he got in an argument with sponsor and best friend Gigi Becali. So as we can see Steaua needed a coach as the Euro Cup qualifications were coming. An old club glory took up the responsibility of the team, Ilie Dumitrescu, one of Steaua Bucharests finest players in all of its history. But what are the problems he is facing at the club now a days?

Well to start of he is still trying to bring the fans back to the stadion as the are still at war with Gigi Becali and he is also trying to build a team out of 20 new players. Yes, Steaua managed to transfer this summer about 20 new players. About 13 came with the first coach, Victor Piturca and the rest came from dyeing first division champions 2 years ago Unirea Urziceni, a team with heavy financial problems who is certainly facing disappearance from the first league next season. Ilie Dumitrescu has managed to win all the league games he has had as head coach an managed to defeat Grasshopper Zurich and reach the Euro Cup group stage. All is well for Steaua at this point but a few changes in the main squad has occurred these days and I hope the ex-Unirea boys manage to integrate as soon as possible in the team. We are in first place at the moment and I’m hoping we stay there till the end of the season.

Until next time, Cheers!

UEFA Champions League Surprising Results.

The Champions League has started again and with it great football, great players, great teams, great coaches, great result and surprising results. But considering that there are only a few teams left in the competition I will analyse all the games played. This week four out of eight matches were played as the team battle it out to reach the quarterfinals of the competition.But let’s not waste any more time and get thing cracking!

First we start with start of with Olympique Lyon who hosted Real Madrid. Lyon was always considered as legend killers especially on home ground and they really lived up to they’re reputation in this game as a wonderful strike by Jean Il Makoun in the 47th minute sealed the game but not the fate of Real Madrid in the competition. We shall see if Lyon can survive the siege on Santiago Bernabeu.

You think the first game was a surprise? Well let’s take a look at AC Milan vs Manchester United. The battle of the devils as people call it. The result you ask 2-3 and a great night for Wayne Rooney. First of AC Milan started with a goal by brazilian star Ronaldinho in the 3rd minute. Manchester didn’t even have time take up positions when Ronaldinho’s shoot got in the net. He’s really getting it together this season as he is playing quite well in all competitions. The italians were shocked before the first half ended as Paul Scholes scored in the 36th minute with a great deal of luck as the ball literally bounced off him. Second half began an Wayne Rooney got into the game scoring in the 66th and 74th minute of the game. As Milan was still in shock Seedorf got in the game and managed to bag a goal in the 85th minute giving Milan some sort of hope for the Old Trafford game. What a game, right?

Moving on we have another surprising result in the competition as Port beat Arsenal on home ground. Thats right, you’re eyes dont deceive you. Porto beat Arsenal. Things got off from the start of the match as Porto got the first goal with Varela as the marker in the 11th minute of the game. Sol Campbell who returned to Arsenal a few weeks ago didn’t like how things were going and 7 minutes after the first goal he bagged one for Arsenal making the game square at halftime. Second half got going and Falcao sealed the table with a goal in the 51st minute with Arsenal not being able to score again. A small advantage for Porto as they will try to survive in the second leg.

Last but not least we have Bayern Munchen vs Fiorentina. A good game but the game didn’t seem to come in the first come when Bayern received a penalty in first half’s overtime. Rooben didn’t seem to have any problem blasting one in Frey’s net. As the second half started it only took Fiorentina 5 minutes to get back into the game as a mistake of the german defence was sanctioned by Firenze defender Per Kroldrup. That really got Bayern going as they layed siege to Frey’s goal again and in the 89th minute Olic and Kloose managed to trick the sideline ref as Klose scored a goal from a offside position, no let me write again a giant offside position. That the way the ball bounces.

Well see you next week with the other two games. Cheers lads!

Surprising Results Europa League. Matchday 6.

Matchday 6 of the Europa League and the last matchday of the group stage. Here is where we draw the line and see who goes further and who goes home. The games were played on the 16th and 17th of December. But you already know wich games I will be talking about? That’s right Timmy! today, boys and girls, we shall present the most surprising result of both days. Let’s get started!

First off we have Partizan Belgrad playing at home versus Shakhtar Donetsk. Last years winner was beaten by Partizan’s african player Diarra in the 6th minute of the game. Shakhtar boss Mircea Lucescu despite the result was pleased that his team finished on the top of the group. We shall mention that the game was played on a snow filled stadium.

Second we have National de Madeira versus Austria Wien. I know home ground and the roar of the crowd gives players a big boost but destroys Austria Wien, a team that played fairly well this year in the Europa League, with a staggering 5-1. Now that is a surprise I must say. The Austrians started so good bagging the first goal in the 21st minute. Then what happened? Hell broke loose as they only got to enjoy they’re goal only 2 minutes when Ruben Michel scored for Nacional. Then the goals pored like water in only one direction: Austria Wien. Mateus got on the score sheet 9 minutes latter, Ruben Michel got his second goal in the 57th minute of the game, 4 minutes latter Tomasevic put the ball in the net and last but not least only five minutes away from Tomasevic’s goal Felipe Lopes sealed the deal. Nacional de Madeira vs. Austria Wien 5-1. Tough luck for the Austrians.

There weren’t many surprising results in the first day of the matchday but what happened on the 17th? Almost every game was a shock. Let’s have a look see.

Anderlecht and Ajax is the first game. There isn’t much to say about it as Anderlech destroyed Ajax from the start scoring in the first half of the game 3 goals. You Romer Lukaku opened blood on in the 12th minute followed by the double in the 22nd minute and Anderlech finishing the game in the 43rd minute as Jonathat Legear marked the 0-3 result of the first half. Ajax did manage to score in the 77th minute as Emanuelson put one in his CV. Tough luck for the Ajax.

Timişoara and Dinamo Zagreb was the revenge that Romania wanted as the Croats killed Timişoara in the first leg with 3-0. Totally unacceptable. After the first half ended with the same result 0-0 we see Timişoara’s Gigel Bucur scoring in the 67th minute. But then something happened as Scutaru put the ball in his own new with great composure and determination. 1-1 in the 80th minute. The game was saved for the Romanian side by Dorin Goga who came of the bench and sealed the final result of the game in the 84th minute of the game. Timişoara got it’s revenge.

We have a series of shocking results that ended with only one goal for the winners. Hapoel Tel Aviv versus Hamburger SV ended 1-0 as Yeboah scorred in the 22nd minute. Salzburg defeated Villarreal at home with Dusan Svento’s 7th minute early goal. Levski Sofia showed Lazio what football is all about as they got a the win in the 60th minute with Yovov’s goal. Last but not least Everton was struck down by BATE Borisov’s Yurevich’s goal in the 75th minute.

This was the lesson for today, boys and girls. See you at the next lesson of Surprising Results.

LE QUAI 54

LE QUAI 54.   What is it? I’m not going to stress myself to write about this great streetball tournament. All I have to say is that I got there for the experience of this hard-core street tournament, and even if we played only in the qualifiers we were beaten in the end by a team that made the last 16 in the tournament, so it’s a start for any Romanian team.

BLACKSTREET REPRESENT

Surprising results UEFA Champions League. Match day 4.

It’s that time again in sports, and when I mean sports I mean football. This Tuesday and Wednesday took place matchday 4 of the prestigious UEFA Champions League. And not to analyze all the games because it would take forever we shall take only the surprising results of this last matchday.

First we have Manchester United versus CSKA Moskva. A game that was spectacular for any neutral fan as it ended 3-3 on Manchester’s home ground. It was a great game for CSKA as any team should have in order to get some points from Old Trafford. Let’s see what happened, Dzagoev opened the scoring fiesta in the 25^th minute, 4 minutes later Michael Owen equalized. The draw really fired up CSKA as in the 31^st minute and in the 47^th minute Milos Krasic and Vasili Berezutski gave the Russian side a 2 goal advantage. Manchester couldn’t stand the humiliation and pushed forward and in the 84^th minute and late in the over time Scholes and Valencia  ended the score at 3-3. Great game to watch and a poor draw for Manchester.

Second in line is the game between Olimpique de Marseille vs FC Zurich. No doubt the score of the competition till now as OM destroyed the swiss side with an end result of 6-1. For OM almost everybody got in to scoring in this game from defence leader Hilton to midfielders Fabrice Abriel and Cheyrou to attackers Niang and Brandao. But the gold festival was started by on own goal in the 3^rd minute by Zurich’s Aegerter. The swiss side also managed to score a consolation goal as thru Alphonse. All in all an absolute massacre.

Moving on to the next game we have Atletico de Madrid and Chelsea. The score? A 2-2 draw. A great draw for Atletico as they have not performing particularly well in the league but they really got a good one with Chelsea. A player from each side decided the final score. Rising star Aguero and veteran striker Didie Drogba got two a piece. Good game for Atletico.

Moving on let’s mention the game between Barcelona and Rubin Kazan. Well there isn’t much to talk about here. Cold weather, cold players, cold game, cold score. The result? A COLD 0-0.

We shall end the report with the games from group G of the competition. First, Unirea Urziceni and Glasgow Rangers got a 1-1 draw with McCulloch bagging one for Rangers in the 79^th minute and Unirea’s Onofras equalizing in the 88^th minute. Good game all around and a good result for Unirea Urziceni. Second the game between Sevilla and Stuttgart also a good game but still a 1-1 draw. Sevilla never really wanted to get the 3 points here and was just satisfied herself with just not losing in from of home fans. Jesus Navas opened score in the 14^th minute and the young star from Serbia Zdravko Kuzmanovic equalized for Stuttgart in the 79^th minute.

This is it for now. Let’s see in the future what football has to offer. Cheers!

Europa League Surprising Results

Last night took place the first round of games in the new Europa League group stage. For those who don’t know, although I think there are only a few, the Europa League is the former UEFA Cup but with a new format and a new reward system in order to attract more audience and more importance to the cup and hopefully try to match the prestigious Champions League. With this new format the UEFA Intertoto cup does not take place anymore.

So as I got you used with the article from the World Cup Qualifiers we will be onlt talking about results that are surprising as football always offers such results when stakes are high. That is why it is one of the most loved sport in the world. Today we have some great and suprising results so let’s not beat around the bush anymore and get started.

First we have the match between Isralel side Hapoel Tel-Aviv and Celtic Glasgow that ended 2-1 for Hapoel on home ground. I don’t know if the Scots were afraid of the current situation that Israel is in but they sure had a bad night. Although Celtic was in the lead at half time with the goal from the greek international Giorgios Samaras in the 25th minute. Things were looking good for them but Hapoel made a great late second half as they scored in the 75th and 88th minute with Vucicevici and Lala getting one each and sealing the game for Hapoel.

Second we have a real shocker as Austria’s Rapid Viena took on Hamburger SV. Whats so shocking? Well the german lost and they lost bad as Rapid Viena gave them 3 goals to send them back in germany quite upset. They got two goals before the halftime with Hofmann and Jelavic scoring each before the break and in the second half they resolved any attempt of a comeback as they scored once more with Drazan’s 76th minute goal. So, the german side will  go home broken, beat and scarred.

Third we have the game of Hertha BSC  Berlin and FK Ventspils. I ask you what was the problem with german teams last night? Another bad result? Yes. The score ended 1-1. With and unknown adversary for Hertha it seems the german side thought it would be an easy game for them, but they were wrong. They thought it would be a good game as polish stricker Luckasz Psizczek opened for the the germans in the 34th minute. Soon after the break the real shook happened as Vetnspils player Gauracs scored in the 48th minute and drew the match. Thats how it stayed untill the end of the game. Bad day for german teams indeed.

Next I will be showing two results that the italian teams will try to forget as soon as possible. First, FC Basel 1893 versus AS Roma. Good day for the swiss side as they got one goal for each half to finish a great italian team like AS Roma but who is currently struggling in the Italian championship after coach Luciano Spaletti left them. The goals came from the brazilian player Carlitos early in the game as the second goal came late in the game with Almerares sealing and ending al chances for the italian side.

Let’s get to presenting the last surprise result of the day as we have the fixture between SS Lazio and FC Salzburg. On home ground, you say? Loosing in the last minutes of the game, you say? Yes, truly shameful and unlucky was Lazio last night. Although the italians opened score in the 59 minute with a goal by Pasquale Foggia. Then the second half came. The disaster started in the 82nd minute as Schiemer bagged the goal for Salzburg and in overtime Janko gave the decisive blow for the Austrains. Embarrassing result for Lazio indeed and for italian teams involved in the competition.

All in all I think we presented some great result and see you next time with more unusual results from football. Cheers lads!

Surprises World Cup Qualifiers

Football, probably the greatest game in the world. Well most male persons from our planet will probably say that. And I have to agree with that statement, as I am a football fan also. So let’s get to it then.

Since the Romanian Liga 1 was suspended this weekend because of the games played by the national teams for the World Cup in South Africa we will have to focus our attention to the games and the results of this competition. To be more precise we shall take a look at the result from European country’s that played on 9th of September.

I would like to start of with the Romanian national team who went head to head with Austria. The result? Well a disappointing 1-1 with a late equalizer scored by Austria. To sum up the I would say that we had the game in our hands with numerous occasions being wasted by Ciprian Marica and Gigel Bucur.

With Mutu still out the best player on the pitch from the Romanian side was Adrian Cristea from Dinamo Bucharest who had a good game came up with the assist for Gigel Bucur’s goal. A good display had new player on the block Mihai Roman with a few good runs down the right side but all in all the Romanian team could and should have done better.

There were a few surprises in Europe last night and we shall mention a few of them. First Latvia managed to get a draw with Switzerland after the swiss were leading 1-0 at half time. For Switzerland the goals were scored by Alexander Frei and late substitute Eren Derdiyok. Scoring for Latvia were captain Vitalisj Astafjevs and Aleksandr Caunas.

Another surprise game was Armenia versus Belgium as it ended 2-1 for the home team. Armenia scored in the first half a fine goal by Hovhannes Goharyan and in the second half managed to score a second time with defender Sargis Hovsepyan. Belgium managed to score a late consolation goal with Daniel Van Buyten putting the ball in the net with two minutes in overtime.

Lets take a look at what Moldavia ended with after a hard game against Greece. The score? A surprising 1-1 and a great performance by the Moldavians as they scored a late goal by substitute Valerian Andronic in the 90th minute after greek striker Theofanis Gekas had managed to score in the first half of the game. Congratulations to Moldavia for a good draw.

Liechtenstein versus Finland ended with a staggering result 1-1 and the Finland side has everything to be embarrassed about as this draw was totally unexpected. A boring game and things hooted up when finland midfielder Jari Litmanen scored the goal and a minute after the goal we get to see the miracle as substitute Michele Polverino gave this country a great success.

To end this post I will give you the biggest surprise of the day. Get ready! Feroe Islands versus Lithuania 2-1. Yes, the same Lithuania that defeated Romania with 3-0 in the first match of the qualifiers for the World Cup. How did this happen? Well, in the 13th minute the miracle occurred as Suni Olsed opened for Foroe. Latter the Lithuanians couldn’t stand the humiliation and they hit back with Tomas Danilevicus in the 22 minute of the game through a penalty. The humiliation was complete when in the 34th minute Arnbiorn Hanses gave the advantage for his side with a goal that sealed the game. What a surprise!

More news about sports in future posts. Enjoy!

Intent on delivering

Today I have decided to open a new category to make my blog a little more diverse. I have always been a great fan of sports and I watch them and practice them whenever I have free time to do so. As journalist in Romania, when it comes to sports,  have decided to stick to the more scandalous subjects of sports and refuse to report the real interests that the subject has to offer (results, transfers, achievements etc. ), I have decided to open this category to show that real information and good investigations can be offered .

As this is the first blog I just want to give you a sneak preview about what the following post will be about:

1. I intend to write about the situation of the Romanian handball player Marian Cozma and his tragic tale.

2. I would like to writte about the situation of Romania football player Adrian Mutu and the law suit against Chelsea and the English Federation.

After I have presented these two stories I intend to provide you with more interesting subjects from Romanian and worldwide sports. Bare in mind that most of them will be from the field of football.