Soccer Blog|Football News, Reviews, Quizzes

Spurs were making their first appearance in the final since 2002, when they lost 1-2 to Blackburn Rovers. Rovers thrashed Bolton 4-1 today, but that is a story for another time :D. Chelsea on the other hand, were defending the title that they had won by beating Arsenal 2-1 last year, and were playing in their third final in four years.

Avram Grant chose to start with Anelka and Drogba upfront.He left the likes of Alex, Ballack and Joe Cole, who scored the winner in the semifinal against Everton, on the bench. Spurs started with Keane and Berbatov upfront, with Hutton, Woodgate, King and Chimbonda at the back. Malbranque, Zokora, Jenas and Lennon played in the middle. And not to mention, Paul Robinson in goal.
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Ramos vs Grant

Tottenham vs Chelsea

One London club will walk away with silverware.

The question is- WHO ?

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The title sounds a bit lame, but that was what I could cook up just now

Some of you might have already heard about the Marion Jones controversy. Jones, a triple gold medallist at the Sydney Olympic Games admitted to using performance enhancing drugs. 2006 Tour De France winner Floyd Landis was stripped of his title after tests revealed an abnormally high level of testesterone.
Why does sports ban steroid and drug usage ? It is simply because we believe in a level playing field for competitors, but certain steroids can result in an increase in the endurance and speed of an athlete.

A few other examples, especially from the field of soccer

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Tottenham and Chelsea will slog it out for the Carling Cup final today. Had Spurs not beaten Arsenal in the semis, Eduardo Da Silva would have probably been able to avoid the horrendous injury that occurred in the third minute of the Arsenal- Birmingham League Cup game. Blues defender Martin Taylor was sent off for the challenge on the Brazilian born Croatian striker, with both Arsenal and Birmingham players looking stunned as Eduardo received medical treatment on the pitch for nearly 7-8 minutes before being stretchered off
After initially saying that Taylor should never play football again, Arsene Wenger later retracted his statement.

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This is the second of our three part article on steroids. Much of what we have read in newspapers would have been about the negative aspects of steroids. Let us have a look at both the positive and negative points of using steroids.

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Think you know everything about the African Cup of Nations, the premier competition for football in Africa ? Take the quiz below. Consists of basic questions. Quiz 2 will be medium, and quiz 3 is bound to make you Google for the answer, if 1 and 2 do not do that.

1.) How many editions of the African Cup of Nations have been held till date ? ( Including the 2006 one)

2.) When was the first AFCON held ? Who hosted it ?

3.) Which nation holds the record for most AFCON titles ?

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The relation between sports and steroids is well known. Be it baseball, cycling, athletics or some other sport, reading news about players using performance enhancing drugs is not new for many of us. We will be bringing out a three part article on steroids, what they exactly are, their legal and not so legal uses.

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Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing has put pen to paper a new deal which will see him stay at the Riverside for the next five years. The 23 year old left winger was rumoured not to be happy with the way the club were progressing, and was linked in the press with a move to Tottenham Hotspur in the winter transfer window.

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Here are the results from the fifth round of the F.A. Cup.

Bristol Rovers 1-0 Southampton ( Rickie Lambert) 

A freekick in the 84th minute from birthday boy Rickie Lambert is enough to send the Saints out of the tournament.

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A weekend derby just after the 50th anniversary of the Munich air crash. Emotion was running high in the United camp and the Red Devils were expected to notch up another win to go ahead of Arsenal and deal City’s chances of European football a jolt.

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This isn’t a review, but a list of the major facts. Also check how other English managers did in their first game ( at the bottom of this post).
Game- England vs Switzerland

Venue- Wembley

Date- February 6, 2008

Score - 2-1 to England

Goalscorers - Jermaine Jenas, Eren Derdiyok, Shaun Wright Phillips  ( in that order)

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This seems to be very interesting news. The Premier League is contemplating to have a round of games abroad. The move to increase the number of matches per team/ season to 39 was given the thumbs up signal by all 20 Premiership clubs.

Although this unlikely to materialise before 2011, the news has already evoked mixed reactions from the footballing community.

BBC sports editor Mihir Bose views it as a logical move ( see BBC report), while several others have clearly expressed that they do not approve of the plan .

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Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Munich crash that resulted in the deaths of eight members of the victorious Manchester United side who were returning home from Yugoslavia after a European Cup match. Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor, David Pegg, Liam Whelan, Eddie Colman, Geoff Bent, Mark Jones and Roger Byrne were those unfortunate eight. Other members, such as the legendary Bobby Charlton and manager Matt Busby survived a crash that probably extinguished England’s hopes to end Real Madrid’s winning streak in Europe.

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Manchester United were fined 25,000 pounds by the FA for having greater than six players booked in the game against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. Seven United and three Spurs players were awarded yellows by referee Mark Clattenburg in an ill tempered game that saw United salvage a point thanks to Carlos Tevez’s late strike.

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Here are the games to be played in the fifth round of the FA Cup ( February 16 and 17).

16 teams in all

6 from the Premiership- Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Middlesbrough, Portsmouth
8 from the Championship- Southampton, Coventry, West Brom, Preston North End, Wolves, Sheffield United, Barnsley, Cardiff City
2 from League One- Huddersfield Town, Bristol Rovers

Manchester United vs Arsenal

Bristol Rovers vs Southampton

Liverpool vs Barnsley

PNE vs Portsmouth

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