Soccer Blog|Football News, Reviews, Quizzes

Date : May 30

Venue : Telstra Dome, Melbourne, Australia

Fixture : Melbourne Victory vs Juventus.

It is a game that has Victory officials licking their lips in anticipation, with the A- League side rumoured to get around 40% of the gate receipts. Apparently, the Newcastle Jets also made an attempt to bring Juventus Down Under for a friendly, but failed.

While several Juventus players like Buffon, Iaquinta and Del Piero may not make the trip because of national team commitments, one can be sure of seeing players like Pavel Nedved and Mohammed Sissoko in action.
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Football’s world governing body FIFA has allowed the Swiss Football Federation to register Essam El Hadary as a FC Sion player. The Egyptian goalkeeper, 35, has been the subject of a tug of war between Al Ahly and the Swiss club. The FIFA ruling however does not stop the Egyptian giants from taking legal action against the player or the club.
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Gary Megson’s Bolton Wanderers were saved by a Kevin Davies goal as they beat West Ham United 1-0 at the Reebok. Davies’ goal came just after the break, and was the 100th goal of his career. Unfortunately, Davies also earned a booking for unsporting behaviour in the second half, which means Bolton will have to do with his services for a while as they fight to stay afloat in the Premiership.
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The Portuguese BWINLiga may have already have been won by Porto, but drama is still unfolding in the Iberian nation. According to news reports, the players of Boavista, who are currently 10th in the league with 32 points, have not been paid for the last two months.

The players have reportedly asked for their pay cheques to be handed over to them by Friday, April 18, failing which they will not play the league game against Nacional on Sunday. Portuguese law demands that employees give five days’ notice before striking.

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Liverpool 4-2 Arsenal

Abou Diaby (13)

Sami Hyypia (30)

Fernando Torres (69)

Emmanuel Adebayor (84)

Steven Gerrard ( p) (86)

Ryan Babel (90)

*- Bold indicates Liverpool player.

Even if you are a Liverpool supporter, take a moment to clap for Arsenal. Arsene Wenger’s young guns played extremely well, and were the better side over the two legs. But as it so often happens, the better team does not necessarily progress; the luckier team does. And that, precisely, is how I’d describe Liverpool getting into the last four of the Champions League.

Benitez chose to start with both Crouch and Torres, thereby forcing Gerrard to play on the left.

And for the first thirty minutes, it was all Arsenal. Liverpool did not have the time to get settled as Arsenal pounded away relentlessly in search of the crucial away goal. After all, Liverpool had drawn 1-1 at the Emirates Stadium, and they were quite capable of enforcing a shutout.

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Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool ( Adebayor/ Kuyt)

Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool ( Bendtner/ Crouch)

Liverpool ?- ? Arsenal

Yes folks, Arsenal and Liverpool meet for the third time in a week, and this one is probably the most important of them all, with a spot in the last four of the Champions League at stake.

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Cardiff City, the only non English club to win the FA Cup, may be able to play in Europe next season if they can lift the trophy by beating Portsmouth in Wembley. The Championship side eliminated giantkillers Barnsley, who had knocked out both Liverpool and Chelsea earlier, in the semifinals by beating them 1-0, with Joe Ledley scoring. The Bluebirds had also beaten Middlesbrough in the sixth round. Under FA rules, the winners of the FA Cup get a UEFA Cup spot. But as Cardiff are a Welsh side, the Football Association are apparently not willing to accept them as one of England’s representatives.

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Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia has signed an extension to his contract at the Emirates Stadium. The duration of the extension is not known, but it is rumoured to be long term  and not a short one. Arsenal do not reveal information about player contracts.
Almunia has become Arsenal’s No.1 under the sticks, relegating German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann to the bench.

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