USA’s impressive run to the last 16 of the World Cup in Brazil this summer enhanced the team’s growing reputation, while they caught the attention of people back home like never before.
Huge crowds gathered in cities across the States to watch Jurgen Klinsmann’s men in action on big screens as soccer fever hit the country during the tournament and took the sport’s popularity there to probably its highest-ever level. Continue reading →
The English Premier League is almost upon us and ahead of the new season Betfair has put together a handy preview of the opening weekend’s fixtures.
The short video has been designed to give fans and sports betting punters the latest news, previous results and information on whether teams such as Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United can win their opening fixtures. Continue reading →
Lionel Messi will once more be at the cover of the FIFA title. The Argentine sensation graced the box back in the 2013 and 2014 edition of the game and now it has been announced that he will at it for the 3rd consecutive time. The star of Barcelona was also named as the best player of the 2014 World Cup even though he failed to win the prestigious trophy as well as failing to score the maximum amount of goals during the tournament; he was still elected to be the player to win the Golden Ball for the worldwide event.
All of these distinguished accomplishments have raised the question concerning the next FIFA Ballon d’Or which will be awarded to the best player during the past campaign and even though Lionel Messi did not manage on pushing Argentina through the finals and defeat Germany, the media is still recognizing him.
Compared to his rival C.Ronaldo, the Portuguese star did not go through such an impressive campaign after being knocked out of the 2014 World Cup in the early stages of the tournament but his real accomplishments were made with his club Real Madrid as he was one of the main players behind the success of the Spanish club (according to the PlainSailing.com website) that managed to lift the Copa del Rey and the Champions League title.
The 2014 FIFA Ballon d’Or is more than 4 months away but fans and even managers are already taking an inclination towards who they think is going to win it this time around. The list of nominees has already been released and it includes the likes of: Gareth Bale, Edinson Cavani, Falcao, Eden Hazard, Thiago Silva and a number of other high profile players from around the world but the real competition that has been being played for the past years is Messi and C.Ronaldo.
C.Ronaldo will have a hard task defending the trophy as Lionel Messi will be returning to Barcelona thirsty for glory and with the arrival of Luis Suarez; the Argentinean is going to have another world class player that can help him achieve even more glory and success.
Sunderland are in the rock bottom position of the Premier league with just four matches remaining for a majority of the clubs. Due to this position, it is widely anticipated that they would return to the Championship after several years in the top flight. This would see the club undergone several changes in terms of players and management. They would be unlikely to offer players the same amount of wages in the championship even with significant amount of parachute payment.
As a result, Arsenal goalkeeper Vito Mannone, who is on a loan deal till the end of the season, will have to wait until summer in order to make the move permanent according to manager Gus Poyet. Mannone has impressed a lot during his loan spell at the club and Sunderland revealed earlier in the campaign that they would like to make the move permanent. However, the club have been unable to get out of relegation trouble even after the appointment of Poyet. They also have eight players out of contract in the summer.
The manager has confirmed that the club are not conducting talks with any players right now since they want to be clear about their position in the next few months. If Sunderland stay up, then they may extended the contract of most players.
“I think Vito knows that we’ve got eight who are out of contract and loan players, so he’ll have to wait until September. That’s natural. We had our intentions (with out-of-contract players) and they didn’t work out. We’ve stopped now and there’s no more talks with anyone,” said the manager, whose arrival at the start of the season has failed to turn things around. The club are already seven points adrift of safety, but they do have two matches in hand over their nearest rivals.
The 4th spot of the Premier League is being tightly contested between Arsenal and Everton. The club that manages on securing the spot will give them a chance to play against the best clubs that Europe has to offer as they will be playing in the Champions League for the upcoming season.
Arsenal are currently 1 point ahead of Everton but Roberto Martinez insisted in saying that the race is not over and his squad still has a chance of getting into the top tier league of Europe. Continue reading →
Manuel Pellegrini secured his 1st major trophy with Manchester City when his squad defeated Sunderland on the finals of the Capital One Cup. The Wembley Stadium was set for both teams to lock horns and an early goal from Fabio Borini gave Sunderland the lead just after 10 minutes had passed but City got back in the game when Toure and Nasri scored at the 55th and 56th minute respectively and Jesus Navas sealed it off for Manchester City.
Yaya Toure’s equalizer was important not only for Manchester City but his career as well. The former Barcelona player confessed that it was the best goal that he has ever scored.
The Ivorian midfielder launched a thunderous shot from over 25 yards away that got its way into the top corner of Vito Mannone’s net. From there on out Manchester City started pushing forward and seemed to be energized by the memorable goal that Toure’s goal.
When Toure was asked if his goal against Sunderland was the best of his career, he replied:
“I think yes. It was important as well and it was fantastic and Samir scored a fantastic goal as well and I think we played very well today and deserved to win. It was unbelievable. We needed to win today, it was very important,”
“Sunderland made it difficult for us in the first half, but I think it’s unbelievable and we deserve it. The final is only one game, you need to enjoy it and you need to win it and I think today we showed we are a great team and we showed we can go until the end of the season.” Toure added.
With less than 11 Premier League matches left to be played before the champion can be announced, clubs have to pick up momentum in order to finish the campaign in a positive note and this will be even tougher for Manchester City as they have to face off against Manchester United, Arsenal, Southampton and Liverpool on successive weeks.