Category: Uncategorized

LIVERPOOL LADIES WIN

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Liverpool Ladies recently managed to beat Sunderland 2-1 in the FA women’s cup, which ensured their progress into the semifinals of the competition. However, Liverpool captain Gemma Bonner has said that there is still a lot of room for improvement within the team. She has said that the team are certainly not the finished article yet. Liverpool signed as much as 12 players during the transfer window in order to strengthen the team. Gemma Bonner was one of the high-profile rivals to the club in the winter.

They have done this raft of signings in order to improve the team, which has been struggling in the FA Women’s Super League. As a result of the huge number of signings, there are expected to challenge for the title this season. Bonner was signed from Chelsea after two successful seasons with the West London outfit. The 21-year-old has said that there is still a long way to go before Liverpool can be considered as title contenders. Since the start of the new season, the club has managed to victories and a draw.

However, the victory against Sunderland was a hollow one because they were playing against a team one division below them, but they still could not dominate the match. Liverpool’s England midfielder Fara Williams has said that the team struggled to take the opportunities against Sunderland.

“I think we’ve a long way to go yet. Against Sunderland we weren’t at our best, but we’ve come away with the result. We need to push on and improve to get the best out of us. I don’t think we approached the game any different. Sunderland are a great side and are used to winning games. So all credit to them, they gave us a test. We needed to stand up and be counted and we stuck at it and we came away with the result,” said Bonner.

STONEY HAPPY WITH FRIENDLIES

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The captain of the England Women’s national football team, Casey Stoney, has said that she is very happy that her team will play the friendly matches against Japan and Canada before the European Championship finals which will take place in July.

England will first face Canada on 7th of April at Rotherham and then, will face Japan on 26th of June at Burton.

When asked about those two upcoming friendly matches, Stoney said, “It’s great that we will face a couple of very strong teams before such a big tournament.”

“Canada had defeated us in the Olympics. But, they hadn’t outplayed us in that match. We had our chances, but, we couldn’t capitalize on them. We have learnt a lot from that match and now, we are ready to avenge that loss.”

“Japan is a very strong side. They have a lot of class players and they are one of the best sides in the world at the moment. So, if we manage to defeat them, it will certainly make us more confident before the European Championship finals.”

“We had defeated Japan in the group stages of the World Cup 2011 and we are capable of doing that again.”

England had beaten Japan by 2-0 in a Group B match played at Impuls Arena, Augsburg on 5th July, 2011.

Before these two friendly matches, the England team will take part in the Cyprus Cup which is going to be played Next month. In that tournament, England will play against New Zealand, Italy and Scotland in the group stages.

When asked about her team’s chances in the Cyprus Cup, Stoney said, “We had won this competition in 2009 and we can do that again if we play up to our potential. But, right now, we are concentrating only on the group matches. First, we want to qualify for the knock out stages and then, we will see from there.”

NEPAL LADIES DO IT

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Nepal women football team has defeated Kuwait in an International friendly match played at Qadisiya Stadium, Hawaii. The Nepalese team won the match by a huge margin of 8-0. The Kuwait team was completely outclassed in front of its home ground. The Nepalese players were in fine form and they played better than the expectations. The margin with which Nepal won clearly suggests that it was a one sided encounter.

The Nepal team has visited Kuwait to play a couple of friendly games. The first of them was played here today. The other one will be played on Monday.

The Nepal team was playing without its skipper and star player Jamuna Gurung. Gurung was out because of the injury that she had discovered while playing in the National Women’s League three weeks back. In her absence, the team was led by Chandra Bhandari.

The Nepal team was on attack right from the very beginning. The first goal was scored in the very first minute of the match by Sanjana. The lead was doubled just after a few minutes with the goal of Anu Lama. Thereafter, the Nepal team didn’t let Kuwait settle down at all.  They kept on attacking and kept finding the net at regular intervals.

Anu Lama was the stand out performer for Nepal in the match. She found the net on four occasions and took the match out of the reach of the Kuwaiti team. Apart from Anu, the other players who scored goals for the Nepal team in the match were Sanjana, Dipa Adhakari, Chandra Bhandari and Laxmi Poudel.

After the match, the skipper of Nepal, Chandra Bhandari said, “It’s a great win for us. We generally don’t get opportunity to play too many international games. So, we were looking forward to performing well on this tour. We have started brilliantly. Hopefully, we will carry on this form in the second match as well.”

In the papers: Liverpool

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After Liverpool’s shock 3-2 defeat to Udinese on Thursday evening, it’s no surprise to see that most of the newspapers are concentrating on that loss. Other than that there is very little to see amongst Friday’s reports and the fact that a new sponsorship deal is one of the top four stories speaks volumes about the slow news day.

There is at least one big piece of transfer speculation to report on, with Cottagers Confidential reporting that Fulham defender Brede Hangeland is on the radar of both Liverpool and Arsenal. The source is reporting that the player is a prime target for both clubs, due to his precarious contract which expires at the end of the current campaign. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that Hangeland has been at the centre of speculation regarding his future, with the Gunners known to be long-term admirers of the Norwegian. The fact that this has originated from a Fulham-based source at least indicates that there could be an element of truth in the matter.

However, that really is the sole piece of main news and the remainder of the stories are somewhat minor. The first surrounds a partnership with Misli.com, with Hurriyet Daily News announcing that the Reds will embark on a sponsorship agreement that will see Misli become the club’s official betting partner for Turkey.

In slightly more exciting news, Irish club Donegal have strongly denied that they have received an approach for their manager Jim McGuinness by the Reds. It had been reported that Brendan Rodgers wanted to appoint McGuinness as a sports psychologist at the club, yet the Irish Times are reporting that a deal is a long way from being reached and McGuinness will stay with Donegal for the time being. Of course, such a move certainly wouldn’t be too bizarre, with McGuiness holding an MSc in sport psychology from John Moore’s university.

ARSENAL WOMEN GO THROUGH

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The Arsenal women’s team managed to secure the place in the last 16 of the women’s Champions league by beating the Spanish club Barcelona 4-0 on the night and 7-0 on aggregate. It was an impressive result for the Arsenal team that still remain unbeaten in the league and look on course to win the title. Jennifer Beattie scored an impressive hat-trick in the match, while the other goal was scored by Kim Little. It was a very good performance from Arsenal, who managed to prevent Barcelona from even getting a single shot on target. As a result of this convincing victory, they now progress to the last 16 stage of the Champions League.

Speaking after the match, the Arsenal manager Laura Harvey has said that she is extremely happy with the result and cannot ask for more from the players. Arsenal came into the match after having won the first leg 3-0 in Spain. As a result, they were the clear favourites to get into the next round, but this amazing score is a bit of a surprise according to the Arsenal manager. Lyon come into the competition as the defending champions and the final will be taking place at Stamford Bridge.

“I was pleased for Jennifer. She was very sharp when she went on. In the first half we played like a team who didn’t have to go the extra mile because we’d started with a three-goal cushion. But we went into the second half with a nil-nil attitude and it was a clinical performance that brought us a well-deserved win. If you go on Potsdam’s reputation we’ll lose, but I don’t think they’re quite the force they were. I honestly believe we’ve got a fantastic opportunity to make history,” said the Arsenal manager Laura Harvey after the match.

WOMEN ARRIVE TO CHEERS

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The Canadian women’s soccer team arrived to great cheering from the crowd after they have the recently won the bronze medal at the London Olympics 2012. Erin McLeod was one of the important members of the team that was successful. She has said that the success has earned her a lot of compliments like a free coffee at Starbucks. She has said that she cannot complain and is extremely happy to have lifted the bronze medal at the London Olympics. Erin McLeod was amongst the other members of the Canadian women’s soccer team that won the bronze medal.

She was signing autographs for very large group of fans who had joined in to catch a glimpse of the stars at the BMO field. The men’s team would be taking on panama in the World Cup qualifying match, but it was quite clear who was the star attraction ahead of the match. The defender Rhian Wilkinson said that she did not have the chance to experience the welcoming at the airport because she came a day later. The Canadian women’s team lost in the semifinals of the tournament to United States, and they have said that they were extremely disappointed to lose at this stage.

“I get recognized. Sometimes I get free coffees at Starbucks. I can’t complain about that. The reaction has been overwhelming. People have been recognizing us all over the place and I think it’s really cool for women’s sport. I think tonight is really awesome. I remember growing up with no female role models. I think it was incredible what they were able to accomplish and what it meant for the country. I think the country will see the benefits of that [on the field] in five or 10 years,” said Erin McLeod.