After hundereds of millions spent and endless speculation, Manchester City have made their biggest statement yet in the EPL.  Earlier today City defeated league leaders Chelsea 2-1 in Manchester.  Chelsea have been extremely dominant lately (currently considered by many to be the best team in the world).  Adebayor began the scoring a goal for both teams within 37 minutes.  Carlos Tevez finished the scoring after halftime with a beautiful freekick and Frank Lampard missed a penalty opportunity in the 83rd.  Manchester had set a Premier League record with seven consecutive draws but they have been especially impressive this week with 2 wins and 2 impressive showings from Tevez.  City are out of the hunt for Premier League title but, this win will help the club’s confidence as well as the chances of their cross-town rival to win the league.

By Joe, www.Bettingexpert.com

Adebayor created all the headlines for the wrong reason in the recent tie. Could he be back with some more?

Midweek football and this time it’s the quarterfinals for the Carling Cup. Arsenal will travel to Manchester City Wednesday evening in order to fight it out for a place in the semifinal. Both sides have recently distant themselves from the Premiership title and it looks likely they will have to find some silverware this season elsewhere.

Manchester City reached the quarterfinals by beating Scunthorpe 5-1 at home in the last round. A few of their key players played that night, Stephan Ireland, Carlos Tevez and Lescott were presented that night. Manager Mark Hughes will most likely deploy a more or less first eleven with a few bench players given a rare start like Roque Santa Cruz. The Saudi own club wants to win all the silverware they can get this season and the League Cup could be their realistic target for now.

The Gunners will have to find their spirits in order to overcome one of the richest clubs in England. They lost 3-0 in the weekend to Chelsea at the Emirates and the title hopes could have also dashed as Manager Arsene Wenger further complained about his injury list causalities. Wenger will be sticking to his policy in fielding his youngest so expect players like Vela, Eduardo, Denilson, Walcott, Ramsey and Fabianksi to start. Arsenal excels in the Carling Cup and they can’t be underestimated in this competition. There will be no Van Persie, Clichy, Sagna, Bendtner, Gibbs or Diaby.

The dilemma lies with Manchester City’s boss, does he field a strong team and get embarrassed by Arsenal under-18 team or field a weaker side and lose to the Gunners? Arsenal beat Liverpool 2-1 to get the quarterfinals so whoever Wenger fields on the day could well do the job. The Gunners youngsters are well hungry for some silverware and the question for the City, are you? The last time these two teams met in the Carling Cup at the Manchester City stadium, Arsenal won 2-1 and advance through to the next round.

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Márcio Braga é uma daquelas figuras que fala mais do que a boca.

O presidente do Flalido gosta de se aparecer em muitos momentos para ironizar quem ele bem entende.

Como todos sabem, no domingo o Flalido tem a obrigação de conseguir os três pontos diante do Coringão.

Justo Márcio Braga vem todo mansinho e diz:

“O Corinthians é um irmão para nós e com certeza estará na nossa torcida, assim como estaríamos se fosse o contrário. Mas, dentro de campo, eles vão defender a honra e não vão facilitar”.

Jura, Márcio Braga, o Corinthians é um irmão?

O senhor lembra o que disse a respeito de Carlitos Tevez?

Bom, para quem não se lembra, o vídeo acima é mais um dos aperitivos para o clássico de domingo.

Esse papo de “irmão” é conversa fiada.

Quando o Corinthians conseguiu contratar Ronaldo, o Flalido ficou descontrolado…

Brigou com a Nike e tudo.

Agora só faltam pedir de joelhos: “Nos ajude, Corinthians…”

With Rich doing the weekend preview (and I have to agree, it’s great having the domestic games back), I think it’s more sensible for me to be choosing a single game from the Premier League fixtures, one with something interesting going on compared to the others, and do a bit of an analytical preview of it. And I think most would agree that whilst Man Utd v Everton and Sunderland v Arsenal could well throw up a couple of surprises, the big game of the weekend is Saturday’s early kick-off between Liverpool and Manchester City, or as I call them in the title, the ‘will they won’t they’ teams of this seasons Premier League campaign.

Neither side is having a particularly strong run at the moment, despite the pre-season hype about both sets of players. Manchester City were the new, exciting, stupidly rich side that could only finish fourth at least. And, as usual, Liverpool were being tipped for the title more so than the other sides in real contention for the League. And it really seems like both are out to prove both analysts and media outlets wrong.

Is it fair to say that Liverpool are out of the title race already? Maybe not. But based on their current performance, and current squad depth, even the match fitness of Alberto Aquilani does not appear to be the solution to all of Liverpool’s problems. After making a fairly indifferent start to the season (beating Stoke, Burnley and Hull comfortably at home, but barely looking competitive when losing to Spurs away and Villa at home), things went from bad to worse, losing four in a row in all competitions (Fiorentina, Chelsea, Sunderland and Lyon). If it had not been for the fixture listing, which luckily gave them Manchester United after those defeats, their poor form could have continued.

But how does a side go from losing four consecutive games, to beating the Champions with relative ease, despite missing their captain? It’s almost nonsensical. But true to their situation, they went from there to lose at Fulham, draw with Lyon, effectively ending their Champions League campaign, and drawing at home to recently promoted Birmingham. For them, this is a must-win game, not only to get their season back on track, not only to prove the critics wrong, not only to peg back one of their ‘title rivals’ in City, but to show that they can win big games when missing one of their two key players (Gerrard is apparently fit, but their only other goal threat in Torres is out). Can Liverpool actually play well, dominate and win games without one or the other? And without Carragher in the back four? We’ll see.

Man City on the other hand had a remarkable start to the season, showing signs of a top-four finish, but have since started to dip, with five consecutive draws in the Premier League. They are also hit with a few injuries, with Barry and Bellamy probably playing, Robinho probably not, and in-form Martin Petrov definitely not. But you would expect a team who spent as much as they did in the summer, they should be able to cope without these players for a couple of games.

However, in the long term, is all that harmonious at Eastlands? Robinho has (according to Santa Cruz) articulated his desire to play for Barcelona at some point, and although City don’t need the money, the one thing that side does not need is an unhappy player causing problems in the dressing room. I’m sure Mark Hughes knows this, and whilst he might be telling the media on a daily basis that Robinho is staying, just to push his ego as head of a great club that bit further (seriously, how much of a knobhead has he become?), in the end I believe we will be seeing Robinho head to the Catalan giants if not in January, then certainly the summer. And might this season be the last season for Carlos Tevez, who has declared that if the Argies win the World Cup, he may well retire from football, due to him being sick of it. Well worth the £25m+ for a player who hates the sport eh? I’d be happy for Argentina to win the World Cup, just so Man City have wasted their money on a player who really hasn’t performed.

But in the short term, Man City need to get a win in the bank, and what better place than Anfield. Yes it’s on the road, which is hardly their speciality, but Liverpool are missing more key players, and after seeing them in person, Man City can sure move the ball quickly on the counter, which could suit them perfectly tomorrow lunchtime. I’m hoping we’ll see more than a boring defensive showdown, with both sides wanting, believing they can win, and actively seeking to score more goals than the other.

But I’ll be the boring bastard and take the safe option. Rich has stuck his neck out in predicting a Liverpool win, but I’ll go against both him and Lawro (dangerous territory I know). 1-1.

Hace un poco mas de 3 años atrás tomé la desición que iba a ir al Mundial de Sudáfrica. Estaba con mis amigos viendo el partido de Argentina contra Serbia y Montenegro, y Carlitos Tevez hizo una jugada que me dejó algo muy en claro: no podía ser que esas cosas estaban pasando y yo estaba a miles de kilómetros.

A partir de ese momento que estoy en campaña. Sufrí muchisimo la clasificación, pero ahora con el los partidos con Perú y Uruguay como una agradable recuerdo, puedo ponerme a escribir como voy a hacer para irme al Mundial de Sudafrica 2010.

Les dejo el gol de Carlitos para que vean que fue lo que me motivó

Muy buenas  a todos! Como habrán comprobado, en las últimas semanas he tenido el blog un poco abandonado. Me siento poco inspirado, y no veo que salgan historias curiosas de las que me gusta escribir a mí. No me gusta resumir un partido, ni hablar de las típicas cosas que se hablan en el AS o el Marca, para eso lees el AS y el Marca y listo. A mi me gusta hablar de historias curiosas, cosas del mundo del fútbol que no se lean en los diarios, o entresijos del negocio del fútbol. Lo que he pensado es que intentaré escribir un mínimo de una o dos veces por semana. En los primeros meses del blog escribía casi todos los días, por no decir todos, pero estaba claro que el ritmo era muy difícil de seguir. Espero que lo entiendan!

Bueno, hoy me gustaría empezar comentando una noticia que ha salido recientemente, sobre los pensamientos de Carlitos Tévez de dejar el fútbol después del mundial. Sinceramente no creo que lo haga, pero no me parecería mal. El Apache  tiene solo 25 años, pero lleva jugando como profesional desde los 17 años. Dice estar cansado del fútbol, y sobre todo de no tener tiempo de disfrutar de la vida y de su familia. Teniendo en cuenta que ya desde que llegó a Inglaterra tenía un salario de 4.2 millones de euros, suponemos que ha amasado en su carrera al menos 12 millones de euros (llegó hace tres años) sin contar primas, selección, y derechos de imagen. A lo que voy es que si el chico está desmotivado, aburrido de su trabajo, y con ganas de disfrutar de la vida, ¿por qué no dejarlo y disfrutar sus millones? Está claro que es difícil de entender, renunciar a ganar millones y millones más (le quedan unos 10 años de fútbol, a 4 millones al año, renunciaría a cobrar 40 millones durante los próximos 10 años) pero si ya es millonario, para qué quiere más?

Un caso parecido es el del brasileño Adriano. Rescindió su contrato con el Inter, donde cobraba 5 millones de euros al año, y regresó a Brasil, donde pasó cerca de dos meses sabáticos sin jugar al fútbol. Finalmente aceptó una oferta del Flamengo, para volver a jugar al fútbol. El club carioca recurrió a un patrocinador para pagar el sueldo del jugador. Le cedió a dicho patrocinador los derechos de imagen del jugador a cambio de una importante suma de dinero que ayudara a pagar la ficha, que en cualquier caso es mucho menor que la que cobraba en el Inter.

No conozco ningún caso de jugadores que se hayan retirado antes de tiempo, aunque hay algunos que podrían haber seguido jugando un par de años más, como es el caso de Zidane, o Figo.

By Joe, www.Bettingexpert.com

Torres could set to return to face Manchester City in Anfield. The Spaniard would not mind scoring against City again.

Liverpool could not have asked a better time for the International break to intervene as their squad is struggling to knock off injuries and a string of disappointing results. They were the last Premiership team to play a game a fortnight ago and now they will have the honor to start the Premiership fixture as they face Manchester City at Anfield in a Saturday early afternoon kickoff. Both teams are in search for the three points to keep up with Chelsea at the top of the table.

Manager Rafa Benitez must be pinching himself just to make sure whether the injuries crisis situation with his squad is real. He lost Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera for there to four week after getting injured in the 2-2 draw against Birmingham. Steven Gerrard made a comeback that night and he is expected to return against Manchester City. There is some doubts over Glen Johnsen, Daniel Agger and Fernando Torres as all of them have withdrew from national duties to nurse their injury. Jamie Carragher will return from his suspension and Fabio Aurelio is still out injured. Every game for Liverpool will be a FA cup feel to it as they trail league leaders, Chelsea, by 10 points. Benitez will have to come up with the good against Manchester City or else the next year’s Champions League spot could also be in danger.

Manchester City have drawn four of their last premiership matches and they could continue this streak at Anfield Road this Saturday. Manager Mark Hughes will look to change this trend City have embarked on. Their last match against Burnley revealed their defense loses concentration and marginal defensive errors which cost hem the victory. Hughes is hoping that star player Robinho could return to first team action and if not, there will be many others prepared to take his place. Martin Petrov, Craig Bellamy, Robinho, Nedum Onuoha and Benjani are all ruled out.

Liverpool looks more and more desperate each time they go on the field. Hopefully the Reds will be able to put out their strongest team to regain their last season’s good form. Manchester City will not worry too much of the issue Liverpool is dealing with, they will focus on their play and try to continue their quest in breaking into the big 4 domination in the Premiership. A win for either team could get their season on the way. Liverpool looks likely to fight for their lives to keep their hopes up.

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Copa do Mundo foi feita para torcer pela pátria, amigos. Mas que atire a primeira pedra quem nunca torceu por outra seleção por causa de um craque.

Percebi isso na madrugada deste sábado, quando, já passada a meia noite, Lugano marcou o gol do Uruguai diante da Costa Rica pela repescagem e ouvi gritos na janela. Claro que não eram uruguaios dominando o país; eram, certamente, são paulinos orgulhosos de seu ídolo.

Diego Lugano é jogador de raça, força, determinação. Marcou (curta) época no Tricolor e ganhou milhões de fãs tupiniquins. Estranho? Pode até ser, mas não chega nem aos pés do que vive Tévez: amado por argentinos, ingleses e corintianos. Já presenciei brasileiros torcendo para os hermanos só por causa de Carlitos!

Eu mesmo já virei a casaca algumas vezes. Já torci pela Romênia de Hagi, pela Holanda de Bergkamp, pela Espanha de Luis Enrique, pela Bélgica do goleiraço Preud’homme. É incrível o que o fascínio por um único jogador pode levar um torcedor a fazer.

Você compra camisa, assiste a jogos bizarros, coloca o cara na seleção da Copa (e seus amigos te xingam aos quilos)… me lembro até hoje que, na Copa de 94, minha seleção, de Seleção com S maiúsculo, só tinha Romário. Era belga no gol, zaga italiana e sueca, meio romeno-búlgaro-holandês, uma festa. Até hoje ecoam os gritos de burro na minha mente.

Mas quando ouço um gaiato, lá pela madrugada, gritar um gol de Lugano, me sinto normal. Afinal, quem nunca virou a casaca por um ídolo?

Postado por: Henrique Rojas.

Como esto de postear en domingo creo que está prohibido por alguna religión, y mi señora tiene preparada ya una comida de las que no se salta un gitano, seré más que breve.

La escabechina de ayer en el Calderón (así será recordada la puesta en escena de Maradona), tiene para mí una lectura nada más. La de un equipo que lucha contra su propia desnaturalización (a alguno le sonará esto). Y es que Maradona ha logrado lo imposible. No sólo despojar a la albiceleste de un estilo de juego sino también de la fe, histórico estandarte del fútbol argentino.

El único rival que tuvo ayer Argentina su propia camiseta. El peso de dos mundiales y ni se sabe cuántas Copas Libertdores. El catálogo de patadas (alguna de roja, como la de Collocini a Iniesta), que desplegaron ayer los del Pelusa fue el arrebato de quien se ve atrapado en las arenas movedizas y agita los brazos para tratar de escapar.

O vuelve a su ser la mejor Argentina de los últimos 25 años (Tévez, Messi, Agüero, Mascherano…), o empiezo a quedarme sin rivales para el Mundial. Bueno, siempre nos quedará Brasil.

Manchester City a aliniat o aparare inchegata din 58 de milioane lire sterline dar tot a incasat trei goluri pe teren propriu de la nou-promovata cu cel mai mic buget si din cel mai mic oras reprezentat in Premier League. Iar al treilea gol, al mijlocasului scotian Kevin McDonald, abia intrat in teren, a condamnat echipa lui Mark Hughes la a cincea remiza la rand.

3-3 acasa cu Burnley, ce incasase 17 goluri in precedentele 5 deplasari de la sosirea in elita, nu suna deloc bine pentru “miliardara” City. Cu acest bilant recent a zburat Hughes si neselectionabilii sai la loturi nationale in Dubai, pentru un intermezzo cu scop de pregatire si reincarcare a bateriilor. Prilej cu care proprietarul azuriilor, seicul Mansour, isi va vedea pentru prima oara jucaria la lucru, intr-un amical cu nationala gazda.

Hughes se va scuza in Golf cum a tot repetat in declaratiile sale, ca echipa are nevoie de timp pentru a se omogeniza. A tot repetat verbul ”to gel”. A se inchega. Gelul cu rol de ungere a relatiilor de joc nu si-a facut inca efect iar linia defensiva Zabaleta – Toure – Lescott – Bridge, cu ultimii trei alipiti in acest an argentinianului, a fost demascata de 3 scotieni ai lui Burnley.

Si nici atacul de multe karate si 72 milioane n-a punctat, Adebayor si Tevez fiind ajutati de-aceasta data de capitanul Kolo Toure si aripile Wright-Phillips si Bellamy.

City mai are timp, Hughes poate nu chiar la fel de mult, dar cert e ca banii n-aduc nici succesul instantaneu, nici fericirea, Sir Alex Ferguson parand a avea momentan dreptate: “City nu e un pericol pentru suprematia lui United”. Pasatul Tevez nu e intre golgeterii campaniei iar trupa lui Hughes are mai putine puncte si sigur mai putini admiratori pentru stilul ei de joc comparativ cu garnitura lansata ca din pusca in 2007 de Sven-Goran Eriksson, pe mai putini bani, la inceputul formei de proprietate straine, de extractie asiatica, de la City of Manchester Stadium.

Thaksin i-a cedat jucaria lui Mansour, ce a decartat sutele de milioane, dar fara ingredientul aici pe nume gel parul fanilor e inca ridicat maciuca de alde nou-promovate ca Burnley. Care cat a costat sa puna de-un unsprezece? Parca opt milioane…

Goles de embajadores argentinos por el mundo.

• En Brasil, Maximiliano López convirtió  un gol para la victoria del Gremio, por 3-1, frente al Avaí, de Florianopolis. Matías De Federico anotó su primer tanto para el Corinthians, que derrotó por 1 a 0 al Vitoria.
• En Alemania, Lucas Barrios señaló un tanto en la derrota por 3 a 2 del Borussia Dortmund, ante el Osnabruck, por la Copa Alemana.
• En Bélgica, Nicolás Frutos visitó la red para el RSC Anderlecht, que venció 2 a 0 al RCS Verviers, por la COFIDIS Cup.
• En Italia, Mauro Camoranesi y David Sergio Trezeguet convirtieron para la Júventus que vapuleó a la Sampdoria por 5 a 1. Daniel Osvaldo hizo lo propio para el Bologna, que le ganó al Siena por 2 a 1. Además, sobre la hora, Germán Denis apuntó un gol para el empate agónico, 2 a 2, entre el Napoli y el Milán.
• En Inglaterra, por la Curling  Cup, Carlos Tevez colaboró con una anotación en la paliza del Manchester City sobre el Scunthorpe, por 5 a 1. El juvenil Emiliano Insúa marcó en la caída del Liverpool frente al Arsenal por 2 a 1.

El Manchester City es el equipo más goleador, y también el más goleado, de la I Cimata Cup. Gran parte de culpa la tiene el argentino Carlos Alberto Tévez, internacional, proveniente del equipo rival, el Manchester United, y que ha marcado nada menos que ocho dianas. Le siguen Gómez, el potente delantero centro del Bayern alemán, y Zlatan Ibrahimovic, del Barcelona, con 4 goles.

Máximo goleador I Cimata Cup

Carlos Alberto Tévez

8

goles

Hoy (bue ayer porque estoy escribiendo a las 00:30) Argentina le ganó a Uruguay por 1-0 con gol de Bolatti y de esta manera obtuvo la clasificación al mundial de Sudáfrica 2010, el juego de Argentina sigue siendo muy pobre. Cuando finalizó el partido Maradona se abrazó con Bilardo y le dijo a la prensa: ‘¡Que la chupen, que la chupen. Y la sigan chupando!’. Verón jugó un gran partido y Messi dio lástima. Palermo no entró y Tevez jugó los últimos minutos. Uruguay irá al repechaje contra Costa Rica y Ecuador quedó afuera del mundial. Suerte a los Uruguayos. Argentina realmente está jugando para la mierda y espero que de aquí al mundial se cambien muchas cosas y empieze a jugar mejor. Una de las cosas que hay que cambiar me parece que es el técnico.

Bellamy, scatenato

Mark Hughes ha rivelato che dopo sette partite giocate la sua squadra è andata ben oltre i risultati prefissati in questa stagione di grandi cambiamenti.

Il pareggio del Villa Park ha riportato i Blues al quarto posto della classifica di Premier League e il loro manager si gode le qualità che stanno tirando fuori dal cilindro.

Il City, per la prima volta in questa stagione, si era ritrovato sotto di un gol all’intervallo per via di un imperioso colpo di testa di un ex, Richard Dunne, ma Craig Bellamy ha conquistato un punto per i suoi mettendo a segno la sua quarta rete dell’anno, con il manager che adesso può godersi a cuor leggero la sosta dovuta agli impegni delle Nazionali.

“Una volta pareggiato, ero convinto che saremmo riusciti a vincere, ma alla fine abbiamo comunque preso un buon punto contro una buona squadra,” ha commentato.

“Siamo contenti di quel che abbiamo ottenuto fino a questo punto della stagione. Miravamo a fare un certo numero di punti e siamo andati oltre. Adesso dobbiamo incrociare le dita e fare ogni genere di scongiuro perché tutti tornino integri dagli impegni con le Nazionali.”

“Nel complesso dobbiamo essere contenti del punto fatto perché questo non è un campo facile. Abbiamo resistito nel momento in cui rischiavamo di crollare e abbiamo reagito bene. Abbiamo mostrato buone qualità anche se ci è scocciato prendere gol su un calcio piazzato. Credo che fosse scritto che a segnare sarebbe stato Dunney!”

“Avevamo bisogno di essere più dinamici nella ripresa, di aumentare l’intensità per creare spazi, e ci siamo riusciti.”

Hughes ha detto anche che il pareggio è costato caro, dato che Nigel de Jong, Roque Santa Cruz, Pablo Zabaleta e Kolo Toure si sono tutti fatti male.

“Nigel si è fatto male a una caviglia non appena iniziato il secondo tempo. Durante l’intervallo ha stretto i denti ed era intenzionato ad andare avanti,” ha confermato il manager. “Per fortuna Stevie Ireland è potuto entrare ed è riuscito a dimostrare immediatamente tutto il suo valore.”

“Manu (Adebayor, NdT) non era al massimo essendo al suo rientro e come lui qualcun altro. Roque si è preso un dito nell’occhio da Craig Bellamy praticamente subito e stava soffrendo. Era in campo, lottando tutto il tempo, potendo usare un occhio solo. Carlos Tevez sta recuperando velocità. Poi, ci sono altri infortunati. Kolo dovrà fare una radiografia al tallone, dove ha preso davvero una brutta botta, e Pablo si è, crediamo, stirato un muscolo della coscia nei minuti finali della partita e potrebbe dover stare fermo per un paio di settimane.”

da un servizio di Cris Bailey per il sito ufficiale del Manchester City

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/News/Team-news/2009/October/Hughes-admits-Blues-have-surpassed-expectations

Wallpaper High Quality 1280×1024

Quick photoshop job after the 4-3 win over city.  If you live in Manchester you’ll of seen or heard about the original Carlos Tevez poster.  This photo actually started popping up in some very mainstream football related blogs soon after I made it.  As a result its now rated as one of my most “interesting” photos on flickr with hunderds of page views… not bad for 15 min on Photoshop!

In the light of recent comments he made about happily celebrating when he scores against Man U I was wondering why he actually apologises when he scores against us?

Have we really made such an impact on him that he really does/did love us? I’m quite harsh with my views sometimes and I don’t believe any player truly loves their club but for a player that has only played for us for a couple of seasons I have never seen someone REFUSE to actually celebrate when scoring against us.

It confuses me but fair play to the fella. Tip next time please miss Tevez!