Champions League: Dortmund through to Wembley final

IMAGE: Pierre-Philippe Marcou/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Borussia Dortmund have qualified for the UCL final after surviving a late come-back race at the Bernabau on Tuesday, losing the 2nd leg match 2-0 but advanced on 4-3 aggregate.

Real Madrid failed to convert Myriad of chances that came their way in the 1st half and had to wait until late 2nd half before Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos put 2goals behind the Dortmund net.

Dortmund will face Bayern Munich or Barcelona in the final at London’s Wembley Stadium on May 25 but the waiting game continues until the next 24hrs when Barcelona will attempt to overturn the 4 goal deficit against them in the 1st leg in Germany.

''Mission overturn 4goals deficit, season one attempt has failed, lets wait for season two.

TENNIS: Updated ATP & WTA Rankings

ATP Rankings as of April 29th, 2013:

1 Novak Djokovic
2 Roger Federer (+1)
3 Andy Murray (-1)

4 David Ferrer
5 Rafael Nadal
6 Tomas Berdych

7 Juan Martin Del Potro
8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

9 Richard Gasquet
10 Janko Tipsarevic

11 Marin Cilic
12 Nicolas Almagro
13 Milos Raonic
14 Tommy Haas

15 Kei Nishikori
16 Stanislas Wawrinka (+1)
17 Gilles Simon (-1)
18 Andreas Seppi
19 Sam Querrey
20 Juan Monaco

 WTA RANKINGS

1.       Serena Williams

2.       Maria Sharapova

3.       Victoria Azarenka

4.       Radwanska Agniezska

5.       LI NA

6.       Kerber Angelique

7.       Sara Errani

8.       Petra Kivitova

9.       Samantha Stosur

10.   Caroline Wozniacki

Champions League: Howard Webb to Referee Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund

English referee Howard Webb will officiate Tuesday's Champions League semi-final second leg between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.

According to reports making the rounds, many believe that Web is not the right man for the job on the day. References were made to the 2010 World Cup where Di jong had an awful challenge on Xabi Alonso and was not red carded. Also, Real Madrid have not scored more than 2 goals in a game handled by the English man.

In real sense, Howard Web is not new on the job and he understands the intensity and pressure that comes with such a game, fairness is expected, more reason why UEFA chose the man. No falling around.

Go try Real Madrid. But note that, Borussia Dortmund won't be watching.

Harry Redknapp to remain as manager of QPR

Harry Redknapp

Harry Redknapp will remain as manager of Queens Park Rangers, the club have announced.

Having confirmed the side's relegation along side Reading, there were speculations whether the former Tottenham manager will opt to stay with the club.

Well, after several hours of meeting, the club and the manager seem to have come to a common understanding.

Gareth Bale named PFA Player and Young Player of the year

Gareth Bale has been named the Professional Footballers' Association Player & Young Player of the year award for this season.

The Tottenham star Bale was also just the fifth player to land the senior award twice, reclaiming it from last year’s winner, Robin van Persie, following a vote among his peers.

He saw off competition from Van Persie, as well as Michael Carrick, Luis Suárez, Juan Mata and Eden Hazard.

Bale has taken his game to new heights this season, scoring 24 goals in 40 games for Spurs, almost single-handedly spearheading their bid to qualify for the Champions League.

According to telegraph.co.uk The 23-year-old, who also won the PFA prize in 2011, has become one of the most sought-after players in world football and is now said to be worth around £50 million.

Thanking his team-mates and manager Andre Villas-Boas, Bale said: “It’s a massive honour. To be voted by your peers is one of the biggest things in the game. It’s great to win it and I am delighted.

TENNIS: Nadal wins Barcelona title

IMAGE: ESPN (Rafael Nadal)

Rafael Nadal on Sunday beat fellow country man Nicolas Almagro to claim his 8th Barcelona Open title.
The clash ended 6-4 6-3 as Nadal recorded his 39th career title on clay to prove he's still a master on the ground.

With the French Open about a month down the road, winning the Barcelona Open, is a good sign that Rafael Nadal has forgotten his Monte Carlo set back and ready to fire.

Good one Nadal.

Manchester United: Honour to whom it is due

When the issue of guard of honour for Manchester United came up, Arsenal folks became uncomfortable. Reason is simple, ROBIN VAN PERSIE.

He was Arsenal's top scorer and inspirational captain last season  but now he works massively for rival Manchester United. His goal on sunday ensured that the match ended on 1-1 draw at the Emirates. United are champions waiting to be crowned while Arsenal are struggling to make the UEFA Champions league spot (Top four on the log).

Well deserved honour, don't you think so?

Ivory Coast beat Nigeria to lift CAN U-17 title

IMAGE: cafonline.com

The Baby Elephants of Cote d’ Ivoire won their first African U-17 title after beating the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria 5-4 penalty shoot-out at the Under-17 Championship in Morocco.

The match ended 1-1 in regulation time and went straight to penalties accordance to FIFA regulation for the under-17s.

Congratulations to the winners though the Eaglets lost gallantly.

The Bayern dream night (Bayern 4-0 Barcelona)

IMAGE:soccernet.com
 

On the night, Bayern Munich were a lot better and the dominant side to deserve a 4-0 victory over Barcelona at the Allianz Arena in the first leg of the semi final of the UEFA Champions League.

Thomas Muller scored twice while Mario Gomez and Adjen Robben got one goal each to place Bayern on the safe side ahead of the return leg.

 

Barcelona were a shadow of themselves with so much relliance on Lionel Messi who seemed not absolutely fit for the match.

 

 If you're still trying to comprehend how the damage was done, see the highlight and stats again, then you'll realize that Barcelona didn’t come to the party or say they ran out of ideas.

 

Obviously, there is a problem at the Barca end. Many questions are being raised, one of which is if Barcelona magic or miracle can rescue the team from this mess? Time shall tell. Remember football is cruel and it's not over until the 2nd leg in the case of the UCL.

 A night no one saw coming!

Saurez bites Ivanovic so what?



Suarez bites Iva. Inset: Mike Tyson bite Holyfield

It is often said that when a Dog bites a man, it is no news but when a man bites a Dog, it becomes news worthy. What about the incidence that took the shine of the match between Liverpool and Chelsea where Luis Suarez bit Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic? What do you call that?

The match played at Anfield, Liverpool home ground on sunday ended 2-2 saw Suarez playing the Hero and the Villain at the same time. He helped his team picked that draw at home, his effort cannot be over-emphasized.

Known for controversy, several bans for different reasons and the latest is the biting incidence. Not new to Suarez though ‘cos he has once marched the mud before in November 2010 while at Ajax, he was suspended seven games after biting PSV Eindhoven’s Ottman Bakkal during a dutch league game.

May be Suarez needs to be told the Mike Tyson story. Without much ado, Tyson after the infamous fight nicknamed the ‘Bite-fight’ with Evander Holyfield lost so much even getting suspended permanently from boxing but after a year of sorrow and appeal, he got his license back to fight.

Now Luis Suarez has been fined by Liverpool, the Professional Footballers Association proposes an Anger Management Counselling, the FA yet to take a stand on the case, and his future is being discussed although the club still want to keep him despite heavy criticism. 

Is the Tyson experience enough? No! But could help. Players need to be more responsible and understand that the kids are watching. Apology accepted, go and sin no more Luis Suarez.

Djokovic beats Nadal to win Monte Carlo Masters

Image: bbc.co.uk

World number one Novak Djokovic put up an impressive performance to end Rafael Nadal's eight-year winning run in the Monte Carlo Masters, beating him in straight sets in Sunday's final.

The Serbian inflicted Nadal's first defeat in Monte Carlo in 47 matches and avenged last year's final defeat to lift his first Masters title.

Djokovic, 25, for the first time dominated on the Clay, Nadal's favourite ground to win the first set 6-2 in 46 minutes, before taking the second set 7-6 (7-1).

Earlier in the semis, Djokovic saw off Fabio Fognini while Nadal defeated French man Jo Wilfried Tsonga to set up the history-making final.

Meanwhile the prize money for the tournament is € 2,646,495

Sani Gideon back after injury layoff

Nigerian striker Sani Gideon has returned to action in Turkey after he was sidelined for three months by a knee injury.

The Akhirsar Belediyespor of Turkey striker told mtnfootball.com that he now hopes to help his Turkish club stay up in the top flight.

“I played a game for the reserves on Monday against Fenerbahce. I hope to be part of some games to help in my team’s survival,” said the 22-year-old Gideon, who featured for Gateway FC of Abeokuta before he moved overseas.

His club are in the drop zone on 35 points from 30 matches with four rounds to be played. They are two points away from safety.

He said of his long battle with injury: "I have been unlucky this season with injury. I have played seven games and was injured at the beginning of second round. It was a knee injury that made me miss up to 10 weeks initially. So I went for a scan and the doctor said I will miss eight weeks.

“Later, I bounced back after six weeks, then trained for two weeks, then the injury returned as I felt pain on my leg and that kept me out for another two weeks.”

Last season, Gideon scored four goals in 14 games for Akhirsar.

GOAL LINE TECH: English Premier League approves Hawk-eye

No goal-line controversy will be witnessed during any English Premier League match next season.

All 20 English topflight clubs on Thursday voted to approve the British Hawkeye goalline technology which involves several camera’s behind each goal.

It could be recalled that FIFA recently approved ‘GoalControl’,a camera-based system from Germany, would be used at this year’s Confederations Cup in Brazil and, if successful, would be implemented at the 2014 World Cup also in Brazil. 

The English Premier League will be the first domestic league to adopt goalline technology while Spain’s la Liga are reportedly keen to follow suit within two to three years, The German Bundesliga within three to four years while The Italians have no such plans for now.

Although unconfirmed, Hawkeye’s debut appearance on English turf could even be at the pre-season Community Shield at Wembley after the Football Association sanctioning its testing at an England v Belgium international friendly last June (Euronews.com)

 

 

The obvious ''Messidependence'' further revealed

Messi battles Maxwell during the Q/finals in Camp Nou.  (Image:ntyimes.com)

Simply put, it took the influence and inspiration of the world best footballer, Lionel Messi to save Barcelona from losing out of the UEFA champions league last night.

Messi started from the bench owing to his tigh injury, watched his team mates as they tried to unlock PSG especially having conceeded a goal, it proved very difficult but with his introduction, his presence lifted the hearts of his team mates as they further revealed after the game.

You know the outcome.... PSG out Barcelona progressed to the semi finals.

The risk was worth it afterall but he limped off the pitch on the night, lets hope to see him back in the semi finals with ties to be decide on friday 10am.

Barcelona is simply a different team without the wonder messi. Can this be said of other teams with inevitable key players? Search the world, you'll find a few.

Why Always Him: Mario Balotelli bags Three match Suspension

Image:ESPNSoccernet

He left Manchester City for AC Milan, a move many described as a dream move for Super Mario Balotelli. He seemed to be enjoying his early times at his new haven but still makes the headlines, for the obvious reasons you'll say....

The Italian striker has netted 10gaols in 11games for the club and one begins to wonder if he indeed has been transformed. On the other hand, he still makes the headline for negative reasons, with the latest, cursing an assistant referee.

Why always him you'll say.

Balotelli received five yellow cards against Fiorentina, giving him an automatic suspension for the next match. Frustrated by the officiating, Balotelli cursed at the referee, handing him an additional two-game suspension.

Meanwhile, AC Milan announced that it will appeal the three-game suspension handed by Serie A to forward Mario Balotelli for receiving five yellow cards and cursing at the referee during the team’s 2-2 draw against Fiorentina Sunday.

“AC Milan would like to communicate that it will appeal against the three match suspension handed out to Mario Balotelli,” the team said in a statement posted on its official website.

But why always him? Mario will always be himself.

Keshi drops Yobo, so what!

Keshi and Yobo at a press conference during AFCON 2013

Nigeria Head Coach, Stephen Keshi and his captain at the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations, Joseph Yobo are in a war of words.

 

The unhealthy war of words has dominated the media owing to the fact that the captain was axed from last month’s World Cup qualifier against Kenya in Calabar.

 

 

Reports suggest that Yobo is disgruntled because the head coach did not let him know he was not going to be invited for that game. In a simple and pungent response, Stephen Keshi replied that the player was not need for that game.

 

 

When we thought that was all, Keshi this week released a 29man list to represent the nation for between May to July, Yobo was not included. Yet again you'll say.

 

 

For now the coach seems to be more comfortable with the services of his new men and can simply do without any player. If he decides to prosecute any game without a particular player, being the coach, so be it. But one cannot also displace the position of the 'record-holder' captain of the Eagles who feels he deserves some respect.

 

 

If only the coach and the player will come to a common understanding and act like important people in the team that they are, have the nation at heart and ignore personality issue, all these unnecessary fuss in the media will be over.

 

 

The Super Eagles take on CONCACAF champions Mexico (rated 15th in the world) in a prestigious international friendly in Texas, USA on May 31, travel to Kenya and Namibia for 2014 World Cup qualifiers within a fortnight after, take part at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil.