2009 champions Inter has been drawn with Russian giants CSKA Moscow, Lille and Trabzonspor. Inter should not have any problems in progressing to the knockout. CSKA Moscow and Lille could provide them a run for their money while new comers Trabzonspor could find the going in Europe’s elite a bit difficult.
Group B: Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor
Our prediction to go through to second round: Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow.

English champions and last year’s finalists Manchester United have been drawn with Benfica, Basel and Otelul Galati in Group C. A relatively easy group for Man United and they are expected to go through to the second round wthout any hicupps. Benfica and Basel will fight it out for the second spot,but Benfica is expected to previal in this encounter.
Group C: Manchester United, Benfica, Basel, Otelul Galati
Our prediction to go through: Manchester United, Benfica.

Real Madrid are drawn alongside Lyon, Ajax and Dinamo Zagreb in group D. Real Madrid again face Lyon and this is one encounter that should be entertaining. Real Madrid is still expected to go through. Lyon may face a tough battle against Ajax and Dinamo, but still should progress.
Group D: Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax Amsterdam, Dinamo Zagreb.
Our prediction to go through:Real Madrid, Lyon.

Group E has Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen and Genk fighting it out. The English giants are favourites to go through but the matches against Valencia should be interesting, especially in the wake of Juan Mata’s transfer from Valencia.
Bayern Leverkusen are no pushovers either. Bayern could progress through at the expense of Valencia but it sure is going to be close.Not a very easy group by any means for Chelsea.
Group E: Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Genk
Our prediction to go through: Chelsea, Bayern Leverkusen.

Group F has Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos and Borussia Dortmund. Arsenal may be hoping to bring in some reinforcements before the transfer window ends and that could help them to progress through to round 2,but it won’t be easy by any means as all the other three teams in the group are more than capable.Borussia Dormant and Marseille will fight it out for second place,but the German champions may just sneek through.
Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund
Our prediction for top two:Arsena, Borussia Dortmund.

UEFA cup winners Porto begin their campaign without Andre Vilas Boaz in the champions league alongside Shakhtar, Zenit St Petersburg and APOEL FC. Porto is expected to top the group with Zenit and Shakhtar to fight it out for second place.
Group G:FC Porto, Shakhtar, Zenit St Petersburg, APOEL FC
Our prediction: Porto, Zenit

And finally current champions Barcelona have AC Milan, BATE Borisov and Viktoria Plzen in company in Group H. Barcelona and AC Milan are expected to go through to round 2 rather easily.
Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, BATE Borisov, Viktoria Plzen
Our prediction: Barcelona, AC Milan.

So that’s it. The draw is done and so is our predictions. Will Mancini’s Man City find it’s foothold alongside Europe’s elite? Are the days of Arsenal as a big club over? Or even interesting question, can anyone beat Barcelona? Let’s wait , rather we really don’t feel bold enough to predict a winner to the crown, but as any football enthusiast I can’t wait for the games to begin.

Here are the groups once again for you:
Group A
Bayern, Villarreal, Man City, Napoli
Group B
Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor
Group C
Manchester United, Benfica, Basel, Otelul Galati
Group D
Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax Amsterdam, Dinamo Zagreb
Group E
Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Genk
Group F
Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund
Group G
FC Porto, Shakhtar, Zenit St Petersburg, APOEL FC
Group H
Barcelona, AC Milan, BATE Borisov, Viktoria Plzen

More about the club:

Full name    : Blackburn Rovers Football Club
Nicknames : The Riversiders, Rovers
Motto           : “Arte et labore”(Latin)- means “By Skill & Hard Work”
Manager     : Sam Allardyce is managing Rovers since 2008.

Big spending Manchester City have been a big disappointment at the start of the season,winning just one of their games. Roberto Mancini’s tactics of playing 3 men at the defensive mid fielders in every game so far has hardly worked for Manchester City. True that the players of the caliber of Niger De Jong, Yaya Toure and  Patrick Viera are hard to be left out, but its high time that Mancini recognizes the need of an attacking mid field when playing in one of the best leagues in the world. But when you have at your disposal , many of the best men going forward, One doubts Mancini’s managerial capabilities.

Tottenham too have not started well, one of the low points being the loss to Wigan at home. The loss to Wigan is even more compounded by the fact that last season Tottenham won 9-1 against the same team.Tottenham would do well to repeat the success they found last seaon.

Tottenham can at least find respite in the fact that their competitors for the coveted 4th place in the league(the last Champions league spot) have not begun well. Liverpool have been miserable so far, wining just one of their games.Injuries to key players like Defoe might hurt Tottenham very much. Its not that Tottenham do not have the fire power to challenge for the 4th place , but certainly the team does not look like posing a challenge to the Premier League crown as many had suspected at the end of last seaon.

Liverpool’s misery continues as its forwards do not seem to like scoring these days. They still seem to depend so much on the likes of Gerrad and Torres to produce the goals.

Manchester United began the campaign on a bright note but draws against Fulham and Everton take the shine away.Ronney scored his first goal in  5 months, but of a penalty. Also the star striker’s personal problems are bound to affect his performance in the coming matches and ManU’s title ambitions looks buried with it. Anyways, you can never write of Alex Fergusson and one would not be surprised if ManU pose a challenge for the Championship once again.

Arsenal have as usual started of promisingly. Its not the start that would worry Arsene Wenger. At the start of the season,Arsenal always promises a lot,only to falter away toward the end of the season. With Wenger managing to keep Cesc Fabregas at the club, Arsenal could still pose a serious challenge to the title.All depends on how well the players avoid the nagging injuries that have affected Arsenal all these years. Van Persie is already injured, but a suitable replacement in the form of Chamakh may help Arsenal’s cause in the coming months.

Chelsea have been the team to watch in the first month of the EPL. Two 6-0 victories followed by easy outings against West Ham and Stoke make Anchelloti’s team the favorites to lift the coveted title yet again.Drogba looks like he has unfinished business and with Essien moving to a more attacking mid field position, Chelsea already looks like the team to beat in EPL.An injury to Petr Cech would be one thing Anchelloti fears the most, but other wise the team looks like the Champions already.

May be I will have a very different story to write the next week but as of now my top four would  be :

Chelsea

Arsenal

Manchester United

Manchester City

I am giving Manchester City the fourth place because it is hard to ignore the talent at Mancini’s disposal. As the other competitors have not done exceedingly well, I give my vote for Man City for the 4Th place.

                                       Eventhough for a short span he turned out to be impressive. But the real fame was yet to come when he returned to FC Porto, this time as head coach in 2002. His achievments at FC Porto from 2002-04 include Cup of Portugal, Portugues Liga, UEFA cup and also the biggest European club football title UEFA champions League in 2004.Jose Mourinho is said to be an ambitious guy, he left Porto in search of glory and reached the EPL camp.This time Chelsea was at the recieving end of his talent. He guided chelsea to consecutive Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006. By this time he really became one amoung the most successfull managers in club football both in name and work. His time at Chelsea was very much controversial, one can just love him or hate him, there won’t be an intermediate state. When its about football he is always aggresive and outspoken, whether its to get an edge over opponents or to squeeze better out of his players. The comments like:

1. “They have to enjoy playing for me and Chelsea but they don’t have to be in love with me.” – Referring to his Chelsea players.
2. “Why drive Aston Martin all the time, when i have Ferrari and Porsche as well? That would just be stupid” – When asked about rotating Joe Cole, Arjen Robben and Damien Duff
3.“I saw their players and manager go for a lap of honour after losing to us in their last home game. In Portugal if you do this, they throw bottles at you.” – on Manchester United
4.“Maybe when I turn 60 and have been managing in the same league for 20 years and have the respect of everybody I will have the power to speak to people and make them tremble a little bit.” – On Sir Alex Ferguson – January 2005
5. “We have top players and, sorry if I’m arrogant, we have a top manager.”- About himself.

were treated as his arrogance and always attracted some contraversy.

                           The special one reminds us about kings and warriors fighting to conquer countries. He left Chelsea in 2007, and moved to Serie A League. He signed a 3 year contract with Inter Milan in mid 2008 and within 3 months he won Supercoppa Italiana(Italian Super Cup is a pre-season football competition held the week before the season begins in Italy. It is a curtain raiser to the new season.) and finished his first season in Italy with the Serie A title. Next year he got hold of Serie A, Coppa Italia & the UEFA Champions League beating his former club Chelsea. With this victory he became the 3rd manager in history who won UEFA Champions League title with 2 different clubs. His thirst for glory persists, the proof is, he left Milan to join Real Madrid in May 2010, may be to achieve a personal goal in career, the first manager in history to grab UEFA Champions League title with 3 different teams.

Golden shoe is given maximum number of goals in the tournament and it was a tight competition with Villa and Sneijder also with 5 goals. But 20 year old Muellar got an upper hand with his 3 assists in goals.Best young player award was almost sure for him as his performance helped the germans reach the semi-finals. Forlan was selected the outstanding player of the tournament by the media personnal and was given the golden ball. Iker Casillas guarded the Spanish net with just 2 flaws and thus managed the golden glove.

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The case is bit different in case of England.They could have avoided a clash with Germans in the early knock out stage if they finished group stage in top. But poor goal keeping and team spirit made them fall second to USA in group stage and in turn failed against the Germans.And the fall was miserable 4:1. So the effect it brought is kind of drastic either of the teams Ghana or Uruguay can reach Semi-finals easily. And in another quarter match viewers will loose another big name Argentina or Germany.

Many specialist football fanatics foresee a big final in FIFA-2010, Argentina-Brazil.If  it happens then it will be feast for football lovers.In a couple of days the speculations will come to an end.July 11th is the day of final and before that we can hope for a few interesting games.

]]> http://www.three2tango.com/thegame/football/round-of-16fifa-2010.html/feed/ 0 http://www.three2tango.com/thegame/football/fifa-awards-winners-in-last-5-world-cups.html/ http://www.three2tango.com/thegame/football/fifa-awards-winners-in-last-5-world-cups.html/#comments Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:19:22 +0000 LG http://www.three2tango.com/?p=3769 The Jabulani started rolling and vuvuzela almost deafens the players and the fight is fierce.Major title contenders like Argentina, Germany started with a win. Brazil,Spain and Italy are yet to play their first matches. England fall into a draw which witnessed a goal keeping howler from the English keeper. Last world cup’s best player is not playing this time, but the player who scored most goals last time, scored one goal this time also, seems the German is in good touch. Klose, the 2006 Golden boot winner is near a record of most number of world cup goals.The current owner of the record is Ronaldo with 15 goals. Klose started 2010 campaign with 10 goals, and moved one step closer to the record with a goal against Australia in Germany’s opening match.
Lets have a peek into the FIFA awards and winners in the last 5 world cups. FIFA has many awards of which a few prestigious ones are Golden Boot, Golden Ball, Fair play etc. Golden Boot is awarded to the player who scores highest number of goals.The award was introduced in1930. Golden Ball is awarded to the best player of the tournament, which is found from a list drawn by FIFA technical committee and media representatives. FIFA fair play trophy is given to the team with best record of fair play during the tournament, only the teams qualified to the second round are considered for this trophy.

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FIFA Awards Winners In Last 5 Years:

QUALIFIED TEAMS:

Total prize money and stage level prizes are being announced by FIFA. A total of $420 million is almost 60% more than the last world cup.Teams exiting at group stages will get $9 million of which $1 million is given in advance as preparation costs. $18 and $20 million for quarter and semi- finalists respectively. Runners up will be getting $24 million and winners will get $30 million.

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Viera comes back with an objective of cementing his place in the France world cup bound squad, a place which has been threatened of late because of his lack of matches at Inter.Manchester City will be hoping that Viera will have the same impact as he had when he was with Arsenal. If that is the case, Manchester City has a more than realistic chance of finishing in the top four this season and even an outside chance at the EPL crown.Viera makes a rejoining with Roberto Mancini, who was the then Inter manager who signed him from Arsenal. If Mancini’s start at the helm is to be taken into account, Manchester City’s prospects look brighter.Viera joins Manchester City initially on a 6 month deal but with an option of another year in terms. Reports from UK papers indicate that Viera will be paid in excess of 100,000 pounds per week for his services. Also Manchester City will be hoping to make other new acquisitions before the transfer window closes,especially their central defensive positions. Mancini might well bring one of his former players at Inter,Ivan Cordoba, to bolster the central defense,especially with Lescott being injured and Toure being away with Ivory Coast at the African Nations Cup.

Liverpool are short of striking options and any further injury to El Nino ‘Torres’ will severely hamper their bid to qualify for the champions league. They have been linked with Ruud Van Nilsterooy,but Rafa Benitez has played down the rumours.However, Liverpool has sold Andrea Dossena to Napoli, after the left back started in under 20 games in his two and half year span at Anfield.Dossena will be hoping that he gets more chances back home at Napoli,who are currently fourth in the Seria A.Liverpool is reported to have made 5 million Euros in the transfer. With Ryan Babel and Voronin also likely to be heading their way out of Anfield,Liverpool will be hoping to make enough money to land a worthy strike partner for Torres.Reports have come in linking Liverpool with Maroune Chamakh, who has been in Arsenal’s radar for some time now.

Arsenal has also not made any additions to their squad so far but Maroune Chamkh may be heading to Emirates if Arsene Wenger feels that he needs to bolster his attacking options,especially with the injuries to Van Persie and Bendtner.Chelsea boss Carlo Anchelotti has time and again confirmed that he will not be bringing any players as replacements for the African players who have left for the African Nations Cup.If their December form continues, CA might just need to rethink his decision. Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has also vowed to not spend big in the transfer window but it remains to be seen.

Everton has signed USA striker Landon Donovan from LA Galaxy on a 3 month long loan deal. David Moyes will be hoping that the USA striker will be able to make a fast impact  in the English League. Birmingham will almost certainly spent big this winter as new owner Carson Yeung has promised funds of over 40 million Euros to Alex Mcleish.Already  there are some major players in his radar,including Sunderland forward Kenwyn Jones.One major signing that has gone through is the signing of mid fielder Michel from Sporting Gijon at a fee reported to be around 3 million Euros.

More on the transfer window as more reports come in. Watch this space fro more transfer news from EPL.

Last year’s Champions have been drawn alongside Inter Milan,Dynamo Kiev and Rubin Kazan in Group F.The group means that Barcelona and Inter are favorites to go through to the second round.Dynamov Kiev and Rubin Kazan,the current Russian Champions(quite a story there.They finished 10th in the 2007 and became champions in 2008) could spring a surprise on their home turfs but Barca and Inter should have it easy.Rubin Kazan is making their debut in the competition.It will also mean that Zlatan Ibramovich makes a return to Inter earlier than expected.


Manchester United,last year’s finalists have also got an easy draw.MU have been drawn against CSKA Moscow,Besiktas and the German Champions Wolfsburg in Group B.Manchester United should not have any problems going through to the second round.The second place in the group will see a three way fight.

Chelsea,beaten in the semi finals last season have been drawn with Porto,Atletico Madrid and the Cypriot club APOEL Nicosia in Group D.
Chelsea also should be happy with the draw.

Arsenal perhaps the easiest opponents as they have been drawn alongside AZ Alkmaar, Olympiacos and Standard Liege in Group H.
Liverpool face Lyon, Fiorentina and Debreceni in Group E.Lyon and Fiorentina could make it a bit tougher for the Reds,still this too
is a relatively easy group.

Real Madrid begin their second galactico era in the champions league alongside AC Milan,Marseille and FC Zurich in Group C.Group G features Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart and Romanian champions Unirea Urziceni.

Here are the groups for you

These matches should be interesting and could make the group stage lively:

• Barcelona x Inter Milan
• Bayern Munich x Juventus
• AC Milan X Real Madrid

The Champions League starts from the 15th of September.Barca and the English clubs have been dominant in the Champions League for
two years now.This time around,real madrid will be back in reckoning.