Team India Under Dhoni

Indian cricket team is going through a great phase under Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The team is very well set in all three formats of the game and has been performing consistently. The main difference between Dhoni and the captains thus far is that he is calmer under pressure and does not force anything on the players. He lets the players play their natural game and his approach is reaping rich rewards.

Team looks like a single unit, they enjoy each other success and Coach Gary Kirsten along with the other backroom staff must be given credit for that. There is no more fingers pointing among the each other. On the field, Dhoni is in charge and the players are willing to play for him. He also makes smart moves while playing in the field. There has been a lot of talk that Dhoni is very lucky and his real test will come during the tours outside India. But I don't have any doubt that Dhoni will prove everyone wrong in the upcoming New Zealand tour. Beware Kiwis, Indian Tigers are coming at you.

My hobbies

I'm not the one who loves to roam out during holidays. I prefer sitting idle in my house having some fruits and watch movies. This does not mean I don't roam at all; it is just that I don't go out a lot during holidays. And I don't go to theater often as I'm very selective in the movies that I watch and only after I get a word of mouth that a particular film is good, I go to theater. I'm a big sports freak and I watch nearly all the sports. My first love is cricket and football.

I used to watch a lot of football during my college days and many of my friends started to watch football due to me, not that I forced them but they themselves got interested in it. And it goes without saying that I'm a Manchester United fan. And it's estimated that around 6% of the world's population are Manchester United fans. Amazing isn't it!!

Blogging: A Hobby on the rise

I had never heard about blogs and blogging until my second year in college. And when I came to know that it was similar to a website rather a web page, I did want to start one and maintain it. I immediately created a blog and wrote a couple of posts. But I was not able to continue writing regularly with purpose. And during my final year in college (4th year) I somehow found interest in blogs again. But this time I've been maintaining that. When I told my friends about this, they were not that much interested.

But even they realised that blogs were great way to earn some money and presently most of my friends are having a blog. I've wondered several times what was so special about blogs? And the answer which I told myself was it was a very simple tool through which you can express yourself and do a lot more. Nowadays a lot of celebrities have started to blog and their fans enjoy reading those. Blogging has become a favourite hobby for many while it continues to be the profession for a few.

Manchester United - Sunderland goals

Nemanja Vidic proved to be the unlikely hero, on a day when managerless Sunderland looked set to take points of United. His stoppage time goal ensured United kept pace with the top two. Ronaldo got a blow in his hips and had to be taken off, midway in the second half which saw United having more than 85% possession.

Manchester United [1 - 0] Sunderland
Goals
90' [1 - 0] N. Vidic > Rapidshare / Mediafire

Highlights
MotD Highlights
MEDIAFIRE
RAPIDSHARE

Manchester United goals - November 2008

English Premier League
30th November 2008

Manchester City [0 - 1] Manchester United
Goals
42' [0 - 1] W. Rooney > Rooney 0-1 / Rapidshare

Extras
Ronaldo redcard (Rapidshare)

Highlights
1st Half Highlights
2nd Half Highlights


UEFA Champions League - Group Stage
25tt November 2008

Group E
Villarreal [0 - 0] Manchester Utd.
Extras

Ronaldo hits crossbar
Capdevila redcard

Highlights
4Shared /Mediafire

Official Extended Highlights

English Premier League
15th November 2008

Manchester United [5 - 0] Stoke City
Goals
04' [1 - 0] C. Ronaldo > 1-0 C. Ronaldo
45' [2 - 0] M. Carrick > 2-0 M. Carrick
49' [3 - 0] D. Berbatov > 3-0 D. Berbatov
84' [4 - 0] D. Welbeck > 4-0 D. Welbeck
89' [5 - 0] C. Ronaldo > 5-0 C. Ronaldo

All Goals

Highlights
1st Half Highlights
2nd Half Highlights

League Cup (Carling Cup)
11st November 2008

Manchester Utd. [1 - 0] QPR
Goal
76' [1 - 0] C.A. Tevez (pen.) > Rapidshare

Extras
SSN match report (or SendSpace or MediaFire)
Rafael Skills + Park hits the bar

English Premier League
8th November 2008

Arsenal [2 - 1] Manchester United
Goals
22' [1 - 0] S. Nasri > Nasri 1-0
48' [2 - 0] S. Nasri > Nasri 2-0
90' [2 - 1] R.d. Silva > Rafael 2-1

MotD Highlights
Part 1: RAPIDSHARE / MEDIAFIRE
Part 2: RAPIDSHARE / MEDIAFIRE

UEFA Champions League
5th November 2008

Celtic [1 - 1] Manchester United
Goals
13' [1 - 0] S. McDonald > Rapidshare
84' [1 - 1] R. Giggs > Rapidshare

Goals in 1 Clip

English Premier League
1st November 2008

Manchester United [4 - 3] Hull City
Goals
03' [1 - 0] C. Ronaldo > Ronaldo 1-0
23' [1 - 1] D. Cousin > Cousin 1-1
29' [2 - 1] M. Carrick > Carrick 2-1
44' [3 - 1] C. Ronaldo > Ronaldo 3-1
57' [4 - 1] N. Vidic > Vidic 4-1
69' [4 - 2] B. Mendy > Mendy 4-2
82' [4 - 3] Geovanni (pen.) > Geovanni 4-3

Extras
Berbatov skill

Highlights
1st Half Highlights
2nd Half Highlights

Ronaldo scores a century

Cristiano Ronaldo hit the 100th goal of his glittering career at Manchester United as a "five star" United thrashed Stoke City and returned to winning ways in the Premier League. The silver lining for the Champions was the sublime strike of the 17 year old academy graduate Danny Welback. United were without Ferdinand and Rooney but their replacements were too hot for Stoke City whose goalie Sorensen had a miserable day.

Manchester United [5 - 0] Stoke City

Goals

04' [1 - 0] C. Ronaldo > 1-0 C. Ronaldo
45' [2 - 0] M. Carrick > 2-0 M. Carrick
49' [3 - 0] D. Berbatov > 3-0 D. Berbatov
84' [4 - 0] D. Welbeck > 4-0 D. Welbeck
89' [5 - 0] C. Ronaldo > 5-0 C. Ronaldo

All Goals

Highlights

1st Half Highlights
2nd Half Highlights

Manchester United goals October - 08

Blackburn Rovers [0 - 2] Manchester United
Goals
31' [0 - 1] W. Brown > Mediafire / Rapidshare
64' [0 - 2] W. Rooney > Mediafire / Rapidshare

Manchester United [4 - 0] West Bromwich Albion
Goals
56' [1 - 0] W. Rooney > filestaker
69' [2 - 0] C. Ronaldo > filestaker
71' [3 - 0] D. Berbatov > filestaker
90' [4 - 0] Nani > filestaker

Champions League - Group E
Manchester United [3 - 0] Celtic
30' [1 - 0] D. Berbatov > Berbatov 1-0 / Rapidshare
51' [2 - 0] D. Berbatov > Berbatov 2-0 / Rapidshare
77' [3 - 0] W. Rooney > Rooney 3-0 / Rapidshare

Everton [1 - 1] Manchester United
Goals
22' [0 - 1] D. Fletcher > rapidshare / mediafire
63' [1 - 1] M. Fellaini > rapidshare / mediafire

Manchester United [2 - 0] West Ham United
Goals
14' [1 - 0] C. Ronaldo > Ronaldo 1-0
30' [2 - 0] C. Ronaldo > Ronaldo 2-0

Arsenal vs Man utd!!

The match between Arsenal and Man Utd was a treat to watch. The match was so entertaining that I was glued to my sofa witnessing each and every moment of the match.

Both teams started with an attacking mind set and Arsenal were rightly rewarded with a goal scored by French international midfielder Nasri. Before this game I have not watched much of his play but this guy really has what it takes to become a great footballer. The first half ended with Arsenal leading 1-0.

Second half too started with a bang and again Arsenal doubled their advantage thanks to Nasri. From then on Manchester Utd wanted to get back into the match so they started playing more aggressively pressing for a goal. They had to wait till the 90th minuted to score their first goal scored by full back Rafael who replaced Gary Neville.

Arsenal managed to win the match eventually and deservedly so.

Offside

This post is intended for all those who doesnt know what an offside is in football. An offside as flagged when the attacking team member is ahead of the defence line of the opponent team. This offside rule is applicable only when the play is in the attacking half of the particular team. It is the linesmans job to call for offside and the referee in the pitch is not allowed to give offside decisions. It is a very common tactic for all the teams defence department to enforce offside trap to their opponents. Plenty of team coordination and communication is required as if even a single member of the squad fails to connect the offside trap, the team will be in real big trouble.

Milan Derby

There are several intense and very fierce rivalry battles which are called as derby matches that happens across Europe. Some of the most intense and passion filled matches include the Merseyside derby, Manchester derby, Milan derby, Madrid derby, and many more.

Eventhough all matches have the same level of intensity and its almost impossible to predict a winner in these sort of match, I personally feel Milan derby is the pick of the lot. This is mainly because both of these teams are championship contenders unlike the other derbys in which one is a strong team and the other will be an average team.

The most recent Milan derby ended in favour of AC Milan with Ronaldinho scoring the solitary goal that made the difference.

More about the derby matches will be written in my next post.

Cheers

tactics or ability?

In today's football, whats more important? tactics or the ability of a player? If you look at english premier league its very obvious that games depend more on tactics than ability of a single player. Thats why we dont see the ronaldinhos, kakas, messis in English Premier League. If you see the other two leagues, Spanish and Italian, you will have some creativity in the moves and thats mainly beacause of ability of players like zlatan, kaka, del piero, messi and so on in their respective leagues.

Have your say. :)

Manchester United goals - August 2008

UEFA Super Cup
Manchester United [1 - 2] Zenit St. Petersburg

44' [0 - 1] P. Pogrebnyak > 0-1 P. Pogrepnyak
59' [0 - 2] Danny > 0-2 Danny
73' [1 - 2] N. Vidic > 1-2 N. Vidic

EPL

Portsmouth [0 - 1] Manchester United

32' [0 - 1] D. Fletcher > mediafire / rapidshare.com

Match Highlights

Manchester United [1 - 1] Newcastle United

22' [0 - 1] O. Martins > 0-1 Martins
24' [1 - 1] D. Fletcher > 1-1 Fletcher

Match Highlights


English Community Shield Season 2008/09

Manchester United [0 - 0] Portsmouth

Penalty shoot-out : [3 - 1]

Penalty Shootout - mediafire / rapidshare
Trophy Presentations - mediafire / rapidshare

Friendly (Pre-Season) Season 2008/09
Peterborough United [0 - 2] Manchester United
38' [0 - 1] R. Martin (o.g.) > 1-0 R. Martin (OG)
68' [0 - 2] D. Gibson > 2-0 D. Gibson

Friendly (Pre-Season) Season 2008/09
Manchester United [1 - 0] Espanyol

82' [1 - 0] F. Campbell > zShare

Highlights

1st half / 2nd half

Sensational Torres

Fernando José Torres is the latest darling of the Red part of Mersyside. The young Spanish star has been a revelation since signing from Athletico Madrid for a fee of around £25 million in a deal which saw Luis Garcia moving to Spain. Nicknamed "El nino"(The Kid) Torres joined Athletico at the age of 11 and he broke into the Athletico team in 2001 when the team was actually in the Spanish Segunda (Second Division). Though he did not have a great scoring season with only 6 goals from 36 games Athletico got promotion and Torres made his La Liga debut in 2002-03 season scoring 13 goals and in the very next season he was made the captain of the club becoming the youngest captain of Athletico Madrid and scored 19 and he made it to the Spanish national squad and has cemented his place till now with some commanding displays. And at the end of the 2006-07 season he moved to the Premier League. Torres had also cut his weekly wages of £ 103,000 in Spain to £ 90,000 in Liverpool.


His first match for Liverpool in a 2-1 win over Aston Villa and his first goal came at Anfield when they faced Chelsea since then he has been on a scoring spree netting 27 goals till date and 20 of them in League becoming the first man since Robbie Fowler last scored 20 in a season. He has been in total control in Europe with 4 goals so far in Champions League, a competition he dreamt playing in. He was instrumental in the team's win over Inter Milan at the San siro scoring a wonderful goal and sending the Reds into quarters. With Liverpool out the race for EPL title Torres will be totally focused on Champions League and will be hoping to have a good run, something his boss Rafa Benitez is a master at. At 24 this star has made the world take a note of him and sure there is going to be more from the "El Nino"

Euro2008 finals

Spain played some good attacking football and walked away as the deserving winners of Euro2008 and thus ending their 44 year title drought. Torres was the hero as his cool finish handed Spain the victory. Germany never really threatened but for a spell of 10 min past the hour mark.

Germany [0 - 1] Spain
33' [0 - 1] F. Torres : Link1 / Link2

Match Highlights
Part1 ,
Part2 .

Entire Euro2008 Compilation

Robinho: Real Madrid to Manchester City

Just writing those words makes you want to go back and check your facts, Robinho to Manchester City? Is that right? Was it all just a bad dream??? Does Robinho know what the hell he's let himself in for? Does Robinho even know where Manchester is?

Er, apparently not. After signing for Manchester City for a British record transfer fee of 32.5million pounds the Brazilian told reporters he was happy to be at City because he knew they were a "very big club."

But, even though Robinho might not know what he has let himself in for, one can safely say that after being taken over by one of the richest companies in the world, it is top ten finishing Manchester City who pulled off the biggest and most shocking transfer cop of them all.

Robinho had been Big Phil Scolari's number one transfer target all season, and even though Chelsea desperately put in a last ditch attempt to lure the playmaker to Stamford Bridge, it was Manchester City who beat them in the end, and its not often you can say that!

But it doesn't stop there, apparently City's manager Mark Hughes has been told he can bid 80million pounds each for some of the worlds biggest stars including; Messi, Kaka, Torres and Fabregas, with a renewed bid of 60 million for Berbatov - yes the world has gone mad!

Andrei Shevchenko – From a “living legend” to no one (“Who is he?”)!

Few years back when I asked a dummy if he knows Shevchenko he told me he’s the greatest striker ever. Most strikers in football are either a “fox in the box” kind of players or physically strong or good in aerial attacks but Shevchenko was one of the very few complete strikers who had all those ability instilled in him at that time. Recently I asked the same question to another dummy and his response was like “Who the hell is he?” That itself tells a story!

Shevchenko joined A.C. Milan in 1999 for a then-record transfer fee of $25 million. He made his Serie A debut on 28 August 1999 in a 2-2 draw with Lecce. He became the first foreign player to win the Serie A scoring title in his debut season, finishing with 24 goals in 32 matches. Scoring goals is never an easy task in Serie A and in spite of that he managed to capture everyone’s attention by his goal scoring ability.

He scored the then match deciding penalty that gave AC Milan their sixth champions league trophy, the icing on the cake was when Shevchenko was named the 2004 European Player of the Year, becoming the third Ukrainian player ever to win the award.

This was all achieved mainly due to the support given to him by AC Milan, the coach, teammates, technical staffs, management, and not forgetting the fans. He was adored by many Milan fans all over the world, including me.

The first thing that strikes ones mind upon coming across his name is the term “living legend”. He was deemed the next big thing after the great Marco Van Basten by the AC Milan faithfuls. He was the living legend in AC Milan Team along with the greats such as Paolo Maldini, Kaka, and Alessando Nesta.

When he was being treated like almost the prince of Milan, he had other ideas. He decided to leave Milan and join Chelsea mainly due to the fact that Chelsea offered more money and more than him, his wife was attracted more to it. The reason for him to leave was that, in Italy his children were not assured proper education whereas in England his children will be given better education. It seemed to be more like an excuse than a proper reason.


One of the fan actually pleaded shevchenko(shown in the picture) while he was in the stands asking him to be with Milan but it seemed to have gone to deaf ears as his move was confirmed.
He was never the same from the first game he played for Chelsea. He was unable to convert his chances to goals and something was clearly wrong. Initially it was thought the reason behind it was mainly due to the change in style from the Italian league to English league, but he was never able to adapt even after mid season. He was put in reserves and his carrier was taking a stinging blow at that point.

On 23 August 2008 it was announced that Shevchenko had re-joined AC Milan on a transfer deal from Chelsea. But whether or not will he be the same Shevchenko will only be answered after the season begins and as it progresses.



Arvind

History of football

Football is the word given to a number of similar team sports, all of which involve (to varying degrees) kicking a ball with the foot in an attempt to score a goal. The most popular of these sports world-wide is association football, also known as "soccer" and most commonly just "football". The English language word "football" is also applied to gridiron football (which includes games like American football and Canadian football), Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby football (rugby league and rugby union), and related games. Each of these codes (specific sets of rules, or the games defined by them) is referred to as "football".

These games involve:

* two teams of usually between 11 and 18 players. ("Six-man" and "eight-man" football are also played in less-populated parts of the United States).
* a clearly defined area in which to play the game;
* scoring goals and/or points, by moving the ball to an opposing team's end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line;
* the goal and/or line being defended by the opposing team;
* players being required to move the ball—depending on the code—by kicking, carrying and/or hand passing the ball; and
* goals and/or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts.

In most codes, there are rules restricting the movement of players offside, and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts. Other features common to several football codes include: points being mostly scored by players carrying the ball across the goal line and; players receiving a free kick after they take a mark/make a fair catch.

Peoples from around the world have played games which involved kicking and/or carrying a ball, since ancient times. However, most of the modern codes of football have their origins in England.

Euro2008 Goals - All matches

Euro2008 produced some great football and great goals. So get the goals of all matches played in Euro2008 and also some special videos like Best Goals and a compilation for Spain, the Champions.

Click here for the goals

Link1 -> Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 ,
(or)
Link2 -> Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 .

Top 10 Goals -> Link
Best Goals Of Euro 2008 (30 Goals) -> Link
Best Moments of Euro 2008 -> Linkl
Spain - Euro 2008 Champions -> Link

Ronaldo's season 2006-07

Cristiano Ronaldo made the Footballing world take a look at him in the 2006-07 season with his performance for Manchester United. What even more special is that Ronaldo did all the things even when he was jeered by all for his incident with Rooney in 2006 World cup. Re live the magical moments of Ronaldo during the 2006-07 season.

Click here for the goals

Oxford , Oxford , Sevilla , Fulham , Reading , Bolton , Portsmouth , Everton , Reading , Man City , Aston Villa , Aston Villa , Wigan , Wigan , Reading , Man City (P) , Aston Villa , Watford (P) , Totteham (P) , Fulham , Middlesbrough (P) , Europe11 , Middlesbrough (P) , Roma , Roma , Watford , Milan , Man City (P) .

The Ronaldo Saga

Cristiano Ronaldo

- a name that has been coming daily on the front pages. All the talk has been about his possible move to Realmadrid. And this talk started from the day Ronaldo told a Spanish Television that he was sure of his future at United and he dreamt of a move to Realmadrid. Incidentally this was just a few days before the "Champions League Finals". So was he planning to leave United for sometime now, the answer has to be "YES". Who would talk like this just before a huge "Final" that too being the crucial player of the team. Ronaldo might give reasons to leave Manutd as "He has won everything possible with Manchester" but had United lost the Champions League final, the reason would have been that he wants to win Champions League so he wants to move.

But his preferred destination, Realmadrid have failed to cross the group stages for the past 4 years. Initially it was rumoured that his agent Jorge Mendes was the man behind Ronaldo's ambition to move as he would get a handsome amount from the huge transfer fee. But those were quashed when it was revealed that Mendes wanted Ronaldo to remain at Manchester United. Some reports say the reason behind is the failure of United to offer a new improved contract than his current £120,000 a week deal. While few reports say Ronaldo had made up his mind in December that United were going to win everything and he had asked his agent to work on a move to Spanish capital. But his desire may be also due to the fact that his mother is an ardent Realmadrid fan.

And as the Euro was approaching there were all sorts of talk about Ronaldo. And his mom told that his son would stay at United this season. But Ronaldo kept quiet. And after a not so successful Euro he made his intentions clear that he wants a move. But United were never going to sell him. It was reported that United along with Nike were going to offer Ronaldo £200,000 a week deal. Nike too wanted him to stay as his move to Real would mean Adidas will be the sponsor. The sponsorship battle went to the extent that Barcelona, who are sponsored by Nike were asked by the sportswear giant to bid for Ronaldo.

Realmadrid actually need a player in his position. Though that might in the minds of Schuster, the board member's thoughts would have been on the fan follow Ronaldo had developed. It was estimated that Realmadrid would make about £500 million if Ronaldo comes. But now after his surgery all directions point towards "Ronaldo's stay at Old Trafford". But god only knows what is coming!!!!!!!!