1st ODI 2008: India demolished England
The final score is: India 387 and England 229 and the result is that India defeated England by 158 runs. From first, home players kept total control and dominated fully. India batted first and scored 387 runs losing 5 wickets from their allotted 50 overs. Yuvraj Singh was in top form today and he hit 16 boundaries and 4 sixes. In fact, Yuvraj Singh was playing in Twenty20 mood and the England bowlers looked helpless in front of him.
When England started their batting, from first they struggled and all the time, the main goal was perhaps to reduce the margin of defeat. Indian bowlers were in good form but I would like to give more credit to the English batsmen for playing badly. Pietersen scored 67 runs and was run out. Thanks to his batting, England could pass 200 marks. Bopara offered some resistance towars the end and scored some quick runs but it was too little too late.
This win made all the fans happy. They are now looking at a new India. Many people thought that India would suffer greatly after the departure of players like Ganguly and Kumble.
For full score of the match, visit the link: England in India ODI Series - 1st ODI
EPL November 8 2008: Arsenal Defeated Manchester United 2-1
It was a victory that made all the supporters of this London club very happy. They needed it desperately and it came perhaps at the best time that they could imagine. Well, the final score was 2-1 and I said I would have kept the lead of 2-0 until the very last moment. Manchester united could pull back one goal at the 87th minute but it was too late and too little. With this win, arsenal is now at the third position in the league table. On the other hand, Manchester united is at the fourth position in the league table and they have played one match less than arsenal.
BBC reported:
Samir Nasri struck twice as Arsenal beat Manchester United and delivered an emphatic confirmation of manager Arsene Wenger’s belief that they are still serious Premier League contenders.
The best thing that the London based club was the emergence of a new star in Samir Nasri. There is a lot of the expectations from Samir Nasri but until now, he was not up to the mark to satisfy the supporters.
Arsenal vs Manchester United EPL 08-09: Preview and Live Score
Arsenal is going to host Manchester United in a crucial premier league encounter today (8 November 2008) at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal has been going through a rough patch of time very recently, while Manchester United is enjoying good time both in premier league and Europe recently following a bad start to the season. To be honest, the importance of the match is not confined only in three points; rather it is a match that could boost up the confidence level of the winning team, while the losing side would suffer a morale-denting experience.
Match: Arsenal vs Manchester United; English Premier League 2008-09
Date: 8 November 2008, Saturday
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London
Kick off: 12:45 BST (British Standard Time)
Arsenal has been in bad form recently as they have not won any of their last three matches including two draws and a morale-denting defeat to Stoke City last week. After that, Arsenal was held to a surprise goal less draw by Fenerbahce at home midweek. Couple of weeks before, Arsenal suffered another blow when they had to draw 4-4 with cross town rivals Tottenham Hotspur after conceding 2 injury time goals. That was the start of Arsenal’s bad phase of time. At this moment, Gunners are at the 4th place in the league standing with 20 points from 11 outings. So, a victory against Manchester Untied would come as a welcome performance for the Arsenal at this moment.
Manchester United, on the other hand, has been in good form as they lost only 2 points out of their last 18 in premier league- meaning they won 9 out of their last 10 matches and did not lose any of those games, except the 1-1 draw away at Everton. Manchester United is currently placed third in the premier league table with 21 points from 10 matches. Manchester United salvaged a 1-1 draw away at Celtic in their recent fixture in Europe. Untied’s recent premier league match was against newly promoted Hull City who took a stern test of the defending champions as Ferguson boys had to score 4 goals to win the match because they conceded 3 goals, a rare case for Manchester United. So, though Manchester United came out with three important points, they were pushed all the way and now they need to be very careful while facing Arsenal at the Emirates stadium in today’s lunch time meeting.
Both sides will miss some of the players for several reasons, but Arsenal seems to be mostly affected. The North London club will miss the service of some influential players like Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor and Emmanuel Eboue. Dutch striker Robin van Persie is currently suspended for premier league action as he was sent off during Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat at Stoke City last week. Emmanuel Adebayor and Emmanuel Eboue are currently injured out, while long term absentees Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo will remain sidelined. Mikael Silvestre, Theo Walcott, William Gallas and Bacary Sagna are also doubtful as they are recovering from injuries and they have to go througg last minute fitness test before the match.
For Manchester United, they will definitely miss Wes Brown and Owen Hargreaves as they are yet to recover from injury, while Darren Fletcher is doubtful with knee injury. Midfielder Paul Scholes has been back in training, but he would not be available for today’s match. In fact, he is expected to come back in action with the match against Tottenham Hotspur on December 13. However, the good news for Manchester United is that captain Gary Neville has returned after recovering from the minor injury.
Online Live Score and Update
Here, I am giving some names of online live score and update websites from wehre you can get the live score and updates of the match:
Live Score
Goalzz
Live Football Scores
Goal.com
Footie Scorez
Arsenal has a number of injury woes and they are currently under pressure on the back of their recent poor form. However, Arsene Wenger boys will look for a revamp in the match in front of their own supporters. Manchester United has already come out of their early setbacks that they suffered in the first few weeks of the season and they will now look to continue their winning run with at Emirates Stadium. In fact, even a draw away at Arsenal will be a satisfactory performance for the Red Devils. So, it is clear that both the sides have some goals ahead of the match and they will strive for reaching the goals in the match. Herein lies an indication of a mouth-watering battle between two English premier league giants Arsenal and Manchester United.
India vs Australia 4th Test 2008: First Day Report
India got off to a good start in the fourth test of the series against Australia today at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. At the end of the first day, India’s first innings reached at 311 for 5 with Sachin Tendulkar scoring his 40th test hundred and half centuries coming from Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman. Australian spinner Jason Krejza impressed all, picking up 3 important wickets on the very first day of his debut test match. Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are now batting on 27 and 4 runs respectively. However, the fall of Sachin Tendulkar on 109 just few overs before the stumps brought a balance in the match.
India won the toss and Dhoni elected to bat first. Indian openers started off well and frustrated Australian pacers for 18 overs, scoring 98 runs for the first wicket before debutant opener Murali Vijay became the victim of Shane Watson on 33. Vijay opened for India alongside Virender Sehwag as regular opener Gautam Gambhir is serving his one match suspension imposed by ICC. Just the very next over after Vijay’s dismissal, India lost the wicket of Rahul Dravid wihtout scoring any run. Dravid’s wicket was the maiden test wicket for Jason Krejza who later picked up the wickets of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar too.
India went under pressure as Virender Sehwag also got out on 66 from 69 balls with 9 boundaries and 1 over boundary. India’s score turned from 98 for 0 to 116 for 3 within 29 balls. At that point, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman made an important partnership of 126 runs for the fourth wicket, snatching away the momentum from the visiting side. Laxman played an effective innings of 64 runs in his 100th test match before getting out off Krejza. After Laxman’s dismissal, Sourav Ganguly joined Sachin Tendulkar. Both the veterans were playing with sheer confidence and it seemed they would remain undefeated at the end of the day. However, Sachin got out after reaching his 40th test century. Though he got three lives during his innings, it was his determined batting that kept India afloat. Sachin hit 12 boundaries in his 109-run innings.
Dhoni joined Ganguly and the two remained not out at the end of the first day. Ganguly, who is playing his last test match in his career, played with sheer confidence today. For Australia, Jason Krejza is the most successful bowler with 3 wickets for 138. Though the debutant leg-spinner conceded many runs, but his handy leg spin brought break through for Australia on a number of times today. Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson got one wicket each. Stuart Clark was dropped out for the match to make way for Jason Krejza.
I do not think India is in a very strong position at this moment as they have already lost five top order wickets. If Australia can pick up couple of early wickets tomorrow morning, I think, it could be Australia’s day. For India, it is needed to keep the pressure on Australian bowlers and to do that, Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have to make a big partnership tomorrow and any score less than 450 would not give India any big advantage.
Chelsea Lost at Roma 3-1 in Champions League
Chelsea suffered a 3-1 defeat away at Roma in Champions league encounter on Tuesday. The defeat came as a shock to the premier league leader as they went into the match on the back of two big-margin victories in premier league. For Roma, they must have found a revamp in their overall poor form so far this season. They are even facing relegation in Serie A, sitting just one place and a point above the relegation zone, but the way they outclassed English side Chelsea last night seems to indicate that Roma is on their way to get back on track.
Aside from the morale-denting defeat, Chelsea received another blow in the match as the influential midfielder Deco was sent off during the defeat to Roma- meaning the Portuguese international will miss Chelsea’s next two group stage matches. Despite the defeat, Chelsea is still leading the Group A, but with only 1 point. With six points Roma and Bordeaux jointly secure the second place in the point table, just a point behind Chelsea’s 7. Chelsea, Roma and Bordeaux all have chance to get into the next round, while Romanian club FCR Cluj, who defeated Roma on the road and drew with Chelsea at home, is not yet out of the race.
Roma vs Chelsea Champions League: Preview and Live Score
Chelsea is going to face Roma in an important Group A match of Champions League 2008-09 on Tuesday at the Stadio Olimpico Rome, Italy. Roma is struggling both at home and Europe so far this season and the Italian cub has everything to fear about Chelsea’s high-flying form of recent. Having suffered their first defeat of the season recently to Liverpool, Chelsea bounced back with big margin victories against Hull City and Sunderland. So, ahead of the match against Roma, Chelsea can only worry about Roma’s home match advantage. For Roma, the home advantage is perhaps the only positive thing they can look for ahead of the encounter with Chelsea.
Match: Roma vs Chelsea; Group A; Champions League 2008-09
Date: 4 November 2008, Tuesday
Venue: Stadio Olimpico Rome, Italy
Kick off: 19:45 BST (British Standard Time)
Chelsea is leading the point table of Group A with 7 points from 3 matches thanks to two wins and a draw. Chelsea defeated Roma 1-0 at home in their recent Champions League fixture at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea started their Europe mission with a 4-0 thrash over French side Bordeaux, but the West London club was held to a goal less draw by Romanian club CFR Cluj. Now, if Chelsea wins over Roma once again and CFR Cluj defeats Bordeaux, Chelsea will be through to the round of 16 with two matches left at hand.
Except the recent defeat to Liverpool at home, Chelsea’s domestic record so far this season has been outstanding too. Chelsea is now leading the league table with 26 points from 11 outings with eight wins, two draws and the defeat to Liverpool at home. Overcoming a string of injury problems, Chelsea continued their winning streak both in home and away matches. Chelsea kept clean sheet for six matches in a row while missing 7/8 regular players through injury. With the defeat to Liverpool, Chelsea’s formidable home record of 86-match unbeaten streak in premier league came to an end. Many thought the defeat might affect Chelsea’s high-flying form.
However, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side rebounded strongly from the Liverpool setback in the immediate next league match away at Hull City as Chelsea posted a 3-0 confidence-booster away victory. The at home, Chelsea demolished Sunderland 5-0 thanks to Nicolas Anelka hat-trick. So, you can not claim that the defeat to Liverpool could affect the dominating form of Chelsea.
For Roma, this is perhaps one of the worst starts to a season both in domestic as well as in Europe. Last season, they reached the quarter final of Champions league, but this season they have already lost two out of their first three matches in Europe. They still have chance to get into the round of 16, but their current form has not left much hope for their fans. They started their Champions League 2008-09 campaign with a surprise defeat to Romanian club CFR Cluj at home. The morale-denting defeat came as a big surprise not only for Roma but also for many other clubs too. However, Roma recovered the setback they suffered against CFR Cluj with a 3-1 away victory over Bordeaux. Then in their recent fixture, Roma lost away at Chelsea 1-0. In order to keep their hope of progressing to the round of 16 alive, Roma has to avoid defeat at least, if can not pull off a victory.
Roma’s miserable condition in Serie A so far this season makes it difficult to believe that they narrowly missed the title on the last day of the last season. After playing 9 matches, Roma sits just a place above the relegation zone in the point table with 7 points. Out of 9 matches, Roma lost 6 matches, while won 2 and drew 1 in Serie A. Roma lost all of their last four league matches in a row including the recent 2-0 defeat to Juventus. Roma’s current form earned huge criticism for the club in the recent weeks and coach Luciano Spalletti in now under fire.
Luciano Spalletti has recently said that Roma’s problem is of psychological. He thinks motivation and confidence are all Roma needs to get back their prime form.
AFP reported:
“Putting fear into the team would be the worst thing one could do,” said Spalletti.
“In this contest we have to be strong because you have to make simple situations seem difficult and in difficult ones you have to be realistic and make them seem easy,” said the 49-year-old former Sampdoria and Udinese coach.
“It’s a psychological problem. You need to show the lads what they’ve done well.
“Then look to reinforce the concepts that they’ve been developing over the last few games. And then look to maintain their self-esteem in the same way.”
Roma will look for a revamp against Chelsea at home in from of their own crowd. A victory or a draw will definitely help them recover their confidence. There is good news for Roma that their captain Francesco Totti might be in contention for the match against Chelsea. It is expected that he might play at least as a substitute in the match. He missed the match against Juventus with knee injury. However, Totti recently trained with his personal trainer Vito Scala. However, it is not yet confirmed if the striker can fully recover in time to play a part of the match against Chelsea. Marco Cassetti will, for sure, miss the match as he is recovering from his thigh injury. Alberto Aquilani will also remain out for another week with thigh injury. Julio Baptista played in the starting line up of Roma against Juventus and the Brazilian is expected to hold on to his place in the first eleven of Roma for the Chelsea encounter.
For Chelsea, injury is not a threat anymore because injury has been common-a-thing at Chelsea over time. Most importantly, Chelsea has now got used to cope up with injury very well and knows how to pick up three points even when missing a number of players through injury. Ashley Cole will not be able to catch the trip to Rome in time. Cole sustained a calf injury during Chelsea’s 5-0 thrash over Sunderland recently and he now requires up to 10 days to come back in action. The English international also suffered a hamstring injury during England’s 5-1 victory over Kazakhstan in the world cup qualifier last month and was out for England’s Belarus match and Chelsea’s home match against Roma at home.
Still, there are a number of injured players including long term absentee Michael Essien, who has recently suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury- meaning he has to sit out for another six months. Michael Ballack is also on the sideline with foot injury and is now recovering from a surgery he underwent last month. Joe Cole is not yet confirmed for the match against Roma as he is suffering from ankle injury. Ricardo Carvalho made an unsuccessful come back from knee surgery against Hull City as he limped off with a hamstring strain during the same match. Carvalho has been out of three weeks now.
However, Chelsea’s high-flying performance continues as the players like Frank Lampard, Deco and Nicolas Anelka are at their prime form. I think, Lampard will be crucial for Chelsea. For Roma, the participation of Totti is very important. Julio Baptista can also play a significant role for Roma in the match against Chelsea.
Online Live Score and Updates
Here, I am giving some name of online live score and update websites from where you can get online live score and updates of the match:
Live Score
Goalzz
Footie Scorez
Sportpress
Goal.com
Chelsea is favorite against Roma, considering the recent form and strength of the two clubs. However, Roma will play in front of their own fans and will enjoy the home advantage. Chelsea players have to be up to the mark, while Roma players must be confident enough against Chelsea. The two clubs stick to their recent form, then you can assume it is going to be a dull match which will be dominated by Chelsea and a victory for Chelsea would be the likely result in the match. However, if Roma can put some effort to appear against Chelsea with full of confidence, then Chelsea is going to face strong challenge from Roma. Now, let us see if Roma and Chelsea can present the football fans with an exciting, entertaining and interesting match.
Liverpool Defeated Chelsea 1-0 to Move to the Top of Premier League Table
26 October 2008 (Sunday): Liverpool moved up to the top of the premier league point table as they pulled off an excellent 1-0 victory away at Chelsea. Thanks to the 10th minute strike of midfielder Xabi Alonso, Liverpool picked up another emphatic victory over a ‘Big Four’ club after their last month triumph over Manchester United at home.
With this defeat, Chelsea’s 86-match undefeated home run in Premier League stopped and they moved down to the second place in the premier league with 20 points from 9 matches. Chelsea went into the match on the back of six clean sheets in a row. Moreover, this has been Chelsea’s first defeat under their new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Liverpool players celebrated the victory in style after the match and their celebration showed that the victory is not only a matter of three points; rather it came as a confidence booster. With 23 points from 9 matches, Liverpool is now three points clear of Chelsea in the league table and the victory has put the Reds firmly on course of retaining premier league title this season after 18 years.
The disappointment in the face of Chelsea fans was clear and it is pretty much understandable that Scolari now has to inspire the Chelsea players to overcome the morale-denting defeat.
Chelsea vs Liverpool EPL 08-09: Preview and Live Score
High-flying Chelsea is going to take on confident Liverpool at Stamford Bridge in a lunch-time showdown of English Premier League today (26 October 2008). This is the most attractive premier league encounter of this season so far with the top two teams of league table facing each other in a seemingly mouthwatering battle at the Chelsea home ground Stamford Bridge. Chelsea’s undefeated run of 86 premier league matches has made Stamford Bridge a formidable fortress in Europe, but Liverpool’s undefeated run so far this season indicates a stern test for Chelsea today.
Match: Chelsea vs Liverpool; English Premier League 08-09
Date: 26 October 2008, Sunday
Venue: Stamford Bridge, London, England
Kick off: 13:30 BST (British Standard Time)
Formidable, impeccable, extraordinary, astounding are the words that might go with the recent form of Chelsea. The way they got over the premier league opponents over the last few weeks, overcoming a string of injury woes, can only be defined by these words. Chelsea missed a number of regular team members including Captain John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Deco, Michael Ballack, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba through injury.
Manager Luiz Felipe Scolari had to feature a second string team for about five-six games, but that did not affect their performance as Chelsea remained atop the league point table with 20 points from 8 matches. There are many who believe Chelsea looked more formidable without their star players as the Blues completed six clean sheets in a row. Now, with most of the injured players returned to action, Chelsea seems to be more confidence in the lead up to the high-profile clash with Liverpool. However, still Chelsea will be without Midfielders Michael Essien, Michael Ballack and striker Didier Drogba, but this is unlikely Chelsea could suffer much for these injury woes, given their recent form and confidence in evidence.
Liverpool also has lots of reasons to be inspired ahead of the trip to West London today. The Merseyside club has achieved their best start to premier league for the last few seasons. With 20 points from 8 outings, Liverpool secures the second place in the league table only on goal difference. They are still undefeated so far this season and the Reds showed the kind of mental strength they possess now in their previous two league games, pulling off two excellent come-from-back victories- first at Manchester City, then against Everton at home.
However, Liverpool is most likely to miss two of their key forwards- Fernando Torres and Summer signing Robbie Keane- as both of them are yet to recover fully from their respective injuries. Torres suffered a hamstring injury while representing Spain in world cup qualification, while Robbie Keane was limped off the field with a groin injury during Liverpool’s 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid last week in a Champions League encounter after scoring the only goal for Liverpool in the match. However, there is report out in the media claims that manager Rafael Benitez might take a risk by featuring Torres who is in his way to full recovery. However, I think, it would not a good decision to play a near-to-fit Torres in a demanding match like this, because it might risk him missing a number of matches in the days to come and Liverpool can not afford to miss perhaps their best striker for a string of matches in their pursuit to retaining premier league after 18 years.
However, the good new for Liverpool fans is that midfield duo Captain Steven Gerrard and Spanish international Xabi Alonso are available for the match as they recovered their minor problems picked up in the drawn match against Atletico Madrid. So, Liverpool may not have any problem in the midfield, though a void could have been felt in their attacking line up if Fernando Torres and Robbie Keane both miss out for the match.
Online Live Score and Updates
Here, I am giving some online live score and update websites from where you can get the live score and updates of the match:
Live Score
Goalzz
Live Football Scores
Goal.com
Footie Scorez
There are many who consider Chelsea as favorite against Liverpool, thinking of Chelsea’s recent form and formidable home record in the premier league. However, you should not forget the fact that Liverpool was not as flawless in the last few seasons as they have been so far this season. They are continuously picking up three points, though not in classy fashion, but showing their mental strength. Their home victory over Manchester United last month was their first home victory over the Red Devils in seven years. So, I think, Chelsea’s home record will go though another stern test today against a Liverpool side who seems to have no lack of confidence, but have lack of fear. So, I predict an exciting, hard-fought match today.
Cricket Spreading out Across China
Cricket is yet to reach the level of a global sport like football (soccer). However, with the inception of Twenty20 form of cricket, it seems Cricket can now go beyond its known territory. Well, it is not the case in China. Cricket is being spread out across China not because of the attraction of the shortest version of the game. Rather, the sport is being promoted in China extensively at the grass-root level by Chinese Cricket Association with a view to qualifying for 2019 world cup and gaining test status by 2020. Moreover, they also have some short-term goals such as having 720 well-organized teams in China by 2009, and 20,000 players as well as 2,000 coaches by 2015. Chinese Cricket Association became affiliate member of International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2004.
China is the most populous countries. So, if Cricket can really become a major sport in the country, it will be a huge boost for the game in reaching other unearthed territories in the world. Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is providing assistance to Chinese Cricket Association in promoting the game across the country and Cricket has already caught the attention of many young school students and is getting popularity in some of the most populous provinces in China. Moreover, Cricket in China will receive another boost during 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China because Cricket has been included as one of the sporting events in the games and China will take part in the tournament alongside test playing countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. With Chinese economy flourishing day by day, you can guess that promoting cricket will not be a problem for the cricket organizers in the country. At the very least, Twenty20 cricket has a huge potential to flourish in China.
England Keeps 100% Winning Record Defeating Belarus
England defeated Belarus 3-1 convincingly tonight with Wayne Rooney doing his magic again. England started to dominate from the early part of the match and took the lead only in the 11th minute. No, it was not Wayne Rooney who scored the first goal, but it was Steven Gerrard who delighted the supporters in the stadium and in front of their TV sets and radios back in England. The players of Belarus were determined not to be outclassed by England. They kept on fighting and equalized in the 28th minute thanks to the goal of Sitko. The first half ended 1-1.
Many England fans perhaps were worried that their team might suffer an upset. However, Wayne Rooney had other ideas. Rooney got outshined with the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo in Manchester United last season. However, tonight, he again showed that he is no longer the wonder kid anymore. In stead, Rooney has become matured. He scored two goals in the second half. The first one came in the 50th minute and the second goal was scored in the 74th minute.
With this win, England has kept 100% winning record in the campaign to qualifying for FIFA World Cup 2010. This is the best start to any world cup qualifying campaign by England.
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A book by CosmoFair founder
A book by CosmoFair founder, Bill Belew, that might change your world
