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Goal of the day: Nick Powell (Crewe) vs Cheltenham

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Mon, 28 May 2012 13:22:00 +0000

18-year-old phenom Nick Powell enhanced his growing reputation with a stunning strike to help Crewe Alexandra win promotion to League One.


Crewe striker Nick Powell celebrates his goal against Cheltenham with a teammate Photo: Getty Images

Powell is the subject of transfer interest from a host of Premier League clubs, and his star performance in Sunday's Football League Play-Off Final 2-0 win over Cheltenham Town will have done his prospects of a big-money move little harm.

Following a sedate opening to the game, Powell put the Railwaymen ahead on 15 minutes in sublime fashion.

Receiving the ball on the edge of the area, his first touch was sublime, shifting the ball from his right foot to his left while escaping the attentions of Marlon Pack and Alan Bennett.

His second was simply stunning, a dipping volley which flew over Cheltenham goalkeeper Scott Brown and into the corner of the net.

The strike was not quite anything you'd regularly expect to see in a League Two tie, but Powell was modest about his goal.

He said: "I just whacked it to be honest. I just want to enjoy tonight with the boys and celebrate, I'm not concentrating on the future."

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FAIL! FOX Sports tweets Lionel Messi's death

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Mon, 28 May 2012 13:14:00 +0000

FOX Sports blundered big time late Saturday night when its Latin American section reported on Twitter that Lionel Messi was deceased.


A screenshot of FOX Sports mistakenly announcing the death of Lionel Messi on Twitter Photo: @FOXSports_norte

"We must report the sad news that Lionel Messi is deceased from a heart attack during training #RipMessi," said the tweet that was sent to 270,000-plus followers.

The message was deleted seconds later, but not quickly enough to prevent a screen shot from being taken and circulated throughout the Internet.

FOX Sports then went into damage control mode, while also blaming hackers for the incident, saying: "Sorry for the previous tweet and we apologize to anyone who may have been offended. Clearly we were hacked."

Messi is currently in his native Argentina, training with the national team ahead of Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Ecuador.

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Zlatan Ibrahimović 'helps' Rafael van der Vaart practices golf swing

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Mon, 28 May 2012 13:08:00 +0000

It's fairly common knowledge that Rafael van der Vaart and Zlatan Ibrahimović don't get on, and the former upped the ante over the weekend when he was filmed practicing his golf swing on the latter's face.

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Goal of the day: Michael Bradley (USA) vs Scotland

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:52:00 +0000

Michael Bradley delivered a spectacular long range goal as the United States defeated Scotland 5-1 in a friendly in Jacksonville on Saturday.


USA midfielder Michael Bradley celebrates after scoring against Scotland Photo: Reuters

Landon Donovan opened the scoring before a crowd of 44,438 fans at EverBank Field, beating Scotland goalkeeper Allan McGregor on the rebound of his own initial shot in the third minute.

The Americans continued to pile on the pressure and they were celebrating again with 11 minutes on the clock.

On the sixth anniversary of his national team debut, Bradley unleashed an unstoppable shot from 30 yards that curled beyond McGregor and into the top right corner of the net.

The Chievo Verona midfielder got the timing just right in nailing a half volley off a bouncing layoff from Jermaine Jones in the middle and a stretched-out McGregor made a game effort with no real hope of making the save.

Scotland pulled one back soon after through an own goal from Geoff Cameron, but that was the last real threat from the Scottish as Jürgen Klinsmann's men ran away with the game after the break with three goals in a ten minute blitz.

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Victoria Zarlenga sings worst national anthem ever

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:50:00 +0000

Sadly this will go down as one of the worst national anthem performances ever. Just listen.

UPDATE: Victoria has given her response to the National Anthem performance.

In response to this video and the comments...

I totally hear you, this was not a good performance and I take full responsibility for it! I did not realize I would need ear buds as monitors and to block out the stadium sound delay, lack of knowledge on my part. Therefore, I had to borrow a pair from the sound crew that were too large for my ears and were popping out. Watching the video you can see that I was trying to hold the left ear bud in with my hand.

That said, I was unable to hear myself and was only hearing the few second delay of my voice in the stadium. To add to the challenge, the fans were singing in sync with my few seconds delay. I kept hearing myself and the fans singing what I knew I had just sung a few seconds before through the whole song. That was an incredible challenge just to get through the song, trying to concentrate on finishing, let alone pitch, time, etc.

I heard from a few fans that said the view on the Jumbotron was not in sync with what they were hearing. Apparently the TV recording and stadium sound were two separate systems - you had to be present at the stadium to see and hear the delay. This was the first time I ever experienced a sound delay. I was very disoriented with all these variables!

I would like to share with you a previous rendition and live performance of the National Anthem from about six months ago without the technical challenges - visit this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftk3sGMgqn0

Victoria Zarlenga

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Goalie Fail! Diego Benaglio (Switzerland) vs Germany

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:45:00 +0000

Goalkeeper Diego Benaglio made an awful gaffe last night despite Switzerland secured an unliklely 5-3 friendly win against Euro 2012 favorites Germany.


Switzerland goalkeeper Diego Benaglio fails to save a shots from Germany forward André Schürrle Photo: YouTube

Eren Derdiyok scored twice in a span of three minutes, putting his team up 2-0 with 21st and 23rd minute goals with Germany's defense in disarray.

Mats Hummels pulled a goal back for Germany just before the break, but Derdiyok completed his hat-trick soon after the interval before Benaglio's howler handed the Germans a lifeline.

Germany forward André Schürrle blasted from long range and it nestled in the center of the goal.

The ball was well hit and knuckled a bit in the air, but Benaglio seemed to get his bearings wrong as the ball flew past him.

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Best FIFA 12 fail you'll ever see

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Sun, 27 May 2012 11:42:00 +0000

This is certainly the biggest combo of fails you've seen in one game of FIFA 12.

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Ronaldinho plays delightful pass to invisible teammates

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Sun, 27 May 2012 08:48:00 +0000

There was a bizarre moment during Flamengo's 3-3 draw with Internacional on Saturday, as Ronaldinho popped off a little pass to a teammate who no one else can see.

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Watch Javier Zanetti singing on Indonesian Idol

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Sun, 27 May 2012 08:43:00 +0000

Inter Milan captain Javier Zanetti definitively proves that his vocal chords are no match for his football skills.

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Neymar, Robinho & Diego take stage at Brazilian nightclub

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Sun, 27 May 2012 08:36:00 +0000

After a tense Copa Libertadores win over Vélez Sársfield last Thursday, Neymar decided to relax alongside two ex-Santos players Robinho and Diego in a nightclub.

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Watch all of Lionel Messi's 73 goals in 2011/12

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Sat, 26 May 2012 16:04:00 +0000

This is for all Lionel Messi fans - a short summary of his most prolific year to date.

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Best Goals of Week #4 May 2012

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Sat, 26 May 2012 11:49:00 +0000

Here are the best goals from week #4 May 2012, courtesy of TVGOLO.com.

Goal#1	Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid)	vs América de Cali
Goal#2	Walter Chalá (Deportivo Cuenca)	vs Manta
Goal#3	Joselu (Real Madrid B)	vs Cádiz
Goal#4	Lê Quốc Phương (Thanh Hoa)	vs Hoang Anh Gia Lai
Goal#5	Burnel Okana-Stazi (Stal Alchevsk)	vs Mykolaiv
Goal#6	Fernando Cavenaghi (River Plate)	vs Guillermo Brown
Goal#7	Lisandro (Olympique Lyon)	vs Nice
Goal#8	Carlos Luna (Tigre)	vs Newell's Old Boys
Goal#9	Eddy Bosnar (Suwon Samsung Bluewings)	vs Ulsan Hyundai
Goal#10	Didier Drogba (Chelsea)	vs Bayern Munich

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Javi Martínez wants Andrés Iniesta's shirt so bad

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Sat, 26 May 2012 10:40:00 +0000

You should wait after the game to exchange shirts and also you have to ask the player if he wants to give you his shirt, not just taking it off of him.

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Copa del Rey Final: Barcelona 3-0 Athletic Bilbao

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Sat, 26 May 2012 06:30:00 +0000

Barcelona provided coach Pep Guardiola with the perfect send-off with a 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao in the final of the Copa del Rey at the Vicente Calderón on Friday.


Pep Guardiola celebrates his last victory as Barcelona coach with the Copa del Rey triumph Photo: Getty Images

Barça took the lead after just three minutes when Ibai Gómez failed to clear Gerard Piqué's flick-on from a corner, with Pedro well-positioned inside the area to slot home.

Lionel Messi made it 2-0 on 20 minutes as he latched onto Andrés Iniesta's defense-splitting pass before firing home with his weaker right foot.

Four minutes later it was three as Pedro stroked home clinically from 20 yards to seal the comprehensive win in what was Guardiola's last match in charge.

"We had a very good year, we won four titles and winning this cup gives them better value," Guardiola said. "I'm happy to close out the season this way."

"I feel like I left some good things behind for the club and that others will continue the good work. Now I will rest and try in the future a new challenge."

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The wackiest ad you'll ever see in the build up to Euro 2012

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:49:00 +0000

Just in time for Euro 2012, Dutch supermarket chain C1000 has released an advert featuring stars of the Netherlands football team acting the giddy goat.

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Watch Nani beatboxing at press conference

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:39:00 +0000

Here's Manchester United winger Nani for some reason doing beatbox during a press conference with the Portuguese national side.

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Chicago Fire's Dominic Oduro really fast... at shopping

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:31:00 +0000

Chicago Fire striker Dominic Oduro may or may not be the fastest may in the Major League Soccer, but now you know that he is the perfect shopping companion.

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FIFA Fail! Walcott what are you doing?!

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:27:00 +0000

If this kind of thing happens in real life, just hit him!

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Goal of the day: Emilio Rentería (Crew) vs Sounders

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:52:00 +0000

Columbus Crew striker Emilio Rentería broke his goal drought in style as his wonderstrike wrapped up a 2-0 victory at the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday night.


Columbus Crew forward Emilio Rentería kicks the ball to score against Seattle Sounders Photo: AP

The visitors took an early lead when Justin Meram headed a left-footed cross from Dilly Duka in the 15th minute.

Rentería then sealed the victory for the Crew with a sublime effort 14 minutes from time.

After Seattle gave the ball away in their own half, the Venezuelan quickly fired a shot from 30 yards out that curved over the outstretched arms of Seattle goalkeeper Bryan Meredith.

Meredith, who was a bit too far off his line, was able to get a touch on the shot, but not enough to keep the ball from finding the back of the net.

It had been 670 minutes of personal action since Rentería, the Crew's leading returning scorer from last season, had netted a goal dating to last year.

"I saw the goalie outside the goal and decided to chip the ball in," Rentería said after the game.

"It's not something I do every time, I like to shoot more. In that situation I thought I could score and I did."

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Chilean footballer goes crazy after being substituted

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:48:00 +0000

Antofagasta midfielder Giovanni Narváez stirred controversy last Sunday when he went berserk after being substituted in a Chilean league match against Rangers.

The anger erupted when Narváez was substituted 36 minutes into the game by coach Gustavo Huerta.

The decision angered the 29-year-old, who took off his shirt and kicked it into the air on his way off the pitch.

Narváez then made obscene gestures to the crowd before going for a running jump attack on to the billboards around the pitch.

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Pic of the day: Young Korean monks play football

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:38:00 +0000

Boys, even novice monks, will be boys, and boys like to play football.


Photo: Reuters

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Eddy Bosnar scores with 123km/h free-kick

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:32:00 +0000

Suwon Samsung Bluewings defender Eddy Bosnar blasted home a free-kick at an incredible 123 kilometers per hour against Ulsan Hyundai in the South Korean top flight at the weekend.


Suwon Samsung defender Eddy Bosnar shoots to score from a free-kick against Ulsan Photo: YouTube

Ulsan took the lead in the eighth minute through Lee Jae-Sung before Bosnar equalised for the Bluewings with a thunderous long-range free kick.

Waving teammates away, the Australian centre back lined up a set piece from all of thirty five yards out.

The lengthy run up got underway and the spectacle that we've threatened to see all season was finally seen.

The ball was hit as hard and true as any you're likely to see, sympathy going out to the net - the only thing with any chance of stopping the thunderbolt coming its way.

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Beckham plays Beethoven by hitting footballs at 15 drums

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:45:00 +0000

While David Beckham's right foot has brought joy to millions over the years, it has never created "Ode to Joy" as it does in this new advert for the Samsung Galaxy Note mobile phone.

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Is this the worst attempt at imitating Neymar?

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:43:00 +0000

This is Mohammed Ghaddar, or known as "The Malaysian Neymar", doing some of his showboat tricks.

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Argentine hooligans threaten to shoot player if team don't win

noreply@blogger.com (r1ooooo) — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:41:00 +0000

Two Racing Club players were stopped in a Buenos Aires street by hooligans who threatened to shoot one of them in the legs if their team failed to win their next game.


Racing Club player Giovanni Moreno was threatened at gunpoint by several hooligans Photo: La Nación/GDA

Midfielder Giovanni Moreno and forward Federico Santander were leaving training together when another car pulled in front of them and forced them to stop.

Two men then got out of the vehicle and threatened Moreno with a gun.

"They told Gio they would shoot him in the legs and would ruin his career," Santander told the radio station La Red.

"I thought they were going to shoot him. He was terrified as I was. I'm frightened, I don't know what to do.

"They told us: On Sunday we have to win. If not, things will get worse.

"Never in my career has anything like this happened."

Racing are 14th out of 20 in the Argentine first-division standings, which are decided over three seasons.

Argentinian clubs are followed by groups of hardcore fans known as barras bravas, who are blamed for the country's chronic hooliganism problem.

Almost every major club in Argentina has a tacit connection to hooligan gangs, which are granted favors by the clubs in exchange for supporting club directors and often their political and labor connections.

They also threaten and attack players of their own team when results go badly.

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