A blog about the latest soccer news, best players, transfer talk and anything else about the world game, with a heavy focus on the Selecao and Inter Milan!
I went right down to the wire as Inter wasted chance after chance to seal their third Scudetto in as many years but on the last match day, Ibrahimovic came out to grab a brace against Parma and kick off the celebrations. Just enough to keep Roma in second but they couldn’t go the double this time as Roma defeated them in the Copa Italia final, for the second year running.
I’m glad to say that Inter have once and for all proven themselves. The first Scudetto was awarded to Inter following the Calciopoli scandal and few accepted that Inter actually deserved the title. So the next year Inter won it on the pitch in an amazing fashion, a huge points total at the end of the season. The same people were saying that it wasn’t a real win as many teams were docked points from the scandal (such as Milan) and Juventus wasn’t even in Serie A. So now once and for all, the teams all started level and Juve was back but Inter did it again.
Now if they can only sort themselves out in Champion’s League…
Enjoy the final day highlights and the celebrations.
Lastly, the highlights from the Copa Italia final. Shame that we lost 2-1 but at least you can take something away from it with that Pele goal. That was quite a strike, see below for yourself!
I lost a huge amount of respect for Nani over this incident, although Neil should’ve done better too. They both honestly look like a pair of school girls. Seems like Nani has been spending a fair amount of time at the Christiano Ronaldo school of acting. Makes it hard to tell your friends that soccer is a man’s game when stuff like this happens in the premier leagues. Almost as bad as the Rivaldo effort, or the Dida one. Might be time for me to make a compilation of these, so if you can think of any others just add a comment!
Decided to find a bunch of soccer ads as there are some pretty cool ones out there.
First up is a new Nike one posted by ric-s on ballhype. Not all that particularly entertaining, just thought I’d add it cause it’s new.
Next is a really creative Umbro one. I won’t give too much away but it’s fairly well done.
An oldie but a goodie. This is a Nike ad from probably ten years ago. Funny to see some old faces that either haven’t been seen for a while or are still around but when they were young.
Then there’s the old pepsi ad where the Sumo’s play the pepsi all-stars (R.Carlos, Beckham, Raul, Davids, Buffon, etc.) for an esky full of cold pepsi’s.
This one below has Fabregas suited up to juggle a ball that’s on fire, while being alight himself. I have to question the point of this one but it did look pretty cool when he volleyed it into the net, haha. Found this one over at the beautiful game.
There’s another really good one that won’t let me embed so you’ll need to check it out here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqm5zavFlM0 to see it. It’s the Brazilian Selecao warming up before a game. Quality juggling and this is the long version, about 2.5 minutes.
Finally, last but not least is another new Nike one and all I can say is it’s simply awesome. Posted by MVNsoccer on ballhype. Enjoy!
So Inter hosted Cagliari tonight and saw them off with a 2-1 win. Although Roma can technically still catch them, Inter just need one more win to grab their third consecutive Scudetto. It won’t be an easy win next week though as the play out the Milan derby. I dare say Milan will be more hungry to win as they need every point they can to leapfrog Fiorentina and get some Champion’s league action next season. Kaka’ is back from injury and on fire much like the revitalised Inzaghi who bagged a hat-trick tonight against Livorno and also set up Seedorf for the last goal.
Balotelli seems to have secured a first team spot for the moment with inspired performances and Zlatan still injured. It was Cruz and Materazzi that scored the goals in tonight’s game but Super Mario was involved in most of the action early on. I think if he continues to get doses of regular football he will mature into a great striker for Inter. I found a video about him called “best of the next gen” and embedded it below. It’s a bit early for any predictions but I see him up there with Pato, Walcott, and the other young Milan striker I forget the name of at the moment. Paloschi was it? Oh well, enjoy.
It seems that finally Ronaldo’s site is back online after so long. It used to be at www.r9ronaldo.com but now it’s just www.ronaldo.com. It’s got a nice clean look and a pretty good flash video on the landing page (although it’s a bit long and could get tiresome each time). I’m glad to see he’s back online and you can get news on his recovery straight from the source.
Speaking of which, he’s apparently making really good progress. He’s in Rio at the moment and splits his time between the gym and his clinic. It’s a fairly strenuous regime, working out three times a day with Bruno Mazziotti, an AC Milan physio. He’s got 100% movement back in his knee and has started strength training already, well ahead of schedule. He may be back in action much sooner than expected (fingers crossed). In a month or two he should be able to start running and cycling, so yeah, all the signs are very positive.
Of course I can’t make a post without a video! Enjoy some Ronaldo goals!
So the first leg of the Barcelona vs Manchester United Champion’s League semi-final ended up a draw with no goals scored. It wasn’t the most exciting match I’ve seen but it had some moments of good action and controversy. Main one being Milito’s handball in the area that earnt Man U a penalty. Unfortunately C. Ronaldo smacked it into the crossbar and missed a golden opportunity to grab an away goal. There were quite a few other penalty appeals throughout the match but the game was mostly controlled by Barca, problem is, Eto’o was doing everything wrong. He wasted chance after chance after chance. Even worse than Eto’o was his coach who brain-farted twice to substitute the wrong people.
First he took off Messi at about the hour mark and although he had only recently been back from injury and will be needed in the return leg, he didn’t look tired and was the best player on the park. He brought in the youngster Bojan but he’s not quite ready for the big stage. Then Deco went for Henry. Deco was also playing well and it should’ve been Yaya that went to allow for another attacker.
Oh well, at least C. Ronaldo flopped again in a big match. He still doesn’t have what it takes when push comes to shove. So annoying how he complained about everything and looked up at the sky for answers. Very ugly traits for such a gifted player. The return leg should be excellent though. Enjoy the highlights below.
Most of the great forwards and creative mid-fielders started or developed their trade on a smaller field. Players like Ronaldo, Robinho and Ronaldinho all improved their great control and dribble by playing indoor or smaller 5 a-side games. It gives you more touches on the ball simply because there are less players and forces you to have better control in tighter spaces as the play area is much smaller. I feel that young players should spend a lot of time playing indoor in the early stages of their development as they will learn better skills quicker this way. Although it’s important to start playing and training for the 11 a-side outdoor game once the basic passing, controlling and shooting skills are there as players that are too used to the smaller game don’t always do well at the larger one. A good example is Falcao who is one of the best indoor players out there and has won countless tournaments with the Brazilian national team but never really got his outdoor career off the ground even trying with Sao Paulo FC.
Have a look at some of the amazing skills that indoor players can display, the ground moves are incredible to watch.
The two stand out games of matchday 34 were Milan vs Reggina and Atalanta vs Juventus. The first saw Kaka’ return to his usual blistering form by shaking off his niggling injuries to bag a hat-trick and complete a game that ended in a 5-1 drubbing of bottom-placed Reggina. While Del Piero impressed even more, grabbing his own hat-trick without the need for any penalties and leading his side to a 4-0 assault on Atalanta. Enjoy the highlights below.
Roma were held at home by Livorno last night and hence dropped two vital points in the chase to beat Inter to another Scudetto. They’ll rue a lot of wasted chances as really they should’ve been a few in front by half-time. No goals in the first half but ten minutes after the restart, Vucinic scored a lovely looping header over Livorno keeper, Amelia. They took the foot off the gas and in the 83rd minute were punished by a well taken Diamanti free-kick, finding the top right corner. Amelia then kept Livorno in the game with a couple of nice saves and they can take home a share of the spoils.
Inter have a good chance to put 6 points between them and Roma tonight. Video highlights below.
