After much hype surrounding Murray and a few others, its the top two guns in the world tennis who will fight it out for the crown of the Grand Slam of Asia/Pacific. Federer who did not start off well has managed to reach his peak for the closing stages of the tournament. You must ask Juan Martin Del Potro on Federer's form, the Swiss master just destroyed him in a horribly one sided last 8 match. Federer was playing some unbelievable tennis and he even volleyed a ball with his head after Potro was lying on one side of the court. And against Roddick in the semis, Royal Roger turned up once again and he outclassed the American. Nadal, on the other hand had been blowing away all his opponents and was not tested till the semis where the epic semifnals against country man Verdasco which lasted nearly 6 hours ended with Verdasco double faulting. He too is in top shape and all eyes are on the finals. So will Federer avenge his French open and Wimbledon losses to Nadal last year???? wellll......I wish he does so. Can't wait to see Federer winning his 14th Slam. Come on Roger......
List of players for second auction
Australia: Brad Haddin, Michael Clarke, Nathan Hauritz, Stuart Clark, Brad Hogg, Beau Casson, Mark Cameron, Peter Forrest, Lee Carseldine, Doug Bollinger, Michael Dighton, Jason Krejza, Nathan Reardon, Chris Hartley, Shaun Tait, Ashley Noffke, Bryce McGain, George Bailey, Travis Birt, Michael Hill, Chris Swan, Michael Klinger, Ben Edmondson, Aiden Blizzard, Mark Cosgrove, Adam Voges, Shane Harwood
England: Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison, Ravi Bopara, Monty Panesar, Robert Key, James Foster, Sajid Mahmood, Matt Prior, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah, Darren Gough, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright, James Anderson, Ed Joyce, Dominic Cork
Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Mehrab Hossain jnr, Rajin Saleh, Ziaur Rehman, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Raqibul Hasan, Nadif Chowdhury
New Zealand: Mark Gillespie, Tim Southee, Jesse Ryder, Jeetan Patel, Kyle Mills, Chris Martin, Jamie How, Peter Fulton, James Franklin
Pakistan: Asim Kamal, Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Danish Kaneria, Yasir Arafat
South Africa: Gulam Bodi, Rory Kleinveldt, Charl Langeveldt, Ashwell Prince, JP Duminy, Martin van Jaarsveld, Roelof van der Merwe, Andre Nel, Neil McKenzie, Yusuf Abdullah, Paul Harris, Johan Botha, Morne van Wyk, Tyron Henderson
Sri Lanka: Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Mahela Udawatte, Dammika Prasad, Thilina Kandamby, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Jehan Mubarak, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Malinga Bandara, Malinda Warnapura, Michael Vandort, Prasanna Jayawardene, Upul Tharanga, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Jeevantha Kulatunga
West Indies: Sylvester Joseph, Darren Sammy, Andre Fletcher, Kieron Pollard, Kieran Powell, Fidel Edwards, Dwayne Smith, Kemar Roach
Zimbabwe: Vusi Sibanda
Liverpool further dropped points away at Wigan while Chelsea moved up to second after beating Middlesbrough. Bellamy scored on his Manchester City debut while Hull City slumped to a sixth successive Premier League defeat at West Ham United.
India won the first match of the 5 match ODI series with a comfortable six wicket victory. Before the match India had a big setback when Sehwag injured himself in the training and Rohit Sharma came in place of him. Sri Lanka went with the unchanged line up that beat Pakistan. Winning the toss, Dhoni opted to field. India got off to a dream start when in-form Dilshan was run out without score on the board. But Jayasuriya teed off from there and reached his 28th ODI hundred and in the process completed 13000 ODI runs and also became the oldest man to score an ODI hundred. When it looked like the home team might get a huge score, India kept taking wickets and restricted the Lankans to 246. When India batted, Sachin was on the wrong side of an umpiring error from debutant umpire Dharmasena but Gambhir and Raina took charge scoring freely, Mendis was negotiated with ease. As Raina & Gambhir fell, Dhoni took control and India took the batting powerplay in 43rd over and reached the target with 11 balls to spare. Sanath Jayasuriya was Man of the Match.
Manchester United destroyed West Brom and recorded their biggest away win of the season. Berbatov started the scoring which was continued by Tevez,Vidic and a brace from Ronaldo saw United move 3 points clear at the top of the table with Liverpool playing on wednesday night.
David Beckham scored his first goal for AC Milan and Kaka bagged a brace to help Milan win against Bologna. Inter rode on a solitary goal from Adriano to emerge victors in match that saw Mourinho sent off. Roma won 3-0 while Juve won 1-0 against Fiorentina.
Chelsea and Manchester United marched into the next round while Liverpool could manage only a draw against fierce rivals Everton, earning a replay at Goodison Park while Arsenal came with a draw against Cardiff. Holders Pompey were dumped out by Swansea while Hull,Boro and West Ham progressed.
Raul kept Real's chase on Barca while Messi continued his stunning form helping Barca to a comfortable win over Numancia. Barcelona still lead the La Liga by a whopping 12 points and Real Madrid are chasing them in the second spot. Get the goals and highlights of matchday 21.
Manchester United beat Tottenham 2-1 at Old Trafford and march into last 8 of the FA cup. Pavlyuchenko gave Spurs an early lead but two in three minutes from Scholes and Berbatov in the first half meant United were back in control and went on to win the match. Fabio, brother of Rafael started his first match for United but was injured in the second half and was subbed. Winter signing Tosic also made his first appearance for United. Welback also was replaced after injuring himself and United's injury list is growing all the time.Click here for the goals
0-1 Pavlyuchenko - Download - Watch
2-1 Berbatov - Download - Watch
When Ryan Giggs was named in the midfield against Chelsea many eyebrows were raised but this legend everyone wrong with his masterful display at the center of the park and lead United to a 3-0 win , walking away with man of the match award. Enjoy his midfield magic against Chelsea.
The January transfer window in the English Premier League has seen a lot of activity over the month and with the deadline set to end soon, lots of swapping and changing are happening across England. Manchester City have added Craig Bellamy,Wayne Bridge and Dutch midfielder Nigel de Jong. Still the Eastland outfit are chasing Roque Santa Cruz despite Blackburn's refusal. Chelsea have not been very active in this transfer window as Scolari was clearly told that he needs to sell players before he buys any. Liverpool have let Jermaine Pennant go to Portsmouth while Pompey parted company with Jermain Defoe, who left for Tottenham. Spurs have also signed midfielder Wilson Palacios from Wigan. Marlon King, who joined Hull City on a season's loan from Wigan has joined Middlesbrough for the rest of the season after a bust up with Hull manager Phil Brown. Boro meanwhile have sent striker Mido on loan to Hull City till end of the season. Hull City have signed Jimmy Bullard from Fulham for a club record fee of £5million. Aston Villa have confirmed they are holding talks with Emile Heskey after agreeing a £3.5million fee with Wigan Athletic. Arsenal are continuing their pursuit of Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin but Zenit's huge asking price prevents the deal from goign through.More drama awaits us in the last few days.....
Sunil Chetri, has been the star name to emerge from Indian football after Bhaichung Bhutia. He was tipped to make it big when he first came has made his first big stride. Sunil Chetri is all set to become the third Indian player to head to Europe after having being called by Coventry City for trials. This news was earlier confirmed by his father Mr.Kharga Chetri. After Mohammed Salim played for Celtic in 1937 and Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia donned the colours of Bury FC, the Delhi lad will be the third Indian following in their footsteps if he manages to impress in the trials. These are great times for Indian Football with players set to play in the MLS and if Chetri successfully completes his trial it will mark a great beginning for Indian football this year. And with the national team improving all time under Bob Houghton we can look forward to a positive year. Hoping for the day when an Indian plays in the English Premier League.
All the roadblocks for the English players participating in the second edition of the IPL have been removed with The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) agreeing to allow England players to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a three-week period. Ealier it was said that KP and Flintoff would be available for 2 weeks only, which made the franchises think about buying but after this finals resolution we can see a host of English players including Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen and few more in the IPL. And the players have struck a deal with the counties and it means they will give 10% of whatever they get from the auction. But once they are put on auction, there is no doubt that they will attract high bids and its been rumoured that KP is in talks with the Bangalore team while Chennai are in dialogues with Flintoff. Lets wait and watch as all of them will come under the hammer and have no say in deciding they play!!!!
Manchester United romped past Derby county 4-2 and entered into the finals of the Carling cup. Check the goals.
Xabi Alonso has been a central figure in Liverpool's midfield. And he has got the knack of scoring some great goals. Enjoy all his goals for Liverpool.
Ricardo Kaka, after ditching the lucrative multimillion dollar offer from Manchester City has reportedly told he will leave Milan only for Real Madrid. This was a news which was earlier confirmed by David Beckham, who is on loan at AC Milan. Becks revealed Kaka had been asking him about "The Whites". Roman Calderon, the former Real Madrid president had promised to sign Kaka during his election campaign but he just could not do that. But now the situation is different with Kaka ready to leave Milan, something which was evident from the Manchester City saga. But he finally made up his mind to remain at Milan, a sensible decision considering the fact that he wants trophies over money. With Real Madrid presidential elections nearing, the former President Florentino Perez is planning to have Kaka on his agenda for election campaign. Considering his knack of landing superstars like Zidane,Figo & Beckham, Perez might land Kaka for around €80 million in June. Fingers crossed.........
Here are the goals and highlights of the matches played in week 22 of the Barclays Premier League
Manchester City added another player to their ever growing squad when they signed West Ham striker Craig Bellamy for a fee which is reportedly around £14 million. Even as City continue their chasing of Kaka, Mark Hughes has finally managed to get one of the strikers he wished for. West Ham, who are struggling for funds will some money on them after Bellamy's sale but Zola will regret the loss of his star player who was shaping up really well. We can expect more arrivals at the Eastlands before Jan 31st mid night.
Alan Shearer – £15m
Blackburn to
Games/goals for
Trophies with
Verdict : Massive hit.
Games/goals for Inter (league) 68/49;
Trophies with Inter: Uefa Cup 1997-98
Verdict : Marred by injuries during his 5 year stay. Not a hit.
Games/goals for Betis (league) 186/13;
Trophies with Betis: Spanish Cup 2004-05
Verdict : Flop
Christian Vieri – £31m
Lazio to Internazionale, 10 June 1999 Age at move: 25
Games/goals for Inter (league) 144/103;
Trophies with Inter: None
Verdict : Great strike rate but no trophies
Games/goals for Lazio (league) 70/52;
Trophies with Lazio: None
Verdict : Flop
Games/goals for Real (league) 163/36
Trophies with Real: Champions League 2001-02,
Intercontinental Cup 2002,
Spanish Cup (twice), La Liga 2002-03.
Verdict : Hit
Zinedine Zidane – £46m
Juventus to Real Madrid, 9 July 2001 Age at move: 29
Games/goals for Real (league) 224/49;
Trophies with Real: Champions League 2001-02,
Intercontinental Cup 2002,
Spanish Cup (twice), La Liga 2002-03.
Verdict : Hit
Diego Maradona – £3m
Boca Juniors to
Games/goals for
Trophies with
Spanish Super Cup 1982-83,
Spanish League Cup 1982-83
Verdict : Promised a lot but failed to deliver.
Games/goals for
Trophies with
Uefa Cup 1988-89, Italian Cup 1986-87
Verdict : Super hit despite the cocaine incidents
PSV Eindhoven to
Games/goals for
Trophies with
European Cup 1988-89, 1989-90,
Intercontinental Cup 1989-90, 1990-91
Verdict : Hit
Roberto Baggio – £8m
Fiorentina to Juventus, 20 May 1990 Age at move: 23
Games/goals for Juventus (league) 141/78;
Trophies with Juventus: Uefa Cup 1992-93,
Serie A 1994-95, Italian Cup 1994-95
Verdict : Super hit
Jean-Pierre Papin – £10m
Marseilles to
Games/goals for
Trophies with
Champions League 1993-94,
Italian Super Cup 1992-93
Verdict : Average
Gianluca Vialli – £12m
Sampdoria to Juventus, 25 May 1992 Age at move: 27
Games/goals for Juventus (league) 157/48;
Trophies with Juventus: Uefa Cup 1992-93, Serie A 1994-95,
Italian Cup 1994-95, Champions League 1995-96
Verdict : Hit (his partnership with Roberto Mancini was lethal)
Gianluigi Lentini – £13m
Torino to
Games/goals for
Trophies with:
Champions League 1993-94, Italian Super Cup 1992-93, 1993-94
Verdict : Started well but the car accident marred his career.
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