TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Newcastle to dump Adidas for Puma Newcastle preparing to welcome in 2010 by announcing fresh kit deal with German sportswear giant Puma. telegraph.co.uk |
Wigan Athletic 4 Hull City 1: match report Charles N'Zogbia inspires Wigan to a second half comeback after Hull City led at the break. telegraph.co.uk |
The Fiver: Riff-raff, and Raf | Barry Glendenning Subscribe here to get the Fiver delivered free to your inboxHORROR SHOWAt around the same time the Fiver was wiping its feet on the welcome mat of your inbox yesterday, an even more comical football email materialised in mailboxes of Liverpool season ticket holders. Entitled 'FA CUP: LIVERPOOL V BURNLEY (4TH ROUND)', it reminded them that the Liverpool ticket office "will begin taking payments for the above game from Thursday 14 January", then added the ominous warning that "Payment failure and subsequent non-purchase of a ticket for this game in the competition will result in the removal from the scheme."Translation: "Pay up riff-raff or there'll be no more FA Cup football for you this season!" As documents go it couldn't have been more presumptuous if it was a World Cup 2010 acceptance speech drafted by England's Brave John Terry.The good news for Liverpool fans is that their ticket office hasn't debited anyone's bank account for Reading's FA Cup fourth-round tie against Burnley, Maxi Rodriguez signed his contract before last night's humiliation at the hands of a Championship team battling the drop, and the Fiver would need a word count the size of Rafa BenĂtez's net spend to adequately outline all the bad news for Liverpool fans.So instead we'll hand over to their emergency extra-time striker Jamie Carragher, to see what he made of last night's horror show. "We have to apologise for the way we performed," he aye-ayed, in the latest episode of this season's hit comedy series, Jamie Carragher Apologises For The Way Liverpool Performed Then Announces A Massive Game Coming Up Against Somebody Else Now And Says It Will Be Very Tough And That We Have To Show Enormous Character To Come Back. "We've got a massive game coming up against Stoke now. It will be very tough and we have got to show enormous character to come back."If Liverpool are to come back, they'll have to do so without star turns $tevie Mbe, Yossi Benayoun and Fernando Torres, who have been ruled out with hamstring-twang (two weeks), rib-ouch (four weeks) and knee-knack (six weeks) respectively. With big-name players of the calibre of David Ngog, Ryan Babel and some untried whelp named Rodriguez ready to step up to the plate, what could possibly go wrong?QUOTE OF THE DAY"We've only got around 21 players here and if all of them aren't available then it makes things very difficult" - Kevin Blackwell states the obvious as he contemplates the entire first-team Sheffield United squad getting injured.FIVER LETTERS"No doubt a number of wives/mothers around the country will be wondering where their best bed sheets have gone today, as opposition fans knock out 'In Rafa We Trust' banners for their upcoming fixture against Liverpool" - Phil Godwin."Anyone know which little ditty the Spirit of Shankly boys are singing today? The way their season is sinking, I'll wager it's 'We all live in Rafa's Submarine'" - Duncan James."I wonder if Plymouth supporter Mark Havard (yesterday's quote of the day) is now less happy than he would have been had the 819.2-mile round trip to Newcastle included the sight of a postponement notice at St James' Park. If he's looking to preserve any remaining sanity he could perhaps switch to supporting Liverpo ... oh" - Liam Golding."I can't see which Portuguese purveyor of spicy chicken you are referring to (yesterday's Fiver) as our firewall blocks all things F@cebook. But, if it's the one I'm thinking of, I'm sure you know its Mozambiquean food, run by a South African company, due to Mozambique being a former Portuguese colony. That's why there are South African newspapers in their lounge area and not Portuguese ones. Either that or the Fiver's a two-bit daily tea-time email that has a total disregard for proper investigative journalism and determination to regularly irk 1,057 pedan ... ah" - Steve Bodell."Just asking: did CSI Grimsby discover whether it was the chicken wings, the plate or the lethal celery sticks that knacked Ivano Bonetti's face?" - Ian Bowater."Re: the Stefan Oakes - Stefano Okaka transformation (yesterday's Fiver letters). It's been done before. Around the time big-boned poacher Luke Beckett left Huddersfield, sales of blonde wigs and tanning cream increased by one in the area, and soon after Dirty Leeds unveiled Luciano Becchio. Case closed" - Gavin Hutchinson."Re: a word from your sponsors (yesterday's Fiver). Let's say the Portsmouth suits did intend (and were able) to pay their players on time at the end of this month. Surely it would be tempting to use the the money intended for wages to place a bet on them (at 1-4) not being paid on time, waiting until the wages were overdue, then picking up their winnings and paying the players late - thus pocketing a 25% profit in the process?" - Richard Pigden (and 1,056 others).Send your letters to the.boss@guardian.co.uk. And if you've nothing better to do you can also Tweet the Fiver now.BITS AND BOBSArsenal centre-half Philippe Senderos has reiterated his desire to move on from Arsenal. (Handy tip: if you're determined to be shown the exit door at the Emirates, light up a smoke outside one of the corporate boxes, then wait for an over-zealous security guard to turn up).Adam Federici's dream of winning this year's FA Cup is still alive after Reading denied Liverpool have made a bid for the goalkeeper.Hamburg's Ivorian defender Guy Demel has confirmed that Sunderland and Milan are among a trio of clubs anxious to stand him in front of local photographers holding up a club scarf and grinning gormlessly.With a name like his it was only going to be a matter of time before Danny Shittu ended up in Newcastle United's defence - a state of affairs that's looking increasingly likely by the minute.Shackle-dragging Sheilaroo defender Lucas Neill will join his compatriot Harry Kewell at Galatasaray after this weekend's Premier League fixture against Manchester City. "The move has come as a surprise to me," he g'dayed on Everton's website.And Plymouth assistant manager John Carver has opted against joining Brian Laws at Burnley, preferring to stay at the side of Paul Mariner, who looks more like a scatter-brained academic than a football manager.A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORSRafael BenĂtez is now as big as evens to last the season after Liverpool's latest defeat. Can he ride out the storm? Good to see loads of you signing up to our Twitter site yesterday. The first free bet challenge is on there now so why not get involved?Anyway we've gone to town with our Australian Open promotion this year: if Andy Murray wins the men's title we'll refund all losing outright bets on the men's competition. T&Cs apply. Will the petulant Scot send us into bankruptcy? Join Sportingbet now for great offers, a ÂŁ50 deposit bonus and loads of free bet opportunities.STILL WANT MORE?Unless you're hoverboarding around in the future, re-reading archived Fiver's for reason's best known to yourself, you can follow Mali v Algeria in the Africa Cup of Nations in-running with John Ashdown now.Of course if you are hoverboarding around in the future, re-reading archived Fivers for reasons best known to yourself, there's a sporting chance this week's episode of Football Weekly ... Extra might actually be here by now.Kevin McCarra takes time out from penning Manchester United In Crisis articles to dash off this Liverpool In Crisis article ...Amy Lawrence chisels 637 words out of granite to chronicle the successes of little guys FC Twente and Bayer Leverkusen so far this season.Classic YouTube. Is. Here.And Marina Hyde gives Tom Hicks Jr both barrels, despite - or possibly because of - the emailed invitation she may very well receive in return. SIGN UP TO THE FIVERWant your very own copy of our tea-timely(ish) email sent direct to your inbox for free every weekday? Click here to sign up for the Fiver today. And also, heaven forfend, if you want to unsubscribe.ANYONE EVER INVESTED IN A PAIR OF BATTERY-POWERED HEATED GLOVES?Barry Glendenningguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Eintracht Frankfurt enter 'taboo zone' By achieving results much better than the quality of his squad warrants, Michael Skibbe's ambitious outlook has been validatedOn one side there was one of the Bundesliga's most reliably boring clubs, a perennial mid-table side with a perennially middling squad. Never good enough to be really good, mostly not bad enough to be really bad, not even grey enough to belong to the pack of "grey mice" (unfashionable teams) in the league, they are German football middle-class incarnate. They used to be known as "the Diva" once upon a time. They had some success, swagger and style. But eventually, they tired of all the ups and downs. All the thrills were traded in for financial stability and a life more ordinary.They haven't won anything since 1988. They haven't employed a truly exciting player since 1996 (Oliver Kahn knows his name). They have hardly mattered at all in the last decade.This winter, while most clubs were busy recruiting new players and recharging their batteries in the sun, they came close to falling apart because of internal strife. "This club can't develop. With this team, progress is not possible," said their frustrated manager after a training camp in Turkey last week. Once again, the board had refused to buy the players he wanted. The chairman said he was annoyed by the coach's repeated public outbursts and threatened consequences. As a couple, their prospects looked more Elizabeth Taylor and husband No3 than Ernie and Bert.To make matters worse, they met one of the best and best-loved teams of the Bundesliga on Saturday. Packed with some incredibly gifted players and internationals, unbeaten throughout most of the season so far, most of the time spectacular going forward, real title contenders.Lo and behold, the messy, hard-fought match in the Commerzbank-Arena finished 1-0 to the less than illustrious hosts, thanks to a deflected shot. These surprises do happen, of course, especially at the beginning of the season. After all, Frankfurt also somehow managed to beat Werder on Matchday 1, after which the northerners didn't lose for 23 games. What did come as a total shock to most observers, however, was a look at the table afterwards. After 18 matches played, Frankfurt are in seventh, only one point behind Werder Bremen. The position is so incredulous, it really belongs in the Kama Sutra."How does the saying go? The table doesn't lie, does it?" said a very satisfied Michael Skibbe. Rudi Völler's former assistant at the national team used to be one of the league's most demure and unobtrusive coaches. But since taking the Eintracht job, he's reinvented himself as a success-hungry man who simply won't settle for mediocrity. For months, the Frankfurt newspapers wondered about his aggressive stance, some even accused him of an inflated ego and delusions. "His statements made Frankfurt appear very small and himself very big. The man is an enigma," wrote Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The consensus was that taking on Heribert Bruchhagen, the conservatively-minded man in charge, was foolhardy going on bonkers.Bruchhagen, true to himself, was immediately very offended when reporters asked him about making it into the Europa League in the wake of the Bremen win. "You can't ask me this question, this question is out of order," the chairman barked. "This is madness." "Frankfurt are glancing at the taboo zone," joked Frankfurter Rundschau.It really isn't easy to explain their fantastic set of results, especially in the light of bad injury problems. Main striker Ioannis Amanatidis and Czech attacker Martin Fenin have missed most of the season. On Saturday, Skibbe singled out his two central defenders, the Brazilian Chris ("he was the rook in the battle") and the goalscorer Marco Russ ("one of the best technical players"), but it was really another excellent team effort. "We worked hard on closing down space in Turkey and did that every well today," explained Christoph Spycher.Frankfurt will be hard pressed to continue their fantastic run, Skibbe knows as much. But by achieving results that are much better than the quality of the squad should warrant, his ambitious outlook has been validated. Dismissed as an uncharismatic underachiever when he succeeded Friedhelm Funkel in June, the 44-year-old has turned up with a point to proof and upset the Ebbelwoi-cart. Bruchhagen, a man who was perfectly comfortable with Eintracht going nowhere silently, got much more than he bargained for. Eventually, he might come to see that as a good thing.Talking points• Leverkusen were quite brilliant and beat Mainz 05 much more comfortably than the 4-2 result suggested. Bayer remain top of the league and unbeaten. On-loan midfield maestro Toni Kroos seems more and more reluctant to come back to Bayern in the summer. Is he now nailed on for the World Cup? We'll know more by Easter (thanks to spargelhorz).• Kroos' old club beat Hoffenheim 2-0 on Friday night, thanks to goals from MartĂn Demichelis and Miroslav Klose. It wasn't quite the horror show the Bavarians envisaged – "We want to make our rivals a little fearful," Louis van Gaal had said before the match – but scary enough in terms of efficiency. "A few months ago, we would have lost that match," said Mario GĂłmez after a forgettable first-half performance and decent second part. Bayern, incidentally, agreed to pay €1,000 (ÂŁ880) to a woman who offers very specific services online. Anette Pfeiffer-Klärle, who posts what can loosely described as poems on the internet, saw one of her – frankly terrible – rhymes ripped off by MC Karl-Heinz Rummenigge at the club's annual meeting a few weeks ago and has now successfully claimed compensation.• The Ruhrpott renaissance continues unabated with victories for Schalke (1-0 over NĂĽrnberg) and Dortmund's last-minute roller-coaster 3-2 away win at Cologne – Borussia conceded two late goals to lose their 2-0 half-time lead (a brace from Mats Hummels) before hitting back in injury-time. Kevin Grosskreutz's shot took a wicked deflection. A propos bad haircuts, Felix Magath revealed that he had been happy to sell Schalke's Kevin Kurányi to Sunderland; the deal fell through because the former Germany striker refused to go. The Borussia coach JĂĽrgen Klopp, meanwhile, is in trouble with the authorities. After being sent to the stand by the referee, Klopp celebrated his side's winner with a manic run along and over the barrier. Imagine JosĂ© Mourinho's 2-1 win with Porto, crossed with Arsène Wenger at Old Trafford in December 2008, and you're halfway there.• Finally, any ideas why this little effort from Christian Tiffert in Duisburg's 5-0 demolition of FSV Frankfurt in Bundesliga 2 should be considered "the new Wembley goal" (Bild) in Germany? If anything, 1966 was surely more clear-cut.Results: Bayern 2–0 Hoffenheim, Hamburg 2–0 Freiburg, Hannover 0–3 Hertha, Frankfurt 1–0 Bremen, Gladbach 1–2 Bochum, Leverkusen 4-2 Mainz, Stuttgart 3–1 Wolfsburg, Schalke 1–0 NĂĽrnberg, Köln 2–3 Dortmund.Latest Bundesliga tableBundesligaEintracht FrankfurtEuropean footballRaphael Honigsteinguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Real Madrid to Help Rebuild School in Haiti MADRID (AP) -- Real Madrid plans to provide funds to rebuild a school that was destroyed in the earthquake in Haiti. feeds.nytimes.com |