TOP 100 SOCCER SITES
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| Premier League: Burnley 1-1 Bolton Wanderers Bolton took another chink out of Burnley's Turf Moor fortress by snatching a point in the first meeting between the two sides in the top flight since 1964.Burnley's strong home form has now earned them all but one of their points this season, but the home side were left frustrated at failing to earn their first win in December over a club in the relegation zone.Matthew Taylor curled a superb free-kick inside the near post to put Bolton ahead in the 29th minute.But after several Burnley near-misses, David Nugent leapt to head in an equaliser in the 56th minute to ensure the Clarets continued their streak of scoring in every home game this season.It also highlighted Bolton's defensive frailties: they have now failed to keep a clean sheet 17 times in the league – their longest top-flight run without a clean sheet for 82 years.Burnley manager Owen Coyle may have a soft spot for Bolton, having played there from 1993 to 1995, which included scoring in the Trotters' successful 1995 play-off final against Reading.But fond memories were put aside as Burnley attempted to end their seven-match winless streak – a task made more difficult with the absence of injured regular centre-backs Stephen Caldwell and Clarke Carlisle.Burnley could have been way ahead in the second half, but Kevin McDonald's shot bounced off the underside of the crossbar and Steven Fletcher miskicked a fine cross from Chris Eagles over.Burnley's eventual leveller sparked a desperate flurry of attacks from both sides. It was home side who had the greater chances but they were let down by poor finishing and bad luck.That allowed Bolton to hold their nerve to ensure the points were split, leaving Burnley still waiting for their first win over the Trotters since 1987.Premier LeagueBurnleyBolton Wanderersguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton says footballers are 'detached from reality' Joey Barton, the Newcastle United midfielder, has said footballers are "so detached from reality it's untrue". telegraph.co.uk |
Manchester United announce £48.2 million profit Pre-tax figure includes the world record £80m fee United collected from Real Madrid for sale of Cristiano Ronaldo. telegraph.co.uk |
Refreshed Bayern hope to dominate Bayern Munich should be refreshed after their winter holiday and, despite Dubai TV's efforts, can clinch the titleAvid readers of these lines (hello Mutti!) will be able to testify that Germanic football and humour rarely mix. Last week, further proof of this axiom was helpfully provided by the good people of Dubai Sports TV, whose idea of a laugh was to put Bastian Schweinsteiger on a chair that had one of its legs purposefully sawn off. The Bayern Munich midfielder nearly fell off the stage backwards when said seating device collapsed live on air. Other hilarious surprises for the delegation of Bayern and Werder Bremen players and officials in the TV studio included (intentionally?) inane questions – "Isn't it a problem that Bremen have so many good players?" – and the two hosts' insistence that both Philipp Lahm and Schweinsteiger must absolutely move to the Premier League. Somehow, Louis van Gaal managed to refrain from strangling the pair of desert Ron Burgundys.The rest of the shorter-than-usual three week winter holiday passed without too many problems. In a shocking break with tradition, Franck Ribéry was not allowed to crash the team bus this year. But then the Frenchman wasn't quite fit to drive: Bayern's team doctor had drilled holes into both of his big toenails to relieve inflammation on the first day of their training camp in Dubai. Blood and water gushed from Ribéry's feet, we are told. If this ingenious but somewhat brutal treatment was intended to ensure that his protracted move to Real Madrid could not happen before the summer, it certainly worked. The 26-year-old will miss out on tonight's curtain-raiser against Hoffenheim in the Allianz Arena but should return to action in a week or so.Bayern (33 points) start 2010 in third place behind Leverkusen (35 points) and Schalke (34 points) but a few decent results towards the end of last year have been enough to convince both the club and most of their rivals that they will end up winning the league again. Fourteen out of 18 Bundesliga managers are happy to finger the Bavarian giants as champions. Van Gaal refused to offer a prediction, however. "Our aim is to win it and I will work on that with my players", the Dutchman said. At his behest, Bayern have whittled down the size of the squad. The out-of-favour Luca Toni has forsaken a fourth of his wage packet – about €600,000 (£530,000) – to play for Roma until the end of the season; the Brazilian defender Breno and the midfielder Andreas Ottl were also sent out on loan, both to the relegation battlers FC Nürnberg. Bayern's prodigious bench-warmer Alexander Baumjohann was meanwhile sold to Schalke.Van Gaal's only problem will be the re-integration of Arjen Robben and Ribéry into a line-up that was showing signs of genuine progress before Christmas intervened. Both wingers are probably a little too undisciplined to fit into a 4-4-2, though. Van Gaal's favourite formation, 4-3-3, would conversely leave no room for his striker Ivica Olic, who has really turned his team's fortunes around with some spectacular performances. This little conundrum should not preclude Bayern from winning the title but might well ensure that the championship race will remain relatively open until the very end. Herbstmeister (autumn champions) Bayer Leverkusen, who are unencumbered by European engagements, will surely have a much better second-half of the season than last year, when they picked up 15 points less than they did before the break. Jupp Heynckes's young team have played the most balanced and at times aesthetically pleasing football but it's hard to see them going all the way.Schalke's prospects are still deliberately underplayed by Felix Magath. "I'm happy to hand the Meisterschale to Van Gaal, we're going for fifth place", said the S04 manager despite embarking on a veritable spending spree. The Macedonian striker Besart Ibrahimi (FK Renova) joined the club along with Peer Kluge (Nürnberg), Edu (Suwon Blue Wings), Tore Reginiussen (Tromsö IL/Norwegen), Bogdan Müller (SpVgg Neckarelz) and the club re-signed Alexander Baumjohann who left them once before in 2007. They've also requested the return of Ze Roberto II from Flamengo. After spending 12 months in Brazil, the midfielder still hasn't been able to come up with a better nom de guerre but he has looked surprisingly good in training.Der Spiegel's Christoph Biermann thinks that Magath wasn't convinced by the quality of the existing squad despite the phenomenal results – "he doesn't trust the success" – but if anything, this squad of youngsters and no-marks could be even more of a force this year when Magath's legendary fitness methods truly kick in. Last year, his Wolfsburg side blew everybody out of the water after the break and it was a similar story at Stuttgart and Bayern before. Despite picking up a mysterious hole in their stadium roof to go with the much bigger one in their finances, Schalke's opener against Nürnberg will incidentally go ahead on Saturday.Injury-plagued Hamburger SV (31 points) will remain in the mix, even without securing the loan-services of Brazilian striker Vagner Love. They welcomed back Ze Roberto, who cheekily extended his holiday by 10 days. Bremen (28) cannot be discounted and neither can Borussia Dortmund (30), despite running into some predictable problems at this time of the year. They had to change their team-hotel in Cologne before their game on Sunday when it emerged that it had been taken over by local carnival revellers who were to-ing and fro-ing until five in the morning every single night. A very big costume ball ("The Blue & Gold Loyal Hussars") was scheduled for Saturday, too. "Being funny is a nice thing, but only at the right time", said Borussia's manager Jürgen Klopp, decidedly not amused, "all we are interested in is a good start". The location of their new accommodation has been kept secret to prevent prank attacks from other carnivalists. This really isn't a laughing matter, naturally.BundesligaBayern MunichEuropean footballRaphael Honigsteinguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Ronaldo banned 2 games for breaking rival's nose Real Madrid winger Cristiano Ronaldo has been banned for two Spanish league games for breaking an opponent's nose. cbc.ca |