Posts for 'Matches' Category

Jermain Defoe believes his partnership with Wayne Rooney has put England back on track after the strike duo tormented Bulgaria in Friday's 4-0 victory at Wembley.

Defoe gave a masterclass in the art of lethal finishing as the Tottenham striker became the first England player to score a hat-trick since Theo Walcott's treble against Croatia two years.

But Defoe was happy to give most of the credit for his goal-spree to Rooney, who finally cast off the lethargy that dogged him at the World Cup to play a decisive role in all four England goals in their opening Euro 2012 qualifier.

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Free-Scoring Chelsea Happy To Win Ugly, Says Mikel: Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel insists the free-scoring Premier League champions will be happy to win ugly against Stoke on Saturday.

Carlo Ancelotti's side have made an astonishing start to their title defence after following their 6-0 rout of West Brom on the opening day with another 6-0 victory at Wigan last weekend.

The Blues, who scored a Premier League record 103 goals last season, have picked up where they left off in May, when an 8-0 win against Wigan clinched the title.

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Late Schweinsteiger Goal Sees Bayern Slay Wolves: Bayern Munich's Bastian Schweinsteiger scored an injury-time winner on Friday night as the German champions beat Wolfsburg 2-1 in the opening match of the new Bundesliga season. Ex-England manager Steve McClaren and his Wolves side were denied a point as Germany's vice-captain latched onto Franck Ribery's cross for the winner with seconds remaining. "It is not my main task to score goals in games and I don't manage it very often, but it was nice to get the winner," beamed Schweinsteiger.

Bayern made the perfect start as Germany's Thomas Mueller -- the top-scorer at last month's World Cup -- scored the opening goal after just nine minutes, only for Edin Dzeko to equalise after the break. "It is a big relief to get the win," said Mueller. "If you play as badly as we did in the first ten minutes of the second half, you don't really deserve to win. We had to fix a few things. We tried everything again and again, and it worked.

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Yannick Djalo scored a pair of first-half goals to power Sporting Lisbon over Manchester City 2-0 in an exibition friendly at the Red Bulls Arena. Djalo headed Simon Vukcevic's cross from the right side off goalkeeper Joe Hart's outstretched hands in the 23rd minute.

Djalo added his second goal in the 40th minute. He took a pass from Daniel Carrico then slipped it by Hart and picked it up on the other side before scoring into an empty net. "It's good to show what I can do against good competition," Djalo said. Craig Bellany had one of the best scoring chances for Manchester City four minutes into the match.

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Gabriel Obertan scored in the 76th minute as English Premier League giant Manchester United defeated Philadelphia Union 1-0 in an exibition match at Lincoln Financial Field.

Obertan received the pass from Danny Welbeck and sailed a shot past netminder Brian Perk for the only goal of the game in front of a crowd of 44,213.

Manchester United was missing several of its stars on Wednesday against the North American Major League Soccer side. They played without Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick during the second leg of its North American tour.

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Fabio Capello is likely to drop John Terry from the England team next season, according to Italy defender Fabio Cannavaro.

Cannavaro got an insight into Capello's ruthless style of management when he worked with the Italian at Real Madrid and the Juventus star is convinced Terry is in severe danger of losing his England place after his controversial comments at the World Cup.

Earlier this year Capello had stripped Terry of the captaincy following revelations about the Chelsea player's affair with the ex-partner of former team-mate Wayne Bridge.

And Capello was further angered when Terry used a press conference during the World Cup to claim that he was ready to confront the Italian over his tactics and team selection.

Terry was forced to back down after Capello called his comments a "big mistake" but he gave a poor performance as England slumped to a 4-1 second round defeat against Germany.

Cannavaro is convinced Capello will make changes for the 2012 European Championship qualifying campaign, with Terry the most likely to lose his place.

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Dimitar Berbatov scored one goal and contributed to two more as English powerhouse Manchester United launched their North American Tour with a 3-1 friendly victory over Celtic. Substitutes Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley also scored for Manchester United, while Georgios Samaras converted a penalty for Scottish Premier League club Celtic. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson fielded a strong lineup that included Berbatov, Edwin van der Sar, Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher and Ryan Giggs - who received an especially warm welcome from Canadian fans.

The match was played at the 50,000-seat Rogers Centre, where a temporary grass pitch was installed where the Toronto Argonauts normally play their Canadian Football League gridiron games on a synthetic surface.

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England  managed only one win and two draws during the group stages and then suffered a humiliating 4-1 World Cup exit at the hands of Germany  in the knockout round. But Fabio Capello's men have risen to seventh place in the rankings. World and European champions Spain top the rankings ahead of Holland, Brazil, Germany, Argentina  and Uruguay.

Portugal, who lost to eventual winners Spain in the knockout round, have dropped five places to eighth. Italy, world champions in 2006, have dropped six places to 11th. Egypt are ninth and the top 10 is completed by Chile. The Republic of Ireland are up five places to 36th and Scotland are up two spots to 41st. Northern Ireland have dropped three places to 59th and Wales have slipped seven spots to 84th. New Zealand, who were unbeaten in their three group matches in South Africa, have climbed 24 places to 54th.

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It was a rematch of the 2008 European championship. And it was a repeat result of the 2008 European championship.Spain upended Germany 1-0 on a second-half Carles Puyol goal to put La Roja just one win away from raising its first World Cup trophy. Spain dictated the pace of this match from the opening kickoff, starving the Germans of possession and tiring their opponents with their textbook tika-taka soccer, a fast-paced, pass-and-move style of game.

Germany, playing without breakout star Thomas Mueller, who was forced to sit out this match because of a suspension, didn't look like the same high-flying team that scored a tournament-leading 13 goals in five games. Instead of Germany's magnificent midfield of Mesut Oezil, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira taking control of this match as they have in so many games in the tournament, it was their opponents in red who gladly grabbed the reins.

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Lionel Messi came into the World Cup with the expectation that he would light up the tournament.

But the Barcelona superstar left empty-handed, without a goal and in floods of tears. It is not somethin.

The world footballer of the year and Argentina's talisman is used to. Despite being just 23, Messi has won almost every accolade there is and already has.

An impressive medal collection that few other players, if any, can match.Sitting in his personal trophy cabinet is already.

A World Cup winner's medal, but from 2005 at junior level. The one still missing is the one he wants the most - a World Cup winner as a senior.

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