Liverpool V Chelsea
Stamford Bridge
Lets just say this, its now or never for Rafa Benitez n his boys. Liverpool have to beat Chelsea if they stand any chance of tryin to catch up with them. If Liverpool do manage to beat Chelsea the lead will be brought down to 15 points n Liverpool will have 2 games in hand over the current leaders.
If Chelsea do beat Liverpool, the title race would be over for sure. Even though Manchester Utd are second, chances of them overtaking Chelsea are slimmer than Liverpool’s. Liverpool have played Chelsea thrice this season already. In the previous encounter in the EPL, Chelsea scored 4 past Liverpool n really humbled them at home. That tilll date is Liverpool’s only loss at home.
Both teams had a slip up during the midweek,drawing games they should have won comfortably. The game is expected to be tight with a single goal separating them. According to me, the team with the hunger will certainly win this tie.
PLAYERS 2 WATCH:
Chelsea : F.Lampard,J.Terry
Liverpool: S.Gerrard, X.Alonso
Posted in Soccer.
By Raahil Chopra
– February 4, 2006
Midweek Fixtures,Results n Goal Scorers
With most of the epl teams playing 3 games this week,everyone knew that selection of players was going to be a dilemma for all the managers. Most managers rested key players who played a part last weekend and were likely to play a major part during the weekend.
Chelase were held at Villa park after Arjen Robben gave them the lead. Villa were lucky as Chelsea missed a penalty and a normally brilliant defence let the Villians score a second half goal.
Manchester Utd n Blackburn Rovers were involved in a 7 goal thriller at Ewood Park. Rio Ferdinand had a real nightmarish game. He was responsible for Rovers 2nd goal n also got sent off late in the 2nd half. New signing David Bentley scored a hat trick. Lucas Neil was also on the scoresheet for Rovers as they completed a double after 75 years on Machester Utd.
Arsenal are under real pressure now,as they suffered one more defeat,this time at home to fellow Londoners, West Ham United. Nigel Reo Coker opened the scoring in this match with a real stunner. Wham were leading 2-0 at one stage before Henry pulled one back before half time. Both sides added 1 more goal each to their tally as West Ham recorded a major upset.
Liverpool’s impressive home run wasn’t the only thing Blackburn had to contend with as they played Liverpool at Anfield. Simon Johnson got send off midway through the 1st half after making a two footed challenge on Liverpool debutant, Danny Agger. Liverpool opened the scoring in the 2nd half and the win looked certain until, Xabi Alonso chested the ball in the back of his own net in the 88th minute. Liverpool couldv’e stolen a late win,but they were denied first by Taylor,when he made a brilliant save of a freekick taken by Alonso. After that Didi Hamann hit the post for Liverpool n then in the dying seconds, Robbie Fowler almost made it a dream comeback. He scored from a spectacular bycycle kick,but only to be denied by the linesman.
Other Results
Manchester City 3 Newcastle 0 (It lead to the sacking of Newcastle manager Graeme Souness)
Charlton 0 W.B.A 0
Fulham 1 Spurs 0
Portsmouth 1 Bolton 1
Sunderland 0 Boro 3
Wigan 1 Everton 1
Posted in Soccer.
By Raahil Chopra
– February 2, 2006
India v Pakistan Test Series
Karachi Test Review
Result : Pakistan Won by 341 runs.
Man of the match : Kamran Akmal
Man Of The Series : Younis Khan
After 2 pitches which resembled a graveyard for the bowlers, the pitch at Karachi was like heaven for the bowlers in both the teams. India went into this test match with one change,that being the luckless Harbhajan Singh was dropped for the former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. Pakistan were forced to make 2 changes. Classy lefthander Imran Farhat replaced Shoaib Malik n Faisal Iqbal was called upon to replace skipper Inzamam Ul Haq.
India won the toss on one of the greenest pitches Pakistan has ever produced and skipper Rahul Dravid had no hesitation to bowl first. Pathan who was criticized by several former players for not being effective with the ball showed why he’s rated all that high as an India fast bowler. He got opener Salman Butt with a brilliant outswinger, Then went Younis Khan to a brilliant inswinger ,which trapped him straight in front. That got him his hattrick ball.Came in Mohammad Yusuf. He didnt have a chance to a beauty of a delivery which pitched outside off n hit middle stump.That left Pakistan 0-3 at the end of the first over. Soon Pakistan were reduced to 39-6 and the match looked highly in favour of the tourists.Akmal n Razzaq were at the crease.The ball was still moving around like a dream for the fast guys in the Indian team. Razzaq was extremely lucky to be at the wicket,after he survived a strong L.B.W appeal of Zaheer Khan. But it still looked a matter of time before the Indians would strike.
But Kamran Akmal had different ideas. He looked like a batsman whos played on these wickets for years n years. He played flawlessly and reached his century. Razzaq n Shoaib Akhtar also made handy contributions. Pakistan ended up with 245 runs. Certainly not the highest total attainable but a real good one on the wicket provided.
India started their innings with Laxman n Dravid opening the batting. Both perished cheaply. Even Sehwag,whos normally lethal on the pakistani attack,wasn’t able to score and was dismissed by a outswinger of Shoaib. Sachin wasn’t able to shine and he got bowled of a ball that swung back in a little n hit his middle stump. India ended the day on 73-4 with Ganguly n Yuvraj at the crease.
Day 2. Ganguly played with sheer determination. Vintage Ganguly was on show and Yuvraj Singh gave him good company. After surviving the important first hour of the day,Ganguly perished playing,probably the only bad shot in his innings.That started a downslide of Indian wickets as they lost Yuvraj ,Dhoni and Kumble within a span of 15 runs. Irfan Pathan showed his maturity with the bat again and scored a vital 40 but India fell short of the Pakistani total by 7 runs.
India hoped for a repeat show with the ball. But they wouldn’t have known what was coming. Every batsman in Pakistan’s top 7 crossed the 50 mark. Salman Butt n Imran Farhat added more than a hundred runs for the 1st wicket,before Butt was l.b.w of Ganguly. Farhat followed him soon. That left Yo-Yo at the wicket(Younis Khan n Mohammad Yusuf). This partnership has become a nightmare for all Indians.Both were dismissed by Anil Kumble,but not before they added 77 and 97 respectively. Faisal Iqbal played brilliantly and scored his first test ton . Shahid Afridi scored 66. Razzaq added 90 as Pakistan declared on the morning of the 4th day,leaving India more than 600 runs to achieve in 165 overs.
India started the chase in style with a boundary of the first ball, Sehway hitting Shoaib to the long on boundary. But in the same over,Shoaib struck sending Indian skipper,Rahul Dravid to the dressing room. Sehwag followed after being beaten by Mohammad Asif and having his middle stump being sent for a walk. Laxman n Tendulkar showed some resistance until lunch,but both were bowled by the impressive Mohammad Asif. Ganguly batted with determination once more adding 37 runs. Yuvraj was aggresive and took on all the Pakistan bowlers and really looked in good nick. But Ganguly was dismissed of the 1st ball after tea and that set the tone for the Pakistanis as they wrapped up the test n the series. Yuvraj was the last man to go for India and top scored with 122.
Pakistan now look favourites for the one dayers. But lets not count the Indians out of it yet.
Posted in Cricket.
By Raahil Chopra
– February 2, 2006
Robbie Fowler…He’s Back!
He’s God. Thats the only way to describe the true LIVING LEGEND.Its a transfer thats got the football world talking. Robbie Fowler is back. In a shock loan deal till the end of the season Liverpool have signed him from Manchester City.Like Machester City’s manager Stuart Pearce said hours after Robbie’s transfer that he would have been foolish if he would have come in the way of this brilliant move. He also admitted that once Liverpool came in to buy the striker he couldn’t do anything to stop Fowler from exiting. The 30 year old also expressed his joy of being back to Anfield.
In 330 league appearence for Liverpool, Robbie has scored 171 goals. His last appearance for the Merseyside club was back in November 2001 against Sunderland just a month before he left the club after having a fall out with then manager Phil Thompson(Houllier was in hospital recovering from his heart attack). Leeds expressed interest in him and signed him for a club record 11 million pounds. Before moving to Leeds Fowler scored 9 hat- tricks for Liverpool which also consisted the fastest in Premierleague history(4 mins 33 seconds).
He is ineligble to play the 4th round clash against Pompey,but Benitez has hinted that Fowler will play a part in Liverpools next premierleague game.
Posted in Soccer.
By Raahil Chopra
– January 28, 2006
India V Pakistan
3rd Test,Karachi
An India Pakistan test series is clearly one of the most anticipated series of cricket all over the world.But suddenly matches being played between these rival nations have started being tagged as ‘BORING’.The players have tried their best to entertain the crowds watching,but it simply isnt the same India Pakistan feel. Its only because of sub-standard pitches prepared by the local Pakistani curators.All throughout the build up,Bob Woolmer(Pakistani Coach) warned the Indian batsmen about the ‘GREEN’ tracks being laid out for them. Instead the pitches created so far have been so dead that even Geoffery Boycott’s,grandmum will fancy scoring runs on them.
After two dull tests,where the only threat for batsmen was losing their own concentration and giving away their wickets we all can hope for a more even match between bat n ball at Karachi.The pitch will obviously be a talking point before and during the game,but hopefully the Karachi curators would have learnt from the ones at Lahore and Faisalabad n now might provide a ‘SPORTING’ surface.
Both sides have injury worries leading upto this game.Virender Sehwag had food poisining towards the fag end of the last test match,but hes slatted to be fit in time for the 3rd test.Also Ajit Agarkar should be fit enough for the game after he was ruled out of the 2nd test due to a slight niggle.The gravest worries could be for Pakistan as they could well miss the ‘Rawalpindi express’, Shoaib Akhtar due to an ankle injury. Shoaib Malik is already missing for the homeside due to the sad loss of his father.
With the series tied at 0-0,the winer of this match will win the series.Both these teams don’t need any incentive to go out to the centre and battle it out against each other.The good news for India is that Sachin Tendulkar is due a big knock this series,and that one could well be at Karachi.What will be interesting is,if India look to continue with the new 5 bowlers strategy or go back to the old tried n tested 4 bowlers. Harbhajan Singh hasn’t had a good time so far this series and might well be dropped for either Saurav Ganguly ot Ajit Agarkar in this test.
Teams:(predicted): India: R.Dravid(C),V.Sehwag(V.C),V.V.S Laxman,S.Tendulkar,S.Ganguly,Y.Singh,M.S.Dhoni,I.Pathan,Z.Khan,A.Kumble,R.P.Singh
Pakistan: I.Farhat,S.Butt,Y.Khan,M.Yusuf,I.Haq(C),A.Razzaq,S.Afridi,K.Akmal,M.Sami,M.Asif,D.Kaneria
Posted in Cricket.
By Raahil Chopra
– January 27, 2006
FA CUP 2005-2006
Important Fixtures:
Wolveramphton Rovers V Manchester Utd:
In this Championship V Premierleague clash the bookmakers favourites are Manchester Utd. Well the optimists will say n hope that Wolves pull out a surprise but that looks highly impossible.Man Utd just beat Liverpool in a high profile Premierleague game and are very high on confidence.Wolves will have to be determined and have the belief.
Prediction: Wolveramphton Rovers 1 Manchester United 2
Portsmouth V Liverpool FC:
Off late Portsmouth have gained the reputation of the ‘Poor man’s Chelsea’.They found a new owner,who has injected tons of cash and also bought in several new talent.Amongst them the ex Spurs duo Pedro Mendes n Simon Daives are going to be a real threat to Liverpool.Minding Liverpools tough fixture line up,many believe Liverpool manager,Rafa Benitez is going to rest a lot of his key players.Tradionally Liverpool have done well in this tournament,last winning it in 2001(can any Liverpudian forget those magical 10 minutes),but were knocked out by the same opponents in last to last years tournament at the same stage.A remarkable 5-3 victory over Luton Town in the last round of this tournament,will certainly keep the team from merseyside confident,but don’t underestimate Harry’s Pompey.
Prediction: Portsmouth 1 Liverpool 1(The tie going to a replay at Anfield)
Everton V Chelsea:
Everton have moved up a gear over the past few weeks and are once again seeming confident,but the last thing they wanted was a tie against Chelsea.David Moyes’ boys would know that Chelsea are in magistic form and only a miracle can take Everton past them.Also the fact that Chelsea missed out on this oppurtunity of silverware last year,they going to really take this years tournament seriously.Jose Mourinho has the luxury of resting how many ever players he wants to because of his huge squad depth.Chelsea suffered a slip up last week in the premiership with a draw against local rivals Charlton.Where as Everton beat the gunners 1-0 at Goodison.
Prediction: Everton 1 Chelsea 3
Bolton V Arsenal
The tie of the round.Bolton look extremely solid at home and Arsenal are nothing compared to there normal best away.Realisticly,the FA Cup could be Arsenals only chance of silverware so the Gunners will go all guns blasing for this one.Bolton under Sam Allardyce look a real formidable unit and witb players like Kevin Nolan,Stelios Ginakopilus looking in good form for them their midfiled looks really solid.Jared Borgetti got onto the scoresheet for them last time out.This could be a great chance for Sam n his team n thats why i predict the homeside to nick this.
Prediction: Bolton 2 Arsenal 1
Posted in Soccer.
By Raahil Chopra
– January 27, 2006
Australian Open 2006
Its really one of the toughest tourneys to write about.The aussie open is so much other than just tennis.This is the most glamarous grand slam around.
Dissapointingly our hotshot Sania Mirza lost in the 2nd round to the Dutch hotshot Michella Krajecik(hope i spelt that correctly).She didnt fare any better in the mixed doubles.
Well these are my predictions for the slam..Lets see wat happens..
Mens: Roger Federer(Can anyone beat him)
Women:Justin Henin Hardene(has the momentum lets see if she can beat Maria Sharapova)
Posted in Tennis.
By Raahil Chopra
– January 25, 2006
Posted in Sports.
By Raahil Chopra
– January 24, 2006
