Monday, December 31, 2007

rocking in 2008

i want to start 08 with an all exact prediction,
im feeling magical at the moment as im listening to ilayaraja.
let me match wits with lawro.
i caught highlights of the tottenham reading blockbuster and i had berbatov in my nfc manager team.
fulham v chelsea1-3
lawro 1-1.
arsenal v west ham 3-2
lawro 2-0.
manu v birmingham 2-1
lawro 2-0.
middlesboro v everton2-1
lawro 1-1.
reading v portsmouth 0-1
lawro 1-2.
aston villa v tottenham 4-2
lawro 2-2.
newcastle v mancity 1-0
lawro 2-0.
blackburn v sunderland 0-0
lawro 2-1.
bolton vs derby 1-1
lawro 2-0.
liverpool v wigan 2-1
lawro 3-0.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

fabio capello

i remember him from the days at as roma.
i remember marcello lippi at juventus and carlo ancellotti at ac milan were like ferguson at manu,longtimers.
now,ive realised that capello is more vintage ac milan having won the european cup in 94.
desailly was later at chelsea,i cant remember where he was in between.
is desailly the guy who won the champions league with three different teams.
the lack of football viewing in the last two years has dimmed a lot of memories.
there is a lot of coverage of capello at the bbc.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/7139895.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7142330.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/7138833.stm

sunil chhetri

a new star is making the news.



http://www.rediff.com/sports/2007/dec/13deepti.htm

Thursday, December 6, 2007

weekend

astonvilla vs portsmouth:2-1
chelsea vs sunderland :1-0
lawro 3-0.
everton vs fulham :1-2
lawro 2-0.
manutd vs derby :4-1
lawro 3-0.
newcastle vs birmingham:0-0
lawro 2-0.
reading vs liverpool :1-2
lawro same
middlesbrough vs arsenal:2-2
lawro 0-2
bolton vs wigan :1-1
lawro 2-1.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

jose mourinho

it looks like jose will soon be captaining england.
it will be the pinnacle of his career if he proves his mettle at the international level.
i dont know whether he was a player,but he is a superstar unlike any other.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

surprise

dd sprung a pleasant surprise by showing a champions league match.
there is no espn in chennai,without a set top box.
chelsea vs schalke was telecast.
i spotted wayne bridge playing for chelsea,i did not know he had come back to the playing eleven.
i think he came to chelsea from southampton.
injuries seem to have plagued him,like woodgate also.
the psychological pressure of getting a long layoff more than once will be the toughest test to overcome for a professional footballer.
michael owen has come back,but is taking time to come into the headlines.

Friday, November 9, 2007

churchill brothers are durand cup champions

the 120th durand cup was lifted by churchill brothers beating mahindra united in the final.
bayern munich were held to a 2-2 draw at munich by bolton,bolton s draw is a rare result for english teams abroad,other than the top three.
middlesbrough too had a good run of results in europe last year.
predictions for the weekend matches are:
derby v whu :1-2
liv v ful :1-0
sun v new :1-1
bir v av :1-1
bol v mid :1-2
che v eve :1-1
mu v bla :0-1
por v mc :1-1
tot v wig :2-1
rea v ars :1-2


lawros predictions are here.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7076588.stm

Thursday, November 1, 2007

RAUL

raul is back in form.
i saw him score in a champions league match and yesterday he slotted in a cool one against valencia.
he rubbed it in against valemcia in a champions league final scoring the third in a 3-0 in 2001,i think.
its amazing that hes been only with real,a gifted class act.
ive always expected spain to do well in the world cup but theyve always ended up a damp squib.
i think raul had problems under a coach a year or two back but he seems to be back to prime.

Friday, October 26, 2007

india vs lebanon

we need to beat lebanon 3-0 today to enter the next round of qualifying for the 2010 world cup.we lost 1-4 in the first leg which was away.
the weather in chennai doesnt look promising.
the bpl resumes after a break last week.
my gut predictions are,
bir v wigan: 1-2
chelsea v mc: 1-0
manu v mid:3-1
por v westham:1-1
reading v newcastle:2-1
sunderland v fulham:1-1
bol v astonvilla:1-2
derby v everton:1-1
liv v ars:1-2
tot v blackburn:1-2.

lawro predicts:
bir v wig:2-0
che v mc:2-0
mu v mid:3-0
rea v new:2-1
sun v ful :2-0
por v whu:2-1
bol v av:1-2
der v eve:2-2
tot v bla:2-1
liv v ars:1-1.

it would be great if liverpool beat arsenal,though.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

east bengal

kingfisher east bengal won the 29th federation cup beating mahindra united 2-1 with both goals being scored by edmilson.

this weekends bpl matches feature a big one between mu and chelsea.
the exit of mourinho might have some unsettling effect at chelsea.if mu win 3-0 ,it ll be crisis at chelsea.
the other interesting matches are
fulham vs mc,mc might want to play safe,0-0 .

blackburn vs portsmouth,should be a good match,1-2.

bolton vs tottenham,1-2.

aston villa vs everton,also might be 1-2.though i think villa are strong and they are my favourite team.

reading vs wigan,another 1-2.

what does lawro say?

blackburn and reading win ,draws at craven cottage,villa park with 0-0 at old trafford.

Friday, September 14, 2007

FEDERATION CUP FINAL

east bengal and mahindra united go for the cup today.
in the epl,tottenham v arsenal and chelsea v blackburn are the pick alongwith everton v man u.
all three are tough to predict and might end in draws.
i like blackburns toughness in defence and overall game under mark hughes.
they should be able to make it an interesting match.
everton v man u is probably 1-1.can everton outplay man u.
tottenham v arsenal might be 2-1 or 3-2 with any team capable of winning.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

football legend

ian porterfield who won the FA cup with then second division sunderland ,scoring the lone goal,against high flying leeds in 1973 has died of colon cancer.he was only 61.
he was the coach of the armenian team and was at work as late as august 22 in a match against portugal at yerevan,while undergoing chemotherapy.
legendary.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/1591567.stm

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

federation cup

east bengal have beaten mohan bagan 3-2 to reach the final.
the other semi final is between mahindra united and dempo.

Friday, September 7, 2007

euro qualifiers

I can only recall that England play Israel at Wembley tomorrow.
A new look England seems to be evolving,Lampard,Beckham,Campbell,Hargreaves,Crouch will be missing.
There was a lot of debate in the BBC over the inclusion of Heskey.
Micah Richards seems to be getting everyones votes.
I feel that the England team will do well without superstars.
I particularly dont think that Rio Ferdinand has the right temperament,a look of a winner.He is a class act but he doesnt inspire confidence when he walks out.
Maybe these guys get overawed by international matches.
The new guys will possibly be a whiff of fresh air.

29th Federation Cup

This edition is being held in ludhiana.
I came across the news item in The Hindu today.
I dont think i came across any publicity earlier.
I ll have to find out if it is being aired on DD sports and then have to ask the cable operator to
show the chanel.
Viva Kerala,a relative lightweight has beaten Air India Yesterday &
Mohan Bagan beat ONGC in extra time.
Todays matches are Dempo vs Chirag United and Churchill vs Salgaocar.
I dont know about Chirag but the other three are goan.

this is the report by vijay lokapally in THE HINDU of yesterdays matches.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/07/stories/2007090762262300.htm

Sunday, September 2, 2007

BPL

Liverpool are in great form.They blew away Derby 6-0 yesterday 1/9/07.
They were inconsistent in the league in the last two seasons while being champions in europe.
Rafael Benitez seems to have brought in some great talent this year.
Todays matches are
Arsenal vs Portsmouth-I think it might be an upset,0-1.
Blackburn vs Manchester City-i havent read much about blackburn,mc under sven goran eriksson seem to have had a great start.
Aston Villa vs Chelsea-Villa are one of my favourite teams from the time of john gregory and dublin,i think that is his name,the tall bald guy.This one will be won only by Chelsea,Jose Mourinho hasnt been in the news for a while.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

we ve won it

india have beaten syria.
i could nt watch the match,neither did i watch any of the matches.
all i managed to see was the opening ceremony when the president Pratibha Patil
inaugurated the first match between India and Cambodia.
Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi was jumping like a kid and Sheila Dixit gave the cup.
Its a great moment for Indian football and more should be done to build up the tempo from here.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

epl first week

i didnt get to see most of the matches except a few minutes of the manu portsmouth match.i saw mwarumaris header equaliser which was stunning.
everton seemed to have begun a rocking season.

Monday, August 6, 2007

five teams

iran has backed out .that leaves syria ranked 113, kyrghystan ranked 152, india ranked 162, cambodia ranked 170 and bangladesh ranked 172 in the fifa rankings.
our team has just returned from a tour of portugal where we played against second and third division sides.our team did not lose a single match there.it seems to be a new beginning for indian football.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

ONGC NEHRU CUP

it starts on the 17th of this month in new delhi and there are six international teams.iran might back out and then it would be five teams.that is not a great news but what is great is that the tournament is being revived after 10 years.