SA vs Norway

Bafana Bafana will take on Norway in the 2009 Nelson Mandela Challenge at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on March 28.

With 2010 and the Confederations Cup around the corner, would you pay to watch a fixture like this as a bit of warm up to these major fixtures? How much would you be prepared to pay for a ticket to one of these friendlies?

MON's Chelsea Shock

Martin O'Neill never envisaged dramatic changes at Chelsea as he disconsolately trudged off the Stamford Bridge pitch in October 2008.

Villa were well beaten by Big Phil Scolari's highly-polished Blues side that day.

Yet four months later there was a major upheaval in west London as Scolari was replaced by Guus Hiddink.

MON said: "The really interesting thing for me is that Chelsea are the only side who have really outplayed us this season.

"That doesn't seem that long ago - yet they have had a change of manager in that time.

"Who would have thought that would have happened.

"Chelsea played excellently on that particular day and you would never would have foreseen the problems they have encountered.

"To now be two points ahead of them is great testament to our side.

"In reality, I don't think they have been as bad as people have made them out to be. I think it is a perception thing.

"They have won trophies over the past few years and now it feels like they have slipped up a little bit and allowed teams to get much closer to them.

"I think Villa striving to get up that table is the only real change though."

Source: http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk

C'mon Villa from your number 1 SA fan....

Sports Trader premiership picks

Aston Villa and Chelsea go head to head this weekend in a fixture that could ultimately make or break the Championship runs for both these sides. If either side loses today, they'll effectively lose any real chance of staying in touch with Manchester United.

Sports Trader makes its picks for the weekends and picking three high profile draws in the top 6.

Saturday fixtures:
Aston Villa v Chelsea Villa Park - Draw
Arsenal v Sunderland - Draw
Stoke v Portsmouth - Stoke win
Bolton v West Ham - West Ham win
Middlesbrough v Wigan - Middlesbrough win
Man Utd v Blackburn - Manchester United win

As you can see we're hedging our bets here... We think Villa and Chelsea will draw as will Arsenal and Sunderland.

Man Utd should carry on their winning ways against Blackburn.

Sunday 22 February
Fulham v West Brom - Fulham win
Liverpool v Man City - Draw
Newcastle v Everton - Everton win

Liverpool and Man City.... hhhhmmmmm we're probably not making too many fans with our negative views around Liverpool but they've had some scares in the last few games with last gasp goals. No Gerrard today, so we're going for the draw.

Everton should carry on their winning ways at Newcastle.

Monday 23 February
Hull v Tottenham - Draw

Another draw on the cards here.

Happy hunting....

Sports Trader picks

The English Premiership is really starting to get exciting and some big name fixtures on the cards:

Sports Trader makes its picks for the weekends fixtures.

Saturday 21 February
Aston Villa v Chelsea - Draw
Stoke v Portsmouth - Stoke win
Arsenal v Sunderland - Arsenal win
Bolton v West Ham - West Ham win
Middlesbrough v Wigan - Middlesbrough win
Man Utd v Blackburn - Manchester United win

The Aston Villa vs Chelsea fixture is the pick of the Saturday fixtures. We're calling a draw here which might irritate the Chelsea fans but we think it's a fair call.

Sunday 22 February
Fulham v West Brom - Draw
Liverpool v Man City - Draw
Newcastle v Everton - Everton win

Man City have the capacity to surprise and we think they are going to surprise Liverpool at Anfield this weekend.

Everton are on hot form and they should be able to put one over Newcastle.

Monday 23 February
Hull v Tottenham - Tottenham win

Tottenham are back in the game and should be able to beat Hull even away from home...

Geez Everton

Everton are looking like a late season threat to the Top 5 and won't be offering any easy points. They've beaten Aston Villa 3-1 in the FA Cup and having beaten Liverpool in the previous round, they've sent a clear warning to anybody expecting points off them...

Have to hand it to them - they've done well....

FA Cup predictions

The next round of the FA Cup is here this weekend and things are starting to look interesting.

Sports Trader makes its predictions for the round.

Some real fun and games on the Sunday fixtures and we're picking Everton to upset the Aston Villa apple-cart and Derby to blow Manchester United out the water.

Saturday fixtures
Sheffield United v Hull City - Hull win
Watford v Chelsea - Chelsea win
West Ham United v Middlesbrough - Middlesbrough win
Swansea v Fulham - Fulham win
Blackburn Rovers v Coventry - Blackburn win

The West Ham vs. Middlesbrough fixture looks like a bogey for punters. We've picked Middlesbrough for the win but we're worried that West Ham may swing a surprise.

Sunday 15 February fixtures
Everton v Aston Villa - Everton win
Derby v Manchester United - Derby win

As a Villa fan our heart is saying they'll do it but the head stays with Everton and their home ground advantage.

Monday 16 February fixtures
Arsenal v Cardiff - Arsenal win

Fun and games - good luck punters!

Martin O'Neill : We're Explosive

Martin O'Neill comments after his Aston Villa side beat Blackburn 2-0 to move above Chelsea and stay firmly in the championship race:

Source: Aston Villa website:

Martin O'Neill accepts that an explosive counter-attacking style is a major reason for Villa's terrific record on the road.

And the Villa boss was quick to point out that it was a similar story for Manchester United in the early years of Sir Alex Ferguson's reign.

He said: "The teams we are playing sense a danger with us around and I think they set up in a fashion which helps us.

"The onus is on the home team to come out and attack and we seem to be getting a little bit more room.

"We have been able to exploit that.

"Speed on the counter attack is one of our main attributes - absolutely.

"While we haven't got it off to a fine art, we are certainly explosive and very, very dangerous.

"We have respect but no fear and we travel with optimism in every game.

"In the early years of Manchester United eking out championships, their game was built on counter-attacking, no question about that.

"They looked like they were hemmed into their own penalty area and then they broke with such speed and ferocity and they had players who could finish the moves off - that's the most important thing.

"They based their game on that."

2010 FIFA World Cup host city posters launched

Check out the designs here on the Marklives.com blog

Let us know what you think about the designs... Things in SA starting to feel quite real.

South Africans playing "Brazilian" football

I appreciate that Bafana Bafana have managed to knock up 5 wins in their last 5 fixtures but I still have a "bigger picture" concern.

The South African Football Association have officially / unofficially indicated that they want South Africa to try and emulate the highly creative football style that the Brazilian sides enjoy.

Without being overly negative I have two questions ... How exactly are we supposed to do this? Why are we trying to emulate a style we don't have the players to go with the style?

Very simply we have a problem scoring goals when we don't have Benni McCarthy there. The Brazilians on the other hand can score goals from pretty much anywhere...

We don't have a Ronaldinho or a Fred or somebody else who can single-handedly dominate a game.

However we do have some gritty (and creative) midfield players and some tough defenders. Why don't we play to this strength? Why do we need to copy a team that has a completely different set of players?

Why can't we develop our own style and dominate with this style?

Am I being unfair...?

Sports Trader - Premiership picks

After last weekends debacle (from our perspective) in the English Premiership, it looks like Manchester United are starting to run away this title.

These are the weekends fixtures and the one we're watching closely is Portsmouth and Liverpool...

All the pressure is on Liverpool and if they drop points here then they're in trouble. The loss to Everton earlier in the week could put Liverpool on the back foot. We're calling a draw here.

Saturday fixtures
Man City v Middlesbrough City - Man City win
Wigan v Fulham - Fulham win
Chelsea v Hull - Chelsea win
Everton v Bolton - Everton win
West Brom v Newcastle - Draw
Blackburn v Aston Villa - Villa win
Sunderland v Stoke - Draw
Portsmouth v Liverpool - Draw

Sunday 08 February
Tottenham v Arsenal - Draw
West Ham v Man Utd Upton Park - Man Utd win

Source: Sports Trader

8th UEFA European Under U-19 Soccer Championship Elite Round

With so many soccer events going around the year, the UEFA European Under-19 Soccer Championship is an exciting event not to be missed. With the qualifying rounds already played from 2 October 2008 to 27 November 2008, the stage is set for the Elite Round to start from Sunday, 1 March 2009 and last till Sunday 31 May 2009. The teams from the qualifying rounds have been divided into 7 groups of 4 teams each, making 28 fierce contestants fighting for the final title.

Matches for group 1 will be held in Serbia on 12, 14 and 17 May 2009. The 4 teams playing in this group include Serbia, who will play as the host soccer team against Hungary, Finland and Austria. Serbia showed a consistent performance in the qualifying rounds scoring 3, 5 and 4 in the 3 matches it played. Hungary only performed well in 1 match against San Marino and scored 6 points, and scoring 1 and 0 in the other 2. Both Finland and Austria stand at almost equal standing with Finland scoring 2, 0 and 3 in the last 3 matches, and Austria scoring 2, 3 and 1 soccer goals. There is a highly likely chance that the host team will be the highest scorer in this group and will qualify to the Final tournament – Group stage.

Group 2 matches will be held in Slovenia, which will also be the host team of this group and play against Russia, Netherlands and Belarus. The matches will be held on 4, 6 and 9 June 2009. So far, the toughest contenders in this group are Netherlands, followed by Slovenia and then Russia. Belarus is the lowest scoring team in this group.
Portugal will be the host for Group 3, and will play against Turkey, Greece and Denmark on 23, 25 and 28 May 2009. Turkey is in the lead among all the 4 soccer clubs in this group, followed by Portugal and then with Greece and Denmark.

Switzerland, Republic of Ireland and Sweden are going to play in Group 4 on 5, 7 and 10 June 2009 along with the host team Belgium. Sweden and Belgium are the stronger teams of this group, with Ireland having the least scores. The game between the host team and Sweden will definitely be an exciting one.

France is the host soccer team for Group 5 matches which will play on 18, 20 and 23 May 2009 against Romania, Norway and Latvia. France is the highest scorer for this group, with a total of 9 scores from the qualifying rounds. Romania follows the lead in the group, with Norway and Latvia with the lowest scores.

Group 6 matches will be hosted by England on 27 and 29 May and 1 June 2009. The other three teams participating in the group include Scotland, Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Although Scotland leads this group with the highest scores, England has shown a stable performance in the qualifying rounds. Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina have fewer score compared to the host team and Scotland, so chances are that they might not be playing in the next round.
The Soccer Championship final group will play their matches in Estonia on the 21, 23 and 26 of May 2009. The other participating teams for these matches include Germany, Spain and Czech Republic.

The Elite round will decide the winning teams to play in the Final tournament – Group stage to be held from 21 July to 27 July 2009. The semi-finals for this annual event will take place on 30 July 2009 with the final match taking place on Sunday 2 August 2009.

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Peri Witny is an author of Sports Articles.
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Torres sinks Chelsea...

From the Liverpool FC official commentary....

Fernando Torres struck a last-gasp double to claim a sensational 2-0 victory for Liverpool against 10-man Chelsea.

The Reds produced a dominant second-half display against the Blues and deservedly claimed the three points when El Nino grabbed his first Anfield goals of the season on 89 and 94 minutes.

It means Rafael Benitez's men move up to second place in the table and are now two points behind leaders Man United who still have a game in hand.

The Reds had gone into the match with the Londoners hoping to send out a message that they were still very much a part of the title race.

Vice Captain Jamie Carragher had urged his teammates to make a statement of their intent and they duly set about making life uncomfortable for Luiz Felipe Scolari's men.

A lightning break after just 60 seconds almost provided the perfect start but for once Steven Gerrard failed to make the most of an opening on the edge of the Chelsea penalty area.

Amidst the backdrop of snowfall both sides showed a keen appetite for the contest and in the early exchanges there were some thunderous challenges, but little in the way of actual attempts at goal.

Xabi Alonso went some way to altering that stat with a stinging 25 yarder that Petr Cech managed to tip over the bar at full stretch, but it remained an evenly matched contest throughout the half.

The Reds looked the more likely to make a breakthrough with a series of long range efforts that will have caused some concern for the visitors, particularly when Javier Mascherano's thunderbolt was spilled by Cech. Sadly for Rafa and co there was no red shirt close enough to take advantage.

The game needed a goal and it could so easily have arrived on the half hour mark when Jamie Carragher crossed from the right for Torres, but the Spaniard's turn and shot was brilliantly blocked by a Chelsea defender.

As the half finally came to close the Reds could claim to have edged it and with a touch of luck they could have gone in ahead.

Albert Riera evaded two challenges and forced a smart save out of Cech with Ashley Cole lucky to see the rebound smash off his knee and wide of the far post.

A second-half onslaught at the Kop end was the order of the day and Dirk Kuyt went close to an immediate breakthrough when he stabbed an effort wide following Alex's mistake.

Mascherano then floated a pass to Gerrard inside the area but despite a superb knockdown from the skipper, Torres saw his goal-bound effort well blocked.

The Reds were turning the screw and could easily have been awarded a penalty on 56 minutes when John Terry appeared to bring down Kuyt, but referee Mike Riley refused to point to the spot.

Tensions were reaching fever pitch and Liverpool were handed a huge advantage just shy of the hour mark when Frank Lampard was shown a straight red card for a high tackle of Alonso.

The dismissal inspired a crescendo of noise inside Anfield with the Reds surging forward to chants of 'attack, attack; attack, attack, attack'.

Gerrard saw his free-kick deflected to safety by the Chelsea wall and Mascherano headed Carragher's cross just over before Alonso's curler cannoned off back off the crossbar.

The home side were camped inside the Chelsea half and must have thought they had finally scored on 72 minutes. A corner from the right fell at the feet of Torres and as the striker turned he unleashed a fizzing effort at goal that was somehow hacked clear on the line.

Substitute Yossi Benayoun twice came close late on before El Nino saved the day with a sublime near post header from Fabio Aurelio's pinpoint cross.

And it got better four minutes into injury-time when the Spaniard lashed home the loose ball after Benayoun was challenged in the penalty area.

It means Liverpool have completed their first league double over Chelsea since 1990 - the last time they won the title.