Carling Cup Semi-Finals Review

 

This month we had the Carling Cup Semi Finals. All four teams would be going all out to win their matches with the possibility of silverware at stake. The semi final were Liverpool vs Man City and Cardiff vs Crystal Palace.

Palace haven’t been in a Cup final since the 1990 FA Cup final loss. While Cardiff’s last final appearance was only 4 years ago when they lost in the 2008 FA Cup final. The 1^st leg between Crystal Palace and Cardiff was at Selhurst Park. Cardiff put a lot of pressure on Palace in the 1^st half, with Palace goalkeeper Turner keeping them in it on more than one occasion. However Palace were the 1^st to score. Doing so just before half time when Gardner netted from Ambrose’s cross. That goal was the only goal of the game in the end and Palace came away with a 1 goal advantage going into the 2^nd leg.

In the other 1^st leg Liverpool visited Man City. Liverpool are looking for there 1^st English cup final in 6 years. Man City looking to get to another final after last years FA Cup win. Both teams fielded as strong a team as they could but City were missing both the Toure’s at the African Nation Cup and Kompany who is suspended while Silva was injured. Liverpool being without suspended Suarez. It was Liverpool that broke the deadlock early on with a Gerrard penalty after Agger was brought down by Savic. Liverpool did look the better side in the 1^st quarter of the match test Hart on several occasions. City didn’t really get into the game until the 2^nd half, which wasn’t enough coming away from this match with their 2^nd home defeat in 3 days.

Onto the 2^nd legs. Cardiff got off to great start and got a goal after 7 minutes when Gardner trying to clear the ball put it into his own net. Cardiff continued to dominated and piled on the pressure throughout the match but couldn’t find the net. Speroni was keeping Palace in it with some excellent saves and McCarthy heroically saving on the line. However he went from hero to zero when he got sent off for a 2^nd booking. Cardiff still couldn’t get the goal that would put them through even with the extra man. Extra time came and went with no change. So onto dreaded penalties. Cardiff went 1^st. Miller missed, Easter’s shot was saved, Conway scored, Scannell’s penalty was saved. Gestede and Jedinak scored. The score is now 2-1. Whittingham scores. Parr needs to score keep Palace in it but he missed. Cardiff win 3-1 on penalties and progress to the final and the chance of a major for the 1^st time in 85 years.

The other semi finals 2^nd leg was a battle between 2 heavy weights. City went ahead after half an hour with a special rare goal from De Jong. However only 10 minutes later and just before half time Liverpool equalized from the penalty spot through Gerrard. The penalty looked like a harsh decision and it could have gone either way. So at half time it was 1-1 and Liverpool looked the better side. Liverpool came out firing after the break with Hart keeping City in it with many good saves. City then took the lead again against the run of play after 67 minutes when Dzeko tapped the ball in for the lead. Bellamy was on hand however to settle the now nervous Kop by scoring the equalizing goal and that goal put them into the final against his last club and the club he supported as a kid. The match finished 2-2 with Liverpool winning 3-2 on aggregate.

So Cardiff meet Liverpool in the final at Wembley on February 26th. Cardiff are appearing in their 1^st Carling Cup final while Liverpool are in their 11^th. Having won 7 of the their last 10 finals. Liverpool will sure be favorites for the trophy. They have won more League Cup’s than any other team and will more than likely being adding to the 7 they already have. This is unless Cardiff have something to say about it. Cardiff will give it everything to beat Liverpool but I cant see it happening. I think Liverpool will be to strong for them. The bookies are giving Cardiff 9/1 odds and Liverpool 1/3. Go to the link below to make a bet.

http://sports.ladbrokes.com/en-gb/Football/English/Carling-CupFootball/English/Carling-Cup-s816

So who do you think will win the Cup?

FA Cup 4th Round draw preview

 

This weekend the biggest knockout only competition in English football continues. The FA Cup 4^th round is here. There are some big and interesting matches on this weekend. This weekend we are also lucky to have a couple of the matches on Friday and a couple on Sunday with the majority on the Saturday. Lets have a look at what matches the 4^th round is going to bring us.

Lets start with debatable the biggest match in English football. Liverpool have been drawn against their long time rivals Man United. The match will be an early kick out at Anfield. Matches between these 2 are always heated and often incredible important. This year the heat has been turned up even more with the Suarez and Evra racism incident from back in October resulting in Suarez getting a £40,000 pound fine and a 7 game ban. Man United kick out there other main rivals Man City in a controversial game in the 3^rd round. So have not had much luck with the draws so far. If they beat Liverpool then they shouldn’t be worried by anyone and will surely have to be favorites for the trophy. This match however is not one that you can predict as form dones’t count when these to face up to each other and I cant see either of them fielding weakened teams. To tight to call.

The 2^nd big match of the draw was a West London derby with Chelsea going to Loftus road to face QPR. This is another match that was dogged by racism problems earlier in the season and has been given a early lunchtime kick off. A week after the Liverpool United match Terry said some things that he shouldn’t have to Anton Ferdinand on the pitch. Making the temperature of these 2 sets of fans through the roof. Chelsea should be going all out to win this match and this trophy because realistically this is the only silverware they can win this year. I think that Chelsea should be able to overpower QPR and win this one.

The last big match of the 4^th round is Arsenal at home to Aston Villa. Both teams are in a bit of a down at the moment and will be looking to the FA Cup to pick it up. Both teams have also got some former Premiership favorites returning to the action. Robbie Keane has gone on loan to Villa and the majestic Thierry Henry has returned to his beloved Arsenal on a 6 week loan. Both players have already shown that they’ve still got what it takes. Both teams will probably play some sort of variation of their 1^st teams. They are both in desperate need of a trophy. Arsenal more than anyone will be doing all they can to win. I think Arsenal’s home advantage should give them the edge to win this one.

There are 3 other all premiership matches of Everton vs Fulham, Bolton vs Swansea and West Brom vs Norwich. There is even a Northeast derby with Sunderland vs Middlesbrough. 16 Premiership teams are left in the completion. There is only 1 all Championship match being Millwall vs Southampton. 10 Championship sides will be looking to progress and put themselves on show in the 5^th round.  Stevenage vs Notts County is the only all League One match. Swindon are the only League Two team left and they face Leicester away. The full draw is below.

 

Watford vs Tottenham

Everton vs Fulham

QPR vs Chelsea

Liverpool vs Man Utd

Blackpool vs Sheffield Wed

Bolton vs Swansea

Derby vs Stoke

Hull vs Crawley Toen

Leicester vs Swindon

Millwall vs Southampton

Sheffield Utd vs Birmingham

Stevenage vs Notts County

West Brom vs Norwich

Brighton vs Newcastle

Sunderland vs Middlesbrough

Arsenal vs Aston Villa

 

Who do you think will progress?

England vs Pakistan 2012 Series

 

This month England start their cricket season against Pakistan. England will play 3 tests, 4 One Day Internationals and 3 Twenty20 matches. All of the matches being played in the UAE.

The first test starts on the 17/1/12, with the 2^nd starting on the 25/01/12 and then the final test starting on the 3/2/12. The One Day Internationals are on the 13^th, 15^th, 18^th and 21^st of February. Then the Twenty20 are on the 23^rd, 25^th and lastly the 27^th. That’s a lot of cricket for the England team in about a month. Afterwards they will have a month off before the 2 tests against Sri Lanka. So what are the chances of England beating Pakistan and winning the 3 different series. Lets take a look.

England are the number one team in the world of test cricket at the moment. England took that ranking away from India by beating them in a test series last Autumn. Pakistan are currently 5^th in the rankings and will be looking to improve on that ranking asap as cricket is the number 1 sport in Pakistan and they are a huge cricketing county and have been a huge power in cricket for many years.

England are flying high in confidence at the moment and will be wanting to take control and dominate Pakistan. England will want to show that they deserve their number one spot. England are not likely to lost their number one ranking if they lose this test series. However they will not want to lose against Pakistan.

England have got nearly all of their big boys on this tour. With Strauss, Cook, Trott, Pietersen and Bell being the likely candidates for the England batting. Ian Bell has currently got the best batting record over recent times with an average of 87 runs per Innings. Cook is also going to be an important batter for England. Anderson, Tremlett, Broad and Swan are the bowlers that are in charge of stopping Pakistan getting any runs. Anderson at the moment is thought of to be the 2^nd best bowler in the world getting a wicket every 23 runs and 199 maidens in the last 2 years. Swan would argue with this, but his runs per wicket rate is just below on 27 runs per wicket. You should also never doubt the influence of England Skipper Strauss.

Pakistan are not coming to play England and let them get walked over. Pakistan are coming with every intention of winning this series and denting England’s confidence. Pakistan are currently unbeaten in their last 7 test matches. Pakistan are likely to use Unar, Hafeez, Azhar and Ali as their main batsman. Their bowlers are Ajmal, Rehman, Gul and Cheema. Ajmal is a star player for Pakistan and they will hoping that he can keep up his high standard that have made his the 4^th best bowler in the last 2 years with an average of 1 wicket every 25 runs. Pakistan will hope their skipper Misbah-ul-Haq can lead them to a series win.

In the ODI rankings Pakistan are 4^th and England are 6^th with there not being much between them. The result of the 4 ODI in February could change these positions around, especially if England can win convincingly.

England are clearly world number one in the Twenty20 rankings. Pakistan are 6^th and have played 3 more matches than England. It is highly doubtful that the result of these Twenty20 matches will affect the rankings other than putting the teams under pressure for their positions if they lose.

I think they will draw the test series. Pakistan will win the ODI series and England will win the Twenty20 series?

Who do you think is going to win the 3 different series?

For more cricket stats go to http://www.howstat.com/cricket/home.asp

At time of publishing this article Pakistan have already won the 1^st test by 10 wickets. England’s 1^st innings was 192 all out. With Pakistan being all out for 338 in their innings. England got worse in their 2^nd innings being all out for only 160. Meaning that it only took Pakistan 4 overs to get the necessary 15 runs needed to win the match. Hopefully England will sort it out and come back in the next test that is to start shortly.

For more information on the 1^st go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/default.stm

December Other Sports Review

December sees off the 2011 year and many different sport seasons come to an end. Lets see what happened to the English in December.

 

Boxing

Boxing in December could have been so glorious for the British. We could have come away with 2 British fighters with 2 titles each. However what actually happens wasn’t good for British boxing.

The first fight that happened was Khan fighting Peterson for the WBA and IBF light welterweight titles. Khan was favorite but this didn’t matter as Khan lost a split decision after the referee deducted 2 points from Khan for pushing. The fight has brought about huge controversy. Points deduction for pushing is a very rare thing in boxing let alone having 2 points deducted in one fight for the same offence.

Khan lost and yes it might have been because of a dodgy referee decision but I think it was his own fault for thinking to far into the future and thinking that a Mayweather fight was on the cards for 2012. That fight would only happen if he beat Peterson, which he didn’t. His mind was obviously not 100% in this fight and I think that is what cost.

He has since done everything he can do to get the result changed. To be honest I thought this was another Englishman wining, moaning, making excuse’s and being a sore loser until the evidence came out of an unauthorized person looking like he was influencing and handing the judges scorecards. Then you see the scorecards themselves and they have correction’s on them. This shocked me. It is completely unacceptable that something like this can happen. I’m not sure why Khan did not mention this straight away but now that he has it means that he has got his rematch.

The WBA have ordered a rematch between the 2 fighters for the WBA light welterweight title and have heavily persuaded the IBF to include their title in this fight. A date has yet to sorted due to Peterson appealing the WBA’s decision. This rematch needs to happen to get this debate sorted. Which would mean Khan had better get his head in the game this time because if he doesn’t then Mayweather may be gone, forever.

Carl Froch fought Andre Ward for the WBC and WBA super middleweight in the Super Six World Boxing Classic final in December. Froch showed that he has become a very good boxer but unfortunately he came up against a man that is gonna be the future of middleweight boxing. Ward was fantastic and seems to have no weakness and because he does not have just been weapon that opponents just defend against. He has a game that is all round so strong. Froch did not do too much wrong and defiantly won a few critics over with his sturdy performance and the way he dealt with everything going on. He was just up against an Andre Ward that was out to make a statement and to show he has some serious skills.

Ward could dominate for a long time to come and could even start to put some pressure on the current top pound for pound fighters for that title. Froch however will have to start again for a title search. I don’t image that search taking long. Froch will be a title holder again soon and he needs to be or the dreaded talk of retiring will start creeping in.

 

Golf

The biggest golf story in December was the fact that Luke Donald succeeded in his quest to win both the US tour and the European Tour money list. He had already won the US Tour money list in November and all he needed to do was finish in the top 9 in last tournament of the year in Dubai. Donald had an dodgy start before finding his feet and finishing the tournament in 3^rd on 16 under and getting the necessary money to win the European money list for the 1^st time and to become the 1^st man in history to win both the US and the European tour money lists.

There were 10 English players in the season ending tournament in Dubai. In reverse order lets see how they did. In 53^th James Morrison finished 6 over par. Simon Dyson and Ross Fisher both finished on 3 over par and were Tied 46th. David Horsey was 1 under par in T37th. Mark Foster was 2 under in T34th. World number 2 Lee Westwood didn’t have his usual high finishing Dubai tournament and finished T29th on 3 under. Ian Poulter was 5 under and T22nd. David Lynn and Paul Casey were Tied 16^th on 8 under par. Robert Rock was 11 under par and just finished in the top 10 in T8. Finally Luke Donald was 3^rd on 16 under.

The English players have had a great year and a good finish in Dubai and hopefully they can continue if not improve this in the new year.

 

Snooker

In December the UK Championship was play. With 17 Englishmen going for the Trophy with Judd Trump winning the final against Allen. 10-8. Trump winning his 1^st UK Championship

For more info about what happened at the UK Championship go to

https://sweetengland.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/the-uk-snooker-championship/

 

What did you think of the sport in December?

 

December Rugby Review

2011 has come to a close and December rounded off the year in fine form. All of the teams trying to finish the year on a high. Lets see what happened in December.

 

Aviva Premiership

At the start of the month Newcastle just hung on to get a massively important win against Gloucester 26-25. Harlequins continued their unbeaten run by beating Wasps 22-16 away. With Saracens keeping the pressure on Quins at the top with a 15-11 home win against Irish.

The big game of the 1^st weekend in December was Tigers versus Saints. Both teams fighting to finish in the playoffs after dreadful starts to the season. These 2 powerhouse’s of English and European rugby fought it out. This was a fantastic match. Tigers made a good lead before Saints came back and took the lead before a late try for Tigers won them the game 30-25.

The next Aviva premiership matches were at the end of the month. Northampton Saints got back to winning ways with a home win against Bath 22-13. Gloucester also going back to winning ways convincing beating Wasps 39-10 in front of there home crowd. But the big game was Harlequins hosting Saracens. The top 2 meeting for a title affecting match. Saracens came out with all guns firing and notched up all of their 19 points in the 1^st 25 minutes. Saracens went in 19-3 up at half time. Harlequins managed to get back into the game in the 2^nd half but never really threated to catch Saracens. So Saracens beat their title rivals away and caused Harlequins 1^st league defeat of the season. The title race is now tightening up between these 2 and it looks like it’s going to be a tough call. Saracens have the bragging rights and are reigning champions but Harlequins are currently top.

 

Heineken Cup

The Pool stages were in full swing in December. With all teams playing 2 games. Northampton Saints had a bad defeat away at Castres Olympique 41-22 before Saints returned the favour and destroyed Castres in the return match. 45-0. Saints now need a miracle to qualify. Irish had a big 34-17 away win against Racing Metro. However they couldn’t capitalize on that win and lost the home match against Metro 19-25. Irish are basically out of the competition as well.

Bath made the reigning champions Leinester work hard for their win. Bath losing 13-18 before being convincing beating in Ireland 52-27. Bath are now going to struggle not to finished last. The Tigers swapped wins with Clermont Auvergne. Clermont winning the1st match 30-12 at home and Tigers home win was 23-19. Tigers need to finish strong to qualify which they can do.

Saracens managed to beat Ospreys both ways to give themselves a great chance of qualifying for the quarters. They won 31-26 at home and 16-13 away. Harlequins lost their home match to Toulouse 10-21 before getting a must win game in the return match away at Toulouse 31-24. In the same Pool Gloucester beat Connacht both times. 14-10 away and 23-19 home. Harlequins still have a chance of qualifying but realistically might have to make do with the Amlin Challenge Cup. Gloucester will just be making sure they don’t finish last.

 

The Amlin Challenge Cup

In Pool 1 Worcester beat Bucharest in both matches. The 1^st 24-13 away and 57-13 at home. This Pool is likely to be decided on the day of the Pool stage when Worcester go to big boys Stade Francais Paris. Newcastle beat Toulon in a tight home game 6-3 before losing 36-10 in the away match. Newcastle have still got an outside chance of qualifying but they will need bonus points wins and hope Toulon can slip up somewhere.

London Wasps lost their 1^st game away against Bayonne 19-11 and winning the home fixture 25-11 to put Wasps in the driving seat to win Pool 3 and qualify.

Exeter Chiefs beat Newport 18-6 at home before completing the double against them winning 19-23 away. Exeter are in a great position to qualify it will all come down to the their last Pool game against the highly ranked Perpignan at home.

Finally in Pool 5 Sale sharks beat Agen twice 29-14 away and 41-21 at home. Sale also will have a Pool deciding match at home to Brive on the last day.

 

What did you enjoy most in Rugby in December?

December Football Review

2011 is over and in December we sure had lots of football with everyone trying to send off the year as best as they can. There were some great footballing moments. Lets have a look at how the year finished and what happened in December.

 

Premiership

The month of December was a strange month in the Premier league. So many of the top teams lost matches and dropped points. The month started off with all the big boys winning. Blackburn got a big win at Swansea with Yakubu scoring 4. Wigan had a massive away win at West Brom. All the top teams were looking good and winning mostly. Liverpool did lose at Fulham and Tottenham lost at Stoke.

Then came a big potential title affecting game between Chelsea and Man City. City went ahead very early before Chelsea came back and won the game giving City their 1^st loss of the season and opening up the title race. Chelsea then lost their way at Wigan where Wigan got a very late winner and a huge point for them.

When Arsenal visited Man City everyone was hoping that they could make City drop points but Silva made sure City got the win by scoring the only goal of the game. Liverpool were starting to get back into some sort of form beating QPR and then had a big away win at Villa who then started to slip down the table for the rest of the month.

Martin O’Neill was brought in as the new Sunderland manager to replaced the recently departed Bruce at the start of December and in his 1^st 5 matches they won 2, lost 2 and drawn 1.

In a huge regulation 6 pointer and what could have been the loser gets fired match for the managers. Blackburn lost at home to Bolton. A big win for Bolton.  Steve Kean did manage to keep his job though.

City went back to winning ways before all the big teams dropped points except United. City drew away with West Brom, Liverpool drew at home with Blackburn while Chelsea had back to back draws away at Tottenham and home to Fulham. Then Arsenal drew with Wolves. Meanwhile United had back to back 5-0 wins against Fulham and Wigan.

In the finally games of the month Liverpool convincingly beat Newcastle and continue their push for a Champions league place. Tottenham drew at Swansea and then on the last day of the year there were some unbelievable results. Man United were beaten at home by Blackburn in a great for the neutrals match. Chelsea didn’t manage to take advantage of the United lost and lost aswell in very poor fashion. Villa taking them apart at Stamford Bridge.

The last thing to say is that Van Persie didn’t quite get Alan Shearers record of 36 goals in a calendar year but he did beat Thiery Henry’s Arsenal record of 34 goals in a year. Van Persie managed to get 35 goals and the only goal of the game when Arsenal beat QPR.

 

Champions League

The Champions League finished at the beginning of December and there were some shocks. In group A Man City had to beat Bayern Munich at home and hope Villarreal could managed to beat or at least hold Napoli to a draw. City did manage to beat a sub strengthen Munich team 2-0 but Napoli also managed to beat Villarreal 2-0. This meant that City are out of the Champions League and by finishing 3^rd now enter the Europa League.

In Group C all Man Utd needed to do was to draw with FC Basel away and they would qualify. However unbelievably United lost. Meaning Basel took their place in the knockout stages. United now also have to make do with the Europa League. So shockingly both Manchester clubs have failed early on in their search for the top prize in club football.

Chelsea had to beat Valencia at home if they were to qualify from Group E. Which they did. They beat Valencia 3-0 to win the group due to Bayer Leverkusen drawing with Genk. This meant Chelsea were seeded in the knockout draw.

In Group F Arsenal had already qualified and as group winners. So in their match against Olympiacos they fielded a young inexperienced team. The players might have got valuable experience but they did not get the win. They lost 3-1 but it didn’t matter coz they were already a seeded team in the knockout stage.

So now only 2 English teams are left in the Champions League. How far can they go.

For more info go to

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/index.html

For Champions League Knock out stage draw go to

https://sweetengland.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/champions-league-english-teams-draw/

 

Europa League

In the Europa League there were 4 English team going for broke to qualify for the knockout stages. In Group A Tottenham needed to beat Shamrock Rovers away by a least 4 goals and hope that PAOK beat Rubin by at least a goal. Tottenham beat Shamrock 4-0 but Rubin managed to battle back from being a goal and a player down to draw and get the vital point to go through and to kick Tottenham out.

Stoke were in Group E and had already qualified for the last 32 of the Europa league. However their last game away at Besiktas would determine who would win the group. This was the toughest group match for Stoke and the result showed. They lost 3-1 despite going ahead, it was going down to 10 men that cost them. So Stoke are through to the Europa league draw as an unseeded team.

In Group H Birmingham needed to win their last game by at least a few goals and hope that either one of Club Brugge or Braga lost by a few goals as well. Birmingham did win their game but only 1-0. However Brugge and Braga drew so Birmingham are out even though they did give a very good unexpected go.

Fulham are in Group K and even though they couldn’t win the group all they needed to do was to beat OB at home and will qualify for the knockout stage. This wasn’t an easy as they thought. Fulham went 2-0 up and looked good for the win before OB came back into the game and then getting a last minute goal to take them through and kick Fulham out.

Meaning Stoke now join the 2 Manchester clubs in the Europa league last 32.

For more info go to

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/index.html

For Europa League Knock out stage draw go to

https://sweetengland.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/europa-league-english-teams-draw/

 

The FA Cup

The 2^nd round was played at the being of December. With all the teams desperately hoping to win their games and be part of the 3^rd round where they could have dream matches against the Premiership teams who enter the tournament at the 3^rd round stage. There were a few surprise’s in this round with all of them being away results. Wrexham beat Brentford, Swindon beat Colchester. Then in replays Sainsburys beat Grimsby and Fleetwood Town beat Yeovil Town both also away. The 3^rd round happens in January.

 

What was your favorite football result of December?

January 2012 Other Sports Preview

 

2011 has finish and 2012 is starting and the Rugby is going to be coming thick and fast. There is no time to breath as we get straight into it. So what going to be on in January.

 

Tennis

The Tennis season is restarting at the moment with all the English players featuring this month. There are 8 ATP tour tournaments and 4 WTA tournaments. With the 1^st of the 4 majors of the year starting on the 16^th of January. The Australian Open is a competition that all of the English players will want to be part of.

There are 4 Female players in with a possibility of qualifying for the Ozzie open. Keaothavong(72), Watson(92), Robson(133) and Broady(196). The 1^st 3 have a realistic chance of making it but they may have to go through the tough and grueling qualifying process, with Broady having her work cut out if she is to qualify. If they do get through to the main draw then they will be fighting for bigger money and ranking points that comes with the majors. They will want to be there and have that chance for success.

There is only 1 real male player in with a chance of making the main draw. James Ward who caused those big shocks back at Queens last year. Ward is currently ranked 162 and will also have to go through the qualifying phase to get into the main draw.

There are a few English Juniors that will be at the Australian Open playing in the Junior tournament and if the recent Juniors major competition are to go by then we are in a with shout of seeing an English Junior champion especially in the Boys category.

All of the top English players are in Australia or New Zealand trying to get any many points as they can in the build up competitions so that they can try and get straight into the main draw without qualifying. Good luck to them all and we hope to see you in the Australian Open and doing well.

It is worth mentioning that the Scots of Elena Baltacha and Andy Murray are the best British players at the moment and will both be in the main draws in Oz with Andy Murray having a great chance of winning his 1^st major and the 1^st British major champion in 75 years.

 

Golf

The Golf season kicks off in January. The European tour starts down in the beautiful South Africa on the 5^th to the 8^th of January at the Africa Open follow by the Joburg Open on the 12^th till the15th and the Volvo Golf Champions on 19^th till the 22nd with Paul Casey defending his title from last year. Then the last tournament of the month is the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on the 26^th till the 29^th of January. All of the English players will be looking to get a good start to the season as this year is a Ryder Cup year and everyone would love to play in the Ryder Cup.

The PGA tour also starts in January with 2 tournaments in the glorious Hawaii starting with Hyundai Tournament of Champions on the 6^th to the 9^th followed by the Sony Open from the 12^th to the 15^th.  Then the tour moves to sunny California when they play the Humana Challenge Clinton Foundation tournament and the Farmers Insurance Open at the world renowned Torrey Pines. There are 13 English players that played on the PGA tour last year. All the English boys will be wanting to watch and take notes about the US players for the Ryder Cup and to play on US turf to get us to the playing field.

All the English players will be wanting to continue the great form of the English lately and to try and get as many ranking points and prize money as possible.

 

Cricket

England are starting the year as the World number one test team. They now look to keep a top of the ranking tables when they take on Pakistan. Pakistan are a big cricket country and are a formidable force in world and test cricket. England will play a 3 match test series in the UAE. The 1^st test match in on the 17^th to the 23^rd of January in Dubai and then just 3 days later the 2^nd test starts on the 25^th to the 30^th with the 3^rd test being played in the beginning of February. England will hopefully have the series wrapped by the end of January and be 2-0 so they can take it easy in the 3^rd test before the ODI’s and the Twenty20 matches in February.

 

Athletics

The English Athletes are starting what could be the biggest and most important year of their lives. They will be training hard and doing everything in their power to do what is needed to make Team GB for the Olympics.

The Great Winter Run is on the 7^th of Jan up in the cultured city of Edinburgh. The low distance runners will use this event as good training running in the cold hills of Edinburgh. With a lot of the world’s best in attendance including such people as Mo Farah.

Then we move a few miles down the road to Glasgow for the Aviva international on the 28^th of Jan. There are 17 events planed for this day. Currently there are 10 English competitors confirmed but with there still being over 3 weeks to go to the day there will be many more by the day of competition. There are 4 male and 6 female English competitors, the main one being once again Mo Farah who will be in the final event the 1500metres.

 

So what are you looking forward to this month?

January 2012 Rugby Preview

 

2011 has finish and 2012 is starting and the Rugby is going to be coming thick and fast. There is no time to breath as we get straight into it. So what going to be on in January.

 

The Domestic league seasons continue as normal. However there is only 1 league match weekend this month. There is one very big match over that weekend. On the 6^th of January. League leaders Harlequins visit the powerhouses of Northampton Saints who are on good form having won 6 of the last 7. Then there is a good mid table clash of London Irish hosting Sale.

 

Rugby in the month of January is going to be dominated by the last group matches of the 2 European cups. In the Heineken Cup Northampton have to win there last 2 games against Scarlets and Munster with bonus points and hope Munster lose both of their games without bonus points to stand any chance of qualifying. They may be able to sneak into the Amlin Challenge Cup but it looks doubtful. London Irish have got Cardiff Blues at home and then Edinburgh away and have to win both with bonus points and hope Racing Metro can do some damage in their matches. Realistically though they are going out.

Bath have an even slimmer chance of qualifying and will have to beat Montpellier to avoid finishing bottom of Pool 3 if they do then they will face Glasgow Warriors for 2^nd place but it will be unlikely to get them into the Amlin Challenge Cup. Pool 4 is still so close and undecided with 3 teams still having a good chance to go through. Leicester Tigers are one of them and their next match is away at Ulster and will be the group decider. If Leicester win then they would have almost certainly have qualified for the quarters assuming they beat Aironi in their last game. If they lose then they will need Ulster to beat Clermont Auvergne to make the Amlin Challenge Cup.

Saracens are in pole position in Pool 5 and if they beat Biarrtiz Olympique in their next match then they will have qualified for the quarters and be able to rest players for their last game away at Benetton Treviso. Harlequins face Gloucester in the next Pool 6 match with the winner being likely to make it into the Amlin Challenge Cup unless Toulouse drop points against either Connacht or Gloucester. Harlequins last match is against Connacht who gave them a run for their money last time round. Harlequins have still got a chance of the quarters if bonus points can help them.

 

The Amlin Challenge Cup is at the same stage with a couple of games left for each team. Worcester Warriors have given it a good go and with Stade Francais Paris who are ranked 8^th it was always going to be tough. Worcester will probably beat Banca Monte Crociati and that means they will have to beat Stade Francais Paris away and then hope that the bonus points are in their favour. If they do beat Stade Francais Paris then they have will well and truly deserve a place in the quarters. Realistically though it could be just too much for them. Newcastle are in need of a favour if they are to qualify. They will probably beat Petrarca Padova and hope Lyon can beat Toulon away. Then Newcastle will have to go on and beat Lyon themselves. However Lyon beating Toulon away and Newcastle beating Lyon away both are very tough asks. But you never know.

London Wasps are in the driving seat and with their toughest Pool games behind them they are looking good for the quarters. If they can avoid defeat against Bordeaux Begles on the last day then they should be find because they are likely to beat Femi CZ VEA Rovigo with a bonus point. The Exeter Chiefs should beat I Cavalieri Prato and them move on to the crunch game against Perpignan. The winner takes all and if it the Chiefs win then what an achievement it would be to take the place of the 9^th ranked team in the quarters. Finally Sale will beat Rugby Club La Vila before they moved onto a must win home game against Brive.

So after January we will have our quarter finalists in the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup and I think that English will have 2 clubs in the Heineken Cup and 3 in the Amlin Challenge Cup.

 

At the end of January the LV Cup continues with all the teams trying to either continue their great start or to pick up their poor starts. It will be tough though with only 1 team going through to the semis from each group. They will all be going for it because at the end of season it could be another bit of silverware for one of the teams.

 

So what Rugby match are you looking forward to this month?

January 2012 Football Preview

 

2011 has finish and 2012 is starting and the football is going to be coming thick and fast. There is no time to breath as we get straight into it. So what going to be on in January.

 

The Domestic league continues straight away with league games happening on New Years day. There are some big games in January and they start straight away with Liverpool hosting Man City on the 3^rd of Jan. Newcastle then play Man Utd at St James on the 4^th. Wigan then go to QPR for a 6 point match in the regulation battle on the 21^st. Also on the 21^st the Midlands derby between Wolves and Aston Villa plays out. On the 22^nd we have the current top 4 in a double header. With Man City hosting Tottenham followed by Man Utd visiting Arsenal.

 

The FA Cup starts for the Premier League teams at the beginning of the month. There are only 2 all Premiership ties. One of them in Newcastle vs Blackburn. The other match is biggest tie possible and could easierly have been the final. Man Utd take the short trip to their major rivals Man City which will be on the 8th. There is another big game the next day on the 9^th between Arsenal and Leeds at the Emirates.

 

The Semi Finals of the Carling Cup are in January. On the 10^th of January the all Championship tie 1^st leg between Crystal Palace against Cardiff is played at Selhurst. The 1^st leg of the all Premiership tie between Man City and Liverpool is being held at the Etihad Stadium on the 11th. The return legs are the 24^th for Cardiff and Crystal Palace with Liverpool, Man City on the 25^th. So by the 26^th we should know who will be fighting for the 1^st major Silverware of the year.

 

The entire month of January is a transfer window for all the Premiership and football league clubs. A lot of clubs will be diving into the market to try and find players to help their cause’s out while also getting ride of some players that they do not need or need to sell players to generate cash for some purchase’s.

AVB has been told that he has £150 million from Abromovich over the next 2 windows. AVB will want to secure some real quality to help him rediscover the force that once was Chelsea. He 1^st bit of business is going to be bringing in Gary Cahill to sort out the holes in the Chelsea defense. Hulk is also top of AVB list however but he will put off by the £83 million pound buy out clause in Hulk’s contract. There are also rumors of Chelsea trying to grab want away Kaka from Madrid with the Madrid manager Mourinho perhaps being interested in unsettled Lampard. While Malouda could be heading out the door aswell.

Mancini has been told he has to sell to spend so will look to get a good size fee for Tevez who is likely to go to o. AC Milan. He will also look to get ride of Bridge who doesn’t seem to be doing anything at City. City have been chasing De Rossi but will struggle to draw him away his beloved Roma.

Man United might see a couple of players leaving out the door with Gibson and Kuszczak looking to find regular 1^st team football and unbelievable there is talk of Rooney may be sold as well. No player has even survive a fall out with Ferguson and stayed and United and it sounds like Rooney had a fall out with him recently. The United manager never spends willy nilly. However there have been several players linked with the club, with Gotze of Dortmund the biggest on the list. Arsenal are also suppose to interested in him. They are also interested in Montolivo of Fiorentina and Granero of Real Madrid. Once again Liverpool are rumored to trying to be enquiring about Gourcuff.

Blackburn might have to lose a couple of there big players with the club having financial troubles and have to sell. Samba, Hoilett and Yakubu are the one’s that are drawing all the interest from various other Premiership clubs. QPR have loaned in Macheda from United and will be dipping in to the market again and probably more than once. After they have been given money to spend from Fernandes.

There are a few Championship players that have Premiership clubs looking into them. With Zaha (Palace), Tomkins (West Ham), Snodgrass (Leeds) and Maynard (Bristol City) the players most people are noticing.

I am sure there will be many transfers this window after some massive last day transfer last year of Torres and Carroll moving clubs. We might not see the same big star action this year but there will defiantly be a some shocks in January.

 

Which football match are you looking forward to the most?