Archive for June 2009
Culina takes over at Jets
Culina was already a technical director at the club and that should give him a head start.
The former Sydney FC coach takes over a club that finished bottom of the A-League last season but showed some signs of improvement in the Asian Champions League group stages.
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Brazil win Confed Cup
Brazil were trailing by 2 goals at half time but three second half goals with no reply from the US meant the South American champions retained the Confederations Cup.
The US did well to reach the final after losing the first two matches and even in the final they were two up by half time.
For Brazil the semi-final against hosts South Africa was the only match they failed to score at least three goals.
In five matches Brazil scored 14 goals and conceded just five.
The team kept clean sheets in three of the matches.
The tournament gave the teams a feel of the conditions that they will experience at next year's World Cup.
Gary van Egmond leaves Jets
Van Egmond won the championship at the end of the 2007/8 season but the team finished bottom last season.
That championship win meant the Jets got a chance to play in the Asian Champions League where they did well to at least go to the knockout stages but their last match was a 6-nil drubbing by Korean side Pohang Steelers.
The Jets have at least five weeks to get a coach before the season kicks off.
Brazil to meet USA in the final
They South American champions will now meet the USA who beat Spain in a match to be played in Johannesburg.
For the first time in this tournament, Brazil failed to score a goal in the first half and its goal only came with three minutes left on the clock.
This was also the first match that Brazil has failed to score at least three goals having done in all the group stages.
South Africa has so far managed to score just two goals in a group match against New Zealand where they also kept a clean sheet for the second time.
For Brazil only Egypt has scored against them.
USA stuns Spain to reach final
This was the first time in this tournament that Spain had conceded any goals and they conceded at the wrong time whilst for the USA it was the second consecutive clean sheet.
Its interesting to see that when the USA played their last group match against Egypt their chances of staying in the tournament were very slim because they depended on other results but now they have reached the final.
Spain on the hand had a stroll in the group staged winning all three matches and conceding no goals at all.
Another major statistic of this match is that the USA prevented Spain from setting a new world record of 36 matches unbeaten.
USA in the semis
The African champions needed at least a draw to reach the semis and USA needed a 3 nil margin and in the end it was the US team that prevailed.
In the same group Italy lost 3-nil to Brazil and are now out of the tournament.
So Spain will meet USA whilst Brazil will play the hosts South Africa.
South Africa reach semis
Spain had already qualified after the first two games but South Africa needed a draw or hope that New Zealand gets a draw or a win against the Asian Champions Iraq.
New Zealand got a goalless draw and their first point of the tournament and therefore helped Bafana Bafana avoid the embarrassment of leaving the tournament in the group stages.
South will now play the the team to finish top in Group B whilst Spain will the Group B runners up.
Its interesting to note that both Iraq and New Zealand finished the tournament without scoring a single goal.
Ten goals in total were scored in Group A and the European champions contributed eight to that tally with the other two coming from the hosts.
2009/10 Premiership fixtures released
The 2009/10 season will kick-off on Saturday 15th of August with the two of three promoted sides playing away from home.
Wolverhampton Wanderers will start with a home game against West Ham but Burnley and Birmingham will start away to Stoke and Manchester United respectively.
The season will complete on the 9th of May 2010 and the season is finishing earlier than last season because of the South Africa 2010 World Cup.
These fixtures will soon be available on TipsChallenge to prepare for tipping for the new season.
Goals galore in first round
Only three teams failed to score a single goal and these were South Africa and Iraq who were involved in a goalless draw and New Zealand who lost 5-nil to Spain.
The highest scoring match saw seven goals and this was in the match between the South American champions Brazil against the African champions Egypt.
Its interesting to see that the majority of the goals were scored in the first half. Nine goals were scored in the second half compared to seven in the second.
Brazil and Spain contributed seven to that tally between themselves.
It will be interesting to see how Egypt will fare against the World Champions Italy.
Wigan nets Martinez
Martinez left Championship side Swansea to replace Steve Bruce who went to Sunderland.
Last season Wigan did well finishing eleventh on the ladder and its not surprising to see that Sunderland were very keen for Bruce as their side fought relegation to the last day.
Sunderland appoint Bruce
Bruce has been with Wigan who finished eleventh and now joins a team that finished below him in 16th.
Bruce's move means that Wigan are now the team looking for a manager.
Chelsea turns to Ancelotti
For the second season running Chelsea will start a new season with a new manager.
Last season Chelsea started with Felipe Scolari but then he was replaced by Guus Hiddink who steered the club to an FA Cup win.
With Ancelotti now at Chelsea, that leaves only Sunderland looking for a manager.
