Archive for March 2010

Elephants go for Eriksson

Monday, 29th March 2010 1:45pm
Ivory Coast has appointed Sven-Goran Eriksson as their coach for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Eriksson will replace Vahid Halilhodzic who was sacked after the Elephants were eliminated from the 2010 Africa Nations Cup before the semis.

This will be Eriksson's third conscutive World Cup having been at the showpiece tournament with England in 2002 and then in 2006.

This becomes Eriksson's third national job after he had a similar role with Mexico.

Eriksson's appointment means that two African countries will be coached by Swedish coaches after Nigeria appointed former Sweden coach Lars Lagerback last month.

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Category: World Cup | Comments : 0


Phoenix first off the blocks

Sunday, 28th March 2010 4:02pm
Wellington Phoenix may have finished fourth in the 2009/10 season but the team had the best first half performance of all the teams.

Considering just the first half result only, the Phoenix accumulated a total of 40 points going into half time, leading in nine matches and drawing in 13 others.

However, it should be pointed out that the team in seventh place Newcastle Jets is just five points behind.

The actual final A-League table is here and below is the first half table:


TeamPlayedWonDrawLostForAgainstGDPts
Wellington Phoenix 27 9 135 1514 140
Melbourne Victory 27 10 98 2221 139
Sydney 27 8 145 179 838
Gold Coast 27 10 89 1515 038
Central Coast Mariners 27 9 108 1614 237
Perth Glory 27 8 127 2014 636
Newcastle Jets 27 8 118 1923 -435
Brisbane Roar 27 7 119 1617 -132
Adelaide Utd 27 7 119 1113 -232
NQ Fury 27 5 913 1021 -1124


I think a first half lead is very important in the A-League because in 68 matches a team winning at half-time went on to win the match.

This is 64.4% of the 106 matches that didn't end in a draw.

Back to the table, the North Queensland Fury went into half time behind in 13 matches and its therefore not surprising that the team only got 24 points in the half time table.


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Category: A-League | Comments : 0


Madrid derby: Atletico face high flying Real

Sunday, 28th March 2010 2:47pm
In La Liga's round 29, Real Madrid will face city rivals Atletico Madrid as Real battles for the title.

This will be Real's second Madrid derby in a week having played Getafe in a midweek fixture.

Real has double the number of points their city rivals have at the moment and a win will increase the gap even further.

Its more than two months now since Real failed to score three or more goals in a league match.

Atletico's away record is far from impressive at the moment and you have to go back to January for the last time Atletico won an away match. That was a 4-nil over Valladolid.

In their previous match this season, Real just managed to edge out Atletico 3-2.

Here is some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:


Real MadridAtletico Madrid
StreakWWWWWWLWDWLW
Played2828
Points7137
Drawn27
Won2310
Lost311
Goal difference540
Clean sheets135
Failed to score46
Goals scored7842
Goals conceded2442
Ave. goals scored2.81.5
Ave. goals conceded0.91.5
Biggest winReal Madrid 6 - 0 Zaragoza
Atletico 4 - 0 Espanyol
Valladolid 0 - 4 Atletico
Biggest lossSevilla 2 - 1 Real Madrid
Barcelona 1 - 0 Real Madrid
Athletic Bilbao 1 - 0 Real Madrid
Málaga 3 - 0 Atletico
Barcelona 5 - 2 Atletico
Osasuna 3 - 0 Atletico
Mallorca 4 - 1 Atletico
Score 3 or more184
Concede 3 or more05
Home matches
Played1414
Points4227
Drawn03
Won148
Lost03
Goal difference3610
Goals scored4727
Goals conceded1117
Ave. goals scored3.41.9
Ave. goals conceded0.81.2
Away matches
Played1414
Points2910
Drawn24
Won92
Lost38
Goal difference18-10
Goals scored3115
Goals conceded1325
Ave. goals scored2.21.1
Ave. goals conceded0.91.8


Out of 28 matches, Real has scored three goals or more in 18 of them.

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Category: La Liga | Comments : 0


Victory shines on the road

Sunday, 28th March 2010 6:43am
The 2009/10 A-League season runners-up Melbourne Victory had the best away record winning more than half of their away matches.

For comparison the final 2009/10 A-League table can be found here. So here is the away table:


TeamPlayedWonDrawLostForAgainstGDPts
Melbourne Victory 13 7 15 1914 522
Sydney 13 4 36 1212 015
Gold Coast 13 4 36 1424 -1015
Central Coast Mariners 14 4 28 1816 214
Wellington Phoenix 14 3 56 1222 -1014
Brisbane Roar 13 3 46 1824 -613
Newcastle Jets 14 3 47 1323 -1013
Adelaide Utd 13 3 37 914 -512
Perth Glory 14 3 29 1726 -911
NQ Fury 14 2 57 1328 -1511

Victory also had the least amount of away losses losing just five matches. The most number of away losses who lost nine on the road.

The North Queensland Fury had the worst away form winning just two matches away from Dairy Farmers Stadium.

The Fury amassed 11 away points which is the same as Perth Glory and that was one point behind Adelaide United.

A closer look shows that five teams had just one more away win than Fury and three with two more wins.

Only two teams Victory and the Mariners had a goal difference of more than one goal away from home.

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Category: A-League | Comments : 0


Sydney tops home form

Sunday, 28th March 2010 6:27am
The A-League 2009/10 season came to an end with the Sydney FC grand final win over Melbourne at the Etihad Stadium.

In the next few posts I will present the first and second half tables and also the home and away tables just to wrap up the 2009/10 season.

For those who want to compare with the actual final table you can check here. So here is the final home table:


TeamPlayedWonDrawLostForAgainstGDPts
Sydney 14 11 03 2311 1233
Gold Coast 14 9 23 2511 1429
Perth Glory 13 8 41 238 1528
Wellington Phoenix 13 7 51 257 1826
Melbourne Victory 14 7 43 2818 1025
Newcastle Jets 13 7 06 2022 -221
NQ Fury 13 6 34 1618 -221
Adelaide Utd 14 4 55 1519 -417
Brisbane Roar 14 5 27 1418 -417
Central Coast Mariners 13 3 73 1413 116

So the champions had the best home record winning 11 out of 14 matches.

Its interesting to that even though the Mariners have the worst home record they lost the same number of matches as Sydney and also Gold Coast and Melbourne.

Also its interesting to see two teams Sydney and Newcastle Jets never drew at home in the league matches the whole season.

Perth Glory and Wellington Phoenix only lost just once at home but its the number of draws at home that drew them back.

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Category: A-League | Comments : 0


Verbeek to move on

Saturday, 27th March 2010 10:04pm
Australia's coach Pim Verbeek announced this week that he was ending his tenure with the Socceroos at the World Cup.

So it means that the Socceroos will have somebody else in the dugout come the Asian Cup in January 2011.

Verbeek guided Australia's qualification to World Cup and also the 2011 Asian Cup and the World Cup will be his first and last tournament with the Socceroos.

Also on the coaching front, Ivory Coast are still to find a new coach to replace Vahid Halilhodzic who was sacked after the Africa Nations Cup.

Whoever takes over the Elephants will have very little time to get ready for the tournament.

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Category: World Cup | Comments : 0


Gunners draw Barca in quarters

Friday, 19th March 2010 11:43pm
Arsenal have been drawn against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final draw.

The first leg will be at the the Emirates with the second leg at Nou Camp.

Bayern Munich has been drawn against Manchester United and the second leg of this tie will be at Old Trafford.

Inter Milan will face CSKA Moscow after they beat Chelsea to reach the quarters. The first leg will be at the San Siro.

The last pair will be the French teams Bordeaux and Lyon. Lyon dispatched Real Madrid and will now face fellow Ligue 1 team Bordeaux to ensure that there will be a French team in the semis.

The Champions League semi-final draw has also been conducted and the winner between the French teams will face either Bayern Munich or Manchester United.

The winner between Barcelona and Arsenal will face the winner between Inter Milan and CSKA Moscow.


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Category: Champions League | Comments : 0


Hull turns to Dowie

Thursday, 18th March 2010 11:32pm
Hull City have replaced Phil Brown with Iain Dowie who will take the team in the last nine matches of the season.

Hull are currently second from the bottom of the table and they have only won at home with no away wins to talk about.

Starting to win away could be the key to survival in their remaining nine fixtures, five are at home and four away.

The away matches are against fellow strugglers Portsmouth and then Stoke, Birmingham and Wigan.

The home ones will be against Fulham, Burnley, Sunderland, Wigan and the last fixture of the season will be against Liverpool.


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Category: English Premiership | Comments : 0


Pompey deducted nine points

Wednesday, 17th March 2010 11:39pm
Porthsmouth have been deducted nine points after entering administration last month.

Pompey becomes the first English Premiership team to enter into administration and have points deducted as a result.

The bottom placed side now has ten points and the next team Hull is 14 points away.

With nine matches remaining, Portsmouth will need to win all of them in order to have a chance of surviving another year in the top flight.

The 27 points will leave the team on 37 points but its very unlikely that the team will get all points especially when you look at its season stats as given below:


Portsmouth's season
Played29
Points10
Won5
Drawn4
Lost20
Goal difference-26
Clean sheets5
Failed to score11
Goals scored25
Goals conceded51
Ave. goals scored0.9
Ave. goals conceded1.8
Biggest winPortsmouth 4 - 0 Wigan
Biggest lossMan United 5 - 0 Portsmouth
Scored 3 or more1
Conceded 3 or more7
Home matches
Played14
Points11
Won3
Drawn2
Lost9
Goal difference-5
Goals scored17
Goals conceded22
Ave. goals scored1.2
Ave. goals conceded1.6
Away matches
Played15
Points8
Won2
Drawn2
Lost11
Goal difference-21
Goals scored8
Goals conceded29
Ave. goals scored0.5
Ave. goals conceded1.9

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Category: English Premiership | Comments : 0


Brown's reign ends at Hull

Wednesday, 17th March 2010 11:15pm
Phil Brown's reign as Hull City manager ended this week after the club decided to seek a new manager to steer the team away from relegation.

Brown took the Tigers to the premiership and in their first season in the English Premiership Hull managed to beat top sides like Arsenal and Tottenham away from KC Stadium.

However, despite the good start to the 2008/9 season, Hull did not perform particularly well in the second half of the season.

That poor spilled into this season and now the team lies second from bottom with just 24 points and a win from safety.

Hull has played 29 matches and therefore the new manager has nine matches to secure premiership survival.

Hull has won just five matches and all the wins were at home.

All the wins were won by a one goal margin. Hull is one of just two teams not to have won away so far this season. The other team is Burnley.

So here is some of the stats for Brown's Hull this season in the premiership:


Brown's Hull
Played29
Points24
Won5
Drawn9
Lost15
Goal difference-34
Clean sheets4
Failed to score11
Goals scored27
Goals conceded61
Ave. goals scored0.9
Ave. goals conceded2.1
Biggest winHull 1 - 0 Bolton
Hull 2 - 1 Wigan
Hull 2 - 1 Stoke
Hull 3 - 2 Everton
Hull 2 - 1 Man City
Biggest lossLiverpool 6 - 1 Hull
Scored 3 or more2
Conceded 3 or more10
Home matches
Played14
Points20
Won5
Drawn5
Lost4
Goal difference-3
Goals scored19
Goals conceded22
Ave. goals scored1.4
Ave. goals conceded1.6
Away matches
Played15
Points4
Won0
Drawn4
Lost11
Goal difference-31
Goals scored8
Goals conceded39
Ave. goals scored0.5
Ave. goals conceded2.6

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Category: English Premiership | Comments : 0


Grand final: Victory vs Sydney

Tuesday, 16th March 2010 10:15pm
Melbourne Victory will host Sydney FC in the A-League in the last match of the 2009/10 A-League season.

Sydney FC overcame the Wellington Phoenix 4-2 to get the right to face the defending champions at Etihad Stadium.

This will the third time that the Victory will be in the grand final but the first time they will face a team that is not Adelaide United.

For Sydney this will be the second time in a Grand final and also the first time away from home.

Sydney FC hosted the first A-League grand final which they won.

Below is a list of all the previous matches between Victory and Sydney FC in the A-League:


Previous Matches - Melbourne vs Sydney FC

SeasonRoundTeamGoalsTeamGoals
2006/7 2Melbourne Victory3Sydney FC2
2006/7 9Sydney FC1Melbourne Victory2
2006/7 16Melbourne Victory0Sydney FC0
2005/6 1Sydney FC1Melbourne Victory1
2005/6 8Melbourne Victory5Sydney FC0
2005/6 15Sydney FC2Melbourne Victory1
2007/8 7Sydney FC0Melbourne Victory1
2007/8 12Melbourne Victory0Sydney FC0
2007/8 21Sydney FC2Melbourne Victory2
2008/9 1Sydney FC0Melbourne Victory0
2008/9 9Melbourne Victory0Sydney FC2
2008/9 17Melbourne Victory3Sydney FC2
2009/10 10Melbourne Victory0Sydney FC3
2009/10 20Melbourne Victory0Sydney FC0
2009/10 27Sydney FC2Melbourne Victory0
2009/10 28Melbourne Victory2Sydney FC1
2009/10 29Sydney FC2Melbourne Victory2

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Category: A-League | Comments : 0


Victory reaches Grand Final

Sunday, 7th March 2010 10:29pm
For the second season in a row, Melbourne Victory has reached the A-League Grand Final after drawing with Sydney FC in the major semi.

Victory will meet the winner between Sydney FC and Wellington Phoenix. The Phoenix got the right to enter the Preliminary Final after beating Newcastle Jets 3-1.

A draw was good enough for Melbourne after winning the first leg 2-1.

This will be the third grand final that the Victory will host at the Etihad Stadium.

Its interesting to note that all the finals matches so far that could enter extra time have reached extra-time.

Two have got to the penalties whilst the other two have been decided in extra time.

The Jets have bowed out after scoring just one goal in four hours of play in the finals.

Here is an update for the goal margins in the A-League so far this season:


Goal MarginFrequency
0 35
1 53
2 32
3 11
4 7
5 1
6 1

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Category: A-League | Comments : 0


Real continue scoring spree

Thursday, 4th March 2010 11:41pm
Real Madrid are in top form at the moment having scored eleven goals in their last two matches.

In the last five matches Real has scored a minimum of three goals each match and its total goals for the season stands at 64 so far.

It looks likely that the number will reach 100 if the current form persists.

Real leads the lowest scorers in the league by 50 goals. Xerez has only scored 14 goals so far after 24 matches.

The following graph shows clearly how Real leads in the scoring stakes:


graph



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Category: La Liga | Comments : 0


Socceroos seal 2011 Asian Cup place

Thursday, 4th March 2010 10:42pm
The Socceroos sealed a place at the 2011 Asian Cup after winning Group B.

The 2011 tournament will be hosted by Qatar in January 2011( and not the usual July).

The Soccerooos only needed a draw to qualify but won the match 1-0 with the goal being scored towards the end of the first half and that goal was enough to win group B. Kuwait finished as runners up

This will be the Socceroos second venture into the Asian Cup after qualifying for the 2007 tournament.

TipsChallenge will once again be running an Asian Cup tipping competition after successfully running another one for the 2007 edition.

Here is a full list of the countries that have qualified:

Qatar (Hosts)
Iraq (defending champions, winner 2007)
Japan
Bahrain
Australia
Kuwait
China
India
Iran
Jordan
North Korea
South Korea
Saudi Arabia
Syria
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan

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Category: Asian Cup | Comments : 0



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