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Blackpool Shock Liverpool

Posted on 03. Oct, 2010 by Matt.

Blackpool have had a dream reintroduction into the top flight of football. Despite being the smallest team with the tightest budget put together for the smallest amount of money, they are performing well above and beyond everybody’s expectations. Their results are definitely a mixed bag so far, having been hammered by Chelsea and Arsenal conceding a total of 10 goals in those two games alone. However, they site ninth in the league table having picked up 9 points from a possible 15 away from home.

Contrast this to Liverpool’s results and position, and you’d be forgiven for thinking we’d got the team names the wrong way around. Liverpool are now third from bottom having won only one game. Roy Hodgson’s three months in charge of the club have been woeful at best and it’s difficult to imagine him holding on to one of the biggest managerial jobs in the game.

Ian Holloway has attempted to promote attacking football during his time in the Premiership with Blackpool and he continues to adopt this same style even in the big matches. It paid dividends today as Blackpool attacked from the off and ensured that Liverpool did not enjoy any of the posession. Torres may have gone off injured after 10 minutes but that’s no excuse for the home side.

As reported by FourFourTwo Magazine, Blackpool managed a 2-1 victory having taken a 2-0 lead in the first half. Where they will end the season nobody is really sure of yet, but things do not look good for Roy Hodgson’s Liverpool at the moment.

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Carrick Back For Tonight’s Valencia Tie

Posted on 29. Sep, 2010 by Matt.

Manchester United haven’t had the greatest start to the season. They are behind leaders Chelsea in the Premiership and could only muster a 0-0 against Rangers at home in the first group stage game of the Champions League. Perhaps even more worryingly, talismanic striker Wayne Rooney has endured a very difficult start to the season while also picking up an injury.

Few of United’s mroe experienced Champions League stars will be available for the tie with Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, and Gary Neville being left at home. Wayne Rooney, too, has not made the trip but it is not all doom and gloom for the Red Devils as they face a potentially very difficult test tonight.

However, FourFourTwo reports that Michael Carrick has been declared fit and could well feature while Rio Ferdinand also looks likely to feature in the game. Bebe could make his first Champions League appearance for the Old Trafford outfit and in form striker Dimitar Berbatov will almost certainly be the first name on the team sheet.

United arguably took a big gamble in the first game against Rangers playing a very young side and while the same may turn out to be true tonight it will not be through Sir Alex’s choice this time around as he will be forced to chop and change his team around the increasing list of injuries.

Valencia are certainly in fine fettle at the moment, unbeaten in their domestic league and sitting top of their league and Group C of the Champions League.

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Rooney And Giggs To Miss Valencia Match

Posted on 28. Sep, 2010 by Kate.

After their drab 0-0 draw against Rangers in the first match of the Champions League group stages, Manchester United and in particular Sir Alex Ferguson could have done without the headache of losing key players to injury but the football season rarely pans out precisely how you plan it and both evergreen winger Ryan Giggs and striker in turmoil Wayne Rooney have been ruled out of the 2nd match, against Valencia on Wednesday night.

Ryan Giggs was injured during Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Bolton and although the winger is one of the oldest players in the Premiership he will be desperately missed as his experience and footballing brain have proven time and time again to be exactly what the Old trafford outfit need most in matches like these.

While Giggs is expected to be out for for around 2 weeks with the hamstring injury, Sir Alex had expected to be able to call on England striker Wayne Rooney despite picking up an ankle injury in the same game. At the time, Fergie believed Rooney would be fit again by Wednesday night, but it transpires that the injury which the striker has apparently been carrying for a couple of weeks now will rule him out of the match.

Valencia currently top Group C after hammering Bursaspor 4-0 while United and Rangers could only draw their first match 0-0, considered the greater blow for United as they were the home team.

You can keep up to date with all the Champions League news with a subscription to FourFourTwo Magazine.

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Gerrard Believes England Deserve To Be Booed

Posted on 11. Aug, 2010 by Matt.

Ahead of tonight’s game against Hungary, captain Steven Gerrard has mirrored the opinions of pretty much every footie fan in the country by saying that the players deserve to be jeered and booed following their dismal display in the World Cup. Unfortunately for the team, the country’s spotlights will all be shining on the likes of Gerrard, Rooney, and the rest of the squad that played and underperformed in South Africa.

Gerrard gave an honest and frank interview – when asked whether he would boo as a fan he said that he probably would. He also said that not only did the team expect to be jeered but they deserved it too. The England fans are a fickle bunch and a decent performance tonight means that the players will walk away from Wembley with the expectations of a nation on them once again.

Fabio Capello has taken the first steps towards a youthful and largely untried side by calling on uncapped duo Frank Fielding and Scott Loach for the goalkeeper position. However, Capello has said that he will start with the senior players that played in the World Cup because he knows they will be booed.

Finally, accoridng to FourFourTwo Magazine, Premiership new boys Blackpool have made four new signings before the start of the premiership campaign. It’s the first time that they have been in the top flight since 1971 and they will without doubt be the smallest club in the top flight in some time.

How many points do you think Blackpool will get?

Should the fans boo the England players?

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FourFourTwo Magazine – Henry Takes Up Soccer And Giggs May Be Next

Posted on 14. Jul, 2010 by Paul.

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When Beckham joined Major League Soccer team LA Galaxy there were more than a few turned heads and a lot of talk about raising the profile of soccer in the US where it has been routinely undermined by American sports like Baseball and Basketball. Little happened on that front and Beckham was less successful than many thought he would be. However, maybe it did make a difference as Thierry Henry has now signed for rivals New York Red Bulls having signed a multi-year deal and being given permission by Barcelona to leave the club early.

Henry has enjoyed an illustrious career with Monaco, Arsenal, and most recently Barcelona. He helped Arsenal lift the Premiership crown on two occasions and take the FA Cup three times. He was also top scorer in his first season at Barcelona in 2007 but has since found it more difficult to secure a first team place. He was also lambasted for his hand of god that put France through to the World Cup finals over Northern Ireland. However there’s no doubt he’s a major signing for the MLS.

In an interview with Reuters, published by FourFourTwo magazine, former England captain and LA Galaxy midfielder Beckham said that it was a major signing for the MLS and for football in America in general. He went on to say that he wouldn’t be surprised to see more big names following them over including former Manchester United team mate Ryan Giggs.

Is the MLS little more than a Masters league for footballing veterans?

Will a sport that can regularly end 0-0 ever be taken seriously in the USA?

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FourFourTwo Magazine – Paul The Octopus Predicts Spain As Champions

Posted on 09. Jul, 2010 by Marie.

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Paul the Octopus has become quite the TV celebrity of late, having picked the right results for every single one of Germany’s six games. The octopus is given a choice of two food bowls, one with each nation’s flag on it and predicts who will be the winner by picking the bowl belonging to the nation that he fancies to win. Previously, Paul has only predicted results for Germany matches (well, he is German after all) but keepers at Sea Life in Oberhausen have made an exception for the final.

Unbelievably, various networks across Europe cut short their regularly scheduled programs in order to broadcast the selection live; a fact made even more spectacular when you consider that some selections have taken as long as 70 minutes. Fortunately, today’s was a lot quicker at just 7 minutes.

It’s not just TV stations that have been delighted by Paul’s predictions either – Marca.com, the Spanish daily sports site ran with the unusual headline “The Octopus Paul makes us champions” and commentators have even mused as to whether his predictions have swayed the footballing skills of some of the German players.

Having predicted German wins against England, Argentina, Ghana, and Australia, the German nation was left in tatters (probably) after Paul selected Spain for the win over his national side. Fortunately, he did go some way to mending broken hearts by picking Germany for a win over Uruguay to give them a third place finish.

We predict a regular newspaper mystic column for Paul but will you be backing Spain on the back of a psychic invertebrate’s food based predictions?

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FourFourTwo Magazine – Puyol Unlikely Hero As Spanish Fans Celebrate In The Street

Posted on 08. Jul, 2010 by Kate.

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FourFourTwo Magazine – Carlos Puyol’s 3rd international goal in 89 games saw Spain through to the final, where they will meet Holland on Sunday. The defender is hardly renowned for scoring goals but this couldn’t have come at a better time as it means that Spain will now head into their first ever World Cup final. That doesn’t mean they dont’ carry pedigree with them, of course, as they are the European Champions and defeated many peoples’ favourites Germany in style last night.

It took until the 73rd minute before the guided header by Puyol broke the deadlock. German coach Joachim Low acknowledged the determination of Puyol but said that there were defensive errors to blame, as there always is if you concede at set pieces. In contrast, Spanish players including David Villa and Xabi Alonso hailed the man that has brought Spanish football hopes to life. Even Spain’s Prime Minister (a Barcelona fan) cooed over the Barcelona player saying “He is superb!”

To say the Spanish celebrated would be a ludicrous understatement as fans left their homes in droves in order to celebrate in the streets until early hours of the morning. The game had been aired on giant screen TVs around the country and celebrations were noisy and raucous as you would expect.

The final will be an incredible one and will lead to a new World Cup winner as neither team has ever won it before, although Holland do have the upper hand in terms of final appearances. The final takes place in Johannesburg on Sunday.

Did you see the goal?

Will you be supporting Spain or Holland in the final?

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FourFourTwo Magazine – George Weah Slams African Football Authorities

Posted on 06. Jul, 2010 by Marie.

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The world has really stood up and paid attention to Africa and African football especially in the last few weeks – helped largely by the infuriating or atmospheric (depending on your personal view) vuvuzelas.

However, despite this proving to be one of the most popular World Cups to date it has also been largely unsuccessful for African teams especialyl considering it is the first of the world’s biggest tournaments to be held in the contintent. At least, that’s the view of African footballing legend George Weah.

Ghana were the only one of six African countries to make it out of the group stages still standing and they fell at the next hurdle, losing out on penalties to Uruguay. Traditionally, host teams perform better with the benefit of playing on home soil but that certainly didn’t prove the case this time around.

According to Liberian Weah this is because the African officials have no passion for the game and they have things mixed up in terms of logistics and management.

The former World Player Of The Year also gave his tip for the eventual winners and there’s not really any great surprise to hear that he thinks Germany will win the tournament. He also said that David Villa and Arjen Robben have been the stand out players for both club and country over the past year.

Do you want to see Gerrard et al flying economy like African players?

Have you got your own vuvuzela yet?

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FourFourTwo Magazine – Spain Expecting Best From Torres But Spain Not Invincible

Posted on 05. Jul, 2010 by Paul.

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You’d be forgiven for thinking that the World Cup was over. For a couple of days at least, the nation turned its attention instead to tennis until Murray crashed out of Wimbledon at the semi-final stage again losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. Now that excitement has died down again it means that we can get back to what is still, despite England’s earlier than expected departure, the biggest football tournament in the world – the World Cup and there are some intriguing games coming up; not least the semi-final between European champions Spain and many people’s favourites for the win Germany.

Spain had long been seen as serial under-achievers until their victory in the Euro 2008 tournament. Good performances from David Villa have helped ensure that Torres’ own lacklustre displays in front of goal following his return from injury have not cost the side too dear. FourFourTwo Magazine has reported that Del Bosque, the Spanish manager, believes that the best is yet to come from his diminutive striker.

Spain take on Germany in Wednesday’s semi-final clash and the outspoker Miroslav Klose who was the leading goalscorer at the last World Cup and one of England’s harshest critics has said that although Spain a fantastic side they have shown they are not invincible.

Germany had been all but written off coming into the finals with many critics believing the side are just too young to win a major tournament. However, the Germans have so far proven their critics wrong with a free-scoring and exciting game.

Will The Flea make up for lost time?

Will Klose add yet more to his goals tally or will Villa stretch his one goal advantage at the top of the table?

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FourFourTwo Magazine – Portugal Hammer North Korea 7-0

Posted on 21. Jun, 2010 by Marie.

Honestly, there’s so much football news around at the moment that you’d think there was some kind of major tournament on.

FourFourTwo football magazine is, as ever, at the forefront of such football related news and as well as providing regular score updates via Twitter they also run reviews of the games pretty rapid once the final whistle blows. With some of the dull games that have been played this World Cup that may not have proven so difficult at times but to manage it after the Portugal vs North Korea match today was quite some feat.

North Korea almost caused a major upset in their game against Brazil earlier in the group stages only to come undone. Unfortunately for them, they are placed in the so-called group of death (every tournament has to have one) with Portugal, Brazil, and the not too poor Ivory Coast.

With Brazil already qualified it meant that portugal really needed a win today in order to progress and hopefully throw off the tag of tournament unerperformers. The fact that it was only 1-0 at half time would have suggested they weren’t finding it all that easy but the full time score was certainly something very different.

3 goals in 7 minutes followed and a further 3 goals in around 8 minutes gave Portugal a 7-0 win; their biggest ever competitive win. What’s more, it also signalled the end of Ronaldo’s 2 year long international goal drought (an incredible statistic considering how freely he scores for his clubs). North Korea are now out and Portugal need only a point from their final game, although they do play Brazil so there’s no guarantee.

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