Mes: enero 2022

According to Argentine team doctor Donato Villani, sex forms part of everyone’s social life and in itself is not a problem. The good doctor spoke these words in defence of Maradona’s decision to allow girl friends and wives to accompany the Argentine players to the World Cup.

However, the doctor clarified that it had to be with a stable partner, and that the players should avoid «additives» like champagne or Viagra.

Brazil President Lula Da Silva was critical of the lax atmosphere in the Argentine camp, noting that Maradona was allowing his players access to their wives and girl friends.Lula went on record as saying that he wanted to see the Argentines arrive staggering and exhausted to their games.

In news about England’s team preparations ahead of the event in South Africa, Joe Cole expects to feature in England’s opening match against the United States.

Cole, 28, recently came back in a friendly against Japan, from a knee injury that kept him out of the game for nearly two years.

The Chelsea midfielder is yet to get a regular place in the club side. Following his come back. Cole never considered his injury as career threatening, though he did not expect to recover in time for the World Cup.

Meanwhile, Portugal’s prospects have suffered a blow;Nani is out of the World Cup following a collar bone injury suffered in training in Lisbon.

Nani, 23, played brilliantly for Manchester United in the 2009/10 season, and was a likely star for Portugal in this year’s World Cup. Benfica midfielder Ruben Amorim will replace Nani in the Portugal squad.

Ivory Coast are arguably the strongest African contingent at the forthcoming event in South Africa. But their performance could suffer in the absence of their star striker Didier Drogba.

Drogba is undergoing surgery at the Lindenhof hospital in Berne, and everyone is hopeful of his speedy recovery, after an injury resulting from a collision with Japan’s Tanaka, in a match in Sion, Switzerland.

African Player of the Year, Drogba helped Chelsea to the Premier League and FA Cup Double with his 37 goals, last season.

Ivory Coast’s showing in the world Cup is completely dependent on Drogba’s recovery. Ivory Coast is in the ‘group of death’ with Brazil, Portugal and North Korea. Ivory Coast is the strongest of the five African teams at the World Cup, and quite capable of causing an upset in group G.

In news relating to another African team’s lead up to the Cup, Ghana right-back John Pantsil is optimistic of his team entering the World Cup semi-final. Pantsil who plays for Fulham in the EPL feels an Arican team could become the champion, this year.

Ghana had a brilliant run at the last edition, in 2006, where they beat the USA and Czech Republic, to enter the knock-out round, where they lost to Brazil.

The Black Stars are in Group D a tricky group that has Germany, Australia and Serbia. Ghana will take on Serbia, in their first game, on 13 June in Pretoria.

This question has been on the minds of many football fans as they witnessed the performance of the 25-year old Egyptian forward over the course of the season. Sir Alex Ferguson had once told that Inside Forwards are more dangerous than traditional forwards. The Egyptian seems to be trying to prove Ferguson’s remarks true. He has shown explosive bouts of pace, exceptional fitness levels, extraordinary shooting accuracy and the form of his life.

So, once again, does Mo Salah have a shot at winning the Ballon d’Or? Not Quite Yet!

The reason is rather simple- Liverpool as a team have not won any silverware this season as of yet. So does this count? Yes, it does. Despite all his exploits, the team has not been successful in any major competition apart from the UEFA Champions League. Liverpool just won the first-leg of their semi-finals against AS Roma 5-2. Salah proved to be instrumental in this trashing of his old club yet again as he ended the match with 2 goals and 2 assists. He had managed to score seven goals in his 7 outings in the Champions League during the leadup to the Semi-finals. He has shown out of the ordinary striking form through-out the Premier League season. But unless Liverpool win the Champions League, his dream of winning the Ballon d’Or will remain just that, a dream.

But things have not always gone according to script for the Egyptian. His initial entry into the Premier League was with Chelsea, who bought him from FC Basel. But he could only make 13 appearances and score 2 goals before being loaned-off to Italian side, Fiorentina. He was then loaned to AS Roma who bought him from Chelsea for a complete transfer. He enjoyed considerable success at the club. Liverpool then bought from Roma before the start of the 2017-18 season. Many of the experts voiced their doubts about Salah’s ability to adopt to the Premier League. But all of them have been silenced now, given his performance and sheer attacking prowess he has shown.

Salah also helped Egypt qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2018, their first appearance since the 1990 World Cup. He emerged as Egypt’s top scorer during the qualifying tournament and scored both the goals in the all important match against Congo. He has so far scored 43 times for Liverpool during this season and is only behind Ian Rush in the all time top goal scorer’s for the club in a single season.

Mo Salah has already been named as the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the year. So let us hope Liverpool will maintain their momentum and take their current form into the second leg against AS Roma.

It was a frustrating afternoon for Liverpool fans as the Reds were held to a goalless draw by Premier League new boys Stoke City.

Despite dominating proceedings from start to finish Liverpool were unable to convert any of numerous chances into a goal.

Yet it initially appeared things would pan out so differently, Steven Gerrard’s strike hitting the back of the net after just three minutes. The linesman appeared to flag for offside though, and the goal was dubiously disallowed.

Five minutes later Dirk Kuyt’s low cross was met by the Robbie Keane, with the goal at his mercy. The Irish hitman failed to deliver though, and his shot fell harmlessly to Thomas Sorensen.

Stoke had clearly come to Anfield for a point, and defended in numbers for the most part. The tactic seemed to be working, with Liverpool restricted to mainly speculative efforts from range, but they worked their way behind the defence on a couple of occasions, and but for some poor finishing and excellent last ditch challenges would have had the game dead and buried.

At the other end Liverpool had very little to worry about defensively, Rory Delap’s long throw being the sum total of Stoke’s attacking prowess, and even then the throw was dealt with comfortably by Pepe Reina.

As the halftime whistle went the Stoke fans could feel happy with their side’s resilient display, but with Liverpool dominating possession so much it seemed only a matter of time before the away side ran out of steam.

The second half began just as the first had, with Liverpool pushing forward whilst Stoke threw men behind the ball. It looked as though the deadlock would be broken on 52 minutes when Alvaro Arbeloa played a neat one-two with Kuyt before creating space for himself and crossing into the box. The ball fell to Keane, who must be wondering what he has to do to get a goal at the moment, and again his shot found it’s way safely into Sorensen’s arms.

Seconds later Fernando Torres rose above the Stoke defence to meet a superb Arbeloa cross, but the resulting header sailed narrowly wide.

It was Torres who had arguably the best opportunity to score for Liverpool, when the ball fell to him eight yards out, but the Spaniard somehow blasted the ball over when it seemed easier to score than miss, in what pretty much summed up Liverpool’s afternoon.

Next up was Kuyt, who’s low shot was saved by the in-form Sorensen. With time running out it seemed it was not to be Liverpool’s day.

As the final whistle approached Liverpool threw men forward, and for large parts of the closing stages every player on the pitch bar Reina was in the Stoke half. Try as they might though that elusive goal would not arrive, and after three minutes of stoppage time the ref blew up to confirm a result that whilst it sees Liverpool top of the league is unlikely to have many fans smiling.

The Staples Center, located in Los Angeles, California, is the home court of three teams: the Lakers, the Clippers, and the Kings. It contains a total of 12 locker rooms and dressing rooms, with specifically designated rooms for each of the three home teams. Having opened in October of 1999, it is a fairly new facility with lots of new technology. There are 1,200 television monitors throughout the facility, and spectators can choose from 23 different refreshment stands in five separate concourse areas (there are also two restaurants in the arena). The arena accommodates just short of 19,000 people for a basketball game.

Madison Square Garden has been the name of four separate arenas in New York, with the original having been in the Garden itself. The Garden, as it is referred to in short, is the home of the New York Knicks, as well as the New York Liberty (of the WNBA). It also houses home games for the Red Storms (St. John’s college basketball team) and is actually one of the busiest venues in the United States, hosting a total of 320 events each year. For a standard game of basketball, the arena seats 19,763 and features 20,976 square feet of floor space.