Sports Wrap (Football)

Europe:

Last weekend saw the resumption of European leagues and the commencement of the Champions League after the most recent round of world cup qualifiers.

In the English Premier League, the usual suspects (the top four) had interesting weekends. Manchester United defeated Tottenham 3-1 after falling behind to an early Jermaine Defoe bicycle kick. Chelsea also came from behind in defeating Stoke 2-1 but only sealed the win thanks to a Florent Malouda stoppage time strike. Liverpool walloped Burnley 4-0 and had the Reds shot more accurately the score would have been much greater. Liverpool had 27 shots in the match. Arsenal had an eventful trip to the Manchester City which resulted in a 4-2 loss. The talking point however was Adebayor stamping on former team-mate Van Persie's face and after scoring running the length of the field to celebrate in front of the travelling Arsenal fans. Adebayor has been charged with violent conduct for his stamping incident but nothing has eventuated about his celebration....yet.

In La Liga in Spain, Valencia had a high scoring win over Valladolid (4-2) with David Villa scoring 2 and David Silva also scoring one. Athletico Madrid drew 1-1 with Racing Santander, whereas the other Madrid team boasting the newly formed galacticos defeated 3-0 with superboot Ronaldo adding the third in injury time. Barcelona also won its second game of the season with Ibrahimovic and Messi scoring goals against Espanyol to keep Barcelona undefeated so far.

In Serie A, Juventus were away to Lazio in Rome, but that didn't deter them as they won 2-0 with Trezeguet sealing the win with an injury time strike. Inter Milan had to wait until 19 minutes from time before scoring and seeing off Parma. Roma travelled to Siena and won 2-1 and AC Milan drew 0-0 with Livorno.

The Champions League kicked off last night with no real surprises in the results columns. Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and AC Milan won their matches against their respective opponents. The second lot of matches will kick off tomorrow morning Australian Eastern Standard time.

Soccer (Local):

Perth drew with Gold Coast 2-2 with Shane Smeltz scoring another goal (he has 9 so far this season from 6 games). Melbourne still have not won at home this season drawing with Wellington 1-1. Sydney were upset by a Robbie Fowler screamer, Brisbane flogged the woeful Newcastle, and Adelaide defeated Central Coast 1-0.

Socceroos struggle In Asia.....

Whilst Australia cruised through the qualifying rounds for the world cup, they found it very difficult against a very well drilled South Korean last night.

Admittedly, Australia was missing Kewell, Neill and Cahill, but for a team ranked 14th in the world, and 35 positions above the Koreans, they should have done better. Worringly, it again showed the lack of depth and that without some of the big guns in the team, the other members of the socceroos failed to step up and take the lead required to push through against the Koreans.

The Koreans are very strong at present, having not lost in 25 matches, but similarly Australia had not lost in over a year, so the scoreline and the socceroo's play play highlighted that there is still some serious work to be done before the before heading to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Australia was sloppy and inconsistent last night and the Koreans took full advantage of that. The second Korean goal was painful to watch as the ball bobbled over the goal line after having been deflected and touched by numerous Australian defenders. Benny Hill would have been proud of the goal and all you needed was his trademark music to make it seem like it was a staged event.

Game performances: McDonald again struggled to break his international duck, Grella proved that he possesses as much finesse as John Howard bowling a cricket ball, Carle showed flashes of skill but footwork probably more suited to Dancing with the Stars, Schwarzer is like a fine wine, but sadly the defence in front of him was more like a cheap goone bag.

The game itself brought back the ghosts of the 2007 Asian Cup campaign and reaffirmed that Australia will be much more confident and representative of their high world ranking against European opposition in South Africa next year.

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Sports wrap

AFL: It is coming down to finals time. The Hawks have left it very late to try to avoid the ignominy of being the first premiers in a decade of missing the finals in the following season. It will not be any easier with Buddy Franklin having been suspended for the match against the 8th placed Bombers.

Can St. Kilda regain the form that saw them cruise to 18 straight wins in time for the finals? They certainly have not picked the best time to get the shakes (albeit having only lost the two games with missed goal kicks at the death).

The Pies, Bulldogs, Crows and Geelong have started to peak at the best time and will, short of mass injuries be the crucial players in the final series.

Cricket: If you have been asleep for the past 2 days, you would have missed Australia losing the Ashes for the 2nd time in 4 years. Ponting now has a memorable place in history as being the only Australian captain since Billy Murdoch in the late 1800's to lose two ashes series in England.

NRL: With two games to go, there are 11 teams vying for the top eight finals positions. At this time of year, all other rugby league transgressions are forgotten (and this year that is amazing to think, given there were plenty) and the main focus becomes the unusual finals system. People have more luck trying to understand Einstein’s theory of relativity than understanding the McIntyre system. Nevertheless, the outcome is that in early October one team will lift the premiership.

Rugby Union: After the bore that was the Bledisloe kick fest, union supporters should not expect too much more with the kick reliant Springboks about to touch down in Australia for the their Tri Nations match with the Wallabies. Having said that, if drop goals and place kicks are for you, you will be like a big kid in a cake store.

Tennis: The US Open is only just around the corner…

Athletics: Australia ran (4x400m team), jumped (Watt and Hooker) and threw (Samuels) their way to their best world championship results. And with Jana Pittman to come back from a toe injury (possibly sustained when she kicked ex hubby out of the house) Australia’s athletics team looks like it is in good hands come London 2012.

The main international news of the Championships was Bolt’s blistering sprints in the 100m (9.58s) and the 200m (19.19s)! The man has pushed the bounds of human speed more than Rick Astley did to pop music.

Of course the championships could not go without its share of controversy…enter the man/woman Caster Semenya! Not since the East Germans were competing have we seen bigger biceps, thighs and abs on a girl.

Soccer/Football: The English Premier league has kicked off again and what a start. The goals have been amazing and in bucketloads. Manchester United and Liverpool, both early favourites for the title, have come unstuck against less fancied teams. And maybe, just maybe, the bazillions sunk into Manchester City by the arab oil sheiks might actually pay off…

On the local scene, the A-League has also kicked off with a bang. The Gold Coast have walked the walk so far, Sydney’s European influence has paid immediate dividends, and North Queensland are by far the most dreadful team. Robbie Fowler must be thinking if only he was God he might be able to get himself out of there.