Euro 2008

Euro 2008 has been a surprising one for every Soccer supporters. Most shocking news is that there is no ENGLAND in this euro 2008!!! No one expected this shock..As a result of this many,supports turned down to some other teams.. The most expected team to win this euro was the NETHERLANDS.. Orange fever was there in Euro till the team reached Quarterfinals..Surprisingly,they lost to the underdogs RUSSIA where their coach GUUS HIDDINK has been a main motivation for his team..

Another team that surprised the fans is FRANCE..They were knocked out from Euro in the group stages itself..Their group were said to be GROUP OF DEATH where they had Italy,Netherlands and Romania.. Italy and the Orange players emerged as strong contenders for the title..After the retirement of the French play maker ZIDANE,France almost lost their supremacy in Europe..

The Most interesting and less expected team to win the Euro was Spain..Known for their good Defensive plays,they came out easily from their group, thanks to the goals from DAVID VILLA and saves from the skipper IKER CASILLAS.. Their performance led them to lift their 2nd Euro cup in their history,where they met the Mighty GERMAN team..Germans too performed well in the Euro,but failed to capitalise their strength in the finals against SPAIN..Russia and Turkey were another teams that made the whole of Europe to turn back as they eliminated the ORANGE LIONS,The Netherlands ,and CROATIA in the Quarterfinals.. 

Thus,the world has seen a new European Super power to emerge from difficulties and it has been proved..We have SPAIN,the Champions of Europe 2008 and they have many more to prove themselves in the coming period..

A Different World Cup 2006

Well.. It has been often said that Underdogs are best at the last moment and it has been proved..ITALY won the World Cup 2006 defeating their European Rival,FRANCE to clinch their fourth WC title.. The Grand tournament took place at GERMANY and No one expected ITALIAN team to win the title.. Everyone's eyes were on the European Big guns like ENGLAND,FRANCE,GERMANY ,and some teams like PORTUGAL,SPAIN,HOLLAND and teams from South America like ARGENTINA,BRAZIL.. But,everything got upside down in the World Cup.. All the above mentioned teams cleared their Group Stages with ease and no difficulty except for France where they need a 2 goal heroism from their players to make to the last 16... First match of the last 16 was between the Young,talented Germany and Sweden,where the host crushed the YELLOW guys from northern Europe by 2-0.. Then,after that match,everyone witnessed the first match to go for Extra time between the two American teams,Argentina and Mexico.. The Argentines narrowly escaped their exit from WC by 2-1.. Moreover,that match was the 50th in the tournament.. 

• The time came for a hero from England who scored an astonishing free kick goal against Ecuador to clinch their Quarterfinal berth in the WC.. 
• The hero is none other than DAVID BECKHAM... 
• Then,we had the first match to go for penalties where the Ukraine team beat Swiss team where they met Italy in the quarter finals.. 
• Then,it was up to the last 8 where the Expected teams lined up.. 
• First,Germany sent the S.American giants,Argentina,back home winning them in penalties and Italy had a nice warm up game like against Ukraine..
• Then,came the clash of the Titans where France met Brazil,a repeat of WC 98 finals.. France came out as the emerging team beating Brazil by 1-0 thanks to Henry's goal..
• Repeat of Euro 2004 quarter finals happened here..It was ENGLAND against PORTUGAL.. 
• The Portuguese again won them in the penalties.. 
• Semi final matches nearly turned everything.. 
• The Host lost to the Italy in the Extra time and France defeated Portugal thanks to the goal from ZIDANE.. 
• And all set for the finals between FRANCE and ITALY where the first team has never beaten the latter in their WC history..
• A Forgettable incident about the finals was the head Butt from Zidane to the Italian player Materazzi and was sent out..
• Then,the Italians came up with the triumph winning the final and showed the world that they are a strong team!!! Then,it was the time for giving the awards...

The Winners and the awards are:

• ZINEDINE ZIDANE,France(adidas Golden Ball)
  
• MIROSLAV KLOSE,Germany(adidas Golden shoe)
  
• SPAIN(FIFA fair play team)
  
• PORTUGAL(FIFA Most entertaining team)
  
• GIANLUIGIBUFFON,Italy(Best Goalkeeper)
  
• LUKAS PODOLSKI,Germany(Best Young player)
  

The Final team Standings were:

• ITALY(Winners)
  
• FRANCE(Runners up)
  
• GERMANY(3rd place)
  
• PORTUGAL(4th place)
  

BIKES-Especially for YOUNGER generation

Nowadays,the younger generation people has started to admire the biking world.. Especially,Bikes with high acceleration and power controls..

One of that type is YAMAHA R1. This bike is completely a racing type only..

High control,Power Disc brakes at both the ends and other facilities make this as a perfect bike for racing and for youngsters too.. Comment on this bike by clicking the link mentioned below YAMAHA R1.. Usually,the company Yamaha is famous for making race type bikes only.. Famous Race biker VALENTINO ROSSI uses the YAMAHA bike only for his races..Care should be taken while driving this bike.. As it is a power bike,accidents are very common to occur.. For more pictures about this Yamaha R1,click the link mentioned here.. YAMAHA R1 GALLERY. Apart from discussions,one can also get  regular updates about Yamaha Bikes in this link YAMAHA UPDATES

Beckham's Halfway goal

Well.. This is about the most fantastic goal ever scored by a rich English soccer star and the ex-captain of England..Yes!!! This is about DAVID BECKHAM.. This goal was scored against Wimbledon FC on August 1996 where MANCHESTER UNITED,the Team which he played for,crushed them for 3-0. 

It was an unbelievable goal. Exactly from the half way line,the 33 year old star,just chipped it.. The goal keeper,Sullivan, couldn't get back at the right time.. The ball was exactly placed without any touches from the goal post or either the hands of the keeper..

Even,his team manager,Sir Alex admired that goal.. And also,Eric Cantona,Star player for the RED DEVILS at that time,too admired that..Eric has already scored like that before. But,He got stunned by this shot..

Noone expected that he would score from that distance. This goal made him proud and got a great soccer appeal from everyone. Not only this,David is well Known for his Stylish,Sexy free kicks that make any goal keepers admiring:-).. 

Portugal-A team with Talents

Talent.. That matters when a team or a player plays in a major tournament like World Cup,Euro or Co pa America.. Presently,I like the team from west of Europe having its capital as LISBON..I m talking about PORTUGAL,where there are players with superb talents in their respective positions of the game.. Though the team has never won the World Cup or either Euro,they were able to show their full power and tempo in their game.. One of the best performance they had in the World Cup was they were the Semi-finalist in the WC 2006, where they were knocked out by the promising FRENCH team thanks to the goal from the genius ZIDANE.. And they hosted the Euro 2004 too,reaching the finals of the tournament losing to the Underdogs,GREECE.. Some of the stars players they had during 04 Euro and 06 WC were CRISTIANO RONALDO,LUIS FIGO ,DECO ,MANICHE ,NUNO GOMEZ and their promising goal keeper RICARDO,who has saved many vital goals for his team..

The team that they had to face with equal talents and style in WC and Euro was the Mighty English Team.. But,both the time,Portugal have cleared them with a huge difficulty.. The most memorable incident between the two talented sides was that when Rooney of England was sent off  because of a physical contact with his Man Utd teammate Cristiano Roanldo:-) in the World Cup 2006..Before that,Both the teams met in the quarter finals of Euro 2004 where the portuguese beat them in Penalties.. The highlight of that penalty shoot out was that Ricardo(PORTUGAL GOALIE) saved the shot from VASSEL(ENGLAND STRIKER)and went on to score the winning goal for Portugal!!! But,eventually,they lost to Greece,the only team that beat them in Euro.. The team was inspired by the games of the veteran LUIS FIGO,who guided the team to reach the finals and semis.,and also the coach LUIS FELLIPE SCOLARI..

LIONEL MESSI- A Young Maestro

June 24,1987 might be the birthday of many people in this world...But,for the soccer world,its the date when a genius,highly gifted Argentine was born..His name is LIONEL ANDRES MESSI,commonly known as LIONEL MESSI... Well..He is currently playing for the mighty Catalan side called BARCELONA... He was the Youngest player to feature in a World Cup at the age of 19.. Regarding his league team,Barcelona,the young maestro has promised everything for his club.. He was Signed from Barcelona B team in the year 2004 and won the Spanish La Liga that season and won another title next year.Those two years almost belonged to Barcelona because of the likes of MESSI, RONALDINHO, DECO, XAVI, GUDJOHNSEN and others.. He has got a medal under his name for his team's success in UEFA Champions League in the year 2005-06... It was a dream come year for Messi in 2005 as he won all the 3 major titles with his Spanish Team and won U-20 World Cup for Argentina... 

He is compared with the Argentine Legend DIEGO MARADONA and often referred as "MARADONA II" since his style of play and Physical feature replicates the star.. Messi is well known for his fast tempo in the game irrespective of having the ball or not,his stunning dribbling skill and get past the defenders.. Well..the moment to forget about him was he was given RED CARD in his first game for Argentina and was sent out against Hungary..He was substitute in that match and made his entry to the match in the 63rd minute and was sent off 40 seconds after that...He has scored 9 goals for his team in 29 appearances.. His team was second best in the Copa America 2007 losing to their rival team in South America BRAZIL by 3-0..The Young genius is yet to win a World Cup under his name and his team depends more on him..

Messi was the 3rd youngest player to play for Barcelona FC  and the star was voted as the second best FIFA Player of the year 2007 behind his South American star KAKA of Brazil.. Apart from scoring the goals,he has assisted many goals for his team and one of them is that he helped his teammate BOJAN KRKIC to score,becoming the youngest player in the Barcelona history to score,breaking the record of MESSI!!!who did this in the year 2007.. One of Messi's superb goal came against Bayern Munich when he hammered past the goalkeeper with a superb lobbed shot.. There are many more days to come and this young Argentine has more to prove his talent than what he has done now.. I wish him a good luck for his future in any league team he plays for and his national team too...

STEVEN GERRARD!!! A Show Stopper

When one wants to talk about a person who totally involves in his work completely,they can discuss about STEVEN GERRARD.. Well,he is a sort of player who can take the game away from expectations.. Gerrard is a fan favourite for LIVERPOOL..He plays for that mercy side and has helped the team to lift trophies..Especially,the finals of UEFA 2005 where Liverpool beat AC Milan in Penalties.. The team were 3-0 down during first half and thanks to the motivation of Gerrard,they went on to equalise the score within full time.. As Gerrard was the skipper for LIVERPOOL at that time,he lifted the UEFA Trophy and celebrated with his team members and manager,RAFAEL BENITEZ..

Though Liverpool has become a less favourite team nowadays,Gerrard still helped his team to reach the finals of UEFA 2007 where they lost to their Italian Rival AC Milan by 2-1.. It has been a long time for Liverpool to lift the English Premiership title after MANCHESTER UNITED established their domination.. But,still Liverpool are considered to be a super power in European League thanks to the performance showed by GERRARD,TORRES,KUYT,ALONSO,JOSE REINA..

Apart from playing for English club Liverpool, Gerrard is considered to be an iconic and important player in ENGLAND team.. Usually,plays Central Midfield position,he has established himself very well along with LAMPARD,BECKHAM and JOE COLE.. His most memorable incident came when he scored a superb goal against their arch Rival GERMANY where they trashed them for 5-1..The Video Below shows his goal against Germany..It was a screamer from Gerrard..

Domination of the RED DEVILS:-)

RED DEVILS... That's how this team is shortly called as.. MANCHESTER UNITED is a well known and a rich Soccer club in the world.. Current champions of the English Premiership and a dominating club in the whole of Europe.. They've got a record of winning 14 English Premiership titles, 11 FA Cups and 3 UEFA Champions League Title.. Their most memorable and dominating season was 1999/00 season where they went on to win all the 3 titles at a stretch..

 Manchester United play their home games at OLD TRAFFORD,Manchester.. The stadium has been referred as THEATRE OF DREAMS as the Devil's fans have witnessed many memorable events there.. Their main Rival team is none other than their own MANCHESTER CITY FC where there will be great expectations.. Every Derby match is special,but this one is more than special to these teams..

The team has featured some best players such as SIR BOBBY CHARLTON,GEORGE BEST,ERIC CANTONA,DAVID BECKHAM,RYAN GIGGS and now CRISTIANO RONALDO,WAYNE ROONEY.. United's usual jersey during their matches  are RED colour T-Shirt and White shorts for their Home matches and Full White most probably for away matches..

From 1990,the English Premiership belonged to MANCHESTER UNITED only,thanks to their successful manager SIR ALEX FERGUSON.. His first and the foremost objective during that period was to change the Premiership domination from LIVERPOOL..He did it successfully by bringing young lads like RYAN GIGGS,DAVID BECKHAM, GARY NEVILLE,OLE GUNNE SOLKSJAER and many more.. Eric Cantona,a French star was there in the team too to expose his experience to the lads..

They've won the UEFA title in the year 1969,1999 and 2008..The present team too has star players like CRISTIANO RONALDO,WAYNE ROONEY,PAUL SCHOLES,OWEN HARGREAVES and the veteran RYAN GIGGS:-)..With this strong line up,they were able to bring back their UEFA title again to Trafford.. Currently,MANCHESTER UNITED is the richest soccer club in the world placing REAL MADRID to the next place..

ZIDANE-The French Maestro!!!!

Hero.. Usually a person who excels in all fields.. Another definition that can be given is ZINEDINE ZIDANE.. Ya... Commonly called as ZIZOU... He is an expert in his own area of interest.. Winner of FIFA World Player of the year for 3  times,He is a well known star in the Soccer history.. He became Famous to the soccer world when this French star played a major and winning role in the finals of 1998 Soccer world cup.. He scored 2 vital early goals for FRANCE that took the game away from the mighty BRAZILIANS,defending champion at that time..

After that,Zidane was signed for the Spanish club,REAL MADRID.. Before that,He was a player for an Italian side named JUVENTUS.. Madrid signed him for a record deal and transferred the star from the Italian Giants.. After that,He started to become a fan favourite for the Madrid team.. The Most memorable incident in his Madrid days is that,He scored the winning goal for the Catalan side against a German upcoming team,BAYER LEVERKUSEN,in the UEFA finals 2002.. 

Zidane played a vital role in winning the Euro for LES BLUES,commonly known as FRANCE,in 2000.. That win made his team to become the No 1 in FIFA rankings.. As days passed by,the star started to lose his tempo and speed in his game..Started to play using his experience.. In the 2004 season,he played in  star studded Madrid team featuring the likes of BECKHAM,LUIS FIGO,RAUL,ROBERTO CARLOS,LUIZ RONALDO,IKER CASILLAS.. Unfortunately,they didn't win any titles that season..

Due to this,he wasn't there in the French World Cup squad for 2006 WC.. But,later considering his experience,he was added in the team and helped LES BLUES to reach the finals,where they met the underdog team,ITALY.. but,unfortunately,due to the physical contact with an Italian player,the French star was given RED CARD.. France went on to lose to ITALY in penalties.. A sad end to his soccer Carrier.. But, still now,He is one of the Finest and Elegant Player that the World of soccer had ever seen..