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Why Ronaldo should be called back to Brazil squad

Football

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March 31, 2009

Latest results and the low average of goals scored by Brazil made many of us thinking at Ronaldo‘s returning to the Brazil squad.

Brazil are currently fourth in the World Cup Qualifications (Conmebol) standings after Paraguay, Argentina and Chile and more then that they have scored only 16 goals in 11 games.

Ronaldo is in great shape, scoring four times in five games for Corinthians, just after returning from a long term injury. Even if he is not 100% fit Ronaldo could bring that extra motivation to the players and why not he could be the key to success. Dunga could take Capello’s example and do the same with Ronaldo as the Italian with Beckham. Even if he does not play or he comes from the bench Beckham’s presence means a lot for the youngsters.

It seems that everybody wants Ronaldo back, the fans all over the World and even legendary players like Romario, but this is Dunga’s decision.

The Brazilian coach is thinking at the future of the “Selecao” knowing that old players are not a solution for the World Cup. Also when you have players like Kaka, Ronaldinho, Pato, Baptista, Adriano, Robinho and Fabiano upfront you should be able to make a team capable of wining trophies.

AZ Alkmaar the new Eredivisie sensation

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March 30, 2009

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Few seasons ago AZ Alkmaar sold almost all their stars trying to reconstruct the team and also to obtain a considerable profit.

Unfortunately the things have started to get worse, the results were modest, and as a result the team finished on poor places in the standings.

The things seemed to not change also at the beginning of the season when AZ lost two consecutive games, but Louis van Gaal managed to mobilize the players and to inspire them confidence. Those games were followed by a series of 26 unbeaten games which lead them to the first position in Eredivisie.

This extraordinary performance is hard to achieve by any team and especially by one from Holland.

AZ Alkmaar managed a performance of this kind also in the past when they had 32 home games without losing in European competitions between 1977 and 2007.

With only six games left AZ are 9 points ahead Twente and very close to the title they won last time in 1981.

Liverpool back in the Premier League race

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March 23, 2009

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Even if a few weeks ago, and especially after the game lost to Middlesbrough, Liverpool seemed out of the title race it seems that Rafa Benitez managed to motivate the players and win the next four matches.

That failure was followed by the match against Fulham, where “The Reds” won by 2-0. Liverpool have won the game more easily than the score shows and it seems that this match was a sign of revival for the team. This was followed by some excellent wins, hard to achieve by any team, against powerful opponents from Europe and Premier League.

With a high morale after the 1-0 victory on Bernabeu, Liverpool smashed Real Madrid into the second leg 4-0.

Liverpool has managed another notable performance by beating their rivals Manchester United with an incredible 4-1 at Old Trafford. And to be all better for Liverpool they managed another superb results against a strong team from England, 5-0 with Aston Villa, and move only one point behind Manchester United but with one game more.

If in Champions League we are used that Liverpool are among the favorites all the time, a competition which they managed to win last time in 2005, not the same thing we can say in Premier League where they were a little disappointing, failing to win the title in the last nineteen years.

But if Liverpool will continue in the same manner and the players will keep their form they have all the chances to win it this year, especially because Manchester is in decline.

However if Liverpool will not manage to succeed this year they got all the chances to do it next year especially because Benitez will have a transfer budget around €100 millions nest summer. It looks like Benitez already decided on which players to bid: David Villa and David Silva from Valencia and Gareth Barry from Aston Villa.

Milan lose Abbiati for the rest of the season

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March 17, 2009

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AC Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati suffered a knee injury during the 5-1 victory at Siena last weekend.

The 31 years old goalkeeper had to be replaced in the 12th minute after a collision with his teammate Giuseppe Favalli. Abbiati will follow a rehabilitation period of two or three weeks followed by an operation that will keep him sideline for the rest of the season.

Abbiati arrived at San Siro in 1998 and was Milan‘s first choice until 2002 when he picked up an injury during a Champions League match. Since then Abbiati was used as a backup for Dida or was loaned to Juventus, Torino and Atletico Madrid.

Abbiati regain the number one position this season, making a number of vital saves for Milan.

Milan are currently third in Serie A behind Inter and Juventus.

Uefa Cup results – Last 16

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March 16, 2009

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Bremen        –    St-Etienne    1-0
Marseille    –    Ajax        2-1
Dynamo Kyiv    –    Metalist    1-0
CSKA Moskva    –    Shakhtar    1-0
Hamburg        –    Galatasaray    1-1
PSG        –    Braga        0-0
Udinese        –    Zenit        2-0
Man. City    –    AaB        2-0