Chelsea FC saw their task is completed in games they were supposed to win in both English cup competitions this season. By common consent, they are also the favorites to come through Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg against Fenerbahçe SK - Michael Ballack and is determined not to make the same mistake a third time.
The midfielder said that when they lost to Tottenham Hotspur FC in the final of the League Cup and Barnsley FC in the FA Cup, it was through their own failings rather than a superiority on the part of the opposition. The difference is that against Fenerbahçe Avram Grant men have a second chance. "It was our fault that we lost the first round," said Ballack, return to the inverse 2-1 in Istanbul last Wednesday. "When we play our best football, we can win every competition, but we have to show it. That is our motivation. "
After drawing 0-0 away to Olympiacos CFP in the first stage of the first knockout round, Chelsea stormed out of the blocks at Stamford Bridge in the back. Ballack scored himself within five minutes before Frank Lampard is 2-0 in the 25th minute en route to a comfortable 3-0 victory. "If we can start the game like that against Olympiacos, it would be great, but it is not possible to start every game like this," the 31-year-old said. "We are going to go out and" attack and press our opponents. We have our strategy and prepare today and tomorrow very well and then we will see what happens. " (*)
Ballack demands better of Chelsea
Grant determined to make the right decisions
Chelsea FC coach Avram Grant promises that their Champions League quarter-final second leg against Fenerbahçe SK will be different from last week Thursday in Istanbul, where the London side lost 1-0 lead as they were hit by two second half goals .
The return of goalkeeper Petr Čech an ankle problem may have been extended by two weeks following facial surgery, but Grant because of the confidence anyway. His team welcome the Turkish champions at Stamford Bridge in the knowledge that they have received through the three previous occasions they attacked quarter-finals of Europe's biggest club competition over the last five seasons.
"Of course, I thought the match in Istanbul," said Grant. "I do not think any game is the same as the previous [Tuesday] will be a different game. At Istanbul, it was a good performance but the worst result, so obviously we do not want it to be the same. These things happen in football, especially when you dominate the game and your concentration is affected. The only thing I would say is that we learned from our mistakes. We want to dominate this game, which will not be easy, and then we Want to stay focused for the whole match. Our goal is to reach the semi-finals and we will do everything to achieve it. It's a big opportunity for us. " (*)
Breaking point at Anfield
Liverpool FC and Arsenal FC were inseparable in recent days, both in terms of score and the number of times they have faced each other, but there is something to give their Champions League quarter-final the second leg at Anfield.
The parties play their third 1-1 draw of the season on Saturday in the Premier League, north of London, leaving Arsenal six points behind leaders Manchester United in third place and eight clear of Liverpool, which is fourth. The same result on Tuesday would send the link to extra time and possibly penalties, but a long way off from Liverpool last Wednesday, Arsenal must score at a certain moment at the slightest chance of survival in the clubs' third meeting in a week.
Asked if he thinks this new meeting will be radically different from previous matches, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez said: "Yes, I think, for two reasons - one is that we play at Anfield, and it is a huge difference, and another thing is that they [Arsenal] need to win, so it might be a game to attack. "digital campus would be sufficient to see Liverpool through the gap goals rule, but l 'Spanish said: "We must also win ... We do not want a 0-0 draw. We prefer to score and we prefer to win. We know that the customer may Arsenal away from home. " (*)
The Expression
YESTERDAY, when reading results of the English League's match between Liverpool against Everton in a newspaper, my attention was directed to the photograph that showed how the reaction of the spectator when the goal was created.
There were dozens of spectators that could be recorded the camera. Most of them lifted the hands of the happiness. Generally they laughed.
It's pleasant to saw the spectator's expression when the goal was created. In football, the goal creation indeed was the matter really. There was no pleasanter matter if seeing the team to printed the goal to the opposite.
However, not rare we witnessed the different expression, if the team of pity caused ashame by the team of the opponent. The sad expression, furious, annoyed even angry.
The expression of the football spectator directly depicted what happened in and around us. When pleasure and the sadness happened in turns. Sometimes was sorrowful, sometimes cheerfull. Possibly that's that call the life. (*)
English will dominate Europe ?
AFTER Friday's quarter-final draw, two English Premiership clubs - Arsenal and Liverpool against themselves, Manchester United meet AS Roma and Chelsea against Fenerbache. There's a big chance to see three clubs EPL in semi finals, and it seems the Champions League now appear to lead from England to Moscow in May.
The word English is almost as misleading as the description "champion." Liverpool started only two home-bred players against Inter, which had no Italian on its team sheet. Arsenal
regularly lines up without any English blood, Chelsea and Manchester United blend British with global talents.
Furthermore, none of the four clubs has an English coach while Liverpool is owned by a couple of squabbling Americans, Manchester's ruling family is based in Florida, Chelski
belongs to the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. It is an even money bet whether Russian or American suitors end up buying Arsenal.
So, England's domination depends on the money, the motives, and the movements of foreigners. The English Premier League's gargantuan global TV rights might not last forever, and the leaders of FIFA and UEFA, the governing bodies of world and European soccer, seek to impose a quota system on imported players throughout.(***)
Egyptian Soccer History
WHILE not much is known about Egyptian Soccer, or other ball games, it is thought there was a version of a type of ball game played by young women during the age of Baqet III. On his tomb, images of this sport were depicted, although no one is certain how the game was played or whether or not it truly affected the outcome of modern soccer.
Recordings of this game date as far back as 2500 B.C., although not much more is known asides the fact that it was played with a ball. The lack of information on the sport and how it was played has eliminated it from runnings as the first evidence of a game similar to soccer. (***)
Did You Know
* Three of the seven confirmed quarter-finalists are "English," though Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are anything but in terms of management, playing strength or commercial activity. The eighth place will be decided next Tuesday, with Liverpool the clear favorite to become the fourth Premier League side to qualify for the draw three days later.
* Local media calling Frank Rijkaard a liar after he tried to tell them a week ago that Lionel Messi needed careful handling because of his physical state.
* Kasper Schmeichel, a goalkeeper who is 21, and Kelvin Etuhu, a 19-year-old forward, are both, despite their Danish and Nigerian births, graduates of Manchester City's productive youth system. They both made the break through to Premiership soccer this season, but, as the coach Sven Goran Eriksson explained, they are out of his first team at the moment.
* In Asia, Chelsea taking its next small step in what its chief executive Peter Kenyon refers to as his mission to make Chelsea "the world's No. 1 club by 2014." He talks of the brand and the soccer in the same breath. He talks of expanding in China and India, the two big burgeoning economies and TV markets.(***)