Futbol: Últimas noticias de Hoy

The club’s formal name is Manchester United Football Club, or Manchester United FC.

They are also referred to, popularly, as the Red Devils. Founded in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR FC, the squad train at their home venue of Old Trafford, with its capacity of nearly 76,000. Owned by the Glazier family, the squad have Joel and Avram Glazer as co-chairmen, and Sir Alex Fergusson as manager.

Manchester United have won the most league titles, 18, a record they share with Liverpool. However, unlike Liverpool, who haven’t won a single Premier League, the Red Devils have won in 11 of the 17 Premiership seasons, so far.

In the ongoing season, United have won two of three matches played and are currently third on the League table behind Chelsea and Arsenal.

Early Season Preview:

Manchester United would want to win the Premiership this season, for more than one reason. Apart from the obvious need to establish themselves as the best team in the fray, the squad know that this could be Sir Alex Fergusson’s last year, at the helm. And that the Premier League title could be the perfect parting gift.

In fact, this is Fergie’s 25th year, and even after a quarter century in charge, his motivation is intact. The Community shield, the traditional curtain raiser to the season, saw United lifting the trophy, by beating Premier League defending champions, Chelsea. Was that a teaser trailer of bigger things to come?

This is the Red Devils’ current line-up: Van der Sar, Vidic, O’Shea, Evra, Jonathan Evans, Scholes, Nani, Giggs, Fletcher, Rooney, Berbatov, Kuszczak, Smalling, Owen, Hernandez, Carrick, Valencia and Rafael Da Silva.

Wayne Rooney has returned to the League after a forgettable World Cup, and he will want to put those memories behind him, the best way he knows — by scoring goals. Rooney’s form, as ever, will determine how the Old Trafford outfit shape up in their Premiership campaign.

Sir Alex has had the legendary knack of spotting little known players who have gone on to do brilliantly in top flight football. Javier Hernandez, signed this summer, belongs to this breed. Hernandez did well in South Africa, and has looked good in his short tenure with the Red Devils. Apart from Javier, Fulham’s defender Chris Smalling is another summer signing of promise. In departures from Old Trafford, United have sold Ben Foster.

The Premiership, in recent years, has become a two-horse race, between Chelsea and Manchester United. This year, I expect it to be a three-pronged affair, with Arsenal providing the third side to the triangular contest. From the evidence of the matches played so far, I would back the Red Devils to mount a serious challenge for the title.

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are two of the most exciting teams in the world. The best players on the planet ply their trade in the Spanish Premiera Division and in mainly these two powerhouses.

Last year, Atletico Madrid got the better of both Barca and Real in the La Liga. Although they couldn’t snap up victory in the Champions League final against Carlo Ancelotti’s side, yet all over they had a great season.

The ten-time European champions, Real, have yet another target this season and it is to win the Champions League again. No club side has ever won back-to-back Champions League trophies. To compete for all the major trophies, the Spanish giants have added a few marquee signings. Toni Kroos is one of those and he has justified his value to be called-up by one of the most successful clubs in the world. Kroos was phenomenal for the German champions, Bayern Munich, and was among the best players in Brazil, 2014 World Cup, which his national side eventually won.

Real not only, grabbed the World Cup winner, but they also convinced the best player of the tournament to sign with them. James Rodriguez was the star in Brazil and he lead his team quite far in the tournament. His tally of 6 goals helped him win the Golden Boot. It will be quite interesting to see how he would do at the Santiago Bernabeu under Ancelotti, who describes James as the player who would be Real’s future. On the other hand, the outgoing players are Nuri Sahin and Morata.

It is quite possible that Real win more silverware than previous season as the Galacticos look more powerful than ever.

Barcelona too, haven’t done bad in this summer transfer window. The Catalonian giants seized the opportunity to sign probably the best striker in the world right now. Luis Suarez is a flawed genius and he definitely attracts controversy. He would be out till October 25th and might feature in the first El Clasico of this season. In addition to the ex-Liverpool man, Barca have brought in Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Claudio Bravo, Ivan Rakitic and Jeremy Mathieu. Alexis Sanchez and Bojan Krkic are the players who were not needed by the new manager at Camp Nou.

Barcelona appeared pale last season and they would look to get back their domination in world football. Leo Messi would again be key for the Blaugrana and would be assisted by Suarez, Neymar and Iniesta. We can’t predict which team would do better than the other because of the sheer quality in both the sides.

Professional football as a competitive sport has had its unfair share of tragedies over the years. It is both entertaining and dangerous especially on the field of play. The Nigerian sporting family witnessed one of the most horrific football tragedies on the 23rd of December 2008, when nine female amateur footballers and two coaches were burnt beyond recognition in an auto crash on their way from Jos, Plateau state.

The tears of sorrow had hardly dried up, when 15 members of an amateur side, F.C Jimeta from Adamawa state, Nigeria, died in another auto crash on the 26th of January 2009. Twelve of the dead were players, while the remaining three were trainers.

The tragedy that took place on the 26th of January 2009 had hardly subsided when another devastating incident occurred on the 21st of February 2009. In a single swoop, 13 Football supporters of Nigeria Premier League side Ocean Boys F.C of Yenegoa were killed by persons suspected to be cultist, on their way to attending a premier league match involving their team and Bayelsa United at the Ughelli Township Stadium in Delta State, Nigeria.

Nigerian footballers have also had their fair share of tragedies on and off the field of play. Below is a list of some of the players who have braved all odds to bring joy to football loving Nigerians but later succumbed to the cold hand of death.

• Samuel Okwaraji

Nigeria enterprising midfielder Samuel Tochukwuma Okwaraji slumped and died on August 12, 1989 during a World Cup qualifying match between Nigeria and Angola. He died of a heart related ailment.

• Amir Angwe

Amir Angwe died on the field of play while starring for Julius Berger F.C on October 29th 1995. It was later discovered that he died of a heart attack.

• George Igenewari

The younger brother to Nigerian former international- George Finidi was slain by the bullet of rival supporters during an F.A Cup match involving his club- Rangers F.C and Stationary Stores of Lagos in 1995.

• Tunde Charity

He was a member of the Flying Eagles team that participated in the 1989 U-20 World Championship held in Saudi Arabia. He died of a head injury sustained in the playing field while featuring for Bendel Insurance F.C in a league match in 1997.

• Boniface Danjuma

This Plateau united player died on August 12, 2006 after he slumped and was confirmed dead 13 minutes into the second half of his team tie with city rival JUTH of Jos at Nassarawa stadium, Keffi.

• Orobosa Adun

He was the first choice goalkeeper of Warri Wolves F.C of Warri Delta State. Slumped and died on May 26th 2009 during training as a result of injury sustained when he was attacked by thugs of Rangers international of Enugu.

Introduction and Early Life

Lance Franklin is a professional Australian Rules football player that currently plays for the Hawthorn Hawks Football Club. He was born on January 30, 1987 in Perth, West Australia; and is of indigenous Australian descent. Lance is about 1.96 meters tall, has a large frame and weighs about 101 kilograms. He is a very versatile utility player that plays in the centre half-forward positions as well as the midfield position too. He wears the jersey number 23 and is fondly called «Buddy». He used to play for Perth in Western Australia in his early football days from where he was drafted with the number 4 pick into the Australian Football League (AFL) by the Hawthorn Hawks F.C in the 2004 national AFL draft.

Early Professional Career

Before beginning his professional football career, Lance had played his early days representing Western Australia at the National Under 18 Carnival. Lance made his debut appearance in the first round of the 2005 season. He played extremely well that year especially considering the fact that this was his first season in the AFL. He finished the season playing 20 games out of the total 22 games and contributing 27 goals. This can be considered as a good performance for his first season. He had a serious setback to his performance the following season as a result of injuries he sustained on his ankle and hand early in the 2006 season. he made it back during the 9th round. During the 12th round, Lance displayed a great performance that saw him kick 6 goals in the match against Richmond.

Before the end of the 2006 season, Lance renewed his contract and extended his stay at Hawthorn Hawks by another two years. Prior to this, he was widely speculated to be a subject of attraction by clubs like Essendon, West Coast, and Fremantle. The 2007 season was a great one for Lance. He finished the season with 63 goals placing him third in the Coleman Medal in the entire AFL that season. He also finished the season in the number three position in the club’s Best and Fairest Awards, as well as the leading goal kicker for Hawthorn Hawks.

Professional Career Achievements

Lance Franklin kept improving consistently and in 2008 he won the Coleman Medal for kicking a total of 102 goals during the season. He also featured in the Dream Team where he kicked four goals during the AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match. He was the first Aboriginal player to reach this feat in the AFL. He won the AFL premiership this year with Hawthorn Hawks and also won the Peter Cummins Medal which is the Best and Fairest Award in the club. The 2009 season was not particularly a good one for him as he had to undergo surgery for injury on his thumb and shoulder, as a fall out of the previous season. After returning to play, his performances were not the same as that of the previous season. he lost one of his teeth during a ball contest in a match and was also suspended for two games as a result of rough play against a Richmond player in a match.

He had a good season in 2010 but cannot be said to be exceptional. His performance in some matches was extremely brilliant but not in all the matches and he has continued in a similar manner in the current season. He is said to be dating an Australian model and is quite glad about his heritage.

Awarded the title of ‘the most successful football club of the twentieth century’ by F.I.F.A., Real Madrid, nine years into the twenty first, look to have a lot of work to do to retain their crown!

It seems incredible but the club that has won two Champions’ League (2000 and 2002) and four La Giga titles since the beginning of the Millennium has seemed to lurch – comically in the eyes of many – from one crisis to another.

How many clubs can you think of that would sack their manager hours after winning the Champions’ League for a record time? Real Madrid did in 2002 with Vincent del Bosque.

How many clubs would bring back a manager who won the league title for them in his only ever season with the club and then sack him immediately after he repeated the feat? Real Madrid did that to Fabio Capello in 2007.

How many clubs would replace their president, Florentino Pérez,because his so-called gallactico policy of bringing the world’s best players to the club had spectacularly imploded, replace him with a president who later is alleged to have rigged the voting, and then re-elect Señor Pérez unopposed because he vowed, again, to bring all the world’s best players to Madrid?

Well, you could go on for a long time pointing out such eccentricities. But it would all be pointless in the eyes of the Madrid afícionados who will, quite rightly, remind you that they are the richest club in the world, the most commercially successful – largely because of the aforementioned Florentino Pérez – and, at the time of writing, were being linked in the transfer market with almost any player capable of tying up his own boot laces. Or, in the case of Christiano Ronaldo, probably getting one of his ‘less talented’ team mates to tie them up for him so that he could save his energy for scoring great goals, trying to get opposing players sent off and sulking when the referee doesn’t agree with him. There are those of us who think that Ronaldo and Real Madrid are a perfect match for each other: talented and good-looking but arrogant, untrustworthy and not much good in a fight.

And yet, for all this sniping criticism, I have loved watching Real Madrid sometimes in the past few years. When Roberto Carlos and Zidane combined down the left wing; when Beckham curved in centres for Raul to head home; when Sergio Ramos rampaged all over the pitch attempting to inspire his lethargic team to lift themselves; and when ‘Saint Iker’ Casillas showed, time after time, why he is undoubtedly the greatest goalkeeper in the world.

Because, the Bernabéu is a great place to watch football – for a neutral it can be just as entertaining to watch the crowd when Madrid are playing badly – and Real Madrid can be an exhilarating force when they play at their best.

Spain, and the Champions’ League, need a strong, fast-flowing, attractive Real Madrid team – it’s part of the fabric of life. Barcelona were a wonderful side this year but they had it too easy; Real need to make them justify their ‘Dream Team’ tag a lot more next season. Getting knocked out in the Champions’ League Quarter Finals year after year isn’t good enough either – and football is the worse for it.

Those of us who were weaned on the team that won the European Cup at Hampden Park all those years ago need to see a great Real Madrid team again – so, come on, Florentino, get that Cheque Book out and let’s see the end of Real Madrid as a laughing stock and instead give us something to scare the living daylights out of those imposters in Manchester, London, Milan and Barcelona – especially Barcelona!

Kaka could be the natural successor to Zidane; let’s now have the successors to Figo, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos and Fernando Hierro.