Categoría: Últimas noticias de Hoy

Manchester United Captain Gary Neville believes the team is well prepared to win this season Champions League due to the ability and the preparation the team possesses.

Last year the Manchester United was defeated by the AC Milan, but the team players think they can overcome Barcelona and prove they are better suited this new season.

Manchester Manager Sir Alex Ferguson has invested a lot of money in new players after making an exhaustive research he decided to bring Carlos Tevez, Owen Hargreaves as well as the promising couple of Anderson and Nani to the squad.

Actually it was Tevez who scored the goal that marked the victory of Manchester over Roma and sealed the ticket to the semifinals 3-0.

Neville said «We have a great chance this season. Once you get to a semi-final anything can happen. We are playing well at the moment and winning games regularly. Last year we were maybe not quite ready. This year we have the players to go all the way. The games and the atmosphere against Barcelona will be brilliant. There will be some great players on show. Both teams like attack. I do not think defense is the priority.»

Ferguson could even afford to leave 37-goal Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes on the bench with a crucial Barclays Premier League match against Arsenal to come on Sunday.

Also; Neville’s words echoed into another experienced campaigner Ryan Giggs who was a Neville’s team mate nine years ago when both of them used to play with the Bayern Munich. He agreed with what Neville had to say and also is expecting a great English final in Moscow; since the other two teams involved in the semifinals are the Chelsea who must face Liverpool in the next few weeks.

Giggs also thinks that Manchester has a lot of possibilities of winning over the Barcelona team since this season is not the best for the Spaniard team. He thinks the one who wins is the one who is going to perform better in two legs.

He also thinks that all of the 4 teams that are right now in the semifinals are capable of winning the Champions League this season.

«If you are not up for that game you never will be. Both are very good teams. It is whoever performs best over the two legs mentioned Giggs. The four teams left are all capable of winning the Champions League. It is all about what happens on the day. Games against Barcelona are what you want, playing against great teams».

Manchester United set a new record by having 11 straight home victories by defeating Roma last Wednesday.

Camisetas VILLARREAL

Road to London 2012!

Brian Wellman

Did you know- By 1992,Brian Wellman of Bermuda came in fifth place in the men’s triple jump at the XXV Olympic Games in Barcelona (Spain). His performance made him the Island’s most outstanding athlete. In the next Olympiad, he was one of the world’s six best triple jumpers.

Debbie Jones

Did you know- By the mid-1970s,the Island’s sprinter Debbie Jones took first place in the women’s 100m, ahead of Ela Cabrejas (Cuba) and Lelith Hodges (Jamaica), at the Central American and Caribbean Tournament in San Juan de Puerto Rico.

Football

Did you know- By 1967, the men’s soccer team from Bermuda was runner-up at the 5th Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada), behind only Mexico (gold medal).

Jennifer Fisher

Did you know- By the mid-1990s, Jennifer Fisher finished in sixth in the 800m (2:05.62) and seventh in the 1500m (4:29,77) in the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Mexico 1975

Did you know- By October 1975, the Island sent 14 athletes, four of them were women, to Mexico City to compete in the VII Pan American Games. Curiously, the national team was one of the smallest delegations in the international Games. They competed in athletics (11), boxing (1), and sailing (2). Ironically, Clarence Hills, the Island’s most respected athlete, did not go to Mexico.

Montreal 1976

Did you know- 1976 was a special year for Bermuda. Why? That year Bermuda had its first (and only) Olympic medal in history, ahead of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Burma and a host of nations. By July 1976, the Island’s boxer Clarence Hills won a bronze medal at the Montreal Summer Olympics. Ironically he did not compete at the 1975 Pan American Games in the United Mexican States, the most important pre-Olympic event in the Americas. Like Gina Swaison (1979 Miss World) and Jennifer Smith (former Prime Minister),Mr Hills is a hero in Bermuda,a beautiful island located in the Atlantic North.

Munich 1972

Did you know- The Island sent a team of 11 athletes to Munich (Germany) to participate in the Summer Olympics in August and September 1972. Bermuda – one of the world’s most stable and peaceful islands-competed in three Olympic sports: boxing (1), rowing (1), and sailing (9).

Pan American Games

Did you know- Toward the end of the 1950s, Bermuda made its Pan American debut when it sent an Olympic team to the Pan American Games in Chicago (USA).

Softball

Did you know- The women’s softball team of Bermuda won the right to compete in the 1974 World Championship in Stratford, USA.

Spain 1992

Did you know- By the early 1990s,Bermuda’s athlete Clarence Saunders took fifth place in the men’s high jump in the Games of the XXV Olympiad in Barcelona (Spain). Together with Brian Wellman (triple jump), he was one of Bermuda’s most popular athletes in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Sports

Did you know- the most popular sports in the Island are soccer, cricket, softball, equestrian, athletics, sailing, and swimming.

Sydney 2000

Did you know- Lee White and Peter Bromby (sailing) came in fourth place in the Games of the 27th Olympiad in Australia.

Camisetas PARIS ST. GERMAIN

Did You Know…

Qatar is sometimes called the «Olympic paradise» in the world. In this Arab country you can feel the Olympic atmosphere: many children competing in athletics, tennis, football, volleyball, basketball, karate, gymnastics and judo. Cylist legend Eddy Merckx said, «Qatar as a country pushes for sport. No other country in the world is doing what Qatar is doing for sport – especially for kids. As a child, sport is a great school of life. It shows you that just talent is not enough – you also have to work very hard. If you’re a lawyer, you stay a lawyer for life. As a sportsman or sportswomen, you have to start every season at the beginning again. It’s hard to become the best, but it’s even more difficult to stay the best year after year.» Certainly, Qatar – it is about the size of Hawaii- has one of the best sporting systems outside of the industrialized world.

The Arab athlete Saif Saaeef Shaheen won the gold medal in the 3,000m steeplechase at the 2003 World Athletics Championships in Paris, France. There were celebrations for Qatar, after he won the gold medal. Saif Saaeef Shaheen wrote history for Qatar becoming the first Qatari to win a world championship in the Olympic sport.

Qatar qualified for the 2007 Handball World Championship. It was the third time that Qatar had qualified for a World Cup. Under the direction of Ekrem Jaganjac, Qatar`s national coach, the Qatari team defeated Australia 36-22. «In Qatar, there are no outstanding players, but there are many enthusiastic young ones, and I concentrate all my work on them», said Jaganjac, who was a member of the enlarged Yugoslav team for the Summer Olympics in 1972.

Doha was scheduled to host the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1995.

Ahmed Ibraheem was the first runner to represent Qatar at an Olympic track event when he competed in the 10,000 metres and 5,000 metres at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad in Seoul (South Korea) in 1988.

The Qatari football team finished sixth at the Olympic Games in Barcelona (Spain). In the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Football Tournament 16 men`s teams competed in four rounds (preliminaries, quarter-finals, semi-finals, finals). Under the brilliant leadership Mubarak Nooralla, Qatar defeated Egypt (African champion) 1-0 in the first round. Qatar represented Asia in the quarters finals, but was eliminated by Poland, one of the best teams of Europe. The Olympic players were Ahmed Khalil Saleh, Hamad Al-Atteya, Rashid Shami Suwaid, Zamel Essa Al-Kuwari, A-Nasser Ali Al-Obaidly, Waleef Bukhit Maayof, Mubarak Nooralla, Juman Salem Johar, Mahmoud Yaseen Souf, Fahad Mohd Al-Kuwari, Adel Mulla Al-Mulla, Mohd Al Mohannadi and A-Aziz Hassan Jaloof.

Doha -the country`s capital and largest city- is one of the most modern sporting cities in the world. It has many sports facilities.The Khalifa International Stadium is the nation`s largest stadium. It is one of the most beautiful and modern stadiums in the world. Doha is also the home of the Hamad Aquatic Centre.

This Asian country organized the 1999 Handball World Junior Championship. There were 17 teams: Denmark, Sweden, Egypt, France, Yugoslavia, Spain, Russia, Greece, Tunisia, Portugal, Croatia, Qatar, Brazil, Israel, Norway, Hungary and New Zealand.

Doha hosted the Asian Games in December 2006. The opening ceremony on 1 December was held at the Khalifa International Stadium before a crowd of more than 50,000. At the 2006 Asian Games, Sheik Mohammed Bin Hamad Al -Thani, a Qatari horseman, did the honors of carrying the Olympic flame and lighting the torch. A record number of 45 countries and territories participated in the event. The Olympic village was home to 10,500 sportspeople.The competitive programme included 39 sport events: archery, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, bodybuilding, bowling, kayak, chess, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, handball, field hockey, judo, kabaddi, karate, rowing, rugby, sailing, sepaktakraw, shooting, softball, squash, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, triathlon, tennis, volleyball, beach volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, wushu and wrestling. These Asian Games will be remembered for its excellent organization and hospitality. The success of the Asian Games was result of the combined efforts of the Qatari government and the organizing committee (Doha Asian Games Organizing Committee). The Asian Games are the second largest international sporting event after the Summer Olympic Games.

The Qatari athlete Musa Obaid Amer finished fourth in the 3,000m steeplechase at the Olympic Games in Athens, the capital city of Greece.

Qatar won the second place at the 1981 FIFA World Youth Cup in Sydney (Australia). Qatar`s qualification for the finals was one of the greatest surprises.

Talal Mansoor made history at the 1994 Asian Games by winning three gold medals (100m, 200m and 4x400m relay).

The Asian Cup, the continent`s top football tournament, was held in Qatar in 1988.

Doha is officially bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. As chairman of the Doha Bid Committee, Hassan Ali Bin Ali said: «A lot has already changed in Qatar and in particular Doha, in the last 50 years. If we were granted the opportunity to stage the Olympics and Paralympics in 2016, it would not only allow us to further develop the city’s infrastructure but also to use the power of peaceful sporting competition to create understanding, hope and change that could unite the entire region with the rest of the world. Hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Doha would bring the Olympic flame to the Arabic-speaking world for the first time, extending the Olympic ideals to millions of new hearts and minds».

Andres Sebastian Soria Quintana is one of the most talented footballers from Qatar. He came to Doha from Uruguay as a footballer professional and got Qatari nationality just in the time for the 2006 Asian Games. He was born on November 8, 1983 in Paysandu, Uruguay (South America). He is symbol of multiethnic Qatar.

Said Asaad is one of the greatest weightlifters in Qatari sports history. He won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia. Like Mohammed Sulaiman (track and field), Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (shooting), Jaber Salem (weightlifting), Talal Mansoor (athletics), he is one of the country`s most respected personages.

Qatar is the home of the ASPIRE Academy for Sports Excellence. It is one of the world`s leading elite sports institutions.The Academy has four departments: Sports, QESA (Quality Management ,Education and Social Affairs), IT (Information Technology) and Administration. These centers provide accommodations, coaching training facilities, Olympic studies and medical care for students from Qatar and the Third World. The Academy also participates in international sports exchanges and has signed official sports exchange agreements with Third World countries. This center is one of the most beautiful sports installations in the world. Andreas Bleicher, Sports director at ASPIRE, said: «We have always looked to position ASPIRE as an international academy whose primary focus in sports in Qatar. A major part of our approach has been to evaluate talent at on early stage and look to bring out the best in our young sportspeople. This intense, local focus has been matched by a global process of talent identification».

The Qatari team won four gold, five silver and eight bronze medals during the Asian Games held in South Korea in 2002.

Mohammed Sulaiman became the first Qatari sportspeople to win an Olympic medal at the Olympic Games in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. His achievement was greeted with joyful celebrations in the country. He also participated in athletics in the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta (USA). He was one of the best Arab and international runners of the 20th century.

Qatar was one of the 160 countries who participated at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Republic of Korea. It participated in one sport: track and field. Some of the athletes were: Saad Mubarak (4x100m relay ), Talal Mansoor (100m), Faraj Marzouq (4x100m relay), Ismael Mohammed (800m), Mohammed Ahmed (1,500m), Ahmed Ibraheem (10,000m and 5,000m) and Rashid Marzouq (110m hurdles).

Mubarak Hassan Shami, one of athletics greatest performers, won a silver medal in the marathon at the IAAF World Championship in Japan in 2007.

The Qatari delegation competed in the 2007 Arab Games held in Cairo (Egypt), and won 14 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze medals.

The Qatar Sports Club is considered one of the most beautiful and modern clubs in the world.

From 2000 to 2007, a large number of famous athletes visited Qatar. They included: Diego Armando Maradona (football), Haile Gebrselassie (track and field) and Nadia Comaneci (gymnastics).

The Qatari athlete Ibraheem Ismael was finalist in the 400m at the 1992 Olympics.

The Doha IAAF World Super Tour 2007 was the largest sports even in Qatar after the Doha Asian Games in 2006 and the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1995.

Khalfan Ibrahim Khalfan Al Khalfan is one of the most honourable athletes at present. In 2006, he was named Football Player of the Year by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). He was born on February 18, 1988 in Doha.

Hassan Ali Bin Ali (chairman of the Doha Bid Committee) is an ardent supporter of the Olympic ideal and work hard on the promotion of the Olympic movement in Qatar.

The World Table Tennis Championship took place from March 1st to 7th 2004 in Qatar.

Qatar made its Olympic debut at the Games of the XXIII Olympiad in Los Angeles (California,USA) in 1984. It qualified 27 sportspeople in three sports: athletics, football and shooting.

The Qatari basketball team, with star players such as Hashim Zaidan Zaidan, Seleem Abdulla, Daoud Mousa Daoud and Erfan Ali Saeed , beat out the powerful South Korea team to win bronze medal in the 23rd Asian Championship that were held in Doha.

The state of Qatar won 6 medals at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing (China), which counted with the participation of 6,122 athletes from 37 countries. Overall, Qatar ranked eight, after the People`s Republic of China, South Korea, Japan, North Korea, Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia.

Camisetas Manchester City

EUFA Champions League is world famous football league held every year, where champions of every European country leagues from last year are group in this awesome UEFA Championship League to play a win the trophy that will declare them the best Football Team of Europe.

Therefore this is a multi-million tournament! New stars and born in this most awaiting football event and this is why all football/soccer fans love to watch, enjoy and bet on this event.

Inter Milan is the current UEFA Championship League trophy holder; they beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in the last Champions League finals.

Real Madrid is the team who won the most UEFA Championship League, they left this trophy 9 times (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002), followed by AC Milan who won 7 times (1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003, 2007) and Liverpool who won 5 times (1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005).

Bayern Munich and Ajax both won 4 times, Bayern Munich in (1974, 1975, 1976, 2001) and Ajax in (1971, 1972, 1973, 1995).

Barcelona, Inter Milan and Manchester United won 3 times each. Barcelona in (1992, 2006, 2009), Inter Milan in (1964, 1965, 2010) and Manchester United in (1968, 1999, 2008).

Benfica, Juventus, Nottingham Forest and Porto won 2 times in tournament; Benfica in (1961, 1962), Juventus in (1985, 1996), Nottingham Forest in (1979, 1980) and Porto in (1987, 2004).

Celtic, Hamburg, Steaua BucureYti, Marseille, Feyenoord, Aston Villa, PSV Eindhoven, Red Star Belgrade and Borussia Dortmund won 1 time each.

Meaning 4 British teams: Liverpool, Machester United, Nottingham Forest and Aston Vila have won this competition. Followed by 3 Italian teams: Ac Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus and 3 German teams: Bayern Munich, Hamburg and Borussia Dortmund.

The reason why I am writing this is because this is crucial data that can help to predict which team from which country got better odds to win the next UEFA Championship League.

Heavy better usually really on this sort of data (plus experience). It is estimated that over 100 million bets are placed every year over UEFA Championship League.

I cannot say which team will win the next Champions League, however based from this crucial data I can say that a team from Britain as better chances to win the next Champions League as a team from Romania; since the only Romanian team (Steaua BucureYti) won only 1 Champions league so far. Where 4 strong British teams such as: Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Aston Vila won 11 times in total.

Camisetas REAL MADRID

Asian Handicap Soccer Betting is very popular among Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong and Thailand. Lately, it has become more popular in Europe and US. Gone were the days where punters place their bet through telephones with their local bookies. There are still people resorting to the traditional ways of betting but more and more people, especially the younger generation who is well verse of the internet, has shifted to online soccer betting.

In Asian handicap soccer betting, the question to ask is «How many goal will Team A beat Team B» rather than «Home Win, Draw or Away Win». The stronger team will give goal handicap to the weaker team. This eliminate the disadvantages of the weaker team, so both team will start the game on «equal» condition. The goal handicap given are based on criteria such as current team performance, home ground advantage, starting eleven and injury to star or important player.

Let’s look at the 2 examples of Asian handicap soccer betting.
1) Manchester United vs Barcelona
Let’s say Man Utd gives Barcelona 0.5 goal handicap.
To get the outcome of your bet you will have to take the final score and subtract the handicap given.
So if the final score is Man Utd beat Barcelona 2-1. We subtract 0.5 from Man Utd 2 goals, so the outcome is Man Utd beat Barcelona 1.5-1.

2) Brazil vs Colombia
Let’s say Brazil gives Colombia a 1 goal handicap.
The final score is 3-2. When we subtract 1 goal from Brazil 3 goals the outcome of Brazil vs Colombia is 2-2. Therefore, you neither win nor lose your bet.

Camisetas CAMISETAS SIN MANGAS

Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho have both displayed their phenomenal skills, audacity in their style of play and their ability to change a football game in a matter of seconds. Both have been seen as the best player on the planet, both have displayed how deadly they are when attacking a defender and both have guided their club teams in Manchester United and Barcelona respectively to back to back domestic titles and the prestigious Champions league title. Both players are an asset to their respective clubs and both have been the centre of world cup controversy.

There isn’t much to separate these two major players in world soccer, however the Brazilian Ronaldinho has been named both FIFA World Player of the Year and World Soccer Player of the Year in 2005 and 2006, European Footballer of the Year in 2005, UEFA Club Footballer of the Year for the season 2005-06 and he won the coveted FIFA World Cup in 2002 with Brazil in Korea and Japan. In comparison the Portuguese winger, Cristiano Ronaldo has been named PFA Players’ Player of the Year in both 2007, 2008, PFA Young Player of the Year in 2007; he also placed third in FIFA World Player of the Year and World Soccer Player of the Year in 2007.

In terms of accolades the Brazilian midfield maestro has the edge; however the Brazilian is in the twilight of his career at age 28, while the Portuguese sensation is still very much in the spring of his football career at age 23. The Portuguese also has the opportunity to be the most expensive footballer in the history of the game if he signs a contract with the galacticos, to play at the Santiago Bernabeu next season for a record transfer fee of 90 million pounds.

With the world at their feet both players will be looking to prove that they are without question the best player in the game when their respective season begins. After a terrible season at Barcelona plagued with injury problems which saw him missing most of Barcelona’s games in 2007-2008, the Brazilian will be looking to reassert himself as one of world football’s top players and erase any doubt that may linger in the minds of his fans. The Portuguese will be looking to repeat the form he showed in the season 2007-2008 and cement his skills in football history as the world’s best player.

Camisetas PREMIER LEAGUE

Road to London 2012!

Barcelona 1992

Did you know- Between July 25 and August 9, 1992, the Angolan Olympic Committee, sent 29 athletes to the Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain. The African nation competed in seven sports: basketball (11), boxing (1), roller hockey (11), judo (4), swimming (3), sailing (3), and track & field (6).

Basketball

Did you know- Basketball is very popular because basketball is a traditional sport with a long history in the African nation. Curiously, from the 1980s to the 2000s, Angola -a war-torn nation — boasted one of the best basketball teams in the Third World. By 1992, the Angolan squad came in 10th place, among 12 teams, in theMen’s Olympic Games Basketball Tournament in Barcelona (Spain). Eight years ago, they had won the silver medal in the Under-20 African Championship. By 1987, against all odds, Angola -a Portuguese-speaking republic located in southern Africa– won the gold medal in men’s basketball at the African Games in Nairobi (Kenya). Before 1987, the men’s basketball squad of Angola had placed 20th in the World Championships in Spain. In the Spanish city of Ferrol, the Africans were the most popular basketball players; there Angola had defeated Australia 74-69. In addition to this, the country -one of the least-developed states in Africa-finished 13th in the universal competition in South America in the early 1990s. By 1996, it placed 11th in the Games of the XXVI Olympiad in Atlanta, Georgia (US).

Football

Did you know- Angola’s first major international success came at the FIFA World Cup in 2006. During that global event, the men’s football squad came in 23rd place, between Croatia (Europe) and Tunisia (North Africa). The best players were Flavio da Silva Amado, Joao Ricardo Pereira dos Santos Batalha, and Fabrice Alcebiades Maieco, in that order.

Los Angeles 1984

Did you know- The Angolan Olympic Committee, under pressure from Cuba and the Soviet Union, boycotted the 1984 Summer Games in the Los Angeles, California, USA. Four years ago, Angola made its Olympic debut in the Games of the XXII Olympiad in Moscow, USSR (present-day Russia). On the other hand, Angola is one of the youngest members of the Olympic family.

Men’s Handball

Did you know- The men’s handball team came in 15th place at the Under-20 World Championships.

Sports

Did you know- The most popular sports are soccer, athletics, basketball, roller hockey, and handball.

Women’s Handball

Did you know- The national squad came in seventh place in women’s handball at the 1996 Summer Games in the United States of America. During that international event, Angola, under coach Alberto Junior’s tutelage, defeated America (host nation) 24-23. The country also qualified for the Sydney Olympics in 2000. By the 1990s, the women’s handball team from Angola competed in five world championships (1990, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1999). At the 1997 World Cup, the national delegation placed 15th, ahead of Japan, South Korea, and Canada.

Camisetas NIÑO

The topic that everyone seems to want to question. Who are the best young players, player comparisons and most importantly is whether they will live up to their potential. There have been numerous youngsters in the past five years alone. Pablo Aimar and Javier Saviola were supposed to be the new Diego Maradona, Antonio Cassano the new Roberto Baggio. The list could go on for failed potential. Here I am going to list the top 10 players in the world.

10) Mario Balotelli

Current Club: Inter Milan

Nationality: Ghana, Italy

Age: 17

Position: Striker

Player Comparisons: George Weah

A player with big potential. A big, strong and pacy forward who is a specialist set piece taker. At just 17 he has been called up to an senior international call up by his home country Ghana, though this has been declined due to his preference to play for Italy once he reaches his 18th birthday. Baloteli is one to look out for the future.

9) Giovani Dos Santos

Current Club: Tottenham

Nationality: Mexico

Age: 19

Posistion: Attacking Midfielder (Left, Right)

Player Comparisons: Ronaldinho

Giovani Dos Santos comes to Tottenham with a huge reputation. At Barcelona he had the likes of Messi, Ronaldinho, Henry, Bojan and Iniesta competing with him for a first team spot. A skilful winger who can be just as strong playing on the right as he can on the left. The £4.7 million Tottenham paid Barcelona could prove to be a massive bargain as he plays his trade in the Premiership next season.

8) Karim Benzema

Current Club: Lyon

Nationality: France, Algeria

Age: 20

Position: Striker

Player Comparisons: Nickolas Anelka

The young French forward has just had a fantastic season in France finishing top scorers with 24 goals ensuring Lyon were to win the League for the 7th year in a row. His quality has interested the likes of Man Utd and Real Madrid though he has underlined his determination to stay with the French champions for the time being. His reputation around Europe has increased around Europe to the point that some fans were already predicting he would become the top scorer at Euro 2008, although this was not to happen.

7) Theo Walcott

Current Club: Arsenal

Nationality: England

Age: 19

Position: Right Midfielder, Striker

Player Comparisons: Ryan Giggs

It seems like the young England forward has been around for forever. It was when he was just 16 playing for Southampton that he convinced Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to sign him beating off some tough competition. He was then brought into the England squad for the 2006 World Cup without playing a single game for Arsenal, though he did not feature in the tournament. Since then he has slowly progressed and will this year be hoping to push himself into the Arsenal starting line up.

6) Carlos Vela

Current Club: Arsenal

Nationality: Mexico

Age: 19

Position: Striker

Player Comparisons: David Villa

Bought by Arsenal after receiving the player of the tournament in the u17s World Cup for Mexico. He has since spent his time on loan in Spain awaiting a work permit. A player who is very similar to Valencia start David Villa due to his pace and finishing ability. Like Tottenham signing Dos Santos he will be looking to make an impact in his opening season in English football.

5) Lulinha

Current Club: Cortinthians

Nationality: Brazil

Age: 18

Position: Attacking Mid

Player Comparisons: Kaka

The only player in the list playing outside of Europe will show how highly rated this player is. A hugely talented player who could be set to become one of the next Brazilian greats. Clubs like Chelsea are known to have made an enquiry though the Brazilian club will not let him go unless an offer of £24 Million comes in.

4) Alexandre Pato

Current Club: Ac Milan

Nationality: Brazil

Age: 18

Position: Striker

Player Comparisons: Samuel Eto’o

When people discuss the most deadly forward lines which they do with AC Milan, then for a 18 year old considered to be in that forward line is some fete. It was not until January where he could make his first team appearance for AC Milan. It was when people started realising why he was so talked about prior to his debut. Despite being injured and missing a few weeks off injury, Pato still managed to score 9 goals for the club. The club displayed so much confidence in him that they started him in the Champions league game against Arsenal ahead of the likes of Flippo Inzahgi. He is currently at the Beijing Olympics where he has already spoke off his desire to finish as top scorer.

3) Anderson

Current Club: Man Utd

Nationality: Brazil

Age: 20

Position: Central Midfield

Player Comparisons: Diego Simeone, Paul Scholes

Bought for a fee believed to be around £18 million. Utd have very high hopes for Anderson and will be one of the only youngsters in the world deemed worthy enough to fill in Paul Schole’s boots. A very all rounded midfielder who passed better then any player on this list. He can also tackle and dribble which is rare nowadays for a player of his talent. One issue with Anderson is that he has been quite prone to injuries so he will need to do his best to ensure this doesn’t damage his career.

2) Bojan

Current Club: Barcelona

Nationality: Spain

Age: 17

Position: Striker

Player Comparisons: Raul

800 youth goals for Barcelona should be enough to talk about for Bojan. Already given the number 11 shirt for Barcelona which might suggest he will be in the starting eleven for next season. He scored 12 goals in his 1st senior season for Barcelona. He seems like he wants to stay at the club for his whole career so he could break every goalscoring record the club has much like Bojan did at youth levels.

1) Sergio Aguero

Current Club: Athletico Madrid

Nationality: Argentina

Age: 20

Position: Striker

Player Comparisons: Romario

Seen along with Lionel Messi, the future of Argentinian football. Moving to Athletico Madrid was seen as a massive coup for the club due to the European teams being interested as well. He came to the club with a big reputation and it took him a year to settle in at Madrid where he could show glimpses of his true talent. It was in his second year where he unleashed his full talent terrorising defences everywhere in Spain becoming the La Liga player of the year. Joining Lionel Messi to become the youngest winner of the award in history. Bigger things are expected of him next season as the club are in the Champions League where he can have the perfect stage to demonstrate his talent to the world.

The question however remains as to how many of these players will live up to there potential. It is impossible to answer.

Camisetas LA LIGA

Psycho-Motoric Skills

Apart from physical fitness, strong technique and good mental ability, a football player also needs developed psycho-motoric skills, meaning attention and concentration abilities, multi-tasking, implied perception (ability to perceive in advance), space orientation, information processing (input-output) pace, motoric memory and the like.

In order to illustrate this matter, let us look into the process of information processing and performance of Barcelona’s midfielder, Chavi Hernandez, from the point of receiving the ball to its release- the moment of the pass:

A. Identifying an open space in the direction of a passing angle and moving into it.

B. Realizing that the ball is being passed towards him.

C. Moving his look away from the ball and screening his surroundings.

D. Pointing his look at the ball, while it is half underway, anticipating where it is heading to and its strength in the moment of absorption.

E. Receiving the ball (Almost blind absorption), while taking a look at the surrounding area and estimating potential moves.

F. Passing the ball with supreme accuracy to his teammate or towards an open space, where a teammate is moving to.

Now we can better understand Chavi’s sentence in an interview: «When you arrive in Barcelona as a child, the first thing that you are taught is: think, think, think and fast. From the age of ten you are taught that it is a shame to lose the ball.»

Chavi actually speaks about the brain and thinking functions during physical effort, or in simpler words about training the brain.

In his book «A User’s Guide to the Brain» (Zmora-Bitan Publishers 2005), Dr. John Ratey, Neuro-Psychiatrist from Harvard Medical School, concentrates influential insights with respect to the training perception of athletes:

«Imagine what happens inside your head when you have to make a decision. You receive information from the different brain functions: facts, opinions, thoughts, memories and predicting outcomes. You arrange the fractions of information, add reason test possible results and instruct a response. Phases of this process are based on motorial functions, organizing by sequence, adding analyzing and instructing, the neural networks that work within those processes are those that work in motorial processes». He further emphasizes that: «parts of the brain that are used to organize sequences and timing of cognitive function are the same parts that organize a sequence and timing of physical actions»

These kinds of insights are applicable in an effective manner using psycho-motoric training, which is customized to a player individually. In other words: Since it is possible to train a football player and improve his physical fitness, technique and coordination and, as already known, it is possible to train a chess player to improve his decision making skills, then why won’t we able to train both at the same time?

The talent Potential

Players who are blessed with a god-given talent, like Pele, Johan Cruyff, Maradona, Messi, etc. are also endowed with very rare psycho-motoric skills. One of their distinctive qualities is their ability to think and take the right decision in motion. Taking Eyal Berkovitz as an example, the unique quality which made him such a good player is his ability to pass (that is, to process information pertaining to space) during constant movement, without taking negative effect on the game’s fluency. This kind of skill may sometimes make the difference between good players and very good players and between excellent players to those who are recognized as geniuses.

Coaches use to say that you cannot teach talent. Either you have it or you don’t.

This is true, but think how many talented football players work hard and still are not able to utilize their talent potential to the fullest?

A football player, who has a tendency for «attention lapses» (‘disconnections’) may perform critical mistakes out of momentary lack of attention, no matter how talented he may be. Motivation alone or hard training will not spare the distress from the player and coach. We are talking about a neurological pattern, which the player has hardly any effect on. The first step towards the solution of this problem is the development of consciousness and awareness of these «disconnections» and the second step is a pinpoint interference/ training dedicated to attention. A football player’s attention and concentration skills have also an effect on the amount of mental effort that he invests for keeping up his concentration along the game.

Obviously physical fitness has an effect on this issue, but even if we start out from the assumption that the player has an adequate physical fitness, symptoms of mental fatigue will often be noticeable. When a player performs very well on the first half and totally disappears from field on the second half, this cannot always be attributed to his physical fitness. Players that performed psycho-motoric training for several months have reported not only of improvement and better focus in the game, but also of their feeling «fresh» for longer time. This does not come as a surprise. The human brain reacts to training to the same extent that the body muscles react to training.

Coachers often complain about players who do not pass the ball, when this appears from the coacher’s side to be the best and simplest option. Consequently the coach blames the player with being egoistic. This may well be the case, but in some cases this situation is caused by the player seeing the movement, but not processing the spatial information. More than once this is the same player, who was «reading» the field and made excellent passes during the first half.

This phenomenon has simple explanation: The attentive and physical effort, which the player needs to invest in this stage of the game «locks» the ability in his mind to anticipate moves and «read» the field. We know that in a certain stage of the game the first skills to be degraded are the highest skills of the brain, meaning: Vision of the game field, anticipating moves and decision making. In that stage we (coach, players, fans) do the same mistake and ask the single question, which the player cannot answer- Why didn’t you pass the ball?

Psycho-Motoric Training

Attention and concentration difficulties do not result from malfunctioning of one area or another, but from deficient balance of the system as a whole. Scientists identified four different components in the attention system, which are responsible altogether for the brain’s general capability to inspect its surroundings: arousal, motorial orientation, detection of innovations and rewards and operational organization. These components do not operate separately from one another or in a way that is not connected to motoric activity. This stands behind the rational and necessity for a combined training: motoric, attentive and cognitive.

Example:

A player is passing the ball to another player standing 4.5 meters in front of him and at the same time receives from the later a tennis ball thrown to his hand. They both exchange ball passes and throws. I stand behind a player and ask him to find the exact point of time (timing) between passing the ball by foot and catching the tennis ball by hand, which will make it possible for him to turn to his back and specify the number of fingers, which I am «flashing» to him. Of course that the motoric activities, the quality of the pass, catching and passing the tennis ball are regarded as first priority. If the player fails to divert his look at the right time, he has to restrain the impulse (Impulsiveness restraint), let go and give up (decision making under moderate pressure) turning his head backwards, so as not to degrade the quality of his passes. In a more advanced stage of the training, I will ask the player to apply an addition operation on the number of fingers shown in two consecutive flashes (information processing, input-output).

The more the player’s skills improve, the more it is possible to increase the exercise’s level of complexity. By the time I feel that the player has achieved a good level of performance and is doing it effortlessly, I will ask him to make his pulse rise to a game’s level and then repeat the exercise. Later on he will be asked to perform the exercise in a state of fatigue.

When a player has reached the point where he accomplishes complex attentive and sensual motorial challenges without extra effort and with fluency, I will include in the exercises cognitive challenges which require: spatial memory, pulling out of information, planning, imagination, etc. This is the way to train a player to think faster, with better focus and improve his decision making in the game.

Ratey writes in his book «A User’s Guide to the Brain» (Zmora-Bitan Publishers 2005):

«The amazing flexibility of the human brain enables it to rewire itself all the time and to learn – Not only by means of academic study, but also through experience, thinking, action and sensation. We can strengthen our neurological paths, as well as our muscles by training the brain or else let them degenerate. The principle is the same: «What is not used gets lost!»

Example

The player walks in a course which goes along the number 8 shape and focuses his view in the coach who stands in front of him, in the middle of the 8 shape.

From there the coach passes him 3 juggling balls in different colours. Now the player starts walking and focuses his view in the balls coming to him rapidly. He is catching at one hand and passing the ball back by the other hand in a circular movement.

In this stage the training is motorial, sensual and attentive only.

When the coach passes the ball, he names a colour, which sometimes matches to the colour of the ball and sometimes not. The player needs to go on with the required sequence of actions and respond by saying «yes» whenever the ball colour matches to what the coach had said and saying «no» whenever the colour does not match to what the coach had said (of course that the coach controls the pace of passing and therefore the exercise’s intensity). Now the training has become two-fold: motorial, sensual, attentive and cognitive. The player is required not only to observe whether the verbal part fits or differs from the ongoing activity (information processing), he also has to keep doing this over time and under pressure.

The psycho-motoric training is divided to general training, which fits to every kind of sports and to specific training, which is adjusted to the specific nature of a certain sports field and in cases of group sports also adjusted to the role of the player in the team. Each of the above training categories is exercised under multiple conditions:

A. Regular, while the player is still fresh.

B. Intensive, during effort (after getting the pulse rise)

C. Under fatigue conditions.

The training conditions are changed in order to train the brain to maximal flexibility and simulate as much as possible real situations from the game. The training also includes working on right breathing in various situations, simulations and «anchoring exercises'», which help with concentration and speedier recovery after effort. Eventually all training activity is intended to fulfill the bottom line that was expressed by Johan Cruiff: «The finest football is simple football; but simple football is the most difficult to play». And yes, you play football with your mind.

Camisetas REAL BETIS

Eurogames want to offer a high-quality sport event to the gay and lesbian sports community and fight against discrimination into sport because of sexual preferences. This amazing event will involve around 30,000 people and will transform Barcelona into the European capital of sport and homosexual culture. It will consist of 28 sporting events together with a wide range of cultural and leisure activities based in and around the city.

One of the most ambitious goals at this EuroGames is to motivate lesbian women to participate in competition for achieving equal representation of male and female participants.

The Opening Ceremony of the EuroGames will be celebrated on Thursday July 24th at 21:00 in the Palau Sant Jordi, the Oplympic Pavilion. It will be a ceremony of light, music and emotions to say a big welcome to the 5000 athletes who will be part of the 12th. edition of the EuroGames. Àngel Llaser (a famous Spanish TV presenter), the Gospel Barcelona Choir, Gema Castaño and the finalist of the 08 Edition of OT (Spanish version of Star Academy) will take part of this amazing opening show. It is an open ceremony to everybody!

There are 28 sport disciplines, Olympic facilities to enjoy the competition, a secondary base at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a lot of extra activities for athletes’ companions. Some of the sports are aerobic, badminton, ballroom dancing, basketball, volleyball, bowling, cycling, football. Handball, hockey, running, squash, swimming, waterpolo and much more!

The closing ceremony will take place in the Plaça dels Àngels. An act that will want to be a denounce against those situations of vulnerability of the human rights that many LGTB people suffer.

There will be two special parties for this Eurogames: in the evening of Saturday the 26th it will celebrate the Big Party of the EuroGames in the Park of Forum with two spaces with different music. The other will be the Woman Party, with the best DJs of the moment and just for women in the Poble Espanyol.

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