Futbol: Últimas noticias de Hoy

Chelsea FC again at the weekend proved their superiority over their counterpart Arsenal FC; thanks to the brace by their talisman, Didier Drogba. The match was tagged a grudges match by Arsenal fans having lost at home 0-3 to us in the first round of the season.

Arsenal provoked us last season by beating us 2-1 in the first round of the season at Stamford Bridge courtesy of 2 great goals by Fabregas. Ever since they have lost 3 straight games against us- they lost 1-4 at Emirates stadium in the second half of last season, 0-3 again in the first half of this season and the 0-2 loss yesterday. We beat them home and away this season.

The match had started on a good note for them, with the boys attacking seriously and showing some flair. They had revenge at the back of their mind to prove to the world that their loss to us in the first half was by error. But before the 10th minute of the first half the pendulum of victory was already swinging in our direction; Didier Drogba had netted the first goal thereby putting the Arsenal players under intense pressure The first half ended 1 goal in our favour, but the second half saw more fire works by the visiting team.

Our goal keeper Petr Cech proved too had a nut to crack; cordoned off the post making it practically impossible for the Arsene Wenger boys to score. The more they tried to equalize the farther the match got beyond them. And before anyone could say Jack Robinson, Didier Drogba had added a second goal for Chelsea thereby sealing the victory for us. Arsenal were lucky that his free kick hit the cross bar for what would have made it a hat trick for Drogba. The free kick was professionally taken and of course Arsenal’s goal stood rooted to the ground as the watched the ball return after hitting the cross bar.

By his performance at the weekend Drogba has shown that we missed him while he was away on national assignment during the Nations’ cup tournament in Angola. Wayne Rooney gave him a gap on the scorers’ list because of his days of absence from the league, but he has announced his comeback by scoring in his last 2 games. He may catch up again and possibly overtake Rooney to get the top scorer award. Chelsea is really making tremendous progress as far as the contest to this year’s premier league title is concerned; and now that they are playing more compact football, I believe they can win the league again and stop Manchester United from getting the title for the fourth time in a roll.

Facts about soccer can be very interesting especially to the soccer fans that are dying to have better knowledge about the game. The game is adored by millions and millions of people in the world. Football is a very interesting sport, thus, it is best to know some facts and trivia on this widely known contact game. A lot of its fans claim that this game is their favorite sport, but if you ask them about some facts on the sport they cannot provide answers. There are a lot of football facts that fans, enthusiasts and even players can discover.

Soccer facts are helpful in understanding and appreciating the most watched and most played contact sport in the world. Knowing such facts makes a lot of difference to a fan or player. The fans then will not just settle for cheering and yelling for their favorite team. Instead, they will begin advocating the real essence of each game. One fact, playing the game with a great deal of dedication and sportsmanship, is an essential principle that can change the way a player perceives the sport. Knowledge is indeed power. It makes a player, whether pro or amateur, more appreciative of the game. It makes the player see beyond winning.

Facts about soccer are very helpful in molding future soccer stars. It is best that these aspiring youngsters know the origin of the game, the famous teams through the years as well as all the strategies to gain useful insights. These facts can provide a new avenue for players, fans and coaches to empower themselves and put a better direction to their soccer dreams.

On Sunday, the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia reached a grand finale with France hoisting the coveted gold trophy after beating Croatia 4-2. And soon the new season of the English Premier League will kick off as are other leagues in Europe. For soccer lovers, these are exciting times!

What is of more interest to me though is how all the transnational players that ply their trade in these lucrative leagues communicate effectively. I mean how do their coaches manage to get the message across on the training field to all these players of different nationalities? Could it be that a player that speaks many languages has more chances for success in these cutthroat competitive leagues than those who don’t?

Multilingualism gives one an edge over others

Oh yes, multilingualism gives one an edge over others. Arsene Wenger who was at the helm of Arsenal FC for 22 years became hugely successful not only because of his coaching nous but also because of his ability to speak many languages. Monsieur Wenger speaks six languages fluently: French, English, Japanese, German, Italian and Spanish. This ability helped him to transmit his ideas clearly and easily to the players who could not speak English. For example, when he signed Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona in 2003, the latter didn’t speak or understand a word of English. Thus Wenger always interacted with him in Spanish. He also encouraged him to learn English and by the time Fabregas left the club, he was bilingual; very fluent in English and Spanish.

Wenger’s realization that the ability to speak many languages helps players to bond and understand the world and football philosophy better saw him advocate for language learning in Arsenal’s youth setup. The benefits from this quickly spilled over so much that everyone knows about the «Arsenal way», which is basically about Arsenal’s synergy; Arsenal players having a bond akin to one close family as well allowing their feet to speak a language of their own on the field by playing quick, beautiful and aesthetic football that is hard to imitate.

Also the fact that football managers and players that are multilingual have been hugely successful wherever they have plied their trade shows that speaking many languages is a huge plus. For example, Pep Guardiola who has been very successful in Spain, Germany and England as a manager speaks German, English, Catalan, Spanish and Italian. Jose Mourinho who is also one of the most successful football managers speaks Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and English fluently.

Cristiano Ronaldo who has four times won the Fifa Ballon d’Or as the best player in the world speaks Portuguese, Spanish and English, whereas Manchester United star Romelu Lukaku who was born in Belgium but has Congolese roots is fluent in six languages: Dutch, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Swahili.

All these coaches and players are hugely successful because their ability to speak many languages helps them to easily receive and internalize messages. It gives them that extra edge and boosts their confidence. They can easily settle into many geographical realms and feel at home, thanks to their ability to easily interact with the natives of those areas.

As people continue to intermarry and travel, being multilingual becomes a necessary skill that comes with many opportunities. Moreover, many countries today have more than one official national language, thus those unable to communicate in at least two or more major languages such as English, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic or Hindi, will soon be left behind in a world that gets more complex and competitive with every passing day. However, translation companies have also kicked in to save the day with services like Somali translation services, Yoruba translation Services, Malagasy translation services, Africa Conference Interpreters among many others.

FC Barcelona travelled down to Villarreal on Saturday night for week 21 of this season’s Spanish League. The «yellow submarines» as they are known to their fans are way down at the bottom of the table in the relegation zone and things have not been looking too good for them. Out of 19 matches played prior to meeting Barcelona they had won just four, with seven draws and eight losses.

In comparison, FC Barcelona had 13 wins, with five draws and just a single loss. Also take a look at the number of goals: just 18 for Villarreal compared with Barcelona’s 59. Therefore on paper, it should have been an easy win for Barcelona, whose morale should have been high after eliminating Real Madrid from the Copa del Rey during the week.

However, football isn’t about stats and it isn’t fought on paper; it’s what happens on the pitch that counts and in the event, there were few real chances to score. Villarreal’s goalkeeper seemed to be in good form when Barcelona were on target, and the defence of the yellow submarines was solid, so creating those opportunities was tough. The first half offered few opportunity for Barça, and while Villarreal did create several chances to attack the Barcelona goal nothing ultimately came of it.

When the teams came out of the second half Villarreal were looking slightly more urgent, but it was Barcelona who controlled the play. However, despite having high possession of the ball, they were unable to do anything with it that counted. It wasn’t really until the last ten minutes of the match that Barça had some good opportunities to score and it looked like they would take the three points. However, it just didn’t happen and the match ended goalless.

The result was disappointing for Barcelona, who were already trailing Real Madrid by five points. With Real Madrid winning their match on Saturday it now leaves Barcelona seven points behind and it’s starting to look as if la liga is out of their reach. While theoretically they aren’t out of the race, it’ll take some poor results from Madrid to turn that around for them. It remains to be seen whether misfortune will strike Madrid so hard. While their first match against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey quarter final was won comfortably by Barcelona, the return leg was nowhere near so close and in fact Barcelona was lucky to draw 2-2 and qualify; now that they are out of contention for the Copa del Rey, Madrid’s focus can remain on the domestic and European trophies.

Sri Lanka ended the first day of the third test against Sri Lanka, at 293/4. Samaraweera on 75 not out represents the main threat to India’s well being, on day two. He has company in Mathew. Batting on 26, Mathew has been at the wicket long enough to have gauged it.

So unless the batsmen do something silly, or the bowlers bowl exceedingly well, the scoreboard seems to weigh in Sri Lanka’s favour. But on a wicket that had a little more help for bowlers than the pitch in the 2nd test match at the SSC ground, neither side can be said to have a definite advantage, at this stage.

Sri Lanka will be looking to take the total to 450 and beyond. India will try and keep Sri Lanka down to less than 400. The funny thing about most international cricket played these days is that nobody, neither the expert commentators nor the curator, knows exactly how the wicket is going to behave.

So when the batsmen dominate the bowlers, should we give credit to the batsmen, or say the bowlers did a bad job, or that the wicket was unhelpful? A clue could be found in the manner of dismissals. A soft dismissal, or in other words a wicket that wasn’t deserved by the bowler, often indicates a change in fortunes.

To that extent, Dilshan’s needless run out on the last ball before lunch would qualify. But thereafter, neither Sangakkara nor Mahela J had much trouble negotiating the bowling. Notwithstanding the odd Ojha delivery beating the bat. Then came Sangakkara’s dismissal. Definitely, a soft dismissal. From a position of relative comfort at 102/1, Sri Lanka were 157/3. This is where Indian bowlers should have come to the party and didn’t. So, if we assume that the wicket was helpful, we must blame the bowlers.

Looking at the big picture, we see that as many as three top order batsmen lost their wickets when they were set. They went for fifties and failed to make hundreds that were there for the asking. That must be a consolation for India. Because they have got 4 top order batsmen out, and an early wicket in the morning could help dismiss Sri Lanka before lunch.

Rahul Dravid has not made many runs in this series and he is due for a big one. India will need all the grafting they can muster if as the experts would have us believe there is something in this wicket for bowlers. So this could be ‘advantage India’ if they manage to see the Sri Lankan innings to its end by lunch.

From Sri Lanka’s point of view, the LBW shouts on the day should mean good news, as Mendis has the ability to make the ball skid. No matter what the Indian batsmen say about having sorted Mendis out, the fact remains that he got 4 wickets in the last Indian innings, and India have lost 30 wickets in three innings.

So the longer Sri Lanka bat, the bigger the worries for the Indian batsmen. Is it just me, or does everyone see something funny in the way India get lucky with the toss when they play at home, and Sri Lanka get lucky likewise when they are the hosts.

The nature of wickets in both countries is similar. Yet, the batsmen of both teams, champions at home, seem to flounder when they play at the rival’s grounds, if it is not 100% batsman friendly. Is it the crowd support for the hosts, or some psychological aspect of the tourists that makes this happen?