FIFA BALLON D'OR TONIGHT! [UPDATED]

2011 Best Player in the World:

• Lionel Messi (Barcelona, ARGENTINA)
• Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona, SPAIN)
• Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, PORTUGAL)

2011 Best Coach in the World:

• Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)
• Josep "Pep" Guardiola (Barcelona)
• Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid)

2011 Best Woman Player in the World:

• Marta (Western New York Flash, BRAZIL)
• Homare Sawa (INAC Kobe Leonessa, JAPAN)
• Abby Wambech (MagicJack, USA)

2011 Best Coach for Women's Team in the World:

• Bruno Bini (France)
• Norio Sasaki (Japan)
• Pia Sundhage (USA) [Sundhage is Swedish]

FIFA Puskas Award (Best Goal of the Year):

• Lionel Messi (Goal against Arsenal)
• Neymar (Goal against Flamengo)
• Wayne Rooney (Goal against Man City)

FIFA/FIFPro First XI

Team Formation : 4-3-3

Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)

Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Dani Alves (Barcelona)

Midfielders: Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid)

Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

FIFA Presidential Award - Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United Coach)

FIFA Fair Play Award - Japan National Football Team 

Cheers!

FA Cup 3rd Round: Manchester Derby!!! (8.1.2012)

Pre-Game 

Greeting the new year with a big match, probably one of England's biggest match.  Manchester City will play Manchester United in the Etihad Stadium tonight!  This is an important match since it's only one round, unless if the match ends up with a draw.  United will be looking for a win to gain back their form after the two defeats and to wash out their humiliation after the disaster in Old Trafford on Sunday 23rd 2011 when City burned the 10-man United team with a score of 6-1 victory.  While City will also want to beat up Sir Alex's team again in order to continue their quest on winning the FA Cup once again.

I looked at the predicted line-up and I see that Man City are more ready for this match, partly because very few players are injured.  On the other side, United will struggling with uncountable injuries they have to deal with, which is a factor that will make United to have a hard game tonight.  Although City might not be on their top form, but they should be able to grab a win against their rival, as they shown that they are still strong by beating Liverpool last week.  United should also use the lesson they learn from the last defeat to overcome the blue giant.  I believe that Sir Alex mind has the ability to overcome Mancini's team, but I don't know if United team actually has the ability to follow Sir Alex's plan.

This should be one great match that you should not miss.  Another great thing about this match is they play 20:00 in Thai time which is not so late unlike usual big games.  I still believe City will be able to grab the victory tonight, but I'm sure too that it won't be easy as the last one.

Prediction: Manchester City 2-0 Manchester United


After Match


Well, I guess that my result was pretty off.  Well played, United, although there were a lot of ref's decisions that just looked really odd.  This is still a very fun game, it showed that 10-man City can still be close to the level of Man United's 11.  Paul Scholes' come back was actually epic, for a moment, but still showed that getting a retired midfield isn't a good idea.  But for this emergency situation, getting Scholes back might be a good idea.

Chris Foy, the referee, made a lot of epic actions last night which I, personally, seen that many decisions were just "bullsh*t".  Kompany's red card and Jones' handball (not foul against United) seem to be the two that were the most controversial.  I bet that Chelsea and Tottenham fans still not forget the legacy of Chris Foy, right?  Apart from the referee's part, I think United played very well on their counter-attack, which was brilliant.  Rooney's goal surprise me a lot since it was United's first attempt and it came from counter-attack.  Welbeck's goal was also brilliant and also Rooney's header after he missed the penalty.

It seemed that Mancini might have too much confident against United (maybe because of the '1-6' match), that's why he decided to drop a lot of players and even their magical goalkeeper, Joe Hart.  You should know by heart that against United, you really need a big team.  I doubt that testing younglings in such a big match should have been a good idea.  While Man United's players' confident brought them to the victory, congrats.  Anyhow, both team played really well and should received a high amount of applauses.

Final Score: Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United 


Goalscorers:


Manchester City
Aleksandar Kolarov 48' (Freekick)
Sergio Aguero 64' (James Milner Assisted)


Manchester United
Wayne Rooney 10' (Antonio Valencia Assisted)
Danny Welbeck 30'
Wayne Rooney 40'

Important Notice


Vincent Kompany (MC) sent off 11'

Manchester United: WTF IS WRONG WITH THEM?

The best team ever in England?  Yeah I guess so, they won the most Premiership and FA Cup.  One of the strongest in Europe?  Probably, they reached in pretty far every season and won 3 times.  A team full of superstars?  Yeah of course, they got a lot of world-class players.  Team with one of the best coach?  Ah yes, Sir Alex Ferguson is a legend for MU fans.

Manchester United has been dominating the English Premier League throughout 20 to 30 years and even now.  Last year marked them as the team that won the most Premiership in England, in the order word, best team in England yet.  Before the season started, everyone expected them to be the favorite for the 2011-12 season.  Man United won all the friendlies during the pre-season and even an amazing comeback against their local rival in the Community Shield (3-2).  They started off the season fresh, beating Tottenham (3-0), Arsenal (8-2), Bolton (5-0), Chelsea (3-1) and many other big teams.  Sir Alex's test of younglings in the team does showed him that it worked out pretty well.  Wayne Rooney was a scoring machine whom once a top scorers and several hattricks.  Throughout the season, Man United has shown that they are one dominant team in England.

Everything started to change when they draw the first game with Stoke.  It was an unnecessary draw, but it still happened.  That was time when a stock of players starting to get injured including a lot of rising stars, playmakers, and defenders.  Man United didn't perform that well after the draw, but they still gain victories although without a massive score line.  Situation showed the poor quality of team when they were defeated by Manchester City in Old Trafford is a surprising score of 1-6.  As Man City were taking the top, United struggled with both league and European games.  Man United performed poorly in the UEFA Champions League with only 2 win, 3 close-shaved draws, and one loss.  The poor performance cost them the qualification and made them playing in the Europa League instead.  Pretty surprising right?  A team that went to the Champions League final last year ended up in the Europa League this year.  Man United were really unstable lately. Some matches they won by like 5 goals but were defeated in their recent two matches.

I think this is a serious problem for the league champion, although Sir Alex deny it.  Injuries play some role in Man United's drop in form but I think the mentality and encouragement has the bigger role.  By going to Europa League, this might hurt the players' esteem and feeling since this is a real surprise.  A lot of players retired earlier this season which forced Sir Alex to play the younglings.  With a lot of injuries, Sir Alex has to fix the team by putting in new players and manage the new type of formation and play style.  I think that by putting Rooney and Jones as a midfield is a big mistake for Man United.  Alex Ferguson should set up a new permanent play style for his squad and start winning like before.  As the form of the team becomes stable, this will give more encouragement to the team.  I don't think buying new superstars will help the team that much when there are no permanent style of play.  If you watch Man United playing, you will notice that their playing style are "messy" lately.  This problem should be fix as soon as possible.

Anyway, this Sunday, Manchester United will have a chance to revenge their local rival after their humiliate defeat.  Although I really believe that Manchester City will win, but it should be another fun and a must-watch FA Cup match of the season.

SUNDAY MEGA-FOOTBALL
FA Cup 3rd Round
Manchester City vs Manchester United
20:00 (Thai Time)

Photo Credit: Zimbio

Manchester City vs Liverpool (3.1.2012)

Pre-Game


Honestly, this is a tricky match of the English Premier League.  Manchester City is going on their "flop" form where they can hardly score goals and starting drawing and losing in the game that they are dominant over their opponent.  The game that they drew with West Brom and the game when Sunderland scored the last-minute 'offside' goal against Man City on Sunday has shown that there are something that needs to be lecture with Mancini's men.  While Liverpool, they didn't seem to dominated most of the previous games, but the 3-1 victory over NewCastle on Friday should bring back the confidence for Dalglish's squad.

Back in times around October, if the two were to face in the Etihad Stadium, there would be no doubt that Man City is likely the favorite over Liverpool.  But during the Premier League games-marathon in the New Year times has change a lot of things for many big teams.  For Man City's last game, I think the problem was their lack of 'accurate' finish.  Edin Dzeko didn't perform his superb form like the beginning of the season while Sergio Aguero didn't really get much chances to grab the ball and shoot.  I don't know if Mancini will actually play other forward such as Mario Ballotelli instead of Dzeko tonight, but the problem on finishing have to be fix as soon as possible.

This will like being a tight game since both teams will be looking for a win.  If Man City wins, they will be in 3 points lead in front of Manchester United in the race to be the league champion.  If Liverpool wins, they will gain higher chance on being in the top 4 teams.  I expected this match to be a rather "boring" one which much of defense and counters.  However, since they are playing at the Etihad, I doubt that Man City will have a hard time, but the pressure are on the team too.  This might end up as Man City wins but probably win like a goal, the worst case should be a draw.

Prediction: Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool


After Match


To put the description of the 90 minutes game into a short phrase; Manchester City dominated the game.  They performed brilliantly for the entire game and seemed to improve from previous matches where they struggled.  Liverpool, no surprisingly, performed pretty poor when facing Man City.  Downing and Adam seemed to have the most role in the first half.  The two teams played out very well until Aguero's first goal. The goal put Liverpool into pressure that eventually Liverpool were defeated in a "City's Game".  Although Liverpool made more shots but they weren't accurate enough to beat Joe Hart.

The game showed that Manchester City is still a better team than Liverpool by levels and they are still strong and always ready to grab the Premier League trophy.  Anyway, Manchester City and Liverpool will play each other again in a 2-legged Carling Cup semi-final on Jan 12th (Etihad) and Jan 26th (Anfield.)

Final Score: Manchester City 3-0 Liverpool

Goalscorer:
Manchester City
Sergio Aguero 10' (David Silva Assisted)
Yaya Toure 33' (David Silva Assisted)
James Milner 75' (Penalty)

Liverpool
-