[hockey] Netherlands Wins Women's Euro Hockey Nation's Championship

Netherlands won the women's Euro Hockey Nations Championship defeating Germany 3-2 in the final tonight. England defeated Spain 2-1 to get the bronze. The result was just a copy of the previous edition in Manchester in 2007 where the top four positions were the same.
In classification round Ireland and Russia got the fifth and sixth positions respectively to retain their spot in the next championship. Scotland and Ajerbaijan are relegated to the trophy for the next time.
In Men's section Austria and Poland are relegated with a match to be played between themselves. Belgium and France retained their positions. In the final Germany will face England and Spain will play for bronze against Netherlands.

[hockey] Germany and England in Euro Hockey Nations Championship Final

Germany and England reached the final of the men's edition of Euro Hockey Nations Cup being held in Amsterdam. England won the first semifinal against Netherlands by a goal at the end of the extra time. They took the lead in the first half but Netherlands equalized in the second. In the extra time the match seemed to be running towards the penalty shootout. However at the end of the match England scored a goal to win 2-1. The goal was the last movement on the field. In the second semifinal, Germany defeated Spain 2-1. Germany were leading 1-0 in the first half. Spain then equalized from a penalty stroke, but the Germans scored the winning goal converting a penalty corner. Both the finalists of last year are thus thrown out of their challenge for the gold.
In the women's section the the defending champions Germans will face Netherlands. Germany defeated England 2-1 in the extra  time while Netherlands thrashed Spain 5-1 in the other semifinal.
The women's final will be held today at 1600 hrs local time (1930 IST) and the men's final will be held tomorrow at the same time.
The matches will be streamed live HERE.

[football] Barcelona Wins UEFA Super Cup

Barcelona won the UEFA super cup defeating Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 in the match played in Monaco. The match between the the champions of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup (currently known as Europa League) was the treat to the viewers as it was expected. The match was goalless till the 115th minute when Pedro scored for the European and Spanish champions.
Barcelona took to the field with almost the best combination of their team with only Iniesta and Marquez missing from the squad due to their injuries. However, even though they dominated the ball possession, they could not find the goal in the full time of the match. In the first half Barcelona had almost 75% of ball possession but the attackers seemed to be clueless in front of the Shakhtar defenders. In the second half they showed more penetration but could not find the goal. Just at the end of the 90 minutes Messi made a great solo effort but was defended at the last moment by Kucher which prompted some frustrated reaction from Messi and both of them got yellow cards. After the regulation time was over Barcelona came back rejuvenated but the Ukrainians defended strongly. Guardiola put in some fresh legs with Bojan, Busquets and Pedro coming in for Henry, Yaya Toure and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. At the 25th minute of the extra time Pedro came in from the left and passed the ball to Messi, who gave a great pass clearing 3 defenders standing close. Pedro took the pass and scored the goal with a great finish. All the goals in this season so far of the Barcelona team were scored by homegrown players with Pedro showing great skills throughout the pre season also.
It is the second trophy for Barcelona after they won the Spanish Super Cup this Sunday. Now Barcelona start their Spanish League campaign on Monday against Sporting Gijon.

Dmytro Chygrynski played his last match for Shakhtar Donetsk with his transfer to Barcelona most probably being confirmed tomorrow.

[football] Nehru Cup: Sri Lanka Lose; India in Final

Sri lanka lost their last league match against Kyrgyzstan to lose any chance of qualifying for the final. Kyrgyzstan who were winless in their last 3 matches put up a nice show of football and won the match 4-1. At the end of the first half Kyrgyzstan were leading 2-0 with the goals from Anton Zemlihanuin at the 34th minute and Ilder Admirov at the 45th minute. At the beginning of the second half Sri Lanka striked back through captain SKCM Weerasinghe. However the hope of a comeback suffered a setback when Mirlan Murzaev scored a goal at the 65th minute to increase the lead to 3-1. Rustem Usanov sealed the result with a goal at the 70th minute.
The result makes the last match between India and Syria a as both of them have already qualified for the final. However, the match will be great practice match for both and can be used to judge the opponents. Last edition of the tournament saw these two teams playing the final where India won. However, in the league stage match Syria did manage a win.

For More News on ONGC Nehru Cup Click HERE


points tally:
Syria 9 (GD +7)
India 6 (GD +2)
Kyrgyzstan 4 (GD 0)
Lebanon 4 (GD -1)
Srilanka 3 (GD -8)

[tennis] Pilot Pen Open: Both Top Seeds Lose In Quarters

The top seeds Nikolay Davydenko and Svetlana Kuznetsova both lost their matches in the quarter finals of the Pilot Pen Open tennis tournament in New Haven. Davydenko lost to 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to Sam Querrey. The American, who defeated Andy Roddick last week in Cincinnati masters, continued his class performance this week too and will face Jose Acasuso who defeated Florent Serra 7-5, 6-4. Second seed Fernando Verdasco reached the semifinal defeating Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-1 and will face Igor Andreev. The Russian defeated Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3.
In women's section, Kuznetsova lost to former world no 1 Amelie Mauresmo 6-7(9), 6-2, 3-6. Mauresmo will now face Elena Vesnina who defeated Ana Chakvetadze 6-1,7-5. Defending champion and second seed Caroline Wozniacki will face third seed Flavia Penneta  in the other semifinal. Caroline defeated Verginie Razzano 6-4, 6-3 and Pennetta got the better of Magdalena Ryberikova 6-2, 6-2.

semifinal line up:
men's:
Sam Querrey vs Jose Acusaso   H2H: 1-0
Fernando Verdasco vs Igor Andreev   H2H: 3-1

women's:
Amelie Mauresmo vs Elena Vesnina   H2H: 1-0
Caroline Wozniacki vs Flavia Pennetta    H2H: 1-0

[football] Chygrinsky, Sneijder, Robben on Way For New Clubs

The transfer market finally sprang up a few big names after a few almost eventless days. Now standing at the end of the transfer window, which closes on 31st August, the clubs are either offloading their extras or just putting finishing touches to their lineup.
Dmytro Chygrynsky is a name that had been linked the European champions Barcelona for a long time but his club Shakhtar Donetsk had resisted the attempt so far. But finally the deal goes through and the announcement is likely to be made by saturday. Ironically Chygrynsky is going to play his last match for Shakhtar on friday in the European Super Cup match against Barcelona. The deal is believed to be around 25 million euros.
After long resistence, Real Madrid duo Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben are almost forced out of the squad as they go to Italy and Germany respectively. Sneijder will join Italian champions Inter Milan and Robben will go to Bayern Munich. It is believed Sneijder was transferred for 15 million euro and Robben for 25 million euro.
The transfer of Robben to Bayern seems to be done to increase the chances of Real landing Bayern star Franck Ribery in future.
In a move in England, Manchester City captain Richard Dunne is being sold to Aston Villa. City, who signed high costing central defenders in Kolo Toure and Juleon Lescott claimed that they would keep Dunne as the captain for this season too. However Dunne may not lose the captain's armband as it is believed that Aston Villa may make him the captain after Gareth Barry was transferred to Manchester City. Their current captain, Petrov, may have to let Dunne takehis position.
One of Real Madrid's new signings Alvaro Negredo was sold to Sevilla earlier this week.

[football] Champions League Groups Decided; Barcelona, Inter in Same Pool

The groups for the UEFA Champions League is decided by the UEFA tonight. The draw pits some mouth-watering clashes in prospect the most important of which will be Barcelona and Inter Milan where Ibrahimovic and Eto'o will face each other with the colour of the jersey being exchanged. Another clash of titans from Spain and  Italy will be when Real Madrid and AC Milan face each other. The toughest looking group seems to be the group D where Chelsea, Porto and Atletico Madrid will face FC Zurich. Sevilla and Arsenal drew easier groups with the unfancied clubs while the surprise package in pot 4 WFL Wolfsberg drew better than they could have been in with Manchester United seeming to be the only big team in their group.
The programme also saw the selection of the best players in European club football where Barcelona dominated.  Edwin Van der Sar was the best goalkeeper contesting Victor Valdes and Petr Cech. John Terry was selected to be better than Gerrard Pique and Nemanja Vidic to be the best defender. In the midfield, Xavi was adjudged the best above his country and clubmate Iniesta and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard while Lionel Messi was, as expected the best striker putting down the fight from greatest rival Christiano Ronaldo and earlier teammate Samuel Eto'o. Finally Messi was adjudged the best European Club Player of the year.

groups:
Group A: Bayern Munich, Juvetus, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa.
Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moskow, Besiktas, VFL Wolfsberg.
Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Olympic Marseille, FC Zurich.
Group D: Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL Nicosia.
Group E: Liverpool, Olympic Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecan.
Group F: Barcelona, Inter, Dynamo Kiev, Rubin Kazan.
Group G: Sevilla, Rangers, VFB Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni.
Group H: Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Standard Liege.


Matchday 1 takes place on 15/16 September, with fixtures continuing on 29/30 September, 20/21 October, 3/4 November, 24/25 November and 8/9 December. The top two sides from each section will progress to the first knockout round.

[football] Nehru Cup: Syria Defeats Lebanon, Reaches Final

Syria defeated Lebanon in their third match of the Nehru Cup to ensure their position in the final of the ONGC Nehru Cup in New Delhi. Lebanon, who needed a win from this match to have a chance for the final spot, tried hard but could not resist the Syrian from keeping their all win record in the tournament so far. The runners up of the previous edition of the tournament, won the match by  the only goal of Mohammad Al Zeno at the 23rd minute of the match. The result of the match almost ensured a rematch of the last edition's final this time too as India too will qualify unless they lose to Syria by a huge margin and Sri Lanka defeats Kyrgyzstan by a similarly huge margin. The goal difference of the Sri Lankan team must improve by 7 with respect to the hosts India. Sri Lanka play their match tomorrow while the last league match between last time's finalists will be held on the next day.
The live streaming of the match can be seen here at the time of the match (1830 hrs IST).

For More News on ONGC Nehru Cup Click HERE


points tally:
Syria 9 (GD +7)
India 6 (GD +2)
Lebanon 4 (GD -1)
Srilanka 3 (GD -5)
Kyrgyzstan 1 (GD -3)

** Every team other than Lebanon have played 3 matches. Lebanon has played four.

[hockey] No Major Surprises in Euro Hockey Nations Championship

The Euro Hockey Nations Championship, which is going on in Amsterdam did not spring up any major surprise in men's or women's section at the end of the first round. Spain, Netherlands, England and Germany reached the semis of the eight nation event in both sections. In women's section Netherlands will face Spain and Germany will face England tonight.While in Men's section Netherlands face England and Spain to face Germany tomorrow. Last time's surprise bronze medalist Belgium could not qualify this time losing their matches to Germany (2-3) and England (2-8) in men's section. In women's side the semifinallists are the same as they were 2 years ago. Netherlands and Germany are the defending champions in men's and women's section respectively.

In men's section Belgium, France, Poland and Austria will compete for the last 4 spots while in women's section Russia, Scotland, Azerbaijan and Ireland will fight to avoid the wooden spoon.

[football] Arsenal Qualifies For Group Stage of Champions League

Arsenal defeated Celtic 3-1 in the second leg match to qualify for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. They had earlier won the first leg 2-0 .
Brazilian forward Eduardo scored the first goal from a penalty at the 28th minute and then Emanuel Eboue and Denilson added two more goals in the second half. Donati got the consolation goal for Celtic at the end of the match.
Fiorentina drew 1-1 against Sporting Lisbon at home after drawing the away match 2-2 and thus qualified on the basis of away goals.
For the results of the first leg click HERE
results:
Arsenal 3-1 Celtic (overall 5-1)
goals: (Eduardo 28', Ebue 53', Denilson 74') (M Donati 90')


Fiorentina 1-1 Sporting Lisbon  (overall 3-3)  Fiorentina qualifies on the basis of away goals.
goals: (S Jovetic 54') (J Moutinho  35')


VFB Stuttgart 0-0 Timisoara  (overall 2-0)
goals: ***


Olympiakos Piraeus 1-0 FC Sheriff  (overall 3-0)
goals: (K Mitrogleau 82')


APOEL Nicosia 3-1 FC Copenhagen  (overall 3-2)
goals: (K Kossowski 2', C Michael 18' P, C Michael 41' ) (D N' Doye 22')

[football] India Wins 3-1 Against Sri Lanka in Nehru Cup

India defeated Sri Lanka 3-1 in their third match to go in a better position to qualify for the final. Indians displayed a fine performance on the ground and clearly deserved the imposing victory that they achieved. Indian team came close to scoring in the first minute only when Anthony Pereira got a nice chip from Climax Lawrence with only goalkeeper to beat but failed to put the ball in. It was the Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia who put them forward at the 25th minute when he headed home a cross from Steven Dias from the right flank. However at the 63rd minute WDRD Ruwanthilake scored for the lankans. India regained the lead at the 69th minute when Gourmangi Singh scored from a rebound off a Steven Dias. The dazzling performance of Dias was crowned with a goal at the 85th minute when he scored from a NP Pradeep pass. Steven Dias was then taken off the field, but before that he had shown why some European scout was interested in watching his game. The win puts India in a good position to get the final spot. Unless Lebanon defeats mighty Syria in the next match or Sri Lanka defeats Kyrgyzstan by a huge margin India will qualify with the next match to spare.
Lebanon plays against Syria tomorrow at the same time. Live streaming of the match can be viewed here.

india squad:
1-Subrata Pal; 17-Irungbam Surkumar Singh, 5-Anwar, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 14-Mahesh Gawli; 23-Steven Benedic Dias (88' 22-Syed Rahim Nabi), 30-Climax Lawrence, 7-Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep (90'+1' 27-Mehrajuddin Wadoo), 28-Anthony Pereira (63' 8-Potsangbam Renedy Singh); 15-Baichung Bhutia [C], 11-Sunil Chetri

For More News on ONGC Nehru Cup Click HERE


points tally:
Syria 6 (GD +6)
India 6 (GD +2)
Lebanon 4 (GD 0)
Srilanka 3 (GD -5)
Kyrgyzstan 1 (GD -3)
* every team except Syria has played 3 matches. Syria played two matches.

[football] Atletico Madrid, Lyon Qualify For Champions League

Atletico Madrid qualified for the group stage of the UEFA champions league by defeaing Panathanaikos 2-0 in the second leg to win 5-2 in overall. Los Colchoneros got their first goal when Italian defender Vyntra tried to clear a cross of Maxi Rodriguez and put it in their own goal. At the 83rd minute Sergio Aguero sealed the win for them when the opponent goalkeeper failed to collect his shot on the goal.
Olympique Lyon continued their blistering form over Anderlecht to defeat them 3-1 with a first half hattrick from Lopez.
Debrecan, Macabi Haifa and Zurich FC also qualified for the next stage with their wins.

For results of the first leg cilck here
results:
Atletico Madrid 2-0 Panathanaikos  (overall 5-2)
goals: (L Vyntra 4' OG, S Aguero 83')


Anderlecht  1-3 Lyon  (overall 8-2)
goals: (M Suarez 51') (L Lopez 26', 32', 41')


Debrecan 2-0 Levski Sofia  (overall 4-1)
goals: (J Varga 13', G Rudolf 36') 


Macabi Haifa 3-0 RB Salzburg  (overall 5-1)
goals: (D Dvalishvili 31', E Golsa 57', M Ghadir 90')


Zurich 2-1 Ventspills  (overall 5-1)
goals: (J Vonlanthen 6', A Abdi 90') (I Tigirlas 8')

[football] Nehru Cup: Lebanon Plays Draw With Kyrgyzstan

Lebanon's flying start to the Nehru Cup by winning over defending champions and hosts India did not materialise into a success as was expected. After losing to Sri Lanka in a thriller they now came from behind to draw with bottom team Kyrgyzstan today.
Kyrgyzstan scored the first goal just after the break when Anton Zemlianuhin fired a shot from outside the penalty box. However, Lebanon equalised within eight minutes as Abbas Ahmed Atwi scored from a Mahmoud El Ali pass at the 58th minute. The Lebanese tried to gain the lead for the rest half an hour but could not be successful in getting to the net. Tomorrow India will face Sri Lanka in an important match that will be a deciding factor in getting the finalists.
To watch the match live visit the blog at the time of the match.
match timing:
1830 hrs IST
1500 hrs CET
1400 hrs GMT

For More News on ONGC Nehru Cup Click HERE


points tally:
Syria 6 (GD +6)
Lebanon 4 (GD 0)
India 3 (GD 0)
Srilanka 3 (GD -3)
Kyrgyzstan 1 (GD -3)

[football] Real Madrid Drubs Rosenburg 4-0

Real Madrid thrashed Norwegian outfit FC Rosenborg 4-0 in the last warm up match before the start of their season this weekend. Karim Benzema started the goal scoring spree at the 12th minute from a Ronaldo pass. He added one more at 27th minute just a minute after Lass Diarra made the lead 2-0 with a spectacular strike from outside the box. Captain Raul increased the scoreline to 4-0 at the 55th minute with a header from a corner kick.
The Santiago Bernabeau trophy, as his match was marked, is the last pre season match that the Madrid outfit plays every year with some random opponents. This match was marked by the return of Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Mahmodou Diarra making a comeback to the team after being injured in November.
The performance of the new team had been more than satisfactory with the completely new team gelling well. The pre season matches, though against weak opponents, showed that the new Galacticos have the will to score and delight the fans. With Karim Benzema doing great in the front with captain Raul and great players like Ronaldo and Kaka to support from behind Real Madrid is looking like the team to beat this season and will surely pose a threat to the treble winners Barcelona.
Real will start their Liga campaign with a home match against Dportivo La Coruna on Saturday at 1900 local time (2230 IST). This will be opening match of the Liga this season.

[tennis] ATP/WTA Tour: This Week Preview

Pilot Pen Tennis (mixed event of ATP and WTA)

Category: ATP World Tour 250/  WTA Premier

Place: New Haven, USA

Date: 23.08.2009-29.08.2009

Surface: Hard

Prize Money: $ 750,000 / $600,000 

Top Seeds:

men's: 

1. Nikolay Davydenko

2. Fernando Verdasco

3. Tommy Robredo

4. David Ferrer

women's:

1. Svetlana Kuznetsova

2. Caroline Wozniacki

3. Flavia Pennetta

4. Nadia Petrova

Other Top Players:

Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey, Igor Andreev // Amelie Mauresmo, Marion Bartoli.

Defending Champion:

Marin Cilic//Caroline Wozniacki.

Official Website:

http://www.pilotpentennis.com/

At Stake:

men's:

winner: $94,000; 250 points

Finalist: $51,500; 150 points

Semis: $28,750; 90 points

Quartes: $17,000; 45 points

3rd Rd: $10,100; 20 points

2nd Rd: $6,000; 5 points

1st Rd: $3,550; 0 points

women's:

winner: $98,500; 470 points

Finalist: $52,200; 320 points

Semis: $28,100; 200 points

Quartes: $15,100; 120 points

2nd Rd: $8,000; 60 points

1st Rd: $4,300; 1 points

[football] Nehru Cup: Syria Thrash Sri Lanka 4-0

Syria thrashed Sri Lanka 4-0 in the league match of the Nehru Cup in New Delhi. The Lankan team, who were high on confidence after their 4-3 win over Lebanon two days ago, could not stand the Syrian pressure. They let in the first goal at the 26th minute when Mohammed Ali Zeno scored for Syria. Abdel Razzaq Al Hussain scored the second at the 34th minute. Abdul Fattah Alaga scored twice at 37th and 55th to leave the Lankans no chance of a comeback. Syria are the best placed team now with two wins and with a healthy goal difference of +6. However with two more matches remaining, they have to continue their performance against Lebanon and India.
Tomorrow, Lebanon face Kyrgyzstan to keep alive their hopes of gaining a final spot. Match starts at 1830 hrs IST (1500 hrs CET; 1400 hrs GMT). To watch the live streaming of the match click here during the time of match.

For More News on ONGC Nehru Cup Click HERE


points tally:
Syria 6 (GD +6)
Lebanon 3 (GD 0)
India 3 (GD 0)
Srilanka 3 (GD -3)
Kyrgyzstan 0 (GD -3)

[football] Barcelona Wins Super Cup Defeating Bilbao 3-0

Barcelona added one more trophy to their kitty when they defeated Athletic Club Bilbao 3-0 in the return leg to win with overall margin of 5-1. The match was the official debut of new signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
With Iniesta and Marquez being the only people out of squad Barcelona were clearly the better side against a Bilbao side that rested some players for their more realistic goal of the Europa League. However Barcelona had to wait till the second half to break the deadlock when Messi got the ball from Ibrahimovic and with a great lone effort dodged past the defender and chipped over the goalkeeper. 18 minutes later at the 68th minute Messi scores the  second from a penalty when Dani Alves was fouled inside the penalty box by Ustariz. However the decision of penalty was dubious. Ustariz got a yellow card for showing dissent on the decision. The day was worse for Ustariz as his casual back pass to the goalkeeper at the 72nd minute was interepted by Bojan, who was just a minute old on the pitch, for the third goal for the Blaugranas.

It was the 12th Supercopa for the Catalan side and fourth title in 2009 after Copa Del Rey, La Liga and the Champions League.

[football] Inter Held by Bari; Juve Wins

The first round of the Serie A sprang up a surprise when champions Inter Milan was held by newcomer to the league Bari FC. Inter took the lead when Eto'o converted a penalty Diego Milito gained when he was tripped inside the penalty area. The match was 56 minutes old then. However Bari looked dangerous in the occasional counter attacks and at the 74th minute Kutuzov scored from one such attack. Bari looked like scoring a few times more while the champion side lacked penetration in the attack even with the strikeforce of Eto'o, Diego Milito, Ballotelli, Stankovic and Quaresma.
Juventus got their first win in another match against Chievo with Iaquinta scoring the only goal from a Diego freekick at the 11th minute.
Earlier, AC Milan shrugged off their poor form in the pre-season with a win in the first official match of the season. The Rossoneries won 2-1 against Siena with Pato socring twice.

[tennis] Sharapova Loses to Dementieva in Final

Maria Sharapova's run in the Roger's Cup came to a halt at the final stop when she lost to country mate Elena Dementieva in the final. Sharapova, ranked 49 before this week, lost the final in straight sets after putting on a brave fight to the world no 4. Dementieva won the match of the Russians 6-4, 6-3.
The highly competitive first set saw more number of services being broken then held. Of the 10 games Sharapova was broken 4 times while breaking her opponetns service thrice. Finally, Dementieva got the decisive break when at 4-4 to  go up 5-4. And then she saved a few more break points to reatin the service game and the set.
The second set saw the resistance of Sharapova breaking down and the only break of the game was in her serve and she lost the set 3-6 and thus conceding the title.
This was Dementieva's 3rd title this year and overall the count rose to 14 while Sharapova was vying for her first title this year. The loss in final helped Sharapova improve her rankings by 19 positions to get to 30 in the new week.

[tennis] Federer Wins In Cincinnati

World no 1 Roger Federer won the ATP masters event in Cincinnati defeating Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Federer came back to winning ways after losing to Tsonga in the previous week in Montreal masters. Roger won the final of the ATP 1000 event 6-1, 7-5.

The Swiss started the match with his blistering form and packed up the first set after going to 5-0 lead within few minutes. Federer converted 2 of the 9 break points ke created and the number of break points clearly indicates the dominance of the world no 1. In the second set both broke each other once before Roger taking the decisive break point at 5-5. He then managed to keep his final service to win the touranament.

Earlier Roger Federer defeated current world no 2 Andy Murray 6-2, 7-6(8) and Novak Djokovic defeated the earlier no 2 Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-4.

This is the third time that Roger Federer came out as the winner in the Cincinnati and it is his 61st ATP tour title. This year he has won Franch Open and Wimbledon Open other than winnig the Madrid masters. Djokovic has played 24 finals in the ATP tour inckuding this match and he has won 13 of them inckuding the Australian Open in 2008.

[football] EPL: Today's Matches

Arsenal 4-1 Portsmouth

goals: ( Diaby 2, Gallas, Ramsey) (Kaboul)

YC: (Diaby) ()

points: 6, 0

GD: +8, -5

Birmingham City 0-0 Stoke City

goals: ***

YC: () (Whelan, Whitehead, Fuller)

points: 4, 4

GD: 0, -2

Hull City 1-0 Bolton Wanderers

goals: (Ghilas)

YC: (Giovanni. Olofinjana, Hunt) (Davies, Elmander)

points: 3, 0

GD: -4, -2

Manchester City 1-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

goals: (Adebayor)

YC: () (Stearman)

points: 6, 3

GD: +3, -2

Sunderland 2-1 Blackburn Rovers

goals: (Jones 2) (Givet)

YC: (Bardsley, Cattermole) (McCarthy)

points: 6, 0

GD: +1, -3

Wigan Athletic 0-5 Manchester United

goals: (Rooney 2, Berbatov, Owen, Nani)

YC: ( Scharner, Rodallega) (Evra, Scholes)

points: 3, 6

GD: -4, +5

_____________________

West Ham 1-2 Tottenham Hotspurs

goals: (Cole) (Defoe, Lennon)

YC: (Faubert, Jimenez) (Huddlestone)

points: 3, 9

GD: +1, +6

Burnley 1-0 Everton

goals: ( W Elliot 34')

YC: (W Elliot)

points: 6, 0

GD: 0, -6

Fulham 0-2 Chelsea

goals: ( Drogba 39', Anelka 76')

YC: NONE

points: 3, 9

GD: -1, +5

________________

Liverpool 1-3 Aston Villa

goals: (Torres 72') ( L Leiva 34' OG, C Davies 45', A Young 75' )
YC: (Reina, Torres, Skrtel ) (Ashley Young, Reo-Cocker)
points: 3, 3
GD: +1, 0

[football] India Defeats Kyrgyzstan To Remain In Contention

India Defeated Kyrgyzstan 2-1 to remain in contention for the final spot of the tournament in New Delhi. India took a 2-0 lead by the 58th minute. Baichung Bhutia scored the first goal for India at the 43rd minute when he recieved a long ball in the opponent penalty box and fired a shot that hit both the posts before getting in. It was the Indian captain again in the 58th minute who was close to scroing for India but the Kyrgyzstan goalkeeper fouled him to give a penalty to India. Sunil Chhetri scored from the spot. India loosened up in attack in the end and played defensively and thus conceded a goal at the 90th minute when Mirlan Murzaev scored for the visitors.

India captain Baichung Bhutia played his 100th match for the national team after starting his career in the same tournament back in 1995. It was a successfull centenary for him as he helped the team win in this must win match.

Earleir yesterday, Sri Lanka defeated Lebanon 4-3 in an entertaining match in which the Lebanese side was leading 2-1 at the halftime. The match scheduled to be held on friday was posponed due to heavy rainfall in Delhi.

INDIAN SQUAD:

1-Subrata Pal; 12-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 5-Anwar, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 14-Mahesh Gawli; 23-Steven Benedic Dias, 30-Climax Lawrence, 7-Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep (88' 27-Mehrajuddin Wadoo), 28-Anthony Pereira (8-Potsangbam Renedy Singh); 15-Baichung Bhutia [C] (82' 18-Sushil Kumar Singh), 11-Sunil Chetri

points tally:

Syria 3 (GD +2)

Srilanka 3 (GD +1)

Lebanon 3 (GD 0)

India 3 (GD 0)

Kyrgyzstan 0 (GD -3)