After a 1-1 draw in Sligo last Saturday evening, the Cork City faithful were hoping for a win last night in Turner’s Cross to kick start their season. Many people had been disappointed with the point in the Showgrounds, and felt a win was essential tonight to regain some confidence in the team, and some momentum going forward.
The only player to miss out for City, was new signing Stephen O’ Donnell, who was injured in
15. Dan Connor
2. Neal Horgan
4. Roberts Mezeckis
6. Dan Murray ©
3. Danny Murphy
23. Pat Sullivan
7. Colin Healy
8. Joe Gamble
11. Billy Dennehy
10. Faz Kuduzovic
9. Guntars Silagalis
There were home debuts for Connor, Mezeckis, Dennehy, Kuduzovic and Silagalis.
City started sluggishly and the Saint’s used this to their advantage, having a great deal of possession in the opening minutes. City threatened on the break, but Dennehy’s superb run was halted by Saint’s defender Jason Gavin. (Below right)
The deadlock was broken after 10 minutes. A corner was played low into the box, and poor defending left former City player, Darragh Ryan, free to rifle the ball home. Ryan, who had spent 2 years at Turner’s Cross, declined the opportunity to celebrate in front of the home fans.
City tried to take control of the game, but their attacks continuously broke down and they resorted to “hoof-ball” for the remainder of the first half.
The second half kicked off and City, attacking their favoured Shed end, put siege to the Saint’s goal for a 15 minute period. The best chance fell to Pat Sullivan who somehow failed to convert from 4 yards out. Faz Kuduzovic, who has been excellent in the first half, was again beginning to show why manager Paul Doolin, was so keen to bring him to
Kuduzovic had linked up with Dennehy down the left, before sliding a ball through the defence for his strike partner to race onto. As Silagalis burst through, he was scythed by the last defender.
As the whole ground screamed for a penalty, the referee waved away protests. Tensions boiled over in front of the City fans, and several players got involved. Jason Gavin (Below left, being helf by Dan Murray), Saint’s captain, at one point looked to have his hands around the throat of City player, Mezeckis.
The referee and the other players in the pitch proceeded to break up the melee. The home fans were certain that only possible outcome could be for Gavin to receive his marching orders. But to the amazement of everyone in the ground, it was Mezeckis who received a yellow card.
Doolin made his one and only change of the night, bringing on Denis Behan for Kuduzovic. Many people were surprised by this decision, as the Bosnian striker had no doubt been City’s best player on the night.
Sadly for City fans, the remaining 20 minutes, were extremely comfortable for the away side, and the

Match Preview
The UEFA Champions League, the biggest football club competition on Earth. Does the match need any other introduction?
I’ve supported
Juventus on the other hand arrive in decent Serie A form. They are currently second behind Inter Milan – 9 points behind Jose Mourinho’s men – another ex-Chelsea manager, as I’m sure you all know. The Old Lady’s last match resulted in a 0-2 away win against
Pre-Match

Hiddink named nearly the same side that beat Aston Villa recently, with only one change. Ashley Cole came in for Paulo Ferreira. The team otherwise looked like this:
Cech; Bosingwa, Alex, Terry (c), A Cole; Ballack, Mikel, Lampard; Kalou, Drogba, Anelka.
Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Mancienne, Ferreira, Malouda, Stoch, Di Santo.
The returning Claudio Ranieri named Trezeguet and Amauri up front as expected, with their team looking like this:
Buffon; Mellberg, Chiellini, Legrottaglie, Molinaro; Camoranesi, Sissoko, Tiago, Nedved (c); Del Piero, Amauri.
Subs: Manninger, Grygera, Poulsen, Marchionni, Marchisio, Iaquinta, Trezeguet.
The referee for the game was Olegário Benquerença from
As the teams were announced to the fans before the Champions League anthem, Ranieri was given a standing ovation from the
The Match

Juventus, in gold away shirts, kicked off the match in front of 38,079 noisy fans.

The Juventus supporters were still singing despite being 1-0 down. They were silenced as Drogba nearly had a second. Lampard hit the ball in from a corner but Drogba couldn’t quite latch onto it.
The Italian side were starting to get into the game now and nearly had a goal for themselves. Captain Alessandro Del Piero forced a diving save from Petr Cech after ex-Chelsea midfielder Tiago set him up. One minute of added time was added on, but that was soon the end of the half.

Michael Ballack was booked for a late tackle on Pavel Nedved. The

Ballack gave away a free-kick after a challenge on Sissoko. Kalou, who hadn’t had the best of games, was substituted for Malouda. After countless free-kicks in a stop-start few minutes, Mancienne came on for Ballack to play alongside Mikel. Hiddink and Chelsea were looking to keep hold of their 1-0 lead rather than go for another goal.
Sissoko was soon yellow carded for a foul on Mikel. Drogba then had another penalty appeal turned down after being shoulder barged – probably another good decision from the referee, despite what the Chelsea fans were singing about the referee.
Ranieri was looking to grab a goal, so he made a positive substitution. Sissoko the defensive midfielder came off and French striker David Trezeguet came on. A minute later,
Post Match
"I'm satisfied with the result, but overall I'm not satisfied. We started very well, but after the goal we dropped too far back.
We had some gaps between our defence and midfield for Juventus to exploit.
They created danger and we were anxious, but they were not very clear-cut chances for the equaliser."
More reaction from Hiddink and others can be seen here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/7911586.stm
In the other games, Liverpool managed to beat Real Madrid 1-0 in
Juventus v
Stats
Shots on target Chelsea 3 Juventus 4
Corners Chelsea 5 Juventus 9
Fouls Chelsea 18 Juventus 13
Offsides Chelsea 3 Juventus 2
(Pictures courtesy of myself and BBC Sport)
So, we finally get the season underway. It’s been a long time coming. The Premiershit hasn’t been nearly sufficient to fill the footballing void, while Ireland internationals are very much like an S Club 7 album, they make you suicidal! Egg chasing doesn’t really do it for me and so, without much cricket to pass the time, I’ve been sport starved this winter. Playing a bit of
basketball occupied a month or two, but the longing for domestic football occupied much more of my time. Preparations for the ‘Junior’ too have taken up a great deal of my time and unfortunately, will continue to do so up to June. But now that my beloved Cork City are back, thoughts of those exams ahead are at least a bit more palatable.
The saying that people always want what they can’t have could not be a truer one when it comes to Cork City fans. Terminally pessimistic, and depressive in equal measure, it was only three and a half months ago that we longed for the end of the season and freedom from those financial troubles while we contemplated European qualification disappointment. But after one of the coldest winters in many a year, and the dreary one horse race across the water, (for those who take an interest in such matters), the hunger for CCFC grew stronger by the day. Who knows what lies ahead over the next nine months, but for all of those familiar with following the Rebel Army, it surely won’t be boring. Expectations vary greatly. Some feel the squad is good enough to challenge for Europe (for those who think a league title is viable, the men in the white coats are coming!!!), but most are not looking on the pitch when it comes to wish lists. Some financial security and the opportunity to support Cork City in the long term are the hopes for most. Personally, my hope is of course for the club to survive. I do think however that we have one of the best (If not the best) back fives in the league, and if the club can either purchase well or progress some decent wide players from the youth set up, we have a good chance of European qualification which would hopefully bring in much needed funds.
Ignoring the financial situation and looking at the team itself, the right wing problem still exists and it’s something the club has not been able to resolve for a number of years. Perhaps Davin O’Neill on the right will provide a solution, but then Denis Behan may have to operate alone, a prospect not cherished by everyone. Maybe Tim Kiely could be played up front partnering Kudozovic, but it’s all there for us to see over the next nine months. (Anyway, there’s always have Football Manager for my experimenting!!)
Still though, these are trivial issues when you consider the situation in August of last year, and obviously, survival is still the number one priority. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, this is an aim echoed around the country and this year, results may prove largely irrelevant. It’s the clubs and fans that really matter. Also, with two former enemies of the Shed now on board, there’s a lot to prove. Dan Connor (seen below on the left) gave us the ‘1 Finger Salute’ many moons ago in his Waaaaaahurfur days, while Paul Doolin’s brand of football hasn’t always made him too many friends anywhere else around the league. As regards Connor, there’s no doubting his ability and if he can stay injury free our net will be tough to break into. In the case of Doolin, I’ll reserve my
opinion until at least halfway through the season, I don’t think anyone knows what’s going to happen when it comes to the new manager (story of the whole club really) and the first few weeks will help shape supporter’s opinion. I always admired Alan Matthews’ professionalism during the tough times we had last season and that will remain unaltered, but in saying that, I personally never saw him as a long-term manager. I must admit to being against the appointment in the first place. Why would a club with ambition such as Cork City sack a trophy-winning manager and appoint a manager that took his side down (albeit with a point deduction)? And although the club did achieve Setanta Cup success (in which Matthews played no small part may I add!), I feel we threw away far too many points in the last 5-10 minutes of games last year, a recurring trait all throughout the season. Twice against Derry in both league and FAI Cup, twice in three weeks against St. Pats and Bohs, and against Shamrock Rovers at home amongst others. Obviously concentration and fatigue was a factor, and I think Matthews’s unwillingness to make substitutions played a big part in that.
But this is just me being über critical. Even after the financial mess that could have easily torn weaker clubs apart, Matthews, the fans and players stuck together and were duly rewarded on the night of November 1st with a triumph that betters any
Premiershit or SPL title. The team didn’t win the Setanta Cup, the club won the Setanta Cup. Every fan that contributed his or her time, effort, and money into CCFC won that Setanta Cup. Every true supporter in the ground that supported City (apart from the dim few constantly hurling sectarian abuse at the opposing fans), and those who had supported City through thick and thin but had their place taken by a glory hunter, won the Setanta Cup. The voluntary staff and people that helped Cork City survive (FORAS and Noelle Feeney especially take a bow), you won the Setanta Cup. If Cork City FC survives and reaches the next 25 years, these are some of the people we have to thank, and every time we do win a trophy from here on in, I will give thanks to all those that kept this club from going under. (By the way, speaking of Noelle and others, is it just me or does everyone with Cork City at heart appear to have been shunted to the margins of the club in recent times?) Managers come and managers go, players come and players go, chairmen come and thankfully, some chairmen go, but true City people will always be there, on the banks of our own lovely Lee.
So bring on 2009 and the next 25, bring on survival and success, for we deserve it!!
The cold nights in Glasgow. Darkness creeping in around the stadium. Tonight a glamerous friendly took place at Ibrox Park. It was Rangers VS AC Milan. By the time we had got to Ibrox, the players were out on the pitch warming up before the big game. All the stars were there on the opposite side of the pitch from us. Kaka, Ronaldinho, Beckham, Pato. The atmosphere was terrific. Flash and Flash of cameras, hoping to get a shot at Beckham and co. The players went in as all the fans anticipated kick-off.
The teams came out and the noise was terrific. Rangers were lining up with a 4-5-1 formation and there team was: Allan McGregor, Steven Whittaker, David Weir, Madjid Borgherra, Sasa Papac, Lee McCulloch, John Fleck, Pedro Mendes, Maurice Edu, Steven Naismith and Kyle Lafferty. AC Milan were putting out a stron squad with: Dida, Mattioni, Thiago Silva, Senderos, Antonini, Beckham, Pirlo, Flamini, Ronaldinho, Inzaghi and Shevencko.
The game got off to a fast pace start with Rangers creating the first set of chances. It was Kyle Lafferty that had the first shot on goal, after John Fleck played the cross into the box and Lafferty headered it over the bar. John Fleck then had his own chance when he went himself, shot and found that Dida had blocked the shot. McCulloch then headered the ball from a Whittaker cross only to find that it was cleared off the line to deny the Rangers again. Inzaghi was alive at most times in the game but Allan McGregor had his shots blocked and saved well. Then Ronaldinho stood up for a freekick after Whittaker tripped him up outside the box. Ronaldinho took the freekick himself but found out that it rattled off the post.
Beckham was taken off at half-time for Seedorf, while Rangers sent on most of their subs. Daily, Broadfoot, Alexander, Beasley, Ferguson and Velicka all came on for, Weir, Bourgherra, McGregor, Naismith, Mendes, Fleck and Lafferty.
Then it was Rangers that had opened the scoring. Beasley ran at the defence and luckily got the break of the ball of Silva and slotted it past Dida. The crowd went wild even though it was a friendly.
Milan couldn't take it so they brought on Kaka and Pato. Pato's first touch was a goal straight away. Kaka ran up the line with a cross into the box where Pato tapped the ball into a sprawling Alexander's net. Kaka made it 2-1 after a magical run from his own half and calmly placed the ball into the net. As it look like a 2-1 loss, out of the blue and it never happens often, Sasa Papac was in the Milan box and managed to put the ball away into the net after great play from the youngster Arron Niguez.
So the game finished 2-2 in a great night, with the starts certainly performing!
The northern hemispheres flagship competition,
Last season’s Six Nations tournament, perhaps rugby union’s equivalent of football’s European Championships, was won by
This season though,

D. Armitage, Sackey, Tindall, Flutey, Cueto, Goode, Ellis; Sheridan, Mears, Vickery, Borthwick ©, Kennedy, Haskell, S. Armitage, Easter.
Italy coach Nick Mallett sprung a surprise in naming Mauro Bergamasco – a great flanker for Italy – as a scrum-half after three other scrum halves were injured. This was highly unusual, and the Twickenham crowd were about to see why. The
Masi, Robertson, Canale, Mirco Bergamasco, Marcato, Mauro Bergamasco; Perugini, Ongaro, Castrogiovanni, Dellape, Bortolami, Sole, Zanni, Parisse.
Twickenham was sold out for the first Six Nations match of the year, with 80,000 in to see the spectacle. The crowd roared as the players ran out, with the national anthems – in particular

Within two minutes,
Andy Goode missed the chance to extend

The embarrassing Mauro Bergamasco was substituted at half-time for Giulio Toniolatti. After the game,
Italy had a chance to score after a high-ball was caught and then offloaded to Delon Armitage, who didn’t react quick enough and his kick was charged down – but Zanni knocked on whilst trying to catch the ball and thus substitute Pratichetti’s try didn’t count. Three minutes later,

It was a straight-forward, much needed victory for
In the day’s other matches, Ireland beat France 30-21 in a classic encounter at Croke Park, whilst Wales beat Scotland 26-13 on the Sunday to also get two points.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7876871.stm
Click there for highlights of
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7877034.stm
The BBC also showed Mauro Bergamasco’s ‘highlights’ – a must see.
Pictures courtesy of myself and BBC Sport.

An unexpectedly large crowd turned out in Bishopstown on a bitterly cold Saturday afternoon, to watch the Rebel Army kick off their 2009 pre-season. There was a real buzz around pre-match, as fans got their first glimpse of the 3 Brazilians who have been the talk of the city in recent days. David Silveira Britto, Tario Alexandre Barbosa dos
16.Mark Mcnulty
3.Darragh Ryan
4.Robert Mezeckis
5.Seán Kelly
6.Shane Duggan
7.Tacio
8.Matthias Kullstrom
9.Guntars Silagailis
10.Timmy Purcell
11.Gints Freimanis
19.Daniel Gattering
First Half
Only McNulty in goal and Kelly at centre half had played for the club at any level before, so Doolin’s promise had been kept. Fans were pleasantly surprised to see Gints Freimanis. Th
e Latvian winger had been linked with the club last summer, and had not really been spoken of again. The game started and straight away, the Brazilian Tacio looked to stamp his authority on the game from the centre of midfield. However, as a winger, he didn’t have the strength or bravery in the tackle to get the better of a tight knit
Second Half
Four changes at half time, in came Davin O’Neill, Levi Reid, Tim Kiely and David Brito, in place of Tacio, Silagailis, Purcell and Duggan. Brito looked sharp in the opening few minutes, making some good runs down the left as City looked to score the opening goal. Davin O’Neill threatened to make the breakthrough on a few occasions, looking lively alongside Kiely. Freimanis was withdrawn to a standing ovation from the City fans, clearly they were impressed by what they saw. As the sun went down, and temperatures dropped even further, many fans were wishing for the final whistle, but there was to be one more key moment in the game. A
And so ended the first of
With problems on the London Underground prior to the match, it was a surprise that most of the fans made it on time to the game. The stadium looked sold out and probably was, as
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Ferreira, Mancienne, Stoch, Drogba, Ivanovic, Deco.
Captain Terry was out injured so Alex took his place. Drogba was brought back into the squad after being dropped for the last couple of games following the 3-0 reverse to Manchester United. Mancienne, who was called up into the
Subs Not Used: Supple, Bowditch, Shumulikoski, Thatcher, Quinn, Lisbie, Stead.
A packed crowd was in to see the start of the FA Cup 4th round match.

Malouda was having a terrible game and was substituted for Didier Drogba. The
The pressure on Ipswich continued as

Frank Lampard, playing well in the game, scored in the 85th minute to hand
Ipswich played well in parts but
Highlights from YouTube, containing the goals and post-match words from Chelsea assistant manager Ray Wilkins and Ipswich boss Jim Magilton.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pGJY9e_G980
(Pictures courtesy of myself and chelseafc.com)
It’s the only event that can pit the best of motorsport together. Drivers from Formula 1, World Rally Championship, World Touring Cars, NASCAR, DTM and even World Superbikes would come together for one night to determine the Champion of Champions.

The 2008 edition was the 21st running of the event, from Wembley –
Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button, David Coulthard and Sebastien Vettel were the big names from Formula 1, and if you know you’re stuff, you’ll know that Schumacher especially is a legend. Sebastien Loeb is another legend – the reigning World Champion from the World Rally Championship. He’s the most successful Rally driver of all time, and has 5 World Championships to his name. Andy Priaulx won the World Touring Car Championship last season, and has won it twice more before that. He also has the European equivalent to his name. Yvan Muller is the current World Touring Car Championship winner, who was at Wembley also. Tom Kristensen is the only man to have won the Le Mans 24 Hours race a massive eight times. Mattias Ekstrom won the DTM championship in 2004 and has been the Race of Champions’ Champion of Champions for the past two years. Troy Bayliss is the 2008 World Superbikes Champion and has since retired. Alongside these great names were Carl Edwards, Jaime Alguersuari, Tanner Foust, Gareth McHale, Jason Plato and Adam Carroll.

There are the drivers – now the cars. They would be racing a Ford Focus WRC 08 car, a KTM X-Bow, Abarth 500 Assetto Corse, an ROC car and a RX 150. More details such as specifications can be found here: http://www.raceofchampions.com/cars/ .
The event started at 1pm in

Scandinavia faced Autosport Great

In the interval before the individual driver’s event, Lewis Hamilton – the newest Formula 1 World Champion – paraded his McLaren F1 race car around the track. What a screech! The noise of the F1 car was deafening. He was supposed to race newly crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year winner Chris Hoy (
Back to the action it was, with Schumacher taking on Kristensen in the Drivers’ Cup opener. Schumacher advanced – just. Carl Edwards raced Jaime Alguersuari and won easily after Alguersuari crashed and was unable to catch up. Tanner Foust and Jenson Button raced, but it wasn’t without controversy after Foust won, but had touched the sides twice – which should have been a five second penalty, which was missed by the judges. The crowd booed Foust, but he advanced to the next round. MacHale crashed in the next race, giving Coulthard an easy victory. It was the battle of the Brits in the next race as Priaulx took on Plato. Priaulx won with a gap of over three seconds. Mattias Ekstrom was next, taking on Adam Carroll, with the defending champion Ekstrom advancing – not a good day for
Michael Schumacher took on Carl Edwards in the quarter-finals, losing by over two seconds in a surprise defeat. Tanner Foust faced Coulthard, with the fans firmly behind Coulthard – seeing as he’s British and Foust didn’t deserve to be in the next round. Foust ended up crashing out, much to the delight of the home fans. Coulthard was comfortably through. Andy Priaulx took on defending champion Ekstrom, and in a tight race, Priaulx edged it and was clearly elated after his victory, with beaming smiles shown on the big screen. He would face Sebastien Loeb in the next round, after he beat Vettel by over a second.

Coulthard faced Edwards in the semi-finals and just won. Andy Priaulx was next against Loeb, but Priaulx disappointed the Wembley crowd, losing to the Frenchman. World Rally Champion Loeb was in the final to face David Coulthard, who had the crowd firmly behind him for the final.
Coulthard had only just retired from Formula 1 and had earlier paraded his Red Bull F1 car around the track after Lewis Hamilton’s performance. The crowd wanted him to win. But Loeb was in his way.
The final was over three races, unlike the other rounds where it was just one race. Loeb won the opener in 1 minute 57 seconds. In the second race, Coulthard levelled the score in a time of 1 minute 54. The drivers were certainly upping the standard, and with the final race of the night coming up, they had to. 1-1 – one race to go. Coulthard or Loeb? The race was neck-and-neck in thrilling fashion, Loeb had the inside line for the last lap while Coulthard was being roared on by the Wembley crowd – but Loeb just snatched victory on the line to give the WRC champion the trophy. It was a great finish to a great event, with the only downside being the freezing cold weather.
The most breathtaking match worked against the end and the Frenchmen had just taken their time-out. With 20 effective seconds left to play, a Norwegian one goal lead and French kick-off, it was going to be a nervous end of the European Cup match against US Creteil.
Big match in Elverum
Beating Drammen in last year's knock out play-offs were Elverum finally back in Europe. The East Norwegians have been in the top league since 2005 and have now started the journey through Europe. The whit jerseyes from the woods might be playing in Europe next year too after a new sensational win against Drammen. Less than a week ago, on live TV, Elverum beat Drammen 32-17 amazingly. Little Elverum scored almost twice as many goals as the defending league champion Drammen - in their own hall! Last season, they only lost two games: The away match in Elverum (first loss in the league on two years) and the finle of the knockout stages against Elverum. Drammen is Norway's handball capital, but Elverum has done well against the stars!
Unfortunatly, Elverum is a small town and there are quite a few people living here. Therefore, the club has not a lot of assets. Luckly, the heart for the team is big and the supporter culture is bigger here than in many other places in Norway. But the ecconomi is not good, so the Norwegian Corrupt Handball Association gave Elverum -3 points before the league opener. The small teams should burn!
Elverum didn't lay down and cry, won two games and came on the right side of the scala. The little team from east of Norway continued their style and they are now one of the top teams in spite of the three lost points and the sale of Steffen Stegavik, one of the stars last season. The sucsess is thanked to Christian Berge. The 34 year old, born in Trondheim, was a pro player in Germany for many years, before a heart attack put an end of the career in 2001. Berge was strong, so he didn't give up and came back on the field again, a little bit weaker. Berge has been an idol for many young handball fans here so when he returned to Norway and chose Elverum, it was a big honour for the town. And Elverum's playing manager has not regret since, cos the season has been far over what we expected. In the 2nd round of the EHF cup, they played the Turkish side Ibzir and beat them over two games. The challenge was bigger tonight: US Creteil from France.
Creteil may not be the strongest side in France, cos the team has only won the league once, back in 1989. They took the Double as well, by winning the French cup too, an achievement they copied in 1997. Their last title is from 2003 when they won the league cup. But even though they're not the mightiest team, it was going to be a tough challenge for Elverum. They are playing in the French league after all, one of the best in the world. Les Bèliers (the rams) has a homestadium that covers 2,500 people home in Paris, ca. twice as many as Elverum. Creteil ended 3rd in the EHF cup (corresponds the UEFA-cup in football) in 2005/2006, a cup dominated by German teams. The last five years, only German teams have won it, and ironlcy enough there were diffirent teams! HSG Nordhorn is defending champions, but also Magdeburg, Lemgo, Essen and Kiel lift the trophy earlier.
This match was one of two French-Norwegian derbies in Europe this week: The Norwegian league leader Fyllingen played Paris Handball in the Cup winners cup. The French side won easy by five goals in Bergen yesterday and secured a good starting point in the second leg.
French threegoals lead
Even though Elverum opened the match by an extraordenary attack that have 1-0, the French team was the leading team in the first period. Genuinly, Elverum's nationalteam keeper Morten Nergaard saved the first shot from the guests, but Elverum's counter-attack goal was annuled because of too many crotches. After that there were only one team on the ground. US Creteil scored four goal in a row, and with 1-4 after five minutes, the home crowd thought Elverum would be Creteil's little playing toy. That was not true. The Norwegian time-out was followed by a period where Elverum frequently ate up Creteil's lead and after 13 minutes, Elverum made it 7-7 by Morten Post. The homeside scored five goals in a row as well, and went from two goals down to a good threegoal lead. Daniel Kempf ended the period with a beautiful chip over the French keeper. Rigault and Henry owned the match in the beginning, but Nergaard was a beast in the first half for Elverum. He said it was a surprise when the Norwegian national team called him, but he has been brilliant in the goal so far in the season.
At 11-10, the homeside was awarded a penalty too, but Morten Post hit the bar. The road for the equalaiser was open, so Benoit Henry thanked and made the teams even.
Looking away from the penalty miss, Morten Post was brilliant in the first half. The left back scored many goals along with Daniel Kempf, the German International, and after two late goals, Elverum could go to halftime with a 15-13 lead. A result to be prod of, indeed, but probably too close to say it's a good starting point when Elverum leaves for Paris next week. The Norwegians would have to add some goals to the lead in the second half, cos the second leg in France will be tough... Very tough. Tired Elverum You don't have to be rocket scientist to see who of these sides who was richer. While Elverum hardly made changes in their team, Creteil went to Norway with a decent squad with many class players. Some tough match fixtures made Elverum lose power in the second half. Creteil has some tough matches in France too, but they did well here and they never let Elverum go up in a manygoals lead. The matchpicture was that Elverum was in a 1-3 goals lead during the entire second half. Morten Nergaard was like a wall, but Elverum played clumsy and did many mistakes in their counter-attacks. Therefore, they never got the 4 goals lead the fans wanted a head of the second leg in Paris. Five minutes from the end, playmaker Ari Stefansson broke through the defence and sent a rocket of a shot past the keeper and in the middel of the goal, to a Norwegian 27-24 lead. The crowd went crazy and Elverum faced a good starting point for the next match. The victory was at least secured, right? The five last minutes were going to be looong... Three minutes later, Elverum had still 27 goals and Creteil had scored two new goals. The lead was skimpy and so was the atmosphere in the hall. The fact that Elverum seemed to lose everything and not even get this good win made a fear and a bad atmosphere for the last minutes that were going to be exciting and dramtic. Shocking enough, there were no 2 mins punishments in the game! The Frenchmen missed two great chances, but Elverum threw away the chance to kill the match twice. With 20 seconds to go, Creteil had the ball and took their time-out to unify power and concentration for the finale seconds. Were they going to ruin the night for the hometeam? Creteil threw the ball between their players to let the clock work against the end, so that Elverum would lose seconds to score the winner. The perfect time to score the equalaiser is about 2-3 seconds before full time. 5 seconds might be enough to take kick-off and come closer the goal, get a freekick and maybe score. With five seconds left, Creteil's time was here. What a breathtaking moment. In handball, it's more work against the clock than in football. The crowd made a loud countdown as the seconds worked against full time. Full time were five seconds away. Elverum had a one goal lead... The moment, the decider... Creteil's chance was here. It was now or never. Lars Nordberg, Elverum's viking in the defence, jumped into the Cretil player who had the ball and held him. The referee from Faroe Islands had no doubt: Penalty. A clear penalty for the guests. Elverum's players walked around on the field, with no sign of protests to the referee. The decission was clear. Nordberg had to foul him, cos otherwise he would score. Now it was up to Benoit Henry and Morten Nergaard. The last duel of the match. Henry steped up and took the responsibilty for Creteil. The crowd prayed and took a breath, as Henry took the ball and steped up at the 7 meter line. The ref blew and Henry tried to feint. One time, two times.... He threw it.... The temperature in the hall was high, and so it was in Henry's head... 'Cos Henry missed it. He threw it over the bar, to a huge joy for the homefans. A penalty miss in the last second of the game. The players danced in a big celebration for the closest win of the season, while the fans was still shivering. Elverum beat Creteil! While manager Christian Berge means that Elverum should have won by 6-7 goals to get a fair result, is Sigurdur Ari Stefanson optimistic: "We can beat them in France too!"
Last second penalty
The score board stoped on 60 mins and the mark for full time came. A penalty was about to be taken. I suppose it's easier to score a penalty in football than handball, but still. 27-26 or 27-27... Everything dealed about this throw. This shot. ONE single goal in handball is rarely important, and it's not like 27-26 is a far better result than 27-27. It's just a 1-0 lead advantage for the second leg. But the difference between victory and draw is big. Were Elverum losing this?
Burnley were the visitors to
Luiz Felipe Scolari decided to rest some key players in favour of giving others a run out. Petr Cech was rested so Carlo Cudicini came in, with Ivanovic, Alex,
Subs: Hilario, Lampard, Di Santo, Mikel, Sinclair, Terry, Woods.
Burnley: Jensen, Alexander, Duff,
Subs: Penny, McDonald, Akinbiyi,
Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire).

Belletti picked up an injury so Scolari put on Frank Lampard in the 24th minute. He made an instant impact, putting Drogba through with a great pass – and his first touch – with Drogba curling a shot past Jensen into the bottom right hand corner of the net.
The half-time whistle blew with the score at 1-0 to
Deco, with a decent performance in the first half, was taken off with John Obi Mikel brought on.
Paulo Ferreira made a run down the wing but his shot from far out went over.
Eagles picked up a yellow card for a tackle on Mineiro. The game was now a thrilling end-to-end encounter, with
Kalou then headed over the bar but the cross was perhaps too high for him. A minute later Blake was replaced by Alan Mahon for the Championship side. The clock was ticking…

Lampard put the ball into the net by firing past Jensen, but his ‘goal’ was ruled out for offside.
Both sides were down to 10 men as Steven Caldwell got a second yellow card after taking out Florent Malouda. The free-kick was spilled by Jensen but it was soon gathered. Mikel and Alex had two more chances in the final minutes but the whistle blew. Penalties.
No-one could have predicted this.

Lampard stepped up for

(Pictures from chelseafc.com, BBC Sport and myself. Videos from myself.)

The Football Association of Ireland… in so many quarters a name synonymous with failure, the Eircom Stadium, Merriongate, Steve Staunton and a hundred other cock ups anyone? And a name synonymous too it could be argued, with failure in terms of the FAI’s primary job in overseeing the best interests of football at all levels in our country. A strong statement? Perhaps it is. Yet somehow, I doubt that any of you who disagree has had much experience of supporting a League of Ireland club. It appears all too clear to me that our ‘National’ Football Association seems largely bent on ignoring top level domestic football when it comes to those things that really matter, unless of course you count among them, an unnatural haste to punish LOI clubs for even the smallest of perceived misdemeanours.
I think the main problem is that clubs find it almost impossible to gain any money from public fundraisers, loans ect. because of previous FAI cock-ups (IR£50,000 spent on models of eircom park for example). For GAA clubs it can be very easy to fundraise if necessary, they can go to county matches and shake a bucket, or even go into their local town or city and get people to drop in money to help out the club, people feel by helping one GAA club they are helping the others, that, coupled with people’s confidence in the GAA with their money (A confidence that is well deserved I hasten to add) means that for GAA clubs, fundraising isn‘t a big issue. In football’s case people have many doubts when the bucket is thrust at them, questions immediately form. Who am I giving it to? How is it going to be spent? How do I know that the money I give won‘t end up in some anonymous businessman‘s back pocket?
These are the questions that have, and still plague eircom League clubs, it seems like the only people that will put their money into a fledgling club is the club’s fans themselves, I have no doubt that if the FAI ran their organisation transparently and efficiently then the eircom League wouldn’t be in the financial mess that it’s in today, it seems that the only sufferer‘s of our National Football Associations ignorance is those who are most financially vunerable. 
At the start of this year the FAI introduced a licensing system for all it’s clubs, this meant that clubs had to have the required Facilities and Infrastructure to play in the league, anybody who didn’t at the start of the league were denied access and anyone that failed to meet that standard during the season were punished. All sounds fine so far, but the problem was that the FAI failed to realise the precarious financial position the league perches in. Clubs in the league have traditionally had to survive on tight finances, then when you get investors coming in clubs now find themselves with a whole pile of money at their disposal, and without previous experience don’t know how to spend it wisely. In our case it was spent on bringing in people to the club and with that brought an air of hope, an almost expectant feeling that with the squad we had we could be real challengers to capture the title the third time. Both fans and pundits alike were getting very excited, clubs now had money, and it seemed that the investors were investing in clubs in good will and the licensing system would ensure that the league would be run professionally. Teams were able to buy good players and wouldn‘t have to sell their own players abroad, with the league being reduced to 10 it would be a competitive league at top and bottom, hopefully would go down to the wire, maybe an eircom League could finally reach a European competition proper?
Sadly though this wasn’t the case, as we all know these investors weren’t doing it out of the kindness of their hearts, or in good faith. They were just there to try and make a cheap buck out of a league who’s hopes have been dashed time and again. Arkaga realized the mess they created and instead of trying to rescue the situation they just hoisted anchor and pulled out all monies, surely the licence should have included that companies must assume financial responsibility for the club they own, in Arkaga’s case they just created a separate company to the mother company and so they wouldn’t have to take on the financial burdens associated with running a LOI club, with all the so called ‘experts’ in the FAI, not one thought of this eventuality, and if they did, why not include it in the licensing regulations?
It seems to me that the FAI are simply all too happy to see their ‘premier’ league as no more than a feeder league for the English Premiership. Now, you might think this is an outrageous statement, but to me it is so obvious. Joey Gamble aside, LOI players simply do not get a look in when it comes to the Irish senior team. During Kevin Doyle’s time at Cork City, he scored 25 goals in 75 games, played for the Republic’s U21 side scoring five times in eleven games, yet never got a call up to the senior squad. No sooner had a certain Mr. Dolan engineered a move for Kevin (and Shane Long) to the Berkshire Bloodsuckers for a bit of loose change, within weeks Kevin is called up to the senior squad. Coincidence? Yeah sure!
Our ’National’ Football Association are more than happy to fund junior clubs and pay big money for ‘training’ (Holiday) camps in Portugal but then fine clubs for clashing jerseys (Bray when they didn’t bring their proper jersey so we gave them ours) and for players not doing interviews. (Colin Healy) And if this league does go professional and thrive, I for one, will not be thanking the men beyond the green door.
Kevin Galvin

Stuart Musialik after the last-kick equaliser
Match: Sydney FC v Queensland Roar, Hyundai A-League 08/09 Round 7, Sydney Football Stadium, Australia
Reporter: hughgeta (Sydney, Australia)
Queensland Roar travelled to Sydney on a rainy Saturday night full of confidence after the previous week defeating ladder-leaders Melbourne Victory 2-0 at the Telstra Dome. Sydney, second on the table, had lost their first match of the season to Wellington and were looking to rebound at home.
Sydney had an effective full-strength team, with Alex Brosque, Mark Bridge and John Aloisi leading the attack. This may have proved a handful for a makeshift Roar defence, who handed youngster Matt Mundy a debut alongside veteran Craig Moore. Marquee striker Aloisi himself was yet to score and was quickly gathering criticism, as the highest paid Australian sportsman in the country.
Though the match started slowly, Queensland had the first chance through Brazilian Reinaldo, whose rebounded shot was excellent saved by Clint Bolton. The Roar created another chance, this time Dutchman Sergio van Dijk completely missed a low cross with only a touch needed to turn the ball past an out-of-position Bolton.
However, the majority of the first stanza was in Sydney’s possession, despite their lack of chances. In the final 10 minutes of the half the match opened up, Aloisi almost on the end of a superb one-two, only for it to be cleared at the death. Brosque found himself free on the counter on the 40th minute, but his weak right-footed chip shot just missed the far crossbar.
Queensland were being orchestrated by Charlie Miller, the veteran Scotsman who made up for his lack of running with a superb passing game. Barely 5 minutes in the second half received the ball in the attacking third, moved a couple of steps forward and as he failed to be shut down, drilled an excellent shot into the bottom of the net. It was Miller’s fifth goal in seven matches, and arguably his best.
Sydney had no option to attack but could not effectively find their way into the match. Aloisi brought the crowd to their feet as he received the ball in the box for a half-chance, but could not get a shot away in time. Sydney also lost their creative spark when midfielder Steve Corica was substituted off on the 60th minute, but by the same token the Roar subbed their midfield hard man Danny Tiatto at the same point in time.
These two substitutions represented a turning point in the match as Sydney heavily pushed forward. Brendon Santalab, with a reputation for a long-shot, almost added to this stigma with a dipping effort from distance but it was off-target. A couple of potential headers from Brosque and Tony Popovic went to waste from pin-point Shannon Cole deliveries, an up and coming star just called into the Socceroos squad.
With national coach Pim Verbeek watching, Sydney were beginning to wonder if a equaliser would ever come as the Roar shut up shop. Moore and Mundy were doing an excellent job in containing Sydney’s attacks and this soon meant they were also attacking on the counter. Reinaldo almost found himself free a couple of times late on but for scrambling Sydney defence.
With the clock quickly approaching the 90 minute mark, Popovic committed a horrible error in defence which put Miller straight through on goal. Miller stole the ball and had a great chance to finish the game off, yet somehow blazed the shot high and wide, under no pressure. Scoring the hard one and missing the easy one, Miller had nonetheless had played an excellent game.
No-one in the stadium thought the miss would be regretted as the crowd started to exit, disappointed in the home team’s performance. With the three additional minutes up, Cole sent a desperate long throw into the Queensland area. The ball was flicked on and fell to Sydney midfielder Stuart Musialik in the box, who had just enough time and space to tuck a shot away into the corner of the goal for a miraculous equaliser.
And with the final kick of the game, Sydney had rescued the game, and avoided Queensland’s first ever win in Sydney. Though the possession finished nearly 60% in Sydney’s favour, Queensland had held on for 93 minutes with great defence and Sydney had, up until that point, barely created a chance. The draw was arguably a fair result for both sides but the Roar could not help but feel frustrated.
As for Sydney, they didn’t seem to mind as players and fans alike exploded into celebration at a draw which never seemed likely, despite their pressure.
Match Facts
Sydney FC v Queensland Roar 1-1 (0-0)
Hyundai A-League 08/09 Round 7, Sydney Football Stadium, Australia
Saturday, 4th October, 2008, 7.00pm (AEST)
Crowd: 12403
1-0 (Miller 48’)
1-1 (Musialik 90+3’)
Sydney FC:
Bolton; Fyfe, Popovic, Middleby, Cole; Musialik, McFlynn; Brosque, Corica (Santalab 62’), Bridge; Aloisi
Queensland Roar:
Reddy; Packer, Moore, Mundy, Seo; McKay, Miller, Tiatto (Dodd 63’), Murdocca (Zullo 90’); van Dijk (Kruse 66’), Reinaldo

Well, no one said this was going to be an easy game for the Red Bulls, who were up against the mighty Colorado Rapids last night. Rain in the afternoon meant this was going be a back and forth match and it certainly was as the game ended 5-4, in favour of the Rapids. The scoring started in the first three minutes of the match, where Omar Cummings took advantage of Conor Casey's collision with New York's keeper, Jon Conway, to put the Rapids ahead. Despite the slow start, the Red Bulls would come back just two minutes later through Mike Magee, who slotted home after pouncing on a poor back pass from Cory Gibbs.
The Rapids wouldn't give up that easily however, and Conor Casey would score his first on the night in the 11th minute after splitting through the heart of New York's defense and beating Conway from close range. RBNY would soon have luck on their side after Pablo Mastroeni's handball in the area gave them a chance to score from the spot, which Juan Pablo Angel converted in the 34th minute (2-2). Dane Richards would put the home side ahead 6 minutes later after he tapped in a low pass by Jorge Rojas past Preston Burpo. The Rapids would hit back twice after that through Mike Petke and Conor Casey to go into half-time with the 4-3 lead. Juan Carlos Osorio would replace Gabriel Cichero with Andrew Boyens at the back to start off, hoping for some answers in the second half.

New York would come close three minutes in but, Dane Richards was stopped before he could get a shot in. He would have to come off soon afterwards after suffering a knee injury from that challenge. That would mark the MLS debut of the on-loan Senegalese striker, Macoumba Kandji, who the Red Bulls were tracking all summer long. Nick LaBrocca would get the Rapids' first chance in the 63rd minute but his close range effort was pushed aside by Conway. Matthew Mbuta would make his debut for New York in the 70th minute and he would find the net two minutes later after Macoumba Kandji's low cross from the right allowed him to tap into an open net for the equaliser and his first of the season. Angel would come close with header minutes later but Burpo would manage to keep the Rapids in it. Kandji and Angel would have chances moments later but they'd be left to rue their misses as Casey would score his third of the night thanks to a cross from Mehdi Ballouchy, which he knocked past Conway in the 89th for the 5-4 win.
It was a good match filled with loads of goals but the Red Bulls were unlucky on a number of occasions and they were lacking defensively. With the loss, they remain fourth in the East but should DC beat Dallas later today, they'll be pushed down to fifth in the table. With four matches remaining this season, Red Bull New York will need all the points they can get if they want to go on to the playoffs. Toronto, Real Salt Lake, Columbus Crew, and the Chicago Fire - It all starts next week at home, three points perhaps?
Lancashire were the visitors to the Rose Bowl as they took on Hampshire in the County Championship Division 1. On Day 1, Hampshire scored 248-9 before they were curtailed by rain. Day 2 saw them finish on 327, with Lancashire scoring 225-9.
Day 3
Lancashire started on 229-5 on a cloudy day in Southampton. Croft was the first wicket to fall, out for 33 (c Pothas b Ervine). Sutton and Chapple were at the crease looking to try and equal, and better, Hampshire's 1st innings score. Chapple was next out though, out for 21 after being caught by Tremlett off the bowling of England's Mascarenhas. He then took another wicket, ousting Cork for 4 (Pothas with the catch). Mahmood, ex-England player, was bowled for 0 - again by Mascarenhas. Luke Sutton, Lancashire's wicket-keeper, was last out for a decent 55 (c Ervine b Tremlett). Keedy was left on 0*. Lancashire totalled 295ao, 32 behind Hampshire. Dimi Mascarenhas ended with figures of 6-67 - a great performance with the ball.
Apart from Mascarenhas' wicket of Mahmood, all Hampshire's wickets were taken by the wicket-keeper or in the slips.

Hampshire in next to hopefully build on their 32 run lead. Their innings started in bad fashion as Michael Carberry, named in England's 30 man Champions Trophy squad, was again out for 0 (he was out for 0 in the first innings too). He was caught lbw by Chapple. It got worse as John Crawley was out for 2 (c Flintoff b Cork) - leaving Hampshire on 9-2. Michael Brown was next out for 15 having been bowled by Chapple for 15. Sean Ervine's dismissal shortly after meant Hampshire were now struggling on 40-4. He was out off the bowling of Flintoff (c Horton). The collapse continued. Nic Pothas was bowled by a superb delivery from Flintoff - his middle stump flying out. Pothas was out for 8, leaving Hampshire on 48-5. Flintoff was looking good with the ball, with rumours he'll be called up into the England squad for the 2nd Test against South Africa.
With the score on 75, the 6th wicket fell - Lamb out for 16 (c Sutton b Mahmood). Dimi Mascarenhas was next to the crease. He got frustrated and ending up smacking the ball to 3rd man Vincent (off the bowling of Mahmood) - for 3. Dimi, normally a placid guy, was in anger. Hampshire's new Kolpak player, South African Rory Kleinveldt, was out for 4 (c Sutton b Keedy).
The players went off for bad light with the teams taking an early tea break. When they resumed, Tremlett was out for 1 after being bowled by Chapple. He got 60 in the 1st innings. A last gasp 11th wicket stand meant Hampshire saved face slightly by reaching 130, before Tomlinson was out for 11 (c Sutton b Croft). Michael Lumb was left stranded on 49*.

Lancashire only needed 164 for victory on Day 4, and ended up winning by 6 wickets. Andrew Flintoff was indeed called up by England after a fine performance here - after his two wickets, he scored 39 runs off 23 balls to help Lancashire to victory.

(Pictures from ecb.co.uk, BBC Sport and cricinfo respectively.)