Germany becomes soccer World champions

Germany has won this year's edition of the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World cup in Brazil. The European country has become the first side to do so on South American soil. The Joachim Loew tutored side overcame a spirited effort that was put up by Argentina in Rio de Janeiro.

It was the third meeting between these two sides in a final. While the Argentines won the 1986 edition, Germany recorded a 1-0 win four years later.

Lionel Messi couldn't re-enact his group stage form against the three time World champions. The Barcelona forward scored in the first four games of the tournament but his goals seems to have dried up after the second round match against Switzerland.

Germany dictated the final match, but they were unable to break down the highly disciplined Alejandro Sabella led team. Gonzalo Higuain had the chance to put the two time champions in front when he got to the end of a through pass, but the Napoli frontman fired the ball wide.

Lionel Messi and Palacio also missed the chance to score against Manuel Neuer who was adjudged the best keeper of the tournament.

Mario Gotze came in as a late substitute for Miroslav Klose and the Bayern Munich player became the hero of the day. He latched on to the ball from the left before beating Sergio Romero on the near post.

Germany has now won the World cup on four occasions. The next mundial will be in Russia in 2018.

German machine massacres Brazil at home

Germany have ended the hopes of a sixth World cup title for Brazil. The semi final match was played in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday night. Thomas Muller opened the scoring after 12 minutes of action. A corner kick by Miroslav Klose was not defended by the Brazilians and Muller fired in a shot to put the German machine into the lead.

The Brazilian defence was on vacation as the Germans ran riot of an uninspired team. After it was clear that the Brazilians had no idea of breaking down the German defence, the European giants decided to create some records.
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Klose became the highest goal scorer in the history of the tournament. The Lazio striker scored his 16th World cup goal after the Brazilians failed to clear a lose ball in the penalty box.

That goal came in the 23rd goal while the Brazilians were ball watching. They seem to have forgotten how to play football.

Toni Kroos made it 3-0 in the 24th minute. Two minutes later, he made it 4-0. A sweeping move in the 26th minute was too smooth for the Europeans to handle.

Sami Khedira made it 5-0 in the 29th minute via a well taken shot by his left foot.

Four goals were scored within a space of  6 minutes as the Brazilian fans couldn't hold back their tears. Felipe Scolari ran for cover when he became dazed by the rampaging Germans.

In the second half Andre Schuerrle scored  brace in 10 minutes. His first goal came in the 68th minute after the hosts failed to thwart a sweet move by the Joachim Loew's men. The Chelsea player made it 7-0 with an emphatic effort in the 78th minute. He got to the end of a ball on the edge of the penalty box and released a shot that went in through the underside of the crossbar.

Fred and Fernadinho were substituted after the restart. Fred, Hulk,Luiz, Dante and Bernard were appalling to watch. Mesut Ozil missed a golden in the 89th minute before Oscar scored a consolation goal in the 90th minute. Final score: 7-1

Scolari was also in charge of the Portuguese team that was hammered by 4-1 in the third place in the 2006.

Germany vs Brazil preview

The Samba boys of Brazil will take on the German machine in the first semi final of the on going FIFA World cup. The explosive encounter is scheduled to be played in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday.

Brazil defeated hard fighting Chile in the quarter final match that was played on Friday night. Thiago Silva and Neymar Junior will miss the clash between these two former champions. While Neymar will be out for the rest of the tournament, Silva will serve a match ban.
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The captain was booked in the last eight fixture against Colombia. On the other hand, Neymar had a fracture in his vertebrae. The Barcelona forward could have been paralysed for life if Zuniga had raised his leg by just 2.3cm.

Coach Luis Felipe Scolari is expected to name Willian as  Neymar's replacement.

The Joachim Low tutored German side will try and avenge the defeat the country suffered in the 2002 World cup final in Yokohama. Germany were beaten 2-0 by the Brazilians.

The Europeans overcame France by a lone goal on Friday afternoon. Matt Hummels was on target in that match and he is expected to be on the starting line up against Brazil. Thomas Muller will be opportuned to add to his four goal tally after the ouster of Colombia's James Hernandez.

Miroslav Klose will also have the chance to become the highest goal scorer in the World cup history. The Polish born striker has scored 15 goals in all appearances since 2002. Ronaldo da Lima of Brazil is the other player with the same tally.

Kick off time : 20.00 UTC

Our prediction: Germany 3-2 Brazil

Brazil 2014 World cup weekend review 2

Crunching fixtures were placed across different match centres at the ongoing FIFA World cup in Brazil. Costa Rica continued their Cinderella run by recording a 1-0 victory over Italy in Recife. The Central Americans are now on top of group D with six points.
Mario Balotelli missed several scoring chances in that encounter while Buffon couldn't have a clean sheet on his return from injury.

Group E

Arena Fonte Nova stadium was the venue of the seven goal thriller between Switzerland and France. Didier Deschamps' men were very dominant throughout the game. Olivier Giroud scored the first goal for the 1998 champions before Valbuena,Sissoko and Karim Benzema added their goals. Benzema also missed a penalty in the first half.

The Swiss side scored two consolatory goals as the scoreline ended 5-2. France are now on top of group E with 6 points from two matches. Honduras were beaten 2-1 by Ecuador in an entertaining match that took place at the Arena de Baixada in Curitiba.

Group F
Argentina struggled to edge Iran by a lone goal in a match that was played at the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte. The two time World champions laboured to break down a resolute Iranian defence for 90 minutes. Carlos Quieroz's Asian team were denied penalties by the centre referee. Romero was called into action on some few occasions as the Persian team tried to create an upset, but a last minute moment of magic from Lionel Messi was enough for Argentina to claim all the three points at stake.

Sabella's team are currently on top of the group standings with 6 points.

The Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba was the host venue for the encounter between Nigeria and Bosnia&Herzegovina. The African side recorded their first win in 16 years by claiming a controversial victory over Bosnia. Peter Odemwingie scored the only goal of the game in the 29th minute of action after Emmanuel Emenike has out-muscled a Bosnian defender on the right wing.

Edin Dzeko's goal was erroneously ruled out for offside. The Manchester City striker was furious after the match and alleged that the referee robbed his team of victory. Nigeria are now second in the group with 4 points.

Group G
Germany and Ghana played a 2-2 draw in Fortaleza. The encounter took place at the Estadio Castelao where Germany took the lead through a header from Mario Gotze. Andre Ayew equalised for Ghana before Gyan Asamoah put the African team in front the second half. Joachim Loew's German team were on the brink of suffering a shock defeat before Miroslav Klose came off the bench to equalise for the Germans. Klose has now equalled Ronaldo da Lima's 15 goal record in the World cup. The Germans are now on 4 points.

On Sunday night, Portugal scored a last minute goal to deny USA  a memorable win. Nani's 5th minute goal seems to be the motivation that Bento's team needed to erase the memories of their 4-0 demolition against Germany, but the American scored two second half goals through Jermaine Jones and Clint Dempsey. The American were less than 10 seconds away from victory, but Cristiano Ronaldo provided a nice cross that was nodded into the back of the net. Portugal are at the bottom of the group.

Group H
Belgium booked their place in the last 16 of the tournament after a 1-0 win over Russia. Marc Wilmots' team was unconvincing throughout the match, but they managed to get a late goal and they are now through to the first knockout stage of Brazil 2014. The Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro was the venue of the match,

The other group match ended in a 4-2 win for Algeria. The desert foxes of Algeria defeated South Korea at the Estadio Beira Rio in Porto Alegre. The victory was the first World cup success for the North African team in 32 years. The team now have 3 points and they are second behind Belgium.

Results 

Italy 0-1 Costa Rica

Switzerland 2-5 France

Honduras 1-2 Ecuador

Argentina 1-0 Iran

Germany 2-2 Ghana

Nigeria 1-0 Bosnia

Belgium 1-0 Russia

Algeria 4-2 South Korea

Portugal 2-2 USA

German machine crushes Portugal

The three time World champions confirmed their superiority over Portugal by beating them 4-0.

Germany beat Portugal by 4-1 in the third place match of the 2006 World cup.

Joachim Low guided the Germans to a 4-0 win over Bento's team.  Thomas Muller scored a hat trick while Matt Hummels also got his name on the scorers sheet.

Muller has now scored a total of 8 goals in his three world cup appearances.

The Bayern Munich attacker scored the first goal through a penalty while Hummels doubled the lead.  Muller nade it 3-0 before the end of the first half.
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Pepe was sent off after his crazy attack on a German player.

Cristiano Ronaldo was not given the chance to impose himself on the match. Nani tried to unlock the German defence, but Lahm and his team mates didn't allow Manuel Neuer to do much work.

USA and Ghana are the other teams in the group. 

Champions of Euro Leagues

Most league champions of Europe have been crowned after gathering the highest number of points in their respective leagues.

Manchester United are the new English champions after Man City lost some key matches about two months ago.

In Netherlands, Ajax have won the Dutch Eredivisie. The four times European champions beat PSV to the second place.

Juventus won their 29th 'scudetto' title over the weekend. The 'Old ladies' also won the Serie A last season.

Bayern Munich have won the German Bundesliga.The Champions League finalists became the first team to win that Bundesliga with 6 games to go after opening a 20 point gap over Borussia Dortmund.

In Spain, Barcelona are 99% sure of winning the Primera Liga. The 'Catalans' are currently 11 points ahead of Real Madrid with four games left.

Celtic will return to the UEFA Champions League next sseason as Scottish league winners. The Glasgow club won the Scottish Premier League in the absence of relegated Rangers.

The demolition at the Nou Camp

FC Barcelona suffered their heaviest defeat in the history of the UEFA Champions League when they lost 7-0 to Bayern Munich over two legs.
The Spanish giants were the top favourite to win this year's competitionn,but they fell like a pack of cards.

Bayern Munich crushed them 4-0 at the Allianz Arena in the first leg semi final.
Thomas Muller and Mario Gomez were among the goal scorers of the day.

Many soccer pundits didn't believe it was over despite the convincing win that was orchestrated by a classic German side.

The Bavarians completed the rout when they massacred Barcelona at the Camp Nou on May 1st,2013.

After a goalless first half, Arjen Robben scored a fantastic goal to put his side ahead by 5-0 on aggregate.

Gerard Pique turned Phillip Lahm's cross into his own net just before Thomas Muller equalled Lionel Messi's Champions League tally for the season.

Alex Song,Xavi and Fabregas couldn't match the sleek looking Bayern midfield that included Frank Ribery,Thomas Muller and Arjen Robben.

Team captain,Philip Lahm had a wonderful night as the Germans strolled into their 10th Champions League final that will be played on May 25th,2013.

The venue of the match is the new Wembley stadium in London.

Munich will face Dortmund in the first ever all-German final.

World Club Champions beaten by Celtic

The reigning World Club Champions,FC Barcelona were beaten by Celtic FC of Scotland in a UEFA Champions League match that was played at the Celtic Park on Wednesday night. The former Spaniah champions had a better ball possession throughout the game, but the Scottish Premier League side were more direct in their style of play. The 'tiki-taka' style of the Catalans failed them when they needed it most. Celtic won the match by 2-1.

Meanwhile, Arsenal were forced to a 2-2 draw by Schalke 04 of Germany in Gelsenkirchen. The Gunners surrendered a 2-0 lead to the Germans. Manchester United joined FC Porto and Malaga in the last 16 after a 3-1 away win against Sporting Braga.

International football round up

The Three Lions of England defeated San Marino by 5-0 at the Wembley stadium on Friday night. Roy Hodgson's men were captained by Wayne Rooney in the absence of Steven Gerrard and Franc Lampard who missed the match due to suspension and injury respectively. Rooney and Danny Welbeck scored a brace each , while Alex Oxlade Chamberlain of Arsenal added the fifth goal. Rooney put up a spectacular show to justify the confidence of his manager who named him as the captain for the day. Meanwhile,Theo Walcott will remain in hospital for further check up. The Arsenal winger was badly injured on the chest after just 6 minutes of action.

In Dublin, it was a total nightmare for Geovanni Trapatoni's men. The Irish were beaten 6-1 at home by a rampaging German team that was led by veteran Miroslav Klose. Marco Reus and Toni Kroos scored a brace each while Mesut Ozil and Klose scored a goal each. The Irish team started very well, but they lost the midfield battle and that gave the Germans a lot of space to operate.

Reigning World champions defeated Belarus by four goals to nil in Minsk. Barcelona attacker, Pedro Rodriguez was the star player of the day. He scored a brilliant hat trick and also provided an assist for Jordi Alba in the first half of the match. The 'La Furia Roja' have now played 47 World cup qualifiers without a defeat. Their last World cup qualifier ended in a 1-0 win over Georgia.

In Amsterdam,Netherlands rolled over Andorra by 3-0. The 'Orange' men appeared to have put the disappointment of Euro 2012 behind them, as they now have six points from two games.

In Moscow, Cristiano Ronaldo failed to score a goal as Portugal went down by a lone goal. The Russia are now on top of their group.

In Bogota, Colombia defeated Paraguay by two goals to nil while Ecuador scored thrice against Chile. The Chileans managed to score a goal.
France suffered a 1-0 defeat to Japan in international friendly. The Blues were beaten by Shinji Kagawa's 89th minute strike at the Stade de France in Paris.

USA wins FIFA Under 20 Women's World cup

The United States of America have won the 2012 edition of the FIFA under 20 women's world cup in Japan. The Americans got a sweet revenge against their German counterparts that defeated them 3-0 in the group phase.

The Germans were the reigning champions of the tournament and their semi final win over Japan gave them the chance to win the cup back-to-back. The Europeans found a 'steel' defensive network that was setup by the Americans.

Meanwhile, the host nation got a consolatory bronze trophy after a 2-1 win over Nigeria. The Japanese scored a goal in either half before Desire Oparanozie scored Nigeria's only goal.

FIFA under 20 women world cup news

Nigeria,Japan and Germany are through to the semi final of the on going FIFA under 20 women tournament in Japan.

Nigeria defeated Mexico 1-0 at the National stadium in Tokyo. The 2010 runners up had their goal attempt coming off the woodwork through Desire Oparanozie in the first half of the match. The Africans missed several scoring opportunities during the regulation time. Esther Sunday played to the gallery for most part of the game as she made some poor passes after dribbling her opponents. The Nigerians were lucky not to have conceded twice within the last 10 minutes of the regulation time. Yamile Franca's free kick came off the crossbar before her compatriot nodded the ball against the crossbar from a well taken corner kick.

In the extra time, Oparanozie rose above everyone in the penalty box to head the ball past the impressive Mexican keeper. The Africans will meet the winner of North Korea vs USA in Tuesday's semi final.

In other games, Japan defeated South Korea 3-1 to book a semi final clash against Germany. The Germans are the defending champions and they defeated Norway 4-0 on Friday.

The Germans were 3-0 up inside the opening 20 minutes of the game. Lena Lotzen scored the first goal after just five minutes of action. Melanie Leupolz tapped home the second goal after the Norwegian keeper parried the ball in the path of the youngster. Lotzen received a pass from Marozsan and she dribbled her marker before scoring a slick goal.

In the second half, Gjoen saved a penalty from Marozsan after Ramona was brought down by a Norwegian. Wensing made it 4-0 by heading the ball from Marozsan's cross who made a total of three assists for the defending champions.

Ghana mauled by USA at FIFA under 20 women's World cup

Ghana's under 20 women team were battered 4-0 by the USA on Monday. The Americans showcased their superiority over Africa's second representative at the on going FIFA under 20 World cup in Japan. USA's Maya Hayes scored a hat trick on a day Leon of Canada equalled her record in Canada's 6-0 thrashing of Argentina in another match that was played on the same day. USA took full control of the match throughout the game and the Ghanaians were unable to match the former champions in any department of the game. The attacking flare of the Americans was too great to be ignored.

Meanwhile, defending champions defeated China by four goals to nil to share the top spot of group D with the USA. The Germans are now unbeaten in their last seven matches dating back from the 2010 edition which they won in Berlin. 

FIFA under 20 Women's World Cup preview

This year's FIFA under 20 women tournament commences in Japan on Sunday. The biennial football tournament was inaugurated in 2004 by the world governing body, FIFA. Germany are the defending champions after their 2-0 win over Nigeria in 2010. Nigeria became the first African team to parade a team in the final of any Women tournament on the global scene. The city of Miyagi will host the opening ceremony of the sixteen team tournament. Japan will square up against Mexico on the opening day at 7.20pm local time (10.20 UTC) on Sunday 19th August,2012.
The city of Miyagi was badly affected by the earth quake that occurred in March,2011. The Japanese people will have the opportunity to prove to the world that they can overcome major disasters and re-group to achieve greatness. The host nation's senior team are the reigning World champions. They also finished as silver medalists after a 2-1 defeat to USA at the London 2012 Olympics. The under 20 side have never gone beyond the quarter finals of previous editions. In 2011, Japan were crowned as the Asian under 19 champions in Vietnam.

Japan-under 19 champions of Asian football

 Mexico will be willing to go beyond the group phase of this competition. The Central Americans also got to the last eight at Germany 2010.

Other matches
New Zealand will meet Switzerland in another group A match that will be played on the same day. Last tournament's runner-up, Nigeria will be up against South Korea. The Africans won all their qualifying matches prior to this tournament while their opponents sneaked into the competition after the Japanese were named as the hosts of this mundial. Nigeria's Francesca Ordega said "Our opening game against South Korea will give us an indication of how far we can go, and it could also give us a real confidence boost.Make no mistake, I haven’t come to Japan to admire the skyscrapers; I’m here to win the World Cup."
Brazil will face Italy in the opening match of the competition at 15:00 local time (06:00UTC) on Sunday.

Watch Out
Brazil's Thais Guedes was part of Brazil's ill-fated London 2012 Women soccer campaign. She is the captain of the South American giants while Yeo Minji is also expected to be a star performer in Japan. She was named FIFA's best under 17 women player at Trinidad and Tobago 2010. 

Super Mario grounds German machine.

Mario Balotelli scored a brace as Italy defeated Germany by 2-1 at Euro 2012 semi final. The Manchester City striker put the Azurris' ahead via a header that was superbly nodded into the net after a good work from Antonio Cassano.
Mario scored the second goal that sealed the final ticket for his country when his pin point shot flew into the top corner of Manuel Neuer's goal. Andrea Pirlo cleared a ball off the line before the Italians took the lead. A late penalty was converted by Mesut Ozil, but that was not enough for Joachim Low's men to stop the Azurris. The Germans have lost eight competitive matches against the Italians. Spain will tackle Italy in the final on Sunday evening. The Olympic stadium in Kiev will be the match venue.

Dortmund tears Bayern apart in DFB Pokal Cup final

Borussia Dortmund defeated Bayern Munich by five goals to two in the DFB Pokal final that was played at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Saturday night. The 15 time Champions were devoured by Jurgen Kloop's men. Shinji Kagawa opened the scoring after three minutes of play. Luiz Gustavo gave away the ball in his own half before Jakub Blaszczykowski squared up Kagawa to fire the ball into an empty net. Weidenfeller brought down Mario Gomez in the penalty box and Arjen Robben converted the spot kick in the 25th minute to make it 1-1. Mats Hummels denied Bayern a second goal when he blocked Phillip Lahm's shot on the goal line and he sent Neuer the wrong way from the penalty spot some moments after his heroic display in defence. Jerome Boateng fouled Jakub Blaszczykowski in the penalty box.
Shinji Kagawa delivered a great pass to Lewandowski who played a shot that went in between the keeper's legs to make it 3-1 on the stroke of half time.

After the restart, Bayern couldn't penetrate into the danger area of the reigning German league winners. Some few minutes before the hour mark, Kagawa was able to find Kevin who later set up Lewandowski to make it 4-1. Later in the game Mario Gomez's header came off the post. In the 76th minute, Frank Ribery made it 4-2. The Frenchman ran through the Dortmund defence before he unleashed a shot that beat Dortmund's second choice keeper who came in after the first choice goal keeper sustained an injury in the first half.
Lukas provided an inch-perfect cross that was nodded past Neuer to make it 5-2 to the Bundesliga cum Pokal Champions. Bayern's last game of the season will be played at the Allianz Arena against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League final on May 19th.

Weekend Extra

Apart from the big games we have previewed on our blog, there are other interesting matches across the globe this weekend. Manchester United will hope to maintain their 5 points lead over Manchester City when they host Everton at the Old Trafford Stadium. Manchester City will visit the Britannia Stadium to tackle Wolverhampton Wanderers in a bid to continue their resurgence after their two consecutive wins over West Brom and Norwich City. The Citizens have scored 10 goals in their last two matches.
In Italy, Napoli will clash against Novara in the race for a top four finish. Fiorentina VS Inter is another interesting match to look forward to this weekend. AC Milan can replace Juventus at the top of the table if they can win against Bologna, but that will only occur if AS Roma should deny the Old Ladies all three points at stake in Turin.
In France,PSG will welcome Sochaux in Paris and Montpellier will equally be at home to host Valenciennes. The race for the French Ligue 1 will definitely go down to the last day of the season.
Atletico Madrid and Espanyol will clash at the Vicente Calderon on Sunday.

The Nigerian Premier League will resume this weekend after a two week break that followed the end of the first half of the season. Enugu Rangers,Kano Pillars and Dolphins of Port Harcourt are all tied on 32 points each. The Scottish Premier League has already been won by Celtic FC last weekend, Rangers and Hearts will continue to fight for the second spot on the table.

In the MLS, Thierry Henry will hope to score more goals for the NY Red Bulls. The former Arsenal and Barcelona hit man has scored seven goals this season.