Porto manager Andre Villas-Boas wants his side to end a perfect season by making the Europa League final.Villas-Boas’ side have already wrapped up the Liga Sagres crown and are undefeated in 26 matches, having booked their spot in the last four of the Europa League after they won 5-2 at Spartak Moscow on Wednesday to seal a 10-3 aggregate thumping.
They will join fellow Portuguese sides Sporting Braga and Benfica in the last four, with the Porto boss adamant his team must make the showpiece final in Dublin on May 18.
“We will try to reach the final,” Villas-Boas told Porto’s official website.
“We have registered an impressive victory and we have to give more and try to reach a much desired goal – the final.”
“Last season Atletico Madrid and Fulham played the final, but few remember the other two teams that were in the semi-finals (Liverpool and Hamburg).”
“Our journey in the competition has become even more remarkable and we will try to reach the final.”
With their league campaign over, Porto can place their full attention on winning the competition, something Spartak Moscow will not be able to do after their embarrassing defeat over two legs.
But despite the seven-goal aggregate defeat, Spartak manager Valery Karpin declared that he was ‘not ashamed’ of his side.
Karpin preferred to focus on the side’s ability to create chances, with his attention now firmly on the Russian Premier League where his side sit second from bottom.
“There were more positives than negatives today. We created 15 opportunities to score, and the main thing is we created them,” Karpin told NTV-Plus after the match.
“Maybe I am crazy, but I have no complaints. For the team I’m not ashamed.”
Inter Milan boss Leonardo was impressed with his side’s maturity after beating Fiorentina 3-1 on Sunday.The result saw Inter jump back into second place in Serie A – and they did it without several first-team regulars as they prepare for a Coppa Italia semi-final second-leg against Roma on Wednesday.
Goals to Giampaolo Pazzini and Esteban Cambiasso had Inter 2-0 ahead inside the first 30 minutes and although Alberto Gilardino brought Fiorentina back into the game with a 74th-minute goal, talented Brazilian Philippe Coutinho made sure of the result with his strike three minutes later.
“This victory was needed to ensure our Champions League spot and second place. It was another show of maturity and belief in our capabilities,” Leonardo said.
“It wasn’t easy to get the situation back on track after that cursed week against Milan and Schalke, but we’ve done it.”
When asked to reflect on the season, Leonardo admitted he would not have changed his decisions and blamed a 3-0 derby defeat in April at the hands of champions-elect AC Milan as a reason as to why his side did not win the league.
“Looking back, there is nothing I’d change. It’s all part of the journey. The derby defeat was certainly crucial for the Scudetto, but even with hindsight I would’ve made the same decisions,” he said.
“Milan won the Scudetto and therefore deserved it. They’re a great squad and I have no problem looking at my past. Looking at our season with neutral eyes, it remains positive.”
Leonardo also reflected on his side’s trophy success and said he has never contemplated leaving his post at Inter.
“Clearly Inter want to win everything, but the club already picked up the Italian Super Cup and Club World Cup, while we can reach the Coppa Italia final,” he said.
“As for my future, I have never thought about leaving Inter. I have a contract and want to respect it, even if I know a coach is always judged on his results.”
I started watching QPR around 94/95. The days where Sir Les and Big Trev started to fade out, so for me there were no real good old days for QPR, just old days. The last two seasons though have been somewhat of a revelation. The mood in South Africa Road has improved 10 fold and we’ve been watching the best football I’ve ever seen at the club. Warnock has come with the key. Seeing players like Derry, Kenny and Taarabt (to name a few) week in, week out giving 100% every time is what we need in English football right now.
I would like to think the mighty R’s are good enough to stay up, but the premiership is a completely different ball game (pun intended). The likes of Routledge, Taarabt, Mackie, Faurlin harks back to the days of Sinclair, Ferdinand, Gallen, Peacock for me. This is the first time QPR has won anything in my life time and I’m overjoyed. I could most certainly see us competing in the Prem for a long time, because we are a big club and we’re meant to be there. I’d like to hold on to Warnock and see what he can do in the top flight, he’s the go to man to get a team promoted so let’s make him the go to man to keep a team up.
We’re playing as a team now, rather than 11 individuals (remember Stuart Houston ahem!) and we have Warnock to thank for that.
Adel Taarabt is a good example of his people coaching. As we all know Taarabt is the best footballer in the Championship, ey ey, however he wasn’t at the start of the season. He had raw talent but he was naive and brash. Warnock controversially (and rightfully so) made him the captain to give him a sense of responsibility and make him think about other team mates before himself, and it worked. This is what Warnock does behind the scenes, and it’s just like the good old days with Sir Ray Wilkins. For once, as a Rangers fan, I have faith.
The new single ‘Still Here’ is out now, taken from their upcoming Stephen Street produced album ‘Famous First Words’. Buy the single here: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/still-here-single/id430580094
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Listen to the end of season episode of our brand new podcast – The Football FanCast. – Featuring Razor Ruddock, Gary O’Reilly and QPR fans Brother!
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What nationality is Alejandro Faurlin?
A) Albanian
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B) Abyssinian
C) Argentinian
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Sir Alex Ferguson praised his Manchester United team after they secured a 19th English Premier League title with a 1-1 draw at Blackburn.United had to come from behind at Ewood Park after an error from reserve goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak led to Brett Emerton’s opening goal in the 20th minute.
They looked to be heading for a costly shock defeat before Mexico international Javier Hernandez won a penalty after going down under a challenge from Rovers’ goalkeeper Paul Robinson.
Wayne Rooney lashed home the spot-kick to make it 1-1 with 17 minutes remaining and United saw out the closing exchanges to capture their fourth title in five seasons.
“It was a fantastic performance by the lads and the supporters and for everybody connected with the club, it’s a great day today,” Ferguson told Sky Sports.
“It wasn’t an easy game. We went 1-0 down having given them a bad goal but we kept on and we don’t give in. It looked like it was not going to be our day. We’ve always had it difficult here.”
“It is a local derby and they are fighting for their lives, looking for that point, but we kept going and that’s a good quality.”
Rooney admitted nerves threatened to get the better of him as referee Phil Dowd delayed in awarding the penalty while consulting with an assistant.
“I was terrified, the ref took a long time to give it,” Rooney said.
“I had to compose myself. I’d been practising all week.”
“After the year I’ve had, with the ups and downs, this is for the fans and the team,” he added, referring to a high-profile contract dispute and revelations of marital infidelity.
Rooney also managed a dig at Liverpool after United passed their record of 18 English league titles.
“For me personally, being an Everton fan, to win a 19th title is special,” he said.
A 0-0 draw away to Blackburn cost United dear last season as Chelsea captured the league title by one point.
They could only manage a draw again on Saturday, but this time it was enough, with centreback Rio Ferdinand satisfied by the team’s performance.
“We missed out last year by a point and it was here we pretty much lost the league so it was nice to come back here and get it done,” Ferdinand said.
“We gave away a soft goal but we persevered and got our rewards.”
“It’s a better league this year. Teams have been beating each other from the bottom to the top which makes it more exciting for the fans.”
One of the biggest doubts I have over the move for Jordan Henderson is about why we are prioritising central midfield when there are plenty of other areas that need strengthening. In my mind, maybe using as much as £20million (if David Ngog is not included in the deal) of our transfer budget, with perhaps £8million more on Charlie Adam , doesn’t seem to be at all logical when we are struggling in positions such as left back and on the wing.
I am prepared to put these doubts to the back of my mind because I trust in Kenny Dalglish ’s judgement. After all, who are we to question one of the greatest manager’s in the game and as he stated himself, he would only spend money on players who he believed could improve the squad. Obviously King Kenny believes that Henderson will do just that.
At just 20 years of age, Henderson certainly has a lot of potential, and what I have been able to gather from some Sunderland fans is that he is certainly Kenny’s style of player. Very composed on the ball, Henderson is very adept at passing under pressure and when tightly marked. Delivering crosses and putting through balls in tight spaces is something that would have attracted Kenny and Damien Comolli to Henderson as he would certainly fit in to the pass and move philosophy that the Reds will be playing under Dalglish.
However, it is important to emphasise that Henderson is nowhere near the finished article. Starting off as a winger who can expertly cross the ball, the young Englishman has found himself in more central positions as he has settled in Sunderland’s first team eleven. According to reports in the papers too, Kenny wants to bring Henderson to Liverpool as a central midfielder primarily.
No doubt, there will be other doubters, like me, about whether Henderson is the right fit for Liverpool . If he doesn’t get off to a good start there maybe fans who get on his back, like they did with Lucas, but like the Brazilian, I hope the youngster has the mental strength to fight through the difficult times and get through the other side as a very talented player
Part of the excitement about his move to Liverpool will be over how King Kenny can mould Henderson into a world class player. Dalglish has a fantastic record of cultivating young stars, and if he gets it right with Henderson, there is no doubting Liverpool’s central midfield future will be very secure after the retirement of Steven Gerrard.
Certainly there will be pressure on the youngster after such a big money move, but if he develops his game and keeps his head when things aren’t going his way, I have complete trust in Kenny that this move will work out the way it is intended. Is it blind faith? We will have to wait and see.
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The Portland Timbers’ grip on the Cascadia Cup is slipping after the Seattle Sounders edged them 3-2 in the MLS on Sunday.Along with the Vancouver Whitecaps, the Timbers and the Sounders play off for the fan-sponsored cup to decide the best side in the Pacific Northwest.
Winners of the trophy in 2010, Portland face a huge task to wrest it from Seattle this season after the loss in Sunday’s match, which exploded to life after an unremarkable first half.
Twice Portland took the lead in front of their home fans at JELD-WEN Field, but twice Seattle pegged them back through goals from designated player Fredy Montero.
Jeff Parke’s own-goal under pressure from Timbers forward Jorge Perlaza handed the hosts the lead just a minute into the second half, only for Montero to cancel it out four minutes later with a perfectly weighted free-kick.
The Timbers restored their advantage in the 69th minute when Perlaza was set away on the left by fellow Colombian Diego Chara.
He opted to shoot when a cross might have been a wiser option, but his effort took a deflection off Seattle defender Tyson Wahl and looped over goalkeeper Kasey Keller.
Not content to let his countrymen have the last laugh, Montero clinched his brace five minutes later when he tapped in Mauro Rosales’ cross.
Drama is never far away when the two bitter rivals meet, and the match was settled in contentious circumstances when Timbers defender Eric Brunner conceded a penalty and was sent off for a high-booted challenge on Lamar Neagle.
Cuban midfielder Osvaldo Alonso dispatched the penalty to make it 3-2, extending Seattle’s unbeaten run to eight matches and moving them into second on the Western Conference table.
Conversely, the Timbers are now winless in seven and need to arrest their form slump if they are to make the playoffs.
Are Everton fans unfairly blaming their long-standing chairman, Bill Kenwright, for the lack of progress at the once great club?
As another summer passes on Merseyside, what has now become par for the course in these parts is occurring yet again during another major football transfer window – Liverpool are seemingly linked with every player under the sun (remember that big yellow thing in the sky?), whilst their neighbours and derby rivals Everton, have hardly been linked with any. In fact, the Blue’s have hardly featured in any of the many major transfer gossip columns around the country – and sadly for their fans, it is not something new.
Lack of transfer action is something which the Evertonian’s have grown accustomed to over the years. Amongst the proud fans of this grand, historic club, frustration and restlessness has been growing for some time towards Kenwright and the board, and this is now in danger of turning into pure anger. Indeed the Chairman is already seen as a hate-figure, by many in the blue half of the city. His crime? That depends on who you talk to, and which blue camp you are sitting in.
The immense frustration has led to a number of ‘groups’ being formed by Everton fans, newest of which and perhaps most interesting is ‘The People’s Group’. Created with the aim of getting the national media to highlight what they see as ‘the failings of the board’, and in the hope of getting answers from them, they have garnered quite the following in a short space of time. Nearly 2,000 members joined the cause in just 10 days, mostly through the medium of social networking sites Twitter and Facebook. They’ve had their voice heard through the national media already; getting a slot on Talksport to promote their cause, and hope more media outlets will start to pick up their campaign and investigate what is going on at the club.
The People’s Group highlight that, to them, Evertons’s size and stature in the English game, should dictate they’re in a better position as a club – both sportingly, and economically, through marketing etc. They point out that when the Premier League was formed, only one club had won more top-flight titles (presently only three clubs still boast a better trophy haul) and no other English club has played more top-flight matches. They say since the Premier League began, their club has stagnated and various opportunities to progress have been missed, especially under the Kenwright regime, who has promised so much but delivered very little, if anything at all. Lack of investment, lack of signings, lack of a new stadium, this group has had enough of the apparent broken promises from the board and the vast majority of the supporters I’ve spoken to want some direct answers. However, as mentioned above, there is another camp…
You see, for all the apparent lack of progress at Everton, there are still some supporters who refuse to blame Kenwright, who is, by the way, a life-long Everton fan. They say, sarcastically, that his only crime is that he is not a billionaire sheikh. They say, as a fan, he has the best interests of the club at heart and doesn’t want to hand over the proud heritage of the club to just any foreign investor that comes along. Others say that Kenwright inherited a club that simply isn’t an attractive proposition for any would-be investor. After all, the club has only won one trophy in 24 years. Kenwright was also responsible for bringing manager David Moyes to the club, who is held in high-regard around the league.
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So, just who is to blame for the current situation at Everton? Are ‘The People’s Group’ right in blaming the current board? Is it all Kenwright’s doing? Is manager David Moyes’ partially to blame for lack of success due to his, sometimes questionable tactics? Should Everton’s historical record give their fans the right to demand they be in a better position? Or do Everton fans feel that the current Chairman is doing a remarkable job, and that a minority are being ungrateful, as other clubs have been in drastically worse positions than the club from Goodison Park? Let the debate commence…
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New Oman coach Paul Le Guen says he wants his team to dare to dream that they can qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.Former Lyon, Rangers and PSG coach Le Guen took over as the Oman national team boss in June.
Oman won the 2009 Gulf Cup of Nations under Frenchman Claude Le Roy but failed to progress to the final round of 2010 World Cup qualifiers, while they also missed out on the 2011 Asian Cup.
However, Le Guen, who guided Cameroon to the 2010 World Cup finals, told fifa.com his new side needs to believe in the dream of qualification for the Brazil tournament in three years time.
“It’s not so much an aim or target, as a dream: we want to give everything we’ve got and qualify for the FIFA World Cup,” Le Guen said.
“We know that we’re not expected to make it to the finals, and that there are lots of sides better than ourselves, but I believe we have to dream: we have to try to achieve the unexpected.”
Le Guen, who has never coached in the Middle East before, also revealed he had been wooed to the job by Oman’s Football Association (OFA) president Sayyid Khalid Hamad Al-Busaidi.
“I met with the president of the OFA in London in February and then again in April, and we clicked,” Le Guen said.
“I had a number of options open to me, but I took my decision then.”
“It’s a new adventure and an opportunity for me to continue working with my friends, which is something that’s very important to me.”
Oman begin their 2014 World Cup qualification campaign at home to Myanmar on Saturday.
Stoke City are lining up an audacious double swoop for unwanted Tottenham duo Peter Crouch and Wilson Palacios say The Daily Mail.
In a £16 million raid, Stoke manager Tony Pulis will look to strengthen both his midfield with the Honduran international Palacios, who fell out of favour with Spurs last season, and his frontline with giant England international Crouch. If Spurs accept the offer, Pulis would have to convince both parties to take significant wage cuts, as Stoke are unable to match their current lucrative contracts.
Stoke, along with a host of other Premier League clubs, have become alerted to Crouch’s availability after the agent of another Tottenham forward spoke out in believing the England man was likely to leave White Hart Lane this summer.
Oleg Artemov, who represents Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, wants to hold talks with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy over a new contract for his man, and stated: ‘I expect to talk nearer to the transfer window’s closing time. At the moment he [Levy] is too busy. He needs to sell players and to buy new ones. Two or three teams are interested in Peter Crouch. So he is most likely to be the one of the five Spurs attackers to leave.’
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Artemov was referencing the fact that Spurs manager Harry Redknapp has been told he must sell players, before he can bring any new faces into the club.
When it comes to shirt numbers I’m sure many people won’t even bat an eyelid at the significance of certain digits and the importance that they hold within the walls of a football club. There is a number, however, so revered in English football you’d think it was a crown jewel considering the proud way fans talk about it. The number nine shirt means a lot more to football fans than they could possibly explain. To wear the much-respected number you have to be a certain type of player and more importantly you have to earn it!
Since individual squad numbers were introduced into English football in 1993 they have soared in tandem with transfer fees. Don’t be surprised if, in the very near future, you see a maverick player sporting three digits on the back of his shirt. In my opinion squad numbers have become a bit of a gimmick and aren’t treated with the respect that they once were. That said the number nine shirt will always retain its majesty, power and prodigious tradition. Since the dawn of our beautiful game that digit has grown to signify something holy and special turning an average player into a symbol of hope and glory. It takes an amazing character to take up the mantle of being a number nine and I believe the game needs them to separate those who play football with pride and those who play for the wrong reasons.
A majority of footballers, these days, are seen to be lacking in passion and commitment with the sport now just an avenue to a colossal bank account and a stress free existence. Traditions seem to be lost on this new breed of player as they continue to lose touch with the people that come out to support them every week. The chasm between players and fans is widening every year and doesn’t look like stopping with there being no feasible way to relate or feel connected to footballers anymore. They are more focused on fast cars, expensive watches and garnering a celebrity status. They are visibly ignorant and a poor representation of the traditions that once made football romantic and magical. Being a Newcastle United fan I know full well what that shirt means to those who wear it and those who chant their name from the stands. Jackie Milburn, Malcom MacDonald, Les Ferdinand, Alan Shearer and dare I say it Andy Carroll are just some of the names to sit above the famous figure and all have been worshipped in their own right at St James’ Park.
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Everyone knows that number nines are goal scorers but they hold much more importance than that. They are the focal point of the team, the spearhead if you like, and in no uncertain terms are the ultimate heroes of a football club. Whilst their job is to hit the back of the net they must also keep those faces in the stands smiling broadly and wear the shirt with absolute dignity and honour. There may be shouts that I’m being biased but you have to agree with the sentiment that Shearer is the greatest number nine the Premier League has ever seen. His first class attitude, consistent goal scoring exploits, roughhouse nature and battering ram approach to games made him the archetypal leader on the pitch. He was the first to throw his head into a crowd or charge down an opponent when possession was surrendered and didn’t mind taking a few cuts and bruises along the way. To cut a long story short he was inspirational and is still idolized to this day despite hanging up his boots over five years ago. Blackburn Rovers fans i’m sure you’ll agree?
The fact of the matter is Shearer encompassed the sort of passion and respect that the makes a number nine so special. He knew what it meant to wear that shirt and how much it would hurt the fans if it was ever besmirched. He is the model that every number nine should aspire to be and it seems that they are a dying breed. The adoration and esteem that surrounds the number nine shirt makes it sacred to so many football fans around the country. Perhaps the pressure surrounding it is considered too much to handle at any club. Thats why a special type of character is required to take on that role as avant-garde. As well as being seen as a leader they’ll also be identified as an equilibrium between fans and modern footballers. Someone who understands the tradition that they are currently steeped in. The influence a player like that holds should never be underestimated No one ever forgets a true number nine!
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