MAn utd win Community SHIELD!!
Written on 10:06 PM by Rahul Mathur
Edwin van der Sar saved all three of Chelsea's spot-kicks as the Reds lifted the Community Shield on a sweltering day at Wembley. The Dutch stopper showed strong arms to beat out efforts from Claudio Pizarro, Frank Lampard and Shaun Wright-Philips before Wayne Rooney tucked in United's third to seal United's 12th Community Shield after the game had ended 1-1. Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick also converted from 12 yards. Sir Alex fielded a similar team to the one that took on Inter Milan at Old Trafford during midweek. The only change saw Mikael Silvestre come in for Chris Eagles, with Patrice Evra pushing forward into midfield.
The Blues enjoyed the lion's share of possession in the opening exchanges but found United in determined mood. Patrice Evra, Mikael Silvestre and Wayne Rooney were all penalised for using too much force in the tackle before John O'Shea got his timing just right when he nicked the ball from Joe Cole inside the area. It took 21 minutes before United forced Chelsea stopper Petr Cech into action. Cristiano Ronaldo roared down the left wing before cutting inside with a view to shoot. He was halted by two Blues defenders but the ball squirmed across the area into Giggs' path, whose shot was bravely blocked by the Chelsea custodian.Wayne Rooney wasted a chance from the resulting corner before Michael Carrick curled a shot wide a minute later. United survived a scare on 27 minutes – John Obi Mikel was inches away from making contact with Michael Essien's flick-on – before taking the lead 10 Nemanja Vidic pinged a cross-field pass to Patrice Evra on the left flank, who played a smart one-two with Ronaldo that sent the Frenchman deep into Chelsea territory. Once at the byeline, Evra cut the ball back to Giggs, who fired the ball high into the net first time, despite close attention from Ricardo Carvalho and Mikel. It was the Welshman's 142nd goal of his United career.Nemanja Vidic had a penalty appeal turned down by referee Mark Halsey on 75 minutes. There were few protests, despite TV replays indicating Tal Ben Haim clearly shoved the Serbian in the back. Ben Haim did well on 84 minutes, however, when he forced Ronaldo wide enough to make things easy for Petr Cech. Neither side pressed too hard for a winner in normal time, although the Reds did win a number of late corners. In the end, the two teams who had been so evenly matched last season required penalties to settle an absorbing Community Shield.
MAnchestar United ? the strongest team :D
Written on 9:39 PM by Rahul Mathur
OWEN HARGREAVES and Carlose Tevez (finally) in the MAN TUD team ;) cheers to manchestar untied hope they win this season :]
20 years of English League championship
Written on 9:33 PM by Rahul Mathur
Year Champion Runner-up
---- -------- ---------
2005-2006 Chelsea Manchester -United
2004-2005 Chelsea- Arsenal
2003-2004 Arsenal -Chelsea
2002-2003 Manchester United- Arsenal
2001-2002 Arsenal -Liverpool
2000-2001 Manchester United -Arsenal
1999-2000 Manchester United- Arsenal
1998-99 Manchester United -Arsenal
1997-98 Arsenal -Manchester United
1996-97 Manchester United -Newcastle United
1995-96 Manchester United- Newcastle United
1994-95 Blackburn Rovers -Manchester United
1993-94 Manchester United- Blackburn Rovers
1992-93 Manchester United -Aston Villa
1991-92 Leeds United -Manchester United
1990-91 Arsenal -Liverpool
1989-90 Liverpool -Aston Villa
1988-89 Arsenal- Liverpool
1987-88 Liverpool -Manchester United
Manutd,chelsea and arsenal win while liverpool lose!!
Written on 2:41 AM by Rahul Mathur
Premier League leaders Manchester United beat Charlton Athletic 2-0 at Old Trafford to stay six points clear of Chelsea on Saturday after the champions beat Middlesbrough 3-0 at Stamford Bridge.
South Korea midfielder Park Ji-sung and Scotland's Darren Fletcher scored in each half to take Alex Ferguson's side to 66 points and a step closer to their first league title since 2003.
Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba scored twice for Chelsea from freekicks and Boro defender Abel Xavier gifted them the other by deflecting an Arjen Robben effort into his own net.
Liverpool lost 2-1 at Newcastle United, Reading were 2-0 winners over Aston Villa, Sheffield United beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 and Watford won a relegation scrap at West Ham United 1-0 after Marlon Harewood missed a penalty for the hosts.
Striker Andy Johnson celebrated his 26th birthday by scoring Everton's winner as they beat Blackburn Rovers 1-0.
Though Manchester United's victory did not increase their lead, Ferguson's men will at least be comforted by knowing there are now only 11 games left in the season.
Park delivered the killer blow with a header from French wingback Patrice Evra's cross in the 24th minute and Fletcher wrapped up the win off a Wayne Rooney cross in the 82nd.
Chelsea lacked fluency against a Boro side who had beaten them 2-1 at the Riverside in August but made the breakthrough with Drogba's freekick on the stroke of halftime.
Xavier put the result beyond doubt by turning in a wayward shot by Dutch substitute Robben, who had only arrived a minute earlier, and Drogba finished the job to become the Premier League's leading scorer with his 17th of the season.
Along with the points, Chelsea also made sure of a three-year run without a home league defeat -- the last coming against Arsenal in a London derby on Feb 21, 2004.
Their next home fixture is next month against Sheffield United.
CHELSEA'S LEAD
With 60 points, Chelsea now have a useful lead over Liverpool, who are stuck on 50 after letting slip an early lead at St James' Park from their former Newcastle forward Craig Bellamy, who was booed on his return.
Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins equalised after a goalkeeping blunder by Liverpool's Jose Reina and Peruvian midfielder Nolberto Solano converted a penalty to win it.
Fourth-placed Arsenal, who play Wigan Athletic on Sunday and have a further game in hand, have 46 points.
Down at the other end of the table, Watford remain bottom after Darius Henderson secured their first away league win of the season with a 12th minute penalty.
But it did move them on to 18 points -- just two behind Charlton and West Ham and seven adrift of Wigan.
Arsenal had to come from behind to snatch a 2-1 win over Wigan Athletic and reclaim fourth place in the Premier League from Bolton Wanderers on Sunday.
Arsenal looked set for a first defeat at the Emirates Stadium after a stunning 35th-minute strike by Wigan's Dutch midfielder Denny Landzaat.
But Wigan defender Fitz Hall's own goal in the 81st minute and an 84th minute winner from Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky turned the game -- soon after Wigan were denied a penalty.
Arsenal are fourth on 49 points and back in front of Bolton, who had reached 47 points with an earlier 2-1 win over Fulham.
Manchester United, who beat Charlton Athletic 2-0 on Saturday, are top with 66, six ahead of Chelsea who beat Middlesbrough 3-0.
Liverpool are third on 50 points, with Arsenal holding a game in hand on all three.
Wigan will consider themselves very unlucky after leading through Landzaat's stunning 30-metre shot.
They threatened to score more but were floored at the end when Hall turned a cross into his own net and Rosicky headed his first league goal from Julio Baptista's cross
Cricket- Indian World Cup team Announced
Written on 2:39 AM by Rahul Mathur
The announcement of the 15-member Indian team for the cricket World Cup has brought both happiness and annoyance for the fans and family members of cricketers.
Parents of fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth distributed sweets and offered thanks giving prayers at temples after their son made it to the World Cup squad.
"Inclusion into the World Cup team (was a dream) that came true and he has to perform well during the World Cup," he said.
Savitri Devi, his mother, said it was always his dream to be part of a World Cup winning team.
"His dream is to bring the World Cup to India. Please pray for that dream," she said
The 24-year-old fast bowler from Kerala has so far played 26 One-Day Internationals (ODI) and taken 34 wickets with 6 for 55 being his best performance. In Test cricket, he has taken 37 wickets from just eight matches.
Inclusion of another pacer Munaf Patel brought happiness to his Ikhar village in Gujarat.
"The entire village is celebrating after his name came in the World Cup squad. By God's grace, he will bowl very well and take wickets for India," said Maqbool Kankana, the village head.
The 22-year-old pacer has taken 21 wickets from 16 ODIs.
Patel and Sreesanth would be making their World Cup debut along with Karnataka opener Robin Uthappa, wicketkeepers Mahendra Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik and paceman Irfan Pathan.
Meanwhile, fans of batsman Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina were irked over their exclusion from the team.
The fans of these two Uttar Pradesh players alleged that this was a strategy of national selectors for not taking any player from the State.
"We want that at least one player of Uttar Pradesh should be in the Indian cricket team. Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina are good players and they should have been selected in the team," said Ankur, a fan.
"Mohammad Kaif is not taken in the team. It is not good because he is a good fielder as well as good batsman. If they (selectors) are seeing bad performance, Sehwag has also not done well and there should be at least one Uttar Pradesh player in the team," said Harish, another fan.
As a mark of their protest against the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and its selection committee, they burnt effigies board president Sharad Pawar and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar.
The Indian team leaves for the Caribbean on March 1 and will play two warm-up matches before first group match against Bangladesh on March 17 at the Queen's Park Oval in Port of Spain. Sri Lanka and Bermuda are other two teams in this group. Indian squad: Rahul Dravid (captain), Ajit Agarkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket keeper), Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Sreesanth, Sachin Tendulkar, Robin Uthappa and Yuvraj Singh
