Captain Gerrard Saves England from another Hungarian Humiliation

England	2	vs.	1	Hungary
Steven GERRARD 69’ 73’		MotM = Steven GERRARD (ENG)	Phil JAGIELKA 62og’
International Friendly		Ref = Stéphane LANNOY (FRA)	Wembley Stadium

ENGLAND was on the verge of yet another agonising defeat to Hungary at Wembley last night.

It was Hungary who were the first non-British team to beat England at Wembley (3-6 in 1953), and they also inflicted England’s biggest ever defeat (1-7 in Budapest, 1954). In fact the Magical Magyars were at one point the strongest international football team in history, with an Elo score of 2,166 points on 30 June 1954.

But the Hungary players of today are (with respect) nowhere near as good as their legendary compatriots were. So as you can imagine, England fans were expecting to see some of the wrongs righted from the 1950s and this summer’s awful World Cup campaign.

The first twenty minutes didn’t look bad at all. But after that I sat back in my chair (I was on the edge of it) and my smile turned into a concerned frown. Yes we were playing well, but we still had a big ‘0’ next to us. This was probably the reason why the team was booed off at half-time.

Things didn’t pick up at the start of the second half either, and just after the hour mark the unthinkable happened: Hungary scored. Well when I say Hungary scored, what I mean is the ball deflected of off Phil Jagielka and was cleared off the line, but the French linesman gave the goal.

IF FOOTBALL WALKED OUT OF THE DARK AGES AND JOINED: RUGBY, CRICKET AND TENNIS BY BRINGING IN VIDEO REPLAYS AND OR A REFERAL SYSTEM, THAT GOAL WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GIVEN!

Wembley Stadium erupted with boos. It couldn’t happen again surly? A goal going against us like that as well as England not beating a team we should destroy, and losing to Hungary.

But Captain Steven Gerrard made sure that this wouldn’t be the case. With 69 minutes in the clock he smashed the ball into the back of the Hungarian net from 20-yards out to level the scores. Just four minutes later, Gerrard beat four Hungarian players in their penalty box and drilled the ball home to put England in the lead.

Steven Gerrard: England’s saviour.

Hungary could have made to 2-2 in the last few minutes, but England keeper Joe Hart bravely stood up to the ball to secure England’s victory.

All in all, I’ve seen England play better than this, and although we won let’s not get carried away just yet. There is much to improve on before the start of the Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Some scores from elsewhere

Angola 0 – 2 Uruguay

Austria 0 – 1 Switzerland

Denmark 2 – 2 Germany

Mexico 1 – 1 Spain

Montenegro 2 – 0 Northern Ireland

Norway 2 – 1 France

Republic of Ireland 0 – 1 Argentina

South Africa 1 – 0 Ghana

Sweden 3 – 0 Scotland

Ukraine 1 – 1 Netherlands

U.S.A. 0 – 2 Brazil

Wales 5 – 1 Luxembourg

Team GB’s Record Breaking Euro Athletics

LAST week (27 July – 1 August), Barcelona held the European Athletics Championships in the old Olympic stadium from 1992. Great Britain had some good times there as Linford Christie won the blue-ribbon event (men’s 100m) and Sally Gunnell took gold in the women’s 400m Hurdles.

But 2010 gave Team GB even more fond memories.

Great Britain took away 19 medals from Barcelona – out best ever haul at a European Championships.

Below is a table showing you each and every one of our: six gold, seven silver and six bronze medals.

MEDAL	ATHLETE	EVENT	TIME/DISTANCE/HIGHT/POINTS
GOLD	Mo Farah	Men’s 5,000m	13m31.18s
		Men’s 10,000m	28m24.99s
	Andy Turner	Men’s 110m Hurdles	13.28s SB
	David Greene	Men’s 400m Hurdles	48.12s EL
	Phillips Idowu	Men’s Triple Jump	17.81m PB
	Jessica Ennis	Heptathlon	6,823pts CR, WL, PB
SILVER	Mark Lewis-Francis	Men’s 100m	10.18s
	Christian Malcolm	Men’s 200m	20.38s SB
	Michael Bingham	Men’s 400m	45.23s
	Michael Rimmer	Men’s 800m	1m47.17s
	Chris Thompson	Men’s 10,000m	28m27.33s
	Rhys Williams	Men’s 400m Hurdles	48.96s PB
	Great Britain	Men’s 4x400m Relay	3m02.25s
BRONZE	Martyn Rooney	Men’s 400m	45.23s
	Martyn Bernard	Men’s High Jump	2.29m
	Chris Tomlinson	Men’s Long Jump	8.23m SB
	Jenny Meadows	Women’s 800m	1m59.39s
	Perri Shakes-Drayton	Women’s 400m Hurdles	54.18s PB
	Great Britain	Women’s 4x400m Relay	3m24.32s

Mo Farah became the first-ever British man to win the European 10,000m Championship and only the fifth man ever to complete the long-distance double of the 5,000m and 10,000m.

Mo Farah

Dwain Chambers could only manage fifth place in the men’s 100m Final, with Mark Lewis-Francis finishing in a surprising second place. Lewis-Francis was later scorned by BBC pundit (and all-time Athletics great) Michael Johnson for telling his critics to shush instead of celebrating the silver medal. ML-F was also responsible for the baton mix up which cost Great Britain a place in the men’s 4x100m Relay Final.

Jessica Ennis took another step towards being crowned Olympic Champion in London in less than two years time. The reigning World Champion saw off the reigning Olympic Champion, Ukraine’s Nataliya Dobrynska in what was a gripping two days of competition.

Away from GB now; France’s young Christophe Lemaitre took gold in the men’s: 100m, 200m and 4x100m Relay to take the title of ‘Fastest Man Europe’. Lemaitre hit the headlines before the championships even started when he became the first white man ever to run under ten seconds for the 100m in Valence. However, his time of 9.98s is a massive 0.4s off of Usain Bolt’s World Record of 9.58s, but then again Bolt is unique.

Christophe Lemaitre

MEDALS TABLE
Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Russia	10	6	8	24
2	France	8	6	4	18
3	Great Britain	6	7	6	19
4	Germany	4	6	6	16
5	Turkey	3	1	0	4
6	Spain (Hosts)	2	3	3	8
7	Ukraine	2	3	1	6
8	Poland	2	2	5	9
9	Belarus	2	1	1	4
10	Croatia	2	0	0	2

BTW: Did you see the mascot for these championships? Barni is his name and he had a lot to live up to after the exploits of Berlino the Bear from last year’s World Championship. But I think he did a pretty good job of keeping everybody smiling. Wenlock, take note.

Barni (r.) with friend Berlino (l.).

Lastly, the next stop for these championships is Helsinki, which hosted the 1983 and 2005 World Championships and the 1952 Olympic Games. But the championships will take place in a two year cycle from now on and not a four year cycle. The Helsinki championships are due to take place just three weeks before the start of the London Olympics! The European Athletics Association (EAA) has dropped the ball on that one.

Thank you Barcelona for putting on a great week of Athletics, and I just could not not add this song.

R.I.P.: Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins

Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins

ON 24 July, the sport of Snooker lost one of its legends.

Alex Higgins ‘The Hurricane’ died at the age of 61 in his home town of Belfast after a 12 year long battle with throat cancer.

He was the bad boy of the golden age of Snooker, and was never far from controversy. He was rarely seen without a cigarette in one hand and a pint in the other when his opponent was at the table. But when he was at the table he seemed to be able to rewrite the laws of physics.

His greatest ever match was against Jimmy White in the Semi-Finals of the 1982 World Championship. The match swung one way and then the other, and was played at a lighting pace for the time. White was one red away from advancing to the Final, but missed it with the rest. Higgins then produced what is generally regarded as the finest break (69) in Snooker history. The Hurricane would go onto win the match 16-15, and then became World Champion for the second time – ten years after his first title – beating fellow legend Ray Reardon 18-15 in the Final.

However, Higgins’s heavy smoking and drinking caught up with him as he was diagnosed with the throat cancer that would ultimately kill him in 1998. He also became an obsessive gambler, and admitted using cocaine and weed in his past.

In his final months he took part in the Snooker Legends Tour debut event at the home of Snooker – The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. In an unrelated event his fellow professionals and friends tried to raise £20,000 so that he could get a new set of teeth fitted. His original set of teeth had fallen out during his radiotherapy, and was reported to be living on liquid food. At the time of his death he weight only six stones (38Kg).

Higgins near the end of his life.

Yes he may have made several wrong turns in his life, but to me and the rest of the Snooker world, he will be remembered as one of the golden generation who brought Snooker out of the clubs and into our living rooms.

When asked for my fantasy Snooker match I reply with this: “Alex Higgins vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan. Higgins to win.”

Rest in peace Alex, you are in pain no longer.

Murali ends Test career on 800

Murali – A must pick for any fantasy XI.

YESTERDAY in Galle Sri Lanka beat rivals India in the first Test match of their series by 10 wickets. But the result doesn’t really matter when you consider the significance of the match.

Muttiah Muralitharan was playing in his last ever Test match for Sri Lanka – the end of a record breaking and rule book rewriting era.

The off-spinner played his first Test for Sri Lanka against Australia way back in late August 1992, and made Craig McDermott his first victim by trapping him L.B.W. Muralitharan’s last wicket was that of India’s Pragyan Ojha. This was the last ball he would ever bowl in Test Cricket, and with it took his 800^th wicket.

I doubt that we will ever see this record surpassed in our life-times, if indeed ever. The closest any other bowler comes to him in terms of wickets taken is Australia’s Shane Warne with 708.

Now to me, Cricket is a game of statistics. So here are some of Muralitharan’s astonishing bowling numbers from his 133 Test matches (one of which was played for ICC World XI).

Overs	Maidens	Runs	Wickets	Economy	Average	Strike Rate
7,339.5	1,792	18,180	800	2.48	22.73	55.05

Murali took 67 five wicket innings, and 22 ten wicket matches along the way. These are both international records to his name, as are these:

• Most international wickets in all forms of the game – 1,320.
• Only player to take ten wickets in a match against every other Test nation.
• Only player to take ten wickets in a match in four consecutive matches. (He did this twice).
• Only player to take 50 wickets against every other Test nation.
• Only player to take seven wickets in an innings against five Test nations.
• Most Bowled dismissals – 157. (This is the most common dismissal in Test Cricket bar Run Out).
• Most Stumped dismissals – 41.
• Most Caught & Bowled dismissals – 31.
• Most Man of the Series awards – 11.
• Only player to take 75+ wickets in a calendar year three times – 2000, 2001 & 2006.

Correct at time of publication.

He never took all ten wickets in an innings unfortunately. Muralitharan’s best in that department is 9 for 51 against Zimbabwe. His best figures in a match are 16 for 220 against England at The Oval in 1998.

He was also handy with a bat in his hand instead of a ball. He scored 1,261 runs at an average of 11.68. His best score was 67 against India in 2001. But he scored 33 Ducks and four Pairs as well, so it is a good thing he didn’t quit his day job – causing the batsmen the world over hell. Muralitharan also made himself useful in the field taking 72 catches.

Personally I’m sad to see him go, but at the age of 38 I can see why he has decided to call an end to his Test career, and on the highest possible note to boot.

Wimbledon 2010

UNFORTUNATELY Wimbledon had to take a back seat in my mind this summer because of the World Cup. But the 124^th Championships have given us some memories that were far better than some of those which we have taken away from South Africa.

BTW: If a number in brackets is next to a player or pair, that was their number seed for the respective competition, i: e Sue Barker (3).

Spain’s Rafael Nadal (2) won his second Men’s Singles title in three years. After not being fit to play last year he considered himself to be the reigning Champion, and he ‘defended’ his title with a: 6-3 7-5 6-4 win over Tomáš Berdych (12) of the Czech Republic in the Final.

Berdych proved that on his day he can beat the best with a: 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-4 Quarter-Final victory over six-times (and reigning) Champion Roger Federer (1) of Switzerland. Berdych then went and beat Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (3): 6-3 7-6⁽⁹⁾ 6-3 in the Semi-Final. Nadal however just proved to be one big name too many.

Roger Federer never looked as good as he had done in the past years. He faced Match-Point in his opening match against Colombia’s Alejandro Falla, but came back to win: 5-7 4-6 6-4 7-6⁽¹⁾ 6-0. Nadal was also taken to five sets in his Second Round and Third Round matches by Robin Haase (Netherlands) and Philipp Petzschner (Germany, (33)) respectively.

It was Nadal himself who put out Scotland’s Andy Murray (4) in the Semi-Finals: 6-4 7-6⁽⁶⁾ 6-4. The wait for a British Grand Slam Champion goes on.

This year’s men’s draw was annoyingly the first ever not to have a single Englishman in it. The only Brits in the draw were Murray and wildcard Jamie Baker (both Scottish). Baker lost in the First Round to German Andreas Beck: 7-6⁽⁴⁾ 6-3 6-4.

On the Women’s side of the singles draw, American Serena Williams (1) successfully defended her title by defeating Russian Vera Zvonareva (21): 6-3 6-2 in the Final. Zvonareva actually beat the other William’s sister, Venus (2) in the Quarter-Finals: 6-2 6-3.

The unseeded pair of Jürgen Melzer (Austria) and Philipp Petzschner (of Nadal five set fame) won the Men’s Doubles title. They beat Sweden’s Robert Lindstedt and Romania’s Horia Tecău (16): 6-1 7-5 7-5 in the Final.

The Women’s Double’s was won by the unseeded pair of American Vania King and Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova. They won their Final against the unseeded Russian pair of Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva (who contested the Women’s Singles Final earlier that afternoon): 7-6⁽⁶⁾ 6-2.

Vesnina and Zvonareva beat the reigning Champions (the William’s sisters (1)) in the Quarter-Finals: 3-6 6-3 6-4. So it wasn’t all bad news for Zvonareva.

The Mixed Doubles was won by Leander Paes (India) and Cara Black (Zimbabwe) (2). They beat Wesley Moodie (South Africa) and Lisa Raymond (U.S.A.) (11): 6-4 7-6⁽⁵⁾ in the Final.

The Boy’s Doubles Final was an all-British affair. Don’t adjust your PC, eyesight or anything; it really was an all-British Final. I’m going to write it again…ALL-BRITISH FINAL!

The Wild Card pair of Liam Broady and Tom Farquharson beat Lewis Burton and George Morgan: 7-6⁽⁴⁾ 6-4.

Elsewhere, SW19 got a visit from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 24 June. This was the first time that The Queen has visited Wimbledon in more than 30 years, and whilst HM was there, the mother and father of all Tennis matches was still in progress.

On paper, the First Round match between American John Isner (23) and French qualifier Nicolas Mahut on Court 18 seemed like just another match that had to be played.

The match itself started on Tuesday 22^nd June at 6:13 pm. Isner won the first set 6-4 in 32 minutes. Mahut then won the next two: 6-3 and 7-6 (9-7) in 29 and 49 minutes respectively. Isner won the fourth set in 64 minutes 7-6 (7-3). The match was then suspended due to bad light at 9:07 pm.

Set five started at 2:05 pm. By 5:45 pm this match was 6 hours and 34 minutes old and the longest match in history. Play on the second day (sounds like Cricket doesn’t it?) was suspended at 9:10 pm with the score tied at 59-59.

Day three’s play began at 3:43 pm. The match continued for over another hour until Isner broke Mahut’s serve and heart at 4:48 pm. Isner won the fifth set 70-68 in 491 minutes.

First Round	1	2	3	4	5
John Isner (23)	6	3	67	77	70
Nicolas Mahut (Q)	4	6	79	63	68

Records broken in this match:

• Longest match – 11 hours, 5 minutes (Longer than the theatrical ‘The Lord of the Rings film trilogy).
• Longest set – Fifth set took 8 hours, 11 minutes (Longer than the previous longest match.)
• Most games in a set – Fifth set had 138 games.
• Most games in a match – 183.
• Most aces in a match – Isner, 113.
• Total aces in a match – 216 (Isner, 113 and Mahut, 103 (second most in a match)).
• Most consecutive service games held – 168 (84 each).
• Most points scored in a match – Mahut, 502.

The scoreboard actually froze at 47-47 because that is all it went up to, not anticipating a match that far advanced. The scoreboard was worked on until 11:45 pm, but still would have run out of numbers had the match gone beyond 25 more games.

I personally think that Court 18 should be renamed ‘The Isner Mahut Court’. If you have any other ideas then please let me know.

Kent man survives horror crash at Indy 500

MIKE CONWAY, 26, is recovering from sustaining a bad fracture to one of the vertebrae in his neck and compression to his lower back after a 200+ mph crash on the 199^th lap of last Sunday’s Indy 500. It is also reported that he has a broken left leg.

As it was so close to the end of the 200 lap, 500 mile race many drivers were slowing to save fuel. But Conway – who was born in Bromley and lives in Sevenoaks, both in Kent (my county) – wasn’t in the need to save fuel and was at top speed.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was virtually out of fuel and was limping to the finish line. It was his car which Conway hit at full speed. The Englishman’s car then flipped into the air and disintegrated as it smashed into the catch fencing. Hunter-Reay was lucky that Conway’s car didn’t hit him square in the head as it came back down. It would have killed him instantly; in fact we were extremely lucky that we didn’t lose two drivers or more in this crash.

Of the crash, Hunter-Reay, 29, said: “I’m sorry Mike is hurt… It was totally uncalled for. We weren’t going to make it anyway. When you run out of fuel in these cars, it’s like hitting the brakes. In hindsight, we should have stopped for fuel.”

Two spectators were treated for minor injuries as a result of flying debris.

Scot Dario Franchitti, 37, won the race – his second Indy 500 – and led 155 of the 200 laps (Conway lead for 15). Franchitti is a cousin Paul di Resta, Force India’s test driver. Englishman Dan Wheldon came second as he did last year, and Marco Andretti (Mario’s grandson) came third. Franchitti won the race at an average speed of 161.623 mph.

Mike Conway never lost consciousness during the crash, and hopes to be back racing in America in around three months time. He is a very, very lucky boy.

Conway goes airborne after hitting Hunter-Reay

Impact

Fellow racers dive out the way

The shell on the left was Conway’s car

England see off Mexico

ENGLAND beat Mexico 3-1 last night at Wembley in their first warm up game before heading off to South Africa for the World Cup next month.

The match swung to and fro for the whole 90 minutes, and Mexico certainly deserved more than they got out of the game.

They were actually looking more likely to open the scoring until Ledley King scored a close-range header on 17 minutes.

The man who set King’s goal up – Peter Crouch – scored himself (rather dubiously I must admit) on 35 minutes. Mexican keeper Perez tipped the ball onto the crossbar and the ball shot straight up into the air. But Crouch saw that the ball wasn’t going out of play and placed his 6’ 7” self underneath it and knocked it in. But the goal shouldn’t have stood. He was standing in an offside position as the original shot was taken and the ball did appear to roll down his arm and off his hand, but the goal was awarded and England went 2-0 up.

Mexico did manage to scrabble a goal back when Franco scored in first-half stoppage time. This was a shame for England’s first-half keeper Robert Green who had produced two fantastic saves to keep Mexico at bay. England still have much work to do defensively before South Africa.

The highlight of the game came when Glen Johnson scored a beautiful goal after an astounding run through the Mexican team on 47 minutes. I don’t think he’ll score a better goal in his international career.

Both sides continued to create chances but England held on to win their last home game before the World Cup.

Overall, I was happy with England’s performance, but as I’ve written earlier the team must work on their defence. If we give teams like Argentina or Spain chances like we gave Mexico we will get smashed.

Other warm up results:

Argentina 5 – 0 Canada

Australia 2 – 1 New Zealand

Japan 0 – 2 South Korea

Portugal 0 – 0 Cape Verde Islands

South Africa 1 – 1 Bulgaria

I kid you not. A full strength Portugal side containing Nani, Christiano Ronaldo and Pedro Mendes (currently ranked world number 3), couldn’t score at home against a side ranked world 117! Portugal have North Korea in their group who are ranked world 106, so don’t write them off producing another World Cup shock.  Note: World Rankings accurate at time of publishing.

England’s next game is on Sunday in Graz, Austria against Japan who are currently hitting the self-destruct button. After their 0-2 home loss to local rivals South Korea their coach Takeshi Okada offered his resignation to the JFA president. The president refused to accept Okada’s notice so he will carry on as Japan’s head coach.

Robertson takes Snooker world crown

AUSTRALIA’S Neil Robertson, 28, has become the first Australian to win the World Snooker Championship since Horace Lindrum in 1952. Robertson is also the first non-British winner since 1997 (Ken Doherty, RoI) and the first non-British or Irish winner since 1980 (Cliff Thorburn, Canada).

Neil Robertson – World Champion

The ‘Thunder from Down Under’ beat Scotland’s Graeme Dott 18 frames to 13 in a pretty anti-climatic final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Both players didn’t play at their best with numerous easy misses and not too excellent positional play. Dott scored the only century of the final, 112 in the 22^nd frame. The last ball was potted at 00:54 BST.

On his way to the world title, Robertson beat: Fergal O’Brien (10-5), Martin Gould (13-12), six-time world champion Steve Davis (13-5) and Ali Carter (17-12).

Remarkably, Robertson was 0-6 and 5-11 down to Gould in the second round.

For me the highlight of this year’s tournament was the legendary Steve Davis beating defending champion John Higgins 13-11 in the second round. With this win Davis made his first quarter-finals in the world championship since 2005, and at the age of 52, became the oldest player to reach this stage since Eddie Charlton in 1983 (the year of Davis’s second world title).

Mark Allen made the first ever 146 break at the Crucible in the second round against Mark Davis. Graeme Dott then went on to make the same break later on in the tournament to split the £10,000 for the highest break.

France complete Grand Slam

YESTERDAY France beat England in the final Six Nations game of this year 12-10 to not only take the title but the coverted Grand Slam with it. In the other games of the fifth and final weekend, Wales beat Italy 33-10 and Scotland beat Ireland away 23-20.

Here is the completed table.

1. France – 10pts & 13 Tries
2. Ireland – 6pts & 9 Tries
3. England – 5pts & 6 Tries
4. Wales – 4pts & 10 Tries
5. Scotland – 3pts & 3 Tries
6. Italy – 2pts & 5 Tries

 

In football, Liverpool lost 1-2 away to arch rivals Man Utd :(. 

Plus with Man City and Tottenham winning, as well as Aston Villa drawing, our quest for fourth place looks even more hopeless.

And finally, today (March 21), had he have still been with us, Ayrton Senna da Silva would have turned 50-years old.

France with the Six Nations trophy

Clubs await European fate

THE last eight clubs in this seasons’ UEFA Champions League (European Cup) will find out their quarter-final and semi-final opponents on Friday (March 18).

The clubs in the hat are: Barcelona (Spanish, European & World champions), Bordeaux (French champions), Inter Milan (Italian champions), Bayern Munich (Four-time European champions), CSKA Moscow (2005 UEFA Cup winners), Lyon (won seven French league titles in a row from 2002-2008), Arsenal (Champions League finalists in 2006) and Man Utd (English champions).

At this point in the competition there is no country protection. This means that it is now possible for Arsenal to be drawn against Man Utd in an all English tie. After the quarter-final draw, the semi-finals will be drawn as well.

Liverpool will try to overturn a 0-1 deficit tonight against French side Lille in the Europa League at Anfield. But first, Fulham will be out to bring down one of the biggest names in world football – Juventus. They also trail after a 1-3 first leg defeat in Italy.