Fariz Blog — Nothin’ but simplicity..

The biggest football event of the year, Euro 2008, is entering the semi-final phase, where the best four fight each other due to their campaign to be the next champions of Europe. However, I ain’t gonna talk about the competition anyway.. While watching those entertaining matches on TV, I found that some Euro 2008 personalities’ faces resemble some celebrities in entertainment world..

Here they are, the list of them.. And you may also add the others!!

Victor Piturca (Romanian Coach) and Alan Rickman (actor - Harry Potter, Love Actually):

Fabio Grosso (Italian Player) and James Marsden (actor - X-Men, 27 Dresses):

Luca Toni and Patrick Dempsey (Actor - Grey’s Anatomy):

Can you mention the others?

Pictures taken from:

www.jvcfootball.com (Victor Piturca)
pandoraanesidor.blogspot.com (Alan Rickman)
www.uefa.com (Fabio Grosso)
www.bfi.org.uk (James Marsden)
blog.kievukraine.info (Luca Toni)
mimifroufrou.com (Patrick Dempsey)

Surpisingly, Van Oranje was defeated by The Russian Red Bears. Quite sad, but not any more after The Italians –I hate them so much– got kicked out by Spain. For Van Oranje, see you again in World Cup 2010 in South Africa! 

I’m very excited since Portugal didn’t make it to the semifinal of Euro 2008..  Thanks to German squad who fought very well last night.. Salute to the Germans, we may meet in the final!!

Finally, after being tired of waiting ’til the end of the season, I found my favorite team declared as the champions of Lega Calcio! I don’t give a damn about any negative comments. These are our years! Hopefully they can win the final match of Coppa Italia too, so they can be double winners this year.. Forza Inter!

I’ve paid my dues
Time after time
I’ve done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I’ve made a few
and I’ve had my share of sand
Kicked in my face
But I’ve come through
And I need to go on and on and on and on

We are the champions - my friends
And we’ll keep on fightin’ till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the champions of the world

I’ve taken my bows
And my curtain calls
You’ve brought me fame and fortune
And everything that goes with it
I thank you all
But it’s been no bed of roses no pleasure cruise
and I consider it a challenge before all human race
That I’ll never lose
And I need to go on and on and on and on

We are the champions - my friends
And we’ll keep on fightin’ till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the champions of the world

We are the champions - my friends
And we’ll keep on fightin’ till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
‘Cause we are the champions..

Source: www.sing365.com
Picture taken from www.inter.it

Tags: legacalcio, serie a, inter, internazionale, champions, scudetto, queen

What a resenting-usual match. That was what I thought as a Barça fan about the first half of last night match, FC Barcelona versus Manchester United FC, at Camp Nou Stadium, Barcelona. I only saw a usual behavior of Barcelona team. They looked suppressing their opponents almost all the time, but without any good finishing at all . They acted like they had been superior by one or two goals ahead United and no longer need to score at the game. In fact, they had to maximize the opportunity of playing at their home ground at first leg. And I don’t think the Catalan team could win the second leg easily, regarding United’s fantastic records of home matches.

Nevertheless, The Red Devils played quite well . As the visitors, they applied Alex Ferguson’s tactics remarkably. They waited on Barcelona’s attacks patiently, thickened the defense wall as the adversaries dominated the ball possession, and then gave fast dangerous shocking counter attacks through Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, and the superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. They seemed to be downhearted after Ronaldo failed to score from the penalty kick given by the referee due to Gabriel Milito’s handball, but they amazingly came up moments after, and then gave a strong resistance.

Arsenal stormed into the Quarter-Finals of the Champions League after a magnificent victory at Milan on Tuesday evening. It was a huge night for Arsène Wenger’s side. They were up against not only the holders but Europe’s most successful side in recent years and, at home, their bright campaign had been stuttering of late. But they responded with a performance of determination, poise and patience. It was capped five minutes from time by a goal from. Along with Mathieu Flamini, the Spaniard had dominated the famous names in the Milan midfield. Perhaps it was a new-found respect that meant they afford him a little too much space to let fly from fully 30 yards.

As the ball bounced into the net, the Arsenal fans erupted. Fabregas slid on his knees towards the dug-out then ran off kissing the badge on this shirt. [ Click here to read more.. ]

I rode my old bike again this morning. I left at 6:20, after watching a quite entertaining football match on TV, Real Zaragoza versus FC Barcelona. Thank God Barcelona won the game, so I got no more disappointment after watching Arsenal beaten in FA Cup last night. The weather was so cold when I left home, but unlike last mornings, it didn’t rain. I brought my breakfast in my "The Killers" bag and enough money to buy newspaper and mineral water. I planned to have my breakfast at the countryside, far from the city’s polluted air. Hmmm.. [ Click here to read more.. ]

In the aftermath of the 1-1 draw with Udinese, Inter coach Roberto Mancini indicated that his team has problems taking the literal heat of summer, if not the metaphorical heat of the Serie A kitchen. In any case, the coach isn’t too downheartened, and feels his side just needs to take its chances…

Inter coach Roberto Mancini was made to sweat as his ten-man side tried to hold on to a one goal lead against Udinese, only to concede an equaliser in the last minute.

In his post match reaction, the manager partially blamed the summer weather for his side’s failure to defend its advantage.

"I’ve always said that, in August, we cannot play at 15:00; we should play at 18:00," he fumed.

"Instead, we play in the early afternoon in the summer, and we see 20:00 games postponed in January."

But he focused mostly on the game, and took some positives from the result, despite slipping up as he seeks to defend his side’s title.

"In the first half, we had plenty of chances to kill off the tie, but didn’t take them," he said.

"We’re just starting the season, and with heat like this, I can understand that the performance was not the greatest one."

Referring to Julio Cesar’s deserved red card for deliberate handball, he added, "When you go down to ten men, to suffer like that is really expected.

"We paid for having numerical inferiority in these conditions."

Inter fell to a last-minute strike, credited to Asamoah but apparently taking a deflection off Cordoba, after a Pepe corner. Dejan Stankovic had earlier opened the scoring for Inter.

After gaining two draws (1-1 against Thailand and 1-1 against Oman, both in group phase) and four wins (3-1 against Australia in group phase, 2-0 against Vietnam in quarter-final, 4-3 on penalties against Korea in semi-final, and 1-0 against Saudi Arabia in final), Iraq have been admitted as the champions of 2007 AFC Asian Cup. The trophy for the team was presented by the president of Republic of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. And the small trophies for each players were presented by the president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter.

Playing the final match at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, the Iraqi squad fought the Saudi Arabians like a bunch of wounded lions. Unlike the current situation in their country after U.S. invasion –conflicts everytime and everywhere, they showed a very beautiful teamwork in a very solid team. I think I haven’t ever watched them play like that before..

I felt some satisfaction after watching the final match. I’m just glad that Iraq won the championship. Don’t know exactly why.. Probably because I got some sympathy on them.. Hehehe..

Bravo Iraq!!

Picture taken from www.afcasiancup.com

Few mistakes in youth futsal for newly formed teams:

1. Short rosters. Teams have short roster to have more playing time. This is not the spirit of Futsal. In Futsal coaches should replace players often to get the most of their energy and coach them while they are out.

2. Excessive kicking. Futsal is not a kicking sport. It is a moving and getting close to the goal.

3. Bad transition from attack to defense and vice-versa. When your team has possession all players attack. Immediately when the ball is lost all players defend. If you have to tie your shoes ask the coach to sub you.

4. Dead zone players. Players that don’t move get in a dead zone. If a coach perceives a player in a dead zone the coach should replace the player immediately and talk to him. Either the player is tired or don’t understand the game.

5. Giving up. Do not look at the score board, a goal can be scored in 2 seconds in Futsal. If you think that your game is lost because you are loosing by 5 or 6 goals you are mistaken.

6. Not using the goalie as a 5^th player when available. Use the goalie when you can. The goalie becomes the fifth player and gives an edge. If the opposing player goes after the goalie the goalie passes to the open player. If the goalie can’t pass he can kick to get rid of the ball after 4 seconds of possession.

7. Over committing on the last minute. When players see the clock on the last minute they get desperately on the attack. The odds are that they will get scored against. This tactics of over committing should be used only when the game or tournament is completely lost.

8. Marking. Futsal is dynamic and so is marking players.. A front player walking back slowly should be replaced immediately.

9. Goalie bouncing the ball to players. Goalie should roll the ball as close to the floor as possible because it is easier for the player receiving the ball to control.

10. Slow ball reposition. The fastest the ball is played after a game stop the better is for your team.

11. Distracted players. Players should have the eye on the ball as close to 100% of the time as possible.

12. Controlling the ball with the side of the feet. in Futsal the ball is controlled with the bottom of the feet.

13. Players loosing focus. There is no time in Futsal for getting upset. Getting upset with a play or the referee may cost your team dearly. If you don’t have the focus the odds are that your team will suffer.

14. Physical games. Futsal is skills; it is not a physical game. Instead of play physical players need to focus on the game.

15. Playing Futsal just to enhance skills. To benefit from Futsal you have to understand the spirit of the game.

16. Lack of movement. When attacking, players should be moving constantly. Rotation is highly desirable. When attacking, players need to be constantly looking for open space.

Other tips:

1. The kick start is a forward kick. Place the receiving player close enough so he can get the ball before the opponent.

2. Place the ball on the line and have your body outside of the field to restart a play after the ball goes out of the boundaries.

3. The goalie must use his hands for a goal clearance.

4. The opponent player should allow 5 yards in a kick in play.

5. When the goalie throws the ball it must hit his own court or a second player before it hits the opposing court.

6. There are no shoulder charges, slides or even play the ball when you are down allowed in Futsal.

Source: Tri-Valley Futsal
Picture taken from www.futsal.com