Juventus vs Napoli Report:

Yesterday, in a very exciting and entertaining game Juventus managed to defeat Napoli 1:0. Juventus dominated the first half, only to see Napoli take initiative in the second half. However, in the closing minutes Iaquinta secured Juve's 1:0 win with a wonderful goal from Del Piero's excellent cross.

Here is a video that shows chances and Iaquntia's goal.

Juventus-Napoli

European Soccer Teams: Good Form/Bad Form

Good Form:

Fenerbahce (Turkey)

1. Finally adapted to Zico's Brazillian mindset and style of play.
2. Strikers Semih and Kezman are simply on fire.
3. Roberto Carlos injured, but Fenerbahce is not showing any weaknesses on left back position.

Manchester United (England)

1. Playing wonderful soccer at the moment.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo is simply not from this planet, amazing winger that keeps on improving exponentially.
3. Red Devils are favored to win the Champions League this year.

Heerenveen (Netherlands)

1. Selling Alfonso Alves to Tottenham did not weaken this team, instead the Serbian youngster Miralem Sulejmani (Mickey Mouse) got a chance to lead this team and he's doing pretty damn well. (12 goals, 8 assists)
2. Contenders for a place that could take them to Champions League or UEFA Cup. (Currently 3rd)
3. With money received from the sale of Brazilian Alfonso Alves, Heerenveen is likely to even further strengthen their squad. (No transfer rumours yet)

Bad Form:

Barcelona (Spain)

1. Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto'o are Injured.
2. Frank Rijkaard doesn't seem to allow Thierry Henry a free role that he had in Arsenal, instead Henry only plays on the left wing which seems to be sucking the game out of him.
3. Ronaldinho is only 30-50%, not quite the old Ronaldinho yet.

AC Milan (Italy)

1. Simply put, team is too old. They better find a new Maldini and Inzaghi or they are history.
2. On the good side, Brazilian youngster Pato seems to have found his form and place in the starting eleven and is doing really well.
   

Valencia (Spain)

1. Valencia is in deep trouble. Nothing is working for them at the moment.
2. Arguably 2 players that should be in starting elven (Zigic and Joaquin) are not!
3. Only solutions seems to be getting a new coach, possibly one with a modern strategy.
   

This Week's Top Soccer League Results:

Spain

March 15

Deportivo La Coruna 1 - 0 Real Madrid
Susp.Real Betis 1 - 2 Athletic Bilbao
Recreativo Huelva 4 - 2 Real Murcia
Valencia 1 - 2 Sevilla

March 16

Espanyol 2 - 1 Mallorca
Getafe 2 - 1 Racing Santander
Valladolid 0 - 0 Osasuna
Villarreal 2 - 0 Zaragoza
Almeria 2 - 2 Barcelona
Atletico Madrid 3 - 0 Levante

Italy

March 15

Udinese 2 - 2 Lazio
AS Roma 2 - 1 AC Milan

March 16
Atalanta 4 - 1 Empoli
Cagliari 3 - 0 Torino
Fiorentina 3 - 1 Genoa
Inter Milan 2 - 1 Palermo
Livorno 1 - 1 Parma
Reggina 4 - 0 Siena
Sampdoria 3 - 1 Catania
Juventus 1 - 0 Napoli

England (Premiership)

March 15

Derby County 0 - 1 Manchester U.
Liverpool 2 - 1 Reading
Portsmouth 2 - 0 Aston Villa
Sunderland 0 - 1 Chelsea
West Ham U. 2 - 1 Blackburn R.
Arsenal 1 - 1 Middlesbrough

March 16

Fulham 1 - 0 Everton
Wigan Athletic 1 - 0 Bolton W.
Manchester C. 2 - 1 Tottenham H.

Soccer Betting Picks For This Weekend:

Liverpool-Reading (Draw) (Lose)
Portsmouth-Aston Villa (Portsmouth) (Win)
Udinese-Lazio (Lazio) (Lose)
AS Roma-AC Milan (Draw)
Valencia-Sevilla (Valencia)
Bochum-Stuttgart (Stuttgart) (Lose)

Benzema Extends Contract:

Karim Benzema has extended his contract with Lyon until 2013. Giants, such as Real Madrid and Manchester Uniter will have to wait a little before that can acquire this super talented attacker. Everyone knows that it is unlikely for Benzema to actually stay in France for another 5 years. One this is for certain though, Lyon will get some serious cash for this due.

Kuzmanovic Finally Scores!!!

Zdravko Kuzmanovic, as a result of recently becoming a standard first team player, added his name to the score board. Fiorentina, yesterday beat Catania 2:1 as Kuzmanovic opened the scoring night only for Catania to equalize a few minutes after. Adrian Mutu scored Fiorentina's winner in the 70th minute.

Kezman On Fire!!!

Mateja Kezman has confirmed his champion form yesterday against Rizespor. Kezman scored 2 goals in Fenerbahce's 4:1 win. One thing is certain; Kezman has fully recovered from his knee injury and reminds of the PSV days. Maybe, just maybe he finally get to play for the Serbian national side. Kezman has now scored in his last 4 games for Fenerbahce.

My Analysis of International Soccer:

Hello Everyone and Welcome to My Analysis of International Soccer,

I will be talking about 3 very successful national soccer teams and 3 not so successful national teams.

Brazil: They are successful because they have an excellent organization first of all. Most importantly they try to leave out politics out of sports. Another reason why Brazil national soccer team is so good an successful is because at every given time only players in top form receive a call from the manager. This rule even goes for Ronaldingo and Kaka. If they are playing like shit for their clubs, players such as: Vagner Love and Pato will get a call instead. Last but not least, Brazilians love playing creative, attractive soccer which allows for players to express themselves on the field. Lets not forget that Brazil can probably make 3 separate national teams that could win a world cup, they are just to damn talented!

Argentina: Why is Argentina currently ranked number 1 in the FIFA Rankings??? I will tell you why. Even though it's an undisciplined team (many yellow and red cards) it is also a team that does not stop running at you. Their natural ability to control the midfield is what kills their opponents, only team they are not superior to is Brazil because "they are too damn talented".

Italy: They are not talented, not fast, not technically gifted.... So how come they have won the last world cup and a couple before that as well??? Nooooo, the mafia does not threaten other teams... haha... Italy is very disciplined in defending, they pass the ball very well and they control the possession. Most importantly out of 2-3 chances that they get to score a goal in a game they score 2-3 goals.

England: So what's wrong with English national team??? Don't they have the strongest and most attractive domestic league in the world. You bet they do... So what's wrong? Well, lets just say their creativity level is at about 0% compared to their running being at a 100%. Even though they beat many opponents who just cannot literally run with them, most of the games that England team loses is due to lack of creativity. I don't know how dump of a coach you gotta be not to notice that if the wings are failing that you better start taking some chances in the middle... Otherwise, the talent is there, money is there.

Serbia: Once known as Brazilians of Europe, Serbian national soccer failed to qualify for yet another European Championship. Lets just say that they did not lose against the 2 teams Portugal and Poland who qualified. Instead, they lost to Kazakhstan and not so great Belgium team. So what's wrong with them??? The problem is that Serbia does not have a soccer style instead they always adapt to other team's style of play (which is very difficult) but they manage to do it. If they had a bit of their own identity they would be once a gain a world power. Hopefully, the new coach Miroslav Djukic adds a new flavor to the team.

Spain: Spanish domestic league, in parallel with English Premiership is the best league in the world. Which means that talent is there, money is there. What can possibly be wrong?? The problem with Spanish national team is that they are too soft and affraid to go for a win. Also, I have to be honest to say that they just don't have luck in many situations and we all know that luck can sometimes be a main factor between winning and losing.

Other teams: Portugal is looking good but they immediately need to find new strikers. C. Ronaldo and R. Quaresma cannot always score for the wings. Pauleta is too old, Postiga is not turning out to be what was expected. Sabrosa is not bad. Germany is looking strong, no negative remarks against them other that they play a very boring style of soccer. Croatia is also looking powerful and France seem to have regained their champion form.

Soccer Fantasy:

I just wanted to share a couple of excellent soccer fantasy communities and all are free of course.

http://soccermanager.com
http://uk.premiership.fantasysports.yahoo.com/
http://fantasy.premierleague.com/

Back From The Dead!!!

Hello Everyone,

After not writing for some time I decided to start writing again. As we know a whole lot has happened in the soccer world over the months. Many transfers, scandals, yada, yada, yada.
Antonio Rukavina transfered for Partizan to Dortmund ($3.5 mil), Branislav Ivanovic transfered from Lokomotiv Moscow to Chelsea ($17 mil). Nicolas Anelka also moved to Chelsea ($22 mil). D. Berbatov is still at Tottenham even though the Red Devils had an eye out for him. Jonathan Woodgate switched clubs as he moved from Middlesbrough to Tottenham.

Internazionale are looking very good at the top of Serie A. 8 points in front of Roma and 12 points in front of Juventus. Fiorentina has been a surprise this year as they are in the last spot that leads to Champions League who are 2 points in front of AC Milan. Christian Vieri and Adrian Mutu have been on fire for Fiorentina, as a matter of fact midfielders Ricardo Montolivo and Zdravko Kuzmanovic have contributed a lot with their excellent midfield play.