Sports Then and Now

Every couple of years the MLS grabs worldwide attention with the signings of some major stars.

That started with David Beckham and since then, big names like Thierry Henry, Steven Gerrard, David Villa and Kaka have made the journey across from Europe.

This year has welcomed two of the world’s biggest names in Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney, which begs the question, has the MLS re-found its mojo and can it close the gap on Europe in terms of quality?

More attention is on the league than ever before and with the season currently at the MLS Cup phase it’s grabbing headlines worldwide and being bet on more than ever before.

There are new betting offers every day at the moment with Atlanta current 1-4 favorites with bookie Betfair to earn their first, ahead of the Portland Timbers who they’ll take on who are priced at a generous 11/4.

This attention is only good for the league and will encourage more players to make the switch to the USA. Read the rest of this entry →

The English Premier League is the most intensive internal championship in the world. In the current season, the championship has already shown some surprises and records and now we are waiting for the future rounds that will finally clean the air.

Football fans will certainly remember the current season of the EPL, as “Manchester City” led by Josep Guardiola showed a record winning series and disengaged from its competitors already in the first half of the championship. Remarkably, the “citizens” confidently disposed of their main rivals who could have competed with them during the season. The rivals were:

• “Manchester United”;

• “Arsenal”;

• “Chelsea”;

• “Tottenham”;

• “Liverpool”.

By the way, the first and the latter took revenge in the second half of the season. The home failure of “United” deprived Guardiola’s team of the championship trophy in the home stadium. However, they won the title in the next round.

The Premier League standings are traditionally a major topic of both fans and experts’ discussion. In this season, teams’ positions are quite equal, so much depends on the outcomes of the last rounds. The EPL fixtures are intriguing confrontations where competitors have absolutely no margin for error. Read the rest of this entry →

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The latter is especially important, because one bet is enough to make you rich quickly. Today, betting is also available to users of mobile devices, which allows you to save time and make forecasts regardless of where you are geographically.

Naturally, despite the huge variety of sports, the most popular one among fans is football. This becomes especially noticeable when European championships begin. You can follow the results of the competitions and make profitable forecasts at our Internet portal. It has an excellent functionality and thought-out user interface that will allow you not to waste time and immediately receive the necessary information.

The broadcast provided by 1xbet.com — live football stream — offers a huge variety of competitions from all around the world. The European Cups that have already started caused an unprecedented stir among users; however, they are not the only ones to deal with. Here, attention is also paid to dozens of live matches so that you can find the most interesting confrontations that will definitely not leave you indifferent. Read the rest of this entry →

Each sport has its own personal risk of injury, even the sports where you may think a problem is highly unlikely.

Darts, for example, is not exactly what you may call ‘high intensity’ but players often fear the dreaded Dartitis which is when the players lose the ability to allow the dart to leave the fingers effectively. This is also known in other sports, especially golf, as the ‘Yips’. It is essentially the loss of fine motor skills in athletes and can occur completely at random.

Dartitis is a psychological disorder and very real, but there are sports injuries and sayings that need dispelling as pure fantasy as we look at cracking some of the myths surrounding sports injuries.

No Pain No Gain

Let’s start with a famous saying that is repeated in every single gym around the world. However, strictly speaking, no pain no gain is the opposite of the words uttered.

Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Continuing through sores or cramp is not an immediate problem but if there is acute pain (something sharp and severe) or a clear indication that something is not right (a sprain for example) then it is time to stop immediately and seek medical advice.

Injuries heal fastest when rested

Football injuries cost clubs millions of pounds a year by having to pay injured players and in some cases, when key players are absent, it has a direct impact on a team’s ability on and off the pitch. Read the rest of this entry →

There is a lot of leadership that goes into the successful running of a football club. While the strategic direction of the club is often determined by the club manager, much of the strategic decisions remain in the hands of the directors. And the manager has to have enough justification for every approach he takes because at the end, results are the true measure of success. The very survival of the club depends upon these results.

In order to guarantee the desired results, there are certain fundamental principles that should guide the leadership of any club. Here’s a rundown of four of these guidelines.

Have a philosophy

Coaches are known to bring specific styles and approaches to the football teams that they manage. However, managers come and go, and the club should be able to retain some kind of identity even in the absence of these important individuals and their distinctive styles.

It is the club’s way of doing things that gives it its identity. It is imperative therefore to have a club philosophy; a vision, a set of values which clearly define the way of doing things within that particular club.

Once you develop a solid club philosophy, the next important phase of things is to see to its survival. Make your players develop an understanding of how things are done in the club. Every new sign-on needs to be properly onboarded and absorbed into this culture. Similarly, every new manager should abide by the club’s philosophy even as they play around with it to develop a winning style.  Read the rest of this entry →

Cristiano Ronaldo scored three goals in his first action in the 2018 World Cup.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup is off to a great start as close decisions are proving to be the norm. Of the first 20 games played, 13 have been decided by one goal and there have been three games finishing in a draw. Included among the decisions have been a number of upsets that could lead to some surprising teams advancing to the next round.

As the most watched global sporting event outside of the Olympics and a favorite for sports betting, the close games and upsets have made it an interesting week for betting sites and world cup predictions.

The hosts from Russia have been statistically the most dominant team so far in the tournament as they have scored eight goals and allowed only one in two wins. However, their two opponents (Saudi Arabia and Egypt) are not considered to be contenders. The fourth team in that bracket, Uruguay is also 2-0, though both wins were 1-0 shutouts. Russia and Uruguay will play on Monday and that game could provide some insight as to whether Russia can be a contender moving forward.

Perhaps the most surprising result of the tournament so far has been the 1-0 victory by Mexico over defending champion Germany. It will be crucial for Germany to bounce back in their next two games against Sweden and South Korea.

One thing that hasn’t been too much of a surprise so far has been the play of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. Arguably the best player in the world, Renaldo scored three goals in a 3-3 draw between Portugal and Spain. He then scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Morocco. He will need to continue his magic in the next game against Iran to ensure that Portugal will advance to the next round. Read the rest of this entry →