Sports Then and Now

In the home stretch of a Premier League title race, Jose Mourinho has Chelsea FC in the hunt for two prominent trophies, which is nothing new. Now in his second spell with the English soccer club, the self-proclaimed “Special One” is undoubtedly one of the most prominent names in coaching.

Never one to bite his tongue, Mourinho’s time as manager of some of the world’s best teams has been accompanied by a fair share of controversy and scuff ups, but success has rarely eluded the Portuguese man. And while we get ready to witness what ending this season has in store for Chelsea, let’s take a look at the managerial career of the loved and hated manager.

Making a Name in Portugal

For the Portuguese man, it was only natural to begin his managerial career in his home country. After assistant positions with Sporting CP, Porto and Barcelona, Mourinho landed his first job in charge of a club at Benfica in 2000. But after a very short time there and a disagreement with the new club president, Mourinho left to become manager of Uniao de Leira. While in charge of Uniao for over a year, Mourinho took the club to its best ever finishes in the first division of Portugal. Read the rest of this entry →

Andy Carroll

In their recent encounter with Swansea, West Ham won by 2-0 to come out victorious, but at the cost of a red card for West Ham striker Andy Carroll.

Red Card
As a result of the red card, Carroll will now be forced to miss matches with Aston Villa, Norwich and Southampton, a fact which is certain to be playing on his mind, but also on the mind of manager Sam Allardyce, as Carroll set up both of the two goals scored against Swansea.

Similarly, having only played 5 games this season, and only 15 games in the 12 months between March 2013 and Feb 2014, many are frustrated that Carroll has only been a regular fixture a handful of times, despite the player having so much potential.

Appeal Process
The decision for the red card came in the 59th minute by referee Howard Webb, a decision which the Hammers disagreed with.  As a result, West Ham attempted to repeal the decision. In support of the appeal, manager Allardyce has stated that Webb had made an “obvious error”, but that “There has to be somebody to look at that in the cold light of day and say that is certainly not a red card”.

Therefore, the appeal went ahead, but was unfortunately dismissed by the FA under the grounds that the club could not put a panel of 3 people who could explain why the referee had made a bad decision in their decision to send the Hammer striker off after making contact with Swansea’s Flores’s head.  Read the rest of this entry →

There are many tricks to betting on soccer.

When you are planning to start betting on soccer, it’s always best that you do everything that you can in order to increase your chances of winning. In this article you can find a short guide that will tell you exactly what you have to do in order to increase those chances and all you have to do is to take into consideration the tips presented below:

1. Know the bet types and how to read the odds – An informed bettor is always a winning bettor. In case you want to get the most out of the bets that you are making, you should know exactly what you are betting on and you must understand the information which is given by the odds that are available for a certain match.

2. Study the league – Each and every league has its very own characteristics and you need to make sure that you study everything and know exactly what you are dealing with, before you start placing bets.

3. Money management – You always need to apply a money management strategy when you are placing online sport bets. This means basically that you always need to make the bets that you can afford to lose and this way when the variance will take you down, you won’t suffer too much.
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Liverpool and Aston Villa played to a 2-2 tie.

Bookmakers had their hearts in their mouths when Liverpool met Aston Villa at Anfield. They were quite desperate to see one of the most famous teams of the Premier League beaten, and Liverpool definitely helped them get closer when they were held for a 2-2 draw against Aston Villa. Liverpool had a shocker of a start when Villa raced to a 2-0 advantage in the first half but recovered very well. Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard made the most of the opportunities and put the ball in the goal post to secure a draw and grab a point. Daniel Sturridge was able to score a goal before half time through Henderson’s flick, and Steven Gerrard’s penalty leveled the scores after Luis Suarez was tackled by the goal keeper Brad Guzan. The draw leaves Liverpool 2 points ahead of the 5th placed Everton and a point for Villa brings them in the top half of the League, but just 6 points ahead of the relegation zone. Nevertheless, it was still an unbelievable result considering the amount of money that has been put on the Reds.

Liverpool was as short as 1-5 for victory at the start and with such a form it is extremely tough for Brendan Rodgers to lead them to next season of the Champions League. But still Rodgers said that he was confident that his side will never give up the fight and despite the comeback he will regret the dismal first half by his team which eventually led to a drop of 2 points.  It would have otherwise been an easy win at home. He added that it was vital to get that goal before half time. Read the rest of this entry →

The FIFA World Cup is one of the world’s most exciting sporting events. Every country in the world has the opportunity to send their team to this elite competition, making it every professional player’s dream to represent their nation on the world stage.

This equal opportunity gives perennial favorites and little known squads an equal chance at glory and produces some of the most memorable moments in sporting history. The 2002 World Cup is only one example of an exciting moment in sports history. Let’s take a look at some of the unlikely upsets that took place during the 2002 World Cup.

Republic of Korea

Perhaps the most admirable performance of the competition was that of South Korea. The South Koreans found themselves pitted against Portugal, the United States and Poland in a group that led many people to immediately write them off. Despite their poor odds of advancing to the knockout stage, the South Korean team went undefeated and won their group in stunning fashion. This included an upset victory over Portugal that knocked the Portuguese out of the competition and sealed Korea’s place in the final 16.

The momentum continued for South Korea as they shocked Italy in the round of 16 and advanced to a quarterfinal match up with the Spanish giants. Their victory over Italy came in exciting fashion as the host nation won the game with a golden goal in extra time. Both the manner of the victory and the pedigree of the Italian team make this win one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history, as cited by Bleacher Report.

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Transfers have become a growing component of International soccer.

With Gareth Bale’s transfer to Real Madrid from Tottenham completed last summer, the world transfer record has been busted again.

From Alf Common, the very first $1,000 player, to Johan Cruyff’s $1,000,000 deal to sign for FC Barcelona, to Bale’s $100,000,000 transfer to Spain, large figures have been invested by clubs shopping to land the world’s greatest players.

We will look at the largest moves and some memorable quotes on the mega deals.

Alf Common’s transfer from Sunderland to Middlesbrough in February 1905 was the 1st time a player had ever been moved for a £1,000 fee. The striker went on to assist Middlesbrough stave off relegation to Division Two that season.

Liverpool’s Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez has been a huge talking point of this summer’s transfer window but it was his Spanish namesake who was making headlines in 1961. The midfielder transferred from Barcelona to Inter Milan for a fee of £152,000 and helped the Italian side to three league titles and two European Cups. Read the rest of this entry →