UCL Matchday 2 Review

Matchday 2 began with a very impressive result by Real Madrid who beat Dynamo Kiev 5-1. It's been a long time since Real scored 5 goals in a game. Lyon, MU, Arsenal, Chelsea, PSV & Liverpool all emerged as the winner for their respective game. 2 'heavyweight' teams, Barcelona & AC Milan were held to a draw by Bremen & Lille. We also saw Valencia beat Roma 2-1, a game which is crucial for both teams. Inter Milan, 1 of the favourite, but now lost 2 of 2, the latest 0-2 to Bayern. After 2 games, I would say all groups' standing except Group B, are as I predict. Group B, as I mentioned, Inter not doing well, but they still has the chance to qualify to the next round. Hope not! Hahaha!!! What do you expecting? I'm Rossoneri's fan!!

This weekend's schedules:

Football : Bundesliga
Football : Eredivisie
Football : EPL
Football : SPL
Football : Primera Liga
Football : Serie A
Football : Ligue 1

F1 : China GP

A1GP : Netherlands

Squash : Women's World Team Squash Championship

A bit bored..

I watched the World Championship Finals last night. A bit bored & krg keterujaan, coz no Malaysian in the finals, of course. China won 4 of the 5 finals. Another 1 was won by England in the mixed-double. Quite weird to see in all finals, it all about China & England. Yup, England!! Where did they came from?! I know they are 1 of the top teams in Europe, besides Denmark. But, to see their men's-double in the final was a bit kureng. :P Where were the doubles from Malaysia, Denmark, Korea, Indonesia??? Overall, tournament kali ni for me krg oomph, krg excitement..

Ahha..Ryder Cup. Europe team wins again!!!! Best..Best.. The US team, although dianggotai world's top 3 (Woods, Furyk & Mickelson), it just showed US' players were more to individual while Europe had the team players. Congrats Europe!

Results:

EPL : Newcastle 1 Everton 1

SPL : Aberdeen 1 Hearts 3

Primera Liga : Atlético 2 Sevilla 1
Primera Liga : Barcelona 1 Valencia 1

Serie A : Empoli 2 Palermo 0
Serie A : Inter 4 Chievo 3
Serie A : Parma 0 Roma 4

Ligue 1 : Nantes 2 Marseille 1

Eredivisie : Ajax 2 NEC 0
Eredivisie : Feyenoord 1 Excelsior 0
Eredivisie : Roda 0 Alkmaar 2

China Open (Final) : Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Amelie Mauresmo - 6-4, 6-0

Sunfeast Open (Final) : Martina Hingis bt Olga Poutchkova - 6-0, 6-4

Ryder Cup : Europe 18.5 US 9.5

Ramadhan Edition

Alhamdulillah...kita berpeluang sekali lagi menikmati keindahan Ramadhan, bulan mulia, bulan yg penuh dgn keberkatan. Moga kita sama2 dpt menjlnkan ibadah kita dgn hati yg tulus ikhlas. Moga ibadah kita diterima Allah Yg Maha Esa...

Results:

EPL : Liverpool 3 Tottenham 0
EPL : Arsenal 3 Sheff Utd 0
EPL : Fulham 0 Chelsea 2
EPL : Reading 1 Man Utd 1

SPL : Celtic 2 Rangers 0

Primera Liga : Betis 0 Madrid 1

Serie A : Livorno 0 AC Milan 0

Bundesliga : Bayern 2 Alemania 1
Bundesliga : Hamburg 1 Bremen 1

Ligue 1 : Lyon 4 Lille 1
Ligue 1 : PSG 0 Nancy 0
Ligue 1 : Toulouse 0 Lorient 0

Eredivisie : Den Haag 0 PSV 2

MotoGP Japanese GP : 1. Capirossi 2. Rossi 3. Melandri 4. Gibernau 5. Hayden
Standings : 1. Hayden(236) 2. Rossi(224) 3. Melandri(209) 4. Capirossi(205) 5. Pedrosa(202)

China Open (S-final) : Amelie Mauresmo bt Jelena Jankovic - 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(7-3)
China Open (S-final) : Svetlana Kuznetsova bt Shuai Peng - 6-0, 6-2

Sunfeast Open (S-final) : Martina Hingis bt Sania Mirza - 6-1, 6-0
Sunfeast Open (S-final) : Olga Poutchkova bt Iroda Tulyaganova - 6-4, 6-4

Out?!

A very bad day for our shuttler at the World Championship. Chong Wei was beaten by Bao Chunlai while Hafiz was beaten by Lin Dan. In the s-finals, we now only represented by (guess what..) Koo Kien Keat & Wong Pei Tty in the mixed-doubles! A mix emotion really, great to see them reach the s-finals, Malaysia's best achievement in the mixed-doubles so far. But at the same time, sad to see no Malaysian in the men's events, both singles & doubles.

This weekend schedules:

Football : EPL
Football : SPL
Football : Primera Liga
Football : Serie A
Football : Bundesliga
Football : Ligue 1
Football : Eredivisie

MotoGP : Japanese GP

Tennis : China Open
Tennis : Sunfeast Open

Golf : Ryder Cup

Athletics : Shanghai Golden GP

Badminton : World Championships 2006

It's Nicol!!!!!

Fuhh..thank God.. doa rakyat Malaysia dimakbulkan. Nicol David had retained her title in some style with a straight games win over Rachael Grinham, 9-4, 9-1, 9-4. I didn't watch the match, but from the result, I would say it was an easy match for Nicol..not as easy as makan kacang lohh!! Kena ingat jugak ler, Rachael is No.3 in the world ranking. Apapun, congrats to Nicol!! You make us proud!! You make Malaysia proud!! Malaysia boleh!!!!!!!

Results:

British Open Men's (Final) : Nick Matthew bt Thierry Lincou - 11-8, 5-11, 11-4, 9-11, 11-6

British Open Women's (Final) : Nicol David bt Rachael Grinham - 9-4, 9-1, 9-4

Men's WC (11-12 placing) : S.Africa 0 India 1
Men's WC (9-10 placing) : Japan 2 Argentina 1
Men's WC (3-4 placing) : S.Korea 2 Spain 3 (ET)
Men's WC (1-2 placing) : Australia 3 Germany 4

Wee Weeeeee

Wow!! Vino wins the Vuelta a Espana, his 1st grand tour victory, just 1 day after turning 33. A very nice birthday present!!! In EPL, Chelsea beat Liverpool 1-0 while Arsenal beat MU, also 1-0. Besides that, I'm very happy to see Nicol went through to the British Open finale. Hope she'll win...!!

Results:

EPL : Chelsea 1 Liverpool 0
EPL : Tottenham 0 Fulham 0
EPL : Man Utd 0 Arsenal 1

SPL : Hibernian 2 Rangers 1

Primera Liga : Sevilla 3 Betis 2
Primera Liga : Santander 0 Barcelona 3
Primera Liga : Valencia 2 Getafe 0
Primera Liga : Madrid 2 Sociedad 0

Serie A : Lazio 1 Palermo 2
Serie A : Siena 1 Roma 3
Serie A : Parma 0 Milan 2

Bundesliga : Frankfurt 3 Leverkusen 1
Bundesliga : Berlin 2 Schalke 0

Ligue 1 : Monaco 1 PSG 2
Ligue 1 : St Etienne 2 Auxerre 3
Ligue 1 : Marseille 2 Bordeaux 1

Eredivisie : PSV 2 Feyenoord 1
Eredivisie : Roda 2 Ajax 0
Eredivisie : Alkmaar 2 Twente 2

MotoGP Australian GP : 1. Melandri 2. Vermeulen 3. Rossi 4. Gibernau 5. Hayden
Standings : 1. Hayden(225) 2. Rossi(204) 3. Pedrosa(193) 4. Melandri(193) 5. Capirossi(180)

Vuelta a Espana (final result): 1. Vinokourov 2. Valverde 3. Kashechkin

British Open Men's (S-final) : Nick Matthew bt Karim Darwish - 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6
British Open Men's (S-final) : Thierry Lincou bt David Palmer - 8-11, 10-11(0-2), 11-9, 11-4, 11-10(5-3)

British Open Women's (S-final) : Nicol David bt Natalie Grinham - 9-3, 9-3, 9-5
British Open Women's (S-final) : Rachael Grinham bt Engy Kheirallah - 9-7, 9-0, 9-2

The Black Pearls

Perlis win the Malaysia Cup!!!!!!!! 2 goals from 2 'black pearls' from Zambia, Chipeta & Simukonda. In the dying minutes, NS Naza had their solitary goal from another 'black pearl', Bekamengo. With Chipeta's goal came early in the 4th minute, Perlis looked more confident in the 1st half. NS Naza plak serba tak menjadi. In the 2nd half, Perlis opted to play a bit defensively, only went for counter-attacks. NS Naza looked better than in the 1st half, controlling the game but didn't manage to find the equalizer. Overall, quite an entertaining match, especially since the team I'm supporting won! :P

Personally, I'm quite proud to see Azizi cried when he was forced to abandon the game. That showed how high his spirit is. Maybe people laughed at his act, but his spirit yang patut we all contohi..

Results:

Malaysia Cup (Final) : NS Naza 1 Perlis 2

EPL : Everton 2 Wigan 2
EPL : Charlton 0 Portsmouth 1

SPL : Celtic 1 Dunfermline 0

Primera Liga : Deportivo 2 Villarreal 0

Serie A : Inter 1 Sampdoria 1

Bundesliga : Arminia 2 Bayern 1
Bundesliga : Dortmund 1 Hamburg 0
Bundesliga : Bremen 2 Stuttgart 3

Ligue 1 : Lille 1 Toulouse 3
Ligue 1 : Lorient 1 Lyon 3

Men's WC (9-12 placing) : S.Africa 2 Japan 5
Men's WC (9-12 placing) : Argentina 3 India 2
Men's WC (5-8 placing) : New Zealand 3 England 4
Men's WC (5-8 placing) : Holland 2 Pakistan 3
Men's WC (1-4 placing) : Australia 4 S.Korea 2
Men's WC (1-4 placing) : Germany 2 Spain 2 (Germany won 5-3 by ps)

Men's WC (7-8 placing) : New Zealand 0 Holland 3
Men's WC (5-6 placing) : England 1 Pakistan 0

Who Will Win?

Who will win the Malaysia Cup? NS Naza or Perlis? Sbg org utara (though not from Perlis), of course I'm supporting Perlis. The Super League champion, NS Naza will be a tough opponent though. In defence, NS looks stronger. In midfield, it's 50-50. In front, Perlis slightly better, I think. Hope the match will be an entertaining game..

Who will win the Men's Hockey World Cup? For the time being, 4 teams have the chance to win it - Australia, Germany, South Korea & Spain. On paper, I'll say it will be between Australia & Germany. But surely I'm hoping Korea will win it. Go Asian!!! But in the s-final, Korea will go against the mighty Australians. Arghh..pray guys, pray...

Who will win the Vuelta de Espana? It is between Alexandre Vinokourov & Alejandro Valverde. After yesterday's stage, Valverde is almost a minute behind Vino.With only 3 stages to go (2 'normal' stage, 1 ITT stage), Vino is the favourite. In addition, Vino is the better time-triallist. But before they all arrive at the finish line in Madrid, anything can happen. Vino looks confident to win it but he still has to be really careful..

This weekend's schedules:

Football : M-Cup Final - NS Naza vs Perlis
Football : Bundesliga
Football : Eredivisie
Football : EPL
Football : SPL
Football : Primera Liga
Football : Serie A
Football : Ligue 1

MotoGP : Australian GP

Hockey : Men's World Cup

Cycling : Vuelta De Espana

Lots Of Goals

The 1st matchday of UEFA Champions League saw lots of goals score by the big guns. Barcelona won 5-0, Bayern & Roma won 4-0 while Milan won 3-0. There were also many goals scored at Old Trafford where Manchester United beat Celtic 3-2, Valencia beat Olympiacos 4-2 in Athens while Steaua Bucharest beat Dynamo Kiev 4-1 in Kiev. 1 & only big team that disappointed would be Inter Milan who lost to Sporting Lisbon 1-0.

Yesterday also saw Alexandre Vinokourov stole the leader's jersey of Vuelta de Espana from Alejandro Valverde. It was a great ride from Vino especially in the last 30km. Valverde still has 2 chance to claim back that jersey, in today's mountainous stage & also in the coming ITT stage.

Other Results:

Men's WC (Day 6 - Pool A) : Spain 3 New Zealand 1
Men's WC (Day 6 - Pool A) : Argentina 1 Pakistan 0
Men's WC (Day 6 - Pool B) : India 1 S.Korea 2
Men's WC (Day 6 - Pool B) : Holland 4 England 3
Men's WC (Day 7 - Pool A) : New Zealand 1 Australia 7
Men's WC (Day 7 - Pool A) : Japan 4 Argentina 3
Men's WC (Day 7 - Pool B) : Germany 5 S.Africa 0
Men's WC (Day 7 - Pool B) : India 1 Holland 6
Men's WC (Day 8 - Pool A) : Japan 2 Spain 4
Men's WC (Day 8 - Pool A) : Australia 3 Pakistan 0
Men's WC (Day 8 - Pool B) : S.Korea 0 Germany 0
Men's WC (Day 8 - Pool B) : S.Africa 1 England 3

Schedules:

Men's WC (9-12 placing) : S.Africa vs Japan
Men's WC (9-12 placing) : Argentina vs India
Men's WC (5-8 placing) : New Zealand vs England
Men's WC (5-8 placing) : Holland vs Pakistan
Men's WC (1-4 placing) : Australia vs S.Korea
Men's WC (1-4 placing) : Germany vs Spain

It's All About Racing

Schumi won the F1 Italian GP at Monza Circuit. With the victory, Michael just 2 points behind championship leader, Alonso, who was forced to retire from the race as his engine exploded. It's great to see Kimi on the podium, & even better to see Kubica on the same podium. A great day for BMW-Sauber team. Immediately after the race, Ferrari confirmed that Michael will retire at the end of the season, & that Kimi & Massa will spearhead their 2007 campaign. I'm not a Michael's fan but still, he is a legend..

At Sepang Circuit, we saw a great duel between 2 great MotoGP riders, Rossi & Capirossi. They overtook each other many times during the race, especially nearing the end. At last, as everybody predicted, The Doctor won. Also kudos to the injured Pedrosa who finished 3rd.

p/s: also a day for Roger n Ruud...

Yesterday's results:

Primera Liga : Levante 1 Real Madrid 4
Primera Liga : Sociedad 1 Sevilla 3

Serie A : AC Milan 2 Lazio 1

Ligue 1 : PSG 1 Marseille 3

Eredivisie : Ajax 3 Vitesse 0
Eredivisie : Nijmegen 0 Alkmaar 2
Eredivisie : Sparta 1 Feyenoord 4

MotoGP Malaysian GP : 1. Rossi 2. Capirossi 3. Pedrosa 4. Hayden 5. Gibernau
Standings : 1. Hayden(214) 2. Pedrosa(192) 3. Rossi(188) 4. Capirossi(171) 5. Melandri(168)

F1 Italian GP : 1. Michael 2. Kimi 3. Kubica 4. Fisichella 5. Button
D-Stdg : 1. Alonso(108) 2. Michael(106) 3. Massa(62) 4. Fisi(57) 4. Kimi(57)
C-Stdg : 1. Ferrari(168) 2. Renault(165) 3. McLaren(97) 4. Honda(65) 5. BMW(33)

US Open Men's (Final) : Roger Federer bt Andy Roddick - 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1

Men's WC (Pool A) : Pakistan 2 Spain 2
Men's WC (Pool A) : Australia 3 Japan 1
Men's WC (Pool B) : England 1 Germany 2
Men's WC (Pool B) : S.Korea 2 S.Africa 2

The Unbeatable, The Beatable & The Downpour

Asafa Powell had to recover from another poor 100 metres start to extend his winning run at the World Athletics Final. Powell had to work harder than expected to clinch victory in a championship record 9.89 seconds, ahead of the Americans Leonard Scott and Tyson Gay. It was a 12th legal sub-10 seconds 100 metres of the season for the Jamaican & he still unbeaten in 2006.

The F1 Italian GP at Monza Circuit saw Raikkonen took pole by beating Michael by just 0.002s!! Kimi beat him but Michael will still smiling since Alonso has dropped from 5th to 10th on the provisional grid for today's race after Monza stewards penalized him for impeding Massa during qualifying. It also a great qualifying for BMW Sauber as Heidfeld took 3rd spot, ahead of Massa who will start in 4th. Ahaha BMW beat Ferrari!!!! Great!!!!

Back in Malaysia, the qualifying sessions for the MotoGP Malaysian GP at the Sepang F1 Circuit yesterday turned out to be a complete washout after a heavy afternoon shower. As a result, the qualifying sessions had to be scrap for the 1st time in the history of the Malaysian GP. The riders also made a collective decision that the MotoGP starting grid be based on the combined free practice times. So, Rossi will start in pole, Hayden in 2nd while Capirossi in 3rd.

p/s: Maria win!!! :P

Yesterday's results:

M-Cup (S-final) : TMFC 0 NS Naza 2 (NS Naza won by 3-1 agg)
M-Cup (S-final) : Perak 1 Perlis 2 (Perlis won by 2-1 agg)

EPL : Everton 3 Liverpool 0
EPL : Arsenal 1 Middlesbrough 1
EPL : Chelsea 2 Charlton 1
EPL : Man Utd 1 Tottenham 0

SPL : Aberdeen 0 Celtic 1
SPL : Hearts 0 St Mirren 1
SPL : Rangers 4 Falkirk 0

Primera Liga : Barcelona 3 Osasuna 0
Primera Liga : Atl Madrid 0 Valencia 1

Serie A : Roma 2 Livorno 0
Serie A : Fiorentina 2 Inter 3

Ligue 1 : Bordeaux 3 Nice 2
Ligue 1 : Auxerre 2 Monaco 1
Ligue 1 : Lyon 2 Troyes 0
Ligue 1 : Nantes 1 Lille 1

Eredivisie : Willem 1 PSV 3

US Open Men's (S-final) : Roger Federer bt Nikolay Davydenko - 6-1, 7-5, 6-4
US Open Men's (S-final) : Andy Roddick bt Mikhail Youzhny - 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3

US Open Women's (Final) : Maria Sharapova bt Justine Henin-Hardenne - 6-4, 6-4

Men's WC (Pool A) : Japan 0 New Zealand 1
Men's WC (Pool A) : Argentina 0 Australia 4
Men's WC (Pool B) : S.Africa 1 India 1
Men's WC (Pool B) : Germany 2 Holland 2

Maria vs Justine In Final

Maria Sharapova will play against Justine Henin-Hardenne in US Open Women's Final. In s-finals, Maria beat World No 1 Amelie Mauresmo while Justine beat Jelena Jankovic. A great victory for Maria. I'm bias coz of kecantikan fizikal?? Hmm maybe.. After all, women tennis is all about the beauties!!! Wahaha..

Also, yesterday saw a very explosive match in Men's Hockey World Cup. 8 goals in 70 minutes!! But when it ended, both teams, New Zealand & Pakistan drew 4-4. Good to see Sohail Abbas back in action.

Yesterday's results:

US Open Women's (S-final) : Maria Sharapova bt Amelie Mauresmo - 6-0, 4-6, 6-0
US Open Women's (S-final) : Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Jelena Jankovic - 4-6, 6-4, 6-0

Men's WC (Pool A) : New Zealand 4 Pakistan 4
Men's WC (Pool A) : Spain 1 Argentina 1
Men's WC (Pool B) : England 0 S.Korea 1

Aduhai Rafa...

Rafael Benitez? No..I'm talking about Rafael Nadal. Youzhny beat him in US Open q-final. Cam mana la Nadal bole kalah kpd Encik Youzhny ni.. Kontra dgn nasib si Fedex. Fedex went on to the s-final & I bet he will go through to the finale. Maria plak nyaris je menang dgn Tatiana. Bila plak ler bole tgk Tatiana menang.. BTW, goodbye to Mr. Agassi.

In Monchengladbach, the Men's Hockey World Cup began last Wednesday. 12 teams will battle it out. The finale will be held on Sunday, Sept 17. Sadly, Malaysia didn't qualify to the WC. Berdasarkan World Ranking yg dikeluarkan oleh FIH in July, Malaysia is in 13th spot.

Results:

US Open Men's (Q-final) : Mikhail Youzhny bt Rafael Nadal - 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1
US Open Men's (Q-final) : Andy Roddick bt Lleyton Hewitt - 6-3, 7-5, 6-4
US Open Men's (Q-final) : Roger Federer bt James Blake - 7-6 (9-7), 6-0, 6-7 (9-11), 6-4
US Open Men's (Q-final) : Nikolay Davydenko bt Tommy Haas - 4-6, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

US Open Women's (Q-final) : Jelena Jankovic bt Elena Dementieva - 6-2, 6-1
US Open Women's (Q-final) : Amelie Mauresmo bt Dinara Safina - 6-2, 6-3
US Open Women's (Q-final) : Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Lindsay Davenport - 6-4, 6-4
US Open Women's (Q-final) : Maria Sharapova bt Tatiana Golovin - 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-0)

Men's WC (Day 1 - Pool A) : Argentina 0 New Zealand 3
Men's WC (Day 1 - Pool B) : Germany 3 India 2
Men's WC (Day 1 - Pool B) : S.Korea 3 Holland 2
Men's WC (Day 2 - Pool A) : Pakistan 4 Japan 0
Men's WC (Day 2 - Pool A) : Australia 1 Spain 3
Men's WC (Day 2 - Pool B) : India 2 England 3
Men's WC (Day 2 - Pool B) : Holland 2 S.Africa 0

This weekend's schedules:

Football : M-Cup s-finals 2nd leg
Football : Eredivisie
Football : EPL
Football : SPL
Football : Primera Liga
Football : Serie A
Football : Ligue 1

MotoGP : Malaysian GP

F1 : Italian GP

Tennis : US Open

Hockey : Men's World Cup