The seventh season of the UEFA Champions League, 1998-1999, was won by Manchester United after a thrilling 90+ minute finals.

A little while ago news came around that Paul Scholes will stop playing professional football. Just as many others before him, he reached a certain age which allows him to hang up his boots. Reading this news, my mind came up with a question: What happened to all the players from Man Utd that won the ’99 Champions League?

The following 20 players came up in my mind:

Goalkeepers:
Peter Schmeichel

Retired in 2003, now hosts several TV-shows

Raimond van der Gouw

Retired in 2006, is now a goalkeepings coach at Vitesse, in the Netherlands

Defenders:
Gary Neville

Retired on 2^nd February this year, no idea what he does atm.

Phil Neville

Still an active player; plays for Everton

Denis Irwin

Retired in 2004, now presents programms for Man Utd TV, columnist with a newspaper and covers several football games

Jaap Stam

Retired in 2007, became an Utd-scout in 2008, currently coaches at FC Zwolle (2^nd division in the Netherlands) and on the brink of become part-time coach of Ajax

Ronny Johnsen

Retired in 2008, no idea what he does atm.

Henning Berg

Retired in 2004, now manages Lillestrom in Norway

Wes Brown

Still active, still plays for Man Utd, though less regularly

Midfielders:

David Beckham

Currently plays for USA team Los Angeles Galaxy

Roy Keane

Retired in 2006, became manager of several British club teams, but is currently unemployed

Paul Scholes

Played 675 official games for Man Utd before deciding earlier this week to retire from professional football

Ryan Giggs

Still features in Sir Alex’s plans on a regular basis and therefore will play another season at Old Trafford, already amassing a staggering 876 official club matches

Nicky Butt

Sort of still active, after first announcing retirement in 2010, but coming back in the game to play for the club South China . He left this club end of May this year.

Jesper Blomqvist

Officially retired in 2005 and became manager (even though he still played a couple of matches as player-manager due to player injuries)

Jordi Cruyff

Son of you-know-who (no, not the Harry Potter one). Decided to retire in 2010 and then became Director of Football for a Maltese club.

Attackers:
Dwight Yorke

Retired in 2009, now tries to become a coach

Andy Cole

Retired in 2008, after scoring 270 goals in his career; he used to work on Man Utd  youth ground

Teddy Sheringham

Retired at the age of 42 in 2008, 898 official games; no idea what he does atm.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Retired in 2007 and currently works at Man Utd as reserve-team manager

After some crazy days regarding European football, it’s time to review the Quarter Finals of the Champions League 2008-2009. And crazy days it were, the past 16 days…

The first round of the QF featured Spanish Villareal C.F. hosting English giant Arsenal, English runner-up Chelsea visiting the other English giant Liverpool, Bayern Muchen travelling south to the Camp Nou of Barcelona and FC Porto left Portugal for a few days to battle Manchester United, current English Premiership Champions.

On the 7^th of April, FC Porto stunned all who feel affection for Man Utd, by attacking well, playing nicely and scoring twice, ending the match in a 2-2 draw. The same day, Chelsea hammered Liverpool on Anfield Road 3-1, giving them a nice outcome for the next game at Stamford Bridge.

On the 8^th of April, Barcelona showed the world they are the world’s best football-team by humiliating Bayern Munchen. In the first half Barca scored 4 goals, showed some fantastic skills and frustrating every single Munich player (e.g. Dutch captain Mark van Bommel using a bodycheck to stop Messi). On the same night Arsenal held Villareal on a 1-1 draw, which should be a good result to finish off the next week.

And so, yesterday and the day before, the returns were played.
Tuesday 14^th of April, Bayern regained some honour by drawing Barcelona 1-1 (goals by Ribery and Keita), but saw Barca go to the Semi Finals. As did Chelsea.
A wonderful evening and some stunning and amazing football saw the match end 4-4. This match is considered by many as one of the best in C.L.-history. Lots of exitement made fans of both teams go up and down in joy, raising heartbeats and lowering them again. After 45 minutes Liverpool led 0-2, which should’ve been enough to go through. However, a mervellous tip-in of Drogba, a canonball freekick by Alex and 2 goals by Lampard made sure Chelsea would go through to the Semi Finals. Even 2 more goals by Lucas and Dutchman Kuyt made no difference to that.

Wednesday 15^th of April, Man United showed some skills by beating FC Porto 1-0, resulting in another Semi Final spot. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only but nice goal, 30 metres from goal, which might have been stopped by Helton (obviously, he didn’t). The hero of the past weekends, Macheda didn’t play and this time it didn’t matter.
Arsenal secured the 4^th Semi Final spot by beating Villareal 3-0, goals scored by Walcott, Adebayor and Van Persie who slotted home a penalty.

The Semi Final programme:
28^th of April: Barcelona vs Chelsea
29^th of April: Man Utd vs Arsenal
The returns will be a week later.

That’s it for now!

Here I am, again, with my view on the 1/8th Finals of the Champions League, season 2008-2009.

Last week, I wrote the following:

"Here's an early review on the first 8 matches of the 1/8th round in the Champions League of season 2008-2009.

As you all (should?) know, there were -in total- 8 matches yesterday and today. Many big clubs showed their status by reaching the 1/8th finals, resulting in the following line-up:
Internationale, Man Utd, Atl. Madrid, FC Porto, Ol. Lyon, Barcelona, Arsenal and AS Roma played their games yesterday, whilst Chelsea, Juventus, Villarreal, Panathinaikos, Sporting Lissabon, Bayern Munchen, Real Madrid and Liverpool finished their games (when I started writing) only 15 minutes ago.  

Results were:

Inter-Man Utd: 0-0
Atl Madrid - FC Porto: 2-2
Ol. Lyon - Barcelona: 1-1
Arsenal - AS Roma: 1-0

Chelsea - Juventus: 1-0
Villarreal - Panathinaikos: 1-1
Sp. Lissabon - Bayern Munchen: 0-5 (!)
Real Madrid - Liverpool: 0-1


If I had to predict the outcome for the quarter finals (and yes I know, there's still another round of games in the 1/8th finals), I would say Man Utd, FC Porto, Barcelona, Arsenal, Chelsea, Villarreal, Bayern Munchen (quite obvious I guess) and Liverpool... If this were to be the case, once more, English clubs will show their strength by getting 4 teams into quarter finals. But then again, I could be completely wrong as well of course... We'll just have to wait and see. Next games are on the 10th and 11th of March."

So, was I right in my predictions? Did all the teams I mentioned to get to the next round (Quarter Finals), actuallt get there?
Well, with last Tuesday's and Wednesday's matches and therefor their results, I would say: Yes! I got them all right! :) Woohoo! ;)

On Tuesday, Panathinaikos decided to lose against Villareal with 1-2, Chelsea draw 2-2 with Juventus, Liverpool smashed and wacked Real Madrid back to Spain with an amazing 4-0 and Bayern Munchen decided to destroy all hopes and believes in Lisbon, by beating Sporting Club 7-1! (So, I guess Sporting Club Portugal can change their name back to Sporting Lisboa/Lissabon, as they did nothing to honour Portugal and it's football, by losing 5-0 and 7-1 againts Bayern Muchen).

Yesterday, Wednesday, Porto draw a businesslike 0-0 against Athletico Madrid to go through on away-goals, Barcelona beat Lyon 5-2 (with their attacking trio Messi, Eto'o and Henry all scoring), Arsenal needed a 16-takes-penalty shoot-out against AS Roma to go through, as the match ended 1-0 for Roma and Man Utd scored 2 goals in the 4th and 49th minute, to secure a 2-0 win against Inter Milan.

Unfortunately, I have to admit that I don't know when the Quarter Finals will take place, but once they do, obviously I'll write a new review on them too!

For now, some final stats:

This season, Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) and Miroslav Klose (Bayern M.) both scored 7 goals so far. They are followed shortly by Lisandro Lopez (Porto) and Messi (Barcelona) with 6 goals each. All of them are still going in the Quarter Finals.

Over-all topscores are Raúl (Real Madrid-64 goals), van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid-56) and Henry (Barcelona-49). Henry will be able to still add to his tally this season, Raúl and van Nistelrooy (he's also injured) will have to try again next season.
Over-all Dutch topscorers are van Nistelrooy, Kluivert (no club-29 goals) and Makaay (Feyenoord-29 goals), with both Kluiver and Makaay most unlikely to ever score again in CL.

Over-all Matches Played tells us Raúl (123), Roberto Carlos (Fenerbahce-120) and Giggs (Man Utd-110). Only Ryan Giggs is able to likely add more to his total, as he's the only one of the top-3 remaining in CL so far.
Dutch players top-3: Seedorf (Milan-101, Cocu (quit) and Frank de Boer (quit) with both 81. If Edwin van der Sar gets to the Finals with his Man Utd, he will pass both Cocu and De Boer and become second with a (possible) 82 games. He now has 77 games.

That's it! See ya!

Here's an early review on the first 8 matches of the 1/8th round in the Champions League of season 2008-2009.

As you all (should?) know, there were -in total- 8 matches yesterday and today. Many big clubs showed their status by reaching the 1/8th finals, resulting in the following line-up:
Internationale, Man Utd, Atl. Madrid, FC Porto, Ol. Lyon, Barcelona, Arsenal and AS Roma played their games yesterday, whilst Chelsea, Juventus, Villarreal, Panathinaikos, Sporting Lissabon, Bayern Munchen, Real Madrid and Liverpool finished their games (when I started writing) only 15 minutes ago.  


Results were:

Inter-Man Utd: 0-0
Atl Madrid - FC Porto: 2-2
Ol. Lyon - Barcelona: 1-1
Arsenal - AS Roma: 1-0

Chelsea - Juventus: 1-0
Villarreal - Panathinaikos: 1-1
Sp. Lissabon - Bayern Munchen: 0-5 (!)
Real Madrid - Liverpool: 0-1


If I had to predict the outcome for the quarter finals (and yes I know, there's still another round of games in the 1/8th finals), I would say Man Utd, FC Porto, Barcelona, Arsenal, Chelsea, Villarreal, Bayern Munchen (quite obvious I guess) and Liverpool... If this were to be the case, once more, English clubs will show their strength by getting 4 teams into quarter finals. But then again, I could be completely wrong as well of course... We'll just have to wait and see. Next games are on the 10th and 11th of March.

Group B:

Group G:

Group H:

Unfortunately, I can't tell much about matches, as I haven't seen many of them really. Basically, I only saw Athletico Madrid - PSV, in a completely empty stadium, with a stupid widescreen shwoing celebrating fans when Athletico scored... Really weird...

The draws for the next rounds, which will be Knock-Out rounds from now on, will follow soon.

Some stats to conclude this blog with:

- In this campaign 4 players scored 5 goals so far: Benzema from Ol. Lyon, Gerrard from Liverpool, Klose from Bayern München and Messi from Barça.
- Overall topscorers are: Raúl (64), Ruud van Nistelrooy (56) and Shevchenko (47)
- Players with most matches are: Raúl (121), Roberto Carlos (120) and Maldini (109)
- Finally, a table with the best performing teams in Champions League so far:

I just finished the list till the first Dutch teams ;) Lazy me :P
And as something went wrong, and I do not know what, I don't have the Goals Against. Sorry...

That's it for now!

Again, a great player of the current Ajax squad is leaving the Netherlands... After Ajax cashed in on Ryan Babel and Wesley Sneijder in 2007, this time Nr 1 striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is leaving... He's going to Real Madrid for a nice 27 million euro's. Somehow, it's a bit strange... A week ago, rumours of him leaving soon, showed up again, after a final 40 million euro's bid of Man City just before the start of the season was rejected. And now, 5 months later, he's leaving for "only" 27 million... Of course, Real Madrid is one of the greatest clubs in the world (KJH always said he only wanted to leave for one of the biggest clubs) and everybody at Ajax wishes him all the best with all sincerity, but still... We will miss him, too much, I am afraid... There's no proper striker left who can fill the gap KJH is leaving at the club, and that's going to cost Ajax, I think... We've got Luis Suarez, who's a great talent, but no pure stiker; 'Mikky Sulejmanie (same story) and Dario Cvitanich, who hasn't shown a thing so far... So, we're facing problems here... But we'll see how we'll manage...

Here some pictures we won't see again (because of KJH in Ajax-shirt ;) ):

   

 

We will miss him...

Hello and welcome to a new blog of mine, as a follow-up on my last blog of October already...

I title this blog World Trip, because in 2 days time, which is Wednesday 20-2-2008, I -together with my girlfriend- will leave Holland for a year. We are going to New Zealand! :) We'll arrive Fridaymorning in Auckland, from which we will stay in a hostel for 2 nights...

After that, our plan is to travel around NZ and -by working for food and a bed-, stay with so-called WWOOFers. WWOOF is an organisation of biological farmers who give away a bed and food (temporarily ofcourse) to backpackers, in exchange of workservices. Mainly this will be weeding, composting, feeding animals, etc.
So far, it's a bit hard to arrange such stays, as we were a bit late with searching for the first spot ;)
However, if we not manage to find such WWOOFer in 4 days, we will stay a bit longer in the hostel, or either find ourselves some place to sleep at friendly NZers :)

The players of my team, FC Berber United, are a bit worried as I won't be able to coach them as often as they're used to... But hey, real pro's can manage, right? ;)

After nearly 15 years, one of Holland's best defender ever (67 caps), has decided to quit immediately. Forced by injuries, Jaap Stam couldn't continue his struggle and decided that he will no longer play professional football.

Herefor, a final memoration:

Jaap Stam, THANK YOU!

Finally, after 7 weeks of hard working (in a canteen, read my previous blog for more details), I finally had some days off. I took the chance of this oppurtunity (and yes, I know, this sentence was horrible) to visit my girlfriend for 5 days, at one of Holland's islands; Terschelling. I, or actually WE, had a lovely 5 days of Holi (in my opinion, some guy or woman called Saint Holi, got a very good thing by demanding several days off from work) with quite some sunshine, lots of food and (alcoholic) drinks. Even with sunshine, it still was rather cold, as wind blows firmly over islands. Luckily, we went to several bars and other places (either inside the building, or surrounded by windscreens, which made things rather more comfortable) to warm up, if necessary.
I planned to make some photo's there, but as I first took my camera, I noticed the battery to be empty... So, no photo's, alas...
Still, for a little inside, you can check www.terschelling.net

Although, the title of this blog says different, I also want to mention something about football. Once club in particular: Ajax. Last Wednesday, we (as Ajax is the Dutch club I am supporter of, eventhough I like Man Utd better) had to beat Czechian club Slavia Prague to enter the group stage of the Champions League (of which I will not write blogs any more. I don't have the time to do so again, as last season). We lost 0-1 two weeks ago, so we had to win 2-1 at least to go through to the next round. Ajax, with great players (loads of (ex-)internationals) would win easily, according to our coach, Ten Cate. Right... Final score? 2-1 for Slavia...
No Champions League again, as we lost to FC Copenhagen last year. Yes, FC Copenhagen and Slavia Prague reach(ed) the CL, by beating Ajax... With all respect, but Ajax should be far and far better then both clubs... Instead of facing Steaua Bucarest, Sevilla/AEK Athens and Arsenal, we've to battle Dinamo Zagreb. I hear 'our' coach thinking this's going to be easy, but I hold my heart, forseeing more disappointment...

Which brings me to another matter in football: The Dutch National Team (DNT). I mentioned our National Squad in one of my previous blogs and since then my frustration has grown more then it decreased. Last match, we battled Switzerland in a friendly. Holland, with its extraordinary players, should have won this match, but of course we lost; 2-1. We find ourselves in the 'lucky' (NOT!) position of having a coach with zero experience, no idea of his favorit line-up, who doesn't know to combine our superbly talented players to one amazing team and who can't manage to please us, the Dutch fans.
He started a few years ago as coach of the DNT, unexperienced and promising attacking, attractive football, loads of goals and an European Championship in 2008. Now, 10 months before the finals, he still hasn't found his favorit line-up, changing it every match with 4 or 5 other players. He's also rather stubborn, sticking to a 4-3-3 formation (with left-footed rightwingers and right-footed leftwingers) instead of a more obvious 4-4-2.

Sure, Holland doesn't have real defenders (like a Nesta, Ferdinand or S. Ramos), but our midfielders and attackers, as talented as they al are, can cover this up. Still, also in this case, I hold my heart and pray for -even-  reaching upcoming European Championship.

Final note: with players like Van der Sar (GK), Heitinga, Bouhlarouz, Mathijssen, Van Bronkhorst (Def), Sneijder, Seedorf, Van der Vaart (Mid), Van Persie, Huntelaar, Van Nistelrooy, Robben (Att) and all the others, you should be able to create some amazing team, huh?

Here I am, writing a new blog, along time after my previous one (you might want to read it, it's about my thoughts on the Dutch National Team).

As I work in a canteen/bar of a campside (which is opposite my house, luckily. My work's only a 150 feet away ;) ), I find myself loads of time, as there aren't many people around atm. The campside can hold 1500 guests at a time (either in caravans, chalets or tents) at it's top. This top, however, will be reached in 2 or 3 weeks from now. Today, probably noly a few hundred will be around, I'm afraid... Still I have to work from 1.30 pm till 0.30 am, each and every day. Of this 11 hours (which it is, calculated and all), I'm quite busy for only 20%... The other 80% is boring as h*ll! Luckily, in 2 (or 3) weeks from now, these percentages will be changed around: 80% work, 20% "rest". Much better, if you ask me.

By the way, for the people who have no idea what I'm talking about, a little info:

From the beginning of March upto and including the first week of October, I'm the manager of this canteen/bar I mentioned above. March-June is weekends only, July and August on daily basis and September-October are weekends again.
What I have to do, basically, is being around every day we're open (the 7/8 weeks in Summer, I got one day off each week), fry chips and snacks, do some bar-work and lead the 5 girls I've got under my 'command'.

As you might know, horeca-times aren't the best to work in: most of the time, yóu work while others have the fun (of your work).



This ain't the worst part for me though... I find myself in the very lucky place to have a lovely girlfriend that I love very, very much. Problem is, that I cannot see her the next 7 weeks, because of my work (and her's). And this sickens me!

She's working in a supermarket on one of the five islands Holland has in the north and I live in Drenthe, which is a bit further away then you can go by bike -I've got no driving license- and we've got no chance to see each other till the end of August... Boy, how I miss her so much already! Imagine how it will be after 5 weeks!

                                       Me and my girl :)

As I find myself rather sad now, I conclude this blog. A next blog might be following up soon.... Who knows?

Cheers

I've been quiet for a while, but with a new fight going on between the coach of my lovely country (Marco van Basten - Holland) and one of Holland's best midfielders (Marc van Bommel), I feel an urgent need to write something about the Dutch squad. Lately, Marco and Marc (funny, as names could be quite the same as opinions of those men are not) are fighting each other (figurative that is) over Marc van Bommel's performances and behaviour in the Dutch squad. However, I'm not about to write on that specific topic, but Marco van Basten's complete behaviour to Dutch players...

In his career as coach of Holland, he used no less than 52 Dutch players ofr Hollands international matches. Of these 52, he let 30 players made their first appearance as Dutch international. Remarkable fact is, that quite a lot of these 30 débutantes play(ed) for average Dutch clubs (so not Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV and AZ). Nevertheless, Marco van Basten got one nice achievement, by being unbeaten the very first 16 matches... A 1-3 loss to Italy made this nice stroke end...
Also, Marco van Basten is known for his cold relationship with players. Barry Opdam (8 caps) thought he should be polite by saying: "Hello, I'm Barry Opdam.", on which Marco answered: "Yes, I know that. I selected you." And he was NOT being funny or clever...

But this is not what I want to talk about either... It's mainly about the way Marco van Basten used and misuses Dutch players for the National squad. 52 players is quite a lot, if you want to build a team for Euro 2008 (his final goal is winning this cup). Also, for his lack of good relantioship with players, a lot of important, excellent players, caused a lot of damage. Players like Ruud van Nistelrooy and Marc van Bommel should always play for the Dutch team, but stated they won't as long as van Basten will be coach of Holland.

The last match, against Slovenia (EC-qualifying game - 0-1 win), the starting-11 was:
Edwin van der Sar
John Heitinga - Wilfred Bouma - Joris Mathijsen - Urby Emanuelson
Ibrahim Afellay - Giovanni van Bronkhorst - Wesley Sneijder
Ryan Babel - Dirk Kuyt - Arjen Robben

Ok, I can live with most players being in this line-up, but why the h*ck is Bouma playing right center-back? He's left-footed!!! Why's Babel playing right winger, if he's left winger at Ajax?

If Marco van Basten would put his 'goddessy' a-side, have a nice chat with Davids, Seedorf, van Nistelrooy and van Bommel, you could create a team, which would be able to compete other top countries as well. Now, they'll just lose every single match against e.g. Italy, Spain, Brasil, etc...

My cup of tea(m):
Edwin van der Sar
Khalid Boulahrouz - Joris Mathijsen - Gio van Bronkhorst
Clarence Seedorf - Marc van Bommel - Wesley Sneijder - Rafael van der Vaart
Robin van Persie - Ruud van Nistelrooy - Arjen Robben

Ok, this might be a bit attacking, but change one of the attacking midfielders or even an attacker for a right back, and you've got a team which is surely able to compete top countries (e.g. John Heitinga for Arjen Robben or Rafael van der Vaart).

Today, the next draw was made for the upcoming quarter finals of Champions League season 2006/2007!
After yesterday's and the-day-before-yesterday's matches, Europe's got herself another 8 contestants, who will battle for the Champion of Champions League...
(Why is it called 'Champions' League anyway? E.g. 4 teams from England, Spain, Italy and Germany?? Those are not all the champions I guess  )

However, before the Quarter Finals will be 'reported' by me (the matches are played on 3rd and 4th of March -- Home-matches-- and 10th and 11th of March --Away matches--). This means the two matches for each team will be played in 7 or 8 days from each other... I remember it used to be 14 days in between those macthes, but hey... Money has become the most important thing in CL: the more matches, the better...

Anyway, here are the results of yesterday's and the-day-before-yesterday's matches:
(Note: bold teams go through, in between brackets are the results of the 'home'-matches)

AC Milan - Celtic: 1-0 (0-0)
Arsenal - PSV: 1-1 (0-1)
Bayern M. - Real Madrid: 2-1 (2-3)
Man Utd - Ol. Lille: 1-0 (1-0)
Chelsea - Porto: 2-1 (1-1)
Liverpool - Barcelona: 0-1 (2-1)
Valencia - Internationale: 0-0 (2-2)

That's 3 teams from England, quite well down I would say...

Here's today's draw (drawn in Athens):
3rd of March: PSV - Liverpool and AC Milan - Bayern M.
4th of March: AS Roma - Man Utd and Chelsea - Valencia
10th of March: Man Utd - AS Roma and Valencia - Chelsea
11th of March: Bayern M.  - AC Milan and Liverpool - PSV

And of course, some final stats:

2 players scored 6 goals so far: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid) and Kaká (AC Milan). As only AC Milan got to the Quarter's, Kaká will be the only of them, possibly scoring some more goals. (3 players scored 5 goals and 5 players scored 4 goals so far...)

The top-3 All-Time Topscorers-list has remained the same:
1. Raúl (Real Madrid) - 56
2. Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid) - 49 (+1)
3. Andrei Shevchenko (Chelsea) - 44

Same counts for the Top-3 All-Time Matches Played-list:
Raúl (108), Roberto Carlos (107) and David Beckham (102), all playing for Real Madrid...
Funny fact: None of them will play any more CL matches this season, so others can get closer with matches played...
Closest are: Kahn (Bayern M.) - 102, Maldini (AC Milan) - 101 and Gary Neville (Man Utd) - 98

And finally, some Dutch stats:

Top-3 Topscorers:
1. Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid) - 49
2. Roy Makaay (Bayern M.) - 29
3. Patrick Kluivert (PSV) - 29

Top-3 Matches:
1. Clarence Seedorf (AC Milan) - 89
2. Frank de Boer (retired) - 81
3. Philip Cocu (PSV) - 79

That's it for now! Take Care!

Not sure whether it's called the "Eighth Finals" or not... However, it's a fact that yesterday the first four matches of the third round of Champions League were played. Together with today's other four matches and the eight matches of 6 and 7 March, we'll see 8 teams going through to the Quarter Finals. Therefor I'll give you the results of this week, ánd the results of 6 and 7 March, when those matches have been played.

So, the results of 20-02-2007:
Celtic - AC Milan: 0-0
O. Lille - Man Utd: 0-1
PSV - Arsenal: 1-0
Real Madrid - Bayern München: 3-2

And here are the results of yesterday (21-02-2007):
Barcelona - Liverpool: 1-2
Internationale - Valencia: 2-2
AS Roma - Ol. Lyon: 0-0
FC Porto - Chelsea: 1-1

So far, there have been no strange outcomes, or it may be that both Liverpool and PSV won, where most people would have expected not to. According to this week's results, I think AC Milan, Man Utd, Arsenal (still), Bayern, Liverpool, Internationale, Lyon and Chelsea will go through to the quarter finals. However, I've been wrong in my guessing a lot in my life (according to football), so I'll just have to wait and see what future brings.

Following up, on 06-03-2007:
Ol. Lyon - AS Roma
Chelsea - FC Porto
Liverpool - Barcelona
Valencia - Internationale

And on 07-03-2007:
Bayern München - Real Madrid
AC Milan - Celtic
Arsenal - PSV
Man Utd - O. Lyon

And finally, I'll jot down some statistics, although they haven't changed much since my last update on Champions League (which, amazingly, was on 05-12-2006! Gosh, it's been a long time since then...).

First of all, the top goal scorers this season:
Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Kaká (Milan), Fernando Morientes (Valencia), Raúl and Ruud van Nistelrooy (both Real Madrid). They all scored 5 goals so far. Also, they are all still in the race to win the CL with their club.

Secondly, the all time topscorers (top-3):
Raúl (Real Madrid) - 54 goals
Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid) - 48
Andrei Shevchenko (Chelsea) - 43

Third, the all time total matches (top-3):
Raúl - 107
Roberto Carlos - 106
David Beckham - 102
(At this very moment, they all play for Real Madrid)

Finally, the all time 'League Table':

That's it for now. Take care and enjoy your life ;)

Merry X-Mas!

Darn... Sometimes things are just completely to be forgotten... Tuesday, it was December the 5th, which in Holland means 'Sinterklaas-dag'. 'Sinterklaas' is a Dutch variant of Santa Claus. It is based on a Spanish bishop, called Saint Nicholas (in Dutch: Sint Nicolaas, that's why it's called Sinterklaas). Many Dutch children believe that this man brings presents to them every 5th of December each year, if they have been nice and not mean/naughty/whatsoever. Thanks to this 'event' I completely forgot about the Champions League!

However, thanks to the Internet I found some info about Tuesday's matches and so I can give you the tables and results.
(Note: blue colored clubs go through to the 2nd round of CL, red colored clubs go through to the UEFA Cup)

Group A:
Barcelona - Werder Bremen: 2-0
Chelsea - Levski Sofia: 2-0

Group B:
Bayern München - Internationale: 1-1
Sp. Lisboa - Sp. Moscow: 1-3

Group C:
PSV - Bordeaux: 1-3
Galatasaray - Liverpool: 3-2

Group D:
AS Roma - Valencia: 1-0
Olympiakos - Sh. Donetsk: 1-1

Wednesday, another 8 matches were played. As I mentioned before, I watched Man Utd - Benfica. Man Utd had to win to be sure to go through to the next round. Somehow, it seemed that players didn't find it necessary to show their skills as Benfica scored 0-1 by Nélson. Luckily, just before half-time, Nemanja Vidic scored 1-1 for United. In the second half, Man U showed their skills, played some powerfull and pressing football and won the match 3-1 (Giggs and Saha scored the 2nd and 3rd goals). I am very happy with this achievement, as United now finished first in their group, after Copenhagen defeated Celtic 3-1 as well.

Here are the other results and tables:

Group E:
Ol. Lyon - St. Bucarest: 1-1
Dinamo Kiev - Real Madrid: 2-2

Group F:
Man Utd - Benifca: 3-1
FC Copenhagen - Celtic: 3-1

Group G:
FC Porto - Arsenal: 0-0
Hamburger SV - CSKA Moscow: 3-2

Group H:
AC Milan - Lille: 0-2
Anderlecht - AEK Athens: 2-2

So, what's next? Well, the teams that finished first in their groups will not meet each other in the next round. This means that Chelsea, Bayern München, Liverpool, Valencia, Ol. Lyon, Man Utd, Arsenal and AC Milan will not face each other, but instead meet one of the teams that finished second. These teams are Barcelona, Internationale, PSV, AS Roma, Real Madrid, Celtic, FC Porto and Lille.

Teams that will go through to the following round in the UEFA Cup are Werder Bremen, Spartak Moscow, Bordeaux, Olympiakos, Steaua Bucarest, Benfica, CSKA Moscow and AEK Athens.

Finally, as usual, I'll give you some stats for the Champions League:
 - Topscorers are Drogba (Chelsea), Kaká (Milan) and Morientes (Valencia) with 5 goals.
 - Team with most goals scored is Real Madrid with 14 goals in 6 matches.
 - Team with least goals scored is Levski Sofia with only 1 goal in 6 matches.
 - Teams that conceded least goals are Bayern München, Ol. Lyon and Arsenal with 3 goals in 6 matches.
 - Team that conceded most goals is Levski Sofia with 17 goals in 6 matches.
 - No team managed to win all matches, Ol. Lyon was the closest with 14 out of a possible 18 points (4 wins and 2 draws).
 - Only one team failed to gain any points. Levski Sofia lost all their 6 matches.

And some interesting facts about Champions League:

All time table:

Topscorers of All Time:
1. Raúl (Gonzalez Blanco) 54 goals
2. Ruud van Nistelrooy 47 goals
3. Andrei Shevchenko 43 goals
4. Thierry Henry 42 goals

Most matches played:
1. Raúl (Gonzalez Blanco) 106 matches
2. Roberto Carlos 105 matches
3. David Beckham 101 matches
4. Oliver Kahn 100 matches

Since 1955/56, the Champions League (it's previous name was European Cup 1) is played each season, with Real Madrid winning the first 5 Finales. Record Finale score is 7-3 (Real Madrid - Eintracht Frankfurt, 1959/60). Also, 8 Finales ended with a penalty shoot-out.

Real Madrid won the most Champions League Cups: 9. They are followed by AC Milan (6), Liverpool (5), Bayern München and Ajax (4).

Well, this is it for now. Let's wait for the upcoming drawing for the 8th finals.

When I was a cute and little boy I always had one dream: I wanted to become a professional football player (well, I think nearly every boy wanted to be so...). Unfortunately, I have never been able to fulfill my dream by becoming a pro player. Nowadays, I play my matches in the 2nd senior team of my village, I'm enjoying and not dreaming any longer as well. (Note, 2 years ago I was a useful member of the 1st senior squad of this club, but somehow a lack of concentrating, training and really focussing on football made me lose my place in the team, which I don't feel sorry for anymore). When I was young I never knew whether I was good enough to join a professional club, but I guess that no people telling me that I was a superb player made quite clear that I was simply not good enough.

Luckily, for some other young boys, things are different: One and a half year ago, there was (and still is) a boy, named Juan Carlos Chera. He got kinda famous, by a little movie of almost 9 minutes that showed a 9 year old Juan playing football at high level. Unluckily, I can't find the movie on youtube, where it should be (on the website of a Dutch football magazine they took it from youtube, but it's not possible to link it forward...) His skills are amazing! This Brazilian boy did magic with his left foot en suprised everybody. After a while, he was contracted by Brazilian top club Santos (Pelé!).

But now, there's something new: A little movie of 6 minutes posted on www.youtube.com showing a 5 year old kid (!). This video was posted by his dad and it shows the skills of this boy. I have no doubts that this boy soon will get visits from scouts to contract him.
Want to know what I'm talking about? Spend some time searching youtube... His name is Juan David Torres . It's really amazing!

Also, a player made it possible to shoot with a speed of 212 km/hr!! Ain't that amazing?? Ronald Koeman and Roberto Carlos (well known for their hard freekicks) shot with an average of 120 km/hr at their top, so this is really outstanding! His name is Ronny (Heberson Furtado de Araujo), he's only 20 years old and he plays for Sporting Lisboa. Fans named him after his goal (because that what it was finally, after he shot - freekick) Homem-Bomba, which means "the man that fires bombs". I can imagine calling him such, as he shoots quite hard...

Yay, another round of matches has been played! Enjoyable it was sometimes, sometimes not ;) No big victories, but on the other hand, 12 wins in total, and only 4 draws, that's nice! Hardly any suprises, or it must be Werder Bremen that defeated Chelsea 1-0 and Celtic defeating Man Utd, when they played worse, even got a penalty against, but still: 1-0...
Also, some strikers failed to show their shooting skills through penalties (Saha - Man Utd, Van Nistelrooy - Real Madrid).
However, because I didn't see all the matches, I can't give my full and completely opinion, so I give you the results and tables after the last matches. Keep in mind, that there's still one more round of matches to play for CL Round 1.
(Clubs that are colored blue are through to the next round of CL; red colored clubs have no chance to reach either next round CL or UEFA Cup)

Group A:
Werder Bremen - Chelsea: 0-1
Levski Sofia - Barcelona: 0-2

Group B:
Spartak Moscow - Bayern München: 2-2
Internationale - Sp. Lisboa: 1-0

Group C:
Liverpool - PSV: 2-0
G. Bordeaux - Galatasaray: 3-1

Group D:
Valencia - Olympiakos: 2-0
S. Donetsk - AS Roma: 1-0

Group E:
Real Madrid - Ol. Lyon: 2-2
S. Bucarest - D. Kiev: 1-1

Group F:
Celtic - Man Utd: 1-0
Benfica - FC Copenhagen: 3-1

Group G:
Arsenal - HSV: 3-1
CSKA - FC Porto: 0-1

Group H:
AEK Athens - AC Milan: 1-0
Lille - Anderlecht: 2-2

As you can see, at this very moment, only 8 clubs out of possible 16 know that they're through. Therefor, some of the upcoming matches will be very interesting!!

Finally, some stats:
 - Topscorers so far are: Drogba, Kaká and Morientes with 5 goals
 - The teams that scored most goals are Real Madrid and Valencia with 12 goals.
 - The teams that scored least goals are Sp. Lisboa, CSKA Moscow and FC Copenhagen with only 2 goals.
 - The team that conceded most goals is Levski Sofia with 15 goals against.
 - The teams that conceded least goals are Bayern München, Liverpool, Ol. Lyon, AC Milan and CSKA Moscow (last one is  suprising!) with only 2 goals against.
 - The teams with most points so far are Liverpool, Ol. Lyon and Valencia with 13 points.
 - Hamburger SV and Levski Sofia both lost all their CL-matches (5) so far this season and therefor have least points as well: 0.

So this is it, for now. See ya!

How nice... I'm playing in Division 4, department 36 and so far, this is the league table:

So, I'm doing quite well atm. 2nd on the table and my team scored by far the most goals!

Next Tuesday (21-11) and Wednesday (22-11) 16 new matches will be played for CL Round 1.

Tuesday:
Real Madrid - Ol. Lyon    
Arsenal - Hamburger SV
Benfica - FC Copenhagen
Celtic - Man Utd     (Another 'Battle of Britain')
Lille - Anderlecht
AEK Athens - AC Milan
CSKA Moscow - FC Porto
Steaua Bucarest - Dinamo Kiev

Wednesday:
Spartak Moscow - Bayern München
Levski Sofia - Barcelona
Shakhtar Donetsk - AS Roma
Bordeaux - Galatasaray
Liverpool - PSV
Internationale - Sp. Lisboa
Werder Bremen - Chelsea
Valencia - Olympiakos

Some matches will be very interesting to watch, as there are:
Real Madrid - Ol. Lyon (nr's 2 and 1 in group E, Real must win to go through, Lyon already is);
Internationale - Sp. Lisboa (nr's 2 and 3 in group B, with 1 point difference);
CSKA Moscow - FC Porto (CKSA must win to go through, Porto must win twice)
Celtic - Man Utd (Battle of Britain, if United wins, they're through)

So, let's see what the future brings!

No, this is not a blog to announce that a Russian billionair has taken over a Dutch club or so. This blog is to inform you on the latest worries, shared by 'Der Kaiser' Franz Beckenbauer, Johan Cruijff and Marco van Basten (and many others as well, I guess).

A couple of days ago, Beckenbauer wrote in his column in Bild (a German newspaper) that he was worried that German clubs do not use enough German players, instead they use foreigners which are of less quality according to "Becky".
He's aiming for a 6 + 5 rule, which means 6 players with the nationality of the league they play in (e.g. 6 Germans in Bundeslige, 6 Dutchmen in Dutch Eredivisie, 6 Englishmen in Premiership) and 5 foreigners. A while before this, Johan Cruijff and Marco van Basten opted for this idea as well, just like Sepp Blatter - head of FIFA.

To give you some examples:
In Germany,  Schalke04 use an average of 2,6 Germans in their starting line-up. No less than 12 out of 18 clubs in Germany use less than (an average of) 4,8 Germans in their line-ups. A high score for Alemannia Aachen and Arminia Bielefeld with an average line-up of 7,2 Germans.

In Holland, it's a bit better: Although Roda JC use an average of 2,9 Dutchmen in their starting line-up, followed by Dutch gigant PSV (3,5) and SC Heerenveen (3,9); only 5 out of 18 clubs use less than 5 Dutchmen in their line-ups. A high score for NAC Breda who have an average of 9,4.

But still, the 'Dutch gigants' are also opting for a 6 + 5 rule.

I think I agree with this rule, because you'll be sure your youth academy has to go on and 'produce' excellent youthplayers that can play in your squad.. Therefore, the national team will be one of the best as well...

But, what do you think?!?!? Tell me!