Daily Sports News

The 2008 European champions Spain won their first ever World Cup when they defeated The Netherlands in the extra time thanks to Iniesta’s goal. This was only the third time that a European country won a major trophy two times in a row. The other two being France and West Germany. But neither of the two have gone ahead to make a hat trick. Spain now look to retain their European crown when they go to Euro 2012 which will be hosted together by Ukraine and Poland.

Alonso knows that his team has to work hard to win the 2010 European trophy but he insists that his country has enough raw talent. He says his team currently has the right mentality, style and team spirit. The Spanish celebrations also saw Arsenal captain Fabregas wearing a Barcelona shirt and rumours have been rife about his move to the Catalan giants. Fabregas further put fuel to fire saying that he is proud to ‘have been’ an Arsenal player and the past tense used reiterated his wish to move to Spain. Wenger is unwilling to let go of his most valuable asset at the London club though.

The football world cup this year was supposed to one of the most exciting ever with stars like Rooney, Torres and Messi bracing the pitch. But they have been disappointing so far. Wayne Rooney will not be playing a part in the World Cup after England were trashed 4-1 by Germany. The Manchester United front man, one of the most talented players in England failed to score even once in South Africa.

Spain have done well in the World Cup so far but it is a different story for Fernando Torres who has also not scored yet. He doesn’t look fit either and many football pundits say Fernando Llorente should start for Spain.

A lot was also expected from Barcelona winger Lionel Messi in this tournament but he too has failed to bag any goals so far. The top scorers so far in this World Cup are David Villa and Gonzalo Higuain who have both scored four goals each. Higuain opened his scoring account with the famous hat trick over South Korea. Villa, on the other hand, has been scoring consistently. Both these players are now the hot favorites to win the Golden Boot award, a prize given to the player who scores the most goals.

David Silva has signed for English club Manchester City for a fee of €35 million. Chelsea were keen on signing the Spanish playmaker but the player rejected the offer and was lured in to Manchester City megabucks. Roberto Mancini also had a long talk with Silva and he convinced the former Valencia star that he would be a key member for the English side. Spanish media had already revealed that the two clubs are reached an agreement with the fee in the region of €30-35 million but there were some doubts if Silva would sign for a side which won’t be playing Champions League next season.

Another key member to leave the Mestalla is Juan Mata, who joined Barcelona for €20 million. The former Real Madrid player has been linked to the Catalan giants since last year but Valencia were hesitating to sell. Times have changed now and Valencia are now struggling financially and they are trying to raise funds by selling their star players. Juan Mata now becomes the third player to leave Valencia after David Villa and David Silva. The signing of Mata also means that Zlatan Ibrahimovic might be sold now as both these men play in the same position.

Portugal won 7-0 against North Korea in which the Asian team will never forget the final forty minutes ever in their life. The first half ended 1-0 in Portugal’s favor but it was the second half where the goals started raining.

The Portuguese finally played as one team and every one contributed to the trashing. The star for the evening was Tiago. He started the game a bit slow but later on in the game, he contributed a lot in both the attack and defense.

Meireles was another valuable player. He opened the scoring account for the European side and contstantly threatened the Koreans with his excellent runs. He could have got a couple of more goals had be been a bit more accurate in shooting.

Coentrao was active throughout the game and he had a great time attacking from the left flank. He nearly scored himself in the evening but certainly gave the opposition a tough time throughout the game.

The least impressive performer in the game was Miguel, the defender who was dreadful in the first half but he was lucky not to get punished by North Koreans. He was poor in the second half too but get much to defend as the Portuguese were going berserk in the attack.

Argentina sent Greece out of the World Cup with a 2-0 win. Argentina were already confirmed a berth in the next stage of the tournament and hence they played this game with a relaxed mind.

Messi was again one of the best players for the South American giants but the Greek defenders had a good hold over him for most of the game. Messi’s markers did their job very well and the Barcelona star had a tough time getting past them. But he finally managed to break loose late in the game and had a big part to play in the second goal.

In the first half, Veron was Argentina’s best player in the first half. He showed great passing skills and then unleashed a very powerful strike from the long range. However, he was invisible in the second half.

For Greece, Samaras was the best player and he terrorized the Argentinian defense a lot of time. His positive attitude was apparent on the field but he couldn’t share it with other players and was fighting alone for most of the time.

Kyrgiakos was the reason why Argentina couldn’t score more than two goals. He was the wall between the opposition strikers and the goal posts and hardly lost any of the challenges.

Chelsea has confirmed that they have released Michael Ballack and Joe Cole. Both these players played under Jose Mourinho when he was the manager at Chelsea. The Portuguese has now moved to Spanish giants Real Madrid and now is looking to sign his ex-players back. Ballack is currently nursing an angle injury and hence he will be not a part of the German squad flying to South Africa for the world cup.

Ballack says that he wants to play for two more years at the top level before finally hanging his boots. The German international was brought to Chelsea by Jose Mourinho and he was one of the costliest players at the Stamford Bridge at that time. Joe Cole, on the other hand couldn’t come to an agreement with Chelsea regarding his wages and hence opted to leave the club. The England front man now intends to use the World Cup to showcase his skills and he thinks his performances will attract new offers.

Jose Mourinho will have a tough time placing the two ex-Chelsea players on his Real Madrid line up because there are already good players in that position at the Bernabeu. Maybe he will sell some Real Madrid players in order to make place for the new guys.

Real Madrid unveiled their new coach, Jose Mourinho on Monday and with this, the Portuguese has started his quest for a third Champions League trophy after achieving the feat with Porto and Inter Milan previously. Mourinho was delighted to sign a four year contract at Santiago Bernabeu, he said it is hard for coach to get such a long contract at a big club like Real Madrid. He also said that he will be looking to build a strong team in these four years.

Meanwhile, there are rumors going around about Jose Mourinho’s potential transfer targets. The former Chelsea boss is looking forward to bring his Stamford Bridge allies to Spain. He wants Joe Cole, Didier Drogba, and Frank Lampard. Signing the last two stars will be hard as Chelsea are not willing to sell them. Joe Cole, on the other hand, is a different story as he has not agreed terms with his club and is now looking for a new team.

Mourinho also wants Maicon and Deigo Milito, his two Inter Milan stars who helped him win the Champions League this year. Milito scored two goals both the goals against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final and instantly rose to stardom.

Alonso made a really good start for this season but off late, his performances have been lack luster. He has made a lot of mistakes is in turn, threatening his hold over supremacy. He is currently in the third place with 75 points, behind Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel at 78 points each. In the recent Australian race, Alonso was involved in collision with his old foe, Michael Schumacher. In Chinese grand prix, he got a drive through penalty for jumping the start and also crashed in the Monaco practice some 11 days ago. Gazzetta dell Sport asked Di Montezemolo if he had any regrets signing the Spaniard and he replied negative. Montezemolo also said Ferrari had a time of their life with Michael Schumacher but now those days are gone and they have to get over it. He further said that Alonso’s performances are not disappointing and he is pretty much happy with the way the season has gone so far. Alonso has team spirit; he is conscientious and is attached to the team. He is a great fighter when he is racing, according to Montezemolo. But these virtues were not seen at least in the Monaco race.