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Arsenal become first English club to reach UEFA Champions League last 16 with win over Borussia Dortmund
The Gunners were the only English club to collect all three points in Europe’s top competition this week, and are the only Premier League club to have cemented a spot in the last 16.Dutch striker Robin van Persie continued his red hot form by scoring both of Arsenal’s goals, while Shinji Kagawa replied with a late consolation goal for Dortmund.
Both teams entered this game in good form, with Arsenal having gone unbeaten in their last eight games, and Dortmund having beaten Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich over the weekend.
Dortmund started well and dominated the early stages, but suffered two injury blows during the first half.
Greece vs Russia Preview
Greece currently share the 8th position in the FIFA World Ranking with UEFA Euro 2012 playoffs contenders Portugal. Russia are 5 places behind the Greeks in the standings but in Friday’s friendly, both teams will be on equal terms at the beginning of the match.Greece’s cocach, Fernando Santos, wants to use the encounter as an opportunity to try out a few talents. The Portuguese man included 17-year-old goalie Stefanos Kapinos in his roster.
Defender Kostas Giannoulis, midfielder Giorgos Theodoridis and newly-acclaimed Greek citizen Jose Holebas have all been lined up to earn their first cap.
Borussia Dortmund Stammers Again: Reflections on the Bundesliga Weekend
Hanover knows how to earn results from matches with minimum amount of possession. They would rather be under-dogs than favourites. They were playing BVB on the back of a 0-0 draw with Standard Liege in the Europa League, a game they were expected to win. Dortmund dominated for 85 minutes. Football, however, happens to be a game of ninety minutes.Two goals in the last five minutes saw Dortmund lose a game again, a game which they should have wrapped up much earlier. Dortmund isn’t playing poorly. They are not suffering from the label of ‘Bundesliga Champions’. Dortmund’s main problem at the moment is compensating the loss of Lucas Barrios. As many chances as Barrios seems to miss, he does get many goals. The same cannot unfortunately be said about Robert Lewandowski.
Arsenal Bolstered by New Signings Ahead of Borussia Dortmund Clash
Mikel Arteta played 90 minutes in midfield as Arsenal beat Swansea City 1-0 on Saturday for their first Premier League win of the season. In addition to Arteta performing well, giant German center back Per Metersacker also made an impact.Metersacker shored up a back line that was reeling from their eight goal mauling at Old Trafford. It harked back to the George Graham days as the Gunners ground out a win that finished “one nil to the Arsenal.” The physical size of Metersacker is also likely to strengthen the long running weakness at set plays.
As Arsenal begin their UEFA Champions League group play, the signing of Arteta will take on magnified importance. In the absence of injured duo Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, Arteta will be a key figure as Arsenal aim to dominate possession against a Borussia Dortmund midfield that includes German international Mario Gotze.
Borussia Dortmund vs. Arsenal: A Brilliant Game in Prospect for Everyone
Robert Tesche found the back of the net after a scuffle in the penalty area on match-day one. Even then, the Hamburg fans knew the final result was never really in doubt. BVB had won and they had done so in style. Four match-days later, Juergen Klopp told the press that his side needs to improve. Nobody in Dortmund is labeling the current run of poor form as a ‘crisis’ yet.Arsenal had been torn apart in the Premier League until Saturday. Suspensions, injuries and luck had all played their parts. Arsene Wenger made some new signings who impressed on Saturday against Swansea. Mikel Arteta was quite impressive and is looking forward to traveling to the Signal Iduna Park. Per Mertesacker seems to be the insider for Wenger, giving him information about German football.
2011 German Supercup: Schalke 04 defeat Dortmund On Penalties
The match, played at Gelsenkirchen, was anticipated to be a tight encounter; and indeed, the two giants showed great resistance as they aimed for a trophy that would add value to their names. Somehow though, 90 minutes of proceedings weren’t enough to separate them, and spectators still had yet to witness a goal. With no extra time taking place to decide the tie, penalties immediately followed.
An unsatisfying strike from Großkreutz preceding a costly miss by Perišić on Dortmund’s fifth chance sealed what was a narrow victory for Schalke – who had then converted four straight opportunities through Holtby, Edu, Höwedes and Jurado.
Congratulations Borussia Dortmund: The New Champions of Germany.
In Germany, very rarely does a club manage to strangle the Bundesliga title away from Bayern München in style. Borussia Dortmund made sure that they beat Bayern and usual chokers Bayer Leverkusen to the title with two match-days to go. They also made history. They are the youngest side in the history of German football to win the Bundesliga.Kevin Grosskreutz’s haircut was a horrible one; on another day, the barber Felipe Santana might have been punched by his customer for even daring to give him such a poor haircut. Grosskreutz though did not care. The boyhood Dortmund fan had just become a German Champion himself.
Schalke vs Manchester United: 1999 Champions League Spirit vs Man UTD’s German Jinx
Wayne Rooney, Chicharito, Nani and the evergreen Ryan Giggs are key players that contribute in making Manchester United clear favourites ahead of Tuesday’s Schalke vs Manchester United game. However, if Schalke’s chances of creating an upset seem to be well alive, it’s probably because of two major reasons.
Firstly, Schalke are the UEFA Champions League’s surprise package this year having reached the semi-finals of the competition while humiliating defending champions Internazionale on the way. Secondly, Sir Alex Ferguson has some scores to settle against German teams. Ahead of Schalke vs Manchester United, Live Soccer TV offers you the chance to take note of interesting facts of the past.
Iran vs Russia Preview
Iran won all their matches in the group stages of the Asian Cup, including a win over Iraq. Their hopes of progressing to the semi-finals must have been high when they met South Korea in the quarter-final stage. However, South Korea scored in extra time to leave Iran reeling. Iran doesn’t have a permanent coach yet. Their interim coach, Alireza Mansourian selected the same 23 players who had traveled to Qatar for the Asian Cup. Only two members of the Iranian squad ply their trade outside the continent of Asia. Javad Nekounam and Masoud Shojaei both play for Osasuna in the Spanish La Liga.
Iran vs Russia: Perfect For Momentum Ahead Of Armenia Battle – Advocaat
Russia are currently enjoying life at the top of Group B in the qualifying round of Euro 2012. They seat 2 points above Republic of Ireland, Armenia and Slovakia who have won 7 points from a possible 12. But Dick Advocaat isn’t taking things lightly as the road to Poland-Ukraine is long, indeed. The manager will not be tempted by trying out new things with his squad as he views Wednesday’s Iran vs Russia friendly match as a rehearsal for the Armenia qualifier in March.
“For now, it’s important to have the players feel the game and to recall all playing combinations,” Coach Advocaat told the press in the build up to this evening’s friendly encounter in Abu Dhabi.
World Cup Bid Announcements: Russia For 2018 World Cup, Qatar For 2022!
Qatar beat 1994 World Cup hosts USA, 2002 World Cup co-hosts Japan and South Korea, as well as Australia to win the right to stage the 2022 World Cup. FIFA’s executive committee announced the Arabic nation as the winners after appointing Russia as the 2018 World Cup hosts.
Russia had previously been tipped by analysts to lose the voting contest following Vladmir Putin’s bold accusations of “unfairness” in the bidding competition. The Russians prevailed over England’s bid, and over joint-bids from Spain and Portugal and the Netherlands and Belgium.
Watch FIFA's World Cup Bid Announcement For Russia 2018!
Republic of Ireland vs Russia Report
Ireland started well and almost took the lead when Robbie Keane chipped against the crossbar, the Republic were punished for the miss moments later when Russia scored to take a 1-0 lead. Andrey Arshavin had his free kick saved by Shay Given, but an alert Sergei Ignashevich squared the ball across goal for Kerzhakov ro roll home a deflected shot.
Republic of Ireland vs Russia Preview
The Republic of Ireland are the early Group B leaders after consecutive wins against Armenia and Andorra to start their qualifying campaign. Forward’s Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle have both opened their goal scoring accounts, and will lead the Irish attack here in their toughest test of the group stage so far. The Republic of Ireland will be buoyed by the fact they have lost only one of their previous 14 competitive home games.Trappatoni this week acknowledged that Russia are the “top seeds” in Group B and spoke confidently of his teams preparation for this tie. “We have prepared well and will not make it easy for them as we continue to lay the foundations to qualify for the European Championship finals,” Trappatoni told the UEFA website.
Aston Villa center back Richard Dunne and Blackburn Rovers midfielder Keith Andrews are injury doubts for the Irish.
Europa League: Borussia Dortmund’s Klopp Keen To Face ‘Monster’ Sevilla
The Borussia Dortmund manager spoke to the club’s official website. He analyzed Sevilla’s current situation and also talked about his team’s preparations as he stated in the interview:
“Sevilla have had the most success in Europe lately. They have the most experience. They also play in the league of the World Cup champions [Spain], and they have quality individuals in their lineup.
“In our group, they are the absolute ‘monster’. When I say this, I mean it in a positive way. There must be some pressure on the kettle if a coach is sacked when the team is seventh in the [La Liga] table.
“Probably, Sevilla will start with two strikers. But also, they might chose a defensive formation.
Euro 2012 Qualifying - Russia vs Slovakia Match Preview
The interesting difference between Russia and Slovakia is that one team earned experience from the 2010 FIFA World in South Africa while the other surprisingly missed out on the event at the expense of Slovenia. On this note, the tempo and atmosphere during the Russia vs Slovakia promises to be uniquely exciting.
Tuesday’s hosts currently have the advantage in terms of Group B’s standings but analysis explain that the visitors will definitely not enter the match as underdogs. Russia were actually wasteful against Andorra, with Arshavin and Semshov both missing good chances to widen the margin.
Euro 2012 Qualifying – Andorra vs Russia Match Preview
Andorra’s history tells it all. The country played competitive matches over competitive matches during the last decade, but nothing positive ever presented itself to the team and the fans. Goals are few and far between; Andorra aren’t only poor in attack, but dreadful in defense. Victories can be counted; only Albania, Belarus and Macedonia each fell once in Andorra’s pit.
Well, it actually looks like the country is far from being a threat to others. Thinking about qualifying for Euro 2012 would certainly be unrealistic – especially as long as Group B favorites Russia aren’t willing to succumb to any more upsets. The Russians were so close from reaching the 2010 FIFA World Cup but they got stunned by minnows Slovenia in the play-off.
Slovenia v Russia European World Cup Play-off Match Preview
Whereas the Russians will try and hold firm to their dream start in Moscow, the home side on that day will try and force the issue and turn fears and tears into joy and excitement.
Slovenia match analysis
There is a lot of hope now for Slovenia after Nejc Pecnik’s late goal reduced the country’s deficit to a single-goal margin.
At 2-1, it is never over until the physical battle is well and truly lost.
Russia v Slovenia European World Cup play-offs Match Preview
How Russia qualified into the play-offs
Twenty-two points were enough for Guus Hiddink’s team to secure the second spot in their group with four points beyond Finland and four points behind Germany.
The Russians enjoyed a good run throughout the European World Cup qualifiers which faltered towards the end as they lost to Germany and only drew away to Azerbaijan.
These results cost them the first automatic spot in the group which was rather won by the 2006 World Cup hosts Germany.
Russia v Slovenia European World Cup play-offs Match Preview
How Russia qualified into the play-offs
Twenty-two points were enough for Guus Hiddink’s team to secure the second spot in their group with four points beyond Finland and four points behind Germany.
The Russians enjoyed a good run throughout the European World Cup qualifiers which faltered towards the end as they lost to Germany and only drew away to Azerbaijan.
These results cost them the first automatic spot in the group which was rather won by the 2006 World Cup hosts Germany.
Russia v Germany European World Cup qualifier Match Preview
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Russia will welcome Group 4 leaders Germany at the Luzhniki Stadium in a decisive World Cup qualifier.
Table status, comparisons, and analysis
In a table like Group 4 where other countries are already out of contention mathematically, the attention turns very much to the top where two fierce teams eye nothing but automatic qualification.
Both Russia and Germany have recorded seven wins in eight world cup qualifiers. The Germans’ dominance is mainly due to their goal scoring instinct. Germany have an average of three goals per game as they have scored 24 goals so far – six more than their nearest challengers Russia.