Tag Archives: Football

The 5 Best Premier League Goals Ever

5. Matt Le Tissier, Southampton v Newcastle United, 1993-94

One of the most gifted players of his generation, Matt Le Tissier’s goals from open play were often a joy to watch, and his goal against Newcastle in the 1990s was a strong candidate for the best Premier League goal ever. Flicking the ball away from two Newcastle defenders in succession, Le Tissier then calmly stroked the ball into the net. The bemused look on the Newcastle ‘keeper’s face subsequently told its own story!

4. Thierry Henry, Arsenal v Manchester United, 2000-01

Perhaps better known for scoring goals at the end of brilliant runs, this goal at Highbury showed that the Frenchman could score special goals of different types. Against Manchester United in 2000, Henry turned to smash in an unstoppable volley from outside the United penalty area.

3. Wayne Rooney, Manchester United v Manchester City, 2010-11

Spectacular goals tend to be even more memorable when they come in big games, and Wayne Rooney’s bicycle kick against local rivals City definitely was unforgettable. In even his great career it would be hard to think of Wayne Rooney ever having scored a better goal.

2. Tony Yeboah, Leeds United v Wimbledon, 1995-96

A scorer of stunning goals on a regular basis, Tony Yeboah’s strike against Wimbledon was outstanding even by his standards. Juggling the ball, Yeboah then waltzed past the Wimbledon defence before unleashing a vicious right foot shot from the edge of the area. Yeboah scored a hat-trick in this game, and his performance showed just why he was was one of the best Premier League strikers of the 1990s.

1. David Beckham, Manchester United v Wimbledon, 1996-97

David Beckham’s lofted strike from the halfway line was pretty much unprecedented in the top flight of English football. While, though Wayne Rooney for Manchester United and Charlie Adam for Stoke City have scored goals from the halfway line in the Premier League since it’s the Beckham effort that really stays in one’s memory. With Wimbledon ‘keeper Neil Sullivan off his line, Beckham effectively chipped him from the halfway line for possibly the best goal in Premier League history.

The 7 Most Shocking Moments In World Football

Argentina v England – The Hand of God:

Back in June 1986 England were having a good World Cup. Having reached the quarter-finals, their opponents were Argentina. Six minutes into the second-half Diego Maradona made as if to head the ball, but pushed it toward goal with his hand. The referee allowed the goal to stand. Questioned later about using his hand to score Maradona turned to a reporter and said, ‘it was the hand of God.’

Blackburn Rovers vs Spartak Moscow 1995.

Blackburn had a miserable competition from the first match. When they went to Russia for the second leg against Spartak, they had the slimmest chance of progressing further.

That old adage, ‘come out fighting’ was taken literally by Graeme Le Saux and David Batty. Both players collided chasing a loose ball. Batty jumped up shouting obscenities in Le Saux’s face, who promptly swung a punch. Le Saux later maintained he came off worse suffering a broken hand when the punch connected. Blackburn lost the match 3-0 and exited the competition.

Kung-Fu Cantona:

In a midweek match against Crystal Palace in 1995 Eric Cantona was shown a red card in the 48th minute. As he walked off, Cantona was verbally insulted by a Palace fan and suddenly leapt the barrier and kung-fu kicked him.

Although Cantona eventually received 150 hours community service the fan ended up doing jail time after assaulting a prosecution lawyer in court.

World Cup 2006 France vs Italy:

Zinedine Zidane was a player with a massive international following. Having retired from international competition in 2004, he was persuaded to return to captain France’s slim hope of a decent World Cup run. Having made it to the final, and with the match nearly 20 minutes into extra time, an altercation between Italian player Marco Materazzi and Zidane let to insults and Zidane head-butting his opponent. A red card was shown and Zidane took an early bath – and retirement. Italy won the match on penalties.

Manchester City take 2012 Premier League Title:

The 2012 Premier League competition was the closest for many a long year. Taken to the last matches of the season United had beaten Sunderland 1-0, and City were 2-1 down to QPR, who they had to beat, with two minutes of extra time left.

In those two minutes first Edin Dzeko pulled City level, and then Sergio Aguero made it 3-2 City, giving them the Premier League title.

Massive Corruption in Italian Football:

In 2006 the Italian Serie football leagues were rocked to the core in a corruption scandal involving some of its biggest clubs. Allegations of clubs influencing the appointment of referees and games being fixed, led to Juventus being stripped of titles and relegated. Other famous clubs such as Lazio, Reggina, Fiorentina, and AC Milan were fined and docked points.

European Cup Winners 2004 – Greece!

At a time when Wayne Rooney was making his mark on the international football stage, a European no-hoper was about to make its own. With the usual front runners, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain taking all the betting, the odds on Greece taking the title were somewhere below England, and that was low.

Maybe the writing was on the wall when Spain didn’t make the knock-out stages. No matter, Greece took on everyone, knocking out the Czech Republic and France before beating Portugal on their own turf. Maybe there’s hope for England yet.

7 Ways to Blag Liking Football

OK, you’ve been invited to watch a game of football, but you don’t know anything about the game and you don’t want to sound like a rank amateur. No problem. Follow these tips and blag being a superfan.

Which teams are playing?

This valuable little bit of information tells you what colour face paint to buy, and if you’re feeling really inspired, which team flag to wear as a cape around your shoulders. Run two stripes of the face paint along your cheeks and you’re set.

Basic rules of the game

There are two teams on opposite sides of the field. Their goal is to kick the ball into the square net behind their opposition.

Each team has one player (who usually wears a different colour shirt) whose job it is to stop the ball going into goal. This player can use their hands to stop it, but the other players are not allowed to use their hands unless they are throwing the ball back onto the field. If the goal keeper for your team stops the ball it’s OK to shout “great save”.

Know the main players’ names

In every football team there are eleven players, but usually only two or three of them are important. A quick search will tell you the name of the striker, goalie and someone else in the team. Study their photo, and every time they have the ball you can yell out their name and pump your fist in their air. Seriously, you’ll look like a lifelong fan if you do this.

Understand strategic play

In football, players often pretend to be tackled and throw themselves on the ground in agonising pain. This is part of the game to get penalties awarded to them, and when you see it happen don’t be shy. Call the other team cheats, get angry. They attacked your player.

Memorise a few football terms

Football is a simple game, despite the complexity of the rules. Your team will “pass the ball” amongst themselves, run “along the sideline”, protect the goal with “headers”, and “score goals”. All of these things can be cheered. The enemy will “tackle” your team, “obstruct” players, and try to get them “offside”. You can boo when they do this.

Copy the other fans

To look like a real fan, practice copying other fans with split second timing. They’ll be drinking beer so they won’t notice the time lag; they’ll just know that when they cheered, you cheered. You’ll be right onside with them through the entire game.

Win or lose, show emotion

Until you get home, remember you’re a fan of your team and win or lose you’re personally affected by the score. Be emotional. It’s expected. When your team wins, they’re the best team in the world. If your team loses, the referee was obviously blind and biased.

A New Breed of Welsh Football?

Though Wales have often threatened to qualify for major tournaments since they last did so – the 1958 World Cup in Sweden – there is genuine optimism among two of the greats of Welsh football that things may be about to change. Both Ian Rush and Neville Southall think that Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey are so good that they can take Wales to a major tournament at last. A draw away to an impressive Belgian side late last year was also further proof of Wales’ emergence as a true force in international football.
Wales’ record goalscorer Ian Rush also believes that his career goals tally is under threat. The former Liverpool and Juventus star thinks that his record of 28 goals could be overtaken by both Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale and Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey. Bale has scored 14 times in his 48 games in a Wales shirt, while Ramsey has netted 8 goals so far in his international career. 

Gareth Bale has been in fine form for Wales, transforming a fairly disappointing record of just 3 goals in his first 29 games, by scoring 11 goals in his last 19 appearances. Bale’s two goals against Andorra also underlined why Real paid Spurs a world record £85m for his services, as his two strikes rescued his side from an embarrassing result against one of international football’s true minnows. Aaron Ramsey’s international appearances have been restricted recently due to injury, and it’s vital he remains fit if Wales are to make a major breakthrough at tournament level. 

Rush believes that, because both Bale and Ramsey are still young, and that there’s more international games now, it’s inevitable that his record will be passed. To underline his point, Rush’s 28 goals were spread over 16 years, as his international career lasted from 1980 to 1996.

Former Everton and Wales great Neville Southall thinks that Wales should qualify for the 2016 European Championships, which will be held in France. Arguably the greatest goalkeeper ever to play for Wales, Southall claims that the qualifying group Wales are in is the “weakest” that his country has been in for many years. 

Southall was also full of praise for Gareth Bale, who he likened to Ryan Giggs in terms of ability. Southall hopes, too, that two outstanding talents such as Bale and Aaron Ramsey will inspire more young Welsh talent to emerge in the coming years.

Wales’ Brush With The UEFA European Championship

The fact that Wales haven’t qualified for a major football tournament since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden doesn’t mean that they haven’t produced some good teams in the decades since.

In 1976, Wales reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship, but only four teams would play in the actual finals held in Yugoslavia. Wales had also progressed further in ’76 than the other Home Nations, and their side included the likes of John Toshack and Leighton James. Mike Smith was manager of Wales then, with Terry Yorath (father of TV presenter Gabby Logan) the captain of the Dragons.

Having to get past Yugoslavia (who even had to qualify to be present at the tournament they were hosts of), Wales got off to a disastrous start in the first leg of their two legged quarter- final. In Zagreb, the Welsh were a goal down before a minute of the game had been played. Yugoslavia eventually won 2-0 to leave the Welsh with a mountain to climb in the second leg in Cardiff.

Leighton James, when remembering the Cardiff leg, said that the East German referee had awarded Yugoslavia “an awful penalty”, and, though Wales pulled it back to 1-1, they had too much to do to qualify. James recalled that Wales should have won the game, and had “played very well” on the night.

However, one famous Welshman did play a big role at the 1976 European Championship finals – legendary Welsh referee Clive Thomas. Thomas caused controversy in the 1976 semi-final, when the sublime Dutch side were beaten by eventual winners Czechoslovakia after extra-time. Frustrated by a sodden pitch, which negated the total football of the Dutch, Thomas sent off two Dutch players and one Czech player. So, it can be argued, it was a Welshman who played a decisive part in Czechoslovakia winning the tournament.

Wales have produced some outstanding players since 1976, including Gareth Bale, Ryan Giggs, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes and Neville Southall, but none have got as close to playing in the finals of a major tournament as the ’76 Welsh team.

Hopefully 2015 will be another year to remember.

Your Guide to Cardiff City Stadium

Cardiff City Stadium sits in the largely residential area of Leckwith, a mile east of the city centre.

Home to Cardiff City Football Club who play in the English Championship, following relegation after a brief stint in the Premier League, the stadium was also the home to the Cardiff Blues rugby union side up until the 2011/2012 season before they returned to playing at Cardiff Arms Park.

After a decade or so of consultation, getting through planning and raising finance, the stadium was finally started in 2007 and finished in 2009. Originally constructed with a capacity of 27,000 this has since been increased to 33,280, a decision reflecting the clubs’ Premier League ambitions.

The new stadium was to replace the famous and atmospheric Ninian Park, Cardiff City’s home since 1920, giving the club a modern stadium to build future plans on. The stadium is one part of a 60 acre development that included the demolition of Ninian Park, which is now a brand new housing estate named in honour of the old ground. Also included in the development alongside the Cardiff City Stadium was a new athletics arena to replace the one that the football stadium is now sited upon, plus a huge retail area. Grangetown rail station is located nearby, only a five to ten minute walk away.
Welsh football copy
Along with the Millennium Stadium and Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff can now boast another quality stadium, with the national teams of both rugby and football very much at home. Back in 2009 Celtic were the first side to come and play Cardiff City in their new stadium, but since then it has been recognised by UEFA who chose the stadium to host the 2014 UEFA Super Cup which is contested each year by the winners of the Champions League and the Europa League. The star studded Real Madrid beat fellow Spanish side Sevilla 2-0, both goals from Ronaldo, on a night which helped put Cardiff and Wales in the sporting headlight. It was a fitting occasion for a new stadium going about making its own history.

If you fancy visiting the stadium to see what all the fuss is about, make sure to pop in to Les Croupiers. We’re only 150 metres away from the stadium and have a fantastic sports bar you can chill in.

Pêl-droed – The Definitive Guide to Welsh Football

Though the country is best known for being pretty amazing at rugby, football in Wales is also kind of a big deal, with its teams making waves outside of Wales and football mania out in force, picking up all over the country.

Some of its teams, like Cardiff City, have strong reputations across the footballing world, and their national football team, who represent Wales in big tournaments, are becoming increasingly competitive after a slight lull in performance. Want the low down on Welsh football and the country’s unique scene? Keep reading for our informative, definitive guide to all things Pêl-droed.

The Welsh Cup

The Welsh Cup is the pinnacle of Welsh football and is one of its most prized and celebrated sport institutions. Founded in 1877, it is also one of the oldest surviving football competitions not just in Wales, but in the world. Every year, the cup sends everyone in Wales into football crazy mode as they get their flags out and don their football jerseys in support of their local or favourite team. Wrexham currently hold the record for most wins in the cup, with Cardiff City coming in very close second at just one win behind.

Famous Welsh players

Wales has birthed a whole host of talented players who have now achieved worldwide fame, many of them playing for big international teams while also being key players in the Wales national team. Amongst them are Gareth Bale, who is now playing for Real Madrid, Ryan Giggs, who has enjoyed a lengthy and successful football career in the UK, veteran Manchester United player Mark Hughes. The late great Trevor Ford and Aaron, Ramsey who is fast becoming one of the biggest names to come out of Wales.

Cardiff City F.C.

One of the most popular professional team in all of Wales, Cardiff City, are the only non-English club to have succeeded in winning the FA Cup. They have played in an array of championships and national cup finals in the United Kingdom. The team is adored by those in Cardiff and has accumulated a number of supporters outside of Wales as it has played continually impressive matches all over the UK.

The Premier League – A History

The Premier League was officially founded in 1992, after all clubs in the old First Division resigned from the Football League and joined the breakaway division. Since that time, the Premier League has functioned as the highest level of professional football in England.

One of the main reasons behind the new league was commercial independence from the Football Association. This allowed the Premier League to negotiate its own television and sponsorship deals, providing more money for clubs to compete with the biggest teams in Europe.

Initially, 22 clubs competed in the Premier League, although this was reduced to 20 teams ahead of the 1995-96 campaign.

Manchester United were crowned as the first Premier League champions in the 1992-93 season and they are the most successful team in the league’s history, winning it a total of 13 times.

In 2003-04, Arsenal made history, becoming the first team to complete an entire Premier League season without losing a match. The following year, Chelsea were crowned as champions and set various records, including the highest points total and the fewest goals conceded.

How Watching Sports Can Actually be Beneficial to Your Health

It sounds like research produced by the National Society of Couch Potatoes, but there’s something to it. Researchers at the University of Western Sydney have found that merely watching sport can cause your heart and breathing rates to increase. They also found increased nerve activity associated with watching of exercise. Interestingly, they learned that it also happened with watching emotionally charged images, including erotic ones.

This goes beyond direct influence though. Watching great athletes is inspirational. We see how great they look, how physically fit they are, and feel inspired to improve our own fitness. Also, watching sport, not just playing it, is a social pastime. People watch together and make friends. Such strong, positive social interactions are closely linked with general physical and emotional well-being.

So throw out the pies, turn on the sport, or go out and watch it with others. It’ll do you good.

How Football has Changed Through the Ages

The world’s favourite sport, football is a global industry with huge celebrities, vast paycheques and recognisable brands. Its origins, however, are very different. In the middle ages, English football was a rough and violent game with few rules. A game of football often pitted the men of one village against the inhabitants of a neighbouring village; violence was not uncommon. In fact, the first written record of a football match relates to the death of a player who was stabbed by another.

Over the centuries, football evolved into a number of different forms, some of which were kick-only and others of which involved carrying the ball; these games were the ancestors of modern rugby and American football. It wasn’t until 1863 that the Football Association was created to standardise the rules of football. Association football — or “soccer,” in the era’s slang — was born and the rest is history.