England beat Croatia last night to a 4-1 draw in the World Cup qualifying match in Zagreb, with 19-year-old teenager from Arsenal, Theo Walcott, scoring a hat-trick to complete the rout. This was the first time since Michael Owen scored a hat-trick in 2001 in a competitve match.

David Beckham was dropped to the bench with Fabio Capello preferring the quicker and pacier winger to the experienced right midfielder. From the start, Theo Walcott brings out the fear in the opponent defenders as he raced past them a couple of times. His goals signifies a very huge contribution to the England team, raising their confidence level to the highest, since Steve McLaren last led the national team.

The other goal is scored by Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney. His work rate is nevertheless impressive as he terrorised the Croatia defenders apart with his sublime skills and fast thinkings. Good work to the English team, as now they stand at top of the Group.

The squad numbers for the 2008/09 campaign for Manchester United has been confirmed and registered with the Premiership League. Apart from the regular players, there are also some new inclusions, particularly with the younger players.

Brazilian twins Fabio and Rafael have been handed the number 20 and 21 shirts respectively, while young strikers Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda will wear no.19 and no.41 if and when they are used this term. The fully squad numbers are given below.

continue reading "Squad Numbers Assigned for Manchester United Players"……

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been a widely popular figure in the English Premiership for the past 10 years or so, scoring vital goals for Manchester United. Nicknamed as the baby-faced assassin, his killer instinct to finish off goals at crucial times has been pivotal to the club’s success, especially during the 1999 European Champion League Final. Furthermore, he has set a new benchmark in the English Premiership to hit two quadruples.

His legendary trademark will stay with the heart of his fans for many years ahead. Meanwhile, let us appreciate his contribution to the English football community through his message.

continue reading "Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – Testimonial Message"……

It comes to no surprise when Manchester United footballer, Ryan Giggs, was awarded an honourary degree for his contribution to the sporting world and charitable causes.

The degree was a Master of Arts, conferred by the University of Salford in a ceremonry at the Lowry Theatre. Despite growing up in Salford, the Welsh winger was born in Cardiff. His achievements include over-taking Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 758 appearances for the Old Trafford football club, 10 Premiership titles, 4 FA Cups medals, 2 Champion League titles and 2 League Cups.

Congratulations, Ryan!

After 2 weeks of intense competition to negotiate the group stage of the Euro 2008 competition, the last 8 teams are now revealed; which they will proceed to the quarter-final stage of this contest. The teams that have successfully negotiated to the next stage are Croatia, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkey.

The ties between these teams will be held as follow:

Amongst all of these 4 ties, the two most exciting ones to watch are likely to be Germany against Portugal, and Spain against Italy.

Portugal has topped the table (with maximum points) with Cristiano Ronaldo leading the siege against his opponent, but Germany is not to be disregarded, despite almost not able to make it to this stage.

On the other hand, Italy is somewhat the same situation as Germany and will come up against Spain, the team that topped the group stage with maximum points.