Football Field

Earlier in the day, title rivals Roma had defeated a spirited Genoa side in Genoa by a last-minute header from Christian Panucci. It was a good week for the veteran Roma defender as it was his late header that put paid to Scotland at Hampden Park and sent Italy to Euro 2008. On Sunday AC Milan struggled to overcome a very spirited Cagliari side by coming from behind to win 2-1 with an Andrea Pirlo special free kick that Cagliari goalkeeper should have done better with. Milan went behind within minutes of the start of the game and they laboured throughout as Kaka their main playmaker seemed to be suffering the effects of having travelled to and fro within Italy and Brazil and playing 2 world cup qualifiers for his country. The rest of the team seemed to be feeling their age as Cafu(37), Nesta(32), Maldini(39) and Serginho(36) cannot be expected to play too many games of high intensity. It was great to see Ronaldo make his first appearance of the season and he looked slimmer than he nor …

From 1960-1969, the AFL enjoyed the bulk of its success and found itself in direct competition with the National Football League (NFL), with which it would merge in 1970. Even though the NFL and the AFL were rivals before the merger, the NFL considers the records set by AFL teams and players their own. American Football League records for the 1960-1969 seasons prior to the merger include statistics for yards passing, yards rushing, points scored, and Most Valuable Player awards. These records include single games, seasons, and careers. The records break down as follows: The AFL’s records for most passing yards include: George Blanda - Blanda holds the most passing yards in a single game with 464 yards on October 29, 1961 with the Houston Oilers. Blanda was the AFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1961. Joe Namath - Namath recorded the most passing yards in the 1967 season with the New York Jets with a total of 4,007 yards. In the 1968 and 1969 seasons, Namath was named the AFL’s Most Val …

The Santiago Bernebeu seats over 80,000 people and the club really are the giants of the modern game. Real Madrid were founded in 1902 and acquired the name ‘Real’ meaning royal in Spanish after receiving a blessing from King Alfonso XIII in 1928. Madrid have been awarded the FIFA ‘Best Club of the 20th Century’ award due to their domestic league success and shear domination across Europe. In all of the years of the Spanish national league Real Madrid have never been relegated out of the top flight. Players that make it onto the pitch of the Santiago Bernebeu are known as the Galacticos meaning super stars in Spanish. This term comes from Florentino Perez’s presidency where he would aim to purchase one of the world’s top players every season. Because of this title it is a club that every footballer would like to play for at some point in their career. The Galacticos theory has in recent seasons brought problems to Real Madrid. A few seasons back it was rivals Barcelona that dominated …

Sometimes it happens in the school playground where we like the colour of a shirt (although this reason totally baffles me). Other times it is because we like to support the underdog. For me the choice of football team to support was easy. I was born in Davyhulme, grew up in Swinton, now part of Salford near Manchester, and went to a school where 90% of the boys were Manchester United fans. I know this will dispel the popular myth that people in Manchester don’t support United but who cares. As Mancunians we know the truth. I’ve been in life threatening situations, I’ve been carried away with immense emotion and I’ve screamed my lungs out so hard that my voice was left to the football God’s for days before slowly and painfully crawling its’ way back. I’ve witnessed decades where rivals have gloated over success while we continued to flatter to deceive. I’ve laughed, I’ve cried and I’ve fallen out with friends and family alike. Whatever the reason that you support your team; there is n …