Saturday, July 31, 2010

Barclays Premier League

France 2-1 Spain Highlights Video & Goal (Final European U19)

Posted: 30 Jul 2010 12:27 PM PDT

Watch goal video highlights France 2-1 Spain

France 2-1 Spain Highlights Video & Goal (Final European U19)

SPANISH FOOTBALL & SPORTS

SPAIN LOSES 2 - 1 TO FRANCE IN THE U19 EURO CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Posted: 30 Jul 2010 01:39 PM PDT

Friday, July 30, 2010

Sports World

Chakvetadze showing positive signs

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 09:19 AM PDT

Anna Chakvetadze has been through more ups and downs in her life and tennis career than most of us will experience in a lifetime, but she started down the track back to the top of women's tennis with victory in last week's Slovenia Open.

The Russian was ranked in the top five in the world as a teenager, but her victory in the final in Portoroz on Sunday, where she beat unseeded Swede Johanna Larsson 6-1 6-2, ended a streak without a title stretching back to early 2008.

Chakvetadze started last week's tournament outside the world's top 100, but victories to defy most Tennis odds over Sara Errani, Vera Dushevina and Polona Hercog at least provided her with three boosts to her confidence, so low after more than two years in the wilderness.

She had broken into the tennis world's conscience back in 2007 when reaching the semi-finals of the US Open before going on to beat Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic on her way to the last-four in the Sony Ericsson Championships.

Although she won again in February of 2008 in Paris, it is possible that the downfall in her game had already started by then after the off-court tribulations the previous December, just when her star was at its brightest.

Chakvetadze and her father Djambuli were tied up by the raiders who made off with goods totalling £150,000 in a raid on their Moscow home just seven days before Christmas, and her wrists were reportedly bound tight enough that she struggled to regain the feeling in them.

That did not stop her winning in Paris, but soon after her form would disintegrate to the point that just two years later she was heading for the scrap-heap, destined to join other young stars who have failed to live up to their early impact.

Dozens of early exits would follow but the glimmer of light finally arrived last week and she can now look forward to the US Open tennis betting odds, where she has performed so well in the past. "I hope this will give me some confidence so that I can play better against the top players. If you play well at a Grand Slam, you kind of start to believe that you can do really well."

Better times ahead for Addicks

Posted: 29 Jul 2010 05:17 AM PDT

The current summer has been a nervy one for Charlton fans, with bad news stories constantly greeting followers of the club. Whether it's the likely removal of the big screen from the Valley, or the possibility that the club could go out of business, the news this summer hasn't been good... until now.

Chairman Richard Murray took full control of the club after a buyout of his fellow board members and bond holders and better times look to be on their way to the Valley. Financial disaster could have meant relegation and the depressing prospect of the team's name appearing on League Two odds lists next season, but this now seems to have been avoided.

Having failed to secure promotion back to the Championship last season, the League One club had been facing a financial crisis similar to that of the 1990s, and had been relying on free agent signings to boost their slender squad. However, Murray has now announced that manager Phil Parkinson will be the recipient of the money injected into the team.

Parkinson is likely to be looking to use the cash to add to his strike force, which currently contains only one senior striker and two rookies. Although Parkinson has naturally been coy on the subject of who he is looking to recruit, any newcomer will ideally be a proven goalscorer as the Addicks look to battle their way out of the division. They're not favourites to win League One, but they're not far off.

Perhaps a bigger boost to Addicks fans will be the news that the club have vowed to hold on to Portuguese powerhouse Jose Senedo, voted second in the 2009/10 fans' player of the season awards.

Although the Addicks are currently promoting a DVD celebrating their promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 1997/98 season, it is the here and now that the Addicks need to focus on if they are to avoid languishing in League One.