football love

Kaka’ to Manchester City could be the start of the end

globalfootball — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:01:36 +0000

A banner by AC Milan Ultras Brigate Rossonere for Kaka' reads "Don't touch Kaka'"

Every footballlover in the world is aware of the chance that A.C. Milan superstar Ricardo Kaka’ might move to English Manchester City for the amazing amount of more than 100 million €. I also think that every true footballlover, despite the color of his heart, is hoping that Kaka’ will not finalize his move to the Sheikh ownned English club.

Since the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment has bought the club from the controversial former prime minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra, there have always been big transfer rumors surrounding the Citizens, with the only Robinho, among all the football superstars named to be joining the club, accepting the move to Manchester from Real Madrid.

Now the club presided by Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been given the green light by AC Milan to talk directly to Kaka’ to persuade him to leave Milan, while groups of AC Milan supporters have been standing, chanting and waving banners, under the headquarters of the club in Via Filippo Turati to show their disappointment to the will of the club to accept the money and let their player go. Unfortunately for them, luck is a wheel and it is their turn to see their best players “robbed” and covered with money by some other rich club. Many football supporters in the world, in the past years, have hated AC Milan for being a rich club, always capable of attracting the best players with extraordinarily good economic offers.

Despite what Kaka’ will do, though, football is more than a lot of money, much more.

Noi siamo il Wimbledon – La storia dell’AFC Wimbledon

globalfootball — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:38:41 +0000

Ho appena terminato di leggere un appassionatissimo libro di un ragazzo italiano che vive in Inghilterra, Stefano Faccendini. Il libro si chiama Noi siamo il Wimbledon e narra la storia della rinascita della squadra di calcio di uno dei molti borough di Londra. Questo e gli altri libri di Stefano, Tifosi Ribelli e La Trasferta, si trovano qui.

Il Wimbledon FC, che negli anni ‘90 aveva ripetutamente calcato il prestigioso palcoscenico della Premier League, in un momento di difficolta’ economiche viene sradicato dal suo quartiere di appartenenza da affaristi che poco hanno a vedere col mondo del calcio, e trasferito in un’altra area di Londra. I tifosi si ribellano e fondano una nuova societa’, il Wimbledon AFC, di cui quindi diventano collettivamente proprietari, che riparte dal basso dell’ultima lega dilettantistica inglese.

Il libro contiene molti dettagli interessanti riguardo le motivazioni delle varie parti in causa anche se prende apertamente posizione a favore dei supporters del Wimbledon. La storia del Wimbledon AFC, di cui non ero a conoscenza prima della lettura del libro, che e’ anche quella dell’FC United of Manchester e di poche altre squadre che disputano campionati britannici, restituisce orgoglio e dignita’ alla categoria del tifoso di calcio, usualmente bistrattato da tutte le componenti dell’universo del football. I tifosi di queste squadre si sono coalizzati, hanno superato differenze e carenze, provvedendo anche all’aspetto economico della gestione di un club. E adesso hanno la garanzia che la squadra per la quale tifano non li tradira’ in futuro, vendendosi per pochi spiccioli al miglior offerente, per esempio cambiando il nome dello stadio in omaggio ad uno sponsor o vendendo un giocatore simbolo per denaro.

Complimenti a Stefano per la cura, il dettaglio nelle informazioni e, soprattutto, la passione trasmessa a me e agli altri lettori del suo bel libro.

How to watch online football these days, p2p and streaming

globalfootball — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:34:37 +0000

Watching online live football has become easier and easier. Despite all the attempts by football authorities to control this phenomenon, it seems like there is very little that can be done to stop the trend.

There are a few simple things that need to be done, and all can be confirmed on the websites that are giving the updates and links that enable us to enjoy live football on our computers.

The main English site for live football is myp2p.eu. It is an incredibly handy site, built with care and respect for football, with very little commercial intent and a lot of passion. There are links to watch live streaming of the main sport events and so, alongside Premier League, Serie A and Champions League you can, for example, find Tennis and NBA links too. The Admins of MyP2P.eu are fantastic, if you happen to post even the dumbest of the questions on their MyP2P forum, you will get an answer in no time! They also provide users with updates and guides on the software you might need to run to watch the games, although it must be said that today there are a lot of chances to watch online football even without installing any software, an updated browser and Windows Media Player are usually enough.

If you can understand Spanish, and you only need a tiny bit of it in this case, you might as well use Rojadirecta.com – note that if this site is down they have a mirror site at Rojadirecta.org. It’s even easier than MyP2P.eu as the first thing you happen to see on their homepage is a list of the main sport events of the day and clicking on them will unveil some direct and some P2P links.

The guys at FreeFootball.org are instead a community of true football lovers who do not give you direct links but help you getting there… Use their forum if you want to know more, you will discover a new world and will be able to know more football fans from you area. They have recently upgraded their site, so now it’s even nicer than it used to be!

Other alternatives are to watch online live sport, including football, on betting sites like Bwin and Bet365. There are geographic restrictions, so if you are visiting the site with a German IP address they will unlikely show you events that are being broadcasted on German television, for example. On both sites you need to create an account to watch live sports but while on Bet365 this is completely free and there is no following hassle as they have never even sent me an email to advertise their activities, on Bwin you need to top up your account with at least 10 Euro to be able to watch live sports. On both sites you can bet on an amazing number of sport events and on multiple combination of scores.

I hope this helps, enjoy live football!

Best 2008 fans show

globalfootball — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:29:08 +0000

Lech Poznan – Polonia Bytom 3-0

Gabriele Sandri – an Italian death

globalfootball — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 21:21:12 +0000

Death and football keep on being strictly intertwined these days. The death of Gabriele Sandri has shocked Italy and Europe’s football audiences. He was just one guy traveling from Rome to Milan to watch a football game.

When Gabriele and his friends, S.S. Lazio supporters, came across a car of Juventus supporters, traveling north to watch their team in Parma, at a service station on the motorway, they had a fight. Police shortly after arrived and one of them, Luigi Spaccarotella, fired a shot towards them being on the other side of the motorway, about 700 . away from them. It’s not clear why he has taken the shot at all, what is sure is that he hit Gabriele Sandri in the back of his neck, and he killed him. Gabriele was hit while sleeping in the back seat of his friend’s car.

He was an Ultras, the social phenomenon which, in this very moment, seems to be the biggest in Italian society. He went regularly to see Lazio’s away games across the country. Ultras are being kicked out of the stadia, which is one of the reasons why foreigners looking at Italian football see always empty spaces around the pitches.

In the meanwhile Serie A keeps going and the Parliament is approving stricter measures against football fans, to ensure public safety for everyone. Despite all this safety, Manchester United fans were stabbed just yesterday, 13th of December, around the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, before the Champions League tie.

It is difficult to talk about football, this is also football today.

Here is a collection of pictures with banner from football fans from all over Europe to remember Gabriele Sandri.

Football streaming channels – Live football on Easter’s weekend

globalfootball — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 10:36:25 +0000

One more time for this season another great 3 days of live football on our favourite p2p applications is to come. I have seen the stats for the previous post and many users have downloaded the p2p software needed to watch the matches so I am going to post that again and channels listing will follow, enjoy!

The basic p2p software for football online streaming are TV Ants and Sopcast. Once you have downloaded these two, you can download the Remote Control to activate them. If the match is listed to be on Bwin, just follow the link and register, then you should be able to watch every thing they show live.

Saturday 07/04/2007

ESPN, Sport Channel 3, Guandong, Supersport 3, Guangzou

BWin

BWin, Cctv5, GolTv, Sport Channel 1

Starsports, Sport Channel 4

ESPN, Sport Channel 3, Guandong, Supersport 3, Guangzou, Makaiko Sport, Shanghai

Sport Channel 2

Cctv5, GoalTv 2, Sports Cn

Starsports, Sport Channel 4, Makaiko Sport, Supersport 3

Cctv5, GoalTv, Sport Channel 1

Sport Channel 2, Guandong, Shanghai, BTV6

Cctv5, GoalTv, Sport Channel 1, Makaiko Sports

Sunday 08/04/2007

Makaiko Sports

Cctv5, Bwin

Bwin

Sport Channel 1, Guandong, Shanghai

Guandong, Shanghai, Shandong

Goaltv2

Cctv5, GolTv

Monday 09/04/2007

ESPN, Sport Channel 3

ESPN, Sport Channel 3, Shanghai, Guangdong

Starsports, Sport Channel 4

Sports CN, Supersports 3

ùSport Channel 3

Champions League semifinals

globalfootball — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 23:17:34 +0000

In order to watch Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s match I am sure that every football fan already knows what do do: install some software, and the basics for football online streaming are TV Ants and Sopcast.

Then just use the remote to acces the channels listed below:

Tuesday 03/04/2007

ESPN, ESPN HK, Sport Channel 3, Guandong

Star Sports, Super England, Sport Channel 4.

Wednesday 03/04/2007

19:45 GMT AS Roma – Manchester United on ESPN, Sport Channel 3, Guandong

19:45 GMT Chelsea – Valencia on Star Sports, Sport Channel 4.

Henrik Larsson

globalfootball — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 13:36:13 +0000

Henrik Larsson is another living proof that football is not necessarily about money, fame and glory, even though, nowadays, these elements play a big part in determining the course of events in our favorite sport. The 35 years old Swedish has left English giants Manchester United FC to join again his old team, Helsingborgs. He went to Manchester on loan this winter, during the season break of the Swedish League, promising to his family, fans and club he would be back in Spring, when the season starts again. So he did.

At Manchester United this year he has had a very peculiar role. Red Devils have been short of strikers, due to injuries and to almost unique situations. They have been looking for a player to sign, possibly a talented one and someone who had not yet taken part to this year’s UEFA Champions League. The identikit perfectly fitted Henrik Larsson who had just come back to play in Sweden after a successful couple of seasons spent at Barcelona FC, where he gave his contribution to win 2 Spanish Ligas and 1 Champions League, producing 2 remarkable and decisive assistances in the 2006 final against Arsenal. In January 2007 he got in touch with Manchester’s manager Alex Ferguson and said he would join the club but just for the Swedish season winter break. Now he has left Manchester United to come back to Helsingborgs and he’s missing the chance to add more trophies to his cupboard, as the English club has a good advantage to win the next Premier League and is in the quarter finals of the Champions League. But a promise is a promise and Henrik wanted to respect it.

Not that he hasn’t won enough trophies in his long, successful career. He has played for 8 seasons with Celtic Football Club, scoring 173 in 221 appearences, winning 4 Scottish Leagues and 5 cups, and, on a personal level, the Golden Boot, which is assigned to the football player who scores the highest number of overall goals (including national and international competitions) in Europe. He is the only non Scottish to have been included by fans in the all-time Celtic top 11. Having already mentioned the trophies in Spain, he also helped Dutch Feyenoord Rotterdam to win 2 Dutch League cups.

His international career has been very successful as well, he has led Sweden to gain the bronze medal in 1994 World Cup in the USA, has scored 36 goals in 93 caps and is one of the six players who have been able to score in 2 different World Cups, one 12 years after the other.

He’s always been an example of fair play as well, and loved and respected by fans and teammates. After his move back to Helsingborgs he might have lost the chance to earn more money and fame but surely he has gained respect and esteem by every true football fan in the world.

Football streaming channels – Live football on Friday 23, Saturday 24 and Sunday 25/02/2007

globalfootball — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 17:47:30 +0000

This weekend is full of live football on p2p applications as usual. Check the channels out:

Friday 23/02/2007

19:30 GMT VFB Stuttgart – Hertha Berlin on Gol TV, MK_Sport, Sport channel 1, Guandong, Makaiko Sports, BWIN

Saturday 24/02/2007

12:45 GMT Fulham – Manchester United on Espn, Guangdong, Supersport 2, Guangzou, Jiangsu, Shenzen, Shandong, BTV6, Shangai

14:30 GMT Bayern Munchen – Wolfsburg on BWin, Sport Channel 1

14:30 GMT Hamburger SV – Eintracht Frankfurt on BWin

14:30 GMT Hannover 96 – Borussia Dortmund on BWin

14:30 GMT Bochum – Alemannia Aachen on BWin

14:30 GMT Energie Cottbus – Arminia Bielefeld on BWin

15:00 GMT Charlton Athletic – West Ham United on Starsports, Sport Channel 3

15:00 GMT Liverpool – Sheffield United on Espn, Guangdong, Supersport 3, BTV6, Wuhan, Guangzou, Jiangsu, Shenzen, Shandong, Shangai, Caifu/SipTV, Sport Channel 2

16:10 GMT Toulouse – Marseille on Goal TV2

17:15 GMT Watford – Everton on Starsports, Fox Soccer Channel, Supersport 3, Sport Channel 4

19:30 GMT Atalanta – Palermo on Guangdong, Shangai, Sport Channel 3

21:00 GMT Atletico Madrid – Real Madrid on Guangdong, Shangai, Sport Channel 1

Sunday 25/02/2007

13:00 GMT Wigan Athletic – Newcastle United on Espn, Guangdong, Sport Channel 3

14:00 GMT Roma – Reggina on Sport Channel 1

14:00 GMT Catania – Inter on Fox Soccer Channel

14:00 GMT Fiorentina – Empoli on Sport Channel 2

15:00 GMT Blackburn Rovers – Portsmouth on Starsports, Sport Channel 4

15:00 GMT Chelsea – Arsenal on Supersport 3, UKTV, Sports CN, TV3 Norway

16:00 GMT Tottenham Hotspurs – Bolton Wanderers on Sport Channel 3, Espn, Fox Soccer Channel, Guangdong, BTV6

16:00 GMT Getafe – Sevilla on Sport Channel 1

16:00 GMT Schalke 04 – Bayer Leverkusen on BWin

16:00 GMT Borussia Moenchengladbach – Werder Bremen on BWin

18:00 GMT Gimnastic – Valencia on Sport Channel 2

18:00 GMT Bordeaux – Valenciennes on Goal TV 2

19:30 GMT AC Milan – Sampdoria on Sport Channel 1

20:00 GMT Barcelona – Athletic Bilbao on Guangdong, Shangai, Sport Channel 4

20:00 GMT Paris Saint Germain – Saint Etienne on Sport CN, KTV3, Goal TV 2

Zidane – a 21st century portrait

globalfootball — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 19:23:50 +0000

On Saturday night, back from the pub, I watched this amazing piece of football and cinema at the same time, Zidane – a 21st century portrait. I find the idea itself behind the movie to be great. The movie is the result of the editing of the footage taken by 17 cameras following just the French champion Zinedine Zidane during a match occured on the 23rd of April 2005 between Real Madrid and Villareal at Santiago Bernabeu.

Of course this is not one of the most exciting movies I have ever seen in my life, it’s not really entertaining as you don’t happen to watch the match, you pretty much understand what goes on and the focus moves from Zidane to the ball when there is a goal, but you mostly see just Zidane, even when is standing on one side of the pitch, hands on his hips. You mostly see him walking and standing and it’s not about him being a great football player, rather than a member of a team of 11 guys on his own in such a big (and boringly quiet for 90% of the time, I must say) stadium as the Bernabeu is. You rarely see him talking and interact with the others and rarely touch the football itself. And the last minutes of the movie couldn’t have been better, it’s like if it was preconceived… but I won’t ruin it for those who haven’t seen it yet.

You can still see bits of his skills, Zizou also performs an assistance for Ronaldo which alone should make you willing to watch this. The quality of the image throughout the whole movie is great and the soundtrack is amazing and couldn’t have been more appropriate. Mogwai, the Scottish post-rock band, have created a brand new album only for this movie. Here you get some taste of their music, which in my opinion is just astonishing. This is called “Hunted by a freak” and it’s included in Happy songs for happy people (2003)

Despite of the advices I received before watching it, I absolutely recommend this hour and a half of pure football loneliness, class and editing talent to whoever is so crazy like me to spend 90 minutes of their lives, maybe even more, every week just to watch a rolling ball over a green pitch.