Sports Bonanza

Much has happened in these last few weeks in the world of sports, with some cracking football matches and nail-biting finals in the Australian Open and in the World Super Bowl Series.


One should tell a good number of coaches and players in many football leagues, that fans are mainly interested in watching interesting matches rather than listen to them nagging about referees. A case in point is Rafa Benitez, who attempted to engage a psychological battle with none other than Sir Alex Ferguson, the king of this type of this type of 'battles.' Inevitably this could have distracted the team and Benitez himself, as evidenced in Liverpool's 1-1 draw against Wigan, when Benitez inexplicably took off Torres and Gerrard, thus losing vital points in their quest of winning the league for the first time in 18 years. Nonetheless, Liverpool made up for this by winning 2-0 against Chelsea with 2 late goals courtesy of Torres and in one fell swoop practically excluding Chelsea for the title challenge. Manchester United continue to grind out more postive results, with their latest wins coming against West Brom (5-0) and against Everton (1-0).


Juventus seem to have lost the plot with the consecutive losses against Udinese (2-1) and Cagliari (3-2). It is pretty evident that in general, all the players seem tired and out of form, missing that spark that is vital for a team definetly not packed with many skillful players but of players who are always willing to give that something extra for the team. One should not start criticizing left right and centre but be patient and sooner rather than later results will pick up. Every team is bound to suffer from a slump, it is how the team reacts that makes or breaks a season. One should also take into consideration the abnormal amount of injuries that Juventus players have had; this is certainly a delicate and vital point that should be dealt with. Luckily enough Inter seem to be stuttering for following their 2-0 away win against Catania, this was followed by a 1-1 home draw against lowly Torino. Milan, Genoa, Roma and Cagliari seem to be the current in-form teams, with Milan leapfrogging into second place and Genoa consolidating their fourth position. Roma have made giant strides in trying to gain a Champions League berth after their disastrous start to the season while the in-form team 'par excellence' Cagliari beat Juventus 3-2 away, thus reaching a Uefa Cup position... quite a remarkable feat both for the team and its coach, who had started with 5 straight losses.


Talking points in the Italian league were Panucci's refusal to go on the bench in Roma's 3-0 away win against Napoli and the unjust suspension inflicted upon Mannini and Possanzini. Panucci should learn what the words 'humility and respect' mean. There were stars like Totti, Perrotta and Aquilani on the bench for the same game, while it is not the first time that stars are benched for some games, such as Ronaldinho lately, Del Piero, Cruz just to mention a few, but never have they uttered a word of dissent. Being a cry-baby never brought any good, especially with regards to the teams harmony. One should learn to fight for his place through hard-work at training and by showing respect to your fellow team-mates and coaches. Regarding the suspension of Mannini and Possanzini, they seem to have been made a scapegoat by WADA even though they did their tests and proved to be drug-free, only because they left the restricted zone for a few moments while their President had a good shout at the whole team after Brescia's 3-0 loss against Chievo in December 2007. Hopefully common sense prevails so that these two players can resume their playing careers as soon as possible.


With a vociferous and fully-armed crowd with banners, Siggiewi Smina unfortunatly did not manage to beat Luxol Bupa even though they showed flashes of brilliance but albeit only at patches. What seems to be Siggiewi's undoing is the lack of harmony and unity within the team's ranks. If some elements would play more for the team rather than for personal interests, the team has the potential to improve in leaps and bounds.


As the commentator's of Eurosport stated, all those who managed to watch the Australian Open final between Federer and Nadal were regaled with a spectacle of outragously magnificent tennis play. Two greats battled it out in a thrilling and nail-biting final in which Nadal seemed to profit from some uncharacteristic tactical mistakes by Federer towards the end of the fourth set and the fifth. Nadal's words that Federer is a great player and that he deserves to break the Grand Slam record and Federer's tears are testimony of two humble yet great tennis players, who have yet years of spectacular tennis left in them !


Finally one must not omit to mention the Super Bowl Final, which has left a whole American state in delirious celebrations. The Pittsburgh Steelers won their record sixth Super Bowl with a nail-biting 27-23 win against the Arizona Cardinals with a dramatic touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes with only a mere 35 seconds of the final remaining.