David Beckham: The Centurion!

David Beckham remains determined to go on beyond his century after winning his 100th England cap in the 1-0 defeat to France in Paris. Beckham started the match on the right side of midfield and put in some trademark crosses before he was replaced by David Bentley in the second half and came off to a standing ovation. Franck Ribery scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in the first half after Nicolas Anelka had been felled by David James.

"I'm very honoured," said Beckham. "Straight from when I started playing for England I never dreamed I'd get 100 caps, and hopefully beyond.

Before the game, ardent football boot watchers may have felt deflated, Beckham was warming up at the Stade de France in white PowerSwerve football boots with gold trim - his run of the mill football boots from the DB collection.

But cometh the hour, cometh the photo opportunity!

Beckham certainly didn’t let us down, coming out for the match sporting an embroidered shirt with 100th cap on the chest and yes, sporting a pristine pair of Gold Boots. Golden boots for GoldenBalls.
Source: [Footy-Boots.com]

Portugal's Greek hoodoo continues!

Georgios Karagounis scored two free-kicks for European champions Greece to ensure Otto Rehhagel's side overcame Portugal for the third time in as many meetings.

I’m allowed to take the free-kicks with the national team. I don't get to take them at Panathinaikos."

I think it's hilarious that in his international career, Karagounis has only scored 6 goals, while 3 of them have been against Portugal. His first came way back in the Euro 2004 tournament opener, which Greece ultimately won, beating Portugal (again) in the final.

Match highlights:



I love the commentators going nuts in this video!

WCQ Review: China vs Australia

Super Schwarzer saves Socceroos! Try saying that 5 times fast! The Socceroos put in a gallantry effort to hold off a somewhat withdrawn Chinese team and there were times where either team could have pinched it. Most notably Bresciano’s lunging effort from 6 yards out, China’s penalty attempt and David Carney’s 90th min blunder. Never the less, the Aussies showed they have what it takes to compete, even with a depleted squad and will be raring to go in June when they come up against Iraq (home), Qatar (away), Iraq (away) and China (home). Exciting times await.

WCQ - China vs Australia

Pim Verbeek insists his injury-ravaged Socceroos will still chase victory against China in Kunming despite the most troublesome of preparations.

We're still going for the win. We've lost some strikers - and I'm not pleased by that but we still have players who can do a top job. Afterwards we'll see if a draw is the best we can get - but the boys are ready to win."

Mr. Wong from the milk bar down the street reckon's the Aussies have no chance in pulling off a win, especially in China. The poor guy can barely hear, let alone make a call like that, but I didn't want to be rude, so I kindly agreed and then helped myself to a bag of mixed lollies while he yelled something at me... probably a thank you but I don't have time for glory and congratulations. The World Cup awaits, and Australia’s work is not yet done.

I predict: China 1 v 2 Australia

For those of you that can't get down to the pub in time and may be stuck at work, Shanghai Sports begins broadcasting the game live at 4:30pm(AEST).
Click here for further details on how to access the channels.

Champions League - Matchday 8

Rhythmic cheers of 'Ole!' rang out as Fernando Torres scored an unstoppable half volley while turning on a dime on the edge of Inter's penalty box! Sound complicated?... just watch the replay below, it'll do a better job of describing it:



The win put Liverpool through to the next phase of the Champions League along with 3 other English clubs: Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, while Barcelona, Roma, Schalke and Fenerbahçe make up the teams left in the competition. The draw will take place this Friday to determine who plays who in the quarter finals. The competition sure is heating up!

In other news, pictures recently taken by the Mars Rover confirmed what we'd suspected months ago. The ball that Zlatan Ibrahimovic launched against CSKA Moscow finally came to its resting place on the ‘Red Planet’. In a statement made earlier, NASA assured UEFA that they’d use tax payer’s dollars to do everything within their power to return the Champions League ball to Earth. More news on this as the story unfolds.