The worst kept secret in football is now official. Luiz Felipe Scholari has succeeded Avram Grant as the manager of Chelsea. The Brazilian was the favourite to succeed Grant, though this is surprising news considering that no formal announcement was to be made until after Portugal’s Euro 2008 campaign came to an end.

Chelsea said in a statement: “Chelsea Football Club is delighted to confirm that Luiz Felipe Scolari will be the club’s new manager from July 1, 2008.”

“Felipe has great qualities. He is one of the world’s top coaches with a record of success at country and club level, he gets the best out of a talented squad of players and his ambitions and expectations match ours.”

However, what is the fate of Portugal amidst all these announcements? “Portugal will stay focussed”, says the coach. Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has warned Switzerland his team do not intend to take their foot off the gas in their final Group A match on Sunday despite having already guaranteed a last-eight berth at Euro 2008.

Chelsea’s Ricardo Carvalho has backed new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari to improve the team when he takes over after Euro 2008.

Will Scholari make all the difference for Chelsea? Or is Manchester United still going to be the league champions? Let us know what you think of this change. 

ESPN: Pakistan Cricket Board official Nadeem Akram returned to Pakistan on Wednesday after failing to secure the release of Mohammad Asif. The fast bowler was detained by customs officials at the Dubai International Airport on June 1 on suspicion of carrying drugs on his person.

“Akram has indeed returned home,” said PCB media manager Raza Rashid. “The attorney general in Dubai has not given us a time frame, so we are not sure when a decision would actually be made.”
A small quantity of a powder was found in Asif’s wallet and was sent to a laboratory for testing. The bowler also gave blood and urine tests, with the results of those yet to be divulged.

Akram, the director of human resources at the PCB, was immediately rushed to Dubai to oversee the case but has now left that responsibility to an official from the Pakistan embassy in the United Arab Emirates.

“An official from the Pakistan embassy in the United Arab Emirates will now oversee the case,” Akram told reporters in Dubai prior to his departure.

“We are still hopeful that he would be released. No charges have been laid so far.”
Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB’s chief operating officer, said Akram had to return to help Pakistan’s preparations for the Asia Cup.

Pakistan is set to host the six-nation cricket tournament (like there could be anything else!) from the 24th of June. Hopefully they will get their star player back by then. 

ESPN Mobile has a nice interview conducted a nice interview with Hockey coach AK Bansal and what India winning the silver at the Azlan Shah means for us.

Ashish Bhardwaj (AB): After the Azlan Shah silver, people are already taking about a revival in Indian hockey. Isn’t it too premature?
AK Bansal (AKB): I agree with you. Let’s say this is the beginning of a long road to recovery. Let’s not read much into the second position at Azlan Shah. It’s not much of an achievement. On a positive note, let’s say our hockey in back on track and it will be a lot of hard work from now on.

AB: You have worked under the KPS Gill-led Indian Hockey Federation. Now you have an Indian Olympic Association-appointed adhoc committee running the show. Is it any better?
AKB: Even in this case, we have to wait and watch. It’s too early too pass a comment. I have only spent a few days under the new committee. It’s looking good and there are enough reasons to feel positive. Read on…

Now if you take a closer look into this, you do notice that India has come up in sports. Recently, there has been the IPL with all the magestic cricket performances, the Indian hockey team getting laurels, Force India getting a lot of mention at the Grand Prix, and just yesterday, India trashing Nepal in the SAFF football tournament. Granted Nepal is nothing formidable like Germany or The Netherlands, but still, that we have the sporting spirit restored in Indians is enough reason to hope for better days. 

What do you think? Is Indian sports about to take make drastic restructuring in the world rankings of sports? 

The Rajasthan Royals, in a nailbiting edge-of-the-seat finish, beat the Chennai Superkings target of 164 runs. It was a 1 ball-1 run finish and Sohail Tanvir partnering with Shane Warne ran their way to victory. 

Chennai Super Kings made 163 for the loss of five wickets against Rajasthan Royals in the final of the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the D.Y. Patil Sports Academy Stadium here Sunday. Suresh Raina was the top scorer with 43 while Parthiv Patel made 38. Yusuf Pathan was the most successful bowler for Royals with his three for 22 from four overs.

The Royals came off with an average start but looked inclined towards a win. However, some early wickets of Patel (2), Asnodkar (28), Kamran (6) put the Royals under a lot of pressure. It was left upto Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan to take on the climbing run rate of 9 per over. Watson ducked out at 28 and from then on the game was in Pathan’s hands. After a fabulous 56 off 36 balls, Pathan was finally run out. The match was then on shaky grounds with only Shane Warne left to bring some hope for the Royals. And the captain did not depart from the field right upto the last over. Needing 8 off 6 balls, Warne and Tanvir were in a fix. However, after some good running, a costly wide, the final delivery from Balaji was batted by Tanvir and sealed the victory for the Royals with the last 1 run. 

Did you watch this match? If you did I’m sure those nails wont need any cutting for at least a year!

England had a 2-0 victory over USA in the football friendly. A well timed header flicked by Captain John Terry and a beautiful strike by man-of-the-match Steve Gerard sealed the victory for England.

While England played well and deserved to win, their performance was nothing short of ‘regular’ to say the least. This might be due to the two big leagues just getting over and the players finally taking it easy. However, their do have time to rest, now that their competitive season will begin only in September. If in case you forgot, England didn’t qualify for the Euro 2008 Championship.

One important happening of this result was Terry smiling again after his depressed state on missing the decision making penalty shot at the Champions League which cost Chelsea the trophy. Terry admitted his goal was perfectly timed to lift his Russian blues: “That goal was for all the Chelsea fans for last week,” he said.

Coach Capollo had a lot to say about this victory. “The England team performed. All the players played very well,” Capello said after two well-worked goals by John Terry and Steven Gerrard proved too much for the Americans at Wembley. “In every situation we chose the best way to play. The first 50 minutes the USA pressed a lot, but we played good football. Today the team played like in training. The pressing and tackling were very good. It’s another step forward.”

Capello saluted Terry’s effort. “I am very happy for him and for the England team,” he said. “He played a very good game. He is a leader for Chelsea and when he plays with the national team.

If you missed out on this game or would for some reason like to keep it safe, download the England vs USA International Friendly via Torrents.
First Half | Second Half

According to the PressTV release on the 27th of May, FIFA has announced that it is banning Iraq from International Football! This is in response to the decision of the US installed Iraqi Govt. to abolish all of the Sports Organisations in Iraq where the government desolved Iraqi National Olympics committee, Soccer Association and others. 

This policy runs contrary to FIFA and the International Football in which Sports and Politics must be separated. This is a huge blow to Iraqi sports lovers. The Iraqi team will suffer the most being that they won the Asian Cup after defeating Saudi Arabia. It is a good team to lose just because of politics. What’s more, if the situation doesn’t resolve itself, Iraq will not be able to play any of the International games leading to the 2010 World Cup due to the myopic Iraqi puppet government. 

If the Baghdad government does not respond fashionably and the FIFA suspension is not lifted, which is only if the government annuls its decree, all of Iraq’s fixtures would become forfeits, handing Australia a free ride to the next stage. 

Czech Republic 
No changes from the 23 member provisional squad that Brückner took to South Austria for a training camp. With Daniel Pudil’s withdrawal, Czech champions Slavia Prague will not have a single player from their club playing at Euro 2008.

Czech Republic 23 member Squad for Euro 2008.

• Petr Cech ( Chelsea)
• Zdenek Grygera ( Juventus)
• Jan Polák ( RSC Anderlecht)
• Marek Jankulovski ( AC Milan- Czech Republic player of the year 2007)
• Libor Sionko ( FC Copenhagen)
• Daniel Zítka ( RSC Anderlecht)
• Martin Fenin ( Frankfurt)
• Tomáš Galásek ( Nuremberg)
• Radoslav Kovác ( Spartak Moscow)
• Michal Kadlec ( Sparta Prague)
• David Jarolím ( Hamburger SV)
• Jan Koller ( Borussia Dortmund)
• Václav Sverkoš ( Banik Ostrava)
• Stanislav Vlcek ( RSC Anderlecht)
• Zdenek Pospech ( FC Copenhagen)
• Milan Baroš ( Portsmouth)
• Jaromír Blažek ( Nuremberg)
• Marek Matejovský ( Reading)
• Tomáš Sivok ( Sparta Prague)
• Rudolf Skácel ( Hertha Berlin)
• Jaroslav Plašil ( Osasuna)
• Tomáš Ujfaluši ( Fiorentina)
• David Rozehnal ( PSG)

No Nedved, No Rosicky. The former has retired, while the latter misses out due to injury.

Switzerland
Hosts Switzerland have announced their 23 member squad for the upcoming European Championships, and there were no major surprises. Thomas Haberli, called up as a replacement for the injured Blaise Kufo misses out. Joining the veteran Young Boys forward out is defender Steve von Bergen, who fractured a bone is his right hand. Defender Patrick Mueller and midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta were included in the Swiss squad for the European Championship, despite lingering injury concerns.

The Switzerland Euro 2008 squad will consist of:

Goalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (Wolfsburg), Eldin Jakupovic (Grasshopper), Pascal Zuberbuehler (Xamax Neuchatel).

Defenders: Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund), Johan Djourou (Arsenal), Stephane Grichting (Auxerre), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Lille), Ludovic Magnin (Stuttgart), Patrick Mueller (Lyon), Philippe Senderos (Arsenal), Christoph Spycher (Eintracht Frankfurt).

Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Valon Behrami (Lazio), Ricardo Cabanas (Grasshopper), Gelson Fernandes (Manchester City), Daniel Gygax (FC Metz), Benjamin Huggel (Basel), Gokhan Inler (Udinese), Johan Vonlanthen (Red Bull Salzburg).

Strikers: Eren Derdiyok (Basel), Alexander Frei (Borussia Dortmund), Marco Streller (Basel), Hakan Yakin (Young Boys).

Argentina are the winners of the Samsung Champions Trophy Women 2008, after defeating Germany 6-2 in the final held in Mönchengladbach, Germany. If you didn’t read that correctly, Argentina defeated Germany 6-2!

While Germany almost took the lead with a goal from Claudia Burkart in just two minutes of the game, Argentina’s Luciana Aymar wasn’t going to let the game slip from their hands. Germany managed a goal from Janine Beerman, but after that it was just dominated by Argentina. Alejandra Gulla, the all time top goal scorer in Champions Trophy hockey, then scored to make it 2-1 making it 17 strikes to her name. Aymar then created the third goal, after which Gulla scored again. 

Burkart did manage another goal after the halftime, but it wasn’t enough cause Alejandra Gulla managed to complete her hat trick and ultimately, Argentina winning the Champions Trophy 2008.

Netherlands however, made it to Bronze Medal (3rd place) defeating China. Australia got the 5th place leaving Japan with the 6th place. Here is a complete scorecard of the event should you want to check out what happened during the rest of the tournament. 

In the end, tt was Argentina’s day, and they will hope that can take the confidence of winning this event into the Beijing Olympic Games. Argentina have sealed their place in the 2009 Samsung Champions Trophy, and will be joined by World Champions Netherlands and host nation Australia. The winning team at the 2008 Olympic Games plus the two highest finishers in Beijing will complete the line-up.

Need to get your football trivia sharpened up before the matches? The official website of Euro 2008 has put up a nice timeline of the Euro Football tournament. 

They’ve got past players, short summaries of the past tournaments, and a small little photo gallery in a well organised manner. Check it out when you have some free time. 

With less than 11 days to go for the tournament, the buzz is finally starting to get around. Bookmark the Euro 2008 page for updates on the event. 

The 2008 French Open started on a sombre note yesterday as the tournament bade farewell to one of its favourite sons. Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten exited the 2008 French Open in first round, bringing down the curtain on a singles career which saw him claim the French Open title three times.

Kuerten went down in straight sets to Frenchman Paul Henri-Mathieu, losing 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. The Brazillian player’s 2001 victory at the French Open marked the last occasion that the 1st seed won the tournament. Kuerten will now participate in the doubles tournament at Rolland Garros before bowing out of tennis altogether.

Other first round matches at the 2008 French Open saw several top seeds advance, with Novak Djokovic, James Blake, Andy Murray and David Nalbandian all progressing to the second round of the tournament.

Carlos Moya was the only big-name casualty on the first day of the 2008 French Open. The 1998 French Open champion lost a tough five set encounter to Eduardo Schwank 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-7 (1), 4-6, 6-3.

The women’s draw saw two of the favourites for the title progress to the second round, as Serena Williams trounced Ashley Harkleroad 6-2, 6-1 and Ana Ivanovic defeated Sofia Arvidsson 6-2, 7-5.

Is India going to get any olympic medals this year? First we have the hockey team scandal. Now these two are acting up. The 10 Grand Slam doubles winner pair - Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi - are having communication issues.

Bhupathi says that he is uncomfortable playing with Paes at the Olympics due to the communication gap that has come about between them. They have not been on talking terms for the past few months, and a cold war has erupted between them.

Bhupathi said that this lack of friendship might hinder their ability to get any medals at the Olympics. “It’s too late for Leander and me to play together” said Bhupathi. “Leander and I are the best option for India but we need to go with some kind of preparation. We need to build a team. However, Rohan Bopanna and I are better prepared as a team,” Bhupathi said.

However, the All India Tennis Association (AITA) has ruled out any changes in the team for the Beijing Olympics and said that it’s not up to Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi to decide who goes to the Olympics. Reacting to Bhupati’s letter, AITA said that the two players cannot allow their differences to come in between.

“AITA’s position is extremely clear. We have already nominated their names as a team on February 28,” Khanna said.

Indian Olympic Association General Secretary Randhir Singh said that Khanna spoke to him for a fortnight-long camp before the Olympics. “Anil Khanna spoke to me about a 15-day camp before the Olympics. There is nothing to be reinvented between them. They just need some practice together before the Games,” he said. “They are the best players. They have been the world number one. I request them to play their best for the country. I firmly believe they have a great chance to win a medal in Beijing,” he added.

Bhupathi may have closed the door on their partnership but Leander Paes hasn’t given up hope. Speaking exclusively to CNN-IBN, Leander urged Bhupathi to reconsider his decision not to pair up for the Beijing Olympics.

“I find that Mahesh and myself have lot of differences of opinions off the court but when it comes to on court there is no hiding the fact that we are the best team. I urge Mahesh to reconsider his decision that he has made and to put our differences aside,” he said.

“While people who don’t really understand tennis are willing to force us to play together to win a medal, you will agree that we are not magicians and a medal will not happen just because we step on court. I would prefer to play with Rohan Bopanna in Beijing, we do have a good relationship and we are planning to play a couple of events over the next few months.”

“Lot of this comes as real surprise be it the Olympics comes as a surprise, be it the Davis Cup comes as a surprise - I feel that eight years that we have put together won so many grand slams together, being number one together, its really sad that this is going on and its unfortunate,” Leander said.

Bopanna seems to be quite in demand for the Olympics. Let’s see how this materializes in the coming two months left for the Olympics. We sure hope Bhupathi can get some perspective and patch things up with Paes. The two of them are a terrific duo.

The game kicked off with both teams with a strong attack. Public opinion was that Manchester United would be the winner, but Chelsea seemed to be serious about their game. 

15 minutes into the game, Christiano Ronaldo scored. It looked like the predictions were coming true until 30 minutes later, Chelsea equalised the score with a powerful shot from Frank Lampard.  

From then on the game was balanced on either side. There were opportunities but none were converted. 30 minutes extra time didn’t help either. Chelsea’s Drogba got a red card in between. The game finally edged on to the Penalty shootout. 

The tension was unbearable. The very nature of a tie breaker, especially on such a high stakes match, brings everyone on the edge of their seats. The first four kicks went straight past the goalkeepers. In an unexpected turn of events, Ronaldo failed to convert his shot which turned the game in Chelsea’s favour. The fifth and deciding shot was taken by John Terry, who shot it out of the goal. The look on his face was unbearable. 

Finally, Chelsea’s last shot was blocked by Manchester United’s goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, resulting in a roar from the reds in the stands. Manchester United had won the Champions League. 

Manchester United have had a brilliant season, having won the Barclay’s Premier League as well. Chelsea on the other hand looked devastated. John Terry seemed to take the blame upon himself for missing the deciding goal. Losing at a penalty shootout can be very hard on the players, who have to put up with a lot of pressure. But where there’s a winner, there’s also a loser. And Manchester United proved to be the superior team. 

Can I get a hurray for ManU!