Posted on August 19th, 2008 by JJ Duque
Brazil vs Argentina. Ronaldinho vs Messi.
The Brazil Olympic Men’s Soccer Team has yet to win an Olympic Gold Medal. The Argentina Olympic Men’s Soccer Team are the current defending champions, and were the Olympic Gold Medal winners during the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
Soccer superstars Ronaldiho of Brazil and Lionel Messi of Argentina are among the highlighs of the semi-final match between Brazil vs Argentina. Of course, the winner of this Olympic semi-final soccer match will advance to the finals with the opportunity to compete for an Olympic Gold Medal, or at least be awarded with an Olympic Silver Medal.
Brazil crushed Germany 4-1 during the quarterfinal to earn a match against Argentina in the semi-final. Meanwhile, Argentina overcame Netherlands 2-1 during their quarterfinals.
Belgium vs Nigeria
Highlighting the other Olympic Men’s Soccer semi-final match will be Belgium vs Nigeria. Belgium has once won an Olympic Gold Medal in Men’s Soccer, but that was nearly a century ago in 1920. Nigeria had their Olympic Gold Medal in men’s soccer during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
Nigeria knocked out the Ivory Coast 2-0 in the quarterfinals while Belgium had to get past a rather talented Italy side, and beat them 3-2.
Check out the latest odds on the semi-final matches of men’s soccer in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Posted on March 9th, 2008 by JJ Duque
It’s the 6th round of The 2008 FA Cup, and eight teams are vying for a chance to advance to the semi-finals. Among the big names expected to make it through are English Premier League champions Manchester United and defending FA Cup champions Chelsea FC.
However, Chelsea and Manchester United suffered huge upsets in the sixth round of the FA Cup. The FA Cup betting results are as follows:
Barnsely Defeats Chelsea 1-0
Chelsea were visitors to Barnsley FC, a club of the English Championship League, which isn’t quite as prominent a league as the English Premier League to which Chelsea belongs. So, naturally, Chelsea were much favored to win this game. However, Barnsely FC has had great success in the FA Cup, having beaten Liverpool to advance to the 6th round. And now, Barnsely gets through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup by defeating Chelsea 1-0 with a goal from Barnsley’s Kayode Odejayi, who slammed in a header in the 66th minute to send Barnsley fans into a frenzy. Barnsley have gotten a reputation as “The Giant Slayers” - beating top English Premier clubs Liverpool and Chelsea. It’s Barnsley’s first trip to the semi-finals of the FA Cup since 1912, where they made it to the FA Cup Final.
Portsmouth win against Manchester United 1-0
Portsmouth were visitors to Manchester United at Old Trafford, where Manchester United seem to be unbeatable. In fact, English Premier League champions Manchester United dominated their sixth round FA Cup match against Portsmouth, but Manchester United were very unfortunate to not have found the back of the Portsmouth net. Manchester United were close enough at the goal line, but a fine save from Portsmouth keeper David James somehow kept the ball inches from crossing the line. Manchester United keeper Edwin Van der Sar started the match, but was replaced at half-time by substitute keeper Tomasz Kuszczak after Edwin Van der Sar suffered a groin injury problem.
Portsmouth had one run in the second half to attack the Manchester United goal with Milan Baros making the charge before he was tackled by goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak who made a desperate attempt to win the ball as the last line of defense. His tackle resulted in a red card and awarded Portsmouth with a penalty kick. Without a legitimate goalkeeper, Manchester United captain Rio Ferdinand put on the keeper’s uniform and took his place as the goalkeeper. However, Portsmouth’s Sulley Muntari confidently struck the spot kick to put Portsmouth up 1-0, eventually holding on to that lead until the final whistle to knock off Manchester United from the FA Cup.
The final two spots for the FA Cup semi-finals are still up for grabs, pending the results of Middlesbrough vs. Cardiff City at Middlesbrough and Bristol Rovers vs. West Bromwich Albion at Bristol Rovers.
To find out the latest FA Cup betting odds, or to bet on FA Cup matches, then visit the FA Cup Sportsbook.
Posted on February 25th, 2008 by JJ Duque
Tottenham Hotspur 2, Chelsea 1
Chelsea striker Didier Drogba opened the scoring in the 39th minute, and it wasn’t until the second half that Tottehnham’s Dimitir Berbatov tied the game with a penalty on the 70th minute. And in injury time of the 94th minute, Tottenham’s Jonathan Woodgate scored the game winner to make Tottenham Hotspur the 2008 Carling Cup Champions!
Meanwhile, Chelsea have made their protests about officiating and a quick whistle or something. The sourgraping won’t take away the fact that Tottenham Hotspurs are making headlines with the Carling Cup Trophy.
Posted on February 17th, 2008 by JJ Duque
English Premier League champions
Manchester United toppled the current English Premier League leaders
Arsenal 4-0 in an F.A. Cup match at Manchester United’s home pitch at Old Trafford. Manchester United’s victory brings them through to the quarterfinals of the
2008 F.A. Cup.
Wayne Rooney and Darren Fletcher scored 2 goals for Manchester United within the first 20 minutes to set the tone at Old Trafford. After the second goal, Arsenal were just out of sync and disorganized. Manchester United midfielder Nani added a third goal and Darren Fletcher then scored his 2nd goal of the game to make the final scoreline 4-0 in favor of Manchester United over Arsenal.
Other FA Cup Results:
Bristol Rovers FC defeated Southampton FC 1-0 and advance to quarterfinals of 2008 F.A. Cup. Richard Lambert of Bristol Rovers scored the lone goal of the match on the 84th minute.
West Brom defeated Coventry 5-0 and advance to quarterfinals of the 2008 F.A. Cup with goals by Chris Brunt, Roman Bednar (2), Ishmael Miller and Zoltan Gera of West Brom.
Chelsea defeat Huddersfield 3-1 and advance to quarterfinals of the 2008 F.A. Cup with goals from Frank Lampard (2) and Salomon Kalou of Chelsea and a goal by Michael Collins for Huddersfield.
Cardiff defeat Wolverhampton 2-0 and advance to quarterfinals of the 2008 F.A. Cup with goals by Peter Whittingham and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank for Cardiff.
Barnsley upset Liverpool 2-1 and advance to quarterfinals of the 2008 F.A. Cup with goals by Dirk Kuyt of Liverpool, Stephen Foster and Brian Howard for Barnsley.
Other FA Cup results still pending include Sheffield United vs. Middlesbrough and Preston vs. Portsmouth. Both FA Cup matches will be played on February 17.
To bet on FA Cup mathces of Sheffield United vs. Middlesbrough and Preston vs. Portsmouth,visit the FA Cup Sportsbook.
Posted on February 12th, 2008 by JJ Duque
Egypt wins the 2008 African Nations Cup for a second time in a row with 1-0 win over Cameroon during the finals of the 2008 African Nations Cup held in Ghana.
The defending champions Egypt ensured they held on to the trophy when, after a slick passing movement, Mohamed Aboutraika struck in the 77th minute for a deserved success.
“We are delighted to win. It’s a great achievement,” said Mohamed Aboutraikia. “Now we have to make sure that we keep this form going into the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.
Egypt’s assistant coach Shawki Gharib, who first won the title as a player in 1986, added: “I’m thrilled to make history twice for my country, first as a player, second as coach, and to make all our people happy.”
Cameroon’s Geremi, whose long range freekicks troubled the Egyptians, said: “Like any player I don’t like to lose, especially in the final, but the positive thing is we made it to the final, many people weren’t giving us much of a chance.”
Asked about captain the mistake of Rigobert Song which led to Aboutraika’s goal Geremi added: “When someone makes a mistake you can’t blame him, it happens.”
The result was the Egypt Pharoahs final act in a hugely impressive campaign which saw them build on the defeat of Cameroon in their opening group game to record victories over Sudan, Tunisia and then Ivory Coast in the semi-finals.
The only minor blemish was a 1-1 draw with Zambia.
Egypt were adding the 2008 trophy to their wins in 1957, 1959, 1986, 1998 and 2006 with coach Hassan Shehata becoming only the second coach to win back-to-back titles.
Posted on February 10th, 2008 by JJ Duque
Defending African Nations Cup champions Egypt are looking for their 6th African Nations Cup title as they face off with Cameroon in the finals of hte 2008 African Nations Cup. Cameroon defeated host-nation Ghana during the semi-finals in a 1-0 upset that sent Cameroon through to the final match against Egypt.
Egypt, meanwhile, barrelled through Ivory Coast 4-1, also in an upset as the Ivory Coast team were hailed by odds makers as favorites. Cameroon and Egypt were both in the same group during the group stages of the African Nations Cup. During their match earlier in the tournament, Egype were able to defeat Cameroon 4-2. Likewise, Egypt also beat Cameroon during the 2006 Final when Egypt won.
It is obvious that Egypt has a good track record against Cameroon, and it is pretty certain that Egypt is the favorite to win the 2008 African Nations Cup against Cameroon. The odds for the 2008 African Nations Cup Finals between Cameroon vs. Egypt are:
Bet on Cameroon vs. Egypt in the 2008 African Nations Cup Finals.
Posted on February 9th, 2008 by JJ Duque
Defending champions Egypt took aim at a sixth African Nations Cup title on Thursday when they defeated Ivory Coast 4-1 in the semi-finals to set-up a final showdown on Sunday against Cameroon.Cameroon, the four-time champions, earlier edged hosts Ghana 1-0 in the other semi-final in
Sunday’s final will be a rematch of the teams opening Group C clash here which the Pharoahs won 4-2.
Egypt opened the scoring after 12 minutes through Ahmed Fathy, whose shot took a deflection.
Amr Zaky extended the lead in the 62nd minute before Kader Keita
Zaky restored the two-goal cushion in the 67th minute before Mohamed Aboutrika completed the rout in stoppage time when he smashed the ball into the roof of the net from a pass by substitute Mohamed Zidan.
This semi-final was the rematch of the final of the 2006 edition of the tournament and it lived up to its billing with five goals and end-to-end action.
To find out the latest 2008 African Nations Cup odds, or to bet on Cameroon vs. Egypt in the finals of the 2008 African Nations Cup, then visit the African Nations Cup Sportsbook.