Sold! Crespo, Cannavaro, Pires and Fowler top inaugural Indian football league auction

 

Hernan Crespo became the hottest property of a new Indian soccer league starting next month when the Argentine fetched £536,000 in an auction of players and coaches on Monday.    

Crespo was snapped up by the Barasat franchise of Premier League Soccer (PLS), which is modelled on cricket's highly successful Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament and scheduled from February 25 - April 8 in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.    

The idea of a players' auction was borrowed from IPL, whose success has spawned numerous franchise-based leagues in other sports across the country. 

Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro went to Siliguri for £530,000, while Robert Pires of France £511,000, Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha (£351,000) and Liverpool great Robbie Fowler £338,000 went to Howrah, Durgapur and Kolkata respectively.   

Five franchises collectively spent nearly £4.5million, each buying an 'icon' player, two overseas footballers and a coach.    

'This auction is unprecedented not only in the history of Indian football but also for world football,' Bhaswar Goswami, executive director of the Celebrity Management Group (CMG) which is organising the league, said.

'There is an expenditure cap and I must say that the franchises wisely spent their money,' he said from Kolkata where the auction took place. 

Didn't come cheap: Hernan Crespo

In an otherwise cricket-crazy country, the eastern Indian state of West Bengal is equally passionate about soccer.   

Nearly 120,000 fans gave a rousing reception to Oliver Kahn in the German goalkeeper's 2008 Bayern Munich swansong in Kolkata and Argentina great Diego Maradona almost brought the city to a standstill during his visit the same year.    

Howrah will boast PLS's most expensive coach after shelling out £143,000 for former Portugal central defender Fernando Couto.  

Former Nigerian player and coach Samson Siasia (Durgapur) and Icelander Teitur Thordorson (Barasat) were both sold for £134,000.   

Former Manchester City and Sunderland manager Peter Reid (Kolkata) and Marco Etcheverry (Siliguri), arguably the greatest Bolivian player, went for £128,000. 

 

Cricket Helmet : SG T20 I

SG T20 I

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Dart Board : VIXEN DART FLIGHT

VIXEN DART FLIGHT

 

• Product Model : Dart Flight Light Wt. (SET of 6)
• Product Code : 547
• Product Description : Set of 6 Darts Light Wt.
 

 

DUKE DOUBLE CENTURY

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Recumbent Bikes : CEB-TRIM400R

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Indian National Team: India ranked 158 in latest FIFA Rankings

 

The Men in Blue have jumped four places up in the latest edition of the FIFA rankings released this month…

 

The Indian national team have some good news in the New Year as they have moved up the rankings ladder to the 158th spot and are placed 29th in the continent.

The Men in Blue recently defended the SAFF Championship title by beating Afghanistan in the finals last month. Savio Medeira’s side were unbeaten in the competition after being thrashed by Zambia 5-0 in an international friendly.

Among the SAFF nations, Nepal, even after dropping 10 spots, are ranked 153, the highest, closely followed by Bangladesh and India at 158.

Japan continues to be the highest Asian ranked team on 19 with Australia placed on 21st spot.

2010 World Cup winners Spain continue to be at the helm followed by Netherlands. Germany, Uruguay and England. Brazil, Portugal, Croatia, Italy and Argentina complete the rest of the pack in the top 10.

 

Cricket T Shirts : ADIDAS CRICKET T SHIRT 19419

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Football Jersey : ARSENAL

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Praveen and Sachin returns for Oz tri-series

Praveen and Sachin returns for Oz tri-series

Praveen Kumar and Sachin Tendulkar will make a return to the ODI fold for the tri-series Down Under, Indian selectors have announced.

India named their squad for the series against Australia and Sri Lanka on Sunday and included Tendulkar, who has not played an ODI since the country's World Cup triumph last April.

There were no major surprises in the ODI squad despite the team's dismal performance in the ongoing Test series, which India is trailing 0-3.

Selectors have also continued to put faith in Irfan Pathan, who made a comeback in the last ODI India played against West Indies at home.

R Ashwin and Rahul Sharma are the two specialist spinners while all rounder Ravindra Jadeja can also chip in with his left-armers.

Yuvraj Singh, who is still recovering from a lung ailment and the injured Harbhajan Singh were not considered for selection. Varun Aaron and Munaf Patel were also not considered because of injuries.

Manoj Tiwary was also retained in the team as selectors continued to show faith in MS Dhoni's leadership skills.

The Indians are scheduled to play two Twenty20 matches on February 1 and 2, followed by the tri-series, also involving Sri Lanka, from February 5.

ODI and T20 squad: M S Dhoni (C), Virender Sehwag (VC), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Unesh Yadav, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan.

Copa Del Rey Preview: Real Madrid - Barcelona

 

Real Madrid 0 vs 0 Barcelona 

Pre Match
January 19, 2012 2:30 AM IST
Estadio Santiago Bernabéu — Madrid
Referee:‬ César Muñiz Fernández‎ 

Jose Mourinho will be hoping to draw first blood in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-final tie versus their Catalan rivals at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.

 

 

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

REAL MADRID Casillas Coentrao, Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo Xabi Alonso, Diarra Di Maria, Ozil, Ronaldo Higuain

BARCELONA   Pinto Alves, Puyol, Pique, Abidal Xavi, Busquets, Iniesta Messi, Cesc, Sanchez

Jose Mourinho will be without the suspended Alvaro Arbeloa who failed in his attempt to get his one-match ban overturned. Fabio Coentrao is expected to deputise at right-back. Pepe is a doubt with a thigh strain although the Portuguese defender is expected to pass a late fitness test.

Sami Khedira is definitely ruled out of the game after spraining his ankle last week against Malaga so Lassana Diarra is in line to keep his place in the Madrid starting line-up.

One man who could start is Angel Di Maria who has shrugged off a thigh injury and is likely to replace Jose Callejon. Mourinho may continue to rotate his strikers and Gonzalo Higuain could come into the team in place of Karim Benzema.

Barcelona will be without Seydou Keita, who is away at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations while Andreu Fontas looks unlikely to appear again this season after picking up a serious knee injury in the Copa del Rey win over Osasuna last week.

Pedro also picked up a knock in the game and appears to have been ruled out while Pep Guardiola will be without David Villa and Ibrahim Afellay who have long-term injuries.

Dani Alves looks set to return to the starting line-up while Cesc Fabregas is expected to continue his role upfront alongside Lionel Messi and Alexis Sanchez. Jose Pinto will start the game in goal, with the experienced goalkeeper continuing his run in the domestic cup.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Real Madrid have won only one of their previous 12 meetings with their Catalan rivals (losing eight and drawing the other three).

• In last month's defeat to Pep Guardiola's men, Karim Benzema scored the quickest goal in Clasico history, finding the back of the net after only 23 seconds.

• Madrid are the reigning Copa del Rey champions after beating Barcelona 1-0 at Mestalla in last season's final courtesy of Cristiano Ronaldo's extra-time winner.

• Barcelona came from a goal down to defeat Madrid 3-1 in La Liga last month with Alexis Sanchez, Xavi and Cesc Fabregas on the scoresheet.

• The victory was the first time in six games where Lionel Messi had not netted at the Santiago Bernabeu.

• The game between the two great rivals will represent the ninth Clasico in just over a year.

 Head to Head

La Liga ‎(LIGA)‎                                  11-Dec-2011        Real Madrid 1 - Barcelona 3          Spain - Super Cup ‎(ESPS)‎                 18-Aug-2011       Barcelona 3 - Real Madrid 2          Spain - Super Cup ‎(ESPS)‎                 15-Aug-2011       Real Madrid 2 - Barcelona 2          UEFA Champions League ‎(UCL)‎        04-May-2011      Barcelona 1 - Real Madrid 1          UEFA Champions League ‎(UCL)‎        28-Apr-2011       Real Madrid 0 - Barcelona 2 Last Five Matches   Real Madrid 15-Jan-2012 Mallorca 1 - Real Madrid 2 LIGA 11-Jan-2012 Malaga 0 - Real Madrid 1 ESPC 08-Jan-2012 Real Madrid 5 - Ciudad de Murcia1 LIGA 04-Jan-2012 Real Madrid 3 - Malaga 2 ESPC 21-Dec-2011 Real Madrid 5 - Ponferradina 1 ESPC Barcelona 16-Jan-2012 Barcelona 4 - Betis 2 LIGA 13-Jan-2012 Osasuna 1 - Barcelona 2 ESPC 09-Jan-2012 Espanyol 1 - Barcelona 1 LIGA 05-Jan-2012 Barcelona 4 - Osasuna 0 ESPC 23-Dec-2011 Barcelona 9 - CE L'Hospitalet 0 ESPC

Football Jersey : MANCHESTER UNITED

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Pakistan pick Cheema over Riaz; England bat

 

Pakistan v England, 1st Test, Dubai, 1st day

 

 

Pakistan vs England Series 2012 Schedule

Date and Time	Match Details and Series
Tue Jan 17 – Sat Jan 21	1st Test – Pakistan vs England Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Wed Jan 25 – Sun Jan 29	2nd Test – Pakistan vs England Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Fri Feb 3 – Tue Feb 7	3rd Test – Pakistan vs England Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Mon Feb 13	1st ODI – Pakistan vs England Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Wed Feb 15	2nd ODI – Pakistan vs England Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Sat Feb 18	3rd ODI – Pakistan vs England Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Tue Feb 21	4th ODI – Pakistan vs England Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Thu Feb 23	1st T20 – Pakistan vs England Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Sat Feb 25	2nd T20 – Pakistan vs England Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai
Mon Feb 27	3rd T20 – Pakistan vs England Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

 Andrew Strauss began England's attempt to reinforce their No. 1 Test ranking by winning the toss and choosing to bat in front of sparsely populated stands in Dubai.

Strauss said he didn't think the pitch would especially help the spinners and so England chose the fast bowler Chris Tremlett as their fourth bowler over left-arm spinner Monty Panesar. Both Ian Bell and Stuart Broad were cleared to play after having minor injury scares.

While England played three fast bowlers and one spinner, Pakistan picked two quicks and two specialist spinners. They also had the option of Mohammad Hafeez's offbreaks. Aizaz Cheema was preferred as Umar Gul's new ball partner over Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz.

 

England: 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Alastair Cook, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Eoin Morgan, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Stuart Broad, 9 Graeme Swann, 10 James Anderson, 11 Chris Tremlett

 

Pakistan: 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Taufeeq Umar, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Adnam Akmal (wk), 8 Abdur Rehman, 9 Umar Gul, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Aizaz Cheema

 

 

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Carling Cup: Man City 0-1 Liverpool

Carling Cup: Man City 0-1 Liverpool

 

Manchester City slumped to their second home defeat in four days as Steven Gerrard's penalty moved Liverpool to within 90 minutes of the Carling Cup final.

 

Lacking key men, including skipper Vincent Kompany who sat forlornly in the stands as he began a four-match ban, and drained by the energy exerted at having to play for 78 minutes with 10 men against Manchester United at the weekend, City were a shadow of their usual selves.

It represented the first time they had lost back-to-back games at the Etihad Stadium since February 2008, before Sheikh Mansour began his billion pound quest to conquer the English game.

The only consolation came from knowing they could still reach a Carling Cup final against either Crystal Palace or Cardiff if they can reverse this result in the second leg at Anfield in a fortnight.

Little wonder Roberto Mancini was so keen to fight Kompany's suspension.

With Kolo Toure on African Nations Cup duty with the Ivory Coast, it forced the City boss to pitch Stefan Savic into the biggest game of his fledgling Blues career.

The Montenegrin was only 21 last week and has started just one Barclays Premier League game for City since joining from Partizan Belgrade in the summer.

It soon became clear he was in for a difficult evening.

That Andy Carroll was able to spin away from him and race onto Stewart Downing's through-ball said everything given the wretched time the Liverpool striker has had in his 12 months on Merseyside.

Returning keeper Joe Hart was equal to the shot, just as he was when Gerrard went for the far corner a couple of minutes later and Downing had an effort deflected towards the same area of his goal.

Savic had another trick up his sleeve though as Daniel Agger forced his way into the box from the corner. The youngster panicked, attempted to clear when he was nowhere near favourite to reach the ball and Agger bit the dust.

Referee Lee Mason awarded the spot-kick and Gerrard drove it past England team-mate Hart to put the visitors ahead.

That all this occurred inside the opening 11 minutes emphasised the difficulties City were having, and no one epitomised them more than Mario Balotelli.

An injury doubt beforehand, the combustible Italian reacted in anger when Charlie Adam bundled him over, then tapped him on the head as he ran away from the scene.

Balotelli belted the subsequent free-kick into the wall and then hobbled away for no discernable reason.

After a few more minutes of relative inactivity, during which he let a straightforward pass roll out for a throw-in and gave a free-kick as he tried to make amends, Mancini decided he had seen enough.

Balotelli headed straight for the tunnel, bringing an end to another bizarre chapter in his career.

It was not until the last moments of the half that City finally roused themselves, only for Samir Nasri to be denied by Pepe Reina and James Milner to fire Micah Richards' cut-back over.

On Sunday, City responded magnificently to a far worse half-time scoreline and almost secured a result that would stand alongside any in this stellar season.

But they needed the kind of lift Aleksandar Kolarov gave them against United with that magnificent free-kick.

This time around, they just encountered frustration as Reina stayed on his feet long enough to prevent Aguero getting a shot on target after the South American had spotted Martin Kelly about to play a blind backpass.

Unusually poor in a heavy defeat on the same ground eight days ago, Reina was also in the right place to deny Richards' close-range header after the stand-in City skipper had met Nasri's corner.

The disappointment was that instead of going for the jugular, against opponents so lacking in verve compared to their thrill-a-minute efforts earlier in the season, Liverpool grew increasingly more negative.

By the time Jamie Carragher replaced Craig Bellamy 11 minutes from time to take up a midfield holding role, the visitors had six orthodox defenders on the field.

Little wonder City failed to make a chance of note as they continued to run into a red brick wall in what time remained.

India 0-4 Bayern Munich – Mueller Stars In Bhaichung Bhutia’s Final Hurrah

 

India put up a gutsy second half performance as they hold the German giants in the second half after they had conceded 4 in the first.

Four first half goals saw FC Hollywood outclass the Indian national team in the testimonial match for the legendary Bhaichung Bhutia.

In what turned out to be a David versus Goliath battle, Bayern Munich routed the Men in Blue at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi.

Goals from Mario Gomez, Bastian Schweinsteiger and a brace by Thomas Mueller were enough for the Bundesliga outfit.

Bayern Munich started with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk in the centre of the park with Arjen Robben and Toni Kroos being the wide men.

India’s Savio Medeira interestingly decided to field Rakesh Masih alongside Rocus Lamare in the midfield with Climax Lawrence being on the bench. Sushil Singh was preferred over Jeje Lalpekhlua to partner Bhaichung Bhutia.

Phillip Lahm made a surging run to find Thomas Mueller who found Mario Gomez whose shot almost kissed the far side as early as in the fifth minute.

The away side were casual in their approach as after an initial burst for the opening couple of minutes, they gauged the strength of the opposition, pretty much like the boxer who understands the power needed to knock the opponent down, and took it easy.

Gomez released Arjen Robben inside the box but the left winger’s shot was blocked by the Indian custodian Karanjit Singh.

The breakthrough came in the 14th minute when Mueller, who was allowed to run uninhibited by Govin Moirangthem, found Gomez who provided the final touch.

The testament to how easy Bayern took the game was Manuel Neuer’s positioning as he was standing outside his area for most of the first half.

Robben, spurred by the poor decisions by the referee on a couple of occasions, came inside from the left and his shot just about missed the target.

India’s first attempt, so to say, was when Sushil Singh found Bhaichung, who from 30 yards out, sent the ball into the orbit.

The German side scored their second of the evening with Robben providing an inch perfect cross for Mueller, who headed the ball home.

Toni Kroos, who had been quiet for most of the game not because he was having a poor outing but since he never saw much of the ball, got into the thick of action when his cross saw Mueller score his second  with relative ease.

The very minute Mueller sent in a curling ball from the right which almost found the diving Gomez who with the slightest of touched would have found the back of the net.

Schweinsteiger added his name on the scoresheet in the 43rd minute as he slotted the ball home which gave the goalkeeper no chance.

Signed, Sealed & Delivered Bhaichung Bhutia Presented With Custom-Made Autographed Bayern Munich Jersey   

The Indians never really managed to come out of their own half as the Bavarians dominated every inch of the field.

In the second session, the game was pretty much the same with the first notable piece of action being Subasish Roy Chowdhury making a diving save from a Gomez attempt in the 53rd minute.

The German giants continued to dominate the possession as Savio Medeira’s side were kept inside their own half.

India’s first real shot on target came only in the 82nd minute when Bhaichung Bhutia released the onrushing Jewel Raja whose shot went straight into the hands of Neuer.

The journey  came to an end for the Sikkimese Sniper as he bowed out for one last time with the crowd giving him a standing ovation.

Bayern couldn’t add to their tally in the second period as the match eventually finished 4-0 in favour of the German giants.