World Cup Corner

Holland Under-21s sliced open their inept Serbian counterparts to register a 4-1 win, thus retaining the European U-21 Championship crown. Played in front of a 20,000 boisterous crowd, and watched by millions more worldwide, the Dutch have shown that they current possess the best and brightest young guns in Europe.

Maceo Rigters picked up the golden boot for Holland by scoring his fourth goal of the tournament. Sadly for 10 men Serbia, the damage had already been inflicted by Otman Bakkal and Ryan Babel.

Along with Rigters, Royston Drenthe and Ryan Babel are currently heavily linked with big summer transfer moves. Drenthe (player of the tournament) in particular has caught the eye of Newcastle’s new manager Sam Allardyce, so a move the Premiership seems inevitable.

One of the most watched teams this year was England, with several quality players such as Nigel Reo-Coker of West Ham, Steven Taylor and James Milner of Newcastle and Leroy Lita of Reading managed to keep up that old English tradition. Failing in the knockout stages to penalties. Along with the Dutch, I was expecting England to go all the way.

But the glory and prestige has stayed with the Netherlands. Who can be very proud of this young bunch of future stars. Those boys are a bit special!

When it comes to European nations and international football the UEFA European Football Championships is the most important. This championship occurs every four years and has been going on since 1960. Today this tournament is one of the world’s most prestigious however it has changed significantly since its beginning.
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This coming week brings the semi final action of the UEFA Champions League. If you are a big fan of the English Premiership, (which incidentally is the highest watched league in the world) then you`ll know the chances of an English club lifting the coveted European Cup is 3 out of 4.

Liverpool vs Chelsea
Liverpool winners in 2005, hold the slight advantage for me. While they cannot boast the star studded line of Shevchenko, Ballack, Lampard and Robben, they have a master tactician in Rafa Benitez. For my money, Rafa is probably one of the best when it comes to European games. He has the ability to spot and change a game midway. This is not to say that Mourinho is tactically inferior to Benitez. Afterall, he did win the Champions League with FC Porto on a shoestring budget, and the UEFA cup the year before. But, I feel that Mourinho has been spoilt by the riches of Abramovich, and is now over reliant on his players. Not to mention his supposed strained relationship with Roman.

Manchester United vs AC Milan
Here’s to hoping Man Utd gets played off the park. Enough said…. After dropping precious league points to Middlesborough over the weekend, it seems like their Premiership league hopes are in the balance as well. To be honest, I don’t know who I`d want the Premiership crown to go to. Manure or Chel$ki. I have an equal dislike for both teams.

All in all, AC Milan do have the spine for a Champions League winning team. With Kaka, Gattuso and Pirlo pulling the strings from midfield, It would seem that they`ll ahve too much for Man Utd, who is going through a bit of an injury crisis at the moment. But stranger things have happened…. Remember Man Utd’s amazing treble of 1999?

Did you know you can watch UEFA Champions League online via ESPN? For $9.95 per game ESPN will stream every single game in this year’s Champions League on the Internet.

The downside is that the online streams are only available to users in the United States and Latin America.

According to a study for sponsors Mastercard this season’s UEFA Champions League winner could earn up to 100 million euros on top of prize money and tournament gate receipts. Increased sponsorship, extra television revenue, higher attendances and inflated player values look set to swell the victorious club’s coffers long after they lift the trophy in Athens on May 23.

The 100 million euros figure does not include cash awarded to the winners by UEFA. The European governing body says the successful club could receive as much as 40 million euros in prize money, including television revenue but not gate receipts.

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Last year UEFA Champions League winner FC Barcelona were drawn in the same group as last season’s English league winners FC Chelsea in the group stages of the Champions League in Monaco. FC Barcelona, who beat Chelsea in the second round of last season’s competition, have been paired with the London club for the third time in three years.

UEFA Champions League draw

Group A
Barcelona (ESP)
Chelsea (ENG)
Werder Bremen (GER)
Levski Sofia (BUL)

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The lineup for the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage was finalised last night. UEFA has confirmed the draw procedure for the group stage of the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League, which will take place from 18:00 CET at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

The 32 teams will be placed in four pots. Pot 1 will comprise last season’s winners FC Barcelona and the top seven ranked clubs, Pot 2 the next eight and so on for Pots 3 and 4. The sides are therefore divided into eight groups of four. Each team will play three matches on Tuesday and three on Wednesday.

Group stage draw

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Don’t forget to follow this week’s club scene with the final lineup for the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup.

UEFA Champions League
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round will decide the final 16 teams to enter Thursday’s draw for the group stage.

UEFA Cup
The second legs of the UEFA Cup second qualifying round ties on Thursday, with 32 matches taking place in advance of Friday’s first-round draw.

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