Arsenal vs Sunderland 2011

Robin van Persie rescued Arsenal from another disappointing Barclays Premier League result with a fantastic winner against Sunderland at the Emirates Stadium.

The Holland striker, who used his programme notes to declare his full commitment to Arsenal, put the hosts ahead after just 29 seconds but the sides went in level at half-time thanks to an excellent free-kick from former Gunner Sebastian Larsson.

The game appeared destined for a draw as Arsenal proceeded to squander several good second-half chances, but Van Persie saved the Londoners' blushes with a wonderful curling free-kick nine minutes from time.

The win gave Arsenal the perfect tonic after their north London derby defeat two weeks ago, but the creaky manner in which they snuck past struggling Sunderland will do little to silence the doubters who claim the Gunners are a spent force.

Under-pressure Black Cats boss Steve Bruce, meanwhile, will rue his side's failure to convert a number of first-half opportunities and they now sit outside the drop zone only on goal difference.

 Back foot

Keen to make up for their loss at White Hart Lane, Arsenal flew out of the blocks and took an early lead.

Some Arsenal fans had still not taken their seats by the time that Gervinho got on the end of Tomas Rosicky's lobbed pass and squared to Van Persie, who took one touch before drilling low past Simon Mignolet from 18 yards to record the fastest top-flight goal of the season so far.

The strike stunned the Black Cats and they remained on the back foot for the rest of the opening half hour.

This was the Arsenal of old. Confident in possession and sturdy at the back, they pushed for a second as the away side struggled to get a touch on the ball.

Van Persie was then denied an early contender for goal of the season by the woodwork.

With 13 minutes on the clock, the Dutchman spun his marker on the edge of the box and clipped a delightful chip that sailed over Mignolet but bounced out off the post and Gervinho just missed out on the tap-in.

Full of confidence, Van Persie than flashed a powerful 20-yard drive just wide.

Gervinho was also in his pomp. The Ivory Coast man cut inside from the left flank with a clever turn and crashed a fierce shot just over.

Wojciech Szczesny then went walkabout, handing Sessegnon a glorious chance to equalise, but the winger's cross was cut out by Alex Song as the Arsenal goal lay unguarded.

Arsenal's confidence was knocked and Sunderland shocked the home crowd with a stunning equaliser from Larsson.

Break down

Mikel Arteta's handball gave the Black Cats a free-kick 20 yards out and Larsson whipped a delightful curling shot over the wall and past a sprawling Szczesny to make it 1-1.

The strike was so good that Rosicky had already started walking to the halfway line without turning his back to see if the shot had gone in.

Szczesny denied Sunderland the lead moments later when he blocked Lee Cattermole's header from six yards after an error from Carl Jenkinson allowed Sessegnon to break down the left.

The game became scrappy at the start of the second half.

Mignolet kept Van Persie's near-post effort out with his feet as Arsenal increased the pressure on the visitors.

A moment of brilliance from substitute Andrey Arshavin almost gave Arsenal the lead with just under 20 minutes left.

The Russian danced past two Sunderland defenders into the box and nutmegged Michael Turner with a shot that went a yard wide of Mignolet's goal.

Brown's clumsy challenge on Van Persie gave Arsenal another free-kick on the edge of the box with nine minutes left. The Holland international succeeded where his team-mates had failed before him by curling a brilliant set-piece into the top corner and then removing his shirt in a jubilant celebration.

Ji Dong-won was then played in to the box by Connor Wickham and slotted past Szczesny but his effort was rightly ruled out for offside.

Sunderland pushed for a second equaliser towards the end, but it never came and Wenger's side took the spoils after another nervy afternoon.

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Liverpool vs Manchester United 2011

It may not have lived up to Sir Alex Ferguson's billing as the greatest match-up in English football but Liverpool's draw at home to Manchester United was typically not without incident.

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was denied a dream return to the starting line-up when his free-kick midway through the second half was cancelled out by substitute Javier Hernandez's late header.

The England international put seven months of rehabilitation behind him after a groin operation in March by capping an assured performance in midfield with the goal which looked like extending his side's home dominance over their arch-rivals.

However, Hernandez prevented a fourth successive United defeat at Anfield - which has not happened since 1979 - to maintain his team's unbeaten record this season.

It also denied Liverpool a happier anniversary than the one they were enjoying after marking the 12 months to the day since they were bought by Americans Fenway Sports Group.

Wayne Rooney's demotion to the bench summed up his miserable week after his England sending-off and subsequent three-match ban for Euro 2012, which was the talking point before kick-off.

Torrid time

Once the match kicked off there were plenty of others - mainly in the second half - with Rio Ferdinand's disputed foul on Charlie Adam which could have resulted in the defender seeing red and United goalkeeper David de Gea's impressive performance just two.

The first half was essentially about trying to establish a grip on the match and although Liverpool had the better of that scrap early on United had done enough to restore the balance by the interval.

Both sides had chances to open the scoring with Phil Jones, playing in midfield, heading Patrice Evra's deep left-wing cross into the side-netting when he could have done better.

A similar accusation could have been levelled at Luis Suarez, who looked like he would give Rio Ferdinand a torrid time after their opening exchanges but found the United defender a worthy opponent as the half drew on.

The Uruguay international found himself with only David de Gea to beat when Charlie Adam's 34th-minute shot kindly rebounded off Jonny Evans but the striker shot straight at the goalkeeper who parried the ball to safety.

Gerrard found the midfield a little too crowded for his liking and rarely got the space or opportunity to have much impact.

Second attempt

Early in the second half Ashley Young's 25-yard free-kick briefly had Jose Reina scrambling to claim at the second attempt but the tide was gradually turning in favour of the hosts.

They felt they should have had a penalty when Dirk Kuyt's header struck the arm of Evans. And when Ferdinand, who had been booked for an earlier foul on Suarez, tripped a charging Adam with the slightest of touches as he threatened to break into the penalty area, the Liverpool fans were convinced he should have been sent off.

Gerrard, however, exacted a greater punishment when he curled home a low shot from the resulting 25-yard free-kick after Ryan Giggs left a space in the wall.

Rooney and Nani were immediately sent on, with the latter blazing a shot well over, before fellow substitute Hernandez was introduced for the final 15 minutes.

And he made his mark within six minutes of coming on as Danny Welbeck flicked on a left-wing cross and the youngster headed home unmarked at the far post.

But United were indebted to De Gea, who has come in for a fair amount of criticism in his maiden season, as the Spaniard threw himself to his left to deny Dirk Kuyt.

He was in action again in injury time when he acrobatically tipped over a shot from Henderson, with the Liverpool midfielder also having a chance to win it even later only his header from Stewart Downing's cross dropping onto the roof of the net.

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1000 days to go until Brazil 2014

Friday 16 September 2011

With just 1000 days remaining before the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ gets underway, the planet’s biggest football fiesta is entering its project-completion phase. And once this countdown is complete, the 32 participating nations will begin their epic struggle for the right to be crowned world champions for the next four years.

Brazil is already starting to look like a country that is ready to host a FIFA World Cup. Stadiums that are either modernised or brand-new are set to play host to Planet Football’s most spectacular performers spanning the 12 Host Cities. The list is as follows, with the stadium names in brackets: Belo Horizonte (Mineirao), Brasilia (Estadio Nacional), Cuiaba (Arena Pantanal), Curitiba (Arena da Baixada), Fortaleza (Castelao), Manaus (Arena da Amazonia), Natal (Arena das Dunas), Porto Alegre (Beira-Rio), Recife (Arena Pernambuco), Rio de Janeiro (Maracana), Salvador de Bahia (Arena Fonte Nova) and Sao Paulo (Arena de Sao Paulo).

However, plenty more has also been achieved since Brazil were awarded the right to host the competition back on 30 October 2007. Already 1417 days have passed since the FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter announced that Brazil would host the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

The Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the next FIFA World Cup, which was founded on 2 January 2009, has been working hard for some time to ensure everything is in place come 2014. Nearly 70 people are currently working together on the competition’s organisation, and that is without counting consultants from Arena (providers of technical support on pitches and stadiums), law firm Barbosa Mussnich & Aragao, as well as the auditors from Ernst & Young, who keep up a real-time supervision of the LOC's accounts.

Work on the stadiums continues to progress apace and even those venues that were experiencing difficulties at the start of this year, such as the Arena das Dunas and the Arena de Sao Paulo, are getting back on track in terms of the time-frame established alongside the LOC.

What is more, there have been a number of studies carried out on the match calendar for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which will be announced in October 2011. Along similar lines, other important pieces of information have also come to light, such as the location of the International Broadcast Centre (IBC), which will be situated in the Riocentre convention centre in Rio de Janeiro.

The selection process for the Official Training Pitches (COTs) is in its final phase, with more news on this expected in a matter of days. Across the country, a number of locations that could host National Team Training Centres (CTSs) are also undergoing thorough inspections, with an initial list of approved facilities to be unveiled this year. Additional signing-up periods for new facilities wishing to throw their names into the hat will be held in 2012.

Further accomplishments have been the number of seminars and studies that have been carried out in a variety of fields, such as transport and transit, playing surfaces, marketing, fan fests, security and volunteering.

In July 2011 Marina da Gloria in Rio de Janeiro hosted arguably the first major event of the 2014 FIFA World Cup – the Preliminary Draw – which set out the qualifying trail for teams across Planet Football. The event was broadcast in nearly 200 countries and offered a small taste of the joy, fun and colour that we can expect at the 2014 global showpiece on Brazilian soil.

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Aussies building for further success

Thursday 13 October 2011

Despite maintaining a perfect record after three 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ qualifiers, Australia have set their sights on further improvement over the course of the campaign.

Australia saw off Oman 3-0 on Tuesday in Sydney with a confident performance which belied three previous matches against the same opponent over the past four years, resulting in two single-goal wins for the Socceroos and a draw.

The match was also marked by a line-up that has changed significantly since the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Missing were long-serving players such as Tim Cahill, Mark Schwarzer, Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton, who were absent for a variety of reasons.

The regeneration of the Australian team under Holger Osieck has been highly successful to date, with the Socceroos suffering just one loss in their last 15 outings.

Victory in Oman next month will see Australia book progression to the fourth and final stage of Asian qualifying with two matches to spare.

“We want to go through the qualification phase with maximum points and keep building on our performances,” midfielder Mile Jedinak told FIFA.com.

“We want the best out of each other and we push each other to the maximum. I think that will continue and with that will come more assured and better football.

An early goal from Brett Holman settled nerves for the home side on Tuesday, with second-half strikes from Josh Kennedy and Jedinak completing the scoring.

It was the nature of the performance, as much as the result, which left Osieck in a satisfied mood post-match. “The boys know the direction and we still have to gain a couple of points to ensure we qualify for the next round," said Osieck.

"We are in a good way, we are a good passing team and that's what I like to see and if we carry on that way we will still raise our level of play and that is my target. I think what we did well was that even under pressure we tried to play out.

"There was always kind of triangle play, there was always opportunity to play the ball up and the guy who received the ball had the game in front of them so we could pass from there. The passing was pretty accurate, pretty crisp and that's what I want to see."

In-form attack
The team’s recent success has coincided with the prolific form in front of goal for the Japan-based Kennedy. A close-range finish against Oman means the beanpole striker has now bagged eight goals in his last five international matches. Kennedy, currently top goalscorer in the J.League, is enjoying a fruitful combination alongside Holman with the AZ Alkmaar attacker providing an assist for his colleague in each of the last two matches.

Kennedy concurs with Osieck’s view that the team’s passing style of the team is a key reason behind the team’s development. "The way we play in Japan (at Nagoya Grampus Eight), knocking the ball around, and the way Holger wants to play, with support up front and playing football and keeping possession, it all adds up," said Kennedy. "It makes a huge difference all around the park, not just up front.

"We're in a great position, so hopefully we finish it off in November," said the in-form attacker. "That's definitely the goal. We're scoring plenty of goals, so there's no reason we can't.”

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