THE FIRST TIME POLAND HAS EVER DEFEATED GERMANY…
Becoming world champions for the fourth time, defeating the illustrious Brazil 7-1 in their own back yard along the way before returning to the adulation of a million people at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin — 2014 has been just about the perfect year for Germany’s football stars. But things didn’t quite go to plan on Saturday as Joachim Low’s side was defeated 2-0 by a well organized Poland in Euro 2016 qualifying. The result marks the first time Poland has ever defeated Germany — a fact not lost on the raucous home crowd who seemed to expend as much energy singing and shouting over the course of this pulsating Group D match as their heroes did on the pitch. After a goalless first half, Arkadiusz Milik gave the Poles the lead in the 50th minute, rising to nod beyond Germany goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer. Poland’s star-striker Robert Lewandoski then showed great strength to hold-off former Borussia Dortmund teammate Erik Durm late on before squaring to substitute Sebastian Mila who arrowed a fine strike beyond Neuer to make sure of the win
INDIAN SUPER LEAGUE
On Sunday, about 100,000 Indian spectators — including a bevy of India’s top celebrities and corporate bigwigs — will p ack into a stadium to watch two teams go at each other with everything they’ve got. No, it’s not cricket. It’s not even hockey. It’s football and the all-new, swish, Indian Super League. The 10-week tournament features mostly Indian players, but also a number of “marquee” European soccer stars, admittedly out of their prime but still huge draws: former Juventus strikers Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet, and former Arsenal attackers Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg. The stated aim of the league is to promote the beautiful game in India, a country of 1.2 billion people that has long languished in football’s global rankings –158th in the world on FIFA’s latest list.
USA SWIMMER, PHELPS, ON MONDAY SUSPENDED
Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian ever, for six months and said he won’t be on next year’s U.S. team at the world championships. The 22-time Olympic medalist also won’t be paid his monthly stipen d, USA Swimming said on its website. The organization said Phelps, who was charged with DUI last week in Maryland, had violated its code of conduct. “Michael accepts USA Swimming’s sanctions. He has apologized for his actions and, as he shared yesterday, is taking steps to address them,” a spokesperson from his management company, Octagon, told CNN. Octagon said Phelps had entered a six-week, in- patient treatment program . Phelps announced Sunday on Twitter that he is taking a break from the sport “to attend a program that will provide the help I need to better understand myself.
BRAZIL DEFEATS ARGENTINA
Lionel Messi missed a penalty as Brazil defeated Argentina 2-0 in the Superclasico de Las Americas friendly fixture in Beijing Saturday. Goals either side of half-time from Diego Tardelli were enough to ensure Brazil trumped its great South American rival for the first time since 2012. A mix up in the Argentina defense enabled Atletico Miniero midfielder Tardelli to carefully place a volley beyond Argentina keeper Sergio Romero after 28 minutes. Messi then had the chance to draw la Albiceleste level after Angel Di Maria was brought down in the box just before half time. But the Barcelona star’s tame penalty was easily saved by Jefferson in the Brazil goal.
RACISM IN FOOTBALL
It’s a problem which is there in black and white. There are 92 professional clubs in the English Football League — but just two of those are led by black managers and according to the latest English Football Association report, while there are only 15 black or ethnic minority coaches working across the professional game. It is a damning statistic which shames English football and the FA’s chairman Greg Dyke says that must change with the FA currently discussing the merits of the Rooney rule which is used in the NFL as a way of bringing more black or ethnic minorities into the sport. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho recently said “there is no racism in football” but Dyke, who took over from David Bernstein in July 2013, is concerned about minority representation saying English football must implement its own Rooney rule. “It has to happen,” Greg Dyke, chairman of the FA told CNN, referring to the rule, which was introduced in the U.S. states to ensure teams should interview at least one black of ethnic minority candidate. In the U.S. the number of black assistant coaches working in NFL rose from 14 in 1980 to 199 out of 610 in 2012 — a rise of 32.6%.
