Reports by ERIC SAMUEL

KUALA LUMPUR: Mohd Amri Yahyah could not have asked for a more memorable return to international football after scoring twice in the 2-3 friendly against English Premier League giants Manchester United at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

The 28-year-old, back in action after a three-year absence, will go down in Malaysian football history as the first player from the national team to score against the Red Devils.

His first was a real cracker, volleying the ball from a distant past United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar in stoppage time in the first-half.

His second came courtesy of a mistake by United’s second choice goalkeeper Ben Foster, who lost his footing in trying to retrieve a back pass from Darren Gibson. This allowed Amri to beat the keeper to the bal

“This is one of my greatest moments ... I will surely treasure it. To score not one but two goals against one of the top clubs in the world is simply amazing,” said Amri after the game.

For his first goal, Amri said it was down to studying Van der Sar’s game.

“He likes to come off his line and, when I had the opportunity, I took a swipe at goal and to my surprise it sailed into the back of the net,” said Amri, who was grateful for the slip-up by Foster for his second goal.

“The moment he (Foster) tripped, I sensed an opening and I burst past him and he was slow to react. It was an easy goal,” said Amri, who thanked national coach K. Rajagopal for giving him the break by calling him up after a three-year lapse.

Amri has been going great guns with Selangor, having led the state team to victory in the Charity Shield and the FA Cup. Selangor are also two matches away from wrapping up the Super League crown.

Rajagopal said it was difficult to leave out Amri following his consistent performances for the Red Giants in the last couple of seasons.

“He (Amri) has a knack for getting the goals and that is what makes him a different player. He has been quite effective with Selangor and has deservingly won his place in the national team now,” said Rajagopal, who had only included four senior players in the national team, which comprised mostly Under-23 players.

Here's what I think so funny, just dont take it seriously...

After a cracking games against Man Utd, one name singing at lips of every Malaysian as selangor born Yahyah, Amri are reported transfer target for the former European Champion as possible reliable and most definite replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.

A fees worth RM50K are seen enough to tempt the Selangor's player to seek pasture new at Old Trafford. Man Utd's representative are seen going to Tanjung Karang to finalise the deals. A cracking volley from 35yards are been compared to ones scored by Ronaldo "I'm already at Madrid" at Estadio do Dragao and the 2nd that even Tevez"Bye bye Fergie, Ai Ai City" will approved as persistant and industrious desire to score goals.

Further news will follows....

Hahahahaha...

Pepe Reina, Alvaro Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso are all being monitored by Atletico de Madrid as the Spanish outfit are keen to make a triple bid in the summer to land them all.

Atletico de Madrid are considering making an approach for Pepe Reina, Alvaro Arbeloa and Xabi Alonso from Liverpool, but may wait to see what happens to Rafael Benitez, according to a report in AS.

Los Colchoneros are already drawing up plans for next season's squad and the Anfield trio are the main players that the club believe can bolster their squad.

Last summer Atletico coach Javier Aguirre wanted a playmaking midfielder and pinpointed Alonso only for him to appear to be ready to go to Juventus, before the Italian outfit opted to Christian Poulsen instead.

Now the Mexican trainer is intent on attracting Alonso to compliment the impressive forward line of Sergio Agüero, Diego Forlan, Mai and Simao.

Benitez would probably not want all three of the Spanish players to leave Liverpool if he were to stay but a new manager may allow them to go to raise funds.


That may be the only way that Atletico could prise Reina away as they are desperate to land the son of goalkeeper, Miguel Reina, who played in the 1974 European Cup Final.

Arbeloa may prove to be an easier proposition, but even the Spanish international defender is seen as a vital squad member by the Merseyside outfit.

One way that the club could be assured to having a chance of signing the trio would be to make Benitez the coach and that could be a realistic proposition towards the end of the season.

 Real Madrid?? Bring it on...I guess this is the fairest draw of all...all the big clubs met each other...

Im so glad....

 Alan Hansen may have been horribly wrong in his assessment all those years ago, but Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger , having championed his kids for so long, finally appears to have come round to the Scotsman's school of thought.

Arsenal have struggled for consistency so far this season, a fault has been attributed to a lack of experience in the side, particularly in midfield where fellow team-mates have even started tackling each other in dying moments of games.

Wenger may be one of Fabregas's fans but the Gunners boss has realised his new captain, just 21, needs a helping hand from a more experienced sidekick in the middle of the park.

Enter Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso.

Wenger is a keen admirer of the Spain international; the Gunners would have snapped him up last summer if it were not for Aston Villa's refusal to allow Gareth Barry to go to Anfield.

But having continued to impress this season, and with Liverpool still interested in Barry, Wenger is preparing to make another bid for Alonso once the transfer window opens in January. The Daily Mirror claims a fee of £12 million should be enough to tempt Rafa Benitez to part with his countryman.

Liverpool staged a miraculous comeback thanks to two goals in the final five minutes of the game, including a winner four minutes into injury time. Goal.com rates the performers on the pitch.

LIVERPOOL  

Reina – 6: Made a stunning one handed save from an Andrew Taylor half-volley. Also made a shocking blunder that almost allowed Boro to score a second late in the game.

Arbeloa – 6: Contributed little in attack. Struggled to keep Downing in check and struggled even more against Mido.

Carragher – 7: Completely bamboozled by Tuncay and he would be relieved the Turk did not finish. Will be even more relieved to score the equalizer, with a little help from Pogatetz.

Skrtel – 6: Never looked convincing. But still managed to keep Alfonso Alves extremely quiet throughout the game. His weakness was really exposed when the pacier, trickier Mido was on the pitch.

Dossena – 7: Lively on the left early on with some amazing runs forward. Would have endeared himself to the Kop by getting up from a vicious knock with Aliadiere to keep on battling.

Kuyt – 7: Kept switching between the role of a right winger and a second striker. As usual, worked tireless to link up the midfield and attack.

Gerrard – 7: Other than a brief five to ten minute appearance in each half, he was completely anonymous. Yet, he still managed to pop up right at the end with the winner.

Alonso – 7: Battled hard in midfield. Reverted to his more defensive role after his attacking adventures with the national side midweek. Couldn’t get his long range passing hooked up.

Benayoun – 5: Another player who went completely missing for long periods of the game. Barely created anything for his forwards the entire 60+ minutes he was on. One to forget for the Israeli international.

Keane – 7.5: Had great understanding with Torres, Gerrard, Kuyt. Played almost as a playmaker in the second half, bombing in crosses and passes everywhere. Didn’t have too many look-ins at goal but still an extremely solid all-round performance.

Torres – 7: Showed plenty of pace and strength to trouble the Boro backline. Had a few decent scoring chances but could not put them away. ‘Pool fans will be highly encouraged to see his partnership with Keane blossoming sweetly already.

Substitutes:

Babel – 5.5: Just like the man he replaced, Benayoun, simply could not get into the game. Barely had a single touch of the ball.

Aurelio – 6: Brought on to shore up the backline and also to add some fresh legs and options in attack.

El Zhar – N/A

MIDDLESBROUGH 

Turnbull – 7: A last minute inclusion to replace the injured Brad Jones and made a few crucial early saves. Hapless to stop the equalizer and had not chance to stop Gerrard’s winner.

Wheater – 7.5: Pinned back by Dossena’s advances early in the game. Saw more of him in attack in the later stages but did superbly to cancel Benayoun and then Babel.

Huth – 7: Coped well with the double team of Torres and Keane. Showed great bravery to intercept the Spaniard and got a kick in the face for his troubles. Looked a bit shaky late in the game.

Pogatetz – 7.5: Always at the right place at the right time to intercept everything Liverpool could muster, whether it was a shot, a cross or a pass, or Carragher’s shot-cum-cross which unfortunately ended up in the back of his own net.

Taylor – 6.5: Popped up everywhere on the pitch along the left channel. Played almost as a midfielder with the space and time he was afforded going forward.

Aliadiere – 7: Had an intriguing battle with Dossena early on. Drifted off in the middle of the game but came back strongly and looked very dangerous against a tiring Liverpool back four.

O’Neil – 7: Held up the midfield really well to break up Liverpool’s attack. Kept Gerrard out of the contest for large periods but as the incessant pressure mounted towards the end, he just tailed off.

Shawky – 6.5: Worked together well with O’Neil in the centre of the park. Didn’t see to much of the ball but he ran tirelessly.

Downing – 7: As usual, always a menace when he had the ball at his feet down the flanks but when it came to an end product, he failed to deliver.

Tuncay – 7: Could have scored one of the best goals of the round when he turned Carragher audaciously. Almost anonymous when Alves was on but as soon as Mido stepped in, he was a different player.

Alves – 4: Only had a number of half chances, if you can even call it that. Not surprised to see him taken off on the hour.

Substitutes:

Mido – 8: Made an immediate impact after coming on. He was fast, tricky to handle and he brought the best out of his teammates including Tuncay and Aliadiere. Scored a stunning goal but so unfortunate to end up on the losing side.

Hoyte – 5: Just could not help his defence hang on for the draw.

 

Digard – N/A

 Honestly...im totally dissapointed on their first two match...2 poor game but still get maximum points..sounds lucky??? damn,it is true.....

Resource :  http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=831248

The Italian club have been in negotiations to sign the skilful wideman all summer, and it was even, wrongly, reported last month that the transfer had been completed.

However, over the past few weeks talk about a transfer had died down, with Inter unprepared to pay the reported €40m that Porto were demanding.

Earlier this week it was reported in the Italian press that the transfer could be back on after Porto dropped their demands by almost half, and Inter upped their own offer from €17m to €20m.

However, the Corriere dello Sport today claims that the Italian champions now face competition from Premiership giants Liverpool, who have entered the race for Quaresma late in the day.

Reds manager Rafa Benitez wants to make one exciting signing before the end of the transfer window on August 31, and he has now almost given up on primary target Gareth Barry. Instead he will now move for Quaresma, a player he admires greatly, and has been linked with in the past.

Quaresma is desperate to leave Porto, and last week was left out of the squad for the Supercup match against Sporting Lisbon, despite not being injured.

The 25-year-old has won 23 caps for Portugal, and was part of his country’s Euro 2008 squad.

Resource: http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=829539

What a game...I never thought that Brazil got defeated easily by Argentina...two goals from Aguero and another goal by Riquelme...so,the final will be Argentina and Nigeria

Here's an interesting fact...
-Lucas Leiva and Thiago Neves were sent off at the end of the game for fouling same player. Guess who?? Mascherano la...hahah... usually we saw Monster Masch tackling people but this time he got tackled by others...hope Lucas and Mascherano won't fight like Rooney and Ronaldo...

P/S: I prefer the Argentinian coz they don't have any Man Utd player..Brazil got Anderson so he can go home without gold medal..Liverpool still have their Mascherano as representative for this Olympic edition....nice one!!!!

-Samir Nasri scored on his first debut of premier league...he really suits Arsenal playing style

-Middlesbrough beat Tottenham ?? what a game....poor Tuncay for being substituted,he really play well for me...

-Poor Stoke...easily conceded 3 goal on the 1st half...

-Damn Dean Ashton...his 1st goal really shocked me..a cracker from inside penalty box.

-Everton....haha..poor for coz lost the 1st game in front of your fan...your home ground. How come Ooijer is there??/

-Fernando Torres!!! one chance and he burried it perfectly...poor Keane for not having a good game,hope he can improve it next time...Alonso,thanks for changing the game...Plessis,he's play style remind me of Sissoko...hahahhaa....

-Hoho...Hungry Hull !!! credit for them for winning their first game,another scrappy goal from Geovani [just like what he did to Man U]

-A cracker from Deco !!!!! Why James did't use his another hand coz he tapping it into his own net...Portsmouth,please wake up....use your Crouch!!!!

-First hatrick of this season goes to........Agbonlahor!!!!! poor game by Manchester City, im looking forward to see Manchester City play using Jo as their main strike force... 

-Poor Man U, they lack of offensive power...Ronaldo is injured and where is Tevez??? A good start for Toons new signing, Jonas and Coloccini....

 p/s: can't wait for incoming matches !!!!

There is growing speculation in the English media that Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole could move to Liverpool.

Reports from the Middle East indicate that Dubai International Capital (DIC) are ready to re-launch their Liverpool takeover bid, as tensions mount between manager Rafael Benitez and the club's current owners...