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HUNK OF THE DAY!!! + Photo Manip of the Day (Wednesday, March 25, 2009)

Tuesday, 24 March 09, 10:08 PM

Hello my fellow hunk lovers. First off, I would like to say THANK YOU! for making my last post (about the engagement ring) a featured post. You guys are amazing, so thank you. Secondly, I want to thank the couple of people who have found, and watched me on deviantArt. Thank you and your support is amazing! :)

So, to the hunk of the day. Today, I am going a tad older with the hunk, but when I found the first couple of pics, I was thinking to myself, "WOW! He has to be hunk of the day!" So, let me intorduce to you the latest addition to the hunky brotherhood, Fernando Meira!!

WOW! All I have to say is WOW! ;)

They make SUCH a cute couple, don't they!? ;)

This is Fernando Meira!! According to our friends at Wikipedia:

Fernando José da Silva Freitas Meira, known as Fernando Meira, (born 5 June 1978 in Guimarães), is a Portuguese football player who currently plays for Russian club Zenit.

He has won numerous caps for the Portugal national football team and is a regular in the national side's defence. After being left out of the squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he earned a recall under new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

He began his career with Vitória Guimarães in 1995–96 and spent two further seasons there before moving to second division Felgueiras on loan. In 1998–99 Meira played 33 league games as Felgueiras narrowly missed out on promotion, finishing fifth, before returning to Vitória Guimarães for another fine season in which he scored his first goal in league football.

VfB Stuttgart

2000-2002

In 2000, Benfica paid 4 million euros (€) (plus a player) for him in summer 2000 and the defender did not disappoint, earning the club captaincy and bolstering his reputation to the point that VfB Stuttgart paid 7.5 million euros (€) for his skills in January 2002. Stuttgart's general manager, Rolf Rüssmann, described the player as a "trophy" signing.

2002-2003

In the 2002-03 season, Stuttgart coach Felix Magath fielded Fernando Meira in 31 Bundesliga matches, and only a suspension prevented him from featuring in all 34 as the club finished second (behind FC Bayern Munich) to clinch a place in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. He missed two UEFA Cup matches, including the home defeat by Celtic, and scored 1 goal in the second round match against Ferencváros (second leg).

2006-2008

In 2006, Meira became the captain of Stuttgart, making him the first Portuguese captain in the Bundesliga. It was one of the highest moments in his career. In 2006-07, Stuttgart won the Bundesliga trophy, making it the first time the team won it in 15 years and the first domestic league title for the captain Meira in his entire career, and, he also was DFB Pokal finalist in the same season. Meira played 24 games, including the 2006-07 DFB Pokal final, and scored 3 goals in that season.

Fernando Meira made 173 league appearances and scored 11 goals, in his Stuttgart campaign, one of the best club defenders ever.

Galatasaray

On 20 July 2008, at the end of the 2007–08 season, VfB Stuttgart removed Meira of the team captaincy and announced their intention to sell the player. Shortly afterwards, on 22 July 2008, Meira signed with Turkish club Galatasaray for 4.5 million euros (€) a four year contract. Meira made 38 appearances in all competitions, and he won the 2008 Turkish Super Cup.

Zenit St. Petersburg

Zenit have found an agreement for Meira's transfer to the Russian club. The Portuguese player, previously tracked by Juventus and Liverpool, will wear number 3 when previously belonged to Martin Skrtel. Meira made his league debut on March 15th in a 1-1 draw against Spartak Moscow.

International career

Meira made his international debut in 2000 but failed to secure a regular position until the 2006 World Cup. The defender played in all of Portugal's seven games in the tournament, finishing fourth overall. The player continued to be a regular fixture in the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament in Austria and Switzerland, appearing in all of Portugal's group stage games. However he did not feature in their quarter final match against Germany. Portugal lost the game and Germany went on to the final of the tournament.

****Photo Manip of the Day****

For today's manip, I decided to go with the Madrid theme I have had recently and show you this little work of art. :)

Enjoy! Anyway, off to bed to dream about a certain Spainard who is having a baby girl. Ta-ta.

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Zenit v. Juventus Final Whistle Report---Zenit ARE Out

Tuesday, 25 November 08, 01:46 PM

FC Zenit St. Petersburg missed a chance to further their claim for a top-two finish in Group H after a goalless home draw against already-qualified Juventus.

Resolute display
Needing a victory to leapfrog Real Madrid CF – who lead Zenit by a point ahead of their match at FC BATE Borisov – Dick Advocaat's side dominated possession for long periods. Yet it was their resolute visitors who passed up the best opportunities, hitting the woodwork twice in the first half, leaving Zenit without a victory from their three home matches and Russia without a group-stage win since 17 October 2006.

Early chance
Zenit made just one change from the team which won at BATE on Matchday 4, with Nicolas Lombaerts drafted in for his UEFA Champions League debut in place of the suspended Sébastien Puygrenier, and it was the Belgian defender's foul which led to the first opening on two minutes. Vincenzo Iaquinta lured the Zenit No6 into a challenge on the touchline and from Mauro Camoranesi's ensuing free-kick, Iaquinta headed over from six metres. The Bianconeri could have forged ahead seven minutes later. Making only his third appearance since coming back from an nine-month injury lay-off, Lombaerts again felled Iaquinta in an almost identical position to the first incident. And from another Camoranesi set-piece, Olof Mellberg rose highest to head against the outside of the far post.

Zenit escape
Speculative long-range efforts aside, Zenit were creating little and it was the woodwork which came to their rescue once more midway through the half when Pavel Nedvěd played in Cristian Molinaro, whose cut-back was fired against the post by Iaquinta. Zenit continued to play some neat football but with Juve defending in packs, clear sights of the Serie A team's goal were scarce. They did, however, have the ball in net six minutes before half-time, only for the assistant referee's raised flag to curtail Ivica Križanac's celebrations.

Swift break
Possession at the break was 64-36 in Zenit's favour, a sign of how pressing their need for a goal was, yet they were nearly behind within seconds of the restart following a swift Juventus break. Up from right-back, Zdeněk Grygera crossed for Alessandro Del Piero, whose volley was beaten out by Vyacheslav Malafeev. At the other end, Danny's bending shot forced Alex Manninger to tip around the post. The Juve captain then tested Malafeev twice before guiding Iaquinta's pull-back wide with the goal at his mercy.

Zenit pressure
Led by Danny, Zenit continued to probe for the goal which would ignite their Group H campaign, and it was the Portuguese playmaker who thought he had it only to be denied by a last-ditch tackle from Claudio Marchisio. Pogrebnyak then fired a long-range shot against the base of Manninger's right-hand post as Zenit went for broke, while Danny's toe-poke drifted agonisingly wide with six minutes left.

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Juventus V. Zenit Champions League Match Preview

Monday, 24 November 08, 01:35 PM

(Match to be played Tuesday)

Juventus assured themselves of a place in the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds with home and away victories against Real Madrid CF so the focus for their Matchday 5 game in Russia is trained firmly on FC Zenit St. Petersburg, who will be hoping they can overtake the Spanish champions to move into second place in Group H.

• To do that the Russian hosts must beat Juventus and hope Madrid lose at FC BATE Borisov. A maiden UEFA Champions League victory against BATE on Matchday 4 will put Zenit in good heart and they will be ready to take advantage should Juventus be tempted to ease up now they are assured of going beyond the group stage.

• A superb goal in each half from captain Alessandro Del Piero gave the Turin club a notable victory at the Santiago Bernabéu on Matchday 4 and completed a memorable double for Claudio Ranieri's team. Del Piero took advantage of hesitant Madrid defending to curl in the opener early in the first half and then effectively ended the home challenge with a trademark free-kick midway through the second period.

• On the same evening Pavel Pogrebnyak ended his goal drought with a finely taken first-half strike to silence the Dinamo Stadium and set up Zenit's 2-0 victory away to the newly-crowned Belarussian champions BATE. Sébastien Puygrenier was sent off midway through the second half but Dick Advocaat's team stayed in charge and Danny scored the second goal four minutes into stoppage time.

• Zenit gave a good account of themselves in the Turin meeting between the teams on Matchday 1 and only looked under threat from set-pieces. That ultimately led to their defeat, Del Piero scoring from a direct free-kick with 14 minutes remaining. After that, at home to Madrid, the UEFA Cup holders were put on the back foot by an Tomáš Hubočan own goal. Danny equalised before the nine-time European champions got their noses in front again as Ruud van Nistelrooy took advantage of more defensive uncertainty and that was enough to secure the points for the visitors.

• In Zenit's first game with BATE, a home defeat looked on the cards after substitute Pavel Nekhaychik had scored on 53 minutes. Zenit had earlier struck the woodwork twice and passed up a host of other opportunities, but finally drew level when Fatih Tekke evaded the offside trap to fire past Sergei Veremko.

• Meanwhile the Bianconeri followed up their defeat of Zenit on 17 September by drawing 2-2 away to BATE, although even a point looked beyond them after 23 minutes when they trailed 2-0 to goals by Sergei Kryvets and Igor Stasevich. Then Vincenzo Iaquinta put away a header followed by a low shot, both before half-time, to earn the visitors a draw.

• Zenit's only previous contest with an Italian team came in the 1999/00 UEFA Cup first round when they lost 3-0 at home to Bologna FC in the first leg. Some respectability was restored as the Russian side drew 2-2 in Italy.

• Juventus have met Russian opponents on two previous occasions in European competition and have a 100 per cent record in the away matches. In the first round of the 1993/94 UEFA Cup they faced FC Lokomotiv Moskva and had things mostly their own way, winning 3-0 at home and 1-0 away. Their 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup semi-final with FC Rostov proved even more comfortable, the Italian side recording a 4-0 away victory before a 5-1 success at home.

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