Scoreboards

At the start of the English Premier League this season, everybody expected players like Rooney, Fabregas, Drogba and the all other big names to be the big performers over the season, however nobody expected the players (in this article) to make such an impact this season. In a soccer scoreboards feature, I have looked at the top four unsung heroes of the 2010-2011season.

Maxi Rodriguez
This Argentine player has played a BIG role in Liverpool’s success this season. He has been amazing for large parts of it and a big reason for their second half (of the year) recovery. He has scored a hatrick twice this season and has scored seven goals in just the last three games. He wasn’t in form at the start and he had a very mediocre first few weeks, but now he is THE man who should be feared in the Liverpool team because he fast is on his way to becoming the STAR of the team.

In a soccer scoreboards feature, I have looked at the career (so far!) of one of the brightest new talents in Spanish soccer: David de Gea.

The success of Spain in the Euro Cup and the World Cup has bought the Spanish football players into the limelight, and they truly deserve it. Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol, Villa and Casillas are the top Spanish players and have all been on top form this season. Casillas played a major role in the victory of Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey title. Spain has produced many great players and the rise this season of another Spanish star David de Gea comes as no surprise.

The much awaited 1st leg of the UEFA Champions League Semifinal is over. Manchester United and Barcelona won their respective matches. Manchester United defeated Schalke, with the soccer scoreboards showing 2-0 and Barcelona defeated their arch rivals in an intense match 2-0. The 2nd leg of the Semifinals will be played on the 3rd and 4th of May.

It was the third El Clasico played in the past 15 days and as expected it was full of tension, drama and controversy. Everyone has questioned Mourinho’s defensive team selection and tactics. It seemed that he never planned to attack Barcelona, and instead waited for them to make mistakes which his team could take advantage of. Mourinho decided to go with three defensive midfielders, but had he gone with a more attacking starting line up the result may well have been different, and the game more watchable! Barcelona were without Iniesta in the 1st leg, a fact which Real Madrid completely failed to take advantage of.

The UEFA Champions League is the most prestigious soccer tournament in the world, and it has the world’s most expensive players. The richest clubs are willing to pay more and more for the world’s top class players in the hope that they will bring the trophy home to their cabinet. In a soccer scoreboards feature, I have listed the most highly paid players who will be playing in the quarterfinals of the Champions league.

Frank Lampard (£6.6 million)
Like every other owner, Chelsea’s owner Roman Abromovich wants his team to win this year’s Champions League and for that he is willing to pay the midfielder Lampard an amount that he arguably does not deserve. Clearly his performances are not up to the mark, nor is he consistent, and the amount paid to him could surely buy a more prolific midfielder. Lampard has himself admitted that he is out of form and is not an automatic choice for his team. Regardless of my criticism, he remains one of the highest paid of them all in the world of soccer!

Every soccer scoreboards football fan is eagerly waiting for these 4 matches that will be played between the two greatest club rivals in the soccer world, Barcelona and Real Madrid. These two teams have given a lot to the game of football and contain many of the world’s best players in their respective teams. When these two teams come out to play its not only the players who are playing against each other: the managers and the fans are play against each other too. It’s a psychological battle between everyone in the stadium, and its 90 minutes of pure footballing heaven.

The 2nd leg of the champions’ league quarterfinals is over. The soccer scoreboards show that Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Schalke are in the final four. None of the matches were close. Barcelona defeated Shakhtar with an aggregate score of 6-1, Real Madrid defeated Tottenham with an aggregate score of 5-0, Manchester United defeated Chelsea with an aggregate score of 3-1 and Schalke lit up the soccer scoreboards, defeating Inter Milan by an aggregate score of 7-3.

The great-unheralded position in soccer is defense. Not glamorous in any way, it is regardless attracts an endless stream of incredible athletes. Bigger, faster and stronger than they have even been, the best of the best create an almost impenetrable wall for the attackers. In a soccer scoreboards feature, I have taken a look at who I consider to be the top 5 defenders in the World, in no particular order.

It’s high time that the FIFA agrees to the installation of video technology. The number of controversial decisions is increasing match by match and these wrong decisions can be match changing. We know that ‘to err is human,’ however these errors could be prevented by using the video technology. Anyway, until that time comes there will be plenty of fodder for articles like these! In a soccer scoreboards feature, I have taken a look at the most controversial and worst refereeing decisions made in the history of soccer.

Professional footballers can get themselves in the headlines for their off the field acts just as well as for their on field acts. At times these off field acts can be crazy and outrageous, and they show the fans that footballers can be an entirely different breed. In a soccer scoerboards feature, I have taken a look at some of the footballers’ craziest acts from recent years:

Ashley Cole
Chelsea’s defender managed to get himself in the news for shooting, and not with a camera! Now you must be wondering ‘How is that possible?’ Well, Ashley Cole was said to be larking around with a .22 caliber air rifle, and he shot a Loughborough University student, Tom Cowan. This is not the first time that Cole has got himself into serious trouble. He drew negative attention to himself when he was caught cheating on his celebrity wife and when he almost crashed his car after being extremely frustrated when he was offered a measly £50,000.

We are just a few weeks away from the finalizing of this season's Barclays Premier League and there as yet hasn’t been much debate on who will win the PFA player of the year. A year ago the big favourite was Wayne Rooney, but as of now there is no real favorite. Here is a soccer scoerboards list of probable PFA players of the year:

With the season coming to an end, the best players in the world are lined up to shine in the world’s biggest club competition, the Champions league, and in their respective national leagues. In this article, I have reviewed some of the top players whom we expect to light up the soccer scoreboards across Europe in the next few weeks.

Samir Nasri
Apart from the fact that Nasri has been hit by injuries this year, he has performed like never before for Arsenal. He is a key player for the club and has 14 goals to his name. According to Zidane, Nasri is the bright future of French football, and this season he is showing us why Zidane said that. But can he reach the amazing heights of the great Zidane? Arsenal NEED to win the Premiership this season, and for that they need Nasri on top form!

We are now in the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League, where each tie consists of two legs with one home game for each team. As we are in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League. In a soccer scoreboards feature, I have taken a look at the best midfielders left in the league:

5. Theo Walcott and Andrei Arshavin

There are players who are not that great midfielders on their own, but when they pair up with another midfielder they make a deadly combination. This is the case for Arsenal’s Walcott and Arshavin. Walcott started off the season incredibly well and is arguably having his best season ever with 7 goals already to his name in the league. The soccer scoreboards show that Arshavin joined the gunners in January 2009 and since then has been one of the key players for the team. His impact is evident from the fact that the gunners have not lost a single match out of the 13 matches Arshavin has played in (as of February).