That Bloke In The Big Smoke

As you can see the two main clusters were Greater London and Merseyside-Greater Manchester. [2006-07 Premiership Season]

Tonight is Liverpool's biggest match of the season and if we win, we will play either Man Utd or AC Milan in the Champions League final in Athens on 23rd May. But! We can also win and still be chucked out due to the away-goals rule. And if we lose, we will end the season trophyless.

After their 1-0 narrow victory in the 1st leg at home last week, Chelsea hold the advantage, but don't rule out the Reds. In recent years, Liverpool has come back from behind and defeated such giants as AC Milan (albeit on penalties) and Barcelona.

The game promises to be bombastic on paper but it could be a scrappy free-for-all if Liverpool manages to slip in an early goal. Chelsea will obviously be looking to capitalize on counter-attacking opportunities as one presumes Liverpool will come out all guns blazing. But who among us knows anything until the match actually kicks-off? Nobody, i presume.

Even for the neutral viewer, the match should be worth watching, if only for the sake of witnessing yet another Steven Gerrard-classic goal. It's matches like these that brings out the best in one of the world's top midfielders. Even if you don't watch it, I most certainly will (Indian Cable TV & Electricity-willing of course). :)

GO LIVERPOOL! YNWA!!

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EDIT @ HALF-TIME: (Liverpool 1 - 0 Chelsea)

Wow! It's even-stevens on aggregate at Anfield. A skillful free-kick slotted home by Danish defender, Daniel Agger, puts us ahead at halftime. No doubt, one of the many tactics devised by Rafa, and practiced to perfection in the training ground. Now I'm more nervous than ever. Every Chelski goal from here will necessitate 2 Liverpool goals just to force extra-time, and 3 goals to go through on aggregate. Can messrs Carra & Agger handle the pressure and carry us through to another glorious night of European glory?

Find out on this journal in less than an hour!

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UPDATE @ FULL-TIME: (Liverpool 1 - 0 Chelsea)

Extra-time! Another update in just over a half hour.

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UPDATE AFTER EXTRA-TIME: (Liverpool 1 - 0 Chelsea)

I hate penalties!!!

LIVERPOOL 4 - 1 Arsenal

Superb victory at Anfield to swap places with Arsenal and move back into 3rd position. They have a game in hand but the pressure's on them to recover quickly from this awesome thrashing.

Big game in Eindhoven on Tuesday.

They call Football the Beautiful Game, but last night's game was not beautiful - only the result was! Rafa Benitez & Liverpool FC had never lost at Camp Nou and yesterday was no exception. History repeated itself as The Reds secured a famous 2-1 victory over European champions, FC Barcelona. Ironically, the two goals were scored and set up by the pair who were in the news for all the wrong reasons last week, John Arne Riise & Craig Bellamy.

The Catalan giants will be gutted after maintaining most of the possession and catching Liverpool napping on numerous occasions. There were two key moments in the 1st half that could've put the game beyond the Merseysiders as Saviola was wrongly adjudged offside with only the goalkeeper to beat and Ronaldinho refused a penalty after being blocked in the box.

Liverpool too missed some golden chances, including a Bellamy header in the 1st half & a Kuyt header in the 2nd. But Barca kept pushing forward & towards the end, Deco nearly curled a free kick into the far post corner as the ball passed Reina, spun into the woodwork & away for a goal kick.

90,000+ culers couldn't sway the result as Liverpool head to Anfield with not only a win under their belt, but the crucial, 2 away-goal advantage. It's matches like these that football fans live to die for. And I can already hear the Kop singing the Spanish death knell...

LFC ZINDABAD!

LIVERPOOL 2 - 0 Chelsea
OMAN 2 - 1 Kuwait

What better birthday gift could I have received than watching The Reds DEFEAT Chelski FC 2-0 @ Anfield. Then switching to the Gulf Cup, I witnessed the goal of the tournament as Oman overcame nine-times champion, Kuwait in Abu Dhabi.

On Wednesday, Oman defeated hosts UAE 2-1 and so with two victories in three games, they qualify for the semi-finals. In the last edition held in Qatar, Oman were unlucky to lose to the hosts in the final on penalties. That was the first time they made the final, can they go one step further this time?

18th Football Gulf Cup Scores
18th Football Gulf Cup (Wikipedia)
Gulf Cup Summary (Wikipedia)

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PS How do you say "Congratulations" in Arabic? Shukran Jazeeran

AFC ASIAN CUP 2007 QUALIFIERS:
Pakistan 1 - 4 Oman
India 0 - 3 Saudi Arabia

INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES
England 4 - 0 Greece
Italy 0 - 2 Croatia

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Sheffield United 1 - 1 Liverpool FC

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I'm glad Oman gave a good account of themselves in the thrashing of Pakistan, and any defeat of the world's most dangerous country is always very welcome. That being said, India didn't fare much better against Saudi Arabia, English coach et al.

Good victory for England against the ageing European Champions, Greece in Old Trafford. Interestingly, nearly half the stadium was empty and that fuckface, Lampard scored. Italy meanwhile, fielded a 3rd string team against Croatia under new coach, Donadoni, and paid the price for it.

Most disappointingly of all however, was the result at Bramall Lane. After going behind to Sheff Utd, Liverpool were awarded a controversial late penalty, with Gerrard supposedly diving.

Either way, a most annoying way to start the new season. Several pundits have predicted us to win the title this year! I hope the injuries suffered by Riise & Carra are not serious.

Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea (Riise 9, Crouch 80)


I know the Community Shield victory is nothing to brag home about, but every victory over Chelsea is as sweet as the perfumes of Arabia.

It's rather ironic that the morning's gossip included a potential £15 million bid by Chelsea for Liverpool's awesome Norwegian left-winger, John Arne Riise.

Pepe Reina, Liverpool goalkeeper, was used as a central midfielder against Kaiserslautern during a pre-season friendly due to a lack of fit substitutes.

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dubaiwalla discovers an interesting website that divides recent Summer Olmypic medal counts by population and GDP. The USA might have won the most (gold) medals in Athens (2004), but The Bahamas, with a population of only 300'000, was the most successful in terms of medals per capita and Georgia, the most successful in terms of gold/gdp.