When I first read this I imagined I was reading it on the “Football Manager 2008″, its a Football Management game on PC, anyway, if you told me a year ago that this kind of offer was possible I would have laughed hysterically. Now some people think that Barcelona are desperate to land Adebayor, I really doubt that, I think they are desperate to offload Eto’o, and I think Arsenal will take this deal.
Arsenal will accept for two reasons, the first thing is that Adebayor is actually requesting the move or (a) move, he wont mind going to AC Milan or Barcelona. The second reason, well Arsene Wenger needs the cash to get new players, he must use this money to add to the money he will get from Hleb sale and get a replacement. We heard about the financial issues holding Arsenal from buying new quality players.
Nasri is amazing, but in the past two seasons I cant name one player that Arsene Wenger bought to the squad who was high profile established player. If you still do no get what I mean, look at what other big clubs were buying and compare. I know that buying a ready made star doesn’t always work, and I know that it is an Arsene’s Wenger tradition to make the stars, but that was before we see Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and other clubs being bought by billionaires who throw money to get ready made stars.
One last note, this news that everybody is talking about was first reported by the “DAILY STAR”, some might ask and why is this important? Well, I just ignore what they report because most of the time its pure fabrication. Lets wait and see.
We waited and waited, and waited, some said its a done deal, some said it will happen today, tomorrow, next week. Now we can finally say that Samir Nasri who some like to call him “The New Zinedine Zidane” or “The Next Zidan” is a Gunner. Arsene Wenger was not the only one who wanted to sign Nasri, Athletico Madrid joined the bidding war and tried to affect the deal.
There were some issues in regarding to the wages, but either way it seemed that this was only going to be decided after Euro 2008. So France is out from Group Stages, less than two days later he is taking the medical and signing a four years deal with Arsenal. It had been said that Nasri had a buy-out clause of £13.5 Million.
He effectively can play on both wing sides, Nasri have scored six goals in thirty matches he played for Marseille.
Does this signing have any direct effect on who is leaving Arsenal?, Milan are heavily after Adebayor and it sure looks like he will be their man eventually, and hleb, who Nasri is believed to be filling his place, is wanted by Inter and Barca, but he is heading to Barcelona because I think Inter Milan will be getting Roma’s Mancini instead.
Samir Nasri is a very talented player, a great addition to Arsenal, but what is next? We clearly need more players, Arsene Wenger needs to get an established player, like Nasri who is great, but we need more players in other positions. Around two months are left, lets see what happens.
And now have a look at the new gem that joined the Gunners:
In their first game France suffered a disappointing goal less draw to Romania, where as the Netherlands beat the current World Cup holders Italy by a three goal margin. Winning this game would allow the Dutch to qualify for the quarter finals, and a loss for France would put them in serious trouble and make it difficult for them to get in to the knock out stage.
After kick off, France started to dominate the game, keeping possession well and even having a few early shots, but it was after just nine minutes when, on a counter attack, the Netherlands were awarded a corner. After a superb cross, on form Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt headed the ball past the helpless French goal keeper in to the net.
After that the Dutch dominated for a long time, keeping possession extremely well and creating some good opportunities for shots, although they failed to capitalize these chances. Then, on the thirtieth minute the tides changed and France started to dominate, pounding shot after shot in to the capable hands of Manchester United shot stopper Edwin Van Der Sar, although he was getting increasingly annoyed with his defence’s poor display.
Back out for the second half, and the French look fresh and ready to go, coming extremely close to scoring on a couple of occasions, but they can’t get the ball in to the Dutch goal, then all their hard work is undone by an Arjen Robben cross which Robin Van Persie slams into the French goal keeper, who can’t keep it out.
France look more and more beaten as the game progressed, but there was a glimmer of hope when Willy Sagnol played a ball across the Dutch goal and Barcelona strike Theirry Henry touches the ball into the Dutch net.
But the French celebrations are cut short, as less than a minute later, Chelsea winger Arjen Robben runs up the left wing before cutting inside and blasting the ball past the keeper from what appeared to be an impossible angle.
Understandably, the men from France are getting extremely worried, and are pressing, desperately trying to salvage a draw from the game, but on the last minute of stoppage time, Van Persie passes to Wesley Sneijder on the edge of the box, who turns and pounds the ball into the top corner to round off an amazing game.
Well, what a game! The Netherlands are through to the quarter finals, and France, Italy and Romania all have a chance to come second. A remarkable performance by Holland though, who look like they might just go all the way.
Today the Austrians were wearing red tops, white shorts and red and white socks, while Croatia were wearing all blue.
Croatia go into this game missing several key players, including Arsenal’s Eduardo, while Austria seem to have a pretty full squad.
Once the game kicked off, it soon became apparent this was going to be a thriller, both teams attacking well. But it was in just the second minute when Austria conceded a silly penalty, carelessly running in when there was no real need. The Austrian defender just clipped the Croatian striker, but paid the price for it, as new Tottenham Hotspur signing Luka Modric slotted home from the spot. A shade lucky, as it was right down the middle of the goal, but Croatia won’t complain!
After that it was pretty one way traffic for fifteen minutes or so, Austria putting relentless pressure on the Croatian defense, pounding shot after shot and playing in cross after cross, while Croatia were struggling to create any real momentum or force. Unfortunately for Austria though, they couldn’t quite convert their efforts into a goal, although the Croatian manager, Slaven Bili?, seemed extremely relieved when Croatia started dominating play, almost exactly reproducing the actions of the Austrians, forcing the Austrian goalkeeper, Vedran Runje, to make some fantastic saves, including a one on one.
Into the second half, and neither teams made any substitution. Austria have obviously had a rollocking during the half time period, and are playing very offensively. They are pounding shot after shot at the Croatian goalie, Pletikosa, who dealt with the shots very effectively and made several key saves throughout the second half, including a save from a brilliant shot, where the ball was curving towards the far side of the goal.
As the half went on, Austria became more and more fierce, while the Croatian defenders got more and more panicky. The general script for the last ten minutes was ‘Austria play it in, Croatia play it out, Austria play it in’, and Austria look more and more like scoring, but cannot get through the wall of Croatian players.
Unfortunately for Austria, the final whistle goes, and it was certainly very unlucky for Austria, as from their second half performance they definitely deserved to win the game, although you can’t help thinking if it were not for that silly penalty Austria would have had a better outcome.
After a rather disappointing first game to the tournament, everyone was hoping this might be a little more lively. Before the game, all eyes were on Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo to impress, after his midweek comments that he wants to leave Manchester United.
The captains led out their players, Portugal wearing all red, while Turkey came out in their fully white strip.
Upon kick off, to everyone’s surprise (most of all the Portuguese defenders’) Turkey made some promising attacking play, as did Portugal. Portugal came out on top in this battle though, forcing some early corners, and on the sixteenth minute having a goal disallowed for offside. Meanwhile at the other end, Turkey had a half-hearted penalty claim after Tuncay appeared to be pulled down, but, on watching the replay, it soon appeared it was a dive.
Towards the end of the first half, Portugal were making some very promising opportunities, including a series of corners, and undoubtedly the best shot of the first half: A Cristiano Ronaldo free kick which the Turkish goalie just got his fingertips to, to guide it onto the inside of the post. Portugal looked frustrated as they couldn’t quite slot the ball home. Portugal dominated the first half, with over two thirds of the possession!
In the second half it was more of the same. Portugal dominated and Turkey got the odd chance, until on the stroke of the hour mark, the Portuguese defender Pepe plays a lovely one-two just outside the box and coolly slots home through the keepers legs: 1-0 to Portugal.
Portugal kept on pressuring, making all three of their substitutions, opting for attacking players each time. Portugal hit the woodwork three times before Turkey had a half chance at the other end, where Middlesbrough striker Tuncay wildly swung at the ball and missed completely.
Then, on the ninetieth minute, Nani, the Portuguese winger, makes a run down the right, and Aurelio comes crashing in. On first appearances it’s a good tackle, but when you watch the replay the Turkey player probably should have been sent off.
Two minutes later. Cristiano Ronaldo broke loose up the left hand side, slotting through to Moutinho o the edge of the box, who calmly passed it once again for substitute Meireles to pass the ball into the empty net.
Portugal never really looked like losing, and judging by this performance definitely have what it takes to go all the way to the Euro 2008 final.
Before kick off was the usual pre-competition celebration, and this year it consisted of volunteers aged fourteen to seventy with boxes on their heads. They would then make different sceneries, including mountains and disco floors. When they had finished, there was a small firework celebration and hundreds of balloons were released from the boxes on people’s heads.
The celebration was over, the nation anthems had been sung: it was time for action.
The teams were lead out by their captains, who both had very serious looks on their face. Switzerland were wearing all red, while Czech Republic wore all white.
The game kicked off, and you could tell this match wasn’t going to be too exciting. After Switzerland got the ball, they sat inside their own half, with every single Czech Republic player behind the goal. The Swiss made a couple of runs down the wings, resulting in either being tackled or a poor cross most the time, forcing a couple of shots wide or into Petr Cech’s hands the rest of the time. Although the Czechs weren’t that much better, lumping the ball forward to their 6’7” striker, Jans Koller (who most the time didn’t get it, and when he did he was tackled.).
Then, right near the end the most memorable event of the first half. After a wild shot over the bar, the Czech Republic striker, Alexander Frei, jars his knee. He looks to be in serious pain, but refuses the stretcher and instead hobbles off with an ice pack strapped to his knee, wiping tears from his eyes.
In the second half is when the game came alive for the Czech Republic. About twenty minutes into the second half, Jans Koller is taken off for striker Sverkos. Sverkos then puts the Swiss defence under serious pressure, and after around 10 minutes on the pitch scores a nice half volley.
With about ten minutes to go, the Swiss stepped up a gear, pounding long balls into the Czech penalty box (every one of which was just headed back to them) and putting on several attackers. Although this late surge of energy was left right until the end, and was undoubtedly left too late, the Swiss failing to find a way into the Czech goal.
The opening Ceremony was short and boring, hoping that the first match of the championship would show some talent and excitement, but it didn’t. The first match was also boring, I know that Czech Republic scored a goal through Sverkos, but even that I knew from watching the match highlights. I preferred to play PES 2008 on PS2 with friends rather than watch this match
But the second match had it all, it was great match with explosive talents from both sides, although Portugal had most of the control of the field and most of the shots on target. But Turkey also had some really dangerous attempts on the goal.
Cristiano Ronaldo was trying his best to score, not caring much if his team actually wins or loses, he looked focused on scoring himself and he did shoot some shots he could have passed to players near the goal.
Pepe scored a canceled goal in first half, he was offside, but then on the second half he was able to score a very nice goal. The substitute Raul Meireles scored the second goal by the end of second half.
Few minutes before Euro 2008 started today both Aljazeera Sports +1 and +2 on ORBIT changed to Aljazeera Sports 1 and 2. Those are the free to air channels that ofcourse do not air Euro 2008. I have already talked about this before, it was pretty clear that Euro 2008 wont air on ORBIT. But people still had hope, mainly because when they called ORBIT call centers they were told that the championship will be aired on Aljazeera Sports +1 and +2, which is ofcourse not true.
Many many subscribers are mad and frustrated now from both Aljazeera and ORBIT. I would suggest them to aim their anger on ORBIT because they were the ones giving false hope to their customers.
If you are an ORBIT subscriber what would you do ?
Arsenal will accept for two reasons, the first thing is that Adebayor is actually requesting the move or (a) move, he wont mind going to AC Milan or Barcelona. The second reason, well Arsene Wenger needs the cash to get new players, he must use this money to add to the money he will get from Hleb sale and get a replacement. We heard about the financial issues holding Arsenal from buying new quality players.
We waited and waited, and waited, some said its a done deal, some said it will happen today, tomorrow, next week. Now we can finally say that Samir Nasri who some like to call him “The New Zinedine Zidane” or “The Next Zidan” is a Gunner. Arsene Wenger was not the only one who wanted to sign Nasri, Athletico Madrid joined the bidding war and tried to affect the deal. 
After a rather disappointing first game to the tournament, everyone was hoping this might be a little more lively. Before the game, all eyes were on Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo to impress, after his midweek comments that he wants to leave Manchester United.
Before kick off was the usual pre-competition celebration, and this year it consisted of volunteers aged fourteen to seventy with boxes on their heads. They would then make different sceneries, including mountains and disco floors. When they had finished, there was a small firework celebration and hundreds of balloons were released from the boxes on people’s heads. 
Few minutes before Euro 2008 started today both Aljazeera Sports +1 and +2 on ORBIT changed to Aljazeera Sports 1 and 2. Those are the free to air channels that ofcourse do not air Euro 2008. 
Although the schedule is available on many many sites, but I did receive requests from readers to add a GMT time match schedule. 