Foot and Ball

Massimiliano Allegri feels the heat.

April is now coming to an end, and Serie A is taking on the shape of one of its most thrilling season-finishes. At the time of writing, Juventus – a side who were pretty much written off to finish largely in the same position as they did in their two previous seasons, sit pretty at the top of the table. Three point behind lie former-favourites A.C. Milan, who have seen their form stutter over the past month and questions constantly asked about their ability to defend their title, especially in light of their disappointing home draw against Bologna in week 34.  

This has not been an easy season for Chelsea FC. A side that has become accustomed in recent times to battle it out with Manchester United for the Premier League title, now finds itself sixth in the table, below Arsenal, Newcastle and Spurs. Their previous manager, Andre Villas Boas, was sacked in March after a run of disappointing results. All this unfolded amidst talk of unrest within the squad and acrimony between the manager and certain senior players.

First of all, I would like to thank the wonderful admins of Kickette for sharing the link to the survey that was used to create this article on their Twitter page, which quadrupled the number of responses.

96 different women (and one male Facebook friend, being silly) answered seven questions about the men and boys they liked when they were teenagers, those they like now, and their favourite footballers. There are many things I wanted to get a handle on by running this survey. I wanted to do it about football because I like football. You could do it with anything. Perhaps a parallel survey could tell us about how those of us who like footballers differ from those who like boy-bands, although, reading the aforementioned Kickette and puzzling over why anyone would drool over Gareth Bale or Joe Hart, I suspect the results would be similar. Without further ado, here’s what we found.

In just three short months, the 2012 London Summer Olympics will begin. Out of the hundreds of medals which are being sought after, one gold medal will be up for grabs for twelve teams in women’s football. These twelve, along with many other teams, took part in a long qualifying process in their respective FIFA confederations for the Olympics.

Amidst much controversy, the Iranian women’s national team was banned before their first game against Jordan in the 2nd round of qualifying by FIFA officials. The reasoning for FIFA was the use of the headscarf, or Hijab, by the team.  According to officials, the Hijab worn was a choking hazard and could therefore not be worn. However, if the women removed their headscarves they would be breaking Sharia Law in their home country. Who would win in a game between FIFA regulations and religion?

A big thanks to Bearasaurus for this piece.

Interesting points:

Newcastle making a strong run at Champions/Europa League Spots.

Liverpool running away from European competitions. A full 15 pts would have had them in 5th or 6th, level with Chelsea on points. Luckily they won’t be needing a placement spot with their League cup win.

Wigan climbing 5 pts clear of the relegation zone.

Blackburn diving from 16th to solidly within the relegation zone.

Here is an amazing goal scored by an American U-15 player. Check it out and let us know if you believe that he did that on purpose or if it was pure luck.