My Match Report : Brazil 1-2 Mexico

Mexico beat Brazil at Wembley to secure their first Gold medal of the 2012 London Olympic games. It was the Mexicans third straight win at Wembley with Oribe Peralta scoring a double for them which moved his tally up to four goals in the tournament. Hulk scored in reply for the Brazilians which turned out only to be a consolation for the South Americans.

Mexico kicked off, and in 30 seconds, it was 1-0. Manchester United's Rafael lost possesion and the ball fell to Peralta, who cooly slotted the ball past Gabriel's near post. After the goal, the game turned scrappy and both teams were making mistakes. This frustrated Brazil's head coach, Mano Menezes, who made a substitution on the 32nd minute mark, bringing on Hulk for Alex Sandro. The only good chance in the first Half fell to Chelsea's new signing Oscar, but he could only hit a shot into Jose Corona's gloves. Brazils wonder kid, Neymar, looked bright but he was wasteful in his play.

Brazil started the second half better with a Neymar shot from 25 yards which just went over the bar. Neymar missed a golden chance for Brazil when he leaned back and scooped the ball over the bar when he should of scored. This moment really summed up his day. Down the other end, another golden chance came and went, as Fabian went 1 vs 1 with Gabriel. Fabian tried going around the goalkeeper but the Brazilian held him up. The chance looked to be gone but Fabian tried an over head kick, which unluckily hit the bar. The game started to get more interesting, and in the 75th minute, it was 2-0. Fabian whipped in a Free Kick from the right, which found the unmarked Oribe Peralta who headed it in for his second of the game. It was very poor marking by the Brazilians, who were poor for most of the game. In the 90th minute, Mexico lost their concentration and Brazils best player on the day, Hulk, ran through and slotted it past the Mexican keeper Corona. Then, unbelievably, the best chance of the game came in added time when Hulk whipped the ball in which found the unmarked Oscar at the near post, but he could only head the ball over the bar, incredible miss! Oscar didnt impress at Wembley and Chelsea fans will be hoping this was just a one off.

Full time score : Brazil 1-2 Mexico

Scorers : Hulk, Peralta (2)

Referee : Mark Clattenburg

Attendence : 86162

The Capital One Cup first round scores

Leeds United v Shrewsbury  Town
Neil Warnocks Leeds beat Shrewsbury Town 4-0 in the first round of the Capital One cup.
The goalscorers
Becchio
Varney
Norris
McCormack

Wolves v Aldershot
Wolves opened the scoring with Ebanks-Blake on 53 minutes but 9 minutes later Aldershot equalized with Rankine. The game went to penalties and Wolves won it on sudden death 7-6.

Crewe v Hartlepool
Crewe were easy winners as they strolled to a 5-0 win.

Watford v Wycombe
Watford creep into the second round with a narrow 1-0 win over Wycombe AET

Hull v Rotherham
1-1 Hull won 7-6 on penalties

Bury v Middlesborough
1-2

Carlisle v Accrington Stanley
1-0

CheltenhamTown v Mk Dons
1-1 MK Dons win 4-2 on penalties

Doncaster v York City
1-1 Doncaster won on penalties 3-2

Notts County v Bradford City 
0-1 (AET)

Rochedale v Barnsley
3-4 (AET)

Sheffield United v Burton
 2-2  (Burton won 5-3 on penalties)

Walsall v Brentford
1-0

Interview with Billy Kee.

Below is an interview with Burton Albion striker Billy Kee.

Q: Who was your footballing idol while you were growing up?

A: Can't say I had an idol I say I looked up to my dad a lot. 

Q: How did you get introduced to footballer?

A: I got introduced to football by my dad and brother I started in goal when I was 8. 

Q: How did you get spotted by Leicester?

A: Leicester spotted me at Mountsorrel when I was playing for New Parks U13s as a centre-half

Q: What's the best experience that you've had as a footballer?

A: The whole round experience is class everyday. Seeing and learning new things but playing in the play-off final is one of the best experiences I've had.

Q: What's the best defender that you have played against?

A: Erm, I'm not sure about that, I don't really focus if they have a good game and keep me quiet I rather say I was rubbish than them being good.

Q: Finally, what advice would you give to a young footballer?

A: For a young footballer I would say to just follow your heart and work hard.

I would like to thank Billy Kee for taking time out of his schedule to answer these questions.

Can Fleetwood seal Barton loan deal?

Joey Barton has been training with league 2 side Fleetwood Town for a while now and is on the brink of signing a loan deal with the club. Joey Barton was signed at the beginning of last season  by previous manager Neil Warnock. Barton played a pivotal role in the QPR team in the 2011/12 Premier League season.

However Joey Barton is now looking at a loan deal with Fleetwood because of his actions on the last game of the season at the Etihad Stadium the home of Manchester City, one of Bartons previous clubs. It was a vital game in QPRs season but unlucky for Barton he lost his cool with an incident between him and Tevez which resulted in Joey elbowing Tevez also he kneed Aguero in the back of the leg as a result of that Vincent Kompany got involved and Barton attempted a headbutt on him.

As a result of his actions Barton recieved a 12 match ban. QPR would allow this move as if he went to a lower league club he would be able to return quicker as they play more games.

Can Leeds achieve promotion to the Premier League without Snodgrass?

Robert Snodgrass has been the main man at Elland Road, for quite some time now and his departure to Premier League side Norwich may be a key factor if they are to fail in their quest to reach England’s top tier. So let’s have a look and see if they are capable of surviving without their former skipper.


Warnock Wonders:

Leeds Boss Neil Warnock has an impressive record with championship clubs and he has sent them on their way to the Premier League on different occasions, most notably with Sheffield United and QPR. He is good man-to-man manager, who sends a crystal clear message across to his players, he may not be obsessed with attractive football, but what he does get out of his players is passion, commitment, desire and a winning mentality. They play for him, they work for him and if they don’t, then they are in for it, come the end of the game. Warnock has brought in many new faces at Leeds, most of which he has managed before and some who have experienced promotion. What he also has is bags of experience, if you look at his squad he has players such as Michael Brown 35-years-old, Adam Drury is 33, Jamie Ashdown is now 31, Danny Pugh (29), Paddy Kenny (34) and Andy Gray (34). It’s not just a bunch of old-heads though, as there are also many exciting youngsters in the ranks aswell such as the versatile Aidy White, Alex Cairns, Jason Pearce and Tom Lees. Warnock will continue to bring in new players if he thinks they are required and as soon as his players arrive, they will understand what he expects of them.


Squad Depth:

Its obvious that Championship sides don’t have the largest of squads, but when you look at Leeds, they have a lot of players in each position, including 6 strikers, 8 midfielders, 9 defenders, players who can play in various role’s, aswell as 4 goalkeepers. There are some top class players in the squad, who can play at Premiership level; they have players who can come in when others are injured and suspended. They have quality in their back up aswell, they don’t want to be throwing a player in, who isn’t really committed to the club and is just there to make up the numbers; so that’s why they have great players in each position. A big squad is needed if you want to make a serious assault on the Championship and that’s what Leeds boast.


Becchio the key man:

It isn’t clear what formation the Whites will play, nor what system, but what is clear is that they have goals up their sleeve. They have many proven goalscorers to offer, although the main man up top is Argentinian Striker Luciano Becchio. Becchio is a natural goalscorer, who can find the net from all angles and distances. He only managed to score 11 goals last season, which was because he was suffering from a hamstring injury. He seems to have moved on from the injury and Neil Warnock is
expecting him to recapture his goalscoring exploits.He thrived on the quality service of Snodrgass and now its up to his team-mates to deliver, if you put in a plate for him, he is likely to put it away. Different Combinations of strike partnerships can be tried out, but I believe that it would be best to play with Becchio spearheading the attack and Luke Varney occupying the second-striker role, playing just behind. I feel that Varney and Becchio would work very well together and spring up some goals. Whoever he plays with, Becchio will be a key player for the West Yorkshire outfit.


Leeds have always been a huge club and there home lies in the Premier League, this season is there real chance to achieve Premier League status once again, I believe they have what is required and what it takes to climb back into England’s top division.

Player To Watch : Moussa Konate

We take a look at Senegals new Wonderkid Moussa Konate...

Getting to know Him

Moussa Konate is a Senegalese footballer who plays for Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv. The 19 year old who can either play as a Striker or a Winger played for Senegals U23s at this years London Olympics. He has also played For the Senegal U20s and the Senegal senior team. He has played three times for the senior side and scored twice.

London 2012 Olympics

Moussa Konate scored 5 goals in 4 games for Senegal in London this Summer. It was personally a brilliant tournament for the young man but Senegal will be disapointed that they did not go further in the competition after looking so promising in the early stages. Senegal came second in the Group behind GB. In their first game, Konate scored a late equaliser against GB to earn a draw at Old Trafford. In Senegals second game at wembley, Moussa scored twice to earn a 2-0 victory over Uruguay. In their third group game, Konate scored an equaliser against the UAE to earn another 1-1 draw and set up a Quarter final game at Wembley with Mexico. Konate scored but it wasn't enough for Senegal as they lost 4-2 after ET.

How good is Konate?

Take a look for yourself.....

Who is interested in Moussa?

Man City, Man Utd, Newcastle and West Ham have all apparently shown an interest in Moussa according to the Newspapers which is understandable as he looks like a real talent. However, I think he has only been linked with Newcastle because they have Demba Ba & Papiss Demba Cisse who are also from Senegal. Realistically, I cant see any of these teams signing him.

Prediction for the future?

I think Moussa Konate can become a good quality player playing at the highest levels off the Game. If he moved to the Premier league, he could become a hit straight away like Demba Ba & Papiss Cisse for his scoring. He has a big future ahead of him!

Please send feedback on this blog, thankyou!

Interview with James Caton.

Below is an interview with former Bolton player and current Blackpool trialist James Caton.

Q: How did you start off playing football?
A: I think my dad introduced football to me when I was about 4. We used to have a big garden so he would set up goals and I would have to kick with both feet from a very young age.

Q: As a child were you good at any other sports?
A: That is the first real sport that I took up and as I got older I was introduced to more sports including rugby, which was great as my school got to all of the national finals, and I was lucky enough to get the chance to play rugby league at Twickenham in the final and score a full length try.

Q: Did you play in any other positions (football)?
A: I've always varied between a striker and a winger and I joined a local club called Widnes Wolves when I was about 7 and it was from here that I got picked up at Bolton.

Q: Who did you inspire to be like as a child?
A: I always looked up to David Beckham when I was younger as he was the famous face of football, however now I aspire to be like Cristiano Ronaldo as his style of play is very like mine, he is a fantastic player and is my favourite player now.

Q: Have you had much interest in you since your release from Bolton?
A: James did not answer this question but the interest in him is obviously very high as many different rumours have been made about him and after his time at Derby he got noticed a lot more and got picked up by Blackpool and scored against Everton on his debut.

Q: Finally, what do you make about Clough not signing you after all the praise that you recieved from Derby supporters:
A: James told me to use my opinion in this question as he did not want to answer it, I believe that it was a stupid decision not to sign him. The only reason that we did not sign him was because we signed Coutts and Jacobs and after seeing James play in the two friendlys that he did take part in he looked better than both of them while alsos being younger. Bad decision by Nigel in my opinion.

I would like to thank James for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer my questions.

2012/13 Predictions

Premier League

The Table

1. Man City
2. Chelsea
3. Man Utd
4. Spurs
5. Arsenal
6.Liverpool
7. Everton

8. Newcastle

9. Sunderland
10. Aston Villa
11. QPR
12. West Brom
13. Swansea
14. Stoke
15. Reading
16. Fulham
17. West Ham
18. Norwich
19. Wigan
20. Southampton

Golden Boot

Sergio Aguero

Championship

Champions - Blackburn Rovers
Promoted - Blackpool
Play offs - Bolton 
Relegated - Peterborough,  Barnsley & Charlton 

FA Cup winners

Manchester United

Capital One Cup

Newcastle

These are my predictions and you can disagree if you want to!!! 

Latest Derby County Arrivals!

So far this pre-season Nigel Clough and his backroom staff have been relatively quiet in the transfer market signing currently four players.

Firstly, Clough signed Northampton winger Michael Jacobs, many Derby fans that I have spoke to see this as a good signing and personally so do I, he is a versatile winger that can play on the left or the right and he will give 100% no matter where he's playing. So far in pre-season Jacobs has made a good impression on the Derby supporters and has already opened his account for the club by scoring in the 1-0 win at Burton. Also he is very young and has a lot of time to improve considering how well he's doing already.

Secondly, Clough signed Preston midfielder Paul Coutts for £150,000 many Derby fans have also been impressed with this signing and many Preston fans not happy that he has left them. However, Coutts is not a great player who I believe doesn't fit into Nigel Cloughs style of play. This is my opinion and all Derby fans can disagree if they want to.

After the sale of Captain and star player Jason Shackell Clough really needed to find a very good replacement for him. He turned to Coventry player of the season and captain Richard Keogh. The former Carlisle United man is a decent player at best, in my opinion he won't be able to live up to the standards that Shackell set in the previous season.

Finally, Derby ended there pursuit of finding a cover for Gareth Roberts by signing versatile defender James O'Connor, the former Aston Villa trainee has signed a two-year deal with the Rams and can play anywhere in defence. Clough seemed very happy to have finally signed O'Connor and said that he was 'just the man they were looking for' I never have really seen O'Connor play before but according to many Doncaster fans he's a very good player.

We'll just have to wait and see how the season turns out for these players!

Also, just to add, many fans are unhappy that trialist James Caton was not signed up by Nigel Clough and the reason for this is that Derby simply could not afford to pay the wages of Caton, he wasn't after much but after the arrival of Jacobs and Coutts he didn't want to risk paying for someone that may/may not play well during the season. I personally am not happy with this decision by Clough and I believe that he is better than both Jacobs and Coutts and plus is younger. He has now secured a trial at Blackpool and they look set to sign the winger after opening his goal scoring account for the club by scoring against Everton.

But on the bright side:
We look set to sign defender Valentin Gjokaj after impressing on trial.

Transfer activity at ... QPR!

Once again, Queens Park Rangers have been one of the busiest clubs in the transfer market. The R's have made 7 signings in  Ryan Nelsen, Andy Johnson, Samba Diakite, Fabio Da Silva, David Hoilett, Ji Sung Park & Rob Green.

Ryan Nelsen is a signing that QPR fans have not really talked about. The experienced 34 year old who has been repersenting New Zealand at the London 2012 games signed a one year deal with the club back in June. I think Ryan will be a bigger part in Mark Hughes' plans than the fans think and will suprise them with some good defensive displays.

Like Bobby Zamora, Andy Johnson signed for QPR from neighbours Fulham. Andy Scored a hat-trick against the Superhoops last October. Andy is a player that scores goals wherever he goes. However, he has had Injury problems throughout his career which might worry the QPR fans. Like Ryan Nelsen, AJ can be a suprise to the QPR fans if he is kept fit.

After impressing in his loan at QPR, Samba Diakite was a must buy for the R's. The 23 year old who was bought from Nancy for a fee believed to be £3.5 million, was a fans favourite come the end of the season for his tough tackling, good pace and hard working mentality. Queens Park Rangers fans have high expectations for the Malian midfielder in the 2012/13 season.

Fabio Da Silva is an interesting signing. The Brazilian, who was loaned out by Manchester United to Rangers for a season can play full back, left wing or centre midfield. His strongest position is probably at fullback but Mark Hughes has played him in all these positions in pre season. This could be a big year for Fabio and he will need to show his quality for QPR this season if he wants to be in the starting XI for Manchester United in years to come.

David 'Junior' Hoilett is definitely the stand out signing by QPR. The 22 year old Canadian is a very good winger who stood out in the Blackburn Rovers side who got relegated from the Premier league. In January, Junior was named one of the 13 players to look out for in 2012 which is a good achievement for him. Hopefully, David can live up to his expectations and be a crowd pleaser at Loftus Road.

Ji Sung Park was a very clever signing by QPR. The South Korean who signed from Manchester United was loved at Old Trafford for his Hardworking Ability and his consistency. Ji Sung even got the Nickname from the Reds Fans 'Three Lung Park'. His football skills was not the only reason why the R's signed him. Park is a massive hit with the South Koreans in Asia and is more popular there than David Beckham is in England. Shirt sales will make the superhoops a fortune and could get more profit than what they bought Park for anyway. 

Rob Green is a keeper that is known for good shot stopping but can make a few mistakes. Rob was signed by Mark Hughes as a replacement for Paddy Kenny who is now at Leeds. He was in Roy Hodgsons 23 man squad who travelled to Poland and Ukraine for the Euros. Green has already made a few mistakes in pre season which is very worrying for the QPR fans. If the supporters can get behind him, He can be a very good goalkeeper for Rangers.

With Owen Hargreaves training at QPR and still a long time left until the transfer window closes, Rangers can start finishing putting the pieces to the jigsaw and Kick on in the Premier League 2012/13 season. COYR's!

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Welcome to the Blog!

Welcome to The Dugout Blog!

You will be able to find different football blogs about different clubs from England on this blog.

If you want to be part of this blog e-mail me: sam_maudsley@me.com with your club name.

Thanks!