Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
I survived the Nuerburgring Nordschleife!
The Nordschleife. Just the word sends shivers down the spine of even the best motor racing driver. Sir Jackie Stewart nicknamed the old track in western Germany the “Green Hell” and although it is extremely dangerous, they all loved racing it really.
Talks about exhilarating. I was lucky enough to be driven round the fearsome circuit by a specialist driver in a Mercedes two-seat sportscar ahead of this weekend’s German Grand Prix at the adjacent Nuerburgring.
It was wet, so we only went half pace but my heart was still beating faster than I can ever remember. Given the conditions, the driver did remarkably well and dealt admirably but a couple of inevitable skids on a track deemed too dangerous in 1976 to continue racing F1 there.
“If we hit that kerb, we’d fly straight into the wall,” he said twice as we topped 120 mph in places.
“That’s where Niki Lauda crashed,” he added at a relatively easy turn on the mammoth 14 mile circuit which winds its way thuogh the forest in the German countryside.
In truth it is more like a roller coaster than a race track. The changes in altitude are immense, with huge dips and climbs never seen now in F1 where cars can actually fly off jumps for a few seconds. The banked corners, like on NASCAR tracks, are also from a bygone age of F1 and danger really does lurk at every corner.
Most of the current Formula One drivers have been giddily having a go on the Nordschleife before taking to the more modern and much safer Nuerburgring.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Soccer Break Wednesday
Happy middle of the week to you all, and if like me you are in London where the sun is out and there is very little football to write about, you are forgiven for thinking the season is over and the grasscourt tennis season is about to kick in.
Don't look so worried, David (right). While the weather will probably change before I’ve finished writing this blog, the good news is it’s only March and there is plenty more football left. It's just this week it’s the international break.
One of the most intriguing matches is Friday’s qualifier between Serbia and Northern Ireland. Why? There will be no supporters in the ground after Serbia’s clash with Italy in October was abandoned following crowd trouble and the 2006 World Cup winners were handed a 3-0 win.
Also in action on Friday are Italy, France and the 2010 World Cup finalists Spain and the Netherlands, while on Saturday Wales host England in a British Isles derby and Norway host Denmark in a Scandinavian battle. Germany and Russia are two other big names playing.
Chelsea fans fond of Guus Hiddink should also keep a close eye on next Tuesday’s Turkey v Austria match. Blues supporters, should Carlo Ancelotti go if Chelsea fail to win any silverware this year?
Back to European football, and read here for a very dedicated look at the major European leagues including an analysis of AC Milan’s loss in form that has made the Serie A title much more open.
Some good news for Barcelona fans on Tuesday was fullback Dani Alves renewing his contract until 2015.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Paul the Octopus will predict no more…
It is with great sadness that we report the death of the world's foremost psychic cephalopod.
Paul the Octopus, the mystic mollusc himself, became a more significant World Cup figure than Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo or Franck Ribery with his extraordinarily accurate predictions from his tank at Sea Life in Germany.
From our story today:
The two-year-old celebrity octopus made his choices after being offered two containers with food, each with a flag of the two teams playing, and eating out of one of them.
"We grew very fond of him," said Sea Life general manager Stefan Porwoll. "He passed away during the night peacefully," he said as the marine life centre flew flags at half mast and all employees wore black armbands.
The country was shocked and distraught when he picked Spain to beat Germany in the semi-final after tipping German wins over Argentina, England, Ghana and Australia, as well as their shock defeat by Serbia and Spain's final win over the Dutch.
He was right again on that last one, so at least he leaves us with a perfect World Cup record.
what would he have predicted for Ballon d’Or/Fifa award? Very surprised Inter’s Milito isn’t even on shortlist http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE69P 0T920101026
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Euro 2012 qualifiers – live
We're following all tonight's Euro 2012 qualifiers live. Join us here for updates, comments and pix ... and details of all the goals as they go in.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Sorry Germany, the oracle octopus has spoken
There are only three things that are certain in life -- death, taxes and the World Cup predictions of a British-born octopus in western Germany.
That being the case, there's hardly any point in playing Wednesday's semi-final between Germany and Spain -- the Spanish have got it won.
Paul the Octopus has spoken, eating his food from the container with the Spanish flag at Sea Life and thus sealing Germany's fate.
Paul has a perfect World Cup record -- correctly predicting the results of all five of Germany's matches so far, even the shock defeat against Serbia, and scoring exactly the same number of goals as Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney into the bargain.
German hopes are dangling by two tiny threads.
Firstly, while Paul has a perfect record here, he did get one match wrong at Euro 2008, predicting a German win over Spain in the final. Secondly, coach Joachim Loew has been persuaded not to wash his famous blue jumper before the end of the World Cup.
The baby blue cashmere number has become a good luck symbol, which leaves us with an intriguing match in store for Wednesday -- the octopus versus the goat-hair.
All the World Cup 2010 Games in South Africa will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 23:31
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Reuters World Cup 2010 podcast — quarter-finals (II)
Join us for a look back at the extraordinary first two quarter-finals at the World Cup and a look forward to Germany v Argentina and Spain v Paraguay. Paul Radford, Felix Bate, Jon Bramley and Kevin Fylan argue over the merits of penalty goals in soccer and consider Ghana's desperate misfortune.
All the World Cup 2010 Games in South Africa will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 20:42
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
World Cup 2010 quarter-finals podcast
Welcome to our latest Reuters 2010 World Cup podcast, as we follow the lead of the world's most famous psychic octopus and try to predict what will happen in the quarter-finals. Kevin Fylan is joined by Paul Radford, Jon Bramley, Ken Ferris and Mr Mark Gleeson.
All the World Cup 2010 Games in South Africa will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 22:05
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
England defence crumble in German masterclass
England coach Fabio Capello would do well to take a transcript copy of Germany coach Joachim Loew’s post-match press conference – because in it he would find all the simple reasons why his side were trounced 4-1 and sent packing from the World Cup on Sunday.
In it, Loew rather clinically explained to the international press sat before him that his side were instructed to target John Terry, pull him out of position and pretty much walk into the huge gaps created in England’s snail-paced central rearguard.
It worked. England will forever talk about the Frank Lampard ‘goal’ that, quite incredibly, was not given despite bouncing a full yard over the German goal line with the score balanced at 2-1, but even if they had equalised, the final result would not have waivered.
Germany were breathtaking at times, able to break at will with electrifying pace and switch the play seamlessly from left to right to leave the England defenders in a state of dizziness and goalkeeper David James no chance between the sticks.
Thomas Mueller, Man of the Match and a real find at Bayern Munich, was superb. Playing on the German right wing he decided to cleverly leave England left back Ashley Cole to his own devices and instead cut into the huge space between England’s midfield and defence time and again.
That, combined with Podolski providing width down the left and Klose running England defenders Terry and Matthew Upson ragged, proved all too much for the Three Lions side.
All the World Cup 2010 Games in South Africa will be streamed live at http://www.WorldCupTV.org 22:08
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
World Cup podcast – day 14
Kevin Fylan, Paul Radford, Andy Cawthorne and Felix Bate discuss a few of the forthcoming second round matches at the World Cup, including the classic Germany v England.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
No name calling just yet please, say Leverkusen
So they lost their first match of the season and dropped back three points from the top.
Big deal says Bayer Leverkusen coach Jupp Heynckes after their 3-2 loss to Nuremberg on Sunday. He is quick to reject any of the tags that Leverkusen have had to deal with for much of the past 15 years, like "Neverkusen" and "Vizekusen".
"That is irritating, but I cannot defend myself against such voices," Heynckes said of the nicknames that are now more frequently used in the media following the first defeat.
"What exactly happened here?", he told reporters on Monday. "Nothing. We were top of the table until the 24th matchday and then we just lost one match because we were not well positioned in our defence."
Long a team with huge potential, they became branded as the ultimate underachievers when they lost -- in just a matter of weeks -- the German Cup, German League and the Champions League final in 2002.
That became known as the "Treble Horror". Four times they finished second in the Bundesliga from 1997 to 2002. In both the 2000 and 2002 Bundesliga runs they had the title within their grasp only to let go in the last matches of the season.
This season though they have almost always managed to dig themselves out of difficult situations.
