This week in sport: 19-25 April 2010

This week saw the semi-finals of the Champions League and Europa League,which went ahead despite travel disruption, the start of World Championship snooker, the climax of the  2010 IPL, the London Marathon and of course a busy round of league fixtures.

GOOD WEEK

West Ham: The Hammers effectively guaranteed another season in the top flight this weekend with a hard-fought 3-2 win against Wigan. Under-fire coach Gianfranco Zola may still be replaced come the end of the season, but his side showed that they weren’t going anywhere with a terrifically spirited display. They are now 6 points clear of 18th placed Hull with 2 games to play, but have a far better goal difference.

Inter: Not content with beating reigning European champions Barcelona in midweek, José Mourinho’s side also seized back top spot in Serie A. Inter’s convincing 3-1 win at Atalanta on Saturday piled the pressure on Roma, who lost 2-1 at home to Sampdoria to end their incredible 24-match unbeaten run.

Steve Davis: The 52-year old 6-time World Champion rolled back the years to defeat last year’s winner John Higgins in an epic second round match. The Nugget displayed all of his usual determination and some tidy breakbuilding to triumph 13-11. He will face Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals.

Honourable mentions: Chennai Super Kings, Chelsea, Schalke, Sampdoria, Daniel Keatings and Tsegaye Kebede.

BAD WEEK

Hull: It looks like the Tigers will be playing Championship football next season as a defeat at home to 10-man Sunderland all but condemned them to the drop. To make matters worse, the Hull chairman has publicly stated that the financial situation of the club is far from ideal, though administration is not on the cards (yet).

Franck Ribéry: Is he the John Terry of German/French football? Soon after details of his affair with an underage prostitute emerged, the still-happily-married Ribéry got himself sent off in the Champions League quarter-final against Lyon. In the next match, his Bayern team could only draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach, allowing Schalke to draw level on points with them at the top of the Bundesliga.

LaShawn Merritt: The double Olympic-gold medallist was banned for a provisional 2 years following a positive drug test. In a particularly tragic (or comic) twist, it was revealed the banned steroid was an ingredient in a penis enlargement cream. His own take on events will certainly be remembered for a while, given the ironic choice of words: “…difficult to wrap my hands around” sounds pretty unlikely if you ask me.

Honourable mentions: Burnley, Shay Given, Bruno Labbadia, Roma and Carl Froch.

This week in sport: 5-11 April 2010

This week saw the return of Tiger Woods to competitive golf at the Masters, the quarter-finals of the Champions League, the Grand National and a busy league schedule around Europe.

GOOD WEEK

Phil Mickelson: One of the most popular golfers on tour, Mickelson has endured a difficult year as his wife Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer. Despite all this, Mickelson returned to form at Augusta, playing some breathtaking shots on his way to a -16 total. This put him 3 ahead of his closest challenger Lee Westwood and sealed an emotional third green jacket for Lefty.

Barcelona: This could well be a season-defining week for Barça as they hit imperious form in their 2 biggest games to date. First, Arsenal were swatted aside in the Champions League with unbelievable performances from Leo Messi and Xavi. These 2 players attracted untold amounts of praise in the press and carried their form to the clásico on Saturday night. Real Madrid were beaten 2-0 without Barça ever really hitting their stride, to leave them effectively 4 points adrift of Pep Guardiola’s side.

Claudio Ranieri: Cast aside by European powerhouses Chelsea and Juventus, it looks like the softly-spoken “Tinkerman” may well have the last laugh this season. His Roma side are currently on a fantastic 23-match unbeaten run in Serie A and usurped long time leaders Inter yesterday with a 2-1 victory over Atalanta. Inter continue to be distracted by the Champions League and the Coppa Italia, meaning the league title could be Roma’s for the taking.

Honourable mentions: Portsmouth, Manchester City, Matteo Manassero, the FA Cup and Fabian Cancellara.

BAD WEEK

Real Madrid: Before Saturday, they had a perfect home record with 45 points from a possible 45. However, they came up against a Barcelona side that thoroughly outclassed them, showing all the money in the world can’t buy success. Real’s crown jewel, world record signing Cristiano Ronaldo, typified everything wrong with their approach, trying to win the game by himself and making badly rushed decisions. And all this on a Champions League week when they could only sit and watch, knowing they won’t make a triumphant return to the Santiago Bernabéu on May 22nd.

Manchester United: The current English champions had a week to forget as they were knocked out of the Champions League and were held to a 0-0 draw at Blackburn. One time Manchester United target Arjen Robben scored a sumptuous volley to put out the 2009 finalists on away goals. On Sunday, they put in an insipid display against Blackburn to miss their chance of going top, making a trophyless season a distinct possibilty.

Sergio García: The serial Major-flaker was at it again this week at Augusta as he finished in an embarrassing tie for second-last. The Spaniard carded the worst round of the day to finish +10 for the tournament. With Tiger on his way back, who knows if Sergio will ever realise his talent and win an elusive Major? St. Andrew’s in July looks a more realistic target.

Honourable mentions: Tottenham, Wembley, Howard Webb, Bordeaux and Hull City.

This week in sport: 22-28 March 2010

It was an entertaining week for football fans all over Europe with exciting action in England, Germany and Italy. The Australian Grand Prix was one of the best in recent memory but it was overshadowed by off-track activity.

GOOD WEEK

Chelsea and Frank Lampard: The Blues started the week 4  points behind Manchester United but a scintillating run which included 12 goals for and 1 against (including 5 for Frank Lampard) meant Chelsea are very much back in the hunt. A 5-0 drubbing of Portsmouth was followed by a 7-1 demolition of Aston Villa showed that the previous week was very much a blip. The game away at United now takes on even more significance as a possible title decider with Chelsea just 1 point adrift of the leaders.

Schalke: Felix Magath’s side took advantage of another catastrophic Bayern home defeat to climb to the top of the Bundesliga. This was achieved by a win away at fellow challengers Bayer Leverkusen, with Kevin Kuranyi grabbing a brace.

Robert Kubica: Even though the Australian Grand Prix was won by Jenson Button, the Polish driver Kubica must take enormous credit for hauling his Renault into second place for 18 World Championship points. Qualifying in 10th position, Kubica drove flawlessly to take the struggling Renault onto the podium.

Honourable mentions: Spurs, Manchester United, Ernie Els and Jenson Button.

BAD WEEK

Lewis Hamilton: Topped the timesheets after Friday practice but it all went downhill after that. He was arrested by the Australian police and his car was impounded after he was caught driving in an “over-exuberant” fashion. Then he failed to make it to Q3, and got taken out by Mark Webber with 2 laps to go. He recovered to finish 6th but later slammed the McLaren team for making him pit a second time. Speaking at the launch of a road safety initiative, Aussie roads minister branded Hamilton “a dickhead”.

Arsenal and Manuel Almunia: The Gunners squandered a lead in stoppage time away at Birmingham to lose ground in the title race. A long punt was cleared into the face of Kevin Phillips, who deflected the ball towards Almunia just above head height. The Arsenal keeper made a hash of the attempted save and virtually threw the ball into the net to deliver a killer blow to the Gunners’ title chances.

Inter Milan: The Nerazzurri’s dreadful run in Serie A continued this weekend with a 2-1 loss to closest challengers Roma. The Giallorossi are now just one point behind Inter, with AC Milan just 2 points further back. It looks like being the closest run Serie A in some time and Inter may be further distracted by the upcoming Champions League quarter-final against CSKA Moscow.

Honourable mentions: Andy Murray, Novak Djoković, Portsmouth, Sebastian Vettel and West Ham.

This week in sport: 15-21 March 2010

It was a busy week in the world of sport with the Champions League round of 16 and 6 Nations rugby concluding. Masters tennis and the return of Tiger Woods to our tv screens give us plenty of talking points.

GOOD WEEK

Fulham: The Cottagers overcame a 3-1 first leg defeat to progress to the Europa League quarter-finals against a very average looking Juventus side. They certainly didn’t make things easy for themselves on the night, falling a further goal behind in the opening stages. The storming comeback was completed with a delicious chip from outside the area by Clint Dempsey.

UEFA and the Europa League: This week’s round of games provided no end of drama (see above) and an absolute bucketful of goals. Valencia and Werder Bremen ended 4-4 and Hamburg progressed, despite losing 4-3 on the night against Anderlecht. Even Liverpool got in on the act, putting 3 past Lille. The Champions League draw produced a couple of mouthwatering ties, with holders Barcelona taking on Arsenal and Bayern Munich against Manchester United in a repeat of the 1999 final.

Ivan Ljubičić: The big-serving Croat finally won his first Masters tournament at Indian Wells at the grand old age of 31. En route to the final, he defeated Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal before beating Andy Roddick to claim the title.

Honourable mentions: Arsenal, France rugby team and Leo Messi.

BAD WEEK

Chelsea and Carlo Ancelotti: Dumped out of the Champions League in midweek by José Mourinho’s Inter, Chelsea were looking for a strong response against Blackburn to keep pace in the title race. Unfortunately for them, a stale display meant they left Ewood Park with only a point, losing ground to Manchester United and Arsenal.

AC Milan: The geriatricos of Meelan started the week without 2 of their more senior players Alessandro Nesta and David Beckham due to season-ending injuries. Having watched Inter only manage a draw against Palermo, the Rossoneri knew that a win at home to Napoli would see them supplant their city rivals at the top of Serie A. A comical mix-up between Massimo Oddo and Christian Abbiati allowed Napoli to take the lead before Pippo Inzaghi levelled matters. That turned out to be the last goal of the game and Milan had squandered their opportunity to go top.

The FIA: The ban on refuelling during races has led to the excitement being sapped out of races according to many observers. Drivers adopt a more cautious style, looking to conserve tyres and fuel and the cars all adopt the same homogeneous strategy. The rule change has meant Q3 has lost the element of surprise, when a lightly-fuelled wildcard could charge to the front of the grid. High-profile drivers including Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher have spoken out this week against the rule changes, causing much embarrassment to the FIA and Jean Todt.

Honourable mentions: Phil Brown (told you so!), Iain Dowie, Juventus and Tiger Woods for a cringe-inducing interview on ESPN.

This week in sport: 8-14 March 2010

I’m going to do a good week/bad week format for those blogs when there’s just too much to talk about. With the football, 6 Nations, IPL and the return of Formula 1 adding up to a total of roughly 20 hours wasted watching sport this weekend, I will take you on a whirlwind tour of the sporting happenings of the past 7 days.

GOOD WEEK

Arsenal and Nicklas Bendtner: A 5-0 hammering of Porto and a last minute victory against 10 man Hull meant that Arsenal continued their good form of late. Some people might point to this being a season-defining sequence of results for the Gunners as they showed their mental strength to overcome potentially tricky opponents. After being roundly criticised for his performance against Burnley a week ago, Nicklas Bendtner scored 4 times in 2 matches, including the crucial injury-time winner against Hull.

Ferrari: The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were widely tipped (not least by myself) to be contenders from the beginning of the new Formula 1 season and they did not disappoint, producing a 1-2 finish in the season opener in Bahrain. After qualifying in 2nd and 3rd behind the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel, they reeled in the German slowly after the pit-stops. Had it not been for a suspected exhaust failure, Vettel may have been able to hold them off, but in the end Alonso stormed to a win on his Ferrari debut.

Marc Lièvremont: The French rugby coach has been responsible for a remarkable upturn in French fortunes. The team are playing fast, expansive rugby and are sitting pretty at the top of the 6 Nations table, with the title all but guaranteed. They now have the Grand Slam in their sights, which would be achieved with a victory over a mediocre England side in Paris. The coach may also have unearthed a new star in the pint-sized winger Marc Andreu, who was involved heavily in 2 tries, scoring one, on his first start for Les Bleus.

Honourable mentions: Scotland rugby team, Wolves, Tottenham, Jessica Ennis, Arjen Robben and Alistair Cook.

BAD WEEK

Sulley Muntari: Came on as a sub during Inter’s 3-1 loss to Catania in Serie A but was sent off within 80 seconds of taking the field. He gave away a free-kick on the edge of the area and then handled the resultant attempt at goal, resulting in his second yellow and a penalty that was duly converted Panenka-style by Giuseppe Mascara.

Liverpool and Rafa Benítez: The Reds continue to have a miserable season and succumbed to two 1-0 away defeats at Wigan and Lille. Rafa’s two-man team will have to do much better if they are to steal fourth place away from the likes of Spurs(!) or Manchester City.

Martin Johnson: The England manager has come under heavy fire after an unconvincing start to the 6 Nations tournament, with his team playing uninspired, kicking-oriented rugby. After their narrow win against Italy, England were looking to lay down a marker against Scotland but ended up falling flat on their faces as a turgid affair ended 15-all. No tries were score by either side and England displayed an alarming lack of creativity and penetration even though the onus was on them to attack.

Honourable mentions: Real Madrid, Fulham, Inter Milan, Hispania Racing and Phil Brown.