AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

FC Tokyo Misses out on Chance to Advance in Asian Champions League

This week we have FC Tokyo as our main spotlight, an soccer team based in Tokyo, Japan. They lost to korean team, Jeonbuk Motors at their home ground on Wednesday with the score of 1:2. Tokyo needed this win in order to advance into the next stages as Urawa became the first J.League team to advance to the round of 16 with their draw at Sydney FC. Jeonbuk Motors has a strong linewith up players such as Kim Bo Kyung playing in the premier league previously, became a struggle for FC Tokyo.

FC Tokyo were indecisive in their 90 minutes of game play, unable to scare off their opponents and the game finished with a score of 1:2: In Domestic action, FC Tokyo has also been having problems lately as they were beaten 4:2 at their home grounds by Kawasaki Frontale for a result of 3 losses in 4 games, an unacceptable result. They are currently 11th with 9 points on the league table with a staggering 8 points behind Kawasaki.

“We lost to them in our away game, a

nd they are a wonderful side, featuring so many talented players, which is notable amongst the Korean teams,” said Jofuku, who will be without Japan defender Masato Morishige due to suspension, having seen FC Tokyo lost 2-1 to Jeonbuk at the start of the campaign.

England Euros 26 Man Squad Announced

England manager Roy Hodgson has announced his 26 Man Squad for the Euros 2016. 

New England Squad Training for the Euros 2016

Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster (Southampton), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Tom Heaton (Burnley).
Defenders: Ryan Bertrand (Southampton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Nathaniel Clyne (Liverpool), Danny Rose (Tottenham), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), John Stones (Everton), Kyle Walker (Tottenham).
Midfielders: Dele Alli (Tottenham), Ross Barkley (Everton), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Eric Dier (Tottenham), Danny Drinkwater (Leicester), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Liverpool), James Milner (Liverpool), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Andros Townsend (Newcastle), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal)
Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Jamie Vardy (Leicester)

However, 3 is to be cut from the 26 man squad to 23 making it a competitive field to be competing in. Manager Roy Hodgson is confident that this squad will perform in excellence and hope the fans will continue supporting the England team.

Manchester United: 'Old Trafford evacuated'

The home ground of Manchester United has been evacuated during a game versus Bournemouth with 75,000 people in the stadium on Tuesday. However, the suspected device turned out to be a 'dummy' device left over from 4 days ago during a training session. Christopher Reid, the managing director of Security Search Management & Solutions (SSMS), said he was “absolutely gutted” and that the mistake, which has cost Manchester United 3m, was entirely his. The security manager has left behind a dummy bomb during the match which was responsible for the terror alert during a training session.

Christopher Reid holding the dummy device

“That device could not have been detected by sniffer dogs on the routine match day search of the 100 Club [a hospitality suite] as it contained no explosives and was used in an exercise training handlers, not dogs,” he said.

“We are conducting a detailed evaluation with the help of the police and will share our findings across the rest of the game. Valuable lessons will have been learned from yesterday’s events and it is important that those are shared with other stadium operators to ensure that the safety of the public remains the first duty of us all.”

The game between Manchester United and Bournemouth is to be rescheduled on the 17th May, Tuesday.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/may/16/manchester-united-fans-should-be-compensated-for-bomb-scare-says-mp

Conference Finals Game 1 Recap

2016 NBA Playoffs Blog

Conference Finals Game 1 Recap:

Western Conference

1] Warriors vs. 3] Thunder (Series 1-0 Thunder)

The first game of the Western Conference Finals was played on Tuesday morning with the reigning champion Golden State Warriors taking on the title hungry Oklahoma City Thunder. A miraculous series comeback verses the San Antonio Spurs, after being down 2-1, gave the Thunder the chance to play in the Conference Finals. The game started out slow for both teams, with both teams scoring just under 25 points in the first quarter, but that was just the beginning of what turned out to be a thrilling game. Even though the Thunder started out very slow, with Russell Westbrook shooting 0-10 in the first half and being the sole cause for numerous turnovers, the Thunder were still within striking distance of the Warriors who were playing lock down defense and making Oklahoma City work for every single point. It seemed as if the Thunder needed every bit of the shot-clock to earn their baskets and when Golden State got a hold of the ball, it was easy bucket three pointers or long distance two’s in a quick paced transition game. In an ever too familiar story for this playoffs, the Thunder were up three points with under 10 seconds left when the Warriors forced the Thunder into a half court trap. Russell Westbrook, being the speed demon he is, attempted to stop and plant his feet but his momentum carried him and he dragged his planting foot. The referees did not call a travel and the Thunder were awarded a time-out after Westbrook was trapped. The refs blew a game for what seems like the millionth time, but it could be pivotal in this series. This could be quite an interesting series for the Warriors because even with Westbrook shooting 0-10 in the first half and Durant shooting 10-30 on the floor all night, they still pulled out the underdog win. The Thunder stole game one on the road without playing as well as they could, so it should be interesting to see how the Warriors come out in front of their home crowd in game 2 on Thursday morning.

Eastern Conference

1] Cavaliers vs. 2] Raptors (Series 1-0 Raptors)

The Cavaliers are undefeated this 2K16 Playoff’s, and it doesn’t seem like they will lose the game until they cruise into the Title round. LeBron James took over the game with outstanding statistics, shooting 85% from the floor with 24 points and 6 rebounds. He looked like a man amongst boys while he played phenomenal defense and gave his teammates every opportunity they could to score by drawing the defense to him. He truly looked like the greatest player in the world, and it seems like Toronto may not have the talents to knock him out of the series. It was clear from the regular season that the Cavaliers would cruise to the Eastern Conference finals, but no one knew that they would handle their opponents in the decapitating fashion that they have been. LeBron & Co are seemingly unstoppable, and it’s not an if, but only a when, are they going to get to the Title game.

introduction of the team and main topic

Welcome to ISYS100 Sports Blogs

We will be talking about a lot of sports. 

Mainly: Cricket, Football, Baseball and Gridiron

Writers:

Yuhao Gao     

Sam Mines     

Sam Aitken     

Terry Tang     

Tom Beck     

MAJOR UPSET FOR COMPETITION FAVOURITES

12/5/16

MAJOR UPSET FOR COMPETITION FAVOURITES

Another upset came last week in the UEFA Champions League for German heavyweights and previous competition winners Bayern Munich FC. They failed to score away at Athletico Madrid's Vicente Calderon Stadium the week before so going into their game at their home they were at a disadvantage.

They were the better team in every way, by the structure of their defense, ferociousness of their attack and pure class of their formation. A free kick from legend Xabi Alonso in the 31st minutes sparked hope for 5 time Champions Bayern Munich. But a 53rd minute goal from Griezmann put Athetico in the lead on an aggregate score of both games 2-1.

A 73rd minute goal from dream transfer Lewandowski wasn't enough to counteract Griezmann's away goal so although Bayern took the game 2-1 the aggregate score was 2-2 and Athetico Madrid move onto the UEFA Champions League Final to face city rivals and 9 time Champions League winners Real Madrid. Although the final is held in Milan, Italy for the 15/16 season, it will be a derby away from home between Athletico Madrid and Real Madrid which is set to be a final to remember.

Bautista Vs. Odor Fight

Bautista vs Odor

Texas Rangers second baseman, Rougned Odor, received an eight game suspension for his role in a fight with Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista. Bautista slid at Odor’s legs trying to break up a double play in the 8^th inning. With the new slide rule in effect this slide seemed malicious, however, prior to the rule change this slide was very acceptable. Odor took serious offense to Bautista and as both teams rushed the field Odor shoved Bautista dn then landed a punch to his cheek. Bautista was only on first base because he had been hit by a 98 mph fastball in the ribs. This event goes all the way back to the playoffs last year. Bautista homered off of a Rangers pitcher to win the game, standing and home plate and tossing his bat high up into the air before he started his trot. The Rangers took serious offense to his showboating and stored the event in their back pocket, ready to enact revenge at the right moment. That right moment was Monday night. However, I believe that once Bautista was hit with a 98 mph fastball the dispute should have been over. Odor says he doesn’t regret his actions, but over the next eight games of sitting on the bench he may change his mind.

Clayton Kershaw Still The King

I wrote last week about the dominance of the Cubs and specifically the dominance of Jake Arrieta. I almost feel like baseball fans have gotten so excited about Arrieta that we’ve almost forgotten about how good Kershaw has been and still is. After striking out 13 Mets last night, Kershaw has now punched out at least 10 batters in five consecutive starts. Arrieta hasn’t even struck out ten batters in a game once this year. Kershaw has been the premiere pitcher in the MLB for the last 9 years and that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. He has a career ERA of 2.40 and 1,823 strikeouts to only 470 walks. Those numbers have earned him three Cy Young awards, along with two more top five finishes, and an MVP award. This season has not been any sort of a drop of for Kershaw. He is currently 5-1 with a 1.74ERA and 77 strikeouts to only 4 walks. That strikeout to walk ratio is a staggering 19.25, which would be a new record in the MLB if Kershaw were able to maintain it for the rest of the season. However, Kershaw knows that strikeouts isn’t the name of the game. He understands that the strikeouts are great, but getting outs and wins is more important. “As long as you keep your pitch count down, it doesn’t matter how you get outs,” he said. “As long as it’s weak contact, quick outs. Tonight I was able to get deep into the game. Strikeouts are just kind of a byproduct. It’s not that important in the grand scheme of things, for sure.” We are truly witnessing one of the best pitchers ever in his prime and it is a thing of beauty

UEFA EURO SQAUDS CHOSEN

17/5/16

UEFA EURO SQUADS CHOSEN

The UEFA Euro competition is a National Club competition that is held every leap year to coincide with the Olympics, that includes all European national teams. This year the competition is held in France from the 10th of June to the 10th of July. 

The teams competing are: 

• GROUP A
• Albania
• France
• Romania
• Switzerland 
• GROUP B
• England
• Russia
• Slovakia
• Wales

• GROUP C
• Germany 
• Northern Ireland
• Poland 
• Ukraine
• GROUP D
• Croatia
• Czech Republic 
• Turkey 
• Spain
• GROUP E
• Belgium
• Republic of Ireland
• Sweden
• Italy
• GROUP F
• Austria
• Iceland
• Portugal
• Hungary

With the competition only a few weeks away many of the Competition Favourites have released their squads for the competition. England's squad includes Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, Leicester City wonder-boy Jamie Vardy and Chelsea F.C. defender Gary Cahill. Spain's traditionally well performing squad is really a who's who of expensive and highly rated players, Sergio Ramos and Andres Iniesta put their Barcelona/Real Madrid differences aside for the greater good of the Spanish team.

A team who's players have really come up in the last few seasons and who many are tipping to be Euro Finalists is Belgium. Stars from across Europe come together to claim the title, they include Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku and star midfielder Eden Hazard. Christiano Ronaldo, Nani and Pepe, hope to bring the trophy home for Portugal this year as they are traditionally plagued with bad luck. 

All in all the competition is shaping up to be one to remember.