To prepare on playign against tough oponnent Real Madrid, Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini said that he gave more time for their last season’s top goal scorer Sergio Aguero to rest and stay fit.

Mancini and the rest of City deem their Champions League opening fixture against Real Madrid as their toughest in their second stint at Europe’s most prestigious club competition. To cope up with scoring, they need to pit in Aguero as their strike force. The Argentinian international sustained a knee injury in his side’s Premier League opener against Southampton.

While Aguero has returned to training with City following his international stint with Argentina during the break, Mancini is still uncertain of starting him against Real Madrid. He followed up by assuring that the striker will fly with them to Madrid.

The match between Real Madrid and City will be the first time both teams will face one another. Mancini remarked that they are still trying to build history and that they may not be as competitive against their prestigious Spanish rivals, despite an influx of investment that led to their fresh progress.

The manager believes that while he has good players, he acknowledges their constant need for improvement. Recalling their difficult group stage stint last year, he said that they must be prepared for an even more difficult year at Champions League – this time against their fellow European domestic top-league champions.

Facing Real Madrid will be the greatest trial for Mancini’s managerial career, especially with a recently progressing team in the mould of City. He noted that they have to brace themselves to withstand a team that has a highly successful history, top-class players and a nine-time European club winner, but his side will never settle for a draw or loss.

Calling Real Madrid’s Jose Mourinho as a “good manager”, Mancini said that he would be civil with him when they meet at the match, despite their reported rift. Mourinho succeeded the Italian as Internazionale Milan coach in 2008.

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Photo credits:

Roberto Mancini [Photograph]. (2012). Retrieved 18 September 2012, from <http://www.euronews.com/sport/1660596-aguero-may-feature-against-real-madrid-says-mancini/ >

Manchester United continued its fight to regain the Premier League title as it defeated a feeble Wigan side 4-0. Veteran Paul Scholes made his 700th appearance for the club memorable through a stunning goal and his impressive passing stints.

Having risen on the tables to second behind number one Chelsea, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side gained great advantage even in the absence of high-profile new signings Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa. Alex Büttner and Nick Powell further marked the spectacular showing of United as both scored their first goals on their debut for the club.

Kagawa, Rooney and Van Persie’s absences prompted first-team appearances for strikers Danny Welbeck and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. The Mexican international recovered from a penalty save by Wigan keeper Ali Al-Habsi through his relentless second-half attempts, with the third one becoming successful at the 63rd minute.

While playign against tough oponnent United, Wigan forced pressure in the first half, creating the impression that The Red Devils were struggling from the nonappearance of their lethal strike forces. Scholes broke through the second half with his accurate passes and his eye on the enemy woodwork, making his shot a goal to remember in the match.

The intensity of United’s showing proved that they have recovered from Wigan’s 1-0 home win in their previous league fixture last season. Ferguson describes the upset as the match that cost them the league title.

United could have easily taken over the lead from the first half if not for a failed penalty from Chicharito. Welbeck drew inspiring encounters with the goal as he lacked space due to mounting first-half pressure from Wigan.

While the visitors heavily relied on the likes of Ivan Ramis and Arouna Kone for scoring in the first half, their downhill fall on the second half caused them to lose their seventh straight game at Old Trafford. United’s focus to thwart threats from “little Wigan” – as Ferguson dubs them, highlighted the team’s immense talents.

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Photo credits:

Büttner Scores for Man Utd [Photograph]. (2012). Retrieved 17 September 2012, from <http://article.wn.com/view/2012/09/16/alexander_b_ttner_steals_show_in_manchester_united_romp_agai_s/ >

Roy Hodgson, England national team manager, remarked that he and his side are assured of a World Cup appearance in 2014, despite a display of flaws while playign against tough oponnent Ukraine that led to a 1-1 draw.

Hodgson's side suffered from a lack of key players. The team needed a late-game penalty from Frank Lampard to get past through losing to Ukraine. Disappointing performances from Tom Cleverley aggravated the team's situation at home on Tuesday.

Important players like Andy Carroll, Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott and John Terry were all absent during the Ukraine fixture. Hodgson deemed the call-ups of Adam Lallana, Raheem Sterling and Jake Livermore as necessary, even though none of them played for the seniors before.

Hodgson remained confident that his side will be competing strongly for the World Cup. Saying that many features of the Ukraine game impressed him, he noted the abilities of the youngsters in the game. He added that the team has a strong winning chance especially if all the sidelined players are present.

Expectations were high for England when they thrashed an ailing Moldova side 5-0 prior to last Tuesday's match. Ukraine proved to be a tougher team, given their international potential as seen in EURO 2012.

With the match showing England having a difficult time superseding the Ukrainians, the rescue goal provided by Lampard provided consolation to the team's numerous wasted chances. Cleverley's double wide shots is a far cry from his performance in Moldova that led Hodgson to immediately compare him to Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas.

A 25-yard goal from Yevgeni Konoplianka, followed by near-goal attempts from Oleg Gusev and Ruslan Rotan, highlighted the strength of Ukraine. Captain Steven Gerrard's send-off and five other bookings, greatly hampered the progress of England. Jermain Defoe's invalidated 20-yard goal due to an illegal hand-off further drew the ire of Hodgson on referee Cuneyt Cakir.

Gerrard joined Hodgson in agreeing that England has a fighting chance for the World Cup. He commended his side's determined attitude and the satisfactory performance of the youngsters, as shown against Ukraine which could have easily earned them a loss.

England will face San Marino and Poland in their upcoming World Cup qualifiers in October.

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Photo credits:

Roy Hodgson [Photograph]. (2012). Retrieved 13 September 2012, from < http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/article/165/8071022/hodgson-aware-of-slim-pickings >

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — France was outplayed, outfought and outscored, and that was against a team with nothing to play for.

With world champion Spain now waiting in the quarterfinals of the European Championship, things better improve quickly for the French to stand a chance of going any further. France limped into the knockout round of Euro 2012 despite a 2-0 loss to Sweden in their final group game, showing just how much the team still needs to improve to be true contenders in the tournament. The French finished second in Group D after England beat Ukraine 1-0, and will face Spain on Saturday in the quarterfinals.

"You have to be optimistic to think that we can beat Spain, but it's hard right now to imagine that we can. We have to do better on Saturday," France coach Laurent Blanc said. "We wanted to finish top of the group but couldn't manage it, so we have to deal with that."

France's 23-game unbeaten streak came to a crashing end as the already-eliminated Swedes exposed frailties in the back four and neutralized the dual attacking threat of Karim Benzema and Franck Ribery.

The Swedes dominated proceedings for much of the game and Zlatan Ibrahimovic broke the deadlock with a piece of artistry in the 54th minute, sending a spectacular volley past helpless goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Sweden had plenty of chances to add a second before Sebastian Larsson finally did in injury time to secure the team's first points of the tournament.

"We really wanted to win this game for the fans, their support has been fantastic," Ibrahimovic said. "We wanted to finish this strongly for them." Perhaps France can still do the same, but the team has big problems to solve in both defense and attack.

"We were too average in too many areas to hope to win this match," Blanc said. "The Swedish team played with all their hearts, they were better prepared than us. They had a player in their ranks (Ibrahimovic) who made the difference. If you analyze the game, we were in trouble for most of it.

"We're very disappointed with how we played. The main thing is that we've qualified." England finished with seven points, while France had four and Ukraine and Sweden bowed out with three each. France looked lackluster throughout much of the game and lacked clinical finishing when it did threaten the Swedish goal.

Substitute Jeremy Menez had France's best chance to equalize when he broke into the area in the 81st minute but his low shot was stopped by goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson's leg. From the resulting corner, Olivier Giroud headed just wide.

Benzema was largely ineffective again and remained scoreless at the tournament. Ribery had France's best chance in the first half when the ball fell to him on the left edge of the area but his shot was parried by Isaksson.

Instead, it was Ibrahimovic who stole the show with another spectacular goal to add to his resume. The tall AC Milan striker met Larsson's cross from the left and put himself nearly sideways in the air before striking the ball perfectly past Lloris.

"It was a perfect cross from Seb," Ibrahimovic said. "The whole team played a fantastic game today." Lloris then single-handedly kept France in the game over the next few minutes as Sweden kept pressing, making point-blank saves to deny Christian Wilhelmsson and Olof Mellberg.

Larsson finally added the second by emphatically volleying a rebound into an empty net, giving the large contingent of Swedish fans a reason to celebrate. "It's mixed emotions right now," Sweden coach Erik Hamren said. "We should be happy with the victory and the performance. ... But at the same time, there's a sense of sadness in us all because we would have wanted to stick around a bit longer."

Lineups:

Sweden: Andreas Isaksson, Andreas Granqvist, Olof Mellberg, Jonas Olsson, Martin Olsson, Anders Svensson (Samuel Holmen, 79), Kim Kallstrom, Sebastian Larsson, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Emir Bajrami (Christian Wilhelmsson, 46), Ola Toivonen (Pontus Wernbloom, 78).

France: Hugo Lloris, Mathieu Debuchy, Gael Clichy, Philippe Mexes, Adil Rami, Yann M'Vila (Olivier Giroud, 83), Alou Diarra, Hatem Ben Arfa (Florent Malouda, 59), Franck Ribery, Samir Nasri (Jeremy Menez, 77), Karim Benzema.

SOURCE: mail.com/int/sports/soccer/1373496-france-reaches-euro-2012-quarters-despite-2-0-loss.html#.1258-stage-set1-1

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Group Stage Russia Vs Czech Match Preview


Russia will come into the go with as powerful favorites in many experts sight after their amazing displaying during determining. Dick Advocatt's men lead Team B with seven benefits from their ten trips.

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