Happy Monday!
This week on (the award-nominated) 15MOF we watch the Edmonton Oilers slip further down the standings and try to figure out what’s wrong, we look at a couple of big streaks in the NHL & the NBA (one of which just came to an end), and we look ahead to the main event at UFC 158 between Georges St. Pierre and Nick Diaz.
In the GABBYs: Canadian baseball, bees, Brittney Griner, Brett Cook, Cuneyt Cakir and Beitar Jerusalem. The Punchline this week is the Indoor Football League!
(Cristiano Ronaldo, Wikimedia Commons)
In watching the coverage of the first quarterfinal today of Euro 2012, the British commentator said of Portugese star Cristiano Ronaldo, “if at first you cannot succeed, try, try again.”
Ronaldo hit a first half post, hit a second post on a second half free kick, then shot the ball over the net before finally scoring on a header in the 79th minute in a 1-0 Portugal win over the Czech Republic in the Euro 2012 quarterfinals in Warsaw. In all, Ronaldo, probably the most breathtaking player in the tournament, had eight shots on net.
For Ronaldo, it was his third goal in the last two games, as he scored twice in a 2-1 win over the Netherlands on Sunday.
Portugal completely dominated the game–outshooting the Czech Republic 20-2. The Czech Republic simply didn’t get one really good scoring chance. I know Group A was the weakest pool in the tournament, but Portugal’s dominance just showed how strong Group B was.
Irina Shayk (Wikimedia Commons)
I think we may know why Portugese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo had such a good game on Sunday in Portugal’s 2-1 win over the Netherlands.
According to Martin Rogers of Yahoo! Sports, Ronaldo’s girlfriend, Russian supermodel Irina Shayk was spotted by the paparazzi shopping in New York, and not in the stands at Euro 2012.
Ronaldo was obviously able to focus on soccer and performed admirably. I am wondering if Spain is having a no sex policy like Italy has been famous for in international events.
Ronaldo told the European press he didn’t expect Shayk to join him a week ago. Ronaldo struggled in the first two games of the tournament on capitalizing on his chances, but scored two key goals in Portugal’s win Sunday that helped them advance to the quarterfinals Thursday where they will play the Czech Republic.
Shayk, considered one of the sexist models in the world, has done significant work for Sports Illustrated in the past.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Wikimedia Commons)
We now know half the teams that have qualified for the Euro 2012 quarterfinals in Poland and Ukraine.
On Sunday, Portugal defeated the Netherlands 2-1 and Germany got by Denmark 2-1. Both the Germans and Portugese got second half game winning goals by Lars Bender and Cristiano Ronaldo respectively.
Ronaldo, considered by many as the most skilled player in the entire tournament, scored his first two goals of Euro 2012 after not scoring against Germany or Denmark despite numerous opportunities. He tied the score at 1 in the 28th minute against the Dutch and then won it in the 74th minute.
Germany, went an impressive 3-0 in the Group of Death while the Portugese went 2-1. The Netherlands shockingly went 0-3 after advancing all the way to the final of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The Czech Republic will now play Portugal in Warsaw, Poland on Thursday, June 21st, while Germany will now play Greece on Friday, June 22nd in Gdansk, Poland. Both games start at 12:45 MT.
Drew Doughty (Wikimedia Commons)
The Los Angeles Kings are one win away from capturing their very first Stanley Cup. On Saturday night the Kings will play the New Jersey Devils (CBC, 6pm) leading the Finals 3-1.
The Devils meanwhile are taking a game-by-game approach according to all-star goaltender Martin Brodeur. In game four, the Devils had a solid third period and stayed alive with a 3-1 win. For the Devils to make the Stanley Cup Finals interesting, they will need a solid performance from Ilya Kovalchuk, who only has one goal in four games so far, and that one went into an empty net.
The Kings are getting great production from Drew Doughty, who leads all blueliners with 14 playof points.
One player though nobody is talking about is New Jersey’s defenceman Bryce Salvador who has 13 points. Just how unexpected has Salvador’s point production been? Well his NHL regular season career high came in 2009 when he had 16 points in 76 games!
For most North American sports fans, the off-season is a fairly boring period where the best you can hope for is a big trade or signing, or perhaps a new collective bargaining agreement.
If you’re a soccer fan though, the off-season apparently just means more highlights! I’m not even sure that there is an off-season for soccer fans, because when your European league of choice closes shop for the year, there is always Major League Soccer, which plays on an opposite schedule!
This year, while NFL & NBA fans sweat their respective lockouts and NHL fans get overexcited about player movement, the “off-season” for soccer fans has been jam packed with action. First, there was the Women’s World Cup, which really showed us all how far women’s soccer has come. Then we’ve got the Copa America, which has featured some massive upsets so far, and finally, the Herbalife World Football Challenge is now in full swing.
I know what you’re saying: “Kerrzy, the World Football Challenge is just a series of money-making friendlies where they make 10 subs at half time!”… (more…)
Jose Mourinho was nowhere to be seen on Tuesday at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain, but his words from a week earlier resonated as the final whistle sounded.
With their coach serving what many likely saw as an unjust ban, Real Madrid played to a 1-1 draw with Barcelona in the second leg of the all-Spanish Champions League semifinal, a result that sent Barca through to the big dance for the second time in three years. Did they deserve to go through though?
Probably – there’s no question that the Leo Messi led team is one of the world’s most elite clubs, stocked to the brim with extreme talent. That said, I could hardly watch as they played their own brand of “negative football” to perfection and, to boot, once again benefited from a suspect call by the referee that changed the course of the action. (more…)
Suspendable Offence?
The same week he called his job “thankless,” Colin Campbell is out with another head-scratcher!
The NHL’s head disciplinarian went off on TSN Radio about how he feels a bit disrespected by all of the criticism he is facing, especially now that we’re into the playoffs. I can kind of see why he’d be rattled because he has definitely been active in punishing players who break the rules lately, handing out five suspensions in the last week and a half or so. That said, I think we’re all a bit miffed about a few of his calls so far.
Case and point: the Raffi Torres hit on Brent Seabrook…(After the jump: The latest NHL suspension, Real Madrid puts their mark on the Spanish Cup & MORE!) (more…)
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