European League: FC Porto - Villareal 5-1, 28 April 2011 highlights

Most likely it's going to be portuguese final of European League. I like this.

European League: Benfica - Braga 2-1, 28 April 2011 highlights

Ricardo ruled out by injury for the rest of the season

Seems it's the end of this season for Ricardo. Portuguese goalkeeper suffered shoulder injury on Sunday, a day before the game against Watford on Monday.

According to Leicester coach, Sven-Goran Eriksson, it is most unlikely Ricardo is going to return for the two remaining games of this season.

Tim Howard small picspam

Premier League, Manchester United vs Everton, 23 April



Premier League, Manchester United vs Everton, 23 April



Premier League, Sunderland vs Everton, 26 February



Premier League, Sunderland vs Everton, 26 February



Premier League, Manchester City vs Everton, 20 December



Premier League, Manchester City vs Everton, 20 December



FA Cup, Chelsea vs Everton, 19 February



FA Cup, Chelsea vs Everton, 19 February



FA Cup, Chelsea vs Everton, 19 February



FA Cup, Chelsea vs Everton, 19 February



FA Cup, Chelsea vs Everton, 19 February, celebratin the vitory in penalty shoot-out



FA Cup, Chelsea vs Everton, 19 February



FA Cup, Chelsea vs Everton, 19 February



FA Cup, Chelsea vs Everton, 19 February



FA Cup, Chelsea vs Everton, 19 February



Premier League, Bolton vs Everton, 13 February



Premier League, Wolverhampton vs Everton, 9 April



Premier League, Newcastle vs Everton, 5 March



Premier League, Arsenal vs Everton, 1 February



Premier League, Arsenal vs Everton, 1 February



Premier League, Arsenal vs Everton, 1 February



Premier League, Arsenal vs Everton, 1 February



Premier League, Arsenal vs Everton, 1 February



Premier League, Arsenal vs Everton, 1 February



Premier League, Arsenal vs Everton, 1 February

How long did Ricardo's luck last?

It seemed that everything is going well, since has Ricardo signed a contract with Leicester City back in January and finally started to play again after sitting on the bench in Betis for almost 1,5 year.

Somehow I lost a track on him lately so it came as a surprise to me, when I turned on TV a week ago to watch Leicester game against Reading, to discover that Ricardo was not in the first squad. He was replaced by Chris Weale.

His stats doesn't look bad. In eight games he started he kept two clean sheets and made 24 saves in total. He did quite well in those game I saw him.

Overall with Ricardo in the squad Leicester noted three wins, one draw, and lost four times. Did he commit any mistakes in those four games? Apparently the coach did think so, if he replaced him.

Wonder if he is going to come back before the end of the season? But then again, they are only three games till the end. Leicester is on the 12th place in the table. It seems that they already missed they chance to play in play-offs for the Premier League...

Pity that Ricardo's time in Englad lasted for such a short time.

Real Madrid won Copa del Rey final!

First victory over Barcelona since 3 years. First final won by Real since 1993.

What's more Casillas made two crucial saves. And it was Ronaldo, who scored the winning goal in 103'.

For sure it's an evening to remember.

European League: FC Porto - CSKA Moscov 2-1 video highlights

European League: PSG - Benfica 1-1 video highlights

European League: Liverpool - Braga 0-0 video highlights

Three Portuguese teams advanced to the quarterfinals of European League!

Happy day for Portugal. Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting Braga made to the quarterfinals of European League.

Watched Braga's match. No goals, a bit nervous last minutes but Artur made good saves when it was needed.

Results:

Paris Saint-Germain - Benfica, 1-1; first leg 1-2 (agg 2-3);
Goals: Bodmer, 35'; Gaitán, 27'.

Liverpool - Sporting Braga, 0-0, first leg 0-1; (agg 0-1);

FC Porto - CSKA Moscov, 2-1; first leg 1-0; (agg 3-1);
Goals: Hulk, 1'; Guarín, 24'; Tosic, 29'.

Champions League: Barcelona - Arsenal 3-1, 8 March 2011

One player's bad luck is another's good luck. During the Championship League match Barcelona - Arsenal Wojciech Szczęsny was ruled out by an injury. Manuel Almunia took his place in Arsenal's goal and used his chance well. He made 8 saves. Quite an achivement when one has to face players like Messi and Villa.

Quite surprising how it all happened. Manuel Almunia was ruled out by the injury of an elbow at the very beginning of this season. Łukasz Fabiański took his place and stayed as No. 1 till the fatal injury of an shoulder caused that he is not going to play in this season any more. Wojciech Szczęsny was next in the line and was doing well, but now he is going to face at least six weeks break.

It was said that Almunia might leave Arsenal in the winter transfer window. It was not first time when he seemed to be just one step away from being send away. But he did stay. And if he is going to keep up the good shape I'm not sure if Szczęsny is going to regain the place in the goal easily. So far Almunia had two good performances - in the Championship League against Barcelona and in FA Cup against Manchester United. Both were lost by Arsenal, quite true, but the goalkeeper saved all what he could.

FA Cup - Chelsea - Everton 1:1 (pen 3:4) 19, Everton wins penalty shoot-out!

When I started to watch this game my first thought was 'I want the penalty shoot-out and I want Everton to win'. And surprisingly it did happen.

Both teams wasted so many good situations in the regular time! It was much better in the additional time, the game became faster. But I'm not complaining, because it was extremely pleasant game to watch for a goalkeepers' fan. Petr Cech made 10 saves, Tim Howard 8. What's more they both saved a penalty each.

Lampard scored in 104' but sometimes 1:0 is not enough to win. Like in this match. Baines scored an amazing goal from a free kick just outside the penalty area, one minute before the end of the additional time. It was literally their last chance to draw the game.

Too bad for Ashley Cole to miss the last penalty for Chelsea. Phil Nevill scored for Everton and they were through.

Great to see Everton celebrating in front of their fans.

As for Chelsea 'the penalty curse' affected them again. It was the seventh penalty shoot-out lost in a row...

Łukasz Fabiański ruled out for the rest of the season, Wojciech Szczęsny - a new No. 1

Łukasz Fabiański is going to miss the last four month of the season due to an injury of the shoulder. He had already undergo a surgery. Now he is slowly coming back to health and it's going to take time before he can start rehabilitation.

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Wojciech Szczęsny, replaced his compration both as No. 1 in Arsenal and in the national team.

Liked his performance in Poland's game against Norway. Polish team needs a self-confident goalkeeper, on whom one can rely on. Luckily, the goalkeeper position is the one, where the coach has a wide choice. Even with Fabiański and Boruc out, there is plenty others, who can replace them. Szczęsny is the first choice now.

He is also expected to play in the Championship League against Barcelona. Who would predict such a turn in a career of the young goalkeeper? It can be his big chance.

Ricardo debuted in Leicester City

Today Ricardo debuted in Leicester City and played full 90 minutes in the away game against Derby. Nice gift for the birthday, which he had yesterday.

So happy to see him again in the goal, after so long time. It's almost two years since he played last time. Unbelievable for the footballer who used to be no. 1 of the Portuguese national team.

I think Ricardo played good today, although he should be more careful when there is a need to run out of the goal. One of such situations almost ended up with a goal for the opponents. However, Derby didn't troubled him much and had to make only two saves.

Leicester controled the game in the first half and scored two goals. Derby tried to catch up with the result at the beginning but then again, Leicester was better.

Looking forward to see Ricardo again in the next game.

Iker Casillas - LCTrussell1992's video

A video about Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas made by YT User LCTrussell1992.

Premier League: Arsenal vs Everton 2-1, 1 February 2010, video highlights

szólj hozzá: AR2-1EV[matchhighlight.com]HL

Great game to watch. Everton opened the game when Louis Saha scored in 24'. They lead till 70'. Five minutes were enough for Arsenal to catch up with the result (Arshavin) and add to it the second goal (Koscielny).

Wojciech Szczęsny who is now Arsenal's no. 1 didn't had too much to work. Hard to blame him that he allowed a goal from an offside...

Liked the performance of Tim Howard, escpecially his excellent save of Van Persie's shot from free-kick, who tried to send the ball into top right angle. Howard somehow managed to tip it over.

Ricardo signed up the contract with Leicester City

The club has confirmed that Ricardo joined it until the end of the season.

Ricardo left Betis in early January by mutual consent and found a new club on a free transfer. He was training with Leicester since the last week and apparently his performance was impressive enough to earn him a fifth-months deal.

Leicester City plays in Football League Championship and currently is on 10th position in the table.

"I am delighted that we've been able to secure Ricardo on a permanent contract. He has impressed during his time at the club and brings extra competition to our goalkeeping department,” said Sven Goran-Eriksson, Leicester's coach.

“Ricardo is an excellent shot-stopper with agility and he plays with great confidence. He has played at the highest level and will be a great addition to our squad. Plus, he owes me after 2004 and 2006, so I'm sure he will be keen to do well for us." (quoted from PortuGOAL.net).

Ricardo in Leicester City?

Last years were not good for Ricardo. His club Betis Sevilla was relegated to Segunda Division after 2008/2009 season and he himself lost the place in the frist squad. He was not even given a squad number ahead of this season.

But finally there is a hope for a change. Ricardo was released by Betis in this month and is without a club for the time being. It is said that he was invited to train with Leicester City club by Sven Goran-Eriksson. The Swedish coach knows Ricardo two well. He managed the English team when they lost against Portugal in penalty shoot-out on Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006. In both those cases it was Ricardo who stopped England, sucessufully defending penalties.

Although a contract has been not signed yet Maisfutebol claims that Ricardo intends to make the move to the club.

Will Ricardo join Leicester and fullfill his dreams to play in England? I wish him all the best.

Video interview with the coach Bogdan Wenta after Croatia - Poland match

Wenta: brakuje mi w tej grupie człowieka, który to pociągnie

Before the game against Serbia there was such silence in the dressing room... There was a change later, but today... On the morning walk, on the meeting before the game the mood was full of optimism.

For Croats it was a game for everything, and it was the same for us. We commited mistakes in this match, we suffered a break down. It seems that this group lacks the leader, someone who will inspire the others. Sometimes Grzesiu [Tkaczyk] plays this part but he was ruled out by an injury. Sławek [Szmal] is a great figure, showed it today through his great performance, but we can't expect that he is going to cover the goal completely, save everything and we are only going to score.

It was a series of easy mistakes again. It's a bit embarassing. If it is only unused clear situation, the team can't be really blamed for it. If it repeats three or four times in the row the player can be always changed. But it's puzzling that in simple situations we are losing the ball or passing it straight in the hands of an opponent. Those throws are intended to be so easy just in purpouse to start the game well, to face the opponent. Today we expected that they are going to wait what we are going to do. There were good moments, we had postions to score. When we hesitated for a while, tried to slow down on the back, there were counter-attacks.

I know the Croatian team's way of playing by heart. To sum up today they also didn't play anything different than usual. But it worked out, they were more effective or perhaps they commited less mistakes, or, I don't know, the spectators were more favourable for them because thay are among the top teams not only for the last four years but for ten, right? Well, it's a certain advantage.

They say... Well, today Croats had a few players from Bundesliga in the squad... But in the backstage people generally say that players playing in Bundesliga are more tired that the others. But then again, it's standing in the front of the cameras and saying what we all want to hear.

We are the group where there is sixteen players and the coaching staff, so it's obvious that as in every group they are friendships but they are also anthypaties. Someone likes someone else more, someone is irritated by someone's else behaviour. We are together for nearly a month so you can be annoyed just by seeing the t-shirt another person is wearing or beg my pardon what is served for the breakfast or what hour we are drinking coffee. It's normal. Add stress to this to get the picture. If you win matches, everything is okay, the cooperation goes well. Even if something is not quite right... Like today in Grabarczyk's case. I have a lot of admiration for him, because it had seemed he was injuried and yet he managed to play quite well.

22nd Men's Handball World Championship - Croatia - Poland 28:24 (13:11), postgame video interview with Piotr Wyszomirski and goalkeepers match stats

Postgame interview with the deputy goalkeeper Piotr Wyszomirski after Crotia - Poland game. His performance as well as Sławomir Szmal's belongs to the few positive sides of that game.

Szmal saved 42% of shots (15 of 36 attempts). He saved also two penalty shots and sucesfully stopped opponents in situations one to one a few times.

Wyszomirski replaced Szmal in 42'. He saved 46% of shots (6 of 13), one penalty shot and managed to save a shot in one to one situation.

But a goalkeeper can't win a game alone...

Wyszomirski o porażce z Chorwacją: coś pękło, zeszło z nas powietrze

It was really an important match for us, as if it was the final. We were fighting for the qualification to the Olympic Games. We are going to play another final two days later. We will see how it's going to turn out. I think we lacked the spirt, everyone had had a different expectations in the first place. We arrived on those Championships with other plan.

Something went wrong, we lacked the consequence in the attack and commited stupid mistakes in the defence. We had to chase the result again and that cost us dear. We were not able to catch up with the result and we lost.

Question: In your opinion that game could be won?

I think so. At the beggining Croats were very nervous. We also didn't look the best, but we lead the game at the beginning of the first half. So I think that if our counter-attacks had been sucessful and we had scored we would have had a chance. We could get clear lead and they would have to chase the result. I think we could have won this match.