CHELSEA WINS PREMIER LEAGUE

 

Carlo Ancelotti's unstoppable Blues crushed the Red opposition as they romped to the title yesterday. And after hoisting the Premier League trophy aloft, Chelsea skipper John Terry expressed the three years of pain for seeing Manchester United lift it.

 

Chelsea blew their opponents away as they stuck eight past Wigan at a delirious Stamford Bridge. Didier Drogba notched a hat-trick - taking him to 29 League goals and the Golden Boot. And it was a net gain all round for the Blues as they finished the season with 103 Prem goals. Nicolas Anelka (2), Frank Lampard, Salomon Kalou and Ashley Cole also struck yesterday.

 

United, who beat Stoke 4-0, finished a point behind Chelsea. And Terry means to make sure Alex Ferguson's side stay second best for years to come. The England centre back also paid tribute to boss Ancelotti who matched Jose Mourinho's feat by becoming the second foreign coach to win the League at the first attempt.

 

BOLA BOYZ  CHELSEA

BENITEZ WANTS TO STAY ON

 

Rafa Benitez last night insisted he does want to lead Liverpool into a new season. The fact it will start little more than two weeks after the World Cup ends shows exactly what a pig's ear they have made of the current one. A week or so ago, Benitez' six-year reign on Merseyside looked certain to be over, with Juventus knocking on his door, a nightmare campaign drawing to an end, the club up for sale and the futures of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard in doubt.

 

Plenty of those doubts remain, after their worst campaign in a decade ended with a tame seventh spot, no Champions League place and Real Madrid, Manchester City, Chelsea and Co sure to test the loyalty of Anfield's big names in the coming months. But as far as Kop boss Benitez is concerned, he has no doubts about his own future any more.

 

BOLA BOYZ

BAYERN MUNICH IS GERMAN CHAMPIONS

 

Bayern Munich celebrated their 22nd German League title with a 3-1 victory over already-relegated Hertha Berlin at the Olympiastadion on Saturday. Louis van Gaal's men had been all but home and dry, leading Schalke by three points and 17 goals going into the final day of the season, and duly completed the job thanks to Arjen Robben's second-half double.

 

Ivica Olic opened the scoring for Bayern - who have a DFB Pokal and Champions League final still to come - in the 20th minute before Gustavo Ramos levelled on the hour mark. But Robben, who has been superb in his first season at the Allianz Arena, struck in the 74th and 87th minutes as Bayern won the title for the first time since 2008 and Hertha bowed out of the top flight with a defeat.

 

Bayern have now won the domestic title 21 times since the Bundesliga began in 1963. They also won the old German League title in 1932.

INTER MILAN WINS COPPA ITALIA

 

Inter Milan clinched the first trophy of a potential treble-winning campaign with a lone Diego Milito strike against Roma. Milito's 40th minute goal handed the Nerazzurri their sixth Coppa Italia, the first under coach Jose Mourinho.

 

Roma ended the game down to 10 men after substitute Francesco Totti was sent off for a second booking in what was a sombre night for the Giallorossi in their own Stadio Olimpico. Inter will now take aim at Champions League glory with a final date against Bayern Munich in Madrid later this month.

BOLA BOYZ

TOTTI MAY NOT GO AFRICA

Francesco Totti may have missed out on being named in Italy's preliminary World Cup squad, club coach Claudio Ranieri intimated on Saturday.

 

Roma striker Totti had been considering coming out of international retirement for the June 11 - July 11 tournament in South Africa but media reports have said coach Marcello Lippi has decided against recalling him and has informed the club.

 

The Italian soccer federation has made no comment and Lippi has said details of the squad will only be announced on Tuesday.

BOLA BOYZ

UNITED NEED TWO BIG NAMES

 

Wayne Rooney has called on Sir Alex Ferguson to sign two big-name players this summer as Manchester United face up to the prospect of losing the league title.

 

Many feel the failure to make high-profile signings following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez has cost United this season, and Rooney is hoping Ferguson can bring in another top-quality striker for next year.

 

Alongside Didier Drogba, Rooney is currently joint top of the Premier League goal-scoring charts with 26 goals, and he knows that - even if he does get more support in attack next year - he will be expected to deliver a similar total again.

 

 

BOLA BOYZ  MAN UTD

SPAIN'S FINAL SQUAD IS READY

 

Spain national team coach Vicente del Bosque announced that he has finalised his list of 30 players for this summer's World Cup and has nearly decided on his final 23-man roster. Del Bosque revealed that much of the team will be holdovers from the Euro 2008 championship squad.

 

There are other youngsters that could yet receive opportunities, such as Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David De Gea. Barcelona goalkeeper, Victor Valdes, also received Del Bosque's praise. Del Bosque has already publicly declared that Iker Casillas is Spain's undisputed number one keeper while Pepe Reina is his backup.

 

Spain has three players over the 30-year-old mark in Joan Capdevila, Marcos Senna, and Carles Puyol and the Spanish coach highlighted the need to look for players to begin to fill those positions in the future. Some of the favourites mentioned in the press recently are Athletic Bilbao's Javi Martinez, Atletico Madrid's Alvaro Dominguez, and Espanyol's Victor Ruiz.

BOLA BOYZ  LIVERPOOL

KEWELL MAY MISS IT TOO

 

Australia midfielder Harry Kewell's hopes of arriving match-fit for next month's World Cup have dimmed after he suffered a relapse with his long-troubling groin injury, local media reported on Saturday.

 

Kewell, who played a few minutes for Galatasaray last week in his first competitive match since December, would miss the Turkish club's last two matches after re-injuring his groin, assistant coach Johan Neeskens was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

 

Kewell, who returned to Australia for groin surgery earlier this year, is likely to be named on Tuesday in coach Pim Verbeek's 30-man preliminary squad for the finals, regardless of his fitness.

 

The former Leeds United and Liverpool player has only two weeks to recover before Australia's friendly against New Zealand in Melbourne on May 24, and will have just two other friendlies against Denmark and the United States to prove his match fitness.

 

BOLA BOYZ  LIVERPOOL

FRIENDLY: MEXICO 0 - EQUADOR 0

Mexico's World Cup hopefuls did little to give their heaving sea of red and green-clad fans something to celebrate in the first match at the new Meadowlands Stadium on Friday as they played out an anti-climactic scoreless draw with Ecuador.

 

With Ecuador failing to qualify and Mexico experimenting in the countdown to the World Cup, it was perhaps unsurprising the match, the first at the new home of New York's two NFL teams, the Giants and the Jets, failed to reach any great heights.

 

Neither side created many clear scoring opportunities, with Manchester United-bound striker Javier Hernandez heavily marked after squandering an early chance, and they settled for a stalemate in front of almost 80,000 fans, who had turned the match into a noisy carnival with horns and whistles.

 

BOLA BOYZ 

BARRY IN DANGER OF MISSING THE WORLD CUP

 

A regular England starter, Gareth Barry has been ruled out for up to four weeks after damaging ankle ligaments in Wednesday's Premier League loss to Tottenham. England coach Fabio Capello has to select his provisional squad of 30 by Tuesday. Unable to add others before announcing his final squad of 23 by June 1, he now has to decide whether to include Barry.

 

Barry will miss England's pre-World Cup friendlies against Mexico and Japan, plus the squad's two training camps at altitude in Austria. With Barry now a World Cup doubt, there was speculation Saturday that Tottenham's Huddlestone and Manchester United's Hargreaves could be called up.

ANCELOTTI NOT INTERESTED IN TORRES

Carlo Ancelotti insists Chelsea have no reason to move for Fernando Torres this summer as they have enough attacking options at the club.

 

Last week, Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton rejected suggestions Torres could leave Anfield when he said there is "no intention" and "absolutely no reason" to sell the player, but reports have persisted that Chelsea and Manchester City are set to make a bid.

 

Yet while Roberto Mancini confirmed City are still looking to sign Torres despite missing out on the Champions League, Ancelotti has said he has no reason to try to sign the Spain striker this summer.

BOLA BOYZ  CHELSEA

REWARDS FOR EACH SOUTH AFRICA'S GOAL

As if national pride, playing on home soil, a personal desire to succeed and general competitiveness weren't enough motivating factors for the South African national team at the World Cup, now it has even more incentive to score as many goals as it possibly can during the tournament -- cash money.

 

Apparently the team's inability to score (they have just 32 goals in 34 matches over the last two years) in the lead-up to this summer's hosting duties have the South African Football Association so panicked that they are now structuring a deal with the players that will reward the team with one million rand ($136,000) to split for every ball it puts in the back of the net.

 

Sedibe will meet with a six-man player's committee headed by team captain Aaron Mokoena and finalize an agreement by May 31. So if you see South African players celebrate their goals at the World Cup by doing pelvic thrusts and giddily shouting "cha-ching!" then you'll know what's up.

LEDLEY KING IN FOR CONTENTION

Ledley King is set to be named in the squad on Tuesday after proving his ability to play three games in 11 days. King's ability has never been in doubt, but Fabio Capello and his staff had doubts over his ability to play regular football at the tournament given his well-publicised fitness problems. Having featured in Tottenham's last three games against Manchester United, Bolton and Manchester City, though, Capello is now satisfied that King is physically capable of keeping up with the demands of the tournament.

 

BOLA BOYZ  CHELSEA

CAPELLO INVITES CARRAGHER

Jamie Carragher is considering coming out of international retirement for the World Cup, while Ledley King is now almost certain of a place in next week's 30-man England squad. Carragher, 32, decided to retire from international duty to concentrate on Liverpool in 2007 when it was clear John Terry and Rio Ferdinand would be the long-term central pairing in England's defence. However, Fabio Capello has now asked Carragher to reconsider his decision and the player has indicated that he would consider coming out of international retirement for the tournament in South Africa.

 

BOLA BOYZ  CHELSEA

ESSIEN IN GHANA'S SQUAD

Injury doubt Michael Essien has been named in Ghana's preliminary 30-man World Cup squad by coach Milovan Rajevac despite uncertainty as to whether the Chelsea midfielder will be fit to feature in South Africa. Essien has not featured for Chelsea this year after suffering a knee injury while on duty with Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola in January. Ghana went on to reach the final in that tournament, but their hopes at the World Cup hinge on the rehabilitation of one of their only world-class players.

 

Ghana provisional squad:
Richard Kingson, Daniel Agyei, Stephen Ahorlu, Stephen Adams, Samuel Inkoom, Eric Addo, Jonathan Mensah, Lee Addy, Rahim Ayew, Hans Sarpei, John Mensah, Isaac Vorsah, John Paintsil, Sulley Muntari, Derek Boateng, Anthony Annan, Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Kwadwo Asamoah, Andre Ayew, Michael Essien, Stephen Appiah, Haminu Dramani, Quincy Owusu Abeyie, Bernard Kumordzie, Laryea Kingston, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Matthew Amoah, Asamoah Gyan, Prince Tagoe, Dominic Adiyiah.
 

BOLA BOYZ  CHELSEA

TOTTENHAM 1 - MAN UNITED 3

Premier League champions Manchester United overcame the second-half dismissal of Paul Scholes to end Tottenham Hotspur's 100% start to the season with a 3-1 win at White Hart Lane. Jermain Defoe gave Spurs the lead after 47 second but couldn't hold off United.

 

Jermain Defoe gave Spurs, who had won their previous four matches, a dream start by scoring inside the opening 60 seconds before Ryan Giggs curled home a delightful free-kick.

 

Anderson's first goal for United put the visitors ahead and Wayne Rooney wrapped up the points after Paul Scholes had been sent off for two bookable offences.

 

Man Utd moved up to second in the table after inflicting a 3-1 defeat on Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

 

BOLA BOYZ  MAN UTD

STOKE 1 - CHELSEA 2

Carlo Ancelotti saw his Chelsea side stretch their 100% record to five matches at the Britannia Stadium as a stoppage-time goal from Florent Malouda secured a 2-1 victory.

 

Florent Malouda scored an injury-time winner as Chelsea battled back from a goal down to beat Stoke 2-1 at the Britannia Stadium.

 

The France international broke Stoke hearts after Didier Drogba's goal in first-half injury-time had cancelled out Abdoulaye Faye's opener for the hosts.

 

BOLA BOYZ  CHELSEA

LIVERPOOL 4 - BURNLEY 0

In 2008/09 the Reds' Premier League title challenge was undermined by home draws against supposedly lesser opposition, but they had no such problems on Saturday as three goals from Yossi Benayoun sandwiched around a Dirk Kuyt strike earned the points.

 

Benayoun helped himself to a hat-trick as Liverpool produced a devastating performance to crush Burnley 4-0 at Anfield. Benayoun opened the scoring for the Reds and netted twice in the second half after Dirk Kuyt had also got in on the act.

BOLA BOYZ  LIVERPOOL

MAN CITY 4 - ARSENAL 2

Emmanuel Adebayor had the last laugh on Arsenal as he scored the decisive third goal in a pulsating encounter from which Manchester City emerged with a 4-2 win and their 100% record intact.

 

When Shaun Wright-Phillips sent over a vicious cross, the £25million man had no intention other than to find the net, which he duly did, sending a capacity crowd into ecstasy.

 

Manuel Almunia's own goal gave City a first-half lead before Robin van Persie drew the Gunners level just past the hour mark. Craig Bellamy, Adebayor and Shaun Wright-Phillips put the game to bed for City before the returning Tomas Rosicky scored a late consolation.

 

BOLA BOYZ   ARSENAL

LIVERPOOL 1 - ASTON VILLA 3

Liverpool slumped to their second Premier League defeat in nine days as they lost 3-1 to Aston Villa to put their title credentials firmly on the line.

 

Villa produced a defiant, organised display and deserved their first win at Anfield since 2001.

 

Lucas own goal and a Curtis Davies header saw Villa 2-0 up at the break. Fernando Torres pulled one back but an Ashley Young penalty settled the points.

BOLA BOYZ  LIVERPOOL