Football World Cup 2010: Semi- finals

It appears to be another surprise winner for this World Cup. It could be a Germany vs Holland final.

Football World Cup 2010: Second Round

Tonight's match between England and Germany would be an interesting one. Even if England were to win against Germany, they may have problems against Argentina the team they could be facing in the quarterfinals. Argentina seems to have improved since the qualifying events and together with Portugal, their chances of winning the Cup are better now. It seems like Argentina and Portugal are the fourth and fifth favourites to win this World Cup after France, England and Brazil.
What a pity France just could not get their act together. With England struggling to score goals and Argentina almost peaking for this tournament, a tough encounter for England in the quarterfinals is on the cards if they do make it to that stage.

Football World Cup 2010 Results

Netherlands	2 - 0	Denmark
Japan	1 - 0	Cameroon
Italy	1 - 1	Paraguay

Football World Cup 2010 Results

Algeria	0 - 1	Slovenia
Serbia	0 - 1	Ghana
Germany	4 - 0	Australia

Football World Cup 2010 Results

France 0 Uruguay 0

South Korea 2 Greece 0

Argentina 1 Nigeria 0

England 1 USA 1


Argentina won by a goal scored by Gabriel Heinze in a rather one sided match. The Nigerians were let down by a poor defense hence giving the Argentinians many chances to score. If it was not for their goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, Nigeria would have lost by more goals. It is funny how things have changed in just a few years. Nigeria used to be a team that had solid defense and attack and could take on some of the best teams in the world. Now it looks like their chances of winning the Wold Cup is slim if they continue to play like they did against Argentina.


Meanwhile USA and England were evenly matched in an exciting encounter. USA is a much improved team these days and they showed what they were capable of doing by holding England to a draw. England captain Steven Gerrard scored a nice goal early in the first half and it looked like England would be cruising to victory against USA . However a costly blunder by the England goalkeeper Robert Green allowed USA to draw level through Clint Dempsey.

Football World Cup 2010: South Africa 1 Mexico 1

Mexico were favourites to win this game and it seemed like they were going to do so quite easily after the first half which saw them attacking more than the South Africans. However in the second half the roles changed and South Africa scored first through Siphiwe Tshabalala. Even though Mexico equalized through Rafael Marquez, the South Africans were looking dangerous and were close to scoring their second goal only to be denied by the post.

Funny drummer

Over 2 million views at Youtube for this comical drummer. Click here to see the video.
His name is Steve Moore and he plays with Rick K. and the All Nighters.

Tennis - French Open

Rafael Nadal won his fifth French Open title while in the ladies section, Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam title.

Men's Final Rafael Nadal (2) def. Robin Soderling (5) 6-4, 6-2, 6-4

Women's Final Francesca Schiavone (17) def. Samantha Stosur (7) 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)

Tennis - French Open

Nadal is through to the semis. In the ladies section, Francesca Schiavone will face Samantha Stosur in the final.

Quarterfinals
Rafael Nadal (2) def. Nicolas Almagro (19) 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4
Jurgen Melzer (22) def. Novak Djokovic (3) 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4

Tennis- Could Soderling be number one?

Soderling defeated Federer in the quarter finals yesterday but is he really ready to be number one?

Hard to say when there are players like Ferrero who just return to form suddenly to win two titles this year. However Ferrero is getting older and has not been consistent the whole year. Still if he takes care of his health, I would say Ferrero is still a player to watch.

Quarterfinals Robin Soderling (5) def. Roger Federer (1) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 Tomas Berdych (15) def. Mikhail Youzhny (11) 6-3, 6-1, 6-2

Football World Cup 2010: Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Philips in England squad

Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips have made the England squad but Theo Walcott is not in it.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Robert Green (West Ham United), Joe Hart (Manchester City), David James (Portsmouth).

Defenders: Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Ledley King (Tottenham Hotspur), John Terry (Chelsea), Matthew Upson (West Ham United), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa).

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), James Milner (Aston Villa), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City)

Forwards: Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspur), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

Song that you can listen to over and over again

Here are some songs that you can listen to over and over again:-


1. Sonia -Listen to your Heart
Click here to listen

2. Debbie West Coon and Justin Williams - You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)
Click here to listen

Football World Cup 2010: France, England or Brazil to win World Cup?

There was an interesting discussion a few days back at BlogCatalog in which I wrote that France, England or possibly Brazil could win the World Cup. Click here to read it


Here was what I wrote when asked if Argentina winning the Cup is a sure thing:-

1. 
   

   No, it is not a sure thing. In fact it is very hard to predict the winner of the World Cup. The last winner of the World Cup which I believe was Italy, was actually a dark horse.
   
   France has a very good potential to win the World Cup but they didn' t do that well in qualifying. England without Beckham really playing could have problems winning it and Brazil as most of us know these days always seem to have a strong team.
2. 
   

   If Beckham plays, England may have a better chance of winning it but don't count out the French.
3. 
   

   I think Beckham is underestimated these days by many people as he is gettting old and doesn't score many goals. End of last year, I was trying to convince my brother that Beckham was still a force to reckon with, and few days later in the newspaper I read that Beckham was playing well for his team. As he plays in the midfield, Beckham is not a prolific goalscorer and that is why he is not in the news as much as Rooney and Messi. He has very good control of the ball and experience. I think these are the reasons why Fabio Capello wanted to put him in the team even when he was injured. England could still win it without Beckham but I think they have a better chance with him in it.
   
   Yes, France has a good potential to win the World Cup this year - it is strange that they did not do well in qualifying. They have the players and I think it is a matter of fine tuning the team to do it.
   
   It would be fun to see one of the underdog teams do well in the World Cup. I used to support Jamaica once but they didn't do well that year - the French won it.

   
   

American Idol 9 - Lee wins it

Looks like DialIdol.com has got it right again - Lee Dewyze has won American Idol.

Looking back there has still been some incredible music from the contestants this year and we look forward to another year in which a new judge will be replacing Simon Cowell. Not sure who the person will be. To me, Simon's greatest moment was his support for Carrie Underwood to win the title. He also supported David Archuleta during the final. However Simon can be a pain - hence, his departure will probably leave most of us with mixed feelings.

American Idol 9 Final - Lee the more deserving winner but...

Between Crystal Bowersox and Lee Dewyze, Lee deserves to win it more but not by a long shot. Without Casey James, the final was probably quite lame as Casey was able to switch things up a bit. Lee sometimes sings off key and the confidence factor is a question mark but I still think he deserves to win it more than Crystal.

According to DialIdol.com which predicts the winner quite accurately, Lee Dewyze is ahead at the moment.

Simon Monjack's passing - grief related?

Simon Monjack - Brittany Murphy 's husband passed away yesterday. This is sad news as it came only a few months after his wife's death. Circumstances leading to his death may need to be investigated.

The thing to note is that we are not meant to live our lives with too much grief if our beloved ones have passed away. The ones that we have loved and gone want to us to live a happy life. Just like night and day, sadness and joy is part of life. If we grief too much we could end up dead ourselves.

Exercise to improve one's health

I find running the mile daily under 12 minutes as good exercise to start of with. However it is advisable to progress gradually. Listen to your body and know your limits while exercising. Try to keep a good balance - not doing too much or too little. Warm up with some light stretching and light physical activity before doing any physical exercise. Slow down and do less when injured or not feeling well. Try to improve your running time and also increase the distance of your runs to around 2 to 3 miles. This will help you to improve your stamina and keep fit. 

Update 22nd April 2013 :- If you want to stay slim and trim, running the mile under 12 minutes may not be enough so this article has been updated.. I have put on quite a bit of weight in the last few years and was able to lose  almost 35 pounds in the last few months. Will write about this soon. 

One more day for free Portal

One more day to download the pc game Portal (May 24). I have actually played 14 levels of it and it is quite intriguing. Mac users can also download it. First you need to download Steam.

Seems to be very difficult after 14 levels though.

American Idol - Casey James one of the best

Despite the fact that he went out this week I still think Casey James is one of the best American Idol contestants I have seen to have made the top 12.

The top three in my list are Carrie Underwood, David Archuleta and him Casey James. It is hard to say who is the best of these three as each of them have their own strengths. Both Carrie Underwood and David Archuleta have strong voices and hardly faltered in any of their songs while Casey actually had some problems with one of the songs of Frank Sinatra. Nevertheless he was able to switch things up better than the other two in many songs.

While Carrie and David had a goody two shoes personality, it was not so with Casey. He would come across as more of a Robin Hood personality - he was prepared to take out his shirt in the competition and yet at the same time was able to handle many difficult situations well. Basically Carrie and David could come across as boring.

In short if you had to vote for a nice guy who isn't perfect this year, it had to be him. I still think he deserved to win it. Alas it was not so and he had to go this week. Still I felt some sadness when he had left. More so than when David Archuleta lost two years ago.

American Idol 9

Here are my thoughts of the top 5 singers in this year's competition:-

(5) Michael Lynche - Although his voice has good range and power, I don't really like most of the songs that he sings. Seems very off beat to me so I think he is the least deserving to win this competition.

(4) Aaron Kelly - has a powerful voice and actually sang some songs that I do like so I put him at number 4.

(3) Crystal Bowersox - a favourite to win this competition but may not really deserve to win it. Doesn't have the overall package to be Idol could be the reason . Still she has sang some good songs and has a good chance to win it.

(2) Lee Dewyze - like David Archuleta in the beginning , he is the dark horse of the competition but only difference he has not really grown much. Has never been in the bottom three. May lack self confidence. Still I put him as number two only because the other ones below him dont really stand out.

(1) Casey James - I still believe he deserves to win this one. Been in the bottom three the last two weeks so it will be tough for him to do so. However his last performance was very good but still ended up in the bottom three so it will be interesting to see what else he will be singing.

American Idol 9

It was a tough Elvis week and did not seem as good as last week. Tim Urban did quite well this week while Casey gave another solid performance. Andrew was voted out together with Katie.

American Idol 9

Andrew Garcia did well last week with his performance of "Forever". While this week Casey James performance of "Jealous Guy" was good too.

American Idol 9 - Casey James in the top ten

Casey did well with "Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News. He made the top ten of American Idol 9. Here is a video of his performance.

Sports, Football - Beckham out of World Cup?

With Beckham out, England's hopes of winning the World Cup could be in jeopardy. Although Beckham has had problems off the field, I still think he is one of the key players in the England squad.

Badminton - All England 2010

It won't be a surprise if Chong Wei wins it this year. He faces a qualifier in the final.

American Idol 9 - Who deserves to win it?

Took a year off ever since my pet Browny the dog passed away. Down to the top 12. So who deserves to win American Idol this year? At this point, it seems like Casey James.

Andrew Garcia has a good voice but may not have the overall package to win it this year. So from the perspective of my dreams, at this point it seems like Casey James deserves to win.