Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Testimonial

Ole made his last appearance as a player today at Old Trafford. During his career in Manchester United, the Norwegian scored 126 goals, including the gorgeous last-minute winner in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich in 1999.

He is such a great finisher that he would have been a starter in any top football club. Yet he chose to stay with the Red Devils and became a "super-sub" -- he would probably be best remembered for coming into matches late as a substitute and scoring goals. But he also showed his versatility when he replaced David Beckham as a starting right midfielder, after the latter joined Real Madrid. He played so well until injures took him out of the squad. He tried to come back and even scored again, but after several surgeries he could not fully recover and eventually decided to retire.


Fans love him for his efficiency and loyalty. They sing songs such as "You are my Solskjaer". As he wore number 20 for United, fans have made banner reading: "20LEGEND".

And yes, he is a legend.

Farewell, Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

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Watching a Champions League game in a box

Last month I traveled to Lisbon, Portugal. A friend invited me to a UEFA Champions League football (soccer) game, in which Benfica defeated the visiting Celtic by 1-0.

This was the first time I watched a Champions League match live, and it was the first time I watch it from a box. It is such a fantastic experience.

I had not had much chance to watch football games of clubs from Portugal, but I did know Benfica is one of the best Portuguese clubs. In the CL game I watched, I recognized a few players such as former AC MILAN star Rui Costa (who returned to Benfica about a year ago) and the 18-year-old former MLS all-star Freddy Adu.

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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirms retirement

I just saw the official news on manutd.com.
He is a great player, "one of the best finishers I have known" (Sir Alex Ferguson), yet he never complains about not being one of the starters. Man United is so lucky to have him coming from the bench and scoring all those lovely goals, including the legendary Champions-League winning goal against Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp, Barcelona. United fans are surely grateful for his extraordinary contribution to the club.

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We are the Champions

We won the championship of our Soccer League tonight's final after penalty kick! The game was tie at 0:0 after a ten-minute "sudden-death" overtime period.

During the PK, both side scored their first three attemps, but our opponents missed the fourth wide to the right and we made it. During the last round their kicker's shot was denied by the right goalpost, so we won by 4:3.

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弗格森曼联二十年

Alex Ferguson was appointed manager of Manchester United 20 years ago today (November 6th, 1986).

Here is a special review (in Chinese) by 163.com.

I love the background music of this webpage, too. The name of the song is "You Raise Me Up".

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The 3rd match: Draw at 1:1

We were down by 0:1 in the first minute of the first half! Eventually we gained control of the game and headed in an equalizer about 10 minutes later.

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Soccer season

Won first game of this season on Sep. 30, 5:0.
Won the second tonight with a 1:0.

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FIFA World Cup 2006 Final

France vs. Italy. 本届世界杯开赛之前，不曾猜到进入决赛的会是这两支队。

作为一个中立的球迷，我抱着无所谓的心态与同学一起到了一个大投影厅里面看了这场决赛。我们提前了大概20分钟左右到的，进去发现人不少，已经找不到一张空的凳子了，只好挤到前排坐在地上。还好距离、音响都不错，凑和着看。没多久大厅里面就挤满了人，连坐的地方都没了，还有不少在后面站着的，加起来总共有两百人左右。从入场式放国歌时候周围的动静看，这房间里法国和意大利的球迷人数差不多，但大多数人还是中立的。

开场没多久法国就拿了个点球。从慢镜上看这是个假摔，Materazzi 在那一刹已经收脚，最多是轻轻碰了Malouda，结果后者一个夸张的倒地，骗过了裁判。这届世界杯的一大特点就是假摔的人越来越不要脸——明明知道无数的观众可以通过电视转播看到真相，居然还是为了赢球不择手段。就说法国吧，随便想到的就有几个典型：法国对西班牙时Henry跟西班牙后卫撞了一下，根本没有碰到脸，但却双手舞脸作痛苦状，骗到了一个任意球——就是后来导致Vieira进球的那个；法国对葡萄牙那场，法国得到的点球，其实Henry摔得也很夸张——葡萄牙后卫固然是踢到他了，点球本身判得无话可说，但决不至于那样摔倒——看得让人觉得可笑。

Zidane罚的点球很漂亮。法国球迷很兴奋，但是却显得很孤立，因为中立的球迷大多选择了沉默，也许是在同情无奈的意大利吧。

落后的意大利总算稳住了阵脚，进攻稍微打出了些章法。大概10分钟后，Materazzi凭着一个有力的头球扳平了比分。乍一看此球非常精彩——Pirlo的角球开得恰到好处，Materazzi的攻门非常有力。然而慢动作重播显示，他跳起之后手臂也有个压人的动作，干扰了防他的Vieira。这样的进球总无法让人感到信服。至是前面法国假摔骗点球在先，现在吃了亏也怨不得人。


回到比赛。上半场意大利相对出色一点，几个角球开出来中路都抢到了点，要不是横梁帮了忙Toni已经帮意大利反超了。不过下半场峰回路转，意大利的中后场队员如果不是注意力不够集中，就是体能出现了问题，让法国围攻了许久。 Malouda又在禁区里摔了一次，这次更像是真的被绊倒的，不过裁判没有理会；意大利也曾利用定位球攻入一球，但被判越位在先。

周围的球迷表现也很好玩。中场休息之后我们坐的地方附近来了几个法国球迷，整个下半场就在那里不停的嚷嚷（也不知道喊些啥），还时不时重重地敲地板，彷佛有耗不完的精力。意大利迷则倒是比较安静，跟他们球队那没精打采的表现很相称。倒是一个非洲女生，据我同学说是喀麦隆人，偶尔领几个周围的姐儿们喊几嗓子“Italy! Italy!”，颇有巾帼不让须眉的声势。

加时赛中，眼看着意大利只有挨打的份，大家都觉得他们不知道能不能熬到罚点球了。忽然比赛中断，镜头给向跑步中的裁判，然后大家看到了重播的Zidane用头撞Materazzi的画面。我想在场的观众，都有种震惊的感觉。结果是全场表现相当出色的Zidane被红牌罚下。估计没有多少人能想到，他会在这场世界杯的决赛上面，以这样一种方式告别国家队，告别世界杯。

最后时刻，10应战的法国队其实还有不少攻势，然而他们的进攻是只开花不结果，意大利人终于等来了点球决战。ABC转播世界杯的时候，在屏幕上经常会及时地给出一些好玩的统计数字，这次也不例外。我们看到，意大利人从来没有在世界杯上的点球决战中赢过。不过这次他们很争气，五罚五中，而法国那边Trezeguet的球被横梁挡出。历史似乎给他开了个小玩笑：6年前在欧洲杯决赛中，他在加时赛射中了一个“金球”，让意大利人“突然死亡”——这回像是把债给“还”了。我们看到最后一个罚点球的是Grosso，开玩笑地说，“格罗斯又立功了……”。



人们都说现在各队都非常强调防守（进决赛的两队都是打4-5-1阵形的），导致了足球观赏性的下降。其实我觉得更影响观赏性的，是体育精神的丧失，体现在假摔、恶意犯规、拉扯球衣等方面。由于功利心态的蔓延，为了赢球不顾体育精神的行径越来越多，而规则和裁判对这些行为的约束又跟不上，公平竞争变成了一句空话，才使得本应精彩纷呈的比赛变得无聊。就好比前面假摔骗来的点球，即使罚得再漂亮，也让人感到恶心。（当然，法国球迷可能不这么想。）让人觉得很有讽刺意味的是，本届大赛每个队员球衣袖口的地方好像都有一个章，写着世界杯的goal是要"fair play"。

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FIFA World Cup 2006!

It starts today!
Offitial Site: http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/

Result of today:
GERMANY 4-2 COSTA RICA
POLAND 0-2 ECUADOR

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