Michael vs Michael. 🎯 What a great game.

[jstar]

With an average speed of more than 55 km/hour.

 

[jstar]

In tears and soaking wet. Cambodian athlete Bou Samnang showed some willpower at the Southeast Asian Games. She finished last in the final of the 5,000 meters, six minutes behind the winner. But despite that position and the pouring rain, she refused to give up.

Her perseverance eventually earned her an unexpected bonus of $10,000 from the prime minister of Cambodia. (The average salary is $10 per day.)

The games finish on 17 May.

 

[jstar]

Although i guess you might be avoiding football for a while now.

 

[jstar]

The Giro ( 3 week tour of Italy) started with an individual time trial.

Belgian Remco Evenepoel was already a favorite but his win was still extremely impressive. With an average speed of more than 55 km/hour.

So he’s the first wearing the pink jersey, but he‘s also a contender for the final victory. The biggest competitor will be Roglič.

.

Evenepoel regained the pink jersey in the second time trial of the Giro.

But afterwards he was tested positive on Corona (!) and had to leave the race.

Third case in history; Merckx and Pantani also had to leave while being the leader.

 

[jstar]

Drama at the tennis tournament of Roland Garros.

The Japanese-Indonesian female double duo Miyu Kato-Aldila Sutjiadi got excluded because Kato had hit a ball-girl with a ball, after a rally.

The Japanese did not seem to intend to hit the child, so it wasn’t on purpose, but disqualification still followed. To the frustration of many tennis fans.

The rather unsports(wo)manlike behavior of the opponents didn’t help.

 

[jstar]

And a ‘treble’ for Manchester City. I think only Manchester United did that once; winning the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Champions League. The latter was the only one missing in ManCity’s palmares btw.

.

 

[Ruserious]

a ‘treble’ for Manchester City

3 billion spent and over 100 infringements of the financial fair play rules later.......plus not a single home grown player in the team. Its a shame really but sports is all money now. As much as i dont like Manchester United either, their achievments were much better.

 

[jstar]

As you say, it‘s all about money now. What me really rubbed the wrong way is the Messi soap. He really wanted to go back to Barça. And they really wanted him. Sob sob. But when he realized people would be fired because of his return since they could not afford him otherwise, he couldn’t do it. Sob sob. He didn’t choose for the money though otherwise he would have gone to Saudi Arabia. Sob sob. The fact that his wife really likes shopping in Miami and has a good connection to Buenos Aires from there is a coincidence. Sob sob.

If you’re that filthy rich and you want to end your career with a certain team there are definitely creative possibilities. But yes, there will be financial implications.

 

[jstar]

Croatia will meet Spain in the finals of the UEFA Nations League on Sunday. 'La Roja' beat Italy with 2-1 in the stadium of the Dutch city Enschede. Joselu decided the match in the final phase.

The tournament is rather recent, it was created five years ago as replacement for FIFA’s friendly matches.

 

[jstar]

Talking about money in football:

Jude Bellingham (19) will leave Borussia Dortmund for Real Madrid, both clubs announced. The English top talent signs a contract until the summer of 2029 at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. The Spanish top club transfers more than a hundred million euro to Borussia Dortmund, with which Bellingham missed the title on the final day of the German Bundesliga last month.Real Madrid is now reportedly paying €103 million, an amount that can increase by €31 million with bonuses when winning prizes.

That mega transfer makes Bellingham the third most expensive teenager. Kylian Mbappé is the most expensive teenager ever, he was sold for €180 million by AS Monaco to Paris Saint-Germain in 2018. João Félix went from Benfica to Atlético Madrid in 2019 for €126 million. Absurd amounts.

Borussia Dortmund makes a lot of money with expensive transfers btw.

Jude Bellingham becomes the sixth English player at Real Madrid. Laurie Cunningham was the first, from 1979 to 1984. He was followed by Steve McManaman (1999 to 2003), David Beckham (2003 to 2007), Michael Owen (2004/2005 season) and Jonathan Woodgate (2004 to 2006). So sixteen years after Beckham said goodbye with a championship in Spain, he finally gets a successor.

Bellingham has already played 24 international matches for England and participated in the five games at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where the team of coach Gareth Southgate lost to France in the quarterfinals. At the European Championship in the summer of 2021, Bellingham was already allowed to come in three times as a 17-year-old player.

Real Madrid now has five midfielders who are rather young and can last for years. They also still have the experienced midfielders Toni Kroos (33) and Luka Modric (37), but the Croat's contract expires in two weeks. Modric may leave for Saudi Arabia, following striker Karim Benzema (35) and Ronaldo of course, where a lucrative contract is waiting for him. Kroos might sign for another year.

Kylian Mbappé may also come to Real Madrid this summer. Last year, they failed to get the French superstar from Paris Saint-Germain, but now a new transfer soap seems to have emerged. Money!

 

[ChrisTex]

Football and transfer prices have gone mad.

 

[jstar]

Some bad news out of Switzerland:

Swiss cyclist Gino Mäder (26) has died after his heavy fall in the Tour of Switzerland yesterday. Mäder had to be resuscitated on the spot after he plunged into a ravine during a descent.

A helicopter was on the scene and Mäder was flown to the hospital in Chur. Today he passed away from his injuries.

.

 

[jstar]

In the mean time, in Italy the Giro d'Italia Giovani Under 23, also known as the Baby Giro, takes place.

A rather big scandal over there, where 24 riders were taken out of the race because they hung en masse on the door handles of team cars when climbing the Stelvio.

The Stelvio is a tough climb of more than 21 km and a whole series of participants had found no other way than benefiting from team cars and motorcycles. The 24 freeloaders were consequently sent home.

Four team directors who overdid it - eight riders were hanging on the bodywork of some cars - were also taken out of the race. All disqualified persons were also fined 100 Swiss francs. Wow.

 

[Samoerai]

Lionel Messi scores fastest goal of career with victory over Australia.

Last Thursday he sharpened his personal record during an international match against Australia (2-0) with goal 807 with a goal after 79 seconds. It was a classic Messi goal that The Socceroos conceded after just over a minute of play. He got the ball just outside the penalty area, created space and then shot the toy into the corner past AZ goalkeeper Mathew Ryan with his left.

It was the seventh time that Messi came to China, the first time was in 2005 and the last time in 2017. He did not disappoint his Chinese fans and scored a goal within 1.5 minutes, after which more than sixty thousand fans were in the stadium their lungs screamed. For Chinese President Xi Jinping, the friendly match in his capital should feel like a birthday present: Xi turned seventy on Thursday.

Hours before the start of the friendly match between Argentina and Australia, dozens of Chinese people are waiting in front of the hotel to see the footballer. Not all Messi fans managed to get a ticket, ticket sales were sold out within twenty minutes.

 

[jstar]

So no additional bonus I guess.

 

[Samoerai]

View attachment 3184

So no additional bonus I guess.

Was GBK stadion sold out?

 

[jstar]

Was GBK stadion sold out?

Yes, that was twee weeks ago. They had a couple of sales days, first a presale for BRI customers and then the general public. The sales went very fast, everything was sold out in minutes, even when the prices were steep*. Cf. the disappointment about Messi.

There are different categories and multiple zones in the stadium (as with a music concert). The best seats are called VIP, depending on location there is a split between Western and Eastern VIP. Then there’s Category 1, 2 and 3. Only the first two get a seat number, the third one is free seating.

*Prices:
Category 3: 600.000 IDR
Category 2: 1,2 million IDR
Category 1: 2.5 million IDR
West-East VIP: 4,25 million IDR

 

[jstar]

Quite some good Champions League games last night.

Manchester City played Real and it was 3-3 in Madrid. De Bruyne was sick and didn’t play. Very nice game.

Arsenal had -as usual- to use their trump card Trossard to get even with Bayern München. Which played much better than in the Bundesliga where they really screwed up. Kane (with his personal history) must have been happy to be able to score (from a penalty) against the Gunners. So it was 2-2.

 

[jstar]

Talking about Bundesliga and Premier League: In the former it’s rather clear Bayer (04) Leverkusen will be the new champion with 16 points more than the numbers 2 and 3. In the latter there is much more suspense. Although I personally hope it will be MCI, I think Liverpool will make it this year.

 

[snpark]

Kane with his usually backing into players and elbowing them in the throat and getting away with only a yellow because he is England captain

Straight red for anyone else
And why no pen for Saka 95th min at 2-2
Went round the keeper for an empty net
Why would he dive for the pen?
The GK blatantly took him out
Should have been 3-2

Let's see might still be City Arsenal semi