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WOMEN WIN IN RUSSIA

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The U.S. women’s soccer team overcame Russia with a resounding 7-0 triumph as they played an exhibition match which demonstrated the form that the squad is going through which managed to extend their unbeaten streak to 41 games.

Following the conclusion of the match, the U.S. coach Tom Sermanni said: “It wasn’t just so much about getting the result. I thought the performance, I thought some of the habits and the things we’ve been training really came into the game today. They were defending well for that first 20-25 minutes and made life difficult for us,” “I thought how we approached the game things were going to open up.”

Carli Lloyd opened up the scoreboard at the 31st minute with Heather O’Reilly providing her with a superb assist and only 1 minute later they extended the lead to 2 goals as this time around it was O’Reilly who managed to put the ball at the back of the net.

Goals continued flourishing as the American team did not stop attacking and extending their lead as the minutes progressed on. When the halftime arrived USA was already by 3 goals and the Russians could not find a way through their opponents.

When the match resumed on Christen Press scored twice while Sydney Leroux increased the lead to 6 goals and the substitute Abby Wambach came on to the pitch to play for the last few remaining minutes and managed to score the 7th and last goal of the encounter.

It was a totally one-sided match as the Russian team deployed a 4-5-1 formation trying to put more players in the midfield but failed on dominating or putting any kind of threat against their opponents.

CHAMPMAN WANTS ENGLAND CALL

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New Chelsea signing Katie Chapman has said that he is hoping to get back into the England frame after moving to Chelsea from Arsenal. She has been signed along with 21-year-old Gillie Flaherty, as Chelsea hope to move away from the bottom of the table. The team has been doing very poorly this campaign, as they have taken just 10 points from 14 matches. They sit one place above the bottom of the table.

Chapman has 82 caps for England, but he has not played for the international team since 2010. The 31-year-old midfielder still has a lot of time left in football and she is hoping that this move reinvigorates her international career. The national team was recently taken over by Mark Sampson, who said that he is not closing the door on Chapman’s international career. Back in 2010, Chapman fell out with the England FA due to a voluntary break from football.

After this new hope in the form of a statement from Sampson and the move to Chelsea, Chapman is hoping that she can now move on to make 100 appearances for the national team. She has also revealed that the club has allowed her to train almost every day, which will help her improve her game even at this age. Despite being focused on her international career, she also reiterated that Chelsea remains the first preference.

“I’d love to represent my country again. Chelsea have given me a chance to be more professional, to train more or less every day, which can only improve me as a player. I took a break from England, and obviously I needed to concentrate on my family at that point, but now I have an opportunity to come back and be part of the England team which is fantastic for me, but Chelsea is my first thought,” Chapman told BBC Sport.

YAYA STAYING

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Yaya Toure ended the rumors and claims about him wanting to leave Manchester City after Rodney Marsh had said in Twitter that the African player was unhappy in the English club.

‘Hey buddies, don’t listen to the rumors, I’m happy at city. The Toure brothers are in Casa and are missing Manchester.’

‘Out of respect for my fans and my club!! How can I be unhappy when i get so much love and respect from everyone in city?

‘I want you to give me a good reason to be unhappy at MCFC! Enjoy Florida and stop distracting us, we have objectives here!!!’ Yaya Toure said with his Twitter account.
Having played with Manchester City for 4 seasons Yaya Toure has been an influential part with the team ever since leaving Barcelona which makes it hard to believe that Toure wants to leave City.

His great performances have even regarded Toure to be one of the finest midfielders of his generation as he helped Manchester City on obtaining the English Premier League in 2012, silverware the club failed to secure in over 40 years.

He is even being nominated for the African footballer of the year along with Victor Moses, Jonathan Pitroipa, Obi Mikel and Pierre Emerick-Aumeyang. The winner of the award will be announced on December 2nd.

The former Barcelona player has won the award 2 consecutive years since 2011 and thanks to yet another consistent season with his club he is nominated once more and is one of the favorites on clinching it for a 3rd time.

All of these awards and recognition make it hard to believe that Toure wants to exit the team that has seen him grown and become much more than what he used to be in other clubs.

BAINES WANTS TO FOLLOW BECKS

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Everton defender Leighton Baines has said that he would be happy firing England into the 2014 World Cup in the same way as David Beckham. The former England star scored a brilliant freekick in the dying moments of the match against Greece 12 years ago to send England into the World Cup finals.

Baines has become one of the important players in the English national team over the last few years. He has been able to overtake Ashley Cole as the best left back in the country due to the attacking progress he provides. Due to the injury for Ashley Cole, it is expected that Baines will start both the World Cup qualifying matches against Montenegro and Poland. Continue reading →

BRISTOL COULD WIN

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Bristol Academy are still in with a chance of winning the League title this season and they kept their hopes alive with a 4-3 victory over Doncaster Belles. Bristol Academy went into the halftime of this match trailing 3-0, which would have been disastrous to the aspirations of winning the title. However, an inspirational half-time team talk from manager Mark Sampson was responsible for the team turning around this match. Bristol managed to win the encounter 4-3 in the end after managing to score all the four goals in the second half itself.

Defender Grace McCatty says that Sampson came into the dressing room in a furious manner and gave all the players a dressing down. This worked to the benefit of the team and they were able to put in a rousing performance in the second half according to the 23-year-old defender. Still, it was an extremely amazing performance from the players to overturn a three-goal deficit in just 45 minutes. Much of the good work came from Spanish international Natalia, who managed to score a hat-trick. She also set up Ann-Marie Heatherson for the fourth goal.

This win means that Bristol Academy will be going into the final league match against table leaders Liverpool with a chance to win the title.

“The manager came in and rather than shouting at us, the words he gave us inspired us. It made us realise that if we didn’t go out and win then that was our season over. We knew we had 45 minutes to give our all. It was the realisation that it was in our hands. The fact that Arsenal can’t win it now is good for the game. I’ve been at this club seven years so to see the journey we’ve been on it would be unbelievable to win,” said the 23-year-old.

BUCKLEY STAYING

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Doncaster Belles manager John Buckley has said that he will not be leaving the club after their relegation into the second tier of women’s football. The English FA recently announced the decision to demote the club, but Buckley has said that he will remain with the club and will work towards getting them back into the top flight. The women’s super league will be splitting into two from next season onwards. The English FA had demoted them into the second tier of this league, and Belles had appealed against this decision. However, this appeal has come out and successful for the club.

This decision means that Belles will be dropping out of the first division for the first time in 22 years. Even though the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal have overtaken them with massive influx of funds, Belles still remains as one of the pioneering clubs after having lifted major trophies during the initial years of their formation. The English FA decided to demote Belles after analysing the club for several factors like financial stability, quality of facilities, management, and staff quality. Manchester City ladies will be replacing Belles from next season onwards.

However, manager Buckley is confident of getting promotion into the top flight once again.

“I’ve been here a long time. I just need to sit down with the players and make sure they stay focused on everything we need to do, this season and next season. I’m just so disappointed it’s unbelievable, but we just have to deal with the issues that follow it now. There is a possible legal route we can pursue, but we are a club that has to work within a budget. We’ve not got a massive budget, but we manage the budget we have quite well,” said the manager, who used to play for Doncaster Rovers.