4 years after their golden goal victory against Sweden in 2003, the German female national team has conquered yet another Women’s World Cup by beating Brazil 2-0 in the Shanghai final, and denying the Sambagirls the hopes of a first ever trophy.
The European team managed by Silvia Neid put out a very solid display on the field today, which kept the technical and offensive verve of the Brazilians in check. As expected, the match turned rapidly into a duel between the stars of the two teams, Birgit Prinz and Marta. While the former managed to put her team in the lead an the 52′ minute mark, the latter had a golden chance to tie the game 8 minutes later, but saw her 
penalty shot denied by the German keeper Nadine Angerer. Germany doubled their lead in the final minutes through Simone Laudehr, for a final score of 2-0.
The German coach declared after the match: “After the saved penalty shot I knew we could make it. We’ve worked very hard, and it was a great performance from the entire team. We knew it was essential to neutralize Marta out of the game, and I’m glad that we succeeded”. Germany’s record in the 2007 Women’s World Cup is quite impressive: they have played the entire tournament without conceding a goal!
In the consolation final, USA beat Norway 4-1 and grabbed 3rd spot in the competition. Also, despite missing the penalty in the final, Marta’s outstanding efforts in the tournament were rewarded with the adidas Golden Ball and adidas Golden Shoe awards for best player and top goalscorer. If there’s a female player worth keeping an eye on in the future, it’s certainly the 21-year old Brazilian. In case you missed her goal vs. USA in the semis, here it is.
As a kid playing soccer in your youth, I’m sure you eventually wondered about the following hypothetical situation: an opposing striker is through on goal, and you’re the last man trailing behind him. Should you take him down and stop the danger, knowing full well you’re going to get sent off, or should you hope that your keeper is going to save the goal? Here’s another: your keeper is down, you’re the last defender on the line, and the ball’s about to enter the net. Should you try and go for the handball (hoping that no one will see it) with the risk of a red card for your team (but then with the chance your keeper will stop the penalty)? This Saturday my friends, we had a perfect example of why you should never ever go for that handball. Indeed, after the 28th-minute “save” of 
Only 1 minute had passed on the clock and Roma obtained their first chance: on a push forward by the Giallorossi 
The Roma keeper pulled out a miracle save to parry the shot (which wasn’t all too great to begin with), but the rebound went straight to Ibrahimovic ready to power the header in. However, as he was running back toward the goal line, Roma’s Ludovic Giuly executed a perfect lay-up pass for 
After the break, finally some good news for Roma: 
At this point, the Giallorossi had given up. Inter were exploiting the leaks of the Roma defense from all parts, delivering the final blow with an .gif)
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El Niño‘s first encounter with the English Premiership so far has been excellent: 3 goals in the EPL, and a hat–trick in the Carling Cup. Benitez has a lot to be smiling about.
He made his debut with the Blancos only a few days ago, the Dutchman now needs to find his place in a Real Madrid team that already seems to be up and running. 
He didn’t do too badly in the pre–season matches, but his performance in the Spanish Super Cup game vs. Sevilla was a disaster. He’s been sitting on the bench ever since. 
The Dutch midfielder isn’t exactly a revelation, but no one thought he’d be scoring in almost every game and that he could take free–kicks better than Beckham. 
Still a mystery. After his work permit problems, he hasn’t gotten much playing time with the Red Devils but when he did, played very poorly. 
The Bundesliga hasn’t had a player this good in years: he’s become the indispensible dynamo of the Bayern team, forming an absolutely lethal trio with Klose and Toni. 
The England international is still struggling with a few injury problems, but has done good in the few matches he’s played so far. Ferguson trusts him, so we’ll have the chance to see more of him in the future. 
So and so. He’s been outstanding in some matches, disappointing in others. But inconsistency is a problem the whole Atletico Madrid team seems to be having at the moment. 
He’s been struggling with injury problems since the end of last season. However, considering that the club already has Berbatov, Keane and Defoe, the Spurs may have spent a little too much to buy the English striker. 
Eto’o's injury promoted the Frenchman to a fixed starter spot, but while Henry showed bits of what made him a great player at Arsenal, he still needs to fit into his new team. For a player of his standards, his debut has been fairly poor. 
We really won’t know how good he is until January, when he’ll be eligible to play with his new team. So far, a friendly match against Kiev and a nice goal. 
He’s got the same vices as Cristiano Ronaldo: excessive feinting and too much love for spectacle. But the kid’s got one hell of a personality, and when his stuff works everyone’s on their feet. 
Two goals in the Spanish Liga sor far. His partnership with Sergio Aguëro needs improvement, but it’s a good start. 
Having just lost José Mourinho, things are very delicate at Chelsea at the moment. However, the Frenchman has played very well with the Blues so far. 
Barça bought him for a transfer fee that Juventus couldn’t afford. So far, despite a few occasional fu**–ups, the Argentine’s been doing fairly well. 
The exact transfer fee is still unknown (unfinished business), but so far the Argentine has shown a lot of heart. His first tally for Red Devils was the all important match–winning goal vs. Chelsea. 
He hasn’t had the chance to show his full potential yet, because the competition at Los Che is fierce. But the talent’s there, only time will tell. 
In the few games that Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has given him, the Dutch youngster has alredy shown bits of pure class. Ambitious, he can bring the Reds undeniable quality in the offensive zone. 
He still needs to work out his teamwork with Andy Johnson, but in the meantime he opened up his goalcount in the Premiership and in the Cup. 
His was the most expensive ingoing transfer in Lyon’s history, and so far the Ivorian striker still has to repay the confidence put in him. He’s on the right track though. 
You know when it comes to Women’s Soccer, people have many different opinions. “It’s a men’s game”, “girls don’t have what it takes”, “they lack the fighting spirit”, “they’re not bad, but they’ll never be as good as the men”. Or the extreme ”women should stay at home and do the cooking”… I mean I could go on, but it gets worse. I should point out that while I don’t share them, these are just some of the views I’ve heard when the topic came into a conversation.
Nevertheless whatever your opinion may be, there’s only one thing you can do after you watch the rambunctious Brazilian striker 
With another Serie A ’clash of the titans’ coming up this week-end, Luca Manes of Goal.com wrote a 
In 2002 a sparkling 
In May, Inter lifted their second Italian Cup in a row, as a much depleted Roma succumbed to a 3-1 defeat in Milan. The tables turned in the following year’s Coppa Italia Final as Roma demolished Inter 6-2 at the Olimpico. Several weeks earlier the Giallorossi had postponed Inter’s 15th Scudetto celebrations after beating them 3-1 at San Siro. 
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