Happy Birthday Ernie Els...but it wont be a piece of cake !!! A weekend of come backs....set backs....and even fall backs in the World of sport.... EPL is back !! After the thrills, spills,and even boredom of UEFA European Championship Qualifiers, normal service is resumed in EPL, The Championship and SPL. Weekend curtain raisers featured Friday evening games in England and Scotland...in The Championship, The Millers of Rotherham fought back against local Yorkshire rivals Leeds United at New York Stadium and hung on to clinch a valuable 3 points...whilst North of the Border Hamilton Academicals handed out a 3-0 lesson to Aberdeen and extended their lead at the top of SPL. Indeed a set back for Leeds United and Aberdeen.... But sacre bleu.... a bit of a fracas in Paris as Paris St Germain fought back to win 1-3 after conceding an early goal to Lens. But 3 red cards followed in the match, most notably for Edinson Cavani who scored the third goal, was promptly booked for over-celebrating and then almost immediately red carded for grabbing hold of the referee. Guess it could have been worse...Cavani is Uruguayan and some of his fellow country men have been known to bite. Incidentally Luis Suarez is back. He played for Uruguay in recent friendlies and is due to make his competitive debut for Barcelona in the El Classico against Real Madrid on October 25th. Coach Luis Enique says Suarez is looking sharper since returning to training.....and is no doubt ready to bare his fangs..... Former club Liverpool clearly miss his skills and goals. Balotelli has yet to perform, Sturridge has suffered a new injury setback and looks like been out for another month, whilst criticsm continues over the Sterling fatigue saga. Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers takes his team to bottom placed QPR on Sunday looking for a 3 point booster. Chelsea will be well fancied to turn over Crystal Palace in the London derby game whilst Man City welcome Spurs. Interesting game on Tyneside as The Magpies host The Foxes and anything but a win will see Pardew pressure increase. David Moyes has said hes ready to revive his managerial career...wonder if he is brushing up on his Geordie ? Do you think Moyes regrets leaving Everton ? One manager who does not regret moving on is former Celtic boss Neil Lennon who decided to leave Celtic Park after winning 3 straight SPL titles...but his decision to make his managerial comeback at Bolton, currently propping up The Championship, will certainly prove challenging..... Scotland lost a thrilling World Cup warm up match against New Zealand, The Black Caps winning by just one run with Scotland last wicket falling to a run out on the final delivery. Nail biter indeed !!! Scotland play 3 more games on their down under warm-up tour. Meanwhile Ireland play The Black Caps today in Hamilton. Whist The Black Caps are in cricket action, The All Blacks also return to action later today in Brisbane for the final game of The Bledisloe Cup Test Series. Both Australia and New Zealand are no doubt still licking their wounds after losing in Argentina and South Africa respectively on their last outings. Whilst New Zealand have already retained The Bledisloe Cup both teams will be fighting to restore honour and prestige. But there is no comeback for Aaron Cruden whose exile continues after being dropped for the All Blacks’ final two Rugby Championship matches against the Pumas and South Africa after failing to make it to Auckland airport for the team’s flight to Argentina. Turmoil too in the Wallabies camp with Kurtley Beale in disgrace and coach McKenzie under pressure. Expect a tough game...and expect The All Blacks to edge it.... And news from golf courses spread around the world. Martin Kaymer clinched the Grand Slam of Golf title in Bermuda beating Bubba Watson in a play off . But Graeme McDowell has failed to reach the knockout stages of The Volvo World Matchplay Championship being played at The London Golf Club in Kent. Its semi finals play today...and players to watch out for are Patrick Reed (USA) and Victor Dubuisson (France). In the Far East, birthday boy Ernie Els celebrated his 45th birthday in grand style by taking a 2 shot lead at the half way stage of The Hong Kong Open...could be a Chinese Banquet celebration coming up !! Lots happening over the next few days...well keep you posted !!!
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 04:27:49 +0000