Sporting Week in Review:

Posted by Rob Shepherd on Friday, March 31, 2017

In the football world, it was FIFA World Cup Qualifying time. Thankfully we are back to ‘proper’ football this weekend as the next qualifying games are not till June. Let’s have a look at some the highlights of the World Cup qualifiers action.

Usual German Efficiency

Germany don’t usually do upsets and there was very little chance of that against Azerbaijan. Germany ran out comfortable winners away from home, 4-1. Two goals from Schürrle and goals from Müller and Gomez sealed the points. Germany sit top of Group C.

One game that did raise at least one eyebrow was Bulgaria beating the Dutch. A 2-0 win at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia was enough to stun the Netherlands. The Eastern European team now sit in third in their group and if they keep up this form they could well qualify for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1998.

The Czech Republic slaughtered lowly San Marino 6-0 with Sweden not far behind with a 4-0 demolition job on Belarus. France and Portugal won their games against Luxembourg Hungary. Greece caused a mini shock by holding Belgium to a 1-1 draw.

Further afield, Argentina are in real danger of not qualifying for the World Cup. With four games left, they are sat in fifth place and now have Lionel Messi suspended for four games, this would be the first time since 1970 that the South American team haven’t qualified.

Home Nations

A bad tempered 0-0 game between Wales and the Republic of Ireland made headline news when a wild tackle by Neil Taylor caused Seamus Coleman to suffer a broken leg. Warning: This clip contains graphic footage. Welsh manager, Chris Coleman had said this game was a must win game but a fourth successive draw of the campaign is another setback for them. The Republic are sat in second place in Group D.

Northern Ireland continued their march towards a play-off spot. Northern Ireland are two points clear of third-placed Czech Republic and this win against Norway will give the Irish players confidence. They play Azerbaijan on 10th June for their next qualifier.

Scotland left it late to secure victory against Slovenia. Chris Martin (not the singer from Coldplay!), scored with a left-foot shot in the 88th minute to keep Scotland’s slim World Cup dream alive.

England huffed and puffed at a resilient Lithuania before veteran strikers, Jermain Defoe and Jamie Vardy secured the points for England. This match must have given England boss, Gareth Southgate food for thought as Lithuania sat back and frustrated England. Defoe stuck two fingers up to those who had questioned his selection with a typical Defoe goal in the 21st minute. Vardy settled any nerves with a close-range goal in the 66th minute.

Making Rugby News Headlines in the Past Week

So, the 6 nations are over but do not worry as it is just over 5 weeks until the British & Irish Lions Tour to New Zealand.

The Lions watch is on! Who will make the grade with the touring party being announced on the 19th April? Will Chris Ashton be selected after superb performances in the Aviva Premiership even though he has been out in the International wilderness for some time? Whoever is selected the challenge will be immense playing the World No1’s – the All Blacks.

Continuing with the touring party theme, the papers this week have been discussing if Denny Solomona will make the England Summer Tour Party of Argentina. The Kiwi at 23 is already much travelled playing Rugby Union in his native New Zealand as a schoolboy before switching codes and Country to sign for Melbourne Storm in 2012.

2014 saw him move to the London Broncos then onto Castleford Tigers. Controversy and a legal dispute arose when he retired from Rugby league with 2 years left on his contract with the Tigers. He then switched codes back to Union and signed for Sale Sharks – Castleford and Sale are currently trying to settle out of court.

In 2016 Solomona Played Rugby League for Samoa in their historic test against Fiji. Now he has announced his desire to play Rugby Union for England when he completes his three-year residency. Eddie Jones apparently has been keeping an eye on this prolific try scorer (10 tries in 11 appearances) and who would blame him, it’s just a messy situation at the moment.

Leigh Halfpenny is apparently considering moving to Bath at the end of next season, having dismissed a lucrative offer from the Cardiff Blues.

Keeping with the Welsh, there were some red hot pictures this week on social media of burns sustained by the Merthyr rugby players whilst playing on Pontypridd 3G pitch – ouch! The debate will no doubt continue about artificial pitches in Rugby.

Bryce Heem has been banned for Worcester Warriors next two matches after he was dismissed last in the Aviva Premiership clash last Saturday for his aerial tackle on Wasps’ Willie Le Rou.

And finally, with this week’s breaking news from Down Under – Western Force, one of the five Australian Super Rugby franchises, will be no more. This is down the apparent lack of appetite now for Union in Australia

In Other Football News

Brazil: Brazil became the first team to qualify for the World Cup finals in Russia next year. Liverpool striker Philippe Coutinho, Neymar and Marcelo scored in the 3-0 win over Paraguay. Brazil sealed this comfortable win despite Neymar missing a penalty. This result leaves Paraguay struggling to qualify, they are currently five points off the top four, with just four games left in the group.

Arsenal: You know that football is a global sport when you see “Wenger Out” signs, 11,500 miles from the Emirates Stadium! Captured on TV camera a fan could be seen holding an anti-Wenger banner in the game between New Zealand and Fiji.

Chelsea: Desperate not to see Eden Hazzard depart for Real Madrid, Chelsea are set to offer the Belgian midfielder £300,000 a week to stay at Stamford Bridge. The 26-year-old has been at Chelsea since 2012 and has started 266 league goals, scoring 52 goals. Real Madrid are reportedly willing to pay £100 million to tempt him to Spain.

West Ham: Manager Slaven Bilic is not likely to be offered a new contract in the Summer, the Croatian has overseen an indifferent time at the London Club. West Ham currently sit in 12th, 19 points behind the top 5.

Liverpool: With the Merseyside derby at the weekend, the last thing Liverpool fans wanted to hear was an injury to influential midfielder Adam Lallana. Gossip is suggesting that the England international could be out for up to a month. Lallana could also miss games against Bournemouth, Stoke City, West Brom and Crystal Palace.

England: Gareth Southgate is playing “big brother” and has introduced daily “wellness sessions” to the England squad with players made to complete urine tests, sleep assessments and questionnaires before training during the international break.