The Good, The Bad and The Rugby!

The Good:

Champion Tiger Woods and Legend Jack Nicklaus

Tiger Woods has returned to winning ways this week by winning the Memorial Classic at Muirfield Village. He also equalled Jack Nicklaus' record of 73 career tournament wins; it was ironic that he collected the trophy from Nicklaus himself as this is his tournament! Maybe now Tiger can set about chasing down Jack's all-time record of 18 major titles. At the time of writing, Tiger is 11-2 favourite for The US Open with www.paddypower.com so who knows? Rory McIlroy is 10-1 second favourite, and could also go in to the tournament at the Olympic Club San Francisco as a winner; he is one shot back in The St Judes Classic going in to the final day. 

Also this week, Maria Sharapova is back on the winning trail after thrashing Sara Errani 6-3 6-2 in the French Open final at Roland Garros on Saturday. This completed Maria's career Grand Slam of all the majors and puts her in a unique group of ten women in the history of tennis to achieve this feat.The men's final this afternoon looks to be a fascinating affair as well, as Rafa Nadal takes on Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is trying to achieve the 'back to back' Grand Slam which has not been achieved in the men's game since Rod Laver did so in 1969. I am watching the game as I write, and Djokovic is one set down having lost the first 4-6. 

FOOTBALL'S BACK! Woohoo! Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine started on Friday. There have only been four games so far, and there has been drama to say the least; Good attacking, poor defending and shocking goalkeeping, bad refereeing, penalties missed, a game of two halves and that was just on the first day! If the rest of the tournament lives up to the first couple of days it should be a fantastic tournament. So far, the hysteria in England has been minimal to say the least but I don't doubt it will start to build over the next 24 hours and will probably be somewhere near near fever pitch come 5.00pm tomorrow. 

The Bad:

Timothy Bradley beat Manny Pacquaio last night for the WBO welterweight title. Most seem to have said that it is controversial to say the least. Even though Pacman landed 94 more punches than Bradley, two judges scored the fight 115-113 for Bradley. Amir Khan, who is a potential opponent for both men and was ringside for the fight, said he had Pacquaio winning eight rounds to four. Although it is possible Pacquaio is unlikely to fight Khan as they are stable-mates, but if Khan beats Danny Garcia in July he may well go on to fight Timothy Bradley later in the year. 

Czech Republic full back Theodor Gebre Selassie has said he heard racist abuse aimed at him in the game against Russia on Friday. He said 'It was nothing extreme. I've experienced much worse and personally, I'm ready to put it behind me' but no player should have to contend with this and UEFA should get on top of the matter straight away. They have begun disciplinary proceedings against the Russian Football Union so hopefully the matter will be dealt with appropriately. There were also disturbances involving Russian fans outside the ground which are also being investigated. 

The Rugby:

Although England, Ireland and Wales put up spirited displays in the southern hemisphere this weekend, they lost to South Africa, New Zealand and Australia respectively. Well done to Scotland for beating Australia earlier in the week. The conditions were very much a leveller, but who saw that coming? The Scots were put under immense pressure in the second half and showed tremendous defensive fortitude, and Greig Laidlaw showed a lot of bottle stepping up to slot the last kick of the game through the posts for the win. The respective tours continue over the next few weeks, and most would be not be surprised if they don't win too many games between them. From what I have watched so far, all the southern hemisphere teams are bigger and stronger man for man and they all play a completely different brand of rugby.  Their game is played with a much more progressive, fluid, stylish and aggressive manner and until we start to try and meet them toe to toe on this front things will remain much the same.

Follow me on Twitter!

Euro 2012 preview

So the time for talking is nearly over as Euro 2012 begins on Friday. According to FIFA's world rankings, seven of the top ten teams in the world will be there so it is not going to be easy for anyone. There are almost two 'groups of death', and it is certainly quite tricky to try and pick who will get to the knockout stages. 

Will this be England's starting XI?

From an English point of view things could have been easier; having a new manager installed the month before the tournament with only a couple of weeks and two games to prepare is hardly ideal. And injuries and suspensions to key players won't help either. To say English optimism is at an all time low would be a huge under-estimation. That said, England might not have been at their best in the first two games, but if they can somehow win their next six games 1-0, England will be European champions on the 1st July. At the moment it is not pretty, but it is functional and we're winning; and winning breeds confidence which in turn would bring a more attractive style of football.  Whoever wins the tournament will not have had an easy ride for sure. The easiest group may be perceived to be Group A, but all the teams in this group are quite evenly matched so even though they're probably not being talked about as winners, it won't be easy for them either. 

One upside for whoever does make it to the quarter-finals is that Groups B and C look incredibly difficult to get out of, and it could well come down to goal difference as to who makes it through. If things go wrong (or right!) in the groups we could see two of the fancied teams going home early. Spain and Holland will be favourites with Germany not too far behind, and after that it is anybody's game really; particularly with Portugal, Czech Republic and Italy losing the weekend before the tournament. 

Future European champions?

I am going to stick my neck out now, and say I think Holland will win the tournament. Why? They won 10 qualifiers in a row, and only lost their last game to Sweden when they were safe. They are likely to start with Robin van Persie who has been electric all year, and if he needs a rest they have Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to come off the bench and he's been pretty handy as well. As well as this, these two will be ably assisted by Wesley Schneider, Arjen Robben, Rafa Van der Vaart, Ibrahim Affelay etc etc! 


Until now I had been quite underwhelmed, but with five days to go I am starting to get excited, almost irrespective of what happens with England. There is something special about tournament football that strikes a chord and I can't wait! I will be there at five o'clock on Friday supporting Greece v Poland (those who know me will know why) and hoping that the tournament can be a festival of football as it is meant to be. 

SPORT SHORTS

British athlete Mo Farrah made his intentions clear as he ran the fastest time (12m 56.98s) in the world this year over 5000m. He says he intends to concentrate on the 10,000m in London as it is run first, but surely there is not much better preparation than winning races. 


Kevin Pietersen 'retired' from international limited overs cricket this week, and will now only feature in the test team for England. It seems like he wanted to pick and choose when he played for England, and this was something that the ECB wouldn't stand for and rightly so. He might be missed in the beginning, but there will be another big-hitting superstar along soon enough; no player can be bigger than the team. 

Red Bull Racing F1 team have been told this week that they must make changes to the floors under their cars to make them compliant with regulations. Team principal had been adamant that his cars were compliant when asked on several occasions previously, but maybe change won't be a bad thing. Despite Mark Webber's win in Monaco, this season doesn't come close to the success RBR have had in the last couple of years.

Follow me on Twitter!