Thursday, September 29, 2011

David De Gea

David de Gea Quintana (Spanish pronunciation: [daˈβið de 'xea]; born 7 November 1990) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Manchester United as a goalkeeper and is widely regarded as the best young goalkeeper in Europe . Born in Madrid, he started his career aged 10 with Atlético Madrid and rose through the academy system at the club before making his senior debut in 2009. After being made Atlético's first-choice goalkeeper, he helped the team win both the UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Super Cup, and his performances attracted the attention of Manchester United, whom he joined in June 2011. He is also the current captain for the Spain U21 national side.

Club career

Atlético Madrid

De Gea, whose real name is Alberto, joined Atlético Madrid's youth system at the age of 10, and made his way up through the ranks at the club. He spent his first professional seasons playing for Atlético Madrid B in Segunda División B. With first-choice goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo away on international duty at the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup, De Gea was called up to the senior side as cover for Roberto. He made his debut for the Atlético first-team at the age of 18 on 30 September 2009, coming on as a substitute after Roberto was injured after 26 minutes of Atlético's UEFA Champions League group stage match away to Porto; De Gea conceded two late goals as Atlético lost 2–0.

Roberto's injury meant that De Gea was given his La Liga debut three days later, at home to Real Zaragoza; he gave away a penalty kick in the 19th minute, but immediately redeemed himself by saving Marko Babić's attempt, in an eventual 2–1 win. After some costly mistakes by Asenjo, and the arrival of Quique Sánchez Flores as manager, De Gea finished the 2009–10 season as the starting 'number one'. He won two man of the match awards along the way, against Athletic Bilbao and Valencia. Additionally, he appeared in eight games in the club's victorious UEFA Europa League campaign, including the 2–1 final win against Fulham.

De Gea started 2010–11 in impressive fashion, helping Atlético win the season's UEFA Super Cup. In the 90th minute of the 2–0 win against Internazionale, he saved a Diego Milito penalty kick. He remained the undisputed starting goalkeeper for the remainder of the season, going on to play in every La Liga game for the team en route to a 7th place finish.

Manchester United

2011–12 season

The first half of 2011 saw a great deal of speculation regarding how Manchester United would replace their retiring goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, and much attention focused on De Gea, among others. After Gary Neville's testimonial against Juventus on 24 May, United manager Alex Ferguson claimed that a deal had been done to bring De Gea to Old Trafford, but this was later denied by De Gea's representatives and the Atlético management, with De Gea stating that he would not consider his future until after the UEFA Under-21 Championship. Following Spain's victory, De Gea was spotted in Manchester having a medical with United on 27 June. The next day, he reported that United were making him a contract offer, and the transfer was confirmed on 29 June.

He made his first appearance for Manchester United in a 3–1 friendly win over Chicago Fire on 23 July 2011. He made his competitive debut for United against Manchester City in the Community Shield on 7 August. Despite being caught out in the first half by a header from Joleon Lescott and a long range Edin Džeko strike that put City into a 2–0 lead, United rallied in the second half and won 3–2. De Gea made his league debut for Manchester United against West Bromwich Albion a week later, where he failed to stop a "tame" Shane Long goal during a 2–1 United victory.  De Gea kept his first clean sheet for United on his Old Trafford debut, their following league fixture against Tottenham. He made a few impressive saves and his side ran out 3–0 winners. In the following game six days later De Gea saved a penalty from Arsenal captain Robin van Persie which would have cancelled out United's 1–0 lead. He made further saves to deny van Persie and Andrei Arshavin as United thumped Arsenal 8–2. On September 18th Manchester United beat Chelsea 3-1 at Old Trafford, with De Gea making a string of impressive saves, particularly from Ramires when he had an empty net to side foot home, De Gea quickly got across to smother the ball away. De Gea's rapid improvement continued in his next game as he made two stunning saves to help his side to a 1-1 draw away at Stoke City.  De Gea made his first ever UEFA Champions League start against FC Basel at Old Trafford on 27 September 2011. The match ended in a 3-3 draw.



International career

De Gea helped Spain's U17 win the 2007 European Championship, and finish second at the 2007 World Cup.

In early May 2010, courtesy of solid Atlético performances, he was named by senior squad manager Vicente del Bosque in a provisional 30-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup; however, he did not make the final cut.

In 2011, he was part of the Spain U21 team that won the 2011 European Championship.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Carlos Vela Profile

Carlos Alberto Vela Garrido (born 1 March 1989 in Cancún, Quintana Roo) is a Mexican Association football player, currently playing as a striker for La Liga club Real Sociedad on loan from Arsenal. He also plays for the Mexico national football team. He started his career at Mexican club C.D. Guadalajara, and caught the eye after finishing as the top scorer at the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship. After joining Arsenal, he has had loan spells at Spanish clubs UD Salamanca and CA Osasuna.

Club career
Guadalajara
Carlos Vela's career started with Guadalajara, alongside his brother Alejandro Vela. After winning the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship with Mexico and finishing as the top scorer with five goals, Jorge Vergara, owner and president of Chivas de Guadalajara, offered to sign him. Since Vela's family lived in the then-recently-storm-stricken Cancún, Quintana Roo, he asked that the club help relocate them as a condition of his signing. Vela had previously shown his great affection to his father, whose birthday fell on the day on which Mexico beat Brazil in the final of the U-17 World Cup, by carrying the cup to his father and dedicating his Golden Boot to him.

Arsenal
Vela attracted interest from a number of European clubs, and eventually Arsenal won the race for his signature in November 2005 on a five-year deal for a £125,000 fee that rose to £550,000 after he played 50 first-team games. However, since English work permit restrictions for non-EU citizens prevented him from playing in England, Arsenal quickly loaned him out to Celta de Vigo in February 2006, but was returned right away with no games played.


Salamanca (loan)At the end of the season, Vela was sent to Spanish Segunda División club Salamanca, on loan for the 2006–07 season.[6] He would have a successful stay there, creating many of Salamanca's 53 goals, eight of which he scored himself.


Osasuna (Loan)After his loan spell with Salamanca ended, bigger clubs of La Liga, such as Levante, Osasuna and Almería were all interested in taking him on loan from Arsenal for whom he was still ineligible to play as he still had yet to receive a work permit. Eventually, a one year loan move to Osasuna was agreed, with the option of an extension for another year. However, no permanent option had been contemplated.[8][9][10] On 31 October 2007, he scored his first goal with Osasuna, in a match against Real Betis, a performance that went on to earn several plaudits from the Spanish press.

Return to Arsenal

On 22 May 2008, Vela was granted a work permit that allowed him to play in England. Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger confirmed that Vela would be involved with the first team in the coming season and that he predominantly views Vela as a striker in the Eduardo mould.

West Brom (Loan)

On 28 January 2011, Vela joined West Bromwich Albion on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season. He made his debut on 1 February 2011 in a 2–2 draw against Wigan Athletic playing 58 minutes of the game . He scored his first goal coming in as a substitute for the Baggies in his third match for the club with a 92nd minute equaliser against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 20 February 2011. Vela once again scored for West Brom in the dying minutes of a game against Stoke City to salvage a 1–1 draw yet again after coming on as a late substitute.

Real Sociedad (Loan)

Arsenal have announced that Carlos Vela will spend this season on loan in Spain at Real Sociedad - subject to a medical.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Marvin Martin

Marvin Martin (endured 10 Jan 1988 in Genus Paris) is a French football player who presently plays for French cabaret Sochaux in Ligue 1 . He plays as a creative play-making midfielder and is delineated as a musician with "very good technique on the ball" and "fantabulous visual sensation", which rights for his comparatively little frame. Martin is a former France young international having starred for his area at under-21 storey from 20082010.

Martin was comported in the 14th arrondissement of Paris and hails from the Sublime Porte de Vanves expanse. He got down his football game vocation at Club Athltique de Genus Paris at the age of six and, after two years at the club, brought together plays society Montrouge CF in the southerly Parisian suburbias. Martin's dedication to football game sped after the France national team brought home the bacon the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He traced the triumph as "the instant I desired get a professional player". While playing at Montrouge, Martin trailed and played alongside Hatem Ben Arfa, Issiar Dia, Flavien Belson, and Domini.

At the friendly Match, Martin scores twice on debut to help experimental French team beats Ukraine 4-1.
Marvin Martin feted his international unveiling by tallying doubly Mon to help France rout Ukraine 4-1 in a friendly.

An data based French side, which had only one starter from terminal Fri's 1-1 European Title characterising tie against Belarus, nocked three ends in the last four moments to give the visitants a flattering, though much-needed triumph.

Martin came off the bench in the 76th second and gave away a 1-1 stalemate by vamoosing past two protectors before vanquishing Ukraine goalie Andriy Pyatov with a 25-yard (meter) stroke into the bottom left nook three moments from sentence.

The 23-year old Sochaux playmaker then took the quoin that set up overlooked withstander Younes Kaboul for the third destination with a outspoken header. Martin finished his extraordinary entry in hurt time with a peachy chip shot over Pyatov into the top left wing quoin.

"I came on to the delivery with no force per unit area," Martin pronounced, "and that's what created the remainder. I took my opportunity and regained the network. I 'm rattling well chosen.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Neymar

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, was born 5 February 1992 in Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil. He more commonly known simply as Neymar, is a Brazilian footballer who currently plays as a striker for Santos and the Brazilian national football team.

Neymar joined Santos in 2003 and eventually made his first-team debut six years later aged 17 on 7 March 2009 in a 2–1 win against Oeste. He made another appearance the following week against Mogi Mirim, during which he scored his first goal for Santos. On 11 April, in the 2009 Campeonato Paulista semi-final first leg against Palmeiras, Neymar scored the decisive goal in a 2–1 win at Estádio Vila Belmiro. In the final however Santos suffered a 4–2 aggregate defeat to Corinthians.

On 15 April 2010, Neymar scored five goals for Santos in an 8–1 routing of Guarani in the round of 16 of the Brazilian Cup. Following the 2010 Campeonato Paulista in which Neymar scored 14 goals in 19 games, the club were crowned champions after a 5–5 aggregate win over Santo André in the finals. Neymar was subsequently given the award for the best player in the competition.

Neymar's performances for Santos have drawn comparisons to Brazilian idols such as Robinho and Pelé. In June 2010, Santos rejected a £12 million bid from English Premier League team West Ham United for his services. Neymar has also attracted interest from clubs such as Manchester United, Feyenoord, Internazionale, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Juventus, with Real Madrid even going so far as to claim that they had signed a pre-contract agreement with Neymar's agent, Renato Rodrigues, which Santos fervently denied. Following this, Santos placed a €30 million price tag on the player's head, and tied Neymar down to a new contract lasting until December 2014. Neymar himself said he did not think it was time to leave Santos, and that he was entirely focused on his current club, However, Renato Rodrigues insisted that the Santos striker does not want to stay in his home country of Brazil.

On 30 November 2010, Santos sold 5% interests on future transfer fees received to an investment group, Terceira Estrela Investimentos S.A. (TEISA), for R$ 3,549,900 (€1.5 million).

In April 2011, Neymar was sent off against Colo-Colo in the Copa Libertadores for celebrating by donning a mask of himself upside down that had been thrown onto the pitch.

International career

Following Neymar's performances for Brazil's U-17 team at the 2009 U-17 World Cup in which he scored a goal in the opening match against Japan former Brazilian football players Pelé and Romário reportedly urged coach Dunga to take Neymar to the 2010 World Cup. Although the widespread opinion that Neymar deserved a place in Dunga's squad went as far as a 14,000 signature petition, and despite the huge pressure on Dunga to pick Neymar, he was omitted from both the squad of 23, and the stand-by list. Although Dunga described Neymar as "extremely talented", he claimed that he had not been tested sufficiently on the international level to earn a World Cup spot and he had failed to impress enough while on international duty.

On 26 July 2010, Neymar was selected in the squad for the Brazil team by new head coach Mano Menezes for a friendly match against the USA on 10 August 2010. He started the game and wore the number 11 jersey. He scored on his debut after 28 minutes, a header coming from an André Santos cross in a 2–0 win for Brazil.

Neymar celebrates a goal for Brazil against Scotland in March 2011 with Andre Santos and Ramires

On 27 March 2011, he scored twice in a 2–0 win against Scotland at the Emirates Stadium. During the match against Scotland, a banana was thrown onto the pitch after a penalty was taken, which Neymar claimed was an act of racism from a Scottish fan. However a German student later admitted to throwing the banana.

Andrej Kramarić

Andrej Kramarić was born 19 June 1991. He is a Croatian professional footballer who currently plays for Prva HNL team Dinamo Zagreb. He is also a member of Croatia under-19 and under-21 national teams.

Kramarić joined Dinamo Zagreb when he was six, and has been playing for the Croatian club since then. He is the top youth goalscorer in the club's history. He made his first official appearance for Dinamo Zagreb on 24 May 2009. Since then he made a total of 37 appearances for the club and scored twelve goals.

He was capped 46 times at the youth level for the national team side, also scoring eighteen goals. Kramarić took part at the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship where he made four appearances for Croatian side which reached the semi-finals.

Kramarić made his debut for Dinamo Zagreb senior squad on 24 May 2009, in a league match against NK Zagreb. He made an appearance as a 69th minute substitute for Josip Tadić. It was also his only match for Dinamo Zagreb first-team during the 2008–09 season.

He was promoted to the first-team squad the following season. He made his first appearance of the season and also debuted in the UEFA Champions League on 15 July in an away match against Pyunik which finished by a goalless draw. Overall, Kramarić made 24 league appearances for Dinamo Zagreb and scored 7 goals. He also made 5 appearances in the 2009–10 Croatian Cup and scored 4 goals, and made 5 appearances in UEFA competitions.

National team

 Kramarić was capped a total of 46 times for various Croatian youth teams and scored 18 goals in return. His first national team appearance came against Bavaria national team on 31 March 2005. He was then playing for the under-14 team and was capped a total of two times. Kramarić then started competing at the under-16 and under-17 levels. He made a total of 7 appearances in friendly matches for the under-16 team and scored 4 goals. For the under-17 team he was capped 12 times and scored 6 goals. He also participated in all of under–17 team's qualifiers for the 2008 European U–17 Championship. At the under-18 level, Kramarić was capped nine times and scored three goals.

In 2008 he started playing for the under-19 team with whom he reached he semi-finals of the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. He debuted and scored his first goal at under–21 level on 5 September 2009 in a European Championship qualifier against Norway, aged just 18 years and 81 days.

Daniel Villalva

Daniel Alberto "Keko" Villalva Barrios was born on July 6, 1992 in Caá Catí, Corrientes. He is an Argentine football striker who plays for River Plate. In 2009, he became the youngest player ever to play for River Plate.

At the age of 10, he joined the Talleres de Córdoba youth system after a trial, but he suffered an accident on his left foot and was released. Months later, he recovered and began to play football again in his native provice of Corrientes, and after several trials in teams including Rosario Central, Boca Juniors and San Lorenzo, all of them showing interest in keeping him, he finally joined River Plate in 2005 as a personal wish, since he has always supported Los Millonarios.

On 8 February 2010, he made his debut against Colón replacing Mauro Rosales in the 71st minute and becoming the youngest River Plate player to feature in a league match at the age of 16 years, 7 months and 2 days. He scored his first senior goal in a 4-3 victory against Chacarita Juniors on 30 August 2009. Subsequenly, he went to play a more important role in the team, but prior to the 2010–11 season, he suffered a vertebral injury that has kept him away from play until today.

International career

Daniel Villalva played for Argentina for the first time in the South American Under-15 Football Championship held in Brazil in 2007. He then was called up by the under-17 national team and took part in the 2009 South American Championship, where he scored 3 goals in 5 appearances, and the 2009 World Cup.

Friday, May 27, 2011

Luc Castaignos

Luc Castaignos (acquitted 27 Sep 1992 in Schiedam), is a Dutch football player who presently plays as a striker for Dutch Eredivisie nightspot Feyenoord and the Netherlands U19. He will join Inter Milan after completing the 2010-2011 season with Feyenoord. He is the all time top scorekeeper of the Netherlands U-17 national team. As a instrumentalist he has forced comparings to Thierry Henry.

The roots of Castaignos' family are located in Les Landes, one hundred kms below Bordeaux wine in the south-west of France. At that place, Castaignos' begetter, the abode Frenchman Jean Luc Castaignos, gathered Castaignos' female parent who is of Cape Verdean descent and holder of an Italian recommendation. In Oct 1990, two years before Luc's nativity, the family made a motion to the Netherlands.

Castaignos was deported in Schiedam, South Holland, the Netherlands. There he grew up in a baffling neck of the woods with a high share of immigrant population. Thanks to his football game vocation and the large influence of his parents, Castaignos dealt to stay out.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Bojan Krkic

Bojan Krkić Pérez, was born 28 August 1990, in Linyola, Lleida, Catalonia. He often known as just Bojan, is a Spanish footballer of Serbian descent who currently plays as a striker for Spanish La Liga club FC Barcelona.

Catalan mother (Maria Lluïsa Pérez). He played for Barcelona's youth teams from 1999 to 2006. A quick striker with quite notable dribbling skills, it was reported that he scored more than 800 goals for the youth teams in 7 years, but there is no clear evidence of this. He then played the 2006–07 season with the FC Barcelona B team until he signed a professional contract with the Barcelona A team upon turning 17. Bojan played his first match with Barcelona on 24 April 2007, scoring a goal in a friendly match against Al-Ahly.

On 16 September 2007 (at 17 years and 19 days), Bojan made his official debut for Barcelona against CA Osasuna, replacing Giovani dos Santos in the 78th minute and breaking Lionel Messi's record of the youngest Barcelona player to feature in a La Liga match. Three days later, he made his UEFA Champions League debut against Olympique Lyonnais, coming on at the 88th minute for Messi. He was, at the time, the youngest Barcelona player ever to feature in a Champions League game, at 17 years and 22 days. He made his second Champions League appearance on 2 October, coming on at the 81st minute for Ronaldinho against VfB Stuttgart. On 20 October 2007 (at 17 years and 53 days), Bojan made his first league start for Barcelona away to Villarreal CF and scored in the 25th minute. It was his first goal for the club's first team and it made him the youngest ever goalscorer for Barcelona in a league match.

Bojan scored his first ever Champions League goal on 1 April 2008 (at 17 years and 217 days) against Schalke 04, netting the only goal in the first (away) leg of the quarter-finals, making him the first person born in the 1990s to score in the Champions League and the second youngest player ever, behind Ghanaian forward Peter Ofori-Quaye, then playing for Olympiacos, who scored at the age of 17 years and 195 days. Bojan finished the season with a record of 10 goals, breaking Raúl's record of most goals scored in a debut season.

Upon the departure of Gianluca Zambrotta, Bojan was handed the number 11 shirt. After 14 games (13 of which he entered as a substitute), Bojan ended a goal drought by netting a brace against UD Almería in a 2-0 victory. Despite featuring less compared to the previous season, Bojan helped Barcelona to their 19th La Liga title. He also aided Barcelona to their first Copa del Rey win in 11 years by scoring five goals in the competition, including one in the final against Athletic Bilbao. Bojan was an unused substitute in the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final against Manchester United, which Barcelona won 2-0 and saw them cap off a treble-winning campaign. Bojan's three goals in ten appearances throughout the competition saw him finish as the equal sixth highest goalscorer for the season.

Sergio Canales

Sergio Canales Madrazo, was born 16 February 1991 in Santander, Cantabria. He is a Spanish footballer who plays for Real Madrid, as an attacking midfielder.

A product of hometown Racing de Santander's youth ranks, Canales was bought by Deportivo de La Coruña – 50% of the player's rights – in 2006, as part of the deal which saw Pedro Munitis return to Cantabria. Dudu Aouate and Antonio Tomás were also involved, in the opposite direction.

On 18 September 2008, he made his first team debut with Racing, playing in a UEFA Cup home tie against FC Honka of Finland (1–0 win). Roughly two weeks later, he first appeared in the first division, at CA Osasuna (same result).

Having gradually received more playing time with the main squad, Canales scored twice against RCD Espanyol on December 6, 2009 (4–0 away win), and repeated the feat at Sevilla FC on January 9, 2010 (2–1 at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán), receiving Man of the match accolades in the latter game. The following week, as Racing drew at home to Real Valladolid 1–1, he also found the net, and eventually finished his first full season with six goals and four assists, helping Racing narrowly avoid relegation.