COSTLY WIN FOR ENGLAND

After more than a month of inactivity, it really feels good to be back! During my absence, I devoted too much time on my other blogsite which is exclusively NBA basketball. Anyway, I promise myself to make up for the lost time and hope that my return to share my views about the beautiful game, which is very close to my heart, will be on a regular basis. So my apology to all.

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England scored a 2-1 victory last Wednesday in a friendly match against Germany in the latter's home turf. West Ham United defender Matthew Upson and Chelsea skipper John Terry scored for the Three Lions squad while the lone goal scorer for the Germans is Patrick Helmes. But the win proved costly for manager Fabio Capello and England as it lost Arsenal wonder boy Theo Walcott to injury. Walcott suffered a shoulder dislocation during the practice of the Nationals before the Germany match. Walcott will definitely miss Arsenal's encounter against Manchester City on Saturday.

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Chelsea and Liverpool continues to lead the Premier League standings with identical 32 points apiece but defending champions Manchester United is slowly catching fire as the red devils now occupies the third spot with 24 points after a poor start early in the season. League sensation Hull City is at sixth place with 21 points. Threading the dangerous line for relegation are Blackburn (13 points), Tottenham (12 points) and West Brom Athletic (11 points).

Easy matches await the co-leaders this weekend as Chelsea plays Newcastle United and Liverpool goes up against Fulham.

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Group stage matches in the UEFA Champions League resumes on November 25 with eight matches on top. Chelsea travels to play Bordeaux, CFR Cluj plays host to Roma, Panathinaikos will be at Internazionale, Bremen visits Anorthosis, Basel will be at Shakhtar, Barcelona pays a visit to Sporting, PSV goes to Atletico and Marseille will journey to Anfield to meet Liverpool.

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Diego Maradona's first ever game as National coach was a huge success as Argentina walloped Scotland, 1-0 in a friendly game last Wednesday at Hampden Park. Midfielder Maxi Rodriguez scored the winning goal early in the match at sixth minute. It can be recalled that Maradona's first ever international goal as a National player also came against the Scots in 1979 in Glasgow, Scotland.