PIZZARO MASTERPIECE

German side Werder Bremen slew a big fish in their final game in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League as they downed Italian powerhouse Internazionale Milano, 2-1, Tuesday night (Wednesday morning, Manila time) at home. The victory earned Bremen a place in the UEFA Cup (soon to be renamed as UEFA Europa Cup) next year.

So dominant were Bremen as they displayed an awesome offensive game and kept Jose Mourinho's boys at bay with their relentless defense throughout the match. But the man of the hour for Bremen is Claudio Pizzaro. The 30 year old Peruvian National played aggressively in the box and had several attacks that almost netted goals for Bremen in the first half. Pizzaro finally broke the ice in the 63rd minute with an amazing goal and capped his performance in the 72nd minute with a great cross pass which find teammate Rosenberg, who easily connected to make it 2-0 for Bremen. Inter Milan's ace forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic close out the scoring with a late goal for the final tally.

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But who is Claudio Pizzaro? The Peruvian striker is currently being loaned by English giant Chelsea to Werder Bremen at the start of the 2008-09 campaign. He currently leads the team in goal scoring in the Bundsliga with 10 goals in 13 outings so far.

Pizzaro started out his career in 1996 with Deportivo Pesquero in the Peruvian Division One, wherein he finished the season with 11 goals in 42 games. He transferred to Alianza Lima the following campaign, where he pumped in 22 goals in 44 outings. He made his European debut in 2001 with Werder Bremen and spent 3 seasons in his first stop with the green outfit. He moved to Bayern Munich in 2001 and played 6 seasons thereat. Last year, Pizzaro played 21 matches for Chelsea and scored 2 goals for the Blues.

Pizzaro had seen action in 56 games for the Peruvian National team and so far has scored 13 goals in international matches. It will not be too long before Chelsea takes him back to Stamford Bridge to help the Blues in their campaign in the Premier League.

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After suffering a serious injury in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, super striker Michael Owen is back in his old-scoring way for Newcastle United in the Barclay's Premier League. Owen's remarkable recovery is the only bright spot for the magpies, who are mired in the lower half of the table with only 16 points in 16 matches so far.

Owen had scored a total of eight goals in nine games so far for Newcastle United in League play (8 matches) and League Cup (1 game) so far. Owen likewise is back in harness with the Three Lions National squad, in which he had tallied 40 goals to date.

With their current precarious league standing, the diehards in St. James Park are hoping that Owen can help turn around the fortunes of Newcastle United later in the season and avoid possible relegation play next campaign.

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Thailand displayed a powerful attacking game in dimantling Malaysia, 3-0, last night and swept Group B competition in the on-going AFF Suzuki Cup before an over-flowing homecrowd in Phuket.

The Thais under new coach, the former Sunderland and Manchester City top guru Peter Reid, dominated the very physical game, which was marred by a near free for all brought about by a Malaysian punch in the 2nd half. With the win, Thailand qualified for the four team semi finals and will play Group B second placer Indonesia in a home-and-away semis series. Group A topnotcher Singapore meets Group B runner-ups Vietnam in the other semis series.

Thailand capped their group stage play with an incredible 11 total goals and did not allow any goals from the opposition in 3 outings. They blanked Vietnam, 2-0, massacred Laos, 6-0 and finally Malaysia, 3-0.

Both semi-final pairings for sure will be one heckuva of a series and is really worth watching for. Are we in for a titanic finale between Thailand and Singapore? Let us just wait and see.