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Now they have conquered Europe, global domination should be Manchester United’s next aim.
For this reason they should now be following events across the Atlantic, because South America is likely to produce United’s strongest challengers for the World Club Cup trophy.
The Copa Libertadores, South America’s Champions League equivalent, has now reached the semi-final stage.
Of the two ties there is one that will clearly attract most attention, and especially from United’s point of view.
The first semi between America of Mexico and LDU of Quito is intriguing but America of Mexico will not be at the World Club Cup even if they win the Libertadores.
The Mexicans are guests in the competition, and one of the drawbacks of their status is that they cannot represent South America.
Their opponents, LDU of Quito are an interesting side, who attack with pace and width. But it would be a real upset if they were to go all the way and become the first Ecuadorian winners of the title.
Which leaves Fluminense against Boca Juniors, Brazil versus Argentina, as the tie which will raise pulses all over the continent.
Wednesday’s first leg is in Buenos Aires - though as a result of a linesman being hit by an ice-cube in their own famous stadium Boca are having to stage the match at the ground of Racing.
The second leg a week later will be in Rio’s Maracana stadium - a fitting scene for such an occasion. And it is a clash where Liverpool old boy Gabriel Paletta, now with Boca, could have a key role to play.
Reigning champions Boca have already seen off highly-rated Brazilian opposition in this campaign, winning home and away in the second round against a Cruzeiro side that had looked very impressive in the group phase.
The difference between Cruzeiro and Fluminense is that Boca’s latest rivals have a better balance between attack and defence.

news.bbc.co.uk

He’s built like a mini-tank, has multiple tattoos around his body, sports a crazy haircut and owns some of the gnarliest cauliflower ears, this side of Randy Couture. So based purely on looks, you’d think World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight Jens Pulver would be an intimidating and mean individual. While his in-ring/cage persona fits amazingly well with his “Lil’ Evil” nickname, the Maple Valley, Wash native has very little “evil” outside of the competitive stage. The good folks at the WEC recently got me in touch with the former Tahoma high school wrestling standout and ex-UFC lightweight champion. The 22-8-1 fighter discussed a wide range of issues including his upcoming bout with WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber and his ultimate goal of coming back home.
TK: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me.
JP: Anything for Seattle.
TK: Tell me how training has been going.
JP: I’m right here at the same gym as always (Iowa’s Miletich Fighting Systems). I’ve also been training boxing at Alleycat gym and TFX gym for all my lifting and plyometrics and the local YMCA for swimming. I’m just kind of training all around Quad Cities. It’s been great.
TK: Talk to me about your upcoming title fight with Urijah Faber. What do you think of him and how do you plan on beating him?
JP: He’s a good champion. An explosive kid who goes out there and finishes fights. He can do some pretty off the wall things in the middle of fights. He’s just a really powerful guy. I just plan on taking it to him quick and explosive. You have to slow a guy like him down, like putting him in quicksand and prevent him from moving his feet. Then I just want to put pressure on him, put my size on him, put my own power on him. He loves scrambling and can do it all day long, so you have to just really try and slow him down. But I want to take the wrestling to him too. If he wants to grapple, let’s grapple. Everybody tries to size up my grappling because of how successful I wasn’t against BJ Penn. Well really? I mean how many people are very successful against BJ Penn, I mean he’s the best there is. I’m just out there to fight. Whatever I do, I just want it to hurt worse than whatever he does.

blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com

(S16E10) “When you’re annoying, you might not be able to appease everybody with a donut. They might just want the donut.” - James
All week the promos for tonight’s Survivor Micronesia episode were saying that a blunder would overtake James having two idols and not playing them to save himself in Survivor China. It’s true. James is no longer the goat of stupid moves. Maybe they should rename the tag line for the season. Instead of Fans vs. Favorites, it could be When Smart Castaways Do Dumb Things. Or, When Smarter Castaways Outwit Those Not as Smart.
Read on past the jump for the full review of tonight’s episode.
Argh, I don’t even know where to start. You see, I’ve been an Ozzy fan since his season. In the game, there are some basic proven strategies. You can be like Ozzy — very strong in physical challenges and usually astute to what’s going around you so you can plan ahead. You can be like Richard Hatch — manipulative and sneaky, but be a provider. It’s rare that anyone is like Ethan Zohn, the winner of Survivor Africa . He was good in challenges, a nice guy, and basically honest throughout the game. Then there’s Cirie Fields. Although sturdy and strong, she’s not great at challenges. She’s not a provider. But she might beat Richard Hatch in the people manipulating arena.
The game is “Outwit, Outplay, Outlast.” It’s beginning to look like Cirie may be the triple threat to fit that bill. She’s still no physical threat to anyone as shown in tonight’s reward challenge schoolyard pick. With the way she’s been playing this season, I don’t think it matters that she’s always chosen last in those picks. She can scheme and has gotten way sneakier since her season. It’s starting to look the women might be running the show soon. That is, if they can keep this rolling. Of course, if they do, they’ll eventually have to kill off their own … er … vote each other off.

tvsquad.com

TSN Producer Andrew Nichols is in Montreal at the sold out UFC 83: SERRA vs. ST-PIERRE 2, where Quebec’s own Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre attempts to become the undisputed champion in a rematch with reigning titleholder Matt ‘The Terror’ Serra. Follow Nichols’ Blog as he reports from the Bell Centre.
8:00pm ET - Well, after some technical difficulties, I think we’re up and running for the rest of the night. The pre-show card started about 30 minutes early. Jonathan Goulet defeat Kuniyoshi Hironaka by TKO in the 2nd round. The Bell Centre is only 30 percent full, but the house is rocking. The crowd is thoroughly behind the Canadian fighters. More to come.
8:07pm ET - In the 2nd fight of the night, Cain Velasquez defeated Brad Morris. Morris was dominated throughout the fight, and was caught a hook he could not recover from. Canadian Sam Stout is on his way to the ring. The crowd is lit up. Stout will give GSP a run for loudest reaction of the night.
8:31pm ET - Stout vs Rich Clementi (Lightweights): Sam Stout lost a split decision to Rich Clementi. We’ve had to sort out some technical issues on site, but it appears we’ll be full steam ahead for the rest of the card.
8:44pm ET - Demian Maia vs Ed Herman, 3 Rounds (Middleweights) - 1st Round: Herman’s tights have a large sponsorship for Condomdepot.com… his nickname is "Short Fuse"… only in the MMA. The first round was slow paced, with a lot of ground and pound exchanges.
8:48pm ET - Demian Maia vs Ed Herman - 2nd Round: Herman has the advantage through most of the round. Out of nowhere, Maia slips Herman into a triangle submission hold. Maia has his man fall asleep in the hold and pounds away until the referee stops the fight. Winner at 2:27 of the 2nd round: Maia.

tsn.ca

OK, this is a 1-16 game, and therefore Texas-Arlington has no chance. But since this is the Mavericks’ first-ever trip to the tourney, this is truly a team that is happy to be here. Memphis has legitimate national title hopes and could dust Texas-Arlington quickly, so Mavs fans had better tune in early.
Memphis game plan: The Tigers use their dribble-penetration offense to create one-on-one opportunities, and it has proved to be a perfect showcase for guards Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose. Since Memphis usually dominates the boards, it will be able to run the fast break often. Memphis thrives on creating turnovers on the perimeter and can lock down the middle with shot-blocker Robert Dozier. The Tigers aren’t great from 3-point range or the foul line, but neither should be a concern in this matchup.
Texas-Arlington game plan: Expect the Mavs to use their pressure defense to try to force turnovers. Texas-Arlington has a balanced attack with several scorers capable of hitting double figures. The Mavs have a bona fide hot hand in 6-7 junior Anthony Vereen, who has scored 20 or more points in four of the past five games. The Mavs have the interior size to contend with Memphis but need to control their turnover problems.
X-factor: This one comes down to whether the Tigers try to score 30 in the first five minutes or settle for a methodical dismantling of Texas-Arlington. Choose the latter. Look for an easy win, and expect some live cut-ins to other games that will be more competitive than this one.
Bottom line: The Mavs are thrilled to be in the tournament, but they had better soak up as much of the atmosphere as possible early on, because they are little more than Tiger chow. Memphis has too much tourney experience to become the first-ever No. 1 seed to fall.

sportingnews.com

Olympic Qualifier Roundup: Day 1
Posted Mar. 7, 2008 3:45 pm by Ben Badler
The first day of the final Olympic qualifier in Taiwan is in the books.
Canada defeated Mexico 15-10, jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the top of the third inning before Mexico rallied for eight runs in the bottom of the inning to take an 8-6 lead. That was most of the damage Mexico did though, as Canada pounded out 18 hits and got some help from four Mexico errors on its way to victory. Astros outfielder Jimmy Van Ostrand, the No. 30 prospect in the Astros organization, went 3-for-5 with a triple for Canada.
South Korea picked up a 5-0 victory over South Africa, as three South Korean pitchers combined to limit South Africa to just two hits. South Korea starter Min Han Son allowed one hit in six innings, finishing with seven strikeouts and one walk.
Australia started of the tournament with a 4-1 victory over Germany, which entered the tournament after Great Britain withdrew. Germany starter Tim Henkenjohann lasted six innings but surrendered five walks and allowed four earned runs. Henkenjohann, 27, has had trouble with his control dating back to his days as a Twins farmhand earlier in the decade, when he walked 50 batters in 51 2/3 innings at the low levels of the minor leagues.

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FightMetric has done a great breakdown, analyzing each fight of Anderson Silva’s career according to their unique scoring system. (They note that “There is apparently no existing video of Silva’s victory against Waldir Dos Anjos. That one is not included.” bummer!)
Most commenters looking at Silva’s career have focused on his great performances in the UFC as compared to his uneven work in PRIDE. I really think the guy’s just been on a tear since 2005. He rebounded to his legendary flying heel-hook loss to Ryo Chonan by going on a fucking tear. He’s jsut been deadly ever since then. Yeah Lutter gave him a hiccup and he got DQ’d against Okami (by using a kick that I don’t think should be illegal — IMO if you’re on your back you should be able to kick your opponent anywhere except his nuts and his kidneys regardless of where his knees are. The kick he used against Okami was just too beautiful to be banned.)
It’s also worth noting that even in his few losses, Anderson has rarely been dominated. Chonan was losing until he got the famous submission. Okami was getting a beat down before the DQ. The only guy to really take Silva out of his game was Takase who used better grappling to nullify Anderson’s game and get triangle choke. (watch it here). His loss to fellow Chute Boxe fighter (at the time) Luiz Azeredo was a close fought match but it was a long long time ago.
Here’s a fun highlight of Silva’s work. It’s too long, and has music and crap, but the first 2:30 are pretty magic.
In addition to the famous beatdowns of Franklin and Leben, his standing reverse elbow KO of Tony Frykland, and the side kick to the head of Okami from his back are heavily featured. I just wish that the HL reels would include that incredible switch he used to beat Nathan Marquardt. Marquardt was working a single leg that could’ve saved the round for him when Anderson reversed it beautifully and got a single leg of his own. From there he Pwned Nate the Great.
You can say what you want about hating wrestlers, but Silva has certainly learned some fine elements of that game. How much that will help him against a monster like Dan Henderson I don’t know.
I think the ever-improving wrestling of all top MMAers is a key factor of why the fights just keep getting better to watch. Why do you think the WEC is so fun to watch? Guys like Faber and Beebe can just flat-out wrestler. Same goes for Griffin/Edgar or Griffin/Guida — get two really good wrestlers in there and the last thing you’ll see is a boring lay and pray.
I hope they do a similar analysis of Henderson’s whole career before the March 2nd showdown.
Be sure and check out their philosophy of judging fights. I have to say I agree with 99% of it — the only quibbles I have are with these two points:
I agree with most of this BUT I think that big slam takedowns and dramatic throws should score points. They do damage and disorient and demoralize an opponent. Besides they’re fun as shit to watch and should be encouraged.
Again, I agree in part. Escaping the mount should definitely score points, but I don’t think a defensive maneuver should count quite as much as an offensive one. Maybe 3/4 as much. But those are minor quibbles, check out their site and their system, it’s a great piece of work and call me naive but I’d love to see it replace the 10 point must system some day.

bloodyelbow.com