Fiorentina, Bayern Munich and Indonesia
I'm feeling quite happy today since three my favorite football teams got quite satisfying results. Fiorentina got a draw 0-0 in UEFA Cup against Glasgow Rangers so did Bayern Munich draw 1-1 with Zenit St. Petersburg last night. Indonesia National Team just won 1-0 against Yemen about one hour ago.
At Ibrox Stadion, Glasgow, full team Fiorentina dominated the match while Rangers played without Barry Ferguson and Kevin Thomson due to suspension. Adrian Mutu, Giampaolo Pazzini, Martin Jørgensen and Zdravko Kuzmanović threatened Rangers' goal several times but back-up goalkeeper Neil Alexander managed to keep his sheet clean.
Rangers also has some chances through Jean-Claude Darcheville, Thomas Buffel and Daniel Cousin but Fiorentina's defense, marshaled by Czech International Thomas Ujfaluši succeeded denying them.
Anything can happens at Stadio Artemio Franchi on second leg next week. Rangers will play with full team. As Fiorentina fan, I hope Fiorentina can keep the high standard of playing as they showed when defeating two big clubs, Everton and PSV Eindhoven.
At same time last night, at Allianz Arena, Munich, FC Bayern faced an obstacle from Zenit. After Franck Ribéry scored at 18th minute, a rebound from miss penalty by Ribéry himself. The tie came up after Lucio scored an own goal at 60th. With Andrei Arshavin and Lukas Podolski failing to deliver a late twist, the tie will be decided on 1 May in Russia.
I'm not disappointed by tie result at home for FC Bayern. Zenit, coached by Dick Advocaat, is a black horse in UEFA Cup this season. They made semi-finals after beating Villareal, Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen. Advocaat has made Zenit became an impressive team in Europe. However, I still favorite FC Bayern. They will beat Zenit with the same way they beat Getafe on quarter-finals.
While in Stadion Jalak Harupat, Bandung, Indonesia beat Yemen with only goal by Bambang Pamungkas at 30th minute. Indonesian coach Benny Dolo made a quite brave move by playing many young players, most of them promoted from U-23. Ardan Araz, Hariyanto, Fandi Mochtar, Paolo Rumere and Arif Sunyono was playing. Indonesia dominated the match since first minute. A nice pass from Firman Utina met Bambang at empty area. Without any pressure, Bambang fired a left foot kick and scored.
After Ponario Astaman and Firman Utina pulled out on second half, Yemen took control of the game. Indonesia could only made some counter attacks. 30 minutes dominating the match, Yemen couldn't score a goal so the match ended 1-0 for Indonesia.
By the way, Indonesia will host Bayern Munich on May 21. FC Bayern will make 10 days Asian tour to popularize its club in Asia. This tour is also going to be a farewell tour for Oliver Kahn who will retire this season. I must see this match. I don't care about the friendly match title and Bayern's European Internationals can't come due to Euro Cup preparation. I'm just hoping it will be held in Jakarta not any other city.
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Friday, April 25, 2008 | Labels: Sport | 3 Comments
3 comments:
Zenith proved to play better then Bayern (4:0), so the forecast was not a success!
However, what is your prognosis for the final in Manchester?
That's right anonymous. Russian proved they could play football. Not just buying clubs. They will win in Manchester.
@Anonymous
Ha ha... it was not success at all. That was embarrassing. Thank you for commenting here and check out my prognosis for final here.
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