Gabriel Laude

A few days ago, I heard that the German national goalkeeper who was going to play in the 2010 World Cup, decided to commit suicide. This incident was caused because of depression.

Here is a tribute to his talent: RIP Robert Enke Tribute.

England vs Germany for a place in the the FIFA World Cup final.

After a goalless fist half, it took a large slice of fortune to brake the deadlock, a wicked deflection off of Brehmer’s free-kick was enough to beat Shilton this time and put the German’s ahead. With just ten minutes left to play, Parker whipped in a cross which left three German defenders facing the wrong way enough time for Lineker to equalize. So the fans were treated to extra-time, there were great chances, wonderful saves and most famous of all, The Tears of a Clown, Paul Gascoigne’s harsh challenge earned him a yellow card which meant he would miss out on a possible World Cup final, his disappointment and disbelief turned him into a national icon. The two teams went into penalties, unlike their opponents, the German’s had been in this situation twice before and won on both occasions. At 3-3, Stewart Pierce  broke under the pressure seeing his shot blocked by Ildner’s legs, Olafton added to the german advantage, 4-3 to Germany. Chris Waddle had to score, instead his shot went high into the Turin nights. Germany were there for a record sixth occasion, they would be able to avenge their defeat from four years earlier if Argentina won their semi-final with Italy.

Barçelona vs Manchester United, the Champions League finale between England’s best and Spain’s best took place in Roma (5th time hosting the finale). Within a minute, Anderson had earned Manchester United a free-kick, Christiano Ronaldo struck it well but Victor Valdès played his part well and kept it out of the net. In 10 minutes, Eto’o had put the ball in the goal. As Iniesta dribbled through the defense and passed the ball to Eto’o, he went through Vidic and toe-poked it into the net with Van Der Sar getting a touch to it. For the rest of the match, Barçelona dominated the game. Puyol, the right defender created many chances but could not put it in the net. At 70 minutes, Messi’s header sealed the victory (first goal against an English team in the Champions League), Xavi’s cross was perfect. At 90 minutes, the celebrations begun, Xavi Hernandez was voted Man of the Match.

An attacker is the man who puts the ball into the back of the net. An attacker is not a solo player, he must pass to others or else the defenders will trap him. Offsides are their biggest danger. When a cross comes in, they must read the ball to hit it in. A great attacker is the top scorer in a league. He is the Golden Boot winner who scores a hat trick each game.

An attacker is a scorer, I am the attacker.

After Zidane’s recent retirement, a number of new players have been recruited to the Fédération Française de Football (French Federation of Fütbol): K. Benzema, S. Nasri, P. Mèxes, H. Ben Arfa, Sagna and Mandanda. But many great players that date back to 1998 are still playing for France: T. Henry, P. Vieira, W. Gallas, D. Trezeguet, Sagnol etc…

In 1998, Zidane lead France to a World Cup triumph on home soil with 2 goals in the final against Brazil. France made it to the final in 2006 but lost to Italy, Zidane was red-carded and than retired and never played professional fütbol again.France have been always called Les Bleus.

France are not doing so well without Zidane but they’ll recover, just wait.

Presidio Futsal Club vs Jamestown. This is arguably the most intense game I have ever played. It started with a goal from Jamestown in 3 minutes. Then an equalizer from a pass sent Jacob shooting the ball into the top left corner of the goal. Then we took the lead from well worked goal by Hugues and I, I passed the ball to him and he took a shot and it deflected off my stomach into the goal. The next 2 goals were scored by Jamestown making the score 3-2. Then Kyle equalized for 3-3. The best player on Jamestown went shooting the ball and scored 4-3. Then the mos tense part of this game happened, Hugues sent a pass a little too much in front of me but I still slid in and hit the ball and the goalie but it still went going towards the goal at a slow pace, when the ball was right on the line, a defender slid and hit it the ball out of the goal. My whole team was tense, but 1 minute from the end, Kyle dribbles in and shoots and hits the post but shoots it again and scores 4-4.

The game goes into extra-time but nobody scores. It goes into penalties. Max scores, they score, James scores, Theo blocks their shot, Kyle unusually misses, Theo blocks another shot, Theo scores, they score and it’s up to Josh to win the game, he scores!!! We all crowd around in joy. The final score was 4-4 (4-2 in penalties. Jamestown has not been beaten in a futsal championship for 5 years.

Sunday March 8th, 2009, this is one of the many futsal games I played. I am on the PFC Chargers team. At 1:20 into the game, James (a kid on my team) scores from a rebound of a shot from Kyle. 5 minutes later, Hugues (a good friend of mine) and I are substituted into attack. In 20 seconds, an excellent pass from Hugues is sent to my feet, giving me a chance of scoring, skillfully, I hit the ball into the back of the net. 30 seconds later the best pair of attackers were back on the ball, Hugues dribbles a couple of deffenders and shoots and scores. We are then sadly substituted out 5 minutes later. 9 more goals are scored in the game, one of MEXICO that I would like to talk about. MEXICO are dribbling up the field and a cross is taken into place but the cross was deflected off one of our players, a player from MEXICO is in the center of the field, he does a bicycle kick straight into the net of the goal.
The final score was 7-5. Our next game is the final of the cup.

Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia etc… Not including the europeans, the South Americans are some of the best soccer players in the world. Argentina and Brazil are tight rivals, whenever they play each other it is an intense, thrilling game that millions of spectators tune in to see. Some of the best players come from South America: Pele, Maradona, Ronaldinho etc… South America is one of the best nations at soccer.

Goalkeepers sometimes are considered everybody’s last hope. If a player has gone past all the defenders, the goalkeeper is still unbeaten. There are lots of good goalkeepers from the 20th century: Yashin, Olivieri, etc…
From the 21st century: Buffon, Casillas, etc… But arguably, the best goalkeeper is Oliver Kahn. He has been voted best goalkeeper by FIFA.

FC Barçelona is my favorite team so I felt like talking about it. Barçelona has almost all the best players: Eto’o, Messi, Henry, Keita, Puyol and they did have Ronaldinho but he is now on AC Milan. They have won many champion leagues. Barçelona’s rival is Sevilla. They have been voted best team in Spain.