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Goalias is a robot goalkeeper invented by the Stuttgart University automation institute (IAS).Lehmann and Kahn now have some serious competition.
Players from first-division side VfB Stuttgart, including Germany team player Mario Gomez, tried last week to outwit Goalias, shooting indoors at a full-size goal mouth from 11 metres out. Scientists have since fine-tuned Goalias and it can hold every second kick from Mario Gomez.
The robot uses three video cameras to calculate the ball's trajectory and move a plastic keeper figure on a rail left or right to block it, all within 400 milliseconds.
Goalias' weak point: it could still be fooled by some hard curving shots with plenty of spin.More on that story here...

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Karel Poborský's famous lob at EURO '96 has been voted the best individual goal in the latest Carlsberg Goal of the Day poll on euro2008.com.The next competition can be found here..

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Croatia football coach Slaven Bilic's fan song for the Euro 2008 championship with his rock band.The song is called "Fiery madness"

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Beckham was voted Major League Soccer's player of the week after he took his team back after being two goals down to earn a 2-2 tie with Real Salt Lake on Saturday.The first goal was really quite good and the second was a reminder that he still has a few free kicks left in him.

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More than 40,000 English fans are expected to converge on Moscow's Olympic Stadium for the Champions League final on 21 May.Here's a bit of the history of that stadium that many will be unaware of.An excerpt from an article titled "Moscow's secret tragedy - hundreds of fans crushed to death"...
"On the evening of 20 October 1982 Spartak were playing Dutch club Haarlem for a place in the last 16 of the Uefa Cup. They would win the match on the way to a 5-1 aggregate victory, but it was also the night on which the greatest disaster in the history of Russian football took place. Officially, 66 fans lost their lives, crushed to death, but several subsequent investigations and eyewitnesses put the death toll closer to 350."
The entire story can be read here....

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This hare and the turtle race is a fight to the finish.With just one game each left Chelsea have nothing to lose and Manchester United have everything to throw away.If the matter is to be decided by goal difference then Man U have to defeat Wigan at the JJB stadium whereas Chelsea have a comfortable home game against the Bolton Wanderers.The historians are telling us that the last time the two main contenders were level on points was in 1968 – when Manchester City edged out Manchester United for the title.And this time around in 2008 Manchester United have the goal difference but Chelsea have the momentum.And in a race you know - momentum is everything.If you are the betting kind it's a tough call to know which horse to back in this hare turtle race....!
The video shows Chelsea's two goals against Newcastle yesterday.

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Real Madrid faced a hostile 18,000 crowd waving Basque flags.They were down to 10 men.Fabio Cannavaro was sent off early in the second half and Real were down one goal.Arjen Robben equalised Gonzalo.Higuain waited for the last 60 seconds before scoring the winner.10- man Madrid beat Osasuna 2-1 at the hostile Reyno de Navarro stadium in Pamplona and the Primera Liga title was clinched in sensational fashion.Highlights below..

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This is supposed to be part of a Nike Ad.Cesc Fabregas dresses up in a silver fireproof spacesuit and then the whole thing literally goes to the blazes.He juggles with a football which is on fire and he himself catches fire and I can't imagine Nike telling anyone to "Just do it" at the end of it all.
Video - if you are interested - can be viewed here...

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Man U were reduced to 10 men for 53 minutes after this red card.Nani and Zidane can share notes now now on what's the next best thing to do when you lose your temper.

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Manchester United beat West Ham 4-1.Two of those came from Cristiano Ronaldo - taking his tally to 40 this season.West Ham's only goal came off a great scissor kick from Dean Ashton Report...

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That's the bus that will be carrying the team from Greece.
Fans were invited to choose from three inspiring messages to be painted on each of the 16 brightly-coloured coaches carrying the teams to and from games at the final tournament in Austria and Switzerland. The selected slogans are the ones below.You can get a look at what the other 15 buses will look like if you click here...

You can also read the slogan in the original language at the same site and check if anything has been lost in translation.
Austria -We can only win together
Croatia - Together with the fans to the top of Europe
Czech Republic- Let's go, let's win, let's fulfil our nation's dream
France - Live together, celebrate together
Germany - Germany – one team – one purpose
Greece - One team, one dream
Netherlands - One team, one spirit, together we are Orange
Italy - The sky is always bluer
Poland - because only sport and good fun matter
Portugal - This coach is powered by the will to win
Romania - Romania, we are proud of you and we love you
Russia - Russian hands are all for one, Russia is proud of her sons
Spain - Whatever happens, SPAIN FOREVER
Sweden - Sweden team = top marks
Switzerland - Final destination: Vienna
Turkey - Can this bus contain the passion of Turkey ?

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The unheralded dark horses Zenit St Petersburg routed Bayern Munich by a stunning 4 goals to 0 to go through to their first ever UEFA cup final.Last season’s Russian league champions can now attempt another feat -to become the second Russian side to win the cup since CSKA Moscow defeated Sporting Lisbon back in 2005.

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Gerrard took the ball off Avram Grant on the sidelines at the Chelsea - Liverpool game yesterday - without bothering to say 'please' or 'thank you' -and knocked him down while doing it.Not very polite.Maybe its because Avram was saying things like this.. earlier.

However the victory went to Avram,made more special for him by the fact that it was Holocaust Remembrance day.It was an emotional day for Steven Lampard too.It was his first match back since the death of his mother Pat on Thursday and he scored the all important penalty that put Chelsea ahead.Drogba's two goals put the matter beyond all doubt.

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Gordon Bradley, who coached Pele and Johan Cruyff in the North American Soccer League died on tuesday in Manassas He was 74.
Signed for New York Generals in 1968 as a player and assistant coach to Freddie Goodwin, Bradley went on to become one of the best known and most popular coaches in the NASL.He coached the New York Cosmos when they were at their peak in the late 1970s when Pele played for the team.He also coached the Washington Diplomats, where he worked with Dutch superstar Cruyff.

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The complete ad can be seen on the nike website here..
I like the Adidas one better.

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Gianluca Zambrotta in an attempt to clear played the ball into Scholes's path.The game was 14 minutes old and Scholes was 25 yards from goal.The shot went in like a bolt from the blue into the top corner of the net.And that was it.It's going to be an all english Champion's League Final.

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Muslim groups have urged the Malaysian government to stop Chelsea's two Israelis - Avram Grant and midfielder Tal Ben Haim from entering the country when the team visits in July, warning the tour could face protests if they are allowed in.
At the moment the government seems to be standing its ground on the issue.

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Los Angeles Galaxy beat Chivas USA 5-2 on Saturday and Beckham's happy....

....but that hat trick is old hat.That was saturday and its almost wednesday already.Emmanuel Adebayor scored the most recent hat trick when Arsenal gave Derby a 6 -2 lesson in soccer.Most of those goals - if not all - can be seen here...

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Franck Ribery scored two incredible goals in less than 60 seconds to all but take Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title.The final score was Bayern Munich 4 , Stuttgart 1.You may have to turn down the volume.The commentator on the video is a bit hysterical.

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And the Professional Footballers' Association player of the year for the second successive season is Cristiano Ronaldo.The young player of the year award went to Cesc Fabregas.A look at the PFA winners from 1974 to 2008 here....

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The turtle has caught up with the hare.Ballack scored two for the turtles and the hares managed only one.Avram Grant was heard saying at the end"I think we can win the title. In sport, you need to be optimistic. The spirit and courage of the players was great."That sounds like a coach who is surprised by how good his turtles have done.It remains to be seen if the rest of the story plays out like the fable.

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