All posts by h79snht.top

Heineken® launches first global ‘dual screen’ Champions League football game

Heineken® today announced the launch of StarPlayer, the live football game that lets fans watch UEFA Champions League matches on television whilst playing it in real-time on a computer, iPhone or iPod touch.

StarPlayer is a groundbreaking ‘dual screen’ digital initiative from Heineken which transforms TV watching into a social interactive experience for football fans. The game, which was created and devised by digital agency AKQA, taps into competitive banter of the fans by creating a live TV game experience that can be played from home.

StarPlayer, a unique overlay to live football matches, represents the first global example of a social media gaming platform. Fans watch the football on TV while playing StarPlayer in realtime, anticipating events unfolding on the pitch live and making decisions on what will play out over the next few seconds. The use of ‘dual screen’ technology that involves time-dependent decisions on passages of open-play makes StarPlayer a world-first innovation.

To score points, fans anticipate what will happen at key moments such as corners, free kicks, and penalties, for example whether the shot will be saved or whether there will be a goal in the next 30 seconds. With every correct forecast, fans gain points. Through the ‘Interactive Champions League’, they can also compete and share with their friends via Facebook and with other players around the world.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Heineken, the world’s most international beer brand, has sponsored the prestigious UEFA Champions League.

Floris Cobelens, Global Head of Digital at Heineken, commented: “StarPlayer will really change the way in which football fans interact with the UEFA Champions League, creating a more social experience around watching and enjoying the matches. For Heineken to be able to bring the excitement and competition of these premium matches to the actual fingertips of the fans through the cutting edge ‘dual screen’ technology of Star Player really showcases our

commitment to providing extraordinary innovative and engaging experiences for fans.”

Heineken are one of the first global brands to launch an iAd to promote the UK launch of StarPlayer on iPhone and iPod touch. iAd is Apple’s revolutionary new mobile advertising network, reaching millions of iPhone and iPod touch users in their favourite apps. The iAad delivers a cut down “demo” version of the StarPlayer game and allows consumers to get an engaging, playful gameplay experience, before going on to download the app and playing for real.

A little taster for what you can expect:

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SIGN UP here and give it try ahead of tonight’s Champions League clash between Real Madrid and Barcelona

Guangzhou regained the lead in the Chinese Super League with a 1-0 win away to Shenzhen Ruby on Sunday, while Beijing Guoan kept pace in second.Forward Jiang Ning struck the winner in the 68th minute for Guangzhou at the Shenzen City Stadium.

They now top the table by one point from Beijing, who beat Chengdu Blades 3-0 away from home.

Wang Xiaolong, Xu Liang and Honduran Walter Martinez were all on target with second-half goals in the win for Beijing.

Hangzhou Lucheng are down to third, level on points with second-placed Beijing, after they could only draw 0-0 away to Henan Jianye.

Liaoning Hongyun climbed to fourth with a 3-0 victory at home to Dalian Shide.

Yang Xu and Brazilian Valdo both netted in the space of four minutes just before half-time, with Yang striking again to complete the scoring on 85 minutes.

Qingdao Jonoon moved up to moved up to seventh with their third win of the season, a 4-1 triumph against visiting Nanchang Bayi.

Uruguayan winger Jonathan Ramis levelled for Nanchang after Li Peng put the hosts in front just nine minutes into the match, before Yao Jiangshan made it 2-1 shortly before half-time.

A second-half brace from Song Wenjie made sure of the points for Qingdao.

With the bad boy theme running on Football FanCast this week I thought it would be apt to supply you with a video list of some shocking incidents seen over the last few years on the football pitch. From player bust-ups, to dodgy tackles and even the bizarre actions involving referees and fans, there were many to choose from. Players are expected to be professional on the pitch, respecting the referee, respecting the opposition and being able to control their anger but football is a passionate game, which the following top 10 shows.

10: Mascots Fighting – This is one of the most bizarre incidents and although it does not feature football players, when do you see opposing mascots having a real punch up on the pitch? Well it happened between Wolves’ mascot Wolfie and Bristol Rovers’ three little piggies. Unfortunately this is the most light hearted of the entries in the list.

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9: Ruud Van Nistlerooy receives Arsenal attack – After winning a last minute penalty against Arsenal, Ruud Van Nistlerooy steps up to smash home a winner from the spot for Manchester United but it hits the crossbar and comes back out into play. The match is shortly over and Martin Keown along with his team mates decide to let the Dutchman know what they think of him.

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8: Di Canio pushes Ref – Although this incident is bad it is rather humorous at the same time, Sheffield Wednesday’s Paulo Di Canio was sent off in a game against Arsenal at Hillsborough and the passionate Italian shoves referee Paul Alcock. But the way the ref falls to the ground makes it look more comical than a serious matter.

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7: Gattuso loses it – Recent incident involving the AC Milan captain gradually losing the plot in the Champions League game against Tottenham Hotspur. He takes exception to Spurs coach Joe Jordan on the touchline first grabbing him by the throat and later trying to head butt him. Although his actions were disgraceful, I’m sure many of us would’ve liked to have seen Joe Jordan retaliate and stop the Italian in his tracks.

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6: Team-Mates Fight – There’s been a few of these incidents over the years but this one is probably one of the best (or worst) depending on how you look at it. Newcastle United’s Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer exchanged some heated words on the pitch which quickly turned to blows. It reminds me of a similar incident in the 1990s between Blackburn Rovers pair David Batty and Graeme Le Saux. There’s also been quite a few from the training ground, Sweden’s Mellberg vs Ljungberg and West Ham’s John Hartson vs Eyal Berkovic are two examples.

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5: Another Muscat tackle – One thing I have never understood in football is how Kevin Muscat made a career in the sport from assaulting players? This was just one of the latest from playing in his homeland of Australia getting sent off for a horrendous over the ball tackle. He had just come back from suspension after landing a kidney punch on a player during a game. In England, he made some horrible tackles, most notably on Mattie Holmes which ended his career short.

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4: Zidane – You know what, during the 2006 World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane bows out to the football world with a shocking headbutt on Italy’s Materazzi. Cursing between players happens in every game but Zidane took exception to whatever Materazzi said to him and knocked him completely off his feet to the millions of live viewers watching.

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3: Roy Keane’s retribution – This incident made me lose any respect I had for Roy Keane as a player. He even admitted in his autobiography that he deliberately set out to injure Haaland and should’ve received a lengthy ban. Keane saw it as revenge for an incident a few years earlier, Keane had tried to deliberately kick Haaland in front of him but ended up injuring his own leg. Haaland accused Keane of faking it, which is why Keane set out for revenge. Haaland never played a full game of football after this incident and Roy Keane was left to continue playing football for many years to come.

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2: Thatcher elbow – The defender has had previous for his over aggressive challenges on the pitch but this incident on Tottenham’s Pedro Mendes topped it all. Thatcher’s over enthusiastic tackle led with his elbow caused Mendes to be knocked out and hospitalised. The alarming thing is, Thatcher acts like it was a fair challenge. Maybe Wayne Rooney should watch this to see how dangerous flying elbows could be?

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1: Kung-Fu Cantona – An incident that shocked the football world. When Eric Cantona was sent off for Manchester United against Crystal Palace a Palace fan gave him abuse that sent the Frenchman over the edge and resulted in the flying kung-fu kick attack on the fan. He was banned for several months and it somewhat overshadowed the talented footballer’s career.

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List compiled by Matt Freebody

West Ham striker Demba Ba has denied being responsible for starting a brawl at the relegated club’s end-of-season gala awards on Monday night.It was suggested trouble began when Ba refused to sign an autograph for a fan at the function at Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

Police were called after tables were overturned, a vase smashed and chairs thrown, with security allegedly pursuing a group of fans as they fled the premises.

But the Senegal forward denied claims he had snubbed a supporter.

“I did sign the autograph,” Ba wrote on Twitter. “I never refuse to sign autograph to the fans.”

“He came to me saying he is tired to watch us play and was looking for confrontation.”

Co-owner David Sullivan later claimed that a drunken supporter had racially abused a player at the function.

“The whole incident has been blown out of all proportion,” Sullivan said. “It was one individual who had too much to drink, sadly a problem in British society.”

“A player was racially abused by the same drunken supporter, which is not acceptable. Sadly one drunken supporter let the club down.”

The incident came on the back of a 3-2 Premier League defeat to Wigan, which condemned West Ham to the Championship.

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The result led to the immediate sacking of manager Avram Grant ahead of the club hosting Sunderland in their final game of the season on Sunday.

The relegation brings to an end a dramatic few seasons in the top flight for the Hammers since their promotion for the 2005-06 campaign.

That season the club impressed with a mid-table finish under Alan Pardew and almost won the FA Cup final, eventually falling in a penalty shootout to Liverpool after a dramatic 3-3 draw.

Around 18 months ago, Wolverhampton Wanderers played a weakened team against Manchester United in a league match.

I was furious. Well, quite miffed anyway. I thought it disgraceful that they would throw in the towel for a football match, and thought it unfair on United’s competitors that they chose to do this once against United. It’s not as if a full-strength team couldn’t possibly have got a result at Old Trafford, however unlikely it may have been.

In the end, Wolves got a suspended fine. And since then, it not surprisingly happened again, and resulted in a £25,000 fine handed out to Blackpool for fielding a “weakened team” against Aston Villa in November – when they faced four games in 12 days (and narrowly lost 3-2). Ian Holloway threatened to resign if they were fined, but not surprisingly, didn’t.

The Premier League said this at the time: “In reaching a decision the Board took into account the team fielded by Blackpool in its match against West Ham United, and in subsequent league matches.”

It was slightly different with Wolves, as McCarthy had also spoken about how he saw no chance of getting a result – so was basically admitting that he had thrown the towel in (yet his fine was suspended!). Holloway on the other hand was adamant that he was simply using his 25-man squad as he saw fit, claiming that all teams have to submit squads, and that he should be allowed to use them.

What is clear is that both played weakened teams. The opinion a few journalists have put forward (and Holloway too) that a 25 man squad is there to be used and all players are equal is utter hogwash. Clearly any manager has a preferred 11, or close to it, and has other players there as back up and nothing more. If Holloway really thinks all of his squad to be equals he needs to explain why most of the team that faced Aston Villa that day have barely featured since.

Playing weakened teams in cup competitions is a different argument, and I wrote recently how I would have been disgusted as an Aston Villa fan at the weakened team Houllier put out against Manchester City as it was throwing away the chance of a trophy, and was deeply unfair for the fans that travelled down to watch their team limp to a 3-0 defeat. Likewise, the Wolves fans that travelled to Old Trafford that day may have preferred to have saved their money if they had know the team that was being put out.

This debate once more came to a head again at the weekend, when it was widely reported, and came to pass, that Manchester United would make wholesale changes to their team for the visit of Blackpool, with the impending Champions’ League Final in mind.

The Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore, confirmed no action would be taken over United’s selection. “As far as weakened teams are concerned, the Premier League has only ever applied the rule twice when it’s been an extreme case and somebody has changed all 10 outfield players and then the week after gone back and changed the 10 back again. That’s not going to happen.”

So it seems you have to change your whole outfield team to get in trouble. Yet as I will mention below, the rule does not state that at all, merely that every team picked should be full strength.

All things considered, I think the theory of fining a club for playing a weakened team is fine. However, the practice of fining a team is different, and bordering on farcical. This is because it is a rule that is simply unworkable.

The controversy revolves around E20 – no, not the fictional nightclub in Eastenders, but the Premier League’s rule E20, which states “In every league match each participating club shall field a full-strength team”.

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A simple enough ruling, but in that one short sentence is a lorry-load of trouble.

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One of the problems with enforcing the rule is the double standards. If United or Arsenal or Chelsea etc dropped 10 players for a league match, they could still put out a team that stands a good chance of getting a result. The smaller teams cannot. And if the likes of United did that and won the game, it’s hard to fine them when they picked up the points anyway. In fact, it’s nigh on impossible. And yet if the Premier League wants the ruling to work then it must be applied consistently, and thus, in theory, the big teams should be fined too. But that can’t really happen can it? And thus the ruling becomes little more than a punishment for smaller teams for not having the squad depth of the big boys.

It should also be noted that it’s harder with the bigger teams to know what a weakened team is. Their squads are of course deeper, due to extra resources obviously, and due to fighting the season on more fronts they often rely less on a set starting eleven, but use the squad to fuller effect.The odd change or two would be commonplace week by week even with a fully-fit squad, so the lines are blurred on just how weakened a team would be when wholesale changes are suddenly made.

The Premier League has partly brought this on itself by implementing 25 man squads, thus giving the managers the excuse of simply utilising their resources. And you cannot blame the big teams for resting players when they have a big game coming up and if that particular league game isn’t as important to them. And you can’t really blame the smaller teams for utilising their more meagre resources and targeting some games more than others in their quest to reach that magical 40 point mark.

All of which leaves a huge mess that is difficult to sort out. The rule really can’t be left as it is, and perhaps it would be best to accept that teams will use their squad as they see fit, however much you may disagree with that, and let them get on with it.

Imogen Thomas Joins Paddy Power For a Champion Offer! They will refund losing Champions League Final bets if Man United lose the match Make your bets now!

It’s that time of the year when a host of players will be switching clubs and a number of Premier League managers have begun their player recruitment drives in earnest. Young has completed his £17million move from Villa Park, Jordan Henderson has signed for Liverpool in a deal worth £20million and a number of others are likely to follow before the start of the 2011-2012 campaign.

It is inevitable that a number of transfers yet to transpire will raise eyebrows as agents scurry to get their clients the best deals possible. In the past, several players of insufficient quality have been signed for staggering fees which belie their true ability, and with this in mind, here is a list of the top ten most overrated footballers in the game at present…

Click on Kenwyne Jones to reveal my top 10

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Iran and Saudi Arabia recorded comfortable wins in the first legs of their Asian Football Confederation World Cup qualifiers.A brace from centre-forward Karim Ansarifard helped Iran to a 4-0 win at home to the Maldives in the second round of qualifying on Saturday.

Forward Ali Karimi and Saeid Daghighi also struck as Iran scored three times in the last half an hour.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia scored three quick goals in their 3-0 win over Hong Kong in Dammam.

Forward Nasser Al-Shamrani netted in the first minute of first-half injury time before defender Osama Al-Muwallad doubled their advantage prior to the interval.

Al-Shamrani completed his brace two minutes into the second half.

Elsewhere, Iraq recorded an important 2-0 win over Yemen at home.

Hawar Mulla Mohammed found the net after nine minutes, before Alaa Al-Zahra doubled their advantage just after the hour mark.

In other games, goals from Mohammed Kasola, Meshal Mubarak and Yusef Ali helped Qatar beat Vietnam 3-0 in Doha.

Jordan hammered Nepal 9-0 as Hassan Abdel Fattah netted four times, while Yang Xu hit a hat-trick in China’s 7-2 win over Laos.

Singapore beat Malaysia 5-3 in an entertaining game while Uzbekistan eased past Kyrgyzstan 4-0.

Other first-leg winners included Thailand, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.

The only draw was played in Ashgabat where Turkmenistan were held to a 1-1 stalemate by Indonesia.

Santos president Luis Alvaro Ribeiro has reiterated the Brazilian club has no interest in selling star striker Neymar to Real Madrid.Neymar has been constantly linked with a move to the Spanish giants throughout the off-season, with the La Liga outfit reportedly prepared to activate the 19-year-old’s 45 million pound buy-out clause.

But Ribeiro said it was not a fait accompli that the striker would leave his native Brazil, saying they were confident he would remain with the club.

“We have no interest in selling Neymar. Real Madrid might be willing to pay the buyout clause, but it all depends on the player,” Ribeiro said.

“We are sure of his will to be world champion with Santos. We hope to fulfil his contract here.”

Speculation continues the Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani will soon be leaving Liverpool, with Serie A club Fiorentina now being linked with the 27-year-old.

Aquilani returned to Anfield at the end of last season after a successful loan spell at Juventus, but did not make a permanent move back to his homeland following the Turin side’s refusal to meet Liverpool’s asking price.

But now his agent Franco Zavaglia has confirmed the interest from Fiorentina, but said a deal was still some way off.

“We must still talk with Fiorentina and Liverpool,” Zavaglia told the Adnkronos agency.

“Aquilani is still a Liverpool player. We need to talk to them to see what their plans are for the new season and then we will see. We are evaluating the situation with both parties before we make any decision.”

Meanwhile, Roma director Walter Sabatini has all but confirmed that French striker Jeremy Menez is on his way to Paris Saint-Germain.

The 24-year-old has been given permission to speak with the Ligue 1 side after Bojan Krkic’s arrival at the Stadio Olimpico pushed him further down the pecking order.

“The sale of Menez is a painful choice, even if it is not yet official,” Sabatini said.

“I gave him permission to leave the training camp and to go and meet with PSG. I’m sorry that I will no longer be able to work with him.”

Sabatini also ruled out making a play for Palermo’s Javier Pastore, saying the club had enough cover in the centre of the park.

There’s something special about the way Mick McCarthy, Jez Moxey and Steve Morgan go about their business in the summer. As the supporters of clubs around us are taking to the message boards to complain about their lack of activity and ambition, Wolves fans, yet again, have the feeling of great satisfaction.

The new season was still over a month away when Wolves completed the signing of centre-half Roger Johnson, the third new addition to our squad this summer. Johnson, 28, needs no introduction as everyone has taken note of his fantastic performances in the Premiership over the last two seasons with Birmingham. With reports this week suggesting we paid as little as £4m for him, it is simply a case of yet another piece of brilliant from the Wolves board.

Jamie O’Hara has also joined the club on a permanent basis this summer. After a string of fantastic performances during his loan spell in the latter half of the season, the management team moved quickly yet again in order to ensure we captured his signature. Once again there are reports that Wolves may have paid just £3.5m for Jamie – which in today’s market is an absolute steal for a player of his quality. Add to this the signing of former-Swansea goalkeeper Dorus de Vries on a free transfer, and it has already been an extremely successful transfer window for Wolves.

The refreshing thing about our football club is that those at the top of the hierarchy are so sensible. McCarthy, Moxey and Morgan don’t go out and spend money recklessly on older ‘big shots’ looking for their final payday. They don’t just look for the right player; they look for the right person. Everyone that has been brought to the club in recent years is well known for their passion and desire just as well as their footballing ability. The likes of Matt Jarvis, Kevin Doyle and new-boy Jamie O’Hara prove this. They bleed Wolves blood, and it is so important that they do. There is a real feeling of togetherness at the football club, right from the top of the club down to the supporters – it feels very special and everybody knows we are a club moving in the right direction.

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With two games of the season played, it already looks like it will be another exciting and competitive season at the top and bottom of the Premier League. In terms of entertainment there is no doubt that the Premier League is the best in the Europe but with some poor quality games to start the season, has the standard of quality really dropped in recent years or is it just more competitive than ever?

Evidence of this decline can be seen as no Premier League players were selected in the FIFA team of the year when it was announced in January 2011 and it was dominated by Spanish players. With the recent departures of Ronaldo, Alonso, Mascherano and now Fabregas to Spain, the English league seems to be losing its world class players and English clubs are struggling to replace them. The only side that are recruiting superstars is Man City and they can only do this by offering extortionate salaries. Man United and Chelsea may sign one big name each summer but nowhere close to what Barcelona and Real Madrid do.

One of the reasons for this decline is that the English 50% tax system does not help attractive the top players and along with the credit crunch, which has made the Pound weak against the Euro, all English clubs have had to cut back on spending in recent years. Even big clubs like Man United and Arsenal have had to sell their top players in order to remain at the top of the game, with the exception of Manchester City.

There is now a smaller gulf between the teams at the top and bottom of the league but I think the standard of quality of the top teams has decreased rather than a huge improvement in the smaller teams. Premier League teams are being extra cautious in the transfer market these days and would rather recruit young English players than expensive European talent which although reducing the quality, has to be a positive thing for the national game.

Last season the Premier League was one of the tightest for years and this was probably due to the fact that the bigger teams have stagnated with less coming in money over recent years and also because of the improvement of the promoted teams from the Championship which I believe is not far off the Premier League in terms of quality.

Because of this increased competitiveness, it is difficult for even the best players in the league to really stand out. The ever increasing tactical side of the game has made it harder for even the best players to conquer organised defences who normally have a defensive midfielder protecting them. So players who leave England know they won’t be getting kicked every two minutes in the foreign leagues like they do in the Premier League.

There is no doubt that the Premier League is still graced with some of the finest players in the game and with players like Kun Aguero, Juan Mata and Sneijder likely to join Manchester United, there is obviously still an attraction to play in England.

Although the league may have declined in quality, this seems to have made the league even more exhilarating and is it hard to find a better league in the rest of the world. The standard of football may have dropped due to the lack of investment at the top of the game but instead of harming the league, it has actually brought the teams closer together and made it even more entertaining to watch.

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The Spanish League may have the world class players but the Premier League still has the passion, entertainment and excitement and for that reason it is still the best league in Europe, I for one would much rather watch a game involving Spurs v Liverpool than Seville v Athletic Bilbao. Obviously 600 million people worldwide agree.

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