ASTON VILLA (3)2-3(4) RAPID VIENNA

Aston Villa have been knocked out of the UEFA Europa League in the Play-Off Round for the second season in a row, and for the second season running, it has come at the hands of Austrian club Rapid Vienna, almost a year to the day since the two teams last met at Villa Park.

It was a good start for Kevin McDonald’s side, with Gabriel Agbonlahor (who would later go off injured) opening the scoring (22′). However, the half-time break seemed to do wonders for Rapid, with Atdhe Nuhiu equalising (52′) to make it 1-1, a score which would take the match to extra time. Villa captain Stilyan Petrov had a chance to amend that prospect, but saw a tame penalty saved, with Emile Heskey blasting the rebound over the bar. Heskey would make up for his mistake soon after, after turning in an affort with his chest (77′).

For a moment, it looked as though Aston Villa would erase the sour memories of last years’ encounter with Rapid Vienna, but the Austrian club had other ideas. In fashion with their name, rapid strikes from Mario Sonnleitner (78′) and Rene Gartler (81′) turned the game around drastically, an aggregate lead which Villa would not be able to claw back.

Rapid now go into the pot for the UEFA Europa League Group Stage draw alongside 47 other clubs, including holders Athletico Madrid, and the two remaining English clubs, Manchester City and Liverpool. None of the Scottish or Welsh representatives managed to make it past the Play-Off Round.

BOL U15 5-0 HAI U15

Singapore City

Bolivia have won the final of the 2010 Youth Olympic Boy’s Football Tournament, after their second demolition of Haiti in the space of 2 weeks. Goals from Rodrigo Mejido (5′), Jorge Alpire (31′), Christian Arano (53′), and Luis Banegas (60′, 72′) gave the South American representatives over their Northern counterparts, which followed on from a 9-0 win over Haiti in the Group Stage. The Haitians will be proud of their efforts though, and will hope that their silver medal will restore some happiness to their recovering nation.

In an earlier game, host country Singapore took the Bronze medal with a 4-1 triumph over Montenegro in a match between the losing Semi-Finalists. The remaining teams that were knocked out in the Group Stage, Zimbabwe and Vanuatu, played a 5th-Place Play-Off a couple of days previously, with the Oceanians winning 2-0. As there were no qualification tournaments beforehand, each of the six continental confederations were asked to choose a nation to represent them in this event for Under-15 teams.

The 6-team tournament was one of the best-attended events of the 2010 Games (also surpassing the women’s tournament), in the first-ever Youth Olympic Games, which were staged in Singapore City (Singapore) (the next edition, in 2014, is to be staged in Nanjing (China)). The highest attendances came when the host nation were involved, with crowd levels at the Jalan Besar Stadium reaching the 6,000 capacity. The tournament, and the Youth Olympics as a whole, seem to have been viewed as a success, and the organizers will hope that this carries over into the next edition.

2010 Youth Olympics Football Tournament - Statistics

Final Standings:

1) BOL
2) HAI
3) SIN
4) MNE
5) VAN
6) ZIM

Other Statistics:

Top Scorer: Rodrigo Mejido (BOL), 6 goals
Total Goals: 44 (in 11 matches)
Highest Attendance: 6,000, SIN 0-2 HAI, Semi-Final, Singapore City

During a knockout game between Germany and Sweden at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, it seems that referee Carlos Simon is rather pleased with himself after dishing out a red card to Sweden’s Teddy Lucic…

The Semi-Final of the 1982 FIFA World Cup, a classic 3-3 draw that saw West Germany overcome France on penalties, has now been given a unique immortalisation by a group of French filmmakers.

In an incredible display of filmmaking, every single frame from the last 15 minutes (after extra-time, the penalty shootout, and celebrations) of the original broadcast has been recreated according to their surroundings, and shown alongside the original version as proof of its accuracy. The historic moment in Seville that night, aside from the match itself, and the common assault that West German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher got away with, was the first-ever World Cup match to be decided on penalties, and it seems from the video below that the occasion got the recreation that it deserves:

Refait from Pied La Biche on Vimeo.

A recent YouTube hit, Madin Mohammad has been touted as the next big thing by commentors, and the video below shows exactly why it is easy to believe that, with the 6-year-old Algerian displaying brilliant skills.

In the age of video editing, this type of video could easily be faked, but it looks unlikely that it happened in this case, so if this ultra-accurate player is not playing for a team, then why not? Most teams would use him for the free-kicks alone…

Futsal may not be as popular as football yet, but the smaller pitch and less players give more opportunity for brilliant goals such as this one:

LIVERPOOL 1-0 TRABZONSPOR

Liverpool will take a one-goal lead to Turkey next week, after a fairly good performance resulted in a 1-0 win over Trabzonspor in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League Play-Off Round clash.

Although the Turkish club had a few good opportunities throughout the match, it was Liverpool who looked more dominant, and near the end of the first half, Joe Cole managed to put in a through ball for Ryan Babel, who scored with a comfortable finish (45+1′). In the second half, Liverpool could have had at least 3 goals on their tally, after Joe Cole missed a penalty, and Christian Poulsen had a close-range effort wrongly ruled out. It could be seen as a tricky second leg in Turkey, but Roy Hodgson’s side now have the comfort of an advantage…

Football teams are seldom known for not turning up to a match, but Back FC from Scotland proved an exception, as they did not appear at a home game against Lochs FC, meaning that the referee was forced to blow one of the fastest final whistles ever, and awarded a win by default to the visitors, much to the delight of their travelling support…

YOUNG BOYS BERN 3-2 TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR

Tottenham will have to win the second leg of their UEFA Champions League Play-Off match against Young Boys Bern if they wish to progress to the Group Stage, after falling to a defeat in Switzerland.

It could have been much worse for the London side, as after hitting the post, Young Boys stunned their visitors with 3 goals in half an hour, coming from Senad Lulic (4′), Henri Bienvenu (13′), and Xavier Hochstrasser (28′). Harry Redknapp’s side would spring to life, though, when Sebastien Bassong guided in a powerful header from a corner (42′). The second half saw good chances for both sides, but it would be Spurs who scored, with Roman Pavlyuchenko unleashing a brilliant strike from a tight angle (83′), and in doing so making a potentially mammoth task into a more manageable one.

Redknapp was quick to blame the poor start on the astroturf surface on the plastic surface at the Stade du Suisse, but they were outplayed for most of the match nonetheless. The return leg is at White Hart Lane on 25th August.