Article text England may have qualified for the European Championships with an uneasy point in Montenegro, but the majority of column inches have been devoted to Rooney’s red card, and the subsequent gap that it leaves in the England line up.
With so many English forwards vying for the position, and no immediate outstanding candidates, a couple of players who have no doubt been catching the eye of all you armchair managers (let’s face it, free Fantasy Football from the likes of Sky has got to the stage of convincing most of us we should really be a shoe-in when Capello stands down) might just end up being the prime contenders.
The first, and probably most likely, is the upcoming Manchester United striker, Danny Welbeck. Capello is a known admirer of the quick forward, and his performances of the U21s have been impressive. After a promising season on loan at Sunderland, Welbeck has been given his chance by Sir Alex Ferguson and has taken it with both hands, scoring three goals, making one assist, and securing one MOTM in just five appearances. Welbeck also has the distinction of being one of the most transferred players in the Fantasy Football League, as managers all over the country take note of his fine form.
Welbeck also has the advantage of fitting into England’s current setup. Ashley Young looks like a certainty, but Walcott hasn’t been overwhelming, and with Rooney absent, there’s certainly space for someone to force their way into the reckoning.
Aside from the usual candidates: Carroll, Zamora, and Bent (who is probably the most likely to start up front having scored again in Montenegro) an outside candidate is another Fulham striker, Andy Johnson.
Johnson has recently been in fantastic form, both in Europe and in the Premier League and is returning to the kind of form that saw him become the top Premier League goal scorer in 2004/05. Having been plagued by injuries and having lost a little bit of his searing pace he’s now a smarter player, and a good run of fitness has seen the goals fly in from all sorts of angles.
With 8 England caps under his belt he’s no stranger to the international scene, and his clever movement could work very well in partnership with the likes of Young and Walcott. That said, the first challenge is to stay fit throughout the season and continue to find the back of the net, but if Fulham can put a run together in Europe or a Cup and stay out of trouble in the league, Johnson may yet find himself in the England squad at the crunch end of the season.
All of that is a long way off yet, though, and there are at least four friendlies to be played between now and the end of the season that will give us a much clearer idea of Capello’s plans. The competition between the players for those precious forward spots looks set to be a theme that runs throughout the rest of the season.

Paying out big money for an established star is no guarantee of success, and the history of the Premier League is littered with big money signings that didn’t work out for one reason or another – here are some of the most high profile examples. Juan Sebastian Veron
Sir Alex smashed Manchester United and the English Premier League’s transfer record in order to bring the Argentinian star to Old Trafford in 2001. At the time he was considered one of the best players in world football, but his inability to adjust to the pace of the Premier League saw him sold off to Chelsea two seasons later for just half of his original £28.1m transfer fee.
Andriy Shevchenko
The Ukranian striker arrived at Stamford Bridge with a world-beating reputation – and a £30.8m price tag to match. However, his playing style was not really very well suited to that of Mourinho’s Chelsea, or the Premier League in general, and he failed to cement a place in the first team, despite the backing of billionaire owner Roman Abramovich. Mourinho’s failure to pick him ahead of the in-form Didier Drogba, who was a lot more suited to Chelsea’s playing style, is believed to be one of the reasons why Abramovich chose to dispense with arguably the best manager they have ever had. He was loaned back to Milan the following year, but failed to recapture the form of his younger years, and his career gradually petered out from there.
Fernando Torres
A couple of years back, Torres was one of the most feared strikers in the Premiership, leading the line for Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool. In the middle of the 2010-11 season, Chelsea tested Liverpool’s resolve with a £50m bid for the player, which they accepted. However, like Shevchenko before him, Torres is another one of Abramovich’s pet signings that has failed to live up to a massive transfer fee, scoring few goals and generally displaying less confidence than he used to in a red shirt. There have been signs of a return to form in recent times, but given the money that Chelsea paid for him, they can only be disappointed with the return on their investment to date.
Dimitar Berbatov
Some excellent displays in a Tottenham shirt earned the Bulgarian forward a big money move to Manchester United, but despite patches of good form, he is another signing that has failed to live up to expectations at Old Trafford. He was originally signed as a foil for Wayne Rooney, but the emergence of other strikers such as Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck have seen him relegated to the bench for most of the important matches, and these days, he only tends to get a run out when Rooney is injured or being rested.
Sergei Rebrov
George Graham smashed Tottenham’s transfer record with the £11m signing of the highly rated Ukranian forward in 2000, but following the sacking of Graham the following year, Rebrov failed to establish himself under Glenn Hoddle, and ended up being sent out on loan to Fenerbahce.

If you wish to be successful with sports betting, you need to stay in pace with the latest updates and news about the teams, sports and the players. You must the factors that can affect the outcome of the game, so as to gain some advantage over the bookmakers. You will be able to place a wiser bet once you acquaint yourself with the external factors. We have listed a few tips, which will tell you about the things that can affect the game, directly or indirectly.

As far as the sports teams are concerned, newer players are being added on a consistent basis. It is observed that new players can destabilize the harmony of the team and may eventually affect the performance of the players directly. On the other hand, having a new experienced player can easily boast the morale of the team and may increase their abilities.
Sometimes the change of the coaches or the managers can have a great impact on the performance of the team. As soon as the management changes, there are chances that the game plan and the strategies might also change. The players need some time to get used to the newer plans and hence may not be effective right away.
These days, a lot of attention is being paid to the players’ lifestyle. A few players are not able to handle the exposure and may perhaps deteriorate with their performance. Therefore, you must also know a little about the players’ personal life.

NFL Betting Tips

There are non-divisional games, which always take place in between the regular divisional games. You must look to bet against teams that are placed in this spot. You will often notice interesting clashes here and a win or lose in these contests will seemingly affect the teams in the next week.
At the time when a team is preparing for a context and has a bye on the deck, they will often struggle to maintain their focus. All those teams that have a win in the last week are likely to feel confident about them. As a bettor, you must always bet against these teams.
You must always play on the team that is destroyed by the National Television the previous week. Most bettors stay away from such teams, but as far as NFL is concerned, the teams are neither as good nor as bad as they appear. Players and coaches in these tournaments have a lot of pride and they will aim to fight back once they are lashed out on television.
Always bet against teams that end up with messy wins. For all those who do not know, a messy win is a scenario where a team wins after committing three or more turnovers. Such wins are unusual and are often a sign that shows something is not right. Since this team won the last week, the odd makers may not adjust the betting lines. Therefore, it is a great opportunity to make value bets against such teams.

SkySports has announced the launch of their new and improved Fantasy Football 2011 game.
Having teamed up with GFM to create a brand new Fantasy Football game for the 2011/12 football season, the Sky Sports free Fantasy Football game offers fans the chance to choose and manage their own “dream team” and to score points according to the real life performance of selected players.
Completely free and with a compelling £100,000 in prizes, Sky Sports have added a multitude of new features that every player can take advantage of. These new features include live points updates and hassle-free private leagues where Sky Sports can manage your bets absolutely free of charge. With the Sky Sports presenters and pundits playing already, now is the time to join the latest and greatest edition to the fantasy football leagues. Regarding the launch Andrew Evans, Product Manager, Sports Games explains:
Indeed, Sky Sports Fantasy Football promises to be an exciting year, with Premier League clubs getting bigger and better with more money to spend on more prestigious players. This leads to one of the big differences with the game this year; Sky Sports are giving player the chance to create not one, but two teams. The chances of winning just doubled!
After you’ve chosen your teams, make sure you check the Sky Sports Fantasy Football 2011 page regularly as it as it is constantly updated with player analysis, scores and all manner of reports on the fantasy football 2011 world throughout the premier league season. Completely free to play, set up private leagues with friends and family for some close competition or, for those who fancy a harder challenge, take part in the global fantasy football arena.
“We’ve made some big steps this season to greatly improve Sky Sports Fantasy Football including loads more ways to win, live points updates and ‘Private Leagues +’ where we make it as easy as possible for Chairmen to run their own league with friends and colleagues . Working closely with our colleagues in Sky Sports we’ve ensured that that new game has all of the hallmarks of a Sky Sport product and with Jeff Stelling fronting the game we’re looking forward to a very exciting Fantasy Football season.”

Some countries and places are known because of their sports and games.

Certain sports and sports championships at times become so much a part of

the country that one can practically associate the name of the game with

the name of that country. For example, NBA and America are thought of

together as soon as the name Basketball comes to mind.

There are both indoor or outdoor sport options and one can chose to play

the sport of his choice according to the weather conditions, availability

of infra structure related to that sport and most importantly, one’s own

personal choice.

Technology has made so many things possible and one of them is to bring

live sports telecasts to us. Live sports for sport lovers are like a

dream come true. If your internet service is fast enough to let you

watch live sports, it can be a great way not only to enjoy the game,

but also to have a great time with friends. Online, you can enjoy

almost every single live sport. A lot of sports websites allow you to

get updates on live streaming sporting events. You can also get

schedules for matches, scores, information players of your favorite

sport through the internet.

Live games have given a great boost all to sports fans’ lives. Every

sports fan wants to go to the stadium to watch the match, but is unable

to go due to obvious reasons, and that is when live games come to the

rescue. Online fans can enjoy live games without missing any strategy

used by team. Now live games are just a click away. You can enjoy live

games of NBA, NHL, etc. feeling almost the same as if you are in the

stadium.

Another advantage of watching live sports is that you get to watch

replays of so many great actions and that too, number of times and from

number of angles.