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Roma Hope to Spoil Beckham Bow

By Cindy Garcia-Bennett, PA Sport, Rome

Roma are hoping to spoil David Beckham's Serie A debut in Sunday evening's top Serie A game at the Stadio Olimpico.

The England midfielder is set to be included in Carlo Ancelotti's squad for the trip to the Italian capital.

Beckham, who joined the Rossoneri on a two-month loan deal from the Los Angeles Galaxy, is eager to make an immediate impact.

Milan enter their first official game of the year nine points behind league leaders Inter Milan.

"We will have to wait and see what Beckham's condition is," said Roma coach Luciano Spalletti.

"If we only evaluate his past performances and his play, he is probably a great champion."

Despite having to do without injured captain Francesco Totti, Spalletti is upbeat about his team's chances.

"I don't know how many stars Milan will play with," he said.

"It's probably going to be a difficult game but I have confidence in my group."

Inter Milan host Cagliari on Saturday.

The Nerazzurri go into the San Siro encounter on the back of a nine-game winning run in Serie A.

Siena travel to Turin to play second-placed Juventus, who will be boosted by the return of goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and striker David Trezeguet.

Juve trail Inter by six points and have been without the two players for several months.

A defeat for AC Milan against Roma could see Fiorentina climb to third in the standings provided Cesare Prandelli's men beat strugglers Lecce at home.

The Viola are unbeaten at home and trail the Rossoneri by a single point.

In-form Napoli expect to maintain their positive run at the San Paolo when they play hosts to Catania.

They have only given away one point this campaign in Naples and their form has allowed them to remain in fifth position.

Udinese aim to stop the rot when they host Sampdoria.

The Friuli outfit have taken just two points in their last eight games and a defeat against Samp could prove costly for under-fire coach Pasquale Marino.

Torino travel to the Marassi to meet Genoa looking for their first win on the road this season.

The Granata have collected just two points out of a possible 24 on their travels.

Palermo and Atalanta square off in Sicily with the Bergamaschi knowing that a defeat will allow the Rossaneri to leapfrog them in the standings.

Reggina will have an added motivation to beat Lazio on Sunday knowing that a victory could see them climb out of the relegation zone.

The Amaranto go into the encounter in Reggio Calabria two points behind Torino, who hold the last position of safety.

Bottom side Chievo will be looking to begin 2009 on the right foot when they travel to the Renato Dall' Ara stadium to meet Bologna.

The Flying Donkeys have won just two games of 17 this campaign and are six points adrift from Torino.

Source:
http://www.sportinglife.com

Cristiano Ronaldo Involved in Car Accident

One of the hottest soccer players in the world was involved in a car accident but thankfully he is allright. His car...not so much!

Cristiano Ronaldo was driving through a tunnel at Manchester Airport when he hit the wall and completely destroyed his very expensive Ferrari.

A witness told the UK Sun: "The front of Ronaldo's car was completely mangled. There was metal all over the road and debris - and we had to dodge our way through it.

“Ronaldo was just standing at the side of the road looking forlorn and bewildered...My daughter said to me, 'Oh my God - that's Cristiano Ronaldo!' It's amazing he was okay because his car looked so bad.”

We don't know what we would have done with ourselves if something happened to Ronaldo. Surprisingly, he left the accident scene without a scratch and was at practice later in the day. Now that's our man!

Source:
http://www.hollyscoop.com

Gabriel Omar Batistuta (born February 1, 1969), nicknamed Batigol, is a former professional footballer. The prolific Argentine striker played most of his club football at ACF Fiorentina in Italy, and he is the eighth top scorer of all time in the Italian Serie A league, with 184 goals in 318 matches between 1991 and 2003. On the international level, he is the all-time highest scorer for Argentina's national team, with 56 goals in 78 national team matches, and he represented his country at three FIFA World Cups. In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100 list of the "125 Greatest Living Footballers".

When his club Fiorentina was relegated to Serie B in 1993, Batistuta stayed with the club and helped it return to the top-flight league a year later. A hero in Florence, the Fiorentina fans erected a life-size bronze statue of him in 1996, in recognition of his performances for Fiorentina. He never won the Italian league with Fiorentina, but when he moved to AS Roma in 2000, he finally won the Serie A championship to crown his career in Italy. He played his last professional season in Qatar with Al-Arabi before he retired in 2005.

Currently he works as a commentator having worked for Televisa Deportes during the 2006 FIFA World Cup and for the show "La jugada".

Personal life
Batistuta was born on 1 February 1969, to slaughterhouse worker Omar Batistuta and school secretary Gloria Batistuta, in the town of Avellaneda, province of Santa Fe, Argentina, but grew up in the near city of Reconquista. He has three younger sisters, named Elisa, Alejandra, and Gabriela.

At the age of 16, he met Irina Fernández, his future wife, at her quinceanera, a rite of passage on her 15th birthday. She is reported to have ignored him but five years later, on December 28, 1990, they were married at Saint Roque Church. The couple moved to Florence, Italy, in 1991, and a year later their first son, Thiago, was born. Thanks to good performances in the Italian championship and with the Argentine national team, Batistuta gained fame and respect. He filmed several commercials and was invited onto numerous TV shows, but in spite of this, Batistuta always remained a low-profile family man.

In 1996, during Fiorentina's 2-1 victory at AC Milan, he celebrated scoring the match's decisive goal by saying Te amo, Irina ('I love you, Irina', to his wife) for the cameras. The mix of sex appeal and faithfulness cemented Batistuta's heart-throb reputation among Argentine and Italian women. In 1997, Batistuta's second son, Lucas, was born, and a third son, Joaquín, followed in 1999. He now has a fourth son Shamel. In 2000, Batistuta and his family moved to Rome, where he played for AS Roma. Two years after Shamel was born, Batistuta was loaned to Inter. In 2002, after more than 10 years in Italy, the family moved to Qatar where Batistuta had accepted a lucrative celebrity playing contract with a local team, Al-Arabi.

Batistuta ended his career at Al-Arabi, retiring in March 2005, after a series of injuries that prevented him from playing. Soon afterwards he moved to Perth, Australia. In April 2006, the city's established A-league franchise, Perth Glory was put up for sale however Batistuta was not interested in the purchase seeing no real potential in the club. His nickname is Batigol as he scores a lot of goals and his name starts with "Bati."

The Player
Beginnings
As a child Batistuta preferred other sports to football. Because of his height he played basketball, but after Argentina's victory in the 1978 FIFA Wrld Cup, in which he was particularly impressed by the skills of Mario Kempes, he devoted himself to football. After playing with friends on the streets and in the small Grupo Alegria club, he joined the local Platense junior team. While with Platense he was selected for the Reconquista team that won the provincial championship by beating Newell's Old Boys from Rosario. His 2 goals drew the attention of the opposition team, and he signed for them in 1988.

Professional
Batistuta signed professional forms with Newell's Old Boys Club, whose coach was Marcelo Bielsa, who would later become Batistuta's coach with the Argentine national team. Things did not come easily for Batistuta during his first year with the club. He was away from home, his family, and his girlfriend Irina, sleeping in a room at the stadium, and had a weight problem that slowed him down. At the end of that year he was loaned to a smaller team, Deportivo Italiano, of Buenos Aires, with whom he participated in the Carnevale Cup in Italy, ending as top scorer with 3 goals.

In mid-1989, Batistuta made the leap to one of Argentina's biggest clubs, River Plate, where he scored 17 goals. However, all did not run smoothly. He had numerous run-ins with coach Daniel Passarella (with whom he had later confrontations on the national squad) and he was dropped from the squad in the middle of the season.

In 1990, Batistuta signed for River's arch-rivals, Boca Juniors. Having gone so long without playing, he initially found it hard to find his best form. However, at the beginning of 1991 Oscar Tabarez became Boca's coach, and he gave Batistuta the support and confidence to become the league's top scorer that season as Boca won the championship.

International
In 1991, Batistuta was selected to play for Argentina in the Copa America held in Chile, where he finished the tournament as top scorer with 6 goals as Argentina romped to victory. During the Copa América competition, the vice-president of Fiorentina was impressed by Batistuta's skills and signed him for the Italian club. However, the following season Fiorentina were relegated to the Serie B division, despite Batistuta's 13 season goals. The club returned to Serie A two years later, with the contribution of 16 Batistuta goals and managed by Claudio Ranieri.

In 1993, Batistuta played in his second Copa América, this time held in Ecuador, which Argentina again won. The 1994 FIFA World Cup, held in USA, was a disappointment: after a promising start Argentina were beaten by Romania in the last 16. The morale of the team was seriously affected by Diego Maradona's doping suspension. Despite the disappointing Argentine exit, Batistuta scored 4 goals in as many games, including a hat-trick in their opening game against Greece.

On his return to Fiorentina, Batistuta found his best form. He was the top scorer of the 1994-95 Ezio Pascutti's 30-year-old record by scoring in all of the first 11 matches of the season. In the 1995-96 season Fiorentina won the Italian Cup and Super Coppa. season with 26 goals, and he broke

During the qualification matches for the 1998 FIFA World Cup (with former River Plate manager Daniel Passarella now coaching the Argentine national team) Batistuta was left out of the majority of the games after falling out with the coach. Playing in the World Cup finals themselves, he scored 5 goals in that competition, before Argentina lost 2-1 to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals. In the game against Jamaica, he recorded the second hat trick of his World Cup career, becoming the 4th player to achieve this (the others were Sandor Kocsis, Just Fontaine, and Gerd Muller) and the first to score a hat trick in 2 World Cups.

After failure to win the Italian championship with Fiorentina, Batistuta started considering a transfer to a bigger team. In an effort to keep Batistuta, Fiorentina hired Giovanni Trapattoni as coach and promised to do everything to win the Scudetto. After an excellent start to the season, Batistuta suffered an injury that kept him out of action for more than a month. Losing momentum, Fiorentina lost the lead and finished the season in third place, which gave them the chance to participate in the Champions League in the following season.

Scudetto with AS Roma and last years

Batistuta stayed at Fiorentina for the 1999-00 season, tempted by the chance of winning both the Scudetto and the Champions League. After a promising start in both competitions, the team only reached seventh in the league and were eliminated in the second round group phase. The following season, he was transferred to AS Roma in a deal worth 35 million US dollars. Although a knee injury restricted his number of appearances, he scored 20 goals for A.S. Roma in his first season. He finally realized his dream of winning a major trophy as Roma clinched the Scudetto for the first time since 1983. The following season with A.S. Roma he changed his shirt number from #18 to #20 in reference to the number of goals he had scored during the Scudetto winning campaign. He also wore his age on the back of his Roma jersey in 2002, #33.

After a good series of performances by Argentina in the qualification matches for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, hopes were high that the South Americans - now managed by Marcelo Bielsa - could win the trophy, and Batistuta announced that he planned to quit the national team at the end of the tournament, which Argentina aimed to win. But Argentina's "group of death" saw the team fall at the first hurdle, as poor results against Nigeria, England, and Sweden meant that the team was knocked out in the opening round for the first time since 1962.

Back in Italy, Batistuta failed to find form with Roma and was loaned out to Internazionale; however, he failed to make an impression and departed for Qatari team Al-Arabi Sports Club. In Qatar, he broke the record of most goals scored that was held by Qatari Legend Mansour Mouftah with by scoring 24 goals.He scored more goals for the club than the number of games he played. He was awarded for being the top scorer in all Arab leagues in 2004 with a Golden Boot.

Batistuta retired in 2005, and now lives in Perth, Australia. Despite having completed his coaching badges in Argentina, he currently has no involvement with football (instead he prefers to play golf). He has, however, recently expressed an interest in coaching Australia's national team.

Honours

- First Division (Serie A) Italian Championship (with AS Roma) 2000-2001.
- Italian Supercup (with ACF Fiorentina) 1996, (with A.S. Roma) 2001.
- Argentine Football Writers' Footballer of the Year 1998.
- Italian Cup (with ACF Fiorentina) 1995-1996.
- Second Division (Serie B) Italian Championship (with Fiorentina) 1993-1994.
- First Division Top Scorer, 26 goals (with Fiorentina) 1994-1995.
- Copa América (with Argentina) 1991, 1993.
- Copa América Top Scorer, 6 goals (with Argentina) 1991.
- Top Scorer of The Qatari League with a record breaking 24 goals.
- Top Scorer in all Arab leagues, awarded with a Golden Boot.
- Gabriel Batistuta also set a new Serie A record by scoring in 11 consecutive Serie A games
- Confederations of Cup (with Argentina) 1992.
- FIFA 100.
- FIFA World Player of the Year 3rd Place 1999.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org

How to increase the speed of your broadband internet connection

By Arun Singh

To optimize your broadband internet connection, follow these simple steps to achieve maximum download speed for your internet connection.

1.Dns servers: usually the dns servers provided by broadband providers ,always gets slow and sometimes even get stuck.So you need to get open dns servers for faster browsing speed , and dont worry its free to get .Just go to opendns.com to know how to get open dns as your dns server.

2.Now go to speedguide.net and download their tcp/ip optimiser ,now analyse your current settings by going through their tcp analyser ,and follow their instructions to fill in the required spaces in tcp optiiser and restart your computer.Or you could just click on optimal settings ,for default optimisation from the app.

3.Temp file deletion:Temporary files can slow down a computer and its internet speed , try and delete temporary files every week using a free software called cc cleaner,go to cccleaner.comdownload to download the software.

4.Spyware/Anti-virus : Spywares and viruses can also drain a lot your broadband bandwidth. Run a daily check always for them, the best free anti-virus available today is avg anti-virus, and the best anti- spyware is spyware doctor.

5.Optimizing computer's speed: Optimizing the computer s speed can also greatly improve your internet connection's speed.

To optimize your computer s speed do the following things :
1.Unninstall un necessary programs :Uninstall unused programs

2.Check Registry:Registry can case lot of problems ,scan the registry using a software like registry mechanic ,and clean the problems.

3.Disable Graphics;if you are using vista ,xp or even a mac, there are options to disable some graphic effects ,this can greatly increase you computers processing speed.

Source:
http://www.articlecompilation.com

Nicky Hayden

Nicky Hayden, also known as ‘the Kentucky Kid’, is from a family of motorcycle racers. His two brothers are top AMA competitors, but his parents and one sister also have backgrounds in the sport. Nicky has gone all the way from success on dirt tracks to road racing Superbikes and finally to the Moto Grand Prix title - beating none other than Valentino Rossi - and is likely to be a feature on the scene for many years to come, as he is still only 25 years old

1985
Minibike dirt track racing début; multiple dirt track titles over the next six years in various small capacity classes

1992
Minibike road racing début; ‘senior’ road racing début, with Honda RS125 GP bike; would continue racing on dirt and roads with 250cc, 125cc and small capacity bikes

1997
Horizon dirt track award winner, with Harley-Davidson; AMA National road racing début, with Kawasaki

1998
4th in AMA Supersport 750, with Suzuki; 4th in AMA Supersport 600, with Suzuki - won Willow Springs

1999
AMA Supersport 600 Champion, with Honda CBR600 F4 - five wins; 2nd in AMA Formula Xtreme, with Honda - seven wins; 22nd in AMA Superbike, with Honda - 3rd at Pikes Peak; AMA Grand National Dirt Track Rookie of the Year; AMA/Speedvision Pro Athlete of the Year

2000
2nd in AMA Superbike, with number 69 Honda RC51 - three wins, three seconds

2001
3rd in AMA Superbike, with number 69 Honda RC51 - four wins

2002 American Honda, number 69 Honda
AMA Superbike Champion, with the Honda RC51 and nine race wins; also a World Superbike wildcard at Laguna Seca - fourth in race one

2003 Repsol Honda, number 69 Honda
Nicky moved straight to MotoGP with Honda’s factory team, as partner to title holder Valentino Rossi. He achieved ‘rookie of the year’ status with an ever-improving run of results on the RC211V, and had made it onto the front row of the grid by the last event of the year. Race results started with a couple of sevenths, and mid-season saw him begin a run of top six finishes, with third in Japan and Australia. 130 points placed him fifth overall

2004 Repsol Honda Team, number 69 Honda
There was another experienced team-mate for Hayden in 2004, in the shape of Alex Barros. For a works rider, the season did not really represent a step forward for Nicky, even if he was in the top five many times. Third place results came this time in Brazil and Germany, but there were crashes and six no-scores, which meant 117 points and a drop back to seventh equal. His best qualifying to date came with second in Italy

2005 Repsol Honda Team, number 69 Honda
2005 was a proper breakthrough year for Nicky, and this time he out-performed his third Repsol team-mate, 13-time race winner Max Biaggi. Hayden only missed top six qualification twice, and was on pole position three times. Biaggi had the edge in the first five races, but then the younger man eased into the top five twice before heading to his first GP on home soil. Laguna Seca returned to the calendar for the first time since 1994, and was the scene of Nicky’s best form as he won convincingly. This launched him into a run that included another five podiums, and 206 points meant third overall. There were also two fastest laps

2006 Repsol Honda Team, number 69 Honda
Yet another new partner came in the form of Dani Pedrosa, graduating from a successful 250cc career with two consecutive titles. Nicky put together a consistent run of top results - only twice outside the top three in the first eleven races, and this built him a good lead as Yamaha’s Rossi had mixed fortunes. The Assen race saw a thriller, with Hayden getting the better of Colin Edwards in a last lap duel, and his first race win in Europe. Another followed at Laguna, after which he had 34 points over Pedrosa, with Rossi fourth. The Italian came back strongly, and a clash of the Repsol riders in Portugal seemed to have cost Hayden the title. But Rossi did not perform in Valencia, and the crown was Nicky’s by five points. He scored a total of 252, as well as taking one more pole position

Source:
http://www.f1network.net

Dementieva through as other seeds tumble

Agence France-Presse

Top seed Elena Dementieva beat local favourite Marina Erakovic to grab a quarter-final spot in the ASB Classic here Wednesday as other seeds tumbled out of the women's tournament.

The world number four and Olympic champion beat the New Zealander 6-2, 6-3 as five of the eight seeds fell in second round matches.

Erakovic's already slim chances of beating Dementieva were further hampered by abdominal and neck strains and she required an extended medical break at 3-4 down in the second set.

Dementieva's victory sets up a quarter-final clash with fifth-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer on Thursday.

The Russian said the match against Erakovic had been difficult because of the overwhelming crowd support for her opponent.

"I think we had a good fight in the first set and I played a little better than yesterday and this is what I need, just to improve and keep playing better tennis in every round," she said afterwards.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark also had a smooth passage into the last eight with a 6-4, 7-5 win over American veteran Jill Craybas.

But most of the seeded players fell by the wayside in defeats to less fancied opponents.

Fourth-seeded Canadian Alexsandra Wozniak went down 7-5, 6-2 to Japanese qualifier Ayumi Morita and Romanian Edina Gallovits scored a 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 shock win over third seed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain.

Other players to go down included Czech sixth seed Nicole Vaidisova, Russian seventh seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Spanish eighth seed Carla Suarez Navarro.

Pavlyuchenkova, 17, the tournament's youngest player, was beaten 6-2, 6-3 by Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai, who was runner-up in the tournament last year.

Source:
http://sport.id.msn.com

United stay on course for quadruple

Agence France-Presse

Sir Alex Ferguson may have said it was "not realistic" for Manchester United to win a unique European and domestic quadruple but he still believes his squad can compete on four fronts.

United opened their FA Cup campaign with a comfortable 3-0 win away to Championship strugglers Southampton at St Mary's here Sunday.

Goals from youngsters Danny Welbeck and Darron (attn eds: correct) Gibson either side of a controversial Nani penalty maintained Ferguson's proud record of having never lost a third round tie in his 22-year reign at Old Trafford.

United, well placed in their quest for a third successive Premier League title, are also through to the last 16 of the Champions League and face Derby in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

No team have ever won all four trophies in the same season but Ferguson said: "I think we have a good enough squad to compete in every competition, as long as we do not pick up any injuries. That is the most important thing.

"Cup football is a knockout situation so you never know what is going to happen," the 67-year-old Scot added.

"We have some good young players at the club and these games are an opportunity for them to get some experience under their belts.

"Players like Welbeck and Gibson have shown today they have the confidence and the right temperament."

United's next FA Cup opponents are Tottenham, whose manager Harry Redknapp was in charge of Portsmouth when the holders defeated Ferguson's men in a quarter-final at Old Trafford last season.

"It's a mouth-watering game. Matches between us are always very competitive and we beat them at the same stage last season.

"Their manager Harry Redknapp was in charge at Portsmouth when they knocked us out in the quarter-finals so hopefully we can get our own back."

Ferguson was able to rest star winger Cristiano Ronaldo while England striker Wayne Rooney was left on the bench until the final 27 minutes.

Teenager Welbeck was not even born when Ferguson lifted the first of his five FA Cups in 1990 but the 18-year-old showed he has ability beyond his years by opening the scoring in the 20th minute.

John O'Shea headed against the underside of the crossbar from Ryan Giggs's corner and Welbeck was quickest to react and nod the rebound into an empty net.

Southampton's hopes of an upset were all but ended eight minutes before half-time when striker Matt Paterson was shown a straight red card for a wreckless two-foot lunge on Nemanja Vidic.

Nani doubled United's lead from the penalty spot three minutes into the second half after referee Mike Riley harshly adjudged David McGoldrick to have handled the Portugal international's free-kick.

Victory was secured nine minutes from time when substitute Gibson applied the finish to Rooney's pinpoint cross to register his first United goal.

Ferguson singled out Welbeck for praise, saying: "Danny did fine. We know about his temperament, he has got quality and is learning all the time."

Southampton, who upset the odds to beat United in the 1976 FA Cup final, are now second from bottom in the second-tier Championship.

They were always likely to struggle against a United team, which also featured Edwin van der Sar, Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov, Anderson and Gary Neville.

Saints manager Jan Poortvliet said his side had been on the wrong end of several bad decisions by Riley.

"Their first goal was offside, in my opinion, it was not a sending-off and it was not a penalty," the Dutchman insisted.

Source:
http://sport.id.msn.com