Ronaldo delivers' Copa del rey for Madrid

An extra-time header from Cristiano Ronaldo proved decisive as Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid clinched their 18th King's Cup from the jaws of Barcelona.

The combative Pepe deployed in midfield was doing an excellent job to break-up Barca's play although he had to be cautious after picking up a yellow card.

In an all action display he went within inches of opening the scoring with a fine diving header which came back off the post early in the game.

Real had the better of the first half before Barcelona took control but they were unable to find a way through.

Xavi had a shot from distance but Barca were unable to play their usual quick-passing game and both sides looked close to losing their composure in the frenetic atmosphere.

Pedro Rodriguez and Messi both shot wide while Madrid brought on Emmanuel Adebayor as they tried to change the direction of the game.

It was keeper Iker Casillas who kept Madrid in the match with several vital saves against from Messi and Pedro before an excellent save to deny Iniesta.

Di Maria just had time to see a shot tipped over by Pinto before the referee signaled 30 minutes more.

In extra time Ronaldo seemed to find another gear as he first fired narrowly wide and then went on to score the winner.

Di Maria and Marcelo combined well down the left wing before the Argentine crossed for Ronaldo to head home at the back post to deliver him his first cup in Spain and his sides’ first trophy since 2008.

Chelsea topple Arsenal

Chelsea toppled Arsenal at the second spot on the league log after a vintage 3-1 win at home against Birmingham to keep a foothold in the title race.

Chelsea took the lead in the third minute when Paulo Ferreira's cross was flicked on by Didier Drogba and French winger Florent Malouda pounced to poke home from close-range.

Ivory Coast forward Salomon Kalou scored a superb solo goal rounding two Birmingham defenders before drilling an unstoppable shot past Ben Foster in the 26th minute.

Malouda put the icing on the cake in the 62nd minute when he headed in a cross from debutant Ryan Bertrand.

Sebastian Larsson got one back for Birmingham with a 76th minute after David Luiz fouled Matt Derbyshire, but it was little consolation for Alex McLeish's team, who remain five points above the relegation zone.

PIX; Chelsea's trio of Malouda, Drogba and Kalou celebrating their win  

Arsenal loses second spot with 3-3 draw at Spurs

Arsenal's title challenge suffered another big setback Wednesday as Spurs recovered from two goals down to snatch a 3-3 draw in the north London derby.
Arsene Wenger's side were on course to move within four points of leaders Manchester United after taking a 3-2 halftime lead at White Hart Lane with goals from midfielder Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri & Robin van Persie with the lone Spurs goals coming from the foot of Dutchman Rafael Van der Vaart & Tom Huddlestone.
Van der Vaart was kept out by an excellent one-handed save from Szczeszny on 54 minutes following a sweeping Spurs move.
And the hosts completed a superb comeback in the 70th minute when Szczesny fouled Aaron Lennon and Van der Vaart stroked in the resulting penalty.
It could have been worse for Arsenal as Roman Pavlyuchenko, Peter Crouch and van der Vaart missed late chances to steal the win for Spurs.
Van Persie’s wonderful finish was ruled out after he strayed beyond the last defender.
It seemed that someone would grab a winner as both sides went for it late on but, alas, there was no final drama.
Both keepers redeemed themselves from their earlier errors with magnificent saves: Szczesny from Modric and Crouch, Gomes from Fabregas on two occasions.
As a result they lost second place to a suddenly resurgent Chelsea, who are now six points behind United with a crucial trip to Old Trafford looming in May.

PIX; Tom Huddlestone (right) and Arsenal's Francesc Fabregas (centre) battle for the ball with Luka Modric looking on

Amajita's get U-20 campaign back on track

The South African U-20 side kept their hopes alive of qualifying for the semifinals of the 2011 African Youth Championships when they beat Lesotho 2-1 in a Group A match at the Dobsonville Stadium on this afternoon.

Both teams came into this game after losses in their first match. South Africa lost 4-2 to Mali and Lesotho lost 2-0 to Egypt. And both knew nothing but victory would suffice if they were to stay alive in the competition.

The Amajita took a 2-0 lead into the first half through Letsi Kopaeng in the 23rd minute after some fine saves from Lesotho goalkeeper Kananelo Makhooane.

Ten minutes latter matters got worse for Lesotho when a mistake by their keeper Makhooan saw them go two goals down as Lucky Nguzana grabbed his third goal of the tournament.

In the second Lesotho came out with some attacking intent, but they struggled to get the better of the Amajita defence and as the half progressed they looked to run out of ideas.

But in the 66th minute they were rewarded with a dubious penalty decision for a foul on substitute Litsepe Marabe which appeared to happen outside the box and did not look a foul at all.

Marabe stepped up to the spot and calmly slotted the ball home to reduce South Africa’s lead, 2-1.

PIX; Lucky Nguzana (17) celebrates with Letsie Koapeng of South Africa

Eaglets through to Colombia 2011

The Eaglets of Mali breezed to the semi.final stage of the on-going Afirican Youth Championships and booked an automatic qualification to the World Cup in Columbia after beating the young Pharaohs of Egypt 1-0 at the Dobsonville stadium in Johannesburg.

After a scoreless first half the Malian came into the second half more tactical and more physical which saw them playing with one man down but still had succeeded in upsetting the Young Pharaohs, however, the latter  fought hard but met with a very stubborn and resilient Malian defence.

The Malians sprinted forward and won a foul near the Egyptian defence box for a free kick.
Konaté Amara executed with flair, a missile which rested behind the net of Ahmed El Shenawy after it cannoned of the crossbar.

The Pharaohs, started the game again pushing men forward in search of the equalizer but the 10 man Eaglets  side reorganise themselves; became more defensive, falling back into their own area to defend in numbers and occasionally catching the Egyptians on counters.

The Young Pharaohs kept pressing but could not break the almost impermeable Eaglets defence.

Egypt will have to beat the host the Amajita of South Africa to book their world cup ticket.

PIX: Cheick Fanta Mady Diarra of Mali challenged by Ramy Rabiea of Egypt

Dwarfs set to boycott league if....

Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs have threatened to boycott their Glo Premier League game against Accra Hearts of Oak this afternoon should the referees appointment committee go ahead to appoint Kumasi-based referee Patrick Kwadwo Kyeremanteng to officiate the clash at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium.

Referee Kyeremanteng will be joined on the lines by Richard Appiah and Emmanuel T. Allotey to officiate the week 24 fixture this afternoon but the Central region based club say they do not want referee Kyeremanteng to handle the game because they believe he has an agenda against the club and will not give them fair officiating during today’s game.

Speaking to Takoradi based radio station Melody FM, communications and media relations officer for the club, Paul Adjetey Dsane said his outfit made a verbal appeal to a member of the referee’s appointment’s committee Mr. Alex Kotey last Friday to effect the change of the centre man for the game but it seems the committee is dragging its feet over their request.

“It seems the referees appointment committee is being unyielding about our request because they have an agenda against the club”, a decision he believes is in a bad taste and will not augur well for the game of football in the country.

According to him the Management backed decision if not carried out to the latter “and we get to the field today and find referee Patrick Kyeremanteng as the match official we will stage a walk out on the game, management, the playing body and the technical staff are ready to forfeit the three points at stake in the game and the further three points that will be deducted from our accumulated points,” he pointed out.

Dwarfs who lie 7^th on the league log with 32 points made the request five clear days before the game today and expect the Premier League Board and the referee’s appointment committee to effect the change or see them stage a walk out this afternoon.

Recalling what brought about the bad patch between the club and referee Kyeremanteng, Mr. Dsane said during their week 15 league game at home against Liberty Professional which ended 2-2 both  Kyeremanteng and assistant referee Emmanuel Baah connived  to robbed them and robbed them of a well deserved win.

“During the game both officials ignored a glaring offside to allow Liberty take the lead, which we equalized and went ahead to score a last minute perfect goal only for assistant referee Baah to flag it as an offside goal”

“The inconsistencies between the two match officials on that day was so much that both kept consulting each other all through the afternoon before taking decisions”, he added.

When quizzed as to whether the club was not inciting the club’s fans base against the officiating officials, he replied in the negative adding that they were only seeking for fair officiating which they believe they would not get should referee Kyeremanteng be the middle man this afternoon.

Mr. Dsane who also doubles as a management member stated that it was not the first time such a call for change of referee was happening in the current league and recounted the game involving Coast Ebusua Dwarfs and Edubiase, were he revealed the latter protested against Sunyani-based referee Yaw Ametepe on the Friday before the game and they were granted their request which saw referee Daniel Offei, from Tema coming to officiate the game, so why not his club, Mr. Adjetey quizzed.

PIX; Players of Dwarfs celebrating one of their recent success

Cameroon down Gambia at the AYC

Cameroon have secured a narrow 1-0 victory over Gambia in their opening 2011 African youth Championships Group B game at the Dobsonville Stadium on Monday afternoon.
The lone goal came on the stroke of halftime through CotonSport youngster Edgard Sally and proved decisive.
Sally was also a star for Cameroon at the African nations Championship in Sudan in February and proved again that he is a talent to look out for.
Cameroon are second in the pool behind Nigeria, who defeated Ghana 2-1 earlier in the day.
The next match for the Young Lions is against Nigeria on Thursday, while Gambia will look to get their campaign back on track with victory over holders Ghana.