Goal Zone: January 2014

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

GOAL ZONE 'Test Drive'........

GOAL ZONE 'Test Drive'......In a Football team,which department's performance has a greater impact on the outcome of a football match?

A) Defence

B) Midfield

C) Attack

State reasons for your choice

Fiorentina sign Anderson on loan

Manchester United midfielder Anderson has completed his loan move to Fiorentina, the Serie A club have announced

Manchester United midfielder Anderson has completed his loan move to Fiorentina, the Serie A club have announced.

The 25-year-old, who has been at Old Trafford since 2007, took part in his first training session with his new club on Saturday after agreeing a move until the end of the season and passing a medical.

The Brazilian has failed to establish himself as a regular in the United midfield and in the summer he will have just one more year on his contract.

Anderson told violachannel.tv: "The team look after me, everyone is trying to help me adapt to Italian football. I appreciate what everyone is doing for me, it's very nice.

"I am very happy. I am very happy in Manchester United as well, it's a big club for me. I've been there for seven or eight years, I have a lot of friends and family there. Now it's a new challenge.

"I've come here to try to help the players, try to help the team, try to help the manager and do my best.

"I know last year Fiorentina missed out on the Champions League by two points. This season they are trying to get in the Champions League, I have come here to try to help."

La Viola currently lie fourth in the Serie A table, five points behind Napoli and the third and final Champions League spot.

They host Catania on Sunday.

VFL Wolfsburg sign De Bruyne on five-year deal

VfL Wolfsburg have strengthened their squad considerably ahead of the Bundesliga's restart by completing the signing of attacking midfielder Kevin de Bruyne from English Premier League side Chelsea FC.The Belgian international, who enjoyed a successful season in the Bundesliga last term while on loan at SV Werder Bremen, has signed a five-year contract with the Wolves and will wear the No14 shirt this season.

"It was clear from the start that Wolfsburg would be the first team I talk to if Chelsea gave me permission," said de Bruyne. "That's why I'm very happy that this transfer has been completed. Klaus Allofs and Dieter Hecking are building a very good team at VfL with a lot of potential. I want to play my part, make sure we continue to be successful, and return to the international stage."

"Kevin is a player with exceptional qualities," added Wolves' coach Dieter Hecking. "I am very happy he's decided to come to Wolfsburg. I had a very good feeling after our first talk with him. He is convinced of our ambition."

Bundesliga return

De Bruyne displayed his talent on a weekly basis for Bremen last season, making 33 appearances and scoring 10 goals, including one against Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 32 of the 2012/13 season that kept Bremen in the division.

The 22-year-old was signed by Chelsea from KRC Genk in January 2012 and loaned back to the Belgium club for the remainder of the 2011/12 campaign, before moving to the Weserstadion.

The Belgian joins the Bundesliga club having made five starts for Chelsea, with a further four appearances as a substitute.

After travelling with the first team squad for Chelsea's pre-season tour of the US, in which he featured in matches against Seattle Sounders and Paris Saint-Germain, De Bruyne then completed a season-long loan move to Werder Bremen for 2012/13.

De Bruyne returned to Stamford Bridge over the summer and was again part of the first team squad as the Blues travelled to Asia and the US for pre-season preparations. De Bruyne scored his first goal for the club in a 2-0 win over AC Milan in New Jersey.

The 22-year-old was handed his competitive Chelsea debut on the first day of the season against Hull City, where he laid on the opening goal of the game for Oscar, and he also started in our 0-0 draw at Manchester United three games into the campaign.

His final appearance for the Blues came in our Capital One Cup defeat at Sunderland last month.

GOAL ZONE 'Predict'.........Sat, Jan 18, 2014

English Premier League

13:45HRS Sunderland D-D Southampton

16:00HRS Arsenal D-D Fulham

16:00HRS Crystal Palace L-W Stoke City

16:00HRS Manchester City W-L Cardiff City

16:00HRS Norwich City W-L Hull City

16:00HRS West Ham United L-W Newcastle United

18:30HRS Liverpool W-L Aston Villa

Italian Serie A

18:00HRS Roma W-L Livorno

20:45HRS Juventus W-L Sampdoria

Spanish La Liga

16:00HRS Real Betis L-W Real Madrid

18:00HRS Elche L-W Rayo Vallecano

20:00HRS Granada L-W Osasuna

22:00HRS Espanyol W-L Celta Vigo

French Ligue 1

17:00HRS Marseille W-L Valenciennes

20:00HRS Bastia L-W Bordeaux

20:00HRS Lorient W-L Guingamp

20:00HRS Nice D-D Ajaccio

20:00HRS Rennes W-L Evian Thonon Gaillard

20:00HRS Sochaux L-W Montpellier

AS Monaco sign Echiejile on four-and-half year contract

Super Eagles defender, Elderson Echiejile has joined French Ligue 1 giants, AS Monaco from Portuguese club, Braga. The 25-year-old left-back has signed a four-and-a-half-year deal, returning to France where he spent three years with Rennes from 2007.

“I am very happy and proud – Monaco is one of the best clubs in Europe,” Echiejile said. ”

Echiejile said on twitter : It's now official. I have signed a 4½ yrs contract with AS Monaco in France.

The left-back, whose contract with Braga was due to end in June, played every match for Nigeria as they won the Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa last year.

Monaco’s technical director Riccardo Pecini said: “He is a very good player that we followed for some time and we think he still has a great room for improvement

“He already knows the Ligue 1, an important aspect for us, and through sound recruitment, we continue to move forward in our desire to focus on players with high potential.”

Monaco, second in Ligue 1, five points behind leaders Paris St-Germain, have invested heavily in players since gaining promotions last season, signing the likes of Radamal Falcao and Joao Moutinho.

Echiejile made 64 appearances for Braga, scoring 5 goals.

Fifa release latest World rankings

Fifa release latest World ranking,as Nigeria drops four places. (FIFA.com)

As expected, there have been very few changes to the first edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking in 2014, with football having come to a halt in many places over the New Year period.

Only 18 friendlies have been included since December’s edition, five of which took place in 2013, with the remaining 13 in the first half of January 2014.

There was no movement whatsoever in the top 25, with Spain still holding a comfortable lead over Germany and Argentina.

Saudi Arabia (73rd, up 14) and Egypt (31st, up 10) have made the biggest climbs, both benefiting from the devaluation of older matches. Five other teams have managed to move up at least five places: South Africa (54th, up 8), United Arab Emirates (63rd, up 8), Belize (152nd, up 7), Oman (79th, up 6) and Mali (40th, up 5). Compared to last month’s ranking where Nigeria were placed 37th in the world, the Super Eagles have dropped four positions and are now ranked 41st.

Nigeria’s ranking in Africa also took a nosedive after falling three places to the number 7 position behind Ivory Coast, Ghana, Algeria, Egypt, Cape Verde and Mali.

More movement is to be expected in the February edition of the FIFA Ranking, which will take into account all the results from the 16-team CAF African Nations Championship, which is underway in South Africa. The tournament is exclusive to players based in their home countries.

The next FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking will be published on 13 February 2014.

TOP 61ranked Teams in the World

Rnk	Team	Pts	+/- Pos
1	Spain	1507	0
2	Germany	1318	0
3	Argentina	1251	0
4	Colombia	1200	0
5	Portugal	1172	0
6	Uruguay	1132	0
7	Italy	1120	0
8	Switzerland	1113	0
9	Netherlands	1106	0
10	Brazil	1102	0
11	Belgium	1098	0
12	Greece	1055	0
13	England	1041	0
14	USA	1019	0
15	Chile	1005	0
16	Croatia	971	0
17	Côte d'Ivoire	912	0
18	Ukraine	907	0
19	Bosnia and Herzegovina	899	0
20	France	893	0
21	Mexico	892	0
22	Russia	870	0
23	Ecuador	852	0
24	Ghana	851	0
25	Denmark	831	0
26	Sweden	793	1
27	Algeria	792	-1
28	Czech Republic	766	0
29	Slovenia	762	0
30	Serbia	752	0

Rnk	Team	Pts	+/- Pos
31	Egypt	748	10
32	Costa Rica	743	-1
33	Romania	734	-1
34	Iran	727	-1
35	Cape Verde Islands	726	4
36	Panama	722	2
37	Scotland	717	-3
38	Armenia	716	-3
39	Venezuela	715	-3
40	Mali	703	5
41	Nigeria	701	-4
42	Peru	698	-3
43	Honduras	692	-1
44	Tunisia	689	4
45	Turkey	677	-2
46	Hungary	668	-2
47	Austria	648	-1
48	Japan	641	-1
49	Iceland	624	0
50	Cameroon	616	0
51	Paraguay	607	0
52	Montenegro	594	0
53	Korea Republic	581	1
54	South Africa	576	8
55	Wales	574	1
56	Albania	571	1
56	Australia	571	2
58	Burkina Faso	566	-5
59	Norway	558	-5
60	Slovakia	557	0
61	Guinea	555	0

info

NGA

Points

Prev.Pts

700.52

710.08

POINTS LAST MONTH
		M	*	I	*	T	*	C	=	P
MLI - NGA	2:1	0		1		155		0.86		0
NGA - ETH	2:1	3		1		107		0.86		276.06

POINTS OUTSIDE RANKING CALCULATION
		M	*	I	*	T	*	C	=	P
EGY - NGA	3:1	0		3		176		0.86		0

POINTS IN THE PAST 4 YEARS

	AVERAGE	WEIGHT	AVG. WEIGHT
2011	371.18	20%	74.24
2012	234.25	30%	70.28
2013	274.15	50%	137.08
2014	418.93	100%	418.93
TOTAL 701

Previous ( dec 2013 )