Chief Executive Officer of Elite Football League India Richard Whelan, center, interacts with Indian players during a press conference to announce the league in Mumbai, India, Friday, Aug. 5, 2011. American football steps into unfamiliar territory with the announcement of a robust professional league in India, where a number of sports have already been inspired by cricket's multimillion dollar Indian Premier League. Organizers of the ambitious EFLI plan to start the city-based championship in Nov. 2012 in partnership with the government and featuring Indian players and coaches who will be guided by professionals from American teams. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

It was the first game of the regular season.   Tom Brady, the New England Patriots All-Star quarterback, was setting up to make a pass, when an opposition player, Bernard Pollard, set of to tackle him.  His tackle would fall short, as Brady’s defence intercepted Pollard.  Pollard, though, would not be denied this easily.  With a last ditch effort, Pollard reached out to tackle Brady.  What happened next would ruin the entire season for Tom Brady, and send him to the sidelines, where he would wait to play for the following season.  Pollard ended up hitting Brady on the knee, resulting in a torn ACL and MCL.

This is life in the NFL.  Hits like this occur quite often.   For now, this game is exclusively played by the Western cultures.  But, is it possible that it can be played by people outside the West?  What is more, can a country which passionately embraces the gentlemen game of cricket, learn to not only play this game, but make it multi-billion dollar industry?

This is a question to which some respond a definite yes.  And so India will be introduced to the Elite Football League late next year.  It is a game that organizers feel will be so successful that it may even sport 45 teams over the next few years.  This is a jarring task.

EFL CEO, Richard Whelan commented on the task at hand.  He says that “With a population of over a billion and one of the highest rates of economic growth, India is beyond any doubt a great market for the sports and entertainment sectors. A concept like EFLI [Elite Football League of India] presents a huge opportunity and the perfect platform for brands, both, currently operating in India and those planning to enter the Indian market, to get visibility and reach out to their potential consumers.”

India is definitely a huge market with tremendous potential in the sports sector.  Aside from cricket, the next best sport to watch is an open debate.   India’s soccer, hockey, and rugby leagues have not taken a huge liking by many Indians.

Keeping that in mind, the EFL faces some huge hurdles.  Perhaps one of the most daunting task of this league is getting Indians to accept the game of American Football.  Indians do not play or talk often about American football.

It is not a game you will see be played on the streets.  You will not see a young Indian wishing he was the next great Tom Brady.  No one will know the team that Brady plays for, let alone know who he is.

The question then arises, how will Indians embrace such an aggressive and unfamiliar game?

Sunday Zeller, Founder, EFLI comments that, “India has been known to assimilate cultures like very few countries have done, and that, coupled with the immense pool of talent makes it an ideal choice for a concept like EFLI. We are certain that these factors will combine to make India a force to reckon with in this great game of American Football, apart from creating the most lucrative sports league in the country.”

There are still many other hurdles that this league will face.  Getting the season started on time is one of them.  Organizers will have to gather athletes and coaches from across India to learn to play and teach this game.  What is more, coaches and athletes will have to be trained at the same time.  Organizers have even begun to recruit players and coaches from other sports, such as rugby, kabadi, cricket, soccer, boxing, etc.  People of Indian origin will be the only persons allowed to play this game.

The EFL is set to start in November of 2012 and end in January of 2013.  Each team is to play each other twice.  2 playoff games will culminate the end of the season.

The league will feature 8 teams: Mumbai Gladiators, Bhubaneshwar Warhawks , the Pune Black Tigers, the Delhi Defenders, the Kolkata Vipers, the Hyderabad Skykings, the Punjab Warriors and the Goa Swarm.  The plan is to expand on this initial list over the next few years.

The EFL will attempt to garner a market that, for now, is open for business.  It will not be a matter of replacing cricket or trying to beat cricket in India.  That will never happen.  Rather, the goal will be to become the next best thing in India.  Of the over 1.2 billion people in India, winning over maybe even 10 percent will bring in millions of dollars.  This will benefit the league, as well as, the workers responsible for running day to day operations.

A start up league with enormous potential, but also one with tremendous obstacles that could stop it from taking off, this is the EFL.  Will it be like any other sport in India, doomed to failure?  Or, will it actually be successful and make it big? These are a couple of questions that will certainly be debated upon over the next few months and years.

By Meuren Martins

Mississauga

India and tennis is a duo that often does not make for the most popular sporting news in India.  Behind the countless news on cricket, tennis often takes a back seat.   Recently, the WTA French Open was completed at the revered Rolland Gairos.  It featured some of the greatest India tennis player of today.

One of those tennis stars includes Sania Mirza.  She is the first ever Indian to crack the top 30 list on the WTA rankings.  At the French Open, Sania Mirza (India) and her doubles partner, Elena Vesnina (Russia) had a great showing.  The partners battled their way trough to the Finals.  Aside from it being her second major of the year, it was also an opportunity for Mirza to make greater strides on her comeback tour in both singles and doubles competition.  After facing  a career threatening wrist injury last year, falling lower than 150 in singles rankings, and being written off many critics, Mirza is looking to prove all those critics that she is not done.  Her performance in the singles side did not bode well to prove those critics wrong; she was eliminated in the second round of the seven round tournament.  But, on the doubles side, she fared far better.

Mirza has also faced some controversy lately, although not of her doing.  A recent publication by Newsweek Pakistan ranked Mirza as one of Pakistan’s most top 100 most influential women.  The list, among many well-renowned women, features women’s rights activist, Mukhtaran Mai, and political activist, Sherry Rehman.   The idea of Mirza appearing on this list is highly questionable; she is not of Pakistani origin, but a Hyderbad native, she lives in Dubai and on the world stage she is representing the nation of India.   What could remotely justify this ranking could be that she is married to former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.  The reasoning behind why her name appears on this list needs to be put forth more clearly.

The French Open also featured the performance of a couple of unlikely doubles tandem; Leander Peas (India) and Mahesh Bhupathi (India) and the rise of Rohan Bopanna (India) with partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan).  After a long and what appeared to be a permanent break-up, Peas and Bhupathi, both in the twilight of their careers, are off to win more titles and possibly reassemble some of their dominance from the late-1990’s to early 2000’s.  At that time, Peas and Bhupathi won 3 Grand-slam titles, nearly US $4 million in winnings, and ranked at number 1 in the world many times.   This year, as the season began, the duo saw themselves ranked number 1 in the world again, after their win at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. But, at the French Open, Peas and Bhupathi did not fare well, as they were eliminated early on.  They lost in the second round to the Australian duo of Ashley Fisher and Stephen Huss , 6-7, 4-6.

Where Peas and Bhupathi failed, the Indian-Pakistani duo of Bopanna and Qureshi succeeded.  They made their way through the second round in three sets, beating Maximo Gonzalez (Argentina) and Kei Nishikori (Japan), 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.   Their tournament was ended in the quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by the twin brothers, Bob and Mike Bryan (USA), 7-6, 3-6, 6-7.

Since the IPL season over, the tennis season can garner more news in India.  This season features a few interesting story lines.  Can Mirza make it back to be top 30 or better in singles play?  She has already jumped up nearly a 100 spots to 72 in the world.  Will Peas and Bhupathi recreate some of the magic they had earlier on in their career?  They have already run up to world number ones, but is a grand-slam title in sight.  What about Bopanna and Qureshi; what will be their future this year?  The answers to these intriguing questions will only be given in match play on the court.

By Meuren Martines

Sixteen-year-old schoolboy Nitish Kumar made history on Monday when he became the youngest ever World Cup player.The Ontario-born teenager, aged 16 years and 283 days, was named in the Canada team to face Zimbabwe in the Group A game.Bangladesh’s Talha Jubair, who was 17 years and 70 days old when he featured against the West Indies in the 2007 World Cup, had been the previous youngest player in the tournament.Before the World Cup, Kumar, who opens the batting, had played five ODIs for Canada, making his debut against Afghanistan in Sharjah in February 2010.Nicknamed ‘Tendulkar’, he was born in May 1994, four-and-a-half years after Sachin Tendulkar’s international debut against Pakistan in 1989.Canada have the oldest and youngest player in the tournament and both will bat at the same time as the oldest player is 40-year-old John Davison, who also opens the batting.”The first time I saw Nitish was 10 years back when he was only six. I was amazed to see a six-year-old’s control over his shots,” said Davison.”Even at that age, he could hit pull shots and I felt he was a special talent.”Kumar’s school has given him a month off to play in the World Cup.

By Meuren Martins, Mississauga

Ah, how sweet it is.  The cricket world cup has finally begun.  The four year wait for cricket’s biggest tournament is over.  For now, it is time to witness the drama and entertainment that comes with the one day international.  This tournament does not have any clear cut favourites to win it all.   Australia, though, who has won the three world cups, enters this one as the favourites, again.  But, India also deserves a great deal of recognition as one of the tournaments favourites to win it all.  It has a fearsome batting lineup, with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and Gautam Gambhir, to name a few.  Its bowling attack features Harbajan Singh, Munaf Patel and Zaheer Khan.  In one day rankings, prior to the world cup, India was ranked second, behind Australia.India’s attack was in strong display during its opening series against Bangladesh.   They combined for a total of 370 with just four outs.  Sehwag completed his innings with a total of 175, 25 short of Tendulkar’s one-day record.   The one short coming from India’s opening match would be its bowling.   Sreesanth seemed to have struggled with his bowling, allowing 53 runs in 5 overs.  At the end of play, India allowed Bangladesh to score 283 over 50 overs.  As the tournament proceeds, India will need to better manage its bowling talents.What makes for some added entertainment for this world cup is that it may be the last tournament for possibly the greatest batsmen to play the game, Sachin Tendulkar.  Having accomplished a great deal in his career, the one thing to elude his grasp is a world cup trophy.  With India co-hosting this tournament, alongside Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, this will be a perfect opportunity for Tendulkar to cap his career.  What’s more, the final will take place in Mumbai, India, the great economic powerhouse of India and the world.Tendulkar, though, will not be the only one who may call it quiet’s after this tournament.  A couple of other great cricketers may also be playing in their final world cup: Australian captain, Ricky Pointing, and the spinning genius, Muttiah Muralitharan.  Both are surely seeking for a tournament victory not only for their respective countries, but also, as a good way to end their cricketing careers.The tournament also features Canada.  They enter the world cup as huge underdogs.  Victories for our team have been hard to come by; in fact, Canada has only one victory in its previous 3 appearances.  In addition, Canada’s 2011 squad features one of the youngest lineups in the games, with an average age of 24.  Of its total of 15 members, 5 players are under the age of 20.  This is a very inexperienced squad.Canada’s opening match against Sri Lanka helped to display this inexperience.  Sri Lanka, having batted first, completed a total of 332 of 50 overs.  This left the young Canadians to chase a total of 333 to win.  The final score for Canada, after, 36.5 overs of batting, was 122 all out.  The inexperience of Canada is clearly on display here.  The tournament is set to continue until April 2.  The final match will be in Mumbai, India.  It features two groups, of seven teams each.  The top four in each group will make it to the quarter-finals, after the opening round robin.The drama that will unfold over the next few weeks will be splendid to view.  Who will make the finals?  Which world cup favourite will be upset?  It’s not a question of if, but which one.   A key story to keep an eye on will be that of India’s.  It features one of the best squads in the tournament, is playing in its home ground, and also sees the waning down of Tendulkar’s career.   How will this story unfold?  More importantly, how will the tournament, as a whole, turn out?  These are certain things to watch out for at the 2011 cricket world cup.

Wickets are down, pitch is set and Howzzat! The anticipated crowd awaits for 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup to be held on February 20th, 2011.  On February 19th 2011 Hindu Student Council at University of Toronto Mississauga hosted “World Cup Fever Antakshari – Deshon ka Maha Muqabala” which marked the 5th anniversary of Hindu Student Council. The night was filled with music, dance and food as four countries, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh embraced one another and celebrated unity under one roof.Antakshari served as a mere excuse to celebrate unity as everyone started their night singing the National Anthem of India, Pakistan and Canada. Antakshari is a musical game commonly played by South Asians, however this Antakshari was filled with fun, twists and turns. As the crowd cheered and sang songs, it was apparent that there was no difference between one another as everyone enjoyed the game cheering one another to victory. The night was further enhanced with the arrival of Mr. Hargurudeep Saini, VP of University of Toronto Mississauga, who took time from his busy schedule to be a part of Antakshari night.  Mr. Saini commented, “Antakshari is not about two teams, or about winning or losing, what is more important is the fact that we are gathered here, half way around the world and celebrating diversity”. Mr. Saini further made the evening more special by singing a song fit for occasion. The evening wrapped up with everyone holding hands and celebrating the victory of harmony as everybody danced the night away. The games were well organized and the night was well-coordinated which contributed in creating an overall night of complete entertainment.Hindu Student Council does not only strive to celebrate different festivals and occasions, but rather hopes to achieve a bigger goal of unity and diversity and rejoice each occasion as a community which was apparent at World Cup Fever Antakshari – Deshon ka Maha Muqabala. It has been five years since Hindu Student Council collaborated to achieve this goal and every year Hindu Student Council spreads this message and love to others hoping to achieve global peace.

By AR Hemant, India

Is there such a thing as a template for good results in a World Cup? West Indies had exceptionally strong batting and vicious pace. In 1983, India batted deep and had many swing and seam bowlers. Australia in 1987 didn’t lose a single tight match with their deceptive slow bowlers. Pakistan peaked late in 1992, but did it with steady build-ups and explosive finishes. Between 1999 and 2007, Australia were — well — Australia.
Since Sri Lanka won the last Cup in the sub-continent, it is important to analyse how they did it. They had explosive openers, a middle order that didn’t let the momentum slip and an army of slow bowlers. Compare that with India in 2011. After the two warm-up games, it seems MS Dhoni has finally found the template for World Cup success — dominating the middle overs.
In ODIs, all teams look to make the most of the first and last 10 overs. But this World Cup will be won by the team that controls the middle overs and Powerplays the best. A month back in South Africa, these were India’s pain-points. But on spin-friendly wickets in Bangalore and Chennai, they seem to have hit upon their magic formula — confident starts, aggressive build-ups, and a strong spin attack to bamboozle their opponents.

Dominating the middle overs — batting

In Chennai against New Zealand, Gambhir and the middle order lifted India from a slow start much like Gurusinha, Aravinda and Ranatunga did many times in 1996. From a rate of 4.5 when Sehwag fell, Gambhir and Kohli pushed the rate to 5, before Dhoni and Raina blew it threw the roof.
Power-hitting, wise strike rotation and a low percentage of dot balls did the trick. Gambhir, master of the short single, had 33 dots, 39 singles and three twos in his 89.
Dhoni in his brilliantly paced hundred had just 15 dots and 28 singles. He and Raina placed the Powerplay perfectly, not leaving it for the end. This is the exact opposite of what India were doing in South Africa: not rotating strike, losing middle order wickets cheaply and timing their Powerplays badly.
If India can replicate their Chennai methods again, they have Dhoni, Pathan, Raina and Yuvraj waiting down the order to provide the RDX for the slog overs. Yuvraj isn’t in top form yet, but with the spinners and Zaheer batting deep, India finally seem to have a sturdy line-up.

Decoding the Powerplays

Let’s throw a look back at what winning teams have done with the batting Powerplay recently. In the series against England, Australia lost just one game out of seven. In Adelaide, they had Cameron White and David Hussey going strong while chasing 300. They didn’t take the Powerplay. Wickets fell. They lost by 21 runs.
This wasn’t an aberration for Australia. They’d always taken the Powerplay late in this series — five times in or after the 42nd over, at other times in the 37th and 38th.
South Africa beat India 3-2 recently. In Durban, Duminy and de Villiers took the Powerplay in the 27th. The result: 45 runs, no wickets, and the run rate shot from 5.5 to 6 in the middle of the innings. India lost by 135 runs.
When India beat New Zealand 5-0 recently, they took the Powerplay just twice in five games — in the 40th over in the first ODI, and in the 38th in the fourth where Pathan blasted the bejesus out of New Zealand.
This gives us the indication that it is best to claim the Powerplay in the middle overs when you have set batsmen. Anything else is an opportunity lost, as Australia discovered in Adelaide.
As Harbhajan said about timing the batting Powerplay in this excellent interview to Cricinfo:
“The best way to take it is to keep wickets in hand. If after 25 overs the team is 150 for 2, and say, one batsman is on 60 and the other on 50, I will take the batting Powerplay straightaway. Those two batsmen are settled and have the momentum with them, so if they keep going 350 is possible, because in the last 10 overs batsmen will go for the slog in any case.”

Dominating the middle overs — bowling

The traditional approach to bowling the middle overs in the sub-continent has been to employ slow bowlers — often part-timers — defend the boundaries and save your best bowlers for the slog.
India can run away with the Cup by turning this method upside down.
Put the spinners on attack, employ a slip and leg-slip, put more fielders in the ring and tell the batsmen to go over the top if they’d like. When he led India against New Zealand, Gambhir used this ploy to perfection. The Black Caps were sitting ducks against Ashwin, Pathan and Yuvraj who took 24 wickets between them in five ODIs.
Dhoni has tended to be more defensive. But in the two warm-up games, he followed the Gambhir route, causing the batsmen to self-destruct under pressure. It’s also to India’s benefit that they’ve found a spinner who means to attack all the time. Ashwin could be India’s best spinner since Harbhajan.
Sri Lanka in 1996 had mastered slowing down the opposition with their spinners. New Zealand in 1992 had stunned the world by opening with an off-spinner. Tied down with the slow bowling, successive batsmen threw away their wickets. In 2011, India now has the best spin attack along with Sri Lanka. It would be hard to stop these two teams.

Jayawardena not aware of Jayasuriya’s record

Sri Lanka batsman Mahela Jayawardena was unaware on Sunday that he had broken a record set by his former captain Sanath Jayasuriya for the country’s fastest century in a World Cup match.
“I didn’t know that until the last minute when they asked me (on television) honestly,” Jayawardena said after his innings helped secure a 210-run victory over Canada in Group A.
The otherwise calm and composed Jayawardena hit 100 off 81 balls that included an uncharacteristic four off a reverse sweep to break Jayasuriya’s record of an 85-ball hundred made against Bangladesh at Port of Spain in 2007.
“I am quite happy it was a good start for us,” he said.

Watched by millions across the globe, the 19th Commonwealth Games got off to a spectacular start amid traditional Indian music, dance and a burst of colour at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the heart of the city. Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Indian President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh watched as 1,000 drummers stirred up a thumping beat, puppets danced in the air and thousands of children gathered at the packed stadium to sing a welcome to the world.

With the spectacular opening ceremony of Commonwealth games at New Delhi, all the charges against the organizing committee have been put on the backburner and the media, which just few days ago was highly critical about the organizing committee members and the government on this issue, too has taken a U-turn over the issue. Shifting the focus from the corrupt practices of the organizers and huge embezzlement of funds, the media is now praising Delhi government and organizing committee members.

Our media here in Canada had taken a lead in defaming India and you could see everywhere on the shelves of Asian markets our newspapers carrying words in big letters such Shame and what not. We have been ridiculed as a Nation for something that was simple and uncomplicated.

Perhaps many readers do not remember that the construction of the Games Village on the east bank of the Yamuna river, on a 64-acre vast green expanse, faced undue delay as the green brigade used every trick in their armoury to stop the project, which, they alleged, was in complete violation of the environment laws and concerns.

Moreover, when the construction of the Games Village finally began around two years ago, the project faced many other hurdles, and at one stage, the project almost got derailed as the builders of the prestigious complex threw up their hands midway, citing lack of funds as the reason. Thanks to the Games, Shahdara, is not the old kasba town today on the periphery with its mandi (market) sourcing commodities from neighbouring hinterland of Uttar Pradesh for the national Capital. The housing cooperative and the Delhi Development Authority apartments that came up later were thought to be the best, which Delhi could get.

About a decade back those staying in Noida were better off than their neighbours in the bordering DDA colonies. Now it is a different story altogether. The residents of Noida are thanking the Games, which has facilitated the reach of the Metro across the border into the satellite town and wider roads.

Those driving down from the ITO bridge to the newly made Pushta road along the Games Village would vouch what change the Games have brought to this part of the city. Until a few years back, the Pushta (Yamuna bank) did not even have a proper road. None dared to tread in these areas, as it was at best a jungle infested with reptiles and insects. Today it houses a vibrant Village for sportspersons, best ever and largest built for a Commonwealth Game.

Cricket is in a class of its own but for the first time in this decade India finds greater recognition to tennis, badminton, golf, boxing, wrestling and the list will continue to grow with additional exposure.

The games are on and we have a few days left and with the security constraints we cannot expect great ‘physical’ attendance at the venue except perhaps on the last few days and looking at the future India should allow schools and collages by rotation free attendance in many of the facilities and in Delhi alone thousands of children will benefit from this gesture and this will not raise any security issues.

Author: Kanayalal Raina

New Delhi, India, the site of this year’s Commonwealth games (CWG).  After months and years of preparations, the games have finally begun.  What’s more, it started with a spectacular opening ceremony, tapped of with India’s Mozart singing the games theme song, and closing it with his international hit, ‘Jai Ho!’

All the worries and fears that the games would not do well or that it would not even start were blown away.  Even the rivalry between India and Pakistan was swept away during the October 3^rd opening ceremony. While the Pakistan team marched its way onto the field, the crowd in Jawaharlal Nehru stadium gave them a loud cheer.  India’s team also garnered a great response from the crowd.  The opening ceremony showcased much of India’s culture, diversity, and its beauty.

Although the opening ceremony went off without a hitch, the days that followed did reveal some of the flaws with the CWG.  There were numerous accounts of athletes getting sick with a stomach virus, even a report of theft in the athletes village, a big screen TV collapsing at the rugby sevens stadium, a pedestrian bridge collapsing, and to top it all off, the toilets in the athletes village were backed up due to a large number of condoms in the drainage system.  To put it lightly, the CWG has had problems.

But to conclude that the CWG has been a complete disaster due to such fiascos is unjust.  There have been many positives too. For one, the pace at which India is winning gold medals at these games will likely result in India attaining its higher ever total in that regard, and even more, India has a great chance of finishing second in gold medal count. A country that has traditionally finished behind Canada and Great Britain in gold medals is at a position where it could finish ahead of them.

From the stand point of the athletes, not all have faced issues with the tournament.

Mark Lewis-Francis, the Englishmen who has a silver medal in the 100m sprint, commented that “This is the best venue I have ever run a race. The track is fast and the stadium is superb and the crowd is fantastic. This is the only second time I have won a medal in a big event; I am going to remember this for a long time.”

Jamie Murray, a tennis player for Team Scotland, writes in the BBC that “I enjoyed my time in India and have been made to feel very welcome by the local people.”

The attendance at venues was marginal during the first few days, but recently has taken a turn around.  Many Indians are flocking to the games to show support to their fellow Indians.  Stadiums are selling out.

A tournament that weeks ago was in disarray has now started off with a bang.  There have been great performances by Indian athletes and from many other athletes taking part in these games, but there has also been some problems.  As the CWG approaches its closing ceremony on October 14, many people will be waiting, and expecting a great event to tip it all off and to make us forget about all that went wrong, and focus on the positives.

Author: Meuren Martins

We are entering upon a particularly exciting season in sports.  The English Premier Leagues just kicked started the beginning its season.  In a few weeks, the NFL will kick-off its regular season.  Shortly thereafter, we will be entering the NHL and NBA season.  There is much look forward to.

Since the end of the World Cup, soccer fans have had very little soccer to watch.  Of course there is Major league Soccer going on right now.  But, in comparison to the type of play and variety of players we can except from teams in Europe, MLS is a different league.

The start of the EPL not only marks a new season of British soccer, but also a season where many teams at the top are expected to be competitive. Recent history has shown that four teams have generally dominated the EPL: Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal.  This season, though, has the Etihad owned Manchester City, Tottenham, and Aston Villa has legitimate competition.  Tottenham already has a fourth place finish under its belt from last season.  Manchester City, with players like Carlos Tévez, goalkeeper Joe Hart, and striker, Emmanuel Adebayor playing for them, can be expected to compete for a top 4 finish.

The opening weekend’s fixture featured a couple of great matches. It was a perfect moment to watch Tottenham and Manchester City face off against each other.  EPL fans are sure to remember the arduous battle that these teams undertook as they competed for fourth.  Tottenham beat out Manchester City by 3 points, and won a coveted spot in the Champions league.  Manchester City, on the other hand, will compete in the Europa league this season. While both teams sought to make an early statement to EPL fans, the match finished in a 0-0 draw.  Joe Hart was the story of this fixture, as he made many spectacular saves to help keep Manchester City in the game.

The second great fixture of the opening weekend was the match between rivals Arsenal and Liverpool.  Arsenal finished third last year, while Liverpool finished a disappointing seventh.  For Liverpool, it was a season that was mired with injuries, as they battled with key injuries to Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrad.  At the conclusion of the season, Manager Rafa Benitez was replaced with Roy Hodgson.  New manager Hodgson will be left with the job of building Liverpool back to its former glory.

In respect to Sunday’s game, Liverpool did not start off well.  At half-time, they were down to 10 men as Joe Cole was sent off for a foul on Laurent Koscielny.  This did not deter Liverpool.  After the first 45 minutes, Liverpool started the second-half with a goal, and a 1-0 lead.  Arsenal struggled to make a comeback, but an own goal by goalkeeper, José Manuel Reina, salvaged a 1-1 draw.

In addition to the excitement that the opening weekend brought, this weekend fixtures were also exciting. (maybe I could build on this, on Monday?? )  In the coming weeks, EPL fans will be taking notice of the transfers that may take place of the next few weeks.  As the international transfer window closes on August 31.  Any team looking to make a last minute improvement will be taking advantage of this period.

Author: Meuren Martins