Now the game is turned, and Ronaldinho, Beckham and the Milan team, travel to Manchester and attempt to overcome the deficit. They need to score at least two goals apart — 2-0, 3-1 or whatever. Ronaldinho opened the scoring the last time, but it was all he could get. Now he needs to prove that he’s one of the best soccer players in the world today, and that he is still a force to reckon with.

Beckham, on the other hand, may have his poignant homecoming. This is the first time he’s back on Old Trafford since he was sold to Real Madrid in 2003. The fans had not forgotten him. But will he break their hearts by beating his boyhood team?

What happened to Rooney? He got himself injured in a World Cup friendly. That infuriated Sir Alex Ferguson since he knows full well that the club needs him most at this moment in time. Who will he turn to? Berbatov can play at the attack, but as we all know, he’s not enough. The manager has other injury problems too. Owen is out, Anderson injured his knee and Ryan Giggs is out with a broken arm. But as of the latest reports, Rooney was declared fit to play.

This is AC Milan’s chance. They’re a full force going into enemy’s territory. Alexandre Pato, the young Brazilian international, is back from injury. With 12 goals in Serie A plus 2 in the Champions League, he’s a danger to the opponent.

Results Prediction

AC Milan will shoot from all angles and they will attempt to break the middle. It’s now or never for the Rossoneri if they want to win the title. Manchester United may not have a potent scoring threat, but they can park the bus in front the goal. 1-1 draw will be my prediction. The Red Devils will progress to the quarterfinals.

But as for me, I will be somewhere, perhaps in a cinema, or in some free viewing venues sponsored by some politicos running for City Mayor. It’s election campaigning time here in the Philippines folks, and I’m sure there will be plenty of free viewing venues. I will cheer with the rest of the crowd that if you are a lost Clottey fan, you should shut up, or you’d get a black eye.

I could also be in a place where there is available food and free-flowing drinks, like that 5-star hotel where we watched Manny batter De la Hoya. Ah, I have to shell out some bucks here!

As I stated in my Pacquiao vs Clottey results predictions post, Manny will KO Clottey in 6. I prefer that it will last the middle rounds. I hate that Hatton fight. It was so quick that we fight fans don’t even have the time to blink and think. I also don’t want to make it last till the last round. Or when judges will still have the time to think and rethink, and consider the bidders. I certainly want a KO. And I want to see it when it happens.

If you my friend, will like to view the Pacquiao vs Clottey fight via online video streaming, make sure you have a fast and reliable internet connection. I’ll probably put a link here if I find one.

poster credit: Top Rank

MAIN CARD

* Heavyweight – Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez
* Middleweight – Michael Bisping vs. Wanderlei Silva
* Lightweight – George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Stevenson
* Light Heavyweight – Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine
* Heavyweight – Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Anthony Perosh

PRELIMINARY CARD

* Light Heavyweight – Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski
* Welterweight – Brian Foster vs. Chris Lytle
* Middleweight – C.B. Dollaway vs. Goran Reljic
* Light Heavyweight – Igor Pokrajac vs. James Te Huna

Nogueira vs Velasquez

Antonio Nogueira – Rio de Janeiro, 6-3, 240 pounds, 32-5-1
Cain Velasquez — Salinas, Calif., 6-1, 240 pounds, 7-0-0

The young Velasquez is undefeated with 7 UFC fights. He knocked out Ben Rothwell in round 2 at UFC 104. Velasquez (of Mexican descent) is a two-time All-American collegiate wrestler from Arizona State and a Junior College National Champ at Iowa Central Community College. His strengths are usually in the takedown. But he also throws a lot of punches as he won six of his fights in TKO due to punches. He is current a purple-belter of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

The 33 year old Nogueira is a veteran MMA fighter having fought the best of the MMA fighters out there both in Pride and in the UFC. He rose to prominence in the Japanese Pride Fighting Championship promotion, where he was the first Pride Heavyweight Champion from November 2001 to March 2003. He is the first and only heavyweight to have held Championship titles in both Pride and the UFC. His recent victory was a unanimous decision against Randy Couture at UFC 102. Nogueira is an excellent Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and his wins are mostly on submission.

Results Prediction

Although a lot of people predicted a victory for Nogueira, I go for Velasquez. He’s young and strong with his ground and pound technique. TKO in the 3rd round.

Actual results: 2 minutes and 20 seconds in the first round. That’s how quick Velasquez finished off Nogueira with his punches. Now he can face Brock Lesnar for the Championship.

A radio station is reported to have obtained a leaked copy of Tiger Wood’s statement. It says:

“Directly to the point there is no one to blame but me for the mess I have put my wife and family through. I accept total and complete responsibility. My wife and I have been trying to work things out but sadly things have not worked out. Again all the blame is upon me. We have decided to live apart with me having mutually agreed upon times when I can be with our children. I know that the world wants all the details of what transpired in our marriage but that is between my wife and I and will remain that way. I have to get on my life and that means playing golf again. I have contacted The Masters and have informed them that my plan is to resume The Masters and they have said that they would welcome me with open arms. For that I am most grateful for I deserve nothing. Finally I want to thank all my fans around the world for standing by me when I let you down horribly. I failed all of you about as badly as a person can. I apologize to everyone of you. I promise all of you that you will see a new Tiger Woods, a better Tiger Woods and I will not let you down. Now I’d like , by the grace of God and with His help, to get
back to what I do best and that is playing golf. See you all at The Masters. God
Bless you all. Tiger Woods”

Should we believe this Tiger Woods leaked statement to be true? When Tiger had an accident in November, he said the crash was a private matter, and he intended to keep it that way.

“Although I understand there is curiosity, the many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me are irresponsible,” he said. “The only person responsible for the accident is me. My wife, Elin, acted courageously when she saw I was hurt and in trouble. She was the first person to help me. Any other assertion is absolutely false.”

I certainly agree about the responsibility or irresponsibility Tiger was talking about. But it’s sad to hear a couple break up because of extra marital affairs. And it’s hard to fathom that it’s a favorite sports icon on the guilty side of the affair.

This is history for the 23-year old American, who added another gold medal to his very rich collection of gold medals from Winter X Games.

The first time I saw him on TV many years ago, his name struck me because of what he does on the snowboard. He flies, turns a lot of times, and he absolutely wows the ground. So that performance really stuck in my mind. He’s the only winter games athlete that I know of.

Are you looking for his video too? Here are some what I got from youtube, and see for yourselves what he can do.

Amazing, amazing videos of Shaun White! Now, where’s the double mctwist 1260 video?

There were talks of possible stiff rivals before the competition. There was Peetu Piiroinen from Finland, Iouri “iPod” Podladtchikov fromm Switzerland, and Scott Lago and Louie Vito from the US. But they were all nowhere near White in the performance.

Shaun White stood out as the best with his death defying, new stunt – the Double McTwist 1260. After receiving 48.4 for the second run, White said: “I just felt like I didn’t come all the way to Vancouver not to pull out the big guns. I put down the tricks I’ve worked so hard on. It was the savvy thing to do. Saucy. Keep it weird.”

Indeed, there is no need to pull out the big performance, the one fans are looking forward to watch. Below is a video of his 2006 Olympics gold medal performance. Watch and enjoy!

Ronaldinho opened the scoring for Milan and he danced the samba in celebration. It was an excellent set piece delivery from David Beckham, the player who loves and is loved by Manchester United, but is now playing on loan to Milan.

Paul Scholes leveled before half-time, though it was still a nervy game for the visitors. Then the magnificent Wayne Rooney scored two goals for United. These are his first two European goals for the season, bringing his overall goal tally to 25.

Sir Alex Ferguson hailed Rooney’s performance. The player had matured since Ronaldo left for Real Madrid.

Beckham, on the other hand, had a very good game, but Milan had missed so many chances. Clarence Seedorf contributed a late goal, an awesome backheel, that left the United goalie scratching his head. But it was not enough.

Second leg will be on March 10 at the Old Trafford. Manchester United can wrap it up, or AC Milan can pull surprises. Who knows?

The Pacquiao – Clottey fight will take place on March 13, 2010 (March 14 in the Philippines) at the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas. HBO will once again televise it on PPV. Nobody, I suppose, would challenge that schedule on TV. Good thing the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Shane Mosley fight is scheduled on May, enough for the boxing fans to recoup what they will have to spend for the Pacquiao fight.

Should we say that it is a walk in the park for Manny? Or can Clottey, the hero of Ghana, spoil the fun and break Manny and Filipino boxing fans to tears? Clottey is no mean beast as he was beaten by Cotto and Margarito. But he is no easy prey either, as he holds a record of 35-3 with 20 knockouts and has notable wins against Zab Judah and Diego Corrales. Clottey declares that no southpaw has ever beaten him, and he has a formula in beating Pacquiao.

Joshua Clottey is a tough guy and he has an almost impenetrable defense. He almost beat Cotto, and in fact, many thought he won that fight. He lost a decision to Margarito. And if we imagine that bloody Margarito-Cotto fight, we can affirm that he’s tough indeed.

Manny Pacquiao, as we all know, is the hottest boxer in the planet today. He demolished high-profile fighters in Barrera, Marquez, Morales, Dela Hoya, Hatton, and recently, Miguel Cotto. Fans actually wanted him to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. It would have been the fight of the decade. But negotiations failed because of a drug issue that many felt, was a non-issue in the first place. Ok, enough of the blame game. The postponement could actually put more hype on the mega-fight should Pacquiao and Mayweather hurdle their assignments, then decide to fight later on.

Fight Result Predictions

My wife once again predicts a Pacquiao loss. But since I am the blogger here, I say otherwise. I stated in the intro that let us not predict and easy win for Manny. No, not in one or two rounds because Clottey is tough and will most probably take the counterpunching position. Pacquiao’s power and quickness are going to be the key to victory. Manny will eventually wear down Clottey in 6 rounds, and puts the exclamation point before the bell rings. Pacquiao will KO Clottey in 6.

As of this writing, Federer is still battling Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. But the Swiss is clearly dominating the French in the first two sets. It’s hard for Tsonga to come back at this point in time. Murray, on the other hand, demolished Marin Cilic yesterday. The tall guy was supposed to repeat his victory over the Brit like he did at the 2009 US Open. But not this time.

Okay, so back to the Federer vs Murray feud. In the head-to-head encounter, Murray leads 6-4. What? Yep, this guy has a winning record against the world no. 1. As I said the last time, I like them both. Their styles are so similar and they play relaxed. Their swings are perfect, backhand, forehand and whatever swings they let go from their arms and shoulders. Their footworks are awesome, and they seems like they have Mercury’s sandals.

Roger is most likely to stay at no. 1 for a long time. But he is no longer Champ in many of the latest grand slams. He lost to del Potro at the US Open 2009 finals. Though he won Wimbledon and the French, he was in tears when he was beaten by Nadal in the 2009 edition of the Australian Open.

Murray has not yet won a Grand Slam trophy, yet he’s no. 5 at the rankings. He used to be no.4 but he slipped in points after losing early in some tourney. If he wins this time, he’ll break British records that is unmoved for 74 years.

Results Predictions

Federer may be the god of tennis but he’s not invincible. My apologies to Murray for predicting a Nadal victory in their quarterfinals encounter. Actually, I was elated of his victory. I should have stuck around to my earlier motto: Anyone but Nadal. And so I’ll make good this time. I predict a Murray victory over Federer in 5 sets.

Actual Results

Federer showed his might and demolished Murray in 3 straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6.

Andy Murray vs Rafael Nadal

World no. 2 and defending Champion Nadal recently conquered Ivo Karlovic in 4 sets. The big-serving Croat, despite taking one set, was no match for the Spaniard, whose all around play is as dangerous as ever.

On the other hand, Andy Murray easily made it through against John Isner 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-2. The Scot, who dropped to no. 5 in rankings at the end of 2009, is aiming to repeat his semifinals victory over Nadal during the 2008 US Open. Head to head, Murray has only won 2 in 9 encounters.

Results Prediction

These two are favorites to win the Australian Open Tennis 2010 Men’s singles. If Nadal is really back in full form after that injury of his, then this could spell the end for Murray in this Australian Open 2010. But we also know that Murray is capable of an upset, like what he did in 2008. Maybe, he needs more than luck to progress. If he indeed makes it past this round, there is another obstacle in Roger Federer. My prediction – Nadal winning in 5 sets.

Actual results

Murray was leading 6-3, 7-6, 3-0 when Nadal retires. Murray goes into the semis as he faces Marin Cilic next. Could it be a Federer vs Murray finals – a repeat of the 2008 US Open?