My Sport Diary

by Giorgio Pirelli He's one of the greatest players in the world and has now taken over as coach of the Argentinean national team. The legendary wearer of the number 10 soccer shirt, Maradona, is back in action for this country. He dreams of winning the FIFA World Cup one more time - this time from the sidelines as he steers his team to victory and makes soccer history... Now, 48 years of age, Maradona is a seasoned man with a look of having been through it all and survived it. Beset by addiction problems, he seems to have fought his demons hard and won over them. He's even cheated death on occasion! As Maradona himself admits, the worst has already happened... His daughter actually pulled him out from the bottom of the sea... His fans and countrymen have every reason to rejoice as he takes the field again to teach the younger lot. After all, who can forget this legend's on pitch skills? Maradona enjoyed the years when he was playing for Argentine the most, but now duty cal...

by Tim Lefoe The World Cup 2010 is now only less than a year away with the qualifying campaigns coming to an end soon. Thus, it might be the best time to see who has done well and who might struggle. With the finalised teams to be decided once the playoffs are done, some of the eventual qualifiers could be considered as trophy favourites. When trying to decide who might have the best chance of becoming champions, one of the first factors to consider would be the World Cup's location. The 2010 edition marks a landmark event as it will be the first time the competition is hosted in Africa. This could be a boost for African teams while those from Europe and the Americas could face travel fatigue. The same could have been said when the tournament was first held in Asia in 2002. The end result was more of the same as the European and South American teams continued to dominate. But African teams have continued to evolve since then and are now a serious threat to countries from the two ma...

by Zdenka Tottova Everyone knows that soccer games are won by scoring goals. Therefore it is one of the basics of soccer coaching to improve your team's chances of hitting the back of the net, get them to have more shots and be more accurate in shooting. The first step is to get your player to start taking shots and aim the ball at the areas the goalkeepers find most difficult to reach- this will pay dividends in time as your chances of success will improve. However, when coaching youngsters, it is common to find that players are scared of taking difficult shots, which is attributed to their fear of failure, consequently affecting their attitude. To overcome the fear factor... * Boost their confidence by praising them when they take a shot- even if they miss * Prevent other team mates from moaning if they miss- it will benefit team morale in general if they learn to support each other from an early age. * Tell players it's better to shoot and miss than not to shoot at all. Anot...

by Audrey Nolan Despite a very juicy offer from Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic would move from Inter only to Barcelona. The player said on Monday that Barca was the only team that could take him out of Italy, and the only team capable of making him a better player. Ibrahimovic made his debut with the Spanish team on Wednesday as a substitute against Manchester City. He set up Lionel Messi for two points against Athletic Bilbao on Sunday. Now, he is preparing himself for a final against Shakhtar Donetsk in the European Supercup on Friday. The player wants to demonstrate that he is in sync with Spanish football as well as with his new teammates. Ibrahimovic was brought in to replace Samuel Eto'o, who was transferred to Real Madrid in a multimillion-dollar deal. Eto'o had helped Barcelona win eight major trophies, including two Champions League titles. Ibrahimovic had been with Internazionale since 2006; he was brought to Inter from Juve...