My Sport Diary

by Giorgio Pirelli Once again Liverpool are hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons with further speculation that star players Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard are set to leave the club along with manager, Rafa Benitez. On the back of Liverpool's consecutive 1-0 defeats to Wigan and Lille, and Real Madrid's elimination from the Europe, speculation is mounting that Benitez will finally succumb to Madrid's advances. Benitez has apparently already turned down three approaches to swap the soccer uniforms of Liverpool for Real Madrid over the past few seasons but with both clubs faltering badly it looks as if all parties concerned would welcome such a move. Media reports in Spain also suggest that Real Madrid are lining up a big money move for Liverpool captain who has cut a dejected figure of late as Liverpool slump once again. If this weren't bad news enough for the Anfield faithful, Fernando Torres has come out with a thinly veiled threat to quit the club if the...

by Rob Atherton When the draw was made for the Euro 2012 championships, there was great excitement amongst the fans. Their thoughts turned to the new destinations they would visit following their team in their quest to make the finals which will be hosted jointly by Poland and Ukraine. However, travel plans can't be made until the dates of the qualifying matches were decided. In the first instance, it was left to the teams in the 9 groups to hold a meeting to try to agree fixtures. The countries are free to chose the fixture dates from a list of international dates between September 2010 and October 2011. Within weeks of the Euro 2012 Qualifying draw being made, meetings were being held all round Europe and in five of the nine groups, fixtures were agreed which meant supporters could start making their travel plans. For the countries of the four remaining groups, the fixtures were decided by UEFA. Among the teams who didn't agree fixtures were both England and Republic of Irela...

by Brandon Harrington The most important aspect of a scuba snorkel is of course that you can easy breath from it. The easiness of breathing is affected by the diameter of the tube (bore), the length and the shape of the tube and mouthpiece. Generally speaking, you look for a large bore that you don't breathe like through a soda straw. The tube should not be too long or to short. 45 cm/17inch, give and take, is about the industry-standard. To short snorkels might not stick high enough out of the water while to long ones make it hard to clear them and you re-inhale too much already used air (also called dead air). The bends if the snorkel has to be smooth and round as sharp edges will increase the breathing residence. Another feature of today's popular snorkel is a slightly bended tube so it stays closer to the contour of your head to minimize drag. Most new designed Snorkel have also an optional self-draining one-way valve at the bottom of the tube. That makes it very easy to cl...

Only one team has qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup by right and that is the host South Africa. Even current holders Italy had to undergo the qualification process and although the hosts will undoubtedly put on a show, according to the experts their team is extremely unlikely to progress beyond the group stage of the tournament. Could they be wrong? There is no doubt that of all the seeded teams at the FIFA World Cup draw they were by far the weakest and after being drawn against France, Mexico and Uruguay face a very tough test. Because, despite qualifying by the skin of their teeth in a two-legged play-off against Ireland, France are currently ranked seventh in the FIFA world ranking; Mexico are 15th and Uruguay 19th while South Africa languish at 86th in the table. Known as 'Bafana Bafana' the South African football team has been dismissed by many as having no chance of success in the 2010 finals, however they did equip themselves ably in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup...

by Giorgio Pirelli Paul Scholes, one of the last three remaining "wonder babes of the nineties" of Old Trafford, has never been known as a loud or outgoing personality. Yet he seemed to be turning more pink than ever yesterday at the Moulineux stadium in Wolverhampton, as he danced along, celebrating his hundredth Premier League goal. Scholes, who normally shuns interviews, said after the game the his goal, and the resultant 1-0 victory against Wolves, could be the one that will make United the Premier League champs for the fourth successive campaign. Wolves put up a tremendous struggle and a draw was looking very much on the cards till Scholes got on target in the 73rd minute when he met a deflected cross from Nani to nudge the ball home. Yet Wolves could have still snatched a draw in the dying seconds of the game, had not Sam Vokes missed a tremendous chance to score than not but blasted well over the top. Very conspicuous by his absence was Wayne Rooney, while Berbatov con...