As you may (Or may not) have heard a bunch of semi-professional School Teachers and Electricians had a histroric win against Swansea City in the 3rd round of The FA Cup against all odds after a 4-2 win at the Liberty Stadium. Now, the Blue Sqaure Premier South club have a dream date with Liverpool at Anfield – Probably in front of a near capacity crowd.

“My players were fantastic and I’m proud of them. This is the best moment in my footballing life as a player or in the short time I’ve been a manager as the players gave it their all, their desire and will to win was amazing.”

And the Havant gaffer Shaun Gale was exactly right, And his team managed to show England and even the world what the FA Cup is all about – A true underdog story, It sounds straight out of a Disney kids movie doesn’t it?

So how the hell did a bunch of Non-leaguers, blue-collared workers manage to be teaching kids one day to stepping out against Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Jamie Carragher at one of the most famous, history ridden grounds in the world?

Luck – It was down to a fair bit of luck wasn’t it? This is by no-means a feel good kinda thing is it, This is the FA Cup and one of the biggest and probably the most famous Cup in world Football. Maybe even the draw with Swansea was a little lucky, after all they could have been drawn with a Premiership club.

Belief – I know that sounds feel-good too but it is true, In a way it was a football romance. Up there with the Liverpool vs. AC Milan Final, Arsenal at Anfield in ’89 to win the League on Goal Dif., and all the others – All the sides never gave up, whether being down 3-0 at the break or beating a side 3 divisions higher than you all these teams had the belief they could win.

Underestimation – Swansea went into the tie at home somewhat confident, and they thought they knew H & W would be overcome easily, And they had good reason to think that too facing a team that was full of semi-dedicated players who had families to work for in other jobs.

Havant & Waterlooville knew this, and used it to their advantage, Simple mistakes by the Swans showed that if you saw the game or highlights. They knew the team would be half-arsed about it and until when they realised they were the second-best team it was too late.

So, Havant & Waterlooville face Liverpool this round, at Anfield, knowing that their Once-in-a-Lifetime FA Cup adventure will probably end – Nonetheless it couldn’t probably be the good way to end it, against a Big Four club.

I hope Havant & Waterlooville all the best for the rest of the season in the Blue Square South and of course the Liverpool tie, I and thousand (Oh f**k it, even millions) of football fans are behind to take the win at Anfield, Good luck boys!

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

This article is a submission for the Soccerlens ‘Share Your Football Experiences’ Contest; to participate, please read the details here.

Australia 3 Japan 1, Reads the scoreboard on a hot Summer’s day in Kaiserslautern, Germany on the 12th of June; Anybody looking at a score like that would think 3-1 is a fairly one-sided affair, But that game in June was anything but…

46,000 Football fans from Australia and Japan (and the Sponsors) flocked to the Fritz-Walter Stadion in Kaiserslautern for Group F’s second match. Unfortunately, being just 13 even after months of pestering my parents I was unable to fly to Germany, let alone to see my nation compete in only our second World Cup.

It was around 11.30 at night when the game began, A few of my mates and I went to a public screening in the City Centre to find another 4,000 Aussie’s freezing themselves in the middle of the city.

The scene itself was set perfect for the match, all around Australia public-screenings would be shown of Australia’s first ever WC Game in 32 years. People of all ages, gender’s and (Being Australia) where standing (some sitting) religiously watching a screen. Kids from as small as 4 years-old, standing with their dad in there green and gold shirts and scarfs, Middle-Age men standing with there beers, Just the sight of all these people watching a game was truly a sight to savour.

The game started, But not-to-the fans liking after around 7 minutes of the broadcast, the screen went black for a few minutes, luckily no action was missed.

Then, during the middle of the first half, Celtic’s Shunsuke Nakamura’s intended free-kick cross sailed over Aussie ‘keeper Mark Schwarzer’ head. Protests from both the Australian players and then-coach Guus Hiddink argued that a Japanese player had been holding Schwarzer.

The Australian’s kept on going, so too the Japanese; The two sides kept on playing an attacking brand of football, and one of the most entertaining encouunters in the 2006 World Cup group stages.

Something had to give, 7 yellow-cards were given out by the Egyptian referee, And as the game got older and time to get an equaliser was going, most Aussie’s had though the game would end in a bitter 1-0 loss at the hands to Japan.

As 80 minutes approached Australia kept attacking, and were gradually keeping more percentage than Japan, as Australia had more shots were going wide Socceroo fan’s and critics alike thought that with only 10 minutes on the clock left, it would be all over and Japan to claim all Three-points.

But on the stroke of 84′ minutes, Everton midfielder Tim Cahill recieved the ball just outside the 12-yard-box, the Socceroo Number 4 shot, the Adidas ball bouncing off one upright onto the other, then for the ball to hit the back of the net! The Socceroos had their first ever World Cup goal at-the-hands of Timmy Cahill, and in the process look destined to get a memorable draw at the Fritz-Walter Stadium.

As cheers from the Aussie crowds intensefied, the cries of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie; Oi, Oi, Oi!” got even louder and more passionate from the gold section of the stands, it seemed to work as 5 minutes later, That kid Tim Cahill got another goal to give Australia the lead, And to make the Socceroos sit on 3-points with Brazil.

Cahill did a memorable celebration, running up to the corner-flag and using it as a boxing oppenent, then kissing the Australian Shield on his gold jersey before running into the reserves and substitutes.

As the end of the match got closer, the man who put Australia into it’s first World Cup since 1974, John Aloisi on the 90th minute banged home Australia’s third and putting Australia on top of Group F and a spot higher-than Brazil.

There was not a dry-eye of Socceroo fans at either the Fritz-Walter Stadion or at one of the Public Screenings, as roars errupted and car-horns honked ’till the early morning as Australia had done it, Possibly Aussie sports greatest moments and giving a sport considered a sport for “Poof’s, Wogs, Poms and Sheila’s” the publicity it deserved, and the boys at the World Cup becoming Australian Idol’s for June and July.

And i’m sure I am not alone as I say, That was my greatest and most-memorable things that will ever happen to me, And surely will be the thing I will cherish and say to my grandchildren, “I saw it when Tim Cahill got a double, Aloisi got the Icing-on-the Cake and Australia were Top of Group F!”

This article is a submission for the Soccerlens ‘Share Your Football Experiences’ Contest; to participate, please read the details here.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.

Written by By Kyle (AKA KyleAusGooner).

It was an awesome feeling, Waking up on Christmas Day and getting your brand-new Subbuteo set, Complete with a single-tier stand and one of those little corner pieces, then sitting in your room for the next 13 hours without any food and playing the Subbuteo set your parents got you with your mate(s) and getting flogged by him since he got one 6 months ago; But you had to wait because your parents said “You will just have to wait won’t you!” But, What was so fun and addictive about Subbuteo, Was it collecting the little plastic figures, Saving up for new stands so you had the better ‘stadium’ than the kid next door, or was it just simply a lot of fun flicking little plastic men on semi-sphere shaped bases?

The availability of Subbuteo was first ‘announced’ in the August 1946 edition of ‘The Boy’s Own Paper’, A publication at the time that included comics and sometimes football. The advert was fairly vague and didn’t have any detail about what the board-game was like, But none-the-less being typical bored kids in the late 40′s they still bought these football sets. That month the ad was in The Boy’s Own Paper; Orders started pouring in and then Adolph set about converting his proto-type idea into a deliverable product, that these kids would get instead of being ripped-off, as he was originally going to do since he never thought any one would buy them.

Then the first Subbuteo sets started to be produced, they consisted of goals made with wire and paper nets, a cellulose acetate ball, cardboard playing figures in two boring red and blue kits and bases made from buttons weighed down with buts of lead. No pitch was provided in the set instead, the purchaser was given instructions on how to make there very own playing area.
The got chalk provided and as the instructions said, they would mark out the specially made Subbuteo pitch onto a blanket (Most kiddies using Uncle Charlies old war blanket). Then those very first sets were eventually available about 6 months after the original advertisement appeared, thus creating a cult phenomenon, Subbuteo.

When Subbuteo first appeared it had a bit of a marketing rivalry with a game called ‘NewFooty’ that had been around since the 1920′s, made by by William Keeling of Liverpool; It followed similar rules to Subbuteo. As a means of differentiating his product, then Peter Adolph introduced a 3D plastic figure into the range (That was hand-painted). After a few little changes, these figure evolved by 1967 into the classic ‘heavyweight’ figure that would be used by kids world-wide (Actually, Probably only European-wide).

There were numerous other evolutions of the figure’s design, But then in 1978 the ‘Zombie’ figure was introduced to facilitate the machine painting of figures. After much negative feedback, Peter Adolph decided the zombie figure was to be replaced in 1980 by the ‘lightweight’ figure that continued until the 1990′s and present day.

But what made the game different from most other tabletop footy games (like NewFooty), Players can get hundreds of team kits and accessories. While most games feature only two teams (usually “red vs. blue” or “yellow vs. black or white”), Subbuteo has several team designs, all for real teams. While some of them could obviously be used by other teams than what they were made for, There are many unique kits, such as Sampdoria or Soviet Union, and even unpainted models. There are also many additional accessories, such as new balls and goals, special figures for free kicks and throw-ins, stands and crowds, floodlights, TV cameras, Those annoying Cops and even the crowd favourite, the beloved Football-Streaker!

But, Like all enjoyable things, some guys take it just a tad over the top and now has a ‘competitive’ world stage, where it is known by the term ‘Sports Table Football’…(Pfft they couldn’t just called it Subbuteo like the rest of us could they!) There is even a bloody world governing body, The Federation of International Sports Table Football, or as those ‘lazy’ or ‘not
really serious’ competitors call it the FISTF, and has World Championship every year that can even attract a crowd up to 200 people watching two guys with a little too much time on there hands battle it out for the coveted World Championship Title, apparently there were ‘kits’ for the guys playing and even proper advertising boards with paying businesses displaying there
logo!

But for all the guys out there who go the extra little bit for Subbuteo, At the end of the Day it is on of the most (not really) intriguing and fun games around, If Peter Adolph knew how many kids would have saved up for his ‘Hobby’ (The name he wanted to call it, Before settling for Subbeteo after some bird.. Get’s Me!) to get that new Camera-man, Throw-In piece or the funny little streaker I’m sure, He would think “There just wasting there Money!”…

But we didn’t think of it like that back then, we enjoyed playing Subbuteo and having a god old match with our friends, In fact most of us (But almost all hide it) still love to whip out the good-old Subbuteo table we got when we were 9, when no-one is looking.

If you interested check out the FISTF site.

This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Last seasons UEFA Cup winners, Sevilla will wear the same kit as last season for this year’s UEFA Champions League season. You have probably seen the shirt before unless you have been living under the sea for the last season.

The kit, manufactured by Costa Rica sponsors Joma, has a black and red faux-paint stripe going across the chest with red cuffs and a red collar on the shirt too. Personally, faux-paint stripes would look absoloutely shit on a kit (Sorry for the rhyme!) but, somehow Joma have pulled it off quite well for the Sevilla home shirt here.

Whether there will be a 888.com sponsor on the kit this season, I don’t know; last season though there was no sponsor apart from the UEFA Cup Final, if there is they might have to give half the money to Unicef like Kanoute made them do last season!

Since this kit has been out since last season, I have got used to it and now looks pretty good, But if this was brand new I don’t think I would have liked it as much.

Sevilla 06/08 home kit

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From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Scottish Premier League champions Celtic FC have both their home and away kits out for their SPL title-defense and their UEFA Champions League campaign.

The home strip celebrates the Lisbon Lions and their is a special Celtic crest with the date of the Lisbon Lions and a star around the crest, there is also a little saying at the bottom of the kit that says; “For it’s a grand old-team to play for“, Two very nice little touches by Nike. There is nothing about the kit besides that either really, the Carling sponsor still remains and all that is on the kit is the famous green and white hoops.

The away kit is a bit different and goes with a dark green colour, with no splashes just a greeny greyish collar and cuffs. The shirt is plain looking, but when I saw it being modeled by the Hoops’ lads it actually looked quite simplisticly nice. The quote and special Celtic crest is still there from the home version too.

Overall, two very nice kits for the Hoops, and both the Scottish giants, Celtic and Rangers both have great kits to go with there great success. Nike have done well making a nice home strip that pays homage to the Lisbon Lions, by keeping the kit looking pretty much the same as when the Lions wore the colours.

Celtic 07/08 Home Kit

Celtic 07/08 Away Kit

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From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Last seasons Bundesliga winners Stuttgart have new home kits for their UEFA Champions League and Bundesliga campaigns.

The home kit is pretty much the same as all Puma templated-kits this season, but the collar looks great being white and blending with the white kit. The under-arm splash design is an awesome little addition and looks very nice, well done for Puma.

Not really much to complain about, Stuttgart and EnBW have both incorporated the logo into the shirt and goes with the red Stuttgart stripe very nicely, and the thin yellow stripe goes well too, whether its part of the logo or not, It looks very nice.

Altogether the best Puma shirt that they have made for this season, goes well with the colours and the terrible colour goes nicely (Mostly because you can’t see it!) and they have included a new splash underneath the arms. Beautiful kit well done Stuttgart and Puma.

Stuttgart 07/08 Home Kit

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From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Greek side AEK Athens have their new home kit out for this season and now have Puma as kit sponsors since Adidas no longer sponsor the Greek-Capital team.

AEK secured the signature of Brazil legend Rivaldo from cross-town rivals Olympiakos, and there new home strip can be bought with Rivaldo 10 on the back through Subside Sports on the below link. The kit goes for a yellow look with some black splashes and trimmings.

Puma should have stuck with their “Arch” look instead of this design, the collar is too long with the trims on it and the side splashes n the front and back near the arm-pit look terrible, but then again Puma probably just chucked up these designs quickly since it is a Greek club.

The main sponsor is LG on the front, while underneath the lettering and numbers a Diners Club logo stand, while a Chevrolet logo is on the right sleeve and a Greek flag is on the other sleeve.

It is a pretty bad kit and AEK really do deserve a better kit.

AEK Athens 07/08 Home Kit

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From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Spanish team Valencia have a new home strip out for this campaign, and Nike have tried to go retro and it looks absoloutely terrible in my opinion.

The decision to go with the orange splashes on the top of the shoulders, on the bottom of the shirt and the orange line on the collar is a terrible idea. The kit looks way to boxy like and the collar is a terrible decision, not only does it look bad but collars are extremely uncomfortable, I thought that they were against poor-players not being comfortable.

The orange side splashes on the shoulders should have looked a lot better without the orange striped collar, it just looks way to busy around the top area of the shirt.

A bit of a disappointment for Nike as they produce great kits, Thank god this kit is only for one campaign though, and poor Valencia will get new kits. It is a pity there is a collar with a big orange stripe, But it is not one of the best European strips, let alone La Liga strips this season.

Buy the Valencia 07/08 Home Kit

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From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Defending Serie A Champions Inter Milan have their new Nike manufactured kit out now.

The shirt is blue and black stripes, With a new looking Inter crest but that Valencia collar is there, but doesn’t look as bad on the Inter kit namely because of the black and blue colours.

The kit is a nice looking one for Inter, like all Nike strips for the past two years it goes with a retro-classic look. It has a nice contrast between the blue, black and white sponsor logos, Well done Nike and well done Inter for selecting this strip.

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From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Partizan Belgrade’s new home strip is now out and is an alright looking strip, the stripes are not too thick nor weak thin looking ones.

The VW logo is too large and circle sponsor logos are certainly not the best looking on a football kit but it is Volkswagen and they do and only will ever have that logo. The Kappa logo is in a “creative” spot by being placed near the nice neat looking collar, but maybe should be a bit lower.

The only real criticism is the big Kappa logos on the shoulders as seen in the Bremen and Feyenoord strips, it clearly looks way too over the top and looks like it should have been on a riders back during the Tour De France. I suppose sponsors are really after big eye-grabbing logos in weird places to sell you the shirt.

Overall, Partizan Belgrade have a very nice looking kit for 07/08 and the logos do not look half bad, except the Kappa huge logos on the shoulders. The collar is very neat and plain looking but perhaps keeps the shirt looking plain as well. A great kit for a not too great side and should look nice in the Champions League.

Buy the Partizan Belgrade 07/08 Home Kit

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From Soccerlens.com - Football News