Manchester United won the title last season with surprising ease, as City failed to get out of second gear and Chelsea imploded as they have every season recently. However since the finish of the season we have seen the shock departure of Sir Alex Ferguson from the United hot seat, Joe Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge and the sacking of Roberto Mancini at Eastlands, all of which mean things will be very different next season. So what does this mean for those football betting fans gambling on the winners of next season’s title?

Well, perhaps surprisingly, the changes at Old Trafford have not seen United lose their position as favorites with the bookmakers – although to be fair there is little between the odds for them and City at many sports betting sites. Ferguson’s replacement, David Moyes, is a fine manager, but he does not have the experience of trophy winning at the top level that either Mourinho or Manuel Pellegrino – who is expected to be the new Manchester City manager – have. United’s defense of their title would seem to hinge on how quickly he finds his feet at the club, and the uncertainty over this and other issues may make some football fans prefer to hold off on their bets and play at an online casino for the moment.

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Throw in maximum jackpots of $8000 and you have a great way of getting a fun fix of football and betting on your phone, from one of the mobilecasino.mobi sites that feature the game.

Brazil face England at Wembley in February. Ronadinho has been selected for the squad.

This means that Ronaldinho is back, the former Barcelona star now play in Atletico Mineiro is one of six players from the Brazilian league that is selected for the squad against England.

The match is the part of the FA’s 150th anniversary and played February 6.

Here Brazil’s squad for the England game:
Julio Cesar (QPR), Diego Alves (Valencia), Daniel Alves, Adriano (both Barcelona), Luiz (Chelsea), Dante (Bayern Munich), Leandro Castan (Roma), Miranda, Filipe Luis (both Atletico Madrid), Ramires (Chelsea), Arouca (Santos), Paulinho (Corinthians), Hernanes (Lazio), Oscar (Chelsea), Ronaldinho (Atletico Mineiro), Moura (PSG), Hulk (Zenit St Petersburg), Neymar (Santos), Fred (Fluminense) , Luis Fabiano (Sao Paulo).

Sometimes you have just set back and dream on how it would be to watch players like George Best. He certainly would have made it to my soccer version of Fields of Dream. One thing is for sure, players like George Best, Gazza, and Cantona are a dying breed.

George Best Legend

Here is Zlatan Ibrahimovic amazing goal against England tonight. The Swedish striker is just magician it’s simply as that.

We are seven games into the league season and the top half of the Premier League is starting to get a fairly familiar look, with Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal and Tottenham all among the table’s top seven places. The queston who will win the premier league? Is still an open one. Among these big clubs, however Everton have burst into the third place, and close behind them, West Bromwich Albion at fourth place.

Most of the talk so far has centered on Everton’s season opening, but West Bromwich is up there, on the same points as Everton.

A common opinion about West Brom has been that they were too good for the Championship, but not good enough for the Premier League. In the last 13 seasons, the club has moved up and down seven times, and gone to the playoffs in two more. Now they play for the third consecutive season in the Premier League.

What is a realistic league position for West Brom? That they would finish at one of the five top spots is probably out of the question, perhaps one of the places between 6-8. It would then mean that West Brom next season could play European Football. Imagine Champions League betting between West Brom and Real Madrid, what would be the odds on that game?
The main reason for the success of West Brom in short, is that is a well-run English club, run by a long-term perspective in mind, without incurring additional costs beyond the club regardless of the results could handle.

West Brom have been defensively more solid this season than last, but also has more offensive options, with players like Shane Long, Peter Odemwingie and Romelu Lukaku available.
The contrast with Aston Villa, one of West Brake main rivals in football in the Midlands, is clear. For while West Brom are on the steady rise, Aston Villa tried spending to catch up with other Champions League rivals, but failed, and the savings package as Randy Lerner then forced the club has led to a greatly weakened squad. Aston Villa won the European Cup in 1982, and has tried to regain a corresponding status more or less ever since.

Status does not transform in a day or a season, it’s a longer process than that, and Aston Villa remains the biggest club in the region. They have the biggest stadium, most fans and a more storied history. But football is played in the present and on the football field, West Brom will be the best club in the Midlands for the foreseeable future.

Didier Drogba took the Ivory Coast to African Cup of Nations.

Then chaos in the Ivory Coast – Senegal started out in the stands, the qualifying match had to be interrupted after Senegalese fans threw chairs, stones and bottles at the players.

Ivory Coast was about to qualify for the African Cup of Nations next year. But the celebration came to a halt.

With 15 minutes remaining in the qualifying match against Senegal, Didier Drogba’s scored the second goal on a penalty.

Ivory Coast had the match  at 2-0 and 6-2 overall. That’s when the unrest broke out at the Leopold Sedar Senghor Stadium. Several people where hit by projectile thrown in, Senegalese fans began to set fire to the stands and according to AFP throwing bottles, stones and chairs against the players.

Around 300 supporters from Ivory Coast was evacuated from the stands and gathered on the field for their safety. Police used tear gas to calm the chaos, but after 40 minutes it was decided that the match would be stopped. According to Senegal’s official news agency, it will not be resumed.

A match delegate reportedly hit by a projectile, but no damage should have been reported.

It’s interesting to see how the clubs react to these kind of situations, it’s easy to forget the players are million dollar investments for the clubs. Just remember the the shooting incident with the Togolese players in the last African Championship.

Brothers Yaya and Kolo Toure was both on the field when the incident took place. Both escaped injury in chaos, says Manchester City in a statement on its website.