Sunday, July 5, 2009

6 July 2006 - Sometimes, A Bright Start Is Just A Flash In The Pan

On 6 July 2006, Rangers beat defending Irish Premier League champions Linfield FC by the score of 2-0 in a preseason friendly at Linfield's home ground of Windsor Park in Belfast.

The match was Rangers' first under new manager Paul Le Guen. A former star defender at Stade Brest, Nantes Atlantique, and PSG, he had previously managed Stade Rennais from 1998 to 2001 and had most recently spent three years at Lyon, from 2002 to 2005, where he led them to the Ligue 1 title each season. He resigned from Lyon on 9 May 2005 and spent the 2005-06 season out of football, despite offers from Benfica and Lazio.

Rangers tapped Le Guen in March 2006 to replace manager Alex McLeish for the 2006-07 season. Despite the win over Linfield and unabashed optimism from club chairman David Murray, who claimed Le Guen would bring a "massive moonbeam of success" to the Glasgow club, Le Guen's tenure was troubled from the beginning. Rangers earned only 15 points from their first 10 matches, including a home loss to Inverness CT, making it the worst debut for an Old Firm manager in almost 30 years.

Le Guen's situation worsened in November, when Rangers were eliminated from the Scottish Cup by First Division side St. Johnstone. It was the first time Rangers had been knocked out of a league tournament at home by a lower division side.

On 4 January 2007, with Rangers second in the table, but 17 points behind rivals Celtic, the club announced that Le Guen had resigned. He remains Rangers' shortest-serving manager and the only one to leave the club before completing a full season at the helm.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

5 July 1934 - The Black Panthers Of Calcutta

On 5 July 1934, Mohammedan Sporting Club clinched the Calcutta Football League title, the first of five consecutive titles for the club.

The club, nicknamed the Black Panthers, was established in 1891 as Jubilee Club, and was known briefly as Crescent Club and Hamidia Club before settling on the name Mohammedan Sporting. They played in the CFL lower divisions until they were promoted to the premier division for the 1934 season. That year, Mohammedan Sporting edged Dalhousie Club by three points to become the first Indian club to win the premier division of the CFL.

Currently, the CFL is run by the Indian Football Association and consists of 157 teams in seven divisions. The league is based primarily in the city of Kolkata and is separate from the nationwide I-League, whch is run by the All India Football Federation. Teams can compete in both leagues, with Mohammedan Sporting playing at present in the premier division of the CFL and in the Second Division of the I-League (having been relegated from the First Division at the end of the 2008-09 season).

Mohammedan Sporting won their last CFL title - their 11th - in 1981. Since then, the title has gone to either the East Bengal Club (31 titles) or current holders Mohun Bagan (26 titles).

Friday, July 3, 2009

4 July 2004 - Third Time's The Charm

On 4 July 2004, Greece won its first (and to date, only) major tournament, defeating Portugal 1-0 in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final before a crowd of 62,685 at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon.

Going into the tournament, the Greeks were significant underdogs, with most oddsmakers placing them somewhere between 80-1 and 150-1 to win.

They started off in good form, however, beating hosts Portugal 2-1 in the tournament's opening match. Portugal won their next two matches to top the group, while Greece finished in the group's second position after drawing 1-1 with Spain and losing to Russia, 2-1.

In the knockout stages, Greece regained its winning form, first upsetting Euro 2000 winners France by the score of 1-0, then beating the Czech Republic 1-0 with a goal in the dying seconds of the first extra time period. Portugal, meanwhile, advanced to the Final with a win over England on penalties, 2-2 (6-5), and a 2-0 defeat of the Netherlands.

In the Final, Portugal had the majority of possession and had four times as many shots as the Greeks, but were unable to penetrate the defense. Midfielder Angelos Charisteas scored the only goal of the match in the 57th minute, with a header against the run of play, sealing Greece's first major honors.

The Greeks had qualified for only two other major tournaments in their history, the 1980 EUFA European Championships and the 1994 World Cup.