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subota, 28.01.2012.

U.S. women earn berth in London Olympics | Soccer

Ultimately, what matters would be that the U.S. women's team will the 2011 Olympic games. Exactly what the gamers will not soon forget is when hard they needed to try to make it happen.

The People in america reserved their method to London on Friday evening having a 3- victory over Panama And Nicaragua , within the semifinals from the CONCACAF being approved tournament, a match more suspenseful than most expected.

Hope Solo, an old Washington Huskies standout from Richland, published her 4th shutout in four tournament matches.

Solo, who needed to make two saves against Panama And Nicaragua ,, performed despite a drawn right quads that were disturbing her all week.

The U . s . States will have Canada within the final at 5 p.m. Sunday at BC Place.

Canada gained an Olympic berth by beating Mexico 3-one in the 2nd semifinal match.

The U.S. team qualified because of its fifth consecutive Olympic games Fashion Show Collections it won the gold medal in 1996, 2004 and 2008.

Tobin Heath obtained within the 16th minute to own U . s . States all of the scoring it needed, and goals by Carli Lloyd (72nd) and Alex Morgan (89th) place the match away late.

However the top-rated People in america were less crisp than once they were beating teams with a combined 31- earlier within the tournament and drawing some critique for accumulating the score.

"Whenever you play games that matter, everybody's a bit nervous. ... We gave away the ball far too frequently," U.S. coach Pia Sundhage stated.

Panama And Nicaragua , is rated No. 41 on the planet, hasn't qualified to have an Olympic games or perhaps a World Cup and it has not obtained around the U.S. team in eight matches. Las Ticas demonstrated to become scrappy competitors, though, frustrating the People in america with physical play and merely missing on two solid scoring chances within the first half within the London-or-bust match.

As the potential of an upset lingered deep Belts,Scarves & Accessories in to the other half, the underdogs acquired the rousing support from the crowd.

"We come up with a trio of games in group play," Solo stated. "You cannot play four, five, six. Its not all team will play perfectly each and every game, but we've got Belts the task done."

Within the 27th minute, Costa Rica's Carol Sanchez released a 30-yard shot that clanged from the frame in the intersection from the publish and also the crossbar.

With Solo on the floor, U.S. defender Rachel Buehler fought against off Costa Rica's Fernanda Barrantes to help keep the striker from obtaining the rebound having a clean shot in the internet.

28.01.2012. u 07:43 • 0 Komentara • Print • #

subota, 21.01.2012.

Rangers formally introduce Yu Darvish

Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish has been formally introduced by the Texas Rangers.

The 25-year-old was presented with his No. 11 jersey in a Friday news conference at Rangers Ballpark, which was broadcast live in Darvish's homeland in Japan.
Darvish says the Rangers made him feel like family when he made his first visit to Texas two weeks ago. He says their passion made him feel strongly toward the team.

Rangers general manager Jon Daniels says there haven't been many bigger off-the-field moments in team history than the signing of Darvish.
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To get the latest sports news from USA TODAY, including game results, columns and features, follow us on Twitter at @USATODAYSports.
The introduction came two days after Darvish and the Rangers agreed to a six-year contract.

21.01.2012. u 03:16 • 0 Komentara • Print • #

The Bell Tolls: Stormy skies await 49ers, Giants

At some point around 6:30 a.m. Thursday, Jim Harbaugh stepped onto his office balcony overlooking the practice fields and saw a very red sky.

This was some sort of message for the 49ers rookie coach, yet only a coincidence that the team will be outfitted for Sunday's NFC title game in scarlet .
"That means, 'Red sky at night, sailors' delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning,'" Harbaugh said. "I anticipate that we'll have some precipitation today. Some weather. That'll be a great thing for us."

Sure enough, as the 49ers practiced outdoors on Thursday, it rained.
Harbaugh saw this a good thing, maybe even a good omen.

"Admiral Bull Halsey once said, 'If you're going to fight in the North Atlantic, then you've got to prepare in the North Atlantic,'" Harbaugh added.
Never mind that the NFC title game will be played near the Pacific Ocean. Harbaugh was on a roll. And his point is well-taken.
Forecasters predict that two more weather systems will hit the Bay Area before Monday, which threatens to turn the turf at Candlestick Park into a soggy mess as the 49ers and New York Giants mud-wrestle for the right to advance to Super Bowl XLVI.
It's possible that the latter system could hit during the title game, or it might hold off until later on Sunday night.
Says Harbaugh, "We won't know until Sunday morning, when we can check the sky."
The conditions might benefit the 49ers, but not as much as they would if they were playing last weekend's opponent, the dome-homed New Orleans Saints.
The all-weather Giants know all about inclement weather and places prone to swirling winds, like The Stick. Last weekend, they won at the icebox that was Lambeau Field.
"I like playing football regardless of snow, sleet, sun, whatever," Giants defensive end Justin Tuck said from the team's complex in New Jersey.
Giants left tackle David Diehl was a bit more colorful in dismissing any concerns about the weather. Diehl told The (Newark) Star Ledger, "My mudder was a mudder. So I think I'm going to be all right."
Still, the pendulum can swing in many ways, due to the weather.
Last weekend, just before 49ers safety Donte Whitner delivered the tone-setting hit that knocked Pierre Thomas out of the game with a concussion in the first quarter, Darren Sproles slipped on the turf while making a cut after catching a pass in the flat. In the Superdome, it was probably a touchdown cut. Those cuts might be tougher to make Sunday.
Which team can control the trenches and win the running game edge will have a huge advantage. Yet in addition to the cutbacks that the runner can or cannot execute, the footing and leverage of the linemen on both sides are earmarked as crucial.
"Yeah, I think you may have to take a look at your cleats a little bit and maybe shorten your strides just a little bit," says Justin Smith, the 49ers' all-pro D-tackle. "That's more of a reaction or reflex than it is to think about."
Perhaps the conditions will slow down the Giants' ferocious pass rush. Maybe the slickness of the football will lead to more turnovers. And the weather will potentially alter strategy, with some plays in the gameplan scratched or others leaned on due to this X-factor.
Last weekend, 49ers O-coordinator Greg Roman made one of the gutsiest play-calls you'll ever see when on third-and-eight, with the game on the line, he called for quarterback Alex Smith to run a bootleg. There were huge risks. Had the Saints blown up the play, a potential game-tying field goal try by David Akers would have been more difficult.
And worse things might have also happened.
Yet Smith took off around the left end and dashed up the sideline, aided by pulling tackle Joe Staley's lead block, for a 28-yard touchdown.
Wonder if Roman would have called for that play on a muddy field.
"You try to play the game in your head all week and when you have bad weather, you just picture that field all mudded up," Roman said. "You start going through the contingencies in your mind. There's no doubt, you have to."
Roman is a big highlighter guy. Rather than devise a separate play-calling sheet of "bad weather plays," he'll mark the gameplan with the contingencies. He says that generally the offense has the advantage on a wet field.
"By the same token, though, running backs can't hit a hole or can't make a cut that they usually would, so advantage defense," he said. "It works both ways."
Then again, it just might come down to which quarterback can best throw a wet football.
The Giants, with their big-play passing attack, might have more to lose in this regard.
Yet Eli Manning hardly sounds like he's sweating it.
"I think I'm fine throwing it in the rain," Manning said. "It's not something I worry about. I've always felt the offense has an advantage throwing the ball, especially. The receivers have an advantage when the ground is wet, because they know where they're going and what they're doing. They should be able to come out of their breaks a little bit better. We shouldn't be the ones slipping. It's usually the defensive side that slips."
In any event, Mother Nature looms as an intriguing subplot for the NFC title game.
Look for the red morning sky?
"The field conditions, this and that, the tide, it really doesn't matter," Smith insists. "They are going to run the ball, they are going to play-action, that's what they do. They're not going to change who they are and what they do at this time of the season."
Other items to ponder heading into Championship Weekend:
•Trending:Road warriors. Home teams are 7-1 in this year's playoffs, and it is only fitting that the Giants are the only team to win a road game. New York has won four consecutive road playoff games. With a victory at San Francisco, Giants coach Tom Coughlin, including his stint with Jacksonville, would match Tom Landry's mark for most career postseason road victories (7). Eli Manning? The Giants quarterback is 4-1 in career road playoff games, which matches Len Dawson, Roger Staubach, Jake Delhomme, Mark Sanchez and another quarterback seeking his record fifth career road playoff win this weekend —Joe Flacco.
•Key matchup:Terrell Suggs vs. Matt Light. One of the most striking occurrences last weekend was that the Ravens didn't get a single sack against Texans rookie T.J. Yates. To have a chance at New England, it is essential that Baltimore put consistent pressure on Tom Brady— in the form of sacks, moving him off his spot and disrupting timing. That's where Suggs, who led the AFC with 14 sacks, is key. He'll line up all across the front, but will surely match up on occasion with Light, the veteran left tackle. Brady has an array of weapons, including tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, but his most valuable target to counter the troubling Baltimore blitzes might be quintessential blitz-beater Wes Welker, who led the NFL with 122 catches, typically stinging defenses with his shallow crossing routes over the middle.
•Who's hot:Hakeem Nicks. In two playoff games, the sure-handed Giants receiver has caught 13 passes for 280 yards and 4 touchdowns — including his leaping grab of a Hail Mary pass between three defenders, just before halftime last weekend at Lambeau. That undoubtedly puts Nicks on the radar for extra attention from the 49ers secondary, but just one issue facing a unit that has been susceptible to big plays. San Francisco has allowed 12 plays of 40 yards or more — including two against the Saints last weekend — and the pattern plays into the hands of New York's big-play passing attack and trio of top-shelf receivers. If Eli Manning isn't gunning for Nicks, he can also look for the clutch target that is Victor Cruz (who set the franchise's record for receiving yards in a season) and Mario Manningham. Still, the hottest pair of hands belong to Nicks.
•Pressure's on:Joe Flacco. When Ravens all-pro safety Ed Reed opined this week that his quarterback appeared rattled against the Texans, it ignited a mini firestorm. Criticize your own quarterback? It was a reflection, too, of Baltimore culture. After an October loss at Jacksonville, Terrell Suggs criticized the coaches for only calling five running plays that night for Ray Rice. Sometimes, that's how they roll. Reed also expressed questions about the strategy O-coordinator Cam Cameron supplied Flacco to work with, wondered if Ricky Williams needed more action and pointed out that the O-line needed to better protect the quarterback. Perhaps Reed caused a distraction by not keeping such sentiments behind closed doors, but you can't knock his honesty. In one sense, it came across as a wake-up message heading into the biggest mission of the season. And hey, with Tom Brady flinging from the other side, the Ravens need a big game from the strong-armed Flacco — who has sometimes sputtered, but also won road playoff games in each of the past three years. If Flacco wants to be considered an elite quarterback, now is the time to show it.
•Key adjustment:Devin McCourty. When the Patriots defense put together its most complete game of the season against Denver last weekend, McCourty primarily played safety, switched from cornerback in yet another tweak by Bill Belichick amid the challenge of building another championship defense. Sterling Moore, a safety, was moved to cornerback. As unusual as it seems for such moves at this stage of the season, it was another example of how resourceful Belichick has been to get to another title game, despite fielding a defense ranked 31st for yards allowed. The stats might be a bit skewed. Sure, New England gives up a lot of passing yards — 10 quarterbacks threw for 300 against the Patriots this season, including two who topped 400 — but the defense has played "situational" football well and produced an AFC-high 34 takeaways. Now, it'll be interesting to see if McCourty's move to center field swings another situation.
• Quick slants: Giants running back Brandon Jacobs has heard all about the big hit that hard-hitting 49ers safety Donte Whitner put on Pierre Thomas last weekend, which may have affected the outcome as Thomas fumbled away the ball and never returned after suffering a concussion on a helmet-to-helmet blow. "To get knocked out, that means they hit you on the head," Jacobs noted. "I wish like hell one of them would try to hit me in my head."…When the Patriots hit the practice field on Wednesday, 18 players were listed on the injury report, including Tom Brady, listed with a left shoulder injury. The Ravens had just one. What to make of it? Not much. Brady, who returned to practice on Thursday, is traditionally listed with one ailment or another and the high tally is seemingly Belichick's way of, well, complying with NFL rules for full disclosure…There were 54 fans ejected from Candlestick Park last weekend for unruly behavior during the NFC divisional playoff game. 49ers CEO Jed York promises that security, including undercover agents, will be heightened for the title game…San Francisco officials downplay the potential for another power outage at The Stick, given the blown transformer that disrupted the 49ers-Steelers Monday night game last month. The city says that it has spent more than $1 million in upgrades since the outage…The Ravens are 7-0 against playoff teams this season.

21.01.2012. u 03:13 • 0 Komentara • Print • #

petak, 06.01.2012.

Passing numbers could take hit in NFL playoffs

Maybe the 2010 nfl playoffs will ultimately function as the antidote for that year from the passer.

At any given time when quarterbacks for example Aaron Rodgers, Came Brees, Tom Brady and Matthew Stafford have assisted push National football league passing amounts to a different stratosphere - Brees and Brady surpassing Serta Marino’s previous record for many passing yards in one season additionally to a lot of other marks - now you ask , whether protection will get caught up throughout an occasion when tradition states they are meant to dominate.

“I think this season has tossed some people for any loop since you question if it is ever will make sense,” Atlanta Falcons gm Thomas Dimitroff stated. “Early on, all of us thought the large passing amounts had something related to the lockout, but it is not truly the situation now. A minimum of you’d prefer to think it's not. Now, could it be how a authorities are calling the helmet-to-helmet hits? Could it be the tight finishes are extremely good? One thing the protection are that bad? … Seriously, I’m intrigued to determine what goes on within the 2010 nfl playoffs because it’s likely to shape ideas how you construct your team.”

Typically, defense gets control within the 2010 nfl playoffs because officiating has a tendency to release up, specifically in areas like pass interference and defensive waiting on hold devices. The Gambling required benefit of that to decelerate the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI and also the Indiana Colts in later AFC playoff games, thumping and grinding devices in the line.

“The authorities don’t call things like that as tight since you shouldn't transform it into a ticky-tack game within the 2010 nfl playoffs,” current TV analyst and former Colonial safety Rodney Harrison stated.

Or as former Patriots cornerback Terrell Buckley stated: “The refs shouldn't be the main attraction much. It’s said to be a difficult game its not necessary some little touch call affecting the overall game.”

However , the National football league has managed to get progressively tough for defenders to get the job done intuitively. The focus on helmet-to-helmet hits, particularly by safeties against wide devices and tight finishes in the center of the area, has transformed the way in which the overall game is performed. The question now's whether which will continue.

“The trouble with the phone call may also be it’s absolutely right - the security ducks his mind and hits the receiver within the mind and my own mail to determine that,” former Polk Bay Buccaneers and Colorado Broncos safety John Lynch stated. “Nobody wants that, it isn't healthy. But 50 % of time it appears like, you watch a replay and also you observe that your opponent really was doing the work right, leading using the shoulder, not the helmet, but he still will get a 15-yard penalty. I believe you've got a large amount of confusion back there and you've got lots of men who aren’t really sure how to deal with it now.”

Which has brought as to the many gamers and coaches believe is ale devices to operate into the center of the area with increased freedom than in the past. In addition, an increase of gifted tight finishes for example New England’s Take advantage of Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham from the Saints has given their particular quarterbacks another top-line receiver to focus on.

In 2 seasons, Gronkowski has obtained 28 touchdowns (one hurrying) in 32 games. Which includes a record 17 with a tight finish this year. Gronkowski and Graham both broke the record for receiving yards in the position inside a season - Gronkowski finishing with 1,327 and Graham with 1,310 (to choose 11 touchdowns). That pair brought a revolution in the position that went hands-in-hands with the rise in passing distance.

A maximum of 14 tight finishes had a minimum of 750 yards receiving this year, such as the Washington Redskins’ Fred Davis, who skipped four games due to suspension, Jermichael Finley from the Eco-friendly Bay Packers, the Detroit Lions’ Brandon Pettigrew and Gronkowski’s teammate Aaron Hernandez, who had 910 yards (that’s 2,237 yards tossed to tight finishes on a single team).

It ought to be no real surprise the three quarterbacks who capped 5,000 yards this year (New Orleans’ Brees, New England’s Brady and Detroit’s Stafford) each had a minumum of one of individuals tight finishes. Rodgers had Finley, a man that has the physical skill to place up amounts like Gronkowski and Graham.

Within the previous three seasons combined, only 20 tight finishes arrived at 750 yards.

“I think you’re certainly seeing more utilization of that position, an awareness of methods to throw it in to the middle and just how to make use of body angles,” New Orleans coach Sean Payton stated. “It was once that should you be tossing lower the seam and also the defender is at a particular position, which was considered good coverage. We’ve discovered it is not truly the situation any longer.”

As Brees stated: “You’ve always had the truly sports men, whether they’re former basketball gamers like Antonio [Gates] and Tony Gonzalez or simply great sports athletes, period. I simply think you’re seeing much more of them due to how important it's to fight the center.”

Attacking the center of the area includes a huge effect on how other gamers are defended, too. If safeties need to be more conscious of the center of the area, it’s harder to provide help around the outdoors when wide devices run deep or any other aggressive designs.

The question remains about how exactly the postseason could change all that when the authorities change how they ensure calls.

“I think they'll refer to it as exactly the same way,” Payton stated, succinctly. Obviously, any coach having a passing game like new Orleans will state that.

For Dimitroff, now you ask , really a residual problem.

“Are we normal again or shall we be seeing an evolution?” Dimitroff stated. “I have no idea yet and the reply is vital.”

06.01.2012. u 09:15 • 0 Komentara • Print • #

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