Arsenal striker Robbin Van Persie score 30th EPL goals and close on Premier league Golden boot and a EPL record of 31 goal per season by Shearer and Ronaldo

Arsenal FC failed to take a big step toward Champions league qualification after forced to a 3-3 draw with Norwich City. The gunners are currently two points ahead of Tottenham and Newcastle with the two having a game at hand. Meaning Arsenal can easily surrender third position, and force to fight for fourth position, which is a risk position this year.

With Chelsea hopes for Champions league qualification being dented after 2-0 defeat by Newcastle, The blue could still participate in Champions league if they win the UEFA trophy and force fourth team to drop to Europa league.

Robbin Van Persie close on Premier league top scorer record in a season

Robin Van Persie is just one goal shot to reach Premier league top scorer record achieved by Alan Shearer and Cristiano Ronaldo of 31 goals in 38 games season. Being four goals ahead of Wayne Rooney (26), Van Persie has put himself in better position to win Premier League Golden Boot as the EPL top scorer. So far the striker has won FWA award and PFA award as best player of the year in those categories.

Arsenal vs Norwich City match

Arsenal vs Norwich City goals summary 3-3

Yossi Benayoun 2'

Wesley Hoolahan 12'

Grant Holt 27'

Robin Van Persie 72'

Robin Van Persie 80'

Steve Morison 85'

Arsenal vs Norwich City all goals highlights

szólj hozzá: Highlights [HD]

Chelsea's Fernando Torres bang hat-trick against QPR but stay 6th in Premier league log

Fernando Torres successes in Champions league continues in Barclays Premier League with his first hat-trick for Chelsea in 6-1 victory over Queens Park Rangers and add premier league hat-tricks tally to 19. The hat-trick is his fourth in Premier league.

The £50m striker scores his first hat-trick since Sep 2009 and he promises many more. "My last hat-trick was a long time ago but hopefully it will be the first of many" Torres said. His manager well satisfied with his performance. "I was always pleased with his contribution and he was always working hard for the team, putting the assists in". Di Matteo commented.

The UEFA championship and FA Cup finalist still sixth in the premier league log but close the gap with Newcastle to one point. The blues benefited from retuning back to traditional Chelsea game and performing better under Di Mateo who has only lost once and drew three of 16 games. Next trip they will face Liverpool in FA cup final before tough fight for fourth position against Newcastle.

UEFA Champions’ league final  

Chelsea FC also rely on players’ rotation in these important fixtures to avoid players’ exhaustion while protecting important players for Champions league final with Bayern Munich in Allianz Arena in May 19. The two clubs met on 2004-2005 champions’ league quarter final were Chelsea under Jose Mourinho supervision won 6-5 on aggregate after Chelsea 4-2 win on first leg and Bayern won 3-2 on second leg.

Chelsea FC vs Queens Park Rangers goals highlights  

Daniel Sturridge (1') 1-0 

John Terry (13') 2-0 

Fernando Torres (19') 3-0 

Fernando Torres (25') 4-0 

Fernando Torres (64') 5-0 

Florent Malouda (80') 6-0 

Djibril Cissé (84') 6-1 

Chelsea FC vs Queens Park Rangers video highlights of all goals szólj hozzá: g=6-18;[Matchhighlight.com]HL

Raul Gonzalez stretch his UEFA competition goals record to 76 after brace vs Athletic Bilbao

Former Real Madrid and Spain national team striker Raul Gonzalez scored a brace vs Athletico Bilbao to extend his goal tally in European club competitions to 76, 6 goals more than Filippo Inzaghi, the AC Milan poacher. 

Raul Gonzalez 76 goals summary

Champions league 71

Real Madrid 66

Schalke 04 FC 5

EUSA Cup or Intercontinental Cup

Real Madrid 1

UEFA Super Cup

Real Madrid 1

UEFA Europa League

Schalke 04 FC 3

Recently messi scored 19th goal in European league knock-out stage breaking record formerly set by Raul, but after Raul double against Athletic Bilbao, he set new record and raise the bar to 20 goals. Surely Messi having more time in football will break the record again.

Raul has played for Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid CF and FC Schalke 04 in his carrier. His success so far are linked to Real Madrid were he won several award in European competitions.

UEFA Champions League: Trophy winner 1998, 2000, 2002

UEFA Champions League: Top scorer leading scorer 1999/2000, 2000/01

UEFA Super Cup: Trophy winner 2002

UEFA Club Forward of the Year: 2000, 2001, 2002.

AC Milan held defending champions Barcelona at San Siro, keeping Messi waiting for his 50th champions league goal.

AC Milan held Barcelona 0-0 in Champions league first leg quarter final.Alexis Sanchez penalty claim was turned down by the referee and Lionel Messi goal dissalowed for offside. AC Milan clear chances were squandered by Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The San Siro club playing style proved to be tough for Barcelona as they managed to stop Barcelona from scoring.

Messi taking free-kick during the game: Source Barcelona FC website

During the match, AC Milan has tough task stopping Lionel Messi from scoring a 55th goal this season or 13th in this Champions league campaign and reaching 50 goal mark in UEFA champions league competition, which they accomplished. AC Milan did not only prevent goals but only allowed 3 shots on target from highly rated UEFA champions as they also make 3 shots on target.

AC Milan vs Barcelona in group H and managed to force 2-2 draw and then defeated 3-2 in second matches.  Barcelona vs Inter Milan in San Siro in 2010 ended 3-1 and the second leg 1-0 as Inter Milan progress to final and beat Bayern Munich to lift the title.

Football records

AC Milan have never lost home quarter final in Champions league.

Barcelona has managed to score in all champions league games since November 2009. 

Massimiliano Allegri, Milan coach satisfied by the results and confident he will get the results they needed during the second leg at the Camp Nou: "We played better football after the restart, but in the first half we created several clear chances and despite not exploiting them, we gained in self confidence after such a performance. I think that the final result is fair, now we know we can get the qualification in Barcelona." 

AC Milan vs Barcelona FC video highlight

szólj hozzá: AC Milan 0-0 Barcelona

Bayern Munich vs Marseille

In another champions league  quarter final game, Bayern Munich beat Marseille by 2-0 and made it tough for Marseille to come back in away second leg. Mario Gomez and Arjen Robben goals mean Marseille have to score 3 goals in Allianz Arena and stopped in form attacking striker at Bayern Munich to qualify to the next round.

All Champions league first leg quarter final

Benfica vs Chelsea 0-1

Apoel Nicosia vs Real Madrid 0-3

AC Milan vs Barcelona 0-0

Marseille vs Bayern Munich 0-2

Marseille vs Bayern Munich video highlight of all goals

szólj hozzá: Marseille 0-2 Bayern GOALS

Lionel Messi won FIFA Ballon d'Or award and FiFPro XI and Neymar clitch FIFA Puskás Award for 2011-2012.

Lionel Messi won his third consecutive FIFA Ballon d'Or award after beating Cristiano Ronaldo and Xavi. So far he has won every title and some of them twice but the world cup still a tough one despite the possibilities of playing two more world cups. Individually he performed well, but also get a push fantastic top player like Inesta and second run-up Xavi. Club achievement played a major role and made it easy for him to beat Cristiano Ronaldo. Spanish Liga title, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. Messi has become the second player after Michel Platini to have won the Ballon D'Or awards in three consecutive years.

Barcelona star Lionel Messi won his third consecutive FIFA Ballon-d'Or award and singer Shakira

FiFPro XI only come from three European teams, Barcelona - 5, Real Madrid 4, and Man Utd – 2 and six of them from Spain national team.

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Dani Alves (Barcelona), Gerard Piqué (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester Utd), Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Xavi (Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Wayne Rooney (Manchester Utd).

Other awards
FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year -- Homare Sawa (Japan National team)
FIFA Men’s Football Coach of the Year -- Pep Guardiola (Barcelona)
FIFA Women’s Football Coach of the Year -- Norio Sasaki (Japan women’s national team)
FIFA Presidential Award -- Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United)
FIFA Fair Play Award -- Japan FA
FIFA Puskás Award for the best goal– Neymar (Santos)

Theo Walcot score as Arsenal defeat Udinese in UEFA champions league play off

Arsenal have defeated udinese in UEFA champions league play off, thanks to Theo Walcot 4 minute goal. The Gunners have played their first game since announcement of Cesc Fabregas transfer to Barcelona. It was another unimpressive performance by Arsene Wenger's squad after 0-0 draw with Newcastle on premier league first match which was masked by Gervinho receive red card.

style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); width: 30px;"> 1-0 style="font-weight: bold; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); width: 165px;">Udinese
style="text-align: center; width: 30px;">1-0
style="font-weight: bold; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); width: 163px;">Twente Enschede

style="text-align: center; width: 30px;">1-1
style="text-align: center; width: 30px;">1-2

style="font-weight: bold; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); width: 28px;">FT


style="text-align: center; width: 30px;">2-1

style="font-weight: bold; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); width: 28px;">FT style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold; background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); width: 30px;">1-3

UEFA Champions league play offs results
FT	Arsenal
4'	Theo Walcot
FT	2-2	Benfica
6'	Luuk de Jong	1-0
21'		Oscar Rene Cardozo
35'		Manuel Nolito
80'	Bryan Ruiz	2-2
Lyon	3-1	FK Rubin Kazan
3'		0-1	Vladimir Dyadyun
10'	Bafetimbi Gomis	1-1
40'	Solomon Kverkvelia (og)
71'	Jimmy Briand	3-1
FC Copenhagen	Plzen
52"		0-1	Solvi Ottesen og)
59'		0-2	Vaclav Pilar
69'	Solvi Ottesen	1-2
79'		1-3	Martin Fillo
FT	BATE Borisov	1-1	SK Sturm Graz
12'		0-1	Manuel Weber
59'	Marko Simic	1-1

FIFA World Cup qualification draws for 2014 in Brazil

The FIFA 2014 World Cup has been scheduled to feature 32 national teams from FIFA six continental confederations. Only the host, The 5 times world cup champions, Brazil will be allowed to participate in world cup finals without competing in qualification draw.. Spain, World cup and European Champions will join other 30 national teams in competing for their place in World cup finals.
The preliminary draw of the 2014 FIFA World Cup draw was made on 30 July 2011 at the Marina da Glória in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 32 world cup place distribution
1. Europe (UEFA): 13 places
2. Africa (CAF): 5 places
3. Asia (AFC): 4 or 5 places
4. South America (CONMEBOL) 4 or 5 places (Brazil host)
5. North, Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 3 or 4 places
6. Oceania (OFC): 0 or 1 place

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification for European zone-UEFA
The road to 2014 world cup for European zone teams will kick off on August 2012 after the Euro 2012. 53 national teams will compete for 13 allocated places for this zone. 9 group winners will automatically enter the world cup finals and eight best runners-up will face play-off for the remaining 4 places.

France recent poor performance pushed them to 15 in FIFA World Rankings world wide and have been drawn with World cup champions, Spain. In the last world cup play-off, France won a controversial play-off win over Ireland to qualify for the 2010 World cup inals in South Africa. France coach Laurent Blanc speaking to French FA's website, he said "At least we won't receive the tag of favourites with the world champions and European champions in our group. It's extremely exciting to compete with the best. It's through such matches that we can improve.''
''It'd be a lie to say that we're in an easy group. But we will focus on our task and France will take its chances as usual.
''Spain will definitely be our toughest opponent in the group. But I have confidence in our team and the goal will be to advance in first place.''

Updated FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking top ten ranking Jul 2011: World, CAF and UEFA

New FIFA Cocacola ranking countries soccer rankings have been released for Jul 2011. Previous FIFA ranking was released on Jun 29th 2011. The top three is unchanged still dominated by Spain, Nertheland and Germany, despite both three lossing more than 100 points. The two world cup finalist still lead the ranking. One change in top ten contries, as Uruguay move to top 10, Mexico drop to 20th position from 9th. Uruguay having drop 185 point in previous ranking they have gain 247 points and move to 5th from 18th position after winning the 15th Copa America cup, this being their best ever position. 88 matches taken into account most from Copa America, which saw most of Copa America participant move places above. The next FIFA cocacola ranking will be on 24th Aug 2011.

FIFA COCACOLA WORLD RANKING JUL 2011
No	Country	Points	Position change		Points difference
1	Spain	1588	0		-283
2	Netherlands	1542	0		-119
3	Germany	1305	0		-112
4	Brazil	1202	1		72
5	Uruguay	1156	13		247
6	England	1146	-2		0
7	Portugal	1076	0		30
8	Italy	1059	-2		0
9	Croatia	1033	-1		0
10	Argentina	1013	0		34

FIFA RANKING FOR UEFA - EUROPE NATIONAL TEAMS
Among top ten countries in FIFA cocacola ranking world wide, Seven teams are from UEFA countries, three team that add the list of top ten UEFA countries according to FIFA ranking are Norway, Greece and France and there have been very little movement in UEFA TOP 10.

FIFA COCACOLA RANKING FOR UEFA COUNTRIES JUL 2011
UEFA Ranking	World Ranking	Country	Points	Position change		Points difference
1	1	Spain	1588	0		-283
2	2	Netherlands	1542	0		-119
3	3	Germany	1305	0		-112
6	4	England	1146	-2		0
7	5	Portugal	1076	0		30
8	6	Italy	1059	-2		0
9	7	Croatia	1033	-1		0
12	8	Norway	972	-1		0
13	9	Greece	959	-1		0
15	10	France	920	0		0

FIFA COCACOLA RANKING FOR CAF-AFRICA NATIONAL TEAMS
Côte d'Ivoire leads the CAF - Africa countries, but 14th in FIFA world ranking. Top ten FIFA cocacola - CAF countries ranking is unchanged.

FIFA COCACOLA RANKING FOR CAF-AFRICA COUNTRIES
CAF ranking	World ranking	Country	Points	Position change		Points difference
14	1	Côte d'Ivoire	922	0		0
34	2	Egypt	735	0		8
36	3	Ghana	696	-3		-39
39	4	Burkina Faso	661	-2		0
43	5	Nigeria	635	-2		0
46	6	Senegal	619	-3		0
49	7	South Africa	597	-2		0
50	8	Cameroon	595	-2		0
52	9	Algeria	575	-1		0
55	10	Tunisia	553	2		26