Review [Issue 12] Looking Back: Sports in May

[Lhamster 4,081]

There have been some massive stories this month, almost certainly bigger than the ones in April!

Football (Soccer)

I guess the biggest news this month in the world of football is the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson, manager of Manchester United, is retiring after 26 years of being at the helm of the 2013 Premier League Champions. Over the last 26 years, he has won 38 trophies, including 13 league titles, two Champions League crowns, five FA Cups and four League Cups. He has been in charge for 1500 games, and has 895 wins, 338 draws and 267 defeats. His last game in charge, against West Brom, ended in an incredible 5-5 draw. Everton's David Moyes will replace Ferguson, and expect a Manager Merry go round this summer, with Jose Mourinho tipped to return the Chelsea after leaving Real Madrid, Roberto Mancini being sacked, and Wigan Manager Roberto Martinez could be going to Everton. The final Champions League spots were decided on the last day of the season, with Arsenal beating Spurs to 4thspot to enter the qualifying stage, and Chelsea securing 3rd. In the FA Cup, Wigan had a shock 1-0 win over favourites Manchester City to claim their first Major trophy in their 81 years as a club. However, they were also the 3rd team to be relegated after a 4-1 loss to Arsenal in their penultimate game of the season, and became the first team to win the FA Cup and be relegated from the top flight in the same season. They will be playing in the Europa League from the Championship next season!

Now for a quick whiz around Europe, to see who has won the domestic leagues and secured Champions League spots. In France, Paris St Germain comfortably won Ligue 1 by 12 points, and Marseille and Lyon securing the other 2 CL spots. In Portugal, it has all gone horribly wrong for Benifica, 2 weeks ago they were on for a treble, but have ended the season without a trophy after losing the Portuguese Cup to Vitoria de Guimaraes. They had already lost the league title to Porto by losing the decisive league match against them 2-1, and also losing the Europa League Final. In In Italy, Juventus secured the Serie A title, and AC Milan the final CL spot from Fiorentina, with Napoli taking 2nd place. In the Bundesliga, title matters were sewn up last month, but Bayer Leverkusen secured 3rd place for a spot in the CL next season, and Schalke 04 took 4thto enter the CL qualifying. In Spain, Barcelona took the title, and the final CL place is still up for grabs with one game left to be played. Either Valencia or Real Sociedad can clinch it, with Valencia being 2 points ahead but having a worse goal difference, so a win would be enough, but maybe not a draw.

The finals of the knock-out European competitions have been played this month, Benifica saw of Fenerbahce and Chelsea beat FC Basel to set up the final on the 15th of May. Branislav Ivanovic's injury-time header won it for Chelsea, And Rafa Benitez can leave Chelsea with his head held high after securing a European trophy and Champions League football next season. The biggest final of the season, the Champions League, was an all German affair as Bayern Munich played Borussia Dortmund at Wembley. The game was a great advert for German football, with top quality football being played at a high tempo from the start, and both keepers having to make great saves. Bayern came out attacking in the second half, after being dominated by Dortmund for the first half, and finally made the breakthrough after an hour, when Arjen Robben set up Mario Mandzukic for a simple tap in. Dortmund responded though, and Ilkay Gundogan scored a penalty within 7 minutes of going behind. Dortmund keeper Roman Weidenfeller made some more great saves, but was finally beaten by Robben in the 89th minute to cue the celebrations and end misery for Bayern, who had been in 3 finals in 4 years, and for Robben, who finally scored when it mattered.

Cricket

This month in cricket saw the culmination of the Indian Premier League, the world's richest cricket tournament. The cricket was entertaining to the last, but, as it so often is in the IPL, it was overshadowed by other news. Three players from the Rajastan Royals franchise, as well as officials of the tournament and other teams, suffered bans for spot-fixing, bringing the credibility of the tournament into disrepute. The court cases for each of the players are still ongoing.

In the actual cricket, Hyderabad pipped Bangalore to the final play-off spot (fourth place) but were knocked out in the quarter-final but the disgraced Rajastan Royals team. They, in turn, were knocked out by Mumbai in the second semi-final. Mumbai progressed from there to face Chennai in the final. It was a low-scoring affair, with a fast-paced 60 run-innings from Mumbai's Kieron Pollard the difference between the two teams to win Mumbai Indians their first IPL title.

There also were a number of lower-profile international matches this month. After a disappointing series tie in New Zealand, England thrashed the Black Caps in the return series comprehensively. Ireland almost won a historical victory against Pakistan in a ODI, New Zealand and Bangladesh finished off their series with a string of one-day matches, and the build up to the Champions Trophy is beginning in earnest.

Formula 1

There were 2 more races this month, with F1 coming to Europe, in Spain and Monaco. Fernando Alonso won his home Grand Prix, and Felipe Massa completed a good weekend for Ferrari as he finished on the podium in 3rd. Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen spilt the Ferraris by taking 2nd. Mercedes had another weekend of tyre woes, they locked out the front row in qualifying, with Nico Rosberg taking pole position and his team mate Lewis Hamilton beside him on the grid in 2nd. But they both went backwards in the race, finishing in 6th and 12th respectively. There have been complaints about the tires all season, but they grew louder from both fans and some teams after many of the cars had to do four Pit Stops in the Grand Prix.

The controversy didn't stop there, with it emerging at the Monaco Grand Prix that Pirelli, the tyre supplier had asked Mercedes to do some tyre testing after the Spanish GP. Red Bull and Ferrari believe this to break the rules, and have lodged protests. The FIA, the sport's governing body, is now launching an investigation.

The Monaco Grand Prix itself was full of action and incidents, with the first appearance of the Safety Car this season. It had to come out twice, following crashes by Massa, and then Romain Grosjean drove his Lotus into the back of Daniel Ricciardo's Toro Rosso. There was also a Red Flag, which means the race was stopped, when Marussia's Max Chilton and Williams's Pastor Maldonado collided. The resumed after half an hour of delay while the crash barriers were repaired. Another driver hitting the headlines was McLaren's Sergio Perez, who did some bold and risky overtaking manoeuvres throughout the race, but his luck ran out when he hit Kimi Raikkonen near the end and then had to retire with damage. The race was won by Mercedes' Nico Rosberg, who drove flawlessly throughout the entire weekend, had started in pole position, and lead the entire race, keeping his cool with the two safety cars and the red flag. F1 nexts heads to Canada on the 7th of June.

Rugby

This month saw the culmination of the domestic seasons in the Northern Hemisphere, the Rabodirect PRO12 Celtic League, the English Premiership, European Cups, and the Top14 (although that has yet to be finished).

The Premiership saw the expected four teams reach the semi-finals, Harlequins, Saracens, Leicester and Northampton, although in the semi finals it was definitely East Midlands pipping West London, with Northampton reaching their first Premiership final and Leicester their ninth in a row. It was an unsurprising result in a thrilling final, with Leicester comfortably defeating Northampton after a hard-fought final where Northampton captain Dylan Hartley was sent-off for swearing at a referee.

The PRO12 also had an unsurprising semi-final line-up, with the four teams which had been leading the table for a long time, the Scarlets, Glasgow, Ulster and Leinster. The two Irish sides, Ulster and Leinster, got to the final, which Leinster won comfortably.

In the French TOP14, a shock result occurred in the semi-final when Castres beat favourites Clermont Auvergne, The final, which is yet to take place, will take place between Castres and Toulon, the latter of which will be huge favourites for the final.

The reason why they are such big favourites is because of their triumph in Europe's premier club competition, the Heineken Cup. They won against the run of play against Clermont Auvergne, winning thanks to a flawless kicking display from fly-half Jonny Wilkinson and a key try in the closing stages from Delon Armitage. European's secondary club competition was won at home by Leinster, who comfortably overcame Paris' Stade Francais.

This month also saw the confirmation of squads and beginning of Summer Tours. The first Summer matches, between England and the Barbarians, ended up being a thrashing by England, despite there being a high-profile Barbarians line-up. Next month, we'll see the culmination of these tours, with European teams travelling all over the world to take out competitors next year.

Tennis

The second Grand Slam of the year, the French Open started on the 26th of May, and all the big names apart from Venus Williams got through the first round, although Rafael Nadal survived a scare against German Daniel Brands. World Number Two Andy Murray had pulled out of the competition with a back injury. One slightly light hearted bit of news from Roland Garros, is when Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky was annoyed by a line-call he received against Richard Gasquet, so he got out his phone and snapped the ball mark in the clay.

Cycling

The main event in cycling this month was the Giro d'Italia. It is only of the 3 cycling 'Grand Tours', along with the Vuelta a Espana and most famous, the Tour de France. It took place over 21 stages, and a total distance and route vary each year. The race this year was won by Italian rider Vincenzo Nibali. With British rider Mark Cavendish winning the final stage, this meant he won in the points standings, and claimed the Red Jersey. He is only the 5th rider to win the Red Jersey on all 3 of the Grand Tour. Colombia's Carlos Betancur won the best young rider's white jersey while Stefano Pirazzi of Italy won the King of the Mountains classification. The next big race is the Tour de France, which starts on the 29th of June.


~Lham~

Massive thanks to Skitee for helping with those sports which I don't follow closely.

[SilverCenturion 0]

I love sports news! (None of you will probably don't care)

[BoRn.To.Be.WiLd 29]

Nice job Lham :)

[UAA619 97]

Sir Alex.... I just hope David Moyes can do a good job.

[JamesM10 14]

Manchester United relegated next season.. 2/1 ;) :D

 

Also, love the picture from Fifa! :D

Edited June 5, 2013 by JamesM10

[Who_Boss 154]

nice.... thanks

but you could put moto GP as well :P

[Lhamster 4,081]

Yuck, motorbikes :P

[jonathanjoseph 71]

Nice read! Great job Lhamster! (oops, I meant le 3vil hamster)

[UAA619 97]

Manchester United relegated next season.. 2/1 ;) :D

 

Also, love the picture from Fifa! :D

Relegated? Now that would be too much... :D

[Who_Boss 154]

Yuck, motorbikes :P

Loooooooool

[D_I_T_C_H_2 1]

why is there no basketball, i suggest basketball next time. :rolleyes:

[skitee 555]

why is there no basketball, i suggest basketball next time. :rolleyes:

Loktinho does basketball, somewhere.... plus basketball's a useless sport anyway. :3

[UAA619 97]

 

Loktinho does basketball, somewhere.... plus basketball's a useless sport anyway. :3

For us not for him.... ;)