With the U20 Women’s World Cup added to their list of titles, Germany may now rival Spain for the title of most successful summer in football.  The Spanish side, which won the men’s World Cup and appeared in the U19 European Championship Final (before losing to France), has received widespread attention for their countries sporting success this summer.  And while Germany may lack the tennis success of Rafael Nadal, the Tour de France titles of Alberto Contador, the wins of Fernando Alonso at the German Formula One Grand Prix and victories of Jorge Lorenzo at the MotoGP to challenge for the “Sports Superpower” title- they may be able to challenge for the “Football Superpower” trophy.

The German women’s team, playing at home, beat a tough Nigerian team 2-0 today to win the Women’s World Cup for the second time in its nations history (previous win was in 2004).  As hosts, they managed an impressive 100% winning record.  But, despite FIFA’s attempt to ignore sweep controversial moments under the rug, Germany’s tournament wasn’t completely unblemished as their game against France was marred by an unjust disallowed goal ruling. But other than that, the Germans can claim a dominant performance from start to finish at this tournament- in their six games, they scored over 20 goals and only conceded five. Alexandra Popp’s Golden Ball win was hardly a surprise given that half of Germany’s goals had come from the nineteen year old’s foot (and I believe only 1 of those was a penalty).

The second place winners, Nigeria, were also impressive – and their presence in the final was a first for any African team in a Women’s World Cup.    On that achievement and the future of the team, Nigeria’s coach, Ndem Egan had this to say:

“We will now be a role model in Africa for women’s football.  We are very happy with the performance of our team. There are some great prospects among them and some will graduate to the senior women’s team. Undoubtedly they have learned from their experience in Chile two years ago.”

Congrats to both Germany and Nigeria as well as South Korea who beat Colombia 1-0 to win 3rd place (highlights below)!

AWARDS

Adidas Golden Ball: Alexandra Popp (GER)
Adidas Silver Ball: Ji So Yun (KOR)
Adidas Bronze Ball: Kim Kulig (GER)
Adidas Golden Shoe: Alexandra Popp (GER)
Adidas Silver Shoe: Ji So Yun (KOR)
Adidas Bronze Shoe: Sydney Leroux (USA)
Adidas Golden Glove: Bianca Henninger (USA)
FIFA Fair Play award: Korea Republic

View full post on World Cup Soccer – South Africa 2010

The Ford Ranger prototypes have been spied on while a couple of them were out on a hot weather testing exercise in Death Valley. We have got our hands on a couple of spy pictures clicked from the scene of action. From what we infer, the Ford Ranger trucks are double-cab variants and are expected to come built on a global platform called the T6.

Though camouflaged, the trucks – as per the spy images – are likely to boast of Ford’s latest EcoBoost 1.6 liter engine (direct-injection and turbocharged) tuned to 175 bhp (129 kW) and 244 Nm (180 lb-ft) of torque. It is also being speculated that Ford might be lining up 3.0 liter TDCi for the markets who have an affinity for diesel engines.

Most probably, these trucks would be gearing up as a 2012 model and could debut next year.

[via WCF]

View full post on Car Blog | Breaking Motoring News Daily

What would the successor to the Peugeot 308 hatchback look like? We haven’t had much info on the Peugeot 309, but now spy pictures have revealed some details of the new upcoming model.

Complete with the latest family grille, akin to what the 508 family model has been sporting, the new car would come christened the Peugeot 309. The model would be one among the 14 new cars that would arrive.

The Peugeot 309 is expected to be ready in the next five years’ time. Not much change in design and exterior is expected when compared with the 308. However, the 309 is likely to take off from the SR1 concept which we all got to see at the Geneva Motor Show this March.

Among the few alterations would be a jutting front bumper with LED running lights, deep grooves along the bonnet and subtle creases in the doors, says a report. We hear the car would be powered by 1.4 and 1.6-litre HDi diesel engines.

In all honesty, it doesn’t look as good as the Peugeot 508 we’ve seen a few days ago.

[via AutoExpress]

View full post on Car Blog | Breaking Motoring News Daily

Spain and France, arguably the most dominant teams in the tournament, met on Friday to determine the winner of the U19 European Championship.  Going into the final, the hosts (France) had been consistently impressive- beating the Netherlands (4-1) and Austria (5-0) in their first two matches and then Croatia 2-1 in the semifinals.  Only a draw with England in the group stage blemished their winning record.  Spain, who had failed to reach the knock-out stages of this tournament since winning it in 2007, were the only team left to have a 100% winning record.

And at the start of the match, Spain looked likely to hold on to that record for the entire tournament after Rodrigo (forward, Real Madrid) scored in the 18th minute.  Spain continued to dominate the first half – accumulating the best chances and the most possession.  But despite a plethora of opportunities, Spain weren’t able to increase their lead and allowed France to go into the 2nd half with only a single goal deficit.

And in the 2nd half, France made them pay…but only after surviving several close calls as Spain continued to dominate the opening minutes of the 2nd half.

Then, after almost conceding, France was able to equalize through goalkeeper Diallo’s (GK, Rennes) long kick forward to subsitute Tafer (forward, Lyon) who lifted the ball over the Spanish keeper.  The equalizer was arguably the turning point in the match- energizing the crowd and providing France with the momentum to in the final minutes of the match.  France’s Lacazette (forward, Lyon) scored the winning goal at the 85th minute. Despite a series of impressive performances in the tournament, Lacazette had been largely invisible in the finals game and the goal seemed to come from nowhere.  But, despite Lacazette’s impressive finishing- the hard work came from Gael Kakuta (midfield, Chelsea) whose run through the center of Spain’s defense was impossible for Alex (GK, Zaragoza) to defend.

With only a few minutes left, Spain were unable to find a second goal which had eluded them since early in the first half- leaving France to lift the trophy in the end!

The only question left is if these two countries can make it three in a row when they compete next year at the FIFA U20 World Cup.  In addition to this U19 final, these two teams also played each other in the U17 European Championship two years ago (which Spain won).  The two teams have consistently been comprised of the same players- 11 of the 22 starters in the finals match played in the U17 final two years ago.  Any bets on those players making another final appearances in the U20 tournament?

View full post on World Cup Soccer – South Africa 2010