Movie Review - 30 Days of Night

Quotes from critics on the internet and newspapers mostly agreed on one thing about this movie; “A new form of vampires that move like never seen before”
Movies like “Underworld” and the “Blade” trilogy modernized the theme of vampire movies.
30 Days of Night promises to revitalize the savage ways of these ancient monsters.

"I'll run to fight another day!"

Story
The setting of 30 Days of Night (30) can be said to be similar to most vampire/zombie movies. Helpless people trapped in towns/countries struggling against the more powerful adversaries. However, (30) differentiates itself through the white snowish background of the northernmost are of America, with an entire month of sunless days, providing lots of potential for pure graphic scenes.

Eben Oleson (Josh Harnett) is a responsible Sheriff who takes good care of the town’s residents. There’s an unspoken problem with his wife, Stella Oleson (Melissa George), who is trying to get to the airport and leave the country before the first of 30 nights starts. Unfortunately her car is damaged in an accident and she calls Eben for help. She tries to persuade Eben by saying she promises to listen to him as he drives her there. Eben is disappointed by the lame excuse and asks his colleague Billy Kitka (Manu Bennett) to help her instead.



Stella wasn’t able to make it on time and she bumps into Eben in the diner where they meet a stranger who tries to threaten the owner and gets escorted by Eben to the jail cell instead. The stranger soon foretells ‘they are coming’ and advises Eben and his family to hide, though it would be a fruitless attempt. Just as Eben probes the stranger to reveal more, the power goes off and Eben goes to the power station where he bumps upon the first of many gruesome discoveries…………



Characters / Acting

Heartthrob Josh Harnett seldom acts as the hero in the shows he has starred in, even when he is the main character in most of them. This makes it hard to distinguish himself as a leading actor. However as Sheriff Eben, his constant and mostly solo efforts to protect the town residents from being killed really showed off the emotional and heroic side of his acting.Melissa George’s acting, on the other hand, was not very convincing. The only part I could felt she and Josh were lovers came only at the last scene..



Finally, its time to talk about the vampires. Lets just start by saying that these monstrous creatures epitomize the words eerie and evil combined together. Normally, one or more vampires in movies will have a soft side. In (30), they just want to drink blood and eat flesh, acting like beasts to fill their hunger. Their appearances are distorted to depict their evilness with razor shark-like teeth to boot.
Sticking together as a squadron and acting on the orders of their leader , those humans who do not act fast enough, feel like helpless prey against a scheming and ruthless predator.



Summary

In all, (30) actually makes you scared of the vampires. Unlike in other similar themed movies where you wished the monsters will appear and kill more people to earn back the ticket money, it was almost unbearable sometimes to see the way the residents getting carved apart heartlessly. 30 Days of Night has shown how vampires should be portrayed as, Pure Evil.

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Sammi Cheng Show Mi Singapore Concert 2007

Since Sammi Cheng announced she will take a break from showbiz around 2 years ago, the media have been relentless with their assaults on her. Baseless rumors such as cancer, depression appeared, striving to condemn her into deeper darkness.

But determined as ever, Sammi made her comeback with 8 fabulous concerts at the HongKong Coliseum in May 2007, which resulted in even the media declaring that they were impressed by her energy and style of singing.

When I got news that she would be continuing her tour with a concert in Singapore, I knew I had to experience for myself the re-born Sammi Cheng.

The opening song was a slow song “唯独你是不可取替”,which deviated from her previous concerts, which usually started with fast paced songs. But it was even better as Sammi appeared in a wig which covered her eyes and angel wings at the back, making the audience filled with anticipation. When she threw the wig high up into the air during a song break, it made the stadium rocked literally with screams and applause.

She continued with songs, mostly in Cantonese, which were a relief since they were her forte. I was exhilarated to hear “唉声叹气”as it was one of my favourite songs. (However it was a shame when I realized the costume and performance was not as stunning as the on i saw from the hongkong concert dvd later on). New songs like “爱情万岁”and “Mi” were performed as well.


Sammi then confessed to the audience the ups and downs of her life over the years she has been away. It was the man she respect most, her father, who told her that she can rest for as long as she liked. When he suffered a stroke during that time, she also realized that life can change so fast and relentlessly. The media’s unfair treatment of her has made her stronger, training her body by jogging as long as 2 hours per day. She states the sweat that comes out is not salty at all, but sweet as success. After the success of her Hong Kong concerts, she finally knows that her courage has come back, all her efforts has paid off when she hears the applause ringing in her ears.


Singapore’s own star; Sun Yanzi appeared as her guest star and they sang “绿光”which brought the crowd standing with their vibrancy. Sammi also amused the crowd with her usual humorous self, making fun of Yanzi’s ‘sugercane’ bodysize.
When Yanzi sang solo with Sammi taking a break, it was obvious the crowd just want Sammi back singing instead, as there was just not as much atmosphere.



When Sammi came back finally, she brought the tempo up to the highest level with ‘星秀传说/独家试唱/非男非女/小心女人/发热发亮/莹光粉红/神奇女侠/煞科’ sanged and danced all at once. The energy she showed while performing stunted the crowd as we anticipated some rustiness after years of rest. She just kept dancing and dancing, not willing to give up until the last second of the final song, showing us how determined she was to exorcise the demons of the past.


MC仁Jam made a surprise appearance to sing “爱是...”with Sammi, a weird yet soothing duet performance which added another unique experience to the whole concert. Though I cannot stop laughing at the way MC仁 keeps on nodding his head like a rooster.





Keeping with tradition, Sammi chose two similarly shaped fans (forgive my bluntless) to sing along with her, making the rest scream with envy. She picked fun of their weight, but it was nice to see them reacting sportingly to her well-intentioned jokes.

Driving them away, Sammi made her way down the stage to shake hands with the audience, singing “亲密关系” along the way. I could have done the feat if not for the guard rejecting me from moving to the front when soon afterwards, others were allowed instead…Doh!


Her last song was “终身美丽”and after she disappeared backstage after the song, most of the crowd shouted: Encore! Encore! and stamped their feet simultaneously. I have attended all of her past concerts in Singapore and she would always appear after that for her encore performance. Therefore it was both a shock and disappointment to me when one of the guards actually wave his hand to indicate the concert was over.


The picture became clear when the media explained that she was actually recovering from a throat infection suffered when she arrived in Singapore. What a time to suffer from that! Without the encore performance, the concert was noticeably 30 mins shorter than her previous concert. Other complaints would be the lack of costumes compared to her Hong Kong concerts and the frustratingly one sided stage which really restricted her ability and freedom to perform.


Nevertheless, after experiencing her comeback concert myself, there is no doubt in my mind that she is still the undisputed queen of Hong Kong Pop.

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Movie Review - Resident Evil: Extinction

The first Resident Evil movie was a hit when it first came out in 2002...Its sequel, Resident Evil: Apocalypse was even more impressive, introducing new characters (Babelicious Sienna Guillory as Jill and the awesome Nemesis)with tons of action.

Hot babe Ali Larter lends a hand

But will Extinction retain the reputation of its predecessors?


Story

The deadly zombie T-virus has not been contained despite the efforts of Umbrella Corporation. Now it has spread across the world and almost everyone is an undead, while even oceans are drying up and tress are withering, turning earth into a hideous desert.



Alice (Milla Jovovich - UltraViolet), a bio-weapon project developed by Umbrella Corporation, still alive after the events five years ago, travels alone (not wanting to harm anyone who always get hurt when with her) to try and put a stop to the mayhem.

But she soon come across Claire Redfield’s (Ali Larter - Heroes) convoy who together with Carlos Oliveira, Alice’s friend from Apocalypse (Oded Fehr – The Mummy), just want to stay alive and find other survivors.

Alice with the help of her friends, finally reaches one of the headquarters of Umbrella but finds out from Dr. Isaacs (Iain Glen) that she is actually the cure to all of this….

Characters / Acting

Ali Larter fills up the space of Sienna Guillory from Apocalypse as a new babe character from the game series, Claire Redfield. She portrayed her character well, showing true emotions as a leader over her friends’ loss. But it was a shame, she was only involved in one action scene which actually showed she deserved more fighting action than that.

Oded Fehr similarly acted well, but with more action scenes credited to him, which was what the movie seem to lack of as a whole. His heroics near the end of the show was a touching moment as well.

Milla Jovovich as the film’s pivotal character, once again kicks more zombie asses with her flying stunts and now wielding two new deadly sickles for maximum damage.

Her fighting scenes have been the main highlight since the trilogy started, so it might have been refreshing if there were more scenes of Claire combining with her when dealing with the zombies. The ever-loveable zombie dogs were also not given enough limelight (Literally) as the scenes were too poorly lit and more slow action could have been used.

Summary:

Paul W.S. Anderson has been writing the script for all three films and also directed the first film. Perhaps this has led to lack of innovation, leading to repeated backgrounds (Mansion, Laser beam room) and little story development.

There was abit more character development in Extinction. But it made the movie feel like 28 days later or Dawn of the dead, showing people hiding and trying to survive. The trilogy was more known for its action scenes but there was too much deliberation and emotions in Extinction, which was probably not what the audience come to expect from this particular film.

More unique creatures/monsters could have been introduced (Cerberus or Hunters). Instead we get to see a bunch of lame crows picking on children that should been pictured in low budget films instead. And I would have rather seen Apocalypse’s Nemesis one more time than the final “boss” in Extinction, who did not really put up a fight against Alice. And who can forget the classic appearance of lickers in Apocalpyse…

All in all, Extinction feels like an expansion set for a successful game, with few new characters/creatures and little story development. The lack of action this time round does not help its cause.

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Movie Review - Fantastic Four : Rise of the silver surfer

This movie is the third blockbuster sequel in a month, After the disappointments of Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Carribean “3” for many fans of their previous episodes, there was not many high expectations of Fantastic Four “2”.

Hothead vs Mr Cool

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Flame on!
However watching the show turned out to be a relatively exhilarating experience, with numerous action packed scenes.

With the silver surfer being the main instigator for the demise of earth itself, most of the show centered on the slick looking character. Thankfully so, as the chase between him and the human torch (Chris Evans) set the pace for a highly charged show.


The powers of the fantastic four were again put on show, with an interesting twist this time. The human torch after coming into direct contact with the surfer, was able to switch powers with the rest and this provided loads of opportunities on how they use their powers.


The saving scene at the London eye and perhaps more evidently the final showdown with Dr Doom presented this new element perfectly. (Not to forget the near naked scene of Jessica Alba after switching powers with his brother)


Fours a Joy

One of the more interesting aspects of the first Fantastic Four movie was to see how the four characters interacted with other. This was rightfully portrayed again and even developed further in this show.


It was especially comical to see the way Johnny (Chris) cracks jokes on The Thing’s (Michael Chiklis) awkward appearance and actions, but still remaining buddies in the end.


The voluptuous Jessica Alba looked more at ease than in the first show, which can be seen in her longer screen time than the other characters with the silver surfer. Ioan Gruffudd, an established actor had no problems too acting as the leader of the pack.


Worthy sequel?
Fantastic Four : Rise of the Silver Surfer was definitely more action packed less talk (Spiderman 3), which was really what many viewers of this category would want to see. The jokes were also more hilarious and blended well with the flow of the movie (Pirates “3”).


The only complaint could be the show was so enjoyable that when it ended, it felt too quick. And they should have given Galactus more respect by showing at least his face then to just show a cloud of smoke…


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Interesting fact: Silver surfer was actually not all CGI animated, He was acted by Doug Jones, the same actor who portrayed the pale man in Pan's Labyrinth

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Soccer News - Spanish La Liga Title Race: Part 2

It was down to the wire in deciding who will be La Liga champions this season. Due to a superior head to head record with Barcelona, Real Madrid knew they have the upper hand as they just have to concentrating on winning their home game against Real Mallorca, regardless of Barcelona’s result against Gimnastic.

Stars in the stands as well

But in soccer, things can turn around full circle in a flash and there was loads of potential for drama in this climatic weekend.

Real Madrid Vs Real Mallorca
Real Madrid players obviously felt nervous in the opening exchanges, as they were pressurized by the home fans, all expecting nothing less than a win so that they can open their champagnes and have a taste of success after 90 mins.

Even the likes of Tom Cruise and his wife, Katie Holmes, were seen in the stands beside Victoria Beckham, preparing to celebrate. Rafael Nadal looked more anxious, probably cause he knew nothing can be taken for granted in soccer.

Indeed Real Mallorca was clearly out to spoil the party. After just one minute on the clock, Juan Arango nearly silenced the whole stadium when he clipped the post with a low shot. Real Madrid did not wake up from that incident and they paid the price when Mallorca's Fernando Varela coolly put the ball past Iker Casilla in the 17th minute after being set free from a perfect through pass by Arango.

More drama was to come when the league’s leading scorer Ruud van Nistelrooy had to come off in the 32nd minute after pulling a hamstring as he was running towards the goal.
Nothing was going right for Real Madrid fans, suddenly their hands on the champagne cork shifted to their lips for some nail biting action.

Over at Nou Estadi…

Barcelona Vs Gimnastic
Barcelona on the other hand, were rampant against Gimnastic, going 3 nil up as the half time whistle blew. Their Captain, Carlos Puyol lead by example by sliding the ball home from a well timed pass by Lionel Messi. Messi himself scored soon afterwards and then Ronaldinho coming back from suspension, scored a beautifully curled free kick that gave the keeper no chance. Advantage Barcelona.

Back to the Bernabeu…

Guti was brought on by Fabio Capello to try and instill more creativity to the front line and get the minimum two goals they needed to win the title. But few chances were created after the substitution and in fact, Real Mallorca looked more likely to score instead.

Then came the changing moment of the match, or more appropriately, season as Reyes came on for David Beckham in the 66th minute. Beckham had experienced another recurrence of his injury suffered in the last few games. He remained standing in the bench as he looked to his teammates to deliver his first and last title in Madrid colors before leaving to play in USA.

Ironically it was the man who replaced him whom gave hope to his wish. Just one minute after the substitution, Reyes reacted quickly to a Robinho cross to guide the ball past Mallorca’s keeper and prompted the home crowd to spur the players on and get the next crucial goal.

12 minutes later, the whole stadium erupted when Diarra headed the ball towards goal. The keeper managed to get a hand to the ball but it bounced off a defender’s back who was guarding the post into the net. It was the sort of luck champions needed. Reyes completed his heroic turnaround when he curled a ball first time with unerring accuracy into the corner of the net in the 83rd minute.


Goals of La Liga Winners 2007 - Real Madrid vs. Real Mallorc
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Casillas was in tears by that time and he ran the whole pitch to celebrate the goal with his teammates. Tom Cruise kissed his wife on the cheek and Nadal finally managed a smile. They knew it was over. The final whistle blew and the players and staff who had already been waiting in the benches long before that, ran onto the pitch to celebrate Real Madrid’s 30th Spanish league title.

Meanwhile, Barcelona had added two goals scored by Messi and Gianluca Zambrotta with a consolation goal scored by Gimnastic’s Tobias Grahn in the 83rd minute. The impressive scoreline of 5-1 in the end did not matter at all.
Barcelona only have themselves to blame for their inconsistency. Real Madrid should be praised for their spirited and determined performances in the second half of the season.

Van Nistelrooy celebrates a well deserved title

Other important results

Villarreal managed to clinch a UEFA Cup spot, eliminating any hopes for Sevilla of winning the league title with a 1-0 win. Villarreal and Sevilla finished fifth and third respectively. Sevilla still has a double cup success to play for, with a match against Getafe in the Copa Del Rey final.

Real Zaragoza pipped Atletic Madrid to the last UEFA Cup spot with a 1-1 draw at Recreativo Huelva. This means Madrid will missed out on qualifying for the seventh straight season despite beating Osasuna 2-1.

Athletic Bilbao avoided its first relegation from Spain's top soccer league with a 2-0 win over Levante. Real Betis also ensured of its La Liga status with a 2-0 win at Racing Santander.

Things were more grim for Real Sociedad as they were relegated to the second division for the first time in 40 years despite getting a credible 3-3 draw at Valencia, while Celta Vigo was also relegated even though they won 2-1 against Getafe.

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Soccer News - A Weekend of weddings

Four weddings were held for not just one, but four England football stars in a span of just two days. There was never any doubt that expenses will not be spared by these insanely rich people.


John Terry of Chelsea and his wife, Toni Poole held theirs just yesterday at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire.







The other three weddings will be held today. Manchester United’s Gary Neville will tie the knot with Emma Hadfield at Manchester Cathedral. Gary hopes close friend David Beckham will be able to rush to be his best man, with a potential title winning match at stake with Real Madrid this weekend.






Gary’s Man United teammate, Michael Carrick will also marry his high school sweetheart, Lisa Roughead in a church at Wymondham, Leicestershire.








And last but not least, Liverpool’s captain Steven Gerrard ends the quadruple of marriages as he marries Alex Curran who has already bear two children of his, Lilly-Ella, three, and Lexie, one. The wedding will be held at Cliveden, Berkshire.







The man with a major headache will be Wayne Rooney, who has been invited to all four weddings! Will he able to carry on his form for Manchester United and score all four goals?

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Soccer - Spanish La Liga Title Race: Part 1

It was down to the last two matches to decide who will be the Spanish La Liga Champions for the 2006/07 season. Just three months ago, Barcelona were showing so much promise fighting on three fronts, the UEFA Champions League, Spanish Cup and leading the Spanish primera division.


Will these scenes appear after the final match on June 17th?

But the Catalan side were defeated by Liverpool, and humiliated by Getafe 4-0 in the cup final and now have the Spanish title out of their hands... Will it be a trophyless season for Frank Rijkaard's side in a league which does not accept failure as a result?


Barcelona 2 – 2 Espanyol

Lionel Messi was quoted as saying they only had themselves to blame, but he also showed his determination to make things right in order not to have a fruitless campaign. Indeed he had a ‘hand’ in the final result against their city rivals Espanyol.




Espanyol were looking the more threatening side in the opening exchanges, with Tamudo looking particularly dangerous, forcing a fine save by Victor Valdes from an acute angle. There was no surprise then when Tamudo drove espanyol into the lead from a perfectly weighted pass by Ivan De La Pena in the 30th minute. (This equaled Espanyol's all-time scoring record of 111 goals set by Rafael Maranon.)


However, the controversial moment of the match arrived when Lionel Messi leapt and used his hand cheekily to “head” the ball in just before half time. Espanyol players protested furiously in unison but the referee allowed the goal to count. It was an ironic incident as the goal was reminiscent of the infamous “hand of god” goal scored by Diego Maradona against England in the 1986 world cup.


Recently, his goal against Getafe in a cup match when he dribbled past six players starting from the half way line and then scored also brought up memories of Maradona’s famous goal scored in the same match.


In the 57th minute, Messi scored a more legitimate goal, slotting the ball home after a swift move. But Barcelona was denied a precious victory when Tamudo popped up again to score an equalizer in the dying moments.



Real Zaragoza 2 – 2 Real Madrid

Real Madrid knew they just have to win their last two matches and they would be La Liga Champions, regardless of other results elsewhere. But it was not an easy match playing away against Real Zaragoza in a rain drenched playing field.


Madrid started shaky, with Zaragoza’s skillful Argentinean Andres D'Alessandro looking dangerous all night. Iker Casillas had to stay sharp to block Alessandro’s shot at his near post, but he could not prevent Alberto Diego Milito from scoring in the 32nd minute with a penalty kick. Ivan Helguera had commited the foul on former Valencia ace, Pablo Aimar in the box.

Van Nistelrooy nearly equalized just before the break with a powerful header but former Madrid keeper Cesar managed to react in lighting speed to prevent the ball from going in.


However the prolific striker was not to be denied in the 57th minute, scoring his 24th league goal of the season with another header from a Sergio Ramos cross.


But just like in Barca’s case, Alberto Diego Milito who gave his side the lead, scored his second with a cool finish in the 64th minute after stepping past Roberto Carlo’s challenge. Again, like the match at the Nou Camp, there was a second goal for the other goal scorer Van Nistelrooy who finished off a rebound in the last minute, after the in form Cesar had parried out Higuain’s shot.



Real Mallorca 0 – 0 Sevilla

Meanwhile, underdogs Sevilla still have an outside chance of winning the title after they were held 0-0 at Real Mallorca in a heated match in which they had a man sent off. Sevilla have to win their last match and hope both Barcelona and Real Madrid lose theirs.


So after this week’s round of matches, its still in Real Madrid’s hands. They only have to beat Real Mallorca in front of their home fans to clinch a record 30th league title. They are odds on to do precisely that, but football can always bring lots of surprises. Stay tune next week to find out what exactly happens!

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Soccer - Euro 2008 qualifying matches roundup (6th Jun '07)

It was the last chance for teams to either consolidate their positions at the top or to catch up before the qualifiers resume in three months time.

Tired legs after a long season may lead to surprises in results, which many managers would want to avoid, especially for one particular England manager...

McClaren awaiting his fate...

Group A

Armenia 1 – 0 Poland
Poland suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at lowly Armenia, where Hamlet Mkhitaryan scored with a 70th minute freekick.


Finland 2-0 Belgium
Finland kept up their slim hopes of qualifying with a convincing 2-0 win at home against Belgium. The goals were scored by former Charlton Athletic striker Jonatan Johansson in the 27th minute and Aleksei Eremenko sealed the game in the 71st minute.


However, the game was more noted for an incredibly peculiar incident when an owl landed on the pitch and refused to move, stalling the match for a couple of minutes!

Poland still leads Group A with 19 points after their defeat, five points ahead of both Portugal and Serbia, but they still have two games in hand each. Finland has 14 points too but they have played one more game.


Group B

Faroe Islands 0 – 2 Scotland
Scotland kept up the pressure on group leaders France and second placed Italy with a comfortable 2-0 at tiny Faroe Islands. Scotland was expected to win against a side with a goal difference of -23 at the start of the game.

But memories of two previous draw games in 1999 and 2002 (especially in 2002 when they had to comeback from two goals down) meant nothing can be taken for granted by the Scotland players.

Fortunately, a superb curling freekick by Shaun Maloney in the 31st minute and a Garry O'Connor finish from Manchester United’s Darren Fletcher’s cross in the 35th minute ensured the points.


Lithuania 0 – 2 Italy
23 year old Sampdoria striker Fabio Quagliarella repaid Italy coach Roberto Donadoni faith in giving him his first start by scoring both goals against a Lithuania side which had given the Italian media plenty to write about when they drew 1-1 at Italy.

The young striker first scored with a fierce left foot shot from the edge of the penalty area in the 31st minute and then rounded up a personally memorable night with a fantastic dipping strike just before halftime.


France 1 – 0 Georgia
France ensured they remained on top of Group B ahead of their crunch match against Italy 3 months later with a comfortable 1 nil victory at home against Georgia.

In an entirely one-sided game, exciting young star Samir Nasri kept up his previously promising performance in a friendly against Ukraine by scoring the only goal in the 33rd minute.


France remained top with 18 points, two ahead of second placed Italy, with Scotland just a little further behind with 15 points.


Group C

Norway 4 – 0 Hungary
Norway scored another crushing 4-0 win at home, this time against Hungary with big Aston Villa striker John Carew as the main instigator. First he shrugged off the opposing goalkeeper and supplied Daniel Braaten the ball to finish in the 57th minute.

Then he proceeded to scored a brace in the 60th and 78th minute to cap off a fantastic personal performance. Earlier on Steffen Iversen had given Norway the lead with a header in the 21st minute.


Bosnia-Herzegovina 1 – 0 Malta
Bosnia scored their third successive win with a nervous 1 nil win against Malta in a game overshadowed by Bosnia’s coach Fuad Muzurovic’s sudden trip to hospital after suffering from a heart condition.

Muzurovic’s condition was announced stable and Zlatan Muslimovic gave his coach a further boost, scoring the only goal in the 6th minute.


Greece 2 – 1 Moldova
Greece extended their lead in Group C in dramatic finish against Moldova when they had to score in the 3rd minute of stoppage time through Nikos Liberopoulos, cueing rapturous scenes of celebration after the referee blew his whistle.

Earlier on, Moldova’s Viorel Frunza’s strike in the 80th minute had cancelled out the greek’s lead gained from Angelos Charisteas’s strike in the 30th minute.


Greece maintained their lead with 18 points, 5 points clear of Bosnia, Turkey and Norway. Turkey still have a game in hand though.


Group D

Germany 2 – 1 Slovakia
A tired looking german side just managed to scrape past Slovakia at home in an uninspiring match that was settled in the first half.

Two own goals by each side - Slovakia’s Jan Durica in the 10th minute and Germany’s Christoph Metzelder in the 20th minute cancelled each other out before Thomas Hitzlsperger popped out with the winner with a header in the 43rd minute.


Germany remained top with 19 points, 5 points clear of nearest rivals Czech Republic.


Group E

Andorra 0 – 2 Israel
Horrendous playing conditions helped Israel to score their first goal in their 2 nil away win against Andorra. Andorra goalkeeper Koldo came out to grab the ball but failed as it did not bulge after being caught in a puddle.

Israel’s Roberto Colautti then seized the chance by crossing the ball for Toto Tamuz to score with a header in the 37th minute. Colautti scored himself with another header in the 53rd minute.


Croatia 0 – 0 Russia
In this clash of the top teams in group E, Russia played out a cautious game against a Croatian side who have never lost a single European Championship or World Cup qualifying match at home before.

Croatia had the lion share of possession but were unable to crave out lots of clear cut chances against a Russian side set out to defend. Though they did come close near the hour mark when Eduardo da Silva had his shot cleared off the line and Josip Simunic headed against the crossbar.


Estonia 0 – 3 England
The English papers were prepared to feast on McClaren’s head if England got anything less than a victory against the lowly Estonians. But a wonderful solo effort by the gifted Chelsea player Joe Cole, who controlled the ball at his chest, then turn and volleyed in one swift movement gave Mart Poom no chance at all in the 37th minute.

David Beckham then stepped up once again by serving two precise arrowing crosses, first for the Lankly Peter Crouch to score a looping header in the 54th minute and then for Michael Owen, to sneak a shot in at the far post in the 62nd minute.

This showed how much McClaren and his team have missed his ability to swerve crosses in with unerring accuracy. And the fans too, when Beckham was given a standing ovation by them when he came off in the 68th minute.


Croatia are top, having the same points with Israel with 17 points each but the latter playing a game more. Russia are third with 15 points with England catching up with only a point behind.


Group F

Sweden 5 – 0 Iceland
Sweden swept aside any thoughts on last Saturday’s fiasco against Denmark by demolishing Iceland 5 nil at home. Anders Svensson (42nd minute), Olof Melberg (45th minute), Markus Rosenberg (50th minute) were among the scorers.

Marcus Allback contributed two goals, first scoring the lead in the 11th minute but his second in the 51st minute was a controversial one.Iceland players thought the referee had given a penalty to Sweden, but he instead allowed play to go on, which Allback gleefully accepted, scoring unmarked past Arason.


Latvia 0 – 2 Denmark
Denmark, too kept their minds off Saturday’s ugly scenes as winger Dennis Rommedahl scored both goals in the 15th and 17th minute to keep their fading hopes of qualifying alive. UEFA’s decision on Saturday’s results may decide their fate once and for all.


Liechtenstein 0 – 2 Spain
Spain remained in the hunt for top two finish in Group F, with on form Valencia striker David Villa scoring both goals in a 2 nil away against Liechtenstein.

Villa first scored in the 8th minute after rounding the keeper and then added a second soon after in the 14th minute with a spectacular overhead kick. He could have completed his hat-trick in the last minute of normal time with penalty kick, but contrived to strike his shot against the post.


Spain are now equal on 15 points with Sweden, but that may change after UEFA’s ruling on the match between Sweden and Denmark last Saturday, abandoned after a Denmark supporter stormed onto the pitch and unsuccessfully tried to punch the referee. Denmark are only fourth but they still have two games in hand.


Group G

Bulgaria 2 – 1 Belarus.
Bulgaria kept up the pressure on leaders Romania with a tight 2-1 win over Belarus in home soil. Belarus had taken a shock early lead through Roman Vasiluk’s penalty in the 5th minute after a woeful blunder by Bulgarian keeper Dimitar Ivankov.

But Martin Petrov soon equalized for Bulgaria five minutes later with a well strucked freekick. Chavdar Yankov completed the comeback in the 40th minute.


Romania 2 – 0 Slovenia
Romania ensured they remained top for at least three months with a convincing 2 nil win against Slovenia at home.

Fiorentina’s Adrian Mutu gave the home side a half time lead with a 40th minute header and Cosmin Contra then connected perfectly with a cross to volley home in the 70th minute.

The home side could have scored more goals but were kept out by the outstanding Slovenian goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.


Romania are top with 17 points, followed by Bulgaria with 2 points less and the Netherlands with 14 points who did not play on Wednesday.

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