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June 28, 2008

UEFA Euro 2008: Finals Match- Germany v. Spain.

Filed under: UEFA Euro 2008 — admin @ 10:00 am

Sunday, 29th June, it’s the Germany National Team versus the Spain National Team, for the Championship of European football.  Euro 2008 has been an absolutely fantastic competition.  It’s amazing to think how big the Euros have become, and deservedly so, because there have been some incredible games.  I think, as opposed to the World Cup, the teams are willing to play less conservatively, and with a more go-for-broke attitude.  Whatever the reason, the Euro 2008 games have been, by and large, a thrilling affair.   [Note: this is old content, posted again here for viewer convenience.  Late Sunday, I will post a map of Japan's 2008 J-League.]


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June 22, 2008

Major League Baseball: the National League Central- Map and Chart.

Filed under: Baseball: 2008 MLB div's — admin @ 9:07 am

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The National League Central Division is made up of four long-time NL franchises (the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the St. Louis Cardinals), plus two franchises that were formed in the 1960′s (the Houston Astros, and the Milwaukee Brewers (who were originally the Seattle Pilots)).

The Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis ball clubs all date back to the nineteenth century.  The Chicago Cubs are the only charter member of the National League (established 1876) that has remained in the same city, continuously.

**Click on the image below, for the NL Central Auxillary Chart, which shows selected uniforms and logos from each ball club’s past. Click below…

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**{For team histories, and photos, click here (Sports E-cyclopedia  site.}

Thanks to the SSUR site (http://www.sportscolours.org/).  Thanks to the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s “Dressed to the Nines” site (click here}, which features team uniform templates by Marc Okkonen.

June 18, 2008

UEFA Euro 2008: Turkey- Squad Map.

Filed under: Turkey,UEFA Euro 2008 — admin @ 6:10 pm

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Kudos to the Turkey National Team, for their two consecutive come-from-behind victories in Euro 2008.  They beat Switzerland 2-1 on 11th June , and stunned the Czechs last Sunday, 15th June, by coming back from a 0-2 deficit, to win 3-2.  Nihat Kahveci pounced on a rare Peter Cech miscue, in the 87th minute.  Nihat then curled a fantastic shot from the top of the penalty area, in the 89th minute.  {See this article (uefa Euro 2008 site)}.

Turkey will now face Croatia, in a Quarter-Final match, on Friday 20th June, in Vienna, Austria.

The map includes the 12 largest cities in Turkey (500,000 population, or more).  {Click here, for the full list of Turkish cities (Mongabay site.

{Click here, for modern history/ demographics/info on the country of Turkey {CIA World Fact Book site}.}

Thanks to the UEFA site, for the Turkish Team kits.

June 15, 2008

UEFA Euro 2008: Croatia-Squad Map.

Filed under: Croatia,UEFA Euro 2008 — admin @ 10:37 am

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Croatia beat Germany 2-1, last Thursday, to clinch a spot in the Euro 2008 Quarter-Finals.  {To see an article on this, click here (SI/CNN site).}

The map includes the only 4 cities in Croatia with a population of 100,000 or more  {see this}.  Croatia has an approximate population of just 4.5 million, which underscores how impressive their Narional Team’s win over Germany was…Germany’s population is around 82.4 million.  {See this page on Croatia, from the CIA World Factbook site.}

[Note: all players' caps and goals are correct as of 12 June, 2008.]

Thanks to the UEFA site {click here}, for the Euro 2008 Croatia National Team kits.

June 11, 2008

UEFA Euro 2008: Germany- Squad Map.

Filed under: Germany,UEFA Euro 2008 — admin @ 5:30 pm

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Though they were outshot by Poland 12-14, Germany won their first game last Sunday by a score of 2-0, with both goals scored by Polish-born Lukas Podolski  {click here, for a report from the UEFA site}.  Thursday, Germany plays Croatia.

There are three Polish-born players on the German team: Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski, and Piotr Trochowski.  Both Klose and Podolski were born in Silesia  {see this}, which was formerly part of Germany.  Most of Silesia is now in (south-west) Poland, with sections in the Czech Republic, and Germany.  {Click here, for background on Miroslav Klose’s family, and how they were able to get out of Communist-era Poland, with the help of German-ancestry laws.}

The map shows the 27 cities in Germany with a population over 250,000.  Here is a list of the largest cities in Germany  {mongabay site; click here}.   Below is a population density map of Germany (from Wikipedia).

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Thanks to the UEFA site {click here}  for the German kits.

[Note: Players caps and goals are listed up to before the start of Euro 2008.]

June 8, 2008

UEFA Euro 2008: France- Squad Map.

Filed under: France,UEFA Euro 2008 — admin @ 3:14 pm

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Monday, 9th June, the French National Team will open their Euro 2008 campaign against dark-horse team Romania.  These teams are in the “Group of Death” (which also includes current World Cup Champions Italy, and the Netherlands).

{Click here, for an article from the UEFA site.}

The map also shows the 10 largest cities in France (all with over 200,000 population), plus Lille, which has a large metro-area population {click here, for the full list of largest French cities (of over 100,000 population), from the Mongabay site}.

Thanks to the UEFA site, for the French National Team kits {click here, for the Teams page}.

June 5, 2008

UEFA Euro 2008: Portugal. National Team- Squad Map.

Filed under: Portugal,UEFA Euro 2008 — admin @ 4:02 pm

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Saturday, 7th June, Portugal will face Turkey, in one of the two games which will kick off the first day of Euro 2008.

{Click here, for Portugal’s page, from the UEFA site.}

Thanks to the UEFA site, for the Potugal kits; UEFA site  {click here}.

June 3, 2008

Mexico-2008 Clausura, Santos Laguna, Champions.

Filed under: Mexico: Fútbol — admin @ 1:24 pm

Please note: to see my most-recent post on Mexican football (from January 2017), click on the following, category: Mexico/fútbol.
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Santos Laguna first made it to La Primera Division, Mexico’s top flight {see this, from Wikipedia},  in 1988,  just 5 years after they were founded.  They won their first Title in 1996, in the Invierno competition (which was played between August and November, and predated the corresponding Apertura competition, of today’s Mexican league).  The club won their second Title in the 2001 Verano competition (which was played in the spring, and is now called the Clausura).  They won their third Title last Sunday, after drawing 1-1 versus Cruz Azul,  to take the crown on a 3-2 aggregate.  This is a club that barely avoided relegation last year.

Here is a goal from the 29th May first leg, by Santos Laguna’s Fernando Arce (101 Goals site, click here}.

 {See this article, from Reuters}.

Here’s another photo of Estadio Corona, in Torreon, Coahuila- home of Santos Laguna; plus Google maps {click here (Panoramio site) }.

Thanks to Encyclopedia Brittanica.  Thanks to World Stadiums {click here}.   Thanks to ISC Jorge Garcia (Flickr photostream contibutor;  {Click here}).  Thanks to Colours Of Football site {click here}, for the kits.

May 31, 2008

Mexican Primera Division, Titles Chart.

Filed under: Mexico: Fútbol — admin @ 4:11 pm

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This chart shows a graphic depiction of the professional Titles won by Mexican football clubs, in thier domestic league (which started in 1943).  I have included all the clubs’ locations, in the 2008 Clausura, on the small map.

{Click here, for Wikipedia’s page on the Primera Division de Mexico.}

{Click here, for the official league website (in Spanish).}

On Sunday, 1st May,  Santos Laguna and Cruz Azul will be playing the second leg of Mexico’s 2008 Clausura Championship Final  {click here, for this article, from the Fox Soccer site}.  Santos has a 2-1 lead going into the match, and will host the finale. 

{Click here, for Wikipedia’s page on Cruz Azul.} 

{Click here,  for Wikipedia’s page on Santos Laguna.}

Chivas Guadalajara {click here, for their Wikipedia page),  and America {click here, for their Wikipedia page} are the two biggest football clubs in Mexico.  They are also first and second in total league Titles, and are the only two clubs in Mexico to have never been relegated from the top tier.  Chivas, from Mexico’s second-biggest city, Guadalajara, has 11 Titles.  America, from Mexico City, has 10 Titles.  Tied for third, with 8 Titles, are the Mexico City-based Cruz Azul (which means Blue Cross), and Toluca, from 50 miles west of the capital.  Toluca gets little media attention, but are a pretty successful club.  They have a nice roofed stadium, called the Estadio Nemesto Diaz {see this, from the World Stadiums site}  {see this, from the Mapas Mexico site}.  It is one of the oldest stadiums in Mexico (opened in 1954), but has been kept in pretty good condition.  It sort of looks like Queen’s Park Rangers’ Loftus Road ground, with close seating that put the fans right in the midst of the action, and stands that merge to form a bandbox {click here, for Wikipedia’s page on Toluca}.

{Click here, for photos of Mexican stadiums, from the Soccer Pulse Community site, using photos from worldstadiums[dot]com} [note: this thread is from 3 years ago, but I still think it’s worth checking out).

Thanks to (http://www.colours-of-football.com) for the kits.  Thanks to (http://www.worldstadiums.com).

May 28, 2008

UEFA Euro 2008: Netherlands. National Team- Squad Map.

Filed under: Netherlands,UEFA Euro 2008 — admin @ 5:34 pm

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Netherlands coach Marco van Basten shrunk his roster to 24 players on 25th May {see this}.  He made his final cut on the 27th {see this}.  And here is an update from the Dutch camp {see this}

On this map, I have made a couple adjustments, for better readability.  I listed each position in the order of players with the most caps (rather than alphabetically).  I listed each player’s name twice, so you can scroll easier.  And I tried to list all the former clubs that each player played for (not just the first club or two). 

The 18 biggest Dutch cities (cities with more than a 122,000 population) are listed on the map.  I added two smaller cities that have prominent first division clubs,  Heerenveen (pop. 42,000), and Alkmaar (pop. 94,000).   **{Click here, for the list of largest cities in the Netherlands.}

The Netherlands team is in the Group of Death…Italy, France, Netherlands, and Romania. (Yikes !)

Thanks to (www.demis.nl) for the blank map of the Netherlands.  Thanks to the UEFA site for the Netherlands National Team Euro 2008 kits {click here, for the UEFA Euro 2008 site}.

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