Archive for June, 2007

Real Madrid win 2006-07 La Liga Championship

Real Madrid edged out Barcelona in the Primera Liga title race after a late flurry of goals enabled Fabio Capello’s men to beat Real Mallorca 3-1.

For much of the evening it looked as though Madrid were going to blow it.

Mallorca went ahead at the Bernabeu through Fernando Varela in the 17th minute and the hosts’ problems intensified when leading scorer Ruud van Nistelrooy limped off with a hamstring problem.

The match changed with the substitution of David Beckham, on his final appearance for the club before he joins the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Beckham’s replacement Jose Antonio Reyes equalised after 68 minutes and then Madrid went ahead when Mahamadou Diarra’s header was saved by Mallorca keeper Miguel Moya only for the ball to strike Angelos Basinas, guarding the post, and go in.

Reyes sealed it with a wonderful goal with seven minutes to go. to make it 3-1 and Mallorca never looked like threatening after that.

Add comment June 17th, 2007

Beckham goal in final game?

David Beckham will still beavailable for England call ups from LADavid Beckham played 115 La Liga matches and 30 Champions League games with Real Madrid since joining the club in 2003. He will join Galaxy in the middle of July – his contract with Spain’s Real Madrid ends on June 30…

 

“It makes me sad to be leaving Real Madrid. I have not won anything during my four years here but I hope that will change on Sunday, however I don’t regret my decision to leave,” the 32-year-old said.

Will it be one last goal for the road?  

Savvy online bookie Paddy Power has a great money back special this weekend to help you celebrate David’s last game with Real. PaddyPower.com will refund all losing single 1st/last goalscorer, correct score & scorecast bets on all of the following 3 matches if David Beckham scores in 90mins. Max refund €300/£200 per customer.

Real Madrid v Mallorca, Gimnastic v Barcelona and Seville v Villarreal

Click to visit PaddyPower.comCheck out this top deal – and the latest odds for these games on site at PaddyPower.com. Sorry, no US bettors.

Add comment June 15th, 2007

2007-08 EPL : Opening day fixtures.

THe new English Premier League fixture list is out and one of the first features on opening day is that new Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce will make a swift return to Bolton on the opening day of the 2007-08 Barclays Premier League season.

Allardyce left the Trotters following eight largely successful years at the Reebok Stadium in late April, but was soon back in football when he was installed at St James’ Park three weeks later.

In other fixtures champions Manchester United will start at home to Reading, the surprise side of the last campaign.

Newly-promoted Birmingham will travel to Chelsea, while the 2007 Coca-Cola Championship winners Sunderland host Tottenham.

Derby‘s reward for winning the play-off final at Wembley is a home date with Portsmouth in their first Premier League match since 2002.

West Ham – who controversially beat the drop last season thanks largely to the goals of Argentina striker Carlos Tevez – will kick off the new campaign in the top flight against Manchester City at Upton Park.

Elsewhere, Arsenal host Fulham, Wigan travel to Everton, and Middlesbrough will be at home to Blackburn, while Champions League finalists Liverpool are away at Aston Villa – with both clubs now under American ownership.

Add comment June 14th, 2007

Bodog Sports among the elite of online sportsbooks

We’d like to welcome Bodog Sports to our elite group of online sportsbooks and bookmakers that are recommended by BookieLabRat.com. Bodog has successfully passed our assessments in April through to June 2007 and as such we recommend them to our readers – especially for US based sports bettors. (Check out our evaluation criteria and methodology here if you’re interested).

Click to visit this US-friendly online sportsbookBodog – strange name? Ah, yes…but given they’ve been around since 1994 and are one of the fastest growing online entertainment companies – we’ve got over it and suggest you do too! 

Bodog has its Headquarters in Antigua, and operates a sportsbook, online poker room and casino under gambling licences from the UK, Antigua and Kahanwake, Canada.

Bodog Sports runs betting lines across Basketball, Baseball, Hockey, Football, Soccer, Tennis, Golf, Cricket, Rugby, Motor Sports, Boxing, Mixed Martial Arts, Horse Racing, Entertainment and “other sports” (Olympics and poker fall in here!…OK…). All the usual Player and team props plus futures bets (e.g. odds today on New Zealand winning the 2007 Rugby World Cup are 2/5).

Entertainment betting includes props on celebrities, film/television, business (e.g. which company will Google buy out next?), politics and a category called “weird wagers” (no open wagers today so no examples – but watch this space as they may just give Paddy Power, our favourite novelty betting specialist bookie, a run for his money!)

>>Check out our Bodog Sports Review on site at BookieLabRat.com here. Use these links for the latest Bodog Poker Review and Bodog Casino Review.

US bettors welcome - sportsbook, poker and casino>>Visit Bodog Sports

Add comment June 13th, 2007

Summer Transfer Rumours

It’s summer – nothing is really happening on the club football front – but that does not stop the English daily papers coming up with a whole pile of “rumours” to fill the sports pages.

Here is a selection of the best – or the worst – rumours :

Liverpool could set their sights on £16m Diego Forlan rather than Barcelona’s £35m-rated Samuel Eto’o. (The Times)

David Beckham has snubbed a last-ditch attempt to persuade him to stay with Real Madrid. (Daily Mirror)

Manchester United have been told they will need to stump up £40m if they want to buy Carlos Tevez. (Daily Star)

But they are only willing to pay £12m, with Inter Milan prepared to splash out £34m on the Argentine. (Independent)

Newcastle are interested in signing French winger Ludovic Giuly from Barcelona for just £1.5m. (Daily Mirror)

Everton could offer Gary Naysmith and even James McFadden in a bid to land Sheffield United captain Phil Jagielka. (Daily Mirror)

Lyon could start an auction to sell Florent Malouda, with Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and AC Milan all interested. (Daily Express)

West Ham are chasing Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe and Liverpool frontman Craig Bellamy. (Daily Mirror)

Man Utd defender Gabriel Heinze says he would consider an offer from Barcelona. (Daily Star)

Wigan are confident of tying up the signing of former Chelsea right-back Mario Melchiot on a free transfer. (The Sun)

Sunderland are favourites to sign Neil Lennon after he turned down Wycombe. (The Times)

Aston Villa are lining up a move for Hamburg’s Holland international midfielder Nigel de Jong. (Daily Mirror)

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp has made Middlesbrough’s former Pompey striker Yakubu his top transfer target. (Various)

Keith Gillespie is set to snub Bolton in favour of a new improved contract at Sheffield United. (Daily Mirror)

Manchester United winger Jamie Mullan is poised to join Leeds on a free transfer. (Daily Mirror)

Paris St Germain boss Paul Le Guen is battling with Portsmouth and Lyon to sign Wigan striker Henri Camara. (Daily Record)

Add comment June 12th, 2007

Keira to play Diana? Better than betting on Hotdogs!

OK, so betting on a hotdog eating contest was not your style (previous blog post) – how about taking a punt on who gets to play Princess Diana?

Versatile actor and odds on bookie favourite Keira KnightleyAfter the success of ‘The Queen’ – producers realised that there is still a huge fascination with Diana and are now casting the lead role for an upcoming film about her life.

As talented as Dame Helen is – Can she really pull off a young Diana?!! (…surely not without a hell of a lot of blurred images and bad lighting, regardless of how many trowelfuls of makeup are applied!)

Here’s a snap shot of the latest odds from specialist ‘novelty bet’ bookie PaddyPower.com.

[Applies to the role of Princess Diana in the upcoming film based on the book Diana & the paparazzi. Bets on other actors available on request. Must happen before June 1st 2008].

Keira Knightley    5/1 or 2.25
Sarah Dunn        3/1  or 4.00
Anne-Marie Duff  6/1 or 7.00
Sienna Miller        8/1 or 9.00
Jessica Fox         8/1 or 9.00
Suzanne Shaw    10/1 or 11.00
Nichola Theobald 12/1 or 13.00 
Kate Beckinsale   25/1 or 26.00
Madonna            80/1 or 81.00
Helen Mirren       150/1  or 151.00
Sarah Ferguson  500/1  or 501.00 

Add comment June 11th, 2007

Competitive eating – you can now bet on the Hot Dogs !!

The 2007 Nathan's Hot Dog eating conestI know what you’re thinking … “How low can sports go?” … 

But it seems like the world of competitive eating is now heating up after being dominated by the Japanese Hot Dog eating machine known as Takeru Kobayashi.

Kobayahsi has held the world record for number of hot dogs eaten in 12 minutes for a year now after he set the bar at a stomach churning 53 3/4 hot dogs during the Nathan’s Hot Dog eating contest on July 4th, 2006.

But his record was smashed earlier this month when Joey “Jaws” Chestnut (no I am NOT making this up) managed a gut filling 59.5 hot dogs during a regional qualifier for the main event … in Arizona.

(Here is a YouTube Home Video of the historic hot dog event – be warned though it’s not for the squeamish …)

Why am I telling you all this ?

Because the next Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Competition is coming up on July 4th 2007 – and PinnacleSports are offering odds on the Hot Dog eating event

Prop One : Will Takeru Kobayashi win?
Yes = 1.935 (-106)  — No = 1.917 (-109)

Prop Two : How many Hot Dogs will the winner eat ?
Over 57 = 1.694 (-144) — Under 57 = 2.28 (+128)

So get along to PinnacleSports now and place your eating wager – if you think you can handle the adrenelin of this supreme athletic contest.

Add comment June 10th, 2007

Will Rafael Nadal make it Three in a row? Bookies say YES.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal has been priced up as the 1.45 favourite for Sunday’s French Open final with Roger Federer.

The Spanish star looked the more impressive of the two players in Friday’s semi-finals, recording a straight forward 7-5 6-4 6-2 win over Novak Djokovic while Federer had been given a tougher workout by Nikolay Davydenko, but still won in straight sets, 7-5 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (9/7).

Nadal is a strong favourite to go on and complete a title hat-trick at Roland Garros – the last man to do so was Bjorn Borg in 1981. 

Federer would love to win this title as it would mean he became only the third player in history to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time

If you do fancy an upset then leading UK bookmaker bet365 are prepared to dangle a best price of 2.87 about a Federer victory

Add comment June 10th, 2007

What do YOU think of the London Olympics Logo? Win a £50 free bet

OK – so here’s your chance to score a £50 free bet and tell the world what you think of “that logo” …

Betfred Caption competition - free to enter, no betfred account requiredWhile the rest of us are either still laughing loudly or in a state of shock (how much did they spend on the logo?!)… top UK bookie BetFred is running a caption competition so you can air your real feelings online.

Here’s the image you need to add some words to (left). 

You don’t need a BetFred bookmaker account and it’s free to enter. (…unless you win, and then you’ll have to create an account so Fred has somewhere to slot your free £50)

Competition closes 00:00 (GMT) Wednesday, 13th June 2007.  

You can enter as many times as you like – so ask all your friends for their funniest or most poignant captions too!

Click to visit this top UK online bookieHere you go – suss the London Olympics Logo caption competition onsite here.

Add comment June 8th, 2007

Double Davids Deliver in Euro2008 qualifiers

David Beckham and David Villa produced outstanding individual performances to put England and Spain respectively firmly back in the hunt for places at Euro 2008 on Wednesday.

David Beckham created two of England‘s goals as they beat pointless Estonia 3-0, easing the pressure on coach Steve McClaren and taking them to within three points of the top two in the group jointly led by Croatia who were held 0-0 by Russia – and Israel, who beat Andorra 2-0 away.

While David Villa scored a brace as a less than convincing Spain edged Liechtenstein 2-0 in Vaduz but with their fourth victory in as many matches Luis Aragones’ side are now in the second qualifying spot albeit having played one more game than third placed Northern Ireland

Beckham created goals for Peter Crouch and Michael Owen – his first goal for England since last June though he has spent most of that time out injured – and professed that he was looking for a longer run in the side.

“Was I on trial? I’m not sure about that,” Beckham told Sky Sports.
“I would love to be in the next squad and Steve (McClaren the England boss) has made it clear that I would retain my place if my form is good.”

The 32-year-old – dropped unceremoniously by McClaren after the World Cup last year – said that he believed England were back on track. “The game with Brazil (a 1-1 draw in a friendly last Friday) set us up for this,” said the soon to be bound LA Galaxy midfielder. “We did the job tonight (Wednesday) and scored some goals. “The confidence is coming back into the squad which it should do as not only do we have some of the best players in the British Isles but also in the world.”This is how we should play and we are now in a better position.”

McClaren refused to be drawn on whether he had made a mistake in dropping Beckham so quickly after the World Cup but was full of praise for what he termed his immense contribution to the match.

“David Beckham is a very, very good player, and he deserves to be in team, as he’s shown in last two games,” said McClaren.

Villa gave the Spanish the perfect start with two goals in the first 15 minutes – the second a splendid overhead kick – and could well have had a hat-trick and his 13th international goal had not a late penalty not struck the bar. However victory, their second in the past week following the win over Latvia, left Aragones happy about the state of their qualifying chances.

“I guess we should have scored more goals but that can happen in football, the chances simply do not go in,” sighed the veteran Spanish handler. “However we have two wins from the last two matches and I cannot but be happy with that and what it means for our chances of qualifying.”

Italy also had a double scoring hero to thank for their 2-0 away win over Lithuania as Fabio Quagliarella repaid coach Roberto Donadoni’s faith with two great strikes.

“Italy has always produced great talents and he (Quagliarella) is no exception,” said Donadoni, who added he believed the side had grown since they opened their campaign with a 1-1 draw with Lithuania.

France had Marseille duo Franck Ribery (almost certain to join Bayern Munich) – and goalscorer Samir Nasri saved French blushes in their narrow escape with a 1-0 win against a weak Georgia side.

France’s sphinx-like coach Raymond Domenech was not getting carried away with either 19-year-old Nasri or that France lead the group. “I’m not disappointed and I’m not surprised. But I keep saying this: it will go right down to the wire,” said Domenech, whose only defeat in qualifying was their 1-0 setback to Scotland.

Add comment June 7th, 2007

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