Wimbledon - day one

Day one at Wimbledon and Venus Williams beat Maria-Teresa Torro Flo in three sets.  

Venus's serve was on point and she was served about eleven aces and most importantly had no double faults. 

Venus had a bit of a stutter in the second set but totally took control of the third set and the match.  

Elsewhere Maria Kirilenko beat Sloane Stephens in straight sets and Sloane had a poor match. 

She was always on the back foot and when she finally got a set point in the second set she was unable to take it. 

After this embarrasing loss Sloane needs to regroup as she will fall out of the top twenty and is going to need to work to get back into the top twenty and beyond. 

Li Na beat Paula Kania in straights sets and this good routine win for Li Na as she attempts to win her third grand slam and after her terrible first round loss in the French Open. 

In the men's draw the current men's champion Andy Murray beat David Goffin in straight sets. This was a good routine win for Andy who has quite a tough draw but will hoping to make at least the semi finals.

Novak Djokovic beat Andrey Golubev in straight sets and he will be happy to have had a nice routine and win will be hoping to win his second Wimbledon title. 

World Cup - Day nine

Day nine of the World Cup and France beat Switzerland by five goals to two. The French played total football and have now become my tournament favourite to win the World Cup. 

The French seems to have extra player for every position and I was particularly impressed with there player Karim Benzima. 

The shock of the day was Costa Rica beating Italy by one goal to nil. Italy seemed to be very relaxed and there finishing in the final third was woeful. 

I think this will be costly loss for the Italians as I think they will struggle to get a win against Uruguay which would take them into the knock out stages. 

World Cup - Day eight

Day eight of the World Cup and Uruguay beat England by two goals to one. England's defence were all over the place  and struggled with crosses and corners. 

I think the blame lies solely with Roy Hodgson as his selection for this World Cup was puzzling. As was his decision to leave experienced defensive players like Ashley Cole and John Terry. 

Elsewhere Colombia beat Ivory Coast by two goals to one and I was little suprised with this result because it was game that I was expected Ivory Coast win. 

It seemed that Colombia just seemed to have a little bit more in terms of defending and most importantly finishing. 

However Ivory Coast can still qualify with there last game whilst Colombia have now qualified for the knock out stages. 

  

Preview of Wimbledon 2014

So my favourite tournament starts today! And in the women's draw my personal favourite to win is Serena Williams. 

However Serena has had quite a few injuries this year and they seem to be occurring around the grandslams. 

I would say that barring injury then I  cannot see her losing in this tournament. I also think that Maria has a great chance of winning this tournament her confidence would be high after winning the French Open. 

Looking at the draw I would not be surprised if Venus Williams was able to string some results together and win this title.

Li Na is someone else I can imagine winning she has a good draw and will be difficult to beat. 

I am hoping that Britain's Heather Watson will follow up on her Eastbourne success and at least make it to the third round and this could see her getting  back into top fifty. 

In the men's draw my personal favourite to win would be Rafael Nadal. However he faces a stiff challenge from players like Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer or last year winner Andy Murray. 

The dark horse in the men's draw would be Stanislas Wawrinka he is the current Australian Men's champion and he has got a strong grass court game and will be tough beat. 

World Cup - day seven

Day seven at the World Cup and the Netherlands beat Australia by three goals to two. 

It was a good match and the Australians upped their game from there previous match. 

However in the end The Netherlands just seem to be have players with strength and depth to kill off the game. 

Chile beat Spain by two goals to nil and this effectively ended Spain's participation in the tournament and this was a shock result.

As many including myself thought that Spain would at least make it to the semi-finals. But to be fair Spain where below par for both of their group games. 

 

I think that Vincent Del Bosque should shoulder a large part of the blame as his team selection was a little strange. 

He left established players like  Santi Carzoa and Fabregas on the bench to play players like Diego Costa and this seem to affect there ability to play and win the match. 

So day seven was eventful and the holders going out of the competition was unexpected. 

World Cup - Day six

Day six of the World Cup and Brazil drew nil nil with Mexico and it was pretty lacklustre match. Brazil had few creative ideas and poor finishing. 

The Mexicans where little better had the same problems with a few ideas and poor finishing. 

This draw means that Brazil have four points and are on the cusp of qualifying for the knockout stages.

 

The Mexicans also have four points and our on the cusp of qualifying for the knock out stages.

Elsewhere Russia drew one all with Korea and the Russians probably thought this was going to be easy match.

 But Korea have a good record at the World Cup so this result was not such a big surprise to me. 

World Cup - Day five

Day five at the World Cup and USA beat Ghana by two goals to one and Ghana had an awful start as the USA scored in the first thirty seconds. 

Ghanaian team where on the back foot and finally equalised only for the USA to score from a corner four minutes later. 

For many Ghanaians this result would be hard to take and it is compounded by the fact that the team played well but could not win. 

The USA where very clinical and they did enough to win the match. They played exactly how there manager Jurgen Klinsman would them have wanted to play. 

Only the problem for the USA will be that they suffered injuries with key players and  this might affect them in their next game. 

Elsewhere Nigeria drew nil nil with Iran and it was a lacklustre match with both team not really going for it. 

However Iran will be very pleased with there one point and will be hoping they can build on this draw.