Ronaldo plays last game for Brazil

Sao Paulo: Former world footballer of the year Ronaldo ended his international career here on Tuesday with a 15-minute appearance as a substitute in Brazil's 1-0 win over Romania in a friendly match.Watched by a 30,000 crowd, the 34-year-old striker came on for the last 15 minutes of the match with the home side already ahead through a goal from Fred after 21 minutes and he had several goal chances in that time."I had three goal opportunities but did not manage to score which would have been a nice present to give back to those who gave me so much," he said afterwards to fans in a chilly Pacaembu stadium.Fred's match winning goal was set up by the latest Brazilian golden boy Neymar, who has been linked to a move into the English Premier League. Ronaldo announced his retirement in February citing recurring injury and health problems.During a glittering 14-year spell in Europe, Ronaldo scored goals at a prolific rate for PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and AC Milan, before returning to Brazil in 2009.He won the World Cup with Brazil as a youngster in 1994 and then in 2002 and became the leading scorer in World Cup finals tournaments when he scored his 15th goal at the 2006 tournament in Germany.He was twice named European Footballer of the Year, in 1997 and 2002, FIFA world footballer of the year in 1996, 1997 and 2002 and finished his international career with 62 goals in 97 appearances.

Ebden earns shot at Nadal, Roddick seals tough win

Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden earned a shot at world number one Rafael Nadal thanks to his 7-5, 6-3 win over India's Somdev Devvarman at Queen's, while four time champion Andy Roddick defeated Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7/2), 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 on Tuesday.Ebden, who was born in South Africa, has spent most of his short career playing on the unglamourous Futures Tour and is currently ranked 168th in the world.But the 23 year old will be mixing with tennis royalty in west London on Wednesday when he takes on Nadal in the Spaniard's first singles match since winning his sixth French Open crown in Paris on Sunday. Nadal arrived in London late on Monday just 24 hours after his final victory over Roger Federer to begin preparations for the defence of his Wimbledon title.And his first opponent will be the unheralded Ebden, who secured an impressive victory over Devvarman even though the Indian is 101 places above his opponent in the ATP rankings.Perth based Ebden has been in good form of late, reaching the latter stages at Nottingham and Cremona, and he edged a tight first set before pressing home his advantage with a break late in the second set to clinch the win.Elsewhere at the Wimbledon warm up event, Roddick started his bid for a record fifth title with a hard fought win against Spain's Lopez in the second round.

Kohli embraces new-found discipline

Virat Kohli became the latest member of India’s young brigade to acquit themselves well on the tour of the Caribbean on Wednesday.The 22 year old stroked an impressive 81 in the second One day International against West Indies to lead India to a seven-wicket victory, and earn the man of the match award.He too, kept up the constant theme that has rung through this series once it was clear that the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, and Yuvraj Singh would have been sidelined, it’s a chance for him and other less than established player like him to cut out a place for themselves in the national team.‘The young Indians players want to handle pressure, utilise every opportunity,’ he said. ‘We want to take up as much responsibility as we can and improve in each game.‘Some of us here in this series have been around for a while time. We want to perform, so that those with less experience than us on this tour can bat with more freedom.’Kohli’s past had been dogged by the ravages of a young man striving to come to terms with early fame and fortune.He was thrilled to speak of his missteps as a thing of the past, and felt he had done everything required of him on the disciplinary side over the last two years to change course.‘I was determined to transform myself,’ he said. ‘I was getting carried away off the field - which was not good.

US starts Gold Cup with 2-0 win over Canada

Jozy Altidore scored in the first half and set up Clint Dempsey's goal in the second as the United States opened its Gold Cup campaign with a 2-0 win over Canada on Tuesday.The 21-year-old Altidore put the hosts ahead in the 15th minute and Dempsey scored in the 62nd from a good Altidore cross. The U.S., which was coming off a 4-0 loss to World Cup champion Spain on Saturday, has never lost a group stage game at the Gold Cup. "Coming off the game against Spain, obviously, you got down a little bit," Altidore said. "Now, we've just got to build on it, because it's only going to get harder from here."The U.S. pressured Canada from the start. Altidore scored after running onto a long pass from Landon Donovan. Although Kevin McKenna was back to defend, Altidore was able to turn and take a low shot which slipped under goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld and into the net. There was little Hirschfeld could do about the second goal. Altidore sent a low cross from to the right of the net, and Dempsey stretched to knock the ball in at the far post. "For confidence, it was a good thing," coach Bob Bradley said. "The movement that led to the first goal and the cross to Dempsey for the second both were great plays."U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard was impressive, reacting marvelously to deflect Ali Gerba's powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area with his right hand in the 70th minute. About 15 minutes later, Howard smothered a shot near the edge of the 6-yard box, then made another terrific stop on a volley by Gerba. "Howard was absolute magic," Canadian coach Stephen Hart said. "I almost clapped."Oguchi Onyewu was left out of the starting lineup for the Americans. Coach Bob Bradley went with Tim Ream and Clarence Goodson in central defense.

Chris Gayle wins big at WIPA awards

Chris Gayle has been named international cricketer and Test player of the year at the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) awards. Allrounder Stafanie Taylor picked up the international women's player of the year award.Gayle's recognition was chiefly inspired by his triple-hundred against Sri Lanka in November 2010, in Galle. The innings of 333 was Gayle's top Test score and the second time he went past 300 in Tests, making him only the fourth batsman ever to do so. He is at present out of the West Indies side, following a stand off with the board over his exclusion for the Pakistan series, and his participation in the IPL.Taylor was in rich form in 2010, scoring heavily in the ICC Women's Challenge in South Africa where she averaged 97.00. She is currently ranked No. 2 in the ICC women's ODI batting and allrounder ratings.Kieron Pollard and Darren Sammy were named the best ODI and Twenty20 players, while Keiron Joseph was named Under-19 player of the year. Jamaica, who won the Regional Four Day Competition for the 2010-'11 season, were adjudged the first class team of the year.

Legendary Ronaldo says goodbye to soccer

Ronaldo Luis Rosario da Lima, simply known as Ronaldo, bade his official and final farewell to the soccer field on Tuesday when Brazil hosted Romania, winning 1-0 in a friendly inside the Pacaembu stadium in the city of Sao Paulo.Ronaldo came off the bench to a standing ovation in the 30th minute. As soon as he approached the line judge to announce his entrance in the 27th minute, the crowd went crazy.He entered in place of Fred, the author of the game's only goal in 21st minute. During his 15 minutes on the field, the striker had two excellent opportunities to score. However, he failed to convert each of them.In the 35th minute, Ronaldo tapped the ball to Neymar and cut through the defense. Advancing, Neymar dropped it to Ronaldo. In an attempt to redirect the ball into the goal, Romania's goalie Tatarusanu swatted the ball out of bounds.In the 39th minute, the striker received another great ball from Neymar, leaving him face to face with Tatarusanu. However, an excited Ronaldo drove the ball wide left of the goal.As soon as the first half concluded, Roanldo received a warm farewell from the fans. Waving a Brazilian flag, Ronaldo made a hero's lap around the stadium and then addressed the audience at midfield.Circled by 15 banners representing his 15 goals during the World Cup, Ronaldo thanked the fans for all of their support and love over the last 17 years. He asked for the fans forgiveness for being unable to score and not give them a goodbye present.However, accompanied by his sons, he walked off the field with a smile on his face and a sense of satisfaction.During his stellar and record holding performance in the World Cup, Ronaldo scored four goals in the 1998 World Cup in France, eight goals for Brazil's title in the 2002 Japan/South Korea World Cup and three goals in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.After Ronaldo's departure from the field for the last time, Brazil returned to the second half with little offensive threat. Although the team remained to attack, the physical size of Romania's defense kept the team from posing any serious threat. The game ended in a 1-0 victory.Head coach Mano Menezes is now expected to divulge his list of players to play in the 2011 Copa America, beginning on July 1 in host country Argentina.Ronaldo recently admitted that his first soccer game was spent as goalie. However, he quickly noted that he wanted a bigger part of the action and that he had a given talent to score.Ronaldo's first professional team was Brazil's Cruzeiro in 1993 when he was only 16 year old. In the 1993 Brazilian Championship, he scored 12 goals in 14 games, including a record five goals in a single match that year against Bahia.The following year, Ronaldo scored a record 22 goals in the Minas Gerais state championship, catching the eyes of the world.The Dutch PSV Eindhoven paid 6 million US dollars for Ronaldo in 1994 where he stayed until 1996 before being traded to Spain's Barcelona.In 1997, Ronaldo left Barcelona for Italy's Internazionale. In 2002, he moved back to Spain to play for Real Madrid.In mid 2007 to early 2008, Ronaldo switched back to Italy to play for AC Milan. Finally, in 2009, he decided to return to Brazil to play for Corinthians.In his career as a professional, Ronaldo has scored a total of 414 goals in 615 games. During his time with the Brazilian national team, he scored 62 goals in 98 games. His 15 World Cup goals remain the record in the competition.Despite leaving the sport, Ronaldo will not be far from the field. The 34 year old recently launched Ni9e, his own agency where he will represent the interests and image of high name sports athletes, such as Neymar. Ronaldo previously declared that he foresees Neymar as his successor and future of Brazilian soccer.

NBA Finals 2011, Dallas Mavericks Game 4 Win

 

The 2011 NBA Finals have certainly been exciting with the Game 4 win by the Dallas Mavericks being right up there.The Mavericks can withstand a great game from Dwyane Wade.Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle made a few extremely important rotation changes prior to Game 4 of the 2011 NBA Finals, most notably putting J. J. Barea into the starting lineup in place of DeShawn Stevenson.The Mavs made another gritty comeback win in Maverick fashion. Their consistent comebacks have made me wonder whether destroying an opponent's morale by snatching victory in the final quarter is not a part of their official game plan.However, the biggest change in the Mavs' rotation may have came when Carlisle decided to close out the game with freshly benched Stevenson rather than starter Shawn Marion.Marion had his minutes matched with LeBron James' thus far, and he was obviously a bit fatigued. Stevenson, a defensive specialist, nonetheless turned up big on offense, leading the team in three pointers made with three. While he bricked a few in the clutch he made a few very timely plays in the third and fourth quarters, sparking the Mavs' comeback.He also played excellent defense on Dwyane Wade and James in that last quarter, holding them to extremely low numbers. By that measure only, Carlisle proved to be one of the best coaches in the game once again.While the previous games were plagued by numerous periods when the Heat made runs while the Mavs struggled to score, Barea contributed a few nice stretches running the offense. Had he hit a few open layups he somehow missed, this game wouldn't have been so close coming into the fourth quarter.With Dirk Nowitzki struggling, someone had to step up, and the Mavericks, now with more beneficial matchups, went to work, giving Dirk some room for error. While not all of this can be attributed to the adjustments Carlisle made, I would say that the new rotation had a big impact on the result of this game.Whether changing things around was a desperate move by Carlisle, or a brilliant thought out adjustment, could probably be a topic for a long debate.Regardless of that, the changes worked, and every single player who was involved should be praised. Marion excelled in reduced minutes as he got more rest, and Stevenson hit some big shots and finished with 11 points off the bench.  Finally, Terry, running the point at times, made a few beautiful pick and rolls with Tyson Chandler, opening the floor for the Mavs and allowing the team to win.Sometimes, the smallest of changes can win you a pivotal game. While the rotation was not the only factor in Game 4, it was one of many factors that allowed the Mavs to keep their hopes alive, and regain some much needed momentum, in what has been an extraordinary series.