The sportingworld is entranced by a semi annual meeting this evening of two great teamsin a truly great rivalry. The games iscalled "El Clásico" and it is the grudge match between the RealMadrid and the Barcelona Football Clubs. These two teams are judged thetwo wealthiest in the world, are perennial winners, and have the top talent toprove it. In Spain there is also therivalry between the Catalonians and everyone else, but among everyone else, a large percentage are Barҫafans. What European doesn't hate his capital city? Both clubs were founded within a few years ofeach other, Barcelona at the end of the 1800s, Real Madrid in 1902. The MadridFootball Club, referred to with affection as "Los Vikingos," waschanged forever in 1920, when King Alphonse XIII bestowed their royal status,giving them rights also to use of the crown in their coat of arms. Even theirearliest meetings were the stuff of legend, but in early decades only the meetings of the two teams in the Copa del Rey(King's Cup) or the Copa del Caudillo was known as "El Clásico." In recent decades, given the fantasticcompetition always served up for these events, every meeting between the two isknown as "El Clásico." Overthe years, the overall record is 81 victories for Real Madrid, 76 victories forBarcelona, and 39 draws. Barcelona hasone of the greatest players in the world, Argentinian Lionel Messi, but anothergreat Barҫa player, Neymar, has been suspended for actions reported in thisspace last week, and Barcelona suffered a crushing defeat a few days ago in ChampionsLeague competition. On the side of theVikings, Cristiano Ronaldo is... well.... Cristiano Ronaldo... He is the Portuguese player who more than anyother player in the world perhaps, is the player all metrosexual men want tobe, kind of like David Beckham without all those annoying tattoos and personaldrama. Madrid fans had their hopesstrengthened the other day by the news that Welshman Gareth Bale, a Gronkowskito Ronaldo's Brady (without the personal drama, of course), has come off ofinjured reserved and practiced with the team the last few days. Predictions? Only that there will be some great football this evening in the IberianPeninsula. Another type ofFootball is being contested this weekend in the land down under. This is the fifth round of competition in theAustralian Football League season, and perpetual giants St. Kilda and Geelong willdo battle today. St. Kilda has their seasonback on track, having evened their record at 2-2 without having played their best football.They come into this game on the back of two relatively scrappy wins against theBrisbane Lions and Collingwood and will likely need to be cleaner with the ballagainst the Geelong Cats to cause an upset. The speed the Saints are known for playswell under the roof at Etihad Stadium and will cause concerns for the Cats, whoare undefeated after the first four games of the season. It should be a classic battle. At the storied Melbourne Cricket Grounds, theHawthorn Hawks host the West Coast Eagles. The winless Hawks are so bereftof form and confidence it is impossible to see them turning things around in aweek, even though the Eagles are always a shaky proposition at the MCG wherethey have lost four of their last five matches. 2017 ISU World TeamTrophy in Figure Skating action wraps up today in Tokyo, Japan. Participatingcountries were able to send two men's singles, one pair, and one ice dancingentry. After initial rounds Japan and Russia are tied for top spot with 44 pointsapiece, the U.S. is third at 43, China is fourth at 32 and Canada follows at31. The U.S. team of singles skaters,pairs teams and ice dance couples includes current and past nationalchampions Nathan Chen, Ashley Wagner, JasonBrown, Karen Chen and MadisonChock and Evan Bates. The international headliners are worldchampion Yevgenia Medvedeva (Russia), every 2017World men’s medalist (Yuzuru Hanyu and ShomaUno of Japan and Jin Boyang of China)and three-time world champion Patrick Chan of Canada.In World Team Trophy competition, the six nations accumulate points for bothshort program and free skate scores in each discipline, similar to the Olympicteam event that debuted in Sochi. Eachnation enters two singles skaters, one pairs team and one dance couple with amaximum of 12 points available for first place per discipline in each program. World Team Trophy is the last event of thefigure skating season. In England: in Association Football, a Manchester Cityteam which is on fire meets a lackluster Arsenal, who is the farthest down inthe standings they have been for many years. The teams drew 2-2 earlier this month, but City should have won then, andthey might just get the job done this time. Manchester United and Burnley will meet this afternoon, and Man U has areal chance to do well. Last week’simpressive win over Chelsea has opened the door for United to have a real tiltat getting in the top four, and it is hard to see them slipping up at Burnley. Evenly matched teams Liverpool and CrystalPalace will finish the day in a contest which may be evenly matched. Liverpool may have won their past two games,but they did not convince against either Stoke City and West. Crystal Palace has won five of their pastseven games, and may very well win tonight. -- Posted By Rex to SR at 4/23/2017 02:25:00 AM -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
