La Liga competition has been heating up inSpain, with leaders Barcelona at 36 points. Their closest challengers, Valencia, are two points behind, and havebeen a constant surprise to the feisty Catalans. Barcelona star, Argentine standout LionelMessi, has been on a cold streak these days, having finally scored one goalafter six scoreless games, in Barca's 2-2 tie at home with Vigo. For the first time this year, Barcelona haslost points in two successive weeks.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, fourth in the standings, heads to the Mideastthis week to defend their title in the Club World Cup. The 2017 FIFA Club World Cup is beingcontested this year in the United Arab Emirates between December 6th and 16th. Real Madrid are the first team in the UEFAChampions League era who have qualified to return to defend their title in thenext Cup. They can defend their title because they won ChampionsLeague for the second successive time. The Spanish giants defeated Juventus inthe final at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on June 3, when Cristiano Ronaldoscored twice in a 4-1 victory. Casemiro and Marco Asensio got the other goals.Madrid became the first side to successfully defend the European Cup since ACMilan in 1990, and are the first to do so in the Champions League era. Theyhave won the Club World Cup twice, one short of Barcelona’s record threetriumphs. Auckland City qualified for the tournament bywinning the Oceania Football Confederation Champions League, when they recordeda resounding victory in the final against fellow countrymen Team Wellingtonacross two legs. Having won 3-0 at home in the initial meeting, Auckland thentriumphed 2-0 away for an overall 5-0 win. It was the third successive year thetwo sides had met in the showpiece. Auckland’s ninth Club World Cup appearanceis a record, with the club competing in 2006 and 2009 and then every year from 2011.This marks their second appearance in Abu Dhabi, as they defeated hosts Al Ahliin 2009 before losing the quarter-final to Mexico’s Atlante. In international Test Cricket, Sri Lanka continues their painful tour ofIndia, and has suffered at the hands of a massive Vijay-Kohli stand. Vijay(155) and Kohli (156 not out) have ensured that the hosts, leading the series1-0, would post 371-4 on first day of third and final Test. This scoring of hundreds by Murali Vijay andcaptain Virat Kohli brought a somber mood to the Sri Lankans on Day 1 of this, the third and final Testagainst Sri Lanka at New Delhi. Vijaywas dismissed for 155 shortly before the end of day's play, while Kohli - whocrossed the three-figure mark for third straight innings - stayed unbeaten on156, and retired, temporarily, as not out. Kohli, who despite his youth has become an outspoken defender of thegame and the players, has reached the milestone of 5,000 Test runs, while on94, in his 63rd game. Having made hisfifty before the lunch break, Vijay smashed a boundary off left-arm wristspinner Lakshan Sandakan to register his second successive ton in thethree-match series. Kohli, fresh fromhis 213 during India's thrashing of Sri Lanka in the second Test in Nagpur, ledthe batting charge. Off-spinner DilruwanPerera, who got his 100th Test wicket in taking opener Shikhar Dhawan early inthe day, failed to trouble the two batsmen at the crease. Playcontinues today. Today is a big day for NFL football in theUnited States. Two out of the threeprime-time games this weekends are between divisional rivals, and the SundayNight Football match-up between the Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawkscould well be a playoffs preview. Meanwhile,the 9-2 Minnesota Vikings are running away with the NFC North, and theiropponents this weekend, the 7-4 Atlanta Falcons, are in third place in NFCSouth. Still, many favor a Falcons'victory. If the Falcons can defeat the Vikings on Sunday, that will spicethings up in the NFC playoff race. Minnesota has been the more consistent teamthis year, though the two teams match up well. Both teams average scoring 24 points pergame. Minnesota is much stronger ondefense. Maybe the best matchup this weekend will bebetween the Philadelphia Eagles, with a 10-1 record, who will take on the SeattleSeahawks, whose record is 7-4. It isextremely difficult to beat the Seahawks at home, so they have that. The decibel level in CenturyLink Field ishard for visitors to overcome. TheSeahawks have held opponents to an average of 19 points per game until thisweekend, but Philadelphia is averaging 32. -- Posted By Rex to SR at 12/02/2017 11:45:00 PM -- 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.
