Soccer Week (7 of 8): Dutch Soccer Game Has Three Cards

During domestic weekend action in the Eredivise (Dutch Premier League), one game between Heerenveen and Gromgen featured six goals and three red cards, one of which went to Dutch nationl Tjaronn Chery (pictured).

The game's other two red cards went to Mitchell Dijks of Heerenveen  and Jim Letschert of Gronngen.

Other highlights from Holland/The Netherlands included a two-goal performance form Belgian Steve de Ridder of Utrecht and two goals from Chery's teammate from Iceland, Alfred Finnbogason, who should have made our soccer players with long names list, who kicked in two goals for Heerenveen.

One lowlight which was shown on soccer highlights shows around the globe was Dutch player Maikel van der Werff's unfortunate own goal which helped his team Zwolle lose to traditional Dutch power Ajax Amsterdam 2-1.

Here are the scores:

Utrecht 2 Waalwijk 1

AZ Alkmaar 3 Go Ahead Eagles 0

Heerevveen 4 Gromgen 2

Roda 1 Breda 5

Njmegen 3 Feyrenoord 3 (tie)

Twente 2 PSV Einhoven 2 (tie)

Cambour 2 Heracles 0

Ajax Amsterdam 2 Zwolle 1

http://www.dutchnews.nl

http://www.rnw.nl

http://www.holland.com


SIDENOTE: This marks our 1,500th entry on "The Daily Vampire"...........yes, we are surprised by how long we've stuck with this blog as well.

Things We Learned on Bing Today- Sports Edition

Today was an interesting day in English soccer as Arsenal got the coveted fourth place finish thanks to a 1-0 win over Newcastle; their crosstown rival Tottenham also won their match with Sunderland by the same 1-0 score but Arsenal had the advantage going into league play today.

So, this got Javier the Intern* thinking about a good post idea for today, and that is: "What sports can we learn on Bing today?"

Here is what we found out:

1) Thomas Vermaelen, 27, of Belgium, (pictured) is the current captain for Arsenal, though the English club's star player is arguably English national Theo Walcott. Thomas wears #5 and he previously played for Dutch powerhouse Ajax Amsterdam.

2) Siem de Jong, 24, of the Netherlands/Holland is the current captain of Ajax Amsterdam, a team that just won its 32nd domestic league title. Siem wears #10.

3) Ken Dryden, 65, of Canada, is the NHL goalie who has won the most Stanley Cup titles. Dryden achieved his with the great Montreal Canadiens teams of the 1970's as he won cups in 1971, 1973, 1976-79. Dryden was also a member of the Liberal Part in the Canadian Parliament.

4) Grant Hill, 40, an alumnus of Duke University who plays for the Phoenix Suns is the oldest active current player in the NBA though his team did not qualify for the quarterfinals.

5) Mallory Hagan, 24, is the current Miss America. She represented New York state. Yeah, we know beauty pageants may not qualify as a sport, but hey we need the hits!


http://www.premiereleague.com

http://www.nhl.com

http://www.nba.com

http:/www.rnw.nl

http://www.missamerica.org

http://www.bing.com

Dutch Soccer Results (from weekend of March 15-17)

Siem de Jong, (pictured) a Dutch national, helped propel his league-leading Ajax Amsterdam with two goals (20th and 59th minutes) over AZ Alkmaar, one of their primary rivals, in a 3-2 road win. His fellow Dutch teammate Daley Blind scored a goal for Ajax in the 22nd minute. For AZ, American Jozy Altimore, a former New Red Bulls player scored as did Norwegian national Markus Henriksen.

Serbian soccer player Filip Duricic also had great outing in the Dutch Premiere League, known as Eredivise, with two goals for his team Heerenveen in their 3-1 win over NEC.

Ajax has a one-point lead in the league tables over PSV Eindhoven and Feyennoord.

Here are the tables:

PEC Zwolle 3 Roda JC 2

Heracles 2 VVV 0

Heerenveen 3 NEC 1

PSC Eindhoven 2 Waalwjik 0

Vitese 4 ADO Den Haag 0

NAC Breda 4 Willem II 0

Ajax Amsterdam 3 AZ Alkmaar 2

Feyendoord 2 Utrecht 1

Twente 3 Groninsen 0 

http://www.rnw.nl (Radio Netherlands)

Quote of the Day- Boris Becker

Today, we continue our quotes from famous Germans with a quip from the tennis great Boris Becker, who won Wimbledon when he was just 17. Today, Becker turns 44, and here is his quote:

"Does anyone ask their parents how they are conceived?"

SIDBAR: I want to congratulate my good friend Chris Tilley, who is highly regarded as a local playwright in Greensboro, NC, for the second anniversary of his blog:
my-naked-blogspot.com

SIDEBAR 2: Since we discussed English soccer yesterday, I thought I would relay from scores from today's UEFA Cup games played across Europe. It was not a particularly good day for English teams as Manchester United tied the Portuguese team Benefica 2-2 and their cross-town rival Manchester City, a team that currently leads the English Premiere League, feel to Italian power Napoli 2-1.

But, arguably the most misreable soccer player in Europe is Vasili Berezutzky who headed a ball into his own net, paving the way for the French team Lille's 2-0 win over CSKA Moscow. For the French club team, Senegal national Moussa Sow scored the other goal.

Meanwhile, Ajax Amsterdam and Lyon played to a 0-0 tie.

Things We Learned on Google Today- Lyon Has Won 7 French Titles

In our 13th profile of 15 world soccer teams, we turn our attention to the French soccer power Olympique Lyonnais, which is known simply as Lyon, the same name as the city they play for.

Lyon did not win its first domestic title until the 2001-02 season, but they made up for it by winning a staggering seven French premiere league titles in a row.

During the 2009-10 season, Lyon also reached the semi-finals of the coveted UEFA Cup, before bowing out to German power Bayern Munich.

Lyon is playing for the current UEFA Cup as well, but their hopes of advancing to the next round seem given their home loss Spanish power Real Madrid 2-0, both goals in the match were scored by Portuguese superstar Christiano Ronaldo, earlier this month.

Thus, Lyon is in third place behind the Dutch team Ajax Amsterdam (the last team we profiled), in Group D. Lyon visits Amsterdam on Nov. 22 when Real Madrid will face the Crotian team Dynamo Zagreb, which is in last place.

In domestic play, Lyon last played arch rival St. Etienne and the team prevailed
2-0. Lyon is reportedly in second place in the French league behind Paris St. Germain which tied Bordeaux 1-1.

The captain for Lyon is Brazilian player Cris (Cristiano Gomes), 34, and the team's goalie is French player Hugo Lloris, 24, (pictured), who is vying to become the French national goal keeper.

On Friday, the French national team beat the United States 1-0 in a friendly. Since I carry an American passport, I could gripe about this, but hey the French gave us Asterix the Gaul. Having said that, I hope we beat the living daylights out of them next time (that is a joke; I'm not a Republican).

SIDEBAR: Closer to home, Martinsburg High School (Martinsburg, West Virginia) decked Woodrow Wilson High School from Beckley, West Virginia, in a home game played on Friday by a score of 49-13.

PS-The answer to our Rabbitt Ears quiz was C) Boulder, Colorado, which is where "Mork and Mindy" took place.