Babes of the Month - The World Cup's Sexiest Fans!

 Russia

Brazil

                                                                         

  Belgium

Sweden

Argentina

Brazil

Iceland

Columbia

                                                                         

Poland

Sweden

Russia 

Brazil 

Poland

                                                                           

Babe of the Month - Russian Beauty Elena Vesnina

Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina was born on 1st August 1986 in Lviv, Ukraine and represents Russia as a professional tennis player.

When Lena was 6 years old, her mother Irina took her daughter to the Sochi tennis school under the guidance of the late Yury Yudkin, who was also Maria Sharapova's first tennis mentor in the early 1990's.

In October 2002, aged 16 years and two months, she gained direct entry into the qualifying draw for her first $10,000 tournament at Giza, Egypt, and succeeded in qualifying for the main draw.

Her career-high rankings are World No. 13 in singles (March 2017) and World No. 3 in doubles (June 2017).

Vesnina is a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles competition, having won the 2013 French Open and the 2014 US Open tournaments with Ekaterina Makarova, and the 2016 Australian Open mixed doubles title with Bruno Soares.

Representing Russia in the 2007 Fed Cup final against Italy, Elena defeated Mara Santangelo in straight sets. In the 2008 Fed Cup final Ekaterina Makarova made her debut in the doubles match with Vesina winning their doubles match as Russia confidently defeated Spain 4–0.

Vesnina participated in the 2009 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand in January. It was here that she advanced to her first final on the WTA Tour, upsetting the tournament's sixth-seed Nicole Vaidišová in the second round and the second-seed Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter-finals along the way. She then prevailed in a marathon semi-final against British No.1 Anne Keothavong with a score of to set up a meeting with fellow Russian and tournament first-seed Elena Dementieva in the Final.
She started strongly in the match with a 3–1 lead but eventually lost to Dementieva.

In 2009 Elena reached her first Grand Slam final in the doubles at the French Open partnering Victoria Azarenka. The pair were seeded 12th but lost in the final to the 3rd seeds and defending champions Virginia Ruano Pascual and Anabel Medina Garrigues.

In 2010 At the Wimbledon Championships Vesnina made it to her second Grand Slam final in doubles while partnering Vera Zvonareva. The pair scored some impressive wins over the top seeded Williams Sisters in the Quarter finals (which ended the Americans 27 match winning streak in Grand Slam doubles matches) and over 4th seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta in the semifinals. In the final they fell to fellow unseeded pairing Yaroslava Shvedova and Vania King.

In doubles in 2011, Vesnina along with Sania Mirza won the finals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California by defeating Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaughnessy. Then the pair won their second doubles title of the year at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina by defeating Mattek-Sands and Shaughnessy again.

Together with Leander Paes, she reached the 2012 Australian Open and the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles finals.

In 2013 Vesnina won her second WTA tour title at the Aegon International in Eastbourne. En route to the final, she defeated Ana Ivanovic in the first round and Heather Watson in the second. She then went on to beat second seed Li Na in the quarter-finals and Yanina Wickmayer in the semi-finals. In the final, she easily dispatched American Jamie Hampton to win her first grass tour event (above).

Vesnina and Makarova won their second major doubles title at the 2014 US Open.

In 2015 the pair reached the Wimbledon Doubles final, but lost to longtime-rivals Hingis/Mirza.

At Wimbledon last year, Elena competed in her first Grand Slam Singles semi-final with straight set victories over Tamira Paszek, Andrea Petkovic, and Julia Boserup in the first three rounds before outlasting good friend and doubles partner Makarova in three sets to advance to her first slam quarter-final. She then easily defeated Slovak Dominika Cibulkova to continue her resurgence into the semi-finals where she was was defeated by World No.1 and eventual champion Serena Williams.

At the start of 2016 at the Australian Open, Elena Vesnina and partner Bruno Soares reached the Mixed Doubles final where they defeated Coco Vandeweghe and Horia Tecău, which marked her first mixed doubles Grand Slam title.

In July 2016 Elena and Ekaterina won their first tournament title at the Rogers Cup in Montréal, Canada, and then they went on to win a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Rio for Russia a few weeks later - this was the very first time that any Russian duo had won an Olympic doubles event.

2017 began well for Vesnina. At Indian Wells in March and seeded 14th, Vesnina defeated Shelby Rogers and Timea Babos to set-up a fourth round meeting with Angelique Kerber, who was guaranteed to return to world no.1 at the end of the tournament. Vesnina beat the US Open champion, before defeating Australian Open runner-up Venus Williams and the in-form Kristina Mladenovic to reach her first Premier Mandatory final. In an all-Russian final against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vesnina came from a set down to win her 3rd WTA singles title, her first since 2013 and the biggest of her career so far, in just over three hours. With this victory, Vesnina climbed to a career high ranking of 13.

Overall Elena's career stats show: 3 WTA (Women's Tennis Association) Singles wins and a Wimbledon Singles Grand Slam semi-final, 15 WTA Doubles victories, 2 Grand Slam Double titles and an Olympic Doubles Gold Medal, along with a Grand Slam Mixed Doubles title.

To date Elena has won in career prize money alone, somewhere in the region of US$ 8.6 million.

Elena is seeded number 15 in the 2017 Wimbledon Ladies Singles Championships, and number 2 in the Wimbledon Ladies Doubles with Ekaterina Makarova, which begin next week.

You can follow Elena on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Babes of the Month - Sexiest Fans at Euro 2016

The 2016 European Championships currently being held in France are not just about the game of football and the players, it is also about the fans! I am talking about the beautiful female fans showcasing the tournament - whether it’s the French girls, the Poles, the Russians, the Irish, the Portuguese or the Albanians girls - they have all created quite a hype on social media, so here are a few of them for you.

A Satirical Look at the Works of AVB - Past and Present!

André Villas-Boas' managerial merry-go-round had temporarily ground to a halt, but don't worry people because my word the Lord loves a tryer, and yes AVB has managed quite literally to get himself re-ememployed after being presented with his most recent P45 only last December.

So as not to disappoint his 'fans' in Coimbra, Porto, West London and North London, and in order to give newspaper writers more column inches he continues to deliver an unrivaled rollercoaster of 'excitement' - this time by taking his mobile home and footballing managerial expertise to Russia. Following a three month sabbatical 'footballing giants' Zenit Saint Petersburg have unveiled AVB as their new manager in what will be the Portuguese's fifth managerial appointment at a fifth different club in as many years, and he is still only 36 years-old himself - quite an achievement!
As the song goes: "I get knocked down, but I get up again, you're never going to keep me down, pissing the night away, pissing the night away.......!"

André Villas-Boas spent eight months as manager of Académica de Coimbra from October 2009 to the Summer of 2010, then one year as manager of Porto where he was very successful, before resigning, and a further nine months as manager of Chelsea before being relieved of his managerial duties.

On 3rd July 2012, it was announced that Villas-Boas had been named as the new Tottenham Hotspur head coach. On 16th December 2013, after 17 months at Tottenham it was announced that Villas-Boas had left the club "by mutual consent" (in layman's terms, he resigned before being fired), and just yesterday he signed a two-year deal with Zenit Saint Petersburg, replacing the sacked, but wonderfully named Luciano Spalletti, who obviously felt that his Italian tenor voice would be appreciated more in a theatrical setting in the Provincia di Firenze than in the dugout at the Petrovsky Stadium in Northern Russia, located at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea.

André Villas-Boas footballing beliefs mean that in his opinion he has the knowledge to redesign a club structure from the top down, using a blueprint derived from footballing first principles. In London this was not possible as he failed to show enough respect for the parameters within which he was working. In a footballing sense, this meant he was intent on imposing a style of play that didn’t account for the strengths of weaknesses of the players at his disposal - 'the opposite of the point of tactics.'
The result was an ongoing montage of Jan Vertonghen and John Terry lying on their back somewhere near the halfway line as an opposition forward(s) raced clear to score.

He failed to appreciate the need to keep the media, fans, and players on side. It’s unfortunate that Chelsea’s players were so resistant to change, and that Spurs’s best striker was such a notoriously difficult character, whilst he was in charge at least. But dealing with these problems is a part of the hugely financially rewarding job.

Roman Abramovich paid Porto £13.3million in compensation in order to appoint Andre Villas-Boas as the man to succeed Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea.

  Leaked: Terry's letter to Abramovich that got AVB sacked!

After his sacking Andre Villas-Boas said he was naïve to try and introduce a new style of play at Chelsea and spoke about how he "should have respected" English football culture after his arrival in the Premier League from Porto.
"Chelsea were a counter-culture team, constructing play from the goalkeeper onwards.
I should have respected that culture from the start. I thought it was possible to establish a different game pattern in a country with a radically different culture."
In otherwards he believed he new best and went into West London all guns blazing in an attempt to completely change a club, that ultimately only needed tinkering with. Did he have to remove his head before walking in and out of any doors or just widen them on his arrival at Stamford Bridge!
                              
At Tottenham his position became untenable not just because of a run of poor performances, which in part was due to his apathetic back-room staff, but AVB also demonstrated a streak of stubbornness that hindered him. His appalling eye for a picking a good player and thus blowing his Gareth Bale transfer budget on what can be best described as a bunch of insipid and at best pretty ordinary players was pivitol. But were they poor players or was he simply unable to manage and motivate them into a single and more effective cohesive unit - square pegs in round holes spring to mind!

Also his failure in controlling popular perceptions of him was central to a huge divide within the club and in particular among the fans. He seemed paranoid about an "agenda" against him by the media, which may have had a hint of truth given some of the things written about him. But he brought this cock and bull situation upon himself by continually sending out mixed messages through post-match conferences and confusing and conflicting interviews.
If the point of the media from a manager's perspective is to communicate his message with the fans, then it is unclear at what AVB was trying to achieve.

So AVB latest venture see's him try and revive the flagging fortunes of another wealthy club, who are having a poor season by their standards, but have a recent history of success. Zenit were the 2007, 2010 and 2011–12 champions of the Russian Premier League, runners-up in 2012-13 and the winners of both the 2007–08 UEFA Cup and the 2008 UEFA Super Cup.

Alexander Valeryevich Dyukov, the President of Zenit is also Chairman of the Management Board of Gazprom Neft, a subsidiary of Gazprom. Gasprom Neft are the fourth largest oil producer in Russia and are amongst one of the largest oil companies in the world by proven reserves.

On 1st January 2007 Gazprom also became the sponsor of the German Bundesliga club Schalke 04 paying up to €25 million a year for the privilege. On 23rd November 2009, the partnership was extended for a further 5 years. The sponsorship is worth $150m (USD) spread over the 5 years.

On 9th July 2010 Gazprom became sponsor of Serbian SuperLiga football club Red Star Belgrade.

On 9th July 2012 Gazprom became sponsor of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Super Cup for three season until 2015.

On 17th July 2012 Gazprom also became the official Global Energy partner of the UEFA Champions League 2012 winners Chelsea for three seasons, lasting until 2015.

According to the BBC: "Mr Villas-Boas will be presented in St Petersburg as Zenit's new head coach on 20th March 2014."

I don't know who has the harder job, Zenit or André Villas-Boas?
Time will tell!

Babe of the Month - Reading Minsk

Anton Zingarevich is a Russian businessman best known for being the owner of Reading Football Club, who play in the English Championship. Zingarevich's bid to take over the club was announced in January 2012, and he formally purchased the club on 29 May 2012.

In 2008, Zingarevich met his future wife, a Belarusian Victoria's Secret super-model called Yekaterina Domankova, commonly called Katsia. The couple married in late 2009.

Katsia was born in Minsk, Belarus in 1990 and she earned the title of Ford’s Supermodel of the World in 2006 which truly launched her modelling career. But that wasn't her first brush with the modeling industry. While completing homework in a café one day, she was approached by an agent from Select in London and officially began her path as a model.

But more recently, she gained notoriety by appearing in the Victoria’s Secret "What Is Sexy?" commercial alongside Erin Heatherton, Adriana Lima, Lily Aldridge, and Candice Swanepoel.

You can follow Katsia on Facebook or see more of her by visiting her website

Babe of the Month - Russian Beauty Maria Kirilenko

Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko was born 25th January 1987 in Moscow, Russia and is a professional tennis player. She turned pro in October 2001 aged 14 and she won the U.S. Open Girls' Singles in 2002. Her first WTA Tour title came in 2005, when she defeated Anna-Lena Grönefeld in the China Open.
Maria is coached by her father, Yuri Kirilenko

She has reached three Grand Slam singles quarter-finals, at the 2010 Australian Open the 2012 Wimbledon Championships and the 2013 French Open.

In doubles, she has reached two Grand Slam doubles finals, at the 2011 Australian Open and the 2012 French Open, and was a Bronze Medalist at the 2012 London Olympics with Nadia Petrova, after beating the number 1 ranked pairing of Lisa Raymond and Liezel Huber in the bronze medal match.

In February 2013 Maria won the PTT Pattaya Open in Thailand, beating Germany's Sabine Lisicki in three sets.

At the 2013 Wimbledon tournament, Kirilenko was beaten in the first round by British teenager Laura Robson. As at the 24th June 2013 Kirilenko was ranked world number 10.

In 2006, Kirilenko was selected to be the face of Adidas by Stella McCartney tennis range, designed by noted British fashion designer Stella McCartney and has played exclusively in the gear since the 2006 Australian Open.

In November 2011, Russian ice-hockey player Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals identified Kirilenko as his girlfriend on his Twitter account. On 31st December 2012, Ovechkin confirmed the rumours that he and Maria are engaged.

To date Maria's has won in career prize money alone, somewhere in the region of $6.4million.

You can follow Maria on Twitter and Facebook

The Greatest Football Team Of All-Time

With the 2010 World Cup only 58 days away I thought it time to wet the appetite of all football fans, right across the globe, by selecting MY OWN personal 'Greatest Football Team Of All-Time.'

Now football is without doubt a game of opinions, and you may consider the players I have selected as not worthy of their place in my greatest team, or feel I have missed out players who you would deem as more laudable of selection, which I fully appreciate.

This was not as tricky an exercise as I had initially thought, as so few players are the cream in all the fundamental categories deemed in my selection process.

The criteria for which I based my miscellany on was as follows:

* No pre-war players (footballer was a cruder game back then & the competition was less fierce)
* Great technical ability
* Sustained excellence over a number of years
* An ability to inspire others
* Fervour for battle

There are 12 Europeans and 4 South Americans, and they all satisfy the criteria in abundance.

Four of them played in the 1950's, seven started in the 1960's, two in the 1970's, two in the 1980's and one in the 1990's.

No one country is represented by more than two players.

Goalkeeper:

Lev Yashin - 1954-70 (USSR)

Defenders:

Paulo Maldini - 1988-02 (Italy)
Franz Beckenbauer - 1965-77 (West Germany)
Bobby Moore - 1962-73 (England)
Carlos Alberto Torres - 1964-77 (Brazil)

Midfield:

Alfedo Di Stefano - 1947 (Argentina) , 1957-61 (Spain)
Michel Platini - 1976-87 (France)
Johan Cruyff - 1966-78 (Netherlands)
George Best - 1964-77 (Northern Ireland)

Forwards:

Pelé - 1957-71 (Brazil)
Ferenc Puskás - 1945-56 (Hungary) , 1961-62 (Spain)


Subsitutes:

Goalkeeper:
Gordon Banks - 1963-72 (England)

Defender:
Franco Baresi - 1982-94 (Italy)

Midfield:
Zinedine Zidane - 1994-06 (France)
Forwards:
Diego Maradonna - 1977-94 (Argentina)

Eusebio - 1961-73 (Portugal)

If you feel you would like to agree or disagree with any of the players I have chosen in my 'Greatest football team of all-time,' or you would like to suggest a player who you feel should be included, then please do not hesitate to post any comments below.
All feedback is received with interest and thanks.