Keeping hopes alive

How often do we see goalkeepers making the headlines for a wonderful save? Almost never...More often than not, they only appear on headlines for a horrible blunder. Life as a goalkeeper is tough, an accidental blunder will make them every supporter's worst enemy and risk being dropped to the bench. Getting back into the team is never easy for a goalkeeper.. Sometimes, a good substitute goalkeeper won’t even be able to play more than a handful of games a season if the team’s first choice keeper is doing well. Take a look at Shay Given when he was at Manchester City and you will understand why.

What many people do not know is that goalkeepers actually play a very vital role in the team, keeping their team alives in crucial games. So this post is dedicated to all the goalkeepers in the world..You're appreciated!

Goal? Not when I'm around!

All new Volvo V40

The new V40, due to premiere at the upcoming Geneva motor show next month, has been revealed thanks to a leak on facebook earlier this month. 

Some images on how the five-door hatchback will look like:

This new V40 includes Volvo’s new-generation 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine which produces 200bhp. Some rumours also claim that Volvo are working on a crossover variant, XC40. However, details still remain scarce.

Nevertheless, the all-new V40 will definitely bring a strong competition in the Premium Hatchback class with its improved features from larger Volvos presented in a sleek and compact package.

Go Green, Go Hybrid

Good news for all hybrid fans in Malaysia as Toyota recently launched the new Prius C together with the face-lifted Prius. Toyota certainly is taking the lead in the hybrid industry, setting benchmarks for the cars of the future by launching the new Prius C and face-lifted Prius. Both cars will be officially available in East Malaysia from 2nd of March onwards which is 4 days from now.

Prius C, the newly launched model is deemed to receive a warm welcome from hybrid fans. It is a trendy compact hybrid, much affordable than the Prius as it is priced from RM97,000 (on the road price). In terms of power of the car, the 1.5 litre 1NZ-FXE Atkinson cycle mill 73 PS and 111 Nm, in addition to the electric motor’s 61 PS and 169 Nm, is capable to provide a reasonably good boost of power. 


Despite the Prius C receiving most of the headlines, the face-lifted Prius which rolled in together with the Prius C model would most likely continue to be a hit in the market. A couple of added features alongside some refinements were made to the face-lifted Prius. Nevertheless, the pricing was maintained for the standard variant.


Do check out the toyota site for more details on the hybrids. 

Liverpool win epic final

Yesterday's league cup final saw Liverpool edge championship side Cardiff City on penalties. 1-1 was the final score after full time, bringing the game into extra time. Dirk Kuyt's goal in extra time seemed enough to lift the title for Liverpool until the last 2 minutes when Cardiff's Turner scored the equalizing goal, bringing the game into penalties. 5 players from both sides missed the penalties including the Gerrards from both teams (Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and his cousin Anthony Gerrard).Nevertheless Liverpool held their nerves to win the penalty shoot-out 3-2 and clinched their first trophy since 2006's FA Cup. Congrats to Liverpool! Glory days are back? Not too sure about that though.

2011/12 League Cup Winners

As for the premier league, both the Manchester clubs won, making the title race more like a two-horse race after Tottenham's thrashing in the hands of Arsenal. Chelsea and Arsenal are still on track for a Champions League spot after each winning with a 3 goal margin during the weekend.

The highlight of the weekend of Premier League games was non other than the London derby between in-form Tottenham and a troubled Arsenal side. Past match ups between these two clubs always resulted in a high scoring match and this time round, it remained so. A highly entertaining match for the neutrals indeed. 2-0 Tottenham led, Arsenal looked like they were in for a thrashing. But wait....never rule out a match when Van Persie is in, his presence was all it needed for Arsenal to reply with 5 goals, making the game 5-2 Arsenal's way.

What a weekend of football...

Oh wait!! There's still more...This wonderful goal from C. Ronaldo is the icing on the cake to a wonderful weekend of football.

Football Forecast

Introducing to you Wheels n Balls  first edition of  English Premier League football forecast. Bringing to you our predictions for the weekend's EPL football matches and hottest EPL updates of the week.

Saturday 25 February 2012

Chelsea   2-0   Bolton Wanderers
Newcastle United   2-1   Wolverhampton Wanderers
Queens Park Rangers   2-2   Fulham
West Bromwich Albion   1-0   Sunderland
Wigan Athletic   0-1   Aston Villa
Manchester City   4-0   Blackburn Rovers

Sunday 26 Febuary 2012

Arsenal   2-2   Tottenham
Norwich City   0-3   Manchester United
Stoke City   2-1   Swansea City

And Now

Moving on to some of the hottest premier league stories of the week:

-Liverpool's former manager Rafa Benitez is rumoured to replace Chelsea's current manager Andre Villas-Boas.

-Wolves have appointed caretaker boss Terry Connor as manager until the end of the Premier League season.

-Blackburn Rovers defender Chris Samba is poised to sign for Russian club Anzhi

Italian Clubs 2-0 English Clubs

Chelsea's 3-1 defeat in the hands of Napoli last night, following Arsenal's 4-0 thumping in the hands of Italian giants-AC Milan could spell the end of England's charge for Champion League glory.


Chelsea's day had got off to a bad start with news that captain John Terry could be sidelined for several weeks after aggravating a knee injury and it soon got worse. The visitors got off to a flying start when Cannavaro sliced his attempted clearance and it lands right at the feet of Mata, who slots past De Sanctis to give Chelsea the lead! Napoli responded well by scoring the equalizer through Lavezzi. As Chelsea thought they were heading into the half-time break with a 1-1 score, Napoli pounced on them to make it 2-1 via Cavani. 

The second half saw the game opening up even more as neither side solid in their defence. Mid way through the half, David Luiz took his turn to commit a costly error when he made a hash of intercepting a long ball forward from Campagnaro. Cavani took advantage of the Brazilian's weak effort and laid the ball on a plate for Lavezzi to score his second ever Champions League goal. It was a night to forget for Villas-Boas as more pressure mounts on him following Chelsea’s 1-1 FA cup draw to Birmingham. The other result of the day saw Spanish Giants Real Madrid drawing to Russian side CSKA Moscow.

Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat and Arsenal’s 4-0 defeat could see them missing out on the UEFA Champions League quarter finals as they really have a mountain to climb in the second leg.

Wheels n Balls

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