Are Foreign Imports Ruining The English Football Game

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In the early 90s, when Manchester United were becoming the dominant team in English football, our teams didn’t exactly excel in Europe and attendances and money in the game weren’t the greatest.

Now the English league is the strongest in the world and English teams have participated in each of the last 4 European Cup Finals, and no English team lost to a foreign team in the 2007/2008 tournament. But our national team is not even ranked in the top 10.

Back then, clubs were only allowed 3 foreign players in their side at any one time, nowadays, only a third of premiership players are English. Foreign imports have been a huge factor in the recent success of the English game, but are we prepared to accept the poor form of the national team in return for a strong domestic league?

The national side recently slipped out of the top 10 in the world rankings, and its no surprise why, what with a lack of big match experience, and reluctance to play meaningful friendlies, it seems the English team is beginning to suffer from bad habits started over a decade ago.

There can be no doubting that the first team is fantastic, consisting of big match experienced star players, but who are the leading lights of the future, and are they getting the necessary experience at club level?

Probably not. With only a third of premiership players now hailing from England, only the top few players are now able to make careers in the Premier League. Players that might have developed into potential internationals 10 years ago are now being offloaded to championship sides if theyre lucky, or rotting in their clubs reserves if not.

Even the best of English talent is not guaranteed a start these days. England internationals like Crouch, Shaun-Wright Philips and Bridge have all had time on the sidelines recently.

But as the current set-up fails to impress, and the future looks bleak as players prefer not to play in tournaments for their country for fear of risking burn-out for the season ahead, we, the fans, only have ourselves to blame. Most of us would prefer our club side won a trophy over England lifting a cup, and as you cant have both, we need to start thinking seriously about which we want.

Until we change things, England will continue on a downward spiral, and managers will continue to get it in the neck, despite their best efforts.

Football Zone Blocking Schemes For Offensive Linemen

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Zone blocking has become a very effective blocking scheme in football from the little leagues to the pros. It is primarily used to open up running lanes for the offense while taking away stunt and slant attacks and is increasingly used in the passing game. What makes zone blocking schemes so popular is its adaptability to almost any offense. What it does is take away the one on one blocking assignments for offensive linemen and puts them in more effective blocking strategies.

The offensive linemen in this scheme do not have to be the tallest, strongest or biggest linemen on the field. The type of offensive linemen zone blocking requires need to be more athletic, have good foot speed and movement. Coordination and technique are far more valuable that just strength and size.

This article will focus on what zone blocking is, why it works and 3 different types of zone blocks.

Instead of blocking the man in front of a guard, tackle or center the blocking assignments become zones. offensive linemen must even learn to read the defense.

Purpose:

The main purpose of the zone it to outnumber the defensive players at the point of attack, neutralizing defensive stunts and slants.

Zones:

There are three basic zones, the inside zone, outside zone and the stretch zone.

1. Inside Zone: The play is inside the offensive tackle
2. Outside Zone: The play is outside the offensive tackle
3. Stretch: The play is inside the last offensive player.

Reading the Defense:

Offensive linemen must do more than just block, in the zone blocking scheme they must learn how to read the defense and assign a level to each of the defenders they face. They must determine if the defender is level 1 or a level 2 threat and if the offensive lineman is covered or uncovered.

1. First level threat: Any defender who by design of the defensive scheme appears to be a threat to a gap. What this means not only is the defensive linemen on the LOS a first level threat but any linebacker that is lined up two yards back from the LOS and appears to be ready to blitz a gap would have to be considered a first level threat.

2. Second level threat: This will be any defender who appears to be reading the flow of the play and will not be attacking the gaps on the snap of the ball.

3. Covered Lineman: The offensive lineman has a defender in front of him or he can tell a defensive player is assigned to him.

4. Uncovered Lineman: He has no one in front of him and does not appear to have some one assigned to him.

Zone Blocks:

1. Base Zone Blocking: The offensive lineman focuses his eyes on the playside numbers of the defender and explodes off the snap at the proper angle, the angle being where the defensive lineman lines up. The first step is done with the near foot; the second step should place the blocker square with the defensive player. As the blocker is stepping through the defender he wants to be punching both hands into the center of the target just as he does in a drive block.

2. Scoop block: This block is very effective for an outside stretch play. The Scoop blocks primary function is to cut off the pursuit of the defender. It begins with a level one defender and progresses to a level two. This block begins with eyes focused on the outside number of the defender and a strong push off on the inside foot. Contact should be made by the second step which is a cross over step. The offensive lineman wants to rip his inside arm to the play call side armpit of the defender, turning the defenders stomach up field then release to block the linebacker.

3. Fold Block (Trap block): In this example we will be using the right guard and right tackle. The fold block is usually called when a defensive lineman is lined up in the gap where the play is going. For our purposes the hole will be on the folding lineman’s outside shoulder (R Guard) and the down-blocking lineman’s (R Tackle) inside shoulder.

The down blocker must fire off the LOS on the snap, stepping up field in a lateral movement. His left leg should step in front of the defensive lineman and his face mask should be planted in the numbers while driving the opponent down the LOS.

The fold blocker, pausing for half a second, should step to his right scooping behind the down blocker, just grazing his before heading up field. Once contact is made with the linebacker the fold blocker wants to place his helmet just under the linebackers left arm driving him back Even if the fold blocker is not able to drive the linebacker back, he should have created the seal that allows the running back to make more yards.

In conclusion the zone blocking schemes for offensive linemen have produced stronger running games by utilizing the athletic talents of the line. Regardless of the type of offense you run, zone blocking can add power to your running game by stopping defensive slants and stunts and help improve the passing game. These were just a few of the zone blocks teams are using to gain more yards on the ground. Use the links below to see DVDs that can show you how to install zone blocking schemes into your offense.

Njsiaa To Vote On Expanding Football Playoffs

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The NJSIAA will hold a vote on Dec. 5 to decide on expanding the state’s football playoffs to include a Group state championship similar to other sports.

New Jersey high school football is one of the few sports and states that does not currently play to a singular state champion, instead stopping at the sectionals.

For an example of a new format, Cedar Grove is currently heading to the finals of the North 2, Group 1 tournament, but hypothetically if the Panthers were to win the tournament and a new playoff format was adapted they would still have two more games to play against the other group champions.

Cedar Grove head football coach Ed Sadloch said he has mixed emotions about the idea of expanding the playoff system.

The NJ football coaches association is pushing for it,” Sadloch said, “which I was a past president of, but a school my size adding two or three games is tough since we’ve been in and out of injuries all year. I don’t know if that would be a good thing to do at this point in time. If they decided to combine schools and everyone had 1000 kids it would be different. A lot of states don’t have those real small schools like we do. So to stand arm and arm with the association I would be in favor of a change but I would have reservations.”

Verona High School athletic director Gary Farishian said the idea of playing to a singular champion is a great concept but there are several potential problems with the idea.

“One of the problems is impinging on winter sports,” Farishian said. “That means all group finals would probably be the Saturday before Christmas if they keep it in the current format without eliminating Thanksgiving games. Anything that would save a week, if they started a week earlier, eliminate bye weeks or the Thanksgiving game would help so maybe you only go one week longer. Ice hockey starts [early] and football players who play any winter sport won’t be playing anything until maybe the holiday basketball or hockey tournament or track relay. That’s a problem, and general feeling what I’ve got from other athletic directors I’ve spoken to is they think it won’t happen.”

The Thanksgiving game tradition could be in jeopardy if the new playoff format was adopted. The season also could begin a week earlier on Labor Day weekend.

Farishian said the extra games could cause a concern for the safety of the players because of the increased workload.

“It may be different for group 3 and 4 schools who have large numbers,” Farishian said. “They have a deep bench of reserve players they can put in due to injuries, but for a group 1 school like us, we don’t have that many players. We take a lot of injuries during the year and a lot of pounding. This basically adds two more weeks in there, you look at us or any group 1 team that plays hard by the end of the season you’re beat up. How do you play two more games, and in our case play a Thanksgiving game. There aren’t that many Thanksgiving games but that one year we didn’t play one, it was nice having those two weeks off where players could recuperate and heal and be ready for that final game.”

Even if the committee for the NJSIAA were to vote in favor of expanding the football postseason, more discussion would be needed to narrow down specifics. A change in the style still could potentially come for the 2012 season if a plan could be decided quickly enough.

Best Way To Buy Football Tickets Online

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The first European Champions Club match took place in Lisbon between Sporting Clube de Portugal and FK Partisan, with 30,000 spectators, the competition had a great success.Real Madrid won the first five editions. AFC Ajax and FC Bayern have each won the title 3 times in a row.The most successful clubs in the UEFA Champions League are Real Madrid with a total of nine titles, AC Milan with seven titles, Liverpool with 5 and Bayern and Ajax with four titles each. Internazionale are the current champions.In the 1992-1993 season the competition was renamed the UEFA Champions League final tickets, adding a group stage to the traditional knock-out phase. The popularity of the group phase has meant the competition has risen from 8 to 32 teams, with matches being played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays across Europe. buy football tickets.

The final is now played on a Saturday on neutral ground. The winner of the UEFA Champions League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. UEFA Europa League previously called UEFA Cup was founded in 1955 as the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup which was played until 1971 when it was overtaken by the UEFA and re-launched as the UEFA Cup.From the 2009-2010 season the competition champions league tickets was rebranded as the UEFA Europa League with an extra 16 teams qualifying for the main stages of the competition, increasing the number of groups to 12 with 4 teams each. Only the top 2 teams of each group continue the competition with 4 rounds of two-legged knock-out rounds joined by the 8 teams from the Champions League.

Current champions are Atletico de Madrid. The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, was founded in 1871 and is the oldest football knockout competition in the world. It includes the English Football League and Clubs as well as the six Welsh clubs. The first competition, season 1871-1872, had fifteen entries, more than 750 teams take part this season.This years competition started on 14 August 2010 and will end with the Final at Wembley Stadium on 14 May 2011. Current titleholders are FC Chelsea who beat Portsmouth 1-0. Chelsea also won the FA Cup Final in 2009 against Everton 2-1.
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The three top scorers in the tournament to this day are Internazionales Samuel Etoo with a total of 7 goals, Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) and Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich) with 6 goals each.Santiago Barnabeu Stadium in Madrid hosted last years final on 22 May 2010, played for the first time on a Saturda Champions league tickets Internazionale beat Bayern Munich 2-0, winning their third European Cup Title, and their first since 1965. As winner, Inter went on to play Atletico Madrid at the UEFA Super Cup final in Monaco on 27 August but were beaten 0-2 by the 2010 UEFA Europe League champions, champions league final tickets.The 2010 final was also the first since 2004 not to feature an English side, with both Manchester United and Chelsea beaten in the quarter finals and champions league tickets.Probably the most memorable final played so far dates back to 2005 when Liverpool battled back from a 3-0 down to finally defeat Inter Milan in the penalties.

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Watch Live Premier League Football On Your Computer Totally Free

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If you’ve a fundamental pc or laptop you may watch premiership live football on your pc. There are several methods to do this. Most of the methods for watching satellite digital TV on your pc requires that you subscribe to a satellite TV provider such as Sky sports or other comparable services. There’s one technique that only requires that you download software which you can use to access hundreds of satellite channels on your pc.

If you install this type of software on your pc, you will have the ability to watch sports channels for soccer that are accessible locally and also soccer and football channels from other countries. A few of the types of football leagues and tournaments that you will be able to watch contain:

– Premier League Football

– Barclaycard Premiership games played in many football stadiums

– Conference Football

– EPL, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB,

– Football League Championship

– Scottish Premier League

– French Ligue 1

– Spanish La Liga

– German Bundesliga

– Italian Serie A

– Carling Cup

– Football Association (FA Cup)

– UEFA Champions League (UEFA Cup)

– Far more…

The very good thing about using software to watch live premiership football is that you don’t want a subscription and you do not want an aerial, satellite dish receiver or extra computer hardware for example TV tuner cards. The other advantage is that you can begin watching TV on your pc instantly. After you have downloaded the software, just install it on your pc and you will get access to hundreds of satellite and normal TV channels. You will have the ability to see live scores, listen and watch football commentaries as the premiership games are being played across the UK.

The greatest thing I like about being able to watch live premiership football on your pc or laptop is that you don’t need to miss a game. In case you have a laptop, just take it with you and if you have 1 of these mobile internet sim cards, it is possible to watch football anywhere. Just connect to the world wide web making use of dial up or whatever type of web connection you’ve and you’ll have the ability to watch live premiership football. Watch the newest football news, results, fixtures, transfers and statistics.