Basel leaves it late to shock Bayern

Soccer Betting Lines

02/22/2012 - Basel, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Basel continued its impressive Champions League campaign on Wednesday, leaving it late to shock Bayern Munich with a 1-0 victory at St. Jakob-Park.

In a back-and-forth match where both sides traded scoring opportunities, Basel landed the only actual blow as Valentin Stocker scored in the 86th minute.

Stocker collected a through ball on the left side of the box before calmly slipping a shot through the legs of Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, denying the visitors the chance to head back to Munich level on aggregate.

The late goal proved to be the climax in a match not short on entertainment value.

Franck Ribery had two early chances to put Bayern in front but he was foiled on both occasions by Yann Sommer.

The French attacker found himself inside the six-yard box in the third minute with only Sommer to beat, but the Swiss 'keeper stretched out his hand to deny Bayern the opening goal.

Ribery broke through again in the 12th minute after latching on to a through ball, but Sommer deflected the shot out of play to keep Bayern at bay.

Basel responded with several close scoring opportunities.

Marco Streller's effort in the 16th minute forced a brilliant save from Neuer who pushed the shot off the post. The ball trickled along the goal line before being cleared to safety by the Bayern defense.

Alexander Frei came inches away from opening the scoring in the 19th minute when he lashed a shot on goal. His attempt beat Neuer but rattled the crossbar and bounced back into play.

David Alaba smashed a shot from distance in the 29th minute that looked destined for the roof of the net, but Sommer palmed the ball away to once again deny Bayern.

Philipp Lahm was the first player to create a decent scoring chance in the second half as the Germany international cut inside in the 68th minute and unleashed shot from outside the box, but Sommer came up big again to parry the attempt away.

The visitors were left to rue their misses as Stocker's late goal ensured a one-goal Basel advantage for the second leg, slated for March 13 at the Allianz Arena.

Basel will advance with a win, draw, or any loss by a one-goal deficit in which the Swiss side scores.

Marseille 1, Inter Milan 0

Marseille, France - Andre Ayew scored his fourth goal of the Champions League season in dramatic fashion, as his header in the dying minutes lifted Marseille to a 1-0 victory over Inter Milan at the Stade Velodrome on Wednesday.

Inter Milan looked destined to take a scoreless draw back to the San Siro for the return leg, but Ayew nodded a corner kick past Julio Cesar deep into second-half stoppage time to help Marseille steal the win.

The French club will head to Italy for the replay on March 13, leading the Italian giants 1-0 on aggregate.

Wwgoto Soccer Betting News

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).

Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.

Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).

Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.

Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.

The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.

What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.

Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.

But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.

In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.