Sport Sunday: Australia Advances on three fronts

Australia may catch the attention of the sporting world for the next couple of weeks or so, including today.  

The Australian Open of tennis began in the very preliminary rounds on January 10th, and having finished the Qualifiers yesterday, today begins the Round of 128. Play continues for the next two weeks, until reaching the finals on the weekend of January 27th and 28th.  In other words, stay tuned for updates in this space in two weeks time. 

Australia also hosts cycling's first UCI event of the year, even if the cycling season doesn't really begin until the one day classics in March.  Riders of the 18 teams of the UCI pro peloton (World Tour Teams), as well as the wild card invited team of UniSA-Australia,  will take part in the Santos Tour Down Under, January 16-21.  The race will take place in six stages, in and around Adelaide, and riders will ride just over 500 miles (800 kilometres) before the big finish next Sunday.   Team Sky, while on a training ride, was pulled over by the local constabulary for traffic violations the other day.  Other violations have also been rumoured for this team, which formerly has always held itself forth as a paragon of dope free virtue.  Apparently not everyone is pleased to have the cycling world take over Adelaide for the Tour Down Under. 

Australia is also still hosting The Ashes tour, with England hoping for revenge, after having lost the possibility to take home the Ashes  due to poor Test Match showing (yes, technically the "Ashes Tour.").  Revenges is a wicket best served cold, and England has a real chance as a series of One Day International (ODI) matches begins today at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. Thrashed in the Ashes and now facing the world champions on their home turf, England's prospects in the one-day series in Australia may appear bleak, but instead experts sense that England may be coming into their strength.  England's 50-over side have plenty of reasons to believe they can succeed where their Test counterparts failed when the five-match one-day series starts today at the Melbourne Cricket Grounds.  The ODI squad will play the next two Fridays and Sundays, in Brisbane, then Sydney, then Adelaide and then Perth.  Although England's Tour of Australia will officially wrap up then, Twenty20 International players will remain, for February's Trans-Tasman Tri-Series among England, Australia and New Zealand. 

In the United States, in Professional Football, the NFL Divisional Round continues today with the Jacksonville Jaguars visiting the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the New Orleans Saints visiting the Minnesota Vikings.  We're sure all the teams feel that second best is not good enough. 

The Steelers (13-3) entered the season as one of the favorites to reach the Super Bowl.  On October 8th, they lost big to the Jacksonville Jaguars, but are confident at this rematch.  Should they win, they would be the second team from Pennsylvania to advance in the playoffs,  Jacksonville win, it would be a landmark in franchise history.  Pittsburgh All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown is expected to play after missing the final 2½ games of the regular season with a left calf contusion. Brown practiced all week, though he was sent home on Friday because of an illness.  Brown caught 10 passes for 157 yards in the first meeting with Jacksonville and his return means all of Pittsburgh's "Killer Bs" will be ready to go. The temperature is forecast to hover around 17 at game time, which may give the northerners an advantage over the tropical Floridians.  

Minnesota will host the game to the farthest north this weekend, at their new stadium in Minneapolis.  Frigid temperatures will not be a problem for either team, however, since the Vikings stadium is marvelously climate controlled.  The last time these teams played in the post season, Brett Favre was playing for Minnesota, and the Saints felt they deserved a win, having survived Hurricane Katrina, etc.  They certainly did win, with the help of the league and their referees, but this win and their savage attitude caused the Saints to be investigated, and to be sanctioned for injury bounties played to players.  .  Minnesota's Defense is second to none, but New Orleans benefits from the strong playing of Drew Brees and other great offensive players.  The Vikings have reactivated Sam Bradford but his status is unclear on Sunday.  

Sunday Sport "Tutti con Tutti"

Italy is an epicenter of sorts today in World Sports action.  As Italian sporting newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport put it in headlines Saturday, this weekend, in Italian Serie A "Tutti con Tutti," Everyone is indeed playing everyone.  There are many marquee events and rivalry matches this weekend.   Last night featured Juventus vs. Lazio and Roma vs. Napoli, and tonight's main match is a late night contest between Inter and Milan.  Last night Roma lost to Napoli 1-0, and Lazio beat Juventus 2-1.  Napoli remains at the top of the standings, followed by Inter,  Juventus, Lazio and AS Roma.  Tonights big challenge, the "Derby della Madonnina," is an intraurban challenge between Milan teams, Inter ("Internazionale") and AC Milan.  AC Milan is at 7th place in the standings, currently. 

Defeat would not sound a death knell for AC Milan's title challenge, according to head coach Vincenzo Montella.  Despite spending over 200 million euro on new players this last Summer, Milan have already lost three Serie A games, a run which has left them nine points off the pace set by early leaders Napoli. Their opponents at home San Siro Stadium on Sunday are city rivals Inter Milan, who are just two points off top spot thanks to an unbeaten start featuring six wins from seven matches.  Inter is currently at full strength for the game, while AC Milan has a player suspended,  Turkish free-kick expert Hakan Calhanoglu.  Inter coach Luciano Spalletti said ``Our season will be measured against extremely important moments such as the derby, so we have to go out and play and give our all. No excuses, I expect them all to get it done.''

Meanwhile back in Italy, in Milan actually, European Golf Tour eyes are fixed on the Italian Open, whose final rounds are this afternoon at the Golf Club Milano at the Parco Reale di Monza, with  3 million euro on offer for the winners.  The Italian Open is the Italian national open golf championship for men. It was founded in 1925 and has been part of the European Tour's schedule since the tour was founded in 1972. The 2017 event is the 74th edition of the championship, and is the 8th time play has been held in Monza.  Today, Englishman Matt Wallace will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Italian Open in Monza.  The 27-year-old from Hertfordshire, who won his maiden European Tour title in May, led with Australian Marcus Fraser after day two.  Hometown favourite and defending champion Francesco Molinari has, currently, a share in second place, so competition should be suspenseful in today's play.  Welshman Jamie Donaldson is six off the pace after mixing two birdies and two bogeys, with Masters champion Sergio Garcia one further back.  At the end of play Saturday, as mentioned, Wallace led with 17 under par, and in second place, at 15 under par, Molinari and Englishman Tyrell Hatton were tied.  Currently at 14 under par are Thai golfer Kiradech Aphibarnrat, and South African  George William Coetzee. 

In other European Soccer play yesterday, Real Madrid beat Getafe 2-1, Atletico de Madrid and Barcelona tied at 1-1, Liverpool and Machester United tied at nil, and Tottenham Hotspur beat AFC Bournemouth 1-0.  In the French League Paris Saint-Germain won over Dijon 2-1. 

In the USA, 11 Major League Soccer games are scheduled for this afternoon.  In the Dutch Eredivisi, 5 games are scheduled.  French Ligue 1 play includes Bordeaux vs. Nantes, Montpellier vs. Nice, and Strasbourg vs. Marseille.  Russian, Turkish, and Belgian premier leagues each have three games scheduled this afternoon. 

In the National Football League, in the United States, one of the greatest rivalries will be played out this afternoon.  The Minnesota Vikings, at their brand new U.S. Bank Stadium, will host the Green Bay Packers, their arch-rivals across state lines.  Further, at this point in the season, the teams are evenly matched, with experts giving them each a more or less even chance.  If hints about the current health reports are true, Sunday's first meeting of the season between Minnesota (3-2) and Green Bay (4-1) at U.S. Bank Stadium looks to be a match-up between one of pro football's most prolific passers, quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, for the packers and one of college football's legendary passers, Vikings backup quarterback Case Keenum.  

Vikings starting quarterback Sam Bradford was injured in the Vikings 20-17 Monday Night Football win against the Chicago Bears a few days ago.  Green Bay has won three in a row, including a last-minute comeback victory in Dallas last weekend that added to Rodgers' resume as a cool-under-fire passer.  Readers will remember that Rodgers replaced legendary Green Bay Quarterback Brett Favre, who was forcibly retired by the Packers and played his last seasons for the Vikings.    Minnesota has won two of the last three games in the rivalry, although the Packers won the most recent game 38-25 on last Christmas Eve at Lambeau Field.

Indeed, as the Gazzetta dello Sport said, this weekend it is "Tutti con tutti."  Nothing hammers this point in more than this weekend's clash of the titans, when Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer again meet for a tournament championship, this afternoon, at the Shanghai Masters.  Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will face each for the 38th time after advancing Saturday to the Shanghai Masters final.  Top-seeded Nadal defeated Marin Cilic of Croatia 7-5, 7-6 (3) in the first semifinal, and second-seeded Federer was stretched to three sets before posting a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.  Nadal, who won a tour-best sixth title of the season at the China Open last week, improved his current winning streak to 16 matches. The Spaniard, who has 16 Grand Slam men's singles trophies, won the French and US Open titles this season.  Federer, looking for his sixth title this year, won the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year to increase his Grand Slam men's singles record to 19 titles.  Nadal has a 23-14 edge in career matches against Federer, while Federer has won the last four meetings, including all three this season. so, as always, the play of the best vs. the best should be convincing tennis.

Yellow

Into Each life a little sunshine must come....

For those of you who are in the north, here is some yellow to pick you up during the last days of Winter.

For those of you in the south, enjoy the last days of your Summer season!