2 Gulls

2 Gulls

Looking out sea at the sunset

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Sea

Gulls

water

birds

seaside
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Stoke City 3 Sunderland 2: match report

Stoke City 3 Sunderland 2: match report

Read a full match report of the Premier League game between Stoke City and Sunderland at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday Feb 5 2011.

PREVIEW

LIVE

REPORT

STOKE CITY

3 - 2

FT

SUNDERLAND

Saturday, February 05 12:45

Premier League

Britannia Stadium

Carew (32)

Huth (83, 90+3)

(HT 1-1)

Richardson (2)

Gyan (48)

Happy days: Stoke celebrate clinching a last-gasp victory at home Photo: ACTION IMAGES

By Telegraph staff and agencies 3:00PM GMT 05 Feb 2011

A second-half double from Robert Huth helped Stoke City come from behind to claim a 3-2 win at home to Sunderland.

Sunderland appeared to be moving to within four points of the Champions League places after Asamoah Gyan's ninth goal of the season put them 2-1 up early in the second half.

But Huth claimed an equaliser seven minutes from time after John Carew had cancelled out Kieran Richardson's second-minute opener just after the half-hour, and the German then slid home the winner in stoppage time to stun the visitors.

The first two goals would have left Sunderland manager Steve Bruce fuming as the first looked offside and the second appeared to reach Huth via the arm of Norway international Carew, brought in from Aston Villa last month.

But all would have frustrated the former Manchester United centre-back as they all came from set-pieces which were not well defended.

On a windy day at the Britannia Stadium Sunderland found themselves under something of an aerial bombardment from corners and Rory Delap's long throws.

But until late on they appeared to have weathered the storm, having taken the few chances they had better than their opponents.

And they could not have got off to a better start, taking the lead after just one minute and 52 seconds through the in-form Richardson.

Sunderland striker Gyan's wild thrash at the ball inside the penalty area fortuitously dropped to the midfielder and he hammered home left-footed his fourth goal in his last three matches.

Stoke came close to equalising almost immediately as Etherington's corner dropped to Huth at the far post.

The centre-back's first shot bounced back off the chest of goalkeeper Craig Gordon but he wastefully ballooned over the second from close range.

It signalled a sustained spell of pressure for Stoke, with Nedum Onuoha deflecting wide a Jermaine Pennant shot from the edge of the area and Danny Higginbotham hooking into the side-netting at the far post.

The gusty wind was undoubtedly helping Delap's throw create uncertainty in the Sunderland penalty area and one such set-piece let to Stoke's equaliser, for which Craig Gordon had to take some of the blame.

Delap's 32nd-minute delivery was headed up in the air and as the goalkeeper came to claim he was beaten to the ball by Huth, who was able to nod on via Gordon for Carew to stab home from a yard out for his first in four appearances for his new club.

Debate raged over its legitimacy as Carew was in an offside position but there was an element of doubt as to whether the ball had actually come off Gordon.

It quickly subsided three minutes after the break as Sunderland went ahead for the second time.

Etherington ran into trouble 15 yards into Sunderland's half and Sunderland debutant Sulley Muntari, on loan from Inter Milan, quickly launched the ball forward, catching Huth exposed to a one-one-one with Gyan.

The Stoke centre-back got himself in a complete tangle in the penalty area, allowing the Ghana international to cut back inside and fire past Asmir Begovic for his ninth goal of the season.

Long throws still continued to provide a threat, however, and from one Shawcross' shot was blocked by a packed defence with Delap's fierce strike flattening Phil Bardsley as he headed behind.

But just when it seemed their aerial assault had run its course Stoke struck again seven minutes from time.

It was a scrappy effort but when Pennant curled in a free-kick from the left, Carew's determination got him to the ball before Gordon and he bundled the ball goalwards, with Huth getting the final touch.

Sunderland looked like they were hanging on and, criminally, they cracked again in the third minute of injury time.

Pennant's inswinging delivery from the left again caused problems and Huth slid in from close range to stab the ball past Gordon.

rory delap, britannia stadium, john carew, kieran richardson, aerial bombardment, stoppage time, norway international, telegraph staff, united centre, photo action, robert huth, aston villa, ninth goal, league game, windy day, asamoah gyan, last gasp, offside, happy days, taking the lead

Telegraph.co.uk

113473519gnGPRj_ph

113473519gnGPRj_ph

Markets of PNG

global-citizen-01.blogspot.com

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markets

png

papua

new

guinea

travel

highlands

melanesia

fruit

vegetable

chimbu

simbu
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Fall Off

Fall Off

Went down to Butterfly Beach with Jack Azar and did some night shooting. Was a pretty nice night, a bit of cloud cover helped. I think I might have to come back here, just can't go to far down the beach as the tide comes in or else I will be stuck against the bluffs with no dry way out.

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long exposure

night

butterfly beach

montecito

water

ocean

star trails

clouds

moon

butterfly beach, nice night, cloud cover, tide

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The Old Men on the Mountains

Agence Zoom/Getty Images

Swiss downhiller Didier Cuche, the favorite.

Vancouver, British Columbia

Didier Cuche is an Olympic senior citizen at 35 years years old, so you might assume that his event is curling. But instead of pushing a stone across the ice Saturday, Mr. Cuche will be careening down an icy slope at 80 miles an hour as the gold-medal favorite in the men's downhill competition (if the race isn't postponed by weather).

The Swiss skier is in good— and aging—company. In 1980, the top 12 finishers in the Olympics' downhill event averaged a young 23.6 years. This year's top 12 men's downhill skiers are ancient by comparison: 29.9 years.

"It's become an event that's all about experience," said Phil Mahre, who won silver and gold medals in the slalom in the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games. "And it's a lot more technical than it's ever been."

Despite its reckless abandon, downhill has always been friendlier to veteran skiers than other Alpine events. The turns in slalom and giant slalom can wear on aging knees in ways that the bomb-and-tuck style of the downhill race does not. So it's not surprising that this year's slalom and giant slalom skiers are nearly 2½ years younger than their downhill teammates.

But changes in the nature of competitive skiing and advances in ski technology are making the downhill race even more of a haven for the veterans of the world's most famous downhill runs. Among these new factors: fewer training runs, chemicals that make the snow harder and faster than ever, and a new generation of dramatically curved slalom skis. It's hardly surprising that the venerable Mr. Cuche is a favorite for the gold. He turned in the fastest training run Wednesday, before the run was canceled for fog. (He was disqualified in Thursday's training run for missing a gate.) He is joined on the list of skiers who are expected to do well by two other relative old-timers, Austrian Michael Walchhofer, who is 34, and American Bode Miller, who is 32. Liechtenstein's Marco Buechel is 38.

Of course, younger skiers have come out of nowhere to shock the Olympics before, most notably American Bill Johnson, who took the downhill gold at age 23 in 1984 in Sarajevo. But downhill skiing is unique among the skiing disciplines in that its courses hardly change from year to year. In slalom, giant slalom and super giant slalom, which is known as SuperG, the course changes depending on how race managers set up the gates through which the athletes ski. In downhill, skiers race down essentially the same course year after year, whether at Colorado's Beaver Creek or Vail resorts, or Europe's legendary downhill runs, such as Wengen, Switzerland, or Kitzbuhel, Austria.

Reuters

Austrian Michael Walchhofer, above, and Bode Miller atop the downhill course on Wednesday, below.

View Full Image

EPA

The more times they race down a course, the more familiar they become with what skiers call the "line" of the slope, which means the most direct route from the top to the bottom. Skiers with the greatest familiarity of the line know the high-speed adjustments they need to make as they approach the treacherous turns and jumps of a typical race.

"There is no way to plan for these big events other than to have been there before," said Mr. Miller. "If I come in and race hard, it comes down to whether I can make the tactical decisions to make it down error-free."

Making matters more challenging for young downhillers is the now-common practice of injecting a course with water to ensure that the slope remains consistent for every competitor throughout a race day. With that consistency come icy-hard and lightning-fast conditions that put a premium on split-second decisions made by instinct and experience. "It's the judgment factor," said John McMurtry, the former Alpine coach for the U.S. ski team. "And it takes years to develop that judgment."

Especially now. Mr. Mahre said that when he was on the World Cup circuit, organizers would allow competitors to take four or five practice runs on the course before the actual races. Now, partly because the World Cup circuit includes more events, training runs have been cut back to just one or two for each downhill race.

"Used to be you could get 15 or 20 runs on a course within a few years," Mr. Mahre said. "Now it'll take you 10 years to get up to that level."

For many younger skiers, though, those years aren't wasted. Instead, they are using the sharp reflexes and fast-twitch muscles of their youth to win slalom and giant slalom events, which require a series of jagged turns through gates. As those physical advantages begin to deteriorate in their mid-to-late 20s, the aging skiers begin to gravitate toward the speed events, like downhill.

Since the 1990s, slalom skiers have used skis that are shaped like a parabolic arc—skinny in the middle and widening toward the tips. While the shape makes it easier to carve out the quick turns of a slalom, the skis put tremendous torque on the knees and lower legs, body parts which only hurt more as skiers age.

"I've seen people blow out their tibia and fibulas just by going through a turn," said Picabo Street, the silver medalist in the Olympic downhill in 1994.

American skier Bode Miller first broke onto the World Cup skiing circuit in 1997 as a top slalom racer out of New Hampshire. His first World Cup downhill victory, however, didn't come until 2004, when he was 27 years old. This year, the downhill and SuperG are considered his best shots at the podium, though he may also be a contender in the downhill-slalom combination event known as Super Combined.

Brandon Dyksterhouse, who grew up racing with Mr. Miller and is now the head Alpine coach at the Green Mountain Valley School in Vermont, which trains some of the country's best young skiers, said Mr. Miller is lucky to have made it into this stage of his career without having blown himself into pieces. "If you can hang in without breaking your body apart, there's no reason you can't stay competitive until you're 40."

Write to Matthew Futterman at matthew.futterman@wsj.com

slalom skiers, slalom skis, phil mahre, michael walchhofer, downhill skiers, marco buechel, giant slalom, didier cuche, alpine events, reckless abandon, gold medals, 1984 olympic games, old timers, downhill race, senior citizen, bode miller, 12 men, slalom, swiss skier, olympic games

Europe.wsj.com

Melbourne

Melbourne

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Melbourne

Victoria

Australia

VIC

Oceania

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Nora - Lago Ritom - Switzerland P1140470_1000

Nora - Lago Ritom - Switzerland P1140470_1000

Hike with Nora along the lake Ritom im canton Tessin (Switzerland).

I hope you will enjoy the pictures as we did it on this amazing day.

Join me on a virtual mountain hike! The pictures of all my sets in "Journal" are in chronological order or “Waypoints”. Just choose a set that could be of interest to you, click on pictures at the end of the side.

www.hikr.org/user/Nori/

Link to this hike:

www.hikr.org/tour/post25691.html

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Nora Summit Dog

Lago Ritom

Ritom

Tessin

See

Lago

Lake

Dog

Perro

Hund

Switzerland

Suiza

Schweiz

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Alps

Alpes

Alpen

Hike

Wandern

Mountains

Berge

Montaas

art

Svizzera

Alpine

Photography

Photo

hiking

climb

climbing

nature

Bild 1000

lago ritom, tessin switzerland, virtual mountain, mountain hike, amazing day, nori, chronological order, quot, nora, summit

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