Archive for March, 2021
Rice Rises To The Occasion
England 2-1 Poland: Harry Maguire scored a late winner in this World Cup qualifier after Kane had put England in front with an early penalty and Poland had levelled in the second half. Declan Rice again was very influential in midfield and won his second „MAN OF THE MATCH“ in three games. Jesse Lingard didn’t come on before the 90th minute when he replaced Sterling.
Match report: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/56505758
Iron Men
Jesse Lingard (right) and Declan Rice (left) made the Hammers proud with their “Man of the Match” performances in England’s recent two games of World Cup Qualifying Group I against San Marino (5:0) and Albania (2:0). Tomorrow an other qualifier awaits the Three Lions against Poland.
Unfortunately there isn’t a third Iron in this team to win West Ham a hattrick of “Player of the Match” trophies in tonight’s game.
Royal Albert Hall turns 150
On Monday, 29 March, the Royal Albert Hall turns 150 years old. The famous concert hall in South Kensington was opened by Queen Victoria on this day in 1871 and named after her late husband Prince Albert who had died six years before.
But unfortunately, this is the second birthday the Hall, which has more than 5,000 seats, had on its own, without any audience.
I’m sure everybody does miss the concert hall as much as I do. I’ve been there on various occasions. I was at a “Blues fest” concert with Robert Plant (ex-Led Zeppelin), a Patrick Bruel concert, a Christmas concert with traditional carols singing along, and a classical “Proms” concert in the summer of 2018. We also had afternoon tea before one of these concerts, and I remember that we walked past the hall to watch hundreds of people queue for a ticket for the “Last night of the Proms” which we attended in Hyde Park. Our last visit came two years ago in May 2019 when we attended the “Leadership Conference” with Nicky Gumbel and thousands of Alpha leaders from all over the world.
Due to the impossibility of welcoming any crowds to the hall, the Royal Albert Hall released a video to mark the occasion by celebrating the people behind the scenes who’ve been working behind closed doors this whole time, keeping an eye on the Royal Albert Hall and making sure that your room will be ready for the return of the audience to the Hall.
An Other Austrian For West Ham?
Stuttgart striker Sasa Kalajdzic scored twice for Austria in their World Cup qualifier against Scotland, and is expected to hit the back of the net again when Austria play Faroer on Sunday in Vienna. This would be only his fourth cap for his country and just his second time in the ÖFB starting XI. According to various reports the 23-year-old could be signed by the Hammers in summer, but he is also said to be pursued by other clubs as AS Roma and RB Leipzig.
Rapid Vienna wanted to sign Kaladjic from his club Admira in 2019, but the U21-player preferred to join German outfit VfB Stuttgart that played in the 2nd Bundesliga at that time and helped them to promotion to Germany’s first tier in 2020. In this season so far the frontman wearing the no. 9 shirt at Stuttgart has scored 13 goals and assisted teammates on three occasions in 25 outings in the German Bundesliga.
The Hammers having been quoted to bid £15million for the 2 m tall Austrian, could look to make Kalajdzic their Sebastien Haller replacement this summer. The Irons failed to add cover for Michail Antonio in January and are keen to sign a striker in the summer.
The 23-year-old would be the third Austrian who plays for the Irons in the Premier League, following in the footsteps of Emanuel Pogatetz (2013) and, of course, Hammer of the Year (2018) Marko Arnautovic whose replacement Sébastien Haller could not be dubbed a success at West Ham and was transferred to Ajax Amsterdam in January.
In the time that has transpired since Haller’s departure, West Ham manager David Moyes has been forced to utilise Jarrod Bowen and Jesse Lingard as false nines when Antonio’s troublesome hamstring issues were flaring up.
Standing at 6’5, drawing comparisons to former England international Peter Crouch, it’s no surprise Kalajdzic is proficient aerially, but the Austrian ace also has strong technical ability and has become a clinical marksman for his club VfB Stuttgart in this season’s German Bundesliga.
With SK Rapid having missed out on the young striker two years ago, it would be great to see the Austrian (whose parents are of Serbian origin and came to Austria from Bosnia-Herzegowina) in claret and blue next season!
The Lockdown Sessions
Ronnie Scott‘s Jazz Club in London’s Westend has existed for more than 60 years, but never before there have been gigs with no applause and no audience present!
Tonight I watched one of the #lockdownsessions: streamed live at Ronnie Scott’s! Big Band Metheny played music of one of the greatest guitar players an d jazz musicians, Pat Metheny.
The session was free for all to view and was funded entirely through donations. I made a donation, so Ronnie Scott’s can keep producing these sessions for everyone who misses London and live music as much as I do!
If you want to contribute, too, here is the donation link >> https://ko-fi.com/ronniescotts
“Wir haben eine unglaubliche Reise hinter uns”
David Moyes wurde kürzlich von der deutschen Wochenzeitung “Die Zeit” interviewt. Das Interview fand vor dem Match gegen Tottenham statt, das die Hammers durch Tore von Antonio und Lingard 2:1 gewannen.
Ein weiteres London-Derby hätte man beinahe auch gewonnen: 3:0 führten die Irons am Sonntag schon gegen Arsenal (Lingard traf schon wieder, dann Bowen und Soucek), doch kamen die Gunners durch zwei Eigentore von West Ham auf 2:3 heran; Michail Antonio traf leider nur den Pfosten, Declan Rice schloss ein unglaubliches Solo aus der eigenen Hälfte mit einem Fehlschuss ab – und dann erzielte der FC Arsenal doch noch den Ausgleich – ein spannendes Match im London Stadium endete 3:3 (3:1).
Die Hammers, die im Vorjahr noch gegen den Abstieg spielten, sind weiterhin Fünfter in der Tabelle, zwei Punkte hinter dem FC Chelsea. Eine “unglaubliche Reise”, nennt das Manager David Moyes in diesem Interview:
www.zeit.de/amp/sport/2021-02/david-moyes-west-ham-united-premier-league-fussball
Noble verlängert noch einmal
Mittelfeldspieler Mark Noble und West Ham United gehen in eine letzte Verlängerung, wie transfermarkt.de berichtet. Der 33-Jährige Klub-Kapitän erklärte in einem von den „Hammers“ veröffentlichten offenen Brief an die Fans, dass er den Irons über sein Vertragsende 2021 hinaus erhalten bleibt. Nobles neuer Vertrag hat eine Laufzeit bis Juni 2022 – dann soll aber endgültig Schluss sein. Der frühere englische Junioren-Nationalspieler ist bei West Ham großgeworden, war davor kurz im Nachwuchs des FC Arsenal. Seit 2000 gehört Noble – bis auf zwei kleine Ausnahmen (zwei Leihverträge) – zum Inventar des Klubs. Sein erstes Pflichtspiel hatte er für die Profis im Jahr 2004 bestritten und war im Kader der Mannschaft, die 2005 unter Manager Alan Pardew in die Premier League aufstieg.
Noble habe „nach reiflicher Überlegung entschieden, dass die Saison 2021/22 meine 18. und letzte als Spieler der ersten Mannschaft bei West Ham United sein wird. Es ist eine Entscheidung, die ich nach vielen Gesprächen mit meiner Familie, meinen Freunden und den Leuten im Fußballverein getroffen habe.“
Noble erklärte weiter: „In erster Linie glaube ich immer noch fest daran, dass ich auf dem Spielfeld viel zu bieten habe. Ich hätte keinen neuen Vertrag unterschrieben, wenn ich nicht das Gefühl hätte, dass ich mir selbst gerecht werden oder der Mannschaft etwas bringen könnte.“ Für West Ham stand der in London geborene Routinier 520-mal auf dem Platz, damit ist er mit großem Vorsprung vereinsinterner Rekordspieler.
Da “Nobes” – nach einer sehr guten Saison 2019/20 – aktuell nicht mehr Stammspieler ist, trägt die Kapitänsschleife in dieser Spielzeit Declan Rice (22). Wenn Noble eingewechselt wird, gibt Dec aber die Binde immer an ihn ab.
Recht so!
EXTRA TIME 
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