News update on the 8th of January 2010, haha, I mean 2011!

The Spanish Liga had a trio of interesting games today as Barcelona traveled to Deportivo with hopes of keeping up their fantastic record. They succeeded in doing so thanks to all of the superb talents of the Catalan side. David Villa opened the scoring for the visitors in the 26th minute before three goals in the second half sealed the win. Lionel Messi's 51st minute goal was nice and Andres Iniesta tacked on a goal of his own in the 80th. A minute later Pedro Rodriguez notched the fourth goal for Barca, finishing a crushing defeat for the Deportivo side who were helpless in the face of the Barcelona assaults. Malaga and Athletic's game was also interesting, despite the 1-1 scoreline. This was because both goals came very late in the game. Martin Demichelis put the home sidde ahead in the 81st minute before Javier Martinez scored in the third minute of stoppage time to bring Athletic level, ending the game with the teams splitting the points. The last game in Spain was Sevilla's exciting clash at Real Sociedad. Sociedad drew first blood, with Diego Rivas scoring in the 23rd minute to put the home side ahead. But Frederic Kanoute equalised for the away side two minutes later to keep things interesting. Joseba Llorente then gave the hosts the lead once more, two minutes before half time. The second half was largely Sevilla's though, as Luis Fabiano and Frederic Kanoute scored a goal each within three minutes to rip the game from Real Sociedad's grasp. Kanoute's second goal, the last of the game, was scored in the 65th minute which left the defenses of both sides having to claw for parity or maintaining the lead respectively. Final score: Real Sociedad 2 : Sevilla 3. In Portugal, Porto defeated Maritimo quite handily thanks to a goal from Freddy Guarin in the 38th, a Hulk goal in the 60th, Maritimo's Baba scoring his teams only goal in the 71st minute of the game, and Freddy Guarin and James Rodriguez putting in another goal a piece for a comprehensive victory for the Portuguese leaders. Sporting Lisbon also won their match, against Braga, thanks to two early goals from Diogo Salomao and Jaime Valdes in the 12th and 13th minutes respectively before Paulo Cesar scored one for the visitors in the 18th to leave the margin at 2-1. If Braga had scored as many goals as they got cards, they would have done much better. Meanwhile, in England, Newcastle were defeated in a classic David and Goliath scenario as they were beaten 3-1 by League Two team Stevenage in the meeting of the two teams in the English Cup. Stacy Long and Michael Bostwick were only a couple of the heroes for Stevenage while Joey Barton gave Newcastle some hope in the dying minutes of the game. Either way, this is, according to some, the largest upset for Newcastle United since Hereford defeated them 2-1 in 1972! In other news, Liverpool and Roy Hodgson have departed ways, leaving the way open for Kenny Dalglish top take over the club's coaching operations. Other David and Goliath-esque inccidents occured in France's Cup as AS Monaco and Auxerre were defeated by fifth tier sides Chambery and Wasquehal, joining the likes of Toulouse who lost to third tier side Paris FC 2-1. Wrapping up, in Asia, the AFC Asian Cup is off to a flying start as results are pouring in: China defeated Kuwait 2-0 thanks to second-half goals from Zhang Linpeng and Deng Zhuoxiang as well as good defensive efforts by the back players. With the victory, China now lead Group A, continuing upsets following the Uzbek's surprise victory over the hosts Qatar by two goals to nil as well. Finally, in the world rankings, Germany have retaken the third position in the world as Brazil dropped to fourth. Egypt have also moved up, bumping Croatia down to 10th as they took 9th position in the world. Otherwise, there haven't been any changes in the top 10. Chile, Ghana, the United States, France, Mexico, Japan, Sweden, and Israel have all risen in the table: Chile now occupies 15th position, right after 2006 World Champions Italy; Ghana hold 16th; the U.S. and France are tied in 18th; Mexico holds 27th; Japan resides two positions below in 29th in the world; while Sweden are 33rd. Finally, Israel have broken into the top 50. And for those readers whom it may concern: Singapore have sadly fallen to 140th in the world; England reside in 6th position; the Republic of Ireland hold 33rd position having risen by a good number of places; Russia hold 25th position in the world; Malaysia have unfortunately dropped to 144th in the world; Slovenia have held onto 19th position and, finally, Canada have jumped to 88th in the world.