Damien Duff – Fulham F.C.’s Midfielder / Winger
Damien Duff – Midfielder / Winger of Fulham F.C. – English Premier League
Damien Anthony Duff (born 2 March 1979) is an Irish footballer. He currently plays as a winger for Premier League club Fulham and internationally for the Republic of Ireland.
At Fulham F.C.
After playing one game for Newcastle in 2009–10, Duff returned to the Premier League, signing for Fulham for an undisclosed fee, and re-joining Roy Hodgson, his first manager at Blackburn Rovers. He made his Fulham debut coming on as a substitute against Amkar Perm in the Cottagers’ Europa League qualifier match, setting up the third goal in a 3-1 win.
Duff played his first Premiership game against one of his old clubs Chelsea. The game was at Craven Cottage and Chelsea went on to win the game with a comfortable 0-2 win. Duff scored his first league goal for Fulham in a 2 – 1 victory over Everton, scoring in the 79th minute to give the Cottagers a vital win. His second goal for Fulham was scored against Man City after Zamora had set him up.
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Damien Anthony Duff | |
| Date of birth | 2 March 1979 (1979-03-02) (age 30) | |
| Place of birth | Ballyboden, Ireland | |
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | |
| Playing position | Winger | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Fulham | |
| Number | 16 | |
International career
At junior level, Duff played for Ireland in the 1997 and 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship.
Duff made his senior début for the Republic of Ireland in 1998 against the Czech Republic. He has since gone on to win 75 caps for the Ireland Squad, scoring seven goals. He played every game for them at the 2002 World Cup and was voted their player of the tournament scoring a goal against Saudi Arabia en route to the second round.
Source: Fulham Midfielder, Fulham Winder, Damien Duff information at wikipedia.org.
Clint Dempsey – Fulham’s Midfielder
Clint Dempsey – Midfielder / Striker / Winger of Fulham F.C. – English Premier League Football Club
Clinton Drew “Clint” Dempsey (born March 9, 1983, in Nacogdoches, Texas) is an American soccer player who plays for Fulham in the English Premier League and for the United States national team.
Youth
Dempsey was born in Nacogdoches, Texas, a small town roughly halfway between Dallas and Houston. For much of his childhood, Dempsey’s family lived in a trailer park, where Clint and his siblings grew up playing soccer with the local Mexican immigrant children.
His older brother Ryan was offered a tryout for the Dallas Texans, one of America’s elite youth soccer clubs, but young Clint, who had come along, was noticed and recruited while passing time juggling a ball on the sidelines. Dempsey became a standout on the team at an early age, but had to quit due to his poor family’s time and money constraints as his eldest sister Jennifer was becoming a ranked youth tennis player. But several parents of his teammates with the Texans offered to assist the Dempseys with expenses and travel, allowing him to rejoin the club. He went on to be the captain and high scorer of the Texans and was honored with MVP in the Tampa Bay Sun Bowl tournament.
Dempsey studied the play of Argentina, especially Diego Maradona. Clint was heartbroken when the news came to Nacogdoches that Maradona would not be playing in the 1994 FIFA World Cup game played in the Cotton Bowl.
Dempsey attended Furman University as a health and exercise major and a key player for the Paladins. In his three seasons at Furman, Dempsey started 61 out of 62 games in central midfield and scored 17 goals.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Clinton Drew Dempsey | ||
| Date of birth | March 9, 1983 (1983-03-09) (age 26) | ||
| Place of birth | Nacogdoches, Texas, United States | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Playing position | Winger/Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Fulham | ||
| Number | 23 | ||
At Fulham F.C.
In December 2006, Fulham offered MLS a $4 million transfer fee for Dempsey, then the largest amount ever offered for an MLS player. The league agreed to the transfer; however, Dempsey still needed to receive a work permit from the United Kingdom Home Office. On January 10, 2007, the Home Office granted Dempsey the work permit, thus allowing him to play in England.
Dempsey made his first appearance for Fulham shortly thereafter, coming on as a late substitute in Fulham’s match against Tottenham Hotspur on January 20, 2007. However, for the remainder of the spring of 2007 Dempsey was used only sparingly by a relegation-threatened Fulham. On May 5, 2007, Dempsey scored his first and only goal of the 2006-07 season for Fulham after coming on as a 54th minute substitute against Liverpool, in a vital match which Fulham won 1-0. The goal ensured Fulham’s top flight status for the 2007-08 season.
Dempsey was a key part of the starting squad for Fulham during the 2007-08 Premier League season. His six goals, all scored in the Premier League, made him Fulham’s top scorer in league play and tied for the club lead in all competitions. In May 2008, Dempsey received an automatic contract extension from Fulham that would have kept him at the club through 2010.
Dempsey scored his first goal on the 2008-2009 campaign on October 26, 2008, against Portsmouth. Coming on as a 70th-minute sub, Dempsey volleyed home an Erik Nevland cross past David James to tie the game at 1-1. On December 28, 2008, Dempsey started in the SW6 Derby against Chelsea and scored both goals for Fulham, one a chest and flick past Petr ?ech that put Fulham ahead, and the other an 89th-minute equalizing header off a Simon Davies corner. On April 12, 2009, Dempsey was voted Man of the Match in a 3-1 win over Manchester City at Eastlands, in which he scored two goals.
On August 13, 2009, Dempsey signed a contract extension to remain with Fulham through 2013. On August 20, 2009, he scored his first goal in European competition, in the newly formed Europa League, netting Fulham’s second goal in a 3–1 win against Amkar Perm in the play-off round.
Source: Fulham Midfielder, Fulham Winger, Fulham Striker, Clint Dempsey information at wikipedia.org.
Fulham 3 – 0 Blackburn
Damien Duff and Erik Nevland celebrate Fulham's opening goal
English Premier League News : Fulham recovered from a dire early spell to beat Blackburn convincingly.
The visitors dominated for 40 minutes but paid for some weak finishing when Erik Nevland exchanged passes with Damien Duff before slotting home.
That goal energised Fulham, Blackburn old boy Duff providing another assist for Clint Dempsey to finish off.
The American was on hand to complete the scoring after Simon Davies’s cross found him unmarked, with Blackburn by then desperately chasing the game.
Rovers, who silenced the home fans with some slick play before losing all their composure when falling behind, had an excellent chance to score at the very start.
Read full story Fulham 3-0 Blackburn English Premier League news at BBC Sport Football.
Hull City 3 – 2 Everton
Hull's Dawson (left) and Everton's Saha each scored for their sides
English Premier League News : Hull City held off an Everton fightback to earn a win which moves them level with their struggling opponents.
Stephen Hunt powered in a shot for the home side after Jozy Altidore’s effort had been parried by keeper Tim Howard.
Andy Dawson’s free-kick and a Dean Marney shot added to the lead but Hull’s Kamil Zayatte sliced a clearance into his own goal to give Everton hope.
Zayatte conceded a penalty which Louis Saha converted for the visitors but the Tigers clung on for victory.
Everton must have been on the end of a verbal bashing from manager David Moyes at half-time as they came out a different side after the break.
However, their efforts came too late to rescue a dire opening half as the home side were resolute enough to earn three points and leave the Toffees with only one win in 10 games.
Hull had gone into the match without Jimmy Bullard as boss Phil Brown decided to rest his star man so that the midfield playmaker could recover from a minor knock to his knee.
Bullard has had a major impact for the Tigers since his recovery from a lengthy spell out injured but Brown was taking the longer term view when leaving him out and the home side initially made light of his absence.
Hull went ahead after Everton defenders Sylvain Distin and Leighton Baines missed a deflected Hunt cross to allow Altidore to hammer a point-blank shot, which Howard did well to fend away.
But Hunt had drifted in from the left and, with the Toffees defence sleeping, pounced to lash in the loose ball from eight yards.
The goal lifted Hull, while having the reverse effect on the visitors and the Tigers capitalised by extending their lead through Dawson’s precise 25-yard free-kick into the top corner.
Everton had beaten Hull 4-0 at the KC Stadium in the Carling Cup earlier this season but were a different proposition this time around as they looked a team sapped of belief and confidence.
Too many of their passes were going astray, there was a lack of movement and, most unusually for the Merseysiders, they lacked fight.
A Baines corner was headed just over by Distin in a rare moment of threat from Everton but they soon found themselves further behind.
Distin inadvertently diverted a low cross to Marney and, symbolic of Everton’s fortunes, the Hull midfielder’s shot went in off Tim Cahill.
Everton belatedly showed the passion their play had been missing in the second half and they were rewarded when Zayatte swung at a Johnny Heitinga cross only to slice the ball into his own net.
Zayatte was also involved in Everton’s second goal as he was punished for a high challenge on Saha, who had expertly taken down a diagonal ball from Cahill in the box.
Saha dispatched the penalty with ease to set up a jittery finale for Hull.
Richard Garcia had a shot saved by Howard, while Cahill sent a long range strike over at the other end as more goals looked on the cards.
However, Hull had enough grit to hold Everton at arm’s length and notch their fourth home win of the Premier League season.
Source: English Premier League News, Hull, Everton at BBC Sport.
John Terry – Chelsea’s Captain / Defender
John George Terry (born 7 December 1980 in Barking, Greater London) is an English professional footballer. Terry plays in a centre back position and is the captain of Chelsea in the Premier League. Terry is also captain of the England national football team.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | John George Terry | ||
| Date of birth | 7 December 1980 (1980-12-07) (age 28) | ||
| Place of birth | London, England | ||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)Chelsea_FC_profile_0-0″>[1] | ||
| Playing position | Centre back | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Chelsea | ||
| Number | 26 | ||
Career Overview
Terry was voted best defender in the UEFA Champions League in both 2005[2] and 2008, the PFA Players’ Player of the Year in 2005,[3] and was included in the FIFPro World XI for four consecutive seasons, from 2005 to 2008.[4][5][6][7] He was also named in the all-star squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the only English player to make the team.[8] He wears the number 26 shirt for Chelsea.
In 2007, he became the first captain to lift the FA Cup at the new Wembley Stadium in Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Manchester United, and also the first player to score a full international goal there, scoring a header in England’s 1-1 draw with Brazil.[9] However, the 2007-08 season saw Terry and Chelsea miss out on three trophies, losing the League Cup Final to Tottenham Hotspur and Premier League and UEFA Champions League to Manchester United with Terry missing a penalty in the Champions League final shootout, sending it to sudden death. Had he scored, the European Cup would have been secured for Chelsea.[10] After the final in Moscow, teammate Frank Lampard described Terry as “a man’s man”.
Source: English Premier League Football Club, Chelsea F.C. Captain, Chelsea F.C. Defender, John Terry information at wikipedia.org.