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Borussia Dortmund’s early missed opportunities paved the way for Real Madrid to finish off with their 15th Champions League triumph 2-0 at Wembley Stadium

by Sports Benches

What a way to finish off the UEFA European club season at London’s iconic Wembley Stadium earlier this morning (our time) where Borussia Dortmund came back in the main event picture for the first time back in 2013 v the multi-championship winning Spanish giants Real Madrid. The first half was 0-0 with Dortmund leading the way up front where they had a couple of chances but couldn’t get away with a goal that gave Real a sigh of relief. The tug-o-war continued a bit longer going into the 2nd half before Real’s turnaround with the ball led to a series of advantages and that’s where they eventually cashed in two goals in return en route to full-time. One comes from a brilliant header by Dani Carvajal via a corner in the 73rd minute, while Jude Bellingham found the intercept off Ian Maatsen for Carlos Vinicius Jr. to process the finishing touches with the 2nd goal.  

Hard luck from Dortmund to fall short once again having made the best past of their first half performance with a really good threat to try & scare off Real Madrid up front. Unfortunately, they just couldn’t get themselves through the net with a couple of hit and misses here and there – including one that hit the crossbar before it deflects away from the in-goal. What they’ve done despite finishing 5th in the Bundesliga is that they’ve come from a long, long way to get they want to be as sure they will hopefully win back the league that would mean another good Champions League run next season. You got to credit the strong German teams performance across Europe that grants them an extra CL spot on top of the usual four at the best level.

Then congratulations to Real Madrid on their Champions League triumph for the 15th time including yet another major silverware being delivered by the head coach Carlo Ancelotti, which is his 2nd at the Bernabeu having last won it back in late May 2022 v Liverpool 1-0 at Stade De France in Paris, France. They’ve put in a excellent defensive display including a huge effort from the goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois following a really tough last 12 months when he was out for the majority due to an ACL knee injury before getting back out there a few weeks ago & to produce a world-class beater was incredible. Then Real was so fortunate enough to turn things around after half-time that gave them the upper hand – such as the dominant possession & winning penalties/corners/free-kicks that exposed the opposition’s poor defense in the end with the win.

The UEFA Euro 2024 tournament is not far away that will begin in two weeks time across Germany and then we will return later this year on top of the UEFA Super Cup between the best of the European champs (Atalanta from the Europa League v Champions League triumphs Real Madrid) with an expanded but new look Champions League that also applies with the Europa League and Conference League. Gonna be a brilliant few months ahead including the Olympics in Paris as well.

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2023-24 FIH Pro League, Hockeyroos crash out once again this time 5-0 while the Kookaburras lost their way after an early 1-0 lead to a 2-1 loss both by the Argentineans

by Sports Benches

It’s been another rough day in the office for both of our Australian men’s and women’s hockey teams in Antwerp, Belgium this time at the hands of Argentina. The men despite a great start earlier on from Tim Brand was run down off the back of the opposition’s 2-0 comeback from behind during the 3rd quarter before they were held back 2-1 in the end. Then the women were unable to grasp out of the second-best ranked team with hit and misses and also defensive gaps falling anywhere and everywhere even though they were 1-0 down at half-time in the hope of a good turnaround, having also been bitterly bruised 5-0 thanks to an excellent Argentinean 2nd half counter-attack including their dominant possession & winning penalties.

Gotta say too much ill-discipline and not enough possession when creating the best chances with the ball has crippled the Hockeyroos so much when the backline including the goalkeeper worked so hard to stop the Argentineans from its tracks which wasn’t oh so easy. We thought being 1-0 down is better than nothing so they can turn things around in order to bridge the other end that would hopefully bring some confidence to close things out their way but nothing much has changed unfortunately when the Argentineans had greater control of the ball from here that restricted the best out of our attack.

As said with the men, great start by the Kookaburras with the quick counter-attacking finish where there were some good numbers to give Tim Brand the finishing touches he needs for the early lead while toning the opposition play down that puts them in front at half-time 1-0. However, they just couldn’t build on when trying to get past a robust Argentinean defense including some hit and misses before it eventually came back to haunt them, particularly during the 3rd quarter. Their momentum just isn’t the same as it was earlier on when there less opportunities towards shots on target while witnessing the Argentinans rebound by ripping up their own backline with numbers clearly shown to snatch the lead & then shut it down including another set of lost penalties & ill-discipline that consigned them to yet another loss against another top-notch side.

The Hockeyroos will have a rest day today with the Kookaburras getting a bit more time before they will both be back in action this weekend. Here’s the following next matches to round off their Belgian mini-tour in Antwerp before turning their attention to Germany and Great Britain to finish off the 2023-24 FIH Pro League season in London, UK sometime next week:

  • Hockeyroos v Argentina again on Saturday night our time with the Kookaburras to follow straight after that v the Argentina Men’s team.
  • Hockeyroos continue on Sunday night our time v Belgium again; same with the Kookaburras v Belgium once more straight after that in the early hours of Monday morning our time.
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FIH Pro League, Kookaburras being run down so easily 5-1 while the Hockeyroos were snatched away at the last minute by both the men’s and women’s Belgian teams in Antwerp

by Sports Benches

Field Hockey is back for another while to bring down the 2023-24 FIH Pro League season across Europe for both our Hockeyroos and Kookaburras teams before Olympics time in Paris, France come late July-early August. It all began with back-to-back men’s and women’s matches against Belgium where the men were very much bruised by the hosts 5-1 whose good form up until then was unfortunately collapsed deep down despite equalizing for a bit earlier at 1-1 in the first quarter. Then we saw the Hockeyroos almost got it 2-1 after a tough, physical 2/3rds until a last minute penalty corner goal by Belgium gave them another lifeline going into the penalty shootouts after a full 60 mins at 2-2 all and again, we saw an unfortunate and unlucky end to see them fall short at the hands of the hosts once again 3-2.  We congratulate the hosts on their excellent performance with the men being too good and the women so resilient that made our Hockeyroos so difficult to maintain control on the pitch. For the Aussies, it’s going to be another tough next encounter ahead when they will both take on against the respective men’s and women’s Argentinian side later tonight. Our men should continue to take advantage of these early starts and build on it on the front foot rather than leave it so late where they struggled mightily under pressure whereas the Hockeyroos better watch their discipline other than scoring or else it will compromise their defense & also their momentum.

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Netball: Mainland Tactix relieved to see off the Northern Stars in the end with the one-point win as they now topped the Central Pulse on the 2024 ANZ Premiership Ladder

by Sports Benches

Gotta say that Round 7 of 15 in the 2024 ANZ Premiership Netball competition in New Zealand was full of surprises and unpredictability. We first saw the undefeated Central Pulse run being finally written off by the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic two days ago while the 6th and last place Southern Steel got their first win of 2024 yesterday afternoon v the Northern Mystics.

Now the Mainland Tactix is your new leader ahead of the Pulse after they overcame a serious and attack-minded Northern Stars side by just one point as the final score was 58-57. The first half was shared by the two teams with the Stars off to an excellent start while the Tactix didn’t stop working to keep them in check ahead of half-time 29-29 apiece. Yes, Stars won the third quarter where they had a small few points advantage in the hope of finally securing their first win of 2024. However, they just couldn’t get it over the finish line unfortunately which was a shame as the Stars were right in it for the whole time. Instead, the Tactix managed to turn things around with a little tweaks where a resilient defense, cutting down the ill-discipline and giving Ellie Bird the keys to shoot over the net more often there was the key to their winning path tonight in Christchurch.

Gotta say Ellie Bird was so happy & relived to get her Tactix team over the line v the Northern Stars by just one point after her outstanding performance tonight on 47 of 49 goal attempts at 96% just close within the net (goal shooter). Yes, her numbers around her had a really hard time getting past the Stars on occasions when the opposition also had high standards. But she’s thankful that staying ahead including the last 15 minutes saw her working a little more harder in order to get to stop the Stars from slipping past them while being able to process her finishing more often that fits the way the Tactix wanted to finish it off under her watch. The next Tactix star who did well to stop the Stars in its tracks at the back is Karin Burger on Goal Defense where she can cover everything at the back. She never backs down having read the difficult opposition attack well on her own danger zone in order can take the risk & win the ball back, which paid off in to order bring the ball over through the other end of the court. It goes to show that she’s still got plenty to offer at 31 including the leadership to help stay ahead despite some flaws with the ill-discipline here & there, particularly during the 3rd quarter before she got them home by one point.

And Mila Reuelu-Buchanan really made the Tactix confuse themselves with her all-action energy in the mid court that includes her defensive skills to turn things around & protect her back three. That way, she can give her Northern Stars Shooters the best link-up supply they can get thanks to their good start of the night off the back of her work including an amazing 3rd quarter. They were oh so close to derailing the Tactix’s winning celebration plans in the hope of finishing off another upset like the other two weekend matches but just couldn’t do so unluckily towards the end there with yet another loss after Round 7.

May is about done now as we enter the new month of June for Round 8 this weekend with the Southern Steel v Central Pulse on Saturday, then Mystics v Tactix on Sunday and the Stars will be back next Monday night where they welcome the Magic.

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Manchester United finish off the 2023-24 season with the FA Cup win over Manchester City 2-1 at Wembley Stadium in London

by Sports Benches

It’s been a very different FA Cup Final on this Manchester arch-rivalry overnight at Wembley Stadium in London – also host of next Sunday morning’s UEFA Champions League Final between Borussia Dortmund & Real Madrid. It’s not Manchester City who couldn’t defend their crown but instead it went to Manchester United whose great start with two goals in the first half was enough to stop City from catching up as the game goes on despite seeing the late opposition goal in the end 2-1.

Interestingly enough, Man Utd now won both men’s and women’s tournaments all in the same season after the women also went one better a few weeks ago v Tottenham Hotspur 4-0. Surprise, Surprise there as City thought they can win this but seems they really need to hang on that Premier League trophy that left Arsenal settle second best once again after another Champions League shortcoming run in the Quarter-Finals. So no European Football at least for the Conference League spot unfortunately for Newcastle United despite finishing 7th with Chelsea getting the nod in 6th despite parting ways with their head coach. And Man Utd will be back alongside Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham (who finished 5th) in the Europa League for the first time since 2022-23 having played in the Champions League last season (unfortunately last in their pool group).

However, an underwhelming league performance still in 8th and a change of hands within minor upper management recently meaning they could see a brand new manager next season. Someone who won this and then get given the flick has happened before, so no surprise if this will happen again but this is a club who is a long way off from the good old glory days.

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Amazon Prime’s upcoming 2024 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup coverage for Australia

by Sports Benches

As we all know, Amazon Prime is now your home of the ICC cricket tournaments here in Australia at least over the next four years until the end of the 2027 50-Over World Cup in South Africa including the upcoming T20 World Cup across the West Indies and USA starting next Sunday on the 2nd June between Canada v USA in Dallas, Texas. So no free-to-air or even Foxtel involved in the meantime where fans would have to pay $9.99 a month or $79 a year in order to watch the games. Yes, it’s still possible that there will be free-to-air ICC Cricket World Cup content at some point thanks to the Government’s anti-siphoning laws but it can only be held in Australia or New Zealand and the next one won’t come out until the 2028 T20 World Cup edition. It remains to be seen if Amazon will still be covering this for another term by then which will require them to seek a free-to air partner or see Foxtel return onboard with Seven instead of Nine and/or on its own elsewhere with Kayo Freebies.

This is going to look different alongside a brand new theme like FIFA in Soccer where there will be four group stages with each be playing against them four times, then the top two will go play against the other best Top 2 group stage teams that will be split into two groups again during the 2nd round Super 8s for the first time in a long time since 2014 and then you got two semi-finals followed by a final to round off towards the end of June on the 29th. How Amazon’s coverage will look like is that they will air all the matches live straight off the world feed coverage by ICC TV with no in-house production & broadcast talent involved of their own at all even in Australian games since they don’t have a Sydney studio including on-demand full replays and both 10 minute & 25 minute highlights length packages too. Plus, in you case you missed the game by tuning in live midway during the match, you can also quickly look back from the start via a two-minute recap feature which is something new to try. I personally don’t have an Amazon Prime subscription but sure you can pause, rewind and fast forward as well.

Great to see the T20 World Cup enter the US even though it’s not full host rights where they will host some group stages across Florida, Texas and New York with the West Indies getting the majority including all of the Super 8s and Finals. They did beat Bangladesh twice so far during the warm-up games which was really good to hear 2-0, so let’s see if they can at least finish 3rd in Group A if not unexpectedly 2nd with a good group of players including ex-Blackcap Corey Anderson & head coach Stuart Law. But it’s all about the Aussies who hope to steal off yet another World Cup trophy off England albeit the T20 one for the second time after they won the 50-over tournament for the record sixth time late last year v hosts India.

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Looking ahead for the 2024 Roland Garros Tennis Tournament starting on Sunday

by Sports Benches

It’s been a while but grand slam tennis is back for the 2nd tourney out of 4 this year at the Roland Garros in Paris, France, that is going to take over 15 days beginning this Sunday. So a bit similar to what we’ve had back in January for the Australian Open at Melbourne Park in order to give more time for the matches to finish early after a few overnight 5-setters last year.

There will be 1-2 changes coming at Nine where they will only have four people onboard of former doubles champion and Tipping Point Australia host Todd Woodbridge (Host & Co-Commentator), former World No.4 Jelena Dokic, ex-player and 2011 US Open champion Sam Stosur & versatile sports announcer who does some NRL for the network Brenton Speed. 

Looks like there will be no Roz Kelly since she will be focusing on the Olympics come July and also wants to be a bit more flexible other than presenting the Friday-Saturday Sydney sports news and the newly rebranded Wide World of Sports Sunday show & no Brett Phillips either for the overnight/early morning host shift. It seems they will relay the world feed coverage for the 2nd half day’s action instead of having Phillips staying up except the both singles finals (Nine will continue to have it on its own), having seen it all along at the 2023 Davis Cup Finals week in Spain where Australia fell short once again to Italy.

And on Stan Sport (subscription required to stream for $25 a month), their whole lots of content including on-demand replays & mini match highlights will continue to come straight from the world feed. They will also continue to run their own daily review show in the mornings from Nine’s Sydney studios with Host Chris Stubbs (who continues to do freelance despite Stan losing the SpeedSeries rights back to Seven) and ex-Tennis player Wally Masur. So that’s that over the next 15 days across Nine and Stan as all eyes on 11th ranked Alex De Minaur and maybe Jordan Thompson (currently World No.37) to hopefully make a breakthrough & have an extended crack in the last eight like Ash Barty did back in 2019 on the courts of clay.

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Favourites & Unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen finally knocked down by Atalanta BC thanks to Ademola Lookman’s hat-trick with the Europa League Final victory at Aviva Stadium

by Sports Benches

We thought this was Bayer Levekusen’s game to win for yet another time having been unbeaten for so long after their outstanding Bundesliga season without losing a game (a draw doesn’t count) with the title, but unfortunately their series of hit and misses allowed Ademola Lookman to caplitalise on his unbelievable hat-trick for Atalanta BC whose Italian side was just being crowned the champions of the Europa League at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. The final score was 3-0 after 90 mins.

Gotta feel sorry for the Levekusen fans who saw these dreams turn into reality when you got former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso at the helm as head coach and thought a series of changes later on with a deeper squad would turn things around like it was before. We just didn’t see this happening despite having the most possession as they failed to make the most out of their conversions at least inside the penalty box and instead had balls flying everywhere which didn’t work. There’s no way they can drop out from the Champions League to the Europa League again from now on since the competition format is gonna change going into next season as his next chance would have to wait at another time with Levekusen or another club.

And for Atalanta BC, every time they had the ball they absolutely controlled well whenever they had it to steer clear of the Levekusen defenders thanks to Teun Koopmeiners and their front three before Lookman got the job done from the left wing and voila – back-to-back goals earlier in the first-half plus a 3rd strike later in the last 45 mins from someone who hails from England, played in the Premier League and is a Nigerian International through his parents’ heritage. Hats off to him who made his team’s supporters night something special to cheer about wherever they are including his team-mates and of course, the head coach Gian Piero Gasperini who has never won a major trophy before until now with this one at age 66 – how good!!

We had first-time Europa League winning coaches in the last few editions like 46-year-old Oliver Glasner (now Crystal Palace coach) for Einchart Frankfurt back in 2022 v Rangers and also 61-year-old Jose Luis Mendilibar (now Olympiacos coach who is in the running for next week’s Conference League Final v Fiorentina) last year for Sevilla v AS Roma & sure we’ll see many more to come after Gasperini. Both winners have already qualified for the Champions League next season with Levekusen via their championship league position in the Bundesliga & Atalanta either way with the Europa win tonight (now guaranteed) and the extra league position for the Serie A in 5th (which will then hand over the extra winning Europa to Champions League slot to the 6th-placed side) with two games to spare against Torino and Fiorentina. So that’s it from Aviva Stadium on what has been a cracking game where the top ranked team was crushed by the Italian Atalanta side as can’t wait for the Conference League Final (next Thursday morning) and Champions League Final (next Sunday morning on June 2) throughout next week.

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2024 ANZ Premiership Netball News, Mystics too good tonight with Magic’s 2nd half turnaround not enough after their poor start

by Sports Benches

There was twists and turns to finish off Week 6 of 15 of the 2024 ANZ Premiership Netball season on a Monday night in Auckland where the Northern Mystics well clear past Bay of Plenty Magic with the win 54-44.

First two quarters saw the Mystics score as many as 16-18 while the Magic struggled to stop their opponents or the formidable attacking three in its tracks going into the break 34-16 – that’s a huge difference of 18 points between the two teams. Yes, the Magic began to rebound with back-to-back 2nd quarter leads alone thanks to a series of changes off the bench even but still fell short where their key player Ameliaranne Ekanasio unexpectedly had to sit out due to illness forced the Mystics hand who didn’t waste any time closing the game down towards the final whistle.

Hats off to Peta Toeava with her outstanding performance tonight at wing attack of 23 goal assists & 50 feeds for the Mystics who provides a great supply for her two attackers to get the job inside the circle. She might not be tall but has a an excellent read that benefited her front three alongside an exceptional level of fitness and physicality after causing the Magic so much trouble on the court. Next up is another Mystics player Tayla Earle where she too worked well together with Toeava in the middle that ensured the Mystics destructive shooting structure at the end of the day with a big win. She not only kept a great eye on the Magic defensively but also showed her versatility further up the court in attack thanks to her wonderful skillsets & communication. Gotta say that the Northern Mystics was too good with a top quality first half start even though they were aware that the Magic can crawl back later on but that didn’t bother them a lot thanks to a 10-point win. They will now be heading off to Dunedin this Sunday v Southern Steel who is sitting last right now which shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

And Saviour Tui has done so much to put the Magic on the map as the leading goal shooter after she scored the most goals tonight at 31 out of 36 attempts with a highest overall percentage of 86%. She’s so tall with a brilliant attitude who will always get the job done from close range & also as with lots more to come after she swapped for the South to Waikato in 2024. But then as said, she had to take up the heavy lifting when the Magic’s poor first half defense & a lack of link-up play including no Ameliaranne Ekenasio due to illness saw them collapse left, right and centre. Magic may be staying 4th for now on the ladder but still have a long way to go & get Top 3 that would guarantee them Finals with the Central Pulse next up on Saturday.

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Thoughts on the National Basketball League staying with Network 10 and what it does mean with their other sports coverage

by Sports Benches

So there we have it, the National Basketball League is staying on with Network 10 as their free-to-air partner for at least another 3 years going into the 2024-25 season. Up until now, they aired back-to-back Sunday afternoon games including some Finals and the Christmas Day match on 10 Peach and 10 Play. Now it will be just the weekly Sunday afternoon game (the main 2.30pm one) on the main channel like it was several times in the past including some Finals with ESPN still being the primary broadcaster for most of the games behind a paywall as well as some occasional free-to-view content via Kayo Sports.

Couldn’t see it coming when it was an easy decision for 10 to keep the NBL even it means being the secondary broadcaster to ESPN like they’ve done two years ago with Fox Sports to keep airing the annual Australian Formula 1 and Motorcycle Grand Prix races which is still ongoing despite losing the majority rights a decade ago. Also the interest isn’t bad too with some great success over the last few years including last season as the league will hope to see some more exposure going forward at the right place at the right time after spending the last couple of seasons on a multi-channel.

With NBL being locked up including the Australian Grand Prix events, where is 10 going from here with their sports content?

Well, they’ve lost the Melbourne Cup Carnival to Nine lately as well as Bellator MMA after the network’s parent owners have sold the competition to Professional Fighters League at the end of last year which means Bellator is now seen via Nine’s paid streaming service Stan Sport. Then you got most of Australian soccer where the National team’s performance isn’t bad while the Matildas is rising but then the A-League domestic leagues is another who is still not on the same page as it once was before. They got two more seasons left to run before the next TV rights deal comes into play from the 2026-27 season.

First of all, the Paramount + paid streaming product grew so slowly then the free-to-air channel had some really low ratings during their first year where 10 changed their arrangement to two free-to-air weekend games on 10 Bold and the all other women’s competition games were made available via 10 Play online ever since. Then you got the parent ownership uncertainty where Paramount could get a new owner and suddenly 10 may no longer be part of their business which could change everything here at the Pyrmont building in Sydney. The question is could we see a bit more free-to-air content to try and get back more lost viewers? and even if the A-Leagues does leave 10, where they’re gonna go? Because not many others would wanna take it when Seven has cricket and Nine has tennis during the other half of the year (which is the summer time).

You could also say that the proposed National 2nd division championship might help from next year but then it’s a product that is yet to be tried and tested. Lots to answer here with Network 10’s long-term plans over the next coming years.

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