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Sports

[215] Of Milan 1 – 0 Ajax

The final whistle was just blown by the referee. AC Milan 1 – 0 Ajax.Van der Vaart. Photo by Ajax.nl. Fair use
Well, one good news though. Gattuso received a red card in the final part of the game. Unluckily, Ibrahimovic received a yellow card 2 minutes later and so far, Ajax has collected three yellow cards. This is going to hurt later.

Update on the rest of the matches:
Manchester United 5 – 0 Panathinaikos
Rangers 2 – 1 Stuttgart
Partizan 1 – 1 Porto
Real Madrid 4 – 2 Marseille
Besiktas 0 – 2 Lazio
Sparta Prague 0 – 1 Chelsea
Club Brugge 1 – 1 Celta de Vigo

Inzaghi gets holders Milan off to winning start
By Simon Evans

MILAN, Sept 16 (Reuters) – European champions AC Milan began their title defence with a 1-0 Champions League win over Ajax Amsterdam thanks to a 67th minute strike from the in-form Filippo Inzaghi on Tuesday.

Inzaghi drove home a loose ball after Ajax keeper Bogdan Lobont had parried an Anrdriy Shevchenko shot to get Milan off to a winning start in Group H.

But Carlo Ancelotti’s side had goalkeeper Dida to thank for a magnificent save in injury time to keep out a close-range strike from Ajax midfielder Rafael van der Vaart, minutes after Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso had been sent off.

It was a hairy end to the night for Milan and until Inzaghi’s strike, his sixth in four games including his goals for Italy in recent Euro 2004 qualifiers, Ajax had produced the better chances.

The win was not a spectacular opening to the European season for Milan but they still managed to display the combination of attractive football, determination and luck that guided them to last season’s title.

Ajax, beaten in the quarter-finals by Milan last term, showed they will again be a difficult side to beat although they will regret not making more of their extensive possession.

CLASSIC PASSING

The Dutch side, displaying their classic passing game, had the best chances of the first half with the influential Rafael van der Vaart striking the bar with a free-kick in the 25th minute before Dida was forced into a diving save to keep out a Zlatan Ibrahimovic header.

Milan’s main inspiration came from 21-year-old Brazilian Kaka, making an impressive Champions League debut after being selected ahead of Portugal’s Rui Costa.

Kaka drew roars of appreciation from the San Siro crowd with some delightful touches and frequently troubled the Ajax defence with his dribbling.

But too often Milan moves broke down in the final stages of attack and they then found it hard to regain possession.

Milan’s best efforts before the break were a Shevchenko volley that flew over the bar and a Kaka drive just wide after a swift reaction to a poor clearance from Lobont.

Ancelotti was forced into a change in the 33rd minute when Alessandro Costacurta limped off to be replaced by Dane Martin Laursen with captain Paolo Maldini moving over to left back.

CO-OPERATION

There was little between the two teams after the break and it took a rare piece of co-operation between Milan’s goal-poaching forwards to provide the breakthrough.

Inzaghi turned well on the edge of the Ajax area and fed Shevchenko whose low shot was pushed out by Lobont only for Inzaghi to pounce on the loose ball and fire them into the lead.

Milan then launched a series of attacks as they sought a second, Shevchenko going close twice, a first-time shot after a great ball from substitute Serginho was parried away and then Lobont did well again to keep out a header from the Ukrainian.

But Milan’s plans to wind the game down were disrupted when Gattuso was dismissed after striking out at Ibrahimovic and Ajax piled forward in hope of a late equaliser.

It almost came when after a piercing run from Hatem Trabelsi, who had troubled Milan’s left flank throughout, the ball fell to van der Vaart but Dida pulled off a stunning save to foil the close-range strike.

Categories
Sports

[214] Of Inzaghi scores

Fair useInzaghi has just scored. Sighed…
According to UEFA.com:

“Inzaghi plays the ball to Shevchenko, whose shot is blocked by Lobont but Inzaghi is able to slot the ball into an empty net. Great link-up between Milan’s strikers there but Lobont will feel aggrieved that his fine save fell straight into the Italian international’s path.”

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Sports

[213] Of update on Ajax-Milan game

Halftime in San Siro and the game is still scoreless. Meanwhile, Escude and Van der Vaart recieved their first yellow card for the new season.
According to UEFA.com, Ajax, like in April, is dominating the game in term of possesion.

On the other games, Manchester United seems to be cruxifying Panathinaikos with four goal against nothing, Stuttgart is leading Rangers by one goal in Scotland, the Real-Marseille game has the scoreline of 2 to 1, and Celta is looking to grab three points from Brugge. All other games are still tied at 0 – 0.

The referee has just blown the whistle in San Siro. Second half is under way. Koeman meanwhile has directed Sneijder to replace Snock.

Categories
Sports

[212] Of Ajax’s line-up against AC Milan

Fair useFair useAjax will be trying to avenge their defeat in San Siro last April. Their mission will start at 2045 CET, which is 1445 EST.

Ajax’s probable line up according to Ajax Netwerk are:
Lobont;
Trabelsi, Pasanen, Escude, Maxwell;
Pienaar, Galasek, Yakubu, Van der Vaart;
Sonck, Ibrahimovic.

Sounds good to me.

Hup Ajax Hup!

Update will follow as the match progresses.

Categories
Environment Science & technology Sports

[211] Of green technology

Green technology sometimes is so simple that it is unbelievable.
As we progress with time, we are developing better technology that can be applied in various fields. However, some of us look too highly on hyper-advance tech with the like of F-22 Raptor, Lotus Elise 111 and AMD Athlon Clawhammer processor and look lowly on technology that seems to be too simple. Perhaps this is the reason why so many people describe the greens as the primitive people as some of us prefer a much simpler tech appliance to the sophisticated ones.

One instance is the construction of straw houses. Basically, a building is built with larger percentage of the material used is the omnipresent straw. Of course the building wouldn’t be 100% straw. Imagine the consequence of a strong gale against such house. Concrete and lumber are used sparsely in the method, mainly for foundation and support purposes. The straws will be compacted and sandwiched within the wall of such house. When I say sandwiched, I mean within the walls itself.

The benefit of such building is energy efficiency. Straws are particularly good in preserving heat and somewhat eliminate the need of a heater in the middle of the winter. Also, the cost of such house is way below typical house. Here is a report by Wired about this technique.

Another simple green architecture is the mud house. This method uses only mud, sand and naturally available fiber for construction in opposition to concrete and cement. The idea might sound pathetic but such building could last as long as the normal house. In fact, renovation will also be easier and less costly. Linked here is an example of a beautiful mud house.

Admittedly, these two construction technologies are primitive, dated back to at least a hundred years. But yet, the efficiency it provides is amazing and comparable to modern marvels.

Moving along the tech tree, one could come to conclusion that the greens are always concerned with renewable energy. For the past few years, the greens have advocated the use of solar and wind energy up in the governmental level.

While encouraging the use of renewable energy, new simple technology resulted everywhere. I am fairly familiar with the advancement made in solar cells because I am obsessed with them. Furthermore, I am working for University of Michigan’s solar car team and had the responsibility of taking care the solar panel on the 2003 car, SpectruM.

The latest achievement is the solar window shades, currently under the R&D stage in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) of New York. In this technique, solar cells are places inside a glass (in this case, the glass window). During the day, the windows will act as a small, quiet and clean power generators. This will take down the needlessly expensive monthly electric bill. Furthermore, according to Anna Dyson as quoted in Wired News, this technique has the efficiency of more than 50%, much higher than typical solar cells; I’ve worked with solar panels with the efficiency of 17% to 28% and I found it hard to believe when the report says “”way more than 50 percent” energy-conversion rate”. However, I can’t argue until I’ve seen the data personally.

Apart from green interests, this solar window solar shade is an effective shade. In fact, it does a better job in shading to the normal shade. Since the cells absorb light, glare will be a thing of in past. Solar window shade is a simple but useful idea.
One could say simplicity is beauty.

p/s – The Wolverines blanked the Fighting Irish 38 – 0. A shutout against a No. 15 team.

pp/s – Ajax has finally regained their form in the face of a Champions League game against Milan this Tuesday. Ajax won against RKC Waaljik with a convincing 4 – 1 at home.