Milan 3 Palermo 0

Yet another three points taken as the season nears it's end and Milan continue to dominate at the San Siro. Milan took charge from the first whistle scoring the opening goal after just 8 minutes - it was Ambrosini winning another penalty, and Kaka finishing in style.
Palermo never recovered from this body blow, and lacking any real strike-force, they allowed Milan to show all the creativity. It was only 12 minutes later that Inzaghi popped up in the box to continue his own scoring bonanza and take Milan into a 2-0 lead. A few minutes later Beckham sent a shot over the bar when he should really have been celebrating another Milan goal. Milan continued to create all the pressure and went into half time with a two-goal lead.
Palermo made a bright start in the second half but quickly lost a player to a red card for persitent fouling (mostly of Kaka). This finished off Palermo and Milan were able to take their foot off the pedal and just control the game. Just before the hour Kaka drew another penalty which he took himself, scoring and finishing the game off at 3-0. Ancelotti then brought on Ronaldinho and Shevchenko with Palermo all but extinguished. Despite a few other chances, the game ended a very comfortable 3-0 to Milan.
Currently, Milan are showing the best form of all the Serie A teams and are consolidating their second placed position in the league. They are on 67 points, 7 shy of league leaders Inter and two above third placed Juventus.

Hungarian 'All Stars' 2 Milan 5

On Kaka's 27th birthday, Beckham started in a three man midfield including Ambrosini and Seedorf, with Kaka and Ronaldinho supporting Shevchenko up front. The game was a friendly in Budapest against a team made up from the Hungarian League.
The Hungarian team took the lead early on in the 7th minute of the game, half an hour later Beckham set up Kaka for Milan's equaliser, and the score at half-time was a respectable 1-1.
Ambrosini made way for Flamini, and after just 2 minutes of the second half, Milan take the lead through Shevchenko.
Just 10 minutes later, the Hungarian team respond to make it 2-2, but Shevchenko put Milan ahead after a further 6 minutes.
In the 75th minute Seedorf scores to bring the score up to 4-2, and then 10 minutes later Tabare Viudez scored to seal the game at 5-2 shortly after Ronaldinho missed a penalty.

Milan 5 Torino 1

Beckham returns to the side and produces a typical performance as Milan over-run Torino. David combined flawlessly with the 35 year old Inzaghi for the first two Milan goals. After having a goal disallowed in the first 10 minutes ruled out for offside, the duo of Beckam and Inzaghi (collective age pushing 70...) combined first from a headed corner and second from a ball lifted cleverly over the defence. Inzaghi 2 Torino 0.
After half time Ronaldinho also combined with Inzaghi to make the score Inzaghi 3 Torino 0, the second hattrick that Inzaghi has pulled out the bag in recent weeks. Kaka slotted home a penalty for 4:0 before Torino got a consolation goal with just 10 minutes to go. To add insult to injury, Ambrosini finished the game in style and Milan ran out 5:1 winners. All doubts about Beckham now surely extinguished. If he was out of favour at Milan (more likely he was nursing a recent shoulder injury), he will certainly be back in favour now!

CHIEVO 0 MILAN 1

Milan ground out another result away from home to consolidate their (third) position in the league, this game saw Kaka take the field again along with Shevchenko (for a few seconds anyway) and Ronaldhino (also from the bench) - yet with all these stars Milan did not shine. A single goal in the second half from Seedorf was enough to take three points. Beckham did not play a part in this game for the first time since joining Milan. So far, he has played every game when he has been available even for a few minutes, this time he was left on the bench for the entire match. Already the doubters have started to sound off, but it is too soon to begin speculating on anything other than a managers prerogative to leave a player in the bench from time to time.
There is plenty of speculation at Milan about possible moves in the Summer, they should at least be able to rely on Beckham being available for the periods already agreed with The Galaxy. Meanwhile in LA, five games have been played since the league started in earnest without a win for the Galaxy - seems like they have started the new season in the same way they finished the last one...

England on target for World Cup

A new chapter in England's history starts to be written as they win five qualifiers in a row leaving them 5 points clear of their group. This latest victory against a Ukraine team with a long-standing unbeaten record. At this stage, it is hard to see where England might drop points in this group having beaten all-comers so far. Croatia and Ukraine are both highly-ranked teams on the World stage, yet we have beaten Croatia 4-0 in their own back-yard. Croatia and Ukraine have drawn when they played each other, but Ukraine have a game-in-hand against Andorra which should secure a further three points and effectively puts Ukraine and Croatia on ten points each. Croatia have played Andorra twice and have played four of their five games at home.The group winners automatically qualify, with the eight (of nine) best second-placed teams entering a play-off stage, from which four will gain a place in the World Cup in South Africa - this means that England must fight tooth and nail to stay top of their group, as qualification from second place would be a tough route to take.
To go with a new winning attitude, England wore a new kit for the first time last week, somewhat more casual looking than previous outfits, the polo-style shirt will no doubt prove popular Summer-wear in England.

England 2 Ukraine 1

Wembley on April Fools' day and England have a chance of securing a place at the World Cup without dropping a point. Milan team mates Beckham and Shevchenko both start the game on the bench.
England are struggling for a front-pairing after Wednesday's match, Rooney and Crouch being the preferred duo. On seven minutes Gerrard and Rooney combined for an audacious overhead kick from Rooney that didn't miss by far and showed both his intent and invention. Only two minutes later Gareth Barry earned himself a rare England yellow card for a cynical although not a dangerous tackle. Aaron Lennon's first foray into enemy territory resulted in a dangerous cross which didn't quite manage to find an England head but drew gasps of appreciation from the crowd. On 14 minutes, Rooney was brought down on the edge of the box, with no Beckham to take the kick, Gerrard narrowly placed his shot round the outside of the far goalpost.
The start of the game was cautious but there was enough creative play to indicate that this should be a game which would eventually yield some goals.
It was Crouch just under the half hour who scored from a corner headed to him by John Terry, swiveling in the air, he demonstrated his agility striking the ball against the keeper into the net and celebrated with the now infamous robotic celebration.
Ten minutes from the end of the half, Lennon once more received the ball wide and placed another great ball onto Rooney's foot only to see the volleyed effort sail over the bar - a strike which if it had been on target would have been one of the best England goals I have ever seen. In the last minute of the first half, Lennon, Rooney and Gerrard combined for Gerrard to have a crack from the edge of the box, the chance was smothered by the 'keeper' as England maintain the pressure. England take a one-nil lead into the second half, but there are surely more goals left in this game?
The second half started with the same line-ups for both sides, and with Lennon's promising start, there was no need for Beckham at this stage. Shevchenko was warming up early off the pitch as Rooney was getting hot under the collar on the pitch. having failed to win a free kick after being heavily tackled by no less than four Ukraine players, he was immediately penalised for exacting his own retribution. He let his feet do the talking and danced through the midfield, placing a shot just wide of the Ukrainian goalpost. More pressure followed from England as Sheva prepared to take the field in an attempt to change Ukranian fortunes replacing Voronin. Almost immediately, Beckham came on to replace Lennon on 57 minutes, it was unclear whether the standing ovation was for Lennon's contribution or the anticipated contribution from Beckham. In fairness, Lennon had not done too much wrong and probably deserved a longer spell on the pitch. Just four minutes later the determination of Rooney won another free-kick on the edge of the box and Beckham stepped up. The resulting shot dipped a little too late and brushed the top of the net on it's way over the top.
A needless free-kick on 70 minutes was given away by John Terry who pushed Shevchenko and led to a goalmouth scramble and an equaliser from Sheva himself. England paid the penalty for not pushing home their advantage at an earlier stage and although Ukraine rarely threatened, the danger is always there if you don't finish the opposition off. Shortly after the Ukraine goal, Wright-Phillips came on for England goal-scorer Peter Crouch. Another Beckham free-kick on 83 minutes failed to penetrate as sloppiness and fatigue came into play for both teams. Beckham won himself a free-kick in the last 5 minutes - he placed the ball in the usual danger area and Gerrard's header found John terry lingering with intent to neatly place the ball in the net with his left foot. Almost immediately Beckham received a needless booking for kicking the ball away, but the relief of the second goal was felt all around the ground.
The result matched the performance, England deserved the win, and in the end Capello made better decisions than the Ukranian manager - five qualifiers, five wins nobody can fail to be impressed with those statistics and England are looking like a world power in football once again.