England 1-2 France Wembley Stadium

England suffered defeat to France in an entertaining friendly encounter at London's Wembley Stadium on Wednesday 17 November, winning 2–1.

England were exposed by the superior movement and technique of Laurent Blanc's French side, who won the game after goals from Karim Benzema and Mathieu Valbuena did enough to render Peter Crouch's late strike incosequential.

Capello fielded a side that included debutants Jordan Henderson and Andy Carroll, as well as left-back Kieran Gibbs, who made his first England start in the game.
The first chance would come from a veteran, though, as Steven Gerrard hit a free kick from 30 yards straight at Hugo Lloris in the second minute.

Seven minutes later, Chelsea's Florent Malouda got France's first chance, producing a low strike towards Ben Foster's far corner that the keeper collected with ease.
Yoann Gourcuff then picked up a nervous clearance by the English defence, firing a hard strike that Foster could only put behind for a corner kick.

30% increase in bookings at Wembley Stadium in 2010

Despite the challenging economic climate, Wembley Stadium has been a massive increase in the number of event bookings for 2010.

This year 550 events has been hosted at Wembley Stadium so far,compared to 428 in 2009 – an increase of 30%.

Additional booking had been made for the final two months of 2010 so the rate could increase more that that.

"After the turmoil of 2009 it has been fantastic to see our clients rallying to the benefits of events," said head of sales, conferences and banqueting Jackie Boughton.

"They have embraced the overwhelming power of face to face meetings and used them to improve their businesses. Thankfully, our own marketing efforts have paid off, allowing us to win new business and further develop Wembley’s offering."

Wembley Stadium Upcoming Show...!!

The band has announced the several stadium shows throughout the summer of 2011 including four nights at both The City Of Manchester Stadium and Wembley Stadium, London.

Despite the sold of several tickets, the band reveal that thousands of that tickets are still available from on-line ticket exchanges.

Check out the tour list below and ticket prices

Wembley Stadium, London – July 1st - £108

Wembley Stadium, London – July 2nd - £121

Wembley Stadium, London – July 3rd - £110

Wembley Stadium, London – July 5th - £104

Wembley Stadium, London – July 6th - £99

Wembley Stadium, London – July 8th - £110

Wembley Stadium, London – July 9th - $119

Talented FA Girls showing skills to FIFA Committee at Wembley.

The FIFA examination Team were given an extra-warm greeting to Wembley Stadium last week by a brilliant and equally excited bunch of capable female footballers from the Middlesex County FA Girls Centre of Excellence.

The team began their four-day tour around the cities and stadiums associated with the 2018 England World Cup Bid last Monday and after their first stop at Downing Street, they made the trip to Wembley Stadium where 20 players aged 8-20 were invited along to showcase their skills on the hallowed Wembley turf.

The players, who were treated like VIPs throughout the day, preceded their training session with their own personal tour of the Stadium, a waiter-service lunch and to the delight of all, a comfy-seated, Xbox-laden, holding room.

After a brief rehearsal inbetween rain showers earlier in the day, the girls headed out to begin their training session in front of the awaiting media. The coaches took the players through a series of ball control drills with guest coach, and member of England’s 2018 World Cup bid team, Kadra Ege also involved throughout. England Manager Fabio Capello welcomed the coaches and watched on with a big smile while the girls pulled some special skills out of the bag.

Then Capello was taken to welcome the FIFA team, whilst the girls continued with their coaching session, only taking a brief glimpse over when the delegates had moved onto the serious issue of penalty taking!

After the FIFA team had left, the players were allowed one final treat to finish off what had been a fantastically memorable day – they got to play a match at Wembley!

Wembley Stadium: Blacon junior footballers to play on hallowed turf

At the home of football BLACON Youth JFC will be playing Wembley Stadium on Thursday August 12, along with 55 other clubs for The FA/McDonald’s National Football Festival.
As well as playing on the hallowed turf, the young teams will also meet two of English football’s greatest ever strikers Sir Geoff Hurst, ’66 hat trick hero and McDonald’s Head of Football and Michael Owen, one of the highest scoring England players of all time.
The youngsters will have their opportunity to get a footage taken with the two England heroes during their once in a lifetime trip to Wembley Stadium.
The FA/McDonald’s National Football Festival is the pinnacle of McDonald’s Open Day tour which, this year, has seen McDonald’s franchisees partner with local football clubs to host free football open days in communities across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
More than 700 youngsters will take part in the day long event which consists of non competitive games, coaching sessions and McDonald’s inflatables, the perfect chance to young players to improve their techniques.

Muse Support Acts For Wembley Stadium

Muse Support Acts For Wembley Stadium And Lancashire County Cricket Club Live Concerts To Be Huge Names In Music.

By their live performances Muse never fail to live up to the hype generated, and their dates at Lancashire County Cricket Club and Wembley Stadium will boast some brilliant support acts.

Muse may have had their famous UFO banned from Glastonbury Festival and T In The Park due to health and safety reasons, but the great ambitious band have no plans to drop the spectacular prop from their own live sets at Wembley Stadium and Lancashire County Cricket Club.
All three dates support acts have been announced and there are some huge names amongst the openers!
Manchester Lancashire County Cricket Club – September 4th 2010

Muse

Editors

Band Of Skulls

Pulled Apart By Horses
London Wembley Stadium – September 10th 2010

Muse

Lily Allen

The Big Pink

White Rabbits
London Wembley Stadium – September 11th 2010

Muse

Biffy Clyro

White LiesI Am Arrows
Muse tickets are on sale for all three concerts now, as well as the band’s appearances at T In The Park and Oxegen Festival and a host of European tour dates.

Wembley Stadium's pitch consultants resign

The pitch consultants in charge of the playing surface at Wembley Stadium have resigned.

The news was confirmed on Wednesday after almost constant complaints about the playing surface since it was first laid.

The pitch has performed poorly on almost every major occasion for which it has been used, with recent major finals marred by the players slipping and the surface cutting up far too easily.

The Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) confirmed that they would be stepping down from the role at the end of June after being responsible for the surface for the last 13 months.

"We have had many constructive and positive discussions with Wembley over the last few weeks on what would be the best way forward to make significant improvements to the pitch," said Gordon MacKillop, chief exective of STRI.

"In relation to this STRI presented an alternative strategy for 2010 to change the construction of the pitch, which Wembley agreed was the best way forward and is now proceeding with this.

"We are pleased that Wembley has adopted our proposed strategy which should see improvements to the pitch during 2010. This new structure of pitch does not require the previous level of research and consultancy from the STRI team and, therefore, we feel it is the right time to resign."

Wembley Stadium this time history repeats for Germany benefits

The World Cup most bizarre moment carries such significance because of its eerie similarity to a 44 year old memory that has divided the two countries ever since.

In World Cup histior Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal in the 38th minute of unfairness.
Yet German fans will point to the 1966 World Cup final at London’s Wembley Stadium, when England won the trophy by beating West Germany thanks to a hotly disputed goal from Geoff Hurst on a similar play.
So what happened in 1966?
Eleven minutes into extra time and with the score tied at 2-2, Hurst collected Alan Ball’s cross, swiveled and smacked a shot against the crossbar. The ball hit the underside of the bar and bounced downward toward the line.
England players celebrated and after a long consultation with his assistant, Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst awarded the goal. Television footage appeared to show that the ball had not fully crossed the line, as it must do to be allowed. England went on to win 4-2.
Years later, a study conducted by experts from Oxford University concluded that the goal should not have counted. German fans have never forgotten the incident that led to England’s only World Cup victory.
Lampard began his career at West Ham, the same London club where Hurst and several members of the England team played their club soccer.

FA say they can't fix Wembley pitch until 2023

England's chances of hosting the World Cup in 2018 could be harmed by the news that the pitch at Wembley Stadium may have to be relaid as many as seven times a year until 2023.
A crisis meeting held today at the stadium attended by ground staff consultants, Football Association officials and the Institute of Groundsmanship failed to come up with any solution to the current problems other than having to constantly rip up the surface at a potential cost of over £8million.
It is thought that the pitch will be relaid before the Carling Cup and FA Cup Finals and at regular intervals throughout the season to coincide with England friendlies.
Geoff Webb of The IoG revealed that because of ongoing loan repayments the stadium will remain multi-purpose for the next 12 years at least.
"It is quite common for this to be the case at venue of this kind," he said.
"The FA have admitted that the pitch that was laid for the FA Cup semi-finals was too hard. But they hope that in future they will be able to solve the problem."
Having spent more than £750m on the stadium, the FA need to service their debts and have consequently allowed major sporting events to take place there, including rugby union and NFL matches, while the venue is regularly used to stage big concerts.
The easy alternative would be to reduce the number of events at the stadium but the FA are hamstrung by the debts.
The latest set of figures available at Companies House showed Wembley suffered huge pre-tax losses of £31.1m, following its £53.3m pre-tax loss in 2007.
At present, it is not expected to break even until 2014 and that will only occur if the number of events presently held stays at its present rate. It is still possible that Wembley could default on agreements with banks over its £326m loans if Club Wembley sales drop, which would certainly be the case if fewer events were held.
A new surface is currently being put down following Saturday's rugby match between Saracens and Harlequins when huge chunks of the surface reared up during scrummages, and it will be the 11th time it has been relaid since the stadium opened.
The new surface will be severely tested in the coming weeks with the FA Cup Final between Portsmouth and Chelsea to come on 15 May, before four play-off finals and England's World Cup warm-up friendly against Mexico.
The bigger fear for the FA is that next season's Champions League Final that is being hosted at the rebuilt Wembley for the first time will have the same problems with the turf. Such a scenario in a high-profile global match could only harm England's chances of then hosting the World Cup in 2018.
The pitch attracted fierce criticism after both FA Cup semi-finals earlier this month as Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp branded it "farcical" and said: "You wouldn't see players falling over all the time on a Sunday in the park".
Manchester United striker Michael Owen's season was ended after picking up a hamstring injury during the Carling Cup Final victory over Aston Villa and Sir Alex Ferguson said: "I think the heavy pitch at Wembley made some contribution to it."
Webb believes the pitch management could be improved. It has been the responsibility of the Sports Turf Research Institute since former head groundsman Steve Welch was sacked last year.
"I think it's coming down to the management of the situation itself within the stadium," Webb added. "You've got to look at the decision-making process and you've got to look at the control of that process as well."

FT: Carlisle 1 Southampton 4

That's all we have time for from Wembley. Southampton are the clear victors but Carlisle will be kicking themselves as three of the four goals were courtesy of individual errors. Take nothing away from the Saints though, they've wrapped this cup up in style.

Musungu in Rwanda can't help himself, he's off out to celebrate the Saints' Johnsons Paint Trophy success, regardless of the meetings he has in work tomorrow. He's asking for a big shout out to Wembley spectators Simon and Owen who will no doubt be as jubilant as he is.

90+4 And there is the final whistle and Alan Pardew, wearing a suit blazer over his match-day tracksuit, punches the air and runs onto the pitch to celebrate with his players.

90+3 Davis has a goal-kick and this could be the final act of the match!

90+2 Saints fan David Parker is reading in Bulgaria, but is delighted to see Southampton winning in style in front of his wife Sharon and son Darren, who are at Wembley today.