International Break and Euro 2012 Qualifying

I wasn't able to post in the last week (internet was down at home), but I will attempt to cover the international games from Friday/Saturday and Tuesday.  Anyway, this time I'm going to focus on teams in general, rather than games and give some words on their performances.  I'll be speaking about the following teams:

Ireland
England
Spain
Italy
Netherlands
Germany
USA

Also, I'm sorry but I won't be able to link to any videos at the moment because I can't find any for some games.  But, I'll edit later with links to videos when I get them.

Ireland

An own goal from Armenia send Ireland to the finals

Let's begin with Ireland (the country of my heritage).  Ireland have found their way into the second position in the table for Group B.  They pulled two victories this past weekend despite the absence of captain Robbie Keane.  On Friday, Ireland faced Andorra and produced a 2-0 victory.  Kevin Doyle was a hero again as his goal in the 7th minute put Ireland ahead, and Aiden McGeady solidified the lead in the 20th minute.  Then on Tuesday, Ireland and Armenia played to determine second spot in the group behind Russia.  Ireland managed a lucky, but hard fought 2-1 against Armenia.  Ireland's first point came from an own goal which was equalised by Armenia later.  Then Richard Dunne struck to give Ireland the lead before being sent off himself. This puts Ireland through to the Euro play offs (meaning they'll be playing against Portugal, Croatia, and Czech Republic to find one of two spots in the finals).

England
Well, England played only one game on Friday against Montenegro, and it was an interesting one.  Ashley Young and Darren Bent put England ahead 2-0 in the first half, but Montenegro fought back.  They put one away just before the half to end the first half at 2-1.  Then in the 73rd minute, Rooney was sent off for a pointless tackle (that honestly was not much of a tackle) and England were on the back foot after that.  All looked fine until Adrija Delibasic gave Montenegro the equaliser in the 90th minute to tie the game.  England remains in the top spot for Group G and they haven't lost a game yet, but playing without Rooney might be a bit tough for the goal scoring aspect.

Silva gives Spain the lead against Scotland

Spain
It was a routine weekend for the world champions as they recorded two more wins against the Czech Republic and Scotland.  On Friday, Juan Mata and Xabi Alonso put Spain ahead early with two great goals that were enough to hold for an easy win against the Czech Republic.  Tuesday, it was the game of the dual Davids as David Silva struck a brace and David Villa finished off the scoring against Scotland to give Spain a 3-1 win.  Spain maintains their perfect 8-win-record in Group I, absolutely guaranteeing them a spot in the finals.

Italy
It was a good but mixed weekend for the Italy that began with a Friday 1-1 tie with Serbia.  Marchisio struck early in the first minute to put Italy ahead, but Ivanovic equalised in the second half and neither team could find the net afterward.  Then on Tuesday, Italy found a comfortable 3-0 win against struggling Northern Ireland.  Cassano struck a brace and a humiliating own goal finished off the game.  Italy has also yet to lose a game in Group C with a 8-2-0 record.

Netherlands
The Netherlands proved they are a definite threat for the Euro 2012 this weekend but also dropped their first game in the group stages.  Friday they faced Moldova where a single goal from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was enough to give the world cup runner-ups a 1-0 win.  But, Tuesday they were humbled by Sweden in a 2-3 loss.  Goals from Huntelaar and Kuyt were not enough this time and Netherlands lost their perfect record in qualifying.

Özil performed fantastically against Belgium

Germany
Germany finished Euro Cup qualifying with a spectacular perfect 10-0-0 record.  Friday they defeated Turkey 3-1 with goals from Gomez, Müller, and Schweinsteiger outweighing the consolation goal from Turkey.  Then on Tuesday, they beat Belgium 3-1 with more goals from Gomez, Özil, and Schurrle.  This technically gives them the best record (only because Spain have only played 8 games) as their 30 points stands monstrous in qualifying.

USA
The USA may not have a Euro Cup to qualify for, but they played games against Honduras and Ecuador this weekend.  Saturday, the USA got their first victory under new coach Jurgen Klinsmann as they defeated Honduras 1-0 thanks to a fabulous goal from Clint Dempsey assisted by Brek Shea.  Their Tuesday game against Ecuador just finished (like as am typing this) and the result is a 0-1 loss to Ecuador.  The USMNT definitely showed some fatigue and a lack of goalscorers as a singular goal from Corozo sunk the USA.  Klinsmann's record stands at 1 win 4 losses with the national team, but I honestly don't think it properly represents the progress they've made.  Hopefully a great goal scoring outlet or some chemistry with all the new players can bring better results (but I honestly think the red jerseys are bad luck).

So, league football resumes this weekend and I'll be back to summarise all the action on Saturday.

Reality Check

Sorry about the late post, but I've had a bit of a busy weekend with school and what not.  Anyways, below is a list of games that happened this past weekend that I'll be covering:

Blackburn Rovers 0-4 Manchester City
Manchester United 2-0 Norwich City
Valencia 1-0 Granada
Internazionale 0-3 Napoli
TSG Hoffenheim 0-0 Bayern München
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Arsenal
Bolton Wanderers 1-5 Chelsea
Sporting Gijon 0-1 Barcelona
RCD Espanyol 0-4 Real Madrid
Juventus 2-0 AC Milan

As you can see there are tons of games, so let's get started!

Adam Johson breaches the Rovers to put City ahead

Blackburn Rovers 0-4 Manchester City

City returned to stellar form with goals from Adam Johnson, Mario Balotelli, Samir Nasri, and Stefan Savic to destroy Blackburn Rovers.  The goals started at 56 minutes and continued through the 87th as City romped their opponents.  I do have to say that Johnson's goal was brilliant and I hope to see more like that.

Manchester United 2-0 Norwich City

Manchester United struggled against Norwich City's tough defence and pulled a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Anderson and Danny Welbeck.  Nani, Rooney, and Chicharito couldn't find ways through and it took a bit of skill from the others to pull a win this time.  But still, you know a team is doing well when the critics say they performed poorly after winning 2-0.

Valencia 1-0 Granada

Valencia battled for a tough win against Granada even though the game winning goal came in the 4th minute.  Sergio Canales Madrazo put Valencia ahead with a splendid goal, but Soldado and other threw away a ton of chances to finish the game off.  Valencia dominated the game, but couldn't put it away.  Either way, they are now in a three way tie for third in the league.

Another impressive performance as Maggio gets his goal

Internazionale 0-3 Napoli

Inter failed again in a difficult game against recently successful Napoli.  There was some controversy over the first goal which resulted from a penalty given after Obi's challenge on Maggio right outside of the goal box.  This technically shouldn't have been a penalty, but it was nonetheless given and Obi was sent off for a red card, as well.  Hamsik missed the shot, but it was picked up by Campagnaro.  Later Maggio made it two with a slip up from Inter's defence and Hamsik made up for his missed penalty to bury Milan.  I have no doubt that Napoli would have won even without Obi's red card and penalty.

TSG Hoffenheim 0-0 Bayern München

Bayern München failed to find a real goal in their draw to TSG Hoffenheim.  This ended their 10-game winning streak, but they still sit at the top of the Bundesliga table, leading by 3 points.  Also, this continues goalkeeper Manuel Neuer's clean sheet streak, as Bayern have not conceded a goal since August 15.

Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Arsenal

Tottenham got a well-deserved and hard fought win over Arsenal.  Van der Vaart put Tottenham ahead just before the end of the first half and had Arsenal clawing back afterwards.  Aaron Ramsey equalised for Arsenal in the 51st minute and the Spurs dreams were crushed.  Then in the 73rd minute, Kyle Walker got his first goal at Tottenham and put Arsenal to bed.

Lampard proved his worth and definitely earned his place

Bolton Wanderers 1-5 Chelsea

Daniel Sturridge and Frank Lampard both proved their worth as Chelsea won 5-1 against Bolton Wanderers.  This was one of Chelsea's best performances this season.  Lampard was insatiable and Sturridge's second goal was brilliant and accentuated opposing keeper Adam Bogdan's poor performance.  Bolton did get a consolation goal courtesy of Dedryck Boyata that mimicked Sturridge's first.  Lampard's hat trick buried any speculation that his time at Chelsea was near its end.

Sporting Gijon 0-1 Barcelona

Barcelona found trouble getting a goal against Sporting Gjion, with the only one coming from Adriano in the 12th minute.  After this, the game was actually a bit boring.  There wasn't a remarkable amount of real chances for either side, and honestly Barcelona's consistency is beginning to worry me.  They may win by 5 or 6 goals one weekend, but the next one they pull a tie or barely edge by.  We'll have to see how this side perform later to decide whether they are really in for a tough time.

RCD Espanyol 0-4 Real Madrid

Real Madrid thrashed Espanyol with a hat trick from Higuain and a great goal from Callejon.  Kaka and Cristiano came up short, but the Argentine striker was there to put the team's unrest at ease.  This comes at a good time for Higuain as his place at Madrid has come under question following his recent string of performances.  But, even after this game his potential move been discussed.

Marchisio was the hero as Juventus stomped Milan

Juventus 2-0 AC Milan

It was a great night for the Bianconeri as Claudio Marchisio pulled a very late brace to give them victory over last year's champions.  Juventus dominated the game, but poor crossing and a lack of precise finishing left them still scrambling by the 87th minute.  Then Marchisio put it away to effectively bury Milan, who had been quiet for the majority of the evening.  Play continued until unexpectedly, Marchisio struck again in the 90th minute to definitively bury Milan.  This put Juventus in joint 1st place in the league (tied with Udinese) and serves as continued proof that the most successful team in Italy is coming back.

For the rest of this week, there won't be any matches, so unless big news hits I'll be out until Friday's Euro Cup games.  Cheers until then!

Routs and Upsets

The past two days have included a host of great Champions League games that offered unexpected results (some good, some bad).  You can visit this link at ESPN Soccernet to see all the scores for Tuesday and Wednesday.  I will be analysing the following games:

CSKA Moscow 2-3 Internazionale
Bayern Munich 2-0 Manchester City
Manchester United 3-3 FC Basel
Real Madrid 3-0 Ajax Amsterdam
Valencia 1-1 Chelsea
Arsenal 2-1 Olympiakos
AC Milan 2-0 Viktoria Plzen
BATE Borisov 0-5 Barcelona

Let's start with Tuesday's games.

CSKA Moscow 2-3 Internazionale

Inter almost suffered defeat against the Russian outfit, but a late goal by Mauro Zárate sealed the win for the Italian side.  Early goals from Lúcio and Pazzini put Inter ahead, but their lead was threatened when Moscow retaliated and Dzagoev and Love each slotted a goal.  But, Inter's good record under new coach Claudio Ranieri was preserved with a 3-2 victory.

Bayern Munich 2-0 Manchester City

It's starting to look as if Bayern are back to their best.  Mario Gomez continued his stellar form and scored a brace for Bayern in the first half that Mancini's men could not break.  There was also late drama with Carlos Tevez on City's bench when the player refused to play.  Mancini moved to substitute him and the two began arguing.  Because of Tevez's behaviour, City has given him a two-week ban from playing and Mancini has said that he may never play Tevez again.

United watch as their win slips away

Manchester United 3-3 FC Basel

Danny Welbeck put United ahead early with two fast goals by the 17th minute.  But, second half goals for Basel from Fabian Frei (1) and Alexander Frei (2) saw United on the losing end.  Ashley Young saved the day with a late game equaliser in the 90th minute giving each side a point.  This result is a bit ominous for United as the injury list is still filled with big names.


Real Madrid 3-0 Ajax Amsterdam

It was a near perfect day for Mourinho's men as he saw three great goals from three great players.  Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Kaká all netted goals and Madrid's defence was solid.  This result is what fans and manager Jose Mourinho expect from the side.  The Spanish side have struggled a bit this season, despite the huge roster they boast, but Mourinho seems to be keeping his men on track now.


Valencia 1-1 Chelsea

"Duhh... you mean I can't use hands in football?" - Kalou

Well, I watched this one and the first half was a dud.  But, early in the second half, Frank Lampard proved his worth and sent at stunning ground ball into the goal with tremendous power.  Valencia had more trouble breaking Chelsea's defence until the 83rd minute substitution of Salomon Kalou for Frank Lampard.  This was Kalou's first appearance of the season, and within 5 minutes, he commits a hand ball off a corner within the goal box and gives a penalty to Valencia.  This actually infuriated me.  If Villas-Boas had any more substitutions I hope he would have pulled this dunce off.  And of course, Roberto Soldado finished the penalty easily.  Anelka and Malouda fought back afterwards in a flailing attempt to save Chelsea's effort, but last minute appeals for a deserved free kick earned yellow cards (seriously, ref?) for three more Chelsea players.  I definitely think the match was referee'd poorly, but in the end it was Kalou's thoughtless hand ball that cost Chelsea two points.

Arsenal 2-1 Olympiakos

Arsenal wrestled another good result out of an injury-laden team even with star Robin van Persie on the bench.  Arsenal pulled comfortably ahead by the 20th minute thanks to goals from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and André Santos.  But, Olympiakos fired back with a 27th minute goal from David Fuster.  This had Arsenal wary for an equaliser for the remainder of the game, but in the end they held fast and maintained the result.

Ibrahimovic celebrates his goal

AC Milan 2-0 Viktoria Plzen


Ibrahimovic and Cassano were both on target to deliver an easy 2-0 victory for the Italian side in the second half.  This was the kind of performance expected from last year's champions.  The victory wasn't exactly easy,  as the first half looked to be anybody's game.  This result, coupled with the draw to Barcelona puts AC Milan in good standing for the Champions League.


BATE Borisov 0-5 Barcelona


Barcelona encountered almost zero resistance against their opponents, as they won by five goals to nil.  After the 90 minutes, Borisov only had five shots and none were on goal.  Messi opened the scoring (although he wasn't credited for it) very early and Pedro followed up soon after.  The first goal was actually credited as an own goal because of a deflection during the shot.  Messi put in one more before the half ended and came out firing again in the second half to net his second (really third) goal.  Then David Villa put the icing on the cake in the 90th minute to give last year's Champions League winners at a five goal victory.  This leaves them tied for first place in Group H with AC Milan.  But, this performance was clearly indicative of superiority.

Thrilling Weekend

Unfortunately, I was only able to watch the Manchester City match as expected, but as the results streamed in I was thrilled with the performances by usual top teams this weekend.

Ronaldo and Messi both bagged hat tricks Saturday

In La Liga, Real Madrid delivered a much needed performance as they defeated Rayo Vallecano 6-2.  Cristiano Ronaldo struck a hat trick (although 2 of 3 were from penalties) and there were splendid strikes as well from Benzema, Higuain, and Varane.  Rayo Vallecano did get two goals though from Miguel Cuesta which is a testament to their good performance this season.  Barcelona also returned to their usual brilliance with a 5-0 rout of Atletico Madrid.  Messi also pulled a hat trick and other great goals came from David Villa and an own goal from Atletico.  This all followed Valencia's stunning 0-1 loss to Sevilla, causing them to drop to 7th in the league.  Betis have yet to play again, but even if they drop the game to Getafe they will still lead Barcelona by 1 point at the top of the table.

Seedorf saved Milan's day and sealed a win

Both Milanese teams got their first wins of the season this weekend.  AC Milan beat Cesena 1-0 thanks to a Seedorf goal and Inter Milan beat Bologna 3-1 with goals from Pazzini, Lucio, and Milito.  This doesn't do much for the two teams as they sit at 12th and 16th spots respectively, but it does give each a bit of hope in an otherwise dreary season that should have seen the two of them at the top of the table.  Current Serie A leaders Juventus lost a bit of ground in the title after today's 1-1 draw with Catania.  Finishing plagued the Bianconeri again as they forfeit too many chances to take the win and had to settle for Krasic's leveling goal.

Last year's Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund recovered from an early goal to defeat FSV Mainz 2-1.  this put them at 8th in the table, showing that there's a lot of work to be done for the champions.  And Bayern München continued their stellar season with a 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.  Bayern saw goals from Müller, Robben, and Daniel van Buyten and easily kept their top spot in the league.  This actually gives them a larger lead than any other league leader at the moment.

Van Persie celebrates a great game for Arsenal

The Premier League had a host of interesting results this weekend.  To start things off, Arsenal secured a 3-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers in which Robin van Persie scored a brace and Alex Song got a great goal.
Van Persie's two goals were actually his 99th and 100th for the club, so that sweetens the victory a bit.  Surely, this result must lift the spirits of some of the fans after a rather bland season for the club.  They may not yet challenge for the title, but Arsenal are certainly improving after their slow start.

Manchester City found trouble against Everton, but eventually got goals and won 2-0.  Second half goals from Balotelli and Milner clinched City's victory this time.  But, the match was refereed poorly in my opinion. The referee was very inconsistent in his decisions to give cards for bad fouls and this adversely affected Everton's chances.  This moved them City one point clear of Manchester United who played later that day.
Manchester United were held though to a 1-1 draw with Stoke City with a goal from Nani matched in the second half by Peter Crouch.  Nani's goal was brilliant and De Gea's goal keeping was better, but "Chicharito" Hernandez joined the ranks of United's injured players which might be a problem for them.  This left the champions tied with Manchester City at the top of the table as United dropped their first 2 points of the season, ending their perfect run.

Chelsea found more drama with Fernando Torres Saturday during their 4-1 victory over Swansea City.  The Spanish striker fired in his second goal of the season in the 29th minute (much to my amusement), but found himself ejected ten minutes later for a bad tackle and a straight red card.  It looked to be another good performance for him, but he didn't really get a chance to show it.  Ramires shined though as he picked up two goals for Chelsea.  In the 86th minute, Swansea fired back and Ashley Williams scored, only to be negated by a 90th minute goal by Didier Drogba.  These results put the Premier League leaders as follows:  Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle United, Liverpool.  It's going to be a close one this year in the Premier League.

Betis top Table, new Hamburg Management

Sorry about yesterday.  I got a little caught up with homework, but I did watch a couple games (kind of messed up priorities, right?).  Still, what I saw was very promising for this season.

On Thursday, Espanyol faced Getafe and managed a 1-0 victory thanks to a very late goal in the 90th minute by Walter Pandiani.  The three points moved Espanyol to 10th in the La Liga tables and put Getafe in 19th with only 1 point for the season.  At this rate, Getafe will almost certainly face relegation at the end of the season.

Siena managed a 1-1 tie with AS Roma after a late equaliser by Roberto Vitello.  Roma took the lead in the 25th minute thanks to a great goal by Osvaldo, but would later be silenced by Vitello's goal in the 88th.  It should have been Roma's game, but they forfeited too many great chances to pull ahead in both halves.

Then Real Betis pulled a close 4-3 win over Real Zaragoza.  Betis had a comfortable 2-0 lead early in the first half, but Zaragoza struck back in the 36th minute to put the score at 2-1 at half time.  Shortly after the half, Betis won a penalty due to a foolish challenge by Zaragoza defender Paulo Da Silva.  And then Roque Santa Cruz put in his second to put Betis ahead by 4-1.  All looked lost for Zaragoza until the substitution of Juan Carlos for Pablo Barrera.  Carlos made an instant impact, putting away two almost identical volleys for Zaragoza and leaving the score at 4-3 by the 79th minute.  Betis moved to an all-out defence and Zaragoza was unable to break through again.  This gave Betis their 4th win, putting the newly promoted team at the top of the La Liga table and continuing their perfect season.

And Friday, VfB Stuttgart fell 1-2 to Hamburg SV and gave Hamburg their first win of the season.  Of course, this comes right after Hamburg fired manager Michael Oenning, so it's great to see some result, though I'm not sure if it can be attributed to the change in personnel.  Still, it at least gives Hamburg hopes of not seeing relegation from the Bundesliga.

This weekend, as always there will be a host of games to see.  Unfortunately, I'm at home this weekend and my internet connection is less than reliable (or fast), so I will only be able to see the one game being shown on ESPN2 which is Manchester City v. Everton at 7:45 AM eastern time.  I'll be watching live commentary on some of the games and as always I will watch highlights and pick through the games.  I won't be reporting tomorrow, but I'll be back Sunday with a recap of the weekend.  And for a complete schedule of tomorrow's games and their scores, you can visit this link at ESPN Soccernet.   

A Tough Day

The football world today was fraught with disappointment, tough games, and unexpected results.  Many teams sacrificed top league spots today, but still others showed a bit of improvement.

First of all, it has been confirmed that Gian Piero Gasperini has been fired by Internazionale and has been replaced by Claudio Ranieri, former coach of such clubs as Juventus, Chelsea, Roma, and Valencia.  Hopefully, Inter's "issues" can clear up and they can start to perform as expected.

Elsewhere in Italy, AC Milan faced Udinese today and managed a tough 1-1 with goals coming from Antonio di Natale and Stephen El Shaaraww.  This puts Udinese in third place for the league, tied with Juventus and Genoa, and leaves AC Milan still looking for their first win this season.  Wait, weren't these guys last year's champions? What's going on here?

Could the Spanish giants have real trouble this season?

The game between Real Madrid and Racing Santander which ended at 0-0 certainly did not help the title seekers toward their goal.  The obviously unfit Cristiano Ronaldo failed to make a lasting impression and the entire team performed poorly to be honest.  This is just the kind of result that allows Barcelona to take the league away from Real Madrid.


Except, things didn't go as expected for last years La Liga champions either as Barcelona were held to a 2-2 tie by current league leaders Valencia.  Valencia showed a strong and clear strategy that simply picked apart the usually cool and smooth Barcelona machine and didn't allow them to build up play by passes.  This, coupled with a few quick counter attacks left the Catalans on the back foot for the whole night.  This season is definitely not a two horse race.

Atletico Madrid showed some strength as they beat back last place Sporting Gijon with a 4-0 victory.

And Juventus found trouble against Bologna as their game ended 1-1.  In this encounter the Bianconeri saw Mirko Vucinic score a goal and later be sent off for a bad foul at the end of the first half.  Then they fell to a quick strike early in the second and dropped their first 2 points of the season.

Hargreaves returns from injury in stellar form

In the Carling Cup, a group of largely Chelsea youngsters saw off Fulham in a tough 0-0 result that the blues won 4-3 in penalties.  Again Manchester City had a strong showing as they eased past Birmingham City 2-0 thanks to the return of Owen Hargreaves and a late goal by Mario Balotelli.  And Liverpool showed some signs of their old selves and saw off Brighton 2-1.

Not much is on tomorrow as AS Roma take on Siena in the Italian Serie A, Espanyol faces Getafe, and Real Betis meets Real Zaragoza in La Liga.  All these games except the Espanyol/Getafe game are going to be available on ESPN3.  Cheers until tomorrow!

Arsenal Recover, Inter Sink

With a wealthy amount of games played today, clubs are starting to get far enough into the season to make definitive remarks on their performance.  Of particular mention are Arsenal, Manchester United, Internazionale, and Villareal.

Today, Arsenal fought back from a 1-0 at half time to Shrewsbury Town in the Carling Cup of Nations to secure a deserved 3-1 victory.  Wenger's squad showed promise as a lot of youngsters had a chance and performed well.  In particular, the goals came from some rather unknown faces at Arsenal.  It's good to see that they've finally bounced back after a poor start to the season.

Gasperini could be done tomorrow

Inter, on the other hand are just lacking something.  The '09-'10 treble winning team fell 1-3 in a truly disappointing loss to Novara, with Cambiasso's late goal the only consoling effort.  This marks Inter's third league game without a win and potentially last game with Gian Piero Gasperini as head coach.  Inter's president Massio Moratti is set to decide on Gasperini's future tomorrow.  Gasperini hopes he will be given another chance, but the booing Inter fans appear to be fed up already.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are defending Premier League champions Manchester United, who produced an easy 3-0 win over Leeds United.  There was no "Rooney magic" today, as head coach Alex Ferguson fielded an older team that resulted in both Ryan Giggs and Michael Owen appearing on the score sheet.  United have clearly proven that they are capable of winning almost regardless of which players they use.  This season I feel like they will be the team to beat in both the Champions League and the Premier League.

Giuseppe Rossi celebrates

In Spain, Villareal showed a sign of the skill they had last season in their 2-0 win over Mallorca.  Giuseppe Rossi and Nilmar both played great games and scored great goals, but from watching it seemed that Villareal should have scored more.  Perhaps they were just unlucky, but Mallorca's performance in the final 20 minutes of the game certainly gave Villareal some worry.  Villareal may not challenge for the league title this season, but I wouldn't be surprised for them to finish in third or fourth place.

Tomorrow, I look forward to watching Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Chelsea play in a day that is practically inundated with matches.

Mea Culpa

The day's been a bit dreary here following last night's rain storm.  Of course, when it rains it pours you know.  But, some key clubs have got to be wondering when the poor weather is going to stop for them.

Arsene Wenger delivered his analysis of Arsenal's poor performance last weekend and places the blame on a lack of focus by his side.  Certainly, something had to be going wrong for both Song and Koscielny to be putting the ball into their own goal.  I don't know if the coach is to blame, but I can't help but feel that his activity in the transfer market this summer was not indicative of a strong season. 

New Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas critiqued his club's performance against Manchester United, as well as the decision making capabilities of the match officials.  He didn't outright defend Torres's terrible mistake, but he did level and reason that Rooney's miss was nearly as devastating.  But, Villas-Boas seems rather upset with what he (and honestly many other people) thought to be two offside goals by United that were not caught.  Luckily, the manager doesn't use that as an actual excuse and he seems pretty level-headed.

Michael Oening gets owned

In Germany, Hamburg SV have officially relieved manager Michael Oenning of his job.  They currently sit in last place in the Bundesliga tables after a record consisting of 0 wins, 1 tie, and 5 losses for the season. Rodolfo Cardoso is slated to take over as manager for the time being.  

Inter Milan's manager Gian Piero Gasperini believes that their greatest chance to come back from this four match winless streak is to come away the victors this Tuesday against Novara.  Inter definitely has the necessary players to pull such a feat, but can they perform?

Jose Mourinho spoke about Real Madrid's loss to Levante and placed a lot of the blame on Sami Khedira's red card.  I don't think Khedira is the only one that needs to learn a lesson about etiquette and proper decision making in-game.  But, at least Mourinho had some praise for Levante's performance.  

All this talk of bad coaching and poor performance accentuates the point that Wesley Sneijder had about Gasperini's performance.  To a certain point, it may be the coach's fault for making a few bad decisions, but continuing to show poorly really reflects on the players more than their manager.  

Crazy Days

Well, what a stellar weekend of performances this proved to be!  Not all the action is over, but there's certainly been enough for two weekends' worth.  On a side note, I never claimed to have any sort of psychic abilities, so you'll have to forgive me for some of my misplaced expectations.  

Messi celebrates after a great goal

In Spain, Valencia started the weekend off by continuing their perfect record for the season by securing a 1-0 win over Sporting Gijon.  Roberto Soldado appeared in great form again as this season shapes up to be great for him.  Barcelona thoroughly gutted Osasuna in a thumping 8-0 win that saw a Messi hat trick and a brace from David Villa.  Their performance shows a lot of positive points, but at the same time I worry about their ability to perform against stronger teams after the two previous games.  At least Barcelona have a bit of breathing room after Real Madrid's shocking 0-1 defeat to Levante UD.  In the 40th minute, Khedira received a second yellow card for a reckless challenge and after some words with the referee, he was off for the game.

In Italy, unrest continued as neither of last year's top two found victory.  I already spoke about Inter's woes last time, but AC Milan have just as much on their plate.  After last week's poor tie, they struggled against Napoli and lost 1-3 thanks to a hat trick from Edison Cavani.  This also speaks well of Napoli as they share a joint lead at the top of the table with three other clubs.  Juventus also remained tied for first in the league after their comfortable 1-0 win over newly promoted Siena.  The performance wasn't as fast-paced as last week's but Siena could hardly create any chances at goal.  And Udinese delivered another strong performance as they won 2-0 over Fiorentina, proving that there is life without Sanchez.

Bayern München still lead the Bundesliga tables after their 2-0 win over Schalke '04 and prospects for this season look a lot better than last year's regrettable performance.  Last year's champions Borussia Dortmund were defeated 1-2 by Hannover '96 with all the action in the second half of this game.

And of course, the Premier League was full of drama this weekend.  Arsenal fell 3-4 to Blackburn Rovers in what was yet another disappointing performance for the Gunners.  Own goals by Arsenal's Alex Song and Laurent Koscielny gave away an easy win in the most embarrassing way possible.  Tottenham Hotspur took part in a 4-0 rout of Liverpool as Emmanuel Adebayor scored a brace to bury the Reds.  Manchester City sacrificed two points and only scraped by with a t 2-2 tie against Fulham as they show their human side.

Torres misses at an open goal

And (this time I was right) Manchester United continue their top of the table campaign as they defeated Chelsea 3-1 in a bizarre game.  Both sides sacrificed numerous free attempts at goal that left each a little bit embarrassed.  Ramires sent a shot at an open goal directly into United keeper David De Gea in the first half and Wayne Rooney missed an easy penalty for United when he slipped on the grass.  Rooney also missed an easy tap in in front of goal, but the most talked about point is definitely Fernando Torres.  Torres found his first goal of the season early in the second half, but later dropped an astoundingly easy shot, forfeiting all the hard work he did to create it.  The $50 million Chelsea striker still isn't quite back to form, but he certainly showed a bit of his old self this time.

As this week begins, there are games to look forward to in the Serie A and La Liga, as the two leagues attempt to catch up on schedule after the preseason strikes that delayed their start.

Gearing up

Well, the weekend is almost upon us.  For those in school or with M-F jobs, it's already here.  But, for the football teams, the action starts later today.

On Friday, the Bundesliga action began with SC Freiburg v. VfB Stuttgart.  The game ended at a tough 1-2 in Stuttgart's favor, but that honestly doesn't reflect the true nature of the game.  It appeared a lot less even than this result shows.  During the second half, it hardly seemed that Freiburg could get a hold of the ball, and yet they pulled a late goal from Cisse as a bit of consolation.  Stuttgart performed well, but far from perfect, with Martin Harnik bagging a brace.

Now I look forward to this weekend's games.  I plan to watch Arsenal v. Blackburn Rovers, Barcelona v. Osasuna, Inter v. Roma, Juventus v. Siena, and Chelsea v. Manchester United.  The first four can be found on ESPN3, and as for the Chelsea v. Man U game... well, I'm going to have to be a bit "creative" to find a way to watch that.  If not, you can always catch a live commentary and a complete schedule of this weekend's games on ESPN Soccernet and a good highlights reel on FootyRoom.

And it's time for this weekend's predictions section!  In the interest of time, I'll keep it to only the five games I can watch. I see Arsenal defeating Blackburn Rovers after regaining some of their confidence in the past few weeks.  I don't expect Barcelona to continue their tying streak against Osasuna and if Inter want a chance at the Scudetto, they had better perform well against Roma.  I expect Juve to continue their brilliant form on Sunday.  Now comes the hard part where I put my bias as a Chelsea fan aside and honestly say that if Manchester United fields the right lineup, they will probably be the winning side.  That doesn't mean that I have every hope Chelsea will find victory, but to be completely honest, last week's performance and the early game against Stoke were not entirely promising.

Well, that's it for this time and I will be back tomorrow with news, highlights, and results.  Happy watching!

Champions League Surprises

This week marked the beginning of the Champions League group stages and let me be the first to say that I was fully taken aback with some of the results I saw.  I was lucky enough to catch the Manchester City v. Napoli and  Real Madrid v. Dinamo Zagreb games on a private stream and I was thoroughly surprised with how hard fought each match was.

David Luiz celebrates after a brilliant goal. Kudos.

On Tuesday, the action kicked off with several big games.  Chelsea didn't fail to deliver as they secured a 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen thanks to a surprise goal from David Luiz and continued brilliance from the new signing Juan Mata.  Torres still failed to break his goalless streak, but did make assists in both goals.

Barcelona and AC Milan held each other at 2-2 after a late-game equaliser from Thiago Silva.  I was a little disappointed in both teams considering their stutters last weekend and then the performance this time around.  But, it was a good game in the end and each side had to settle for a point.

Elsewhere, FC Porto beat Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 thanks to more brilliance from Hulk.  Valencia tied Racing Genk at a disappointing 0-0 and the Spaniards' recent loss of huge players to high profile transfers is really beginning to show.  Last season's Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund hit 1-1 with Arsenal providing a chance that Arsene Wenger's days may not quite be over.  As long as he avoids more losses at a six-goal deficit he can at least guarantee himself a little more time as manager.

I guess that one wasn't a dive.

Real Madrid pulled a tough 1-0 victory over Dinamo Zagreb and Cristiano Ronaldo found discontent with the referees.  After a challenge involving a bloody ankle for the Portugese superstar, the referee answered with a free kick.  And the red card decision that sent Marcelo off later gives the striker more fuel for his discontent.


Bayern München pulled an easy 2-0 victory against Villareal and continued their recent string of success.  But, for once Mario Gomez's name is not on the score sheet.  Manchester City and Napoli found equal footing in a 1-1 tie, but I honestly expected City to thrash their opponents considering the form they've been in recently.

Here's to hoping Inter improves this season.

In a surprising upset, Internazionale fell 0-1 to Trabzonspor in an embarrassing home defeat.  This doesn't bode well for Gasperini and his men.  There are already talks of England National Team coach Fabio Capello's potential move to Inter following their recent string of poor performances.

Last, Barclay's Premier League champions Manchester United failed to pull ahead in a 1-1 tie with Benfica.  United fielded a team largely consistent of their youngsters and found trouble for the first time this season.  Still, the season is young and the group stages are often tougher than expected.

As the weekend fast approaches, I look forward to seeing Chelsea play Manchester United and seeing if Juventus can follow up the great victory from last week with more brilliance.