The Tragedy that is Justice

I don’t really know what to make of the whole Juventus thing just yet, but it smacks of complete lunacy on the part of the Italian Olympic Committee. I’ll have to update the Juventus Watch to reflect the current moral crisis, but for now here’s a Serie B table (Juventus are in 10th). The Serie A table was shaken up a little as well as Fiorentina are now in the black and Lazio has 8 whole points, pushing Chievo into the relegation zone.

I love how Palermo is in 2nd. Makes me happy.

[Update: Juventus Watch is now back on track]

Barcelona – Chelsea

So here we go again. It starts in half an hour and I’m absurdly excited for it. Let’s hope Barcelona can play a little better and come away with a win. Perhaps they can just count on the refs, though.

Just a simple question

Why does Edmilson get to play for Barcelona, much less start? I don’t know his name, but the commentator for today’s Barcelona-Recreativo game put it as well as anyone can, I think, when Edmilson got the ball and stood there staring at it as if he had never seen such a thing before:

“Edmilson not knowing what to do…” and after trailing off there was a good second or two in which Edmilson dribbled slowly backwards looking at Marquez and Puyol before trying a silly flick to Deco that naturally resulted in a turnover. That statement pretty much sums up the last 2 games I’ve seen Edmilson play.
Someone should start a benchedmilson.com

Liverpool – Aston Villa Preview

Despite weilding homefield advantage, Liverpool are without a host of players including, but not necessarily limited to: Dirk Kuyt, Craig Bellamy, Fabio Aurelio, Mark Gonzalez, and Harry Kewell. Steven Gerrard will make a return to the starting lineup, as will Robbie Folwer (unless by some miracle Kuyt recovers in time). As for Villa’s injuries, the only ones of note are Gavin McCann and Luke Moore (gone for the season) since Bouma and Sorensen return to the lineup after brief injury layoffs.Naturally Soccernet is calling this one a draw. The only striker on either squad displaying any symblance of form is, regrettably for the sake of soccer-as-art, Peter Crouch. Milan Baros will start for Aston Villa alongside Agbonlahor and Juan Pablo Angel, but it remains to be seen if he can finally get a goal this season. He has three shots on target so far in his four EPL appearances so far (2 stars and two substitutions), which should make most Villa fans a little wary of counting on him for goals.

With the return of Gerrard, Liverpool receive a strong attacking boost that Aston Villa should be very wary of. While leaking 3 goals in their Carling Cup game to Reading on Wednesday, they were able to score 4 to take the win. If Villa can remain the somewhat stingy side they have been all year (allowing only 6 goals in 9 games as compared to Liverpool’s 11 — Villa is sixth in the Premiership in that category), they have a genuine chance to win. That said, they’ve only scored 11 goals (tied sixth in the Premiership in this category, as compared to Liverpool’s nine goals which puts the Reds tied for 10th) and they’ll need to step up to bat, figuratively speaking of course.

Recent results indicate that Liverpool is in a little bit of a slide, having lost 2 of the last 3 EPL games they’ve played, tying the only one played at home. Aston Villa are, of course, on an EPL 1-1 drawing streak that has reached 3 consecutive matches and dates back to their September 30 encounter with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Another draw would be a good result here since the game does take place at Anfield, but as Liverpool are currently not on the top of their game, Villa fans can certainly hope for a win if not expect one. A draw would at least keep Villa in seventh in the League table as Reading and Fulham are on 13 points with 8 goals to make up in differential.

My prediction: 1-1 draw. Liverpool are too solid at home and Villa haven’t shown enough attacking abilities to threaten a veteran defense.

Weekend Preview

Not recovered from last weekend’s Clasico in Madrid? Well there’s no rest for the beautiful game as Italy keeps up the wonderful pace:

AC Milan – Inter Milan takes place on Saturday at, you guessed it, the San Siro. This is always a tremendous game, regardless of the outcome, just like the R. Madrid – Barcelona game or the countless other sizzling derbies there are throughout the season. This one is special, though, since it’s basically a home game for both sides.

Another good game from the Serie A should be Fiorentina – Palermo (Sunday).

EPL:

Nothing like the Match of the Week is coming out of England, but there should be some good games anyway.

Liverpool – Aston Villa (Saturday)
Bolton – ManU (Saturday)
West Ham – Blackburn (Sunday)

La Liga:

The big boys are taking a rest here too, it seems, with nothing special going on other than Atletico – Real Zaragoza (Sunday).

Domestic Cup Round Up – Wednesday

Today’s action wasn’t as exciting as yesterday’s domestic cup disasters for various big clubs. The only thing really of note from today comes from the Copa del Rey: Real Madrid were held away 1-1 by Ejica and fortunately for the Merengues, it’s a two-legged affair which returns to the Santiago Bernabeu where there will no doubt be a reckoning. According to AS.com (Spanish), Ejica deserved a better outcome for their play. Barcelona won against Badalona 2-1 with two goals from Gudjohnsen. In minor “upsets,” Osasuna drew nil-nil away to Peña Sport, Espanyol drew 1′1 away to Rayo Vallecano, and Real Sociedad drew away 1-1 to the amazingly named Hercules Alicante. My all time favorite Spanish Division Two team, Xerez, lost to Getafe 0-2 and looks set to drop from the cup during the return leg.

In the Carling Cup, all the big boys survived, though it took ManU till the 119th minute to seal a 2-1 victory over Crewe. Charlton beating Bolton 1-0 might be an upset considering their respective positions in the EPL table (3rd and 20th). Liverpool survived a goalfest with Reading 4-3 and Chelsea beat Blackburn 2-0. The only other non-Premiership club besides Crewe was League Two Milton Keynes Dons who got blasted out of their own National Hockey Stadium 0-5 by Tottenham.

As for the German Cup and French League Cup, neither turned in a major upset. St. Ettienne defeated Marseille in a battle of Ligue 1 teams.

Duck and Cover, YouTube is under fire!

Thank you to SoccerGolazo for putting us on to this.

It had to happen sometime, but why via sport I love? How else am I to see the goals that happened in England 4 hours before I was awake on a Saturday? Well, turns out I won’t be buying that Aston Villa jersey after all since I won’t be able to watch actual footage of their games. The poor man’s substitute of Gametracker can go to hell. Half the time it doesn’t even work!

Can we blame Google for this? I don’t want to, but if they’re at fault…

Links:
SoccerGolazo
BBC News, “Goal footage warning for website“

Mexico’s Top 4

According to Sports illustrated, this is the current shortlist for Mexico’s national team manager:

Juergen Klinsman (Germany), Marcelo Lippi (Italy), Americo Gallego (Argentina), and Hugo Sanchez (Mexico).

That is a pretty impressive lineup of names, I must admit, not to mention very global. Who will win out? Who would want to win out? I mean, coming in second in CONCACAF qualifying can be fun for only so long, I can only assume…

Domestic Cup roundup

I love domestic cups because there is always some David and Goliath encounter that turns out wonderfully for the little guy. Today’s big win was for Chesterfield in the Carling Cup over, you guessed it, West Ham by a final score of 2-1 (picture above of Chesterfield’s second goal). The Hammers suck. That’s the conclusion I have come to today, but here are some other good results for the little man to go along with that:

Carling Cup:

Notts County 2 – 0 Southhampton

Leeds 1 – 3 Southend (I know, they’re both in the Championship, but it’s Leeds versus Southend! The names alone make this a big result for Southend!)

Port Vale 0 – 0 Norwich (Port Vale 4-3 on penalties)

Wycombe 2 – 2 Doncaster (Wycombe 3-2 on penalties) [I'm not sure a League Two club over a League One club really counts in the category of little boy beats big man, but it'll do for now. Here's to Wycombe winning it all!]

Copa del Rey:

Atletico Madrid 0 – 1 Levante (this is a two-legged affair, so it remains to be seen if Atletico will fall at Levante, but signs point to yes; also there are 14 matches tomorrow including such potential gems as Portuense-Valencia, Écija-R.Madrid, Gimnástica Segoviana-Sevilla, Castellón-Villareal, and Badalona-Barcelona)

French League Cup:

Stade de Reims 0 – 0 Monaco (Stade de Reims 4-3 on penalties)

Beautiful stuff, really. A great site to follow all this action on is Soccerbase, even if they can’t spell Xerez (listed as Jerez).

Just to tack this on to the end, here’s a short review of Aston Villa’s 2-3 away victory against O’Neill’s old club Leicester:

It took a 119th minute goal by Gabriel Agbonlahor to put Leicester away, but Aston Villa have moved on in the Carling Cup. Leicester put up a fight, twice equalizing and they had goalie Paul Henderson to thank for blocking a 90th minute Gareth Barry penalty (the scoring was opened by Barry netting from the spot). What does it take for Villa to put away penalties on a consistent basis? I don’t know if fatigue will be a factor in Saturday’s game at Anfield, but it’s certainly a larger question now that Villa had to go a full 120 minutes rather than the regular 90 if Barry had put the PK away…1/2 on the day is okay for intramurals, but not good enough at this level.

It was nice to see Baros starting alongside Angel again up front and hopefully this parternship will now begin to bring good results, as both are great players and superb finishers. Angel grabbed a goal in the Leicester match, a move which started with Baros, which is better to see. They’ve started alongside each other for the last 3 matches because of Luke Moore’s injury and they might just be starting to gel as a striking unit. They’ll need to be on form against Liverpool.

A “Carling Fact” from Carling.com:
“Carling lovers in the UK happily drink almost 1.7 billion pints every year. That’s over 4.5 million pints per day. We’re a thirsty lot.” Sure, that sounds like a lot of beer, but since there are just over 60 million UK residents, that’s only 0.075 pints per person! That can’t even get you tipsy! Unless you’re 4 or something like some of those 60
million, though as I remember it Pip from Great Expectations was fond of beer with his breakfast…

Aston Villa – Leicester Carling Cup preview

Leicester City sits 14th in the Championship standings with 17 points
from 13 games. Shouldn’t be too hard to knock them off, but you can
never count them out, as is the case in ever Carling Cup match.
They’re entering the Tuesday’s matchup on a 7 game unbeaten run, so
like Aston Villa, they’re clawing their way through matches and
earning a few points here and there. To be exact, in their last seven
games they’ve got 3 wins and 4 ties. Their last game was a tie this
past weekend against last year’s Premiership relegation squad Crystal
Palace, so you know they’re game against top flight opponents.
Leicester itself was last in the Premiership only 3 years ago during
the 2003/04 season, but they were promptly kicked back down to the
Championship.

Leicester seems like a quality squad, having only lost once to anyone
outside of the current top 5 of the Championship (last placed Hull 0-1
at home), so overlooking this match would be a disaster for Villa.
Still, we’re talking about a Championship team without any real stars
which Villa should be able to overpower if they set their mind to it.

Game time: Tuesday 2:45pm EST

El Clasico!

The game was awesome from start to, well, halfway through the second half. Blistering pace, amazing offenses on show; in short, everything that you expect from El Clasico. Even though the team I support lost, it was truly a great game to watch. Madrid showed why you can’t count them out of either La Liga or the Champions League and also proved that despite Barcelona remaining top of the domestic table, they’re going to have to step it up against big opposition if they want European glory.

Going into the match, I was happy to see the roster sheet read exactly what I thought it should (with the exception of Sylvinho on for Gio, but I couldn’t argue that decision much) and then the game began…and was almost over by the 10th minute. Raul finding the back of the next basically set the stage for the rest of the “let’s praise Madrid to the high heavens” evening (Marca and AS, here’s to your unerringly unbiased reports). I’m not saying Madrid doesn’t deserve praise for their victory — on the contrary, they won an excellently played and dare I say it, coached game — but let’s not forget that there were two teams out there today.

The first half was gorgeously played by both teams, with Barcelona having the better of the opportunities I thought. Raul of course scored and that’s important and hit the crossbar too on a deflection, but Barca controlled for long stretches repeatedly and thanks to Leo Messi, had several clear opportunities they should have done better with. No, I’ll rephrase: needed to have scored. It was obvious from the get-go that Madrid were happy enough to play a counterattacking style whenever Sylvinho or Zambrotta roved up the sides and thanks to Robinho’s brilliant game, they were able to put the Barca goal at risk several times. Messi, though, was absurd. I mean, the kid can play the game and I have to say it’s the best game I’ve seen him play. I especially loved the part where he left Roberto Carlos for dead, showing that he’s either gifted beyond belief or Roberto Caros is past his prime. Probably both the way Carlos got burned.

Gudjohnsen missing from point blank range (also Messi doing the same) was ridiculous and I was happy to see Saviola make an appearance and nearly grab an assist, but I was disappointed in the end by the lack of creativity coming out of the midfield. Unlucky for Barca that Emerson didn’t get that second yellow, but the first one wasn’t really deserved, so it all evens out in the end. Deco played like trash again, but his innate sense of spacing was much better than Messi’s when it comes to playing in the center of the field.

A note to Rijkaard: Please stop putting Messi in the middle as if he’s a striker. And please stop it right now. Sure, it’s too bad that Ronaldinho isn’t playing like the magician he can be, Eto’o is out, and Deco is splaying passes as if he’s peg-legged, but that’s no excuse for trying to force Messi into an unconventional position.

Here’s my thought on Ronaldinho: he’s not as good as he was last year, but he’s still playing well. It’s just that he’s not up to the standards we have set for him. It’s like Rooney, Lampard, and to some extent Shevchenko, but
the difference there is that the team revolves around him so much now with Eto’o gone that it’s hard to win without your best player being able to beat a wooden post for speed or tricks. Not sure I’ve seen Ronnie actually get by a single defender in the last 180 minutes of play, which is a very sad fact indeed.

As to Madrid: amazing playing, especially at the end when Barcelona just decided it wasn’t worth playing midfielders and instead pumping balls from the back. Iniesta can’t take on 3 players at once at the back, no matter how good the little guy is. He was dwarfed every time he touched the ball by the men swarming him. Van Nistelrooy’s goal was fortunate and badly played by Valdes, but they deserved at least two, so it’s fortunate it wasn’t 4 or 5 to nil. Capello is a funny man in that he celebrated neither of the Madrid goals, but went into a towering rage at the defensive lapses they suffered. I figure you have to be stoic or excitable, but you can’t be both at once. Mourinho or, well, Capello. Please choose, if only for me.

Man of the Match has to go to Robinho, no matter how much I’d like to give it to Messi. Your team has to win before you get MoM, really. Robinho was everywhere and he was turning Zambrotta this way and that, always crossing up defenders and it was his nice look up that provided van Nistelrooy with his opportunity to score the deal-sealing goal. Sergio Ramos had a nice game on the wing, but he and Sylvinho (who was ever so brilliant) cut each other to shreds a few times too often for either to be considered.

Final recap: Great game, happy to say I watched it, even if it turned out the opposite of what I was hoping for, scoreline-wise.

Aston Villa draw…again

For the 6th time in 9 games, Aston Villa a solitary point. It’s the 3rd straight 1-1 result for the Lions, who have somehow managed the same result against current EPL leaders Chelsea as they have against mid-table sides Fulham and Tottenham.

This does, however, mean that Aston Villa remain the only unbeaten side in the EPL, a fact that you can’t help be proud of. They’re currently in 6th place, and only Reading and Arsenal have realistic chances of overtaking Villa this weekend (technically a 6-0 win for Blackburn over 3rd-place Bolton would put the Rovers above Villa, but somehow I just don’t see that happening). Astute readers will note that Reading and Arsenal play each other, so only one of those teams will be able to overtake Villa.  (A tie would put Arsenal in 6th and drop Villa to 7th on goal differential and a victory for either team would leapfrog them above Villa — Arsenal would leap to 4th with a win)

The game, according to manager Martin O’Neill was a terrible showing for the home side, a fact that can be attested to via their shots to shots on goal numbers: 3(1). That smacks of the US national team’s run in Germany, but furthermore, if you’re going to control the ball for more than half of the game, getting more than 3 shots off is extremely important for winning.

Gareth Barry took the penalty that in the end earned them a point (45th minute equalizer by Moritz Volz), which is strange, since Juan Pablo Angel usually takes the spot kicks. Apparently the players weren’t into JP missing so many of them, though: “O’Neill admitted he was surprised Barry took the penalty after Juan Pablo Angel had told his manager he was prepared to continue spot-kick duties despite missing five of his last six, including against Spurs.” Five of his last six? That’s absurd and Barry should have stepped up before that, I think. It could have earned them a few extra points (namely 2 against Tottenham).

Next week’s game: at Liverpool. Aston Villa will need to be on top of their game to come away with points at Anfield, but a draw there would be solid. Villa simply needs to start getting points at home.

Weekend Preview

El Clasico is heading our way from Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu and the only thing that can be greater than that is when it visits Nou Camp in a few months. Still, there are other big fixtures to consider as well…

Saturday:

Chelsea – Portsmouth: a battle of the higher ups in the table shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Apparently Hilario will be in goal again and we’ll see if Pompey can give him more problems than Barcelona (I can’t believe I just wrote that…)

Aston Villa – Fulham: See preview (to be posted later)

Deportivo – Atletico Madrid: Could swing either way, but a trip to the Riazor is never inviting so I’ll go with the home squad unless Aguero can use his hands.

Werder Bremen – Bayern Munich: The top two teams in Germany square off…should be a good one.

Sunday:

Real Madrid – Barcelona: if you watch one game this weekend, make it this one. Period.

Manchester United – Liverpool: Should be a good one with Gerrard and Giggs returning; Scholes will make his 500th appearance for the Red Devils, which is just crazy.

Quick Hits

So here are some quickies from around the world today:

Racism rears its ugly head again, this time in Serbia. [CBS Sportsline; thanks to Soccernista]

The MLS playoffs suck and we all know it. [Fox Sports; thanks to Soccernista]

Siena and Pescara lose points for failure to pay taxes on time. [ESPN Soccernet]

If you thought you had a weird year…

Champions League Results – Wednesday

Results from Wednesday:

Chelsea 1 – 0 Barcelona  – Drogba’s goal was great, but Barcelona played what has to be the worst game they’ve played in years. Unbelievably bad passing and strange substitutions.

Bremen 2 – 0 Levski Sofia

Inter 2 – 1 Spartak Moscow

Sporting 0 – 1 Bayern

Bordeaux 0 – 1 Liverpool

Galatasary 1 – 2 PSV

Valencia 2 – 0 Shakhtar

Olympiacos 0 – 1 Roma

My score: 4/8 with 0 perfect scores.

Total: 28/48 with 5 perfect scores (58%)

There were no ties today, which I find somewhat strange. I’ll update the standings and have more to say tomorrow.

Ugly

That was the worst game I have ever seen Barcelona play. Some credit to Chelsea, most to the wayward passing and woeful defending of Barcelona. Unreal how bad they word. I thought I was watching Malaga B there in the second half. And don’t even get me started on the substitutions.

More later when I’m feeling less hateful.

Champions League Results – Tuesday

Results are back from the Champions League (Matchday 3, pt 1) and the only surprise is Arsenal’s loss away to CSKA Moscow.

Dynamo Kiev 0 – 3 Lyon

Steaua 1 – 4 Real Madrid

Celtic 3 – 0 Benifca

ManU 3 – 0 Copenhagen

CSKA Moscow 1 – 0 Arsenal

Porto 2 – 0 Hamburg

Anderlecht 0 – 1 Milan

Lille 3 – 1 AEK

Thoughts on some of the games:

The ManU games was a pretty go showing by most of the Red Devils team, but I think it was once again shown that Darren Fletcher shouldn’t be starting and Wayne Rooney desperately needs a goal to get him back to any semblance of the form that made us all think he was the next great thing. It also reminded me that Alan Smith is a wacko…put a leash on that guy!

Lyon started off with defensive issues and were lucky to escape without conceding a goal, but their offensive prowess was overpowering, so they ran away 3-0 winners. Before limping off injured, Juninho fired in a brilliant freekick to start the rampage.

Despite being down a man starting in the 48th minute, Milan eeked out a 1-0 win over Anderlecht and were lucky not to lose. Kaka’s strike was deflected, so it’s even more unlucky for Anderlecht.

My score: 3/8 with 2 perfect scores

Total: 24/40 with 5 perfect scores (60%)

Champions League Predictions – Matchday 3

Champions League action returns on Tuesday and it’s not a moment too soon, if only because it gets us all one day closer to Wednesday. There’s hardly anything to say about any of Tuesday’s games, the best of which is probably Celtic-Benfica or Kiev-Lyon.

Real Madrid need to bounce back against surprising Steaua team, but that shouldn’t prove too much of a challenge (in the same way that Getafe shouldn’t have proved too much of a challenge). Capello is going to be on the hotseat if he can’t muster 2 wins in a row starting now.

I’ll be watching the ManU-Copenhagen match on ESPN2 and streaming the Lyon game so hopefully I’ll be able to see some quality soccer.

Here are my predictions for what’s going to happen:

Tuesday’s Matches:

Dynamo Kyiv 0 – 3 Lyon
Steaua 1 – 2 Real Madrid
Celtic 0 – 0 Benfica
Man. United 3 – 0 Copehagen
CSKA Moskva 1 – 2 Arsenal
Porto 2 – 2 Hamburg
Lille 0 – 0 AEK
Anderlecht 0 – 0 Milan

Wednesday’s Matches

Chelsea 1 – 1 Barcelona
Bremen 4 – 0 Levski
Internazionale 1 – 1 Spartak Moskva
Sporting 1 – 3 Bayern
Bordeaux 0 – 0 Liverpool
Galatasaray 2 – 2 PSV
Valencia 3 – 0 Shakhtar
Olympiacos 1 – 2 Roma

Not sure I highlighted the Chelsea-Barça fixture enough, but it’ll have to do. With the injuries sustained by Cech and Cudicini at the weekend, it’s likely that the 3rd string keeper will be starting for Chelsea, but I don’t think that will severely effect the outcome (though if recent matches are any indication, Barcelona has the ability to test any defense). Obviously Chelsea are always a threat, but with Puyol back in the lineup Rijkaard has one less worry than he did against Sevilla on Sunday. That Ronladinho scored twice for Barça in that match should make Chelsea fans wince a little as “Ronnie” seems to be getting back to form at just the right moment, though it must be said that the first goal was a penalty and the second was from a freekick. However: Messi scored as well and should start against the Blues. (a good discussion of the Barça-Sevilla game) Gudjohnsen will want to make a good go of it against his former club, so don’t be surprised if he’s in inspired form as well. Regardless of who plays, though, it’s going to be a good match and there’s no doubt that Sheva and Drogba will cause problems for the Barcelona defense throughout the day.

In honor of this Clash of the Titans, here’s a look back at some of the action from last year:

The challenge…

…and the card that changed everything.

John Terry’s own goal.

Sam scores the second for Barça.

Frank from the spot at the Nou Camp.

Sealing the deal…

Weekend Review

This weekend has served up some pretty intense action and I’ll try to recap it all for you:

EPL -

The Reading-Chelsea match served up several scary moments for Chelsea goalkeepers, with Mourinho stating afterwards that he feared for Cech’s life at one point. Sub Carlo Cudicini was also injured towards the end of the game (meaning John Terry had to finish the game as a keeper). Not only that, but there were 2 red cards, though neither was straight. After reviewing several videos (here, here, and here — full game highlights here in Spanish), I’ve determined this about the injuries:

Stephen Hunt’s challenge on Cech was ludicrous. As a striker, you have to jump over the keeper. There was no reason to drag his foot there because Cech had full control of the ball immediately and never once bobbled it. I’m not sure if Hunt’s foot caught on the turf, but it doesn’t look like it. There doesn’t seem to be intent in the collision, but again, it’s the duty of the striker to protect his fellow player. Whether there should be a fine and/or suspension is up to the FA, who I hope has better video footage than the grainy YouTube videos we have to watch…Cech fractured his skull, which is awful, so you know that the contact was hard. Despite my obvious antipathy towards Chelsea, I hope that both Cech and Cudicini recover speedily and suffer no lasting effects.

As for the challenge on Cudicini, it’s my opinion that it was an unforgiving entrance by Sonko, but there was nothing wrong with it. He lowers his head to meet the ball and instead meets Cudicini. Unfortunate, yes, but also a freak accident, not a thuggish attempt to injure anyone. I also didn’t think the Bikey deserved the second yellow, but it was a YouTube video so I can’t be sure whether or not he realy made contact. Doesn’t look like anything more than a dive by Drogba. I couldn’t see the Mikel challenge, so I have no opinion on that, though it did look like it was from behind (almost like he stepped on someone’s heels while pulling their jersey).

The rest of the EPL was much tamer by comparison and hardly warrants mention. The big boys won and Blackburn were unlucky/wasteful while Juan Pablo Angel will always hate Saturday October 14, 2006 (see post below for details).

La Liga:

The Liga standings are all kinds of nonsense now! Wow. I will admit I didn’t see wins for Getafe and Celta Vigo coming. Lucky for Atletico they didn’t fall like all the other big boys save Barcelona. The azulgrana got 2 goals from Ronaldinho and one from Messi to beat Sevilla 3-1 at the Nou Camp. Kanoute scored for Sevilla, but it’s a brutal turnaround from the UEFA SuperCup 0-3 victory for Sevilla in Monaco a few short months ago. I’ll be updating the standings soon, but here are the quick hits:

Celta 3 – 2 Valencia

Getafe 1 – 0 Real Madrid (red card for Ronaldo, no clasico for him)

Atletico Madrid 2 – 1 Recreativo

Villareal 0 – 0 Espanyol

There were 9 red cards this week in La Liga, which is obviously absurd.

I’ll be updating the standings page throughout the afternoon.

Saturday Roundup

EPL:

The Big 3 of Arsenal, ManU, and Chelsea all won while the Little 3 of Watford, Wigan, and Reading all lost (to the Big 3, in that order). That puts Arsenal 4th awaiting Bolton’s result tomorrow. In tragic news, Aston Villa drew at home to Tottenham 1-1 after Juan Pablo Angel had what might be the worst 2 minutes without an injury that I’ve heard of. In the 74th he missed a penalty and in the 76th he put the ball into his own net. Thanks only to a Gareth Barry strike did Villa get away with a point. Strange and scary news coming out of the Chelsea match.

—

Here’s a way to watch games live. It’s how I saw the second half of the Liverpool-Blackburn game. Bentley has to do better than that in front of goal. Bellamy is finally off the mark in the EPL for Liverpool and Peter Crouch decided to show off a measure of footskill at one point. Gotta do better with your chances, Rovers.

Also watched the second half of the Getafe-Real Madrid game via live stream and the Merengues never looked like getting in on the action, so it makes sense they lost 1-0. Robinho kicked a guy in the head in a silly bike-like attempt at getting a ball, which was basically his only addition to the game.

—

Two new blogs I discovered:

the beautiful game

Soccer Mad in America

Both are somewhat heavy on Argentina, which is pretty cool.

Weekend Previews

A write up on the Real Sociedad -  Zaragoza and Atletico – Recreativo matches this weekend.
Originally posted here.

Zaragoza could make Sociedad so miserable. I have always found myself drawn to Sociedad since they made that ridiculous run at the title a few years ago, but without Nihat they just aren’t the same. And of course Kovacevic too — a lightning and thunder combination if I may steal an over used NFL cliche. Strikes me that there’s little to suggest anything other than a Zaragoza win (Sociedad is 0-1-4 while Zaragoza is at 2-1-2 — 1 point to 7 points — or, if you’re not statistically inclined, last place and 8th place). Sociedad have lost to Real Madrid, Sevilla, Recreativo, and Deportivo so it’s not like they’re losing to awful teams, but they did draw with Athletic Bilbao, who is currently in second to last place. (First game of the season, though, and even Barcelona had issues then)

Zaragoza on the other hand haven’t beaten anyone good, but they’re proving themselves a decent squad, in my opinion. They beat Mallorca and Espanyol (13th and 15th in the league respectively) with shutouts and they lost to Deportivo and Villareal. The score was 3-2 both times they lost. So we know they can score, but can they score enough and not ship goals? Since Sociedad has scored a measely 4 goals in 5 games (though to their credit they’ve only be shutout twice) while allowing 11 (obviously they’ve never gotten any cleansheets).

Even though it’s in San Sebastian, I think Zaragoza comes out 2-0 winners and Sociedad goes home feeling like a bunch of losers. We’ll hear about it in Phil Ball’s column on Monday/Tuesday, regardless.

While Recreativo have the same number of points as Atletico Madrid, the game is in Madrid, which bodes well for “the other Madrid team” — that Maxi Rodriguez is out for most of the season with ACL damage is certainly a dent in Atletico’s arsenal since he’s their leading scorer, but they have enough firepower to overcome Recreativo…I mean, come on! It’s Recreativo! They lost to Levante at home! They barely beat Real Sociedad! They tied Mallorca! And they shut out Betis…

2-0 Atletico wins.

The Cockney in Times Square

Beckham to the MLS? It’s a question that would have been unthinkable about 2 months ago, but is now being bandied about by Sports Illustrated as if it’s a real possibility come June 2007. Well, I’m here to say that it is more than likely out of the question if Beckham has any intention to returning to the England squad. His career could affectively be called over if he moves to MLS, though it’s certainly something the MLS should do for their own benefit. Having Beckham here would allow little kids across the country to have a constant connection to someone they consider a world class player (which they currently don’t have since Landon Donovan is arguably our best asset).

The picture is awesome, though. I hope something like that would go up at Times Square…

Aston Villa – Tottenham Preview

We’re back to domestic fixtures this weekend and the biggest one on our collective plate in England is the Aston Villa – Tottenham match from Villa Park. This isn’t a clash of the titans, of course, but it’s a mid-table extravaganza that is definitely more worth watching than Reading-Chelsea or ManU-Wigan. (If you’re a Yanks Abroad type fan, your interest in Arsenal-Watford is probably somewhat high thanks to SI.com’s coverage of Jay Demerit) But I digress.

This game is somewhat of a benchmark for both teams and could go a long ways toward their first-half successes. Tottenham was preseason favorite for so many pundits and bloggers alike, but they have failed to deliver and spectacularly at that. Their strike force was so highly talked up that it’s almost no surprise that they’ve failed to deliver. Four goals in seven league games! They’ve been shut out 5 times (drawing once 0-0 against Fulham). Furthermore, they haven’t scored an away goal yet this year in the EPL. As visitors they’ve had 3 games and so far they’ve lost all three by a combined total of 0-6. They’re most assuredly missing Aaron Lennon in midfield and he won’t be back before Oct22 encounter with West Ham. That said, Tottenham have the potential to cause problems for the Villa backline. Mido especially is a strong target man who may create opportunities for himself simply by bulling around the box. When he’s on, he’s almost unstoppable, but it remains to be seen if he can immulate any of the form that made him the Egyptian national team’s biggest threat in the previous African Cup of Nations (which the won, by the way; savvy readers will note that he was not on the field for the final due to a bust up with his coach). He hasn’t featured regularly since returning to Spurs and might again start on the bench in lieu of Berbatov. Defender Ledley King is still a doubt for the match through injury, but according to Soccernet he insists he’ll play. King is a great defender and his presence could determine the outcome of the game.

As for Villa, they’re currently going strong in quest for EPL glory. They won’t win the title, but they’re at least putting on a show. Manager Martin O’Neill has found a system that works with his players and there are several reason to think that the Lions can take all three points from the game. While several team members were in Europe this past week on international duty, most of the squad has been resting for the last two weeks (as has that of Tottenham) so they’ll be fit and ready. They’re a force to be reckoned with at home, having played 3 matches so far at Villa Park, winning all three by a combined score of 6-1. They’ve also drawn away to Arsenal and Chelsea and probably should have won the Arsenal game. As of yet they haven’t tasted defeat this season and they’re probably not too keen on doing so.

In broader club news, Peter Berger looks set to make a return to the Villa lineup which could signal a steady increase in quality — competition makes for better players. It remains to be seen, of cousre, if Berger will be able to regain a spot in the starting lineup.

Prediction: 2-0 Villa. If King doesn’t play, there’s nothing to suggest that Tottenham won’t keep shipping goals at the rate of two per away match. And if he does play, there’s nothing to suggest the Spurs will break down the Villa defense.

7 Days in Heaven

I tell you what, as exciting or boring as Euro2008 qualifiers are, there’s no replacing the abosolute mayhem of what is about to happen in Spain and England over the next 10 days. There’s lots of talk about what is the greatest rivalry in sports: Old Firm, Chivas-America, Boca-River Plate, Red River Shootout*, Yankees-Red Sox, India-Pakistan, New Zealand-Australia, but in my opinion, absolutely nothing compares in any way shape or form to Spain’s Clasico. I watched that April, 2004 game in my home in Nicaragua and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like it before or again. I’m a Barcelona fan so maybe that’s why it was so wonderful, but El Clasico de España is certainly going to be awesome as it always is. Maybe it’s just the music in that video.

But it’s not just El Clasico. Starting this Sunday, Barcelona takes on Sevilla at home in a match which could have wide-ranging implications in La Liga, especially if Valencia draw or lose away to Celta Vigo that same day. Madrid, for their part, are away to Getafe, so they’re not entirely off the hook either.

Then on Wednesday October 18 comes the game we’ve been waiting for since Del Horno went bonkers for that split second: Barcelona returns to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea. As a weekend warmup, Chelsea visit Reading, but don’t think that’s as big a cakewalk as it sounds; Reading sit only three points behind second-placed Chelsea in the EPL standings. While that’s seventh place, it’s still not an assured walkover.

And then on Sunday, October 22 comes El Clasico in the Bernabeu. At this point the standings in La Liga could be changing dramatically as Sevilla take on Gimnastic and Valencia host Osasuna. Naturally Atletico Madrid could snip into contention with wins at home to both Recreativo and Deportivo on successive weekends, but let’s try to keep this as simple as possible.

If Barcelona can win all three of those games and then escape a trip to Badalona in the Copa del Rey, they should be able to hold off Recreativo with a partial side so that they’ll be as fit as possible for the rematch against Chelsea on Halloween. This could be the most stunning 17 days Barcelona has had in a long, long time…

In 17 days:

Possible wins: 5

Possible points in La Liga: 9

Possible points in Champions League: 6

Possible absurd upsets in the Copa del Rey: 1

——
*For anyone with any interest in American football, I realize that it’s technically the Red River Rivalry, but being an Oklahoma fan, I refuse to lower myself to what the media has made of this event. It’s the Red River Shootout and that’s all there is to it. Also, for me personally, another great rivalry is the Kansas-Texas game in men’s college basketball. But that is neither here nor there (until November).

England own goal Euro2008

Note the bounce the ball takes as Robinson goes to kick it. What terrible luck, really, though the British were clearly outplayed as well. Richard Jolly wonders about Frank Lampard’s abilities in the wake of the Zagreb disaster. They’ll still qualify for Euro2008, people. Jeez.