Santos' quest to repeat as Copa Libertadores champion is alive. Barely.
The Brazilian giant needed a late equalizer from Alan Kardec to pull even with 10-man Argentine
side Velez Sarsfield and then prevailed on penalties 4-2 to advance to the tournament semifinals
Thursday night.
Charles Kazlauskas (Milwaukee Thomas More) and Helmond Sport fell agonizingly short in
the Dutch promotion playoffs on Sunday.
The Jupiler League side fell behind host VVV-Venlo on Danny Holla's goal just 5 minutes
into the second game of their two-leg aggregate series and trailed 3-1 in the tie, but scored in
the ninth and 14th minutes to go ahead on the day and pull level in the series.
Three matches remain, and in light of Chelsea's spot in the Champions League final, third place
has now become crucial for ensuring a spot for Arsenal in next year's competition. If the Blues win
the European Cup, third will no longer guarantee an automatic group stage spot, but if the
qualifying round is what's available, we need to grab the opportunity with both hands.
Jose Mourinho insists his future lies at Real Madrid, despite media reports that have linked the
Portuguese manager to a return to England.
The former Chelsea boss was rumoured to be mulling over a return to Chelsea or Manchester City,
should the latter fail to win the Premier League, this season.
Since our last encounter with Barcelona, our clubs have headed in very different directions.
Theirs, has been on the ascendancy for what seems like four years running. Ours, has seen its fair
share of ups and downs along the way. But our paths cross once again, in a semi-final tie no less-
which ultimately presents yet another shot at redemption for a Chelsea side that's desperate to set
the record straight.
By JOHN BOSCHINI
Despite the dominance Real Madrid have exhibited in this season's UEFA Champions League,
speculation lingers that their route to the semifinals has something to do with poor opposition
along the way.
Jose Mourinho's men have yet to play a team from England, Spain, Germany or Italy in their 10
UEFA Champions League matches, but all that will change when they travel to the Allianz Arena to
take on German powerhouse Bayern Munich in the opening leg of their semifinal tie.
Spain's La Liga certainly has a legitimate claim to be called the best league in the world.
After putting two teams in the UEFA Champions League semifinals earlier this week, three more
Spanish teams reached the semifinals of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday, with all of them
crushing the hopes of Americans along the way.
By JOHN BOSCHINI
AC Milan and Barcelona are set to square off for the third time in this season's UEFA Champions
League as the Serie A leaders welcome the defending European champions to the San Siro for the
first leg of their quarterfinal tie.
Lionel Messi arrives in Italy with an astounding 12 goals in this season's Champions League, but
Barcelona struggled to impose themselves when the two teams met back in September.
By ADAM SERRANO
An attendance of 7,500 was announced as Toronto FC defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy to advance to
the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals Wednesday night. According to TFC rookie midfielder Luis
Silva, 300 of those were his own family and friends.
One major upset and one decent size surprise on an exciting night of in the CONCACAF Champions
League quarterfinals.
The upset took place in LA, where Toronto FC stunned the Galaxy to win 2-1 and advance to the
semi-finals with a 4-3 aggregate win.
In the semi-finals, Toronto will meet Mexico's Santos Laguna who thrashed the Seattle Sounders
6-1 for a a 7-3 aggregate victory.
BY DAVID GUBALA
The Europa League crown now lies amongst one of sixteen teams left in the competition after a
quite decisive round of 32. The two Manchester clubs still remain in the tournament, although they
reached the next round in very different manners.
Deportivo Quito are the new champions of Ecuador following their 2-0 aggregate victory over
Emelec in the final of the domestic championship.
In order to qualify for the play-offs Deportivo won the second stage of the league, which was
played from July to December, topping the table after 22 games with a four point margin over
Barcelona de Guayaquil.
By FRANCO PANIZO
A day after Pep Guardiola said he had no plans of selling him, David Villa was lost to
injury.
Villa will be sidelined for approximately the next six months after fracturing his tibia in
Barcelona's 4-0 Club World Cup win over Al Sadd on Thursday.
Tigres are the new champions of Mexico following their 4-1 aggregate victory over Santos Laguna
in the Torneo Apertura (Opening Championship) final.
Tigres had finished in third place in the regular season table with a record of seven wins,
seven draws and three defeats from seventeen games, before going on to defeat Pachuca CF and
Queretaro FC in the play-offs on their way to the final.
By THOMAS FLOYD
Perhaps the fiercest rivalry the beautiful game has to offer will be renewed at the Bernabeu on
this weekend, and -- what's new? -- the stakes are high.
With Real Madrid three points clear of FC Barcelona with a game in hand, Saturday's Clasico (4
p.
Tunisian giants Espérance will make their maiden appearance in the FIFA Club World Cup
following their second CAF Champions League title win, their first such title for seventeen years,
which was achieved with a 1-0 aggregate victory over Moroccans WAC Casablanca in the final. Should
the Tunis based side overcome the challenge of Asian champions Al Sadd in the quarter-finals, a
glamour tie against UEFA Champions League winners FC Barcelona will be on the cards for one of
Africa's most famous clubs.
AFC Champions League title holders Al-Sadd were the surprise winners of Asia's premier club
competition and will feature in their first FIFA Club World Cup. Al Sadd, who hail from the Qatari
capital city of Doha, have a quarter-final meeting with African champions Espérance and, should
they emerge victorious, will look forward to a semi-final encounter against FC Barcelona.
U.S. U-17 WNT captain Morgan AndrewsAs 2011 comes to a close, 2012 will be a big year for the USA's youth women's national teams as
both the Under-17s and Under-20s prepare for regional qualifying for their respective FIFA Women's
World Cups, which will be held toward the end of the year after the Olympics.
Philadelphia Union vs. Houston Dynamo
November 03, 2011 -- Robertson Stadium
Eastern Conference semifinals -- Game 2
Attendance: 24,749
Scoring Summary:
HOU -- Brian Ching 1 (Brad Davis 2) 48+
Philadelphia Union -- Faryd Mondragon, Sheanon Williams, Carlos Valdes, Danny Califf,
Gabriel Farfan (Roger Torres 66), Michael Farfan, Brian Carroll, Veljko Paunovic (Freddy Adu 66),
Sebastien Le Toux, Jack McInerney, Danny Mwanga (Justin Mapp 66).
In the emotionally-charged sequel to last weekend's showdown at Red Bull Area, Mike Magee and
Landon Donovan each scored as Los Angeles beat New York 2-1 during the second leg of the Western
Conference semis and advanced to the Conference Finals 3-1 on aggregate.
Although Red Bulls' target man Luke Rodgers opened the scoring with a 4th minute strike to
immediately level the series at 1-1, Magee, the former Red Bull who had pointed words for his
former employers prior to the match, replied before halftime when he took hold of a David Beckham
cornerand banged it through to relcaim the L.
It was a devastating end of the season for Matt Pyzdrowski (Marquette) and Ängelholms FF
on Sunday night in Sweden.
The Superettan side saw their hopes of promotion to the Allsvenskan extinguished on an own goal
in the final seconds of stoppage time, as host Syrianska posted a 3-1 victory in Södertälje that
gave them a 4-3 aggregate victory in the two-match series and kept the club in the top division for
2012.
THFC1882′s Stuart Watts presents another guest piece from Ciaran Griggs. This time Ciaran
previews the Shamrock game.
Europa League, White Hart Lane, 8.05pm Kick off, Channel 5
"Spurs have been drawn in a group with Shamrock Rovers..."
Who?
European football's governing body UEFA has decided against allowing Swiss club FC Sion back
into the 2011-12 UEFA Europa League, thus maintaining Glasgow Celtic's place in Group I of the
competition which begins this Thursday.
FC Sion qualified for this season's competition following an aggregate victory against the
Scottish giants in the Play-Off round but were subsequently expelled following a protest from the
Parkhead club who claimed that a number of the Swiss club's players were ineligible.
By Chris Wright
Hearty congrats go out to Shamrock Rovers, who became the first Irish side ever in the history
of ever to reach the group stages of any European tournament by beating Partizan Belgrade 2-1 AET
in Serbia last night thus booking themselves a place in the Europa League group stage.
The 2011 Recopa Sudamericana (South American Super Cup) was won by Brazilian side Internacional
on Wednesday night. The 2010 Copa Libertadores champions were 2-1 down from the first leg to 2010
Copa Sudamericana winners Independiente before they turned it around in the return fixture with a
3-1 win.
By CALEB SONNELAND
World-champion Spain's stint atop the FIFA rankings is officially over, with the Netherlands
being the usurpers.
Bert van Marwijk's side ascended to the No. 1 spot after the Spaniards crashed to a friendly 2-1
defeat to Italy earlier in August.
First match of the season then, a Europa League qualifier against Hearts. Will the first 11 be
rested for Man U or will they be given match practice, are they well rested or are they lacking
sharpness? Thursday night will see these questions, among others answered, as we kick off for
another year of ups and downs and the hands of Dawson & Co.
Barcelona have won the Spanish Super Cup for the tenth time after a brilliant Lionel Messi
scored two goals in a 3-2 home win against Real Madrid, earning the European champions a 5-4
aggregate victory. The game was marred by two red cards to Real Madrid players as the bad blood
between the two sides carried over from last season.
Barcelona have won the Spanish Super Cup for the tenth time after a brilliant Lionel Messi
scored two goals in a 3-2 home win against Real Madrid, earning the European champions a 5-4
aggregate victory. The game was marred by two red cards to Real Madrid players as the bad blood
between the two sides carried over from last season.
By Chris Wright
Both Fulham and Stoke secured themselves a spot in the Europa League play-off stages with
second-leg victories over RNK Split and Banana Hajduk Split respectively last night.
Coming into the game on the back of a goalless draw in Croatia, a near-post Andy Johnson header
and the now-mandatory Danny Murphy penalty saw Fulham emerge victorious by two goals to nil at the
Cottage and maintain their unbeaten run in the preliminary stages in the process.
By Chris Wright
Both Fulham and Stoke secured themselves a spot in the Europa League play-off stages with
second-leg victories over RNK Split and Banana Hajduk Split respectively last night.
Coming into the game on the back of a goalless draw in Croatia, a near-post Andy Johnson header
and the now-mandatory Danny Murphy penalty saw Fulham emerge victorious by two goals to nil at the
Cottage and maintain their unbeaten run in the preliminary stages in the process.
By Chris Wright
Both Fulham and Stoke secured themselves a spot in the Europa League play-off stages with
second-leg victories over RNK Split and Banana Hajduk Split respectively last night.
Coming into the game on the back of a goalless draw in Croatia, a near-post Andy Johnson header
and the now-mandatory Danny Murphy penalty saw Fulham emerge victorious by two goals to nil at the
Cottage and maintain their unbeaten run in the preliminary stages in the process.
The first round of 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying has been completed in Asia this weekend. Eight
nations from Nepal to Malaysia, from Myanmar to the Philippines, have secured their places in the
next round of qualifying which will take place in late July.
The biggest story of Asian (AFC) World Cup qualifying came at the Faisal Al-Husseini
International stadium in the Palestinian city of Al-Ram where Palestine faced off against
Afghanistan.
Photo by ISIphotos.com
If Freddy Adu is to receive another loan to Caykur Rizespor, he'll do it knowing that he won't
be playing top-flight soccer.
Rizespor battled back to draw Orduspor, 3-3, in the second leg of their promotion playoff
semifinal on Thursday, but Orduspor won the first leg, 4-0, and advanced to the promotion final via
a 7-3 aggregate victory.
UNAM Pumas have won Mexico's Torneo Clausura thanks to a 3-2 aggregate victory in the
final against Monarcas Morelia.
Both teams had shared the goals in a 1-1 draw in Friday's first leg with Juan Francisco Palencia
(UNAM) and Joao Rojas (Morelia) both hitting the target. So the scene was set for a thrilling
finish in Sunday's return fixture, played at the Pumas' home ground of Estadio Olímpico
Universitario, and it was the home side who opened the scoring on 14 minutes with Palencia
converting an early spot kick.
Real Estelí returned to the CONCACAF Champions League for the first time in three editions with an
aggregate victory over Walter Ferretí in the Clausura final. Estelí had lost the first leg 1-0,
but won the return leg 3-1 (the deciding goal a free kick with two minutes to go) to win the title
3-1 on aggregate.
Accrington 0-1 Stevenage (Beardsley 89)
BBC Report | Westley Reaction
Stevenage will face Torquay United in the League 2 playoff final at Old Trafford next Saturday.
A place in League 1 is up for grabs for the winners after they beat Accrington and Shrewsbury
respectively over two legs.
Vélez Sarsfield returned to the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores seventeen years after they
last reached that stage on Wednesday night, with a 4-2 away win over Libertad in Asunción,
Paraguay. The scoreline meant a 7-2 aggregate victory for Vélez, ... Continue reading →
Inter Milan booked their place in the Coppa Italia final for the sixth time in seven seasons
after a 1-1 draw with Roma earned Leonardo's side a 2-1 aggregate victory at San Siro.
It was always going to be a tall order for Roma to overcome the six-time winners in Milan,
particularly after Samuel Eto'o had doubled the hosts' aggregate lead three minutes into the second
half.
Héctor Reynoso helped Chivas defeat Tigres
The quarter-final stages in Mexico's Torneo Clausura have been completed this weekend and for
UNAM Pumas, Guadalajara, Morelia and Cruz Azul the dream is still alive.
The biggest shock came courtesy of Guadalajara who disposed of tournament favourites and number
one seed Tigres UANL with a 4-2 aggregate victory.
