It has passed without too much attention that Arsenal's 'Invincibles' of 2003/04 were last week
named the best team of the Premier League 20-year awards. A fine achievement considering some
strong opposition down the years, but also very much deserved, with the team of Vieira, Pires,
Bergkamp and Henry playing possibly the finest football this land has seen on the way to their
unbeaten title triumph that year.
Sir Alex Ferguson has today claimed in an interview with Radio 5 Live that he has never
discussed which manager will replace him when he's ready to retire.
"Never discussed it it is a dangerous game," said Ferguson. "At this moment in time
there are about half-a-dozen managers doing very well in the Premier League, all the others are
fighting for their lives.
Much has been made in many circles over the past month or so about Man Utd's lack of
talent and depth in their central midfield, and with their "reincarnation" of veteran retireeÂ
Paul Scholes, it appears that there are people at the club who agree with that opinion. DespiteÂ
the January transfer window, it appears that Sir Alex Ferguson's pledge to not add to his playing
staff "unless the right man becomes available" will come to fruition.
Tottenham Hotspurs failed to present a gift for their coach, Harry Redknapp, who has just had an
operation, after the Lilywhites' second string got beaten by Rubin Kazan in the latest Europa
League group stage tie.
Meanwhile, Stoke City continues their excellent run in Europe by picking up another victory
against Macabi Tel Aviv, proving their ability to compete with foreign teams in the competition yet
still pretty competitive in the league.
To start, declarations that Manchester City are now guaranteed to win the league or triumph in
Europe come as extremely premature overreactions.
But the possible reverberations concerning Manchester City's potential future conquests in the
wake of their clinical 6-1 destruction over England's most dominant team and Europe's runner-up
only to a seemingly invincible Barca do tend to evoke the sense that Roberto Mancini is on the
verge of pushing their "noisy neighbors" tag into oblivion by reaching the stratosphere of the
world's clubs.
When I was a boy, the Merseyside Derby ranked up with those Old Firm games from North of The
Border in passion and sheer entertainment. At that time, Everton were no better a team than they
are now, and I'll grant you that in those days, Liverpool were the dominant team, not only in
England but across the whole of Europe.
The New England Revolution may have braved the tornado, but playing FC Dallas is a different
challenge altogether. Picking up momentum after winning two consecutive games, the Revolution
(2-2-0, 6 points) have an opportunity to collect their third win of the season against Dallas
(1-2-1, 4 points) on Thursday night.
Are you familiar enough with FC Dallas yet? If not, here's some more info about who they are and
how they will play as they enter Fortress Starfire and attempt to make history. These two sides
have met in the US Open Cup before with the USL Seattle Sounders being the team that came up short,
but that match was at then Qwest Field.
Watching Toronto FC vs. FC Dallas the last 2 nights (1st night got cancelled because of lightning
strikes close to the stadium) compete in CONCACAF Champions League took some time to get used to.
Usually, FC Dallas plays in red, but last night, they were dressed in blue.
Toronto's main theme color is red.
Great weekend for the Seattle Sounders. They fought through fatigue, heat, humidity and a goal
deficit to end Sporting Kansas City's 14 game unbeaten streak in MLS. The 2-1 victory marks the
second time the Sounders have come from behind in overtime to defeat the Sporks. To be fair, the
Sporks outplayed the Sounders for the majority of the match even after designated player Omar Bravo
was sent of for a reckless challenge.
Lionel Messi once again acted as Barcelona's savior as the Blaurgana successfully edged out
Atletico Madrid in a very tough game which saw the defending champion continuously troubled by the
home side.
The victory obviously preserved the Catalan side's hope in catching their rival, Real Madrid,
who in a few hours earlier already pulled up 13 points lead ahead, which eventually cut back to 10
again thanks to the three points against Atletico.
If Real Madrid and Chelsea are to end Champions League heartbreak this season, getting off to a
good start in difficult environments is crucial.
Real Madrid travel east to face off with CSKA Moscow in freezing temperatures. Jose Mourinho's
men have been dominant in the Champions League this season but the weather combined with Moscow's
infamous plastic pitch and a few key injuries makes the result far from predetermined.
In light of the recent economic and fiscal policies that have been employed in Europe to stop
the massive financial crisis, there is no time like the present to be reminded how much business
affects the football world.
Manchester City's endless flow of capital has given them the ability to buy the best products,
and chase the success every club desires, bringing glory to the club and its supporters, and higher
profits which can be spent as self-generated revenue.
Position 1st, 14-5-4 (47 points, +25 goal differential)
Home Record: 7-3-1, +19 goal differential
Recent Form: WWLDW
Last Meeting: AC Milan 0 Arsenal 2 (March 4, 2008)
Tomorrow brings a trip to one of Europe's great venues to play one of the greatest, if not the
greatest, clubs, historically, in all of European football.
When the Carling Cup draw pitched Arsenal against Manchester City, Arsenal fans were already
anticipating a tough, nearly impossible to win match against the dominant team in the League at
present. Indeed, there is reason to believe so. The Manchester City squad is a very deep one with
immense quality – even players like Nigel [.
Each week during the season I'll post an updated MISL Power Ranking which will be based off the
cumulative results and current strength of each team. Here's my rankings heading into Week 6.
#1 Milwaukee Wave (5-0, 1st Place MISL Central Division)
While the Baltimore Blast are making a compelling argument for why they should be ranked #1 in the
power rankings, the Milwaukee Wave are still the top team in the league at this moment.
It's no seceret that the Big Ten has been underperforming in 2011 but the lack of a dominant
team should make for an interesting tournament as the Big Ten Tournament kicks off at the
University of Michigan.
Indiana is the lone ranked team in the Big Ten but a loss against Wisconsin and draws against
Northwestern and Michigan State has relegated the Hoosiers to the No.
In many ways, Akron is a victim of its own success.
There was hardly a more dominant team than the Zips last season, amassing a 22-1-2 record with a
plus-48 goal differential on their way to Akron's first-ever national championship in any
sport.
AEK will begin their European sojourns in the capital of Georgia this year against Dynamo
Tbilisi,in the knockout stage of the Europa League.The first match will be played at the Boris
Paichadze Stadium on the 18th of August with the return leg at the OAKA,1 week later on the
25th.
AEK will be expected to start favourites for the tie,however the Georgians have a rich history and
should prove no 'push over'.
The Seattle Sounders have a big weekend as they head down to Portland to take on the Timbers.
This is the make or break game for the Cascadia Cup and the Sounders need the win to secure their
place as the dominant team in the Pacific Northwest. It will be a tough game as Jeld-Wen field will
be packed with fervent Timbers supports.
The clash of two unbeaten teams playing attractive, attacking soccer and it was the Baggies
walking away with the full three points. Deservedly so. They were the dominant team bossing Everton
in the midfield because of the excellent Youssuf Mulumbu. And a constant threat down the flanks
through Peter Odemwingie and Liam Ridgewell.
Seattle is in a very tough patch of MLS play. In their last five league games a 0-3-2 record
with a negative six goal differential have watched them fall from a clear first tier team in the SB
Nation MLS Power Rankings with an average ranking of 2.26 to one that could be out of the top six.
Once the dominant team in Sagarin they are now ranked 8th.
The New England Revolution might seem to have been the dominant team in Saturday's contest at
RFK, but the score line said otherwise at 3-2. Despite being outperformed marginally on the
statistics sheet, DC United only seemed uncomfortable for the first ten minutes of the second half.
One need only look at Coach Ben Olsen's excellent personnel decisions to see the reason why.
Cagliari hosts Chievo, Palermo hosts Catania, and Napoli travels to Roma in the Italian Serie A
on Saturday, April 28, 2012.
Cagliari v Chievo Verona
Both teams are several points above the relegation zone and not much left to play for this
season. Cagliari are a strong home side and will be favored.
Craig Bellamy once again starred for Liverpool as they booked their place in the League Cup
final with a 2-2 draw against Manchester City. This resulted in Liverpool winning the semi-final
3-2 on aggregate.
Liverpool were the dominant team in the second leg of the semi-final and if it wasn't for the
heroics of Joe Hart Liverpool could quiet easily run away with the game.
[Editor's note: Nice write up about what went on during the u-17 game
today]
The U-17 team resides in Brandenton, Fl. at the IMG Training Academy. The system used at IMG is
similar to the youth academies of Europe, where students receive an education at the local school
while intensively practicing soccer.
Tomorrow sees the Singapore Cup Final taking place at the Jalan Besar Stadium. Home United will
look to complete the first leg of a domestic double when they take on League Cup winners Albirex
Niigata.
Last year's affair saw Bangkok Glass defeat Tampines Rovers 1-0 (programme cover left) while I got
shitfaced in an infamous bar district with persons unknown and returned home with just a toy bus
for my son.
The Carolina Railhawks have been, without question, the most dominant team in the inaugural NASL
season, but they had to wait until Wednesday to make it official.
The Railhawks wrapped up the regular-season title despite a 1-0 loss to the Fort Lauderdale
Strikers.
