Russia, England, Belgium, Ireland, Bosnia, Hungary, Netherlands, France, Germany, and Portugal
all won in UEFA World Cup Qualifying on September 7, 2012.
Russia 2-0 Northern Ireland
Russia cruised to a home victory to move on top of Group F.
30′ Viktor Faitzulin 1 0 77′ Roman Shirokov (pen) 2 0 Azerbaijan 1-1 Israel
Azerbaijan fought back from an 0-1 deficit to earn a draw at home.
Colombia thrashed Uruguay, Ecuador edged Bolivia, Argentina beat Paraguay, and Peru beat
Venezuela CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying on September 7, 2012.
Colombia 4-0 Uruguay
Teofilo Gutierrez had a brace to lead Colombia to a dominating home victory. Falcao and Camilo
Zuniga provided the goals as Colombia led for almost the entire match.
The LA Galaxy cruised to a home victory over FC Dallas and Sporting KC were held at home by the
Red Bulls in Major League Soccer on August 26, 2012.
Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 FC Dallas
The Galaxy solidified their playoff chances with a strong home at the Home Depot Center. Juninho
scored his third goal in two matches in the 66th minute and Todd Dunivant sealed the win with an
84th minute strike.
DC United edged Columbus, Montreal won again at home, Sporting KC ended a three match winless
streak, Chicago came from behind to beat Toronto, and Colorado earned a clean sheet against Real
Salt Lake in Major League Soccer on August 4, 2012.
DC United 1-0 Columbus Crew
Chris Pontius scored his 10th goal of the season to put DC two points within third place New
York.
Celtic, Helsingborg, CFR Cluj, Maribor, Anderlecht, Dinamo Zagreb, Hapoel, Basel, and AEL all
won in UEFA Champions League qualifying on August 1, 2012.
BATE Borisov 1-1 Debrecen
Debrecen nearly had a 1-0 win but BATE salvaged a draw with a second half stoppage time own
goal.
Hapoel Kiryat Shmona 4-0 Netchi
Bryan Gerzycich had a brace to lead Hapoel to a comfortable home victory.
The UEFA Champions League finished the second qualifying round with five second leg matches on
Wednesday, July 25, 2012. The teams advancing to the third round are Helsingborg, BATE, AEL
Limassol, Dinamo Zagreb, and Slask Wroclaw. The aggregate scores are in parentheses.
Helsingborg 3-0 (3-0) The New Saints
The home side got goals from three different players to book their spot in the third qualifying
round.
The first leg of the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round started with 11 matches on
July 17, 2012. Most matches were very close while HJK Helsinki, FC Basel, and Partizan all
positioned themselves in great position to move into the next round of qualifying. The second legs
will take place on July 24 and 25.
Atletico Madrid moved up to 7th, Valencia were held at home by Levante, and Real Sociedad had an
impressive home victory in the Spanish Primera Division (La Liga) on April 1, 2012.
Results
Atletico Madrid 3-0 Getafe
Valencia 1-1 Levante
Real Sociedad 4-0 Rayo Vallecano
Villarreal 0-0 Espanyol
Impressive home wins by Atletico and Sociedad
Both Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad had very strong performances at home on Sunday.
Argentina knew that a win would put them in the driver's seat in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying
for Brazil 2014, and they took care of business with a relatively easy win over Paraguay on
Friday.
The past few weeks have been pretty busy for Kyle Beckerman, and they have seen the veteran
midfielder go through a whirlwind of emotions.
From trying to help Real Salt Lake get out of their current funk to playing in high-profile
international friendlies and competitions, Beckerman has had his plate more than full recently.
After the busiest summer of his brief professional career, Terrence Boyd joined Austrian club
Rapid Vienna from German powerhouse Borussia Dortmund in July with the idea that he would find the
necessary playing time to further his development.
When you get past the inevitable jokes about Rooney and horrible gashes (of which I admit there are
a few), it's important to note that the injury suffered by the England striker is actually pretty
horrible. After coming on as a substitute with twenty minutes remaining of Manchester United's 3-2
home victory over Fulham, Rooney [.
When you get past the inevitable jokes about Rooney and horrible gashes (of which I admit there are
a few), it's important to note that the injury suffered by the England striker is actually pretty
horrible. After coming on as a substitute with twenty minutes remaining of Manchester United's 3-2
home victory over Fulham, Rooney [.
The Argentine national team flashed the kind of form long expected of such a talent-laden side
with a World Cup qualifying masterpiece on Saturday night.
Four different players scored goals, including Lionel Messi and birthday boy Sergio Aguero, to
help Argentina post a 4-0 pummeling of Ecuador in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying action in Buenos
Aires.
The New York Red Bulls should have entered Sunday night's home match against Portland Timbers full
of confidence. After a disastrous, listless showing two weeks ago in Houston, they had bounced back
with a 2-0 home victory sealed by a late Jan Gunnar Solli goal. Despite intense competition at the
top of MLS' Eastern Conference, there's no team in the East (perhaps none in the league) that can
match RBNY's roster, on paper at least.
Before we get started on attendance, one quick business note from the weekend. For those of
you interested in television ratings for the league, here is a link with a pretty complete list of
ratings for this season. The last few numbers have actually been quite good for the league, with
the last few matches showing a significant increase on both NBSCN and on ESPN.
Good afternoon! It's matchday again and our glorious club has traveled north of the border, to
face a resurgent Toronto FC (7:00pm ET, MSG, Galavision, match notes here). Let's look at how both
teams come into this one.
Toronto has come on strong, since Andy Dick's doppleganger (Paul Mariner) took over.
It was a week full of quality performances from several players on different teams, but no one
was better than Los Angeles Galaxy forward Landon Donovan.
The U.S. men's national team veteran won SBI's MLS Player of the Week award after a pair of
dazzling performances saw him combine for three goals and two assists en route to helping Los
Angeles pick up two vital victories against Western Conference opposition in a span of four
days.
BRIDGEVIEW, IL- The New York Red Bulls defense had been one of the stingiest in
the league before going into the extended MLS break, but having nearly a month off from MLS play
didn't seem to do much good for the Red Bulls as the Chicago Fire ripped their defense to shreds
for a vital home victory.
HARRISON, NJ. – A bit of brilliance from Thierry Henry was all the New York Red Bulls needed
on Saturday to grab a 1-0 home victory over the New England Revolution in front of 18,152 at Red
Bull Arena.
The French striker and former World Cup winner took advantage of a slow start by the Revs
(2-5-0, 6 points) to put the home side on top in just the seventh minute and the Red Bulls (4-3-1,
13 points) usually shaky defense took over from there to shut out the visitors.
Last time the LA Galaxy came to town they were far from full strength. Thanks to a combination
of David Beckham's porcelain reticence to play on turf and Bruce Arena's attempt at canny lineup
shuffling with another match three days later, the Galaxy's brace of Eurostars stayed home. And
they were without Omar Gonzalez, who missed the entire first half of the season with an injury.
The Vancouver Whitecaps jumped all over the LA Galaxy early on in their Western Conference
showdown at BC Place, but a David Beckham-led comeback helped the Galaxy escape Canada with a
precious road point.
Beckham notched a goal and assist, including helping set up a dramatic equalizer from rookie
Jose Villarreal, in a 2-2 draw on Wednesday night.
The San Jose Earthquakes looked well on their way to another home victory on Wednesday night
before a late FC Dallas rally threatened to spoil the party at Buck Shaw Stadium.
Dallas couldn't complete the comeback though. Defender Jair Benitez failed to make that happen
when he sent a stoppage time penalty kick over the crossbar, dooming FC Dallas to a 2-1 loss.
Jordan Thomas scored in the 25th minute and it was all the Seacoast United Phantoms would need
to take a 1-0 home victory at Portsmouth High School against the visiting Vermont Voltage on
Saturday night.
The win helps the unbeaten Phantoms (5-0-3, 18 points) keep within a point of the Northeast
Division leading Ottawa Fury (6-1-1, 19 points).
Setting: Saturday, May 5 at CenturyLink Field in Seattle,
Wash.; kickoff scheduled for 4:52 PM Eastern
Broadcast Information: NBC Sports Network (Arlo White, Kyle
Martino) nationally, with coverage beginning at 4:30 PM Eastern / 97.3 KIRO-FM (Ross Fletcher,
Kasey Keller) and La Gran D 99.
Arsenal finished the league season today in 3rd place, which gives the team automatic qualification
for next season's Champions League, which is great.
Some of this season's highlights:
1. Getting by Udinese in the Champions League Qualifier
2. Winning the Champions League group, including taking four points against Borussia Dortmund, who
just completed the German League and Cup double
Michael Bradley and Lionel Messi take center stage on Tuesday.
Fresh off his first Serie A goal, Bradley and his Chievo Verona teammates will try to play
spoiler for AC Milan, as the Rossoneri have fallen a point behind unbeaten Juventus and need a win
to avoid risking an even steeper climb in the race for the Scudetto.
My dream remains to go to Champions League final after I tried to sign up for tickets at the UEFA
site for the second year in a row. It does seem that going to see a final is even something only
for the selected few, and not for the masses. Just as actually playing! Four teams have made it to
the semifinals after the quarterfinals.
After late winners at Ewood Park and Wembley, Liverpool return to Anfield to host West Brom,
where they'll hope to earn just their sixth home victory of the 2011-2012 campaign. A good chunk of
the headlines will focus on Roy Hodgson's first time back at Anfield after his managerial spell
ended last January, but Liverpool would do well to place their sights firmly on ending the season
on a good run of results regardless of who's at the helm for the opposition.
Blackburn Rovers defender, Gael Givet, has hit back at claims that he refused to play in last
weekend's clash at Swansea City.
Following the 3-0 defeat, Blackburn's fifth consecutive reverse, manager Steve Kean claimed Givet
was not in the right frame of mind to line up at the Liberty Stadium.
Tottenham Hotspur vs Norwich City, Monday 9th April, White Hart Lane, 3pm kick
off
THFC1882 is pleased to welcome back Ciaran Griggs for his preview of the game against
Norwich.
I'm going to start this preview by reminiscing. For those who recall, the reverse leg of this
fixture against Norwich in December was held in a happier, more enjoyable time in Spurs'
season.
It's all set to be another exciting weekend of Premier League action with the race for the
title, European qualification and survival all really hotting up. Let's take a look at what we can
look forward to then on this Easter weekend:
Barcelona. Real Madrid. Messi. Ronaldo. Guardiola. Mourinho.
The two storied rivals are set for their next historic clash Saturday, with Madrid able to
effectively slam the door on Barcelona's league title hopes with a win at Camp Nou. Barcelona,
however, can sneak within a point of the league leaders with a home victory.
The dream of European silverware is still alive for four Americans, whose teams are locked in
UEFA Europa League quarterfinal battles on Thursday.
U.S. national team stalwarts Jozy Altidore, Steve Cherundolo, Jermaine Jones and the injured
Oguchi Onyewu all have their teams a result away from reaching the semifinals of the
competition.
The New England Revolution had not won in 10 matches. The Columbus Crew had not lost in six.
With one result, both streaks are over.
The Revolution found a way to cool off Designated Player Federico Higuain and the red-hot Crew,
earning a 2-0 home victory to snap a franchise-worst winless skid and halt Columbus' momentum in
the race for a postseason berth.
Lindsey Ottavio, photo credit: Red Rocket Photos LONGWOOD DEFEATS VISITING RICHMOND IN SECOND
OVERTIME 2-1
FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University took a 2-1 non-conference women's soccer double-overtime
home victory past the visiting University of Richmond from the Atlantic 10 Conference Friday night
at the Athletics Complex in Farmville.
Always have to be careful when praising early season goals, but Michel Bastos of Lyon has surely
laid down a marker for goal of the season in the French League, scoring an amazing overhead kick in
his side's 4-1 home victory over Troyes. In a game that was 0-0 at half time, Troyes actually took
[...]
Mike Woitalla of Soccer America reports on the large MLS crowds during week 5 of the Major League
Soccer Season.
Week 5's biggest crowd enjoyed MLS newcomer Montreal's first win over the season while Real Salt
Lake drew big in the midweek. For MLS team attendance rankings ...
* Montreal won its first MLS game -- a 2-1 home victory over Toronto -- in front of 23,210 fans.
