SUPERFLY 3-0 WIGSTON UNITED Sunday 9th September 2012 Alliance Football League Division 3 Bosworth
Academy, Leicester Lane, Desford
With it being another glorious sunny day and the wife at work this morning, I took advantage of
this to take in another game in the Alliance Football League.
Couple of days back I did a post on young Barça & Spanish Football talent Gerard Deulofeu. This
time around & continuing with Spanish Football promises, here is another name to list. OLIVER
TORRES of just 17 years of age & crowned U-19 European Champions with Spain last Sunday. Oliver The
"kid" is a midfielder & admires Xavi & Iniesta, so much so, that the player moves & pushes the ball
like
Abou Diaby continues to stride for the French National Team by AH Abou Diaby had yet another man of
the match performance for France in their 1-0 victory over Finland, following his world class
performance for Arsenal against Liverpool last Sunday. The midfielder scored the only goal of the
game and manager Dider Deschamps praised [.
Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva has suffered a new fitness nightmare after being ruled out for up
to three months with a thigh injury.
The Brazilian sustained the problem in the warm-up before last Sunday's draw with Manchester City
and limped out of the game after just five minutes at Anfield.
With 8 games left in the season, Sporting KC is currently 3 points out of the race for the
Supporters' Shield. Behind San Jose, KC doesn't have many games that you can immediately look at
and say "oh yeah that should be a win," but tomorrow night at Livestrong Sporting Park, KC has one
of those games.
Just five days after the death of Columbus Crew midfielder Kirk Urso, Major League Soccer
announced on Thursday night that the Crew's match against Toronto FC, originally set for Saturday,
has been postponed until Aug. 22nd.
The re-scheduling of the match will allow the Crew to attend Urso's funeral.
It seems like just yesterday that the New England Revolution earned a last-gasp draw against
Toronto FC at BMO Field. In fact it was only about three weeks ago, but who's counting? The Revs
are going to welcome the Reds to Gillette Stadium on Saturday night with the hopes of winning big
over the Eastern Conference basement dwellers.
The Portland Timbers practiced today at Jeld-Wen Field ahead of their Cascadia Cup match up with
the Vancouver Whitecaps tomorrow night. While the Whitecaps are still in a strong position to
compete for a playoff berth, the Timbers only remaining chance at glory this season is a victory
over their Cascadian rivals in Vancouver and Seattle.
Pardon us for being a day tardy with our usual Man of the Match series as we aim to return to
full power after the four of us have taken turns going on vacations, etc. It's a busy job keeping
track of the Portland Timbers, and some weeks we just need a break, ya know?
Last Sunday saw the Portland Timbers take on the New York Red Bulls in what would be a thrilling
offensive affair from both sides.
The Portland Timbers U23s celebrate Mark Sherrod's 3rd minute goal.
Photo by Jeremiah Mitchell Braeback.
GLADSTONE, ORE - Same teams, different results. With a spot in the PDL Western
Conference Semifinals on the line, the Portland Timbers U23s proved to be the strong
side as they move on following their 2-1 victory over a familiar foe in the Kitsap
Pumas.
The 2010 PDL Champions will host the 2011 PDL Champions on Sunday, July 15 as the Portland
Timbers U23s (10-4-2, 32pts) host the Kitsap Pumas (10-4-2, 32pts) at Gladstone High
School, following the Portland Rain v. Eugene Metros FC match at 3:00pm.
Last Sunday the Portland Timbers faced a huge test against their northern rivals the Seattle
Sounders and they came out on top. It wasn't a pretty game. It wasn't an overtly dominant
performance by the Timbers, but they dragged out a 2-1 victory... and that's what really matters,
especially against a rival such as Seattle.
While the Portland Timbers faced off against a tough opponent and came out the better side last
Sunday, their true test will be tomorrow night when they go on the road, once again, to take on
Western Conference rival the Colorado Rapids. As we all know, the Timbers don't have the bets
record against Colorado so far since joining MLS and, with the Rapids now returning to full
strength after a series of injuries, Spencer's side will truly be tested.
Big day. Big match. Big EVERYTHING. There's really not much I can say about the rivalry today
that most of you don't already know. But if this IS your first time heading to a match between
these two sides, all I will say is be prepared. There's nothing timid about a Portland Timbers -
Seattle Sounders match.
Ouch. This is certainly going to hurt the Portland Timbers back line over the next three
matches, as Hanyer Mosquera is often the one doing the most to stop oncoming attacks. His absence
will surely be felt.
For those that don't know, Mosqo is being fined and suspended for punching LA Galaxy player Jack
McBean (yes that's his real name) in the late part of last Sunday's game.
With their Cascadia Cup clash against the Seattle Sounders only two days away, the Portland
Timbers held a closed training session at Jeld-Wen Field this morning. Returning from a day off
yesterday, the Timbers held a full practice session today, not wrapping things up until after
11:30.
Eric Brunner and Rodney Wallace continued to miss practice as both are still recovering from
their respective injuries.
The MLS All Stars seem to have Chelsea's number and just like he did six years ago, Dwayne De
Rosario proved to be a pivotal player in this years win too. The DC United midfielder set up Chris
Pontius for the equalizer.
Before that two Chelsea veterans had sent their side ahead as John Terry scored from a header
and then Frank Lampard batted the ball with his leg past Dan Kennedy after the goalie completely
missed collecting a cross.
After hearing that Ashley Cole and Ashley Young were racially abused on Twitter after England were
knocked out of Euro 2012, you could be forgiven for re-evaluating the worth of the popular social
networking platform. Thankfully, our 140-character  faith was restored when we heard this story.
On the night of the England v Italy quarter-final, [.
The New York Red Bulls have long been on the hunt for an attacking midfielder. The last steady
offensive distributor for the team left in 2006. His name? Amado Guevara.
Since the Honduran's departure, many have attempted to fill in the role for New York with little
success to show for it.
It's matchday again @The Cathedral of Football, Red Bull Arena (built by Makita)! This time, our
glorious club takes on its I-95 rival Philadelphia Union (2:30pm ET, ESPN, match notes here). Let's
look at how both teams come into this one.
The Union are in the midst of a resurgence, as it has won the three MLS games played in the
month of July.
After perhaps their worst performance of the season last Sunday, the pressure was on the Chicago
Fire to turn things around.
The Men in Red responded.
A Pavel Pardo goal off a free kick early in the first half was the difference as the Fire were
able to overcome a late red card to Arne Friedrich to knock off the Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 in
front of 16,820 fans at Toyota Park.
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.
Last Sunday, the Chicago Fire ended the 6 game unbeaten streak of the New York Red Bulls. This
Saturday, another team with a 6 game unbeaten streak comes to Toyota Park, where unbeaten streaks
come to die. Yes, you read that right, the Columbus Crew are riding a 6 game unbeaten streak. Their
streak is not as impressive as the one the Red Bulls had, but it is an unbeaten streak none the
less.
Tonight's game at Columbus is not a season defining game, but it may well demonstrate whether
the first 17 minutes of last Sunday's match at Houston or the 73 that followed were. Coherence and
a small degree of dominance broke down when Bill Hamid was ejected and DC United failed to survive
the loss of one player.
"Because he[RvP] is one of the best no10's in the world" Van Marwijk.
The Dutch national manager Bert van Marwijk opted to play RvP behind the striker, in the no10
position, against Portugal last Sunday. He was desperate to turn things round and for once he gave
in to the strong calls in Holland to play Huntelaar, the Bundeslega top scorer, and RvP, the PL top
scorer, together up front.
"Because he[RvP] is one of the best no10's in the world" Van Marwijk.
The Dutch national manager Bert van Marwijk opted to play RvP behind the striker, in the no10
position, against Portugal last Sunday. He was desperate to turn things round and for once he gave
in to the strong calls in Holland to play Huntelaar, the Bundeslega top scorer, and RvP, the PL top
scorer, together up front.
Last Sunday at this time we were hoping by now that Newcastle could have brought one of their top
three targets Mathieu Debuchy, Luuk de Jong and Douglas to Tyneside, but the only realÂ
successes last week was selling Leon Best and Fraser Forster, to Blackburn and Celtic
respectively for a total of £5M, bringing in top 18 year old Gael Bigirimana from [.
Newcastle have been interested in the 22 year-old for over a year now, and he became a free agent
last Sunday. Junior Hoilett wage demands scare off the Magpies Blackburn's Canadian winger Junior
Hoilett has refused to sign a new contract at Blackburn for a year now, and it seems that he is
no longer on Newcastle's radar screen either.
This dates from last Sunday so it's getting on a bit in internet years and there's a good chance
you may have already seen it, but here's Dardania Lausanne 'keeper Dominique Niederhauser
absolutely larruping one in from well over 70 (pushing 80) yards in their 1-6 away tonking ofÂ
Genolier-Begnins in the Swiss sixth tier.
So, the Olympics was great. We got to cheer a wide range of people we'd never heard of in sports
that we could barely identify. From loudly encouraging a Welsh teenager to kick someone hard in the
head to praying that a small Chinese man would hit his noggin on a diving platform, it was a
fortnight of memorable sporting moments.
"He's only 42, he's better than Zizou!"Two goals from the man who just celebrated his 42nd birthday
days ago may have brought some cheers to national coach Raddy Avramovic, who made no secret of his
frustration of the lengthy win-less streak prior to this game against Hong Kong at "Wild Wild West"
- Jurong West Stadium.
Last Sunday was yet another game at home and, while we didn't get the result we all wanted,
looking back it was a sad occasion for more than just the draw. It was Troy Perkins' last game as a
Portland Timber. Of course, we didn't know it at the time, but with the recent trade, it's almost
hard to remember the game at all.
The notorious Glasgow weather reared its soggy head today for the USA's first training in the city
that will host its first two Olympics matches. It never rained too hard, and while the field was a
bit soggy, it held up well, making for some seriously fast-paced training drills and scrimmages.
1. Are we too predictable? Time for a formation change?
When asked about whether fatigue was a factor in last Sunday's loss to the LA Galaxy, Frank Klopas
was having none of it. "They have four days to recover, if you can't recover in four days then
maybe you should retire," stated Klopas.
Last Sunday's website statement from the Hibernian Supporters Club ("Hibs Club") and the Rangers
Supporters Trust response to it exposed a chasm in thinking on Scottish football's current
problems. Supporters appear split down the middle between those who see Rangers as persecuted
victims (Rangers fans) and those who see them as having taken Scottish football to the brink
through their own poor financial management over the last 20 years (everyone else).
Rested and ready for the business end of their season, Reading United return to Premier
Development League action on Friday with a match at Albright College's Shirk Stadium. Winless in
their last three matches and clinging to the Mid-Atlantic Division's final playoff spot, United
welcome the Bermuda Hogges to town for a 7pm kickoff.
I know you are sitting there trying to figure out what I am smoking and how I am going to
justify that statement. Well you will just have to read on to find out how I do justify that
statement. So let's start with a minor tweak and add a couple of words to the statement, it really
should read "Portland has the league's best defense over the last 2 months of the season.
After the heartbreak of last Sunday night, I have finally dragged myself back to the computer to
trudge out a few lines with the tears still streaming down my face, I should be used to it by now
but it still hurts. Fair play to Italy, they deserved it, the 3 Lions didn't, we were 2nd best and
Roy obviously didn't take note of my blueprint to stifle the Azzurri but I'm sure he was a bit busy
(more on this next week).
