Chelsea's interim manager Rafa Benitez has joked that he expected the club's supporters to blame him for their current fixture congestion. The Blues have a busy run-in. They have been playing fixture catch-up for most of the season after a trip to the Club World Cup and a run to the semi-finals of the Capital [.
Last week, Raymon Gaddis was plugged into the starting lineup on a moment's notice when
Philadelphia Union captain Danny Califf aggravated a hamstring injury. As the Union prepare for
Saturday's away tilt against Chivas USA, it's becoming likely that Gaddis will get yet another
start in his first MLS season.
Injury problems are mounting for Newcastle but Cheick Tiote, who has been out since the first game
of the season against Tottenham has a good chance to be back for our next game at Everton a week on
Monday. Cheick Tiote in action against Spurs Ryan Taylor is presumably out at least six months,
[...
Alan Pardew's comments after the 4-0 defeat at Wigan on Saturday, seemed to be aimed at his
players. Fab Coloccini - we are still having a good season If you read what Alan said he was
talking about when we've had poor results in the past the players have come back big time in the
next game, and he will be hoping [.
Alan Pardew's comments after the 4-0 defeat at Wigan on Saturday, seemed to be aimed at his
players. Fab Coloccini - we are still having a good season If you read what Alan said he was
talking about when we've had poor results in the past the players have come back big time in the
next game, and he will be hoping [.
As we had hoped, it looks like Danny Guthrie will be fit to be in the squad for Newcastle's next
game, at home to Stoke a week on Saturday. Danny Guthrie fit again following calf problem
Danny boy, whose contract runs out in June, missed the two games over the Easter weekend with a
calf problem, but [.
Alan Pardew is giving his players a well earned rest before they come back on Saturday, to
prepare for the next game against Stoke City, which is a week come Saturday. Alan Pardew -
meticulous in his planning at Newcastle And it just so happens that Newcastle have always
failed to win, after any kind of lengthy break this season, and Alan is well aware of that.
Newcastle's manager Alan Pardew keeps getting asked if he thinks Newcastle can qualify for the
European Champions League this season. Alan Pardew applauding fans before the game on Monday And
of course the real answer is that he doesn't know, but the way Alan runs Newcastle, he's only
concentrating on the next game, and try to win it.
Jonas Gutierrez has been interviewed today and he is not getting carried away by Newcastle's
high position in the league at this fairly late stage of the seaosn. Jonas Gutierrez big game
against Liverpool The conventional wisdom in football is not to get carries away by the wins and
not to get get too down after a defeat.
Arsenal are making a huge leap in the premier league by finally sitting a third place, which
could bring an automatic Champions League ticket for them.
However, despite of their current good run, their manager, Arsene Wenger doesn't want to get his
players over their head as the competition is not over yet and they must work hard to even secure a
Champions League spot which isn't all save yet at the moment.
The Cellar Dwellar Cup Final is now upon us and the cup is to be decided with a home and away
series against the Colorado Rapids. If you look around the league the only team who has been in as
bad a free fall as the Portland Timbers have been over the last 10 games has been the Rapids.This
season it has felt that any time a team has been in need of a win the Timbers were the next game on
their schedule and as of right now Colorado is in need of a win.
Their Words "Alain gave me a great ball, and in practice yesterday I killed some birds, but tonight
it was a good goal." Vancouver's Eric Hassli. Other Sources Berhalter's American revolution - from
MLSsoccer.com's Greg Seltzer: "we're focusing on the next game." Seeing red sparks Crew on offense
- from The Columbus Dispatch's Adam Jardy: Reinforcements are on the way, however.
Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas has praised new signing Jan Vertonghen, likening the Belgian
defender to retired captain Ledley King. King made an appearance before the club's clash against
West Bromwich Albion at White Hart Lane on Saturday and received rapturous applause, which manager
AVB is confident is on the cards for Vertonghen.
Chelsea defender Gary Cahill has revealed his delight at being involved in a fixture list that
sees key matches coming thick and fast. The former Bolton star has found his form at Stamford
Bridge in recent weeks, capped off by an excellent display against close rivals Tottenham on
Saturday.
"It's been non-stop the last few weeks playing big, important games, they are coming thick and
fast so it's important to rest up as much as possible because it is tough," Cahill told Chelsea's
official club website.
I will be surprised if anyone reading this doesn't know Arsenal have now won 6 in a row in the
League. Most will also know that only Barcelona can match that winning streak on current form in
the top 5 leagues across Europe. That's impressive. And it looks even better if we see that only 5
teams have had better runs throughout the season.
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has shifted his focus back to the Premier League after
his side's Europa League exist yesterday. City who were eliminated from the competition on the away
goals rule will now have to wrestle the title from favourites United a task easier said than
done.
Arsenalinsider got a chance to sit down with Dave Seaman. Here's the scoop:
Question: What do you think about Arsenal's current goalies?
Seaman: Arsenal's goalkeeping situation is good. They have got some young goalkeepers. That's
the only problem that they're young. But Szczesny is doing a fantastic job.
U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann"We discussed prior to the game that it would be
difficult to break them down. Antigua did a very good job defending and made it very tight. They
made it very difficult for us to create more chances. I think we created quite a few chances and we
could have scored a few more goals.
Portugal Euro 2012 Shirts - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Portugal qualified from Group B in second place but most importantly, they came through the
Group of Death with Cristiano Ronaldo hitting goal-scoring form at the right time. They will face
Czech Republic (Group A winners) on 21st June, and after having played against tournament
favourites Germany and Netherlands, the team will feel confident about taking on any team in the
quarters or the semis.
Germany Euro 2012 Shirts - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Germany qualified from Group B in relatively comfortable fashion, only hitting the higher gear
when needed to progress in Euro 2012. They're now in the quarter finals where they will face Greece
(second place in Group A). So far, Germany have been joined in the quarterfinals by Portugal, who
will face the Czech Republic on 21st June.
What have Chelsea lost? Their minds? Yes. The respect of the footballing world? Absolutely.
Their place among Europe's elite for next season? Quite possibly, but that's not what I mean.
How good is their now former manager Andre Villas-Boas? It feels like his time at the highly
dysfunctional Chelsea will not serve as a good representation of his skills.
The Arsenal winger Theo Walcott made an explosive entry into England's crucial win against Sweden,
but has now been dropped out of training to try and nurse yet another re-occurence of his hamstring
injury. James Milner is now expected to start the next game against Ukraine although Roy Hodgson
has not ruled out the possibility [.
England skipper Steven Gerrard believes that carrying a point into today's Group D meeting with
Sweden in Kiev is a start that he is very happy with, particularly since that point was earned
against a very strong France side.
Criticism regarding England's second half attacking prowess against the French, or the lack
thereof, has been widespread but Gerrard is adamant that the 1-1 draw was a point earned for the
Three Lions.
Fans of old rivals England and France settled for a point after Monday's 1-1 draw in
Donetsk.
Joleon Lescott put Roy Hodgson's side ahead at the Donbass Arena, before Samir Nasri fired past
Manchester City team mate Joe Hart to level before the break.
The Three Lions' next game in Group D is against Sweden on Friday, while Laurent Blanc's men
take on co-hosts Ukraine.
Liverpool are one of the clubs reportedly tracking exciting young winger Chris Humphrey, but he is
ignoring the speculation.
The Motherwell man has been attracting interest from a host of Premier League clubs and one of
these is Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool, according to Sky Sports.
The interest comes amidst a spell of good form for the Jamaica-born midfielder and the Reds are
reportedly monitoring for a possible move to Anfield, but the 24-year-old is only concentrating on
continuing ‘Well's good form.
Antonio Di Natale has been praised by Italy coach Cesare Prandelli, after the Udinese
forward scored in their Group C opener against Spain.
The veteran former Empoli man opened the scoring against the defending champions at the PGE
Arena in Gdansk and almost sealed a win with an audacious volley from Sebastian Giovinco's cross
late on.
The spoilsports over at the Turkish FA have recently banned fans from lighting flares in the
stands, though fans of Super Lig side Eskisehirspor obviously didn't take to kindly to the memo
and, at their very next game, goaded the powers-that-be by unfurling a huge 'troll face' banner
(like the one RVP gave Tim Krul the other night) and lighting several flares
through the holes in it before rolling the bugger back up, tucking it away and carrying on like
nothing had happened.
CFC Azul sub Justin Brewer scored the first goal of the game in the 83rd minute, but it wasn't
enough as Nano Short scored the equalizer in stoppage time to salvage a 1-1 draw for GPS Portland
Phoenix.
Brewer beat Phoenix goalie Terrence Dieterich with less than ten minutes to go in regulation on
an assist from former New England player Ryan Kinne.
Some thoughts ahead of the Galaxy's game against Sporting KC on Saturday.
* No Beckham: David Beckham did not travel for the match. This isn't a surprise today but it
was a surprise on Wednesday when we found out he wasn't at practice. I hadn't noticed him out there
and turns out that was because he didn't train.
Over the last 5 games the Portland Timbers have gained 5 points and this next game is another
opportunity to move up the standings. The Chicago Fire come into the game with 10 points in their
last 10 games and the last game was a win at Sporting Kansas City. Currently the Fire sit in 4th
place in the East with 15 points.
From the team: "The Chicago Fire learned after Saturday's match against Seattle Sounders FC -
via the referee's standard game report - that Fire head coach Frank Klopas was dismissed and
defender Jalil Anibaba was red carded for his challenge in the seventh minute of second half
stoppage time. They will both be suspended for the next game, at Chivas USA on Friday, May 4.
The Swope Park Rangers suffered their first loss of the season today at Swope Park, as the reserves
gave up 3 second half goals, falling to the Houston Dynamo 3-0. The first half was interrupted by
lightning. In the second half, in a 21 minute stretch, Cam Weaver, Alex Dixon, and Colin Rolfe all
scored for Houston to give them the win over the Rangers.
Craig Bellamy is refusing to get carried away and start dreaming of winning an Olympic medal.
Team GB faces South Korea in the quarter-finals on Saturday after going through the group stages
unbeaten.
Bellamy, who has been one of the stand-out performers for Stuart Pearce's side, is keeping his feet
on his ground after experiencing so many disappointments on the international front with Wales.
Despite spending the best part of the week holed up in bed with the dreaded lurgy, Benoit
Assou-Ekotto dragged himself from his pit on Saturday night, wandered into an East London pub,
ordered himself a little pink cocktail and then completely obliterated all comers over on the table
football.
Plenty of discussion has taken place over the calls made in Sporting's 2-1 loss to Chicago last
night at Toyota Park. A lot of that discussion has centered on the foul by Roger Espinoza on
Sebastian Grazzini when the two went for a 50/50 ball and Espinoza's elbow hit Grazzini in the
face. Rookie referee, Jose Carlos Rivero made no hesitation going to his pocket and producing a red
card.
The most elegant man in football his royal highness Carlos Tevez marked his
return to near top-level football last night with a goal for Man City reserves squad in their 3-0
win over Bolton. He looks like he's still lacking match fitness with a bit of a tummy, but as
Roberto Mancini says, he just needs some game time and less access to the
empanadas his wife makes.
