Arsenal will travel to Anfield on Sunday afternoon, to hopefully secure their first win of the
season in a fixture that has seen a lot of drama in the recent years.
If you look back at the clashes between Arsenal and Liverpool, the hype around them in general has
been deteriorating for the past 2-3 years, a time period coinciding with Liverpool's fall from
title chasers to Europa League drop-outs.
Liverpool U18s produced another superb display on their travels as they secured a 3-1 win at
Manchester City on Saturday afternoon.
Mike Marsh's youngsters were looking to bounce back following last weekend's disappointing loss
against Bolton and they did it in style courtesy of goals from David Moli, Jordan Lussey and Jack
Dunn.
This was arguably our easiest game of the CL group, so of course, everyone was just waiting for
us to slip up so they can go back to "Arsenal in crisis" mode. Yep, despite the fact that Man City
collapsed to a great Munich side, Man U had to labor to rescue a 3-3 draw in Arsenalesque fashion
against Basel, and Chelsea gave up a stupid equalizer against Valencia, all eyes were on us to
falter so the bloodhounds press hacks could get their self-righteous column templates up.
Perhaps we should clarify that Sergio Busquets was lying on the ground at the time but then if you
were playing the percentages, you probably would have already guessed that. Flat on the floor after
a foul by Xabi Alonso, Busquets was immediately given a reason to wish he'd managed to stay on his
feet [.
Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea Premier League 21st April 2012
Chelsea came to the Emirates, both buoyed and knackered after their superb 1-0 win against Barca
in midweek. However, Arsenal failed to get the better of Roberto Di Matteo's weakened Blues with
Robin Van Persie guilty of a number of poor misses.
The weekend witnessed plenty of goals, drama and a fair amount of mediocre football at times,
but it also gave us two prime examples of how to miss with a header from point-blank range.
Step forward Kilmarnock's Paul Heffernan and Bolton's Dedryck Boyata.
Pre-season fun and games AC Milan defender Gianluca Zambrotta likes to do his bit to help his
team-mates get ready for the knocks and bumps of the forthcoming campaign. With that in mind, the
veteran full-back was only to happy to blast the ball at fellow defender Mario Yepes from
point-blank range during their training [.
Real Madrid beat Santos Laguna 2-1 in the World Football Challenge (?) last night and Sami
Khedira's second-half winner was a thing of true beauty fluke, with the Santos Laguna 'keeper
parrying Karim Benzema's shot directly off Khedira's face from point-blank range and back into the
goal.
Real Madrid beat Santos Laguna 2-1 in the World Football Challenge (?) last night and Sami
Khedira's second-half winner was a thing of true beauty fluke, with the Santos Laguna 'keeper
parrying Karim Benzema's shot directly off Khedira's face from point-blank range and back into the
goal.
On Wednesday night, Aston Villa did something no other international team had done before: beat
the Philadelphia Union at PPL Park.
The Union, who had been 4-0 in international friendlies at their home stadium coming into the
contest, beating Schalke, Everton, Celtic and CD Guadalajara, but the streak ended as they lost 1-0
thanks to a first-half goal from striker Nathan Delfouneso.
Following confidence-building wins against Italy and Scotland, the U.S. lost their first match
of 2012 on Wednesday. Though the final score was 4-1, it was a friendly and against Brazil, so if
U.S. fans repeat those two facts over and over for several minutes it should be easy to resume
feeling optimistic.
CHESTER, Pa.-- It was a back-and-forth and exciting match, but only one team emerged with three
points on Sunday afternoon as the New York Red Bulls defeated the Philadelphia Union, 3-2, at PPL
Park.
Kenny Cooper scored the game-winning goal in the 78th minute to lift the Red Bulls to their
fourth straight win, a victory that moved New York into first place in the East.
Joe Hart saved A.J. DeLaGarza's penalty and then scored the winner in the ninth round of a
penalty shootout as Manchester City beat the Los Angeles Galaxy 7-6 on penalties after a 1-1
draw.
Mario Balotelli opened the scoring for Man City from the penalty spot after Micah Richards was
taken down in the box by Bryan Jordan.
Joe Hart saved A.J. DeLaGarza's penalty and then scored the winner in the ninth round of a
penalty shootout as Manchester City beat the Los Angeles Galaxy 7-6 on penalties after a 1-1
draw.
Mario Balotelli opened the scoring for Man City from the penalty spot after Micah Richards was
taken down in the box by Bryan Jordan.
The Chicago Fire were on the road tonight in Santa Clara, California to take on the San Jose
Earthquakes at Buck Shaw Stadium in front of a crowd of 10,525. This was a very physical match that
featured some late on-field dramatics and a bit of a goalie duel between Fire keeper Sean Johnson
and Earthquakes keeper, John Busch.
FC Barcelona secured a semi-final birth in this season's Copa Del Rey after knocking out holders
Real Madrid with a sensational 2-2 draw. Barcelona who went into the break with a 2-0 lead had to
hold off a sensational fightback from Mourinho's boys to secure the semi-final birth. To an extent
we had to say that we were lucky after putting up the worst defensive display of the season, and
courtesy of the fact that Madrid missed a number of chances.
So the pre-tournament favorites stroll to another 2-1 win, eliminating Denmark after Portugal's win
over the Netherlands. And, in the process, prove that they can succeed with possession
football.
Against Portugal, Germany had 57% possession and attempted 463 passes, completing 394.
The Milwaukee Wave cemented their hold on the Central Division lead with a convincing 24-18 win
over the Missouri Comets in the US Cellular Arena. Milwaukee remains the only unbeaten team in the
Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) improving to 5-0, while the second place Missouri Comets fell to
4-3 and are now two games behind the Wave.
It was a decent start for the USA as the match was fairly even through about 10 minutes. In the
12th minute, there was some controversy as a penalty kick was given to Brazil for a handball on USA
defender Oguchi Onyewu. Replays show that it wasn't deliberate and probably a bit harsh as Onyewu
didn't even receive a yellow card.
WASHINGTON -- Matt Pickens could only come up big so many times.
The Colorado Rapids goalkeeper made eight saves, most of which came at a high degree of
difficulty, but Dwayne De Rosario and Hamdi Salihi were able to break through to deliver D.C.
United a 2-0 victory in front of 11,593 at RFK Stadium Wednesday night.
Strike partners Cara Walls (Wauwatosa East) and Laurie Nosbusch (Mequon Homestead)
both scored, but it was goalkeeper Michele Dalton who made the difference for the University
of Wisconsin women's soccer team Friday.
The senior made 11 saves, several from point-blank range, as the Badgers shut out high-scoring
Morgan Marlborough and Nebraska 2-0 in a Big Ten Conference match in Lincoln, Neb.
Senior defender Kelsey Wise scored in the 80th minute and junior goalkeeper Hannah Berglund
recorded a career-high six saves to help the Colorado College women's soccer team defeat
Jacksonville University, 1-0, on Sunday afternoon at CC's Stewart Field.
Wise buried a header off a perfect service by freshman defender Sarah Haizlip from the right
sideline for the second game-winning tally of her career.
In the beginning it seemed as though today things might end differently for Liverpool. Against
lower ranked opponents; against a side that started the day in the relegation zone. When Liverpool
came out flying against a side low on confidence, a side that hadn't won a game in two months, it
almost seemed as though they might be able to put a season filled with inconsistent performances
against just such opposition behind them.
Liverpool defeated Cardiff City 3-2 on penalties, after a 2-2 post-extra time score, to lift
their eighth Carling Cup title and end a six-year trophy drought in the process.
Joe Mason had given a surprise lead to a brave Cardiff side in the 19th minute, applying severe
pressure on the Reds to respond.
Clint Dempsey punished an error from Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina to score five minutes from
full-time and guide Fulham to a famous 1-0 win at Craven Cottage.
The result was reminiscent of the Cottagers' 1-0 win over the Reds in May 2007, when Dempsey
scored his first goal for the club to secure their top flight status.
There may not be a better time to play the Vancouver Whitecaps than this Saturday. Fresh from
their devastating Canadian Championship defeat to the worst team in the world, and after weeks of
overlap between the Championship and continued MLS play, the Whitecaps are going to be drained,
emotionally and physically.
DC United continue their strong performance at the Carolina Challenge Cup against the Charlseton
Battery defeating the Battery 3-1 and winning the "Coffee Pot Cup." The Coffee Pot Cup is won by
the team who wins this match each time they play. It's a great example of the MLS-USL rivalry that
hardly exists anywhere else.
Teresa Noyola scored from point-blank range Sunday to help top-ranked Stanford beat No. 3 Duke
1-0 and give the Cardinal their first NCAA women's soccer title after three consecutive attempts.
It was the perfect finish to Stanford's unbeaten season.
Stanford seniors Noyola, Camille Levin, Kristy Zuhmehlen and Lindsay Taylor finished their
college careers with a record of 95-4-4.
No. 11 Metro State opened Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with a 5-1 victory over Adams
State at home on Friday.
The Roadrunners improved to 5-0-0 overall, while ASC fell to 3-2-0.
The Grizzlies came out on fire, with Autumn Boyer giving Adams State a 1-0 lead at 3:18.
Metro State rallied to take a 2-1 lead at halftime, tying the game at 38:19 on an own goal after
Nicole Pollack's shot from the top of the box was deflected into the net by an ASC defender.
The New England Revolution will finish the season winless in the Pacific and Mountain time zones
after they fell 3-0 to the Portland Timbers at Jeld-Wen Field tonight. The loss has all but
mathematically ruled the Revolution out of the playoffs, while three points was exactly what
Portland needed to keep their postseason hopes a very real possibility.
The Northern Colorado women's soccer team fell in its second home match of the season, losing
2-1 to Utah State.
The Bears (0-3-1) fell behind early and despite battling back and finding a goal late, the
Aggies (4-0-0) held on for the victory.
Utah State managed to find the game-winner when forward Shantel Flanary scored her second goal
of the game on a shot from 17 yards out that sailed past Kirstin Salminen's arms and into the upper
left-hand corner.
