Match officials are usually only thrust into the limelight when they make poor decisions, but linesman John Brooks is set to gain cult status (at least one letter apart from the status fans usually afford linesman) after commenting on Arsenal ticket prices within range of a TV microphone. Brooks could be heard telling Manchester City [.
Hello and good afternoon to you all. The pre season friendlies can't come soon enough as it
gives us something new to talk about. As it stands, the Robin van Persie issue is still unresolved
and to prove just how out of the blue the statement was, Aaron Ramsey wasn't pretending he knew too
much about it.
1. Starting Djourou at right back. Yennaris played well once he came on.
2. Subbing Arshavin on for Oxlade-Chamberlain. We lost energy and attacking intent, Arshavin
gave the ball away, and was just utterly poor defending the second United goal.
The modern football fan has grown accustomed to dealing with hypocrisy and idiocracy from the
governing bodies that oversee the game. FIFA, UEFA, CONCACAF, etc. regularly make poor decisions
and hand out head scratching fines and decisions all the time. The real frustration for me when it
comes to dealing with the chronic nonsense from the alphabet soup on governing bodies is the
feeling that they never seem to learn.
One of the nice things about an up and down fall for Liverpool is that we've had the joy of
monitoring things that are a pain in the ass both on and off the pitch. After a relatively serene
spring and a summer mostly marked by optimism, we've been able to lament lack of finishing, dropped
points, and poor decisions in matches to go along with a host of other concerns away from the
action.
The Philadelphia Union won their first ever US Open Cup game, defeating the visiting Rochester
Rhinos 3-0 in a rain affected game.
FIRST HALF
Keon Daniel started off the first half well, winning a corner early. The Trinidad and Tobago
international was slightly hurt on the play and got up slowly and gingerly.
Barcelona's disappointing loss to Real Madrid was a result of a number of factors which went
against the Catalans. No doubt Real's players and coach Jose Mourinho deserve credit for properly
implementing the plan to contain Lionel Messi and for using the perfect tactics to neutralize
Barca's other key players such as Xavi and Andres Iniesta.
It's easy to forget what Santi Cazorla is capable of, especially if you last
saw him playing for the Spanish National Team two years ago. Although he looks like a Crackovia
character (oh, admit it!), the former Villarreal man finally showed glimpses of his old self after
scoring a fantastic winner for Malaga in their 1-1 draw with Real Madrid last
night.
Younes couldn't have picked a worse time to roll out his Petr Cech impressionWWWWDWWWWWWFOY.
Tottenham's remarkable run of winning form came to a shuddering end at Stoke yesterday but the
controversial decisions made by referee Chris Foy left a particularly bitter taste in the
mouth.
An inept first half showing from Spurs, unbecoming of a title-chasing team, had left them 2-0 and
with the prospect of scaling a metaphorical mountain in order to get anything from the game.
To preface, I love Kalou. Yes, 'tis true. I've been rooting for his individual success moreso
than most players in our squad. Particularly, it seems, because he just gives off the vibe of being
a generally nice dude.
The Prem's early season no-hopers OTP has already given you the best team of the Premier League
season so far, but now it's time to look at the other end of the scale. Let's focus on the players
that have made us laugh with howling misses and tickled our funny bones with woeful performances.
This [..
With the exception of the March 10th loss against Sporting Kansas City, the Revs have not lost
any game this season by more than 1 goal. And I used to find a least a little solace in that fact.
But it's not really doing it for me anymore. Losses are losses and ours are really piling up
now.
A team already weak on crosses will be without one of their fullbacks as Gabriel Farfan serves
his final day of suspension. That same team will be without its coach as Peter Nowak also serves a
suspension. This weakened Philadelphia Union side already struggles and their Saturday national TV
match on NBCSN will be made more difficult by the poor decisions made two weeks ago.
Maurizio Galdi, who follows football corruption for sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport, said
up to 12 Serie A sides, representing more than half the division's 20 teams, could be implicated.
"About 75 matches since 2009 are now being investigated and at the end of all this we could see
around 50 players sent for criminal trial," said Roberto Pelucchi, who also writes for the
paper
Serie A players in fear as fan violence and spectre of match-fixing return | Football | The
Observer
There was a lot to like about Sunday's Grand Final. And here's a few that had me thinking.
1. The number of young Aussies getting football experience in front of over 50,000 fans in a
pressure cooker.
For the Roar - Luke Bratton took centre stage no less - Nick Fitzgerald lit up the flank and James
Meyer had a run, while the Glory's Josh Risdon was tested all afternoon and Scott Neville came on
late.
Let's face it, yesterday's Manchester derby was awful. Yes, there were goals and a spirited
second-half fightback from City after an understandably poor first-half display.
But the game was ruined as a fair contest by Chris Foy and Wayne Rooney in the eleventh minute.
Anyone who knows the rules of football intimately will understand that Foy's decision to send off
City captain Vincent Kompany for his tackle on Nani was plainly wrong.
[Editor's note: Another look at the USMNT under-17 team]
This evening's game took place only 2 days after the American's 2-1 victory over Turkey. One of
my players to watch, Herber Mejia-Flores had an assist and goal in that game. That same day Brazil
drew with France 1-1. In this round robin tournament that meant that Brazil and the US each had 4
points going into this game.
