Under-fire Liverpool man Stewart Downing hushed a few of his critics in the Kop with a stunning winning goal against Anzhi in last night's Europa League match. Ironically, the England international derided his team-mates over his new role as a makeshift left-back had been shunted to left-back at the time he scored the [.
The video above should tell you exactly why. The Liverpool winger has made a flying start to the
season, as demonstrated by his highlights reel from Liverpool's 2-2 draw with Manchester City. He
was arguably the Reds' best player in that match. After not exactly getting off on the right foot
with manager Brendan Rodgers, [.
szólj hozzá: England vs Italy FULL HIGHLIGHTS + PENALTIES
Two observations. How on earth did England survive for 120 + minutes? And Andrea Pirlo has more
creativity in the nail of his right foot's little toe than the entire England squad. That was the
nail he used to execute that breath taking panenka to level the penalties, 2-2 en route to
Alessandro Diamanti's game winning spot kick.
The men in the studio in Sydney were waiting to cross to Turin for the press conference, but Del
Piero hadn't arrived yet, so they spoke about him for half an hour. There were no ad breaks; no
montages; just three sports presenters sitting behind a desk talking about a man who none of them
seemed to know that much about beyond what they had on papers in front of them.
This article titled "Euro 2012: Early strikes give Czech Republic upper hand over Greece" was
written by Sid Lowe at Municipal Stadium, for The Guardian on Tuesday 12th June 2012 18.23 UTC
This time there was no comeback. Greece went into the half-time interval trailing again and came
out of it a side transformed again, just as they had in their opening game against Poland.
Welcome to Offbeat Wednesday! This week, read about Van der Vaart Mania in Hamburg Mario
Balotelli's 'Hypnosis' Therapy, Caroline Celico's funky editorial and Alex Gerrard's thoughts on
the hilarious David Beckham- Katherine Jenkin affair rumour.
The Van der Vaarts have made their descent into Hamburg and what better way for
the city to celebrate it than with a life-sized cardboard version of both Sylvie
and Rafael?
Germany defender Mats Hummels believes that the reigning Bundesliga champions are at a loss
following the departure of Shinji Kagawa, who will finalize his move to Manchester United in the
coming weeks.
Kagawaka, 23, recently agreed the transfer after filling in tremendously for the injured Mario
Gotze during a 2011-12 campaign that many had tipped Bayern Munich's star-studded squad to win.
In the first half of Sunday's 1-1 draw with Seattle Sounders FC, FC Dallas midfielder Jackson
delivered another goal for his side, the equalizer after the visitors had gone ahead thanks to a
nice sequence from Seattle's Steve Zakuani and Mauro Rosales in the 20th minute. Jackson's tally
was clearly a case of him being in the right place at the right time and capitalizing on the
opportunity, something he's done quite well during his time with Dallas.
During a reserve game at Sporting Kansas City on May 1, Bobby Warshaw suffered a fractured right
foot. The FC Dallas midfielder and occasional defender was on crutches the following day before his
prognosis became official-that after surgery, he would be out for an undetermined period of time.
It took another piece of magic from Hatem Ben Arfa yesterday after 58 minutes, when he rifled the
ball in from just outside the penalty box, and we'll have to stop calling him a one-footed player,Â
because he hit the ball so beautifully with his right foot the one he usually just uses for
balance.
While we have already gone over the Fulham game in quite some exhausting detail, there were some
finer points that I felt got missed in the general excitement of the 'Ohmigood RvP, ohmigoood
Kagawa, ohmigoood, Rooneeey, not funnyyy, blood-uh' moments that the match is primarily remembered
for. So here is your dose of the more nuanced, previously-unnoticed points from the game on
Saturday:
Newcastle overcame a lackadaisical first half today when they went one goal down after 22 minutes,
but came back strongly in the second half and another simply magnificent Ben Arfa goal this time
with his right foot got the point for Newcastle but we pressed so much after the goal that the
lads were unlucky not to get all 3 [.
As we all know, the Houston Dynamo defeated Toronto FC 2-0 Saturday night at BMO Field, to notch
the Orange's fourth win in a row and pull them within a point of New York Red Bulls in the Eastern
Conference. The highlights above tell the tale, but also put on display both good and point points
to take from the win.
Whoo! Hat tip to a wonderful collective effort by Arsenal on their trip to Anfield. Santi
Cazorla and Lukas Podolski delivered the attacking goods while Abou Diaby was simply outstanding in
centre midfield pushing up. The defense orchestrated by Thomas Vermaelen fell back in numbers
keeping their shape as Liverpool recycled the ball repeatedly to try and crack them open.
In the 16th minute of the Portland Timbers' match against the Houston Dynamo, Rodney Wallace cut
the ball inward from the left flank, creating space in front of himself for a right-footed cross
into the box. Kris Boyd saw Wallace free himself in space but didn't appear to expect a cross -- at
least, not one from Wallace's right foot.
Don't look now, but it's not even September and these games have all the fire and excitement of the
playoffs. Montreal and Columbus didn't get the memo about being rollovers and Seattle hasn't taken
kindly to being labeled inconsistent at the beginning of the season. Real Salt Lake is losing hold
on the second place position in the West and Kei Kamara scores for two teams in the same game.
For the regular fan a "big club" like Chelsea or Barcelona come to town it is an exciting event.
In the Sounders inaugural MLS season there were three extra matches for season ticket holders, one
was for the MLS Cup, the other two were later announced to be Barcelona & Chelsea.
Obviously the appeal of successful European sides is compelling enough for Seattle fans to fight
mid-week traffic and it helps to build the relevance of MLS and helps gain exposure for the league
and for players that may be looking to leave MLS for Europe.
......... Don't worry! We survived it once and we can do it again, and this time, oh how
we are in a better position!
Think back to this god awful time last year. Bye-bye Fabregas and Nasri. Now think about the
situation we are in now. Bye-bye Van Persie and Song. Ask yourself, which two players would you
prefer to have?
Malaga are reportedly preparing an offer for Arsenal forward Nicklas Bendtner.
The 24-year-old Denmark international, who has two years remaining on his Gunners contract, is
looking to move away from the Emirates Stadium this summer after Arsenal signed forwards Lukas
Podoski and Olivier Giroud this summer.
The first thing that leaps out is that he's another left footed striker. Now we already have RVP
and Lukas Podolski, so the attack is heavily weighted on that foot and on that flank.
We've seen RVP lose precious seconds and opportunities instinctually switch the ball to his
stronger left foot.
WORCESTER, Mass. Portland striker Eric Alexander couldn't stop running.
Seconds after scoring the his second goal in the waning moments to lift the Phoenix to a 3-2
comeback win over the Hydra on Wednesday, the 6-4 striker raced up the field looking for his
keeper, Terrance Dieterich who waited to embrace him.
German defender Per Mertesacker has offered his support to Arsenal teammates Theo Walcott, Lukas
Podolski, and Laurent Koscielny during a Euro 2012 campaign that has been somewhat of a
roller-coaster ride for all the said players.
Walcott did not play in England's tournament opener against France but came off the bench to
lead the team to a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Sweden on Friday.
Restrained, typical tiki-taka. Spain out-passed, Spain out-possessed, but Spain never truly
threatened until the very end either. Complete Fernando Torres futility, but instead of replacing
Spain's out-and-out striker in a straight swap, Del Bosque sent on an out-and-out winger to play
with Silva, then FÃ bregas, as a false nine.
This article titled "Euro 2012: Talk of death of the striker has been greatly exaggerated" was
written by Barney Ronay in Lviv, for guardian.co.uk on Sunday 17th June 2012 13.13 UTC
Welcome back then, strikers. Although, it is quite possible you didn't ever really go away.
Perhaps amid all the talk of the death of the traditional centre forward – spurred by the radical
tactical progressions of Spain and Barcelona with their attempts to transform football into a sport
of midfielders – you were only lurking just outside the door, a mortified eavesdropper, ready to
creep back in when things quietened down a bit.
The winners were predictable long before the first match – arguably since the last kick of the
2011 World Cup Final penalty shoot-out. The United States, fuelled by revenge for a defeat in that
match they didn't really deserve, went ahead early in an appropriately entertaining Olympic final
and, despite Japan's best performance of the Games, stayed there.
Jason Willan (Menomonee Falls) got things started on the right foot Friday on
what turned out to be a perfect day for Wisconsin teams at the U.S. Adult Soccer Association
National Cups.
Willan's eighth-minute goal gave the Croatian Eagles the early lead in their Men's Open Cup
semifinal and they went on to a convincing 4-0 victory over Texas side ASC New Stars in Bridgeview,
Ill.
CHESTER, Pa. -- The game may mean very little in the long run, but Aston Villa opened their
preseason on the right foot at PPL Park on Wednesday night, beating the Philadelphia Union,
1-0.
Nathan Delfouneso was left open on the edge of the penalty area and beat Zac MacMath with a
curling shot to give Aston Villa a lead in the 43rd minute.
The ball rolled across and substitute Silvestre Varela opened himself up, tried to push it
beyond Manuel Neuer and into the net. But Neuer was at his feet in a flash and charged the shot
down and away. The chance what a big chance! was gone, and Portugal started the group stage with a
defeat.
The ball rolled across and substitute Silvestre Varela opened himself up, tried to push it
beyond Manuel Neuer and into the net. But Neuer was at his feet in a flash and charged the shot
down and away. The chance what a big chance! was gone, and Portugal started the group stage with a
defeat.
Charles Kazlauskas (Milwaukee Thomas More) got his season off on the right foot
Friday night.
Kazlauskas scored the first goal of the season for Helmond Sport in the 48th minute, sparking
what turned out to be a 3-0 victory over host Telstar in a Jupiler League opener in Velsen, the
Netherlands.
Revolution midfielder Kelyn Rowe walks off the pitch after Saturday's 1-0 loss to Sporting K.C.
(Photo: Kari Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)
So much for starting off the post-Shalrie Era on the right foot.
In a game that the Revolution looked mildly-interested at best, Sporting Kansas City threw their
weight around, stole a goal, and pounded their opponent into submission on Saturday night.
By Tony Edwards - San Jose, CA (June 14, 2012) US Soccer Players -- In Thursday's column, Tony
joins a Guardian columnist in celebrating Jay DeMerit's play in the 2009 Confederations Cup and
tries to draw conclusions from a sobering look at the real cost of an MLS stadium. How long is US
U-20 forward Omar Salgado out for after injuring his fifth metatarsal in his right foot?
When the Men's National Team takes on Antigua and Barbuda on Friday they're looking to start off
qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup on the right foot - just like they did four years ago.
In the USA's last World Cup qualifying opener they played Barbados on June 15, 2008 at the Home
Depot Center, finishing with a commanding 8-0 victory.
