Where do we go from here? Some may find that to be a strange question! After all despite the recent troubles we are still having a very successful season, especially with respect to many big teams. We most probably will wrap up the La Liga title in a couple of weeks and reaching the semi-final of other two competition is a very successful season for any other team.
Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao scored a hat trick Monday as his team thrashed Athletic
Bilbao 4-0 in the teams' first meeting since the Europa League final last season.
Falcao scored twice in the 3-0 victory in Romania in May and could have scored more at the
Vicente Calderon as Bilbao continued to struggle without Spain internationals Fernando Llorente and
Javi Martinez, who were omitted from the squad again with their futures at the Basque club
uncertain.
The woeful Portland Timbers proved once again to be the salve to whatever ails the Colorado
Rapids.
The Timbers came to Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City on Wednesday night and fell flat
in a 3-0 drubbing. This scoreline was the same as the one that Portland suffered when last visiting
Colorado at the end of June, and came five days after the Timbers beat the Rapids 1-0 in
Portland.
If recent MLS seasons have taught anything, it is that teams can get hot at the right time
toward the end of the season, enter the playoffs with momentum and go on an MLS Cup run. The
Columbus Crew are attempting to become the latest to try and test that notion.
Riding the exploits of Designated Player Federico Higuain, Columbus posted a second-straight
two-win, six-point week to push into the Eastern Conference's top five and the heart of the playoff
race and capture SBI MLS Team of the Week honors.
There was nothing particularly pretty about the Seattle Sounders' 3-1 win in Caledonia. The
scoreline may look nice on paper, and it's certainly satisfying to win any game in which you have
to deal with that kind of travel, but it was an utter slopfest. The pitch was slow and slippery,
the play was generally uninspired and there was an overarching sense that something bad was about
to happen.
D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls have played many intese games over the years, but it has
been a while since a meeting this late in the season between the two rivals has had playoff
implications for both sides.
The latest edition of the Atlantic Cup will be decided at RFK Stadium Wednesday night in the
rubber match of the season series between two teams looking to gain a stronger foothold in the
Eastern Conference playoff picture.
CARSON, Calif.--The LA Galaxy took down Isidro Metapan 5-2 on Thursday night in their opening
CONCACAF Champions League match, but the win wasn't nearly as comfortable as the scoreline would
suggest.
Despite flurry of second half cards, including the bizarre sending off of captain Robbie Keane,
the Galaxy managed to hold off a quick and dangerous Metapan side.
Another match to add to the good memories section. Arsenal picked up 3 points in a tough away
ground and kept a clean sheet. A scoreline that reflected that special night in 1989. The new boys
got into the act and all ducks were broken. An old boy but haven't been seen for such a long time,
decided to make an appearance.
In a couple of hours, Chelsea kick off for the first time this season at Stamford Bridge as
European Champions!. It's the moment we have all been waiting for and hopefully it will be a double
celebration with three points against a good Reading side.
Chelsea must be professional and get out there and get the job done.
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers felt harshly treated by referee Phil Dowd after seeing Liverpool
crash to a 3-0 defeat at West Brom on the opening day of the Barclays Premier League .
Dowd awarded two second-half penalties, the first of which also saw Daniel Agger red-carded and
the second awarded for Martin Skrtel's foul on Long which was tucked away by Peter Odemwingie.
Today, we'll take a break from the series looking at each position within the team. Instead,
we've got a match concentrate on. While it's only a friendly, it does bring a lot of talking points
that merits discussions. The last of the known pre season friendly and it was a repeat of the same
visit to Cologne as we did in the previous pre season.
THORPE ASTLEY 9-2 BLABY FOXES
Sunday 2nd September 2012
Hinckley Sunday League Division 2
Holmfield Park, Wardens Walk, Leicester Forest East
I had no plans to go to a game this morning after witnessing two high scoring games in the previous
two days, firstly a 4-3 victory for Thurmaston WMP 2009 over FC Hoskins on Friday, and secondly a
4-4 draw between Whitwick United and Markfield on Saturday.
I owned that grey shirt and I loved it. Looking back now, I'm not entirely sure why,
because it's pretty ugly, but I thought I looked the business in it. I can't imagine my parents
were too pleased when I refused to wear it a few months after buying it. I wasn't a brat, I swear,
but when the team stopped wearing it, I thought I should too.
The scoreline is flattering. This was a QPR side that made its ambition clear enough with its
number of signings. It was Man City doing all the early pressing forcing corners and set pieces,
one of which Yaya Toure scored from after Carlos Tevez's shot caromed off Bobby Zamora and fell to
the big man.
The scoreline is flattering. This was a QPR side that made its ambition clear enough with its
number of signings. It was Man City doing all the early pressing forcing corners and set pieces,
one of which Yaya Toure scored from after Carlos Tevez's shot caromed off Bobby Zamora and fell to
the big man.
Nothing went right for Barcelona in the first 30 minutes. Real were rampant running all over
Barca not allowing them a whiff of the ball. It took two defensive errors to turn things around at
the Bernabeu as Pepe who made his return in this leg volleyed deep into the Barca defense.
One doesn't quite know what Mascherano was thinking but he completely misjudges the trajectory
and a lurking Gonzalo Higuain latches onto the ball and clear onto the goal making no mistake.
Nothing went right for Barcelona in the first 30 minutes. Real were rampant running all over
Barca not allowing them a whiff of the ball. It took two defensive errors to turn things around at
the Bernabeu as Pepe who made his return in this leg volleyed deep into the Barca defense.
One doesn't quite know what Mascherano was thinking but he completely misjudges the trajectory
and a lurking Gonzalo Higuain latches onto the ball and clear onto the goal making no mistake.
Arsenal dominated Stoke everywhere but the scoreline as Arsene and the Gunners fail to impress yet
again. If they don't improve soon, this could be a long wait till the Winter transfer market for
them. 0-0 the final score. Video: Myspace
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit TSI for full links, other content, and more!
The title should actually read what fails Brazilian soccer? Clearly, with all its unsurpassed
talent, Brazilian soccer should have no ailment. Jonathan Wilson's article in the Guardian exposes
Brazil's fatal flaws when competing against teams which individual talent may find tough to
overcome.
Don't look now but here come the Columbus Crew. (Getty Images)
Major League Soccer rolls into the Labor Day weekend here. Yeah, September is here folks, crazy
huh? Nine games are spread out across three days for the holiday weekend.
Last night got Week 26 off to a very fast and crazy start.
The U.S. women's national team are a step away from advancing to the final of the Olympic
tournament, but they will have to go through a familiar opponent if they are to have a chance at
fighting for gold.
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.
The Reds begin their first home game of the season against Premier League Champions Manchester
City on Sunday, 26th August 2012. Daniel Agger is on a red card and will not feature against
Manchester City. The good news is full back Jose Enrique could be fit in time to partner with Glen
Johnson at the back.
Benny Feilhaber returned to form out on the left during Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Crew.
Feilhaber assisted on Jerry Bengtson's 23rd minute tally. (Photo: Kari
Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)
One-goal games.
It's often said that good teams prevail in one-goal games. That, somehow, whether it's squeezing
out the lone goal of a 1-0 win, or grabbing the game-winner in an offensive outburst, good teams,
more often than not, come out on top.
Matt Reis put in a solid showing in net, despite the Revs loss. (Photo: Chris
Aduama/aduama.com)
After each match the contributors to New England Soccer Today will rate the performances of
the New England Revolution players who made an appearance on a 1 to 10 scale (1 horrendous, 5
average, 10 perfection).
Lee Nguyen came on as a second half substitute to score the Revolution third goal of the game in
the 81st minute. (Photo: Kari Heistad/CapturedImages.biz)
It turns out that the best defense isn't a good offense, after all.
After mounting an early-two goal lead, the Revolution defense conceded a season-high four goals
en route to a frenzied 4-3 defeat to the Crew on Saturday.
Mankind's advances are wonderous indeed, but we don't know everything yet. How, for example, to
explain a day where Fulham beat Norwich 5-0, comedy rivals QPR lose 5-0, at home, after a huge
spending spree, and Liverpool, the glamourous (if overly made-up) secretary in the Clint Dempsey
Love Triangle, get humped to the tune of 3-0 at West Bromwich Albion, the team that Roy Hodgson
made.
Mankind's advances are wonderous indeed, but we don't know everything yet. How, for example, to
explain a day where Fulham beat Norwich 5-0, comedy rivals QPR lose 5-0, at home, after a huge
spending spree, and Liverpool, the glamourous (if overly made-up) secretary in the Clint Dempsey
Love Triangle, get humped to the tune of 3-0 at West Bromwich Albion, the team that Roy Hodgson
made.
While few could've predicted how it would happen, it would be hard for anyone to be surprised by
what the San Jose Earthquakes pulled off Saturday night.
In what has become the latest in a series of astonishing late heroics by San Jose, Steven
Lenhart scored a 93rd-minute winner to stun the Seattle Sounders and earn the Earthquakes a 2-1
victory at Buck Shaw Stadium.
A video look back at an all to familiar scoreline Saturday night as Toronto FC drops three points
away to the Chicago Fire. I try and explain that there is there is a difference between losing away
without really a chance to be compete to losing away even though you had an excellent chance to win
or at the very least draw.
The older experienced Galaxy worked over the younger Rapids in LA on Friday. While the scoreline was only 2-0 the differences between the teams was obvious for the whole 90 minutes. Colorado actually had more attempts on goal and more corner kicks, but LA was clearly the more dangerous team. In the 15th minute they made that abundantly clear as Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan spun Marvell Wynne like a top for an easy goal.
The Red Bulls May Need Some Lance-style "Special Help" for a Win in KCGood morning! The
Red Bulls travel to the heartland to take on the mighty (and horribly-monikered) Sporting Kansas
City at newly-disgraced Livestrong Park(9:00pm ET, ESPN2, match notes here)in a
true 6-pointer!
MELBOURNE DYNAMO RESERVES 4-0 MACKWORTH ST. FRANCIS RESERVES Friday 17th August 2012
Midlands Regional Alliance Division 2 Melbourne Recreation Ground, Cockshut Lane
Why would I attend a reserve team fixture you may ask? Surely a case of scrapping the bottom of the
barrel football wise?
The Charleston Battery booked their place in the USL Pro postseason this past weekend, and they
did so in convincing fashion.
The Battery clinched a playoff berth and snapped a five-game winless skid by mauling the
Rochester Rhinos, 4-0, in their penultimate game of the season on Saturday.
After every match this season, the staff here at The Bent Musket will be putting together player
ratings. Ratings are on a 1-10 scale, with 5 representing a thoroughly average performance, and 6 a
decent/capable showing. The final ratings will be averages of individual ratings from Corey Major,
Matty Jollie, and Abram Chamberlain.
Cue the South Park Insheeption music, because its time for a Review in a Preview in a Review for
the NYRB/Houston home and home series. To start things off, the Dynamo graced BBVA, Houston, and an
NBCSN-watching nation with a one-sided smackdown on Friday. Modest scoreline aside, this was abuse
on a felony level.
