Scottish Premier League Recap 11 February 2012 - The 90th Minute Soccer Blog

Below is a recap of all the SPL matches on February 11, 2012.

Dunfermline 1-4 Rangers

Rangers get goals from four different players to keep pace in the title race. Dunfermline remains last in the table with a -30 goal difference.

I'm going to attempt to keep this short because, quite frankly, spitting viciously vile vitriol is not how I'd like to spend my Saturday afternoon. Virulence really isn't going to get us anywhere.

But, shit, I'm fucking pissed.

Don't worry, it got much worse.

It's almost as if the BITS-Pilani internet connection foresaw it with mystic eyes. As soon as the Arsenal-Manchester United match shuffled to its conclusion, after all three goals, missed chances, TheSubstitution™ and ‘You don't know what you're doing', the World Wide Web gave notice and discreetly left the premises of my college for days on end.

It probably says something about the relentless coverage of the modern game when a substitution can generate days of headlines and fall out. In this respect, we see how the modern media works. They can forge subplots and spin offs to furnish another day's worth of sales and clicks – such as the unbelievable scenes as the captain visibly shakes his head!

Clint Dempsey hit a second-half hat-trick to lead his Fulham side to an unlikely 5-2 victory over Newcastle United at Craven Cottage in one of the most eye-catching football scores of the day.
It was a typical case of a game of two halves as Fulham wrestled the initiative from Newcastle after a one-sided first half.

It was another easy win for the USWNT tonight as the rolled right on through Guatemala, winning the game 13-0. Unlike the game against the Dominican Republic, the goals didn't come as quickly during this game, as the US tried to feel out their Guatemalan counterparts during the opening five minutes.

Henri Lansbury's last game for Arsenal this season was the 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford. He's been at Arsenal since he was 9-years-old but his worst ever day in football came at the hands of Manchester United earlier this season.

Two weeks after our demolition of Arsenal, Lansbury signed for West Ham on loan and was quick to grab their badge when he scored on his debut.

The KNVB Beker (Dutch Cup) clash between Ajax Amsterdam and AZ Alkmaar, which was suspended due to an attack on AZ keeper Esteban Alvarado in the initial encounter, was completed today in the Amsterdam ArenA with the home side going down to a 3-2 defeat.

Siem de Jong gave Ajax the lead as early as the 10th minute only for the visitors to restore parity fourteen minutes later through Maarten Martins.

José Callejón scored the winner with six minutes remaining as Real Madrid came back from a goal down to beat Mallorca 2-1 and extend their Liga lead to eight points.

Tomer Hemed's first-half header threatened to send José Mourinho's side to only their second defeat in 24 matches in all competitions until Gonzalo Higuaín equalised with a shot which was helped over goalkeeper Dudu Aouate by the sliding Fernando Tissone.

Clint Dempsey had the standout performance for National Teamers Abroad over the weekend, scoring three times as Fulham advanced 4-0 over Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup. Playing at home, Dempsey had Fulham's first goal eight minutes in, adding a second in the 61st and converting an 81st minute penalty to finish off the hat-trick.

Jordan Lussey netted a late winner as Liverpool U18s won their first game of 2012 with a 1-0 success over Crewe Alexandra on Saturday morning.
Mike Marsh's side, who had striker Jordan Ibe making his debut, had to work hard for their victory in a match played out in a gale force wind.
Lussey found the net six minutes from time when he found space just outside the box and his shot took a wicked deflection on its way into the net.

Jordan Lussey netted a late winner as Liverpool U18s won their first game of 2012 with a 1-0 success over Crewe Alexandra on Saturday morning.
Mike Marsh's side, who had striker Jordan Ibe making his debut, had to work hard for their victory in a match played out in a gale force wind.
Lussey found the net six minutes from time when he found space just outside the box and his shot took a wicked deflection on its way into the net.

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger watched the Gunners lose to Fulham last week after being 1-0 up with just six minutes to go, and as all the other top teams also dropped points over the Christmas period he was asked if it was just one of those "bad days at the office" that everyone has [...]

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger watched the Gunners lose to Fulham last week after being 1-0 up with just six minutes to go, and as all the other top teams also dropped points over the Christmas period he was asked if it was just one of those "bad days at the office" that everyone has [...]

The beast from the North East

Prologue: Salvador, up in northern Brazil, is so unlike Rio and Sao Paulo, the rest of the country refers to Bahiaians rudely as "slow". As I trudged through the late afternoon sun looking for the Newcastle Man Utd game, it struck me that the heat may have something to do with it.

Frank Lampard will grab the headlines. Fernando Torres deserves to share in the spotlight. The maligned striker capped an excellent shift with one more killer pass, this time to Ashley Cole who went on to set up Super Frank for a trademark finish with only minutes to play. I don't want to wager on just how big this result could prove to be, but I reckon pretty damn in the grand scheme.

Arsene Wenger saw his team go from 1-0 up with six minutes to go against Fulham, and then collapse to a 2-1 defeat with the winner coming in the second minute of added time. Johann Djourou was sent off for a second yellow 13 minutes before the end which led Wenger to bring on Sebastien [...]

Arsenal's ambition to improve position in the league was halted again as the Gunners only picked up one point from their home game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday.

A quick goal by Gervinho didn't resulted in a goal flowing result for the home team as their visitor managed to pick up an equalizer through Steven Fletcher, and hold it until the final whistle.

Barcelona striker David Villa to have surgery on broken leg

Barcelona star David Villa was in surprisingly good spirits on Thursday despite suffering a broken leg. The 30-year-old was carried off on a stretcher six minutes before half-time.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-12-17 20:45:08 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

David Villa broken leg: Barcelona striker is all smiles after horror injury

Barcelona star David Villa was in surprisingly good spirits on Thursday despite suffering a broken leg. The 30-year-old was carried off on a stretcher six minutes before half-time.

View the full story here: The Mail

A news article on 2011-12-16 10:09:57 from: The Mail

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

By FRANCO PANIZO

A day after Pep Guardiola said he had no plans of selling him, David Villa was lost to injury.

Villa will be sidelined for approximately the next six months after fracturing his tibia in Barcelona's 4-0 Club World Cup win over Al Sadd on Thursday.

Uganda have won the CECAFA Cup for the twelfth time as they needed the drama of a penalty shoot-out to overcome the challenge of Rwanda in today's final.

Uganda became the cream of east and central African football again following a game in which all of the goal scoring action took place in the second half of normal time.

It was a match that Liverpool should have won, if only they'd taken their chances. If only the officials hadn't overturned an offside Luis Suarez goal that wasn't. If only Kevin Friend hadn't given Jay Spearing a questionable red card or if only he had awarded a penalty and not a free-kick when Charlie Adam was felled as he entered the sixteen-yard box.

On Saturday lunchtime, Mike Dean shamelessly distorted the hyperreality in Chelsea's aided 3-0 victory at Newcastle - an outcome only a surprise to those utterly outside the loop.
Last night Mr Dean was in Dortmund in a heavily and obviously rigged Champions League match against Marseille.
On the final rounds of matches in UEFA and FIFA competitions when qualification is dependent on the outcome of two separate matches, the authorities insist on coincident kick off times to ensure no team(s) possesses an advantage in time.

Fulham 1-0 Liverpool | Premier League match report

A tight contest could be settled only by a grand mistake. The Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina mishandled Danny Murphy's attempt in the 85th minute and Clint Dempsey knocked home the loose ball. The midfielder had hit the bar five minutes earlier as Fulham thrived after the red card shown to the visitors' midfielder Jay Spearing for an uncontrolled challenge on Moussa Dembélé after 72 minutes.

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors are South Korean champions for the second time in three years following their play-off triumph over Ulsan Hyundai.

Jeonbuk were huge favourites going into this year's final having finished top of the regular season standings whilst their opponents Ulsan had knocked out FC Seoul, Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Pohang Steelers en route to this year's showpiece.

Marcio Leite Celebrates a Goal
By: Brandon Arendt
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.

Recreating 'Reservoir Dogs' could not lift the boys
After Blackburn Rovers' exit from the League Cup at the hands of Cardiff City on Tuesday night, Steve Kean suggested his side had "forfeited" the game to concentrate on Premier League survival.
And, while Tottenham are approaching the halfway point of the season with the opportunity to strengthen their hold on a place in the top four, Harry Redknapp showed no signs of surrendering the club's place in the Europa League against PAOK ahead of the clash at White Hart Lane.

Mario Balotelli's latest indiscretion is no laughing matter | Richard Williams

Colourful and crazy as ever, the Manchester City striker is in hot water again after his red card at Anfield A great game for English football," Charlie Adam said afterwards. Not, however, a great game of English football, at least in the sense of one typifying national characteristics.

Following the completion of the Euro 2012 Qualifying Play-Offs, from which Portugal, Croatia, Czech Republic and the Republic of Ireland all qualified this week, all sixteen teams that will be participating in Poland and the Ukraine next June are now known.

The Play-Offs saw the eight runners up of the qualifying groups comepte for the four remaining places at next year's tournament and the outcomes of all the games proved reasonably predictable.

Turkey's coach Guus Hiddink watches the game during the first leg of their Euro 2012 play-off qualifying soccer match with Croatia at Turk Telekom Arena in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. (AP Photo )
This was disaster and choking by whole Turkish National football team on Friday night in Turk Telekom Arena in Istanbul, Turkey!

Stewart Downing acknowledged his disappointment at Saturday's 0-0 draw with Swansea City - but pledged that Liverpool will keep working hard at Melwood to ensure they turn chances into goals over the coming weeks.
While the England winger accepts the Reds were not at their best against the Swans, he cites several good goalscoring opportunities as proof that Kenny Dalglish's side can perhaps consider themselves somewhat unfortunate not to have taken all three points.

Liverpool 0-0 Swansea City | Premier League match report

Swansea deservedly gained only their second away point in the Premier League with a performance that had the Anfield crowd cheering them off at the final whistle. The Welsh team were indebted to Michel Vorm, Holland's No 2 goalkeeper, for two outstanding saves at the death, but the quality of their football merited a point.

Real Salt Lake carried a three goal lead into the second leg against the Seattle Sounders and they would need the whole thing before the end of the night. Seattle attacked from the first whistle and kept pressure on RSL until the final whistle. The home team controlled the game and almost all of the possession but were held back by some early injuries.

By JOHN BOSCHINI

A season removed from a surprising run to the 2010 Champions League Final, Bayern Munich are looking like the team to beat this time around.

Mario Gomez netted a hat trick as Bayern Munich rolled to an impressive 3-2 victory over Napoli. The German striker opened the scoring by finishing off a pass from Bastian Schweinsteiger in the 17th minute.

The Union will have a one goal differential to make up when they travel to Houston on Thursday evening in the second leg of their playoff match up. A frantic first half saw Houston score on only six minutes through Andre Hainault, only for the Union to equalize a minute later through Sebastien Le Toux.

By Chris Wright

I've been searching for this little gem since spotting it on MOTD on Saturday night, in which we see a dewy-eyed Wolves fan (in a rather splendid Koala bear hat) bursting into tears after seeing her side go two goals down to Swansea after about half-an-hour.

After Odense BK knotted the match, Chris Rolfe struck again six minutes from time to give Aalborg a big 2-1 win. The former Fire man doubled his season tally to four, putting him tops on the team, as AaB snapped a five-game victory drought. The highlights are here, amid the Danish chatter.Still waiting on the Buddle clip, which I'll put in a separate post when it surfaces.

After Odense BK knotted the match, Chris Rolfe struck again six minutes from time to give Aalborg a big 2-1 win. The former Fire man doubled his season tally to four, putting him tops on the team, as AaB snapped a five-game victory drought.When I get these two and the Buddle clip, I will do the re-post trick so they come up in your RSS feeds (and such).

Australia defeated Wales 21-18 to claim third place in the 2011 Rugby World Cup at a somewhat subdued Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand on Friday. The error-riden match saw Wallabies inside centre Berrick Barnes score a try and drop-goal. James O'Connor added a conversion and two penalties while Ben McCalman's try six minutes from [.