Soccerblog 07 November @ 07:17 PM EST
Arsenal dance with Wolves.
An own goal by Ronald Zubar gets things rolling. A fine steal by Song puts Aaron Ramsey through
as he and Eduardo race ahead. Ramsey passes to Eduardo as they cut off Josh Craddock and then waits
for the return because of his clear look at goal. Instead, Eduardo chips the ball over and it
deflects of Craddock and loops over Wayne Henessey for the second goal.
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Soccerblog 07 November @ 08:32 AM EST
Some WWF and some WTF moments in the BYU vs New Mexico match. These girls could whip Vinny Jones
anytime. And Julie Foudy had to spin the indefensible. "Ponytail whiplash" like "tennis elbow "
could become a recognizable sports injury.
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Soccerblog 07 November @ 07:35 AM EST
Atletico have not won at the Bernabeu in 10 years. The last time October 30th, 1999 when Jimmy
Floyd Hasselbaink with his brace and Jose Mari won a now historic victory. Sergio Aguero was 11
years old.
Hasselbaink was virtually unstoppable and so was Joan Capdevila, now at Villareal.
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Soccerblog 06 November @ 08:30 AM EST
RSL was down on the strength of two Schelotto goals by the 35th minute and it appeared as if
Crew would be able to get over the one goal disadvantage and advance to the quarter finals. But RSL
struck back from a Javier Morales goal two minutes later. Ten minutes later, RSL were awarded a
penalty by referee Baldemero Toledo, a dubious call on Frankie Hejduk as Espindola went down a bit
too easily.
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Soccerblog 04 November @ 08:19 PM EST
Arsenal came into its own with crisp, free flowing football. Cesc with a brace, Nasri with a
very welcome contribution on his return, and Diaby rounded up the scoring. But Arshavin was the
source having a hand in three of the goals. And Wenger singled him out.
Wenger highlighted Andrey Arshavin - who had a hand in three of the goals - for special
praise, saying: "He was outstanding.
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Soccerblog 01 November @ 09:13 AM EST
Remember this scissor kick against Sunderland a couple of weeks back ? Well he came up with this
bit of brilliance against Blackburn yesterday.
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Soccerblog 31 October @ 07:24 PM EST
Two goals by Gonzalo "El Pipita " Higuain had Manuel Pellegrini pumping his hands Wenger style.
It was a must win for the Merengues over Getafe as the knives were out for Pelligrini.
After the match, Pelligrini said that the club had "recovered its spirit." He praised Higuain "
What he did today did not surprise me.
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Soccerblog 29 October @ 08:08 PM EST
"Henrik Larsson always scores." The clip shows Celtic fighting back through Larsson against
Porto in a pulsating 2003 UEFA Cup final.
My memories of Larsson will always be defined by the Swedish striker entering the game in the
2006 CL final against Arsenal late in the second half.
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Soccerblog 28 October @ 09:47 PM EST
Let the trash talking begin ahead of the Arsenal vs Spurs derby.
Robbie Keane bites the bullet as he claimed that Spurs are ready to overtake Arsenal. A feat
last achieved 14 years ago.
"We are at the same level as Arsenal now. If you look at the two squads, you look at us and
think we're definitely on a par but that will only be judged at the end of the season.
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Soccerblog 28 October @ 08:51 PM EST
Fran Merida scored with a stinging left footed shot in the 19th minute after Voronin gives it
away to Craig Eastmond. It was Merida's first goal as a Gunner as Cesc Fabregas looked on ecstatic
at his Spanish teammate's achievement.
Emiliano Insua answered back with an even more impressive dipping shot in the 27th minute which
looped over Fabianski's head even with the Arsenal goalie completely extended.
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Soccerblog 28 October @ 12:22 AM EST
In a Copa Del Rey match, Jerzy Dudek was the goalie under siege as Francisco Borja scored the
first goal, a under pressure Alvaro Arbeloa scored an own goal, Ernesto Gomez tapped in a third,
and Borja completed Madrid's woebegone display with his second goal and Alcorcon's fourth.
Pellegrini rested Kaka and his place was taken by Guti.
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Soccerblog 26 October @ 07:49 AM EST
Jack Bell creates a list of 10 most memorable games at Giants Stadium.
Some of the highlights.
Last summer's USA vs Mexico Gold Cup final turned out be an embarrassing 5-0 rout. David
Beckham's New York introduction in 2007 resulted in a 5-4 pulsating shootout between the Galaxy and
the Red Bulls.
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Soccerblog 25 October @ 01:20 AM EST
Landon Donovan sparked a 2-0 defeat of San Jose completing a turnaround for the LA Galaxy after
missing the playoffs three years in a row. In an interesting formation, David Beckham played
central midfield and Mike Magee played striker.
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Soccerblog 24 October @ 06:18 PM EST
Spurs plied on the pressure but an excellent Steve Simonsen and a dour Stoke defense kept them
at bay. Crouch, Keane, Kranjcar, and Lennon tried and tried but all in vain. Twelve shots on goal,
none that paid off. Stoke got two chances on goal as they were outclassed and on the second,
Keane's Ireland team mate Glenn Whelan scored for Stoke.
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Soccerblog 23 October @ 11:54 PM EST
Link:
A shambolic display with inept defending. Crosses, corners, and long balls and and out of
position Tim Howard in each situation. To be fair to him, the defense gave no help. It was so bad
that fans started exiting the stadium after the fourth goal in the 51st minute. Moyes looked like
he has swallowed a toad.
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Soccerblog 23 October @ 12:53 AM EST
Its become almost automatic for the US to qualify for the World Cup nowadays. But there were
forty years in the wilderness before the US qualified for the 1990 World Cup when Paul Caliguiri in
the grandiloquent "The Shot Heard Around The World" scored against T&T to put the US through. He is
therefore the grand poobah of clutch performers.
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Soccerblog 21 October @ 11:43 PM EST
It seemed the CL was full of petulant players slapping one another. This time it was Grafite
slapping Kas in the Wolfsburg vs Besiktas match. It got him the red card.
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Soccerblog 21 October @ 09:06 PM EST
Soccerblog 21 October @ 07:58 PM EST
Lights! Camera! Action! The second half had it all. Saves, goals, a melee, and a win for
beleaguered AC Milan.
Clarence Seedorf showed an exquisite touch chipping the ball to Alexandre Pato who volleyed home
the match winner past Iker Casillas. Seedorf was peripatetic, playing with a vigour that put some
of the younger players to shame.
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Soccerblog 20 October @ 09:44 PM EST
I have no idea why Yossi Benayoun was substituted by Andriy Voronin. This has been Rafa's blind
spot this season - the easy dismissal of the one player who gives Liverpool its best chance at
crafting goals in the absence of Torres and Gerrard.
Also, the equalizer by Maxime Gonalons was achieved with 9 Liverpool players in the box who
milled around clueless as Reina fell third time unlucky.
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Soccerblog 20 October @ 07:10 PM EST
I have to say that the Gunners looked like they took their foot of the accelerator most of the
second half. In total they possessed the ball just 47% of the time, a statistic that is unlike
them. Fabregas did not look sharp and Song looked lackadaisical. The team was missing its
characteristic fluid passing style.
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Soccerblog 20 October @ 01:13 AM EST
Most fans in France barely tolerate Raymond Domenech but he has found one in Catherine Renger, a
well known chanteur who gives him a dose of unabashed adulation with her song Le Kiffe Raymond ( I
fancy Raymond). The lyrics are unlike Leonard Cohen to be sure.
Go on Raymond, you're handsome, you're good
And I imagine just one golden match and then everyone would adore you
And if he attacked my penalty areas I would be without defenders
A transfer, a good pass and long live our colours
Yeah, you're good, you're classy
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Soccerblog 20 October @ 12:36 AM EST
Interesting factoid.
AZ Alkmaar inaugurated their new DSB stadium on August 4, 2006 with a 0-3 loss to the Gunners.
Gilberto Silva, Emmanuel Adebayor and RVP scored goals. You can watch the goals >>1-0, 2-0,
3-0.
For the record: AZ were undefeated in all 32 of their home matches in European competitions, a
sequence which ran from 1977 until 20 December 2007, when they finally lost to Everton of England,
by a score of 2-3.
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Soccerblog 18 October @ 06:45 PM EST
You can clearly see Glen Johnson did not get his foot on the ball. Bent's shot skips just over
the defender and hits the red beach ball and deflects into goal. And the culprit is one of
Liverpool's fans.
Steve Bruce should heave a sigh of relief on this one.
Even a lay person not well versed with rules, would be sufficiently at unease when an outside
agency influences a match.
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Soccerblog 18 October @ 10:28 AM EST
While most of the US was transfixed by the Balloon Boy saga, Liverpool fans were encountering
their own problems with dirigibles.
Yes, a bright red beach ball that wandered onto the pitch seems to have transfixed Pepe Reina's
attention. Enough distraction and deflection of a Darren Bent shot to find its way to goal.
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Soccerblog 18 October @ 08:47 AM EST
Lovely bit of footwork by Van Persie in the box and a snappy finish after Song feeds him of a
sloppy clearance by Birmingham. Eboue stretches Birmingham wide before dishing to Rosicky who
centers the ball which evades everyone before Diaby arrives to notch up the Gunners second
goal.
But Arsenal would not be Arsenal if it did not believe in shooting themselves in the foot.
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Soccerblog 14 October @ 10:19 PM EST
Jonas Gutierrez is brought down by Martin Caceres in a momentary lapse of reason. Leo Messi
feeds the ball to Juan Sebastian Veron who blasts the ball into a thicket of legs. Luckily for
Argentina and Maradona, the ball bounces of a Uruguayan defender straight into the legs of
substitute Mario Bolatti who turns the ball past Nestor Muslera in goal.
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Soccerblog 29 September @ 10:19 PM EST
Soccerblog 24 September @ 10:56 AM EST
Tottenham Spurs beat Preston North End 5 -1 in a Carling Cup game during which Peter Crouch
scored a hat trick thereby impressing Fabio Capello to no end.
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Soccerblog 22 September @ 01:06 AM EST
Soccerblog 18 September @ 09:22 PM EST
These derbies have not been as one sided as portrayed. Even as Sir Alex foams in the mouth about
"cocky" Man City with their SEVEN center forwards, there is enough evidence that City has beaten
them in the past with lesser lights. This includes a double in 2007-2008. But here is Nicholas
Anelka and Shaun Goater laying them low in 2002.
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Soccerblog 18 September @ 07:36 AM EST
Anish references the six referee rule that Michel Platini has implemented for the Europa Cup and
already David Moyes is irate because he believes that the goal line assistants missed a deliberate
foul on Louis Saha by AEK's Juanfran which got the Everton striker sent off as he retaliated.
So why is it not going to work:
The Parallax error.
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Soccerblog 06 September @ 08:17 PM EST
Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien scored for Ghana in their 2-0 (YouTube link) win in a Goup D
encounter over Sudan becoming the first African nation to book their place to the 2010 World
Cup.
Serbian coaches have proved lucky for the Black Stars as Ratomir Dujkovic guided them to the
2006 World Cup.
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Soccerblog 05 September @ 11:26 PM EST
El Tri overcame the Ticos, 3-0 in a facile win at Saprissa stadium with Giovani Dos Santos
providing a goal and two assists as the Spurs attacking midfielder ran rampant.
Mexico is now in third position behind the USA and Honduras. The Costa Ricans leading the table
at one time have lost two matches in a row by huge margins and are now fourth.
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Soccerblog 05 September @ 10:47 PM EST
The Argentinian defense goes to sleep as they fail to mark Luisao who heads home Elano's free
kick. Then Luis Fabiano scores as Mariano Andujar fails to collect cleanly. Jesus Datolo responds
with a blistering left footed shot from 30 yards out. Argentina are back in it again. But a minute
later Kaka threads a devilishly clever pass to Luis Fabiano who outraces the lone Argentinian
defender and scores.
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