FA Cup Week in Review

Oldham Athletic vs Liverpool FC

In front of only 10,295 supporters at Boundary Park, Oldham Athletic pulled off one of the finest upsets in the FA Cup this year. Oldham currently sits 19^th out of the 24 spots in League One (that is the 3^rd division in England), yet somehow managed to defeat Liverpool by a score of 3-2. Matt Smith was the hero for Oldham as he notched an unlikely brace in the first half to set the tone positively for Oldham. These were the first goals that Smith has scored and it was great timing. His first goal came only 3 minutes into the game and was soon equalized in the 17^th minute by Luis Suarez. In the first half stoppage time, Smith added his and Oldham’s second to send themselves into the dressing room up a goal. Reece Wabara added another goal for Oldham in the 48^th minute. It wasn’t until the 80^th minute that Liverpool again found the net by Joe Allen but it was too late at this point as Oldham looked destined to take an historic win.

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Leeds United vs Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham followed Liverpool’s crash out of the FA Cup with a 2-1 humbling to Leeds United at Elland Road in front of 30,000 supporters. Luke Varney set Leeds on the right foot with a 15^th minute opener, but it was teammate Ross McCormack with a strike to remember in the 50^th minute. His short gave Friedel no chance and more importantly gave Leeds some breathing room that they ended up needing as Clint Dempsey pulled one back on 58 minutes. Tottenham never really looked like scoring after this though as Gareth Bale had a game to forget.

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Brentford vs Chelsea FC

At Griffin Park, Fernando Torres rescued Chelsea with an 83^rd minute equalizer to send the match into a replay after a final score of 2-2. Brentford opened the scoring late in the first half from Marcello Trotta and Oscar found the net in the 55^th to tie the game up. Turnbull then gave up a penalty on Adeyemi that Brentford capitalized on to give them sights of another FA Cup upset. The Chelsea stars finally awoke and Chelsea started to move the ball better and create some chances. They finally broke through with Torres curling an 18 yard effort into the top corner. Both Lampard and Mata had chances to win it, but a tie was a deserving scoreline.

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Stoke City vs Manchester City

Stoke City suffered another home loss (after losing to Chelsea 4-1 in the league a couple days ago) to a Manchester City squad that used an 85^th minute winner from an ever increasing likely source of Pablo Zabaleta. Both teams had chances to score early on with Tevez looking sharp for the Citizens. Matthew Etherington also had a fine game and was able to work his way on the wing for several dangerous crosses. Kompany limped off for City forcing Mancini to play a three-man backline and it was here that Stoke City grabbed a foothold in the game, but to no luck as finishing was not on show for either team in a 1-0 win for Manchester City.

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Premier League Week in Review (January 10^th-January 17^th)

Arsenal vs Manchester City

Manchester City came to play at the Emirates today as they thoroughly beat Arsenal by a score of 2-0, even though both sides saw red. Following his run of good form, Edin Dzeko scored in the 32^nd minute to put the game 2-0 up after a wonderful finish from James Milner to open the scoring in the 21^st minute. Arsenal did no favors to themselves in this game as Laurent Koscienly gave away an 8^th minute penalty (and a subsequent red card) to Man City. They could not take advantage, however, as Edin Dzeko’s effort was pushed onto the post by Wojciech Szczesny.

Milner’s goal came after a quick free from Man City saw Carlos Tevez play James Milner through in the box and his quick strike effort towards the far post gave City their eventual game winner. It was another assist by Tevez for Dzeko’s goal following a strong save by Szczesny only for the ball to find the feet of a grateful, and onside, Dzeko to tap-in.

Arsenal did not give up though and continued to fight even though they were down a man and two goals to none. They subbed on Giroud and moved Per Mertesacker up front to try and attack on set pieces and it almost paid off as Giroud had a strong header than just went over the ball. The numbers became even later in the match as Vincent Kompany saw a straight red for a two-footed challenge on Jack Wilshere in the 75^th minute.

Why this Game was Important?

Arsenal further slipped away from their top four challenge and seem to have no way of scoring without their former iconic talisman of Robin Van Persie. Manchester City, on the other hand, are continuing to push the pace with Manchester United as they kept the lead only to 10 points, a manageable feat that still may be possible.

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Chelsea FC vs Stoke City

Stoke City played host to Chelsea FC in front of 27,348 supporters at the Brittania. Stoke City have had a formidable record at home and have become one of the toughest opponents to take points off of. Chelsea FC must have not looked much at this statistic, however, as they romped over a fairly poor Stoke City by a score of 4-0. The first half was a traditional match for Stoke, where their defense held tight and they attacked with a counter. It was in first half injury time that Chelsea finally broke through with the help of Stoke City forward Jonathan Walters who headed the ball into his own net following a set piece situation.

As the second half started, Chelsea pushed very hard to score another and in the 62^nd minute they accomplished this feat. They scored, again, with the help of Jonathan Walters as he had a night to forget with his second own goal of the match. Things went from bad to worse for Stoke as three minutes later, Stoke City fouled Juan Mata in the box to allow Frank Lampard to convert the resulting penalty kick. Eden Hazard then finished off the scoring in the 73^rd minute with a resounding shot from outside the box that found the upper corner of the goal.

Being up 4-0, Rafa Benitez subbed in John Terry to give him his first playing time for Chelsea in months after coming back from injury. His ‘debut’ was a poor one however, as he gave away a 90^th minute penalty…but sticking with the bad luck of Stoke City, Jonathan Walters finished off his night with a missed penalty as his shot clipped the bar and went over.

Why this Game was Important?

Chelsea have finally found their true form away from home as they continue to romp opponents into the ground. If they could find this form at the Bridge, they could be genuine title challengers, however, they seem to leave this form on their travels. For Stoke City, this was a great opportunity to continue their strong run of form and show that they deserve to contend for the European spots, but on this day, could not show up.

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Premier League Week in Review (December 27^th-January 2^nd)

These last few days provided some great entertainment as the festive Christmas schedule was as busy as ever. Between Saturday and Tuesday, there were 20 different games, 71 goals, 7 shutouts, 2 red cards and a lot of speculation over future transfers to take place in the January transfer window. The first major move of the New Year has been the signing of Daniel Sturridge from Chelsea to Liverpool, and many, many more moves will follow. Let’s take a look at some of the high-flying games this last week:

Arsenal vs Newcastle United

In what will probably go down as the game of the Premier League Season, and therefore surely our game of the week, was Arsenal’s drubbing of Newcastle 7-3 at Emirates Stadium in front of 60,000+ supporters. Arsenal has started to play in better form these last few weeks and continued this form against an ever falling Newcastle side. First of all, it should be mentioned that Theo Walcott should only be offered an annual contract because he only plays his best when his contract starts to be negotiated. And considering that contract talks are allowed to be spoken of only 6 months prior to the end, this would give Arsenal a major advantage as Walcott would now play well for ½ of his time at Arsenal compared to only once every few years. A virtuoso performance was on display by Walcott on this day as he scored an excellent hat-trick and set up two other goals.

After a 20^th minute strike by Walcott opened the scoring, Demba Ba equalized minutes before half time to let Newcastle go in at the break with a fairly deserved draw. The second half, however, would have 8 goals scored between the two sides. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain gave Arsenal a deserved, but short lead in the 50^th minute before Sylvain Marveaux scored in the 59^th. Arsenal again took the lead, but this time from the German Podolski in the 64^th, but Newcastle again tied the game with Ba’s second 5 minutes later. It was at this point that Walcott turned the class on as he scored the eventual game winner in the 73^rd minute. From this point on, he grabbed two assists to Olivier Giroud in the 84^th and 87^th minutes and finished his hat trick in injury time to give Arsenal supporters a Thierry Henry-esque performance once again. I mention Henry because he was in the stands for the game and is being linked with a loan deal to the Gunners while the MLS is in the off season.

Why this Game was Important?

Newcastle finished last season with an incredible high considering they were just promoted. The St. James faithful (even though the stadium has since been controversial renamed) have not had much to celebrate this year as the club sit in lowly 15^th place; just 2 points out of the relegation zone. Arsenal, on the other hand, are overdue to finally win a trophy and even though they are out of the title race this year; if their good form continues there will be some silverware at the Emirates in the near future.

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Chelsea FC vs Queens Park Rangers (QPR)

Chelsea left 2012 with a bang by defeating the up-and-coming Everton at Goodison Park, but apparently used up all of their Christmas magic as they had nothing in the tank against the worst team in the league (record wise); Queens Park Rangers. However, it was the relegation threatened men who came away with all three points as ex-Chelsea player, Shaun Wright-Phillips, scored the game winner in the 78^th minute. Although this may turn out to be the biggest shock in the Premier League season for both teams, it cannot be said that QPR was an undeserved winner. They looked very together in the back line and Julio Cesar was only called upon a few times. Chelsea did not look like scoring throughout the match as they seemed destined to take a shot from 30+ yards whenever a chance opened. This is evidenced by Chelsea taking 26 shots, but only managing to keep 2 on frame.

Rafael Benitez gambled on the starting lineup by giving Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Ashley Cole a rest. Instead, he started Marko Marin for the first time in the Premier League and it almost cost Chelsea as he may have deserved a red card after only 4 minutes of play. Chelsea did find the back of the net by Frank Lampard only for it to be called back for offside in what was a close but correct call. Ivanovich almost saved Chelsea’s blushes only to be denied by the tip of the crossbar and QPR held on for a massive three points.

Why this Game was Important?

Chelsea were riding a 4 game win streak in the Premier League giving them another shot at a potential title run-in, but they now find themselves 14 points adrift with a game in hand on Manchester United. As shown by the resting of stars by Rafael Benitez, this should have been an easy game for Chelsea to win and history was clearly on their side. Although local rivals, this was the first time in over 20 years that QPR had come away with all three points at Stamford Bridge.

As bad as this match was for Chelsea, however, it was amazing for QPR. They have been sitting on the bottom of the table nearly the whole season and are now only bottom because of goal difference. They have looked rejuvenated since Harry Redknapp took the throne and none more so in the game today then Adel Taarabt. He is not generally a center-forward, but played the position great today and may have found a new link for QPR to call upon.

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Manchester City vs Stoke City

In front of 47,000 supporters at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City made light work of Stoke City by defeating the visitors 3-0 off of goals from Pablo Zabaleta, Edin Dzeko and Sergio Agüero. This has come to be a regular result for the Premier League Champions as the Potters have now lost on all five Premier League appearances to Manchester City since both have been in the top flight. Stoke City has become known as the one of the sides with the toughest defense to break and it partly showed today as Manchester City dominated the possession, but could not find the back of the net. Agüero missed a shot early on that was well saved by Asmir Begovic before Yaya Toure, David Silva and Agüero all missed decent chances. With all of the offensive starlets that Manchester City boasts, it was actually the outside back, Pablo Zabaleta who opened the scoring off of a rebound from a James Milner cross.

Stoke looked to regain a bit of ground when Matthew Etherington came in for Kenwyne Jones, but no real attempts were made. Rather, it was Dzeko who scored on another rebound to double City’s advantage. Agüero finally got the goal he deserved when he scored from the spot in the 74^th minute.

Why this Game was Important?

Even though the cliché mentions that every game is important, this game did not have much in store for Stoke City. They are definitely challenging for a Europa League spot, but will probably find that with ease. It was Manchester City who had to be ready to play as they attempt to keep pace with Manchester United at the top of the table. They are currently 7 points adrift…a manageable feat though considering they caught United last year when they found themselves that many points behind. They are now only 17 games left in the season and Manchester City cannot afford to drop any more points should they make a legitimate title run.

Other Scores From Around the League:

Sunderland 1 – Tottenham 2
(John O’Shea 40^th and Carlos Cuellar 48^th (OG), Aaron Lennon 51^st)

Aston Villa 0 – Wigan Athletic 3
(Ivan Ramis 3^rd, Emmerson Boyce 52^nd, Arouna Kone 56^th)

Fulham 1 – Swansea City 2
(Bryan Ruiz 56^th and Danny Graham 19^th, Jonathan De Guzman 52^nd)

Manchester United 2 – West Brom 0
(Gareth McAuley 9^th (OG), Robin Van Persie 90^th)

Norwich City 3 – Manchester City 4
(Anthony Pilkington 15^th, Russell Martin 63^rd,75^th and Edin Dzeko 2^nd,4^th, Agüero 50^th, Mark Bunn 67^th (OG))

Reading 1 – West Ham United 0
(Pavel Pogrebnyak 5^th)

Stoke City 3 – Southampton 3
(Kenwyne Jones 16^th, Matthew Upson 67^th, Cameron Jerome 90^th and Rickie Lambert 10^th, Jay Rodriguez 24^th, Andy Wilkinson 36^th (OG))

Everton 1 – Chelsea 2
(Steven Pienaar 2^nd and Frank Lampard 42^nd,72^nd)

Queens Park Rangers 0 – Liverpool 3
(Luis Suarez 10^th,16^th, Daniel Agger 27^th)

West Brom 1 – Fulham 2
(Romelu Lukaku 49^th and Dimitar Berbatov 39^th, Alexander Kacaniklic 58^th)

Swansea City 2 – Aston Villa 2
(Wayne Routledge 9^th, Danny Graham 94^th and Andreas Weimann 44^th, Christian Benteke 84^th)

Tottenham 3 – Reading 1
(Michael Dawson 10^th, Emmanuel Adebayor 51^st, Clint Dempsey 79^th and Pavel Pogrebnyak 4^th)

West Ham United 2 – Norwich City 1
(Mark Noble 3^rd, Joey O’Brien 26^th and Russell Martin 90^th)

Wigan 0 – Manchester United 4
(Javier Hernandez 35^th,63^rd, Robin Van Persie 43^rd,88^th)

Southampton 1 – Arsenal 1
(Gaston Ramirez 35^th and Guilherme Do Prado 41^st (OG))

Liverpool 3 – Sunderland 0
(Raheem Sterling 19^th, Luis Suarez 26^th,52^nd)

Newcastle United 1 – Everton 2
(Papiss Demba Cisse 2^nd and Leighton Baines 43^rd, Victor Anichebe 60^th)

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Premier League Week in Review

The English Premier League has a long-standing tradition of having every team play a game on the 26^th of December, no matter what day of the week this is. This is no random date though, as the 26^th of December is an English holiday called Boxing Day. This date always provides a high television attendance rating as there is not many other sporting events across the world that takes place. This idea is similar to the NFL playing on Thanksgiving and the NBA playing on Christmas day. This year, there was not much of a game to look forward to though as the schedule did not necessarily provide any top quality soccer match. However, there were definitely some games that are worth re-watching. Some key fixtures and analysis follow:

Everton vs Wigan Athletic

Goodison Park played host to Wigan in front of nearly 39,000 supporters. The visitors had reason to fear coming into the game as Everton have untraditionally made a fast start to season; 30 points in only 18 games making them a resounding 5^th place. Wigan, meanwhile, sits near the foot of the table in the relegation zone at 18^th place with only 15 points from their 18 matches. The game did provide some entertainment was Everton claimed a 2-1 victory with strikes from Leon Osman in the 52^nd minute and Phil Jagielka in the 77^th minute, before Arouna Koné gave Wigan a lifeline in the 82^nd minute.

Everton's Phil Neville

This game marked a special occasion for Everton’s Phil Neville as he made his 500^th Premier League appearance (becoming only the seventh player to do so) and celebrated this day with a game winning assist. There were other special moments of the game such as when Shaun Maloney (Wigan) had thought he won a penalty but there was no whistle from Lee Mason, but none more so than when Everton came close to scoring after only 13 seconds when Victor Anichebe shot just wide off a Darron Gibson cross. More drama followed later in the game as Koné was denied by a superb block from Neville when the score line was still 1-0 Everton. Wigan continued to applied pressure after Koné eventually scored, but they could not find an equalizer as the Everton defense held tight.

Why this Game was Important?

Everton may very well be the surprise of the season if they continue in their current form. They are a legitimate challenge to the top 4 (meaning potential Champions League play in the near future) and have one of the revelations of the season in Maroune Fellaini. Everton need him to stay if they have a shot at cementing their top 4 status.

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Manchester United vs Newcastle

In front of 75,596 supporters at Old Trafford, Manchester United once again proved they are the comeback kings after defeating Newcastle 4-3 with an injury time winner from Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez. Newcastle has not won at the Theatre of Dreams since 1972, but it seemed destined for the trend to snap as they took the lead on three different occasions. They opened the scoring in on the 4^th minute through a James Perch strike (granted De Gea should have done much better on the original shot from Demba Ba) before another rebound goal was scored on the opposite end by Johnny Evans in the 25^th minute. Evans would go on to double his tally; however his deflected effort crossed the wrong goal line to send Newcastle into a 2-1 lead after 30 minutes. Patrice Evra would level the scoring through a nifty shot in the 58^th minute before Newcastle once again took the lead through Pappa Demba Cisse ten minutes later. Newcastle held this lead for only three minutes before Robin van Persie scored his 16^th of the season in the 71^st minute. The scoring cooled down for a while until the 90^th minute when Michael Carrick played a great pass over the defense for Chicharito to complete the comeback and give United the full 3 points.

Why this Game was Important?

Manchester United has had a bad habit of conceding many goals and finding themselves in losing positions. However, they are ‘mighty’ United and you can never count them out as this win (coupled with Manchester City’s surprising defeat to Sunderland) gave them a 7-point gap a top the table. This game shows that Manchester United need to bolster the defense in the January transfer window or Ferguson has got to work his magic with what he has got because he cannot rely on the Manchester United attack to continue to score at will.

Newcastle, on other hand, were a surprising story last year with how well they played before finishing the season in 5^th place. Pappa Demba Cisse was one of the players of the year and Demba Ba was not far behind. Newcastle, however, have dropped the ball this year in the Premier League sitting in 15^th place with only 20 points from their 19 outings. If only they could replicate their European form where they are currently in the Round of 32 in the Europa League.

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Norwich City vs Chelsea

Juan Mata scored the game winner for Chelsea late in the first half after a sweet shot from outside the box found the far post after a splitting pass from Oscar. This gives Mata his sixth goal in only 8 games, showing what an important piece he is to the Chelsea attack. This game was rather boring by comparison to most Premier League games as neither team could get hold of the game. There were few points of quality on exhibit as emphasized by two of David Luiz’s shots that were nowhere near being on target. Both teams continued to push and it was only a smart save from Bunn that kept Norwich in the game after Mata took a quick free kick.

Frank Lampard (one of the other seven to have made at least 500 appearances in the Premier League) made an appearance later in the game and helped to solidify the win for Chelsea. He has been the focal point of many transfer talks lately, but his last few performances have shown that Chelsea need him and especially so when John Obi Mikel leaves to take his place in the African Cup of Nations.

Why this Game was Important?

Chelsea now sit in 3^rd place with 35 points and have a game in hand over both United and City (1^st and 2^nd respectively) meaning that if Chelsea win that extra game, they will only be 1 point out of second and 8 behind United. 8 points sounds like a lot, but it was only last year that Manchester United dropped a 7-point lead in the standings to eventually finish in second place after Manchester City beat United on goal differential. Chelsea started the season in great form but hit a major slump leading to the sacking of club legend, Roberto Di Matteo. Ex-Liverpool boss, Rafael Benitez, was given the realms and has actually helped turn around Chelsea’s fortune and is partly credited with the increasing strike rate from Fernando Torres.

Norwich City, on the other hand, has also done fairly well for them being just out of the top half of the table in11th place. They have defeated both Arsenal and Manchester United with 1-0 score lines at Carrow Road this year, showing that they can come to play in their own stadium.

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Here are the other score lines from Boxing Day:

Fulham 1 – Southampton 1
(Berbatov 8^th min and Lambert 85^th min)

West Brom 2 – QPR 1
(Cisse 68^th and Brunt 29^th, Green Own Goal 49^th)

Reading 0 – Swansea 0

Aston Villa 0 – Tottenham 4
(Defoe 57^th, Bale 61^st, 73^rd and 84^th)

Stoke City 3 – Liverpool 1
(Jones 12^th, Walters 5^th,49^th and Gerrard 2^nd)

Arsenal and West Ham postponed

American soccer is likely at its high point of popularity in the United States due to a new generation of adults who grew up playing the sport as children, an increase in foreign matches being shown on television, an improvement in the National Teams (especially the Olympic Champion Women), and an influx of foreign stars coming to play soccer in the MLS.  However, 2013 will be an important year for American soccer as countless big stories are set to emerge, and the nation will have to adapt to the changing global nature of the sport itself.  Here are some of the big stories ahead for American soccer in 2013:

The Face of the MLS After David Beckham departs – The arrival of David Beckham was a monumental achievement for the MLS in 2007, showing the world that American soccer could compete for star players.  Winning two MLS Cup Championships in his time here, the Englishman paved the way for a whole host of other foreigners to come to the MLS, including Freddie Ljungberg, Thierry Henry, Torsten Frings, Tim Cahill, and Robbie Keane.  The global landscape now sees the MLS as a viable option for mature superstars, and has greatly improved awareness and popularity in the league.  So where does the MLS head in 2013?

Rumors suggest that Frank Lampard of Chelsea or Kaka of Real Madrid could be among the next soccer players to come to the MLS.  Now that America is at least a legitimate option for these types of players, the MLS should continue to harbor increased popularity.

I also would expect that more focus be placed upon the New York Red Bull with Henry and Cahill as team leaders.  The Red Bulls suffered a tragic end to the season in the playoffs as D.C. United benefitted from a recalled PK to snatch a win in the quarterfinals of the MLS Playoffs.  Since this was Cahill’s first MLS go and he just arrived in the summer, I would expect the pair to play better next season and lead the Red Bulls to glory.

Will the United States Men’s National Team Qualify for the 2014 World Cup? – The USA National team has largely struggled to impress under renowned manager Jurgen Klinsmann.  Although they won the last group of qualification, the matches were nervous, and qualification was only secured on the final day with a victory over Guatemala.  The United States had lost in Jamaica and drawn with Guatemala earlier in the group stage.

The qualification for Brazil will take on a tougher feeling now as America must qualify 3^rd to enter the World Cup directly, and finish 4^th in the North American group to enter a playoff match with a team from Oceania, likely to be Australia.  Facing teams like Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Honduras, and Panama, the United States will need to improve their game to qualify directly.  How the team performs in Brazil will be anyone’s guess, but just to get there looks like it will be a challenge.

America will need to get its best out of key men like Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, and Tim Howard.  Additionally, the team will be looking for several of its youngsters to step up to the next level.  Guys like Jozy Altidore, Brek Shea, and Michael Bradley need to become dependable players for the USA to qualify with ease.  The team has a friendly against Canada at the end of January before the important games begin with Honduras on February 6^th.  The ten matches through October will surely test the country’s resolve and strength.  Let’s hope for a successful 2013 qualification and an even better 2014 when the World Cup takes place.