Germany Ascendant; Bayern and Dortmund Romp

What an incredible two days of the Champions League! Both German sides have stunned their Spanish opposition with huge home results. I argue that playing the home game last is far more favorable against hearty opposition but Bayern and Dortmund proved that playing the home game first can be just as favorable.

Bayern Munich travel to Barcelona with a 4-0 scoreline and the knowledge that they completely dominated their opposition. Messi, the wizard of inspiration against PSG, was out of spells and tricks against Bayern. He painted a figure of an injured player that didn't have answers to Barcelona's questions. Bayern Munich capitalized on the weaknesses of Barcelona; they retained the ball well and dispossessed Barcelona in midfield while pressuring their weak defense with great attacking movement and utilizing their chances at set-plays. Barcelona defends well because they don't have to against the majority of their opposition, but once they are put on the back foot their defensive weaknesses are glaring. The scoreline is a bit harsh due to two glaring facts: Gomez was offside for the 2nd and Jordi Alba was fouled right before Robben scored the 3rd. However, Bayern dominated the game and were the only team to truly threaten the opposition's goal. Barcelona again are left asking questions due to a tactical flaw; possession does not win games, goals do. They continue to lack any form of a Plan B when it comes to scoring goals and Bayern Munich exposed this with aplomb.

Robert Lewandowski, you just raised your price tag to over 40m pounds easily. Borussia Dortmund, the Cinderella team of the tournament this year, pulled off another huge result for Germany. Dortmund bossed much of the first half but let in an equalizer before halftime to put this tie into question. I do not know what Jurgen Klopp said to his boys but they dominated the second half and came away with a 4-1 win in Dortmund and in front of the Yellow Wall numbering at approximately 25,000 fans. This game came on the tail-end of heart-breaking news for Dortmund fans; Mario Gotze's buy-out clause was paid by Bayern Munich and he would play for them next season. This could have demoralized the team to the point of tragic results but Jurgen Klopp rallied his troops to put on an awe-inspiring display in Dortmund. Mario Gotze and Marco Reus played brilliantly in Dortmund's attacking band with Gotze leading passes in the attacking third and Reus with successful take-ons.

Jurgen Klopp brilliantly had his men press at midfield to dispossess Madrid quickly and completely disrupt any rhythm in their attacking transitions. Madrid were largely unable to attack or counterattack at pace. Once in possession, Dortmund's approach in the final third utilized the space on the wings and attacked Madrid's fullbacks; Madrid tried to attack through a highly congested midfield zone as evidenced below.

Honorable Mention must go to both of the German sides' double pivot midfielders. Javi Martinez, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sven Bender, and Ilkay Gundogan shielded their defenses superbly and transitioned play quickly and efficiently. They really are the engine rooms for their respective teams.

Messi-inspired Barca triumph; Bayern oust Juve

Messi fulfilled one of those cliched sports moments; he came off the bench, playing hurt, and inspired his team to victory (on aggregate). He injured his hamstring in Paris and was named to the bench. Both sides started conservatively, feeling the other team out. It wasn't until the second half when the tie really heated up. PSG came out with a desire for a goal; they did not park the bus by any means. They looked to dispossess Barca, not an easy task, and attack them at pace. Zlatan turned into a creator for Pastore for the following.

Barcelona had to score after that goal but PSG still searched for a second; a bold tactic for Ancelotti to employ but his side looked very threatening. Barca pressed on as Messi came on even barely half-fit for the game. Barca's passing had them in behind the defense shortly after but Messi uncharacteristically couldn't sort out his feet and a clear chance was wasted. He, however, helped push forward again and Pedro was able to place a perfect lay-off from David Villa into the back of the net.



PSG didn't have much for chances after this (Pastore had wasted one previous to Pedro's equalizer) but Iniesta put on a bit of a show near the end of regular time.

History was made by Xavi; he completed 96 of his 96 passes. Read it and weep. Amazing.

Sadly, the Bayern-Juve tie wasn't nearly as interesting. Juve looked up for it in the early stages with Neuer having to punch away a fierce free kick from Pirlo. It was quiet until after the break when Bayern looked to put the tie to bed; Mandzukic headed in a rebound from a weak Buffon punch (how many times has he done that this season?) and his replacement added a 90th minute consolation.

The quarterfinals are now finished and the semifinal draw awaits. The Champions League should deliver another tantalizing round of fixtures! I'm hoping for Barca-Dortmund and Bayern-Real with a dream final of Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid.

Dortmund Stuns Malaga Late; Madrid Holds Off Gala

Borussia Dortmund, sie sind wunderbar. Their comeback was one for the ages and a stunning example of why the Champions League is the greatest club tournament in the world. Before their legendary comeback, BVB had given up a sloppy goal to Malaga (poor defending) but then they finally decided to play the way some of us have fallen in love with over the past three seasons. This is pure beauty.

Dortmund kept searching for another goal but they didn't seem to have any conviction; Malaga kept probing and seemed to be the more likely of the two to score. Subotic didn't have his best game; Malaga also capitalized on a linesman error to go 2-1 up. Eliseu is clearly offside at the time of the pass but the goal stood. Dortmund now had to score twice to go through due to the away goal rule.

Marco Reus had been severely under-performing in both legs but he was in the right place at the right time to put home the equalizer. It was a goal of sheer will and now Dortmund could feel victory on their fingertips. They had four more minutes to score the winner to put them through to the semifinals but they only needed one.

That was a comeback and fight to the finish for the ages. Dortmund have been waiting to show themselves on the European stage but have faltered as Manchester City have done the past few seasons. Their next tie will be very interesting but, for now, they celebrate and deservedly so after that game.

There was another game on today that shouldn't have had many talking points but Galatasaray showed a fighting spirit and gave Real Madrid a little scare. Ronaldo scored again within ten minutes and it seemed business as usual. Gala scored three amazing goals to put themselves 3-1 and needing two goals to advance. What seemed an impossibility now seemed a little improbable. Eboue scored a screamer, Sneijder with a cheeky first touch and slick finish, and Drogba scored an amazing back-heel goal. Unfortunately for Gala, they didn't have enough time and pushing so far forward left them open at the back and Ronaldo made them pay in extra time.

We can only hope that tomorrow's games are only half as entertaining as today's games. Hats off to Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid for advancing to the Champions League semifinals.

A Stroll For Real Madrid; Dortmund Wasteful Against Malaga

My predictions would have been correct if it weren't for Dortmund's dreadful finishing; on the other hand, Real Madrid took their chances and easily have their tie in the bag.

If you have failed to see Borussia Dortmund play this or last season, you are really missing out. Jurgen Klopp has assembled a young, energetic, and skillful side that play very attractive, attacking soccer. Marco Reus and Mario Gotze are two of the brightest attacking talents the whole world over - Franz Beckenbauer asserted as much - and Dortmund also have two of the best centerbacks in the world in Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic. The latter two are the oldest at a grand age of 24. There were plenty of moments of brilliance shown by Dortmund but they really should have capitalized on moments such as this. Malaga played sloppily in midfield and gifted BVB the ball many times. The Spanish defense were held afloat by the sheer lack of finishing by the Germans (e.g. this). Malaga had a few chances of their own but Borussia's slick passing and movements should have seen them take an advantage back to Germany with them. 0-0 is still a good scoreline for BVB but Malaga had their moments; they are not push-overs but Jurgen Klopp has to make sure this performance in front of goal is not repeated at the Westfalenstadion.

As Messi scored again on Tuesday, Ronaldo scored again on Wednesday. Ronaldo will get all the headlines as is to be expected but his early goal came from a great ball in from Mesut Ozil followed by a great chip. Poor defending led to the Benzema goal but I'll take a Michael Essien assist any day. Real Madrid cruised much of the game with Mesut Ozil really putting on a show. Xabi Alonso's ball over the top to Di Maria should have made it three but his shot was poor and straight at the goalkeeper. Alonso again played a great ball in, from a free kick this time, that found Higuain unmarked in the box and he buried his free header. Jose Mourinho takes a three goal lead to Turkey; he is resting easily tonight.

Bayern comfortably beat Juve; Late Valdes Blunder Saves PSG

The quarterfinals of the Champions League began today and I couldn't be happier even if Chelsea isn't in the competition anymore. Today brought us two tantalizing fixtures in the form of Bayern Munich versus Juventus and PSG pitted against Barcelona. Bayern and PSG were the home teams in each fixture.

Bayern won easily at home - they were coming off a 9-2 victory at the weekend - but both goals raised eyebrows due questionable goalkeeping. Gianluigi Buffon has been one of the best goalkeepers in the world over the last ten years, he was in goal for Italy's World Cup win in the penalty shootout against France, but it seemed that he could and should have done more to prevent the two Bayern goals. Gigi does get a pass on the first goal as Alaba seemed to have bent the laws of physics to score this goal. Muller added a second due to Buffon impotently batting away a shot into the path of Mandzukic who passed the ball across the goal to Muller and he slotted it into a gaping net. While Bayern did win, they paid a heavy price. Toni Kroos likely tore his groin muscle and had to be replaced after 16 minutes; this means he will be out for the rest of the season. He plays in the spearhead of Bayern's attacking trident meaning he dictates almost every attack. Bayern was also lucky to have Franck Ribery for the second leg as he should have easily seen a straight red card for his calf rake on Vidal. This loss won't affect their domestic league form but it will certainly be interesting to see how Muller slots into that spot in the Champions League.

PSG played hosts to Barcelona; the former in the midst of a revolution to be able to truly give the latter a run for their money. PSG are the new big spenders in European soccer as they were purchased by a Qatari group with assets in excess of $60 billion dollars. Messi opened the scoring, not surprisingly, but the story of that goal was the pass from Dani Alves. PSG did well on the counterattack and defended superbly in the rest of the first half. Lionel Messi, known to be very durable, was subbed off at halftime due to a hamstring issue. His injury will have to be watched closely as that could be the deciding factor in this tie. Zlatan Ibrahimovic finally decided to show up and pull one back for the home team...even if he was miles offside at the time of Thiago Silva's thunderous header. See for yourself here. Barca earned a penalty and Xavi stepped up to do the honors and coolly slotted the ball home. Victor Valdes, how you gave up that goal in stoppage time is beyond me. Barca still have the advantage headed to the Nou Camp due to away goals but 2-2 is worlds better than 2-1 for PSG. They have a mountain to climb but with Matuidi's 94th minute goal it is a very reachable destination. It should be a cracking match in Catalonia.

Tomorrow sees Malaga facing Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid versus Galatasaray. BVB and Madrid should win either game rather easily. It is, however, the Champions League and stranger things have happened.

Showdown at Old Trafford

Manchester United versus Real Madrid. Fergie versus The Special One. Oh, and that Ronaldo fellow. This game has all the potential for being a thrilling night at the Theater of Dreams. Ryan Giggs, who will be playing his 1,000th senior level game, did the opposite of downplaying this tie to United supporters. Jose Mourinho rested seven key players against Barcelona so that they would be fit for the game in Manchester. His side that was rested had handily beat Barcelona 3-1 at Camp Nou. The only notable United omission will be Phil Jones as he does well to shield the United back-line.

This game should be a thrilling end-to-end encounter and it is CR7's triumphant return to Old Trafford. I foresee an ovation from the Stretford End no matter the scoreline. He is in blistering form and Real is riding high off of two consecutive El Clasico victories. While Real Madrid is floundering in third in La Liga, United  is still sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League with no legitimate challenger in sight. United did have a confident 4-0 win against Norwich on Saturday so both teams should be firing on all cylinders.

It will be interesting to see if Fergie chooses to play more defensive wingers against Madrid's Di Maria and Ronaldo. However, if Fergie decides to go with a more attacking line-up, get your popcorn ready. Both of these teams are simply too good and their managers too passionate to let this tie become a snoozefest. If you're not into soccer or don't watch it much, watch this game. This game, even though it's the round of 16, may be one of the most thrilling matches to watch in this year's Champions League.

Final score: Real Madrid 3 Manchester United 2 (R. Madrid 4-3 agg.)

What's the Future of Soccer in America?

Once the NBA and NHL season's end, sports tends to slow down with a bunch of tedious regular season baseball games being the bulk of sports; thus we as American sports fans look for something to take our attention. Obviously, the Olympics are the best example of a distraction for three weeks, but that only every leap year. We want the last three golf majors and Wimbledon to be that, but it only occurs if Tiger is on the leaderboard in golf, and if the Williams sisters, Federer/Nadal or an American player in general go to the final. It gets pretty desperate that the Little League World Series is regularly treated as an important event.

Well, for the past week, soccer proved to be the latest distraction. The United States went on a run that has been unparalleled in the history of men's soccer. They reached the final of a FIFA event for the first time ever, beating powerhouse Spain along the way and giving Brazil a run for their money before bowing out 3-2 after a Brazilian comeback. The end result of this defeat can go one of two ways, either we are encouraged by the fact we can hang with the best in the world and start to follow the sport greater than ever. Or we are disillusioned because the team choked away victory.

The best way to look at the future of soccer is to gauge the past to see where there were opportunities for the sport to make it's splash here. Despite appearances in three of the first four World Cups (including a memorable upset of England in 1950), soccer didn't make any headway on the American sports scene until 1975 when Pele starred with the New York Cosmos in the NASL. His influence would prolong the league another nine years, but couldn't keep it from eventually folding. However, the framework was there for a grassroots effort to bring the U.S. team back to respectability and back to the World Cup.

1990 would be the year the U.S. would return to the World Cup and lost all three games. However, they were chosen to host to the 1994 World Cup and that would set up the second opportunity for soccer to grow in the States. I should know, it was the first time in my life I was into soccer, and USA-Colombia served as an appetizer to Knicks-Rockets Game 7. That was the first USA victory since 1950 and we realized how serious people take this sport when Andres Escobar, the man responsible for the deciding own goal in the U.S. 2-1 victory over Colombia was killed ten days later. The U.S. advanced to the knockout stage and a meeting on July 4th against Brazil, losing to the eventual champs 1-0 after a goal in the 72nd minute. The success of the World Cup led to the creation of the MLS, which is still in business, even though it is a minor league when compared to European club teams. 1998 was a forgetful year as the USA finished 32nd or 32 teams in France, but 2002 would see the greatest success in the modern era of U.S. soccer. They would beat Portugal and tie South Korea to advance to another knockout stage, then beat Mexico 2-0 to advance to the quarters, before losing to Germany 1-0.

At this point, it seemed like soccer only would become important every four years for the men. Women's soccer, however seemed to also grab some attention during the late 90s when the U.S. Women's Team won the 1999 Women's World Cup. Of course, most of that attention was due to Brandi Chastain's celebration after the game-winning goal including her taking off her shirt, revealing only a sports bar. Unfortunately, women's soccer peaked at that time as they could get a professional league off the ground and has been marginalized as of late.

Soccer, it seems has started more of a push since the 2006 World Cup, despite the U.S. not faring well. Part of the reason is because that was the first time I spent the bulk of the World Cup working in Manhattan, and saw more games on TV's in bars and restaurants. Still, it was being watched and not only the USA matches, but matches involving Brazil, Spain, France, etc. The Italy-France final was a great match and based on the Italian-American population in New York, it was treated as it should be and certainly is in the rest of the world. I believe that since the 2006 World Cup, there is much more soccer that's watched here than ever before. Whether it's the annual Champions League tournament, Euro 2008 or this years Confederations Cup.

The ratings for the match was a 2.7, around the same as some USA World Cup matches and that doesn't include those who watched it on Univision (both for Spanish-speaking individuals and for those like me who wait for the announce to say GOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL). However, this was due to a belief we had a chance after beating Spain and that Brazil was the opponent. Without the USA in the final, the game stays on ESPN2 and maybe gets 1/3 of the audience. The fact about soccer is that it is the fifth team sport in this country and now that the NHL is starting to regain the lost attention that occured from 1995-2005, it seems like fifth is where soccer will stay. However, as long as baseball is the only sport from June-August, there is a place for soccer to grow, since most of the high profile tournaments happen in those months. Plus, tennis isn't what it used to be, NASCAR is starting to decline and the WNBA is lucky to still be in business. Now if only Tiger Woods left golf, soccer would be fifth overall.

The Idea of the Dream Matchup.

Today was the championship match in the UEFA Champions League as the top two European club teams faced off. Manchester United, the most popular and most hated soccer club in the world, came in to this match having just won their third straight English Premier League title and as defending champions in the UEFA Cup. FC Barcelona was this year's champion in Spain's La Liga. Christiano Ronaldo of Man U won Player of the Year, while Lionel Mussi of Barca finished second in the voting.

The Detroit Red Wings just beat the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. They will meet the team the faced last year, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Last year, the Red Wings beat the Pens in a harder-than-thought-but-ultimately-easy six games. The stories for this series include the leading scorer in the season and playoffs with Evgeni Malkin, co-leader in the playoffs and face of the league Sidney Crosby and their fight for playoff MVP, Marian Hossa who rejected a 7-year offer from the Pens to sign a 1-year deal with the Wings so he can win the Stanley Cup and a city in Detroit who while the economy has been disastrous, the team continues to be a symbol of pride. Basically, it's the face of the league against the glamour franchise for the past 15 years.

The subject of dream matchups has been much discussed in the NBA as everything has been focused on Kobe vs LeBron. The Cavs and the Lakers finished as the top two teams in the NBA and it seemed like an inevitability that these two would meet in the NBA Finals. So much so, that Nike and Vitamin Water have already started to prepare with their own Kobe vs LeBron ad campaigns. However, funny thing happened along the way, the Orlando Magic lead their series with Cleveland 3-1 and are a win away from ruining the dream matchup. Meanwhile, the Lakers just finished a hard earned victory tonight over the Denver Nuggets and they now lead 3-2 in that series, that should end up going seven.

So there in lies the issue, how beneficial is the dream matchup and more importantly, if it doesn't come about, is the real matchup good enough? Let's take a look back through all sports for the past decade to see how they have faired in getting their dream matchup.

The NBA should be first as it seems most people think the league will stop at nothing to get their series. Last season, they had the biggest rivalry in league history resume with the Lakers-Celtics series and it still wasn't the highest rated series even on ABC; that honor belongs to the final Shaq and Kobe Lakers in 2004 when they lost to Detroit. Of course, no one ever moved the meter in ratings like Michael Jordan, who was able to make Chicago-Utah in 1998 the all-time high for the NBA in ratings. However, with the San Antonio Spurs being the dominant team in the decade, along with a particularly weak Eastern Conference turning the NBA Finals into formality, ABC has still been unable to do will with ratings. The best ratings tend to occur in years an East team win, since it's not expected.

The NHL has had more trouble finding their dream scenario. The best ratings the NHL has received this decade was the Devils-Stars series in 2000 which averaged a 3.7. Detroit and Pittsburgh is currently the dream matchup because of the players on the Pens and the history of the Red Wings. It also doesn't hurt to have two markets that will do ratings in the 30's for the Cup finals. The NHL has been too often stuck with the Anaheims and the Carolina's in their finals. They have, however, had three years of a Canadian team in the Cup finals helping their CBC ratings. Still, no series has come close to getting the one game rating Game 7 in the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals had when the Rangers beat Vancouver. While not a dream matchup, since Detroit was the West's number 1 seed that year and Toronto made the Western Finals, that game ended up being the highest rated NHL game in North America and hasn't been topped yet.

Since the Super Bowl never fails in the ratings and I would assume 200 million people will watch the Champions League final regardless who's there, the World Series is the last one that has to worry about dream matchup. Baseball back even twenty-five years ago would get ratings between 23 and 32 on average and Game 7 of the 1986 Mets-Red Sox series got a 38.9, very Super Bowl-like. Even more Super Bowl-like is that Philadelphia and Kansas City in 1980 is the highest rated World Series.

But now, the World Series now has to worry about outdrawing the NBA Finals. They need the dream matchup more than anyone, but can never get it. The closest they came was in 2003 when the Yankees faced the Red Sox in the ALCS and the Cubs faced the Florida Marlins in the NLCS. If the Cubs would of held their lead, a series with the Yankees would have been tremendous because of the Cubs title drought and their position as a national team, like the Yanks and Sox. The best series matchup in the 2000's has to be the 2004 World Series between the Red Sox and the Cardinals, but that ended way to early. The only other dream matchups since the strike were both series between the Braves and the Yankees.

It's obvious that this decade in sports have been unsuccessful in creating the matchups the causal sports fans want to see and it appears that they simply won't tune in and get to know new stars. Does this mean that if the NBA Finals is Denver and Orlando, no one will tune in for Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard? I don't know, but I do know the NBA doesn't want to find out, even if they can only keep one of them in. Because as we learned today from the Champions League final, if the two best teams and the two best players are involved, the world will stop and watch.