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.

United's Twentieth Wrapped Up At Old Trafford

The writing was on the wall for the past few months but today it became official; Manchester United have won their twentieth English League title. It widens their gap with rivals Liverpool a little more (Liverpool sit at 18) and sees Robin Van Persie win his first ever major trophy since the FA Cup in his inaugural season with Arsenal. I'm sure Piers Morgan's head exploded when he saw RVP lift the Premier League trophy today.

A tip of the hat must go to them for securing another title before the month of May and having seen off every competitor with ease. If Manchester United win their remaining games, they will sit on a mighty 96 points and overtake Chelsea's previous record of 95 in the 2004/05 season.

Take a bow, Manchester United, you earned it.

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.

Aguero's Late Stunner Leads City to Victory

Sergio Aguero. The man has been an afterthought for the majority of this season due to a variety of niggling injuries but today his quality shone through as he fired Manchester City ahead of their rivals, Manchester United, in the Manchester derby. City will claim it as a victory to uphold their honor as reigning Premier League champions; Manchester United will say it is a minor annoyance on their way to the title this year. Fergie, after all, is not known to allow his players to blow a twelve point lead in the table during this time of year.

Regardless of United's inevitable 20th league title, Manchester City dominated this game. United could have cemented their title today but City wanted it more. Mancini's men fought with pride and they prevailed. City dominated possession and looked the more threatening side throughout the contest. United had a few breaks that looked dangerous but they, by and large, looked like an away team playing for a draw (they were playing at Old Trafford). Yaya Toure did give away a free kick in a very dangerous area; Phil Jones' header bounced off of Kompany and into the City net to equalize for United. 

Manchester City would regain the lead but not until the 78th minute through Sergio Aguero, having been brought on for Samir Nasri, in a goal that was reminiscent of the one that won them the Premier League last year. City will enjoy the victory of this particular battle; United will enjoy the parade after they win the war in May.

Editor's note: Previous version of this blog post didn't include the video.

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.

USA Earn Point at Estadio Azteca

It is not often in soccer that a 0-0 draw means anything; tonight in Mexico City it does. The US Men's National Team earned their second ever point at the Estadio Azteca in World Cup qualifying (the first having been earned in 1997). This game brings the USA's record to 0-13-2 against the Mexicans at their home stadium.

Historically, this is a huge result for the USA but it also moves the Americans into third place in their region. The USA is behind Costa Rica in only goal difference and sit a paltry one point adrift of Panama. The Mexicans had plenty of chances to earn all three points, the foul committed by Maurice Edu should have been a penalty, but the Americans defended well even with newcomers Matt Besler and Omar Gonzalez in the center of defense (the former having only one cap and the latter with three).

The US Men's National Team can relax and enjoy this achievement as they do not play another qualifier until early June against Jamaica. Hopefully, by that time, they will not have to worry anymore about conditions akin to those in Denver.

Snowmageddon On The Pitch

I would be remiss if I didn't have this on the blog from last night. Yes, the World Cup qualifier between the US and Costa Rica stole time away from March Madness because of all this snow on the pitch in Denver. This was an important match since the US team needed to get a win on home soil; by doing so, they jump from last into 2nd in CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying. They get ready for Mexico on Tuesday, which they will have to deal with similar altitude, but pretty sure likely not the same weather.

Frank Lampard and his Two Hundred

This weekend marked the two hundredth goal scored by Frank Lampard for Chelsea F.C. This milestone is significant because it means that he only needs two more goals to tie the all-time record of 202 set by Bobby Tambling. If Frank were to score more than two, as many as willing to bet, he will sit at the zenith of goal-scoring achievement at Chelsea F.C. The truly breathtaking fact is that he has done this from midfield. He truly is one of a kind and should go down as one of England's greatest ever midfielders. He will also go down as one of the greatest scoring midfielders in the Premier League for many years to come; he reigns king in that category already. One thing is true:  you do not have to be a fan of Chelsea to appreciate the player that he is and the record he is inches away from tying and, fingers crossed, breaking.

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.)

The Manchester Derby Never Disappoints

What a cracking match at the Etihad on Sunday! If the BPL wanted to market its brand around the world with evidence, this was a perfect game for just that. It had pace, skill, power, world-class players, and goals. Sadly, a few idiots tried to ruin a thrilling game; marring one of the games of the season with their stupidity.

Ignoring those incidents, the game was thrilling and quite a joy to watch as a neutral. Manchester United had an astonishing start to the game with a Rooney brace. The Red Devils are really showing how dangerous they are on the break and have an embarrassment of riches of offensive weapons that fit this style perfectly. They still have a shaky defense and Michael Carrick is just terrible. City did well to slowly recover and not let United run up their lead.

Mancini's insistence on playing Mario Balotelli still astounds me. If he is still there after January, I will be shocked. City showed a ton of desire and eventually got back in the game. Yaya Toure continues to show why he should be used as an attacking midfielder but Mancini keeps deploying him too deep. Kolarov scored a captain's goal and City were level and pressing.

Samir Nasri. The perfect example of the overpaid footballer that has no heart. Firstly, why was one of their shortest players in the wall? Secondly, why would you limply stick your leg out like he did? I do feel Joe Hart has the ability to get to that ball but a completely avoidable and unnecessary deflection. Mancini needs to get ahold of his squad and move some pieces around. Manchester United are playing like a team possessed recently and are distancing themselves atop the Premier League table. In all, a great match marred by the events that followed Van Persie's game-winner.

The Mark Clattenburg Situation

Racism and football (soccer for those that prefer that term) have not been able to separate themselves from each other in recent times. The most noted cases of late were those involving Evra-Suarez and Ferdinand-Terry. I find it shocking that Rio Ferdinand got away with calling Ashley Cole a racially pejorative term between black Englishmen. I have followed English football since early in 2006 and this flurry of racism cases has been as shocking as it is unsettling. Yet, the most unsettling has been the reaction to Chelsea's formal complaint against Mark Clattenburg. Chelsea have pursued one of two initial complaints, they dropped the case involving, presumably, Juan Mata and have pushed forward with the case involving John Obi Mikel. What has followed has exposed the English game's complete lack of conviction for eliminating racism from the game.

Mark Clattenburg, as of right now, is an innocent man. All of the information that any media outlets have access to consists of speculation. Chelsea have chosen to pursue a formal complaint that one of their players was racially abused by him. Their is a long, drawn out process involving these cases. Have we already forgotten how long the Ferdinand-Terry case took to resolve? Before this game and incident, I had always thought Mr. Clattenburg to be one of the bright, new referees in English football and thought he was always fair in the majority of his officiating decisions. Have English referees made bad calls against Chelsea? Quite a few. A blown game by a referee does not end in racist accusations; referees are human and make bad calls sometimes. However, the accusation of a referee racially abusing a player is a very serious claim.

The issue that worries me is that the media, as a whole, has almost exclusively branded Chelsea as going on a witch hunt for losing the game and as retribution for the ban and fine imposed on club captain, John Terry. Where does this cynicism originate? For years, many have looked at Chelsea as having bought their success by foreign money. Many cited that Roman Abramovich did not care about club image and was out for blood in this case. A man so hell-bent on playing beautiful football and having a worldwide brand does not care about club image? There are no voices defending Mikel; who has been nothing but a quiet, consummate professional throughout his career.

The FA and many organizations in England and involved with UEFA are for eradicating racism from the game but where are these voices defending Mikel during this time? Why are people calling for Chelsea's head if the complaint cannot be proven to be true? The media coverage of this case is filled with vitriol towards Chelsea's audacity at lodging such a complaint against a referee.

All sides are currently innocent. Let this case flow through the proper channels and reserve our judgement until the story develops further. These are very serious accusations and they needed to be treated with objectivity.

Premier League Points : Week 8

Travis Lankford here again. It's that time.

This past weekend saw the three title contenders win but not in similar fashion. There were a few interesting results but there are quite a few stories developing over these past eight weeks.

First and foremost, Chelsea has 22 points out of a possible 24. Why is this a significant number?  Manchester City did the same thing last year...the year they won the Premier League. Also, Juan Mata. I am a Chelsea fan but it would be hard to argue against him being the best player in the Premier League right now and to think he can't get a sniff at the Spanish first team.

Sir Alex Ferguson seems to be ushering in a tactical revolution at Old Trafford. Manchester United has long been known to play a 4-4-2 with wingers. Ryan Giggs was, after all, a left midfielder. He is sticking with a 4-4-2 formation but with a diamond midfield. This may or may not prove to be a fruitful endeavor as Patrice Evra has been on a significant decline in the past few years and he will be relied upon to provide the attacking width on United's left flank. Van Persie, Rooney, and Welbeck are already showing that they are relishing the chance to play together and the former two are really showing their class.

Manchester City pulled off a champions style result against West Brom. They were a man down for the majority of the match due to James Milner's first ever red card for City. Dzeko proved that he still has goals in him and grabbed a brace and the vital three points for Manchester City. Those will prove to be a very important three points in May.

Liverpool won at home. Yes, you read that correctly. They now have one more point than games played. Okay, that's enough picking on the Scousers but what is still alarming, a plague carried over from last season, is their complete lack of killer edge in front of goal. Liverpool had 23 shots on goal against Reading and only managed to score on the break through new-boy and wonder-kid Raheem Sterling.

Mark Hughes's knickers must be on fire because he has to be in the hottest managerial seat in the league (Nigel Adkins has done too much for Southampton to be in too much trouble right now). QPR seem completely disjointed and out of sorts but that is the very real consequence when you buy a lot of new players and throw them into the starting eleven. I don't think Hughes will get the chance to see the team start to click and he will be looking for yet another position as manager in the not so distant future.

There are European games in the middle of this week so it will be exciting to see how the group stages develop in the Champions League today and tomorrow. The UCL fixtures are followed by Week 9 in the Premier League and the next round of the Capitol One Cup (formerly known as the Carling Cup).

Good Job, NFL

Today, the NFL has decided to change it's postseason overtime rules, making it no longer a strict sudden death period. In a 28-4 vote, the league has decided that if a team that wins the coin toss kicks a field goal, the other team will have a chance to get the ball back to either tie or win. If they score a touchdown instead, the game is over.

This is the perfect overtime for the NFL and really should be implemented in regular season as well. You earn touchdowns, not field goals. Field goals should be a play you settle on. The fact that all any team needs to do is take the kickoff to the 30, then go 40 yards is too easy in this NFL. This new rule puts the role of strategy back into the overtime, as now any field goal try would be second-guessed and the possibility to attempt an onside kick would be thought about. Plus, now it's no longer career suicide to win the coin toss and kick the ball (unless your defense sucks).

I think most everyone would agree that the NFL needed a new overtime format. The college format would be the worst idea since it's the dumbest OT in sports (going along with the dumbest way to decide a champion). For those who don't like that this rule is different from the regular season, remember the NHL has a completely different format for their postseason OT, so a slight, but clear difference won't matter here. Finally, by not going too far with trying to fix OT, it keeps the NFL from overplaying games when injuries can become more prevalent. The fact the NFL still can have ties is why soccer does the same thing. Soccer can never do a NHL-type OT during major events because playing for almost 120 minutes (90 in regulation and 30 extended) is physically draining and need the penalty kicks to decide games. Same goes for the NFL, even a little more do to football's brutality. The NFL did good today in tweaking their rules.

Keep The Yank With The Brits

This Saturday, Everton will face Birmingham in a battle between two of the better teams in the EPL. Neither side is in any danger of dropping into the bottom three of the league, meaning they wouldn't be demoted into League One. At the same time, neither team has much of a chance to finish in the top 4 and qualify for the Champions League. So why does this game matter? Because this is the end for Landon Donovan and his 10-week loan to Everton.

Donovan goes back to the States and the L.A. Galaxy to get ready for the start of the MLS season. Everton wanted to keep him for the rest of the season, but they couldn't make a deal with the Galaxy to extend his run, unlike what AC Milan has done with David Beckham. This to me is an extremely short-sighted decision on the part of Bruce Arena and the Galaxy.

Landon Donovan his proven that he fits in with Everton and is good enough as a player in the Premier League. There, his talents aren't being wasted, instead he's only getting better. The U.S. is now a better team because Donovan has played in England and with the best players in the world (including many English footballers who he will face in the World Cup opener). The chances for the USA to do any kind of damage in the World Cup are because Tim Howard is Everton goalkeeper, Jozy Altidore is in Hull City, and Clint Dempsey can return to action with Fulham. That, along with whether Oguchi Onyewy and Charlie Davies can be healthy in June could determine how well the Yanks play in South Africa.

However, that's not the main reason why Donovan should be allowed to play in EPL. It's because he's a Premier League talent and he would be paid like one. He doesn't make nearly the kind of money that he can in England because he's been brought up in this American system. If the MLS had a strike this year, no one would miss it, since all the American soccer fans watch European club leagues anyway. It's a disservice to Donovan to not allow him to finish the season with Everton and hopefully Donovan will leave once the season ends as a December or January transfer. Or better yet, there are rumors that Chelsea would be interested in picking up Donovan next year, which would allow me to officially declare Chelsea as my EPL team.

If you caught the highlights of Everton's blowout over Hull City, you see Donovan score a goal and set up another goal and both times, the Everton players showed how much Donovan meant to that team, which is somewhat true since Everton went 6-2-1 with him in the lineup and moved from second half to first page of the EPL leaderboard. Donovan was thrilled to play there and fans and played showed him the love that he can never receive here, at least in club football. So allow him to stay Coach Arena, at least until April 15 as Donovan asked for. Then when next year's transfer window opens, Donovan could earn the league even more in transfer fees.

Randomness While Channeling My Inner Barry Switzer

And apparently, this guy above also did the same thing. Bill Belichick did everything to lose that game Sunday night in that final Patriots drive. New England enters this drive with two timeouts and blows one before the first play for no reason. After setting up 3rd and 2, Belichick calls a pass play, instead of a run to set up the two minute warning, and that pass is nearly run back for a pick six. As the Pats offense leaves the field, Belichick arrogance comes into play and calls for another pass play on 4th and 2 at their OWN 28. The confusion of that play made the Pats burn their last timeout. That timeout was important as the Pats missed converting on the 4th down play on a close play that either you could use the timeout to challenge or save for the Colts possession and give Tom Brady more than 10 seconds to drive down the field.


Monday, I heard half the sports world rightly kill Belichick for his handling of the 4th down play and the other half defend him because "he's unconventional" and obviously anything he does is always the right call. The fact is, Belichick should have punted, and everyone expected it, which is why the Pats threw on third down (which you can't do) and threw basically the same route on fourth down. You can't take a chance that Peyton Manning gets 30 yards to win a game, but make him go 60-70 yards against you're defense that has made him uncomfortable all night, including a couple of interceptions (one in the fourth quarter).


Random note: I know about the video of Belichick's bodyguard knocking over a cameraman as they left the field. The thing that cracks me up is after Belichick shakes Jim Caldwell's hand, Jim Sorgi randomly approaches Bill just as the cameraman was taken down. Random note two: Since I didn't post this after this article, I must give Ed Werder credit for the "channel his inner Switzer" line. We both thought it, he put it on record first, plus he actually spoke with Barry Switzer about it, so he deservedly gets credit.


Good luck for the NY Jets, who have to face the Patriots who after their last loss beat the Titans 59-0. Add that the Pats lost the way they did, that the Jets beat them in September and how Belichick just plain hate the team, I wouldn't be surprised if 59-0 is the halftime score.


Jets have their own problems after another tough loss to the Jaguars Sunday. The key play was Maurice Jones-Drew stopping at the one yard line, a la Brian Westbrook, in order to run the clock down for a winning field goal. Gregg Easterbrook in his comprehensive TMQ column made an interesting point on the play, not by calling MJD dumb for trying to run the clock, but stating that Jack Del Rio would be to blame if the Jags somehow missed the FG because all they did was take knees to set the kick up (also you see him defend Belichick's fourth down decision, which I'm sure he was fight 100 bolts of lightning in doing so).


This is about the Jets, who have self-destructed before our very eyes, at least to those who live in New York. They lost Kris Jenkins and Leon Washington, Kerry Rhodes is the anti-Ed Reed, Mark Sanchez is playing like a rookie and Rex Ryan is coaching without a clue. This is a team that has talked like they won the last ten Super Bowls, where the coach has no clue about clock management and how to use his timeouts, where a rookie QB reads a prepared statement and thinks he can get away with pissing off the New York media. Now they're 4-5, certain to be 4-6 and headed to a 6-10, 7-9 season. The Rex Ryan Era Everybody!!!


Where last Sunday was an awful day for the Jets, it was golden for the Giants. Why? They didn't play. Also, the Cowboys, Eagles and Falcons lost, with all three and the Broncos each losing key players to injury. In a related story, the Giants play all three teams in the next four weeks. If Chris Simms is the starter on Thanksgiving, no chance do the Giants lose, hell the Lions or the Rams have as good a chance of winning. Thus, the Giants could avoid Brian Westbrook (concussion), Kyle Orton (ankle) and Michael Turner (ankle), plus the Cowboys had multiple injuries.


The Bengals are for real and no one can ignore them anymore. They swept both AFC Championship teams from a year ago, plus they have Oakland, Kansas City, Cleveland and Detroit which will get them into the playoffs. The defense is very good who have absorbed the loss of Antwan Odom without losing the ferocity of their pass rush and they have the best pair of corners for any team (with Green Bay the one possible exception) in Johnathan Joseph and Leon Hall.


I remember back in the mid-90s that Bud Adams was one of the worst owners in sports with how he handled coaches and obviously how the Oilers left Houston for Tennessee. Then, he has seemed like a good guy during the Jeff Fisher era, but giving him the Cowher treatment and not firing him. After last Sunday, I'm glad that Adams can be hated once again after his two bird salute to a Bills section, not to mention Commissioner Roger Goodell.


I think everyone's aware that the Yankees have won more games that the Nets, Knicks, Giants AND Jets combined in November. But does anyone know that the Seton Hall Pirates hold that same claim and they started playing games last Friday. Just sayin'. (This is no longer true because the Knicks remarkably won in Indiana, holding Danny Granger to three second half points. So now it's a tie.)


As for the Pirates, I believe they will make the tournament, despite Keon Lawrence getting suspended for DUI. Herb Pope will make the difference and finally give the team the size they've been lacking. I rarely pick college in November because a) too many new players so I have no clue how they mesh and b) I know teams that are thought of as good fall on their faces way too often.


After blowing the draft pick this year and selecting Jordan Hill over Brandon Jennings and a still questionable Danilo Gallinari pick last year, should Knicks fans be concerned that Donnie Walsh is the GM? Also, does this make it a good thing the Knicks don't have a draft pick in 2010, thus Walsh can't screw up another one?

Huge weekend boxing where Manny Pacquiao puts himself in the elite class of fighters after his dominant win over Miguel Cotto. There were some shades of the Ali "Rope-A-Dope" in the early rounds which Cotto was forcing the action, before one switch at the ropes and Pac Man was brutal the rest of the fight, forcing Cotto's wife and son fleeing the arena (just like Mick Foley's wife and kids). Now, the entire world is salivating over a fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, hopefully to be seen on the unofficial fight weekend of the year, Kentucky Derby day (doubling as the weekend of my 24th birthday).


Pacquiao supporters can claim that he dominated Oscar De La Hoya and Ricky Hatton better than Floyd and that Miguel Cotto was the best fighter either guy faced. While Mayweather supporters can claim the win of Juan Manuel Marquez is better than Pacquiao's struggles with the guy, the fact is, Marquez was a better fighter at a lower weight. One thing that's true about Pacquiao, he hasn't lost his speed as he moves up weight class and winning titles in seven divisions is as good a feat as ever done in boxing, while Mayweather must continue to stay unbeaten because that's his claim to fame, aside from a lot of bravado and boring defensive fights (he's clearly the San Antonio Spurs of boxing for the simple fact that I think he can throw when he wants to which he did against Hatton, just as the Spurs could score with the Suns when necessary). Pacquiao's place in boxing history will be looked on kind regardless of a win/loss against Floyd, but Mayweather can establish himself in a greater light. That's why Floyd needs this fight, though not more than the sport of boxing itself.


Finally, the World Cup qualifying ended Wednesday as the last six teams made the 32-team field which will be played in South Africa next year. Kudos must go to our upset winners in Greece (who I always root for, except against the U.S., in deference to some of my cousins) and Slovenia, who knocked off Ukraine (leading to this scene being rehashed) and Russia respectively (think of Russia's luck, they probably were among the top 5 teams in qualifying, but they had to be grouped with Germany and couldn't beat them. They win if grouped with France or Italy). Algeria won a special playoff over Egypt, Uruguay won their playoff with Costa Rica while Christiano Ronaldo can breathe easy because his Portugal squad made the field without him.


The final one was between Ireland and France. The French won the first leg 1-0 in Ireland and the Irish scored first in the second game leading to extra time. For anyone who doesn't know, because both teams scored one goal and on the road, they needed the extra time; if France would score, it would force Ireland to score or the French move on. In the 103rd minute, the play that happened will instantly be compared to Diego Maradona, the Montreal Screwjob, the Bennett Salvatore Game, Jeffery Maier, and No Goal among the list of worst officiating moments in sports history. Thierry Henry clearly touches the ball with a handball, which gets uncalled and the France win on the ensuing goal. Personally, I'm done talking about it, the Irish were robbed and France will undeservedly go to South Africa, it's that simple.


Here's my pick for tonight's NFL Network game. Home team in CAPS
CAROLINA (-3) over Miami- Without Ronnie Brown, the Wildcat isn't as effective and the Dolphins will lose tonight. Please don't make me curse picking you Jake Delhomme.

Randomness While Thinking of New Ways for the Mets to Lose

It's really becoming Groundhog Day for this franchise. This time, it was Eric Bruntlett pulling off the first game-winning unassisted triple play since Johnny Neun did it on May 31, 1927. Following that loss, and yesterday's as well, it appears that Johan Santana is the latest Met to get hurt and need surgery in the offseason. Santana now joins Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, David Wright and John Maine as the key players who have been hurt for most of this season. It seems like anytime the Mets have had a particularly painful loss, it gets followed by the loss of a key player. Bruntlett's triple play joins Sean Green's walking in the winning run in Philly on May 2, the loss to the Dodgers where the Mets made baserunning mistakes, dropped flyballs and a game-losing throwing error, the Luis Castillo drop against the Yankees and the Cardinal game where Green hit the winning run, followed by Albert Pujols with a mammoth grand slam.


Let's also discuss the Billy Wagner trade to the Red Sox. First off, great job Mets for giving away two high draft picks to restore your farm system and only get two PTBN. Now, Bill Madden on Daily News Live set the scene for Boston; Jonathan Papelbon doesn't want to close, he doesn't want to stay in Boston and he hasn't pitched well from the closer spot (Fang's Bites routinely tweets about him as heart attack Papelbon). Wagner gives the Red Sox a chance to bridge the gap before Daniel Bard becomes the closer and if Bard's ready in 2010 or Wagner pitches horrible, definitely possible, Wagner will net them the two draft picks if they offer arbitration.


Now that we're coming up on the end of the baseball season, the awards races are starting to heat up. The only award the seems to be his to lose is Pujols as NL MVP. Maybe Ryan Howard, Hanley Ramirez and Troy Tulowitzki could be considered, but Pujols is still the best player in the league and since the Cards will make the playoffs, he's a shoo-in. AL MVP is tougher because Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter will split votes from one another and I believe that if the Twins stay in the AL Central race into the last two weeks of the season, Joe Mauer will win the award. His hitting this year at catcher is to great to ignore for a contending player. Keep an eye for Miguel Cabrera and Michael Young, however, since they are having terrific years for competitive clubs. The NL Cy Young looks like it will be between Tim Lincecum and Chris Carpenter, while the AL Cy Young is completely wide open between the likes of Zack Greinke, CC Sabathia, Justin Verlander, Roy Halladay, Josh Beckett and Mariano Rivera.


Looks like the Mark Sanchez bandwagon took a hit after yesterday's game against the Ravens. How do I know? Because my father is the bandwagon; anytime he changes his mind on anything, it must be how bandwagon fans operate. I, on the other hand, never make too much of preseason. The thing everyone should remember is that Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco is the exception of how rookie QB play, not the norm. Peyton Manning struggled through his first season, so did Troy Aikman, Terry Bradshaw and Steve Young. So Jets fans (and I'm not one of them), keep your expectations low and you'll be satisfied regardless what he does.


The good people at Sorts of Sports have started to rank their top fantasy players with the QB's and will continue to do so for this week and next. I will not and suggest you read them, but I do have a few players that you should look to for fantasy. The two players I'm very big on this year are Matt Forte and Steve Slaton, Donald Brown is my sleeper runner, Aaron Rodgers is someone you should look at if you lose out on Drew Brees and Tom Brady. I think Michael Turner should be avoided if possible, and any QB after the Peyton, Rodgers, Warner group is really the same. I'm sure you noticed I haven't touched on WR's. My feeling is look for any teams number 1's. Vincent Jackson should do well because he's Phil Rivers top guy, same for Santonio Holmes, Jerricho Cotchery and whomever wins the battle of the Giants top receiver. And I agree with Matthew Berry, defense/special teams are as interchangeable as kickers, you pick up the one who don't allow that much points and the rest comes together.


Great Twitter post by the legendary Bill Simmons about ironic Sports Illustrated covers from the steroid era. Couple of comments; it's a shame (unless proven to be a PED user) that Griffey is associated with Sosa and McGwire and the 1998 Sportsmen of the Year cover is the greatest in terms of comedy's sake.


Good job by Entourage to realize that their show hasn't been good this year and decided to bring in Bob Saget uncensored. Here's the video of it. And if you only think of Saget as Danny Tanner on Full House, think the opposite for his standup act.


DirecTV and Versus have to get a deal done so us hockey fans who have DirecTV aren't shut out of the playoffs. We can survive the regular season without Versus, but the playoffs, including two Stanley Cup Final games need to be on. Not to mention that they have a college football schedule that includes teams like Texas, USC and Florida St.


On the plus side of sports on TV, great job by ESPN for showing the English Premier League on Saturday mornings. I've never had a channel that showed the matches live and it was easy for me to ignore it, but now I'm going to try to be as into the EPL as I ever was. I'm very surprised by the slow start by Liverpool and maybe now that Bill Simmons has officially joined the Tottenham Hotspur bandwagon can they succeed in the league.


Finally, let's talk about the Knicks. Now, the stated goal when Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni came in was to be ready for the 2010 free agency. That's been the impetus to every move since they came in last year. They succeed in getting rid of Jamal Crawford's and Zach Randolph's contracts and haven't signed anyone past 2010 since then. However, with the shrinking salary cap next season, no first round pick and the inability to move Eddy Curry and Jared Jefferies (which was Walsh's biggest mistake since he could have traded him and Nate Robinson for Kenny Thomas' expiring contract) will keep this team no closer to contend this season. The target is LeBron James and if LeBron only cares about non-basketball reasons for his next contract, the Knicks would fit. If he makes a basketball decision, he should stay in Cleveland or even head to the Clippers if he thinks of both on- and off-the-court reasons.


Thus, I believe the Knicks should shoot to compete by 2011. The fact is, the Knicks don't have the team that will be enticing to a franchise player, which they need if they want to win. Which is why they should hold off their plans for another year of adding talent to surround a star. The economy could be in better shape after another year and with Curry and Jefferies contracts off the books, they will have more cap room. They also could use their advantage in money to trade for a franchise guy from a team that needs money, like Chris Paul. Besides, when the NBA has a lockout in a couple years, they're going to need a New York team to do well to recreate buzz after the players return.

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.