Chelsea FC finally put the finishing touch on their improbably Champions League run. They managed to do the unthinkable when they dispatched Barcelona and advanced to the final, and one may say that they had an even harder task considering they had to play the final against Bayern Munich in Munich, but they fought through the obstacles and did it. Ashley Cole was phenomenal through this entire run and that puts him well primed for the Euros later on in the year and of course Didier Drogba was as epic as they come. Drogba won’t be with the team anymore after this off season but he has given all Chelsea fans, the greatest thrill they’ve ever had. This is why this sport is called The Beautiful Game, because these last two weekends gave us amazing finishes in both the final weekend of the EPL and this CL final. Truly incredible to see how both these games unfolded and how they ended. I spent the last two CL finals in Vegas, catching them at the Caesars Palace sportsbook and that was my plan this year also, but I have a trip to Vegas next week as it is, so I just stayed at home. Awesome time either way. Now I’m not a fan of Chelsea by any means, I’m an Arsenal follower when it comes to European teams, but I definitely appreciated what they did. Congrats to the team and its fans.
Posts tagged fifa
Major League Soccer – State Of Things
Some Major League Soccer thoughts right around the halfway point of the season or as close to half way as it may have been recently. Let’s begin with the Eastern Conference: I picked these teams to come out of the East for some playoff action. NY, KC, Philadelphia and Houston. Somehow Columbus has snuck into the conversation and has ruined my picks with Houston two points out of the last spot. Seeing as how Columbus is sitting pretty in first place right now, it may be harder than anticipated for my picks to come through but I’m still thinking it may happen. I’m not entirely sold on this Crew team. The glaring surprise here is that I had picked the NY Red Bulls to win the Supporters Shield but that ain’t going to happen because my LA Galaxy is running away with that race. Actually the entire Western conference is running away with that so there’s no way an Eastern team is going to win that.
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Soccer Mania!
So the whole of the soccer/football mania continues to be in full swing. I guess it was best encapsulated this past weekend when my LA Galaxy won with goals from Landon Donovan and David Beckham. It then continued with one of the greatest soccer matches I’ve ever seen as the US Women defeated Brazil in the Womens World Cup after playing for 120 minutes and settling it all in PKs. USA went down a player in regular time and then went down a goal in extra time before tying it with about a minute of play time left in the second frame of extra time, about 122 minutes in. It was an exhilarating, memorable game to say the least, one which released elation that reverberated all over Twitter. The soccer spectrum came full circle after Colombia also defeated Bolivia and became the first team to advance to the quarterfinals of the Copa America. This whole soccer mania will continue as MLS continues its season and the EPL teams make their way here to the US for their pre-season tours and of course, as The FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia kicks off at month’s end. The beautiful game just continues to be so.
FIFA Confederations Cup Final
Brazil 3 – 2 United States (Final)
The United States faced off against Brazil in pretty much the biggest game the United States National Men’s Team has ever played! After discarding Spain with a 2-0 humiliation in the semi-final, I personally believed that the US was ready to go against Brazil and that they had gained some confidence against the so called powerhouses of the soccer world. I was expecting the game to be great and the US to have a very good chance of bringing home the Confederations Cup. Game began and the US was definitely ready. Beautiful goals by Dempsey and Donovan gave the US, a 2-0 lead at halftime and Brazil was looking down. Unfortunately the US was not able to capitalize on this lead and ended up losing the final 3-2. Here’s where the divergence in thinking comes in.
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FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
FIFA World Cup Qualifiers – Here are my thoughts regarding a few of the recent World Cup qualifying games that took place in the region that most matters to me, the Americas:
USA 3 – 0 Trinidad & Tobago
USA was going to have zero troubles against T&T, we all know that. I could have been part of the starting 11 for the US and we still would have won. With that in mind, why is it that the United States has such incompetent coaching? Freddy Adu is, at worst, the 4th best player in the United States but Bob Bradley still refuses to put him in the starting lineup and even refuses to have him on the bench. Ask any team, in any sport, in any country, if the 4th best player of any team is a question mark to start….of course he’s not. It’s an outrage that this is the thinking of US Soccer and that they think this is the team that’s supposed to face the rest of the world in the World Cup. Clint Dempsey keeps getting a start…has he ever scored for the US? Has he ever scored for Fulham for that matter? This United States team is obviously going to win the CONCACAF region but quote me on this; they will not earn more than 1 point in the World Cup.
