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Commentary

Champions League: What We Saw

September 16, 2010 — by Sean

What more can I do?

The cultfootball brain trust was huddled around a giant screen for three of yesterday’s matches, though we tended to pause longer on Real Madrid v Ajax a bit more than the others. Whereas the Chelsea and Arsenal matches were blowouts, Real always looked like they might give one up on the counter, and Ajax are no slacks— though their real standout was the keeper Maarten Stekelenburg (who you may remember from the World Cup). We didn’t have the chance to see the other games as we don’t have Direct TV, the bastards.

On a night when Real’s strikers had ample opportunity to shut down the game, Stekelenburg consistently provided no angle for glory. There were nearly 20 shots between Higuaín, Ronaldo, and di María, and only Higuaín put the ball away (and only from very close range for what we thought were a couple of slop goals). Ronaldo’s shots  were particularly funny to us, sour grapes mostly because once he breaks his duck you just know the goals will come pouring in.

Higuaín on the other hand doesn’t look like much of a superstar striker. He does have a deceptively quick first step, exhibited mostly in closing down defenders, but he doesn’t exactly play with his head up. Still, he finds himself the right positions to slam home easy goals, and that’s a skill of high value, though often overlooked for carefully crafted movement finished off with a precision volley or some curling dipper.

Real’s attacking movement was created almost completely by some combination of Marcelo, Özil, and di María. The three looked fantastic, especially the Turkish German, and it gives me some sense that Mourinho won’t settle on an entirely defensive-minded strategy in the season to come. Only time will tell of course, as the true test will be El Clásico on the 28th of November.

Oh, and did I mention the most important member of the cultfootball team?

What up, ladies?