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Borussia Dortmund beweisen ihren Wert

February 26, 2011 — by Sean

Lukasz Piszczek shut down Ribery for large portions of the match.

As far as google translate is concerned, the post title says Dortmund have now proven their badassedness. The team came into Bayern’s Allianz Arena today 13 points ahead of the Bavarians but as 4-to-1 underdogs who hadn’t won a match there since 1991. After early-week comments out of the Bayern Munich’s front office that defending champions would win by a minimum two goals, Dortmund’s manager Jürgen Klopp told the press, “Well we’ve all had a long talk about it, and we’ve decided to travel to Bayern anyway.” They more than just showed up, they took their game to Die Roten and jammed a 3-1 victory down their throats.

The game started brightly with both sides looking to establish their attack. From the outset Munich worked up their wings (as they do), with Robben on the right, Ribery on the left, and Gustavo in support as an overlapping left back. The Brazilian started off well after being relieved of his centerback duties, and Bayern looked like they’d be using him quite a bit on the day. But that was early on. Within minutes of kickoff Shmelzer came attacking up Dotmund’s left (leaving a non-marking Robben behind him) and lifted a ball onto the foot of Dortmund’s second striker, Robert Lewandowski. He slightly mistimed his volley or it would’ve been 1-0 to the visitors on 4 minutes. The big Pole had escaped the tracking Schweinsteiger to find himself clear to no avail.

We wouldn’t have to wait much longer for a goal though, as Schweinsteiger (who had a terrible day) turned a bobbled pass into the onrushing Großkreutz who collected and laid a well measured ball into the path of Argentine-born, Paraguay international Lucas Barrios. The striker crossed up Munich keeper Kraft (who had done so well on weds against Inter), sliding the ball easily into the far corner. 1-0 to Dortmund within 10 minutes.

The side in yellow didn’t sit back and continued to press. It was at times difficult to tell where their attacks were coming from, as their top four or five players were constantly interchanging positions, and through the half any number of players would find a run behind the line or step up to take a pop from distance (holding midfielder Sven Bender producing some of the best far-range rips). But Bayern would never give up, and they continued pushing up their wings, if only to win corners and set-pieces. It was enough, within five minutes of Dortmund’s goal the score was leveled when Ribery sent in a corner to the foot of Gustavo. 1-1 and all to play for in one of the most open matches of the season.

Commentary Schedule

What to watch this weekend: Feb 26-27

February 25, 2011 — by Sean

nuri sahin — Born in Germany, plays for Turkey, Nuri Sahin will be key to breaking down the Bayern defense.

Standard fare with mostly mid-level clashes across the leagues this weekend, though there are a few standouts for which you should ignore all other matches and plans. We’ll keep it short and sweet (click the teams for channel info by country):

Saturday, Feb 26th

12:30 pm (2pm replay on Gol TV) Bayern München vs Borussia Dortmund Bundesliga This promises to be a wide-open match. After their complete domination of Inter mid-week, and with a squad that’s essentially full strength (yes first choice strikers Olic and Klose are out, but Gómez has something along the lines of 27 goals for his club this season…they’re just fine as-is), Bayern will be looking to earn back a few points against the league leaders. It’s unlikely they’ll actually catch them, as Die Schwarzgelben are a full 10 points clear at the top of the table, and 13 points past third place Bayern. But Dortmund are a pretty attractive attacking side themselves, and have performed better on the road this season than they have at home.

Saturday, Feb 26th

9 am (replay at 5pm on ESPND) PSV vs Aja x Eredivisie Two of the consistently best teams in the Netherlands meet, with the home side five points ahead of third place Ajax (Gooch’s Twente sits in between the pair). While this match doesn’t have the city rivalry background that makes a meeting with Feyenoord such a powderkeg of violence, the two Dutch powerhouses promise to put on an enjoyable show. Ajax need all three points, as they currently sit outside a Champions League berth.

11 am Arsenal vs Birmingham City Carling Cup Final Arsenal are without Cesc and Theo, but are still favorites to raise their first cup in five years. Of course, their manager has famously stated: “If you win the League Cup, can you honestly say you have won a trophy?” Sounds like the answer this season is, yes, yes you can. See our previous post about the history between Arsenal and Birmingham (including some not-so-awful footage of Eduardo’s hideous leg break) in our archive here! A dip in reveals: a quick historical assessment of Birmingham City vs Arsenal. The teams have met 116 times in all competitions, the first time being back in 1905. Aside for a spell in in the 1950s, Arsenal have dominated the meetings, and own a record of 54 wins and 34 draws to their 28 losses. Mostly known as a tough-tackling, defense-first side, the West Midlands club have been improving their football the past couple of seasons though they find themselves currently on the cusp of relegation.

Video

Edu Strike Puts Rangers Through

February 25, 2011 — by Sean

Lots of games happening in the Europa League tonight, but it was a sliding extra time goal from US midfielder and Rangers clutch-man Maurice Edu that has sent the boys from Glasgow through to the next round on away goals.

US defender Oguchialu Onyewu was in action with Twente as well. Big guy has been getting starts and playing pretty well. Highlights of the match after the bump, along with highlights of the Villarreal – Napoli game, the pick of the litter last night.

Sporting Lisbon 2 – 2 Rangers

Commentary News

Bayern One Step Closer to Revenge

February 24, 2011 — by Sean

Danijel Pranjić — It would've been worse for Inter if he hadn't gone off early with an injury.

Bayern Munich were in the Lombardy region this evening, where they met last year’s Champions League winners Inter Milan at the San Siro. By chance you ask? Well certainly not. This was the first 90 minutes of their knockout round tie, and the Bavarians certainly weren’t playing for a draw.

Inter were without Milito—the man who scored the winner in last year’s final—though he’s only just back in form after taking the first half of the season off for various knocks to body and mind. The Italians came out in a 4-3-2-1 (the Christmas tree, if you like) to face the German’s 4-2-3-1, Eto’o up top for Inter and Gomez the man at the point for Bayern.

It all started off cagedly as you’d expect from this phase of the cup, especially when there’s an Italian side in the mix. There was an early chance off a set piece sent in by Sneijder that then went sailing into the stands off the foot of the center back Ranocchai (the man had a generally awful game, sending dangerous loose passes about the back before being subbed with ten minutes remaining). And another opportunity in the 22nd minute when the lively Eto’o worked up the right wing and placed an opportunity on the foot of Cambiasso, but his blast was stifled by newly-chosen first choice keeper Thomas Kraft. But that was it for the champions, the rest of the half saw them compressing the center and turning away crosses from the quick-footed Bayern wingers.

Immediately following the Cambiasso chance Bayern were up the field, and from this point on they bossed the match. Die Roten were having success up the left flank with Ribéry and the Croatian Danijel Pranjić overlapping and creating a general nuisance for Maicon. Robben looked sure on Bayern’s right, and his cross at twenty-two minutes found Ribéry’s disfigured head, before making its way onto the crossbar. Ten minutes later Panjić had to come off with an injury, but the attacking movement simply worked more up the right through Robben then, with Thomas Müller dropping back from an attacking midfield roll to collect and help the ball from right to left.

The second half was more of the same, with Bayern even more intent to bring a lead back to the Fatherland. Müller had a chance right at the start, finding space in the box before sending an open header well wide. As they settled into the second half and looked for openings, Munich were stroking the ball around for such long periods that the home fans had the chance to build up quite a whistling dislike. They were struck silent in the 55th minute when Robben sent in a strike that hit the post after some clever movement between the attacking four.

Inter were quick to counter after that chance. It was in fact a very punch, counter-punch affair, though the Germans threw many punches that the Italians simply avoided without attempting a counter-strike. Attack seemed reliant on getting the ball to Sneijder and then to Eto’o (who remained dangerous throughout). And in the 57th minute Eto’o created a great opening for himself and fired a wicked shot in at Kraft, who could only turn it onto an onrushing Cambiasso. This time the spear-bald Italian sent the ball into the upper deck—crisis averted.

In the last ten minutes with the score still level at zeros, Inter began to push up. They caused a number of corners and forced the Bayern defense to scramble to keep the ball out (Thiago Motta forced a sturdy save at the end with a fierce header). This, though, was when Bayern’s Brazilian center back Luiz Gustavo showed his true class. Calm in possession, the part defensive mid /part center back twice took the ball from a dangerous position and simply ran up the field away from danger, leaving the Inter attackers helpless behind him.

Just when it seemed like the game would run out without a goal being put through, Bayern manufactured one final surge up the pitch. Robben collected the ball on the right, dipped inside and sent a blast at Júlio César. The Brazilian keeper couldn’t hold onto the ball, but the Inter defenders had let go of their marks, allowing the great poacher Gomez to lope in unhindered and slide the ball into the net. Bayern with a death blow in the 90th minute, and well deserved after they’d very much dominated the game.

News

This Night in Champions League Action: A French Quadruple

February 22, 2011 — by Sean

Chelsea ran riot in Copenhagen this evening, winning 2-0 with Nicolas Anelka scoring on both sides of the half. The west londoners got just the opposition they needed to turn their sad form around, with the bald Frenchman showing real class against a side who looked very much like they hadn’t played in two months. Torres wasn’t as lucky, though he’s manufacturing chances. Here’s a good summation of his current condition by the guardian liveblog:

59 min: Torres picks the ball up down the right and cuts inside. For a moment he’s free in the box, one on one with the keeper, but hesitates and allows Antonsson to come back at him. Torres drops a shoulder and makes himself some more space, eventually getting a shot away, but the keeper’s got time to position himself well and gets behind it. It’s become a glaring confidence issue, this, but he’s getting so many openings surely a goal isn’t long in coming, and then we can forget all about it.

In Lyon, once and future king Karim Benzema broke the deadlock after having been on the field for less than a minute. After a terribly boring first half which saw a lot of niggling fouls interrupt play around midfield, Madrid came out in the second half flying. Within five minutes they’d hit the woodwork twice (off a Ronaldo dipper and then a lofted header by Sergio Ramos) though they never found any real fluidity. Often, the players in white found themselves isolated on the attack, and it was chaos more than tactics that gave Benzema the chance to score against his old side.

Michel Bastos – The Brazilian caused nothing but problems up Madrid's left flank.

The substitute respectfully held his celebration in front of a crowd that had just seconds before politely applauded his return to the pitch, and the goal took the wind out of the stadium for a few minutes. Soon the drums started back up and Les Gones started to push. While it was Michel Bastos and Aly Cissokho combining well up the left in the first half, the sturdy pair of Gourcoff and Toulalan pushed the ball wide while holding the center in the desperate buildup to the end—and eventually the home side got their chance. Off a set piece in the 83′, centerback Cris, a problem for Madrid all night, rose to head the ball down onto the waiting foot of Senegalese-Frenchman Bafetimbi Gomis.

Madrid played a very defensive game tonight, only showing themselves for moments. One wonders though, can they really turn it on when they need to?

As for Chelsea, they’re sure to get through to the next stage of the cup. If only they could play a few more games outside the country they may find their championship form again.

Commentary News

Champions League: Madrid roll into Lyon, Chelsea visit Copenhagen

February 21, 2011 — by Sean

Benzema — Does this guy get a chance in front of the old home crowd?

First knockout round matches continue on Tuesday with Real Madrid visiting the very well run french side Olympique Lyonnais (richest club in the country, ‘natch), while the slumping Blues from London head to Denmark to meet FC København (the first Danish side to play in this phase of the cup).

Under normal conditions Chelsea would be heavy favorites, but their recent run of form makes every match a toss-up. The Løverne haven’t played a match in two months, though they currently sit 19 points clear at the top of the Danish Super League. You’d think rust could play a problem, but that wasn’t the case for Shaktar when they visited Rome last week on the same time off.

Chelsea has most recently, well, sucked. They are a strong side with fantastic players, but they haven’t had that killer edge of late—and this from the team who started the season so strongly it seemed they were a lock for the title. Maybe this is the match Torres and co. need to settle back into a good run of form.

The real match to watch will be Lyon v Madrid. Madrid have been the losing side in the team’s last three trips to France’s second city, though up until now it wasn’t Mr Mourinho holding the reins. Les Gones are a side to be admired. A selling side, they won’t hold onto young talent when the big boys of Europe crack open their checkbooks, and they certainly won’t buy expensive older players, preferring to scout young talent and develop it before moving them on for a big payday.

The system works: the team has been getting further in the Champions League every year, while managing to win seven consecutive Ligue 1 titles between 2001 and 2008. Some players you may have heard of who moved on from the french side? Michael Essien, Florent Malouda, Karim Benzema, and Éric Abidal to name a few.

Ligue 1’s player of the year Lisandro Lopez is likely to miss the match due to injury, though attacking midfielder Yoann Gourcuff, and preferred right wing Clément Grenier are back in for the Frenchmen. Though that may not be enough to hold back the flow of Madrid’s attack. Franco’s choice hasn’t been piling in goals at their early season rate, and they had a few stumbles before the new year, but this is just about the time Jose has his teams hitting their fullest stride. With Adebayor, Kaka, Ronaldo, Ozil, and Di Maria pushing forward, fed by Alonso from deep and Marcelo and Ramos on the wings, it’s surely only a matter of time before the special one’s system clicks into full-gear.

Lyon could play a deep lying game and seek a counter-attacking chance when it materializes, but let’s hope it’s an open game and we get to see some of the French side’s class on display too.

Schedule

What to watch this weekend: Feb 19-20

February 18, 2011 — by Sean

Champions League knockout play now committed to memory, we’re back into the domestic leagues with a touch of cup action in England, and the rest of the world getting on with earning points. As you may know, faithful readers, we tend to look to the Soccer Insider for our weekend tv listings, but seeing as so many of us watch matches through variously legal web outlets, we thought of expanding the list a bit this week. Fascinating, we know.

All times Eastern US. Click the teams to see on which channel the games are being shown in your country. Fancy!

Saturday, February 19th

7:30 am Chelsea vs Everton FA Cup The pick of the round. Everton has become a second-half-of-the-season team, and though they’ve lost the speedy little Bafana Bafana Steven Pienaar to Spurs, they’re still a dangerous side. Though saying that, Evra is out with another injury just when he was getting back into goal-scoring form—he was the man who put the Toffees ahead in the initial fourth round meeting between the teams. Chelsea struggled to equalize and bring the match back to Stamford Bridge, but they have…now let’s see if they can put it away.

9:30 am Hamburger SV vs Werder Bremen Bundesliga The Nordderby (or North Derby) sees the two most successful sides in Bundesliga history meet to add to what has been so far a pretty evenly matched rivalry. Neither team is setting the league on fire this year, and Die Werderaner is a little too close to the relegation zone for comfort, but over the course of the teams’ 139 meetings, 48 have gone to Hamburger, 50 to Werder, and the remaining 41 ended in draws.

10 am Nottingham Forest vs Cardiff City England Championship Two teams separated by two points battling for automatic promotion through to the Prem. A quick primer for those of you who ignore all but the Barclay’s-shielded teams, positions one and two of the Championship earn an immediately place in next season’s Premiership, while the third through sixth teams meet in playoff rounds to determine the final addition to the top flight. Currently Cardiff sit in second with Nottingham in fourth. This one promises to be a battle.

12 pm Valencia vs Sporting Gijón La Liga If for no other reason than that we enjoy the powerful mustache of Manuel Preciado. We’ll also be watching to see how well Los Che rebound from the midweek draw with Schalke. Sporting Gíjon will look to surprise another top team after having drawn with Barça last week.

12:15 pm Manchester United vs Crawley Town FA Cup We can’t imagine this will be too much of a match, but good for you Crawley Town! The gate receipts and television earnings for this match alone will be enough to keep the tiny club afloat for a couple more seasons (they’d been in administration in the 90s and nearly went kaput mid 00s). Other fun fact, this match will see the meeting of the red devils and the red devils.

12:30 pm FSV Mainz 05 vs Bayern München Bundesliga Bayern started the season slowly but have now climbed to third (though still thirteen points behind league-leaders Borussia Dortmund). Die Roten have had a rough go with Ribery and Robben both out for significant spells due to injury, though they are slated to play together come this weekend even though Robben pulled up in training. Mainz sit just two points behind the visiting side in fifth. This is a squad with a long history of not playing in the top flight, but the last decade has been something quite different for the team, which saw them playing top flight ball 5 non-consecutive years. Now they’re challenging for a place in Europe after starting the season with eight wins.

1 pm Olympique Marseille vs Saint-Étienne Ligue 1 We never point to the French league, so in the spirit of fairness let’s all have a quick look at two teams fighting for a place in Europe. Marsielle host Man United in Champions League play next week so would normally look to rest a few key starters, but the less-monied St. Étienne side are only a few points back from last year’s Ligue 1 champions, and though they haven’t produced the kind of quality on display in the mid 60s-70s or even the 90s (when they developed the likes of Laurent Blanc, and Michel Platini) they are sure to put up a solid front at home.

7:15 pm Racing Club vs Boca Juniors Primera División It’s the start of the clausura (the Argentine season is split in two, with a start “apertura” and a closing “clausura” season), and the Boca boys are in last place after one game on a -3 goal difference. It’s sure to turn around, there is plenty of time to find the top of the table, but if you’re going to commit to some league play why not start at the beginning?

Sunday, February 20th

7:30 am Celtic vs Rangers Scottish Premier League Old firm derby: A massive tie with plenty of history behind it, either of these teams is generally a lock for the league title, and this year Celtic (playing at home) are a comfortable five points clear of their Glaswegian neighbours. Rangers being the Protestant side and Celtic having Catholic ties, the derby tends to dredge up all the conflict between subsections of the rival systems…any excuse to beat each other with a bat:

The Old Firm rivalry fuels many assaults and many deaths on Old Firm Derby days; an activist group that monitors sectarian activity in Glasgow has reported that on Old Firm weekends, admissions to hospital emergency rooms increase ninefold over normal levels, and journalist Franklin Foer noted that in the period from 1996 to 2003, eight deaths in Glasgow were directly linked to Old Firm matches, and hundreds and thousands of assaults.

10 am Fulham vs Bolton FA Cup We expect this will be a very even game, both teams being very organized in back and having a very even midfield between them. We’ll be tuning in from Stateside as some US faves (in the form of Stuart Holden and Clint Dempsey) will be facing off in knockout action. Stu, well known for his hairstyle, has been both breaking attacks and serving the ball well, while Clint has moved with some success into a central striker role (classic #9 stuff).

3 pm Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao La Liga You may have heard about Barça’s loss this week. Well they’re back at home and we’re wondering how they’ll react. Puyol is due back to shore up the center of their defense, and, well, what more can you say except that loss will probably just be treated as a blip. Though…of three teams to have never been relegated from the first division, the third is Athletic Bilbao (the first two Madrid and Barça, of course). Also, before their Basque neighbors started offering citizenship to foreign players to get around the max-three non-nationals on a team, Bilbao was a serious force, handing Barça a 12–1 loss, their worst ever defeat. There’s a lot of pride behind this match-up. Could be a shock or a blowout.

Commentary

The Loneliness of the Goalkeeper

February 17, 2011 — by Sean

Famous author and philosopher Albert Camus once said, “All that I know most surely, about the morality and the obligations of man, I know from sport.” His sport of choice? Football of course, and his chosen position was goal keeper, the place of those odd men who live in a very different psychological universe than the rest of the players on the field.

We all know that goalies are a bit off, and now you can have a listen at a BBC 4 production (via RadioLab) of a half-hour exploration into the strange minds of the men between the sticks. It’s a very quick 30 minute podcast (which we’ve embedded below in case you’d like to listen at your desk), and we encourage you to subscribe to RadioLab because it is consistently fascinating.

The piece starts off with an interview of Bob Wilson, famous for minding the net for Arsenal in the 60s and 70s, and is scattered with live action calls evoking the names of legendary keepers Peter Schmeichel,Gordon Banks, Gary Sprake, and Jens Lehmann. And besides Camus, some other famous lonely creative sorts who donned the gloves include the likes of Vladimir Nabokov, Pope John Paul II, and Che Guevara.

Let’s end with the thoughts of Nabokov, the Russian who wrote so beautifully in English.

As with folded arms I leant against the left goalpost. I enjoyed the luxury of closing my eyes, and thus I would listen to my heart knocking and feel the blind drizzle on my face, and hear in the distance the broken sounds of the game, and think of myself as of a fabulous exotic being in an English footballer’s disguise composing my verse in a tongue nobody understood about a remote country nobody knew. Small wonder I was not very popular with my teammates.

If you’d like to see a long list of what may be the greatest keepers of all time, head over to the World Soccer forum and check out their top 50 selections.

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