Who is Kenny Dalglish? Yes, he is Liverpool’s caretaker manager for the remainder of the season, following the dismissal of Roy Hodgson. But in Liverpool, he is much more than that–he is King Kenny, Liverpool’s greatest player ever, #1 on the list of 100 Players Who Shook the Kop:
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Maps
A Map of London’s Premier League Clubs
We do love maps here at CultFootball. Via bigthink.com (which got it from qprdot.org), a great map of London:
For reference, here is a Google Map of London showing the grounds of the five London Premier League clubs:
View London Football Grounds in a larger map
Some commentary by the BigThink writer (Frank Jacobs, author of their Strange Maps sub-blog):
CommentaryHistoryVideo
Arsenal v Leeds 1972 – Centenary FA Cup Final
The two historied English clubs played earlier today, in a 3rd Round FA Cup matchup at the Emirates. While today’s was an interesting match, their most famous FA Cup clash was on May 6, 1972 at Wembley–in the centenary FA Cup Final. Leeds won 1-0 to win their 1st and only FA Cup.
Unlike today, when it would have been a major upset for Leeds to hang on for a victory against Arsenal, in 1972 they were perhaps the two strongest sides in English football. Arsenal had pulled off the double the previous season, winning both the league and the FA Cup, with Leeds finishing 2nd in the 1970-71 First Division table–just a single point behind the Gunners.
It’s a game that’s well-documented online, by and for Leeds supporters; e.g., a Yorkshire Evening Post photo gallery which includes the front pages from the programmes of the match (left) and the May 8, 1972 special edition of the Evening Post (which includes pics of Leeds captain Billy Bremner receiving the Cup from Queen Elizabeth II and lifting the Cup above the squad):
Schedule
Matches to Watch – Special Holiday Midweek Edition
The Premier League certainly doesn’t give its players any rest over the holidays. After a full slate of fixtures on Boxing Day (plus yesterday’s Arsenal-Chelsea clash), there is another round of fixtures spread over today and tomorrow!
For those of you home for the holidays (or trapped at home due to the Snowtorious B.I.G.), here are the matches being televised in the US today; as usual, all times ET:
Tuesday, Dec 28
Manchester City-Aston Villa, 10am FSC & Fox Deportes
Tottenham-Newcastle, 10am FSP
West Brom-Blackburn, 12pm FSP
West Ham-Everton, 12:30pm FSP (tape delay)
Arsenal-Chelsea, 1pm ESPND (rebroadcast of yesterday’s match)
Birmingham City-Manchester United, 3pm ESPN2, ESPND & ESPN3.com
Stoke City-Fulham, 5pm FSC & Fox Deportes (tape delay)
(Note that foxsoccer.tv is streaming the following games live, all 10am ET starts: Tottenham-Newcastle, West Brom-Blackburn, Stoke City-Fulham, and Sunderland-Blackpool.)
And a special one-time only foray into the “other” kind of football…
Minnesota Vikings at Philadelphia Eagles, 8pm NBC: We venture outside of our usual purview of global football to American football, only because, even more than Real Madrid vs Barcelona, causes a schism in the CultFootball partnership. You see, one of us was born and raised in the Twin Cities, and hence grew up a fan of the Purple People Eaters; the other, in the greater (if one can really apply that adjective in this instance) Philadelphia area, and hence is a fan of the Eagles. Tonight, in the first Tuesday night NFL game since 1946, they square off in the City of Brotherly Love.
NewsPreview
Arsenal v Chelsea Today!
The one match of the day is the match of the week–Chelsea goes crosstown to take on Arsenal at the Emirates. Kickoff is at 8pm in London (3pm ET; watch it on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, or ESPN3.com in the US).
Here are a handful of links to get you ready for the big match:
–We find it’s very useful to have the Current Squad lists in front of us, for #s, nationalities, and links to individual player bios: Chelsea & Arsenal.
–Prior to the Chelsea-Arsenal match in early October, we posted a look at the players of African origin on each squad.
–Here is Goal.com’s match preview, which also has links to lineups and match stats (updated once the match is underway).
–Here is ESPNSoccerNet’s match preview, which predictably lists Samir Nasri and Didier Drogba as the players to watch (Nasri perhaps having replaced the too-oft-injured Fabregas as Arsenal’s talisman), and lists the following as the key match-up:
Key Battle: Bacary Sagna v Ashley Cole. One of the Premier League’s finest right-backs, Sagna’s strength and pace create an excellent outlet and his defensive nous is of great importance given the sometimes shaky nature of the Arsenal defence. On the right side, he bombs forward and possesses a decent final delivery, but he will be required to track back to counter the threat of Cole. The former Arsenal left-back certainly knows a thing or two about his old team, but Sagna poses a different challenge, having joined the club a year after Cole left for Chelsea. Both are full of running and attacking ambition, but it will be how they deal with their defensive duties that settles this battle.
Schedule
What To Watch – Boxing Day Edition
We’re a bit tardy getting up our weekend viewing guide–but there were no games in Europe yesterday because of Christmas.
There is, however, a full slate of Premier League fixtures today–plus a very big match tomorrow, with Chelsea going crosstown to play Arsenal. Not only that, there are more games in England on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Here are our picks for how to spend the next few days of your winter holidays (as usual, all times ET):
Sunday, Dec 26
Via Guardian Football’s Boxing Day clockwatch: “A very happy Boxing Day to everyone. Feeling a little drained? Eaten so much pudding that you can no longer fit into that T-shirt Father Christmas brought you? Remembering why you’ll be avoiding your relatives for the next 12 months? Then sneak off to the back room, pour yourself something warming and get set for an afternoon of festive footballing fun.”
Manchester United-Sunderland, 10am ESPND, FSC & Fox Deportes: Table-toppers Man U–remarkably still unbeaten in the Premier League–host up and coming Sunderland (now tied with Spurs for 5th!). We’ve noted one player to watch–Sunderland striker Asamoah Gyan, who grew up as a Man U fan in Ghana.
Aston Villa-Tottenham Hotspur, 12:30pm FSC & Fox Deportes: As noted above, Spurs are in a bit of a precarious position–tied for 5th in the table, 7 points behind Man U. So they’ll need to keep winning to stay in contention…
There is also the big game Monday…more on that tomorrow!
Monday, Dec 27
Arsenal-Chelsea, 3pm ESPN2 & ESPN3.com:
Commentary
Copa del Rey Round of 16 – Barcelona-Bilbao & Valencia-Villareal
The Round of 16 (Octavos) of the 2010-11 Copa del Rey (official name: Campeonato de España – Copa de Su Majestad El Rey Don Juan Carlos I, i.e., “Championship of Spain – His Majesty King Juan Carlos I’s Cup”) begins today. Two attractive matchups will be televised in the US this afternoon, with two more to follow tomorrow afternoon.
The four teams playing this afternoon are among the top eight in the current La Liga table (Barcelona #1, Villareal #2, Valencia #4, and Athletic Bilbao #8). As usual, all times ET:
Tuesday, Dec 21
| 2:00pm | Ath Bilbao v Barcelona (L) | Spain Copa del Rey | ESPN3, ESPND |
| 4:00pm | Valencia v Villarreal (L) | Spain Copa del Rey | ESPN3, ESPND |
Barcelona, of course, has been playing better than anyone–certainly better than any club right now, but perhaps as well as any club side ever. So even though Athletic Bilbao is a strong squad, it’ll be a huge shock if Barcelona doesn’t win at home (the return legs will be played in two weeks, so Barcelona will make the trip up to Basque country then). Interestingly, Barcelona and Bilbao are the two most successful clubs in the Copa del Rey. Barcelona has lifted the Cup 25 times, Bilbao 23. The two Madrid clubs are 3rd and 4th; see here.
Of course, it will be quite a shock if we end up with anything other than a Real Madrid-Barcelona matchup in the final this year–although last spring it was Sevilla vs Atletico Madrid in the final, with Sevilla lifting the Cup.
The other matchup this afternoon is quite intriguing: a Valencia squad that has advanced to the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League, and sits 4th in La Liga (despite selling off star strikers David Villa and David Silva over the summer); against a Villareal squad that sits just above them in 3rd–what Side Lowe called “Villareal’s miracle.”
Two more matches will be televised tomorrw:
Wednesday, Dec 22
| 2:00pm | Atl Madrid v Espanyol (L) | Spain Copa del Rey | GolTv |
| 4:00pm | Real Madrid v Levante (L) | Spain Copa del Rey | GolTv |
Video
FIFA Club World Cup 2009: FC Barcelona 2 – 1 Estudiantes (ARG)
As part of the run up to tomorrow’s FIFA Club World Cup 2010 championship game (between 2009-10 UEFA Champions League winner Inter Milan and 2010 AFC Champions League winner TP Mazembe), we take a look back at the finale of last year’s tournament, between FC Barcelona (who qualified by winning the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League) and Estudiantes de la Plata (also known, apparently, as Los Pincharratas–The Rat Stabbers, and who had won the 2009 Copa Libertadores).
(Fox Deportes is actually going to rebroadcast the Barcelona-Estudiantes game this afternoon at 5pmET–ahead of their broadcast of Inter-TP Mazembe tomorrow at 12pmET. But if you don’t get to watch the rebroadcast, see below for a 6min highlight clip.)
It was a rather exciting game, as Estudiantes took the lead in the 37th minute off a fantastic header by Mauro Boselli. But Pedro pulled Barcelona even in the 89th minute–Pique had moved up into attack, and won a head ball that Pedro nicely finished, also with his head. And then Messi, as he tends to do, scored with spectacular fashion and timing–somehow getting behind Estudiantes’ defenders and headed in the winning goal with 10 minutes remaining in extra time.
Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the FIFA Club World Cup, and it also completed Barcelona’s remarkable and unprecedented 2009 sextuple: 2008–09 La Liga, 2008–09 Copa del Rey, 2009 Supercopa de España, 2008–09 UEFA Champions League, 2009 UEFA Super Cup, and the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup.
Here’s the video: