Uruguayan and Ajax striker Luis Suárez has been suspended from play by his own squad for biting PSV Eindhoven winger Otman Bakkal (you can hear the commentator reference Tyson in the video below).
Suárez and Forlan were so impressive during the summer’s World Cup, and we’ve hoped the best for the both. Forlan has been lackluster, but Suárez has 6 goals this season and though he’s not allowed to play in league matches for a couple games, he will be in play for the champions leagie match against Madrid.
The team with the blue and black stripes has lost the will to win, going down 2-1 to Chievo and falling to 6th place in the Serie A (they’d be in 7th, and out of european club competition completely if not for goal difference).
What the team especially doesn’t need is to lose yet another starting player. But it looks like that’ll be the case, as Eto’o is sure to serve some multi-game ban for this headbutt on Boštjan Cesar.
Notes from our Arsenal-supporting contingent, lead by the generally unruly but always introspective Tyler Carpenter.
The derby? Impossible to predict a scoreline. Position-wise the teams are mostly even, but Arsenal should win at home. The battle will be won at midfield, and I feel that finally-approaching-form Cesc could be the decider. But the mouth-watering matchup is Gunners’ right vs. Spurs’ left. Will Sagna be able to make deep runs and still track back to defend Bale? Arsenal’s right back has the speed, but can anyone defend Bale Kong?
And who should defend Rafael Van der Goal? The ’85 Chicago Bears? (Yes children, this link brings you to the Superbowl Shuffle)
Arsenal wins
Draws
Spurs wins
Arsenal goals
Spurs goals
League
61
42
46
234
202
FA Cup
3
0
2
7
5
League Cup
7
3
3
19
16
Charity Shield
0
1
0
0
0
Total
71
46
51
260
223
I remember this fixture last year: van Persie intercepting the Spurs’ kickoff after an Arsenal goal. Robin gave a quick pass to Cesc, who took it singlehandly, 50+ yards, and put it in the still-warm net. Nice!
That is to say, the “best moments” from Wednedsay’s international friendly between Brazil and Argentina in Doha, Qatar. Though aside from Messi’s winning goal in extra time–and Dani Alves’s half-volley in the first half which rocketed off the crossbar–there really aren’t all that many best moments. Take a look:
Spain’s biggest defeat in nearly 50 years came at the hands of Iberian neighbor Portugal. The 4-0 thrashing was Spain’s worst loss since Scotland laid down a 6-2 spanking back in 1963 (odd time that, considering the Spanish Miracle was in full swing). In lieu of commentary, we provide a highlight clip, especially helpful for all of us without ESPN Deportes.
Up until a couple weeks ago, it seemed as if Chelsea were going to run away with the Premier League title (even the Special One chimed in all the way from Madrid to that effect!), as they rolled through the first 10 games of the season: 8 wins (a few of them blowouts), a draw, and a hard-fought 1-0 loss to Man City. Then came a surprising 2-0 loss to Liverpool. Perhaps that could be explained away: the game was away at Anfield Park, Liverpool is actually a “big club” (according to tradition if not the current table), and Fernando Torres suddenly rediscovered his scoring touch. But after yesterday’s shocking result–a 3-0 loss at home to Sunderland!–Chelsea no longer looks invincible, and we have at least a 3-horse race for the title.
Sunderland had performed doggedly but modestly through their first 9 games–2 wins, 1 loss…and 6 ties. Then came an embarrassing 5-1 loss against their rivals Newcastle. That’s the kind of loss that can derail a season–but they bounced back with a win against Stoke City and a draw against Spurs last week. Still, no one expected them to go into Stamford Bridge and dominate the mighty Blues.
An odd Sunderland stat: all of their mere 10 goals in the 12 games prior to yesterday had been scored by only 2 players: Darren Bent and Asamoah Gyan. But that changed yesterday, as Nedum Onuoha waltzed through the Chelsea defense to score first for Sunderland, and Danny Welbeck finished nicely for their third. (Onuoha, incidentally, is a 24-year-old defender, born in Nigeria and raised in Manchester, on loan to Sunderland from Man City. Welbeck is a 20-year-old winger/striker, born in England to Ghanaian parents, on loan from Man Utd. Both have appeared for England’s U21 team–we may see them in the future for the senior squad.)
But in between those two goals, Gyan got his fourth goal in the past three games–he’d scored all of Sunderland’s goals in their games against Stoke and Spurs. (In fact, these have been the first three starts of Gyan’s nascent Premier League career, as Bent had been starting ahead of him until he went down with an injury. It’ll be interesting to see if Sunderland manager Steve Bruce finds a way to get them both on the field from the beginning, once Bent recovers.)
And so Gyan did his dance at Stamford Bridge–a dance we may be seeing in England with some regularity in the future, if Gyan can keep up this sort of finishing. See all three goals here:
Carvalho drives to goal. Real continue their 11-year unbeaten streak against their city rivals.
Los Blancos eased passed city rivals Atletico yesterday with the glamor side firing on all cylinders. Strong in defense and quick in attack, Real put Los Colchoneros (an odd name, yes) on the back foot early. The score ended 2-0 but really should’ve been more.
Sadly, Forlan, a favorite from the World Cup, hasn’t scored since September, and while Atletico did look like they’re capable of stringing together potent attacking movement, nothing actually came off in their favor.
We’re about brevity this week, so here’s one audacious play that somewhat sums up the afternoon — outrageousness from Ronaldo, followed by a near miss. (Ps. Benzema, who looked like crap earlier in the season, appears much fitter these days, and has been doing very well coming on in later stages of the game). And as we’re not actually all about brevity, following the video is some public domain description of el derbi madrileño.
Historically, Real Madrid have long been seen as the establishment club. On the other side, Atletico was always characterized by a ‘sentimiento de rebeldía’ (a sense of rebellion) although, during the early Franco years, it was Atlético that was the preferred team of the regime, being associated with the military airforce, until the regime’s preferences moved towards Real Madrid in the 1950s. Franco sought to make political capital out of Real Madrid’s European Cup titles at a time when Spain was internationally isolated – “Real Madrid are the best embassy we ever had”, said one minister. Thus, Atleti fans regularly chanted that Real was “el equipo del gobierno, la vergueñza del país”–the team of the government, the shame of the country—and adopted a more left-wing slant (tempered by the rise of ultras culture and Rayo Vallecano‘s presence as the “true” leftist club) to combat the conservative Real fanbase. Bernabeu, Real Madrid‘s stadium, is majestic, alongside banks and businesses on the classy andaristocratic Castellana, while Calderon can be found beside a brewery along the river; Real Madrid draw greater support because of its successes, while Atletico has a more working class fan base, which comes particularly from the south of the city.
The team with the blue and black stripes has lost the will to win, going down 2-1 to Chievo and falling to 6th place in the Serie A (they’d be in 7th, and out of european club competition completely if not for goal difference).
The derby? Impossible to predict a scoreline. Position-wise the teams are mostly even, but Arsenal should win at home. The battle will be won at midfield, and I feel that finally-approaching-form Cesc could be the decider. But the mouth-watering matchup is Gunners’ right vs. Spurs’ left. Will Sagna be able to make deep runs and still track back to defend Bale? Arsenal’s right back has the speed, but can anyone defend 
