Matchday 2 - Tues Sept 28 & Wed Sept 29 Matchday 2 is upon us! Once again, all 32 teams will be in action--2 games in each of the 8 groups, for a total of 16 games today and tomorrow. As with all the group stage Matchdays, the 8 games on Tuesday featuring the 16 teams from 4 of the groups (Groups E, F, G, and H today), and 8 more games on Wednesday with the 16 teams from the other 4 groups. Champions League Matchdays are so grand they take up 2 actual days! Fixtures for Matchday 2 listed below, along with live TV coverage (in the US); apparently all matches are being shown live on DirectTV, but we've just listed cable coverage, i.e., on the Fox Soccer/Sports channels--FSC, FSE, FSP & FSN. See SoccerTVListing.com for a full listing. See UEFA.com's Champions League site for
Un buen delantero...y un buen hijo tambien! It was an interesting weekend in Europe, filled with unexpected results--the big dogs all across the continent came up short. Chelsea, Arsenal, Inter Milan, and Bayern Munich all suffered ignominious defeats, while Manchester United and Real Madrid could only manage disappointing draws. The only power that didn't disappoint their supporters was Barcelona, which won convincingly. (Question: Are there other European club sides that rank with these six?) In England, previously perfect Chelsea lost to Manchester City 1-0, the lone goal coming off a tremendous individual effort by Man City's dogged and talented Argentine captain, Carlos Tevez. (Keep scrolling down for video of Tevez's goal, among others.) But the two sides chasing Chelsea in the standings failed to capitalize: Man U had to come from behind twice to salvage a 2-2 draw against Bolton. That was far better than Arsenal,
From our man beneath the Southern Cross comes the skinny on the impetuous Brazilian phenom Neymar and the storm he's kick up around him. Plus, World Cup 2014 plans with a sinister undercurrent? Big thanks to Mark Gannon for keeping us all in the loop. Step back, for I am Neymar. In the game against Atlético Goianiense in Goiás on Wednesday of last week, the coach of Santos, Dorival Júnior, wanted a different player to take a PK. Neymar had a fit, cursed out the coach, and supposedly continued his tantrum in the locker room. Dorival did not put Neymar on the list of players for Santos's next game, against Guarani over the weekend. But then when he refused to put Neymar on the list for yesterday's (Wednesday's) game against Corinthians, he was fired. Mano decided to leave Neymar off the seleção for the two upcoming
Patrick van Aanholt The Carling Cup is traditionally a time when managers run out a few reserve players they feel might just be on the cusp of first-team action. This week was no different, and of the limited amount of games we saw, there were a few significant standouts. Jack Wilshere for Arsenal should be no surprise, as the 18 yr-old has played more than a few minutes of league action this season already. And admittedly, we were psyched to see Man United's Portuguese signing Bebe sent on with 16 minutes left in the match. The 20 yr-old mostly ran around chasing the ball all over the pitch at first, then seemed to settle a little. He's big, fast, and not shy about uncorking a shot from the corner of the box. Now lets focus on the most exciting game of the round, without actually talking about the
It does send shivers down the spine. At the very end of a pretty entertaining match between Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona, Czech defender Tomáš Ujfaluši came in late on everyone's favorite player Lionel Messi, and stomped on his ankle something awful. Messi went down in agony and held his hands over his face, crying as he was stretchered off the field. Fortunately for fans of the beautiful game, there is no break or dislocation, and the little peanut should be back in about 10 days. From the live-action shot it looked intentional. Ujfaluši came in very late and from the angle it seemed as if he came down on Messi's foot. Upon further inspection it looks like a real ankle breaker. The big man did issue an apology: "I'm sorry. I would like to publicly apologize, because, honestly, it wasn't my intention. I tried to go for
You like what you see then, yes? You know you like saying the name Dimitar Berbatov. Say it out loud and experience that staccato sing-song quality of Eastern Bloc phonetics. Like his name, the man is deceptively smooth, though his subtlety of movement and quality on the pitch haven't quite shone through since his transfer from north London side Spurs. The Manchester fans haven't exactly been the most supportive of his play, but the one man who matters, his manager, has kept the faith and now everyone is feeling the payoff. The Bulgarian hit-man netted not once, not twice, but thrice in United's 3-2 victory over Liverpool, scoring three quality goals with his second bound to be in the top goals of the season (a bicycle kick that nestled into the corner of the net as Reina stood and watched). The game itself was mostly boring
Darren Bent If you haven't heard, the gunners haven't won a cup for a few years now and the team and its supporters are restless. Their lack of hardware has been generally chalked up to their youth and inexperience – they may be fun to watch, but in the grind-it-out fixtures they've been beaten into submission. Beyond their lack of physicality, I've always though they've missed that key bit of luck that sees top sides through to championships. I honestly thought Fabregas' opening goal was a sign that their fortune was about to change. His goal, which rebounded off his foot and into the net from a preposterous distance, seemed like just the thing that would break the back of a stubborn Sunderland side. Of course, Fabregas would soon go off with a hamstring injury aggravated by his goal-scoring motion, Alex Song would pick up a soft first yellow and was later
The Dutch are so charming We're back with the 2nd installment of this weekly feature, and once again we use as a starting point WaPo SoccerInsider's post listing of all the matches that are televised this weekend--approx 50 matches! From that list, here are a handful that we'll try to watch, and why: Saturday, Sept 18 Sunderland-Arsenal 12:30 p.m. FSC (Why? To see if Arsenal can keep their hot streak going, after putting away Bolton Wanderers 4-1 last Saturday and then demolishing Portuguese side Braga 6-0 on the Champions League Matchday 1 mid-week. To see if Cesc Fabregas has in fact escaped the space-time continuum. And going the other way, to see Baby Jet running up front all by himself, as he did quite effectively in South Africa--and perhaps to see him do his dance.) Sunday, Sept 19 Manchester United-Liverpool 8:30 a.m. FSP (Why? To see if
