The Carling (i.e., League) Cup is certainly a lesser competition in England than the FA Cup, but it’s hardware nonetheless. The quarterfinals just kicked off in a matter of minutes, with two matches today (West Ham-Man U & Arsenal-Wigan), and two more tomorrow (Birmingham City-Aston Villa & Ipswich Town-West Bromwich Albion). All games start at 7:45pm in England (which corresponds to 2:45pm ET).
One match each day is available for viewing here in the US. Today, West Ham-Man U is on FSP, as well streaming on foxsoccer.tv. Tomorrow, the same goes Birmingham City-Aston Villa.
The X-Factor coming back to fitness for the second half of the season
[Editor’s note: Here’s the inaugural edition of something we’d like to make a semi-regular feature: a look at the top of the table. Here we look (once again) at the Premier League table, but we plan to check in on other tables around the world over the course of the season.]
Someone eventually has to win the Premier League title–but from recent results, it’s hard to figure out who. Here’s the top of the table as of today–it’s virtually certain to be one of these teams that ends up on top at the end:
But alas none of the top contenders have been especially impressive:
Chelsea lost again over the weekend, this time to lowly Birmingham–their third loss in four weeks, following losses at Liverpool and at home to Sunderland. And the latest loss came days after unceremoniously dumping their assistant manager; whether or not it contributed to the latest loss, it has precipitated close to a full-blown crisis at Stamford Bridge, with manager Carlos Ancelotti saying “I am not in control at Chelsea.”
Man Cityhad been the team in crisis-mode over the past month, with their home fans booing a scoreless draws against Man U and Birmingham–until they broke out of their doldrums this past weekend in a big way, with a 4-1 thrashing of Fulham. Following which, Fulham’s manager (and Man City’s former manager–and Man U legend), the “super classy” Mark Hughes, said Man City are still in the hunt: “On their performance today certainly they’re contenders. They were excellent. If they have belief and there’s some forward thinking, and maybe they’re a bit more attack-minded as they were today on more occasions, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be. They’ve got as good a chance as anybody.”
Man U? Somewhat surprisingly, still undefeated–but hardly dominating, with a record of 7 wins and 7 draws. And let’s not forget they had been the team in crisis not too long ago; in fact, young Mr. Rooney returned to the pitch this past weekend.
Rounding out the top of the table, tied with 22 points apiece, are the victors of that North London derby, Spurs–whose manager thinks they’ve got a shot at the crown; and Bolton (not sure who thinks they have a legitimate shot at the title). But who knows, the way things are going…
In fact, the situation can be best summarized by Uncle Harry’s comments referenced above:
This is the best chance anyone is going to get, this season. The league has never been more open. Sunderland go to Chelsea last weekend and win 3-0, Manchester United were losing by two goals at Aston Villa until late on. It’s wide open for somebody who can put a run together. It’s there for someone to have a real go at it. Why be fearful and say ‘we can’t win it’. Why can’t we win it?
We’re back once again with our recommendations on when exactly you should plant yourself on your couch or local pub stool this weekend. Again using SoccerInsider’s full TV listing as a reference, here we go, with some notes from various members of the CultFootball collective:
Saturday Oct 30
Striker, Goal Scorer, Contortionist
Manchester United-Spurs 12:30 p.m. FSC: a matchup of the 3rd and 5th place teams in the EPL table, with goal-scoring players in form on both sides (Chicharito and Nani for Man U, Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart for Spurs)
Barcelona-Sevilla 4 p.m. ESPN Deportes: One of the more challenging La Liga games for Barca, especially since Sevilla seems to finally coming into form (6th in the table) after a slow start, and their Brazilian WC2010 star Luis Fabiano back in the lineup and finding the back of the net.
Those are the two matches to make time for, but if you need a couple additional matches to fill out your day:
Hercules-Real Madrid 2 p.m. GolTV: It’ll be interesting to see if Real Madrid can keep up their recent dominating form (well, last week’s scoreless draw against 3rd division Murcia in a Copa del Rey game excepted), or conversely whether Hércules can pull off another upset.
AC Milan-Juventus 2:30 p.m. FSC: AC Milan is 2nd in the Serie A table, and has an exciting set of big names in attack: Ronaldhino, Pato, Robinho, Ibrahimovic, Seedorf, while Juve is in 5th. See Goal.com’s rundown of key individual matchups here.
And since the MLS playoffs have started, a Saturday night special…
San Jose-New York 10 p.m. Telefutura: Sounds like Thierry Henry will miss this match due to an injury, but the Red Bulls have a number of players to watch: Rafa Marquez, the Mexican international recently arrived from Barcelona; Estonian Joel Lindpere; Jamaican Dane Richards; and Senegalese-American goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul (see this NY Daily News article about his journey from Senegal to the Bronx to high school in Manhattan, and eventually to the MLS).
Sunday Oct 31
Palermo-Lazio 7:30 a.m. FSP: Roman side Lazio sits atop Serie A, while Palermo is in 8th. We’ll refer you to Goal.com for eachside‘s rosters, recent team news, and standard formations.
Stan Cummins (sunderland) 1980's tyne-wear derby
Newcastle-Sunderland 9:30 a.m. FSP: The Tyne-Wear derby. Overlooked step-sister Sunderland have held their own against Newcastle on the pitch over the years, if not in international fame. Always good to share your name with a tasty brew.
Bolton-Liverpool noon FSC: Liverpool played well last week, and Fernando Torres finally scored, so it’ll be interesting to see if they can build on that—and work their way up in the table.
And one more—another MLS playoff game, featuring the star-studded Galaxy:
This week’s episode of the Wayne Rooney show is all wrapped up, with the mighty pumpkin resolving his differences with coach and teammates, and scratching his X onto a new contract that keeps him at Old Trafford until 2015. There’s no doubt that he acted poorly over the last few weeks, though you have to put some blame on his greedy bastard of an agent. From the Guardian:
Rooney has become the best-paid player in the history of the club by agreeing a deal thought to be worth as much as £180,000 a week in a move that will inevitably invite allegations that he and his agent,
Paul Stretford, have been guilty of cynical greed to get
the best deal possible.
He won’t be thrown right back into the fray though, as he’ll be out for the next three weeks nursing an injury to that ankle he assured the press wasn’t actually injured a week or so back.
Lest we forget, Rooney first suggested he didn’t want to stay at United because the management wasn’t adding world class players at the top of the salary scale. Must we point again and again to Lyon, consistent French champions who develop young players on the cheap before selling them at immense profit all while winning and winning and winning? Anyway, here’s Wayne’s “apology”:
“I’m delighted to sign another deal at United. In the last couple of days, I’ve talked to the manager and the owners and they’ve convinced me this is where I belong. I said on Wednesday the manager’s a genius and it’s his belief and support that have convinced me to stay. I’m signing a new deal in the absolute belief that the management, coaching staff, board and owners are totally committed to making sure United maintains its proud winning history – which is the reason I joined the club in the first place.”
We got some good feedback after posting to Facebook Pirlo’s cracker v Parma from this past weekend. Here is the video clip of goal–plus three others that are early contenders for goal of the season:
Also from last weekend, Brazilian Alex’s unbelievable free kick, which put Chelsea up 2-0 over Arsenal:
Here is Nani’s spectacular individual effort vs –#2 in the following, to Tevez’s similar strike against Chelsea, but I think Nani’s is clearly the better goal: <a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/video?vid=eaf06da7-6363-4b5d-a7ed-66caa82afdf7" target="_new" title="">PL: Goals of the Week</a>
And finally, Berbatov’s spectacular individual effort against Liverpool on Sept 18 (assisted by Nani, btw)–the 2nd goal of Berbatov’s hat trick in Man U’s 3-2 victory that day, #1 in the following: <a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/video?vid=086649be-68c7-4f94-8142-41a31e0bad0b" target="_new" title="">PL: Goals of the Week</a>
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, who were shockingly down 3-0 against unheralded West Brom late in the 2nd half. Two late strikes by the young Frenchman Samir Nasri (a replay of one of which is included below) made the score a more respectable-looking 3-2, but Arsenal came off their home pitch with many more questions than points.
Meanwhile, on the Continent, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich, last season’s Champions League finalists, and the clear favorites to win their respective domestic leagues, both lost as well. Bayern lost 2-1 to minnows Mainz, while Inter went down 1-0 to AS Roma–a club with a rich history, but this year’s edition had struggled at the start of this season.
But last year’s Champions League finalists and their respective pursuits of finishing atop Serie A or the Bundes Liga are secondary compared to the annual epic struggle between Barcelona and Real Madrid for the La Liga title. The drama d’Espana is especially intense this year, as Real Madrid have of course brought in The Special One, whose tasks are to win the Champions League and La Liga–any less will be considered a failure by the demanding Madridistas–and by Mourinho himself. But Mourinho’s Madrid failed to bring the flair, being held to a very surprising scoreless draw against Levante. Meanwhile, Barcelona beat Athletic Bilbao 3-1, slipping ahead of Real Madrid in the table, though still second to surprising Valencia.
For more on these matches, check the links below–and the videos.
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 until the second half (only because United were so dominant in the first 45 mins), when it did look like Liverpool might walk away with at least a draw. The Reds picked up the pace and Torres seemed to be finding his so-far-missing stride. Play opened up and the game became stretched. It was gripping for a good 30 minutes there. Then Berbatov headed home his third, and set himself up for a standing ovation for scoring the first hat trick in the tie in some 60-odd years.
Berbatov is often described by commentators as laconic. He does indeed create much though seemingly doing very little. He’s an athlete who makes it look easy, the sort of player who seems like he has more time to work with the ball than the other players around him. Sir Alex has described the man as having a “touch of genius“, and it’s nice to see him finally putting all the pieces together in his new home.
The Carling (i.e., League) Cup is certainly a lesser competition in England than the FA Cup, but it’s hardware nonetheless. The quarterfinals just kicked off in a matter of minutes, with two matches today (West Ham-Man U & Arsenal-Wigan), and two more tomorrow (Birmingham City-Aston Villa & Ipswich Town-West Bromwich Albion). All games start at 7:45pm in England (which corresponds to 2:45pm ET).
