If Dempsey were a dolphin, he'd have a platinum fin.
When Clint Dempsey scored for embattled Fulham in the 2-0 victory over Wigan this weekend, he tied the record of former U.S. international Brian McBride as all-time highest American goal scorer in England’s top flight. (McBride did loan spells at Preston North End and Everton before his tenure at Fulham.) The pair also share another distinction, along with Landon Donovan they are the only American players to have scored in multiple World Cups.
The 28-year-old Dempsey now has 36 league goals in his Premiership career. He also holds the record for highest goal scorer at Fulham, where he joined from the New England Revolution in 2007. Only the most down and out gambler would bet against him extending that onward and upward. Duece be doin’ it up. Clint D, Nacogdoches, represent.
For those who have never checked it out, watch him shout out an alternate reality in which he’s a platinum-finned dolphin. It’s astounding that he has the balls to rhyme with cameras capturing it all for posterity. But you can’t help but love this clip. Could anyone actually hate a player dophin?
Don’t hate, celebrate (with Clint). Perhaps by reliving his incredible chip at Juventus in the 2010 Europa League.
“He scores with his left,
He scores with his right.
That boy Clint Dempsey
Makes Drogba look shite.”
Robin van Persie now has nine goals in five matches.
Mindblowingly awesome.
I speak of course of the massive and totally unexpected Arsenal 5-3 away victory over Chelsea on Saturday. Chelsea had not lost a game at home this season. Arsenal found itself racking up its worst string of away results since 1992. But the stat junkies must now officially hit reset. And update Robin van Persie’s tallies for 2011 to 28 goals in 27 matches. He has notched 9 in the last 5 and he just scored the second hat trick of his career.
Every match is about scoring more goals than the other team, but the Stamford Bridge showdown took it to another level. The players celebrated afterwards as if they’d just won the domestic treble. And though it was just one game, three points like any other, I felt exactly the same, staring at the TV in disbelief. In recent memory, only the 2-1 victory over Barcelona last spring and last December’s 3-1 victory over Chelsea compare in terms of sheer jubilation.
When I ended the match preview on Thursday with, “Van Persie has scored six goals in the last four league games. Hopefully he’s saved a few for the Blues.” I never thought anything like a hat trick possible. Or John Terry tripping himself and faceplanting from out of nowhere to set up the easiest goal van Persie will ever score. Terry is innocent until proven guilty, and the allegations of a racial slur against Anton Ferdinand are yet still allegations, but you have to imagine the brothers Ferdinand will save that match on the DVR for months to come. I wouldn’t mind looping that clip into a continuous play video myself.
In fairness, Chelsea did not play their best match. As expected, both defenses lacked solidity and leaked goals. If not apparent before, Mourinho has truly left the building, even though many of the old guard remain. As with Arsenal, Chelsea’s game plan mandates scoring more than they concede, because they look ever ready to concede.
Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey, Laurent Koscielny, Mikel Arteta and of course van Persie had outstanding performances. For the opposition, Juan Mata played excellently for the Blues. He is very much the one who got away. Linebacker Romelu Lukaku opted for a different approach, that of launching an NFL tackle on Andre Santos. Interesting tactic, and apparently not card-worthy in the eyes of the official.
Fernando Torres, the £50 million man, did nothing, and I mean nothing, of any consequence whatsoever on the pitch. He did catch a point-blank ball to the face, though, which was fun to watch. At Liverpool, he was incredible. Those days seem increasingly long ago.
Santos had a terrible first half, but he emerged from the tunnel a new man in the second. He defended much more effectively and scored his second goal in seven games with Arsenal. To compare to a recently departed Arsenal left back, Gael Clichy scored 2 goals in his 8 years at Arsenal. Just saying.
The team unity at the final whistle was a great sight to see. Thomas Vermaelen, Gervinho, Arteta and Santos looked ecstatic. And van Persie, for all the speculation of his moving on to pastures greener, looked a happy Gunner. After the match. Chelsea supporters called Yossi Benayoun “Judas” for complimenting his current loan club on the victory over his home club. One wonders if the hecklers considered the Israeli irony of it all… Yossi, you can kick it with us. Forget about the boo boys in Blue.
I would venture that the team has still not “turned a corner,” but Arsenal definitely took another step in the right direction. Eight in nine, now. Of course, Arsenal drew Manchester City for the quarterfinals of the Carling Cup on Saturday, so we might be out of that competition quite soon, but one step at a time.
Arsenal travels to West London for the early match on Saturday to face off against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (7:30AM EST on ESPN2). It’s the sternest test since the desperately needed improvement of late, and the result will reveal whether the team has finally shaken the pernicious monkey off its back or if the Red and Whites really are a defensive shambles with only one dependable goalscorer.
Van Persie has scored six goals in the last four league games. Perhaps a few left in the tank for Stamford Bridge?
It’s not a make-or-break match, per se, but the result carries more weight than simply three points. Arsenal has finally cobbled together a string of results in the league, in Europe and most recently in the Carling Cup, but all that could soon come to a screeching halt. Most people are expecting to hear that ear-splitting screech. However, if Arsenal can emerge with a draw or perhaps lose but put in a convincing performance, things really could be looking up. A win would cause half of North London to flip out, undoubtedly, but at some point one needs to be realistic.
To start with the positives, Arsenal top their Champions League group at the midway point and have only Olympiakos away, with Dortmund and Marseille set to travel to the Emirates, where Arsenal has racked up the majority of its wins. The team has clawed its way to seventh place after an abysmal start to the season (1-1-3). Robin van Persie is still far and away to go-to man for goals, but Gervinho, Aaron Ramsey and Andrey Arshavin have started scoring a few themselves, in addition to some excellent assists. Gervinho played an outstanding match against Stoke, involved in all three goals, scoring the first off an incredible chip from Ramsey. Meanwhile, many positives emerged in the 2-1 Carling Cup win over Bolton on Tuesday. Of which more right now.
For starters, Thomas Vermaelen captained the side on his long-awaited return. Steely-eyed and solid as ever, he commanded his area as if he never left. His recovery means that all the center halves are again fit. It’s surreal to even write that. As any statistician knows, the last time Arsenal had all its center halves fit is a month and year that does not translate in modern alphanumerics. Heady times. Even backup center halves Ignasi Miquel and Sébastien Squillaci are fit (both of whom played Tuesday, and Squillaci wasn’t even half bad for once).
After the match, news broke that Vermaelen may have suffered a calf injury. Cue Bacary Sagna leg-break despair. But then he declared himself fit again (rejoice!), which could put him in the frame for Chelsea. One would forecast the bench as his most likely destination, with the Mertesacker-Koscielny axis in good working order at present, and rested. But Vermaelen is our best defender, and Chelsea away is when you’d like to have your best defenders. It would also free up Laurent Koscielny for right back. Wenger definitely has some decisions to make.
For those looking to spot Americans in action overseas, check the Europa League—it’s televised, great teams abound and, well, there are Americans, too. The elusive soccer grail, as it were. Europa League matches offer rare chances to see national team expats competing against high-caliber opponents on a real live TV. No streaming, no pirating, just a mildly usurious cable package.
He rocks the mic, he rips through defences. Word.
While English Premier League devotees get to see Clint Dempsey (right), Tim Howard and Brad Friedel scoring and shot-stopping on the regular, and Serie A followers will catch the occasional glimpse of Michael Bradley, the Europa League showcases players in the Portuguese, Dutch and Belgian leagues who get showcased seemingly nelsewhere. To be fair, GolTV does broadcast the occasional Bundesliga match, giving some small-screen shine to Steve Cherundolo and the German-Americans in the national team, but to see Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon), Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht) or Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City), Europa’s your best bet.
Ironically, the team most populous in expat Americans, Rangers, utterly dominates the Scottish Premier League this season but got dumped out of the Europa League in late August (after getting dumped out of the Champions League qualifiers in early August). Carlos Bocanegra, Maurice Edu and Alejandro Bedoya regularly receive starting berths, but that didn’t stop Slovenian minnows NK Maribor from handing the team its collective Glaswegian ass two months back, so that’s that for the American Rangers. Other Americans who could be seen until they couldn’t are/were Clarence Goodson (Brøndby) and Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland), who both compete in the top flight in Denmark.
Fear not, though. Many survived the qualifying cull, performed well in Matchdays 1 and 2, and may again feature this Thursday on Matchday 3.
High-functioning U.S. perennial Dempsey has been on fire for Fulham this season and he scored the lone goal against Honduras two weeks back. He gives everything in every game and excels at nearly everything he does (check the Deuce’s rhymes on YouTube…or better yet, don’t). Friedel, for his part, has proven such a crucial addition to Tottenham since joining this summer that Tottenham keep resting him in the Europa League, so don’t necessarily expect to spot his particular shiny bald pate, unless it’s atop a body seated on the bench. Spector, who once more sees the TV cameras zooming in after West Ham’s relegation last season, helped exact revenge on Maribor for his SPL compatriots in Birmingham City’s 2-1 win over the Slovenian outfit on Matchday 2, so good on him (thanks be giving, Rangers supporters).
Altidore will likely lead the line again for AZ Alkmaar, after netting his fourth in the tournament and seventh of the season for the Dutch champions last time out. The spectacularly bearded Onyewu, that unlikely cross between Isaac Hayes and Kareem Abdul-Jabar, has similarly returned to form with Sporting Lisbon, after escaping from PSV Eindhoven purgatory this past summer. From the bench, current Schalke 04 midfielder and former Blackburn loanee Jermaine Jones came on as a substitute in the 3-1 Matchday 2 victory over Maccabi Haifa. AZ Alkmaar, Sporting Lisbon and Schalke 04 all top their groups, and the group leader trend continues at Anderlecht, where Sacha Kljestan will look to start again, having done so in all 13 matches this season, including Anderlecht’s 5-0 thrashing of Standard Liege on Sunday.
Hannover 96 captain Cherundolo, meanwhile, must cope with the ignominy of second place. Although tied with Standard Liege on points, the team cedes first on goal difference. Let’s see some more clean sheets, Steve.
Dominic Cervi, third in line for the goalkeeper spot at Celtic, has yet to feature this season. Perhaps he will at last get a shot to stop the shots. (But be honest. Have you ever heard of him?)
Stay tuned for the continuing exploits of Uncle Sam’s soccer spies overseas. (Seriously. I mean to make a series of this.)
As one last word on Deuce’s iced-out flows, in a freestyle a few years back he had a truly great/awful line in “If I was a dolphin, I would have a platinum fin.” That one really is kind of worth checking out.
Matchday 3, October 20:
1:00 pm EST on GolTV, DirecTV: Club Brugge vs. Birmingham (Jan Breydel Stadium)
1:00 pm EST on DirecTV: AZ Alkmaar vs. Austria Vienna (AFAS Stadion)
1:00 pm EST on DirecTV: Wisla Krakow vs. Fulham (Stadion Miejski im)
1:00 pm EST on DirecTV: Stade Rennes vs. Celtic (Route de Lorient)
1:00 pm EST on DirecTV: AEK Larnaca vs. Schalke 04 (Neo G.S.Z. Stadium)
1:00 pm EST on DirecTV: SK Sturm Graz vs. Anderlecht (UPC Arena)
3:00 pm EST on GolTV, DirecTV: Sporting Lisbon vs. FC Vaslui (Estadio Jose Alvalade)
3:00 pm EST on DirecTV: Tottenham Hotspur vs. FK Rubin Kazan (White Hart Lane)
3:00 pm EST on DirecTV: Hannover 96 vs. FC Copenhagen (AWD-Arena)
To recap, Americans still in the competition:
Clint Dempsey (Fulham, MF)
Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96, D)
Brad Friedel (Tottenham, GK)
Jonathan Spector (Birmingham City, D)
Jozy Altidore (AZ Alkmaar, F)
Oguchi Onyewu (Sporting Lisbon, D)
Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04, MF)
Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht, MF)
Dominic Cervi (Celtic, GK)
And those Americans who let down themselves, their teams and their country:
Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers, D)
Maurice Edu (Rangers, MF)
Alejandro Bedoya (Rangers, MF)
Clarence Goodson (Brøndby, D)
Michael Parkhurst (Nordsjaelland, D)
Just by plucking names from this group of current and eliminated Europa players, one could field a highly competitive national side. In fact the back 4 and front 2 played the second half against Honduras in the last international break.
Netherlands, Ajax vs AZ Alkmaar (12:45pmET; ESPN3.com): AZ Alkmaar has been pushing over the past few seasons to be counted among the Eredivisie’s elite (traditionally Ajaz, PSV, Feyenoord, although lately FC Twente must also be considered). Indeed, AZ sit atop the Eredivisie table with 21 points after 8 games played, followed by PSV (17), Twente (17), Ajax (15), and Feyenoord (14). Among the players to watch: American striker Jozy Altidore has been lighting it up for AZ, and resurrected his career in the process. For Ajax, Dutch international defender Gregory van der Wiel, young Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen, and Serbian striker Miralem Sulejmani have all been tapped as the next Ajax products to make big money transfers to the big clubs of Europe.
Sunday, Oct 16
England, Arsenal-Sunderland (8:30amET; Fox Soccer Plus, foxsoccer.tv): Both teams need to win–Sunderland to keep from falling towards the relegation zone, Arsenal to try to climb back to the top half of the table.
England, Newcastle-Spurs (11amET; Fox Soccer, Fox Deportes): Also via the above-linked-to Political Footballs post: “Spurs have won their last four games, having started the season with two defeats to the Manchester clubs, and will be looking to strengthen their own quest for a top four spot this weekend in the North-East”–against a surprisingly successful (so far) Newcastle side which currently sites 4th in the English table.
Italy, Lazio-Roma(2:30pmET; Fox Soccer, Fox Deportes, ESPN3.com): Just in the nick of time, we received some notes on today’s Derby della Capitale from nostro amico romano, supplemented with some links of our choosing:
Ciao amici miei!!!
Struggling to meet a deadline for a grant right now and trying not to think to Derby….
Some thoughts:
1) I hope no fights between fans, especially after what happened yesterday in Rome
2) not having Totti can be an advantage, he feels the game too much, like De Rossi
3) Lazio is the favorite for me, not a good thing when u play the derby
4) I like Bojan, young and talented, the fans like him….Osvaldo is also potentially devastating…but it will be a battle of nerves and Luis Enrique should set up the team to press very high but not too high because Klose and Cisse can hurt with counterattacks
5) hey, how about the Tigers? I don’t know what happened yesterday…
Another interlull upon us–no club matches, as the top players are jetting around to join their national sides. There’s a full and relatively interesting slate of Euro2012 qualifiers, given the that qualifying group stage finally wraps up on Tuesday: 20 fixtures today, out of which we’ve picked 5 to keep an eye on, and then 22 more on Tuesday.
We start with five Euro qualifiers plus one friendly; we’ll be back over the course of next few days with picks for Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday (hence the “Part 1 of n”, where n is somewhere between 1 and 4).
In fact, all five of the matches we’ve chosen are between the top two teams in their respective group tables–which is what’s important of qualification. The 9 group winners qualify directly for the tournament in Poland & Ukraine next summer, as well as the runner-up with the best record. The other 8 group runners-up get paired for a 2-legged playoff round, yielding 4 more qualifiers. Add to that the hosts, and we’ll finally have our 16 team field for Euro2012 set by the end of November.
The five matches to watch today, which have some interesting group dynamics, as you can infer from the top of the current group tables:
Turkey vs Germany 2:30pmET foxsoccer.tv: The top of Group A looks like this: Germany way ahead (perfect 8-0 record so far for 24 points), Turkey in 2nd (14 pts), Belgium close behind (12 pts). And Belgium is playing cellar dwellers Kazakhstan at home in Brussels–so basically Turkey needs to knock off the big dogs of Deutscheland.
Mesut Özil & Hamit Altıntop
A potentially interesting set of matchup in midfield, as Hamit Altıntop will have to deal play against his Real Madrid teammates Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil. This matchup of course always puts extra focus on Ozil, given that he’s a rising superstar who born in (West) Germany but is of Turkish descent (3rd-generation Turkish-German, in fact–which points the long but complicated socioeconomic relations between these two nations).
Czech Republic vs Spain 2:45pmET ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com: Exact same dynamic in Group I–Spain is perfect (18 points), Czech Republic in 2nd (10 pts) but only 2 points ahead of 3rd place Scotland (8 pts)–with the latter playing minnows (Lichtenstein in this case)
Serbia vs Italy 2:45pmET ESPN3.com, foxsoccer.tv (tape at 7 p.m. on ESPN Deportes): Similarly in Group C–Italy close to perfect (22 points), but Serbia (14 pts) trying to hold off Estonia (13 pts)
Greece vs Croatia 2:45pmET ESPN3.com (tape at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on ESPN Deportes): A bit different in Group F, where it looks like these two teams will finish in the top 2–but it’s not clear in what order. Current standings: Croatia (19 points), Greece (18 points), Israel (13 points).
Montenegro vs England 3pmET ESPN3.com: England need just a point to clinch the top spot in group, while Montenegro needs to make sure they don’t allow Switzerland to catch them for 2nd place (England 17 pts; Montenegro 11 pts; Switzerland 8 pts)
For all the other group standings and fixtures, head over to UEFA’s Euro2012 site.
And finally, here’s one friendly to watch:
Costa Rica vs Brazil10pmET ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com: CONCACAF’s Costa Rica hosts the Seleção.
The French professor..introducing new training techniques to bring Arsenal back from the brink?
Some thoughts from Arsenal observer Rob Kirby ahead of their pivotal Champions League playoff match against Udinese later today:
Apparently, the last chance saloon is in Udine, Italy. I always wondered as to the exact location. Despite the fact that it would have scuppered the Man City deal, if Nasri played today it would have made sense both financially and sporting-wise. Arsenal will lose £20 million minimum (some say £25m) in TV revenue if they fail to qualify for the CL. Assuming the Nasri deal is £25m, that justifies hanging onto Nasri to my mind, since we seem to be incapable of finding anyone to replace him, anyway. Any hopes of attracting someone of Eden Hazard’s calibre hinges on playing in the European top flight. But all this assumes Nasri’s heart would be in it, and that is debatable. If we lose, according to CL rules, he wouldn’t be cup-tied, so no harm in having him on the bench. But at this point it’s water under the bridge, or water that passed beneath the bridge weeks ago.
Arsenal are like lepers currently. Prospective targets keep rejecting offers, right and left. That will change if the Udinese match goes North London’s direction, but it still leaves little or no time for squad reinforcements. Fortunately, all the teens did well against Liverpool, despite the loss. Fans seem to have cottoned to Frimpong’s energy instantly, red card notwithstanding. And though the Ramsey-Ignasi own goal combo was regrettably unlucky, I don’t think anyone would have preferred to see Squillaci in the young Spanish defender’s place. They got thrown in the deep end, but stayed afloat. It’s the senior players who dropped the ball. And there never should have been 3 teenage EPL debuts in such an important game, with a fourth coming on as a sub.
I will always be optimistic about Arsenal and Arsene’s abilities, but it’s getting tougher. Arsenal have now racked up 3 suspensions (almost 4, with Wenger awaiting the UEFA verdict) and until yesterday 6 injuries (Wilshere, Koscielny, Gibbs, Djourou, Rosický, Diaby, Traoré). Djourou, Rosický and Traoré have been deemed fit to travel, but they’ve got to be feeling on the iffy side of fitness. At least Gervinho and Song can play this week and have been rested.
But as demoralizing as it is, if Arsenal win, it could change the trajectory of the entire season. Much hangs in the balance tonight. There aren’t enough fingers to cross.
I am an Arsenal fan. (It sounds like one’s first words at the first address of a self-help meeting.) I check the Web every day to see if finally the drip-drip waterboard torture is finally over and we’ve either signed someone (I quadruple finger-crossed on the Juan Mata deal; I’m still doing so) or resolved anything with regard to Fabregas and/or Nasri. But sometimes, you just have to let go. And on that note, time for something different.
By the standards of soccer allegiances and soccer fandom, I’m a newbie. And American, to boot. In 2006, an NYC friend who supported Arsenal wove a magical tale of a manager who could conjure success on a shoestring budget. He spotted the diamonds in the rough time and time again. He built a team that fought the good fight, sidestepped the slide tackles and nutmegged the thug teams with flowing, attractive play. Perhaps the team did not note-for-note emulate the total football of the 1970s Dutch national teams, but then, who did? Furthermore, we had Henry, the best player in the world, or so the song went. [Editor’s note: he was. Okay, that wasn’t the editor noting, it’s still me. But look at Henry’s goals on YouTube sometime. Cagey, cheeky Frenchman.]
Anyway, it occurred to me moments ago that for the first time in my tenure (obsession) with Arsenal that we now finally have a player who goes by one name. And he’s not even Brazilian. Just a good ol’ boy from the Ivory Coast named Gervais Yao Kouassi. I mean, Gervinho.
OK, caveat number one, we have/had Denilson, but I’m choosing to ignore him. He’s on loan, he’s disappointed greatly as a player, he causes nightmares in soccer dreams…so the assertion stands.
Caveat two, we had Eduardo, and Eduardo ruled until some Cro Magnon from Birmingham mistook Eduardo’s leg and ankle for a brick wall and mistook himself for the brick-busting Kool-Aid Man/ Pitcher. Nothing about it is funny, and it still pains me to have lost Eduardo, but I can’t help myself: “Oh yeah!” (I really do love the Kool Aid Pitcher guy.)
I should have chosen a different metaphor.
But my love for Eduardo’s fox-in-the-box style means that I have wholly blocked out this memory. He scored against us last year with Shakhtar Donetsk? What? Is that even a real team? Who are we talking about again? Ed-what? Crozillian? Doesn’t ring a bell.
Onward and upward. It can’t be denied that sometimes less is more. And please do me the favor of not reading this as some tired rationalization I’ve trotted out through the years re: endowment, or lack thereof. Get your minds out of the gutter and stick with me here: one namers bring success.
