April 22, 2008 by f4denz.

So today kicked off the semi finals of the Champions League, with Chelsea visiting Anfield to face Liverpool for the first leg of their journey to get to Moscow next month. While Liverpool has been to the final 3 of the last 4 years, Chelsea has been in the semis, but unable to get a ticket to the final match. I am watching the match in the evening, because work was on the agenda for the day, so while this is delayed I will try to give a fair match summary for those of you who may have missed the match. At the 15 minute mark we are tied at 0-0, early possession and attacks seem to be going Chelsea’s way, Liverpool have had one good chance on a missed play by the back line of the boys in blue, but Chec was there to squelch the chance. Play is still rather frantic at this stage of the match, no calming down yet, each team is attacking and it still seems that the majority of chances are going the way of the team from London. I lot of long ball play is dominating the early play, and the officials seem to be calling every bit of contact, which could spell a very long match with lots of set plays and little in the way of fluid play. At minute 22 a light touch by Kuyt drops Drogba as if he had been shot, but as soon as the ball was played out by Liverpool he was back up and looked no worse for wear.

Liverpool seems to have calmed down a bit and are trying to control the possession and slow down the Chelsea attack, the only major injury is that Essien is out for the match. Liverpool are attacking slowly in the 25^th minute they are using the wide attack to try to work their way into a position where they can get the ball into the box and hopefully to Torres, who has 30 goals so far this season in all competitions. It does appear that Liverpool know that they will need to score a couple goals in this match if they want any chance of moving on in the tournament, with the next leg in London Liverpool also will be trying to prevent an away goal, which could really cause a hard time if they have to score more than one goal next week. In the 29^th minute Drogba is attacking at the edge of the 20 and goes down on very light contact, and the official is having none of it. It is interesting to note that Claude Makelele, a name that was running hot in the RSL DP rumors of last year has been not only back into the lineup, 31^st minute a great pass from Gerrard to Torres in the box, but Chec again is up to the task and shuts him down cold. Claude has been a steady force all season long for Chelsea, interesting how a players fate can change so much in just a short amount of time.

On the 35^th minute the scoreboard is still at 0-0, most of the possession has been to Chelsea, but the best scoring chances have been Liverpool’s, despite coming up empty so far. I guess even the big boys can finish every chance they get, especially when you’re facing Peter Chec. I have to imagine that playing in a match like with is an amazing experience, to come out of the tunnel with the crowd singing in one voice and the sea of red in the stands, oh some day to sit in those stands, before they build the new stadium, that no matter how nice will never be the same as Anfield. Liverpool has been controlling the last couple minutes with a number of corner kicks and throw ins deep in the Chelsea third of the pitch. Liverpool are now up to 57% of the possession, after a slow start, they also have a higher percentage of completed passes than Chelsea. A 40^th minute corner by Chelsea come to nothing as the ball is played out and all the way back to Chec, who again kicks it deep, but Liverpool takes possession with just 4 minutes left in the half. A foul at the mid field line, and a quick restart lead to a couple Liverpool chances that end up with Dirk Kuyt putting the ball in the back of the net and a 1-0 lead as the ball goes between Chec’s legs. How will this impact the second half? Chelsea appear to be simply trying to get to the half, and try to regroup and see if things will go their way in the second half, it looks like Liverpool are not happy with just their one goal lead and even as the half goes to the final seconds they are still trying to attack, as the match moves to injury time (1 minute).

The half time numbers show Liverpool with 5 shots to Chelsea’s 3 and Liverpool with 59% of the possession despite their slow start. The halftime announcers seem to think that both teams might be happy with this result, but I am thinking Liverpool know they probably need an additional goal to be able to feel comfortable in the 2^nd leg next week.

No changes to either side at the half, but it appears that Rafa is talking with his assistants about something important, perhaps what changes to make as the half progresses. A nice pass gets the ball to Drogba in the attack but Liverpool again has someone at the right place at the right time, clear the ball out of danger. A long ball from Stevie G to an onrushing Torres, but a body blocks his path and nothing results from it. Any questions about Liverpool sitting back and protecting their lead have been answered as they continue to attack. In the 49^th minute Chelsea try to quickly restart from a freekick, but no luck for them, a counter attack for Liverpool looked promising as Torres was inside the box with the ball at his feet, but Makelele is there to clear it out. 50^th minute and it is still 1-0, as Babel puts a ball into the box, but no one is there to do anything with it. Again Babel gets wide and plays the ball into the box, and Gerarrd is just a foot or two out of place or it would be 2-0, but the ball slides out to Alonso who cranks up a shot, but no danger as it bounces off a couple players in blue. Liverpool seem to be wearing out the left side of the pitch with attacking coming fast and furious, now they try the other side and there is no doubt that they want more than one goal tonight.

A ball driven into the box in minute 56 is cleared out by Chec, a replay shows that the official missed a hard foul on Torres just outside of the Chelsea box. Liverpool is still controlling the possession of the match, as Chelsea appear to be content in trying to launch long balls in an attempt to get the ball to Drogba. It appears the only way they might be able to counter the act that Liverpool is simply owning control of the match. An hour into the match and it is still 1-0 as Babel misses just wide (a couple inches), Ryan has been a real engine in the second half. Aurelio is down with what appears to be a groin injury, perhaps a hamstring, Riise is up and appears like he will be coming into the match.

Well the first change for either team doesn’t appear to be slowing the attack of Liverpool, now it is a change for Chelsea as Kalou comes in for Cole in the 63^rd minute. Wow off a free kick, it appears that a hand ball in the box by Ballack was missed by the officials. Once again a touch to Drogba and the officials whistle signals another foul against Liverpool, leads to a nice attack by Chelsea but Lampard runs out of room and nothing comes from it. It was the best looking attack by Chelsea since the first 20 minutes. Well it appears that Chelsea have gotten their second wind as they are mounting more attacks than they have at any time in the match. Both sides appear to be playing more open, and once again Drogba is down on the ground from a slight touch as he backs into Riise. I do believe he has spent more time on his back than he has on his feet, surely a player worthy of a pink card if such a thing existed.

70 minutes in and the score is still 1-0, but I will admit that the attack of Chelsea has looked much stronger in the last 10 minutes and it will be interesting to see which side will make another change and try to get the advantage back in their favor with some fresh legs. A well organized attack by the guys from London is shut down by the official holding up his flag to signify an offside, another attack with Drogba staying on his feet but Liverpool shuts him down. Benayoun comes on for Babel, who had a great match and logged over 8K’s of running in his 75 minutes on the pitch, what move will Chelsea make to counter the fresh legs that Liverpool have brought in. Chelsea have a nice attack going but the final ball runs out of bounds, they simply have not been able to get a good final touch, or a real shot on goal.

Well we are in the final 10 minutes of the match, and as expected things are getting a bit more physical from both teams, and Chelsea have a great chance on goal with a ball in the box and several options, but the defense of Liverpool is up to the task. Kalou goes down from a hard challenge and gets a free kick from about 8 yards outside of the box, but a foul on Renya puts an end to that attack. Liverpool counter as Gerrard and Torres play a little two man game, but fail to get a solid shot off, and then again Chelsea counter. Wow a fingertip save by Chec prevents a Gerrard ball from going in, cornerkick Liverpool, but nothing comes of it. Anelka is coming in for Ballack but with only 4 minutes left will it make a difference? A long ball over to Torres, but his first touch is bad, but they get another cornerkick, but a foul in the box and the whistle stops that one dead. Interesting stat that Liverpool have not scored in their last 8 matches on Chelsea’s home pitch, so they will have to shut out the Blues if they want to move on because we are in the 89^th minute and it is still 1-0. A hard foul on Kuyt by Terry, as the fourth official says there will be 4 minutes of stoppage time, can Liverpool keep a clean sheet? Can they counter attack and get a second goal? Well one minute of time is gone and nothing on the scoreboard, wow the first yellow card of the match in the 2^nd minute of stoppage time as Terry get’s the yellow. Nice ball in from Liverpool, results in a corner, another Chec save prevents what appeared to be the best chance for a goal in the last 30 minutes. Well time is running out and the Liverpool fans are up and singing as Riise puts a own goal into the back of his own net at the clock reads 4:05 of stoppage time, what a shame. So if Liverpool are to move on, they will have to do something to score next week in London. This one is over. Wow talk about an ending, who would have guessed? Liverpool 1 – Chelsea 1

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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April 21, 2008 by f4denz.

Some Blogs

MLS Weekend: Shots on Goal USSoccerPlayers.com wrap up of week 4 in the MLS
“Four games in and it’s San Jose showing they could be more than gimme points at the bottom of the Western Conference. ”

Week 4 MLS Power Rankings SoccerbyIves.com
“And then there was one.
FC Dallas is the lone remaining unbeaten team in Major League Soccer as we look past week four of the 2008 season. Chicago was knocked from the unbeaten ranks by Kansas City, which regained the top spot in the newest power rankings after traveling to Toyota Park and posting a shutout.”

The Good, the Bad, and the Coyote Ugly blog.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider
Weekly review of MLS action by Steven Goff soccer reporter for the Washington Post

Some News

US Men’s Olympic Draw in Group B ussoccer.com
The U.S. Under-23 Men’s National Team has been drawn into Group B of the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament along with Japan, the Netherlands and Nigeria, and will based in Tianjin for its first two games before moving to the Olympic host city of Beijing to round out the first stage.

Real’s road woes continue in loss to Toronto Deseret News
Real Salt Lake psyched itself out of three potential away points Saturday afternoon north of the border.
Fully expecting Toronto FC to come out aggressively in its home opener at sold-out BMO Field, RSL’s coaching staff approached the game conservatively to weather the storm. It turned out to be totally unnecessary.

Robert’s bullet carries TFC past Salt Lake Toronto Star
Half an hour into yesterday’s game against Real Salt Lake, Amado Guevara ran a quick give-and-go with Danny Dichio and took a hard foul 20 yards from the Salt Lake goal. Fans at BMO Field rose from their seats, anticipating a booming free kick from Laurent Robert, who was already crafting a plan.

Toronto FC fans have reason to hope Toronto Star
The atmosphere, the colour, the sense of anticipation at yesterday’s Toronto FC home opener matched the team’s local debut a year ago. But the similarities ended there.
This is an entirely new sort of Toronto FC. Personnel changes are one thing. Flipping the club’s attitude on its head is entirely another.

RSL goes scoreless in Canada SL Trib
By the time Real Salt Lake made the adjustment, it was too late.
Laurent Robert’s low free kick through the wall in the 31st minute gave Toronto FC a 1-0 victory in its Major League Soccer home opener before a sellout crowd of 20,219 at BMO Field.

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April 21, 2008 by f4denz.

Expectations met and missed in week 4

So let’s review, who expected that Houston defending two time MLS champions would be the only team in MLS without a win in the first four weeks? Who would have expected that Dallas would be the only team without a defeat, and that every team but them would have at least one loss within the first four weeks of league play? Would you have picked KC and Columbus as the top two teams in the East after week 4? Who would have expected that New England would have had to finish two of their first five matches with only 10 men on the pitch? Who would have picked that expansion team San Jose would pick up their first win in their third match of the season and on the road? Who would have guessed that at the end of week four that DC United would be in last place in the East with only 3 points. So many expectations at the beginning of the season, and in week four so many teams would already have missed their expectations and that a few teams (Toronto, Columbus, Dallas, and San Jose) would have probably exceeded their early season expectations.

RSL fail to live up to week 3

Let’s face it, many of us were expecting better on Saturday morning as RSL faced off with Toronto at BMO field, a draw or a win seemed like a given after RSL stepped up in week 3 against DC United and appeared to have solved their finishing woes. But this is not the same TFC as last year, some great pickups from around the globe have TFC looking a whole lot better in week four than they did in week two when DC United dropped them 4-1. It sure was not the same RSL squad that we saw at home against that same DC United, the looked flat in the first half (I think the worst 45 minutes they have played this year), and even when they stepped up the attack in the second half, they could not finish their chances and gave Toronto all 3 points as they picked up their second win in a row.

Revolution play better with 10 men

So one would expect that the 1-0 lead that the Red Bulls took into the second half of the match against New England looked great when Castro was given a red card in the 46^th minute and the Revolution went down to 10 men. Looks can be deceiving in MLS and the Red Bulls could not control the second half and allowed the Revolution to continue to attack and to be honest the Rev’s looked a lot better with 10 men than they had with a full squad. Only 10 minutes after going a man down New England tied the match at 1-1 and that is how it would end. The Red Bulls did lose Angel to injury in the first half, but they simply could not figure out how to take advantage of their man advantage, surely their expectation would have been to capture all 3 points at home. Another case of expectations missed.

Rapids fail to live up to their hype

So the early season surprise in the West has to be the Colorado Rapids, who were 2-1-0 going into what should have been an expected win at home against expansion team San Jose, but again expectation missed. Colorado has a bunch of players who had not seen a lot of MLS action before this season, most of them were the stars of last years reserve squad who were given chances due to a rash of preseason and early season injuries, all of whom have to be considered to have exceeded expectations in the first three weeks of the season. San Jose on the other hand has looked much better than expansion teams of the past few years, playing well against LA in their season opener despite losing 2-0, and continued to perform well against Chicago in a 1-0 loss. Unlike last years expansion side TFC who holds the record for longest time without a goal, San Jose put in two as they played at the Dick’s and looked to be a far superior side as Colorado looked very human in week four and could not score a goal. San Jose wins their first match in franchise history (for a second time) 2-0 over the Rapids.

Dynamo still without a victory

Saturday’s surprised wrapped up with a late match from the Home Depot Center, a place where the Dynamo have done very well since their move to Houston, but again expectations are not always met. Houston looked to be the better side and controlled the match better than their overpaid counterparts, and at the half Houston had a 1-0 lead on a goal from Brad Davis (his 19^th goal in his MLS career). But superstars finally lived up to expectations, well kinda, a pair of goals by Landon “princess” Donavan, and both with assists from Golden Balls himself. I expect that the second goal will be the winner in this weeks “goal of the week” contest. It wasn’t enough to get a win, but it was enough to keep Houston from getting their first win of the season. End result a 2-2 draw that neither team had to expect.

Fire vs. Wizards

Well I have to be honest I missed my expectations of being able to catch all the matches this weekend; I simply forgot this one as I was out running errands. I know the result was 1-0 with the Wizards taking over sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference, surely more than meeting their expectations.

Dallas tops the West

Despite the match being fairly evenly played, Chivas could not finish their scoring chances and Dallas was able to including goals from Cooper (5^th minute) and Thompson (80^th minute). I did not expect much from Chivas this week, after a rough road loss to Columbus last weekend; they were missing two key pieces in Sasha Kljestan, and Francisco Mendoza. Dallas on the other hand looked good last week as they beat the Red Bulls, and this week’s victory on the road has to surpass their expectations.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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April 19, 2008 by f4denz.

1^st half RSL vs. TFC

Well to me it was a question of which team would respond to the pressure, the pressure of expectations was there for both teams and looking at the first half it is TFC playing their home opener who are responding. Play from their new imports appears to be the major factor as both Robert and Ricketts has been impressive and, a good effort by Guevara have really been the difference. Robert scored on a free kick from just outside of the box in the 31^st minute to give Toronto the 1-0 lead, RSL should count itself lucky to not be down by at least 2 goals.

RSL has had horrible passing, awful first touches and simply appear to be a step slower than TFC in the first half. An injury to Sturgis forced a 1^st half change to replace him with Talley, will limit Jason options in the 2^nd half. Controlling the ball and not panicking will be essential if RSL is going to get back into this match. I expect that Findley will go out early in the 2^nd half, with Fabian nursing an injury, I would bring in Yura to improve our attacking effort, and then if RSL is still behind look for Talley to come out about minute 70 for a more attacking threat in Andy Williams. I actually had hoped that Tino Nunez would have made the 18 this week after a very impressive effort in the reserve match against BYU this week.

Time to pull up the socks and get into the second half

A tale of two halves

Well if you took the first half and changed it 180 degrees and then subtracted the goal, well you have the second half of this match. RSL was the team on the attack, but the scoring touch that seemed so natural last week against DC United was missing today, and despite a number of chances (far more than the official 8 shots), RSL could not find the back of the net. The result is that they did not respond to the pressure of expectations and dropped a match against a team that they could have beaten, TFC played a great match and leveraged their new talent (great job by their staff finding both Robert and Ricketts- they appear to be the real deal) and they get the 3 points in their home opener. RSL it is back to the drawing board, they have to face a DC United team next weekend that will be looking for revenge, let’s hope that Jason can get a 90 minute effort from his team next week, because that was not the case today.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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April 18, 2008 by f4denz.

Red Bulls vs. Revolution

Injuries on both side will hamper sides, NY is without Freeman, Richards, and Roth and may not have Thornton and Angel who if they do play will not be 100%. The Revolution is much worse off, missing Twellman, Ralston, Albright, and Britner, they also have Larentowitz who is injured but expect to play. So who will be the difference maker in this one? No one, this one will feature some stars of the future Altidore, Mansally, and Nyassi, all players with attacking skills and speed. This will be an exciting match but I think each team will put two into the back of the net and this one ends up a draw and neither team will be happy about it.

Rapids remain on top of the West

Is anyone else surprised by the red hot start that the Rapids are off to in 2008? After only getting 2 wins in the last two months of last season, they already have that many wins in the first two weeks of this season. They have done it with young players stepping up and filling shoes of injured stars (Casey, Petke, and Ihemelu are out and Pablo still hurting and only having played 35 minutes in the first 3 weeks of the 08 season), of interest to RSL fans is that Medhi Ballouchy is rumored to be on his way out at Colorado and he has not seen any action this year.

San Jose is well an expansion team and so far they have yet to put a goal into the back of the net. Two matches into the season and two defeats and they so far are the only team to lose to the Galaxy, well week four will be no different for San Jose, they will lose again and they will not score a goal. It will Bouna time at the Dick’s as the Rapids score two and stay atop the Western Conference standings.

Who would have figured?

Houston has not looked anything like the defending MLS Cup champions and has only 2 points from ties with Dallas and KC, and a opening day loss to New England (3-0). Houston has allowed 3 more goals than they have scored this year, but LA is in that same boat allowing 3 more goals than they have scored. The difference in the standings is one point, LA has 3 all from their victory over San Jose. This will be the match that the Dynamo begin to look like the champs, they will double up on the Galaxy, who simply do not have enough players to stop Houston, this one ends up 2-1.

Can the Wiz put out the Fire?

Both teams have 7 points and a win would put one team a point above the Crew in the Eastern Conference standings, oh just a note KC has 7 points from 4 matches, the Fire have the same total from 3 and have not lost yet this year. It looked like KC was going to be a real force in MLS this season despite losing Eddie Johnson to Fullham, but that only lasted for the first two matches (wins over DC United and the Rapids) but when New England stopped by KC on a rainy, windy night the Wizards looked much more human and got beat 3-1, then last week they could not score and settled for a 0-0 draw with Houston. This will be the first match that KC is not playing at their baseball field, and they will get a rude surprise in Chicago. I am not sure if the Fire are the class of the east, but no one has beaten them, and they spoiled the home opener (played in Oakland) for San Jose, but they are a good team and they have a superstar that unlike the guy in LA has made a huge impact since his arrival in MLS. I may not like the diving antics of Blanco, but he still can pass the ball, he still has great field vision, and he can put the ball in the back of the net if you give him any type of opening. KC will and it will cost them, they lose this one 3-1 as the Fire take over the lead in the east.

Week 4 and already the second meeting

They faced off in week 1 at Dallas and ended up in a 1-1 draw and since then Chivas has gotten a win and a loss, and Dallas has a win and another tie. But this one will not end up as a tie for a number of reasons, first Chivas will be missing Kljestan and Mendoza both who are suspended due to a red card in last weekends heartbreaker loss to the Columbus Crew. They also will not have Esky and Razov and Vaughn are both hurting but will probably play. The loss of Sasha takes away too much for them to win this one, despite playing at home. I am going to pick Dallas to win 2-1 in this Sunday night battle.

Pressure can make diamonds

So there is no doubt that the worst two teams last season were TFC and RSL, but this year both are coming off major wins in week 3 and appear to be on the edge of moving from lumps of coal to being diamonds (OK diamonds in the rough). TFC has a wild group of home supporters, and a lot of new faces in the last few weeks, add in their win over the Galaxy last weekend at the Home Depot Center via a 88^th minute goal by the 2006 Golden Boot winner Jeff Cunningham, and it would seem that TFC is poised to notch their second win of the season. Hold on, all that is fine but let’s not forget that RSL is also in the process of moving from laughing stock, to playoff contender (really). RSL is coming off perhaps the biggest victory in their four year existence, beating DC United is nothing new for RSL, but beating them 4-0 and simply out playing them in every aspect of the game is big. Then consider that their opening match of 2008 was a solid effort against the Fire, who got a 90^th minute goal from superstar Blanco to steal 2 points from RSL, and then add in the new faces from the 2007 opening day roster, all 20 of them. So which team will respond to the pressure, RSL has the pressure of expectations from fans, the owner, and even themselves. For TFC the pressure will come from 20,000 crazy fans, which last year turned the turf at BMO field into a storage bin for seat covers, and are always loud and proud of their team.

Reality is that TFC is better than last year, but their improvement is not as significant as the changes for RSL. This one goes RSL’s way 2-1, and I will even pick that the TFC goal will be scored by former RSL fan favorite Jeff Cunningham.

Week 3 summary

Last week I only had two matches right, but that was one more than Ives’ picks on his blog (still waiting on his week 4 picks), and this week I have added picks from the Mind of Scads blog to the mix. Who will win week 4? Don’t know we all started wrong on the DC vs. Crew match, so only time will tell.

OFF MY SOAPBOX

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