Milan v.s. Napoli in Italian domestic action.

First, the background: AC Milan sit at the top of the Italian table with two points over second place Inter Milan and three over Napoli. If Napoli was to win the match, they would leapfrog Inter Milan and be just behind AC Milan on goal difference while a victory for AC Milan would give them a five point lead over Inter and six over the Naples side in third. Well, Napoli were not enough for the powerful Milan side. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kevin-Prince Boateng, and Alexandre Pato each slotted home on the way to a 3-0 victory for AC Milan at home. Despite the fact that all the goals came from the second half, it was a very good game and means that AC Milan has some leverage over their cross-town rivals Inter. Napoli on the other hand will be disappointed with the result as they now have to overtake both AC and Inter Milan with all sides having played 27 games. Best of luck to all!

Carling Cup Finale.

Birmingham City v.s. Arsenal. A match the Gunners could be reasonably confident of winning right? Wrong. Birmingham have claimed a piece of major silverware for the first time since 1963 as they beat Arsenal 2-1 with a strike from Obafemi Martins two minutes from the final whistle. His job was made incredibly easy following an episode of miscommunication which left Arsenal's goalie, Wojciech Szczesny, painfully out of position. Nikola Zigic, who scored the first goal of the game, set the situation up with a relatively weak header. Robin Van Persie had drawn the sides level following Zigic's goal but he could do nothing more as Birmingham strode into the lead once and for all. To be fair though, both Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott were unable to play through injury but that doesn't mean Birmingham's victory was any less meaningful or memorable.

Recap from domestic action 2/26/2011. And Australia.

Beginning in the Germany, Dortmund illustrated their dominance of the league this year as they deconstructed normal pace-setters Bayern Munich 3-1 with a goal from Lucas Barrios to put the leaders of the league up 1-0. Luiz Gustavo drew Bayern level before Nuri Sahin struck in the 18th minute to give Dortmund a lead that they didn't lose Mats Hummels gave Dortmund the 3-1 lead in the second half when he struck in the 60th to great effect. Mainz defeated Hoffenheim 2-1 while Kaiserslautern tied 1-1 against Hamburg with a goal Adam Hlousek opening the scoring for Kaiserslautern. Marcell Jansen struck in the 54th to salvage a point for Hamburg. Schalke and Nurnberg drew 1-1 as well with a goal from Hegeler giving Nurnberg the advantage. Raul equalised for Schalke in the 52nd while Hannover defeated St. Pauli 1-0 thanks to an 89th minute strike from Christian Schulz. In the Netherlands, there were huge scorelines as Heracles destroyed Vitesse 6-1. Mark Looms, Everton, Mark Jan Fledderus, and Willy Overtoom struck for Heracles before Guram Kashia scored an own goal to make it 6-0. Kashia then redeemed himself in the second minute of stoppage time as he slotted home for the right team making it 6-1. NAC edged Den Haag 3-2 while Willem II edged Heerenveen 4-3. In Spain, big news as Deportivo was able to hold Real Madrid 0-0 while Barcelona slotted home thrice against Mallorca without reply to show why they are at the top of the table, now by 7 points. Lionel Messi, David Villa, and Pedro Rodriguez each struck one. Finally, Espanyol showed some class in their 4-1 victory over Real Sociedad. Over the border in Portugal, Porto handed Olhanense a 3-0 defeat while Vitoria were defeated 2-0 by Pacos de Ferreira. In Scotland, Aberdeen and Hearts drew 0-0 while Hibernian defeated Inverness 2-0 with goals only coming in the second half for Callum Booth and Lewis Stevenson as Kilmarnock defeated St. Mirren by the same scoreline. William Gross struck in the 19th and Alexei Junior Eremenko in the 29th to seal the deal. Down south in England, Wolves slotted home four times as they obliterated Blackpool. Matthew Jarvis opened the scoring in the second minute while Jamoie O' Hara and Sylvain Ebanks-Blake each scored after DJ Campbell had been sent-off. Sylvain struck the last two goals. Manchester United did the same thing to Wigan, Javier Hernandez sinking twice before Wayne Rooney and Fabio each put another away to close the account 0-4. Aston Villa defeated Blackburn by 4-1, while Everton beat Sunderland 2-0. Finally, in Italy, Juventus were handed a 2-0 defeat by Bologna. Last but not least, in Australia, as Brisbane Roar await their competition in the Final, Gold Coast United will be facing the Central Coast Mariners in the Semi-final having defeated Adelaide United 3-2 with Shane Smeltz striking two for Gold Coast and Bruce Djite scoring as well. Sergio van Dijk and Matthew Leckie were the scorers for Adelaide.

Champions League 2/23/2011!!!

What a brilliant day in Italy and a boring one in France! Inter Milan hosted Bayern Munich today in Milan and lost. Yes, it was ony by a 1-0 margin but it was a fantastic conclusion to a pitched battle. Inter did seem to have more attempts on goal, but the sides were evenly matched throughout the first 89 minutes. When Mario Gomez finally converted after Arjen Robben's shot was blocked by Julio Cesar in the 90th minute, the Italians surprised to say the least. Bayern's Thomas Kraft had a really good game, stopping many attempts by the Inter players to break the deadlock. That the Bayern players were the ones to actually do it was definately the first step down the road to sweet revenge since Inter were victorious in the Final last year. In the other match of the day, Marseille and Manchester United fought out a goalless draw in a game where there were few attempts and even fewer goals. United did have a bit more of possession while Marseille had a couple more corners but neither side really used either advantage. Hopefully the second leg will be more enjoyable!

Europa League 2/23/2011.

Well Sevilla beat Porto in Portugal but it wasn't enough to get them through to the next round. From the first leg Porto had a 2-1 lead before the match even started. So, Sevilla needed at least two goals to get through to the next round due to the away goals rule. They finished with only one. Luis Fabiano's strike in the 71st minute gave the Spanish some hope but Porto refused to concede the second. Porto were even left a man down when Alvaro Pereira got a straight red in the 72nd but Sevilla couldn't take advantage of it and instead had Alexis sent off in the 77th after a second yellow. On the bright side for Sevilla, Luis Fabiano's strike against his old club was a sweet one, but not as sweet as Porto's overall victory. I'll post later about the Champions League matches between Inter Milan and Bayern as well as Marseille's hosting of Manchester United.

Champions League, Europa League 2/22/2011

There were several good games today as Kobenhavn hosted Chelsea while Real Madrid visited Lyon in the Champions League. CSKA Moskva also met PAOK in the Europa League: CSKA Moskva will be progressing as they tied PAOK 1-1 for an aggregate score of 2-1. PAOK scored first through Zlatan Muslimovic in the 67th and held onto the lead for a bit before Sergei Ignashevich slotted home from a penalty of Vagner Love's that was saved by PAOK's goalie Dario Kresic. Meanwhile, in the Champions League, Chelsea struck two past Kobenhavn without response despite being outside of England. Nicolas Anelka struck both, one coming in the first and the other in the second half to give Chelsea a very comfortable position into the second leg back in England. The other match of the day, between Real Madrid and Lyon took place in France where the Spaniards went ahead in the 65th through Karim Benzema before Bafetimbi Gomis equalised for Lyon in the 83rd much to the relief of the home fans, coaches, and players. The game ended 1-1 with the second leg eagerly anticipated.

Lots of things happened 2/20/2011!

Getting a quick start: Scotland saw a fantastic match as Celtic thrashed their rivals Rangers 3-0 today with two goals for Gary Hooper in the 17th and 28th minutes starting Celtic on the right track. Kris Commons slotted home the third on a day when all Rangers seemed capable of was picking up yellows: accounting for five of the six that were handed out during the game. In the other Scottish match, St. Mirren lost in the dying minutes to Hibernian thanks to an 87th minute goal from Francis Dickoh which made it 1-0 when the final whistle blew. Wolves could have used a goal like that themselves today in England as they could only draw 1-1 with West Brom. Jamie O'Hara had given them the lead in the 39th, a lead which the visitors held all the way up until stoppage time of the second half when Carlos Vela struck in the second minute of stoppage time to draw the sides level and bump Wolves to bottom of the table. Over in the Netherlands Ajax were victorious in Amsterdam as they handed Venlo a 1-0 defeat courtesy of Mounir El Hamdaoui's strike in the 11th minute. Den Haag came back to level with Feyenoord 2-2 in a very exciting match. Luc Castaignos scored twice to put Ajax ahead 2-0 before Charlton Vicente and Dmitri Bulykin each scored once to draw the game as the match came to its conclusion. PSV smashed NAC 4-1 in their match while Twente and NEC drew 1-1. Across the border in Germany, Monchengladbach came from behind to defeat Schalke 2-1. Peer Kluge had put Schalke ahead in the second minute before Marco Reus and Mohamadou Idrissou each struck one to give the home side a lead they never lost. In Leverkusen, Bayer couldn't be stopped by Stuttgart as they rolled over them 4-2. Stefan Kiessling opened and closed the scoring while Leverkusen had a 2-1 lead at the break. Zdravko Kuzmanovic then drew Stuttgart level again before Stefan Reinartz and Kiessling each struck in the last ten minutes to put the game to bed. Moving to France now, where Montpellier and Lille finished a close game 1-0 with the current leaders actually losing.Younes Belhanda struck in the 84th minute to seal the game for the now 6th place side. PSG had their way with Nice as they ran out 3-0 victors. Ludovic Giuly, Guillaume Hoarau, and Sylvain Armand each struck one as their side confidently won. In Spain, Barcelona edged out Athletic 2-1 as David Villa opened the scoring and Lionel Messi closed it with a neat strike in the 78th. Andoni Iraola had brought Athletic level in the 50th but to no avail. Sevilla defeated Hercules 1-0 thanks to a goal from Ivan Rakitic in the 21st minute of the game. Villarreal and Malaga tied 1-1 with Marco Ruben and Sebastian Fernandez scoring for the respective sides. Finally, in Italy, Milan edged out Chievo 2-1 thanks to an Alexandre Pato strike in the 82nd which off-set Gelson Fernandes' equaliser after Robinho scored. Genoa edged Roma 4-3 while Napoli beat Catania 1-0. Juventus were embarrassed by Lecce 2-0.

Domestic Action.

So, there were only a couple of domestic matches today, let's start in Germany! Nurnberg welcomed Eintracht Frankfurt and beat them soundly, scoring three goals through Julian Schieber, Robert Mak, and Almog Cohen. All three goals came in the second half including two in the last three minutes. In the Netherlands, Utrecht and Heracles finished 1-1 as Utrecht's Ricky van Wolfswinkel struck in the third, giving the home side the lead for the rest of the game. That is, until Ellery Cairo struck in the 89th to level the sides when the final whistle blew. In Portugal, Leiria hosted and lost to Vitoria, 0-1, as Joao Alves struck the deciding goal in the 29th minute to separate the two sides. Not too far away in France, Lyon smashed Nancy 4-0, scoring the only goal of the first half (Yoann Gourcuff in the 37th) and three more to top off a fine performance. Jeremy Pied, Miralem Pjanic, and Jimmy Briand each slotted home once as Lyon marched to victory.

Country in scope: The Dominican Republic.

National Team:
Nicknamed Los Quisqueyanos and calling the Estadio Felix Sanchez their home, their highest ranking was 116th with their lowest ranking being 190th. There are at least 501,004 people playing football in the Dominican Republic and at least 350 football clubs organizing them. The national side has never been to the World Cup: in fact during qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa they were unlucky and lost to Puerto Rico 1-0. The Dominicans have never been to the CONCACAF Nations Cup.
as well as having never made it to the Gold Cup. They have, however, gotten to the third round of the Pan American Games as recently as 2003. They also reached the third-place match of the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1986.
National League:
The team from Moca with the same name, from the Espaillat province in the Dominican Republic, won the Liga Mayor Coca Cola (the Dominican Republic's national league) this year. Domingo Savio, from the city of La Vega, was the second place team. SDB Jarabacoa, another team from La Vega, came in third. Deportivo Pantoja of Santo Domingo were in fourth place while another Santo Domingo side, Club Barcelona Atletico, finished in fifth. Bauger FC (of Santo Domingo as well) finished in sixth while San Cristobal FC occupied seventh and Universidad o&M were at the bottom of the table at eighth. O&M are yet another side from Santo Domingo while San Cristobal FC represent the capital city of the San Cristobal region: San Cristobal.
Famous Dominican football players include:
Carlos Martinez Rivas who plays on Spain's FC Barcelona reserve side.
Ernesto Jimenez who plays on Argentina's All Boys reserve side.
Keith Francisco, currently playing for the New York Red Bull's reserve side.
Several Dominican players play in the U.S. including for schools such as Florida Tech, the University of Maryland, and the University of Mobile.
Finally, Edwards Vinicio Espinal is a football player who used to play with Serie A side Atalanta B.C.

2/17/2011 Europa League Results.

Dutch champions Twente defeated Rubin Kazan in Moscow, compliments of two late goals from Luuk de Jong and Peter Wisgerhof. The first goal came from De Jong in the 77th before Wisgerhof struck again 11 minutes later. German efficiency ran riot over the Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv as Bayer Leverkusen won 4-0. Eren Derdiyok struck the only goal  of the first half when he scored in the 23rd. Gonzalo Castro  then scored Leverkusen's second in the 72nd before Sidney Sam blasted two goals in two minutes starting in the 90th minute. He then struck in the second minute of stoppage time to make it a 4-0 game. Overkill? Never. In Italy, Napoli and Villarreal battled out a goalless draw while Belgium looked on as Ajax handed Anderlecht a 3-0 defeat. Toby Alderweireld struck the Dutch side's first goal in 32nd. In the 55th minute of the game, Marcin Wasilewski missed a crucial penalty kick which could have brought the two sides level. Instead, Christian Eriksen struck four minutes later to make it 2-0. Mounir El Hamdaoui then made it 3-0 in the 67th minute. Poland's Lech defeated their Portuguese guests Braga by a one goal margin thanks to a moment of brilliance from Artjoms Rudnevs in a game largely quite dirty. Rudnevs' 72nd minute goal was a photo-finish as the snow fell. With that goal, the game ended 1-0. Besiktas v.s. Dynamo Kyiv was a far more thrilling match as the Turks were dismantled at home. Ognjen Vukojević opened the scoring in the 26th before Ricardo Quaresma, who was later sent-off, struck in the 37th. Andriy Shevchenko then slotted home for his Ukranian side in the 50th. Ayila Yussuf struck six minutes later while Oleh Gusev converted his 90th minute penalty to make it 4-1. BATE's match against PSG was exciting but unresolved as the sides finished level 2-2. BATE's Renan Bressan opened the scoring before Mevlüt Erdinç equalised for the French side. Mikhail Gordeychuk then put BATE back in the lead, only for the Belarusian side to allow another goal, this time from Péguy Luyindula. This was actually Gordeychuk's debut so it bodes well for his future! Benfica finished one goal above Stuttgart despite falling behind their guests early on. Martin Harnik had put the German side ahead but in the last 20 minutes Oscar Cardozo and Franco Jara put the Portuguese even and then into the lead. The other side from Portugal in the Europa League, Sporting, was left level 1-1 with Scottish side Rangers in their match today. It still gives Sporting the advantage though, as Matias Fernandez equalised late, ruining Steven Whittaker's contribution in the 66th which had given Rangers the lead. Sparta Praha and Liverpool fought out a goalless draw, while Spartak Moskva finished one ahead of Basel in Switzerland. Alexander Frei and Marco Streller gave Basel a 2-0 lead at the half, but don't tell the Spartak players that! Dmitri Kombarov and Artem Dzyuba brought the Russian side level 2-2 before 18 year old Jano Ananidze put the icing on the come-back cake with his second minute of stoppage time goal which was just a superb finish, giving Spartak a 3-2 lead. Young Boys finished 2-1 over Zenit, the same scoreline between Porto and Sevilla. Lille and PSV finished level 2-2 with goals from Idrissa Gueye, Túlio De Melo, and Wilfred Bouma and Ola Toivonen for the respective sides. Finally, PAOK and CSKA Moskva finished 0-1 as Tomas Necid struck the game's only goal.

Champions League results.

Well in England, Arsenal turned things around in the second half as they scored twice in the last 12 minutes of the game to win the first leg against Barcelona. Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin each struck one to bring Arsenal the lead following David Villa's first half goal which had given Barcelona the lead at the half. Meanwhile, in Italy, the visitors from Ukraine finished a goal ahead as they capitalised on their first three first half goals to hold them over for the rest of the game. Roma could only score another goal which capped a poor night for the home side who will then be traveling to Shaktar Donetsk's home for the second leg. Jeremy Menez was the man who struck Roma's 61st minute goal, the last of the game. Donetsk's Brazilian contingent were the stars of the show as Jadson, Douglas Costa, and Luiz Adriano each struck one of Donetsk's three goals.

Domestic action. Champions League and stuff later.

Starting in beautiful Italy, Inter Milan defeated Fiorentina in a close match which ended 2-1. Michele Camporese gave Inter the lead with his own goal very early in the match before Manuel Pasqual equalised in the 33rd minute. Inter then went ahead for the win when Giampaolo Pazzini struck home in the 61st minute. In Sampdoria's match with Genoa, Rafinha struck for the visitors in the 55th to give them the three points. There were other opportunities for both sides but they were all lost. In Germany, Hamburg and St. Pauli played out a close Hamburg derby which St. Pauli ended up winning by one goal. Gerald Asamoah was the man who gave St. Pauli the victory with his 59th minute strike which was well-deserved. At half-time in the Champions League matches, Roma have fallen behind Shaktar Donetsk 3-1 while Barcelona leads 1-0 over their hosts Arsenal.

The Return of the Champions League. And the Europa League. Oh, and some domestic action.

Starting up the Champions League coverage, how about the game in Milan that ended in tragedy for the Milanese: AC Milan losing 1-0 to the visiting Tottenham side. Aaron Lennon was the man who set-up the winning 80th minute goal which went in from the boot of Peter Crouch. All AC Milan could seem to do was collect cards as they went through the game. The after-match scuffle wasn't nice either. In the other match for a spot in the quarter-finals today, Valencia were tied with Schalke as the final whistle blew. Roberto Soldado was the man who put the Spanish side ahead in the 17th only to be disappointed when, in the 64th minute, Raul Gonzalez struck on his return to Spain to bring the German side level. This game also ended with some bad blood as Lukas Schmitz was sent off in the third minute of stoppage time in the second half among other bookings. In the Europa League, Aris welcomed Manchester City to Greece and weren't polite at all. Neither side ended up scoring despite both sides having goes throughout the match. Manchester City definately looked better though, though you wouldn't know that from the 0-0 scoreline. It bodes well for the English side when they play the second leg in England, but we'll have to wait and see! Finally, on the domestic front, Scotland saw Motherwell go to Aberdeen and win 2-1. Aberdeen got an early lead through Sone Aluko before Francis Jeffers and Jamie Murphy gave Motherwell the lead. South now in England, Newcastle ran out 2-0 winners over Birmingham following goals from Peter Lovenkrands and Leon Best.

Ronaldo.

It's true. Ronaldo, the Brazilian who has astounded soccer fans for years is set to retire from the game we all know and love. He did more than his part to help Brazil to victory over Germany in the 2002 World Cup as well as winning the World Player of the Year Award three times (1996, 1997, and 2002.) Ronaldo, who has played back in his native Brazil for club-side Corinthians for a couple of years now, announced his retirement citing injuries as holding him back from the potential he once fulfilled. He had intended to retire after this season but Corinthian's Copa Libertadores hopes have been dashed so he has moved the date up. During his brilliant career he played at such clubs as PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid (who he played 164 matches for), and AC Milan while tallying the most goals in the World Cup Finals Tournament in 2006. European Footballer of the year in '97 and '02, he scored 62 times in his 97 appearances as well as the record of 15 goals in three World Cups. Part of the Brazil Championship side in 1994 despite never making it onto the pitch, Ronaldo was on the Finals side who lost to France in '98 but only a part of what he normally would have been. However, in 2002, he was unstoppable. He scored in every game except against England before striking Brazil's two goals against Germany in the Final. Nonetheless, 'El Fenomeno' was burdened with injuries in the years before and since then which has forced him to step down. From 2009 he has been playing with Corinthians after starting his footballing journey with Cruzeiro. In his club-play he scored 326 goals in 466 games. And so, with a heartfelt good-bye, the world wishes Ronaldo a happy retirement.

Domestic action from 2/13/2011.

Celtic showed why they are on top of the Scottish league today as they defeated Dundee United 3-1. Anthony Stokes opened the scoring for Celtic in the 16th minute before Mark Wilson struck Celtic's second. The half ended with Celtic up 2-0. David Goodwillie then brought Dundee back one in the 64th to make things look a bit better. However, that wasn't the end as Daniel Majstorovic struck Celtic's third as they finished 3-1 ahead. In England, only one game took place as well, with Bolton claiming victory over Everton with a 2-0 scoreline. Gary Cahill and Daniel Sturridge were the two respective scorers. Down in Spain, Deportivo beat Villarreal 1-0 thanks to a Alberto Lopo goal in the 60th minute. Meanwhile, Espanyol only allowed Real Madrid one goal but scored none themselves as Real claimed victory thanks to Marcelo's 24th minute goal. Hercules and Zaragoza finished 2-1 respectively despite Zaragoza striking very early, through Braulio, to take the lead. Hercules could only rally in the last ten minutes to win as Farinos and David Trezeguet scored in the 80th and 89th minutes. Levante and Almeria were also only seperated by one goal as Felipe Caicedo struck in the 53rd to win the three points for his side. Elsewhere, Malaga and Getafe finished level 2-2 following a very late come back by Malaga thanks to goals from Julio Baptista and Jose Rondon. Miku and Adrian Colunga had given Getafe an early lead, scoring twice within the first 25 minutes. Ending the Spanish list of games was Real Sociedad's 1-0 victory over Osasuna thanks to Raul Tamudo's 73rd minute strike. Over to the other Iberian nation of Portugal now where Benfica tallied three against their opponents Vitoria. Sidnei opened the scoring before Pablo Aimar and Carlos Martins slotted home to make it 3-0 when the final whistle blew. League leaders Porto notched two against Braga who could also not respond as the Porto side took the three points. Nicolas Otamendi struck Porto's two goals. Naval 1 Maio beat Academica 3-1 with a goal each from Kevin Gomis and Michel Simplicio before Modou Sougou converted his penalty. Giuliano Amaral was the man to strike in Naval's third. Rio Ave defeated Portimonense 2-0 with goals from Joao Tomas and Yazalde winning them the game. Pacos de Ferreira v.s. Maritimo was closer though, as Mario Rondon struck in the 90th minute to give the game a winner. Moving to Italy now, Bari and Genoa tied 0-0 while Lazio showed why they were in the top three as they defeated Brescia 2-0. Alvaro Rafael Gonzalez struck the first, in the 17th, before Libor Kozak put one in as well to make it 2-0. Cagliari trounced Chievo 4-1 with Nene striking twice, Daniele Conti putting one away, and Michele Canini scoring one too. Cyril Thereau was the man who scored Chievo's only goal. Catania edged Lecce out 3-2 while Udinese slammed Cesena 3-0. In possibly the biggest match of the day, Juventus edged out Inter Milan 1-0 thanks to a solitary goal from Alessandro Matri. Fiorentina dispatched Palermo, winning 4-2 while Sampdoria defeated Bologna 3-1. To conclude this post, how about a look into Germany? Werder Bremen tied 1-1 with Hannover as Per Mertesacker and Didier Ya Konan scored for the respective sides. However, the most interesting match in Germany today was Koln's victory over once league leaders Mainz. Lukas Podolski and Milivoje Novakovic each scored twice while Mainz had Sami Allagui and Petar Sliskovic scoring a goal each to keep things somewhat close.

Continued 2/12/2011 domestic results.

Spain saw Sporting Gijon tie with Barcelona 1-1. David Barral gave the hosts an important lead while David Villa was the man to save Barcelona from defeat with his 80th minute strike. Racing successfully hosted Sevilla as they ran out winners 3-2. Racing were two up before the 20th minute thanks to a goal from Christian Fernandez and an own-goal from Ivan Rakitic. Federico Fazio brought Sevilla one back before Luis Fabiano converted his 83rd minute penalty to make it 2-2. Manuel Arana salvaged the game for Racing though when he struck in the second minute of stoppage time before the end to win the three points. Atletico and Valencia had a nice game of their own, one which Valencia edged out the competition. Jose Antonio Reyes struck for Atletico in the 3rd minute before Joaquin struck twice to make it a 2-1 game. To the east in Portugal now, where Nacional lost to Leiria 0-1 as Fabricio struck the golden goal in the 44th to win the day. In the other match yesterday, Olhanense tied Sporting Lisbon 2-2. Helder Postiga struck in the 27th and again in the 62nd to put Sporting two ahead before Ismaily brought Olhanense back one three minutes later. Daniel Carrico then scored an own-goal in the 67th; the last goal of the game. Over in Italy, Milan v.s. Parma was a very one-sided match as the Milanese won 4-0. Clarence Seedorf opened the account in the 8th minute before Antonio Cassano struck again in the 17th. Robinho then slotted home another two as AC Milan ran away clear victors. Finally, Napoli's match against Roma ended in victory for the second place team. The victory strengthened Napoli's position as they now sit four points above third place Lazio. Edinson Cavani was the architect of the whole show though, as he pulled two goals out of the hat, including a penalty, to put the game outside of the reach of the Romans.

Domestic action 2/12/2011.

So how about the Scottish? Up north, Rangers defeated Motherwell by an outrageous scoreline of 6-0. With three goals in the first half and another trio in the second, the Glasgow side destroyed their opposition. Nikica Jelavic was the man on target for 'Gers as he scored a hat-trick in the course of the game. Hamilton lost to Hearts thanks to two strikes from Stephen Elliott in the 22nd and 47th minutes. Hibernian were able to edge out Kilmarnock in their match as Akpo Sodje and Victor Palsson struck for Hib's before Kilmarnock's Jamie Hamill converted his 74th minute penalty following the sending-off of Francis Dickoh. St. Mirren and Inverness played out a 3-3 draw as Inverness took an early lead thanks to Adam Rooney but St. Mirren were brought back through Michael Higdon's 28th minute penalty. Steven Thomson then put the Saints ahead in the next minute. They didn't stay in that position long though, as Aaron Doran struck to level the two sides. Doran then struck in the 61st to give Inverness the lead once more. Darren McGregor then salvaged a point for the home side when he equalised once more, in the 74th minute. Down in England, Wolves lost to Arsenal 2-0 after Robin van Persie had a terrific game and struck both goals. Birmingham were able to edge out Stoke thanks to a Nikola Zigic shot in the third minute of stoppage time in the second half. Blackburn and Newcastle tied 0-0 while Blackpool v.s. Aston Villa and Liverpool v.s. Wigan ended 1-1. In the Manchester derby match, United were victorious as Nani struck the opener in the 41st minute. City's David Silva equalised in the 65th, but Rooney had an absolute beauty in the 78th which put the game to bed. Sunderland lost to Tottenham by the same margin despite opening the scoring. West Brom and West Ham finished level 3-3 despite two very early goals from Graham Dorrans and Jerome Thomas which gave them a fantastic position. Crossing into mainland Europe now, Germany looked on as Bayern obliterated Hoffenheim 4-0 with two goals from Arjen Robben, an opener from Mario Gomez, and a second from Thomas Muller. Eintracht Frankfurt were soundly defeated by Leverkusen who struck three times without reply. Simon Rolfes, Renato Augusto, and Hanno Balitsch were the scorers for the visitors. Kaiserslautern were able to take a point from league leaders Dortmund in their match despite going down to Sven Bender's 81st minute strike. Jan Moravek saved the Red Devils though, as he struck in the 90th minute to take a point. Schalke defeated Freiburg at home as Jefferson Farfan put the home side ahead in the 49th after a kind of disappointing first half. St. Pauli roughed up Monchengladbach 3-1 who, after going ahead, sat back and let the goals rain down. Igor de Camargo was the man to score for the away side while Max Kruse, Gerald Asamoah, and Matthias Lehmann each slotted one in for the East German side. Nurnberg beat Stuttgart 4-1 with two goals in the first half before Stuttgart's first and last. Nurnberg then got another pair to seal the deal. Mladen Petric was Hamburg's man as they relied on his 33rd minute penalty for victory over Wolfsburg. Finally, in Greece, Aris were defeated at home by Olympiacos. Darcy Neto's 17th minute strike wasn't enough as Rafik Djebbour and David Fuster struck for the league leaders to put the game to bed. Ergotelis edged out Kavala who, yet again, had scored first. Benjamin Onwuachi's 21st minute goal gave the away side some hope but Beto and Sergio Leal crushed it in the 44th and 71st minutes respectively. Last but not least, Panionios defeated PAOK 1-0 thanks to Bosko Balaban's 72nd minute penalty.

International friendlies!! 2/9/2011

Brazil v.s. France, Argentina v.s. Portugal, Germany v.s. Italy; what could go wrong? Well, things weren't as brilliant as you'd expect as Argentina scored twice while Portugal slotted home only once as Lionel Messi led his team to an exciting victory with his final minute penalty shot. Brazil, admittedly beneath their normal level of play and down to ten men, actually lost to France 1-0 while England beat Denmark 2-1. The Netherlands's 3-1 win over Austria didn't surprise anyone, but Germany's draw with Italy was a little surprising based on the respective sides' World Cup performances. The final score was 1-1 with Germany's Miroslav Klose opening the scoring before the half; but they allowed an equaliser late in the game from Giuseppe Rossi to steal the glory that could have been. In other matches, Spain were hard pressed for victory against Colombia, but found victory in the end, owing a huge thanks to Jesus Navas' cross and David Silva's goal. Iran surprised Russia in their match 1-0 thanks to a last minute goal from Mohammad Reza Khalatbari, while Croatia and the Czech Republic had the most high-octane game of the day, ending 4-2 as the Croats went two ahead, then were brought level, then went two ahead once more, a lead which the Czech Republic players couldn't recover from. Greece were able to edge out Canada 1-0 while Turkey and the Korean Republic fought out a goaless draw. Finally, South Africa and Kenya played out a nice game which the hosts of last year's world cup ran away 2-0 winners.

What happened over the week end? 2/7/2011.

Well, in England, Manchester United still rule the table with a four point lead over second place Arsenal. Manchester City sit a point behind them with 49 points. Chelsea and Tottenham are level at 44 points while Liverpool in sixth have made up a little ground having defeated the Blue's 1-0 on Sunday. It would appear that Torres might not have made the right decision in his move to London! The Liverpool crowd was not happy about his move either though, with one banner saying "He who betrays will always walk alone." Up north in Scotland, Celtic still hold the table, but precariously, as Rangers have two games in hand. The two parts of the Old Firm actually played an action packed game in the Scottish Cup which ended in stalemate, 3-3. Over in the Netherlands, PSVand Twente are actually level with 47 points each following PSV's loss to Den Haag 1-0 on Saturday. Ajax sit only three points behind them though, with Groningen right on their heels at 43 points in fourth place. Over in the German Bundesliga, Dortmund still reign supreme with a 12 point lead over their closest opposition, Leverkusen. Mainz and Hannover sit with 37 points each while Bayern occupy fifth with a point behind. To France now where Lille have strengthened their position at the top to five points between themselves and PSG and Rennes. A point behind those two sits Marseille with 36 points while St. Etienne and Lyon each have 35 points. Moving on to Spain, Barcelona maintain dominance of the league with a valuable seven points dividing themselves and closest rivals Real Madrid after a weekend in which both parties won their games. After the Big Two though, the table gets closer with Villarreal and Valencia at 45 and 44 points respectively. Over the border in Portugal, Porto are on 52 points while Benfica have 42. Sporting are ten points behind their city rivals, a fact which undoubtedly infuriates the supporters of the Lions to no end. Finally, in Italy, Milan still lead the domestic show with 49 points while Napoli have 46. Inter have taken back one place though, sitting two points behind Napoli after Lazio tied Chievo and they beat Roma. Another interesting event of the weekend: Ronaldinho scored his first goal back in Brazil! He converted a penalty in Flamengo's state championship match against Boavista which helped to put his side through. Also, Pumas of Mexico have yet to be defeated in their league so congrats to them!

Results for 2/5/2011 part I.

Beginning in England where a ton of goals were scored in every game and upsets reigned supreme: Aston Villa and Fulham finished level 2-2 after John Pantsil gave Aston Villa an early lead with his own-goal in the 13th minute. Andrew Johnson brought Fulham level in the second half before Kyle Walker gave Villa the lead once more in the 72nd minute. Clint Dempsey then equalised again for Fulham six minutes later to end the game 2-2. Everton's match with Blackpool was also an interesting affair as Louis Saha struck his first in the 20th before Alex Baptiste equalised in the 37th Saha then struck in the 47th to make it 2-1. Jason Puncheon then made it 2-2 in the 62nd. Charlie Adam then gave Blackpool their first and last lead of the match two minutes later. Saha then struck twice while Jermaine Beckford notched in one of his own to make it 5-3 when the final whistle blew. Manchester City v.s. West Brom was a game dominated by one man as well, as Carlos Tevez struck a hat-trick including two penalties and a nice goal in the 22nd. West Brom were really at City's mercy for the rest of the game. As for Newcastle, they played a fantastic match against Arsenal which concluded at a blood-pumping 4-4 scoreline. Arsenal had the game up until the 30th minute when they had scored their four goals, which came from the boots of Theo Walcott, Johan Djourou, and a pair from Robin van Persie. Things soured in the second half though, as first Vassiriki Abou Diaby was sent off in the 50th and then Joey Barton converted a penalty to make it a 4-1 game. That was only the beginning though, as Leon Best struck in the 75th. Barton then converted a second penalty in the 83rd to make it 4-3. Cheik Tiote completed the come back in the 87th to totally upset Arsenal's way. Stoke v.s. Sunderland finished 3-2 as Kieran Richardson and Asamoah Gyan scored for the away side while John Carew and two Robert Huth goals were enough to win the game for Stoke. Tottenham battled to edge out Bolton 2-1 as Rafael van der Vaart opened the scoring for Tottenham in the 6th from the spot while Daniel Sturridge equalised in the 55th for Bolton. Niko Kranjcar was Tottenham's man though, as he scored in the second minute of stoppage time in the second half to win the game for his side. In Blackburn's match with Wigan, both sides scored a ton of goals but Wigan were the more successful, coming back from Jason Roberts' 23rd minute strike for Blackburn to win 4-3 thanks to two James McCarthy goals, a strike by Hugo Rodallega, and Ben Watson's 65th minute penalty. David Dunn and Christopher Samba were the other scorers for Rovers. Concluding the day of matches in England, I am quite a bit happy to announce that Manchester United are undefeated no longer. The team to end their streak? Wolverhampton Wanderers! Nani's opening salvo in the third minute wasn't enough to get United victory as George Elokobi and Kevin Doyle each put one away to give Wolves a 2-1 victory over the table-topping United. Crossing over the Channel to Germany's Bundesliga now, Hannover defeated Wolfsburg 1-0 thanks to Sergio Pinto's 4th  minute strike; Hoffenheim outscored Kaiserslautern 3-2 as Gylfi Sigurdsson and Sebastian Rudy both put one away for Hoffenheim before the Red Devils' Erwin Hoffer struck the away side's first. Rodnei then struck Kaiserslautern level 2-2 before Vedad Ibisevic gave Hoffenheim a lead which lasted them to the end of the match. The biggest match though, was between Koln and Bayern Munchen. Bayern led 2-0 into half-time through Mario Gomez and and Hamit Altintop. Koln then made a remarkable come-back thanks to Christian Clemens and Milivoje Novakovic. Mainz and Bremen tied 1-1 thanks to goals from Andre Schurrle and Claudio Pizarro for the respective sides. Monchengladbach v.s. Stuttgart was also a close match, as Stuttgart won 3-2. Dante and Igor de Camargo put 'Gladbach ahead 2-0 before Stuttgart took control of the second half, Pavel Pogrebnyak, Martin Harnik, and Timo Gebhart were the scorers who drastically turned the game around. Finally, Nurnberg and Leverkusen had a low scoreline for the day, Christian Eigler was the man who won Nurnberg the match, 1-0.

Quick Update 2/4/2011

Not a lot happened in the world of football today, as Germany's league leaders Dortmund drew with mid-table Schalke 0-0 despite several opportunities  that came very close. Manuel Neuer was the star of the Gelsenkirchen show as he pulled off several brilliant saves through-out the game. In Belgium, Gent showed Lierse who was boss with a 4-1 victory. Things started badly for the team at the second to last position in the Belgian Eerste Klasse when Gonzague van Dooren scored an own-goal in the 3rd minute. Bernd Thijs then slotted home a penalty in the 30th to make it 2-0. Thijs then scored a second penalty twenty minutes later to make it a 3-0 game. In the 82nd minute, Lierse finally stood up for themselves as Wesley Sonck struck to make it 3-1. They couldn't continue in this vein so instead Zlatan Ljubijankic put another in for Gent to make it 4-1 in the third minute of stoppage time. The Netherlands meanwhile saw Ajax beat De Graafschap 2-0 as Mounir El Hamdaoui and Siem de Jong struck twice for the Amsterdam side as they cruised to victory. Down in beautiful Portugal, the only Iberian country to be playing, Sporting Lisbon could only tie at home in Lisbon to Naval 1 Maio, the bottom of the table side. Liedson gave the lions an early lead before Fabio Junior's penalty two minutes before stoppage time leveled things. Michel Simplicio then struck a second for Naval 1 Maio to make it 2-1 as the half closed. Helder Postiga then equalised through his own penalty to make it 2-2 in the 60th. Naval 1 Maio then went ahead again, seven minutes later, as Nicolas Godemeche struck home to make it a 3-2 game. It was only in the 90th minute before Liedson could strike again to save Sporting a terrible defeat and leave Naval 1 Maio with a point. Finally, in Turkey, Bursaspor and Sivasspor fought a pitched match starting at the beginning but intensifying in the second minute of stoppage time in the first half when Sivasspor's Hayrettin Yerlikaya scored an own goal to put Bursaspor ahead during half time. Sivasspor came out in the second half with a vengeance though, as Kamil Grosicki scored five minutes into the half to make it 1-1. Both sides were aggravated as the match progressed before Bursaspor found a weakness and Kenny Miller took advantage of it in the 88th minute to win them the game.

Domestic Action 2/1/2011

Lots of news today as Celtic defeated Aberdeen 3-0 in Scotland with goals from Gary Hooper, Mark Wilson, and Anthony Stokes. Aberdeen were quickly reduced to ten men as Andrew Considine was sent-off in the second minute. St. Johnstone played a fair game against Hamilton, winning 2-0 with both goals from Steve May. Down in England, Arsenal edged Everton to a 2-1 scoreline despite Louis Saha's 24th minute goal put Everton ahead. Andrey Arshavin and Laurent Koscielny both scored within five minutes to give the Gunners a late lead. Manchester United continued their dominance with a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa. Rooney struck twice before Villa could even put away one. Wayne Rooney struck in the first minute as well as the first minute of stoppage time in the first half. Darren Bent was the man who finally brought Villa one back, but Nemanja Vidic struck United's third in the 63rd to seal the deal. Sunderland's match against Chelsea was also pretty bad, as the home side fell 4-2 to the Blues. Phillip Bardsley gave Sunderland an early lead, but Frank Lampard and Salomon Kalu soon made it a 2-1 game for Chelsea. Kieran Richardson then equalised for the home side but to no avail: John Terry and Nicolas Anelka both struck to make it 4-2. Finally, West Brom tied Wigan as Peter Odemwingie and Marc-Antoine Fortune scored for the home side while Charles N'Zogbia and Ben Watson struck for Wigan. Further south, in the Netherlands, De Graafschap tied 0-0 with Utrecht while Italy saw Lazio tie 0-0 with AC Milan.