Europa League Round of 16 match-ups!

Hey! Bored of hearing about the Champions League? Well, the action-packed Europa league's Round of 16 match-ups have been announced! AZ Alkmaar will be facing Udinese Calcio in their first match. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Italians continue their fantastic form. Meanwhile, Spain's Club Atletico de Madrid are going to be up against Besiktas JK of Turkey. While the Turkish side is talented, I have to tip the Spaniards to win this tie. Greece's envoy Olympiacos FC have FC Metalist Kharkiv on their slate for a set of matches that I could see going either way. However, I'll tip the Ukrainian side to win as they obliterated a decent FC Salzburg side 8-1 on aggregate in the Round of 32. FC Twente v.s. Schalke 04 should also be a good round of games with the Germans my favorites to win. Twente have been performing miraculously in recent activity but I get the feeling that their steam may be running out. Possibly the most lopsided draw for the Round of 16 is Manchester United FC's date with Athletic Club with the English giants sure favorites against a Spanish side that, while performing well, probably won't be able to compete effectively. R. Standard de Liege v.s. Hannover 96 is yet another tie with the Germans my pick to win: Standard's run of form will be hard-pressed by such a side as Hannover have. Sporting Clube de Portugal's date with death - Manchester City FC I mean - will be quite the event! After plummeting, City appear to have caught themselves in their domestic performances though I'll be interested to see if they can finally play internationally. The challenge that Sporting offer shouldn't be too insurmountable but the Lisbon side do have teeth. Last but not least, Valencia CF meet PSV Eindhoven on the field of battle with a chance in the next round up for grabs. The balance might slightly go in Valencia's favor but PSV can never be written off! Enjoy the games!

Champions League 2/21/12!

What an amazing day of football! I'd like to start with CSKA Moskva's 1-1 draw with Real Madrid. Honestly, Madrid should have scored one or two more after Cristiano Ronaldo got things started in the 28th minute. Despite their chances though, Real Madrid were only 0-1 up at half-time. The 2nd half brought no more goals for the longest time but all of the cards of the game were given out. Then, CSKA's debutant Pontus Wernbloom came out of no-where and plucked an equalizer in the 3rd minute of stoppage time of the 2nd half! The crowd went wild and Wernbloom was ecstatic. Congratulations to the guy and good luck to both sides in the return leg in Madrid. Meanwhile, in the other match of the day Napoli blew Chelsea out of the water! Admittedly, they allowed an away goal for the English side in the 27th minute from Juan Mata but to come back from that was exactly what they did: Ezequiel Lavezzi slotted home in the 39th minute before Edinson Cavani struck one of his own in the 2nd minute of stoppage time of the 1st half. Napoli weren't finished though and Chelsea no longer controlled the game as the 2nd half got underway. Committing 19 fouls in total, Chelsea tried to maintain themselves by pummeling their Italian opposition but to no avail - Ezequiel Lavezzi scored his 2nd goal in the 65th minute to give Napoli quite the lead to take to England. Enjoy!

Late Champions League Update 2/19/12.

Well, Zenit St. Petersburg were able to edge S.L. Benfica in their match in Russia! Having said that though, the Russian side didn't look nearly as iron-proof as normal. Maxi Pereira actually opened the scoring for the Portuguese side in the 20th minute. Jorge Jesus' men then conceded in the 27th minute to Roman Shirokov. That was the last goal of the 1st half. However, the 2nd half was much more explosive with Sergei Semak striking in the 71st minute to give Zenit the lead. Oscar Cardozo equalized, in the 87th, with a goal that further contributed to Benfica's good position for the return leg. Miraculously, Zenit were able to reclaim their lead just a minute later to give Zenit a well-deserved home win but quite the away goal margin for the Eagles of Portugal. In the other set of games, AC Milan faced Arsenal in Italy and hammered their guests by a 4-0 score line. Kevin-Prince Boateng gave the Italians the lead very early on: in the 15th minute. Robinho tacked on Milan's 2nd in the 38th minute with quite the shot as well. At this point, Arsenal were looking quite shaky. On the other side of half-time, Robinho added yet another in the 49th minute to make it 3-0. Zlatan Ibrahimovic's 79th minute penalty was really just the icing on the cake as Arsenal will have to seriously surprise us if they have any chance of winning at home and furthermore, progressing to the next round. First of all, they'll have to tighten up their defense. Scoring goal will be required as well though. Enjoy!

World Rankings Update. 2/15/12.

Well, Spain remained on top of the world but there was a lot of movement beneath them as Germany leapfrogged the Netherlands to push into 2nd position. The Dutch then were left in 3rd while Uruguay and England stayed in 4th and 5th respectively. Portugal actually passed their one-time colony Brazil in the rankings to take 6th while Italy rose to 8th place over Croatia and Denmark who rounded out the Top 10. Speaking of the Danes, they actually succeeded in kicking Argentina out of the Top 10 - down one position to 11th! Chile, Russia, and Greece maintained their positions while Ivory Coast moved up 3 places to land in 15th despite losing the African Cup of Nations Final. Switzerland maintained themselves in 16th while France and Sweden dropped to 17th and 18th respectively. The Republic of Ireland jumped 3 places to take 20th, just below Bosnia-Herzegovina in 19th. Ghana notably advanced 3 positions despite being kicked out in the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations to eventual winners Zambia who moved 28 places to rest at 43rd in the world: Gabon were probably the biggest movers though, going 46 positions up to 45th place! Congratulations to all the movers!

Champions League action today! 2/14/12.

We had Lyon v.s. APOEL and Leverkusen v.s. Barcelona today with the two sides who were expected to win winning two different ways. In France, Lyon edged their Cypriot guests 1-0 thanks to Alexandre Lacazette's 58th minute lucky goal. The players of APOEL kept it together very nicely as they held the French giants goalless through the 1st half before Cris found Lacazette inside. After taking a serious deflection from Paulo Jorge, Dionisios Chiotis could only watch as the ball flew over his head and into the goal. The fact that Lyon could not increase their lead bodes well for the Cypriot side when they play the second leg at home: I wouldn't be surprised if they were able to turn things around here. Their defense has been solid while their offense has done its job when it has mattered. Now then, over to Barca's match with Leverkusen now where the Spanish visitors controlled 78% of possession in the 1st half while only managing 1 goal. Admittedly though Alexis Sanchez's 41st minute strike was well-deserved and the Catalan side needed nothing more as they defeated their German hosts 1-3. Michael Kadlec gave the Spaniards something to think about though, and the Germans something to fight for as he slotted home in the 52nd minute from a beautiful cross by Vedran Corluka which he headed past Victor Valdes. The crowd literally went wild. Alexis Sanchez responded quickly enough though, toying with the Leverkusen defense after an incisive ball from Barca's workhorse Cesc Fabregas found him in space. He went around Bayer's goalkeeper Bernd Leno before passing the ball into the back of the net. Despite the 2nd goal, Leverkusen stayed active in the game, pressuring Barcelona and Valdes a handful of times. Nevertheless, things seemed to be winding down before Lionel Messi decided he wanted a goal from the match. Daniel Alves teed up Messi for a shot that the virtuoso never misses. Hope you enjoyed the matches!

African Cup of Nations Final: Zambia v.s. Ivory Coast.

It was a breathtaking ordeal. That is the best way to describe the final that took place between continental giants Ivory Coast and this years giant slayers Zambia who knocked out Ghana in their Semi-Final and won the Final. It was a tight affair to the end with the Ivorian's captain Didier Drogba missing an opportunity he had at the spot in normal time. The eventual title victory was in honor of the 18 Zambian players who were killed in 1994 in a terrible plane crash. The spirit and unity that the Zambians undoubtedly felt allowed them to play at the top of their game and lay claim to their first continental title in the country's history. And while the Ivory Coast did have an opportunity through Drogba that was missed; their goalkeeper, Boubacar Barry, made vital saves throughout the match as he stopped Nathan Sinkala's strike from a beautiful cross. Similarly, Barry also lifted a ball from Chris Katongo onto the post in extra-time. The rest of the star-studded line-up of Ivory Coast did have its chances though: Yaya Toure had a shot off target from about 10 yards out while other chances were stopped by the on form goalie of the Zambians: Kennedy Mweene. To be fair though, leading up to the Final, Zambia had allowed only 3 goals while Ivory Coast had allowed 0 - it was never going to be a high scoring match. But that isn't to say it wasn't exciting! The match was, however, decided by penalties as Tiote and Katongo each scored for Ivory Coast and Zambia respectively. Bony and Mayuka also scored. Bamba's first effort was ruled improperly taken with the Ivorian slotting home on the re-take. Chansa struck his in for Zambia. Gradel and F. Katongo each scored making it 4-4 for both sides. Drogba and Zambia's goalkeeper Mweene each converted their efforts while Tiene and Sinkala made their respective efforts. 6-6 then. One more for each side as Ya Konan and and Lungu each scored before the goalies finally got onto their games: Mweene saved K. Toure's effort while Kalaba blasted his over the crossbar. Things were finally settled though as Gervinho followed Kalaba's lead for Ivory Coast while Sunzu struck home to give Zambia the crown of Africa. Congratulations to the Zambians and thank you to all of the teams for making this a truly memorable tournament!

Mali v.s. Ivory Coast Semi-Final. 2/8/12.

Well, it was a good 1st half for the Ivory Coast and a mediocre 2nd half for both sides as the "Golden Generation" make it to the Final match of this African Cup of Nations tournament. Mali started poorly and never really got back into the game after they allowed a goal in the 44th minute - just before half-time! There were chances from the off for the Ivory Coast who really should have probably increased the margin of victory given the number of their chances. Also from the beginning were fouls with both teams committing at least 10 a piece. Despite the one-sided nature of the 1st half though, Mali were almost able to maintain themselves under the heaps of pressure. However, Gervinho collected the ball from Yaya Toure within his own half and (it was magic this was!) proceeded to dribble right into the Malian area before finishing into the far corner of the net with his right foot. Despite a half-time score of 1-0, it wasn't too outlandish for the Malians to have fought their way back into the match. The most they needed was an equalizer and they could have taken their chances with penalties. However, Ivory Coast were relentless and didn't allow the Malian side to do anything. The 2nd half was still controlled by the team from the Ivory Coast, but not nearly as effectively as the 1st half. A win is a win though so look forward to the African Cup of Nations Final Match this Sunday between Ivory Coast and Zambia! Enjoy!

Upset, heartbreak, triumph.

It was potentially the most heart-wrenching game of the tournament, Zambia v.s. Ghana: minnows against 4-time African Cup winners. But there is a reason why we watch football! Asamoah Gyan almost gave Ghana the lead in the 1st half from the penalty spot after a bit of foolishness from the Zambian defense. However, the pressure got to the talented Gyan and he was unable to convert. Ghana actually lost one of their own players though, Derek Boateng, as he was sent-off late in the game. Prince Tagoe had a wonderful opportunity at goal deflected away as a 1st half performance made the Black Stars of Ghana seemingly the team to beat. But beaten they were. Notably, Zambia's Chris Katongo had a fantastic opportunity blocked while the Zambian's goalie Kennedy Mweene saved Gyan's penalty effort. Nathan Sinkala had a chance to really try Ghana's Adam Kwarasey but to no avail. Despite all this though, Zambia's substitute Emmanuel Mayuka was the man of the day as he came on and proceeded to score a beauty of a goal in the 78th minute of the match. Isaac Chansa gave Mayuka a perfectly placed ball which required him to only hold-off one Ghanaian defender before turning just enough to slot home into the bottom corner off the post. Kwarasey could never have gotten to it and essentially Ghana were left to rue their fate as their search for trophies continues after yet another heartbreaking knock-out. Prince Tagoe did have a chance for the 10-man side, but after his miss it was certainly all over. Look out for the Mali v.s. Ivory Coast match!

Domestic League recap: 2/5/12.

Well, after the weekend full of action, England is controlled by a 2-point margin by Manchester City with Manchester United in 2nd position with 55 points. Tottenham Hotspur meanwhile are in 3rd place with a game in hand: if they win that game, they'll be only 3 points behind United. Chelsea's draw with United on Sunday meant that they were further left in 4th position while Newcastle are just a point behind them in 5th. That was after their 2-1 edging of Aston Villa today. Over in Germany, Dortmund have also opened up a two point lead over their closest rivals Bayern Munich who are now leveled with Schalke with 41 points. A point behind these two is Monchengladbach while Werder Bremen round out the Top 5 with 32 points - quite a gap between 4th and 5th there! Meanwhile with Holland's league PSV has taken the top with 42 points while 2nd and 3rd Twente and AZ Alkmaar have a game in hand and 39 points in the bag. Heerenveen and Feyenoord are tied as well, with 37 points each. On to Spain now, Real Madrid have an ever-increasing lead here with 55 points compared to Barcelona's 48 points in 2nd. Valencia are in 3rd with a total of 11 points separating them from Barcelona. Levante are in 4th position tied with Espanyol though leading them by goal difference. And how about Italy? Well, Juventus has a 1 point advantage over Milan who has 44 points with Udinese in 3rd position with 41 points. Lazio have earned 39 points while Inter Milan are 3 points behind them. As far as Greece's national league is concerned, Panathinaikos leads by 2 points over Olympiacos who have collected 46 points from 20 games. AEK meanwhile is in 3rd but down by 9 points with PAOK just 2 points behind them in 4th. OFI is in 5th position with 32 points from 20 games. In the meantime, France is held by PSG who have a 3 point lead over Montpellier while Lille are in 3rd with 39 points - tied with Lyon who have surprisingly suffered this season. Marseille completes the Top 5 just a point behind the previous two. Last but certainly not least, Scotland is controlled by Celtic who have a 1 point lead over Rangers while Motherwell take 3rd position with 41 points: 17 points separating them from Rangers. Hearts have 35 points in 4th while St. Johnstone are level with them in 5th place. Cheers!

African Cup of Nations Quarter-finals.

And Gabon have put one over Mali! With their goal from Eric Mouloungui in the 55th minute they have really boosted their chances of qualifying but Mali still look threatening. Thus far though, they have only collected yellow cards. Gabon's captain Daniel Cousin has surprisingly been subbed out though, we'll have to wait and see what the impact of that will be. And it turns out that this tournament is just cruel to Gabon! After taking a well-deserved lead, they missed out on a chance to make it 2-0 in the 55th minute through Daniel Cousin which left the doorway open for the hard-fighting Malian side. They accepted this invitation with 6 minutes left in the game as Cheick Diabate collected comfortably in the box before effectively placing it in the back of the net. With no breakthrough in the rest of play, the two teams went to penalties. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was the Gabon player who was unlucky enough to miss his effort allowing Bakaye Traore and Seydou Keita to score their respective goals to the acclaim of the Malian supporters. In the other Quarter-final of the day, Ghana and Tunisia have been remarkably evenly matched as well with the scoreline 1-1 at the end of regulation. Ghana has taken a very tentative lead after Andre Ayew slotted home after a gift of an opportunity from Tunisia's keeper Mathlouthi in the 101st minute. With 3 minutes of stoppage time left, Tunisia are left both concerned about conceding more goals and scoring one of their own! I'd be really surprised if Ghana do end up letting this match get away from them. And it is over! Ghana will face Zambia in Bata for their Semi-final while Mali and Cote d'Ivoire face-off in Libreville. Hope you enjoyed the games!

Africa Cup of Nations 2012 Quarter-finals.

Well it has truly been a breathtaking tournament this year and the Quarter-finals are through! Zambia dealt a 3-0 blow to Sudan to knock them out of the competition. Stoppila Sunzu, Christopher Katongo, and James Chamanga were the scorers against the 10-man Sudanese side. The Ivory Coast are also through after a confident, comprehensive 3-0 win over Equatorial Guinea. Didier Drogba struck Cote de Ivoire's first two goals while Yaya Toure slotted home the third. Meanwhile, today in Libreville Gabon and Mali are level going in to half-time with Ghana and Tunisia set to play later. Enjoy!

Four Domestic Tables. 2/4/12.

Well, in England Manchester City and Manchester United are tied at the top with 54 points a piece while Tottenham are in 3rd position with 49 points. Chelsea meanwhile are in 4th with 42 while Arsenal are in striking distance just 2 points behind. Newcastle are still looking good just a point behind the Gunners in 6th while Liverpool are a point behind them! In the meantime in Italy Juventus has a 1 point hold on the top of the table with AC Milan just below them. Udinese are still a competitive side with 41 points to their name, 2 above Lazio in 4th while Inter Milan, Roma, and Napoli make up 5th, 6th, and 7th respectively. Dortmund currently lord it over Germany with 43 points after 20 matches while Bayern are right on their heels with a solid  40. Schalke are neck and neck with the Bavarians though! Borussia Monchengladbach are in 4th with 39 points as Werder Bremen round out the Top 5 with 31. Last but not least, Spain's domestic league has taken a very clear favor to Real Madrid who are now on top dominantly with 52 points. That is 7 points out of Barcelona's grasp after the Catalan side registered their 6th draw of the season. Valencia are still well a way off in 3rd position though with 36 points as Levante take 4th tied with Espanyol with 31 but separated by goal difference. Enjoy the weekend!

Euro Futsal 2012!!!

Always an exciting competition, the Futsal Euro has gotten off to a flying start in Croatia! In Group A the hosts are currently on a high after winning their first game with Romania in 2nd position despite having played a game more than the current leaders. The Czech Republic meanwhile is without a win after a disappointing opening match. In Group B,  Ukraine and Spain are essentially through after bottom-of-the-table Slovenia dug themselves into quite a hole: losing both of their two matches. Italy currently holds Group C after defeating Turkey 3-1 with the Russians not yet involved. Portugal are in a similar position at the top of Group D after a 4-1 victory over Azerbaijan with the Serbians yet to play their opening fixture.

In Memory of the 74 left dead in Egypt.

It should have been a moment of joyful celebration and surprised disappointment: Al-Masry's 3-1 upset of perennial favorites Al-Ahly in Port Said. Instead, it became the most violent episode of soccer violence since at least 1996. 74 fans lost their lives and many more than that were injured as riot police failed in their duties against a wave of Al-Masry fans. The riot police were also seen standing in lines doing nothing as violence swirled around them. This may have been the result of a ministry directive implementing a "do not engage" policy with civilians after violence on the Egyptian streets earlier this year. The violence also illustrated the power of the hooligan groups, known by some as ultras, in the protests that have grabbed news headlines around the world. It is unknown how political the violence at the Port Said game was, however the protesters seem to be adding it to their list of grievances against the military rulers.

African Cup of Nations 2/1/12.

And the Group stages are done! Group D finished with Ghana's 1-1 draw with Guinea leaving the Guineans 2 points shy of qualifying for the next round after Mali edged Botswana 1-2 to take 2nd place with 6 points. Ghana grabbed the top group spot with their draw giving them 7 points. As for the Quarter Finals, Zambia v.s. Sudan and Ivory Coast v.s. Equatorial Guinea make up the first round of matches with Zambia and Ivory Coast the respective favorites. Meanwhile, on the 5th, Gabon and Mali play at the same as Ghana and Tunisia. In those two matches, Gabon and Ghana are projected to maintain their unbeaten streaks. Make sure to watch the games!