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.