El Classico Lives Up To Hype

Every time Barcelona and Real Madrid meet, the world always stops to watch arguably soccer's two biggest clubs face off. There is always an abundance of talent on the field: names like Ronaldo, Messi, Ibrahimovic, Henry, and Kaka are legends.

This year's first meeting shaped up to be one of the most highly-anticipated meetings in recent memory. Both teams were at the top of the table. Both had made massive summer signings (Madrid had spent nearly $375 million on new players alone!). All that was missing was an amazing 90 minutes of soccer.

Barca and Madrid did just that at the Camp Nou. The 1-0 victory for Barcelona was filled with many chances on goal and amazing bits of skill. Madrid now sit at second in La Liga after Barca leapfrogged Los Blancos with the victory. But don't worry fans: the rematch at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid is only 132 days away!

Here are the highlights (en espanol) from the game:

Van Persie Injury News

Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie's ankle injury has been deemed more serious than originally thought. The Dutch international will now face four to five months on the sideline instead of the expected recovery of six weeks. Apparently, the "placenta cure" didn't live up to the hype.

Further tests on his ankle have revealed that Van Persie has torn three ligaments instead of the original prognosis of just one. Such news cannot come at a worse time for manager Arsene Wenger and Arsenal.

With Arsenal about to lose to Chelsea 3-0, Van Persie's presence seems to be noticeably missed in the North London side. Last week's 1-0 loss to Sunderland has proven just that. In two successive English Premier League games, the Gunners have been shutout. Before Van Persie's injury, Arsenal had scored at least a goal in every league game played! Previous wins for Arsenal produced scores of 6-2, 6-1, 4-1. The loss of the Dutchman seems to have stripped the Gunners of their attacking prowess and has forced Wenger to search for answers.

While it's too early to write the Gunners title chances off, the next month of fixtures are going to be critical for Arsene Wenger's men. It would be wise for Arsenal to dip into the transfer market in January and finally use their funds to purchase more experienced attacking power.

Happy Thanksgiving! (From Xtra Time)

In the spirit of giving thanks, I would like to take time to appreciate everyone who reads my blog or anyone who has ever clicked on a link to go to my blog.

Thank you for taking time to view something that I truly care about doing. Hopefully my career will involve writing about the world's most popular sport.

Down And Out

It looks like Liverpool supporters will have to be content with the Europa League. Despite defeating Hungarian club Debrecen last night 1-0, a win by Fiorentina solidified the Italian club's passage to the Round of 16 and ended all Champions League hopes at Anfield.

Lyon also advanced from Group E to the next stage of Europe's elite club competition.

Liverpool have now been eliminated from the Champions League in the group stages for the first time since 2002-2003. The form of the club in the English Premier League has also been a concern. Manager Rafa Benitez has come under fire for making poor substitutions and winless streaks. Tuesday's defeat of Debrecen broke a five-game slide in all competitions.

In brief: he's been on the hot seat for a while now. Despite this, according to Liverpool's club managing director Christian Purslow, his job is, "under no threat."

But just how long will Liverpool be able to maintain this sentiment? If the club finish out of the top four in the Premier League, and miss a Champions League spot, it surely should be the end of Benitez's reign. This possibility looks extremely likely with the strides Manchester City and Tottenham have been making this season.

It hasn't all been his fault. Injuries to important players Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard have limited the attacking power of Benitez's squad.

After the elimination from the Champions League, it makes sense that the club directors would want to publicly declare support for their coach. But when Liverpool ends the season looking up from the table at about five or six clubs ahead of them? Something will have to give. Let's just wait six more months and see if this public backing holds true. My money is on "no."

Salt Lake Is For Real

Long live the underdog.

Real Salt Lake ended their season in dream fashion last night after derailing the hopes of the star-studded Los Angeles Galaxy. After 120 minutes of soccer and a 1-1 scoreline, it took seven rounds of penalty kicks to determine the winner. Robbie Russell's shot into the lower left corner of the net sparked euphoria for RSL and their supporters as the team lifted the 2009 MLS Cup.

Winning the shootout 5-4, RSL brought home the first major professional sports championship in Utah in 25 years. RSL have risen to the top of the Major League Soccer in just four years after being founded in 2005.

Standouts from RSL in the title game include forward Robbie Findley, who scored RSL's only goal, midfielder Kyle Beckerman and of course, goalkeepr Nick Rimando. For the second straight game, Rimando's performance in the net during penalty kicks ended in a victory for Real Salt Lake. Only this time, it was for all the marbles.

The Galaxy never quite lived up to their talent in the final. No one played horribly, but performances were average across the board. David Beckham supplied some probing crosses but was limited toward the end due to a niggling ankle injury. Landon Donovan, instrumental in creating the Galaxy's only goal, came up empty in the shootout after blasting his kick a few feet over the crossbar. What a disappointing end for the regular season MVP.

Qwest Field in Seattle set the scene for one of the best crowds ever to witness an MLS Cup Final. More than 40,000 people kept the broadcast lively and entertaining for ESPN even during the dull moments in play.

Since it is MLS, it's very possible that RSL could sink to back to the league basement during the 2010 season. But for now, RSL should enjoy its historic victory.

Where Does Henry's Handball Rank?

For those of you that missed it, Thierry Henry's handball against Ireland on Wednesday will go down in history as one of the most obvious incidents of foul play. For every Miracle on Ice, there are moments like Wednesday's that are notorious for being controversial.

But where does it rank among sports' biggest cheats ever? There's some pretty distinguished company when you think about it...

-Diego Maradona and the Hand of God:

-Bill Belicheck spying on the St. Louis Rams' practice before the 2001 Super Bowl

-Rosie Ruiz, who faked winning the 1980 Boston Marathon:

-Spain's 2000 Paralympic basketball team winning the gold medal, when later tests proved that 10 of the 12 players weren't mentally disabled!

The list goes on. Comment and let me know what you thought of Henry's handball and where it ranks.

Should FIFA Adopt Instant Replay?

One controversial no-call and 120 minutes of soccer later, France emerged victorious in their World Cup Playoff versus Ireland. The French, who advanced to their fourth consecutive World Cup on a 2-1 aggregate score, needed extra time to punch their ticket to South Africa yesterday evening.

In the midst of the French celebration, the Irish bench looked on with disgust. They felt cheated with the result, and rightfully so. French captain Thierry Henry's obvious handball was either unseen or ignored by the match officials, allowing the forward to flick the ball to William Gallas who tied the game up in the 104th minute.




Henry's handball, and the no-call that followed, overshadowed a hard-fought tie by both sides. The Irish, heavy underdogs going into the playoff, were led by inspirational performances from people like forward Robbie Keane. Keane scored in the 33rd minute yesterday to level the teams on aggregate.

After protests from the Irish, Swedish referee Martin Hansson allowed the goal and took the fight right out of Ireland. It's a shame that the final spot in the World Cup had to come down to human error.

This brings up a great question: should there be instant replay in soccer? Currently there is no such movement to bring replay into the sport, but incidents like this, where the stakes are immense, lead one to believe that the correct ruling should be made even if it means taking it out of the hands of the referees and interrupting play. In America, all major professional sports except Major League Soccer use instant replay. When will soccer catch up to the times?

The Football Association of Ireland today announced its plan to protest the result and ask FIFA for a replay of the contest. Good luck with that. Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni called the idea of a replay "impossible."

The Irish were looking to World Cup qualification as a welcome distraction from the economic problems on the Emerald Isle. Turns out, there will be no happy ending this time around.

Opinions from some Irish fans:

2009 MLS Cup Full Of Intrigue

This Sunday at 8:30p.m. ET, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Real Salt Lake will face off at Qwest Field in Seattle to determine the 2009 MLS Cup champion. The stadium, home to arguably MLS' best fanbase, will be hosting the MLS Cup for the first time.

The Galaxy, fresh off a 2-0 extra time victory over the Houston Dynamo in the Western Conference Finals, finally have put the star power of Landon Donovan and David Beckham to good use. Manager Bruce Arena has melded these two influential players together with a new set of tactics and cagey veterans like Gregg Berhalter, Eddie Lewis and Chris Klein. Young sensations Sean Franklin and Omar Gonzalez have also provided the Galaxy with back-to-back MLS Rookie of the Year honors. [David Beckham, left, helped lead the Galaxy to victory]

Real Salt Lake have gone from humble expansion beginnings to the top of the MLS heap in merely five years. Founded in 2004, RSL have undergone their share of struggles as the organization got their feet under them. This season, the team has ridden the goalkeeping of Nick Rimando and the goalscoring of United States international Robbie Findley. Rimando saved three shots in the penalty shootout in Saturday night's 5-4 win over the Chicago Fire in the Eastern Conference Finals.

[Nick Rimando came up big in goal vs. Chicago]

Sunday night's cup final will bring together two franchises who have tasted defeat more often than success in recent years. It will be refreshing to see a new champion arise out of traditional MLS powers like the Houston Dynamo, New England Revolution and DC United. The Columbus Crew, winners of the 2008 MLS Cup, seem to have started such a trend.

Also for the first time,the game will be nationally televised on ESPN and will compete with Sunday Night Football on NBC for its viewership. With this new prime time slot, it will be interesting to see just how the ratings turn out.

With the single-entity stucture of the league, it's no secret that the MLS is full of parity. The 2009 MLS Cup sees two teams who have persevered through it all trying to stake a claim as this year's best.

Van Persie Suffers Injury Woe

Club managers hate whenever they have to release their players for meaningless international friendlies. There's always the possibility that their respective players are going to get injured and be out for a sustained period of time. On Saturday, Arsenal suffered a major blow to a member of their strikeforce.

Robin Van Persie, off to a fantastic start this season, was injured after just 15 minutes of play as his Netherlands side fought to a 0-0 draw with Italy. The Dutchman was stretchered off after a tackle by Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini. The tackle was not a dirty one; it actually doesn't look that bad on video. Watch it below:



After the game, a Dutch soccer official said, "the ankle ligaments are definitely torn." X-rays have yet to reveal a break. The prognosis now is that Van Persie could be on the sidelines for up to three months.

Thankfully, Arsenal possess quality depth when it comes to attacking options. Andrei Arshavin, Eduardo and Theo Walcott will all be called upon to produce more goals in Van Persie's absence.

But my heart goes up to RVP: earlier I wrote a blog post detailing his amazing start to the season. He has been the talisman for Arsenal's success so far. It looks like the Gunners will have to rely on others for an extended period of time to keep their title challenge afloat.

Cudicini Crashes Motorbike

In a week in which we have seen one goalkeeper (Robert Enke) already involved in a tragedy, Tottenham Hotspur's reserve keeper Carlos Cudicini was involved in an accident on his motorbike Thursday morning in London.

The Italian, 36, has suffered what police have called, "life-changing injuries." Early reports state that the Spurs goalie is suspected of having a broken pelvis and two broken wrists.

No arrests have been made yet but that could change in the near future. The female driving the car that was involved in the accident and her child did not suffer any injuries.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the goalkeepers their respective families. An update on Cudicini's condition will follow later today.

This fall there has been a disturbing trend of soccer players in tragedies involving motorized vehicles. First Charlie Davies, then Robert Enke and now this.

Thank You, Veterans (And News From Around The World)

I would like to wish all U.S. military veterans and all current service men and women a very happy Veteran's Day. I appreciate all that you do for our country and our freedom. Our nation maintains its strength with your amazing efforts and sacrifices.

Now on to something that means very little when compared to the work the people in our armed forces accomplish: sport.

In the last 24 hours there have been some major developments in the world of soccer.

The biggest news came out of Germany early Tuesday evening. Hannover 96 and Germany National Team goalkeeper Robert Enke, 32, died after throwing himself into the path of an oncoming train near Hannover.

Enke was expected to be between the sticks for Germany in next summer's World Cup. His loss is one of great shock and I'm sure it is going to take some time for his family to come to grips with this tragedy. His story and how he hid his depression for years makes you wonder if others in soccer are suffering like he did.

Today, his wife, Teresa, addressed the media about his condition before his death. An excerpt from the press conference is below:



In other news, U.S. Men's National Team forward Charlie Davies was released from the hospital yesterday after nearly a month receiving treatment for injuries sustained in an Oct. 13 car crash.

The accident left one dead and Davies with multiple broken bones and a lacerated bladder.

Expected recovery for Davies is between six to 12 months. This leaves very little time to get ready in time for South Africa. But at this rate, Davies shouldn't expect to be in Bob Bradley's U.S. squad for the 2010 World Cup; he should just feel lucky to even be alive.

Spartan Soccer Heads To Big 10 Tourney

The Michigan State University soccer team will enter the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 6 seed when play begins Thursday afternoon. The Spartans will be facing Northwestern in their first game at 10 a.m. ET.

The Spartans finished the regular season with a record of 10-6-2 (2-4 Big Ten). They tied with Michigan for last in the conference. But the standings are deceiving; MSU's overall win percentage is fourth-best out of the seven-team league.

Last year, MSU was one of the top 10 teams in the nation after winning both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles. This year the squad has struggled with injuries and a case of bad luck. The heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Akron, the No. 1 team in the nation, is a constant reminder of this.

Best of luck boys as you fight for a Big Ten title and an NCAA Tournament invitation!

Gunning For A Title

It's no secret that Arsenal has had their struggles in recent years. The last trophy for the Gunners came in May 2005 when the North London club hoisted the FA Cup.

It can be argued that the current Arsenal squad now can field the most talented squad since the "Invincibles" of the 2003-2004 Premier League campaigns. Now in their fourth year of a trophy drought, Arsene Wenger's men have no more excuses if they come up empty-handed again. While youthful, the Gunners boast depth at many positions (including the forwards), where the youth policy of Wenger has started to pay dividends: being able to call 20-year-old Theo Walcott a seasoned player does have its advantages.

It's players such as Robin Van Persie that have Arsenal's young team in contention for a title this season. Currently in third, the Gunners are five points behind table leaders Chelsea with a game in-hand.

Van Persie, who was signed from Dutch side Feyenoord in 2004, has had his share of problems since joining the Gunners. Injuries and various off-field incidents have taken away some of the positives the Dutchman has provided on the pitch. This year Van Persie seems to have been free of such issues and has produced a prolific campaign so far: seven goals and six assists in just 10 games.

ESPN Soccernet has a great article about Wenger's praise for the striker. Soccernet also has another that quotes Van Persie talking about the Gunners title aspirations for this year.

So far so good for Arsenal. The beautiful football the team is known for is hitting on all cylinders. If the team can avoid the injury bug and keep its form on target, Gunners fans can expect a trophy at the end of the season.

Champions League Highlights

Here's a round-up of some of today's Champions League action:
Liverpool 1-Lyon 1

Arsenal 4-AZ Alkmaar 1

Inter Milan 2-Dynamo Kiev 1

Barcelona 0-Rubin Kazan 0

Rangers 1-Unirea Urziceni 1

What A Weekend

I hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend. I know I did. It was a good time going to parties with my friends and seeing students dressed up in a variety of costumes.

In the English Premier League, it was also a slightly spooky weekend as well. Eight red cards were handed out on Saturday, setting a new record for the league. Sunday also produced one more.

Liverpool, who were responsible for two of the reds on Saturday, slumped to their sixth defeat in seven games losing 3-1 to Fulham. This is certainly an abnormal trend for the Merseyside club who now look completely out of the title race. The seat of manager Rafa Benitez is heating up and approaching an uncomfortable level. The Kop at Anfield certainly expects better and it will be interesting to see just how the situation unravels.

Liverpool-Fulham highlights:


Liverpool needs to oust the ghouls that are haunting the club right now, and in a hurry.

On Saturday, Hull City manager Phil Brown was expecting the axe after the recent poor results of the club continued with a 2-0 loss to Burnley. But the news out of Hull today was a bit different. The current dwellers of the Premier League basement appointed a new chairman who said that he would give Brown his,"full support." We'll see how long that lasts.

So after a weird weekend the Premier League rolls on. Maybe the next matchday will bring something odd or abnormal. Stay tuned.