West Ham United 2, Blackburn 1
I am now convinced that goal-line technology is now needed to ensure proper results. Carlos Tevez effectively blocked his own team's goal by roving on the goal-line. The shot, however, was ruled a goal which disrupted B-burn's game and momentum. Bobby Zamora, West Ham super-sub, got the credit. All in all, Blackburn was the better team but this time, the best team didn't win. A lucky win for Alan Curbishley and yet another review for the FA to take a look at.
WHU: C. Tevez (PEN 71), B. Zamora (75)
BLA: C. Samba (47)
Middlesborough 0, Manchester City 2
The life of Stuart Pearce just got a little easier. Gareth Southgate's life just got a little bit harder. He will come under scruting for leaving big-guns Mark Viduka and Jonathan Woodgate on the sidelines for this clash. A prime example of Man City losing a lot and then taking advantage of a sheer underestimation to gain momentum. DaMarcus Beasley got on in the 84th minute. By then, however, the damage was already done by new Belgian signing Emile Mpenza and French veteran Sylvain Distin.
MID: NONE
MNC: S. Distin (61), E. Mpenza (74)
Tottenham 3, Watford 1
Ben Foster, a young GK phenom, showed his inexperience today. Paul Robinson, an established England international, dealt the blow. Robinson struck a free-kick into the penalty box from his own half (clearly for someone to head). The ball fell however and bounced high, Foster who was out off his line judging the ball jumped to intercept but the ball went clear over his head and into the back of the net. This brought me great pleasure as it was retribution for Paul Robinson who against Croatia last year whiffed on a Gary Neville backpass which ended up in England's goal. To Foster's credit, he bounced back nicely and fought the onslaught from Tottenham. Watford, however, did nothing exciting or remotely productive proving their Championship worth. By the way, that goal was Paul Robinson's second of his career. A far cry from Jose Luis Chilavert, but close enough for a half-assed comparison.
TOT: J. Jenas (41), P. Robinson (63), H. Ghali (85)
WAT: D. Henderson (89)
Manchester United 4, Bolton 1
Manchester United is unstoppable lately. I would love to say it is also because of the new leadership of Americans Malcolm Glazer and his sons but no. However, I can safely say that the change in leadership has given the players something else to play for. They now have to reprove their worth and take whatever distrust and skepticism out on the opponents. Maybe that was the missing ingredient or maybe it never really mattered and football is football. Regardless, Park Ji-Sung and Wayne Rooney headlined this game by striking for two a-piece. We all know who the architect was, however. Cristiano Ronaldo was simply brilliant causing all sorts of trouble on the wings. This Drogba vs. Ronaldo debate shall continue until the bitter end. Anyways, Man U...amazing. They are going to win it all. Small backstep for Man U, though, as Gary Neville had to go off injured. No word on the verdict yet.
MAN: P. Ji-Sung (14, 25), W. Rooney (17, 74)
BOL: G. Speed (PEN 87)
Wigan 0, Fulham 0
Carlos Bocanegra and Brian McBride were quiet and Dempsey didn't get on again. Essentially, this was a bore draw. However, Fulham missed a chance to get a tad higher than 14th and frankly, their play has been crap as of late.
WIG: NONE
FUL: NONE
Chelsea 3, Sheffield United 0
Butt-whooping. In all honesty, not many were expecting anything much different. Chelsea and Man Utd are going win for win. Shevchenko deserves goal of the game with a beautiful volley real early in the game. Solomon Kalou has simply been brilliant as of late and this game was no different as he scored for the 2nd time in 3 games. Shevchenko seems to be slowly adapting to the pace and physical nature of the English Premiership. His touch is improving again (not exactly back to Milan-standard, but certainly close). Also, the fans and media are beginning to change their minds about the approximate 50 million dollar man.
CHE: Shevchenko (4), S. Kalou (17), M.Ballack (58)
SHF: NONE
Reading 0, Portsmouth 0
Reading actually missed the presence of Bobby Convey today. Glen Little hustled on the sideline with several brilliant crosses, but overall, he botched the chances that would have most likely led to results. Regardless, Convey is out. Glen Little is decent on the right and Shane Long has been playing fantastic filling in. These points were critical, however, as Reading and Portsmouth are locked in the European competition struggle. Hard fought game for both. No real stars in this one, except for Portsmouth's Hughes' shot from 30 yards out. Look it up and check it out.
REA: NONE
POR: NONE
Sunday, March 18th
Charlton Athletic 2, Newcastle United 0
The Shandong cast-off Zheng Zhi should have probably had 2-3 goals today and was, by far, the man of the match. Zhi, before coming over to Charlton on loan, had several skeptics as the transfer speculation was very Agustin Delgado-like. This really helps the Addicks out though. Onyewu went all 90 in a rather porous Newcastle back-line.
CHA: Zhi (53), J. Thomas (PEN 88)
NEW: NONE
Everton 1, Arsenal 0
The Gunners' woes continue and Andy Johnson gets the last laugh. Arsenal has been kicked in the teeth within all three competitions they are involved in. No Abou Diaby deflection to save Arsene Wenger this time. The game was fairly even but Everton's physical play clearly intimidated the vulnerable young Gunners. The Toffees had 6 yellows to show for it. David Moyes gave James Vaughan, part of an Everton young'un duo that is showing a lot of promise (Victor Anichebe is the other half), his first start of his Premiership career. Timmy Howard survived several Arsenal barrages and held his own, which is sort of becoming the usual. Goodison Park is a magical place.
EVR: A. Johnson (90)
ARS: NONE
Aston Villa 0, Liverpool 0
Gareth Barry gave Steve McClaren a swift kick in the arse with his great performance against Liverpool. Barry was axed from English national team duty by McClaren along with delinquent Joey Barton. Unfortunately, Barry didn't put one in the net. In fact, not many chances were created for either side. L'pool still get one point closer to third place Arsenal.
AVI: NONE
LIV: NONE
Italian Serie A
Sampdoria 1, Palermo 1
Still no first Serie A appearance from former-Red Bull New York young'un Gabriel Ferrari.
German Bundesliga
VfL Wolfsburg 3, VfL Bochum 1
Kamani Hill saw 3 minutes in Wolfsburg's mastery of Bochum.
French Ligue 1
AS Nancy Lorraine 0, Olympique Lyonnais 3
Not exactly a dominant performance from OL, but the scoreline says all. With 5 shots on goal, OL scored 60% of those shots. In many senses, that is dominance. The 6th Championship in a row now seems a foregone conclusion. I think within the next year or so we are going to see a good many OL players seeking new challenges. Juninho shall be the first to go. It is unfortunate but probably true.
NAN: NONE
LYO: M.Baros (36), K.Kallstrom (76), Fred (81)
Scottish Premier Division
Falkirk 1, Celtic 0
Shared this because the Scottish Premiership minnows Falkirk gave the Hoops a real hard time and actually have a win to show for it. I told you I like upsets.
Other big results:
Recreativo 0, Barcelona 4
Real Madrid 2, Gimnastic 0
FC Sevilla 2, Celta Vigo 0
Ascoli 1, Inter Milan 2
PSV 1, Ajax 5
Heerenveen 4, NAC Breda 2
Hannover 96 0, Hamburg 0
Frankfurt 1, Bayern Munich 0
IN OTHER NEWS:
- Steve Davis writes about how a Cauhotemac Blanco signing could and would be bad news. Read here.
- Greece skipper Otto Rehaggel has shocked pundits by selecting 7 strikers (out of 23) for their upcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers against Turkey and Malta next weekend. He even dropped one. The striker contingent is meant to keep the momentum as they have won their past five matches.
- Inter Milan are preparing a rather significant bid for Chelsea captain and central defensive stalwart John Terry. The bid is supposedly around 20 million pounds (40 million dollars). Inter's purchase of Terry would either shore up a defense that currently has won 16 in a row in the Serie A or it would stir a pot that doesn't necessarily need to be stirred.
- Shalrie Joseph is finally going to show his true colors apparently. He could be leaving the MLS sometime soon. I just hope we can get something along the lines of the offer we got before from Celtic. Here is the article.
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