King Rooney

Goal of the year? Yes. Most athletic play of the year? Yes. Only found at a Manchester United? Check. Prior to Rooney's bicycle kick today, Berbatov held the honor of having the best bicycle kick of the year. And of course, he's another Manchester United player. I don't think I need to say much besides just post the video below and allow it to do all the talking.



Jersey of the Post: Wayne Rooney Signed Manchester United Jersey

A Week in European Soccer (4/9/10 - 4/15/10)

EPL

- Over the weekend there weren't too many exciting results or much movement in the table. Manchester United wasn't able to get a much-needed win over Blackburn and Man City got a huge 5-1 win over Birmingham. United and City will be facing each other on Saturday. Will Rooney be fit?  Mancini hopes so.

- On Tuesday, Chelsea was fortunate to just barely defeat Bolton 1-0 and go 4 points clear ahead of United. However, on Wednesday, Arsenal suffered a huge 2-1 defeat against Tottenham officially knocking them out of the title race. Wenger certainly wasn't happy about that. Personally, I'd like to give my young, but what I think to be my mature opinion on this: WENGER NEEDS TO BE SACKED! The man isn't bringing the kind of talent into his lineups which can be seen as Arsenal simply haven't been able to produce the much needed results over the past few weeks (as was the case in their loss, essentially, to Messi). However, it seems the  Arsenal doesn't feel this way.

Spanish Premier League
- After Real Madrid suffered their huge 2-0 loss at home to Barcelona, they bounced back with great discipline and athleticism by winning earlier today 2-1 over Almeria. With the win, they are now only 3 points behind league leaders Barcelona. For Real, they are going to have to hope Barcelona slip up over their next six games otherwise Barca will be saying "hello" to another league title.

Photo Credit: Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Cleat of the post: Nike5 Zoom T-5 FS...awesome color way!

UEFA Chapions League Double-Header Action

Today will certainly be a fabulous game for those of us who like to follow the Champions League. For the first time, Beckham will get a chance to face his former side in a game that will be high-paced and intense. AC Milan will take on Manchester United; don't expect there to be many goals, but certainly expect lots of emotion and some great skill. Who will win? Honestly, I don't know. Maybe AC Milan will get that composure that has been much needed on their part which will help them defend the attack of Rooney and perhaps help them get by. Or maybe, Manchester United will get off to an early lead and be able to hold AC Milan off. In all honesty, I really don't know about this game and that is more of a reason for it to be watched. It's going to be a thriller.

In the other Round of 16 Champions League game, Karim Benzema will get to face his former club when Real Madrid takes on Lyon. For that game, I can confidently say that Real Madrid will defeat Lyon. Madrid is clearly loaded with far better and more skilled players than Lyon. They have Cristiano Ronaldo, Benzema, Kaká, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Ramos, Pepe, Raúl, and numerous other quality players. And as Kaká says, winning the Champions League is the highest achievement.

Cleat of the post: Puma King Exec i FG

Rooney Scores his 100th...Egypt takes the glory!!!

Congratulations to Wayne Rooney on scoring his 100th goal in the Premier League. Rooney helped lead United to a 3-1 win over the Gunners in a game that now puts Manchester United only one point behind of Chelsea. In a game that saw Arsenal actually outshooting United and pretty much having most of the United’s three goals on target somehow managed to be enough to get them the win.


With United wining in England, Egypt also got their well deserved win over Ghana to take home the African Nations cup. Mohamed Gedo was the lone scorer of the game, to give Egypt a 1-0 win over Ghana (in the 85th minute) as well as Egypt’s third win in the tournament. Egypt did have most of the possession, however, it was Ghana that truly seemed to be making better opportunities yet they were unable to get the ball past Egyptian keeper, Essam El Hadari.

Gedo's game winning goal for Egypt.


Cleat of the post: Adidas Copa Mundial - A classic boot for a classic game.

The Manchester Derby Roundup and Former Red Devil gets Red

Machester United and Manchester City are taking part in the second half of the second leg of the Carling Cup at this very moment. Thus far, the game has been dead-locked at 1-1 with United leading in shots, 6 to 4. The game really doesn't have a dominating side at the moment and to be brutally honest, a boring game a best. Perhaps the second half will serve better.

As many of us know, Cristiano Ronaldo is now a member of Spanish side, Real Madrid. Although he was a key part of his team in their win over Malaga, he did receive a straight red in the 70th minute to force his teammates to play with only 10 men for the final 20 minutes of the game; fortunately, they were able to hold off Malaga from scoring. However, Ronaldo did receive the red for what he claims was an accident. In the midst of play, Cristiano managed to "accidentally" nail Malaga's, Patrick Mtiliga, in the face and giving Mtiliga a broken nose. Cristiano claims it was accidental and that the La Liga's 2 game ban is excessive but it has been known that Cristiano can be a bit of a cheap-skate when it comes to fouls and the like. Hopefully, things get sorted out and perhaps Cristiano Ronaldo actually may be telling the truth.

Cleat of the post: Joma Total Fit

As the good ol FIFA games say, "they are in Formidable form"

As you can probably guess, Chelsea is in 1st with a win, Man U follows behind with a win (only a 1 point differential between them), Arsenal is in third, and for a change this season, Tottenham is in fourth. I figured we could spend some time talking about what has propelled Tottenham to such a high standing thus far in the season.
First and foremost, credit goes to manager Harry Redknapp who has done an excellent job with his squad this year. Although Jermaine Defoe did miss a penalty earlier today that would have given them the win over Hull, I must say he is their best player. He has scored 84 goals in his lifetime career in the EPL. Personally, i think this is a feat reached by not to many in an 8-9 year span as a professional European soccer player. We need to realize that the competition, specifically in England, is unsurpassed in any other league in the world. Also, other players worthy to note on the squad are Huddlestone (Midfield), Keane (forward), and Crouch (Forward). If you noticed, it seems as if I have only mentioned an attacking group of players really and the reason for doing this is I want to point out that although this team has many strong attackers that lack a strong defense but they are able to pull together some fabulous results which allows them to do so well in the EPL. Therefore, it is absolutely fair to say that this is a real team that works in unity. Well done Hotspurs!

Cleat of the post: Nike Superfly (Nice Color Combination)

Why do you choose your team?

Earlier today, one of my fellow peers and I got into an argument as to how should we really define whether we are true fans of certain clubs or we are simply, "riding the wagon." In context, I am an avid Manchester United fan while my fellow peer is a Liverpool fan. He claimed that I only liked Manchester United because of how good they have always been. Sure, that is a reason to like them, but more importantly, I have a fond "love" for Man U because that was the very first European team my English cousin introduced me when I went to visit England in the new millennium (2000). So I ask, why do you support the team you choose? Is it because your favorite player plays for them? or is it because you have a bond with the club that goes back for many generations? You tell me, I want to hear!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Cleat of the post: PUMA v1.10

The Usual and a New Spin

As always, this weekend was packed with games in the EPL with really no surprises in any of the usuual results. Fortunately for league chasers, Man U and Arsenal, Chelsea was only able to gain one point at St. Andrews against Birmingham while both "chasers" were able to gain valuable results; Man U won 3-1 over Hull today with Rooney being the hero and Arsenal gained a clean-sheet with a 3-0 win over Aston Villa.
In addition to my write-ups for each post, I will now also be adding "the cleat of the post" for each post. It will feature a new/ redesigned cleat that has either been an attention grabber or a cleat that is yet to be released on the market. Furthermore, for those interested the best place to check for complete and thorough reviews of new cleats is at Footy Boots or Eurosport.

Cleat of the post: Nike Total 90 Laser III

The Blues defeat the Red Devils

As we all know, every match up between Manchester United and Chelsea is never any easy walk in the park. The intensity, tempo, and urgency will always be there. There is no doubt that if you are in England, it's one game for which you know if you are going to attend, your tickets are actually cheap for what an experience one can achieve.
In this November game, unfortunately Manchester United would not be the victors. Instead, at Stamford Bridge, captain John Terry gave his side the game winner to put his squad clear in first by five points over Ferguson's side. However, what makes this game even more interesting is Ferguson's accusations against, yet again, a ref. As a player myself, I can totally understand the coach being extremely frustrated with the ref. However, it gets to a point where every time you lose and you blame the ref people don't start losing faith in the ref's but rather than you. Even as a Manchester United fan I am going to say I am getting a bit annoyed with Ferguson's complaining. Why can't he just accept that it's the players and coaches that win and lose games, not refs. Let's just hope that in the future things will pan out much better for Manchester United.

Beckham will return to AC Milan; EPL Review

After what seems like almost a year now, it has been confirmed that Beckham will in fact return to AC Milan this January where he will hope to once again make a positive difference in the Italian side. However, I once again return to my prior post regarding Beckham's initial move from the Galaxy to Milan last year. Here is the link to that:
http://soccerupdate.blogspot.com/2009/02/things-in-europe-and-especially-england.html

In the EPL, it seems that year after year it is the exact same teams who are in the exact same places and the exact same places in the season. Chelsea is in first with 27 points, Man U in second with 25 points, Arsenal in third with 22 points, and both Man City and Tottenham tied for fourth with 19 points each. I guess, this year, the only real difference is Man City. One thing that can certainly be said about City is that Robinho and Tevez are a duo that are making a big difference for that side and of course along with Adebayor and Wright-Phillips. But as all my avid readers know, I am a true Man U fan and they will always be first in my mind (corny, yes, but needed to be said and clarified).

Rooney and many others out with injuries

Last weekend England took on Ukraine in a World Cup Qualifier in which Rooney sustained a calf injury that will now be keeping him out of Manchester United's game against Bolton tomorrow. Furthermore, Manchester United would naturally fall back on Berbatov to take Rooney's spot however, Berbatov won't be available due to a birth in his family. Fortunately van der Sar will be returning in goal after returning from a hand injury he suffered earlier in the season. Currently, it seems as if Man U is injury ridden yet hopefully this won't stop them from remaining right behind Chelsea at the top of the league.
Just as Man U seems to be suffering some key injuries, so is Liverpool. With both Torres and Gerrard being ruled out of their matchup against Sunderland this weekend, we may witness some interesting results this weekend. It seems that international play has been affecting the players in terms of their abilities to play with their club teams as is always the case with pre- World Cup matches. Hopefully, the players are saving up for what will hopefully be an even better World Cup than in 2006.

Barcelona still undefeated + Chelsea Return to The Top

Today Chelsea moved into first and two points ahead of Manchester United as the held Liverpool to zero goals while Malouda and Anelka put in 1 a piece, both in the second half.
However, more interestingly are the standings in Spain. Altough Real Madrid had acquired Ronaldo and Kaká over the summer, they are still unable to move ahead of always powerful FC Barcelona who just beat Almeria 1-0 yesterday. Real Madrdid on the other hand dropped three points to Sevilla FC today with only Pepe scoring for the away side. Perhaps this can be attested to the fact that Ronaldo has picked up an ankle injury keeping him from playing and perhaps deteriorating the confidence in his team. Hopefully he gets better, however Barcelona are in formidable form so it will be tough to catch them as Messi and Ibrahimovic (seen below) continue to score goals for Barcelona.

Man U has big turnaround while Drogba continues to lead Chelsea to Victory

This Past Wednesday, Man U had an embarrassing 1-0 loss to new Premier League team, Burnley. Although Man U did have a chance to tie up the game right before the half, Carrick was unlucky a missed his PK. However, Yesterday they were able to really turn things around against Wigan. The had an emphatic win with the final score resulting, 5-0. Goals came from Rooney (2), Berbatov, Owen, and in the 90th minute from Nani. It seems that Man U is still able to keep in relatively good form without Cristiano Ronaldo. Although Ferdinand did get hurt in training earlier this week, Man U will certainly be the team to watch - it seems as if this is one of those seasons for them that could either be really good or really bad. Only time will tell.

At the top of the table and currently tied for first with Tottenham are the Blue's. At the moment, it seems as if Didier Drogba really is the magic person on the team. After he came off of an okay season in 08/09, he has certainly turned things around and gotten off to a fabulous start. Out of the team's seven goal total, Drogba is responsible for 3 of them. Things are certainly looking bright for Ancelotti's squad.

Furthermore, with Hull's new addition of American Jozy Altidore, Hull has finally gotten their first win of the season. Altidore was able to make his debut an excellent one by assisting Ghilas in the 61st minute - only 1 minute after he had gotten onto the field. Hopefully this will improve America's soccer image and this certainly is one of those steps that we, Americans, needed for our progress.

Hull's Jozy Altidore

Man Utd and other Transfers and Ribery/ Real Madrid

Man Utd is now with one less striker as Tevez is now a member of Man City. No one can blame him for he did receive minimal playing time as a Red Devil even though he was able to produce results when he did step on the pitch. We will all certainly be able to see him in the 2010 World Cup as he teams up with Messi to help lead Argentina to victory.
However, Man Utd has now picked up not only veteran striker and now former Newcastle star Michael Owen, but they have also acquired Antonio Valencia from Wigan. He will most probably fill in the empty spot left behind from Cristiano Ronaldo's departure for Real Madrid.

With Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká already on the move to Real Madrid, another stand out player may be joining them, French international, Ribery. Apparently, there has been much rumor about such a move which has caused tension and disturbance in the Bayern Munich club for not only the coaches but also for Ribery and the other players. If Ribery does end up moving to the Spanish club, Real Madrid will certainly be filled with superstars. Yet, it seems that any time a team is filled with 11 superstars, they suffer. Not because of the quality of play but rather because the team chemistry always seems to lack. Maybe it would be better if Ribery were to stay in Germany.

All Transfers can be found at the following link/page:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/transfers/transfer?cc=5901

Potential Move for Tevez; Spain Truly is Unstoppable

With Cristiano Ronaldo now on his way to the Bernabéu (Real Madrid's home), Manchester United may also see another one of their stars heading out the doors. This time round it's Tevez. the 25 year-old Argentinian international feels that since he is not the most wanted player* by Manchester United, he would be very happy with a transfer. Currently, he has received interest from Manchester City and Chelsea. If he does in fact head to one of these clubs then we will be bound to see home on the other side of what are both intense and emotional rivalries.

Confederation Cup News, Results, Schedule
For those of you who are Spanish supporters like myself, Spain has officially broken and set a new world record. With their 15th straight international win (over South Africa, 2-0) they are now the world record holders. However, more interestingly was what happened during the game. In the 50th minute, David Villa was rewarded a penalty kick due to a ridiculous challenge from South African defender Aaron Moekena. Unfortunately, Villa was denied the game by an excellent save from Khune. Nevertheless, just one minute later, Villa would score and regain the well deserved goal. And exactly 20 minutes later Llorente also helped himself to a goal after subbing out Torres in the 59th minute.
An interesting stat: Together, Spain and South Africa only had fifteen shots.

Clearly, if Spain continues to perform in the fashion they have done up to this point, I don't see why they can't win this Cup to add to their 2008 European Championship. Hopefully, Torres can also put in some goals to help Spain lift up another trophy before they take on the 2010 World Cup next summer.

Other Scores Today:
Iraq 0-0 New Zealand

Upcoming Games:
2:30 PM - Sunday Italy vs. Brazil (ESPN)
2:30 PM - Sunday Egypt vs. USA (ESPN2)
2:30 PM - Wednesday Semi-Final 1
2:30 PM - Thursday Semi-Final 2
9:00 AM - Sunday (6/28) Consolation
2:30 PM - Sunday (6/28) Final

A Very Neccesary Post...

Sorry to all my followers and readers for not updating this blog in such a long time - I have become bogged down during the finals two months or school, but now I am done. So, here is an update of all the good stuff that has happened so far.

1. Manchester United lost to FC Barcelona in the final of the UEFA Championship. There is a simple reason for this; Man U dominated in the first ten minutes but could not stay consistent throughout the game. As soon as Eto'o was able to dribble through Man U's defense and score, things really looked gloomy and dull for Man U. Messi would go on to score a fantastic header that required true athleticism. (The link is attached below)
2. Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo has now left and joined the other top in La Liga, Real Madrid. Furthermore, Kaká has also joined Real Madrid, however, having a team full of superstars is not always the best. As we have seen with Chelsea, they may have a lot of extremely good players, but they it seems that they never are able to do enough to win it all.
3. USA soccer continues to lose to European countries as they just did yesterday by losing 3-1 to Italy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOLCH11XGO8&feature=related

Excitement rises as the season winds down

For many of us, yesterday's Liverpool game certainly stirred things up. Not only was Liverpool able to gain the three necessary points against Fulham in a 1-0 win, but they were also able to reclaim their position atop the table. Certainly, this put lots of pressure on Man U to win their game today because if they did not, then even with a tie they would be trailing behind Liverpool, by at best, 1 point.
Fortunately, Man U was able to beat 5th place Villa 2-0 and reclaim 1st. However, they are only 1 point ahead. While Liverpool has continued their fabulous form, Man United has only regained it and once can only hope that things will stay with this. But as always, their are variables in this "equation." Things to keep in mind:
1. there are 8 games remaining which means that there are 24 points up for grabs.
2. Man U will not play Chelsea, Liverpool, or Villa again.
3. The remaining games for Liverpool and Chelsea are fairly easy except for Arsenal - all 3 teams are yet to play their final matches against Wenger's side.
4. All teams in contention are very close in points earned.

As we can see, the road to the League title will be very tough and demanding, but if Man U regains its excellent form and consistency then they will once again win.

Need for some major updates

Sorry to any of my followers for not giving updates.
In the past week or so, Manchester United have fallen in form; they have lost to Liverpool and Fulham, 4-1 and 2-0, respectively. In both these games, Man U has been awarded red cards on behalf of Vidic against Liverpool and Rooney against Fulham. Obviously, the cards have not helped them. Furthermore, because of these two losses, Man U is now only 1 point ahead of now 2nd place Liverpool (65 v 64).

Unlike Man U, Liverpool have recently been doing amazingly well. In their past two games against Man U and Villa, they have scored a total, 9 goals and only given up 1. Congrats got to them and head coach Benitez.

As for Hiddink's Blues, things looked god, at first. On March 15th, they played Man City and gained a much needed win over them. However, this past Saturday was quite bleak for them; they fell 1-0 to the Hotspur's. With only gaining three points in two games this meant that they would not only drop down to third place, but also be three points behind Liverpool and four behind Man U.

With only 9 games remaining for Man U and 8 for Liverpool and Chelsea, one can hope that Man U returns to their prior, excellent form and ride out the season to victory and hopefully a first place finish in the Champions League.

Man U In Great Form

Over the past week or so, Man U has simply been unstoppable. With the team currently four points ahead of Chelsea, there is definitely need for explanation of what has happened. Looking back to last Tuesday, the Red Devils took on Internaziionale. Both teams did not have a large number of shots and to add to this low stat, Inter did not have single shot on net whereas Man U only had 5. Clearly, the teams were able to get into the attack at least a decent amount, but neither team was able to actually capitalize on their opportunities. The game would end 0-0 with both sides disappointed to not be able to leave the game with 3 points. An interesting fact between Ferguson and Inter manager Mourinho is that Ferguson has only been able to get 1 win out of 13 games against Mourinho.

Man U's next game was this past Sunday against Tottenham in the Carling Cup final. During this game, Ferguson was not playing his usual starters because he did not want them to be injured or tired before their next game which is tomorrow. he also wanted to give some playing time to the younger and less experienced players on the team. Once again, Man U ended the game in a 0-0 tie, but the game would head into overtime. Even after overtime, neither team was able to score and the game finally ended with penalty kicks. However, prior to the penalty kicks, back up keeper Foster took a quick look on his ipod which contained video of Tottenham Hotspur players taking penalty kicks. After viewing these videos, Foster was able to used what he had just learned and apply it to the game to help his side win the cup. the Fa tried to press chargers against Foster's use of the ipod but could not pass it because there were no rules that went against what Foster did.

Earlier today, Man U beat Newcastle United 2-1 with goals from striker duo Rooney and Berbatov. With the win, Man U now goes 7 points clear of Chelsea and keeps Newcastle at bay in 16th place. Let's continue to watch as Man U looks to once again lift the trophy!!!

Important Updates in England

Just moments ago, the Liverpool - Man City match just finished. It ended in a 1-1 draw which means that Man U is now 9 points ahead of Liverpool with both teams having played 26 games. Man City opened up the scoring in the second half on behalf of Liverpool defender Arbeloa on an own-goal in the 49th minute. Liverpool was able to tie up the game in the 78th minute with a goal from Holland International forward, Dirk Kuyt. This certainly is not how Liverpool wanted to end the game because now they must work even harder to catch up to Man U to even think about winning the league. There's no doubt in my mind that for the remainder of the season, the importance of every game will continue to rise and hopefully the quality of play will increase. I am looking forward to watching some very great soccer games in the weeks to come.

Other scores:
Fulham 2 - 0 WBA
Newcastle 0 - 0 Everton (currently at half time)