Chelsea is crowned, Ballack is injured, and Torres a potential signing

If you didn't already guess, this post is clearly strongly emphasizing what is happening in the Blues' world. Yes, they are the EPL champs and yes, Ballack has been injured. I also just wanted to point out to you ostentatious Chelsea fans that Sunderland even has more EPL titles than the Blues and to be brutally honest, they are awful.

What's more interesting about the injury is that it happened in none other than the infamous FA Cup. Boateng of Portsmouth made an awful and unnecessary tackle on Ballack which resulted in Ballack's severe injury which will now keep him out of the World Cup. The best part? Boateng is on Ghana which is in the same group as Germany!

And my third point on Chelsea: Torres of Liverpool/ Spain is said to be in the "strong talks" of signing with the Blues for a 70 million Euro transfer. That's nuts! Anyhow, hopefully Torres doesn't make this stupid signing because if he does, I guarantee you he won't be as prestigious in the views of Spanish fans or anywhere else for much longer.

My last topic of interest is Barcelona. Congrats to them as they won the La Liga title this past weekend. Were records broken? Absolutely. They now hold the record for the most goals scored in a single season (98) and the most points earned (99). Which club previously held this record? None other than Barcelona themselves.

Here is a video of Barcelona's final La Liga game from this weekend (the quality isn't great, but at least it's a good highlight reel of the game):


Jersey of the post: adidas South Africa Home Jersey 09/11

A Swing and A Miss...at least for Portsmouth

On Wednesday, Portsmouth goalkeeper David James certainly has put himself on the blooper real for this year's bloopers. In an attempt to clear the ball, he unfortunately had a nice little whiff on the ball. Although it was certainly an embarrassing moment, Chelsea's Drogba was very thankful for the easy pass into the back of the net. All in all though, Chelsea was not in need of help; they went on to win with a convincing 5-0 win. For a further write-up on the whiff and for a video click here. Photo credit: bhhardinge 

With the win, Chelsea is now only one point behind Manchester United. With 7 more games for each team to go, it will be a close run to the finish. And here are the current standings in the EPL as of today.

Cleat of the post: Pirma Monaco III

Things in Europe (and especially England) are changing. Good or Bad?

Let's just say that Man U is no longer at the top of the Premiership. With three key games played today, the top four in the premier league seems to constantly be shifting. Just keep on reading to learn more about what has been going on!

Today, Liverpool was able to just barely beat Portsmouth to go ahead of Man U in the league by one point. In a game that was 2-2 up until stoppage time was still yet to be decided. With only moments left, Rafael Benitez's side, Liverpool, was able to create a chance for striker, Fernando Torres, to score on Portsmouth. After only being on the pitch for 14 minutes, it really goes to show that a pair of fresh legs can really make a difference in the game. Personally, with nothing against Liverpool striker Babel, had Torres never come one then maybe the game would have ended in a tie and things would be entirely different. With that said, such can be seen of the Blues.

In Chelsea's second match against Hull this season, Chelsea really did not play well. With Hull truly playing with their hearts, the were able to hold Luis Scolari's side to a draw. There really is nothing more to be said; Hull played well, but were unable to score and Chelsea simply did neither of those. In fact, their fans let them know that as they booed their own side at the end of the game.

The third and final major match of today was between Aston Villa and the Blackburn Rovers. Some of you may be wondering why I acknowledge such a game. First off, Aston Villa is one of the more surprising sides this year. They have actually been very successful on the road his year with a second place record for away games; 9W - OD - 3L. Clearly, a very potent record. Furthermore, with their win over Blackburn, they were able to slip into 3rd overall in the league and push the Blues down to 4th. For Aston Villa, the goals during the game are accredited to Milner (27th minute) and Agbonlahor (90th minute).


For those who have been following Italian soccer, you are probably hearing about Beckham's hopes to stay at AC Milan. I felt as if this is good topic for me to post my personal opinion on such. Personally, I am totally against Beckham doing this. Yes, he may still be a very good player, but I thought he originally came to the USA to get away from European soccer since he was too old to keep up with it? What happened there? Secondly, when he signed with the LA Galaxy, he forced the club to make him captain and give up so much more just so that they could acquire him. Now he feels like he has the right to simply turn his back upon them.

This is what I hate about some professional athletes. For example, Plexico Burres and the shooting incident as well as Michael Phelp's and the pictures. Seriously, just because you are a superstar doesn't mean you can break the law and turn your back on people who have done so much for you.

Final scores from today:
Liverpool 3-2 Portsmouth
Aston Villa 2-0 Blackburn
Manchester City 1-0 Middlesbrough
Everton 3-0 Bolton
Sunderland 2-0 Stoke
Newcastle 3-2 WBA
Chelsea 0-0 Hull

Sunday Feb. 8th (Home vs. Away):
Tottenham vs. Arsenal 8:30 EST - Look to possibly see new signing, Andrei, on the field.

West Ham vs. Man U 11:00 EST - Hopefully Man U will regain their number 1 spot in the league by going two points ahead of Liverpool with a win against West Ham.

Premier League

Unfortunately, on 3/18, Manchester United was knocked out of the FA Cup with a 1-0 loss to Portsmouth. Although Man U lost, they were able to move clear into first in the Premier League; 3 points ahead of Arsenal and 5 points ahead of Chelsea. Just as we thought, Man U would move into first and will be looking to win the league.
Meanwhile, Arsenal drew with Middlesbrough; 1-1 and Chelsea 4-4 with Tottenham.

Just a heads up for all you die hard MLS fans: the season starts up on March 29. Oh yeah, did you hear Beckham might buy the Galaxy? Yeah, check it out at ESPNsoccernet.

This Weeks Highlights

As many of you know, this week was very important as many different competitions were happening around Europe. First off, Man U has finally pulled in within one point of Arsenal (after beating Fulham 3-0) in the premiership and look very capable of wining his year's premiership once again. Additionally, Man U was able to beat Lyon in the champions league which has progressed hem further into the competition. Their next game is this Saturday against Portsmouth for the FA Cup which also looks bright for Man U. As for Arsenal, this year has been an aberration. Things are not looking so swell for them. First, they tied Aston Villa 1-1 in the premiership and will definitely not win the Premiership. On the other hand, Arsenal beat AC Milan 2-0 in the champions league which originally seemed highly unlikely. Other news:

UEFA Champions League
Chelsea 3 - 0 Olympiacos
Fenerbache (win on pk's) 5-5 agg. Sevilla FC
Barcelona 1- 0 Celtic
Roma 2 - 1 Real Madrid
Schalke 04 (win on pk's) 1-1 agg. FC Porto

FA Cup Saturday Quarterfinals
Man U vs. Portsmouth
Barnsley vs. Chelsea

FA Cup Sunday Quarterfinals
Middlesbrough Vs. Cardiff
Bristol Rovers vs. West Brom