México

Cada vez que me acuerdo que el nombre formal de México es los estados unidos de México, me pega raro. Y despues, aunque me quedo poquito sorprendido, recuerdo que sí...es así.

Estados Unidos = USA o EEUU (¡Dilo cuatro vezes rapido en voz alto, te animo!)
Estados Unidos de México = México

Diego Maradona is a lucky guy

Diego Maradona's attacking options: Leo Messi, Gonzalo Higuain, Tevez, Diego Milito, Sergio Aguero.

That's possibly the most ridiculous array of attacking talent ever put together.

soccer posts go here

i've been blogging about football at another site.

Dia de impuestos

¡Que dia triste, por favor! ¿Es justo que gobiernos te sacan 50% de lo que ganas?

Pero tampoco el parte peor. Todos los papeles que se obligan. ¡terrible! y tambíen que los impuestos tienen una estructura tan mala, porque tarda el crecimiento económico.

I don't watch the Belgian Jupiler League often...

but I might have to try to check out this afternoon's game for Anderlecht v KV Kortrijk. This 16 year old kid Romelu Lukaku is playing for Anderlecht, and if reports are to be believed, he is like Didier Drogba but with more athleticism and football skill.

Yeah. Crazy. This kid could be the alltime great if he keeps working hard. Pretty tough to do that when you're only 16, but...

Ribery to pick

France winger Franck Ribery has said that will choose his future in the next 10 days: stay at Bayern, or Real Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona.

I don't think he's going to get Cristiano Ronaldo money. Close maybe, but not equal. So unless Chelsea offers to make him number 1 of all time, I think Chelsea can be struck from the list.

My wholly uninformed guess is something like 70% Real Madrid, 18% Bayern, 12% Barcelona.

Rafa Benitez to Juventus?

Juventus claim to be 90% confident of picking up Rafael Benitez. But the Spaniard is also pretty heavily talked about for the not-yet-vacant tecnico spot at Real Madrid. Everyone assumes that chilean Manuel Pellegrini will get the ax after 250 million euros in spending and no championships, even if it was only a year.

Juventus is historically a big club. The scandal a few years back obviously hurt, but Juve have reportedly offered Benitez 10 days to decide if he wants to join them and their 70 million euro transfer budget.

So Benitez is in a funny place: he might get fired after this season at Liverpool anyway. He could rebuff Juve now and hope for Madrid (or Chelsea or Inter etc). He could hope to stick it out with Liverpool. We'll see. Right now I'm tempted to think that he heads to Juventus...but the relative blahness of Italian football may keep him out.

Europa league second leg games

I thought they didn't disappoint. I lost the feed of the Fulham Wolfsburg game, but scoring in the first minute pretty much sealed the game. I didn't get to see much of it, but what I saw was exciting. It was going to be very much an uphill battle for the Bundesliga champs after Zamora grabbed the first minute away goal though.

I ended up watching the Atletico Madrid Valencia second half. Great game. The ref made some very curious decisions though. An Atletico defender grabbed Vigic as he was going up for a header that would almost certainly have been a goal...and he ripped his shirt wide open. Yet somehow no penalty? Amazing. On the other hand, the linesman a few minutes before called offsides of Kun Aguero when Aguero was very clearly onsides. He had a one on one with the goalie with all kinds of time that would have definitely been a goal. Strangely the ref gave Aguero a yellow card for leaving the pitch slowly in the final minute, which means that Aguero will miss the next game.

Hamburg SV will play Fulham and Liverpool will face Atletico Madrid.

Europa League, second leg

The first leg games last week were all exciting. This week Atletico has Valencia at home, Standard Liege has the advantage in Belgium against Hamburg, Liverpool has a chance for redemption at Anfield against Benfica, and Fulham goes to Germany to face defending Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg.

To be honest, I'm pumped about these games. I'll likely be watching and screaming for Fulham in front of my computer monitor because I doubt Fulham will be the game televised here.

By the way, Pablo Aimar's visit to Liverpool will reunite him with Rafael Benitez, after they spent a few successful years together at Valencia.

Robber wonder strike sinks United

What else is there to say: world class football from Arjen Robben. That was an amazing first-touch half side-touch volley.

Do I think Bayern was the better side? To be honest, no, I don't. But give them a ton of credit for scrapping two goals away to come out with just enough to advance.

The red card not only left Man U a player short, but it induced Ferguson to withdraw Rooney. And Nani had two goals of solid finishing, but the bulk of the labor was done by Ecuador's Antonio Valencia.

Considering Everton

When Landon Donovan arrived at Everton, they were in the relegation zone. Somehow they've had a crazy few 3 months won a bunch of matches and show up after a week in April with a chance at the Europa League.

Currently 5th and 6th are occupied by Tottenham and Liverpool with 58 and 55, while Aston Villa is just slightly behind with 54. Everton has 50.

Aston Villa and Tottenham have only played 32 games, however, while Liverpool and Everton have both played 33. Manchester City, with 59 points, has also played 32 games and has the pole position for the Champions League.

On Wednesday the 14th, Everton plays at Aston Villa, followed by Blackburn away, Everton at home, Stoke away and Portsmouth at home.

Aston Villa has Everton at home, Portsmouth away, Hull at home, Birmingham at home, Manchester City away and Blackburn at home.

If you were to bet, I'd still put money on Liverpool and Tottenham making the Europa League, but it's not impossible to see Everton in there but it will likely come down to whether Everton and Aston Villa can get a result in a week.

Leo Messi! Messi! Lionel Messi! Messi!

Some variation of his name 4 times. Why? For the four goals he scored in beating Arsenal today. Obviously a great result for Barcelona. Arsenal is a dangerous club, as they showed by being up 3-2 in aggregate after 110 minutes of the 180 minute two leg match.

In some ways, Arsenal is the perfect team for Messi to face. They attack and play possession (and truthfully, due to injuries were without their 3 best attacking players). That means Messi will frequently find himself with space. Arsenal would never ever shame themselves like Chelsea did in last year's Champions League semis where Chelsea packed 11 men into the penalty area and basically put up a tent. And while Arsenal should be commended, it is true that it leaves them vulnerable to master class displays from Messi.

Barcelona will face Inter Milan in the Champions League semi-finals. But first, they have Real Madrid this Saturday...in Madrid at the Bernabeu.

Barcelona v. Arsenal injury report, leg 2 at Camp Nou

The injury report will be pretty key to the match.
Lots of key injuries for both sides.

Out for Arsenal: Alex Song, Robin Van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Wlliam Gallas, Andrei Arshavin, Aaron Ramsey
Somewhat Questionable: Sol Campbell

Out for Barcelona: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gerard Pique, Carlos Puyol
Doubtful: Jeffren, Yaya Toure, Andres Iniesta
Thierry Henry is apparently still having calf problems as well.


For both sides the question is: who starts at central defense?

Fernando Torres backs Arsenal to win the title?

"I want Arsenal to be the champions. They have the best fixtures of the three. Wenger deserves to win the title and to be imitated for his work he has done in his time there."

El Nino is a student of the game if he backs Wenger.

This week's English Premier League action

I watched everything but the first 15 minutes of the Manchester United versus Chelsea game. There's little doubt that Chelsea was the better side today. Even so, there's also no doubt that Drogba was offside on the 2nd goal that put them up 2-0 and ended up being the difference maker in a 2-1 win that may decide who wins the Premiership. I thought Chelsea goalie Petr Cech looked very shaky on crosses. It was no surprise that Man U ended up scoring on what was arguably a Cech misplay.

And even though Chelsea won, I thought Chelsea's defense looked extremely unorganized at times. Although I'm happy Man U lost and is now behind, Chelsea's defense is unimpressive. They have the advantage going forward, and they are already out of the Champions League so they can focus on the league...with the exception of the FA Cup Final next weekend. Of their 5 games left, 3 are at home (Bolton, Wigan, Stoke) and they shouldn't drop points. The two away games are Tottenham and Liverpool, both of whom will be very motivated to try and crack that 4th Champions League spot.

As for Man U, midfield possession just wasn't impressive. When Park has more offensive spark than Berbatov, you know you have problems. Rooney has really become indispensable for them, and with Rooney I think they'd have found a victory. They have Blackburn, Man City and Sunderland away, while Tottenham and Stoke at home. Obviously the Manchester derby at Man City is going to be a huge game. Carlos Tevez has been scoring goals and would love to score another couple against Ferguson.

I saw most of the Arsenal v Wolverhampton tie. Arsenal won it in the final minute on a Bendtner header. They definitely deserved the win, and it was necessary to keep them in contention. While they have Barcelona away on Tuesday, after that they have Tottenham, Wigan, and Blackburn away, with Man City and Fulham at home. They have to beat Tottenham next weekend to stay alive as title contenders, I think.

Tottenham and Man City's performance may not only determine who goes to Champions League, it may determine who is crowned champion. It would be pretty sweet for Carlos Tevez to deny Ferguson a title.

Leo Messi has room to improve

That's scary, I know. But it's true. Leo Messi could probably double his goal scoring this year if he would increase his conversion rate.

Leo Messi plays football a bit like it's futsal. Futsal is much less about striking the ball past the goalie than flicking it by the goalie. The goal is so small that the goalie always has a chance.

For such a prolific goalscorer, Leo Messi is rather profligate in front of the goal. He creates so many great chances that he can afford to cavalierly let more go to waste than others.

Today's goal against Atletico Bilbao was a great example. He'd already had some excellent chances that he hadn't converted. Pedro got the ball on the right in space. Messi saw the run and cut in front of his defender so sharply that the defender fell down. The ball arrived to Messi at the six yard box in the middle of the goal, with no one within a few yards of him. He one touch deflected it on goal, right at the keeper. It happened to nutmeg the goalie before striking his back leg on the way into the net. I don't think that's what Messi was aiming for.

It's crazy, I know, but I think if Messi works on his finishing he could be scoring tons more goals.

4 good games today

There were four good Europa League games today.

Fulham 2-1 over visiting Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg
Benfica 2-1 over visiting Liverpool. Everton's rivals were on the receiving end of some poor reffing, and my loyalties would tend more towards Everton than Liverpool.
Valencia 2-2 against visiting Atletico Madrid
Hamburg 2-1 against visiting Standard Liege

I started off watching Liverpool, switched to Valencia Atletico, and then watched 60 minutes of mighty Fulham's win. Roy Hodgson has done a great job with that club.

Europa League games today

Benfica vs Liverpool
Fulham vs Wolfsburg
Hamburg vs Standard Liege
Valencia vs. Atletico Madrid

I wasn't too sure how this new incarnation of the UEFA Cup would turn out, but this is a pretty solid matchup on all sides. Standard Liege, though it has lost some good players recently including Belgium's Marouane Fellaini and US' Oguchi Onyewu, is still a quality side that should give Hamburg a decent run.

Fulham is in form and got a decent draw against Wolfsburg. A well balanced tie, I assume.

Benfica vs. Liverpool is obviously a good matchup. Given Liverpool's status it will probably be the televised match around the world.

But Valencia v Atletico is pretty similarly fascinating, and features some strikers we'll see in South Africa this summer.

All in all, can't wait to go watch some football.

One more reason to like General Petraeus

He was on the West Point soccer team.

Arsenal vs Barcelona, leg 1

Thoughts on Arsenal vs Barcelona, first leg in Emirates Stadium in London.

It was an excellent game of attacking football, as predicted. At one point, Barca had 70% possession, but Arsenal turned that around towards the end.

With 2 away goals, Barcelona is obviously in very good position to advance going into the second leg at home. However, given that they were up 2-0 and at that point should've been a near-lock to advance...but you know that neither of these teams will ever abandon their desire to attack.


1. Almuria. He had an excellent first half, and I was thinking, "wow, Almunia is really answering his critics for Arsene Wenger." But the first goal to start the second half was arguably his fault entirely. It's not a howler, but do you think Victor Valdes or any other topflight keeper concedes a goal there?

2. Wenger. It's trendy to say that his weakness is refusal to care too much about goalkeeping. I can't say I disagree; I think there are some excellent keepers he could buy relatively cheaply (Americans, even!). BUT, his introduction of Walcott into the game changed the match. He won the battle of tactics with Guardiola. The substition of Thierry Henry for Zlatan Ibrahimovic was similarly silly. Henry was sluggish and ineffective. Whatever Guardiola was going for, it didn't work.

Walcott brings a ton of value as a supersub because he can just outrun people, especially when tired. To be honest, I think Wenger planned it out that way, taking off Sagna with 25 minutes left to play. Taking off Arshavin was unusual, but also a substitution that changed the game. Until then, Barca was dominating. Afterwards, much less.

3. The penalty kick. My favorite team in Spain is Barcelona and my favorite team in England is Arsenal. So I'm relatively unbiased when I say this: I don't agree with a penalty kick. And even if so, with a red card? No.

Puyol was in position, and was running for the ball too. He didn't stick out his hip or anything, and while Fabregas was winding up, he took position. In my opinion that is just good defending. That said, it is the referee's judgment call, and I don't think it was a horrible call. It was certainly within realm of debate, though I think probably 80-85% of neutral people would say it wasn't a foul.

I understand that the red card was also given, but I simply disagree with that strongly. Technical assertions of the rules in that spot are a grave error. It was certainly not a tackle-from-behind on a breakway, done intentionally to stop a goal.

4. Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He had two goals, but he could have had 6. His finish on the first goal was nice, although it was an ill-considered challenge by Almunia. Frankly, he could have had about 3 in the first 10 minutes. Ibrahimovic's second goal was ok, he was one on one, so it's hard to fault Almunia. On the other hand, Almunia stuck himself in no man's land when Ibrahimovic cut down his angle. And Ibra has a tendency to try to roof shots near post in situations like that. Good football teams should have people who prepare them for tendencies. I don't really like how Ibrahimovic played it. He was one on one but cut down his angle (a huge no-no for goalscorers) and then wound up. Basically, he decided to gamble by blasting away. In that situation, with time, the best play is generally to just slot the ball where the goalie is not. And if they go down, then go around them.

5. Xavi is a great through-ball player.


So, in the next match, Fabregas (and someone else I think) won't be playing for Arsenal. That hurts, as Fabregas is their creative spark plug. However, Carlos Puyol and Gerard Pique will be out for Barcelona. Losing both central defenders is pretty key for a club that has been very thin on defenders this year. In truth, the only reason Madrid is in the title race is that Barca lost/tied some games this year when they were playing third-choice defenders.

That will certainly add a risk factor that will make it possible for Arsenal to get an early goal. Even so, Barcelona showed itself today to be the superior team, and even if Arsenal should get an early goal, it's doubtful that they would change their style and attempt to win ugly by defending.

Barcelona and Arsenal in the Nou Camp will be a spectacle.