Another hectic weekend of footy is in the books but club managers will get a fortnight off now, to review and regroup, while many of their troops nip out for international duty. With the transfer window closing in midweek, it will also give those gaffers with pressing needs extra time to sort out an eleventh hour deal. So don’t put pen to paper fro West Ham quite yet, Mr. Parker.
No, Avram, I'm serious. The board said they were behind me all the way.
In Southampton, Alan Pardew was fully focused on making a last minute deal but his time with the Saints ran out much sooner than he anticipated. One win in three matches, albeit a 4-0 thrashing of Bristol Rovers was not enough for the League One club’s board, who admitted, in their statement to the press, that giving their man the hook so early may look like panicking but, well, so what if we are? Expect to find reports across the web, this week, that Alan Curbishley is the favourite to take over for his departed namesake and, yes, Sven may be interested in the job if the terms are right.
At the Emirates, Arsene Wenger lost a target for his annual frustration, as Robin van Persie took his yearly injury break a bit early and the KNVB, still smarting from last year’s tongue lashing from the Gunner boss, announced that they would not be calling the hobbled van Persie up for this week’s internationals. On the bright side, it’s good news for the old horseman, Ruud van Nistlerooy, who once again finds his country in need of him.
In North America, it seems that CONCACAF may be switching its World Cup qualification format, eliminating the current Hexagon model, wherein the top six countries meet in a round robin group with three or four advancing, to two final groups of four. Dependent upon whether the groups are drawn or seeded, the region’s two ‘super’powers, Mexico and the US, may never have to play each other, under the new system, to reach the World Cup. Read this interesting article from MatchFit USA, to learn the reasoning behind the change.
As Bradley contemplates and decides against a move to Aston Villa...
...Juergen realises he needs to remove the 'For Sale' sign from the lawn of his Malibu villa
Also stateside, the USSF president Sunil Gulati recently met with Juergen Klinsmann, the former Germany and Bayern manager, in the wake of current manager Bob Bradley’s stated interest in the Aston Villa job. Klinsmann was a candidate for the job, in 2006, upon leaving the Germany set-up but terms could not be reached and the decision was made to stick with Bradley. The news had many fans of the USMNT excited, including our own Martin Palazzotto, who called for Bradley’s ouster right here on WFC .
Unfortunately, on Monday evening, it was announced that Bradley had signed a 4 year extension to remain the US coach. All disappointments aside, this brings up some interesting questions. Were Bradley’s interest in Villa and Gulati’s in Klinsmann both red herrings designed to push the other side closer to a deal? Was Villa at all interested in Bradley? Is Kevin MacDonald, with the victory over Everton, about to have the ‘caretaker’ removed from his job description? And most importantly, is Juergen Klinsmann, right now, feeling about as used as Tony Blair backing up George W. Bush?
Elsewhere, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was a little pouty on his return trip to Milan from Barcelona. It seems he really wanted to stay with the Catalans but, nonetheless, he should definitely have seen the writing on the wall when David Villa was signed. AC seems to be a repository for unwanted Barca stars, these days, with Ibra arriving and Ronaldinho also hanging at the San Siro while longing for the good old days. Still, the addition of the Swede and the rumoured pursuit of Robinho, if it comes to fruition, could find Berlusconi’s boys pushing Inter for Milano and Serie A supremacy once again.
It would seem, then, there are a few players who have jetted off to play for their country but may find themselves needing to change their travel itinerary while they’re away. As we await those developments, the WFC gang is here to catch you up on the matches you may have missed over your weekend. Enjoy.
Geoff Edwards
Geoff Edwards
St. Pauli 0, Hoffenheim 1 –Bundesliga
Not the exciting affair we may have been hoping for, but an absorbing game nonetheless.
In a game of 2 halves, the hosts will count themselves unlucky to have lost as, for the most part, they went toe to toe with their more expensively-assembled counterparts and created the majority of the chances, most notably a Fabian Boll header which crashed against the bar. But (and here’s one for the cliche lovers), if you don’t take your chances in top-flight football, more often than not you get punished for it. That was the case at the Millerntor, as Isaac Vorsah poked home a Sejad Salihovic corner with just 3 minutes remaining.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWwxMIPmGu8
Hoffenheim took home the spoils and now sit proudly on top of the league, alongside Kaiserslautern in the 100% club. Disappointment for St Pauli, but they can take heart from their performance.
Tapesh Patel
Tapesh Patel
Leicester 1, Reading 2 –The Championship
To Leicester’s surprise, it was Reading who stole victory, at the Walker’s Stadium. Gylfi Sigurdsson, as always, provided a touch of class for Reading, showing great technique to dink the ball over the Foxes’ keeper, Conrad Logan.
Lloyd Dyer similarly sparkled, capping an impressive display with a 25-yard barnstormer at the start of the second half, to draw the home side level. However, it was Reading defender Matthew Mills who stole the show, first scoring from a corner, and then clearing a certain Leicester goal off the line to secure the win.
Leicester still languish in the relegation zone after this one, then, while Reading’s season has sprung to life, the Royals having now gone five matches unbeaten.
Bordeaux 1, Marseille 1 –Ligue 1
After Lucho Gonzalez gave OM an early lead, this became a tense affair, with the early sending-off of Marseille midfielder Edouard Cissé. Despite this, Marseille almost managed to hold their own, until les Girondins snatched a draw, thanks to a late goal from striker Anthony Modeste.
Unfortunately, this was not taken lightly by 400 of the Bordeaux supporters, who targeted the Marseille team bus after the match, with police intervention required to calm the situation. Their frustration will be shared (albeit to a lesser extent) by both teams, who, while they did find transportation home, remain marooned in mid-table and facing a fight to catch up with early pace-setters Toulouse.
Fabricio Presilli
Fab Presilli
Internacional 1, Botafogo 0 –Brazilian Championship
A crucial win for Internacional, which keeps them in the race for the national title. Botafogo threw everything but the kitchen sink at the much better Internacional team but in the end it was not an unexpected result.
Boca Juniors 2, Velez Sarsfield 1 Argentinian Apertura – 4th round
A much needed win for Boca after a rocky week. Velez now stands second at the table, and have a key match next weekend against leaders River Plate.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dQUQCzQdE0
Fluminense 2, São Paulo 2 Brazilian Championship
The MVP of the round in Brazil, without a doubt, has to be São Paulo’s keeper Rogerio Ceni. A goal from a freekick and a penalty saved helped his team get a point away against the board leaders.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E71IvSnE1g4
It’s been a very competitive season.After 17 rounds of play, Fluminese and Corinthians are the only two clubs with better than 30 points.
Chris Mann
Chris Mann
Huddersfield Town 3, Charlton Athletic 1 –League One
I thought this might be an open game – and it was – but the encounter at the Galpharm Stadium turned out to be far more one-sided than many had imagined. Lee Clark has got Huddersfield playing an attractive brand of football and the young manager was rewarded with a confident performance from his team, against a Charlton side much-fancied for promotion. That said, the London club were the architects of their own downfall, all three of The Terriers’ goals coming courtesy of some catastrophic Addicks defending.
Matt Fry netted a consolation in injury time but it was not enough to mask the considerable failings of Phil Parkinson’s team.
Real Mallorca 0 v Real Madrid 0 –La Liga
Well, this was all rather disappointing wasn’t it? I’d been hoping to see either an emphatic start to the Mourinho era or an epic shock sprung by Mallorca but we ended up getting neither. The home side deserved a great deal of credit for the way in which they contained the galacticos, but as a spectacle the game was very little to write home about.
As expected, the Portuguese set his team out in a 4-2-3-1 with Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Canales and Angel Di Maria the attacking bank of three behind Gonzalo Higuain. We got a glimpse of Mesut Ozil with half an hour to go but the German struggled to impose himself on the game to any great degree. Madrid’s misery was compounded after the final whistle with two pieces of news, first, from their medical staff, that Ronaldo will miss the next three weeks with an ankle injury and second, from Cantabria:
Racing Santander 0, FC Barcelona 3
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19deaj2dIPA
All in all, a mediocre start to the season from “the world’s biggest club” (TM).
Martin Palazzotto
Martin Palazzotto
Toronto FC 0, Real Salt Lake 0 MLS
Toronto was under the gun to get a result against the defending MLS champions on Sunday, with the Crew and Red Bull’s taillights fading in the distance of the Eastern Conference table and only 3 home games, including this one, remaining in the season. Road weary from a midweek round trip to Panama, which ended in defeat and hampered by several players being unavailable through injury or suspension, Reds’ coach Preki was forced to go with midfielders Mista and Dwayne DeRosario as his strike pair. The results were largely anemic and at the other end Stefan Frei was forced to come up big more than once, with Fabio Espindola smelling blood in the water.
With the carnival atmosphere of the Canadian National Exhibition (the fair of all fairs) ongoing in the background, TFC battled and earned a much needed point.
Cruz Azul 3, UANL Tigres 2 Mexican Apertura
If goals are your thing, then you should have headed south of the border, rather than north. There wasn’t a lot of defence on display in Mexico City, by either side, but los Cementeros managed to hang on for their 5th victory in 6 matches.
Emmanuel Villa had the hosts on top very early, capitalising on a poor cross, but joy can be fleeting and Itamar Batista equalised for Tigres only a minute later. The visitors seized the momentum from that point but not the lead and, as Geoff mentioned earlier, the inevitable occurred. Against the run of play, Javier Orozco put Cruz Azul back in front just before the half, demonstrating why he has earned his first Tri Color international call up. In the second stanza, Alejandro Vela added to Tigres’ misery, with a scintillating left footed effort that bent its way past the keeper and into the twine. Itamar would give his side hope, pegging one back but Jorge Torres Nilo was sent off at the death, allowing Azul to close out the match in comfort.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EQ4_K8ezt8
The loss, in combination with Puebla’s 3-1 home victory over Pachuca, dropped Tigres out of the last at large playoff spot. The train ride home was likely a somber one but, if all that noise in the background of the highlight reel is any indication, they were probably on their way quickly.
Eliot Rothwell
Eliot Rothwell
Lokomotiv Moscow 0, Zenit St. Petersburg 3 –Russian Premier League
It is safe to say that Lokomotiv were truly awful in this match, as Luciano Spalletti’s title contenders cruised to a 3-0 victory. Portuguese international Danny opened the scoring for Zenit with a goal steeped in controversy. Danny was presented with a tap in as the referee allowed Zenit to take a quick free-kick both confusing and infuriating the Lokomotiv players in equal measure.
Lokomotiv’s afternoon went from bad to worse as talisman and key attacking threat Dmitri Torbinskiy was sent off close to the hour mark. Zenit took advantage of the fact that Lokomotiv were a man light as Aleksandr Bukharov strode through the defence, rounded the ‘keeper and then had an age to carefully slot the ball home. The rout was completed with a delicious curling effort from Roman Shirokov, in the midst of more chaos and panic in the Lokomotiv defence.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QSP1LWdqOY
Both teams were knocked out of their respective European competitions in the week but it is the men from St. Petersburg that proved that the poor performance in midweek was just a blip. Lokomotiv will have to regain their form fast if they are going to have any chance of claiming a Europa League spot again.
Matt Dalton
Matt Dalton with The Scouser Report
This weekend’s action, although hardly inspirational, did have a few interesting points to mull over.
Liverpool, in desperate need of both points and a performance, after a pretty timid start, grabbed all the points, albeit by the narrow margin of 1-0, against West Brom. The Reds didn’t exactly boss the game; in fact, they were only saved further embarrassment, courtesy of a brilliant right footed volley from Fernando Torres, on the counter attack. The Baggies, largely considered to be cannon fodder, actually had more shots on goal than their more illustrious opposition.
In the other Merseyside game, Everton were entertained by Aston Villa at Villa Park. Actually, now I come to think about it, entertained may be the wrong word! Despite dominating large portions of the game, Everton, led early on by new signing Jermaine Beckford and later by Louis Saha, were unable to break the deadlock and went down to a 1-0 loss. Luke Young, following on from some excellent play from his namesake, Ashley, was the Toffees nemesis on the day. How Everton lost the game, not many people (other than Geoff, of course) will fathom.
In the other games in the Premier League, Bolton valiantly fought back from two down against Birmingham to draw 2-2, especially significant given the first half sending off of keeper Jusski Jaaskelainen, following on from a rather tame slap on Roger Johnson. Refereeing really has gone barmy these days – you only have to look at someone to get sent off! What would Tommy Smith think of this mayhem?
...This is not.
Premier League Etiquette 101: This is acceptable facial contact...
Elsewhere, Sunderland ground out a 1-0 victory at home to Man City, courtesy of a second half injury time penalty from Darren Bent, whilst Chelsea and Man United each ran out routine wins, 2-0 and 3-0 against Stoke and West Ham respectively.
In the surprise of the weekend, Tottenham went down at home to Wigan 1-0, but it was fully deserved. From start to finish, Wigan worked tirelessly to ensure that Spurs suffered from the well known “Champions League hangover”. It will be interesting to see how Spurs deal with this phenomenon. Personally, I think they may struggle.
..
Just because it’s an international week, don’t take your eyes off WFC! On Wednesday, we’ll be publishing our Euro group qualification preview, a new Over A Pint is on the way, starring Mikel Arteta and his England suitors, and an international version of Catch Them If You Can will be out on Friday. As well, look for the debuts of two new WFC writers, Oranje fiend Avi Goldberg and from Down Under, Kris Dwyer!
Until then, we’ll leave you with a tip for the young players out there. Football is a demanding game. It takes nerve, skill and, above all patience, to break down opposing defences. Unfortunately the young Brazilian starlet, Neymar, forgot that advice in his weekend match against Goias:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNYuTTQzHPY
Kids, now you know what your parents mean when they tell you to keep your pants on!
See you on Friday!
Have to say that this a great roundup guys – keep it up. I managed to see the Spanish football at the weekend and like you Chris I wasn't impressed by Real Madrid.
I was wondering if anyone had been to a game recently and could write it up for Matchday – that doesn't apply to just you guys who wrote the post but anybody else reading as well!
Posted by Steven Jones | 1 September, 2010, 21:18