Arsenal still top, Chelsea and Man Utd Romp

I have to preface this entry by saying that I am not an Arsenal fan, not in the slightest. However, after their two stunning performances this week, as a fan of the sport in general, I love the way they are moving the ball around right now. Their runs are cutting and dynamic and their quick passing and movement is fantastic. Sunday's match at Anfield was really quite fun to watch and the Gunners will surely be kicking themselves for not claiming all the points after outplaying Liverpool and letting not one, but two open netters go begging.

The other big guns were on the rampage over the weekend, particularly Chelsea, who finally clicked (like perhaps their stars should more often) and simply let fire on a defensively poor Manchester City. I do believe I counted four (of the six total) goals went directly through goalkeeper Joe Hart's legs. And Richards all but eliminated himself from the game after his skirmish with Lampard (which only seemed to fire up the Chelsea man). Manchester United again scored four goals as they soundly defeated Middlesbrough at Old Trafford. Rooney was again truly running riot, playing a very pacey, attacking style. And the doubters had to be silenced as he laid on a clever little ball to Tevez after a lovely set-up. Perhaps they can play well together?

Tottenham have ousted Jol, but didn't fare any better over the weekend and fell in stoppage time to a persistent Blackburn team that have been red-hot lately. It'll be interesting to see how they handle themselves when they take on Liverpool and then Manchester United in their next two matches.

Also, Robert Green was exceptional in goal rescuing West Ham with several brilliant saves, including a last minute penalty stop at Portsmouth; maybe we'll be seeing him in goal for England in the near future?

Next weekend: An absolutely mouth-watering encounter between Arsenal and Manchester United. I can hardly wait.

Champions League: Match day 3

The were several interesting developments after the mid-week Champions League fixtures: most notable was Liverpool's loss in Turkey to Besiktas. While the other big boys from the England cruised in their matches (including Arsenal's 7-0 dismantling of Slavia Prague), Liverpool truly struggled to find their rhythm. This leaves the Anfield men at the brink of elimination from the tournament altogether. They're going to have to look a heck of a lot sharper (perhaps a new rotation is in order?) if they're going to get anything out of their upcoming weekend date with the rampant Gunners.

While most of the European superpowers claimed the expected three points, Barcelona could not find the breakthrough against pesky Rangers in Glasgow. The Scottish side produced a valiant effort and certainly earned their point. With most of the groups still extremely close, the last three games of the first round will provide some mouth watering encounters.

To come: Will Liverpool pull out another miracle (as they did in the group stages of '04-'05)? And will Rangers continue their super start and relegate either Lyon or Barcelona to the UEFA cup?

US Women's National Team Update: Coaching Change

Well, I waited a couple of days to see what the general response to US Soccer's decision not to renew Greg Ryan's contract would be, and as it turned out, there hardly was one. I was somewhat baffled at how quickly a supposed controversy could disappear from the radar. But I guess this isn't really all that surprising, as most of the media frenzy was centered around the cat fight between outcast Solo and the rest of the "girls of summer" gang.

Unfortunately for all involved, Solo's outburst took away from the larger issue, that of Ryan's ability to coach the national team. It is reassuring to see that while the rest of the world may have forgotten about Greg Ryan, US Soccer has not. Ryan, who had a lengthy, although not particularly successful, career as a college soccer coach, took the helm of the program with very little notice from the soccer community. It has almost been the assumption that the team is so great that victory will come regardless of who coaches the team. Perhaps fans were lulled into this false sense of security by the past two previous coaches: the skillful Tony DiCicco and the lucky April Heinrichs, or perhaps it was the fact that most fans only take notice of the team around major tournament times.

At any rate, US Soccer has made the right move. Depending upon who they replace Ryan with, they can show that they are serious about this team; that they are running the team as any powerhouse nation would manage their men's team. The focus needs to move away from idolizing the original heroes of the Women's game and realize that the team cannot survive on their legacy alone. The team needs to get serious about the Olympics: they're not anybody's heroes, they're not even the favorites-- they are simply one of the many that could mount a challenge, or on the other hand, fall very far short. So it is time to cast off those ridiculous gold jerseys, stop scheduling victory tours before the tournaments begin and bring in a new coach who will give the new women of the US National Team the leadership that they need.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Whew, what a weekend! Well, I missed my weekly dose of the recap show on account of an ALCS game 7. However, I did catch four of the weekend's games, including Manchester United's dismantling of Villa. Despite Villa scoring first, United were absolutely rampant, terrorizing the Villains at every turn. It's hard to believe this is even the same side we saw at the beginning of the season. Rooney ran riot in attack and the Red Devils linked up in more flowing offensive moves than I can remember. A very entertaining and offensive game.

Among the other leaders, Arsenal and Blackburn won games that they needed to and should have won. And Liverpool scored two penalties to steal all the points right at the death against archrivals Everton. There really wasn't any other choice for the ref than to give the two spot kicks, but my oh my, the calls that weren't made for Everton. For me the most glaring was that Kuyt was not sent off for his horror two-footed jump kick and Everton definitely had reason to believe they should have been given a penalty of their own. The Toffees will certainly think they've been hard done, should have at least garnered a point. Man City kept up their form with yet another goal from, guess who-- Elano.

Both Birmingham and Sunderland continued playing competently and coming away empty-handed. And today's Spurs-Newcastle match surely has Jol pushed to the brink. One can only imagine that anything less than a fabulous week will see him gone in a seven day's time.

Euro 2008 Qualifiers

Obviously, today's big news is that England lost. I was out and about enjoying the eastern fall in the mountains today and didn't see much of the action. But I arrived home to read all about the crying McClaren and how a horrible call has now ruined everything for England. If I'm not mistaken, hasn't a whole slew of pathetic performances ruined everything for England? Come on now, blaming the ref is just sad, but I suppose England need to point the finger at someone... Now while I don't give a rip about Russia, it would be refreshing to see England out of a major tournament. And if that does indeed happen, McClaren will likely be out as England boss. I suppose sacking McClaren is the right response, however I have this sneaking suspicion that it's not really the coach after all. We can see McClaren's past successes, and we can certainly see how well Sven is doing with sorry old Manchester City (who, frankly, look pretty damned sharp these days). Perhaps England's supposed superstars are just not capable of playing as a unit, and additionally and more likely, their world-class midfield is just simply mediocre. And is Robinson really the best England have got?

In other games: The Czechs demolished Germany to qualify, Scotland (back to their old ways) folded against Georgia, making it look more like France and Italy will go through (just as everyone would have guessed) and the holders Greece also qualified today. Again, there is still so much left to be settled---more to follow, next month.

Euro 2008 Qualifiers

It is certainly getting down to the nitty-gritty for Euro 2008 qualifying. The main surprise of the weekend's matches was Scotland's impressive performance against the Ukraine. If Scotland could somehow manage a result in their final match against Italy, this would leave either France or likely Italy (the top two teams in the last World Cup, lest anyone should have forgotten...) completely out of the tournament. Although this scenario is hardly one I see as probable, neither is Scotland leading the group at this late stage.

In England's much hyped match, the team produced the result they needed by beating a weak Estonian side. Despite a 3-0 score line, the English were once again less than convincing. Two fluky goals and some instances of skaky defense will again leave a host of question marks about England as a team. The midweek match in Russia could be a far more telling encounter, particularly with England lacking defender Ashley Cole, although playing on a turf field (welcome to the world of soccer in the north) leaves room for England to place the blame, should the match go poorly.

Other results were as expected with Germany being the first team to qualify for the tournament. The qualification picture should be much clearer by this time next week.

Premiership Wrap: Arsenal and Man Utd fly high, Liverpool escape, and Elano is sensational

Manchester United finally flexed their muscle destroying sorry Wigan 4-0. Tevez finally showed why United worked so hard to get his services, and Ronaldo was rampant. United poached on every mistake made by Wigan, who seemed to have simply given up by the second half. Arsenal kept their spot atop the table after two wonderful goals by Robin Van Persie, the hottest player right now in the Premiership. To Sunderland's credit, they fought back and nearly stole a point off the leaders, kudos to Keane's side, but again they head home empty handed.

In Sunday's featured match, Tottenham came out and put on a display of how an attacking soccer team should play together. Unfortunately for Spurs, their defense is a leaky ship, just waiting to sink; and sink it did as Robinson gifted Voronin his goal and nearly gave Liverpool another before the sputtering defense finally gave up two points in the waning moments. It likely would have been worse had it not been for the strong effort of Didier Zakora, who continually cleaned up the mess left by Tottenham's other hapless defenders.

And a final note in the weekend's matches, spectacular Elano led third place Man City to all the points. The striker has been nothing less than sensational, scoring two incredible goals after last week's cracker from long range. Other crucial matches showed Michael Owen coming back from hernia surgery to grab the winner for Newcastle, Blackburn snagging all the points from unlucky Birmingham and Chelsea sneaking past Bolton 1-0.

Champions League: Match day 2 Groups A,B,C,D

Today's fixtures produced some truly lackluster soccer. The game featured on ESPN displayed a dull game between Liverpool and Marseilles. The game seemed destined to be a scoreless draw as neither team looked dangerous or even remotely interested in attacking. The only point of interest was when Valbuena scored the game's only goal with a delightful shot that left Reina frozen on the line. Liverpool was completely flat and couldn't even come close to finding a response. Looks like Benitez needs a new rotation.

In other action, Chelsea came from behind to beat Valencia, which must be an enormous relief to Avram Grant, whose days at Chelsea are surely numbered. Real Madrid failed to hold their lead twice as they settled for a draw versus Lazio. And lastly, the shock result of the day came at Parkhead, where Celtic scored a late winner to claim all the points against AC Milan. The game will be remembered, however, for an altercation between a fan and Milan keeper Dida. Although I haven't seen the replay, I get the sense that the injuries sustained by Dida will not leave any permanent scars; guess the Scots just can't compete with the Italians for fan violence...

Champions League: Match day 2 Groups E,F,G,H

Today's matches produced few surprising results, apart from Rangers' 3-0 thrashing of hapless Lyon in France. In a match that just never looked to go Lyon's way, Rangers jumped at their chances (including a goal and an assist from American DeMarcus Beasley), pushing the French side to the brink of elimination after only two matches. Despite controlling the possession for large portions of the match, only Juninho seemed to be interested in getting anything out of the match. Amazing stuff from Rangers, who look to be in a great position to advance after their match day one victory over Stuttgart. Barcelona also flexed their muscle in the group, seeing off Stuttgart 2-0 and making it two for two so far.

In other action, both Manchester United and Arsenal took home all three points with 1-0 victories. Rooney broke out of his slump with a delightful goal after a smooth set-up from Nani. Arsenal again snatched all the points through a strike from the red-hot Van Persie.

Group G action saw Inter take a big step towards qualification, capitalizing on their chances in a fairly even game, beating PSV 2-0 at home. PSV didn't take their chances and were left to rue missed points after Inter went down to 10 men with 25 minutes remaining and then down to nine at the death of the game.

Lessons from today's matches: The English big guns can (and will) be toppled and beware Barcelona...